Character of Paulus. ‘He was a model of the Roman of the best time. He was not, like his contemporary Cato, a onesided worshipper of everything old; but he was a Conservative in the best sense of the word, anxious to preserve old institutions, but at the same time to improve them.’—Ihne.
THIRD PUNIC WAR, 149-146 B.C.
Destruction of Carthage, 146 B.C.
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.
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.