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Nec Venerem interea fugit exoptabile tempus
Poenorum mentes caeco per laeta premendi
exitio et luxu corda importuna domandi
150
Pun. 11.385-7
Meantime Venus did not miss the welcome opportunity to destroy the
discipline of the Carthaginians by the insidious weapon of pleasure,
and to tame their fierce hearts by luxury.
Duff, 1989, 129.
Silius Italicus emphasises the detrimental effects of Capuan luxury through the structure
of the Punica in which the depiction of Hannibal‟s first Capuan winter is the subject of
the whole of Punica 11. The weakening of Hannibal‟s army is demonstrable because
Hannibal‟s first attempt to take Neapolis is located after, not before, spending winter in
Capua (Pun. 12.1-103). The attempt fails, not, as suggested by Livy, because of the
strength of Neapolitan walls but because the Carthaginian army was infected and
weakened by Capuan wealth and luxury (Pun. 12.286-7).
This point illustrates a significant difference between Silius Italicus and Livy over
their depictions of Hannibal and his army which will become more apparent in the next
chapter. Livy‟s narrative modifies the tradition about the effects of the Capuan lifestyle
on Hannibal in a number of ways. Hannibal‟s first attempt against Neapolis precedes his
taking control of Capua, and he was put off by the sight of the Neapolitan walls, despite
defeating the defenders when they attacked (Livy, 23.1.3-7). 352 In addition, throughout
the period of the first winter in Capua, Hannibal sustained sieges against both Petelia 353
and Casilinum, both of which indicate that he was not totally distracted by Capuan
hospitality (Livy, 23.18.1-9; 23.19.1-17). The siege of Casilinum was sufficiently well
maintained for a desperate story about how the Romans, under Gracchus, tried to offer
relief to their faithful allies by floating pots of food and nuts down the river to the town.
Eventually the inhabitants of Casilinum were reduced, like the Petelians, to chewing
leather before capitulating (Livy, 23.19; Val. Max., 7.6.1c; Coelius, frg. 27; Strabo,
5.4.10). Hannibal eventually succeeds in taking Nuceria and, later, one of his officers
352 Frederiksen, 1984, 90; 242 for discussion of Hannibal‟s repeated attempts to take over Neapolis, Nola
and Nuceria; Hannibal tried both persuasion and force (Livy, 23.1; Zonaras 9.2; Livy, 23.14.5-6;
23.14.10-13; 23.15.6).
353 The Petelians were besieged for eleven months according to Frontinus, Strat. 4.18. Valerius Maximus
praised the Petelians as „second to Saguntum‟ as an example of de fide publica. When the Petelians
approached Rome for help, the Romans, unable to assist, authorised the Petelians to do whatever they
thought most expedient for their own safety. The Petelians evacuated their women and children, and
fought Hannibal to the last man. Silius Italicus alludes to this tradition through his comparison of Petelia
to Saguntum for the way Petelia burned Pun. 12.431-2.