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The
suicide of the Carthaginian woman, Sophonisba, in 203 B.C., was one of
the most dramatic episodes of the final stages of the Second Punic War.
The story of her death, probably much embellished, was recorded by Livy
(30.12.11-15.11), Diodorus (27.7), Appian (Pun. 27-28), Cassius Dio
(Zonaras 9.11), and possibly Polybius (14.4ff.).
Sophonisba
was the highly attractive daughter of Hasdrubal Gisgonis (son of
Gisco), one of the few non-Barcid commanders who had achieved
prominence during the war, having been responsible for the defeat and
death of Scipio's father in 211. Sophonisba had been used by her father
as a political pawn in his attempts to win the support of the Numidian
chieftains, Masinissa and Syphax. She may have been betrothed to
Masinissa in 206, but when Scipio managed to lure Masinissa to the
Roman side, Hasdrubal shortly thereafter arranged her marriage to
Syphax. She pushed Syphax to fight with Carthage against Rome.
When
Syphax was defeated at the fall of his capital city, Cirta, by the
coalition of Laelius, Scipio's trusted lieutenant, and Masinissa, in
203, Sophonisba as well as Syphax himself, were among those taken
prisoner. Masinissa was completely overwhelmed by his encounter (or
reunion) with her, and married her immediately.
But
Scipio was probably apprehensive lest she should exercise the same
influence over Masinissa which she had previously done over Syphax and
refused to ratify this arrangement, and, upbraiding Masinissa with his
weakness, insisted on the immediate surrender of the princess as Roman
war booty so she could be taken to Rome.
Unable
to resist this command, the Numidian king in his distress spared her
the humiliation of captivity by sending her a bowl of poison, which she
drank without hesitation, and thus put an end to her own life (Livy,
xxix. 23; xxx. 3-15; Polyb. xiv. 1, 7; Zonar.ix. 11-13).
As
for Sophonisba, none of our sources mentions explicitly that Scipio
intended that she appear with Syphax and other prominent prisoners in
the triumphal parade. In Livy's account (30.14.9-10) Scipio may imply
that this was his intention, saying that Sophonisba was included among
the praeda populi Romani and that she would have to be sent to Rome to
have her case decided by the Senate and Roman people. Zonaras' summary
of Dio's account may also suggest that Sophonisba, by her death,
avoided being paraded in triumph. As Masinissa presents her with the
liberating poison, he dramatically declares his own willingness to die
in her place if that would guarantee her "liberty, and freedom from
outrage". The outrage to which Masinissa refers might, of course, be
rape or other physical violence, though that seems unlikely given
Scipio's well known civilized treatment of female prisoners. Rather,
the outrage implicit seems strongly associated with the degradations
heaped on those who were led in triumph. This interpretation of
Masinissa's concerns seems confirmed by a passage in one of the
homilies of St. John Chrysostomus which virtually defines the triumph
in terms of the humiliations suffered by prisoners led in the
procession.
Though
Polybius twice alludes to the marriage of Sophonisba and Syphax
(14.1.4; 7.6) in his lengthy description of Laelius' operations against
the Numidian chieftain, nowhere in the extant portions of Polybius'
text is Sophonisba actually mentioned by name, nor is it certain just
how much of her story was contained in his account. Walsh and Dorey
(n.1) believe that Polybius, who had actually met Masinissa (9.25), was
the original source from which many of the details found in later
accounts derive. This view is contested. Zonaras (9.11.1, reflecting
Dio fr. 57.51), Appian (Lib. 10), and Diodorus (27.7) all suggest that
Sophonisba was first betrothed to Masinissa. Livy (30.12.11) implies
that she first met Masinissa only at the time of her capture, in the
company of Syphax, in 203.
Polybius
twice (14.1.4; 7.6) refers to Sophonisba by the diminutive, which,
though it may not have been intended in a derogatory tone, none the
less, does not suggest an heroic description. In the second of these
passages Polybius ridicules Syphax for having less courage than even
his "child bride". |
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