Scipio Africanus
historical figure · 8 works · 11 mentions · 16 anchored passages
Africanus · Scipio · the elder Africanus · Africanus the elder · Publius Africanus · Scipio Africanus the elder · that terror of Carthage
spoken of as
1 expressionScipio Africanus the Elder3 mentions
On Moral Ends (Latin) · On the Commonwealth (Latin) · Stoic Paradoxes (Latin)
For what man given over to pleasures, what man inflamed by the fires of desires, in attaining those things which he had most keenly desired, do we think is flooded with so great a gladness as either the elder Africanus when Hannibal was conquered, or the younger when Carthage was overthrown?
in the texts
On Moral Ends
Roman general honored with a triumph, used as a test case for whether Stoic restrictions on the words 'virtue' and 'good fortune' match ordinary political language.
Or could the senate, when it decreed a triumph to Africanus, speak of 'his virtue' or 'his good fortune,' if neither virtue can be said to be in any but the wise man, nor good fortune truly?
For what man given over to pleasures, what man inflamed by the fires of desires, in attaining those things which he had most keenly desired, do we think is flooded with so great a gladness as either the elder Africanus when Hannibal was conquered, or the younger when Carthage was overthrown?
The Rights of War and Peace
Roman general cited jointly with Lucius Aemilius Paulus on the proper timing for battle.
Scipio Africanus, and Lucius Aemilius Paulus used to speak in terms not inapplicable to this subject, for they said “it was never right to try the event of battle, but under extreme necessity, or favourable circumstances.
The device, by which Asdrubal extricated his army from the Ausetanian forest, was of this kind, and by the same means Scipio Africanus, the elder, gained a perfect knowledge of Syphax’s camp.
Letters to Lucilius
Roman general praised in Ennius's verses as owed unrepayable service
" For Ennius says that no one, neither citizen nor enemy, could render Scipio a reward worthy of his service.
"I do not envy Scipio;
But in the old days baths were both few and not adorned with any elegance.
On the Commonwealth
The elder Scipio Africanus (conqueror of Carthage), deceased grandfather (by adoption) of the younger Scipio, who appears to him in a dream.
Then Africanus:
But that you may be the more eager, Africanus, to guard the commonwealth, hold this for certain:
the soul stirred and exercised by these will fly the more swiftly to this seat and home of its own;
On the Nature of the Gods
Roman general and statesman, said to have died or been endangered within his own household.
why did his own household walls not shelter Africanus?
Stoic Paradoxes
Roman general who defeated Hannibal, cited among the exemplars of virtue over wealth.
What of Africanus the elder?
Consolation to Polybius
Roman general who rescued his brother from imprisonment yet could not save him from death; cited as exemplum.
Why should I tell you of Scipio Africanus, to whom the death of his brother was announced while he was in exile?
On Anger
Roman general who carried the war to Africa rather than pursuing Hannibal directly, cited as an example of strategic patience over anger.
Did he not, leaving Hannibal and the Punic army and all those who deserved his anger, carry the war over into Africa, so unhurried that he gave malicious men a notion of luxury and indolence?