Lucius Cornelius Scipio (consul 259 BC)

Lucius Cornelius Scipio (b. c. 300 BC), consul in 259 BC during the First Punic War was a consul and censor of ancient Rome. He was the son of Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, himself consul and censor, and brother to Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina, himself twice consul. Two of his sons and three of his grandsons also became famous Roman generals and consuls; his most famous descendant being Scipio Africanus.

As consul in 259 BC, he led the Roman fleet in the capture of Aleria and then Corsica, but failed against Olbia in Sardinia. The Fasti Triumphales record that he was awarded a triumph, but two other inscriptions on his career don't mention it. The following year he was elected censor with Gaius Duilius.

He later dedicated a temple to the Tempestates, locating it near the Porta Capena.

Epitaph

Rubbing of the epitaph.

Fragments of his sarcophagus were discovered in the Tomb of the Scipios and are now in the Vatican Museums. They preserve his epitaph, written in Old Latin:

L·CORNELIO·L·F·SCIPIO

AIDILES·COSOL·CESOR

HONC OINO·PLOIRVME·COSENTIONT R

DVONORO·OPTVMO·FVISE·VIRO

LVCIOM·SCIPIONE·FILIOS·BARBATI

CONSOL·CENSOR·AIDILIS·HIC·FVET·A

НЕС·CE PIT·CORSICA·ALERIAQVE·VRBE

DEDET·TEMPESTATEBVS·AIDE·MERETO

which has been transcribed and restored in modern upper- and lower-case script as:^[1]

Honc oino ploirume cosentiont Romai

duonoro optumo fuise viro

Luciom Scipione. Filios Barbati

consol censor aidilis hic fuet apud vos,

hec cepit Corsica Aleriaque urbe,

dedet Tempestatebus aide meretod votam.

and also transcribed in classical Latin as:^[2]

Hunc unum plurimi consentiunt Romae

bonorum optimum fuisse virum

Lucium Scipionem. Filius Barbati,

Consul, Censor, Aedilis hic fuit.

Hic cepit Corsicam Aleriamque urbem

dedit tempestatibus aedem merito.

A translation is:^[3]

Romans for the most part agree,

that this one man, Lucius Scipio, was the best of good men.

He was the son of Barbatus,

Consul, Censor, Aedile.

He took Corsica and the city of Aleria.

He dedicated a temple to the Storms as a just return.

This inscription is number two of the elogia Scipionum, the several epitaphs surviving from the tomb.

References

1. Wordsworth, John (1874). Fragments and specimens of early Latin. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 160.
2. Legaré, Hugh Swinton; Mary Swinton Legaré Bullen (Editor and Contributor) (1845). Writings of Hugh Swinton Legaré: Consisting of a Diary of Brussels, and Journal of the Rhine; Extracts from His Private and Diplomatic Correspondence; Orations and Speeches; and Contributions to the New-York and Southern Reviews. Prefaced by a Memoir of His Life 2. Burges & James. p. 68. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
3. Browne, Robert William (1857). A History of Greek Classical Literature (2 ed.). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea. pp. 52–53.