General Notes

L. cornelius scipio barbatus, the son of Cnaeus, as we learn from his epitaph. He was consul b. c. 298, with Cn. Fulvius Maximus Cen-tumalus, carried on war against the Etruscans, and defeated them near Volaterrae. In the following year, b. c. 297, he served as legate under the con­sul Q. Fabius Maximus, against the Samnites (comp. Frontin. ii. 4. § 2). In b. c. 295 he again served under the consuls Fabius Maximus and Decius Mus, with the title of propraetor, in the great cam­paign of that year against the Gauls, Etruscans, and Samnites. In b. c. 293 he again fought, under L. Papirius Cursor, in the campaign which brought the Samnite war to a close (Liv. x. 11, 12,14, 25, 26, 40, 41). This is the narrative of Livy, but we have a very different account of his exploits in the epitaph on his tomb, which says nothing of his victory in Etruria, but speaks of his conquests in Samnium and Apulia.* Niebuhr supposes that his conquests in Samnium and Apulia were made n b. c. 297, when he was the legate of Fabius Maximus (Niebuhr, Hist, of Rome, vol. iii. pp. 363—366, 378). This Scipio was the great-grand-father of the conqueror of Hannibal. The genealogy of the family can be traced with more certainty from this time.  * The epitaph on the tomb of this Scipio is the first contemporary record of a Roman which has reached our times. We subjoin a copy of it taken from Orelli (Inscr. No. 550):  CORNELIVS LVC1VS SCIPIO BARBATVS GNAIVOD PATRE II PROGNATVS FORTIS VIR SAPIENSQVE QVOIVS FORMA V1RTVTEI PARISVMA || FVIT CONSOL CENSOR AIDILIS QVEI FVIT APVD VOS TAVRASIA CISAVNA || SAMNIO CEPIT SVBIGIT OMNE LOVCANA OPSIDESQVE ABDOVCIT.  In more modern Latin this inscription might thus be written : —" Cornelius Lucius Scipio Barbatus, Cnaeo patre prognatus, fortis vir sapiensque, cujus forma virtuti parissuma fuit, Consul, Censor, Aedi-lis, qui fuit apud vos, Taurasiam, Cisaunam (in) Samnio cepit, subigit omnem Lucaniam, obsidesque abducit." [Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology III:741]