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In the other part of the field Paulus, although he had received a severe
wound from a sling at the very outset of the battle, nevertheless
repeatedly opposed himself to Hannibal, with his men in close
formation, and at several points restored the fight. He was guarded by
Roman cavalry, who finally let their horses go, as the consul was
growing too weak even to control his horse.
Foster, 1949, 359.
The picture changes when the reader is told that the equites dismount because Paulus
became too weakened from his wound to control his horse; it is a rather less heroic
reason than wishing to engage more closely with the enemy. Livy alludes to the
Polybian tradition when he writes that someone told Hannibal that Paulus ordered the
equites to dismount and fight on foot; Hannibal‟s response suggests that he did not fully
understand his enemy when he questions why Paulus didn‟t simply hand them over and
surrender: „quam mallem vinctos, mihi traderet!’ (Livy, 22.49.4). 280 In another, more
mundane, version, it is Paulus‟ horse that was wounded, and threw Paulus who tried to
escape but was caught up and killed in the rout (Plutarch, Fab. Max. 16.4).
In Silius Italicus‟ account, Paulus in Punica 9 and 10 is far removed from being
ignominiously thrown from a wounded horse. Indeed, it is Hannibal‟s horse which is
wounded and throws its rider (Pun. 10.250-5). The epic Paulus carries out many heroic
deeds on the battlefield but, in contrast to Livy‟s version, he is not wounded early in the
action by a sling-stone. Furthermore, he perhaps refers to his Polybian self when he
questions Varro over why they are not fighting hand to hand: „quin imus comminus’
inquit (Pun. 9.633). 281 The depiction of Paulus moving (to the centre) to seek out
Hannibal also adapts more closely the tradition in Polybius (Hist 3.116.1) than Livy:
per medios agitur, proiecto lucis amore
Hannibalem lustrans, Paulus: sors una videtur
aspera, si occumbat ductore superstite Poeno.
112
Pun. 10.42-44
Despising life, Paulus pressed through the centre of the fray, seeking
Hannibal; there was but one fate he dreaded - to die and leave the
Carthaginian general alive.
Duff, 1989, 55.
280 Foster, 1949, 359 n4 an ironical allusion to the consul‟s order which prevented any means of escape.
281 Roller, 2009, 169 argues that fighting hand-to-hand in pitched battles was thought to secure the good
of the res publica and rewarded with gloria and virtus. If so, it is possible that this concept underlies the
presentations of Cannae.