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dream. The dream version of the story is an old tradition and may even derive from
Hannibal himself given that it was found in Silenus (de Div. 1.24.49).
Silius Italicus‟ representation of Hannibal attempting to portray himself as a
successor to Hercules includes two possible allusions to the Plautine play, Amphitruo.
Such allusions would be very apt if this play is, as has been argued, one of the first
presentations of a mythological comedy on a Roman stage. 185 The blizzards and gales
which surround Hannibal as he reaches the summit of the pass in Punica 3 recollect the
thundering climactic imagery around the birth of Hercules in Amphitruo (scene 15, line
1062). 186 Secondly, the „god-like being‟ in the Punica directing Hannibal to Italy in the
dream is not Hercules, but Mercury, whose role in the Amphitruo is to carry out
Jupiter‟s orders (Pun. 3.168; 184-214; Amphitruo, 9.984). Mercury (Hermes or, in the
Carthaginian pantheon, Skn) is a more appropriate choice than Hercules if Hannibal is
read as attempting a reincarnation of Hercules.
Poetic licence allows for Hercules‟ route to be „known‟ in the Punica as Hannibal
orders his men to abandon the track made by Hercules, in favour of making their own
way (Pun. 3.503-4; 3.512-5). Silius Italicus‟ representation of Hannibal avoiding the
Herculean track indicates that there is both a physical and an ideological distance
between the two figures; Hannibal could not be a reincarnation of Hercules. This
interpretation concurs with Augoustakis‟ reading that Silius Italicus presents certain
character traits in Hannibal to further separate the two figures, such as Hannibal‟s
boastfulness (Pun. 3.75, 80, 89, 90). 187 The immediate penalty for Hannibal‟s impiety
was the hardship his men faced, first against the natural elements, and then against the
local inhabitants; the storms are nature‟s protest as Hannibal breaches both the moral
and physical boundaries when he trespasses into the sacred domains (Pun. 3.494-
504). 188
Hannibal‟s defiance is the immediate implication of the text but it also aligns the
Punica with the Polybian tradition of representing Hannibal as intelligent and smart
enough to find his own way across the Alps. Polybius, claiming personal experience,
explicitly states that Alpine crossings were not especially difficult, even in late season
185 Christenson, 2000, 24. Another Plautine play, Poenulus, with its more direct Carthaginian connection,
is discussed by Leigh, 2004a, esp. chapter 2, for possible connections to Hannibal (inconclusive) and the
role of the „slave as a general.‟
186 Christenson (ed), Plautus Amphitrvo, Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics, 2000.
187 Augoustakis, 2001, 2003 reads the rape of Pyrene as a story about Hannibal‟s attack on Rome and
Hannibal‟s attempt to imitate Hercules through „penetration‟ of the Alps.
188 Wilson, 1993, 227.
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