Tom Holland

Right.

And I think, you know, the very range of honours that he's got, you know, his titles, Princeps, Imperator, they generate jealousy, I think.

And there is one person in particular who really detests him.

And this is a guy we met traveling with the Roman fleet to Africa from Sicily.

And this is the erstwhile quaestor, the paymaster in Scipio's army, M. Porcius Cato, this man who was Scipio's opposite in every way.

And to quote one of his later biographers.

As Scipio's quaestor during the war in Africa, Cato was appalled by Scipio's habitual extravagance and how ready he was to lavish money on his soldiers.

And he's appalled both because it's a waste of money, which Cato doesn't approve of, but also because I think the sense that perhaps Scipio is buying the favour of his soldiers.

And again, Cato is very, very disapproving of this.

Yeah, so it's good to have women back on the show, isn't it?

No, because doctors are Greek and both his wife and his children then die.

but Cato's unapologetic.

He'd rather have them dead than use a Greek doctor.

So Scipio has been in charge of a campaign in Spain where he's been doing all this, you know, carrying his own armour and stuff.

And it's very successful.

And when he returns to Rome in 194, he is awarded a triumph.

And I think that he feels, well, I've made my name now, and he's ready to bring his enmity with Scipio out into the open.

And so this means that Scipio now has a rival who can kind of provide a counterweight to Scipio's prestige in the Senate.

Something else that is slightly putting Scipio's luster into shade is developments in the Eastern Mediterranean.

which we have not yet talked about in this series.