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164
Hereditary Genius
numerous progeny of illegitimate sons). Augustus was elected king out of
many competitors, and though beaten by Charles XII. was, nevertheless, a
man of mark. He was luxurious and licentious.
u. Count Koningsmarck was brother to Marshal Saxe's beautiful but frail mother.
He intrigued with the wife of George I. of England, and was assassinated. Was
a handsome dashing man, always in gay adventures.
ps. Madame Dudevant (Georges Sand), the French novelist. Her grandmother was
a natural daughter of Marshal Saxe.
Scipio, P. Cornelius; Africanus Major; conqueror of Hannibal, and scholar. The
greatest man of his age; perhaps the greatest of Rome, with the exception of
Julius Caesar. He was only 24 years old when appointed to the supreme
command of the Roman armies in Spain. The Scipio family produced many
great men, and to that family Rome was largely indebted for obtaining the
empire of the world.
F. P. Cornelius Scipio; a great general, but defeated by Hannibal, and finally
defeated and killed by the Carthaginian forces under Hasdrubal and Mago. G.
L. Cornelius Scipio; drove the Carthaginians out of Corsica and Sardinia.
S. P. Corn. Sc. Africanus; prevented by weak health from taking part in public
affairs, but Cicero remarks that with the greatness of his father's mind he
possessed a larger amount of learning.
His brother, L. Corn. S. Afr., is called “a degenerate son of his illustrious sire.”
S. Cornelia, who married Tiber. Sempr. Gracchus, was almost idolized by the
people. She inherited from her father a love of literature, and united in her
person the severe virtues of the old Roman matron with the superior
knowledge, refinement, and civilization which then began to prevail in the
higher classes of Rome. Her letters were 'extant in the time of Cicero, and were
considered models of composition.
2P. Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, bold defenders of popular rights; famous for
their eloquence and their virtues. Both were assassinated.
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