The Conflict
Between Cato and Scipio
by Richard L. Trumbo,
St. Catherine's School
While Scipio was not mindless in his philhellenism,
Scullard notes, "Their life and habits show them [Scipio
Africanus and his brother Lucius] to have been among the foremost
supporters of the wave of Hellenism which was sweeping over Rome."7
Cassius Dio reported about an incident when Scipio was consul
and preparing to invade Africa from Sicily:
The Romans, learning of the treatment of
the Locrians, and thinking it had been due to Scipio's negligence,
were indignant, and in their anger immediately planned to remove
him from his command and to recall him for trial. They were further
exasperated because he adopted Greek manners, wore his toga thrown
back over his shoulder, and frequented the palaestra.8
It seems highly likely that Cato and his
supporters would associate Scipio and his circle with the negative
aspects of Greek influence upon Rome which they regarded as undermining
Roman character.
In addition to the cultural antipathy of
the two sides, there was also a serious factional dispute. Cato,
early in his career, sided with Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Cunctator.
Fabius and his political allies strongly opposed Scipio's military
and foreign policy strategies in the Second Punic War. Plutarch
reports that Cato opposed Scipio at that time because of his
rivalry to Fabius.9
When Scipio was elected consul and proposed to invade Africa,
Fabius
"did not hesitate to say or do anything
which he thought might dissuade his fellow-countrymen from adopting
his opponent's policy. He succeeded in convincing the Senate,
but the people believed that he was attacking Scipio out of jealousy
of his exploits. . . ."10
Plutarch himself evaluated the dispute
between Fabius and Scipio as going beyond merely policy disagreement:
It seems likely that Fabius' opposition
originally sprang from his instinctive caution and prudence and
that he was genuinely alarmed by the risks involved in Scipio's
strategy, which indeed were great, but that in the course of
time the effort to check his opponent's rising influence made
his attitude more violent and extreme and introduced an element
of personal rivalry and ambition into the conflict. He even tried
to persuade Crassus, Scipio's fellow-consul, not to hand over
the command of the army to his colleague but to lead it to Carthage
himself, if the decision to invade Africa were adopted, and he
also prevented the voting of any funds for the campaign.
Plutarch adds that Fabius also discouraged
young men from joining Scipio's army, and he alarmed the Senate
so much that they restricted Scipio to using only the troops
already in Sicily.11
Even when reports came to Rome of Scipio's successes in Africa,
Fabius tried to have him replaced.12
Silius Italicus, in his poem Punica, cites Fabius' opposition
to Scipio's proposal to invade Africa, ascribing to him the argument
that Rome should drive Hannibal out of Italy before attacking
Africa, lest Italy be left undefended before Hannibal's army.
Italicus adds that the older senators agreed with Fabius.13
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