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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAR-SCY |
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SCIPIO1 (" staff ") , the name of a patrician branch of the Cornelian gens, of which the following are the principal historical representatives: I. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO, father of the elder Africanus. He was consul
sharp
See Polybius
2. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS, the elder (2372--183 B.C.), son of the above. He was present at the disastrous battles of the Ticinus (where, according to one tradition, he saved his father's life), the Trebia and Cannae. Even after the last of these he resolutely protested against several Roman nobles who advocated giving up the struggle and quitting Italy in despair (see METELLUS, 2). The year after his father's death, he offered himself for the command of the new army which the Romans resolved to send to Spain. In spite of his youth, his noble demeanour and enthusiastic language had made so great an impression that he was unanimously elected. All Spain south of the Ebro in the year of his arrival (210 or 209) was under Carthaginian control, but fortunately for him the three Carthaginian generals, Hasdrubal and Mago
chief
Mago
The first i is longScipio. So Polybius
elected to the consulship, the province of Sicily being assigned to him. By this time Hannibal's movements were restricted to the south-western extremity of Italy, and the war was now to be transferred to Africa. Scipio was himself intent on this, and his great name drew to him a number of volunteers from all parts of Italy, but the old-fashioned aristocracy of Rome, who disliked his luxurious tastes and his Greek culture, and still entertained a wholesome dread of Hannibal, opposed the idea; all Scipio could obtain was permission to cross over from Sicily to Africa, if it appeared to be in the interests of Rome. The introduction (2o5) of the Phrygian worship of Cybele and the transference of the image of the goddess herself from Pessinus to Rome (see GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS) to bless the expedition no doubt had its effect on public opinion . A commission of inquiry was sent over to Sicily, and it found that Scipio was at the head of a well-equipped fleet and army. At the commissioners' bidding he sailed in 204 and landed near Utica. Carthage meanwhile had secured the friendship of the Numidian Syphax, whose advance compelled Scipio to raise the siege of Utica and to entrench_ himself on the shore between that place and Carthage. Next year he destroyed two combined armies of the Carthaginians and Numidians. After the failure of peace negotiations in which Scipio displayed great moderation, he defeated Hannibal in a decisive battle near Zama (Oct. 19, 202; see PuNIc WARS). In the subsequent settlement with Carthage he upheld with success his comparatively lenient terms against the immoderate demands of many Roman aristocrats. Scipio was welcomed back to Rome with the surname of Africanus, and had the good sense to refuse the many honours which the people would have thrust upon him. For some years he lived quietly and took no part in politics. In 193 he was one of the commissioners sent to Africa to settle a dispute between Massinissa and the Carthaginians. In 190, when the Romans declared war against Antiochus III. of Syria, Publius was attached as legate to his brother Lucius, to whom the chief
house
Scipio was one of Rome's greatest generals. Skilful alike in strategy and in tactics, he had also the,faculty of inspiring his soldiers with confidence. According to the story, Hannibal, who regarded Alexander as the first and Pyrrhus as the second among military commanders, confessed that had he beaten Scipio he should have put himself before either of them. He was a man of great intellectual culture and could speak and write Greek perfectly. He wrote his own memoirs in Greek. He also enjoyed the reputation of being a graceful orator. There was a belief that he was a special
See Livy xxi.-xxxviii. and Polybius; Aulus Gellius iv. 18;Val. Max. iii. 7; biography by F. D. Gerlach (1868); E. Berwick (1817), with notes and illustrations; also PUNIC WARS. 3. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AEMILIANUS AFRICANUS, the younger (185129 B.C.), was the younger son of L. Aemilius Paullus, the conqueror of Macedonia. He fought when a youth of seventeen by his father's side at the battle of Pydna (168), which decided the fate of Macedonia and made northern Greece subject to Rome. He was adopted by P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the eldest son of Scipio Africanus the elder, and from him took the name Scipio with the surname Africanus. In 151, a time of defeat and disaster for the Romans in Spain, he voluntarily offered his services in that country and obtained an influence over the native tribes similar to that which the elder Scipio, his grandfather by adoption, had acquired nearly sixty years before. In the next year an appeal was made to him by the Carthaginians to act as-arbiter between them and the Numidian prince Massinissa, who, backed up by a party at Rome, was incessantly encroaching on Carthaginian territory. In 149 war was declared by Rome, and a force sent to besiege Carthage. In the early operations of the war, which went altogether against the Romans, Scipio, though a subordinate officer, distinguished himself repeatedly, and in 147 he was elected consul
Scipio himself, though not in sympathy with the extreme conservative party, was decidedly opposed to the schemes of the Gracchi (whose sister Sempronia was his wife). When he heard of the death of Tiberius Gracchus, he is said to have quoted the line from the Odyssey (i. 47), " So perish all who do the like again "; after his return to Rome he was publicly asked by the tribune C. Papirius Carbo what he thought of the fate of Gracchus, and replied that he was justly slain. This gave dire offence to the popular party, which was now led by his bitterest foes. Soon afterwards, in 129, on the morning of the day on which he had intended to make a speech in reference to the agrarian proposals of the Gracchi, he was found dead in bed. The mystery of his death was never cleared up, and there were political reasons for letting the matter drop, but there is little doubt that he was 'assassinated by one of the supporters of the Gracchi, probably Carbo, whose guilt is expressly stated by Cicero (see GRACCHUS). The younger Scipio, great general and great man as he was, is for ever associated with the destruction of Carthage. The horror he expressed at its fate was a tardy repentance. Yet he was a man of culture and refinement; he gathered round him such men as the Greek historian Polybius, the philosopher Panaetius, and the poets Lucilius and Terence. At the same time he had all the virtues of an old-fashioned Roman, according to Polybius and Cicero, the latter of whom gives an appreciation of him in his De republics, in which Scipio is the chief speaker. As a speaker he seems to have been no less distinguished than as a soldier. He spoke remarkably good and pure Latin, and he particularly enjoyed serious and intellectual conversation. After the capture of Carthage he gave back to the Greek cities of Sicily the works of art of which Carthage had robbed them. He did not avail himself of the many opportunities he must have had of amassing a fortune. Though politically opposed to the Gracchi, he cannot be said to have been a foe to the interests of the people. He was, in fact, a moderate man, in favour of conciliation, and he was felt by the best men to be a safe political adviser, while he unfortunately contrived to offend both parties. See Polybius xxxv. 4, xxxix.; Vell. Pat. i. i2; Florus ii. 15, 17, 18; Appian, Punica, 72, 98, 113-131, Hisp. 48-95, Bell. Civ. i. 19 ; Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus, 22, Tib. Gracchus, 21, C. Gracchus, 10; Gellius iv. 20, v. 19; Cicero, De oral. ii. 4o; exhaustive life by E. Person (Paris, 1877) ; monograph by Lincke (Dresden, 1898). 4. PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO NASICA SERAPIO, consul 138 B.C., took a prominent part in the murder of Tiberius Gracchus. To save him from the vengeance of the people, he was sent by the senate on a pretended mission to Asia, where he died. The nickname Serapio was given him by the tribune C. Curiatius from his likeness to one Serapio, a dealer in sacrificial victims. See Appian, Punica, 8o B.c., i. 16; Val. Max. ix. 14; Plutarch, Tib. Gracchus, 21. End of Article: SCIPIO1 (" staff ") If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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