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within the third decad by concluding with Hannibal‟s defeat at Zama. The division
between decads which separates the Second Punic War from Hannibal‟s later life
fighting Romans from within the courts of eastern kings also separates the realisation
that Hannibal maintains fides to his oath from the initial introduction.
Livy‟s second insertion of the anecdote, in the fourth decad, is in a similar context to
the one used by Polybius, as part of a conversation between Hannibal and Antiochus
(Livy, 35.19.2). Livy‟s adaptation is different; it is not to hint at fides, but to emphasise
Hannibal‟s role as a warmonger as he successfully incites Antiochus to warfare against
the Romans. The depiction is strengthened by Hannibal‟s closing statement that if
Antiochus failed to meet expectations, Hannibal would seek arms elsewhere. Once
Antiochus was defeated, Hannibal evaded capture and later reappeared fighting for King
Prusias of Bithynia against Rome.
There is another version of the oath story related by the Tiberian writer, Valerius
Maximus, which explicitly upholds Hannibal as an external example to illustrate the
Roman virtue of fides in its personal sense. Thus Hannibal is explicitly linked to the
internal Roman examples who show fiducia sui, including Cato and Scipio (Val. Max.,
3.7. ext. 6). The anecdote is placed in the familiar context of Hannibal in conversation
with a king (Prusias of Bithynia) but the difference from the historiographical texts, and
possibly due to genre, is that the arguments are fuller, making the overall sense of the
conversation more plausible. Hannibal argues that when it came to the stratagems of
warfare and military leadership against the Romans, Prusias needed a man with
Hannibal‟s experience. Hannibal supports his claim with references to his successful
Alpine crossing, his victories at Lake Trasimene and Cannae, as well as taking Capua.
This mode of presentation highlights Hannibal‟s successes as unlikely and strange
omissions from those representations that purport to be historical, particularly in
Polybius‟ text.
Cornelius Nepos, living through the turmoil of the late republic, also openly respects
Hannibal for his fides to his oath and never renouncing his hatred of the Romans (Hann.
1.1-3). The oath-swearing anecdote is located near the beginning of the Hannibal
biography and in a similar context to Polybius‟ presentation of Hannibal justifying his
loyalty to Antiochus (Hann. 3.2-6). By using the anecdote in the same introductory
context as Polybius, Nepos highlights the subtext that Polybius, the Greek hostage at
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