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„Turn the ships‟ prows back towards Italy and alter our course! I
warrant that beleaguered Rome will summon Scipio ere long to
return.‟
Duff, 1989, 457.
It is not too late to reverse the situation, to invade Italy, march on Rome and force
Scipio‟s recall! Neptune observes Hannibal‟s attempt to return to Italy and intervenes
with a storm. In the chaos Hannibal‟s plunder is scattered and sinks. Hannibal too,
almost drowns, regretting that he, unlike Hasdrubal would not be dying in battle (Pun.
17.260-7). Venus (not Juno) intervenes and pleads with Neptune to calm his waters to
save Hannibal, but Venus is not acting out of compassion for Hannibal. She foresees
that if Hannibal dies at sea he will remain forever a hero to the Carthaginians, and she
wants Scipio to have his victory (Pun. 17.278-284; cf. Livy, 30.28.1-2).
Zama
Cornelius Nepos presented Hannibal continuing warfare in Africa for some years after
Zama which suggests that not everyone agreed with Polybius that the battle at Zama was
decisive and final. 371 Polybius, Livy and Silius Italicus contribute significantly to the
creation of Zama into an iconic event and a finale by preceding it with speeches,
harangues, and descriptions of the dispositions of forces. In addition, Polybius includes
a number of allusions to Homeric poetry, thus further elevating the status of the battle.
Livy writes:
Has formidines agitando animis ipsi curas et metus augebant, etiam
quod, cum adsuessent per aliquot annos bellum ante oculos aliis atque
aliis in Italiae partibus lenta spe in nullum propinquum debellandi
finem gerere, erexerant omnium animos Scipio et Hannibal, velut ad
supremum certamen comparati duces.
Livy, 30.28.8
By brooding over such terrifying thoughts men were adding to their
own anxieties and fears, for another reason too: whereas year after
year it had been their habit to carry on a war before their eyes in one
part and then in another of Italy, with hope deferred and looking to no
immediate end of the conflict, all men‟s interest was now intensified
by Scipio and Hannibal, as it were, pitted against each other for the
final combat.
Moore, 1955, 467.
371 Nepos (Hann. 6) gave the battle its familiar title, Zama; Silius uses the same name, Pun. 3.261. The
historical location is uncertain.
172