802 
S C I 
S C I 
return to Rome, and would then even protect him from the 
ncessity of pleading his cause; adding some strong and 
severe reflections on the public prosecution of a man so 
venerable, from the very high services which he had per¬ 
formed for his country. This interposition was successful, 
and the generosity of Gracchus was rewarded by the hand of 
Cornelia, the illustrious daughter of Africanus: henceforth 
no mention is made of this great man; he probably died 
very soon after, at or about the age of 48. He desired to be 
buried at Linturnum, a town on the coast of Campania, to 
which he had withdrawn ; and he manifested his displeasure 
against his countrymen, by the epitaph which he ordered to 
be engraved on his tomb: “Ungrateful countrymen, you 
shall not possess my bones.” Livy speaks of him as a per¬ 
son more illustrious in his concerns in war, than for his con¬ 
duct in peace ; and he remarks, that little was added to his 
renown after the second Punic war, the glorious termination 
of which was justly ascribed to him. That the retirement of 
Africanus from public life was owing to inclination rather 
than necessity, may be inferred from a saying of his recorded 
by Cicero, that “ he was never more employed than when at 
leisure, nor less solitary than when alone." To this great 
general Hannibal, when in exile, paid the following compli¬ 
ment. Being asked his opinion as to the greatest com¬ 
manders of his time, and the order in which they should 
stand : “ The first,” said the Carthaginian, “ is Alexander, 
the second Pyrrhus, and the third myself.” And, said 
Scipio, “ If you had conquered me, in what rank would 
you have placed yourself?” “ In the first,” said Hannibal. 
SCIPIO (Publius jEmilianus), called also the Younger 
Africanus, was the younger son of Paulus JEmilius, but was 
adopted into the Cornelian family by Publius, son of the 
first Africanus. He served at the age of 17, in Macedonia, 
under his natural father; and during the war in Spain, in 
the year B. C. 151, when the report of the hardships suf¬ 
fered there deterred the Roman youth from enrolling their 
names in the new levies, he mounted the rostra, and in a 
spirited speech declared his own readiness to go in any qua¬ 
lity that the consuls should appoint. This conduct produced 
such an effect, that the levies were very quickly completed, 
and he accompanied them as a legionary tribune. For his 
great services at this period, he obtained a mural crowm, 
being the first in scaling the wall of a besieged town, and he 
slew, in single combat, a Spaniard of gigantic stature. The 
consul, Lucullus, then sent him to Numidia, where he w as 
when the third Punic war broke out, in the year B. C. 148; 
at the commencement of which, the Carthaginian general, 
Asdrubal, obtained some advantages over the Romans; and 
the whole consular army would probably have been lost, 
had not iEmilianus, with a small body of horse, kept the 
force of the enemy in check, while the legions were crossing 
the river. He aiterwards, by his valour and good, conduct, 
saved a party which was surrounded by the enemy ; and the 
whole of his conduct in this campaign was so extremely 
brilliant, that he gained universal reputation. On his re¬ 
turn to Rome he was chosen consul, being then 37 years of 
age; and the conduct of the African war, which ended in 
the destruction- of Carthage, was committed to him by a 
special decree. (See Carthage.) Scipio, on his return to 
Rome, was honoured with a magnificent triumph, and the 
name of the Second Africanus was conferred upon him. 
He deposited an urn full of the ashes of Carthage in the 
temple of the Capitoline Jupiter, as the most acceptable 
offering he could make to the Roman god. The integrity 
and disinterestedness of this great man, on the capture of the 
rival city, are universally acknowledged, and highly ap¬ 
plauded. On this occasion he convoked the Sicilians, who 
had been exposed to the pillage of the Carthaginians, and 
promised to restore to each city every relic of art, which 
should be recognised as having belonged to it. The Ro¬ 
mans having kindled a war with the powerful city of 
Numantia, in Spain, and broken a treaty which the consul 
Maneinus had made with it, in order to save his army, 
elected Scipio consul a second time, B. C. 134, and com¬ 
mitted to his management the war against the Nurnantines, 
In the course of the contest, he closely invested Numantia 
which was situated upon a hill, very difficult of access, and 
rejecting the submissive proposals of the citizens for peace, 
resolved to wait till famine should oblige them to surrender 
at discretion. His vigilance was exercised in obviating all 
attempts suggested by valour, reduced to despair; and when 
at length they were unable to hold cut any longer, they still 
resolved never to surrender themselves to the disposal of an 
inexorable foe, and set fire to their town, at the same time 
destroying themselves and their families; thus leaving nothing 
to grace the victor but an empty triumph, and the surname 
of Numantinus. 
During the contests carried on between the Gracchi and 
patricians, Scipio inclined to favour the latter party, and 
made himself unpopular by seeming to approve the assassi¬ 
nation of Tiberius Gracchus, though he was a very near 
relation. After this he retired to his country retreat, near 
Caieta, in company with his intimate friend, the second 
Laelius, his connection with whom is still more celebrated 
than that of the first Laelius with the first Africanus. After 
a time, he returned to Rome, where he opposed some uncon¬ 
stitutional measures of the tribunes, and for which he was 
accused of aspiring to the dictatorship. He was, however, 
supported by the senators and the great body of the people, 
and some important event was on the eve of taking place, 
when Scipio was found dead in his bed, in the year 129, B.C. 
He was supposed to have been assassinated, but the people 
would suffer no inquiries to be made as to the cause of his 
death. He was a great general, a lover and patron of letters, 
and a man of singular public integrity and private genero¬ 
sity. When he went to Africa, he was accompanied by the 
historian Polybius, and the philosopher Panaetius; and Te¬ 
rence is said to have been the companion of his retirement, 
and even to have submitted his comedies to the correction of 
him and Laelius. He shewed a total disregard for wealth, 
and an excellence of disposition, by relinquishing his in¬ 
heritance in favour of his mother, his brother, and sisters; 
and the whole property which the conqueror of Carthage 
left behind him was only 32 pounds weight of silver, and 
2| of gold. 
SCIPIO, a name given by the Romans to a baton, or 
sceptre of ivory, borne by the consuls as a token of their 
dignity. Under the republic, it was no more than a rod 
without any additional ornaments. Under the emperors, 
and principally those of Constantinople, it was surmounted 
with an eagle, and terminated by a bust, which represented 
the reigning emperor. 
SCIPIO, a post township of the United States, in Cayuga 
county, New York, on the east side of Cayuga lake; 180 
miles west of Albany. Population 7100. It is 10 miles 
square, and well cultivated. 
SCIQUITA, a river of South America, w hich rises in the 
vast plains which border the great river Amazons. It enters 
the Amazons by the north part, in Lat. 3. 7. S. 
SCIRA [S/ceifa, Gr.], a festival among the Athenians, 
otherwise called Scirrophoria. ' 
SCIREDUN, a village of England, in Devonshire, on the 
river Dart, between Dartmore and Ashburton. 
SCI'RE'FA'CIAS, s. [Lat.] A writ judicial, in law, 
most commonly to call a man to shew cause unto the court, 
whence it is sent, why execution of judgment passed should 
not be made. This writ is not granted before a year and a 
day is passed, after the judgment given. Cowcl. 
SCIRONA, a word used by some of the ancients to ex¬ 
press the autumnal dews. 
SCIRPO-CYPERUS. in Botany, Mich. Gen. 47. t. 31, 
was so called by that author, because, as he conceived, it 
had the heads, or flowers, of a Scirpus, and the stem of a 
Cyperus. Micheli distinguishes thirteen species of this sup¬ 
posed genus, all reduced by Linnaeus to Scirpus. See that 
article. 
SCIRPOIDES, Mont. Prodr. 17, with a figure, so called 
on account of a resemblance in the inflorescence to Scirpus, 
is a genus founded by Monti, on some of the androgynous 
Carices of Linnaeus, as vulpina , muricata , &c. See Carex. 
SCIRPUS 
