Manilio deinde consule terra marique fervebat obsidio. Operti portus,
nudatus est primus et sequens, iam et tertius murus, cum tamen Byrsa,
quod nomen arci fuit, quasi altera civitas resistebat. Quamvis
profligato urbis excidio tamen fatale Africae nomen {5} Scipionum
videbatur. Igitur in alium Scipionem conversa respublica finem belli
reposcebat. Sed quem ad modum maxime mortiferi morsus solent esse
morientium bestiarum, sic plus negoti fuit cum semiruta Carthagine quam
cum integra. Compulsis {10} in unam arcem hostibus portum quoque mari
Romanus obstruxerat. Illi alterum sibi portum ab alia urbis parte
foderunt, nec ut fugerent; sed qua nemo illos nec evadere posse
credebat, inde quasi enata subito classis erupit, cum interim iam
diebus, {15} iam noctibus nova aliqua moles, nova machina, nova
perditorum hominum manus quasi ex obruto incendio subita de cineribus
flamma prodibat. Deploratis novissime rebus triginta sex milia virorum
se dederunt quod minus credas--duce Hasdrubale. {20}
FLORUS, II. xv. 11-17 (sel.).
+Context.+ An Embassy was sent from Rome in 157 B.C. to inquire into the
affairs of Africa. Among its members was M. Porcius Cato, who,
astonished and alarmed at the flourishing condition of Carthage,
returned to Rome with the firm conviction that Carthage must be
destroyed--_delenda est Carthago_. A pretext was soon found in the war
(151 B.C.) between Carthage and Masinissa, King of Numidia, the ally of
Rome. Though the Carthaginians surrendered all their arms and munitions
of war, Rome declared that they would have to leave their city and
settle ten miles from the sea. The Carthaginians resolved to die rather
than give up the sacred soil of their country.
[Linenotes:
5. +profligato+ = _almost finished_.
6. +in alium Scipionem+, i.e. P. Corn. Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
Minor, the younger son of Aemilius Paulus (of Pydna) and adopted by
P. Scipio, the son of the conqueror of Hannibal.
12. +alterum portum+, i.e. they pierced the narrow strip of land
separating the round naval port (Cothon) from the sea.
18. +deploratis+ = _was looked upon as lost_, lit. _wept for
bitterly_.
20. +duce Hasdrubale:+ ‘Hasdrubal seems to have deserved the name of
_the last Carthaginian_ in the best sense of the word, as a
representative of the intensity of the strength, endurance, and
patriotism of his race.’ --Ihne.]
‘The plough was drawn over the site of destroyed Carthage, and a solemn
curse was pronounced against anyone who should ever undertake to build a
new town on that spot.’ --Ihne.
+Africa made a Roman Province.+
C49
WAR WITH ANDRISCUS AND THE ACHAEANS, 148-146 B.C.
_Destruction of Corinth (L. Mummius Achaicus), 146 B.C._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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