Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum (died 141 BC) was a Roman statesman and member of the gens Cornelia.

Corculum was the son of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica (himself consul in 191 BC), and was thus a first cousin once removed of the Roman general Scipio Africanus.

In 168 BC Corculum fought under Africanus's brother-in-law Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus in Macedon. He commanded one of the wings, as described by Livy.

Corculum became consul for the first time in 162 BC but he and his colleague Gaius Marcius Figulus abdicated when something went wrong with the auspices.

Corculum was elected censor in 159 BC with Marcus Popillius Laenas despite his abortive consulship. During his censorship he decreed that no statues of public officials may be erected on the forum without public approval of the Senate or the people.

During his second consulship in 155 BC, Corculum defeated the Dalmatians and was granted a triumph.

He became pontifex maximus in 150 BC (after a two-year interregnum after the death of the previous pontiff Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 187 and 175 BC) and princeps senatus in 147 BC. (Lepidus had served as both during his lifetime; Scipio Africanus had been chosen princeps senatus but was never a pontifex maximus).

During the period 159-149 BC, Corculum was a political opponent of Marcus Porcius Cato and pleaded that Rome not destroy Carthage. According to Plutarch's conjecture and Appian's later definite assertion, that was because Corculum feared that the destruction of Rome's main rival would lead to the decline of Roman morals and discipline. When Cato insisted "Carthago delenda est" (Carthage must be destroyed), Corculum responded that Carthage must be saved. However, even as princeps senatus, Corculum lost political influence when Carthage plunged into war with Massinissa of Numidia, a war which was against the provisions of the fifty-year treaty signed that Rome considered permanent (but that Greek jurists considered had expired). The reality was that Rome wanted to destroy Carthage, seeing how rapidly the city had rebounded from severe fines and years of warfare, and thus encouraged the Numidians to repeatedly attack Carthaginian territory. Nevertheless, Scipio Corculum was discredited as a champion of Carthage and his political opponent Cato was triumphant. Corculum lived through the Third Punic War (ended by his kinsman Scipio Aemilianus); Cato lived to see that war being declared.

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