# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi

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CORNELIA,
The mother of the Gracchi. In this lady every circumstance of birth, life, and character, conspired to give her a glowing and ever-living page in history. Two thousand years have passed away, and yet her name stands out as freshly, as if she had been co-temporaneous with Elizabeth and Mary. She was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal. Such descent could hardly have received an addition of glory or distinction. But, such was the life of Cornelia, that even the fame of Scipio received new lustre. She was married to a man, who, though he tilled many high Roman offices, yet derived still greater dignity from her virtues. This was Tiberius Gracchus, the grandson of Sempronius, who was eulogized by Cicero for wisdom and virtue. He was thought worthy of Cornelia, and the event proved that one was as remarkable as the other, for what in that age of the world must have been deemed the highest excellencies of the human character. Tiberius died, leaving Cornelia with twelve children. Her character was such, that Ptolemy, King of Egypt, paid his addresses to her, but was rejected. She devoted herself to the care of her house and children; in which duties she displayed the sweetest sobriety, parental affection, and greatness of mind. During her widowhood, she lost all her children except three, one daughter, who was married to Scipio the younger, and two sons, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus. Plutarch remarks, that "Cornelia brought them up with so much care, that though they were without dispute of the noblest family, and had the happiest geniuses of any of the Roman youth, yet education was allowed to have contributed more to their perfections than nature."
She also gave public lectures on philosophy in Rome, and was more fortunate in her disciples than her sons. Cicero says of her, that "Cornelia, had she not been a woman, would have deserved the first place among philosophers."
Cornelia, like all the leading women of Rome, had imbibed the heroic, or ambitious spirit of the age. She is said to have made remarks to her sons which seemed to spur them on more rapidly in their public career. The result was not very fortunate; for though her sons sustained the highest name for purity of character; though they have come down to us, distinguished as the Gracchi, and though they were associated with the popular cause, yet their measures were so revolutionary and violent, that they were both destroyed in popular tumults.
Cornelia survived the death of her sons, which she bore with great magnanimity. They had been killed on consecrated ground, and of these places she said, that "they were monuments worthy of them." She lived subsequently a life of elegant and hospitable ease, surrounded by men of letters, and courted by the great. We cannot have a better idea of the close of her life, and of the high estimation in which she stood, than by the very words of Plutarch. This writer closes the lives of the Gracchi with the following account of Cornelia:—
"She took up her residence at Misenum, and made no alteration in her manner of living. As she had many friends, her table was ever open for the purpose of hospitality. Greek, and other men of letters she had always with her, and all the kings in alliance ​with Rome expressed their regard by sending her presents, and receiving the like civilities in return. She made herself very agreeable to her guests, by acquainting them with many particulars of her father Africanus, and of his manner of living. But what they most admired in her was, that she could speak of her sons without a sigh or a tear, and recount their actions and sufferings as if she had been giving an account of some ancient heroes. Some therefore imagined that age and the greatness of her misfortunes had deprived her of her understanding and sensibility. But those who were of that opinion seem rather to have wanted understanding themselves; since they know not how much a noble mind may, by a liberal education, be enabled to support itself against distress; and that though, in the pursuit of rectitude. Fortune may often defeat the purposes of Virtue, yet Virtue, in bearing affliction, can never lose her prerogative."
The whole life of Cornelia presents a beautiful character; and from the facts which have come down to us we may draw these inferences. First; Cornelia must have been educated in a very superior manner by her father. For in no other way can we account for her knowledge and love of literature; nor for the fact, that while yet young she was regarded as worthy of the most virtuous and noble men of Rome. Second; she must have been from the beginning, a woman of fixed principles and undaunted courage; for, in no other manner can we give a solution to her rejection of the King of Egypt, her unremitting care of her family, the high education of her sons, and the great influence she held over them. Third; she must have cultivated literature and the graces of conversation; for, how else could she have drawn around the fireside of a retired widow, the men of letters, and even the compliments of distant princes?
In her lifetime a statue was raised to her, with this inscription: Cornelia mater Gracchorum. She died about 230 years before Christ.