Scipio Africanus
Roman general and politician (236/235–183 BC)
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (236 – 183 BC) was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating Hannibal of Carthage, a feat that earned him the agnomen Africanus, the nickname the Roman Hannibal and recognition as one of the finest commanders in military history.
Quotes
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- I am mindful of human weakness, and I reflect upon the might of Fortune and know that everything that we do is exposed to a thousand chances. But, just as I should admit that I were acting with arrogance and violence if, before I had crossed over to Africa, I were to reject you when you were voluntarily withdrawing from Italy and, while your army was already on shipboard, you were coming in person to sue for peace, so now, when I have dragged you to Africa, resisting and shifting ground as we almost came to blows, I am under no obligation to respect you. Therefore, if to the terms upon which peace was formerly about to be made, as it seemed, you are adding some kind of compensation for the ships loaded with supplies that were taken by force during the armistice, and for violence done to my envoys, I have reason to bring it before the council. But if that addition also seems too severe, prepare for war, since you have been unable to endure a peace [bellum parate, quoniam pacem pati non potuistis].
- Reply to Hannibal's attempt to set terms for peace, prior to the Battle of Zama, as quoted in Livy. Books XXVIII-XXX With An English Translation (1949), Book 30, Ch. 31
- Variant translation:
- I am aware of the frailty of man, I think about the power of fortune, and I know that all our actions are at the mercy of a thousand vicissitudes. Now I admit that it would have been arrogant and headstrong reaction on my part if you had come to sue for peace before I crossed to Africa, and I had rejected your petition when you were yourself voluntarily quitting Italy, and had your troops embarked on your ships. But, as it is, I have forced you back to Africa, and you are reluctant and resisting almost to the point of fighting, so that I feel no need to show you any consideration. Accordingly, if something is actually added to the terms on which it seems probable that a peace could be concluded — some sort of indemnity for the forceful appropriation of our ships, along with their cargoes, during truce and for the violation of our envoys — then I have something to take to my council. But if you consider even that to be excessive, prepare for war, for you have found peace intolerable.
- Hannibal's War : Books Twenty-one to Thirty by Livy, as translated by John Yardley (2006), p. 600
- Prepare to fight — for, evidently, you have found peace intolerable.
- Let us make war, since evidently, you have found peace intolerable.
- According to Cato the Elder, Scipio Africanus was wont to say that he was never less at leisure than when at leisure, nor less lonely than when alone.
- Numquam se minus otiosum esse, quam cum otiosus; nec minus solum, quam cum solus esset
- As reported by Cicero in De Officiis; Book III, Chapter I
- Ingrata patria, ne ossa quidem mea habes.
- Thankless country, thou shalt not possess even my bones!
- Epitaph ordered by Scipio to be placed upon his tomb in Campania, as reported in Valerius Maximus Factorvm et dictorvm memorabilivm libri Novem, Lib. V, cap. iii; translation from Familiar Short Sayings of Great Men (1887), p. 477
Disputed
edit- I would rather save the life of one citizen than kill a thousand enemies.
- ...malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere.
- According to the Historia Augusta (fourth century), Roman emperor Antoninus Pius often repeated this saying of Scipio ("Antoninus Pius", 9.10); no earlier attribution to Scipio (or mention of the dictum itself, for that matter) is known.
Quotes about Scipio
edit- 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.
- B. H. Liddell Hart in Scipio Africanus : Greater Than Napoleon (1926) Preface
- Scipio had a clear grasp of what is just dawning on the mind of the world today — that the true national object in war, as in peace, is a more perfect peace. War is a result of a menace to this policy, and is undertaken to remove the menace, and by the subjugation of the will of a hostile State. "to change this adverse will into a compliance with our own policy, and the sooner and more cheaply in lives and money we can do this, the better chance of national prosperity in the widest sense. The aim of a nation in war is, therefore, to subdue the enemy's will to resist with the least possible human and economic loss to itself."
- B. H. Liddell Hart in Scipio Africanus : Greater Than Napoleon (1926) Ch. X : A Violated Peace, p. 153, using a quote of himself from one of his previous works Paris, or the Future of War (1925)
- ...in truth Publius Scipio was one, who was himself enthusiastic, and who inspired enthusiasm. He was not one of the few who by their energy and iron will constrain the world to adopt and to move in new paths for centuries, or who at any rate grasp the reins of destiny for years till its wheels roll over them. Publius Scipio gained battles and conquered countries under the instructions of the senate; with the aid of his military laurels he took also a prominent position in Rome as a statesman; but a wide interval separates such a man from an Alexander of a Caesar. As an officer, he rendered at least no greater service to his country than Marcus Marcellus; and as a politician, although not perhaps himself fully conscious of the unpatriotic and personal character of his policy, he injured his country at least as much as he benefited it by his military skill.
- The History Of Rome, Volume 2. Chapter 6. By Theodor Mommsen. Translated by W.P.Dickson.
- [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
- The History Of Rome, Volume 2. Chapter 6. By Theodor Mommsen. Translated by W.P.Dickson.
- We cannot separate the nobility of Scipio's moral conduct, throughout his career, from the transcendent clearness of his mental vision — they blended to form not only a great general but a great man.
- B. H. Liddell Hart in Scipio Africanus : Greater Than Napoleon (1926), Ch. X : A Violated Peace, p. 162
