With his brother, Gaius Gracchus (153-121 BC), Tiberius Gracchus, (163-133 BC), was brought up under special care of his mother, Cornelia, daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder. In 146 BC he took part in the capture and destruction of Carthage, on which occasion he is said to have been the first Roman to scale the city wall. In 137 BC he acted as financial administrator to the army of Gaius Hostilius Mancinus in Spain. There in the ancient Spanish city of Numantia Tiberius saved from destruction an army of 20,000 Romans, which had been defeated. They were at the mercy of the Numantines who would only negotiate with Tiberius because they trusted his father. Upon his return to Rome Tiberius became a champion of the cause of the common people and the i
mpoverished farmers. He was elected tribune of the people in133 BC, and despite opposition from the aristocracy led by his cousin, Scipio Africanus the Younger, he obtained legislation providing more equal distribution of public lands among the small farmers. A committee of three, consisting of Tiberius, his brother Gaius, and his father-in-law Appius Claudius Pulcher, was appointed to carry out the new law.
To develop the resources of Italy and at the same time provide employment for the poor, Gaius began a program of road repair and construction throughout the country. He secured passage of a law entitling every citizen of Rome to purchase grain at half price, and he formulated measures designed to curb the power of the Senate and to increase tha
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