Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
Encyclopedia
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus (185 BC – 129 BC), also known as Scipio Aemilianus or Scipio Africanus the Younger, was a leading general and politician of the ancient Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. As consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 he commanded at the final siege and destruction of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...

 in 146 BC, and was a leader of the senators opposed to the Gracchi
Gracchi
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, were Roman Plebian nobiles who both served as tribunes in 2nd century BC. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. For this legislation and their membership in the...

 in 133 BC.

Family

He was born the younger son of Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus
Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty.-Family:...

, the conqueror of Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ia, and fought when he was 17 years old by his father's side at the Battle of Pydna
Battle of Pydna
The Battle of Pydna in 168 BC between Rome and the Macedonian Antigonid dynasty saw the further ascendancy of Rome in the Hellenic/Hellenistic world and the end of the Antigonid line of kings, whose power traced back to Alexander the Great.Paul K...

, which decided the fate of Macedonia and made northern Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 subject to Rome. He was adopted by Publius Cornelius Scipio
Publius Cornelius Scipio P.f. P.n. Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio P.f. P.n. AfricanusWith the Roman acronyms expanded, the full name is Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Publii filius Publii nepos, translated as "Publius Cornelius Scipio son of Publius grandson of Publius." In modern times he is more popularly known as the flamen dialis...

, the eldest son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, and his name was changed to Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus. He therefore was the nephew of Publius Cornelius Scipio's wife, Aemilia Tertia
Aemilia Tertia
Aemilia Tertia, better known as Aemilia Paulla , was the wife of Scipio Africanus , Roman general and statesman...

 - as Aemilia and Lucius were sibling
Sibling
Siblings are people who share at least one parent. A male sibling is called a brother; and a female sibling is called a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood socializing with one another...

s and their father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus.

Carthage

In 151 BC, a time of disaster for the Romans in Spain, he voluntarily offered his services in that province and developed influence over the native tribes similar to that which Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...

, his grandfather by adoption, had acquired nearly 60 years before. Though Carthage had been reduced in power following the Second Punic War
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...

, there was still lingering resentment in Rome. Cato the Elder
Cato the Elder
Marcus Porcius Cato was a Roman statesman, commonly referred to as Censorius , Sapiens , Priscus , or Major, Cato the Elder, or Cato the Censor, to distinguish him from his great-grandson, Cato the Younger.He came of an ancient Plebeian family who all were noted for some...

, for example, ended every speech (no matter the subject) by saying, "Also, I think Carthage must be destroyed." In 150 BC an appeal was made to Scipio by the Carthaginians to act as mediator between them and the Numidian prince Massinissa who, supported by a party at Rome, was incessantly encroaching on Carthaginian territory. In 149 BC war was declared by Rome, and a force sent to besiege Carthage
Battle of Carthage (c.149 BC)
The Battle of Carthage was the major act of the Third Punic War between the Phoenician city of Carthage in Africa and the Roman Republic...

.

In the early operations of the war, which went altogether unfavourably for the Romans, Scipio Aemilianus, though a subordinate officer, distinguished himself repeatedly, and in 147 BC he was elected consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

, while yet under the minimal age required by law to hold this office, and assigned the province of Africa (the theater of the siege) without drawing lots, so that he might take charge of the military operations there. After a year of desperate fighting and splendid heroism on the part of the defenders he takes the city of Carthage with about 50,000 survivors (about one-tenth of the city's population) as prisoners, and, complying with the mandate of the Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...

 orders the city razed to the ground and plowed over, after being evacuated and set fire to, ending the Third Punic War
Third Punic War
The Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic...

. He is recounted by Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

 to have uttered, after issuing the order: "It is a grand thing ; but I shudder to think that one day someone may give the same order for Rome." On his return to Rome he received a Triumph
Roman triumph
The Roman triumph was a civil ceremony and religious rite of ancient Rome, held to publicly celebrate and sanctify the military achievement of an army commander who had won great military successes, or originally and traditionally, one who had successfully completed a foreign war. In Republican...

, having also established a personal claim to his adoptive agnomen
Agnomen
An agnomen , in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the cognomen was initially. However, the cognomina eventually became family names, so agnomina were needed to distinguish between similarly named persons...

of Africanus.

Political career

In 142 BC, during his censorship
Censor (ancient Rome)
The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances....

, he endeavoured to check the growing luxury and immorality of the period. In 139 BC he was unsuccessfully accused of high treason by Tiberius Claudius Asellus, whom he had degraded when censor
Censor (ancient Rome)
The censor was an officer in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances....

. The speeches delivered by him on that occasion (now lost) were considered brilliant. In 134 BC he was again consul, with the province of Spain, where a demoralized Roman army was vainly attempting the conquest of Numantia
Numantia
Numantia is the name of an ancient Celtiberian settlement, whose remains are located 7 km north of the city of Soria, on a hill known as Cerro de la Muela in the municipality of Garray....

 on the Durius (Duero) and the closing of the Numantine War
Numantine War
The Numantine War was the last conflict of the Celtiberian Wars fought by the Romans to subdue those people along the Ebro. It was a twenty year long conflict between the Celtiberian tribes of Hispania Citerior and the Roman government. It began in 154 BC as a revolt of the Celtiberians of...

. After devoting several months to restoring the discipline of his troops, he reduced the city by blockade. The fall of Numantia in 133 established the Roman dominion in the province of Hither Spain. For his services Scipio Aemilianus received the additional agnomen of "Numantinus".

Struggle against Gracchi

Scipio Aemilianus himself, though not in sympathy with the extreme conservative party, was decidedly opposed to the schemes of the Gracchi
Gracchi
The Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, were Roman Plebian nobiles who both served as tribunes in 2nd century BC. They attempted to pass land reform legislation that would redistribute the major patrician landholdings among the plebeians. For this legislation and their membership in the...

 (whose sister Sempronia
Sempronia (sister of the Gracchi)
Sempronia , was a Roman noblewoman living in the Middle and Late Roman Republic, who was most famous as the sister of the ill-fated Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus , and the wife of a Roman general Scipio Aemilianus.-Background:Sempronia was the oldest surviving child and only surviving...

 was his wife). When he heard of the death of Tiberius Gracchus, he is said to have quoted the line from the Homer's Odyssey
Homer's Odyssey
"Homer's Odyssey" is the third full length episode of The Simpsons, that originally aired on the Fox network on January 21, 1990. In this episode Homer becomes a crusader for citizen safety in Springfield, and is promoted to his current position as Nuclear Safety Inspector for the entire power plant...

(i. 47), "So may all who engage in such lawless conspiracies perish"; after his return to Rome he was publicly asked by the tribune Gaius Papirius Carbo
Gaius Papirius Carbo (consul 120 BC)
Gaius Papirius Carbo was an Ancient Roman statesman and orator. He was associated with Gaius Gracchus in carrying out the provision of the agrarian law of Tiberius Gracchus. When tribune of the people , Carbo carried out a law extending the secret ballot for the enactment and repeal of laws...

 what he thought of the fate of Gracchus, and replied that he was justly slain. The crowd listening to this comment responded with jeers, to which Scipio quickly replied: "I have never been scared by the shouts of the enemy in arms. Shall I be frightened by your outcries, you stepsons of Italy?" (Ward). This gave dire offence to the popular party, which was now led by his bitterest foes. Soon afterwards, in 129 BC, 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 with marks "allegedly evident" on his body. There have been three scenarios proposed for his death; murder, suicide, or suffocation. The mystery of his death was never solved.

Legacy

Scipio Aemilianus, great general and great man as he was, is forever associated with the destruction of Carthage. Although he dutifully carried out the will of the Senate, the horror he expressed at its fate speaks to his humanity. He was a man of culture and refinement; he gathered round him such men as the Greek historian Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...

, the Stoic philosopher Panaetius
Panaetius
Panaetius of Rhodes was a Stoic philosopher. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater of Tarsus in Athens, before moving to Rome where he did much to introduce Stoic doctrines to the city. After the death of Scipio in 129, he returned to the Stoic school in Athens, and was its last...

, and the poets Lucilius
Lucilius
Lucilius is the nomen of the gens Lucilia of ancient Rome.*Gaius Lucilius, satirist 2nd century BC. Lucilius was credited by Horace and others with originating the genre of satire.*Lucilius Junior, friend and correspondent of the younger Seneca....

 and Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...

—a group that came to be known as the Scipionic circle. 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 re publica, in which Scipio Aemilianus 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
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 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 favor of conciliation, and he was felt by the best men to be a safe political adviser, but as often happens to moderate men in radical times he ended disliked by both parties.

Despite moderation in policy, his oratory was noted for its sharp witticisms, a number of which have been quoted in various sources (Astin). Astin suggests that while his biting comments were doubtless appreciated by the crowds, they could have also had the effect of making enemies out of political opponents.

Ancient sources

  • Veillius Pat. i. 12;
  • Florus ii. 15, 17, 18;
  • Cicero, De oral. ii. 40.
  • Polybius xxxv. 4, xxxix.;
  • Appian, Punica, 72, 98, 113-131, IIisp. 48-95, Bell. Civ. i. 19;
  • Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus, 22, Tiberius Gracchus, 21, C. Gracchus, 10; Gellius iv. 20, v. 19;

Secondary sources

  • A. E. Astin, Scipio Aemilianus (Oxford University Press, 1967)
  • Warmington,B.H. Carthage, A History 242 (Barnes & Noble 1993) ISBN 1-56619-210-2
  • Ward, Allen M., Heichelheim, Fritz M., and Yeo, Cedric A., A History of the Roman People, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2003, 158.
  • Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh, M.A., "A History Of Rome" (Macmillian & Co., Ltd., London, 1898)
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