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Descriptive lists summarising the opposing forces prior to significant battles are
common features of ancient texts that may be traced back to Homeric poetry. Livy and
Polybius both supply brief summaries of the composition of Hannibal‟s forces but there
is a nuanced difference between them. Indeed, Polybius may be closer in style to the
epic tradition by describing the panoply for each of the Carthaginians, Spanish and
Gauls fighting with Hannibal in terms of their traditional armoury (Hist. 3.114.2-4). 274
Livy explains the differences between the shields and swords of the Gauls and
Spaniards due to their different fighting styles. He particularly notes, however, that the
Africans might be mistaken as Romans, Afros Romanam crederes aciem, because they
were using equipment retrieved from dead Romans at Trasimene and the Trebia (Livy,
22.46.4-5).
The Carthaginian retrieval of Roman equipment is noted by Polybius but not in
relation to Cannae (Hist. 3.87.3). The possibility of mistaking the Carthaginian soldiers
for Romans obviously has potential for confusion in the field and allows an implicit
comparison with a civil war battle, a point not missed by Silius Italicus, as will be
discussed below.
In the Punica there is no „epic list‟ for the Carthaginian side at Cannae and
furthermore, given the availability of source material from both Polybius and Livy, it
must be a deliberate omission. Silius Italicus focuses on the Romans and aligns the
Punica with ancient epic tradition by the including a substantial catalogue of
(anachronistically) named Romans and their allies preparing for the battle (Pun. 8.356-
616). 275
Speeches prior to Cannae
Accounts of important battles in ancient texts are often preceded by paired exhortations
given by each of the opposing generals to their armies, but there is potentially a
symmetry problem for Cannae because three generals were involved.
Polybius reveals his bias and deals with the problem by not assigning a speech to
Varro. 276 Furthermore, the paired exhortation speeches by Paulus and Hannibal are
274
Lazenby, 2004, 228 notes that it is the.only description relating to Hannibal‟s army and that very little
is know about the Carthaginian equipment or weaponry.
275
See McGuire, 1985; 1997, esp 30-32, 136-8 for Silius‟ repeated allusions to civil war through this list
and elsewhere in Punica 8-10.
276
Polybius‟ prioritisation of Paulus over Varro is foreshadowed earlier in his claim that Paulus was given
a „lead role‟ by the Senate because he was considered „senior‟ to Varro in experience (Hist. 3.107)
108