non modo, understand 'non possit' after confici, and see [on 1. 25].
sententiam, sc. 'rogandam,' see [on 1. 9]. The consul would not pronounce a formal 'sententia' himself.
Quodsi, etc. Cicero's fears were realized five years later (58 b.c.), when Clodius carried a motion for his banishment.
Scipio. The elder Scipio restored the Roman supremacy in Spain during the Second Punic War, and invaded Africa. Hannibal returned from Italy to oppose him, and was defeated at Zama (202 b.c.).
alter Africanus. Cornelius Scipio (Aemilianus) Africanus, son of Aemilius Paullus, but adopted by the elder Scipio's son. He took and destroyed Carthage 146, Numantia 133 b.c.
Paullus. L. Aem. Paullus defeated and made prisoner Perseus king of Macedonia at Pydna, 168 b.c.
bis. He defeated the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae (102), the Cimbri near Vercellae on the Campus Raudius (101).
Pompeius, see [on 2. 11]. Note the rhetorical exaggeration in 'eisdem quibus solis cursus,' etc.