A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

7. M.Pomponius, a Roman eques, was one of the most intimate friends of C. Gracchus, and distinguished himself by his fidelity to the latter on the day of his death, B. C. 121. When Gracchus, despairing of his life, had retired to the temple of Diana, and was going to kill himself there, Pomponius and Licinius took his sword, and induced him to fly. As they fled across the Sublician bridge, hotly pursued, Pomponius and Licinius turned round, in order to give their friend time for escape, and they allowed no one to pass till they fell pierced with wounds. This is the account of Plutarch; the details are related a little differently by other writers. (Plut. C. Gracch. 16, 17; Veil. Pat. 2.6; V. Max. 4.7.2; Aurel. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 65; comp. Cic. de Div. 2.29.)