Guetting rid of Scipio Africanus would certainly not prevent Rome from developîg the cult of the general ?
Rome was a warrior society like most ancient political entities. As such, it naturally valued honor, glory and military valor more than anything else. It did not wait Scipio Africanus to do so.
Who was the semi-mythical Camillus (Marcus Furius Camillus) if not a previous (and mythical) military savior of Rome ?
Rome had no written constitution. There was no law on the minimum age requirements at the time of Scipio : only custom.
Marcus Valerius Corvus, because he was Rome's greatest general of his own time, was (supposedly) elected consul for the first time in 348 when ... 22 years old.
Rome was pragmatic and, in times of greatest danger, it always adapted its custom to make sure that the most competent men would lead the city to military victory, whatever their age. Historians demonstrated that Rome did not hesitate to elect as consuls people whose citizenship was quite recent (originating from other italian cities) but who were the most qualified generals of the time.
Up to the full enforcement of the lex Villia annalis, many of the most powerful aristocrats were elected consuls for the first time aged between 37 and 39.
Scipio Africanus' power has been greatly overvalued. He undoubtedly was the most glorious, prestigious and popular individual of Rome from Zama on. But there were in the roman past other romans whose influence and power were more intense, more pervasive, more lastable than Scipio's : first of all the "Princes" (as Munzer calls them) of the house of the Fabii Maximi who were more influent than any other roman family in shaping the roman nobility in the 4th and 3rd centuries when Rome built its domination on Italy.
Besides, his power quickly waned. Though consul a second time in 194, he never got any new great command, neither in the war against Macedonia (Flamininus, closely allied to the Fabii et the Claudii Marcelli got it) nor in the war against the seleucid kingdom (given to his brother : Africanus was only his legate to make sure he did not get this fresh new glory). And his opponents destroyed him politically between 187 And 184.
Scipio was elected to the proconsular command of Spain by the assembly of the People, probably for 3 reasons :
- he was a very smart, very charismatic and very competent (and made the People know it) member of one of the 5 most prestigious roman gentes (the patrician Fabii, Cornelii, Aemilii, Valerii and Claudii). His family was one of the main warmongers who wanted the conflict against Carthage and his uncle and father, who were in charge of the war in Spain, had just died.
- He was capable of rousing People's enthousiasm by promotions a bold strategy.
- He knew that it was the time for such a change and that he could profit from many people's will to dampen the political domination exerted by another party/faction, which was led, from Cannae on, by the old Fabius Maximus Cunctator and his close plebeian allies (Claudius Marcellus and the Fulvii).