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significant roles in each of the other two texts: Appius Claudius (from Polybius) and
Fabius Maximus (from Livy). It is, of course, hard to argue from a negative, but perhaps
Silius Italicus intended to counter Polybius‟ glaring omission of Fulvius Flaccus when
writing that the siege of Capua was not abandoned without mentioning Appius Claudius
(Pun. 12.571).
When Hannibal appears outside Rome, Silius Italicus describes the senators
collectively bringing the panic and turmoil in the city under control, and unlike Livy,
Silius Italicus does not single out Fabius Maximus for special treatment:
stat celsus et asper ab ira
ingentemque metum torvo domat ore senatus.
78
Pun. 12.551-2
But the senators stood erect and formidable in wrath, and their grim
aspect quelled the mighty panic.
Duff, 1989, 187.
In the Punica no individual takes a leading role and people took their cue from the
collective appearance of the senators.
Hannibal is placed noticeably closer and closer to the physical city in each of
Polybius, Livy and Silius‟ texts. Polybius places Hannibal‟s camp at 40 stades but the
reader is not informed how much closer Hannibal came to the city (Hist. 9.5.9); Livy
locates Hannibal at the Temple of Hercules near the Colline Gate (Livy, 26.10.3); in
Punica, Hannibal makes physical contact. He rides around the walls banging on the city
gates with his spear, enjoying the panic he created (Pun. 12.558-566). Of course, this
sense of Hannibal‟s increasing proximity to the city from Polybius through Livy to
Silius Italicus is probably a matter of survival in the record combined with the surrealist
nature of epic poetry.
Despite the sense of fear and panic at Rome, whether it was at the sight of Hannibal
outside the walls, or in the knowledge that he was approaching the city, people were
resilient. Hannibal does not take the city, and each author reveals a different flaw in
Hannibal‟s character or in his planning by way of explanation. For Polybius, Hannibal
mistimed his arrival at Rome and the need for secrecy is flawed because the Romans
believe that they have to defend the city for themselves. Livy depicts Hannibal unable to
wield sufficient control to keep his plans secret; the Romans are forewarned and know
that the army at Capua was intact. Silius Italicus combines the element of Hannibal‟s