11. avus ēius: his grandfather by adoption, P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus Maior, the conqueror of Hannibal.
12. Āfricānus iūnior: etiam ipse can, of course, refer only to Africanus, iunior being adversative; ‘Africanus (but) younger’; cf. note on Tarquinius iūnior, Bk. I, 8.
Ch. 13.
14. Pseudophilippus: “A pretender, calling himself Phillip, the son of Perseus, met with support from Thrace and Byzantium, and was accepted as king by the Macedonian nation. He even extended his rule over Thessaly by his victory over the Roman praetor Juventius.” Mommsen, p. 219.
15. praetorem: the praetor was one of the chief magistrates at Rome, next to the consuls. The number varied at different times. After Sulla’s time there were eight. The duties of the praetor were to administer justice, and in the absence of the consuls to act in their place. Praetors were also sent to govern provinces subject to Rome.
16. ad interneciōnem: ‘to the point of destruction.’
Ch. 14.
22. cēpit: after the battle of Leucopatra, in which the Achaeans were utterly defeated.
dīruit: “With Corinth fell the liberties of Greece; a Roman province took the place of the state that for six centuries had been the home of art and eloquence, the intellectual sovereign of antiquity; but though overcome and despoiled, she became the guide and teacher of her conqueror.” The light of Greece was extinguished.
27. pīctae tabulae: ‘pictures.’