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Progress is slow in the Punica because steps have to be cut into the ice on steep
slopes; the landslides referred to by Polybius and Livy become avalanches that sweep
men and beasts away; high winds rip away shields and one endless height after another
faces the weary soldiers (Pun. 3.516-535). The „bitter cold‟ described by Livy is
transformed into freezing conditions to the extent that frostbite puts men in danger of
losing not just fingers or toes, but arms or legs (Pun. 3.552-3). Spaltenstein reads the
extreme conditions encountered in the Punica as a hint that it should not be taken too
seriously: „the level of exaggeration suggests that he [Silius Italicus] makes fun of the
journey.‟ 183 The conditions in the Punica are so different from the other texts that
Walbank considered that Silius Italicus used different sources from Polybius or Livy for
his „geographic embroideries.‟ 184 It is, of course, impossible to know in what style many
of the lost texts presented the story or whether the increasingly poor weather conditions
observed here reflect first Livy‟s and then Silius‟ imaginative recreation of the crossing.
The story of Hannibal having a divine guide appears in different forms across the
texts, which may, in part, be due to genre. Polybius‟ technique of criticism enables him
to acknowledge the existence of the story and to disagree with it (Hist. 3.47.6-48.8).
Polybius‟ criticism of authors who create such difficulties for Hannibal in the Alps that
they are required to include a divine guide in their story to extricate Hannibal includes
an analogy to the staged finale of a Tragedy (in which a god is required to intervene for
the play to reach a satisfactory conclusion). Polybius‟ discussion is helpful because it
indicates that the story of Hannibal‟s Alpine crossing became so misrepresented that,
within a generation, the actual route and circumstances of the traverse through the Alps
could not be ascertained with certainty. It also assists in reading the Punica as Silius
Italicus may be drawing on one of the Tragic-style traditions that Polybius complains
about or Silius Italicus may even be responding to Polybius‟ criticism with his own
illustration of such a representation.
Livy presents the divine guide story in the form of Hannibal having a dream: ibi fama
est in quiete visum ab eo iuvenem divina specie, qui se ab Iove diceret ducem in Italiam
Hannibali missum: proinde sequeretur neque usquam a se deflecteret oculos (Livy,
21.22.6-9; also Val. Max. 1.7 ext. 1). In a sense, this presentation has a certain validity
because the notion that Hannibal had divine support might realistically derive from a
183 Spaltenstein, 1986, 242.
184 Walbank, I, 387.
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