Scipio Family And Expansion Of Rome In The Mediterranean(220 B.C.-130 B.C.)

Since the establishment of the Roman Republic,through the conquest of Italy and the“struggle of order”,Rome unified the Italian peninsula and formed a relatively mature political system in the 3rd century B.C.,which built a good political foundation for the external expansion in the middle period of the Republic.The upper common people and the aristocratic class combined to form a new nobility,which became the leading role on the political stage in the middle of the Republic.The Scipio family as one of the nobility continued to exert influence in the middle of the Republic,the most famous of which were Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus.The middle period of the Republic was an important transition period for Rome’s external expansion.During this period Rome began to expand abroad,turning the Mediterranean Sea into a Roman inner lake.As a nobility,Scipio family participated in the foreign expansion activities in the middle of the Republic and had a profound impact on the foreign policy of Rome in this period.During the Second Punic War,the elder Scipio brothers and Scipio Africanus advocated the “offensive strategy”,which caused heavy losses to Rome in the early stage and won the war in the later stage under the leadership of Scipio Africanus.After the war,Scipio Africanus signed a peace treaty with Carthage,which reduced Carthage’s power and created Spanish provinces.The Treaty was the embodiment of Scipio Africanus’ s “liberal”foreign policy,characterized by the preservation of the autonomy of the enemy,and the weakening of the enemy by winning wars and signing treaties,so that it could not threaten the security of Rome.Since then,Rome began to shift from passive defense to active defense strategy.Shortly after the Second Punic War,Rome intervened in the eastern Mediterranean.Although Scipio Africanus had original views on eastern issues,he did not always win the support of the Senate.He influenced Rome’s foreign policy during the Macedonian War by working with other nobility.Until the Syrian War,when Scipio Africanus and his brother went east and commanded the war.The peace treaty he signed was the embodiment of the "liberal" policy in Eastern affairs.In Eastern affairs,Rome changed from active defense to active intervention against potential threats,but remained within the framework of a "liberal" foreign policy.Upon their return to Rome,the brothers were beset by corruption,and Scipio Africanus retired to the field.The retreat of Scipio Africanus did not mean the decline of the Scipio family.Scipio Nasica and his son remained active in politics,and decades later Scipio Aemilianus became a central figure in Roman political life.In the Third Punic War,the Senate abandoned the "liberal" policy of Scipio Nasica Corculun,adopted Cato’s idea of destroying Carthage,and declared war on Carthage in 149 B.C.In 147 B.C.,Scipio Aemilianus was elected consul and led his army to the destruction of Carthage.His military and diplomatic prowess made him famous in Rome.The destruction of Carthage declared the bankruptcy of the "liberal" expansionist policy,and Rome completely turned to an aggressive expansionist strategy.The activities of Scipio family in Rome’s foreign expansion reflected the gradual change of Rome’s foreign policy from passive defense to active defense and then to active intervention in the middle of the Republic,until it completely changed to aggressive and offensive policy around the Third Punic War.Therefore,there was no consistent “strategy”for the expansion of “Roman imperialism”,and neither “defensive imperialism” nor“offensive imperialism” could simply summarize the long history of the Roman Republic’s foreign expansion.Scipio family’s activities in the external expansion had a profound impact on the politics,economy and culture of Rome at the same time.The exceptional elections of Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus to the consuls broke with Roman political tradition and set a precedent for careerists to seize political power in the late Republic.Scipio Africanus and Scipio Aemilianus became models of the nobility of the late Republic because of their illustrious fame.The wars won by Scipio’s family brought a lot of booty and vast land to Rome,but also brought about a series of social problems,such as the bankruptcy of small farmers,land annexation,and the widening gap between the rich and the poor.With their political influence,Scipio family protected a group of scholars who loved Greek culture and promoted the spread of Greek culture in Rome.