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features in their texts to prioritise, minimise or combine the various traditions from
which they choose their material not only indicates the prevailing contemporary
perceptions of Hannibal at a given point in time but also helps clarify how ancient
authors dealt with the constraints and freedoms of their chosen genre. For each text and
each topic there is a range of scholarly interpretation which will be discussed as it arises
through the thesis, but some general points will be made here.
It will be shown that, for a number of the comparisons made in this thesis, there is
room to extend and expand on McGuire‟s conclusion that Silius Italicus‟ Hannibal
embodies all the characteristics of Livy‟s Hannibal combined with those of the other
epic figures identified by Ahl, Davis and Pomeroy. 61 For a number of themes and events
Silius Italicus successfully combines several distinct traditions found across a variety of
earlier texts, not only from Livy and Polybius but also Valerius Maximus, Cornelius
Nepos and others. This eclectic combining of traditions modifies to some extent
Pomeroy‟s opinion that deviations from Livy by Silius Italicus are signs of poetic
independence. 62
In terms of structure, given the symmetrical arrangement 63 of many ancient texts, the
identification of the structural centrepiece in a text is important to understanding its
overall theme. The city of Rome‟s collective response to Hannibal‟s departure from the
environs of the city in 211 is the centrepiece of Livy‟s third decad whereas the Roman
defeat at Cannae forms the centrepiece of the Punica. This critical difference in
emphasis should warn against reading the Punica as an „epicised‟ version of Livy. 64
The fragmentary state of the Histories makes identification of its centrepiece less
certain, not only for the entire text but also for the section focussed on the Second Punic
War. Nonetheless the battle at Cannae is notably treated by Polybius as a pivotal event
because it is immediately followed by substantial break of three books in the Second
Punic War narrative (as Polybius sought to explain how the Romans‟ socio-political
system not only coped with the defeat but enabled them to continue fighting and
eventually win the war).
60 See Kraus and Woodman, 1997, 24-50 for discussion on structure and themes in Sallust. Also Sallust,
Fr. 1.9: „the period between the Punic Wars was of internal concord and perfect morality.‟ Transl.
McGushin, 1992, 77.
61 McGuire, 1997; Ahl, 1986, 2511-19.
62 Pomeroy, 1989a, 125; 40 n39. Cf. Nicol, 1936, and Nesselrath, 1986, 203-230 for Silius‟ use of Livy.
63 Ellis, 1991, 345, for structure in Thucydides, n6 for summary of scholarship on ring structure and
parallelism in the historiographical tradition; 346-7 for discussion of ring structure in Greek epic poetry
(Homer, Hesiod).
64 Campbell, 1936, 57; Santini, 1991, 1.
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