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Polybius treats Hannibal‟s victory at Cannae as a pivotal event of enormous
significance. It is located at the close of Histories 3 and followed by a substantial break
of three books in the Second Punic War narrative in which Polybius sought to explain
how the qualities of the Roman socio-political structures enabled them firstly to recover
their supremacy in Italy, then to conquer Carthage and eventually become masters of the
(Mediterranean) world (Hist. 3.118).
Where Livy may have had a chronological justification to locate the battle in the
latter part of book 22, Polybius may justify locating Cannae at the conclusion of
Histories 3 because it took place near the end of the 140 th Olympiad (Hist. 3.118.11). 254
On the other hand, it is also demonstrable that Polybius arranged his narrative material
in order to conclude Histories 3 with Cannae because his summary of contemporaneous
events in Spain, including the Scipios‟ successes, are placed before, not after, the events
in Italy (Hist. 3.95.1-6). 255
Champion 256 argues that Polybius presents Cannae as the fiercest battle of the war in
order to reveal the highest qualities of both sides. This study agrees that the battle is
given special treatment in Polybius‟ text, though not eulogised to the extent of Zama.
Polybius‟ treatment of Cannae serves as a warning to his audience that the Romans
refuse to accept even the most severe defeat as the final outcome, and that they have a
remarkable determination to achieve ultimate victory in warfare.
A number of texts present Roman moral decline as a consequence of Cannae; it is
based on the notion that once Rome recovered from such a heavy defeat and eventually
went on to overall victory at Zama, the subsequent Roman conquests across the wider
Mediterranean were driven by an ever increasing greed for wealth and power (Sallust,
Cat. 10; Velleius Paterculus, 2.1-2; Silius Italicus, Pun. 10.657-8). Silius Italicus‟ focus
on the battle coupled with his emphasis on the role of the gods are interpreted by
McGuire 257 as indicative of the poetic construct and artificiality of the poem in order to
direct the Flavian audience to a message that moral decline at Rome could be measured
from, and was a consequence of, Cannae. The paradoxical message that defeat would
254
The Olympics were generally held between late July and early September; Polybius does not specifiy
in which month they took place that year.
255
Livy also briefly covers events in Spain for 216 before turning to Cannae (Livy, 22.19-22) but, unlike
Polybius, does not mention the Scipios‟ successes in Spain until the following book (Livy, 23.26.1-29).
256
Champion, 2004, 117.
257 McGuire, 1997, 56-7; 126-9.
103