28.38
Such
is the record of Scipio's command in Spain. After handing over the charge of
the province to the proconsuls L. Lentulus and L. Manlius Acidinus, he set
sail with ten ships for Rome. On his arrival a meeting of the senate was held
at the temple of Bellona, at which he gave a report of all he had done in
Spain, how many pitched battles he had fought, how many towns he had
captured, and what tribes he had brought under the dominion of Rome. He
asserted that when he arrived in Spain he found four Carthaginian armies
opposed to him; when he. left, there was not a single Carthaginian in the
country. He was not without hope that a triumph might be accorded to him
for his services; he did not, however, press his demand for one, as it was
quite understood that no one had up to that time enjoyed a triumph who was
not invested with a magistracy. After the senate had been dismissed, he made
his entry into the City and had borne before him 14,342 pounds of silver and
a great quantity of silver coins, all of which he, deposited in the treasury. L.
Veturius Philo now proceeded to hold the consular elections, and all the
centuries voted amidst much enthusiasm for Scipio. Publius Licinius Crassus,
the Pontifex Maximus, was elected as his colleague. It is recorded that a
larger number of voters took part in that election than at any other time
during the war. They had come from all parts, not only to give their votes,
but also to get sight of Scipio; they flocked in crowds round his house, and
at the Capitol when he sacrificed the hecatomb which he had vowed to
Jupiter in Spain. They assured themselves that as C. Lutatius had brought the
First Punic War to a close, so Scipio would terminate this one, and as he had
driven the Carthaginians out of Spain, so he would drive them out of Italy.
They were marking out Africa as his province just as though the war in Italy
was at an end. Then followed the election of praetors. Two of those elected
-Spurius Lucretius and Cnaeus Octavius -were plebeian aediles at the time;
the others -Cnaeus Servilius Caepio and L. Aemilius Papus -were not
holding any office. It was in the fourteenth year of the Second Punic War
(B.C. 205) that P. Cornelius Scipio and P. Licinius Crassus entered on their
consulship. In the assignment of the consular provinces Scipio with his
colleague's consent took Sicily without recourse to the ballot, because
Crassus, as Pontifex Maximus, was prevented by his sacred duties from
leaving Italy; he therefore took Bruttium. The praetors then balloted for their
provinces. The City jurisdiction fell to Cnaeus Servilius; Spurius Lucretius
received Ariminum, as the province of Gaul was then called; Sicily fell to L.
Aemilius and Sardinia to Cnaeus Octavius.