Publius Cornelius Scipio

Publius Cornelius Scipio served as consul in 218 BC, the first year of the Second Punic War, tasked with confronting Hannibal in Iberia. Sailing from Pisa, he stopped at Massalia to resupply and discovered Hannibal had already crossed the Rhône; by the time Scipio disembarked and marched, Hannibal was gone. He sent his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus on to Spain with the army and returned to Italy, where he was defeated and severely wounded in a cavalry clash near the Ticinus, then watched the disaster at Trebia in December when his fellow consul allegedly ignored his advice. The Roman people kept faith: his command was extended, and by the following year he was back in Hispania with Calvus, winning ground against Carthage and shoring up Rome's position. The brothers campaigned until 211 BC, when Celtiberian allies bribed by Hasdrubal Barca deserted, and both Scipiones were killed - Publius at the upper Baetis, Calvus at Ilorci. At the funeral, a speaker's head reportedly caught fire mid-eulogy, which Pliny the Elder recorded as a divine call to vengeance.