In pursuance of its policy of conquest a thousand of the noblest
citizens of Achæa were sent to Italy to meet charges preferred against
them. Among them was the historian Polybius, who became well acquainted
with Scipio Æmilianus, son by adoption of a son of the conqueror of
Hannibal. For seventeen years these exiles were detained, their numbers
constantly decreasing, until at last even the severe Cato was led to
intercede for them and they were returned to their homes. Exasperated
by their treatment they were ready for any desperate enterprise against
their conquerors, but Polybius endeavored to restrain them. The
historian went to Carthage, however, and while he was away disputes
were stirred up which gave Rome an excuse for interfering. Corinth was
taken with circumstances of barbarous cruelty, and plundered of its
priceless works of art, the rough and ignorant Roman commander sending
them to Italy, after making the contractors agree to replace any that
might be lost with others of equal value! With Corinth fell the
liberties of Greece; a Roman province took the place of the state that
for six centuries had been the home of art and eloquence, the
intellectual sovereign of antiquity; but though overcome and despoiled
she became the guide and teacher of her conqueror.

When Carthage had regained some of its lost riches and population, Rome
again became jealous of her former rival, and Cato gave voice to the
feeling that she ought to be destroyed. One day in the senate he drew
from his toga a bunch of early figs, and, throwing them on the floor,
exclaimed: "Those figs were gathered but three days ago in Carthage; so
close is our enemy to our walls!" After that, whenever he expressed
himself on this subject, or any other, in the senate, he closed with
the words "_Delenda est Carthago_,"--"Carthage ought to be destroyed!"
Internal struggles gave Rome at last an opportunity to interfere, and
in 149 a third Punic war was begun, which closed in 146 with the utter