Cato, a veteran of the Second Punic War, was shocked by Carthage's wealth, which he considered dangerous for Rome.

However, Cato the Censor visited Carthage in 152 BC as a member of a senatorial embassy, which was sent to arbitrate a conflict between the Punic city and Massinissa, the king of Numidia. After its defeat, Carthage ceased to be a threat to Rome and was reduced to a small territory that was equivalent to what is now northeastern Tunisia. Rome nonetheless managed to win the Second Punic War thanks to Scipio Africanus in 201 BC.

Cato is said to have used the phrase as the conclusion to all his speeches to push for the war.Īlthough Rome was successful in the first two Punic Wars, as it vied for dominance with the seafaring Punic city-state of Carthage in North Africa (now Tunisia), it suffered a number of humiliations and damaging reverses in the course of these engagements, especially at the Battle of Cannae in 216 BC. The phrase originates from debates held in the Roman Senate prior to the Third Punic War (149–146 BC) between Rome and Carthage. Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam ('Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed'), often abbreviated to Carthāgō dēlenda est ('Carthage must be destroyed'), is a Latin oratorical phrase pronounced by Cato the Elder, a politician of the Roman Republic.

Necesse est indirect statement