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
destruction of Carthage. The city was taken by assault, the inhabitants
fighting with desperation from street to street. Scipio ?milianus, who
commanded in this war, was now called also Africanus, like his ancestor
by adoption.
For years the tranquillity of Spain, which lasted from 179 to 153, had
been disturbed by wars, and it was not until Scipio was sent thither
that peace was restored. That warrior first put his forces into an
effective condition, and then laid siege to the city of Numantia,
situated on an elevation and well fortified.
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