SILIUS ITALICUS’ PUNICA This book offers, in one volume, a modern English translation of all seventeen books of Silius Italicus’ Punica. Composed in the first century CE, this epic tells the story of the Second Punic War between Rome and Hannibal’s Carthage (218–202 BCE). It is not only a crucial text for students of Flavian literature, but also an impor- tant source for anyone studying early Imperial perspectives on the Roman Republic. The translation is clear and comprehensible, while also offering an accurate representation of the Latin text. Augmented by a scholarly introduction, extensive notes, glossary, and a comprehensive bibliography (included in the introduction), this volume makes the text accessible and relevant for students and scholars alike. Antony Augoustakis is a Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is the author of Statius, Thebaid 8 (2016), Motherhood and the Other: Fashioning Female Power in Flavian Epic (2010), as well as several edited volumes. He is the editor of The Classical Journal. Neil W. Bernstein is a Professor in the Department of Classics and World Religions at Ohio University, USA, where he has taught since 2004. He is the author of Seneca: Hercules Furens (2017); Silius Italicus: Punica 2 (2017); Ethics, Identity, and Community in Later Roman Declamation (2013); and In the Image of the Ancestors: Narratives of Kinship in Flavian Epic (2008). SILIUS ITALICUS’ PUNICA Rome’s War with Hannibal Antony Augoustakis and Neil W. Bernstein First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Antony Augoustakis and Neil W. Bernstein The right of Antony Augoustakis and Neil W. Bernstein to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-1-138-29145-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-26539-1 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon LT Std by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. CONTENTS Introduction 1 PUNICA 1 8 PUNICA 2 25 PUNICA 3 42 PUNICA 4 59 PUNICA 5 79 PUNICA 6 95 PUNICA 7 111 PUNICA 8 129 PUNICA 9 145 PUNICA 10 160 PUNICA 11 176 PUNICA 12 191 PUNICA 13 210 PUNICA 14 232 v CONTENTS PUNICA 15 249 PUNICA 16 268 PUNICA 17 284 Glossary 300 vi INTRODUCTION Silius Italicus’ life and career As with most Roman poets, we know relatively little about the life of Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus. We infer that he was born between 25 and 29 CE from the one securely datable event of his early career, the consulship that he held in the year 68 CE. His contemporaries, the poet Martial and the imperial bureaucrat Pliny the Younger, inform us about Silius’ forensic career. Silius was active as an advocate, probably in the last years of the emperor Claudius’ reign (41–54 CE). He served as a prosecutor under the emperor Nero (54–68 CE) and was appointed as consul in 68 CE, the final year of Nero’s reign. Upon Nero’s death in the summer of that year, a civil war broke out between various aspirants to the throne, which culmi- nated in the accession of the emperor Vespasian early in 70 CE. Historians conventionally refer to this eighteen-month conflict as the “Year of the Four Emperors.” As a consul, the highest office in the imperial state after the emperor, Silius must have had an important role in the war, but we can only catch glimpses of it. The Roman historian Tacitus (Histories 3.65) mentions his role as a witness in the secret negotiations between Vitellius, one of the war- lords who briefly seized the throne in 69 CE, and Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian’s brother. Vespasian’s victory established the 25-year Flavian dynasty; he reigned until his death in 79 CE, followed by his sons Titus (79–81 CE) and Domitian (81–96 CE). We can infer that Silius enjoyed a successful career under Vespasian. The emperor appointed Silius to the governorship of Asia Minor (77/78 CE), modern-day Western Turkey, one of the wealthiest and most important provinces of the Roman Empire, where an inscription is preserved with his name. Pliny the Elder (Letters 3.7) records the poet’s death some time between 101 and 106 CE. In Letter 3.7, Pliny the Younger provides a sketch of Silius’ life, espe- cially his withdrawal from public affairs at some point between 78 and 80 CE, when he devoted himself to poetic pursuits. Silius’ poem on the Second Punic War (218–202 BCE) had earned him a literary reputation by the time Martial published the fourth book of his Epigrams around 88 CE. Silius 1 INTRODUCTION hosted gatherings where part of his poem was recited, a common practice among Roman elites at the time. Of his two sons, Lucius Silius Decianus was consul in 94 CE, while we also hear about his younger son Severus’ death at a young age. At some point later in life, Silius withdrew to his villa in Campania (perhaps in 95–96 CE), where he was famous as an art collec- tor and devotee of Virgil, celebrating the great poet’s life and especially the poet’s tomb. In particular, Pliny says that Silius “was a great connoisseur; indeed, he was criticized for buying too much. He owned several houses in the same district, but lost interest in the older ones in his enthusiasm for the newer ones. In each of them he had quantities of books, statues, and portrait busts, and these were more to him than possessions—they became objects of his devotion, particularly in the case of Virgil, whose birthday he celebrated with more solemnity than his own, and at Naples especially, where he would visit Virgil’s tomb as if it were a temple.” Pliny also comments on Silius’ style saying that “he took great pains over his verses, more than inspiration (maiore cura quam ingenio).” It was at the dawn of the second century CE that Silius decided to end his life by abstaining from food after long suffer- ing from an incurable disease (possibly cancer). Silius was one of the four major poets active in the Flavian dynasty whose work survives to us. Other authors of epic poems included Valerius Flaccus, author of a poem on Jason and the Argonauts, and Statius, author of the Thebaid, the story of the war at Thebes. The satirical poet Martial frequently mentions his patron Silius in his Epigrams (4.16, 6.64, 7.63, 8.66, 9.86, 11.48, and 11.50). Further Reading: Augoustakis (2010, 3–6), Littlewood (2011, xv–xix), Littlewood (2017, xii–xvi), Bernstein (2017, xiii–xv). Structure of the Punica When Silius began composing his poem remains uncertain, as is the date of his withdrawal from public affairs. It is plausible to assume that the whole project took several years to complete; he may have begun after 80/81 CE and worked over the next fifteen or more years. We can also surmise that Silius composed the poem sequentially, while also revising parts or whole books during the process. We cannot know with certainty whether Silius finished his poem just after Domitian’s death in 96/97 CE, but scholars (like Marks) point out that the poem belongs to the period of the Flavian regime, not to that of Domitian’s successors Nerva (96–98 CE) and Trajan (98–117 CE). Old age or illness may have forced Silius to quit and thus leave the Punica unfinished in seventeen books, in con- trast to the eighteen books of the first Roman historical epic, the Annales of the poet Ennius (c. 239–169 BCE). Several proposed schemes have divided the books into groups of two, three, six, and so on, but none are particularly compelling. 2 INTRODUCTION The poem opens with an introduction to the causes of the war and Hannibal’s siege of Saguntum (Books 1–2) in 218 BCE. In Book 3, the Carthaginian general crosses the Pyrenees and the Alps, before inflicting major catastrophes in northern Italy at the Ticinus and the Trebia rivers (Book 4) and Lake Trasimene (Book 5) in 217 BCE. In Book 6, a digres- sion narrates Regulus’ exploits in Africa and Rome during the First Punic War (264–241 BCE), before transitioning to Fabius’ assumption of the dictatorship at the end of the book and Hannibal’s destruction of a temple at Liternum. Book 7 is dedicated to Fabius and his delaying tactics, which manage to forestall further Roman defeats. In the central Books 8, 9, and 10, the greatest battle of the Roman world takes place at Cannae (216 BCE). Silius then relates the battle’s aftermath and Scipio’s prevention of some aristocratic Romans’ efforts to flee the country. Book 11 marks the decline of the Carthaginian army, as Hannibal spends time in Capua and succumbs to the city’s luxury. In Book 12, Hannibal attacks cities in Campania, then launches a futile attack against Rome. The supreme god Jupiter saves the city and pushes the Carthaginians away. The Romans capture Capua in Book 13 (211 BCE), and Scipio travels to the Underworld where he meets illustrious Romans of the past and future, including the ghosts of his par- ents. Marcellus’ Sicilian campaign occupies Book 14 (212 BCE). In Book 15, Scipio leads a successful Spanish campaign (209 BCE), and the Roman army conquers the army of Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal (207 BCE). In Book 16, Hannibal’s decline is evident through various defeats, and Scipio celebrates funeral games for his deceased father and uncle in Spain. Finally, Book 17 narrates Hannibal’s withdrawal from Italy and the decisive battle at Zama (202 BCE) that ends the war. Further Reading: Marks (2005, 287–88), Augoustakis (2010, 6–10). Sources Pliny’s obituary for Silius emphasized his deep knowledge of literature. The Punica reflects the poet’s wide reading, not only of poetry, but also of his- tory, philosophy, geography, and ethnography. Silius engages deeply with the Latin epic tradition, adapting the classics such as Ennius’ Annales, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, as well as more recent work such as Lucan’s Civil War. He also responds to the poems of his contemporaries, Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica and Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid. Above all, the Punica is an epicization of history, combining historical narrative with elements of mythological epic. The Punica’s historical narrative reflects Silius’ use of prose historiogra- phy. An important section of Livy’s comprehensive history of Rome, From the Foundation of the City books 21–30, is Silius’ most important prose source. Livy provided the narrative framework for Silius’ poem, covering major events such as the siege of Saguntum and the series of defeats from the Ticinus to Cannae in detail. He used other historiographical sources 3