Sempronia (sister of the Gracchi)

Her father had a formidable reputation as a general (having won a triumph in Sardinia),[citation needed] and was known as a strict censor who was nonetheless tremendously popular.

Those same historical accounts state that the couple disagreed over Scipio's treatment of his young cousin and former ward Tiberius Gracchus, who had tried to arrange a settlement for Numantia and bring an entire Roman army out of captivity.

At the time, Scipio was away in Spain successfully besieging Numantia, and, on his return, is said to have commented that Tiberius had tried to make himself king of Rome, and thus implied that Gracchus's death was justified by the mos maiorum.

[citation needed] Around that same time, some translations assert that Scipio had made a comparison between himself and Tiberius Gracchus to Agamemnon and Aegisthus, respectively.

The public at the time would have been able to extrapolate this comparison to come to the conclusion that Tiberius Gracchus and his sister Sempronia had shared an adulterous and incestuous relationship.

[citation needed] Carbo, then a tribune of the plebs, had been a long-time supporter of Tiberius Gracchus, and at that time he was a bitter enemy of Scipio.

Around 100 BC, one Roman politician quickly gained a reputation by claiming to be the bastard son of Sempronia's brother, Tiberius Gracchus.

It is possible that this scandal was influenced by the prior rumor that Sempronia and her brother had shared an incestuous relationship while Scipio was still alive, implying that Equitus was the result of this union.

It was demanded that Sempronia kiss Lucius Equitus in the Forum to provide proof of his claim as only surviving child of Tiberius Gracchus.

[3] The general public was elated at the prospect of Tiberius Gracchus having a surviving descendant, but Sempronia would not confirm the rumor, indignantly denying it.

[2] Sempronia is featured in the painting Cornelia, Mother of the Gracchi, Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures by Angelica Kaufmann, an eighteenth-century European artist.