The triumph was not just an honor; it was the ultimate in Roman political pageantry. A returning general would enter Rome along with his victorious troops and the spoils of war and follow a ritualized path to the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. Along the way the citizens of Rome would behold the gold, silver, jewels, exotic artifacts, trophies, and slaves accumulated by the legions during the campaign. When the parade was over the triumphant general often hosted banquets and games—the more memorable and exotic, the better. Every Roman leader jockeyed to be awarded a triumph, but not everyone got one. It is a testament to Mummius’s ability and political connections that this novus homo paraded through Rome in triumph. If Mummius decided to run for consul, his name was now known far and wide.34
IF THE NOVUS homo Mummius needed methodical and steady steps to climb the cursus honorum, the patrician nobile Scipio Aemilianus simply breezed along without a care in the world. Aemilianus was elected quaestor around 155, but prior to his consulship that was the only official magistracy he held. In 151, he volunteered to accompany the consul to Spain, where further revolts necessitated continued military engagement. While in Spain Aemilianus developed a reputation for courage and physical prowess. Once he received an award for being first over an enemy wall; another time he rescued three cohorts of trapped legionaries, and then later he defeated a boastful Spanish warrior in single combat. This was the resume of a dashing young hero, and the Romans delighted in his exploits.35
As Aemilianus’s popularity grew, his destiny came into focus as the sleeping giant of Carthage woke from its fifty-year slumber. In 152, the aging Cato the Elder traveled to Carthage to arbitrate a dispute and was appalled at how splendid and wealthy Carthage had become since the end of the Punic Wars. Detecting newfound self-confidence, Cato returned to Rome and advocated immediate war to prevent the Carthaginians from ever again threatening Rome. In every speech he subsequently delivered in the Senate—no matter the topic—Cato famously concluded by saying, “furthermore Carthage must be destroyed.” The Senate finally succumbed to Cato’s nagging, and in 150 they found the pretext to attack. But the defensive fortifications of Carthage were impressive, and instead of destroying the city quickly the Romans found themselves mired in a two-year-long siege.36
Promised a quick and easy war, the citizens of Rome grew impatient at the Senate’s inability to finish the job. In 148 they went looking for a new leader. As the consular elections approached, a movement to draft the popular Scipio Aemilianus broke out in Rome. But there was a problem: Aemilianus was both too young for the job and had never served a magistracy higher than quaestor. According to both the letter and spirit of the law, Aemilianus was ineligible for the consulship. But the power of the Assembly was vast and by simple majority vote they suspended the qualifications, elected Aemilianus consul, and then dispatched him to Carthage. After arriving in the spring of 147, Aemilianus set to work putting the city to a methodical siege. He walled off the harbor to prevent Carthaginian boats from slipping the Roman blockade and built extensive siege works to finally bring the city to its knees.37
THE YEAR AFTER Aemilianus’s irregular consular election saw another irregular election as Lucius Mummius prepared to do the impossible. Helped by noble patrons and buoyed by the memory of his triumph, Mummius ran for the consulship of 146. It had been a full generation since the nobility let even a single ounce of new blood into their body, but Mummius was deemed worthy of the honor. When he won the consulship he was the first novus homo consul in almost forty years.38
The Senate dispatched newly minted consul Mummius to Greece, where Roman hegemony was once again being challenged. Since their victory over Macedon in 168, the Senate continued to play an influential but detached role in Greek affairs, acting as impartial arbitrators of political and economic disputes between various cities and kingdoms. But though the cities of the Greek east often sought Roman arbitration and guidance, that did not mean it always respected the Senate’s decrees. In 148, envoys from the Achaean League—an alliance of cities in central Greece—petitioned Rome to prevent disgruntled members of the league from leaving the alliance. But when the Senate decreed that any city choosing to withdraw could do so, the leaders of the Achaean League launched a war to stop the Senate’s will from being enforced. Of this inevitably doomed bid, the geographer Pausanias said, “Audacity combined with weakness should be called madness.”39
As if that was not enough, just as war in Greece was brewing a pretender to the Macedonian throne launched a campaign to restore the Kingdom of Macedon. When word of this latest threat from Macedon reached Rome, the Senate dispatched the praetor Quintus Caecilius Metellus, who made quick work of the Macedonian army—forever earning Metellus the cognomen “Macedonicus.” After this latest Macedonian uprising Rome decided they had had enough of Macedonian uprisings. Instead of returning sovereignty to the native inhabitants, the Senate annexed the whole region and created a new province of the Roman Republic called Macedonia.40
But while the Macedonians were crushed, down in Greece the Achaeans still held out. When Lucius Mummius arrived in the spring of 146, he found the last intransigent Achaeans holed up in Corinth. Mummius took over the siege and prepared for a massive final assault. Knowing they would not be able to withstand an attack, most of the Corinthians escaped out the back. Mummius allowed the inhabitants to flee, and when the city was mostly empty, he ordered his legions to break down the gates. Likely acting on senatorial instructions, Mummius ordered his men to collect every valuable object they could find, kill or enslave any residents they came across, and then systematically demolish the city.41
When word came back of Corinth’s destruction, the Senate dispatched a commission to Greece to settle affairs in the east for all time. After fifty years of trying to maintain the pretense of Greek liberty, the Romans finally gave up. Greece was merged with Macedon into the single Roman province of Macedonia. Greek liberty was dead. The Romans now ruled.42
BACK IN NORTH Africa, the Romans prepared for final victory over their greatest enemy. After a year of careful preparation, Aemilianus launched the final assault on Carthage in the spring of 146. The legions breached the walls and rushed into the city, but it took a week of bitter house-to-house fighting to subdue the last Carthaginian holdouts. When the city was finally conquered, Aemilianus likely acted on the same set of instructions that had been given to Mummius. He stripped the city of its wealth, enslaved any fighters left alive, and forcibly moved the remaining inhabitants inland. He then ordered Carthage put to flame. Soon enough a senatorial commission would arrive to annex Carthaginian territory into the domains of Rome and create a new province called Africa.43
But as he stood watching Carthage burn, Scipio Aemilianus reflected on the fate of this once great power. Overcome with emotion, he cried. His friend and mentor Polybius approached and asked why Aemilianus was crying—what better outcome could any man hope for? Aemilianus replied, “A glorious moment, Polybius; but I have a dread foreboding that some day the same doom will be pronounced on my own country.” According to Roman tradition Aemilianus then quoted a line from Homer: “A day will come when sacred Troy shall perish, And Priam and his people shall be slain.” Aemilianus knew that no power endures indefinitely, that all empires must fall, and that there is nothing mortals can do about it.44