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inflicted on those captured by Hannibal‟s advance guard and by emphasising how close
Hannibal came to Rome itself. Livy writes that Hannibal reached the Temple of
Hercules near the Colline Gate which seems a little poetic, given the connection
between Hannibal and Hercules (Livy, 26.10.3). As noted above, Polybius prefers a
tradition that Hannibal crossed the Anio without being observed and set up camp not
more than 40 stades from Rome (Hist. 9.5.9). 203
Livy imparts a sense of the chaos that would result if Hannibal actually entered the
city. The consuls required some Numidian deserters to be transferred from the Aventine
and the appearance of these African men riding through the city streets somehow
confused some people into believing that Hannibal had entered the city and captured the
Aventine. The result is a breakdown of order within the city and confusion reminiscent
of civil war or a real siege as people mistakenly attack those on their own side, while
others panic believing they are unable to escape because of the Carthaginian camp
outside (Livy, 26.10.7). Eventually calm is restored. Fulvius Flaccus arrives with his
reinforcements from Capua to join the consuls with their armies, but despite the
readiness of the two sides for battle, the hailstorms dictate otherwise, for two days
running (Livy, 26.11.12). Frontinus, perhaps closer to the Polybian version, wrote that
the Romans decreed not to recall their army from Capua until the town was captured
and cites the Roman army at Capua as an example of steadfastness while besieging an
enemy (Frontinus, Strat. 3.18.3).
The Punica contains a number of elements for these events that are nowadays
exclusive to the epic poem. Only Silius Italicus presents Hannibal returning to his camp
on the summit of Mt Tifata overlooking Capua when he learns of the Roman siege of
the town (Pun. 12.486-7). From this height Hannibal studies the situation but does not
attack the Roman camp although he considers the possibility in a soliloquy (Pun.
12.492-506). Hannibal expresses the same concern as noted in the Polybian tradition,
that there was a risk his own army would, in its turn, become besieged, but in this case it
is by a multiplicity of Roman legions 204 that he observes approaching from all directions
(Pun. 12.480-6). In this imaginative recreation of his thinking, Hannibal decides that if
he cannot defend Capua he will besiege Rome:
203 About 5 Roman miles (Strabo, 7.7.4). For discussion on measuring distances, see Engels, 1985, 300.
204 Silius Italicus names two of the generals heading these legions as Nero and Silanus. The juxtaposition
of those two names for figures leading Roman legions from opposing directions to converge at the same
point is reminiscent of the Silanii in opposition to Agrippina and the future emperor Nero (cf. Tacitus,
Ann. 12.2.-8). Livy 26.5.8 only names Nero.
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