The cause of the poor against the rich was taken up by a noble young
tribune of the people named Tiberius Gracchus. Tiberius and his
afterwards distinguished younger brother Caius (the two being known in
history as the Gracchi) were sons of a noble Roman matron, Cornelia,
daughter of the great Scipio Africanus.
Tiberius Gracchus proposed a land-law (agrarian law), which would limit
the amount of public land that could be held by any one individual and
provided for the distribution of the rest in small homesteads. The
aristocracy immediately raised a storm, and induced another tribune to
veto the measure. Now, according to the Roman code, no proposal could
become law unless all the tribunes were unanimous. Gracchus then secured
a popular vote expelling his colleague from the tribuneship, and the
land-law was passed by the people, 133 B. C. In the meantime, however,
Gracchus’s year of office expired, and he came up for re-election. The
nobles resolved to prevent this by violence.