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According to Polybius, Fabius was criticised for allowing the enemy to escape (Hist.
3.94.8). Livy, giving Fabius an indirect speech to Minucius, seems to respond to that
criticism with the claim that, although it might seem nothing was achieved, they had not
been defeated (Livy, 22.28.10). Silius Italicus similarly reinterprets the outcome in a
„positive‟ sense, when his Fabius tells Minucius that, by refusing to fight, he had kept
the army intact (Pun. 7.399-400).
While Polybius, Livy and Silius Italicus favour placing this spectacular escape in 217
and follow it with the story of Fabius travelling to Rome for religious reasons and
returning in the nick of time to rescue Minucius, Appian and Cornelius Nepos follow
traditions which have different historical chronologies. Appian places the escape story
after Fabius has rescued Minucius and his army (Appian, Hann. 13-14) and Cornelius
Nepos places the event some years later, on Hannibal‟s retreat following his march on
Rome in 211 (Cornelius Nepos, Hann. 5.2). These alternative time-frames, plus the
other differences outlined above, seem to indicate that, over time, the story took on a life
of its own so that, at some point, it became detached from the historical chronology to
become part of the popular mythology about Hannibal.
Capuam Hannibali Cannas fuisse (Livy, 23.45.4)
Polybius‟ text is fragmentary for much of Hannibal‟s interactions with the Capuans, but
there is a surviving fragment in which Polybius is explicit that the Capuans invited
Hannibal to their city: ε θ ινπλ ηὸλ Α λλ βαλ (Hist. 7.1.2). Polybius implies that there
was consensus among the Capuans by referring to them collectively, but the reason for
their defection is paradoxical: it is claimed that they could not endure the burden of their
prosperity.
For the benefit of his readers, Polybius describes the Capuan wealth as so extensive
that they enjoyed „habits of luxury and extravagance surpassing even the rumours
concerning the wealth of Croton and Sybaris‟ (Hist. 7.1.1). 327 The opinion that Polybius
did „no more than follow standard literary perceptions‟ 328 about Capuan wealth may be
so, but his comparison assists his Greek-reading audience understand the extent of
Capuan riches, and their corresponding level of moral degradation. Furthermore, the
focus on wealth suggests that Hannibal responds out of greed for their riches; a
327 Croton and Sybaris were not far from Tarentum; their legendary wealth grew from Etruscan trade, but
their rivalry ended in the total destruction of Sybaris in 510 BC.
328 Frederiksen, 1984, 244; Hoffman, 1942, 54.
137