A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

SCIPIO. SCIPIO. 743
Hasdrubal, son of Barca, to crush Cneius. Mean- all that is recorded of Scipio's character. He was,
time Cneius had been at once paralysed by the like Mohammed and Cromwell, a hero, and not an
defection of the 20,000 Celtiberians, who had been impostor; he believed himself in the divine revegained over by the Carthaginian general; and being lations, which he asserted to have been vouchsafed
now surrounded by the united forces of the three to him, and the extraordinary success which atgenerals, his camp was taken, and he himself fell, tended all his enterprises must have deepened this
twenty-nine days after the death of his brother. The belief, while such a belief, on the other hand,
remains of his army were collected by L. Marcius imparted to him a confidence in his own powers
Septimus, a Roman eques. [HASDRUBAL, No. 6.] which made him irresistible.
The year in which the Scipios perished is rather P. Scipio is first mentioned in B. C. 218 at the
doubtful. Livy says (xxv. 36) that it was in the battle of the Ticinus, where he is reported to have
eighth year after Cn. Scipio had come into Spain; saved the life of his father, though he was then
but Becker (Vorarbeiten zu einer Geschichte des only seventeen years of age. He fought at Cannae
zweilen Puniscles Krieges in Dahlman'slorsch7une en, two years afterward (B. c. 216), when he was
vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 113) brings forward several reasons, already a tribune of the soldiers, and was one of
which make it probable that they did not fall till the few Roman officers who survived that fatal
the spring of B. c. 211. (Liv. libb. xxi.-xxv.; day. He was chosen along with Appius Claudius
Polyb. lib. iii.; Appian, Annib. 5-8, Hisp. 14 to command the remains of the arniy, which had
-16.) taken refuge at Canusium; and it was owing to
10. CN. CORNELIUS SCIPIO CALVIJS, son of his youthful heroism and presence of mind, that
No. 7, and brother of No. 9, was consul B. C. 222 the Roman nobles, who had thought of leaving
with M. Claudius Marcellus. In conjunction Italy in despair, were prevented from carrying
with his colleague he carried on war against the their rash project into effect (Liv. xxii. 53; Val. Max.
Insubrians. The details of this war are given v. 6. ~ 7). He had already gained the favour of
under Marcellus. [Vol. II. pp. 927, 928.] (Po- the people to such an extent, that he was unanilyb. ii. 34; Plut. Marcell. 6, 7; and the other mouslyelected aedile in B. c. 212. On this occasion
authorities quoted in the life of Marcellus). In lihe gave indications of the proud spirit, and of the
B. c. 218 Cneius served as legate of his brother disregard of all the forms of the law, which disPublius, under whom he carried on war for eight tinguished him throughout life; for when the
years in Spain, as has been related above. tribunes objected to the election, because he was
11. L. CORNELIUS SCIPIO, son of No. 7, and not of the legal age, he haughtily replied, " If all
brother of the two Scipios who fell in Spain, is the Quirites wish to make me aedile, I am old
only known as the father of No. 27. enough." In the spring of B. C. 211, his father
12. P. CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS MAJOR, and uncle fell in Spain, and C. Nero was sent out
the son of P. Scipio, who fell in Spain [No. 9], as propraetor to supply their place; but in the
was the greatest man of his age, and perhaps the following year (B. c. 210), the Romans resolved
greatest man of Rome, with the exception of Julius to increase their army in Spain, and to place it
Caesar. He appears to have been born in B. C. under the command of a proconsul. But when
234, since he was twenty-four years of age when the people assembled to elect a proconsul, none of
he was appointed to the command in Spain in B. c. the generals of experience ventured to sue for so
210 (Liv. xxvi. 18 Val. Max. iii. 7. ~ 1; Oros. iv. dangerous a commana. At length Scipio, who
18). Polybius, it is true, says (x. 6) that he was was then barely twenty-four, offered himself as a
then twenty-seven, which would place his birth in candidate, to the surprise of the whole people.
B. c. 237; and his authority would outweigh that The confidence he felt in himself he communicated
of Livy, and the writers who follow him, if he had to the people, and he was accordingly chosen with
not stated elsewhere (x. 3) that Scipio was seven- enthusiasm to take the command. Livy places
teen at the battle of the Ticinus (B. C. 218), his election in B. C. 211, but it could not have
which would make him twenty-four when he went been earlier than B. C. 210.
to Spain, according to the statement of Livy. In Upon his arrival in Spain in the summer of
his early years Scipio acquired, to an extraordinary B. C. 210 Scipio found the whole country south of
extent, the confidence and admiration of his coun- the Iberus in the power of the enemy. The three
trymen. His enthusiastic mind had led him to Carthaginian generals, Hasdrubal son of Barca,
believe that he was a special favourite of the gods; Hasdrubal son of Gisco, and Mago, were not,
and from the time he had put on the toga virilis, however, on good terms with one another, and
he had never engaged in any public or private were at the time engaged in separate enterprises
business without first going to the Capitol, where in distant parts of the peninsula, leaving the
he sat some time alone, enjoying communication Carthaginian province almost without defence.
from the gods. For all he proposed or executed Instead of attacking any one of them in detail,
he alleged the divine approval; and the Roman Scipio formed the project of striking a deadly
people, who had not yet lost all faith in the blow at the Carthaginian power by a sudden and
powers of an unseen world, gave credit to his unexpected attack upon New Carthage. He gave
assertions, and regarded him as a being almost the command of the fleet to his intimate friend
superior to the common race of men (Liv. xxvi. Laelius, to whom alone he entrusted the secret of
19). Polybius, who did not possess a particle of the expedition, while he himself led the landenthusiasm in his nature, and who was moreover forces by inconceivably rapid marches against the
a decided rationalist, denies (x. 2, 5) that Scipio town. The project was crowned with complete
had or believed that he had any communication success; the Carthaginian garrison did not amount
with gods, and that his pretences to such inter- to more than a thousand men, and before any
course were only a wise and politic means for succour could arrive the town was taken by
obtaining a mastery over the minds of the vulgar. assault. The hostages, who had been given by
But such a supposition is quite at variance with the various Spanish tribes to the Carthaginians,
3B 4