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

746 SCIPIO. SCIPIO.
close, and who feared lest his enemies in the senate unworthy persecution which the Romans chose to
might appoint him a successor, was equally desirous employ against their once formidable opponent.
of a peace. The terms, however, which the Roman (Liv. xxxiii. 47.)
general proposed seemed intolerable to the Car- In B. c. 190 L. Scipio, the brother of Africanus,
thaginians; and as Hannibal at a personal inter- and C. Laelius were consuls. Each of the consuls
view with Scipio could not obtain any abatement was anxious to obtain from the senate the province
of the hard conditions, he was forced, against his of Greece, in order to have the honour of carrying
will, to continue the war. Into the details of the on the war against Antiochus. In order to secure
campaign, which are related very differently, our it for his brother Lucius, Africanus offered to serve
limits will not permit us to enter. The decisive under him as legatus; and the senate thereupon
battle was at length fought on the 19th of October, granted Lucius the province which he desired. In
B. C. 202, at a place called Naragra on the Bagra- the war against Antiochus, the young son of
das, not far from the city of Zama. Scipio's victory Africanus, who accompanied his father, fell into
was complete; the greater part of the Carthaginian the hands of the Syrian king. The latter offered
army was cut to pieces; and Hannibal, upon his to restore his captive without ransom, if Africanus
arrival at Carthage, was the first to admit the mag- would obtain for him a favourable peace; but alnitude of the disaster, and to point out the impos- though the father rejected his proposal, Antiochus
sibility of a further prosecution of the war. The sent him back hia son while he was absent from
terms, however, now imposed by Scipio were much the army in consequence of illness. Africanus
severer than before. Carthage had no alternative out of gratitude advised Antiochus not to fight till
but submission; but the negotiations were con- he himself had rejoined the army. The object
tinued for some time, and the final treaty was not which he had in giving this advice it is impossible
concluded till the following year, B. C. 20 1. to say; it is quite inconceivable that Scipio mediScipio returned to Italy in B. c. 201, and entered tated any treachery towards his own country; it
Rome in triumph. He was received with universal is more probable that he hoped to induce Antiochus
enthusiasm; the surname of Africanus was con- to consent to a peace before a defeat should expose
ferred upon him, and the people in their gratitude him to harder and more humiliating terms. Anwere anxious to bestow upon him the most extra- tiochus, however, did not listen to his advice; and
ordinary marks of honour. It is related that they the decisive battle was shortly afterwards fought
wished to make him consul and dictator for life, near Mount Sipylus, in which the Syrian king was
and to erect his statue in the comitia, the rostra, totally defeated. Antiochus now applied again to
the curia, and even in the Capitol; but that he Africanus, who used his influence in the king's
prudently declined all these invidious distinctions favour with his brother Lucius and his council
(Liv. xxxviii. 56; Val. Max. iv. 1. ~ 6). As he of war. The terms of peace were severe, but they
did not choose to usurp the supreme power, which did not appear sufficiently severe to the Roman
it seems he might have done with ease, and as senate, who imposed much harder conditions upon
he was an object of suspicion and dislike to the the conquered monarch in the treaty which was
majority of the senate, he took no prominent part finally made.
in public affairs during the next few years. le Africanus returned to Rome with his brother
was censor in B. C. 199 with P. Aelius Paetus, and Lucius after the completion of the war in B. C. 189,
consul a second time in 194 with Ti. Sempronius but his remaining years were embittered by the
Longus. At the same time the censors conferred attacks of his old enemies. Shortly after his reupon him the title of princeps senatus, a dis- turn, he and his brother Lucius were accused of
tinction which he had received from the former having received bribes from Antiochus to let the
censors, and which was again bestowed upon him monarch off too leniently, and of having approin B. C. 190. In B. C. 193, he was one of the three priated to their own use part of the money which
commissioners who were sent to Africa to mediate had been paid by Antiochus to the Roman state.
between Masinissa and the Carthaginians; and in The glory of his African victory had already
the same year, according to a story related by Q. grown dim; and his enemies availed themselves of
Claudius Quadrigarius, he was one of the ambassa- the opportunity to crush their proud antagonist.
dors sent to Antiochus at. Ephesus, at whose court The accusation was set on foot by M. Porcius Cato,
Hannibal was then residing. The tale runs that but the details of it are related with such dishe there had an interview with the great Car- crepancies by the ancient authorities, that it is imthaginian, who declared him the greatest general possible to determine with certainty the true
that ever lived. The compliment was paid in a history of the affair, or the year in which it
manner the most flattering to Scipio. The latter occurred. It appears, however, that there were
had asked, "Who was the greatest general?" two distinct prosecutions, and the following is
"Alexander the Great," was Hannibal's reply. perhaps the most probable history of the transac"Who was the second?" " Pyrrhus." "Who tion. In B. C. 187, two tribunes of the people of
the third?" " Myself," replied the Carthaginian. the name of Petillii, instigated by Cato and the
"What would you have said, then, if you had other enemies of the Scipios, required L. Scipio to
conquered me?" asked Scipio, in astonishment. render an account of all the sums of money which
1" I should then have placed myself before Alex- he had received from Antiochus. L. Scipio acander, before Pyrrhus, and before all other ge- cordingly prepared his accounts, but as he was in
nerals." (Liv. xxxv. 14.) Whether the story be the act of delivering them up, the proud conqueror
true or not, there can be no doubt that Scipio of Hannibal indignantly snatched them out of his
towered above all the Romans as a general, and hands, and tore them up in pieces before the senate.
was only second to Hannibal himself. Each of But this haughty conduct appears to have produced
these great men possessing true nobility of soul, an unfavourable impression, and his brother, when
could appreciate the other's merits; and Scipio brought to trial in the course of the same year, was
was the only member of the senate who opposed the declared guilty, and sentenced to pay a heavy fine,