Rape from Within

Actually, thinking of the story of the Gracchi Brothers is very analogous to our times. As I have
mentioned in the past, socialism is only a reaction to greed and abuse of those on top and that is exactly
what the Gracchi Brothers were, a reaction to the greed and abuse of those on top.
During the epublic !eriod of ome, men were constantly being sent off to war and the only pay
they received was what they looted. "his caused hardships at home especially if the looting wasn#t good
or the husband and father of a home didn#t come back. At the same time there was a constant need
$whether real or imagined% to borrow from wealthier families. "his was a fact of life while the men were
off to war. If the looting wasn#t good or the man didn#t come home, the debt could blow up in the faces
of the borrowers and they lose everything. At the same time, you have large landowners who are
employing slaves and are burying smaller farmers&one of the need for the debt.
Debt is an interesting sub'ect in itself. I am definitely interested in the main reason for debt&
hoarding of money. "his was occurring in the ancient world as it is now&ich do spend but their
expenditures tend to flow to other rich in the long run with a small trickle down. (hen you consider that
)*+ of all income is commanded by ,+ of the population, it means that )* cents on every dollar spent
results in the income for only ,+ of the population. Banking is crucial in this area to keep money
circulating through an economy, but debt can be debilitating to an economy as well.
In the epublic of ome, bad debts were settled with the sei-ure of property which gave the
wealthy more and more land and the ability to bury more and more of the smaller farmers. "here was
definitely predation as well. !ompey, .aesar#s buddy and the individual who brought an end to
/partacus, crucifying over 0,*** captives along the Apian (ay, was one of these predators. 1e had a
fire company. "he way it worked was that if your home caught on fire, his crew would show up. 1e
would give you a price for your home as in he wanted to buy your home and land, if you refused, he
would let your house burn and then offer you an ever insanely low price to buy you out&this would go
on until your house was a pile of ashes or you accepted one of his incredibly low ball prices.
Basically, ome had potential but was being raped from within by those on top. "here had been
revolts in the past from the peasants of ome. 2ne in particular had been the 34, B.5 evolt in which
an entire army 'ust up and left the field of combat and set up a settlement with their families outside of
ome reportedly on Aventine 1ill. "hey had the idea that they had no voice in the epublic, everything
was being stacked in the favor of the wealthiest by the wealthiest, and they felt that since ome wasn#t
theirs they would set up their own city. "he wealthy gave in without a fight&they had no one to do the
fighting. 6rom this, the working classes were given the 7veto# right in the senate.
.enturies past and there is a constant raping of ome by the richest. 8ore and more omans are
losing their property from debt. 5ntering the stage are the Gracchi Brothers. "iberius Gracchus becomes
a tribune and attempts to defuse the problem through land reform&giving the poor back their land and
forgiving debt. "his would not stand. "he wealthiest hired thugs and used lies and propaganda such as
ome would collapse, the gods would be angry, etc to rile up the people against "iberius and he was
mobbed, beaten to death, and thrown in the "iber.
Gaius Gracchus also attempted to straighten out the ails of ome and too was threatened with
assassination but committed suicide in the face of the murderous mob.
ome continued and the problem was solved with socialism&bread and circuses to keep the
displaced, out of work, homeless from rising in revolt. "he wealthy continued their rape with the poor
paying the price. 5ventually, it gets to the point that ome falls not necessarily due to invasion, but
more so because no one cares. ome wasn#t even the capital at the time of its fall, it was avenna in the
(estern 5mpire and .onstantinople $or 9ew ome as the omans called it% in the 5ast. ome had been
reduced to a status of 'ust an urban area at the time.
Interesting thing about this is that no one learns from this. 9umerous revolts before the fall of
ome, 5arliest I can think of is a tax revolt in 8esopotamia where a person#s very existence was taxed.
"hroughout the 8iddle Ages there were various revolts. 6rance#s evolution and eign of "error were
because of the same reasons&the rich were raping their own nation while the poor were being stuck
with the bill.
Almost all revolts have been when one group has oppressed or pushed another group to a
snapping point. "his is always a potential problem when you have one group such as the working class
dependent on another group which is chiefly interested in their own gains with no regard to the rest.