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haec inter iuncto religatus in ordine Hamilcar,
ductoris genitor, cunctarum ab imagine rerum
totius in sese vulgi converterat ora.
38
Pun. 6.689-91
And there too was Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal; fettered in a long
row of prisoners, he turned the eyes of the whole throng away from all
the painted scenes upon himself alone.
Duff, 1996, 333.
Hannibal‟s anger is refuelled at the sight of the provocative image of his father (Pun.
6.698-9). His emotional reaction to the paintings has a counterpart in the Aeneid where
Aeneas views frescoes commemorating the Trojan War on temple walls in Carthage
(Aen. 1.453-65). Their emotions, though, are quite different because Aeneas responds
with tears, not anger, causing the audience to consider the fragility of fame. 116 Whereas
Hannibal‟s reaction has been described as initially creative when he vows pictures to
commemorate his own victories, but then destructive as he displays his fear of the
power of art as well as his impiety 117 with an order to destroy and burn the images: in
cineres monumenta date atque involvite flammis (Pun. 6.716). The audience is reminded
of the impiety and inversion of the natural order by the hysteron proteron 118 of line Pun.
6.716. Hannibal‟s spirit is reinvigorated by his anger; he is motivated to restore his
family honour and to continue the war at a time when he was becoming depressed and
frustrated by Fabius‟ refusal to fight.
Recollections of the First Punic War in speeches
It is slightly surprising that the first speeches recalling the outcome of the First Punic
War in both Livy‟s and Polybius‟ Second Punic War narratives are not from a Roman
memory of their victory, but from a Carthaginian memory of defeat and cited as the
reason to maintain peace. Both texts present the speeches within similar contexts of a
debate in the Carthaginian senate in the presence of Roman envoys during the siege of
Saguntum and, in both cases, a Carthaginian argues for peace but for different reasons in
each text.
In the Histories an unidentified Carthaginian argues for the predominance of the
Lutatius treaty of 241 over the Ebro treaty - because the latter had not been ratified at
116 Boyle, 1993, 100.
117 Wilson, 1993, 232.
118 Spaltenstein, 1986, 441.