who brought the head of Fulvius, for as they were of the lower class he would pay them nothing.  The story may be false; but Opimius was subsequently convicted of selling his country’s interests to Jugurtha for money, so that with equal likelihood it may be true.  In the fight and afterwards he put to death 3,000 men, many of whom were innocent, but whom he would not allow to speak in their defence.  The houses of Caius and Fulvius were sacked, and the property of the slain was confiscated.  Then the city was purified, and the ferocious knave Opimius raised a temple to Concord, on which one night was found written ‘The work of Discord makes the temple of Concord.’  That year there was a famous vintage, and nearly two centuries afterwards there was some wine which had been made at the time that Caius Gracchus died.  The wine, says the elder Pliny, tasted like and had the consistency of bitterish honey.  But the memory of the great tribune has lasted longer than the wine, and will be honoured for ever by all those who revere patriotism and admire genius.  He for whom at the last extremity friend and slave give their lives does not fall ingloriously.  Even for a life so noble such deaths are a sufficient crown.

[Sidenote:  The mother of the Gracchi.] The child of Caius did not long survive him.  The son of Tiberius died while a boy.  Only Cornelia, the worthy mother of the heroic brothers, remained.  She could (according to the purport of Plutarch’s pathetic narrative) speak of them without a sigh or tear; and those who concluded from this that her mind was clouded by age or misfortune, were too dull themselves to comprehend how a noble nature and noble training can support sorrow, for though fate may often frustrate virtue, yet ‘to bear is to conquer our fate.’

[Sidenote:  Position of the nobles after the murder.  Lex Maria.] The nobles no doubt thought that, having got rid of Gracchus, they had renewed their own lease of power.  But they had only placed themselves at the mercy of meaner men.  The murderous scenes just related happened in 121 B.C., and in 119 we read of a Lex Maria, the first law, that is to say, promulgated by the destined scourge of the Roman aristocracy.  Every Roman could vote, and voted by ballot, and was eligible to every office.  The first law of Marius was to protect voters from the solicitations of candidates for office.  It is significant that the nobles opposed it, though in the end it was carried.  Stealthy intrigue was now their safest weapon, but their power was tottering to its fall.  Too jealous of each other to submit to the supremacy of one, it only remained for them to be overthrown by some leader of the popular party, and the Republic was no more.  Yet, as if smitten by judicial blindness, they proceeded to hasten on their own ruin by reactionary provocations to their opponents. [Sidenote:  Gracchan laws remain in force.] They dared not interfere with the corn law of Caius, for now that every man had a vote, which