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the gods by conducting it so well. 393 Hannibal‟s concluding „offer‟ of lands already
possessed by Rome through conquest and his expression of pessimism that Scipio would
not negotiate for peace are the closest points of resemblance to the Polybian version of
the speech (Livy 30.30.3-30). 394
Scipio‟s brief response also differs slightly as presented by the two historians (Hist.
15.8.2; Livy 30.31.2-9). In the Polybian version of his speech, he rejects all Roman
responsibility for the war, claims that Carthage had broken a recently negotiated truce,
and does not believe that Hannibal is seeking genuine peace. He closes with a challenge
to surrender unconditionally or fight (Hist. 15.8.2-14). Livy acknowledges that his
version of Scipio‟s speech was not historically exact: hanc fere sententiam respondit
(Livy, 30.31.1). Scipio claims that the Carthaginians were the aggressors in both the
First and Second Punic Wars, and that Hannibal only left Italy because Scipio invaded
Africa. Scipio further claims that if Hannibal had returned to Africa and sued for peace
before Scipio invaded, the Romans might have negotiated but now Hannibal either
agrees to an additional indemnity on the previous terms or he fights (Livy, 30.31.2-9).
Patterning of harangues and dispositions of forces
Polybius and Livy both preface their battle narratives with paired harangues to the
respective armies by Scipio and Hannibal, and paired summaries of the dispositions of
the respective Roman and Carthaginian forces. Polybius creates an ArBrBcAc 395 pattern
across his text as he describes the dispositions for the Roman forces before summarising
Scipio‟s harangue. Hannibal‟s harangue is next, followed by the disposition of the
Carthaginian forces. The sense of symmetry is further enhanced by roughly the same
amount of space being devoted to each of the descriptions of Scipio‟s and Hannibal‟s
dispositions. The paired harangues, however, are reversed in terms of length against the
paired speeches given in their earlier „private‟ meeting. This time Scipio has the longer,
direct, speech and Hannibal‟s harangue is considerably shorter, partly reported and
partly direct.
393 Moore, 1989, 60 says that Scipio is given the highest praise when Livy couples pietas and virtus in
Hannibal‟s speech (Livy, 30.30.13). It depends how much value is placed on praise that Livy says came
from Hannibal in a private conversation which was made public by Scipio (Livy, 30.32).
394 Rossi, 2004, 1 notes the „unPolybian‟ characteristics of Hannibal‟s speech in his argument that Livy
presents Hannibal and Scipio as a pair of parallel lives.
395 A: dispositions; B: speech; r: Roman; c: Carthaginian.
180