Scipio seemed to be something of a prophet in 146 B.C., as the Roman Republic soon began to unravel. Rome had been rooted in local rule, agrarian pursuits, selfless citizenship, and republican virtues. Now they fought over land, wealth, luxuries, slaves, and the power that came with empire. Over the following century, political assassinations, mob rule, and the rise of tyranny became the norm. At the end of it, the fate of the republic was left to emperors who, for all intents and purposes, were kings posing as traditional Romans. At the end of the first century A.D., the historian Tacitus considered the death of the first emperor, Augustus. He wrote, “. . . the Republic had been revolutionized, and there was not a vestige left of the old sound morality. Stripped of equality, all looked up to the commands of a sovereign . . . as the end was near and new prospects opened, a few spoke in vain of the blessings of freedom, but most people dreaded and some longed for war. The popular gossip of the large majority fastened itself variously on their future masters…(READ MORE)

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