What does Tiberius' life and death tell us about Roman society at that time - Essay Example

Number] Tiberius’s Life and Death And Roman Society Upright, prudent and poised Roman emperor ‘Tiberius’ lived a prestigious life, which has left perpetual perception of morality for Roman leadership in history. The second emperor of Rome had a diverse tale of accomplishments, fortitude, love, conspiracy, influence and betrayal. Honorable offspring of Tiberius Gracchus were brought up to rule, fight, decipher conspiracies, respond to threats and depict traits of benevolence to the general public. In his early childhood, his mother made sure to affiliate Tiberius with general public administration affairs, which developed empathy and high sense of justice in him. Tiberius throughout his life fought for one cause; to eliminate the line of discrimination between rich and poor through a revolutionary change in law. Yet, Rich gentry of Rome depicted how ‘influence’ deciphers power and law.
The bright Tiberius was educated in ‘Augurs College’, which was embarked as a supreme institution for excellence in academics. Upon inspecting his skills and talent, Appius Claudius offered him his daughter ‘Claudia’ in marriage. Fortitude and determination in armed conflicts was observed in Tiberius, whilst he served in Africa for ‘Young Scipio’s Army’ (Kishlansky et al., 142-146). ‘War against Numantines’ provided an opportunity to Tiberius; to resolve frenzy conflicts in the presence of senior generals. Twenty thousands and more were saved due to his successful dialogues with the victor Numantines.
In the times of Tiberius’ rule, literacy was valued most and due to his love for tomes; he went back to the defeated zone and requested only for his literary treasure. He was offered to take back more from his personal possessions, but Tiberius only chose his esteemed collection of books. Humiliating punishments (stripping captors in public) were imposed by victors; as it was a common practice in the past, but Numantines did not practice it for Roman consul officers due to prestigious Tiberius presence. This event setup benchmark in Tiberius’s administration career and he eventually became a legislator.
The conquered regions of neighbour-state were allotted to deprived citizens on meagre rents, yet; wealthy Romans drove away the poor and paid huge rents. These illicit actions became the stepping stone for ‘five hundred acre-property ownership law’. Yet, through false-name-ownership act influential people violated law and poor farmers became more deprived and eventually, were not able to pay heed towards education or warfare.
Subsequently, Tiberius formulated an original edict which dissolved formally titled lands of influential. This brought him pessimistic attention and repute from high gentry, but the aim was to justly divide land among rightful and deprived citizens. Octavius, an opponent openly criticized and opposed his new land-division-law, which inaugurated a rift between previous landowners (generals, lords, ministers) and Tiberius. In return, Tiberius ceased all legal practices, sealed Saturn Temple, activated severe penalties for disobeyers and terminated the employment of numerous jurisdictions.
Simultaneously, he announced that new law will become effective with the consent of common public (voting). Thus, Tiberius firmness seeded several conspiracies against him and common public voting day ended in chaos. Rich people forced poor public to not to vote and flocked them away. Voting process was persistently made intricate due to Octavius interference (for affluent people and their ownership of land) thus, through public voting his citizenship was taken away and he was deported (Classics.mit.edu, 2014).
In Tiberius’ rule, affluent body was under massive change and obscurity, the power of possession was going to shift from rich to poor. This shift and modification made Tiberius an obstacle for wealthy people and made him an earnest leader of common public.
Works cited:
Classics.mit.edu, (2014). The Internet Classics Archive | Tiberius Gracchus by Plutarch. [online] Available at: http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/tiberius.html [Accessed 1 Sep. 2014].
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Kishlansky, Mark A, Patrick J. Geary, and Patricia OBrien. A Brief History of Western Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. Print.
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