The last two Punic Wars were characterized by an element of insanity extreme even for wars. Reasonable men were howled down or murdered, as homicide became an obsession. During the Second War, Hannibal conducted one of the longest, most brilliant futile raids in history: For fifteen years, he won every battle fought but ultimately failed because he could not sustain his siege of Rome. Finally, he had to withdraw to Carthage and was beaten at the battle of Zama in the year before our Lord 202. This was the high point in the history of the Republic.

However, during the fifty years leading to the next war, Rome became cowardly and insecure in attitude, harsh and base in spirit and mean and petty in action. This was a period when fear of the mighty, envy of the successful, arrogance of the righteous and greed of the rich led to an expansion of power abroad and the destruction of the plebes at home.

To begin with, the politicians feared successful military commanders, and specifically they feared the victorious general Scipio Africanus. Cato (234-149) led the attack against him, and the Senate actually became infuriated when the general's younger brother Lucius won a battle in Lydia in 190. It seems the Senators hoped their commanders would lose battles but somehow win wars.

While the Senators feared the generals, the oligarchy they represented resented any wealth but their own and thus envied the twice defeated but commercially successful Carthaginians. Eventually, fear yielded to envy and Rome embarked upon the third and stupidest of the Punic Wars—a trade war with a noncompetitor. The big winner was the hated enemy (the army), which defeated the nominal enemy (Carthage) in 146.

By this time, the Roman Army had become thoroughly professional. The embattled farmers who had once defended Rome had been replaced after the Second Punic War with soldiers whose interests differed from those of the citizens in that they owed their allegiance to their own leaders, who secured pay and plunder. Before the Punic Wars, the political leaders had courted the plebes: Thereafter, they uneasily courted the legions—imperial monsters of their own creation.

During this era, no one better personified Rome than Cato, and certainly any culture that could be represented by him had to have something wrong with it. He embodied the stern, stiff, brutal, stupid moral code which enabled Rome to defeat Carthage, but he was virtuous to a fault and considered the pursuit of the wicked the most noble calling of an honest man. In fact, his brutality stemmed from his strict adherence to traditional

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