Le Conzeguenze della vittoria: Scipione e la riflessione sull'imperialismo romano in Livio

Abstract

The article aims at highlighting the central role played by Scipio Africanus in Livy’s reflection on Roman imperialism in the third and fourth decades. As is well known, in Books 31–45 Livy problematises the increasingly predatory character of Roman expansionism in the East, alluding to the changes imprinted by such expansionism on the Roman ethos. In the first part of the article, some specific aspects of these changes are brought into focus, with particular reference to those affecting military leadership, marked by a strong com- petition between magistrates and a growing personalism. In the second part, I illustrate the emergence of these aspects in the military rise of Scipio Africanus. Livy portrays Scipio as the representative of a new model of leadership, characterised by strong traits of heroism but also by ethical complexities that will prove decisive for Rome’s future decadence.