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Representing Hannibal’s leadership skills and selecting the battle-site
In their accounts of the period shortly before Cannae, Polybius, Livy and Silius Italicus
increase the sense of tension with an illustration of Hannibal‟s leadership being put to
the test when certain groups within his army threaten to leave.
In each case, Hannibal successfully persuades them to remain; the variation between
the representations is over which group threatens to leave and for what reason. Polybius
particularly lauds Hannibal for his leadership skills and compares him to a good sea-
captain 271 for holding together an army of diverse groups from different nationalities
without disbanding it for the entire time he was fighting the Romans (Hist. 11.19.3). 272
He presents Hannibal persuading the Gauls to remain with him, despite their knowledge
that the praetor Lucius Postumius was in Cisalpine Gaul with his legion (Hist, 3.106.6).
It is not stated if Hannibal had a similar cause for concern over his Spanish allies whose
home territory was also under pressure from Roman invasion (Hist. 3.96.1). Polybius
also suggests that Hannibal faced problems feeding his army because Hannibal is said to
have seized Cannae both for its grain store and its commanding position (Hist. 3.107.2).
Livy opts for Hannibal‟s skills being tested in retaining his Spanish fighters but not
by the invasion of Spain; they threaten to leave because there is a lack of food and they
have not received any payment (Livy, 22.43.3-5). Hannibal persuades them to remain
and is in a cheerful, positive mood because the arrival of the two consuls meant that the
Romans were preparing for a battle (Livy, 22.41.1-4).
Silius Italicus, like Polybius, represents the Gauls threatening to leave but the reason
for their possible desertion is different: this time it is over the lack of action (Pun. 8.16-
20). In addition, Hannibal is not happy but depressed and frustrated at the inaction
resulting from Fabius‟ refusal to fight which is compounded by a lack of support and
political difficulties in Carthage led by his enemy, Hanno, who blockades Hannibal‟s
food supply from Carthage (Pun. 8.21-24). The poetic interpretation elides the Roman
naval blockade as a factor that prevents supplies reaching Hannibal paradoxically
presenting a Carthaginian blockade!
271
As will be shown in the relevant sections, this analogy is reworked by Silius Italicus for each of Paulus
and Varro.
272
Polybius‟ placement of this analogy in the Histories encourages his audience to compare Hannibal
against Scipio‟s leadership and handling of sedition in the Roman army in Spain a few chapters later
(Hist. 11.25.1-9).
106