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By taking this route through the marshes, Hannibal is generally accepted as marching
on Rome, exemplified by Silius Italicus who describes him as unconcerned about his
loss of sight 226 in one eye if his other eye allowed him to see his goal, the Capitol:
si victoria poscat
satque putat lucis Capitolia cernere victor
qua petat atque Italum feriat qua comminus hostem.
87
Pun. 4.757-9
If victory demanded it, he was willing to sacrifice every limb for the
sake of war; it seemed to him that he had sight enough if he could see
his victorious path to the Capitol, and a way to strike home at his foe.
Duff, 1996, 225.
As Hannibal moved south, Flaminius moved from Ariminum toward Trasimene in
order to confront him. It may seem a reasonable course of action and the accounts of
Flaminius ignoring advice to wait for his colleague have an overwhelming sense of
hindsight. Polybius is highly critical of Flaminius, describing him as rash and
irresponsible, claiming that it was inappropriate for a consul to ignore advice from his
officers. He does, however, include Flaminius‟ counter-argument that the Roman army
should not remain idle while observing the enemy destroying the country almost up to
Rome itself (Hist. 3.82.3-4; also Plutarch, Fab. Max. 3.1). Livy similarly presents
Flaminius angrily refusing to wait for the Senate to summon him while Hannibal
marches to the walls of Rome: ad Romana moenia perveniat (Livy, 22.3.10).
The ignoring of sage advice emphasised in the historiographical traditions is
poetically transformed by Silius Italicus to forewarnings through a series of omens and
divine inspiration that serve to warn Flaminius, except, as everyone knows, omens and
portents warn, but do not prevent destiny (Pun. 5.59-74; 5.78-100). Flaminius‟
reasoning to reject the advice echoes the phrasing in Livy that the Roman army cannot
wait while Hannibal marches to the walls of Rome (Pun. 5.124-5).
Polybius perhaps intends his audience to compare Flaminius‟ refusal to listen to
advice against Hannibal because he depicts Hannibal following up his victory by
meeting with his brother and other advisors to discuss where and how to deliver the
final attack. Rome is the implicit target and Hannibal is confident:
226 Cf. Manilius, Astronomica, 4.564-7, that Hannibal‟s blindness was a mark of Fortune‟s envy.