(consul 259 BC)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007) 

Lucius Cornelius Scipio (b. c. 300 BC), consul in 259 BC during the First Punic War was a consul and censor of ancient Rome. He was the son of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, himself consul and censor, and brother to Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, himself twice consul. Two of his sons and three of his grandsons also became famous Roman generals and consuls; his most famous descendant being Scipio Africanus.

As consul in 259 BC, he led the Roman fleet in the capture of Aleria and then Corsica, but failed against Olbia in Sardinia. The Fasti Triumphales record that he was awarded a triumph, but two other inscriptions on his career don't mention it. The following year he was elected censor with Gaius Duilius.

He later dedicated a temple to the Tempestates, locating it near the Porta Capena.

Epitaph[edit]

Rubbing of the epitaph. Fragments of his sarcophagus were discovered in the Tomb of the Scipios and are now in the Vatican Museums. They preserve his epitaph, written in Old Latin: L·CORNELIO·L·F·SCIPIOAIDILES·COSOL·CESORHONC OINO·PLOIRVME·COSENTIONT RDVONORO·OPTVMO·FVISE·VIROLVCIOM·SCIPIONE·FILIOS·BARBATICONSOL·CENSOR·AIDILIS·HIC·FVET·AНЕС·CE PIT·CORSICA·ALERIAQVE·VRBEDEDET·TEMPESTATEBVS·AIDE·MERETO which has been transcribed and restored in modern upper- and lower-case script as:[1] Honc oino ploirume cosentiont Romaiduonoro optumo fuise viroLuciom Scipione. Filios Barbaticonsol censor aidilis hic fuet apud vos,hec cepit Corsica Aleriaque urbe,dedet Tempestatebus aide meretod votam. and also transcribed in classical Latin as:[2] Hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romaebonorum optimum fuisse virumLucium Scipionem. Filius Barbati,Consul, Censor, Aedilis hic fuit.Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque urbemdedit tempestatibus aedem merito. A translation is:[3] Romans for the most part agree,that this one man, Lucius Scipio, was the best of good men.He was the son of Barbatus,Consul, Censor, Aedile.He took Corsica and the city of Aleria.He dedicated a temple to the Storms as a just return. This inscription is number two of the elogia Scipionum, the several epitaphs surviving from the tomb.

References[edit]

1.Jump up ^ Wordsworth, John (1874). Fragments and specimens of early Latin. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 160. 2.Jump up ^ Legaré, Hugh Swinton; Mary Swinton Legaré Bullen (Editor and Contributor) (1845). Writings of Hugh Swinton Legaré: Consisting of a Diary of Brussels, and Journal of the Rhine; Extracts from His Private and Diplomatic Correspondence; Orations and Speeches; and Contributions to the New-York and Southern Reviews. Prefaced by a Memoir of His Life 2. Burges & James. p. 68. 3.Jump up ^ Browne, Robert William (1857). A History of Greek Classical Literature (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea. pp. 52–53.

Lucius Cornelius Scipio (consul 259 BC)

Lucius Cornelius Scipio (b. c. 300 BC), consul in 259 BC during the First Punic War was a consul and censor of ancient Rome. He was the son of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, himself consul and censor, and brother to Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, himself twice consul. Two of his sons and three of his grandsons also became famous Roman generals and consuls; his most famous descendant being Scipio Africanus.

As consul in 259 BC, he led the Roman fleet in the capture of Aleria and then Corsica, but failed against Olbia in Sardinia. The Fasti Triumphales record that he was awarded a triumph, but two other inscriptions on his career don't mention it. The following year he was elected censor with Gaius Duilius.

He later dedicated a temple to the Tempestates, locating it near the Porta Capena.

Epitaph

Fragments of his sarcophagus were discovered in the Tomb of the Scipios and are now in the Vatican Museums. They preserve his epitaph, written in Old Latin:

L·CORNELIO·L·F·SCIPIO AIDILES·COSOL·CESOR HONC OINO·PLOIRVME·COSENTIONT R DVONORO·OPTVMO·FVISE·VIRO LVCIOM·SCIPIONE·FILIOS·BARBATI CONSOL·CENSOR·AIDILIS·HIC·FVET·A НЕС·CE PIT·CORSICA·ALERIAQVE·VRBE DEDET·TEMPESTATEBVS·AIDE·MERETO

which has been transcribed and restored in modern upper- and lower-case script as:

Honc oino ploirume cosentiont Romai duonoro optumo fuise viro Luciom Scipione. Filios Barbati consol censor aidilis hic fuet apud vos, hec cepit Corsica Aleriaque urbe, dedet Tempestatebus aide meretod votam.

and also transcribed in classical Latin as:

Hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romae bonorum optimum fuisse virum Lucium Scipionem. Filius Barbati, Consul, Censor, Aedilis hic fuit. Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque urbem dedit tempestatibus aedem merito.

A translation is:

Romans for the most part agree, that this one man, Lucius Scipio, was the best of good men. He was the son of Barbatus, Consul, Censor, Aedile. He took Corsica and the city of Aleria. He dedicated a temple to the Storms as a just return.

This inscription is number two of the elogia Scipionum, the several epitaphs surviving from the tomb.

Source :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucius_Cornelius_Scipio_(consul_259_BC)

Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina

Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina (lived 3rd century BC) was a Roman politician involved in the First Punic War.

Scipio Asina was a patrician member of the Scipiones branch of the famous Cornelii, a family with a history as old as the Roman Republic itself. He was son of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus and brother of Lucius Cornelius Scipio (consul 259 BC). Elected senior consul for the year 260 BC, Scipio Asina had the honour of commanding the first Roman fleet launched to the Mediterranean Sea.

While patrolling the waters of the Messina strait between Italy and Sicily with the first vessels, Scipio Asina received the information that Lipara, in the Lipari Islands, was about to change to the Roman side. Eager to secure such an important port and to cover himself with glory, he rushed to the islands without considering security. It is not sure if the Carthaginians planned the whole affair, but the Roman fleet was trapped in the harbor by Hannibal Gisco. Without naval warfare experience, the crews panicked and escaped to land, leaving the ships unattended and Scipio Asina to be made prisoner by the Carthaginians. Although there was hardly any fighting, the encounter is known as the Battle of the Lipari Islands.

His mishap earned him the pejorative cognomen of Asina ("ass", literally "female donkey", in Latin), given by political opponents. Neither the humiliation, nor that he was the first Roman admiral to lose a battle, ended his career; in 254 BC, Scipio Asina was elected consul for the second time and, with his partner Aulus Atilius Caiatinus, succeeded in the conquest of Panormus (Palermo, now capital of Sicily).

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Cornelius_Scipio_Asina

Chapter "Fall of the Scipios" Found In:

Yavetz, Z. (1994) Leaders and masses in the Roman world: Studies in honor of Zvi Yavetz. Edited by I. Malkin and W. Z. Rubinsohn. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Leaders_and_Masses_in_the_Roma...]