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joining other senators with their families to welcome Hannibal (Livy, 23.7.4). If there
was a treaty between Hannibal and the Capuans along the lines of the one quoted by
Livy, then it is possible that one aspect of the treaty was observed by Hannibal: there is
no extant record of Capuans serving in Hannibal‟s army, unlike the Lucanians and
Bruttians.
Silius Italicus, in contrast to Livy, depicts Hannibal as a tyrant from the moment
Hannibal enters Capua. The reference to a treaty between Capua and Hannibal is a brief
one-line: ast delecta manus iungebat foedera Poeno (Pun. 11.190) and there is no
summary of the treaty conditions, hence Hannibal is not directly represented as a treaty-
breaker. Hannibal exerts his authority immediately on entering the city; his first action is
not sightseeing but presiding over the trial and banishment of Decius Magius 342 (Pun.
11.228-30). Hannibal explodes with tyrannical anger at Decius and the spirited reply
seems to allude to the sightseeing tour described by Livy with the claim that Hannibal
had neither attended the Senate House nor visited the Temples (Pun. 11.252-3).
Hannibal-the-tyrant has no interest in the Capuan Senate and there is no pretence that
it has any function as a governing body. He goes on his sightseeing tour after the trial,
but his questions to the guides have nothing to do with sightseeing. They are, however,
entirely appropriate for a general at war because Hannibal wants to know numbers of
men under arms, the quality of the cavalry, how much money the Capuans possess and
how much food is available (Pun. 11.252-3).
Gluttony and a threat of assassination
Hannibal surgere de nocte solitus ante noctem non requiescebat;
crepusculo demum ad cenam vocabat neque amplius quam duobus
lectis discumbebatur apud eum.
Frontinus, Strat. 4.3.7
Hannibal was accustomed to rise while it was still dark, but never took
any rest before night. At dusk and not before, he called his friends to
dinner; and not more than two couches were ever filled with dinner
guests at his headquarters.
Bennet, 2003, 291.
342 Decius in the Punica is stronger than his Livian counterpart. He actively attempts to rally support to
attack Hannibal, urging his fellow Capuans to block the way with corpses if Hannibal tries to enter the
gate (Pun. 11.197-9). His appeal is in vain; Hannibal is met and escorted into town by the senators and a
„rabble‟ (not wives and children as in Livy) senatu et vulgo (Pun. 11.222-3).
144