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among the greatest stumbling blocks to the theory that Polybius was an honest man.‟ 66
The historicity of the content in the speeches presented by Polybius is a controversial,
but unresolvable, topic. 67
Authors may express their own views directly in the body of their text, or they may
be more obliquely expressed, by such means as critiquing a predecessor, or conveyed
through a character‟s speech, especially if the point might be considered controversial. 68
Wiseman argues that Sallust was pointedly neutral as a historian, but the reader can hear
the popularis case through the speeches of his characters. 69 In another example closer to
the theme of this thesis, Davidson noted that Polybius frequently presents the sense of
danger through the perceptions of his figures, even if the validity is subsequently denied
later in the narrative. 70 This technique impacts on Polybius‟ presentation of Hannibal‟s
appearance outside the city of Rome in 211 because he presents people in Rome
believing that Hannibal could not have reached their city in 211 unless he had destroyed
the Roman army at Capua; they conclude that they will have to defend the city for
themselves (Hist. 9.6.2). Livy, on the other hand, presents those in Rome as fully aware
of the situation at Capua, and responding accordingly. Although the eventual outcome
of Hannibal‟s departure is ultimately the same for both texts, the effect of the opposite
beliefs at Rome makes the two presentations quite different.
Throughout the thesis it will be shown that Livy‟s representations of Hannibal‟s
speeches and harangues contain more subtleties than would justify Mellor‟s judgement
that they are „wholly invented as a formulaic diatribe against the enemy.‟ 71 Speeches
assigned to an enemy figure may be used to present what might be considered a
controversial point to the contemporary audience, such as Livy‟s representation of
Mago‟s report on Hannibal‟s successes to the Carthaginian senate, discussed in the
66 Walbank, 1965, 12 believes Polybius „developed‟ earlier written versions of the speeches (which does
not, of course, preclude the earlier author taking a Thucydidean approach to his text).
67 Walbank, 1965, 11-13; Wooten, 1974, 235-251discusses speeches in Polybius; also Sacks, 1981, 79-95
for review and discussion of scholarship on speeches in Polybius. Sacks, 1981, 88: Polybius exercised his
right as a historian to collect as many arguments as possible that were used on a given occasion and then
chose what to include in each one. Finley, 1972, 27: Polybius criticises his predecessors who invented
speeches yet could not have had accurate reports for most, if any, of the 37 extant speeches in the
Histories. Marincola, 2000, 131: Scipio‟s words are appropriate for someone over-confident and argues
there is no reason to think that Polybius did not believe them to be historical.
68 See Miller, 1975, 46 and 51-53 for a useful structural comparison between Polybius and Livy on their
treatments of speeches by both Scipio and Hannibal, although Miller‟s tendency is toward „how Livy used
Polybius.‟
69 Wiseman, 2004, 196.
70 Davidson, 1991, 12.
71 Mellor, 1999, 189.
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