Gaius suspected that the extensions had less to do with the necessity of keeping the consul in Sardinia than with keeping Gaius Gracchus out of Rome. So to counter these highly irregular orders, Gaius broke out a highly irregular response. Ignoring the mos maiorum that a staff officer was obligated to stay with his commander for the duration of their provincial assignment, Gaius simply packed up his belongings and headed back to Rome in the spring of 124. The Senate was outraged at his unexpected appearance in the city. Seeing happy throngs of cheering citizens greet him at the docks only darkened their mood.16
But though their plan to trap Gaius in Sardinia had failed, that did not mean conservatives were going to let him waltz into the tribunate unopposed. Immediately upon his return Gaius was hauled before the censors to answer for the abandonment of his commander. It was while defending himself from this charge that Gaius delivered one of his most famous speeches. With his honor besmirched, he defended his conduct in Sardinia, saying that while others used their provincial postings to oppress the locals and make themselves rich, “when I left for Rome, I brought back empty from the province the purses which I took there full of money. Others have brought home overflowing with money the jars which they took to their province filled with wine.” This was a pointed rejoinder to the men accusing
There were limits, though, to the powers of the censors to punish Gaius for his alleged transgressions. It is possible however that the moral approbation was meant to merely lay the groundwork for a more serious charge—one that
THE TRIBUNATE ELECTION for 123 was particularly fierce as the bulk of the nobles organized their clients to oppose Gaius’s election. But the broad popularity of the Gracchi name and the power of Gaius’s oratory were irresistible. Citizens poured into Rome from the surrounding countryside, and in the days leading up to the election there was not housing enough for all of them. Even the wide-open Campus Martius was soon overcrowded to the point where men occupied the rooftops.19
While Gaius campaigned, a bill came before the Assembly to finally ratify the settlement of Asia that had been engineered by Aquillius. Ten years had now passed since the death of King Attalus, and the settlement of Asia was only just now ready for ratification. It had run into an unexpected delay when reports of Aquillius’s shameful conduct filtered back to Rome. Among other things, Aquillius stood accused of taking bribes from King Mithridates V of Pontus to settle the border to Mithridates’s advantage. Since the charges were 100 percent true, all signs pointed to an open-and-shut conviction. But instead the jury acquitted Aquillius. This was partly thanks to the incomparable oratory of Marcus Antonius, a rising young star who defended Aquillius in court. But it was also thanks to the money Aquillius spread among the jurors—essentially using bribe money to bribe his way out of accusations of bribery.20
After the scandal died down, the final bill to ratify Aquillius’s settlement of Asia came before the Assembly and Gaius came out strongly in opposition. Whether there was anything particularly objectionable in the administrative regime established by Aquillius is lost to history and likely beside the point. Gaius not only wanted to use the issue of Asia to lambast the corruption of the Senate, but he had his own plans for how to settle Asia and wanted to ensure he had a clean slate to work with.21
