• PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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    19 days ago

    Explanation: Scipio Africanus was the Roman general who defeated the Carthaginian general Hannibal, effectively ending the Second Punic War. Years later they met at the feast of a neutral king, and ended up talking a bit about old times and who they considered the best military commander of all time (Hannibal said, “Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus of Epirus, and myself, in that order”). Hannibal even invited Scipio to come stay with him while they were both there, but Scipio had to decline, citing that he would love to, but that his fellow Romans would view such a thing with suspicion.

      • PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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        19 days ago

        Betrayed, more like.

        Hannibal was sold out by the Carthaginian Senate-equivalent for being an anti-corruption crusader. He escaped Carthage and spent the rest of his life as a mercenary commander, often chased by the agents of the Roman Republic who still feared him and wanted him dead. He died during one such pursuit - variously, either by suicide or by nicking himself and getting an infection.

        Scipio Africanus was wildly popular amongst the plebs, but distrusted by the conservative elites. Put up against an unrelentingly malicious opposition, Scipio eventually tired of the cutthroat politics and bowed out to his country estate, where he died of natural causes in old age. It’s said that he had written on his tomb (outside of Rome), ‘Ungrateful fatherland, you will not even have my bones’.