Hannibal appropriates Hercules for psychological warfare

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Representations of Hannibal threatening Rome

When Hannibal sets out from Spain, the Gauls are generally represented giving him a mixed reception. Some tribes oppose him while others support him and he has to fight and/or negotiate or bribe his way across their territories into Italy from Spain. Polybius presents Hannibal fighting or negotiating with different tribes, but particularly illustrates Hannibal‟s forward-planning and negotiating skills by locating Hannibal in a meeting with Gallic chiefs from the Po Valley. It takes place before Hannibal crosses the Alps and indicates that Hannnibal‟s envoys must have travelled well ahead of the army in order to meet and convince these men to meet the Carthaginian. Polybius presents Hannibal arranging for these chiefs to personally address his army in order to reassure his men of their support (Hist. 3.44.1-12).

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.

Relative importance of Hannibal’s victory

As quoted at the start of this chapter, Livy summarises Cannae as a disaster in terms of the human cost for the army and the ignominy of defeat for Rome (Livy, 22.50.1). His long-term assessment, however, is that the defeat was not of great significance because Hannibal, unlike the Gauls, did not follow up on his victory by taking the city of Rome. 252 Livy seems to support this view by not locating the battle in a prominent position within his text; it is in the latter part of Book 22 and the book closes with the reception given to Varro on his return to Rome in the wake of defeat.

Representing Hannibal’s leadership skills and selecting the battle-site

In their accounts of the period shortly before Cannae, Polybius, Livy and Silius Italicus increase the sense of tension with an illustration of Hannibal‟s leadership being put to the test when certain groups within his army threaten to leave. In each case, Hannibal successfully persuades them to remain; the variation between the representations is over which group threatens to leave and for what reason. Polybius particularly lauds Hannibal for his leadership skills and compares him to a good seacaptain271 for holding together an army of diverse groups from different nationalities without disbanding it for the entire time he was fighting the Romans (Hist. 11.19.3).272 He presents Hannibal persuading the Gauls to remain with him, despite their knowledge that the praetor Lucius Postumius was in Cisalpine Gaul with his legion (Hist, 3.106.6).

Varro has no contact with Hannibal

On the day that Varro has command at Cannae, he exercised his right to lead out the Roman army for battle (Hist. 3.113.1; Livy, 22.45.5).284 In the Punica he continues onto the battlefield in defiance of the bloodied message on a shield left by Solimus: fuge proelia Varro (Pun. 9.175). Varro, having command for the day, was also responsible for signalling the Roman withdrawal (Appian, Hann. 4.23). Polybius‟ overall treatment of Varro is minimalist. There is a brief acknowledgement of Varro‟s election to the consulship (Hist. 3.106.1) but the emphasis in the text is on Paulus‟ „seniority‟ in experience and Varro‟s cowardice (Hist. 3.108.1).285 Furthermore, Polybius‟ battle narrative concerning Varro at Cannae requires the audience to assume that Varro is the commander concerned because Polybius does not name him after his initial description of disposition of forces. Varro commands the allied cavalry opposite Hanno and is kept occupied by the Numidians (Hist. 3.114.6). After Hasdrubal defeats the Roman cavalry (led by Paulus), he moves across the battlefield to face Varro‟s wing and prepares to charge.

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Making connections: Omens and portents

Omens and portents impart a sense of divine sanction or warning around certain individuals or events, and in this sense the omens in the texts prior to Cannae may be compared as literary features. It will be argued here that Livy applies omens in book 22 prior to Cannae to create links to other events and figures within his text whereas Silius Italicus applies omens prior to Cannae to create external links. Silius Italicus includes some links to Livy, but more particularly he also links the Pompeians at Pharsalus to the Romans at Cannae. It is, however, left to the wit of his reader to make any connection between Hannibal and Caesar.

Table of Contents :

Abstract
Dedication
Table of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Lost texts
Extant texts
Comparing features across texts and genres
Chapter 1: Hannibal’s Heritage
- Fides and Hannibal’s childhood oath
- Motivation from perceived wrongs of history
- Recollections of the First Punic War in speeches
- Hannibal’s succession in Spain
Chapter 2: Hannibal appropriates Hercules for psychological warfare
- Hercules
- Hannibal and Hercules
- Roman reactions
- Hannibal’s Herculean feat: Crossing the Alps
Chapter 3: Marching to Rome in 211 and threats after early victories
- The enemy at the gates in
- Representations of Hannibal marching on Rome before
- Livy’s theme of Hannibal marching on Rome
- Representations of Hannibal threatening Rome
- A vulnerable moment after Cannae
- Risks for later Roman generals
Chapter 4: Cannae, the most celebrated memorial of Punic victory
- Relative importance of Hannibal’s victory
- Representing Hannibal’s leadership skills and selecting the
- battle-site
- Speeches prior to Cannae
- Hannibal almost duels with Aemilius Paulus
- Varro has no contact with Hannibal
- Making connections: Omens and portents
- Hannibal and Caesar
Chapter 5: Invading Campania, 217 and
- Hannibal’s dramatic escape
- Capuam Hannibali Cannas fuisse (Livy, 23.45.4)
- Hannibal’s Punica fides and Hannibal the tyrant
- Gluttony and a threat of assassination
- Effects of Capuan luxury
- Loss of Capua
Chapter 6: Hannibalis sat nomen erat
- Hannibal undefeated in Italy
- Invasions of Italy in 207 and
- Hannibal leaves Italy
- Zama
- Hannibal and Scipio meet before battle: An irresistible
- concept
- Patterning of harangues and dispositions of forces
- Battle at Zama
Chapter 7: The Legacy ‘War’
- Eternal Enemy and Saviour of Carthage
- Saving Carthage again
- Hannibal the Scapegoat and Warmonger
- Final act of independent defiance
- Epitaphs and literary portraits
- Conclusions