Cornelia's Jewels is a phrase describing the Gracchi, who were the two sons of the famous Roman matron Cornelia. According to tradition, when a noble Roman lady boasted about her jewels in Cornelia's presence, Cornelia pointed to her sons, Gaius and Tiberius, and said, "These are my jewels!"
Cornelia, who lived during the 2nd century B.C., was the daughter of the great Roman general Scipio Africanus Major and the wife of the famous censor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. After her husband's death she devoted herself to the education of the Gracchi, who later became prominent Roman statesmen and social reformers. Cornelia was revered as the ideal of Roman motherhood.
