Clip from: "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire", a 2006 BBC1 docudrama series
----Episode four: Revolution
In an age before Rome was ruled by emperors young Tiberius Gracchus had been brought up to respect his father’s principles of honour and justice, but in just 20 years he will die defending his father’s ideals, murdered by the aristocrats standing behind him, his crime; starting a revolution so powerful it changed Rome forever, setting on the path to its greatest triumphs and worst excesses.
—Alisdair Simpson’s opening narration
Tiberius Gracchus first makes a mark on history winning the golden crown from General Scipio Aemilianus by being first over the wall at the victorious Battle of Carthage (3rd Punic War). Back in Rome, now the capital of the world, he finds the growing gap between rich and poor threatening the foundations of the republic. Urged to achieve greatness through further military exploits he sets out with reinforcements for the campaign of General Mancinus against the rebellious Numantine tribe in Spain but Mancinus is defeated and forced to negotiate a peace treaty that the Senate later refuses to ratify.
Gracchus’s actions, while repudiated in the Senate, have made him a hero amongst the Roman people and his new father-in-law Senator Pulcher supports him in a successful campaign to become their Tribune. He snubs the Senate and takes his proposed land reforms directly to the People's Assembly, where his old friend Octavius vetoes them. He brings the city to a standstill when he vetoes all other business in response and has Octavius deposed. Octavius and the Senate spread false rumours that he intends to make himself king, and, in the ensuing unrest, he is murdered.
