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Donate and receive a gift: http://don.storiavoce.com/ In 201 BC, a jubilant crowd celebrates a man, his face painted red, who stands on a chariot. In front of him, the magistrates, the senators, the entire elite of the Roman Republic. Behind them, the defeated, humiliated Carthaginians drag their defeat and shame. The acclaimed man then enters the sacred enclosure of Rome, the pomerium. This man is Scipio Africanus, the Roman military leader who won the peace after eighteen years of conflict with the Punic armies. Between 264 and 146 BC, Rome and Carthage confront each other during three periods of conflict; in 201 BC, thanks to Scipio, the Second Punic War ends. Who is the conqueror of Carthage, much less well-known than the adversary he fought, Hannibal Barca? In the procession, behind Scipio, as if to protect him from the excessive pride he might draw from his glory, his legionaries sing mocking verses to him. A slave carries a laurel crown above the hero's head, repeating in his ear: "Remember that you are mortal." Did Scipio remember this or did he, because of his successes, give in to hubris? The author: Laurent Gohary, a teacher at the Panthéon-Sorbonne high school and university, is a specialist in Roman history. He has just published one of the first French biographies of Scipio Africanus: Scipio Africanus, Belles Lettres, 2023, 416 p., €25.90. *** Facebook: /histoireetcivilisationsmag Instagram: /histoireetcivilisations Twitter: /storiavoce