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Livy‟s presentation of Hannibal in relation to the Carthaginian recovery is complex.
Hannibal has the final direct speech in the third decad, but its context and content are
quite different from his soliloquy in the Punica. Hannibal‟s final speech is addressed to
the Carthaginian senate, responding to accusations that he was laughing at their
economic distress over the payments due to Rome (Livy, 30.44.4-5). Hannibal expresses
dismay at their economic condition but insists that there is no time for grief and,
furthermore, he has a solution to offer. His controversial proposal is that because the
public treasury was depleted, the Carthaginian senators should pay the indemnity from
their private fortunes. He assured them of the one certainty, that if the required
payments were not made, the Romans would return and give them a great deal more to
shed tears over (Livy, 30.44.6-11).
The speech foreshadows Livy‟s depiction of a rift developing between Hannibal and
certain Carthaginian senators that will deepen in the fourth decad. The theme is picked
up again in Hannibal‟s first speech in that decad and serves as a literary link between the
two decads.
Hannibal‟s speech follows an audit of the public treasury; Hannibal contentiously
declared that if the treasury was repaid what was lost through mismanagement and
corruption, then no further taxation of Carthaginian citizens would be necessary (Livy,
33.46-47.1). To deal with the corruption problem, Hannibal proposes (and carries) a law
changing the rules around the term of office for judges intending to make them more
accountable. The proposal naturally endears Hannibal to some but creates dangerous
enemies amongst others. Lancel interprets the divisive nature of Hannibal‟s proposal as
Livy presenting Hannibal aiming to be a demagogue along similar lines to the
Gracchi. 413 In 1995 Lancel had argued that Livy had adapted this section on
Carthaginian politics in response to Polybius‟ comparison of Roman and Carthaginian
constitutions in Histories 6 where Polybius believed that the prevailing influence of the
Carthaginian people over their Senate was symptomatic of political decline. It could
also be said that by presenting Hannibal as a controversial political figure Livy created
the basis and prepared his readers for the betrayal of Hannibal by his political enemies.
Cornelius Nepos‟ Hannibal was not, apparently, a controversial political figure at
Carthage. According to the biographer, Hannibal set new taxes that proved sufficient not
413 Lancel, 1998, 181 says that Hannibal did not first consult the Council of Elders and suggests that the
power exercised by the assembly could lead to senior magistrates taking on demagogic attitudes. For the
constitution of Carthage, see also Picard, 1968, 210-5; Warmington, 1969, 119; Lancel, 1995a, 118-9.
194