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mixed. Presenting Hannibal as weakened by Capuan luxury has to be equated with his
five year occupation of Capua and the fact that he remained in Italy for another seven
years after the fall of Capua back to Rome in 211. Furthermore the notion of defeating a
„weakened‟ Hannibal does not reflect well on subsequent Roman victories in the field or
the eventual Roman victory at Zama. For one final point, presenting Hannibal as
weakened by the Capuan lifestyle also has to be equated with another tradition about
Hannibal: that he remained undefeated during the time he was in Italy (to be discussed
in the final chapter of this thesis).
Hannibal’s dramatic escape
Polybius presents Hannibal intending to persuade towns in Campania to change
allegiance by impressing them with a show of his strength against Rome; the plan being
to defeat the Romans in battle somewhere on the Falernian plain (Hist. 3.70). The
representation is supported with a strong sense of staging a spectacle: 319
δη πεξ ε κειινλ εη ο ηαπ ηα θαηαζηξαηνπεδε ζαληεο σ ζπεξ εη ο ζ αηξνλ
νη Καξρεδ ληνη θαηαπι μεζζαη κὲλ ησ παξαι γσ π ληαο, ε θζεαηξηεη λ
δὲ ηνὺο πνιεκ νπο θπγνκαρνπ ληαο, απ ηνὶ δ᾽ ε μ ν κνι γνπ θαλ ζεζζαη
ησ λ π πα ζξσλ θξαηνπ ληεο.
129
Polybius, Hist. 3.91.10
The Carthaginians, then by quartering themselves in these plains,
made of it a kind of theatre, in which they were sure to create a deep
impression on all by their unexpected appearance, giving a spectacular
exhibition of the timidity of their enemy and themselves
demonstrating indisputably that they were in command of the country.
Paton, 2001, 225.
Polybius made an explicit theatrical analogy by comparing the approaches into the ager
Falernus to the three doors of a stage:
ἅκα δὲ ηνῖο πξνεηξεκέλνηο ὀρπξὰ δνθεῖ θαὶ δπζέκβνια ηειέσο εἶλαη ηὰ
πεδία: ηὰ κὲλ γὰξ ζαιάηηῃ ηὸ δὲ πιεῖνλ ὄξεζη κεγάινηο πάληῃ θαὶ
ζπλερέζη πεξηέρεηαη, δη᾽ ὧλ εἰζβνιαὶ ηξεῖο ὑπάξρνπζη κόλνλ ἐθ ηῆο
κεζνγαίνπ ζηελαὶ θαὶ δύζβαηνη, κία κὲλ ἀπὸ ηῆο Σαπλίηηδνο, δεπηέξα
δ᾽ ἀπὸ ηῆο Λαηίλεο, ἡ δὲ θαηάινηπνο ἀπὸ ηῶλ θαηὰ ηνὺο Ἱξπίλνπο
ηόπσλ.
Hist. 3.91.8-9
319 Davidson, 1991, 16 also notes a general sense of a theatrical „spectacle‟ to this passage.