 In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus and some of his followers were clubbed to death in Rome.The conservative mob which attacked them was led by a close relative, Sempronia and Scipio’s cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio, who was Pontifex Maximus.Scipio was then away in Spain successfully besieging Numantia, and on his return, he 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".