Tiberius and Caius Gracchus were the sons of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, whose prudent measures gave tranquillity to Spain for so many years.[60] They lost their father at an early age, but they were educated with the utmost care by their mother, Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus the elder, who had inherited from her father a love of literature, and united in her person the severe virtue of the ancient Roman matron with the superior knowledge and refinement which then prevailed in the higher classes at Rome. She engaged for her sons the most eminent Greek teachers; and it was mainly owing to the pains she took with their education that they surpassed all the Roman youths of their age. Tiberius was nine years older than his brother Caius. The latter had more ability, but Tiberius was the more amiable, and won all hearts by the simplicity of his demeanor and his graceful and persuasive eloquence. So highly was Tiberius esteemed, that as soon as he reached the age of manhood he was elected Augur, and at the banquet given at his installation Appius Claudius, then Chief of the Senate, offered him his daughter in marriage. When Appius returned home and informed his wife that he had just betrothed their daughter, she exclaimed, "Why in such a hurry, unless you have got Tib. Gracchus for her husband?" Sempronia, the only sister of Tiberius, was married to the younger Scipio Africanus. Tiberius was thus, by birth and marriage, connected with the noblest families in the Republic--the grandson of the conqueror of Hannibal--the son-in-law of the Chief of the Senate--and the brother-in-law of the destroyer of Carthage. Tiberius served under his brother-in-law in Africa, and was the first who scaled the walls of Carthage. He was Quaestor in B.C. 137, and accompanied the Consul C. Hostilius to Spain, where he saved the army by obtaining a treaty with the Numantines, which the Senate refused to ratify.[61] In passing through Etruria, on his way to Spain, Tiberius had observed with grief and indignation the deserted state of that fertile country. Thousands of foreign slaves were tending the flocks and cultivating the soil of the wealthy landowners, while Roman citizens, thus thrown out of employment, could scarcely procure their daily bread, and had not a clod of earth to call their own. He now conceived the design of applying a remedy to this state of things, and with this view became a candidate for the Tribunate, and was elected for the year B.C. 133.