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On the face of it, Silius Italicus appears to give Regulus more sympathetic treatment
than the tradition in Polybius‟ text in which there is no honourable role for Regulus in a
Carthaginian embassy (Hist. 1.26). 110 Hardie interprets Silius Italicus‟ depiction of
Regulus not as a „little king‟ but as the greatest Roman hero of his day, one who
presented least risk of aiming at sole rule, a „paradigm of republicanism.‟ 111 This
interpretation suggests an implicit comparison of Regulus to Scipio Africanus that is
less favourable to Scipio.
Scipio had a reputation for pushing the boundaries within the republican system; he
was reputedly offered, but declined, a royal crown in Spain, and after Zama, according
to Livy, he became the first Roman to have a nation‟s name as an honorific title added
to his own name (Livy, 30.45.7; cf. Cornelius Nepos, Cato, 2.2). On the other hand, the
representation of Regulus in Punica 6 may be read differently. Augoustakis, while
noting that Silius Italicus combines the varied traditions about Regulus, points out that
Silius Italicus voices strong criticism of Regulus through Marcia and by this means
depicts Regulus as a man of flawed character. 112
The context of the second father-son recollection of the First Punic War that closes
Punica 6 is more plausible than the first. When Hannibal is in Campania he encounters a
series of frescoes depicting episodes from the First Punic War decorating the walls of an
unidentified temple 113 in Liternum (Pun. 6.653-697). The images summarise the main
features of the war from the Roman point of view beginning with a portrait of Regulus
arguing for war in the Senate. There is an image of Appius Claudius in a triumphal
procession; another of Duilius‟ column in the forum Romanum; an unidentified „Scipio‟
depicted burying „a Carthaginian general‟ in Sardinia (perhaps an allusion to the earlier
„Hannibal‟ 114 in Polybius Hist. 1.22-5), and a second portrait of Regulus, this time
fighting the serpent in Africa. The series draws to a close with an image of the Roman
naval victory off the Aegates Islands and the final one, which deeply affects Hannibal, is
of his father, Hamilcar Barca, 115 in chains, one among many prisoners:
110
Walbank, I. 93, 102 rejects the historicity of the embassy. Morgan, 1972, 122 notes the chronological
problem of the embassy. Walbank, 1945, 5 „Regulus had not yet become paradigm of Roman fides.‟
111
Hardie, 1993, 8.
112
Augoustakis, 2006, 160.
113
There was a famous temple of Juno in Liternum; Livy, 42.3.1-3, implies that Hannibal, out of piety,
left it intact which is quite different treatment to the unnamed temple in the Punica.
114
There are various traditions. Polybius says Hannibal was blockaded in a harbour by the Romans and
crucified by the surviving Carthaginians; Zonaras 8.12 says he was defeated by C. Sulpicius Paterculus,
co 258BC; Livy, Ep.17 says he was stoned to death not crucified. See discussion in Walbank, I, 1957, 81.
Cf. Fowler, 2000, 100 reads the „Carthaginian general‟ as Hanno.
115
Cf. Dio Zon 8.17. Spaltenstein, 1986, 439 notes the dramatic image is not found in a historical text.
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