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Silius Italicus uses omens to connect the poetic Cannae to the civil war battle at
Pharsalus, not to Livy‟s Cannae. Pharsalus may seem an odd choice but there are details
from the historical texts about Cannae that Silius Italicus seems to have adapted for this
purpose. Firstly, the conflict between the two Roman consuls may be represented in
terms that intimate civil war; and secondly, the references to Hannibal‟s soldiers using
Roman equipment 306 makes them similar in appearance to the Romans:
Afros Romanam crederes aciem: ita armati erant armis et ad Trebiam,
ceterum magna ex parte ad Trasumennum captis.
Livy, 22.46.4; cf. Hist. 3.87.3
The Africans might have passed for an array of Romans, equipped as
they were with arms captured partly at the Trebia but mostly at Lake
Trasimene.
Foster, 1949, 351.
The table in Appendix 1 shows that there are six „Cannae‟ omens in common
between Livy and Valerius Maximus but only three (at most four) between Livy and
Silius Italicus. There are nine omens in common between the Punica and the two lists of
omens in Lucan‟s de bello civili (bel. civ., 1.525-583; 7.152-213). Furthermore,
although there are four omens in common between the Punica and Valerius Maximus,
they are specifically the ones that Valerius Maximus uses in relation to the Pompeians at
Pharsalus and not the omens that he associates with Cannae (Val. Max. 1.6.12). This
connection with Valerius Maximus shows that Silius Italicus links the Roman army at
Cannae with the Pompeians at the historical battle of Pharsalus, as well as more
generally to linking them to Lucan‟s epic. Whether Silius‟ contemporary audience was
alert to this subtlety is unknowable but those who knew their Lucan and Valerius
Maximus might have been tempted to cross-check against Livy and confirm the
connection.
A number of scholars have studied the links between the Punica and Lucan‟s text and
the links between the omens support their work. 307 Ariemma 308 notes that Silius Italicus
places omens involving earthquakes, collapsing or shaking mountains, and flooding
306
Lazenby, 2004, 228 notes the problem of understanding what exactly Polybius meant by Roman
equipment - armour, weapons or both?
307
Hardie, 2005, 96, 64: „Hannibal is a hero in the mould of Lucan‟s Caesar but… turns out to be a
vehicle for other beings.‟ Hardie follows others who have compared Silius Italicus‟ Hannibal and Lucan‟s
Caesar including McGuire, 1997, 84; von Albrecht, 1997, 963; Hardie, 193, 64; Ahl, Davis and Pomeroy,
1986; Pomeroy, 1986a; Vessey, 1973. Also Mills, 2007, 1.
308
Ariemma, 2000, 140, cf. Lucan, bel. civ. 7.173.
124