Gracchus Brothers: Good or Evil?

The Gracchi brothers were iconic Romans who tried to help the unemployed plebeians in Rome during the 2nd century BC. They were people who were trying to help Rome for the better, but were both stopped before they could make a change. They were both very good people who did no evil.

Tiberius Gracchus was born in 163 BC, and distinguished himself as a young man in the Roman army. When he returned from the 3rd Punic War he saw poor plebeians living in dirt, and wanted to make a difference. He was the first person to care about these poor plebeians and just this shows he was a good person. He decided to enter politics, and was elected tribune in 133 BC. After this he immediately started working on giving land to the poor, and he tried to pass a law that would divide huge estates belonging to rich landowners to smaller farms that would be given to poor plebeians. He needed to do this because many farmers had gone off to fight for Rome, and when they came back their land had been damaged and they had to sell it to the latifundia. The latifundia then used slaves to work the land instead of plebeian farmers. The plebeians that lost their jobs to slaves were trying to support themselves but couldn’t They needed Tiberius to help. His ideas were popular among common people, but were strongly opposed by rich landowners. After his year of tribune, he tried to be elected again, but was mobbed and killed by his enemies. Tiberius Gracchus was an amazing Roman who tried to help the helpless poor plebeians, but was stopped by the selfish latifundia before he could make a change

Gaius Gracchus was born in 153 BC and, like his brother, distinguished himself in the military as a young man. Gaius was a passionate speaker, and after his brother’s murder he decided to take his spot and help poor plebeians. He and his brother were both caring people who wanted to make a change. In 124 BC Gaius was elected tribune, then reelected again the next year. Gaius made an important law that gave poor plebeians grain allowances so that they would not starve. This is another thing that shows Gaius is a good person. When Gaius tried to run for tribune a third year and lost, his enemies chased him down, but before they could get to him he ordered his slave to kill him. Both of the Gracchus brothers were like minded brothers who were very good people that tried to help the poor plebeians of Rome.