Gaius Papirius Carbo (c. 163 – 119 BC) was an ancient Roman statesman and

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

Career

Carbo was associated with the populist politician

Gaius Gracchus Gaius Sempronius Gracchus ( – 121 BC) was a reformist Roman politician in the 2nd century BC. He is most famous for his tribunate for the years 123 and 122 BC, in which he proposed a wide set of laws, including laws to establish ...

in carrying out the provision of the agrarian law of his brother,

Tiberius Gracchus Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus ( 163 – 133 BC) was a Roman politician best known for his agrarian reform law entailing the transfer of land from the Roman state and wealthy landowners to poorer citizens. He had also served in the Roma ...

. As

tribune of the people Tribune of the plebs, tribune of the people or plebeian tribune ( la, tribunus plebis) was the first office of the Roman state that was open to the plebeians, and was, throughout the history of the Republic, the most important check on the power of ...

in 131 BC, Carbo carried the

lex Papiria The ballot laws of the Roman Republic (Latin: ''leges tabellariae'') were four laws which introduced the secret ballot to all popular assemblies in the Republic.Yakobson (1995), p. 426. They were all introduced by tribunes, and consisted of the ...

extending the secret ballot for the enactment and repeal of laws. He also proposed that the tribunes should be allowed to become candidates for the same office in successive years, a response to the fate of Tiberius. The proposal was defeated, having been opposed by

Scipio Aemilianus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185–129 BC), known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a Roman general and statesman noted for his military exploits in the Third Punic War against Carthage and during the ...

, in whose sudden death in 129 BC Carbo was suspected of having a hand. Carbo subsequently went over to the anti-populist

optimates Optimates (; Latin for "best ones", ) and populares (; Latin for "supporters of the people", ) are labels applied to politicians, political groups, traditions, strategies, or ideologies in the late Roman Republic. There is "heated academic dis ...

, and as

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

in 120 BC successfully defended

Lucius Opimius Lucius Opimius was a Roman politician who held the consulship in 121 BC, in which capacity and year he ordered the execution of 3,000 supporters of popular leader Gaius Gracchus without trial, using as pretext the state of emergency declared afte ...

, when he was impeached for the murder of a citizen (Gaius Gracchus) without a trial. At trial, he said that Gracchus had been justly slain. But the optimates did not trust Carbo, and he was impeached by Lucius Crassus on a similar charge. Feeling that he had nothing to hope for from the optimates and that his condemnation was certain, he committed suicide. His son,

Gaius Papirius Carbo Arvina Gaius Papirius Carbo Arvina (c. 124 – 82 BC) was a Roman orator and politician. He was an opponent of the reforms championed by the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus and the orator Lucius Licinius Crassus, and held the plebeian tribunate the year ...

, was remembered for his attempts to avenge his father's fate. He followed his father's prosecutor, L. Crassus, to the latter's province in 94 BC with the aim of finding a reason to prosecute him. Finding this out, L. Crassus decided not only to forgive the son, but even to grant him a position within his close circle of advisors.Valerius Maximus, 3.7.6

References

Attribution: * {{DEFAULTSORT:Papirius Carbo, Gaius 160s BC births 119 BC deaths 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Ancient Romans who committed suicide Carbo, Gaius Populares Tribunes of the plebs Year of birth uncertain