A Third Gracchus Brother? Revisiting Plutarch's Account of the Death of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus

ABSTRACT:This article presents a new reading of Plutarch's account of the death of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. Scholarly consensus holds that the "brother" asking the senate for permission to bury the murdered tribune is Caius, thereby linking the two Gracchi by means of the elder's demise. Yet, Plutarch himself suggests that Caius was at Numantia when Tiberius died. I argue that contrary to dominant views, there is a possibility of a third Gracchus living into adulthood, and this third brother's existence illuminates Plutarch's careful method in composing the Lives of the Gracchi.