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Effects of Capuan luxury
Hannibal doesn‟t get a hangover and the immediate effects of the feast were minimal
because the following morning he is hard at work. In Livy, Hannibal reveals his Punica
fides by demanding that Magius Decius be put on trial in direct contravention of the first
treaty item (Livy, 23.10.1). The epic Hannibal is also up and working before sunrise,
sending Mago to Carthage 348 with captives and booty, including Decius, who had
already been condemned to exile at his trial the previous day (Pun. 11.369-376).
Despite this hard work the following day, there is a strong tradition that Hannibal and
the Carthaginians are weakened by the Capuan lifestyle; for example, shortly after
taking control Hannibal leaves Capua to attack Casilinum, but the attempt fails (Livy,
23.20.5 cf. Zonaras 9.2). The focus on Hannibal weakening masks to some extent the
change in the style of warfare as Hannibal concentrates on gaining control of Italian
townships (indicated by his order to Mago).
Diodorus describes the luxurious Capuan lifestyle as significantly weakening
Hannibal and his army, claiming that they succumbed to the temptations of soft
couches, perfumes and plentiful food; they lost strength and their ability to endure
danger as their bodies and spirits became reduced to a womanish condition (Diodorus
Siculus 26.9.11). Florus cites the hot springs of Baiae and the balmy Campanian climate
as the primary causes of weakness in Hannibal‟s army:
Cum Victoria posset uti, frui maluit, relictaque Roma Campaniam
Tarentumque perrexit; ubi mox et ipsius et exercitus ardor elanguit,
adeo ut vere dictum sit Capuam Annibali Cannas fuisse. Si quidem
invictum Alpibus indomitumque armis Campani – quis crederet ? –
soles et tepentes fontibus Baiae subegerunt.
Florus, 1.22.21-2
When he might have exploited his victory, he preferred the
enjoyments which it offered and, neglecting Rome, marched to
Campania and Tarentum, where the vigour of both himself and of his
army soon languished to such an extent that it has been remarked with
truth that „Capua was Hannibal‟s Cannae.‟ For, though it is scarcely
credible, the sunshine of Campania and the hot springs of Baiae
overcame him who had been undefeated by the Alps and unconquered
on the battlefield.
Seymour Forster, 1995, 101.
348 In structural terms, Silius Italicus echoes Livy by placing a reference to Mago in the morning after the
feast at Capua. The difference is that Livy locates Mago at Carthage, as he had been sent directly from
Cannae to report on the victory (Livy, 23.11.7).
148