th Antiochus, and the conditions proposed by Africanus and
his brother Lucius, were regarded by the hostile party as the result
of bribes from Antiochus, and of the liberation of the son of
Africanus. A charge was therefore brought against the two brothers, on
their return to Rome, of having accepted bribes of the king, and of
having retained a part of the treasures which they ought to have
delivered up to the aerarium. At the same time they were called upon to
give an account of the sums of money they had taken from Antiochus.
Lucius was ready to obey; but his brother Africanus with indignation
snatched the accounts from the hands of his brother and tore them to
pieces before the Senate. The tribune of the people, C. Minucius
Augurinus, however, fined Lucius; and when he was going to be thrown
into prison until he should pay the heavy fine, Africanus dragged him
away; and the tribune Tib. Gracchus, though disapproving of the
violence of Africanus, liberated Lucius from imprisonment. Africanus
himself was now summoned before the people by the tribune M. Naevius;
but instead of answering the charges he reminded the people that it
was the anniversary of his victory at Zama, and bade them rather thank
the gods for such citizens as he.

After these troubles he withdrew to his villa near Liternum, and it
was owing to the interposition of Tib. Gracchus that he was not
compelled to obey another summons. The estates of his brother Lucius,
however, were confiscated (B.C. 187), but the sum produced by their
sale did not make up the amount of the fine. His friends and clients
not only offered to make up the sum, but their generosity would even
have made him richer than he had been before; but he refused to accept
anything beyond what was absolutely necessary for his support.
Africanus never returned from his voluntary exile, and he spent the
last years of his life in quiet retirement at his villa. He is said to
have wished to be buried on his estate; but there was, as Livy says, a
tradition that he died at Rome, and was buried in the tomb of his
family near the Porta Capena, where statues of him, his brother
Lucius, and their friend Q. Ennius, were erected. The year of his
death is not quite certain; for, according to Polybius, he died in the
same year with Hannibal and Philopoemen (B.C. 183); according to
others, two years earlier (B.C. 185).

In judging of Scipio Africanus as a general, we may adopt the judgment
ascribed to Ha