Punica (poem)
The poem is a work of Silius' old age, and thus his time spent at his Campanian villas collecting antiques and giving recitations, presumably of the Punica.
Silius says that his account of Ennius' fight is his attempt to "hand down to long ages noble deeds, too little known, of a great man."
He describes Ennius' birth, his prowess in war, and has Apollo prophesy his future, saying "he [Ennius] shall be the first to sing of Roman wars in noble verse, exalting their commanders to the skies; he shall teach Helicon[8] to repeat the sound of Roman poetry..." Virgil is mentioned at 8.593-594, where Silius says of Virgil's hometown Mantua that it was "home of the Muses, raised to the sky by immortal verse, and a match for the lyre of Homer."
[9] Silius employs constantly Virgilian images, similes, tropes, and elements (such as his nekyia or the historically themed shield of Hannibal) in the Punica,[10] and hardly a page goes by without some significant allusion to the Aeneid.
Frederick Ahl posits that Silius construed his epic as occupying the historical and poetic midpoint between the Aeneid and the Bellum Civile, forming a trilogy of poems on Roman history.
[11] Silius is closest to Lucan in his treatment of historical description, especially geography and battlefields, his focus on the macabre and violence, and his stoic tone.
The betrayal of Dido, familiar from the Aeneid, and Juno's anger stir the goddess to prophesy the course of the war and choose Hannibal as her instrument of revenge.
The childhood oath of Hannibal to his father Hamilcar at the Dido temple in Carthage is narrated, and his character is described as vicious, cunning, and daring.
While campaigning against Spanish tribes, Hannibal receives a shield as a gift from the Gallaeci that shows Carthaginian history up to the siege of Saguntum.
Hannibal visits the shrine of Hercules at Gades, where he admires the doors painted with the god's deeds and the unusual tides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Hannibal crosses the Alps amid hardship, while Venus asks Jupiter whether he plans on destroying Rome.
Scipio encourages his troops and leads them to the Ticinus river where a bird omen promises that the Carthaginians can rout the Romans for 8 years, but will be overcome eventually by Rome.
Hannibal lays a trap for the Romans in a ravine, while an enraged Flamininus goes on a rant against augury, and refuses to heed the terrible sacrificial omens.
Serranus, a son of Marcus Atilius Regulus, escapes the battle and comes to the humble house of Marus at Perusia.
Marcia, Serranus' mother, asks Regulus not to return, but he, respecting his oath, leaves her and is tortured to death by the Carthaginians.
A bloodied Fama reports the battle at Rome, after which Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator, whose family history is described, is elected consul.
Hannibal learns from a prisoner the family history of the Fabii and then attempts to incite Fabius to battle as he ravages Campania and the Falernian countryside.
Book 8 Juno sends the spirit of Anna, the sister of Dido and now the nymph of the river Numicius, to Hannibal who is upset about his forced retreat.
Anna tells Juno of Dido's suicide, her flight to Cyrene after Iarbas' invasion, her escape to Italy and Aeneas from Pygmalion's fleet, and her transformation into a river from fear of Lavinia, then hastens to Hannibal and encourages him by prophesying the Battle of Cannae.
Varro is elected consul and gives a haughty speech criticizing Fabius, his colleague, Paulus, reluctantly decides to go to battle.
Book 9 Varro and Paulus argue about tactics, and a son, Satricus, accidentally kills his father, Sulmo, in a night skirmish, an omen of disaster for the Romans at the Battle of Cannae.
Scipio and Scaevola have their aristeiai, but Mars stirs up a storm that beats the Romans back as the other gods retire from battle.
Venus sends a mob of Cupids to shoot the Carthaginians and make them lose their discipline, aided by Teuthras' song on Amphion and Orpheus.
He sees the souls of Sulla, Marius, and Pompey preparing to ascend and then learns from the Sibyl of Hannibal's fate.
After receiving good omens, his fleet lands at Tarraco and in a dream his father's ghost encourages him to take New Carthage, which he does.
Book 16 While Hannibal travels around southern Italy, the Carthaginians are driven out of Spain by Scipio and flee to Carthage.
Juno agrees that she cannot change fate but asks Jupiter to spare Hannibal's life and to let Carthage stay standing.
Scipio returns to Rome victorious and celebrates a triumph through the city with a long train of captives including Syphax and Hanno along with images of the places he conquered.
As Scipio, in purple and gold, rides through Rome in a chariot, Silius compares him to Hercules and declares that it is no lie that he is the son of Jupiter.
Studies of the Punica have flourished with many new monographs published about the poem, for example by Antony Augoustakis,[16] Ray Marks,[17] and Claire Stocks.
