Born Publius Cornelius Scipio in 236 BC. In November of 218 BC he commands cavalry against Hannibal, at the battle of Ticinus. His commandin' officer was his father who he rescued from certain death that day.
In August of 216, as a tribune he survives the battle of Cannae.
Appointed to command in Spain in 211 with proconsular powers. He captures New Carthage aka Cartagena in 209. In 208 he defeats Hasdrubal at the battle of Baecula. In 206 he defeats the Punics at the battle of Ilipa. Endin' Punic rule in Spain.
In 205 he is elected consul and raises a volunteer army. With which he defeats Hannibal, at Locri. In 204 he invades Africa. He defeats the Punics in 203 at the Battle of the great plains. To which Carthage summons Hannibal back to Africa to defend the homeland.
In 202 Scipio, defeats Hannibal at Zama, perhaps one the most brilliant devised battls of the ancient world. The positionin' of the Roman troops and the use of trumpets and coronets and loud noise to nulify the 80 elephents of the Punics. When the elephents fled from the sudden noise the majority had turned to the left and crashed into Hannibal's best cavalry. Upon seein' this Masinissa, a Numidian ally of Rome, charged his cavalry into the fray and drove the left wing of cavalry from the field. Elephents had also turned to the right and disrupted the Punic right wing cavalry. Laelius, seein' this also ordered a charge and drove this wing of cavalry from the field as well. This left Hannibal's protective coverin' on his flanks broken. Then the infantry met on the field in the middle and the battle went back and forth with it still bein' unresolved when Masinissa and Laelius, returned and fell upon the rear and cut down the Punics. One of the estimates is 20 thousand Punics died and around the same number taken captive. Romans loses are estimated at around 2 thousand.
It has been alleged that in a mettin' tween Scipio and Hannibal at Ephesus in 193 BC. Scipio had asked Hannibal whom he considered the 3 best generals of all time. To which he replied Alexander, Pyrrhus, and myself. To which Scipio, then asked what would ya have said if ya defeated me. To which Hannibal, replied that he would have placed himself before everyone.
In 201 BC, instead of capitolizin' off of his acclaim, Scipio decides to retire as a private citizen. He encured the envy and hatred of Cato the Elder, who undermined him at every turn. He finally was driven into virtual exile at Liternum, where he died in 183 BC.
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