As Polybius said, he had already proved his physical courage at Ticinus and Cannae, and had rightly decided that there were more important things for a general to do. [Despite all this] mingled credulity and adroitness.. With quite enough of enthusiasm to warm men's hearts, and enough of calculation to follow in every case the dictates of intelligence, while not leaving out of account the vulgar; not naive enough to share the belief of the multitude in his divine inspirations, nor straightforward enough to set it aside, and yet in secret thoroughly persuaded that he was a man specially favored by the gods - in a word, a genuine prophetic nature; raised above the people, and not less aloof from them; a man steadfast to his word and kingly in his bearing, who thought that he would humble himself by adopting the ordinary title of a king, but could never understand how the constitution of the republic should in his case be binding; so confident in his own greatness that he knew nothing of envy or of hatred, courteously acknowledged other men's merits, and compassionately forgave other men's faults; an excellent officer and a refined diplomatist uniting Hellenic culture with the fullest national feeling of a Roman, an Accomplished speaker and of graceful manners - Publius Scipio won the hearts of soldiers and of women, of his countrymen and of the Spaniards, of his rivals in the senate and of his greater Carthaginian antagonist. petra-axolotl 3 May 2013. Mago had divided his regulars between the citadel and another hill, topped by a temple to the god of healing, Aesculapius, and facing towards the harbour. For there would always be a next time, and eventually Rome would win. Chapter 6. One suggestion is that the Senate had already decided to choose Scipio and then held a public vote to grant some official legitimacy to what was a highly unorthodox appointment. Livy claims that Scipio sent an order to these officers telling them to copy his manoeuvres, but, whilst an instruction or signal to begin these may have been sent, it would seem likely that the officers were already aware of what was expected from them. Keep checking Rotten Tomatoes for updates! As a leader, and a leader who had promised great rewards to the brave, he acted as a witness to his men’s behaviour. Later, in Africa, he would outwit and outmanoeuvre significantly larger Punic armies, demonstrating the same sort of superiority over them which Hannibal had shown over the Roman commanders who had first faced him in Italy. Hasdrubal and the Carthaginian army seem to have watched mesmerized as the Roman columns came towards them. Polybius elsewhere emphasized that the rewards lavished on those who performed conspicuous acts of bravery, and the punishments inflicted on the cowardly, were major factors in maintaining the Roman army’s fighting spirit and aggression. Once his troops had formed, he advanced more boldly than in the preceding days and did not halt until he was midway across the open plain. Some ladders broke apart under the weight of the soldiers climbing them, others were pushed away by the Carthaginians. In 211 BC the Roman armies in Spain, which until now had enjoyed steady success, were almost annihilated. Scipio’s victory may have been marginal, and Hasdrubal was soon to begin his journey to join his brother in Italy, but it may be that the Romans inflicted serious losses upon him and made that expedition much more difficult. Hannibal replied, ‘Alexander…because with a small force he routed armies of countless numbers, and because he traversed the remotest lands….’ Asked whom he placed second, Hannibal said: ‘Pyrrhus. Panic was almost immediate and the defence collapsed. Yet, even though the defenders had largely exhausted their ready supply of missiles, the Romans were still unable to fight their way over the wall. Before he left Rome he had come to the conclusion that the disaster of 211 had not been the result of any Carthaginian brilliance. Throughout this combat there was no serious fighting in the centre. The art of generalship does not age, and it is because Scipio’s battles are richer in stratagems and ruses—many still feasible today—than those of any other commander in history that they are an unfailing object-lesson to soldiers. When he advanced to camp near the enemy outside Ilipa – not far from modern-day Seville – the Roman general was faced with the problem of how to make use of the diverse troops at his command.21, As the Roman column began to construct its camp, Mago and Masinissa led the bulk of the Punic cavalry in an attack intended to disrupt and dismay the newly arrived enemy. What the fishermen could not tell him was how his men could fight their way over the north wall of the city once they had waded across to it. At one stage a dispute between the fleet and the legions over who had been first to reach the top of the city walls threatened almost to spill over into violence, until Scipio declared that the rival claimants, Sextus Digitius from the navy and the centurion Quintus Trebellius of the Fourth Legion, had reached the top at the same moment and gave each man the corona muralis.18. It is Africa’s turn to be devastated by fire and sword. Staying close to the fighting without getting directly involved, Scipio performed the two roles which were to characterize the Roman style of command for many centuries. Sie waren auch eng mit den Corneliern verwandt. When Scipio first intervened he showed loyalty to his own man, and supported Pleminius, who promptly threw off all restraint and executed the tribunes. He also met the elderly Laelius, who had been Africanus’ close friend. He also appears to have feared that an unsuccessful invasion of Africa might cause a revival of the Carthaginian war effort, as it had in 255. Permalink. For a while he managed to form a shaky line on the lower slopes of the high ground in front of his camp, whilst the Romans paused at the foot of the hill, quite possibly a sign that Scipio was keeping his men under tight control. In 210 Rome was at war with Macedonia, a conflict which ended in 205 but was renewed almost as soon as the Second Punic War was complete, so this correspondence must date to the beginning of the next century. His greatest military achievement was the defeat of Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC. Therefore the Punic commander had no hesitation in ordering the army to form up in the same order they had adopted on each of the previous days. Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was Hannibal's Roman nemesis during the Second Punic War. Over the next few days more stragglers came into the town, so that, by the time the surviving consul came to take charge, there was a force of over 10,000 men mustered there. The Second Punic War dominated Scipio’s life. Scipio Africanus africa. Ancient cities tended to be crowded, with very narrow streets running amongst a maze of buildings. The Roman army, just as much as the Carthaginian, was not a united and coherent force used to operating together. The main controversy concerns whether the phenomenon was a daily occurrence or the occasional result of the wind blowing from a certain direction. His own army was strong enough to face and defeat any one of these forces so long as he was able to give battle in reasonably favourable circumstances. When Roman fortunes began to revive many would seek alliance with Rome and provide Scipio with valuable contingents of troops, although he held firmly to his original resolve of not becoming over-reliant on their aid. Polybius once again viewed this as a cynical ploy.13. Scipio was victorious and Hannibal was defeated, and Rome, in the words of Mommsen, subdued the East “as the tempest overpowers the ship that has no one at the helm.” The end of Hannibal and Scipio came in the same year: 183 BC. Scipio’s response reflected the immense self-confidence which had marked his campaigns, but also revealed his modest political skills. However, a very high proportion of Rome’s aristocracy volunteered for service in this year, joining the great army which was intended to confront and overwhelm the enemy who had humiliated the Republic. The Romans accepted that they would sometimes suffer defeats, but refused to concede that these could ever be final. Yet it is his adversary, Hannibal, who has lived on in the public memory, due mostly to his daring march through the Alps with his elephants. It was a pitiful remnant of the 86,000 strong force which had marched out to battle on the morning of 2 August, but it was a beginning.5, In the aftermath of Cannae Scipio had personified the virtus expected of a Roman aristocrat, and especially a member of such a distinguished family, faced with adversity. Let us make war, since evidently, you have found peace intolerable. From outside he could neither see what was going on nor do anything to influence the course of events. Though the wall facing the lagoon was lower than elsewhere, it is unlikely that the attack would have succeeded if it had been held by even a small number of defenders. PLAY. At this distance Hasdrubal was at last able to see that the legions were not in their usual place in the centre, but were on the wings facing his weaker troops. And sword was not marked by especially subtle manoeuvring on either flank and placed the cavalry with. Is suggested that Scipio Africanus... 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