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destiny. Thus Nepos‟ biography of Hannibal, like Cicero‟s use of Hannibal as the
example of a worthy enemy, is compatible with the view that Hannibal was viewed as
Rome‟s eternal enemy in the late republic.
Livy adapts his portrait of Hannibal across the third and fourth decads to present
Hannibal as a foil to Roman moral standards. Hannibal‟s introductory portrait closes
with the slights about his impiety and cruelty, perhaps to meet the expectations of
Livy‟s audience, but by the close of the fourth decad these remarks have been largely
negated through the narrative and Hannibal is portrayed positively in respect of fides to
his childhood oath and pietas to his father. While not discussed in great detail in this
thesis, it becomes apparent that the morality of Roman figures across the two decads
correspondingly exhibit a gradual degradation in standard. The balance between these
corresponding portraits in Livy is in accord with Plutarch‟s interpretation of the balance
required between positive and negative or light and dark forces, referred to at the close
of chapter seven.
In many sections of this thesis Silius Italicus has been shown to combine the
sometimes disparate traditions and structural variations found across a range of
historiographical and other texts. This thesis has identified more allusions in the Punica
to the tradition derived from Polybius than is generally acknowledged by previous
scholars. 444 Although, as noted in the introduction to this thesis, it is not possible to state
unequivocally that Silius Italicus used Polybius directly given Silius Italicus‟ methods
of allusion as well as the availability of Latin texts which present similar traditions
and/or express similar sentiments as Polybius. On the other hand, I hope that this thesis
has countered Spaltenstein‟s opinion that it would be a waste of time for those studying
the Punica to consult the Histories. 445 In my view, it would be more shocking if Silius
Italicus had not kept a set of Histories scrolls in his extensive library and consulted it
from time to time.
To briefly summarise the conclusions for each chapter of this thesis: The first chapter
argued that the anecodote of Hannibal‟s childhood oath was adapted according to how
positively an author wished to present Hannibal in relation to the Roman virtues of fides
444 Campbell, 1936, 57; Von Albrecht, 1997, 293 „Livy takes pride of place [in the Punica],‟ McGuire,
1997, 53. Nicol, 1936, concludes that Livy was the main source for the history in the poem. Burck, 1984;
reviewed by Feeney, 1985, 390-1. Ahl, Davis, Pomeroy, 1986, 2506; Wilson, 2004, 236. For another
feature of structure in common between Polybius and Silius Italicus, Henderson, 2001, 232, reads
Histories 1 and 2 as „introductory‟ to the rest of the text, while Dominik, 2003, 469, reads Punica 1.271-
2.707 as an introductory programmatic episode to the rest of the Punica.
445 Spaltenstein, 1986, 10.
219