Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History — John Shaqi
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
After these troubles he withdrew to his villa near Liternum, and it
was owing to the interposition of Tib. Gracchus that he was not
compelled to obey another summons. The estates of his brother Lucius,
however, were confiscated (B.C. 187), but the sum produced by their
sale did not make up the amount of the fine. His friends and clients
not only offered to make up the sum, but their generosity would even
have made him richer than he had been before; but he refused to accept
anything beyond what was absolutely necessary for his support.
Africanus never returned from his voluntary exile, and he spent the
last years of his life in quiet retirement at his villa. He is said to
have wished to be buried on his estate; but there was, as Livy says, a
tradition that he died at Rome, and was buried in the tomb of his
family near the Porta Capena, where statues of him, his brother
Lucius, and their friend Q. Ennius, were erected. The year of his
death is not quite certain; for, according to Polybius, he died in the
same year with Hannibal and Philopoemen (B.C. 183); according to
others, two years earlier (B.C. 185).
In judging of Scipio Africanus as a general, we may adopt the judgment
ascribed to Hannibal; but as a Roman citizen he is very far from
deserving such praise. His pride and haughtiness were intolerable, and
the laws of the constitution were set at nought whenever they opposed
his own views and passions. As a statesman he scarcely did anything
worth mentioning. By his wife AEmilia, daughter of AEmilius Paullus, he
had two daughters, one of whom married P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica
Corculum, the other, the celebrated Cornelia, married Tib. Sempronius
Gracchus, and was the mother of the two Gracchi, the tribunes of the
people.
CAIUS MARIUS
Extracts from "Caesar, a Sketch," by JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE, LL.D.
(157-86 B.C.)
[Illustration: Caius Marius.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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