Scipio

sip 1-o, a name of frequent occurrence in Roman history, especially in connection with the Punic Wars.

CNEIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO and PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO were brothers. Both were consuls. The latter was defeated by Hannibal at the passage of the Rhone and later at the Ticinus. He won a victory over the Carthaginian fleet, gaining command of the Mediterranean. The brothers were slain in a disastrous battle in Spain in 212 or 211 B. C.

PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO (234-183 B. C.), son of the preceding Scipio of the same name, is known in history as Scipio Africanus Major. He saved his father's life at the passage of the Ticinus by Hannibal, and succeeded his father in command in Spain. He reduced that province to tolerable order, and returned to Rome toward the close of Hannibal's campaign in Italy. In 207 he stood for the consulship and was placed in chief command of the armies. He "carried the war into Africa," forced Hannibal to return home, and defeated him utterly in the decisive battle of Zama. Scipio was content with the crippling of Carthage. He did not share the opinion of Cato that "Carthage must be destroyed." Scipio and Hannibal were the great military geniuses of the age, and regarded each other with the highest respect. This Scipio was the father of the celebrated Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi.