Scipio Aemilianus

Roman general

• Born: 185 or 184 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Probably Rome (now in Italy)
• Died: 129 b.c.e.
• Place of death: Rome (now in Italy)

Combining a genius for military conquest with an appreciation for literature and the arts, Scipio Aemilianus embodied—perhaps better than any other figure of his day—the paradoxical forces that swept through Rome during the central years of the Republic.

Early Life

Scipio Aemilianus (SIHP-ee-oh ee-mihl-ih-AY-nuhs), also known as Scipio the Younger, was born into Roman society in 185/184, about the time that Cato the Elder was beginning his famous censorship. Scipio’s earliest years were thus spent during one of the most interesting periods of the Roman Republic. From his vantage point as a member of the distinguished Aemilian gens (family), the young Scipio was in a perfect position to witness events that would shape the course of Roman history. In addition to this, because of his father, Lucius Aemilius Paulus, and his interest in Greek culture, Scipio was surrounded almost from birth by Greek tutors, orators, and artists. Together, these two factors—the political distinction of his family and his father’s philhellenism—were to inspire in Scipio his interest in a military career and his lifelong enthusiasm for Greek civilization.

Scipio’s mother, Papiria, was a member of one of Rome’s leading families: Her father had been a victorious general, the first general, in fact, to hold a triumphal procession on the Alban Mount because he had been denied an official triumph back in Rome. Scipio’s father had also served as a general and had already been elected to the curule aedileship and the Spanish praetorship. At the time of Scipio’s birth, Paullus was only a few years away from the consulship, the highest political office in Rome.

Ironically, at about the same time that Paullus’s tenure as consul began, his marriage ended. He divorced Papiria, remarried, and soon had two other sons with his second wife. Perhaps as a result of conflicts between these two families, Paullus decided to allow Scipio and his brother to be adopted into other households. Scipio, as his name implies, was adopted by Publius Cornelius Scipio, the son of Scipio Africanus, who had won his greatest fame as victor over the Carthaginians at Zama during the Second Punic War. His elder brother was adopted into the household of Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, perhaps by a son or grandson of the famous general himself. Both Scipio and his brother, now known as Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, remained close to their birth father. Indeed, they both accompanied Paullus on an important expedition against Macedon in 168, during Paullus’s second consulship.

The climactic battle of this expedition, at Pydna in 168, was both the crowning glory of Paullus’s career and, possibly, Scipio’s first battle. The Macedonians, led by King Perseus, were defeated, and Paullus, in accordance with his literary tastes, chose only one prize for himself out of the spoils: Perseus’s library. This mixture of military and literary interests was also apparent in Scipio himself at this time. It was during his stay in Greece that Scipio met the future historian Polybius, an author who would come to be his lifelong friend.

Life’s Work

In 151, nearly a decade after the death of his father, Scipio was finally given a chance to develop a military reputation of his own. He was offered the position of military tribune under the consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, who was about to assume command of the Roman forces in northern Spain. Though the campaign against the Celtiberian tribesmen would nearly be over before Lucullus finally arrived, Scipio did manage to win the corona muralis (an honor awarded to the first soldier who scaled the wall of an enemy), and, on a mission to obtain reinforcements in Africa, he witnessed a major battle between the Numidians and the Carthaginians. Thus, in this single campaign, Scipio journeyed to both of the regions that would one day see his greatest victories: Spain and Africa. Later, in 149 and 148, during the Third Punic War, Scipio served again as military tribune. The high honors that he won during the early campaigns of this war prompted his election to the consulship of 147, though neither in age nor in magistracies already held did he meet the requirements for the office.

The task assigned to Scipio during the final campaigns of the Third Punic War was to besiege the city of Carthage itself. Despite fierce opposition from the local inhabitants, Scipio managed to breach the fortifications of the city; six days of bitter fighting from house to house ensued. The Carthaginians resisted the Romans with unexpected vigor, though they had only makeshift weapons with which to defend themselves. While the battle raged in the streets below, the Roman soldiers were surprised to discover that they were being pelted with rocks and roofing tiles cast down from the houses above. However, in the end, Carthage was set ablaze, and the Romans proceeded to demolish all remaining structures. As these orders were being carried out, many Carthaginians were trapped and buried alive in their own homes.

Some days later, as the final task of razing Carthage was completed, Polybius noticed tears in Scipio’s eyes. When asked the reason for these tears, Scipio replied that he was afraid lest someday the same order might be given for his own city. He then quoted a famous passage of Homer’s Iliad (c. 750 b.c.e.; English translation, 1611): “There will come a day when sacred Ilium shall perish/ and Priam and the people of Priam of the fine ash-spear.” Scipio’s sentiments notwithstanding, the site of Carthage was declared accursed, and its fifty thousand survivors were sold into slavery.

The years following the destruction of Carthage brought Rome once again into conflict with an old enemy: the Celtiberian tribesmen of Spain. For nearly ten years, from 143 until 134, a succession of Roman commanders had tried unsuccessfully to capture a Celtiberian fortress located on the hill settlement of Numantia. In the end, the Romans elected Scipio to be consul for a second time with the hope that he might bring this prolonged campaign to a successful conclusion. Scipio collected a force of nearly sixty thousand men, far outnumbering the four thousand Celtiberians who remained at Numantia. He then adopted the plan of surrounding the fortress with a ring of seven camps. The ploy was successful, although once again at an appalling cost of human life. The inhabitants were starved out, and some of them had even been reduced to cannibalism before their surrender. In any case, when Numantia finally capitulated to the Romans in 133, Scipio ordered the fortress to be destroyed and its survivors sold into slavery. Once again, this general who had been steeped in Greek culture since childhood felt compelled to resort to extreme measures in his efforts to subdue a Roman enemy. In order to understand this event, however, it is necessary to realize how formidable an opponent Numantia must have seemed at the time: Nearly a century after the fall of the city, Cicero could still refer, without fear of contradiction, to Carthage and Numantia as having been “the two most powerful enemies of Rome.”

While these military conquests were still under way, however, Scipio’s reputation was also on the rise because of his support for a group of artists and intellectuals who would come to make up the most famous “salon” in Roman history. The group was later to be known as the Scipionic Circle, though it is doubtful that this title was ever used in Scipio’s lifetime. The discussions of the Scipionic Circle covered a wide range of issues, and one of these discussions was later dramatized by Cicero in his dialogue titled De republica (51 b.c.e.; On the State, 1817). Though the membership in the Scipionic Circle varied from year to year, it eventually came to include such figures as Scipio, Polybius, the comic playwright Terence, the Roman legate Gaius Laelius, and the philosopher Panaetius. Membership in the group seems to have been based not only on these individuals’ talents but also on Scipio’s genuine affection for those with whom he discussed the issues of the day. Indeed, Scipio’s friendship with Laelius became so renowned in later generations that Cicero based his philosophical dialogue Laelius de amicitia (44 b.c.e.; On Friendship, 1481) on Laelius’s supposed recollections of Scipio shortly after his death.

In 129, Scipio, on the verge of being given an important new position in the Roman government, was found dead in his bed. He had been in perfect health, it was said, only the night before. As a result, no one knew whether he had been murdered or had died of an illness. Indeed, the question was so vexing that it was still being debated even in the time of Cicero. At first, suspicions fell on Gaius Papirius Carbo, a keen supporter of the reformer Tiberius Gracchus and a politician known for his oratorical ability. Carbo had been tribune in 131 and had proposed that tribunes be eligible for reelection year after year. Scipio had opposed this measure and led the fight against it. It is possible, therefore, that this political struggle eventually cost Scipio his life.

Significance

While his contemporaries probably believed that Scipio Aemilianus would best be remembered for his military conquests and the political reputation of his family, scholars of later ages have come to view Scipio in a different light, as the center of the Scipionic Circle more than as a conquering general. Though Scipio destroyed Carthage, it was his adoptive grandfather, the defeater of Hannibal, whose name became tied to that city. Though Scipio consolidated Roman rule in Spain, it was Cato the Elder—who had tried and failed to accomplish the same task—whose military vision for Rome has remained clearer throughout the succeeding generations.

The Scipio who is recalled today is thus the Scipio of Cicero’s dialogues: the student of Greek civilization, the friend of Polybius and Laelius, the magnet for Roman intellectuals of his time. While this is not an inaccurate picture, it is a picture that is largely incomplete. It is important, therefore, that Scipio Aemilianus be remembered not only as the man who wept and quoted Homer at the fall of Carthage but also as the victorious strategist who brought about the city’s destruction.

Bibliography

Astin, A. E. Scipio Aemilianus. Reprint. Oakville, Conn.: Oxbow Books, 2002. An accurate study of Scipio Aemilianus. Contains complete biographical data on Scipio, including references to all ancient sources. Family trees of the Aemilii Paulli and the Scipiones are provided. Includes extensive and well-chosen bibliography.

Brown, Ruth Martin. A Study of the Scipionic Circle. Scottdale, Pa.: Mennonite Press, 1934. Still the most complete and readable analysis of the Scipionic Circle. Includes information on the history and nature of the Scipionic Circle, its members during various periods in its development, and its influence in Roman society. Brown’s book is helpful in tracking down many primary sources; two appendices listing the members of the Scipionic Circle in tabular and chronological form are still useful.

Cicero. Cicero’s “Republic.” Edited by J. G. F. Powell. London: Institute of Classical Studies, University of London, 2001. English translation includes index and bibliography.

Cicero. “On Friendship” and the “Dream of Scipio.” Edited by J. G. F. Powell. Oakville, Conn.: David Brown Book Company, 1991. The Scipio of Cicero’s dialogues is shown to be a student of Greek civilization, the friend of Polybius and Laelius, and the magnet for Roman intellectuals of his time.

Earl, D. C. “Terence and Roman Politics.” Historia 11 (1962): 469-485. Earl demonstrates that the political views—or lack thereof—of Terence can be traced directly to his participation in the Scipionic Circle and the Hellenic influence on that body.

Scullard, H. H. “Roman Politics.” Journal of Roman Studies 50 (1960): 59-74. Scullard examines the policies of Scipio and those in his immediate circle. The article is valuable for those interested in tracing the rise of the Roman reform movement before the time of Tiberius Gracchus.