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weapons and fresh recruits for my army which victories had worn out;
and Hanno thought fit to cheat my soldiers even of bread to eat; and
now all Africa is wreathed with fire, and the Roman lance beats on the
gates of Carthage. Hannibal is now the glory of his country and her
only rock of refuge; their one remaining hope is in my right arm. I
shall march away, as the senate has decreed; I shall save the walls of
Carthage and at the same time save Hanno.‟
Duff, 1989, 453.
Hannibal makes a pointed acceptance of the order to return and save both Carthage and
his political enemy, Hanno. Perhaps some in his audience would read Silius aligning
Hannibal with Caesar as the Loeb translator, Duff, notes: „This rhetorical point, that he
will save his bitterest enemy, is more in the manner of Lucan than of Silius.‟ 370
Silius Italicus distances his text from the claims in Livy that Hannibal was driven out
of Italy. Hannibal‟s departure in the Punica is depicted as unmolested due to Roman
fear; the Romans were still so afraid of him that non-one dared even to attack
Hannibal‟s rear as he left Italy. They thought it a gift from the gods that he left of his
own accord:
non terga est ausus cedentum invadere quisquam,
non revocare virum; cunctis praestare videntur,
quod sponte abscedat, superi, tandemque resolvat
Ausoniam.
171
Pun. 17.203-6
No-one dared to attack his rear as they departed, none dared to recall
him. All thought it a gift from the gods that he should go of his own
accord and at last set Italy free.
Adapted from Duff, 1989, 455.
Hannibal‟s sea-crossing to Africa in the Punica is, unlike Livy‟s smooth crossing,
action-packed. While the soldiers watch the sea, Hannibal watches the receding Italian
coastline; his silent tears reminiscent of an exile leaving the land he loves (Pun. 17.213-
7; cf. Livy, 30.20.7-9). Once the coast of Italy disappears from view Hannibal‟s mood
changes to anger and frustration at himself and he changes his mind!
„flectite in Italiam proras, avertite classem.
faxo, ut vallata revocatur Scipio Roma.‟
370 Duff, 1989, 452, note b.
Pun. 17.234-5