They would have had an excellent education and be well read - they would have been exposed to Livy, Tactius and other authors who wrote about the stories of Aeneas, the foundation myth of Romulus and Remus going through the royal period (753 BC to 509 BC), the Republic (509 BC to 30 BC) to the emergence of Augustus and the Imperial era. Also, authors such as Virgil and Ovid interwove myth and history within their works. There were numerous authors that continued in minor ways to explore Rome's history. In fact, educated Romans of the time had much more resources and available 'books' than have survived for us.

So, yes - they would have read about Scipio, et al, both at school or from a private tutor and even more so, could walk down the via Appia and see the Tomb of the Scipios.