Cornelius Scipio Salvito

Cornelius Scipio ‘Salvito’ (the agnomen Salvito was conferred on him due to his resemblance to a mime artist of the same name)^[1] was a minor member of the gens Cornelia who lived in the late Roman Republic.^[2] He was perhaps a descendant of Scipio Africanus, the Roman general who defeated Hannibal, through his second son Lucius Cornelius Scipio.^[3]

Salvito was, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, "a contemptible nobody",^[4] who was taken by Julius Caesar in 46 BC on his North African campaign against the remnants of Pompey's forces, led by Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio Nasica. Because of a long-standing belief that only a Scipio could be victorious in Africa, and because he was facing a Scipio, Caesar placed Salvito at the front of his army, either as a good luck charm to calm his nervous troops, or to demonstrate his contempt to Scipio Nasica.^[5] Caesar forced him to attack the enemy frequently and to bring on the battle.

Sources

• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 42
• Plutarch, Life of Caesar
• Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar