Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/762

Rh 750 SCIPIO. severe and energetic measures, he laid siege to Numantia, which was defended by its inhabitants with the same courage and perseverance which has pre-eminently distinguished the Spaniards in all ages in defence of their walled towns. It was not till they had suffered the most dreadful extremities of famine that they surrendered the place in the following year, B. c. 133. Fifty of the principal inhabitants were selected to adorn Scipio's triumph, the rest were sold as slaves, and the town was levelled to the ground. He now received the surname of Numantinus in addition to that of Afri- canus. While Scipio was employed in the reduction of Namantia, Rome was convulsed by the dis- turbances consequent upon the measures proposed by Tib. Gracchus in his tribunate, and which ended in the murder of the latter. Although Scipio was married to Sempronia, the sister of the fallen tribune, he had no sympathy with his reforms, and no sorrow for his fate ; and upon receiving intelligence of his death at Numantia, he is said to have exclaimed in the verse of Homer. {Od. i. 47) : — " So perish all who do the like again." Upon his return to Rome in b. c. 132, he did not disguise his sentiments, and when asked in the assembly of the tribes by C. Papirius Carbo, the tribune, who entered upon his office at the end of this year, what he thought of the death of, Tib. Gracchus, he boldly replied that he was justly slain (jure caesum). The people, who had probably expected a different answer from theif favourite general and from the brother-in-law of their martyred defender, loudly expressed their disapprobation ; whereupon Scipio, with true aris- tocratic contempt fof the mob, exclaimed " Taceant quibus Italia novercaest." (Val. Max. vi. 2. § 3 ; Aurel. Vict, de Vir. lU. 58 ; Plut. Tib. Gracch. 21 ; Cic. Lael. 25.) The people did not forget this insult, and from this time Scipio lost much of his influence over them. Still there was a prestige attaching to his name which the people could not divest themselves of, and it was mainly owing to his influence and authority that the aristocratical party were able to defeat the bill of the tribune Carbo, by which the same persons were to be allowed to be elected tribunes as often as the people pleased (Liv. Epit. 59; Cic. Lael. 25). Scipio was now regarded as the acknowledged leader of the aristocracy, and the latter resolved to avail themselves of his powerful aid to prevent the agrarian law of Tib. Gracchus from being carried into effect. The socii had become already alarmed at the prospect of losing some of their lands, and Scipio skilfully availed himself of the circumstance to propose in the senate, in B. c. 129, that all dis- putes respecting the lands of the allies should be taken out of the hands of the commissioners, who were appointed under the agrarian law of Tib. Gracchus, and that the decision respecting them should be committed to other persons. This would have been, in effect, equivalent to an abro- gation of the law; and accordingly Fulvius Flaccus, Papirius Carbo and C. Gracchus, the three com- missioners, offered the most vehement opposition to his proposal. In the forum he was accused by Carbo with the bitterest invectives as the enemy of the people, and upon his again expressing his approval of the death of Tib. Gracchus, the people shouted out "Down with the tyrant." In the SCIPIO. evening he went home accompanied by the senate and a great number of the allies, and then retired quietly to his sleeping-room with the intention of composing a speech for the following day. In the following morning Rome was thrown into con- sternation by the news that Scipio was found dead in his room. The most contradictory rumours were circulated respecting his death, but it was the general opinion that he was murdered. Some thought that he died a natural death, and others that he put an end to his own life, despairing of being able to carry his proposal through the assem- bly on the following day ; but the fact, which is admitted by all writers, that there was no inquiry into the cause of his death, corroborates the po- pular opinion that he was murdered. Suspicion fell upon various persons ; his wife Sempronia and her mother Cornelia Avere suspected by some ; Carbo, Fulvius, and C. Gracchus by others (Appian, B. C i. 19, 20 ; Veil. Pat. ii. 4 • Plut. a Gracch. 10 ; Schol. Bob. in Mil. p. 283, ed. Orelli). Of all these Papirius Carbo was most generally believed to have been guilty, and is ex- pressly mentioned as the murderer by Cicero. (Cic. de Or. ii. 40, ad Fam. ix. 21. § 3, ad Q. Fr. ii. 3. § 3.) The character of Scipio is thus described by Niebuhr : — " Scipio is one of those characters who have a great reputation in history, which, however, in my opinion, is not altogether well deserved. He was, it is true, a very eminent general, and a great man ; he did many a just and praise- worthy thing ; but he made a show of his great qualities, and Polybius, his friend and instructor in military matters, who in other respects loves him very much, shows in his narrative quite clearly that the virtues of Scipio were ostentatious. Things which every other good and honest man does quietly, Scipio boasts of, because they are not common among his own countrymen. What dis- tinguishes him is an unflinching political character : he belonged to those who wished by all means to maintain the state of things such as it actually was. Every thing which existed had in his eyes an indisputable right to exist, and he never asked whether it was right or wrong in its origin, or how detrimental its injustice was to the republic itself." [Lectures on Roman History, vol. i. p. 293, ed. Schmitz.) Some deductions, however, should be made from this estimate of his political character. It is true that after his return from Numantia, he opposed with the utmost energy the measures of the popular party ; but previous to that time he had recognised the necessity of some concessions to the popular feeling, and had incurred the serious displeasure of his own party by supporting in B. c. 139 the Lex Tabellaria of the tribune L, Cassius Longinus (Cic. Brut. 25, de Leg. iii. 16). Some even went so far as to class him among the men of the people (Cic. Acad. ii. 5). With respect to the literary attainments of Scipio, there was but one opinion in antiquity. He was better acquainted with Greek literature and philosophy than any of his contemporaries, unless it were his friend Laelius. He spoke his own language with purity and elegance {omnium aetatis suae purissime locutu7n, Gell. ii. 20), of which we have a striking confirmation in the report, whether true or false, of his having assisted Terence in the composition of his comedies. He was one of the most dis- tinguished orators of his day (Cic. Brut. 21, tfc