Struggle Against Gracchi
Scipio Aemilianus himself, though not in sympathy with the extreme conservative party, was decidedly opposed to the schemes of the Gracchi (whose sister Sempronia was his wife). When he heard of the death of Tiberius Gracchus, he is said to have quoted the line from the Homer's Odyssey (i. 47), "So may all who engage in such lawless conspiracies perish"; after his return to Rome he was publicly asked by the tribune Gaius Papirius Carbo what he thought of the fate of Gracchus, and replied that he was justly slain. The crowd listening to this comment responded with jeers, to which Scipio quickly replied: "I have never been scared by the shouts of the enemy in arms. Shall I be frightened by your outcries, you stepsons of Italy?" (Ward). This gave dire offence to the popular party, which was now led by his bitterest foes. Soon afterwards, in 129 BC, on the morning of the day on which he had intended to make a speech in reference to the agrarian proposals of the Gracchi, he was found dead in bed with marks "allegedly evident" on his body. There have been three scenarios proposed for his death; murder, suicide, or suffocation. The mystery of his death was never solved.
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