38.53
He
followed this up by an indignant speech: Is Scipio, the conqueror of Africa,
to stand at your feet, tribunes? Was it for this that he broke and routed four
armies in Spain under the most famous generals that Carthage possessed?
Was it for this that he captured Syphax and crushed Hannibal, made
Carthage tributary to us, removed Antiochus beyond the Taurus -for his
brother Lucius allowed him to share his glory -was it simply that he might
succumb to the two Petillii, and that you might claim the palm of victory
over Publius Africanus. Will you allow the claim, citizens? Will illustrious
men never either through their own merits or the honours you confer, reach
a safe, and if I may say so, a sacred asylum where their old age may rest, if
not venerated, at least inviolate?" His resolution and the speech which
followed it had their effect upon the other tribunes, even upon the
prosecutors, who said that they would deliberate as to what their right and
duty demanded. After the Assembly broke up, a meeting of the senate was
held. Here a most hearty vote of thanks to Tiberius Gracchus was passed by
the whole order, especially the men of consular rank and the elder senators,
for having placed the interests of the State before his own private feelings,
and the Petillii were taunted with wanting to shine by darkening another's
reputation and enrich themselves by a triumph over Africanus. After this
nothing more was said about proceedings against Scipio. He passed his life
at Liternum without any wish to return to the City, and it is said that on his
death-bed he gave orders that he should be buried and his monument set up
there, so that there might be no funeral rites performed for him by his
ungrateful country. He was an extraordinary man, more distinguished,
however in the arts of war than in those of peace. The earlier part of his life
was more brilliant than the later; as a young man he was constantly engaged
in war; with advancing years the glory of his achievements faded, and there
was nothing to call forth his genius. What additional lustre did his second
consulship confer as compared with his first, or even his censorship? What
further distinction did he gain during his subordinate command in Asia,
rendered useless through bad health and saddened by the misfortune which
overtook his son? Then, again, after his return he was under the necessity of
either standing his trial or of absenting himself from his native city. Still, he
alone won the unique glory of bringing the war with Carthage to a close, the
greatest and most serious war that the Romans have ever waged.
