The Storm Before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic

by Mike Duncan

Carbo, the last remaining Gracchan land commissioner, only survived the purge by switching sides. He likely secured a consulship for 120 by promising to defend Opimius’s conduct in front of the Assembly. But since no one likes a traitor, Carbo was himself arraigned on vague charges of treason the minute he left office in 119. The prosecution was led by a rising young noble named Lucius Licinius Crassus. Just twenty years old, Crassus dazzled the crowd with incisive wit and eloquence that shredded Carbo’s attempt to escape his past: “Although, Carbo, you defended Opimius, this audience will not on that account esteem you a good citizen; for it is clear that you dissembled and had other views.” For a decade Carbo had been a radical Gracchan—the last-minute defense of Opimius didn’t fool anyone. Loathed by all and his reputation destroyed, Carbo “rescued himself from the severity of the judges by a voluntary death” (as Cicero so eloquently put it). Gaius Papirius Carbo was the last victim of the Gracchan purge.59