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arrangement of the text, Hannibal escapes from the battlefield at Zama and rides to
Hadrumentum but it seems that Polybius does not locate him in Carthage until after the
envoys return from seeking peace with Scipio (Hist. 15.15.3). Therefore Polybius does
not grant Hannibal any initiative for seeking peace. The Romans are deeply suspicious
of the Carthaginian envoys‟ sincerity and Polybius himself gives a scathing assessment
of their extravagant display of sorrow as disingenuous charlatanry 407 or over-acting of
the worst type (Hist. 15.17.1). Nevertheless the envoys are given Scipio‟s surrender
terms and return to Carthage (Hist. 15.18). It is at this point that Polybius places
Hannibal in the Carthaginian senate, giving Hannibal a speech in which he
acknowledges his defeat and urges the Carthaginians to accept the offered terms and
hope that the Roman people would ratify them (Hist. 15.19.2-9).
The scene in the senate degenerates into farce with a display of Hannibal‟s violence
and ignorance of protocol when he pulls down an opposing speaker. It is an irony that
the great military general cannot tolerate someone questioning his opinion. Livy
similarly illustrates Hannibal‟s inability to cope with verbal opposition and physically
dragging down an opposing speaker (Livy, 30.37.7-8). Nonetheless the outcome is the
same in both texts as Hannibal wins the point and Carthage is saved from a fate
comparable to that of New Carthage.
Livy‟s depiction of Hannibal urging the Carthaginians to seek peace coupled with the
suggestion that Scipio wanted to settle peace terms before his period of office expired
undermines the tradition of Scipio‟s generosity in sparing the city and lives of his
enemies. According to Livy, Scipio realised that attempting to besiege a walled city
with coastal access meant that the glory of ending the war would probably accrue to his
successor. Hence Livy‟s remark that everyone inclined toward peace: ad pacem omnium
animi versi sunt (Livy, 30.36.11).
It would appear that Hannibal took no chances with his personal safety and although
he may have urged the Carthaginians to seek or accept peace, he cautiously played no
part as an envoy during the negotiations. The extant summaries of Scipio‟s peace terms
do not specify a requirement to surrender Hannibal, although Livy acknowledges that
there was a tradition for it (Livy, 30.37.13). In this tradition, Scipio‟s demand for the
surrender of Hannibal is tied quite closely to the concept of Hannibal as an eternal
407 Walbank, 1967, 465.
188