CHAP. 34. (34.)—THE MAN WHO WAS PRONOUNCED TO BE THE MOST EXCELLENT.
Scipio Nasica is the only individual who, since the commencement of the Roman era, has been declared, by a vote of
the senate, confirmed by oath, to be the most excellent of
men.[1] And yet, the same person, when he was a candidate
for office, was twice stigmatized by a repulse of the Roman
people. He was not allowed, in fine, to die in his native
country,[2]—no, by Hercules! no more than Socrates, who
was declared by Apollo to be the wisest of men, was permitted to die outside of a prison.
1. We have an account of this in Livy, B. xxix. c. 14, and B. xxxvi. c.
40; it is also referred to by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 15.—B.
2. In consequence of the number of eminent men who bore the name
of Scipio, it is not easy, in all cases, to decide to which of them certain
transactions ought to be referred. In this instance, it has been doubted,
whether it was the same Scipio who was twice an unsuccessful candidate for
the consulship, and who died in a foreign country. Livy, B. xxxv. c. 24,
remarks, "P. Corn. Cn. F. Scipio" had been an unsuccessful candidate
for the consulship; and afterwards, B. xxxix. c. 40, that "P. and L. Scipio" were unsuccessful candidates for the office of censor. Val. Maximus
expressly states, B. v. c. 3, that it was Scipio Nasica, who, in consequence
of the little estimation in which he was held by his fellow-citizens, went
to Pergamus, and "lived there the remainder of his life, without feeling
any regrets for his ungrateful country."—B.