The Storm Before the Storm полностью

With traditional debate and persuasion failing to break the deadlock, Tiberius turned to radical action. Tiberius promised he would veto every piece of public business until Octavius relented. Then he marched up the Temple of Saturn and locked the state treasury with his personal seal so that “none of the usual business was carried on in an orderly way: the magistrates could not perform their accustomed duties, courts came to a stop, no contract was entered into, and other sorts of confusion and disorder were rife everywhere.” Tiberius then ratcheted up the dramatic atmosphere further. Alluding to reports that his enemies planned to assassinate him, he now carried a concealed short sword in his cloak and surrounded himself at all times with thousands of dedicated followers.³⁹

But when the Assembly once again convened to consider the Lex Agraria, Octavius remained intractable. He vetoed the reading of the bill again and the session descended into a fiery storm of mutual denunciations. Two senators then stepped forward and asked the deadlocked tribunes to put the matter before the Senate. Tiberius still had some hope the Senate might help broker a deal. There was no question that if the Lex Agraria came to a vote, it would pass by an overwhelming margin. When past tribunes had levied vetoes against popular bills, they withdrew it after expressing their symbolic disapproval—but no one had ever permanently defied the people’s will. By the traditional force of mos maiorum, Octavius should allow the vote on the Lex Agraria to proceed. Never before had a tribune so obstinately blocked the clear will of the people. Surely the Senate would induce Octavius to withdraw his opposition.⁴⁰

But rather than mediating a fair compromise, the assembled senators took the opportunity to heap abuse on Tiberius—just as they had after the Numantine Affair. There is no record of who said what, but Appian reports that Tiberius was “upbraided by the rich.” Not only did they fail to pressure Octavius into accepting a compromise, they actively joined in the attacks on Tiberius. Senators opposed to the Lex Agraria no doubt railed against the contents of the bill, Tiberius’s political tactics, and probably his personal character. The meeting ended with no resolution to the dilemma and Tiberius himself angrier than ever.⁴¹

Unable to make headway by traditional measures, Tiberius introduced an unprecedented bill at the next scheduled Assembly. Arguing that a tribune who defied the will of the people was no tribune at all, Tiberius moved that the Assembly depose Octavius from office. There was no law that said a tribune could not be deposed from office, but the proposal broke with all mos maiorum. No tribune had ever induced the Assembly to depose a colleague. It was unheard of. But Tiberius had once again packed the Assembly with his supporters, who now ominously surrounded the rostra and dared anyone to stand in their leader’s way.⁴²

Not wishing to spark a riot, Octavius settled on principled martyrdom, rather than suicidal intransigence, and did not veto the deposition bill. The Assembly was free to depose him if they wished and Tiberius called on the voters to prepare to vote. For the purposes of voting, the Romans were divided into thirty-five tribes that would each receive one collective vote. Individual members of a tribe would file through voting stalls and deposit their ballot in an urn. When they were finished the ballots would be tallied with the majority opinion determining the single collective vote of the whole tribe. Then the process would repeat for the next tribe until a majority of tribes agreed.⁴³

When the first tribe completed their balloting, the herald announced the result: one vote for depose. Since Tiberius understood that he was suborning an unprecedented attack on a fellow tribune, he halted the proceedings after this first vote and begged Octavius to withdraw his veto. But Octavius refused. The next sixteen tribes deposited their ballots and every single one voted in favor of deposition. On the brink of victory, Tiberius again halted the proceedings and gave Octavius one last chance to stand down. Octavius again refused. The eighteenth tribe then cast their ballots. When they were done, the herald announced that a majority had been reached: Octavius was deposed from office. Stripped of his tribunate, Octavius no longer enjoyed the protections of his office and found himself menaced by the looming mob. He was only able to escape thanks to a group of friends who pushed their way through the crowd and escorted Octavius out of the Assembly.⁴⁴