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Polybius and Livy. 130 Initially, Silius Italicus draws on the same tradition as Polybius
and Fabius Pictor to present an aggressive Hasdrubal:
interea rerum Hasdrubali traduntur habenae
occidui qui solis opes et vulgus Hiberum
Baeticolasque viros furiis agitabat iniquis.
tristia corda ducis simul immedicabilis ira
et fructus regni feritas erat; asper amore
sanguinis et metui demens credebat honorem
nec nota docilis poena satiare furores.
46
Pun. 1.144-150
Meanwhile the direction of affairs was handed over to Hasdrubal; and
he harried with savage cruelty the wealth of the western world, the
people of Spain and the dwellers beside the Baetis. Hard was the
general‟s heart and nothing could mitigate his ferocious temper; power
he valued because it gave him the opportunity to be cruel. Thirst for
blood hardened his heart and he had the folly to believe that to be
feared is glory.
Duff, 1996, 15.
McGuire 131 interprets this presentation of an aggressive persona for Hasdrubal as
fulfilling the epic requirement for a tyrannical figure. By this reasoning, perhaps
Polybius, through Fabius Pictor, also follows an „epicising‟ tradition to present
Hasdrubal as a tyrannical figure. Indeed, Walbank 132 rejects the Polybian tradition in
favour of the „diplomatic‟ Hasdrubal in Livy‟s text as closer to the „historical‟ figure.
Unfortunately Livy‟s unsoldierly portrayal of Hasdrubal is not necessarily any closer
to the „historical‟ figure because, apart from its contrast function to the other two Barca
men, it sets Hasdrubal up for an appropriately ignominious unsoldierly death. Hasdrubal
is assassinated by a servant avenging the death of his unnamed Spanish master who was
killed on Hasdrubal‟s order (Livy, 21.2.6).
Where Silius Italicus seems closer to Polybius for his characterisation of Hasdrubal,
he incorporates a tradition very similar to the one in Livy for the death of Hasdrubal and
rise of Hannibal scene. The epic Hasdrubal crucifies a Spanish king, Tagus, 133 and is
130
Cf. Spaltenstein, 1986, 29: Silius Italicus „ignores the historical information to create a dramatic
moment as background for the rise of Hannibal.‟ Cf. Hoyos, 2003, 86: „the poet, Silius, may not just be
inventing that he [Hasdrubal] wished to be feared, even if Silius overdoes it into caricature.‟
131
McGuire, 1997, 27.
132
Walbank, I, 311.
133
The Histories are the only other extant text with the name Tagus; it is the site of Hannibal‟s first defeat
of the Spaniards when he took command after Hasdrubal‟s death (Hist. 3.13). The name in the Punica
may allude to either the tradition or the text.