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a nuanced difference between them over whether or not Hannibal took an active role in
initially urging the Carthaginians to seek peace.
Livy acknowledges the existence of a variety of traditions about Hannibal‟s reaction
to his defeat at Zama. He prioritises the one in which Hannibal not only accepted the
defeat as the final issue for the war, but depicts Hannibal insisting that the Carthaginians
sue for peace as their best hope for their own safety: 405
Hannibal cum Hadrumentum refugisset accitusque inde Carthaginem
sexto ac tricesimo post anno quam puer inde profectus erat redisset
fassus in curia est non proelio modo se sed bello victum, nec spem
salutis alibi quam in pace impetranda esse.
Livy, 30.35.11
Hannibal, after his flight to Hadrumentum, was summoned to
Carthage, returning in the thirty-sixth year after he had left it as a boy.
Thereupon in the Senate House he admitted that he had been defeated
not only in a battle but also in the war and that there was no hope of
safety except in successfully suing for peace.
Adapted from Moore, 1955, 501.
If Livy‟s readership was in any doubt about what would happen if the Carthaginians did
not follow Hannibal‟s advice, his following passage indicates Scipio‟s probable
intentions. Scipio travels to his camp at Utica but the legions are ordered to march to
Carthage. The city is in imminent danger: Cn. Octavium terrestri itinere ducere legiones
Carthaginem iubet (Livy, 30.36.3). At Hannibal’s instigation, ten Carthaginian envoys
sail out to meet Scipio who was sailing toward Carthage from Utica: decem legati erant
principes civitatis, auctore Hannibale missi ad petendam pacem (Livy, 30.36.4). 406 The
Carthaginian ship is decked out in fillets and olive branches as signs of suppliants
seeking peace, but Scipio did not immediately respond to their pleas and they are
redirected to his new camp closer to Carthage (Livy, 30.36.5). The Carthaginians
comply with the instructions and send an even larger group of thirty envoys to the camp
where Scipio sets out his peace conditions (Livy, 30.37.2-6).
The Histories have become increasingly fragmentary and are largely a compilation of
excerpts for these events, but it appears that Polybius differs from Livy on a number of
points, including over the timing of Hannibal‟s arrival at Carthage. Under the current
405 Lancel, 1998, 177 hypothesises that Hannibal retreated to Hadrumentum in order to negotiate his own
safety and avoid being crucified before travelling to Carthage. The texts are mute on this point. There are
no crucifixions of Carthaginian generals in the Histories that post-date the First Punic War.
406 Goldsworthy, 2000, 307: Hannibal‟s defeat left Carthage with no choice but to surrender. Scipio sails
toward Carthage as a show of force to pressure Carthage to seek peace.
187