this ancestor, and also of any other member of the family who had held
a curule office.

A plebeian who first held this office was called a _novus homo_,
or "new man."

The Senate, thus made up of patricians and nobles, had at this time
the monopoly of power. Legally, however, it had no positive authority.
The right of the people to govern was still valid, and there was only
wanting a magistrate with the courage to remind them of their legal
rights, and urge the exercise of them.

Such a magistrate was found in TIBERIUS SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS. With him
was ushered in the contest which lasted for more than a century, and
brought to the surface some of the proudest names of Roman history. On
one side or the other we find them,--MARIUS and SULLA, CAESAR and
POMPEY, AUGUSTUS and ANTONY--arraying Rome against herself, until the
glories of the Republic were swallowed up in the misrule and dishonor
of the Empire.

Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the elder (see Chapter XX.) belonged to
the nobility, but not to the aristocracy. He married CORNELIA, the
daughter of Africánus the elder. They had twelve children, of whom all
but three died young. Two sons and a daughter lived to maturity. The
daughter, SEMPRONIA, married Africánus the younger. The sons, TIBERIUS
and GAIUS, grew up under the care of their noble and gifted mother,
who was left a widow when they were mere boys.

Tiberius (164-133) entered the army, and served under his brother-in-
law during the third Punic war. Ten years later (136) he was Quaestor