No one man knows the extent to which his actions will weave the tapestry of history. So too it was with the Scipii, firstborn of Rome's trading houses. Who could have known the breadth of their majesty, the scale of their might in the years to come? Certainly not the young Cornelius Scipio and his four sons, when they first set out from their home city of Capua to deal with some small dispute on the small Isle of Sicily...
The Greeks! Ah the Greeks, those creators of civilisation! How their lustre had faded through the years since Alexander's death. Now their city of Syracuse was proving troublesome to the Republic's efforts to colonise the island and create a trade city. As it was, there were also reports that a wicked African state had posted its own settlement on the far side of the island. Troubled by these reports, the great Senate saw fit to bid the Scipii to 'deal' with the situation as they saw fit.
Cornelius called for his good friend Gaius of the Julii family to scout out the other islands nearby to see if the rumours of this African state were true, whilst he sent his firstborn Aulus and his second child Gaius to talk with the Greeks.
Ah, but the Greeks were arrogant and foolish in their dealings and sent away the diplomats and offers of trading, preferring instead to attack the now confirmed alien presence on the island. The head of the Julii also brought bad news to Rome and to Cornelius. There was another sea faction out there and they were the Carthaginians. What was more, they had repulsed the Julii landing party and gathered ships to destroy their scouting fleet off the coast of Italy.
Franticly, Cornelius sent for all of his available vessels to defend the Julii and destroy the enemy fleet. This, unknown at the time, could well have been an action that saved Rome and the Julii family from utter destruction.
Facing war with both the Carthaginians and the Greeks, Aulus and Gaius unperturbed set about besieging the city of Syracuse, leaving Quintus, a third son, to scout the rest of the island. In this aim, he was remarkably successfull, establishing a whole host of watchtowers that allowed both the Julii and the Scipii to watch the seas for invaders and pirates. The fall of Syracuse came soon afterwards, with Aulus returning to govern his city of Messana and Gaius ruling from the newly captured one. Quintus rallied the remaining troops and obliterated first a weak scouting party from the Carthaginians and then taking their poorly defended mud and wood huts as well.
The Senate was well pleased with the resulting gifts and trade with the entirety of the island but was unsatisfied, for half their members were of the Brutii House, and they were unimpressed by the new family's war on a mere two towns. They were even more disparaging of the Julii, an attitude that hurt both their houses in the long run. Undaunted, the Scipii were offered aid by the grateful Julii in capturing their next target, Caralis.
This, the only settlement on the Isle, was of vital importance to the defence of Rome, as it allowed for a greater naval base and military presence in the Mediterranean, a sea the Romans all wished to control. The newly matured (and soon to be great) Julianus Scipio took command of the task force and took the small trading hub with not one man lost amongst his men.
Now the Scipii had obtained, with little effort, an Island home of their own along with a potential second trading village, they looked south westerly to the insidious new threat that was even now planning insidious countermoves: Carthage itself.