CIPIOUN, SCIPIO, SCIPION, SCIPIOUN. Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemelianus Africanus Numantinus, c. 185-129 B.C., second son of Aemilius Paullus, who defeated Perseus, king of Macedonia, was adopted by P. Scipio, older son of Scipio Africanus Major, and became known as Scipio Minor. He was the hero of the Third Punic War and defeated Carthage in 148 B.C., thus earning the agnomen, or title of conquest, Africanus in his own right. In 133 B.C. he utterly destroyed the Spanish stronghold of Numantia, earning the additional agnomen Numantinus. For each victory, the Romans gave him a splendid triumph. Like Africanus Major, he cultivated a love for Greek philosophy and Greek civilization, forming a circle of the most famous writers of his day, which included Cicero and Terence. Scipio is one of the chief persons in Cicero's De re publica, of which the Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio) forms the end of the sixth book. In this dream, after conversing with Scipio Africanus about the afterlife, Scipio Minor gets a warning that he may suffer peril at the hands of his kindred. He died suddenly in 129 B.C. at the height of a political crisis, and his wife, Sempronia, sister of the Gracchi, was suspected of his murder (Polybius, Histories, XXXII.9-16).
Medieval writers knew the Somnium Scipionis (The Dream of Scipio) with commentary by Macrobius. It influenced much of medieval philosophy. Chaucer reads the Somnium in a Macrobius manuscript, NPT 3123-3124; BD 284-289. The Middle English title of the work appears in PF 31, "Tullyus of the Drem of Scipioun." Chaucer says his copy has seven chapters and gives a brief summary, PF 36-84. Scipioun appears in a catalogue of famous dreamers, HF II.514-517, and Scipio is among the celestial voyagers, HF II.914-919. [Affrican: Macrobeus: Massynisse: Scithero: Tullius1]
Cipioun is derived from OF, which renders Latin /sc/ as /c/ or /s/ before e or i; it appears once, in final rhyming position, NPT 3123; Scipioun occurs three times medially, PF 36, 71, 97; three times in final rhyming position, BD 286; PF 31; HF II.514. Scipio, the Latin form, which means "staff" or "wand" and indicates a family of the clan Cornelia, appears once, in final rhyming position, HF II.916.