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Livy‟s presentation allows for an initial perception that Fabius was deceived by
Hannibal‟s move and became concerned for the defence of the city but when Fabius
appears with reinforcements just in the nick of time to rescue Minucius, the more lasting
impression is one of Fabius being just as capable at playing games of deception as
Hannibal (Livy, 22.24.12)! In comparison, Polybius and Silius Italicus also present
Fabius recalled to Rome for religious matters, but neither of them situates the recall
adjacent to a feigned march on Rome by Hannibal (Hist. 3.94.8-9; Pun. 7.377).
A vulnerable moment after Cannae
Polybius closes Histories 3 with a summary of the immediate effects of Cannae
including the Roman expectation that Hannibal would appear at the gates of Rome
(Hist. 3.118.5-8). Appian, too, wrote that the Romans expected Hannibal to march on
Rome and capture their city (Appian, Hann. 5.27.1). Yet, unlike the aftermath of
Hannibal‟s previous victories, Polybius does not depict him in a meeting to discuss his
options. Instead there is a substantial break of three books and when the narrative
returns to the Second Punic War story, it resumes with the Roman Senate declining
Hannibal‟s offer to ransom Roman prisoners. It is apparent that Hannibal did not march
to the city (Hist. 6.75). No explanation is offered.
Livy compares the sense of despair at Rome to the time when the city had been
captured by the Gauls because the initial reports suggest that the entire army had been
wiped out and both consuls killed (Livy, 22.54.7). Livy found it too difficult to describe
the state of mind of the populace:
Nunquam salva urbe tantum pavoris tumultusque intra moenia
Romana fuit. Itaque succumbam oneri neque adgrediar narrare quae
edissertando minora vero faciam.
Livy, 22.54.8
Never except when the city had been captured, was there such terror
and confusion within the walls of Rome. I shall therefore admit myself
unequal to the task, nor attempt a narrative where the fullest
description would fall short of the truth.
Adapted from Foster, 1949, 377.
232 Cicero, Ad Att., 2.19.2; De officiis, 1.84 (quoting Ennius); Plutarch, Fab Max 19.3; Marcellus 9.4. See
Wiseman, 2004, 166.
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