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They believed that, thanks to their general‟s adroitness, this enterprise
was better timed than if he had led them there straight from the field
so fatal to the Aeneadae.
Duff, 1989, 185.
The structure of Cornelius Nepos‟ Hannibal biography suggests, but does not directly
state, that Hannibal did march on Rome after Cannae. Where Chapter 4 of the biography
closes with Hannibal‟s victory at Cannae, in an interesting juxtaposition the next
sentence opens Chapter 5 with Hannibal‟s march on Rome:
Hac pugna pugnata Romam profectus nullo resistente in propinquis
urbi montibus moratus est. Cum aliquot ibi dies castra habuisset et
Capuam reverteretur Q Fabius Maximus dictator Romanus in agro
Falerno ei se obiecit.
Cornelius Nepos, Hann. 5.1
After having fought that battle, Hannibal advanced on Rome without
resistance. He halted in the hills near the city. After he had remained
in camp there for several days and was returning to Capua, the Roman
dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus opposed himself to him in the
Falernian region.
Rolfe, 1984, 265.
On the other hand, Cornelius Nepos is explicit that Hannibal was returning to Capua. It
might be that Nepos condenses time which concurs with the overall summarising style
of the biography or there might be missing text which would also explain hac pugna
pugnata. Nepos‟ placement of Fabius opposing Hannibal after Hannibal‟s march on
Rome is another variation on the historiographical tradition and not necessarily an error,
especially as Nepos‟ text is incomplete. It may be indicative of the number of extant
traditions about of these events and demonstate how some features of Hannibal‟s
exploits may have become dislocated from their historical chronology.
Risks for later Roman generals
Spencer‟s assessment 240 that there are no extant comparisons of Sulla to Hannibal for
marching an army on Rome seems true enough, although that is a common feature
between the two men. There is one extant text, Statius‟ Silvae, that draws a connection
between Sulla and Hannibal, but it is not drawn through their common actions but
through their supposed consecutive ownership of a statuette of Hercules:
240 Spencer, 2002, 157.
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