page_title: Gaius Gracchus
section_title: Early political career
hierarchical_section_title: Gaius Gracchus / Early political career
context_page_description: Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a Roman Popularis politician in the 2nd century BC and brother of the reformer Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. His election to the office of tribune in the years 123 BC and 122 BC and reformative policies while in office prompted a constitutional crisis and his death at the hands of the Roman Senate in 121 BC.
context_section_description: Gaius's political career began in 133 BC when he served with Tiberius's land-commission. In 126 BC, he became a quaestor in the Roman province of Sardinia, where his merits advanced his good reputation. During his quaestorship, he honed his skills in oratory.
  In one particularly harsh Sardinian winter, the Legate of the local garrison requisitioned supplies from the nearby towns, despite their objections. When they appealed and won the Senate's approval to keep their supplies, Gaius made them a personal appeal for aid. Fearing this as a ploy for popular approval, the Senate rebuffed envoys sent by Micipsa, king of Numidia, who had sent grain to Gaius based on their mutual regard. The Senate ordered the garrison's replacement, but also ordered that Gaius remain in his post, in Sardinia.
  Gaius returned to Rome, to appeal the decision. He was accused of unlawfully abandoning his post but won popular support when he pointed out that he had served twelve years - two more than the basic requirement - and had been quaestor for two years though legally only required to serve one. Furthermore, he had used the Roman money that he had brought with him to this quaestorship to aid Sardinia, and had never used his position to line his own pockets.
  He was then accused of aiding in an Italian revolt at Fregellae, but little evidence supported this. His support for the reforms of Gaius Papirius Carbo and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, his evident skills at oratory and his association with the reforms of his brother led the senatorial nobles to try him on charges plainly false or heavily exaggerated. He cleared himself with ease and in 122 was elected to serve as a tribune for the following year.
  Gaius used his celebrated oratory, considered to be the best in Rome, to attack his opponents at every chance and frequently lamented the fate of his brother Tiberius. He criticized the Senate's failure to emulate their ancestors' respect for the tribune, citing its decision to wage war on the Falerii for insulting the tribune Genucius, or how Gaius Veturius had been condemned to death for failing to make way for the tribune. He chastised the people for standing by while Tiberius and his supporters were beaten and cited the unlawful sentences of exile that followed because the accused were not permitted to stand trial.
caption: The pursuit of Gaius Gracchus
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