Tiberius Gracchus   

Having completed the first two narratives, we now may proceed to
take a view of misfortunes, not less remarkable, in the Roman couple,
and with the lives of Agis and Cleomenes, compare these of Tiberius
and Caius. They were the sons of Tiberius Gracchus, who though he
had been once censor, twice consul, and twice had triumphed, yet was
more renowned and esteemed for his virtue than his honours. Upon this
account, after the death of Scipio who overthrew Hannibal, he was
thought worthy to match with his daughter Cornelia, though there had
been no friendship or familiarity between Scipio and him, but rather
the contrary. There is a story told that he once found in his bed-chamber
a couple of snakes, and that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning
the prodigy, advised that he should neither kill them both nor let
them both escape; adding, that if the male serpent was killed, Tiberius
should die, and if the female, Cornelia. And that therefore Tiberius,
who extremely loved his wife, and thought, besides, that it was much
more his part, who was an old man, to die, than it was hers, who as
yet was but a young woman, killed the male serpent, and let the female
escape; and soon after himself died, leaving behind him twelve children
borne to him by Cornelia.
Cornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household and the
education of her children, approved herself so discreet a matron,
so affectionate a mother, and so constant and noble-spirited a widow,
that Tiberius seemed to all men to have done nothing unreasonable
in choosing to die for such a woman; who, when King Ptolemy himself
proffered her his crown, and would have married her, refused it, and
chose rather to live a widow. In this state she continued, and lost
all her children, except one daughter, who was married to Scipio the
younger, and two sons, Tiberius and Caius, whose lives we are now
writing.
These she brought up with such care, that though they were without
dispute in natural endowments and dispositions the first among the
Romans of their time, yet they seemed to owe their virtues even more
to their education than to their birth. And as, in the statues and
pictures made of Castor and Pollux, though the brothers resemble one
another, yet there is a difference to be perceived in their countenances,
between the one, who delighted in the cestus, and the other, that
was famous in the course, so between these two noble youths, though
there was a strong general likeness in their common love of fortitude
and temperance, in their liberality, their eloquence, and their greatness
of mind, yet in their actions and administrations of public affairs,
a considerable variation showed itself. It will not be amiss before
we proceed to mark the difference between them.
Tiberius, in the form and expression of his countenance, and in his
gesture and motion, was gentle and composed; but Caius, earnest and
vehement. And so in their public speeches to the people, the one spoke
in a quiet, orderly manner, standing throughout on the same spot;
the other would walk about on the hustings, and in the heat of his
orations pull his gown off his shoulders, and was the first of all
the Romans that used such gestures; as Cleon is said to have been
the first orator among the Athenians that pulled off his cloak and
smote his thigh, when addressing the people. Caius's oratory was impetuous
and passionate, making everything tell to the utmost, whereas Tiberius
was gentle and persuasive, awakening emotions of pity. His diction
was pure and carefully correct, while that of Caius was vehement and
rich. So likewise in their way of living and at their tables, Tiberius
was frugal and plain, Caius, compared with other men, temperate and
even austere, but contrasting with his brother in a fondness for new
fashions and rarities, as appears in Drusus's charge against him,
that he had bought some silver dolphins, to the value of twelve hundred
and fifty drachmas for every pound weight.
The same difference that appeared in their diction was observable
also in their tempers. The one was mild and reasonable, the other
rough and passionate, and to that degree, that often, in the midst