and the
statesman's bitter dismay at finding the dearest object of his life
about to be snatched from him by violence need not have been tinged
with one particle of personal fear. A man of tried bravery like
Gracchus might guard his own life indeed, but only as be regarded it
as indispensable to a great cause. That evening he told his partisans
he would give them a sign next day if he should think it necessary to
use force at his election. It has been assumed that this proves he was
meditating treason. But it proves no more than that he meant to repel
force forcibly if, as was only too certain, force should be used, and
this is not treason. No other course was open to him. The one weak
spot in his policy was that he had no material strength at his back.
Even Sulla would have been a lost man at a later time, if he had not
had an army at hand to which he could flee for refuge, just as without
the army Cromwell would have been powerless. But it was harvest-time
now, and the rural allies of Gracchus were away from home in the
fields. [Sidenote: Murder of Gracchus.] The next day dawned, and with
it occurred omens full of meaning to the superstitious Romans. The
sacred fowls would not feed. Tiberius stumbled at the doorway of his
house and broke the nail of his great toe. Some crows fought on the
roof of a house on the left hand, and one dislodged a tile, which
fell at his feet. But Blossius was at his side encouraging him, and
Gracchus went on to the Capitol and was greeted with a great cheer
by his partisans. [Sidenote: Different accounts given by Appian and
Plutarch.] Appian says that when the rich would not allow the election
to proceed, Tiberius gave the signal. Plutarch tells us that Fulvius
Flaccus came and told him that his foes had resolved to slay him, and,
having failed to induce the consul Scaevola to act, were arming their
friends and slaves, and that Gracchus gave the signal then. As Appian
agrees with Plutarch in his account of Nasica's conduct in the Senate,
the last is the more probable version of what occurred. Nasica called
on Scaevola to put down the tyrant. Scaevola replied that he would not
be the first to use force. Then Nasica, calling on the senators to
follow him, mounted the Capitol to a position above that of Gracchus.
Arming themselves with clubs and legs of benches, his followers
charged down and dispersed the crowd. Gracchus stumbled over some
prostrate bodies, and was slain either by a blow fro