Introduction

Rome and Carthage had spent the years after the First Punic War dealing with their own problems. The focus of the two great powers would soon turn to each other once again, this time over Spain. This confrontation would be the spark for what is arguably the most important period in Roman history - the Second Punic War. Entering the war, Rome was a regional power on the rise, but still recognizably the same political entity that had emerged from the devastation of the Gallic-Sach 170 years before. After Scipio's final victory at Zama in 202 BC, Roman elites almost immediately began to lament the loss of Roman virtue and nobility.