Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus

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HUMANISTIC SERIES

VOLUME IV

PART IV. REMINISCENCES OF ENNIDS IN

SILIUS ITALICUS,

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO

MACMILLAN & CO , Limited

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

TORONTO

REMINISCENCES OF ENNIUS
IN SILIUS ITALICUS

\ THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF

LITERATURE, SCIENCE. AND THE ARTS OF THE UNIVERSITY

OF MICHIGAN. FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

BALTIMOBB, MD., U. ■. ▲.

REMINISCENCES OF ENNIUS IN
SILIU8 ITALICUS

I. PREVIOUS THEOEIES CONCERNING THE
PUNICA

C. SiliuB Italicus and his description of the Second
Funic War have received comparatively little recognition
either in ancient or in modem times. He was praised by
Martial ' and was mentioned by Pliny ' and a iew of his
other contemporaries ; ' then, with but one or two exceptions,
no further reference to his name and no allusion to his
poem can be found until the fifteenth century, when the
discovery of a manuscript ' of the Funics awakened a slight
interest, but led to very few systematic and critical investi-
gations. Another manuscript,' discovered in the following
century, brought no greater results. In the latter part of
the nineteenth century sufficient interest was shown to
question the sources and the historical credibility of the
poem, but since then little more has been said concerning
it, and the text of the latest edition ' is still far from well
established.

' Epigr. 4, 14; 6, 64; 7. 63; 8, 66; 9, S6; 11, 48; 11, 49.

" Epis. 3, 7.

*Tac. Hist. 3, 65; Epictet. Diss. 3, 8, 7; cf, also Charialus,
Instit. gram. (Kell, Oram. Lat. 1, 125, 16).

■Cf. H. Blase, Die Texteeguellec des SUius Italicus, Jab
class. Phil., sup. 8 (1875-1876), pp. 161-250.

'From this edition by L. Bauer (Leipalc, 1890-92) all quot
tlons In the following pages are taken.
24

207450

356 University of Michigan Studies

With regard to the sources of the Puniea, two general
theories were promulgated. One was that Livy was the
writer from whom Silins had gained most of his informa-
tion and that snch variations as appeared were traceable
either to another account or to the poet^s own imagination ;
the other was that the predecessor to whom Silius was in-
debted was not Livy, but one of the early annalists, possibly
Fabius Pictor, transmitted through the Annals of Ennius.

The latter theory, proposed and vigorously maintained
by Max Heynacher/ has met with but little favor. His
position was approved, according to the testimony of Lud-
wig Bauer," by Sieglin and Vollmer, and when his second
treatise' appeared in 1877, it received the following com-
mendation from E. Baehrens : * "in welcher ebenso um-
sichtigen wie fleissigen Arbeit der genaue Beweis gefiihrt
wird, dass Livius nicht die Hauptquelle des Silius war,
sondem dass auch ein alterer jinnalist, vielleicht Fabius
Pictor, von ihm benutzt ist, somit also den Punica des
Silius eine hohere Bedeutung als Geschichtsquelle zu-
kommt, als bisher angenommen wurde.^^ But with the
exception of these three scholars, no others appear to have
sanctioned this view.

On the other hand, Joannes Schlicht^isen,* Ludwig
Bauer," J. S. van Yeen,^ and Anton Arendt* strongly op-

^ Ueber die Quellen des Silius Italicus, llfeld, 1874.

^ Das Verhaltnis der Punica des C. Silius Italicus zur dritten
Dekade des T. Livius, Erlangen, 1883, p. 4, n. 2; p. 59.

^ Ueber die Stellung des Silius Italicus unter den Quellen
zum zweiten punischen Kriege, Nordhausen, 1877.

* Jahresbericht iiber die romischen Epiker, Bursian's, Jahres-
ber. 10 (1877), p. 52.

^ De fide historica Silii Italici quaestiones historicae et philo-
logicae, Konigsberg, 1881, p. 128.
« Op. cit.
^ Quaestiones Silianae, Leyden, 1884, pp. 60, 78.

* Syrakus im zweiten punischen Kriege, Konigsberg, 1899,
pp. 110, 113, 114.

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius italicus 357

posed this belief in an annalistic source and advocated the
former theory. Editors and investigators prior to Hey-
nacher all maintained that the influence of Livy upon
Silius was pre-eminent; even E. Wezel,' who considered
that this phase of the matter had been treated sufficiently
and sought rather, by means of many selected passages, to
prove the additional influence of several other earlier
authors, only proceeded to this course after first devoting a
few pages to the primary claims of Livy, In fact the
majority have held the position noted by Arendt (p. 114) :
"dass Livius liauptquelle fiir Silius ist, dass dieser aber
daneben noch andere Quellen eingeeehen hat,"

Among these other sources, Ennius is expressly men-
tioned by Wezel (chap. II), Bauer (p. 59), and van Veen
(p. 7). The two latter make the general statement that
Ennius exerted no small influence upon the work of Silius,
but they do not discuss the question in detail, Wezel, how-
ever, devotes an entire chapter to an enumeration of pas-
sages from the Punica, which he thinks were suggested by
lines from the Annals of the early poet. He has, I believe,
detected some genuine similarities, but he has been justly
criticised " for an over-
blances, many of which
real.

Quite different from '
to Ennius are the opini
and of Bias?-. Cosack's

'DeC. Silii Italic! cum
pp. 3. 4.

'Ct. Schlichteisen. p. !
E. Wezel de Silll Italic
Jahrb. f. Phil. u. Paed.. vi

' Cosack's Quaestlones
unable to consult, but hi
later scholars.

358 University of Michigan Studies

by van Veen (p. 10) : " Quod ad fontes attinet, pro certo
ponit, eum saepissime Livium esse secutum, Ennium con-
tra, etiamsi fortasse Annales cognoverit, in carmine elabo-
rando non adhibuisse." Schlichteisen, after a careful dis-
cussion of those parts of the third, fourth, and fifth books
of the poem that are traceable to the poetical invention of
the author and those that are traceable to other historical
accounts, sums up his decision (p. 128) in favor of Cosack^s
view, attributing to Livy the greatest influence and adding :
" Annalium scriptores vetustos eum quasi duces narrationis
secutum esse minime apparet vel, si nonnumquam inspexit,
certe demonstrari non potest/^ Blass says (p. 506) : " Dass
Ennius von Silius gekannt und gelesen worden sei, glaube
ich gem. Etwas anderes ist es aber, ob nach dem Stande
unserer Kenntnis sich das beweisen lasse. Ich mag es nicht
absolut verneinen, halte aber doch die Beweise fiir sehr
problematisch/^

Anton Kerer,^ while not explicitly denying the influence
of Ennius, shows by his ardent effort to prove indebtedness
to Livy in the first four books of the Punica that he leaves
no room for the claims of Ennius. In fact he and Hey-
nacher, though arriving at entirely different results, were
evidently led to their conclusions by similar fallacious rea-
soning, due to the influence of the so-called single source
theory, which was at one time maintained so persistently
in regard to writers of Koman history and was not success-
fully refuted until the last decade.

Wezel, too, shows the effect of this theory in yet another
way. He does not claim for the Punica, as a whole, de-
pendence upon any one previous writer, but recognizes its
debt to many; yet he usually detects the influence of these
predecessors only in separate passages, one apart from the

^ Ueber die Abhangigkeit des C. Silius Italicus von Livius,
Bozen, 1880-81.

Reminiscences of Enniub in Siuos Italichs 359

other, and thus fails to see that in almost all cases there ia a
simultaneous blending of reminiscences from several
sources. The general tenor may be very suggestive of one
author and yet certain distinctive touches give strong evi-
dence of the additional influence of others.

To discover all of the sources of the Punica would be, as
Blase says," impossible; to attempt to reach any final con-
elusion as to the exact amount of influence exercised by the
early annalists, and especially by EnniuSj would likewise be
useless, when so little of their work is left to us. But I
hope to he able to show that, with the material we have,
some such influence is traceable not, as Heynacher main-
tains, to the exclusion of all other sources, but combined
with them; nor as Wezel would seem to indicate, in sep-
arate, distinct pictures, but in slight descriptive touches
blending almost imperceptibly into the varied background
formed by the use of several sources intermingled one with
the other.

But before proceeding to an investigation of this internal
evidence, it may he well to discuss briefly the possibilities of
such influence from considerations of a more general na-
ture, although Johannes Vahlen," in the excellent introduc-
tion to his latest edition of Ennius (Leipsie, 1903, pp.
XXI-CXXX), has given such a complete review of the
proof of Ennian influence upon contemporary and succeed-
ing writers, as to leave little need to say more. That which
follows here in this connection is practically all quoted from
his account, but with

' Anz. V, E. Wezel de fi
Neue Jahrb. Phil. u. Pae
das aucb m5g11cb bel
Resten der Litteratur? "

' All the tragmentB of
are taken from this editi

360 University of Michigan Studies

matter which is of special interest in regard to Silius
ItalicTis.

Previous to the beginning of our era, the power exerted
by Ennius was so unmistakably disclosed in the writings of
such men as Lucretius, Varro, Cicero, Virgil, and Horace
as to leave no doubt with regard to the knowledge of his
works possessed, not only by them, but also by those for
whom they wrote. The following lines from Horace alone
would be sufficient to prove this, Epis. 2, 1, 50-62 :

Ennius, et sapiens et fortis et alter Homerus,
ut critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur
quo promissa cadant et somnia Pythagorea.
Naevius in manibus non est et mentibus haeret
paene recens ? adeo sanctum est vetus omne poema.
ambigitur quotiens, uter utro sit prior, auf ert
Pacuvius docti famam senis, Accius alti,
dicitur Afrani toga convenisse Menandro,
Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi,
vincere Caecilius gravitate, Terentius arte,
hos ediscit et hos arto stipata theatro
spectat Eoma potens, habet hos numeratque poetas
ad nostrum tempus Livi scriptoris ab aevo.
Nor was Ennius known only to be commended. The

crudities of his work were also recognized, as is shown by

such critical phrases as the following:

Horace, Sat. 1, 10, 54 :

versus Enni gravitate minores,
Ovid, Amor. 1, 15, 19 :

Ennius arte carens,
Ovid, Trist. 2, 424 :

Ennius ingenio maximus, arte rudis.

A little later we find some more radical expressions of
disapproval. In fact Yahlen (p. LXXIII) says that the
favor in which Ennius had been held gradually decreased
until, in the time of Nero, Seneca looked upon him with
contempt and Persius with scorn. But even this attitude
shows that Ennius was still known and read. Seneca

Eeminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicds 361

would surely not have hinted at his dislike of this poet,' if
he had been unacquainted with his writings, nor would he
have known how the words of Enniua and Accius had suf-
fered from disuse,' if he had not been familiar with them
as originally employed. Persius likewise wrote as one who
possessed personal knowledge of the poems of Ennius and,
moreover, who felt assured that his allusions to his prede-
cessor would be understood and appreciated by his contem-
poraries. Thus a sneer at the boast of Ennius {Ann. 15),
memini me fiere pavum, appears in the opening lines of his
Prologue ;

nee fonte labra prolui caballino,
nee in bieipiti aomniasse Parnaso
memini, ut repente sic poeta prodirem.
In another passage (Sat. 6, 9-11) he again refers to En-
nius and quotes a line evidently well-known to him in its
original connection ;

' Lunai portum, est operae, cognoscite, cives ' :
cor iubet hoc Enni, postquam destertuit esse
Maeonides, Quintus pavone ex Pythagoreo.
Furthermore, if there was occasion for him to express his
disapproval of the current desire to read Ennius's con-
temporary, Pacuvius, and his immediate successor, Accius,'
there is little doubt that, had he given more than a sugges-

' Seneca, De Ira, 3, 37, 5; Non aequis guendam oculis vldlsti,
quia de Ingenlo tuo male locutus est: reclpis banc legem? ergo
te BnnluB, quo non delectarf« nrtiHspt.

'Seneca, Epis. 58, 5: Nt
OStendam, quantum tempus i
ut hoc Intellegas, quantum i
situs occupaverit; cum apud
aliqua nobis Bubducta sint.

•PeraluB, Sat. 1, 76-78:

est nunc. Brlsael qu

362 University of Michigan Studies

tion of the names of those who at that time satisfied the
popular taste for antiquarian literature, Ennius also would
have appeared among those early writers who still claimed
attention.

As Vahlen states (p. LXXVIII), Martial shows that in
his time there were readers of the Annals, for he says
(Epigr. 11, 90, 5) attonitusque legis ' terrai frugiferai/
Quintilian also, by his quotations from Ennius and the final
judgment that he passes upon him,* reveals the fact that he
had at some period in his life followed his own advice and
read the ancient writers whom he recommended to all firmis
autem iudiciis iamque extra pericvlum positis (Inst. or. 2,
5, 23). Pliny, the Elder, in his Natural History quotes
from the Annals passages not found elsewhere * and Pliny,
the Younger, speaks of Accius and Ennius as if they were
well-known.* Statins also seems to imply, in the Silvae, 2,
7, 75, cedet Micsa rudis ferods Enni, that the Muse of En-
nius had not yet given up her ascendency.

In the light of so much evidence of the continued knowl-
edge of Ennius both before and during the time of Silius,
it would be most natural to suppose that the latter also
knew the works of the early poet. This seems all the more
probable from the statement made concerning Silius by
Pliny, Epis. 3, 7, 8 : m^ultum uhique lihrorum, niultum

^ Quint. Inst. or. 10, 1, 88: Ennium slcut sacros vetustate
lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora iam non
tantam habent speciem quantam religionem. Propiores alii
atque ad hoc, de quo loquimur, magis utiles.

^ Cf . Vahlen, pp. LXXV, LXXVI.

' Pliny, Epis. 5, 3, 6 : Neronem enim transeo, quamvis sciam
non corrumpi in deterius quae aliquando etiam a malis, sed
honesta manere quae saepius a bonis fiunt, inter quos vel
praecipue numerandus est P. Vergilius, Cornelius Nepos et
prius Accius Enniusque. non quidem hi senatores, sed sancti-
tas morum non distat ordinibus.

Reminiscences of Ennios in Silius Italicus 363

statuarum, muHum imaginwm, quas nan hahehat modo
verum etiam venerabatur. Among these large collections
of books with ■which the several villas of Silius were fur-
nished, Ennius doubtless had his place. In truth it seems
very probable that Silius may have been trained in reading
the verses of Ennius during his school-days. If Horace re-
membered the dictation exercises he had received from the
writings of Livius, he doubtless also remembered similar
ones from Ennius, of whom he says: ediscit Roma yotens.

Quintilian (Inst. or. 2, 5, 31) utters this warning to any
master: ne quis eos (i. e. pueros) antiquitatis ntmius ad-
mirator in Gracchorum Ccdonisque ei dHorum similium
lectione durescere velit.

Likewise in the next century Aulus Gellius (Noct. Attic.
18, 5, 2-7) refers definitely to the use of Ennius for pur-
poses of instruction. He says that on one occasion he heard
a public reading from the seventh book of the Annals of
Ennius, given by a so-called Ennianista, who performed
services similar to those of Quintus Vargunteius, mentioned
by Suetonius (De illustr. gramm. 3). After the reading, a
question arose as to whether the phrase quadrupes equus
used by the speaker was the original form or whether he
should have said quadrupes eques. Hereupon, Gellius adds :

aliquot eorum, qui aderant, ' quadrupes equus ' apud
suum quisque gramma tlcum legisse se dicerent et miraren-
tur, quidnam esset ' quadrupes eques.'

It seems reasonable, then, to suppose that Silius knew
Ennius well, and this supposition is strengthened by the
very natural and, at times, apparently unconscious way in
which Ennian touches appear to have crept into his poem.

As has been previously stated, Wezel devotes an entire
chapter of hia thesis to the citation of passag"- '-""■ +^"
Punica, with a parallel passage in each case tak
fragments of the poetry of Ennius, By thus ]
gether quotations from the two authors, he set

364 University of Michigan Studies

to prove that Ennius served as one of the sources and
models for Silins, but also to ascertain with greater cer-
tainty the meaning and connection of the fragments of the
Annals which relate to the Second Punic War, a task of
which he says (p. 47) : " reliquias Ennianas quae ad bellum
Punicum alterum spectant melius inter se coniungi posse,
si Silii narrationem sequimur, quam si Livium aliumve
scriptorem sequimur."

Of this attempt Heynacher (Ueber die Quellen des Silius
Italicus, p. 1) says: "Weder Cosack noch Wezel hat eine
rationelle Quellenanalyse angestellt. . . . Beide kniipfen
ihre Untersuchungen an wenige Stellen und haben deshalb
in dieser Frage kein bestimmtes Kesultat gewonnen ^^ ; for
Heynacher, while maintaining the theory of the annalistic
source, quotes very few parallel passages, but seeks to find
this influence rather in the general tenor of the whole poem
and in its variations from the account of the same period as
given by Livy.

Yet notwithstanding this criticism, I have thought best
to begin with a consideration of separate passages, partly
because this seems the most natural means of approaching
a study of similarities between two authors, one of whom
we possess only in such fragmentary portions, and partly
because from such a study of the isolated parts, we may
perhaps be able to arrive at some conclusion as to the whole.

In discussing these separate passages, I have chosen first
some that show evidence of the direct influence of Ennius,
though this may be discernible only in a slight touch, and
second, some that reveal traces of an indirect use of Ennius
through the works of Virgil and Livy. Then I shall try to
find a possible explanation in Ennius for some of the essen-
tial points in Silius that are not traceable to any other
source and that might very naturally have found their ori-
gin in the lines of the earlier poet.

II. PASSAGES SHOWING DIRECT INFLUENCE

1) In hi& short discussion of Wezel's parallel passages,
Blass fp. 506) selects no. 20 as first in importance, al-
though even here he thinks that the evidence of Ennian
influence is not very strong. The lines quoted from the
Punica are descriptive of the burial honors shown by Han-
nibal to the Eoman leader, Paulus, who was slain in the
battle of Cannae, and are found in the tenth book, 11. 52T-
534:

.... turn munera iussa,
defessi quamquam, accelerant spareoque propinquos
agmine prosteraunt lucos; sonat acta bipenni
frondosis silva alta iugis. liinc omus et altae
populus alba comae, validis accisa lacertis,
Ecinditur, hinc ilex, proavorum condita saeelo.
devolvunt quercus et amantem litora pinum
ac, ferale decus, maestas ad busta eupreseos.
The passage recalls at once, aa Wezel points out, 11. 176-
182 in the sixth book of the Aeneid, where Aeneas is repre-
sented as causing similar honors to be shown to the body of
Misenus, when found upon the shore :

.... tum iussa Sibyllae,
hand mora, festinant flentes aramque sepulcri
congerere arboribus caeloque educere certant.
itur in antiquam silvam, stabula alta ferarum,
procumbunt piceae, sonat icta securibus ile.\
fraxineaeque trabes cuneis et fissile robur
seinditur, advolvunt ingentis montibus omos.
Showing marked likeness t
quoted by Macrobius (Sat. 6,
the sixth book of the Annals t
incedunt arbusta per alt
pereellunt magnas quere

■Edd. Ann. lST-191.

366 University op Michigan Studies

fraxinus frangitur atque abies consternitur alta,
pinus proceras pervortunt; omne sonabat
arbustum fremitu silvai frondosai.

That Wezel considered these a part of the description of
the burial of Paulns is not distinctly stated, though Blass
(p. 507) thinks that such was his opinion and that he
thereby ignored the statement of Macrobius referring them
to the sixth book of Ennius, which told of the war with
Pyrrhus, while the eighth told of the war with Hannibal.'

But granting that they were not used in the same con-
nection as the lines in the Punica, or even that they were
written as part of the description of the construction of a
fleet, as Blass suggests may have been the case, yet this
would not prevent them from exerting an influence upon
the work of Silius, for the latter is not always at pains to
preserve the relation of his borrowed thoughts as they stood
in the original, and has in several cases transferred descrip-
tions and incidents from one scene to another. Such a fact,
when added to the consideration that he takes very little in
the exact words of his creditor, might lead one to suppose
that he sought to disguise his plagiarisms, if his imitations,
particularly of Virgil, were not so slavish as to defy all
thought that the author was seeking to avoid detection
therein. Nay, his poem seems rather to present a mingling
of thoughts and phrases from various sources, so well known
to the author that there was no need of an exact correspond-
ence of circumstances to call them to mind. That the
present passage of Silius clearly shows Virgilian influence
has been universally acknowledged, and that Virgil was
here, as in many other cases, indebted to Ennius, I think we
may grant is equally true. Thus there must have been at
least an indirect influence of the elder poet on Silius
through the medium of the Augustan writer. But Wezel

« Cf. Vahlen, ed. 1903, pp. 31 and 46.

Rehiniscenoes op Ennius in Silics Italicds 367

thinks that Silius was directly dependent upon Ennius, and
Blass is inclined to assent to this because of the use of the
phrases frondosis silva alia iugis in the Punica and omnc
sonabat arb-ustum fremitu silvai frondosai in the Annals,
while the word frondosus is not found in the quotation cited
from Virgil. Now this in itself is not sufficient evidence
to prove that Virgilian influence is not to be found here,
for this word occurs in other passages of the Aeneid and
also in the Eclogues and Georgics, as Ec. 2, 70, frondosa in
ulmo; Geor. 3, 396, frondosa aestas; 4, 543, fivndoso luco;
1, 382, frondosum Olympum; Aen. S, 352, frondosa Ida; 7,
387, frondoiis montibvs; 8, 351, frondoso vertice, and any
of the last four phrases might easily have suggested the
frondosis iugis of the Punica. But the proximity of the
word sUva, especially when taken with its peculiar setting,
is suggestive of the silvai frondosai of Ennius, for in botli
cases the thought expressed is that from all parts of the
leafy forest came reverberating echoes due to the simul-
taneous felling of many trees, a thought that is found in
none of the Virgilian passages noted above, not even the
one which seems to have served aa the model for Silius.
The vigorous power of the words of Ennius, which create
so vivid an impression of a forest full of sound, is lacking
in Virgil's sonat icta securibvs ilex, which attracts attention
rather to the individual trees as they fall. It is the scene
of the larger activity which Silius strives to present in the
lines quoted above, and in so doing he shows that even while
he followed a later writer as the real source of the passage,
he was influenced, perhaps unconsciously, hy the thought of
the annalistie poet.

2) Sil. 7, 219-253 gives an address b;
calmed the seditious feelings of his folio
grew impatient because of his dilatory

368 University of Michigan Studies

Hannibal. From this passage Wezel (no. 21) chooses the
following lines as showing traces of Ennian influence :
7, 233 :

una, ut debellet, satis est victoria Poeno.
237-238:

.... una reclusis

omnes iam portis in campum effuderit hora.
241:

fortunae Libys incumbit flatuque secundo

fidit agens puppim.
244-245 :

.... non uUa perenni

amplexu Fortuna fovet.

The fragment with which he connects these belonged, ac-
cording to Macrobius (Sat. 6, 2, 16), to the eighth book of
the Annals and is thus given by Vahlen (11. 287-289) :

.... multa dies in bello conficit unus :
et rursus multae fortunae forte recumbunt :
haudquaquam quemquam semper fortuna secuta est.

This comparison Blass (p. 508) thinks is based upon a

false foundation, for the words of Silius^s ' fortunae. incurn-

hit are equivalent to fortunam urgei' while in Ennius ' jot-

tunae recumbunt means fortunae recedunt.' But it is not

in these phrases that the similarity lies. Both passages

speak, in general, of the shifting changes of fortune, as does

also Aen. 11, 425-427:

multa dies variique labor mutabilis aevi
rettulit in melius, multos alterna revisens
lusit et in solido rursus Fortuna locavit.

Ennius suggests possible failure for some one in place of

present success, Virgil possible victory for Tumus and his

party in place of their present defeat, and Silius possible

reverses for the Carthaginians in place of their present

good fortune. According to Macrobius, the Virgilian lines

were written in imitation of those of Ennius. If then

Silius had the former in mind when he wrote the speech of

Fabius, at least an indirect reminiscence of Ennius could

Eeminiscenoes of Ennius in Silius Italicus 369

be traced. But there is stronger evidence of direct influ-
ence seen not only in the greater similarity of the central
thought, but also in those delicate touches that suggest
rather than reveal the dependence. Thus haudquaquam
quemquam semper fortuna secuta est of the earlier writer
is certainly reechoed in non ulla perenni amplexu Fortuna
fovet of the later and dies unus of Ennius, with its great
possibilities in war, is suggestive of una victoria and una
hora of Silius. There is, as Wezel says, no such speech of
Fabius in the historical account of Livv, and as the three
lines preserved from Ennius are quite in accord with the
words that Silius says were uttered by this famous leader,
the supposition that both occurred in the same connection
seems not without justification.

3) While describing the siege of Syracuse, Silius tells of
the destruction of one of the towers as follows, 14, 305-315 :

huic procul ardentem iaculatus lampada Cimber
conicit et lateri telum exitiabile figit.
pascitur adiutus Vulcanus turbine venti,
gliscentemque trahens turris per viscera labem
perque altam molem et totiens crescentia tecta,
scandit ovans rapidusque vorat crepitantia flammis
robora et, ingenti simul exundante vapore
ad caelum, victor nutantia culmina lambit.
implentur fumo et nebula caliginis atrae,
nee cuiquam evasisse datur; ceu fulminis ictu
correptae rapido in cineres abiere ruinae.

With the first four lines of this Wezel (no. 18) compares

Ennius, Ann. 487:

cum magno strepitu Volcanum ventus vegebat.

In the same connection he also gives the following similar

quotations from Silius:

4, 680-681:

uritur omne nemus, lucosque effusus in altos
immissis crepitat victor Vulcanus habenis ;

370 University of Michigan Studies

5, 513-514 :

.... torquet Vulcanus anhelos
cum f ervore globos flammarum et culmina torret ;

9, 603-608:

.... pastusque sonoro
ignis edax vento per propugnacula fertur.
non aliter, Pindo Ehodopeve incendia pastor
cum iacit, et silvis spatiatur fervida pestis,
f rondosi ignescunt scopuli : subitoque per alta
coUucet iuga dissultans Vulcanius ardor;

17, 96-98 :

it totis inimica lues cum turbine castris,
atque alimenta vorat strepitu Vulcanus anhelo
arida.

That all of these passages from the 'Punica are chiefly
suggestive of Virgilian expressions may be seen from the
following phrases, all of which are employed by the Augus-
tan poet in descriptions of fire:

Aen. 2, 276: Phrygios iaculatus puppibus ignis;

Geor. 2, 432 : pascunturque ignes nocturni;

Aen. 10, 409 : flammas ovantis ;

Geor. 1, 85 : crepitantibus urere flammis ;

Aen. 7, 74 : flamma crepitante cremari ;

Geor. 2, 307 : victor perque alta cacumina regnat ;

Aen. 2, 684 : lambere flamma comas ;

Aen. 3, 574 : attoUitque globos flammarum et sidera lambit ;

Geor. 1, 473 : flammarumque globos ;

Geor. 2, 308-309 :

et totum involvit flammis nemus et ruit atram
ad caelum picea crassus caligine nubem;

Aen. 2, 758 : ilicet ignis edax summa ad fastigia vento
volvitur ;

Aen. 5, 662 : f urit immissis Volcanus habenis ;

Aen. 8, 421 : fornacibus ignis anhelat.

In addition to these verbal similarities, there are at least
two of the passages quoted from the Punica in which the
suggestion of the picture as a whole seems to have been
taken from Virgil. Thus the description of the burning

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 371

oak (5, 510-514) recalls the following lines from the

Georgics (2, 303-307) :

nam saepe ineautis pastoribns excidit ignis,
qui furtim pingui primnm sub cortice teetus
robora comprendit, frondesque elapsus in altas
ingentem caelo sonitum dedit; inde seeutus
per ramos victor perque alta cacumina regnat.

Likewise the simile of the rapidly spreading fire started
by a shepherd in the forest (9, 605-608) shows marked re-
semblance to a parallel rhetorical figure employed by Virgil
(Aen. 10, 405-409) where we meet the same silvis incendia
pastor.

But with all this similarity, the one indisputable likeness
between the Ennian fragment and Silius is not found in
any of the Virgilian writings. I refer to the words strepitu
Volcanum of Ennius and the strepitu Volcanus of Silius
(17, 97). Whether the Ennian line was used in the same
connection as that of the later poet cannot be decided nor
is a definite knowledge of this fact necessary to prove that
this verbal echo of thought and phrase may be detected
here. The word strepitus occurs several times in the works
of Virgil, but though used of the sound of the seething
waters of Acheron (Geor. 2, 492) ; of the babble of voices
in Didoes hall (Aen. 1, 725) ; of the confusion of sounds
upon the paved streets of Carthage (Aen. 1, 422) ; of the
terrifying din caused by the groans, lashes, and clanking
chains in the realm of Hades (Aen. 6, 559) ; and of other
similar noises, it nowhere appears as descriptive of the
sound of crackling fire. Neither does it occur in this con-
nection, as far as I can discover, in the works of any other
poet from whom Silius might be supposed to have copied it.
Evidently we have in this forcible, picturesque expression
a reminiscence, unconscious perhaps to the author, of^e
Ennian thought, conveying to the mind of the "
25

372 University op Michigan Studies

startling auditory image of a raging fire as the wind forces
it to surge on with increasing frenzy.

4) Another passage containing a similar slight remi-
niscence of Ennius, distinguishable in the midst of mani-
fest Virgilian influence, is the following, taken from the
description of Magogs passage to Africa after the battle of
Cannae, Sil. 11, 488-490 :

nauticus implebat resonantia litora clamor,
et, simul adductis percussa ad pectora tonsis,
centeno fractus spumabat verbere pontus.

These lines with their nauticus clamor, adductis tonsis,

centeno verbere, and spumabat pontus recall at once, as is

noted by Lemaire,^ Aen. 3, 128 :

nauticus exoritur vario certamine clamor;

10, 207-208 :

it gravis Aulestes centenaque arbore fluctum
verberat adsurgens, spumant vada marmore verso.
Yet not in either of these passages nor in Aen. 5, 140-141 :

.... ferit aethera clamor
nauticus, adductis spumant freta versa lacertis,
nor in the following line from Valerius Flaccus, 1, 363 :

hie patrium frangit Neptunius aequor,
which, as Lemaire says, may have suggested to Silius. the
words fractus pontus, is there any suggestion of the Silian
phrase percussa ad pectora. It is true that adductis lacertis
(Aen. 5, 141), which is equivalent to adductis tonsis (Sil.

11, 489), implies this and the supposition that Silius used
the additional strengthening phrase independent of prece-
dent would seem most natural, if we did not find a corre-
sponding thought and expression in the following frag-
ments from Ennius, Ann. 230 and 231 :

poste recumbite vestraque pectora pellite tonsis;
pone petunt: exim referunt ad pectora tonsas.

* N. E. Lemaire, Gaius Silius Italicus. Punicorum libri sep-
temdecim, Paris, 1823.

Eeminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 373

In the first of these, with its similar metrical effect at the
close and its similar form of the noun tonsa, there is the
same thought that we meet in Silius, namely of striking the
breast with the oars ; in the second, while this emphatic idea
of striking is moderated in the milder verb referunt, the
general effect is much the same, and the phrasing of the
three closing words ad pectora tonsas certainly leaves no
doubt as to the origin of ad pectora tonsis in Silius.

5 ) Wezel^s no. 1 compares the description of the death of
the trumpeter Tyrrhenus in the battle at the Ticiiius, Sil.

4, 171-174:

haesit barbaricum sub anhelo gutture telum
et clausit raucum letali vulnere murmur,
at sonus, extremo morientis fusus ab ore,
flexa pererravit mutis iam cornua labris ;

and Enn. Ann. 519-520 :

cumque caput caderet, carmen tuba sola peregit
et pereunte viro raucum sonus acre cucurrit.

Here Blass (p. 502) thinks we find merely a military
commonplace preserved in the tales of the soldiers narrated
about the camp-fire, and therefore he attaches to it but little
value. This may easily be true, but that the words of Ennius
were not forgotten in the transmission of this common-
place may be seen from the fact that, while narrating a
similar incident, Statius (Theb. 11, 53-56) repeats verba-
tim the last hemistich of one of the Ennian lines :

cum subitum obliquo descendit ab acre vulnus,
urgentisque sonum laeva manus aure retenta est,
sicut erat : f ugit in vacuas iam spiritus auras,
iam gelida ora tacent ; carmen tuba sola peregit.
Noteworthy too is the use of sonus in each passage, when
compared with sonitus of Enn. Ann. 140 :

at tuba terribili sonitu taratantara dixit;
and of the Virgilian lines in which the note of the i^^&a is
mentioned. For here we find fractos senit'' a

(Geor. 4, 72) ; clara dedit sonitum tuba (A

374 University of Michigan Studies

sonitusqne audire tvJbarum (Aen. 7, 628) ; at tuba terri-
hilem sonitum procvl aere canoro increpuit (Aen. 9: 503).
In consideration of these similarities and the additional
fact that the quality of the sound also as described by En-
nius seems to be echoed in raucum murmur, found in the
lines of Silius, there seems to be no doubt that the common-
place, if such it was, retained the form of expression in
which it was first so impressively cast.

6) The comparison* made by Wezel in no. 39 seems to
me to be one of those verbal reminiscences apparently due
to so intimate a knowledge of the original wording as to
creep in spontaneously. The two phrases under considera-
tion are Enn. Ann. 311, perculsi pectora Poeni, and Sil. 8,
242, instincti pectora Poeni, The latter is used in the
description of the eager advance of the Carthaginians
toward Arpi, after Hannibal had related to them his vision
in which the nymph Anna had prophesied to him his future
success at Cannae and had directed him to advance into
lapygian fields. Whether instincti,^ as employed by Silius,
bore the same meaning as the perculsi of Ennius and
whether both participles were used in similar connections
cannot be proved without more of the context in which the
words of Ennius stood. Be that as it may, however, the
likeness of construction and phrasing and the similarity of
metrical effect gives to the phrase of Silius the unmis-
takable stamp of Ennian influence.

7) Another fragment whose resemblance to Silian ex-
pressions is noted by Yahlen and Skutsch * as well as Wezel
(no. 2) is Enn. Ann. 572:

pes premitur pede et armis arma teruntur.

^Cf. Vahlen (ed. 1903), note to Enn. Ann. 311; Skutsch in
Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der class. Altert., vol. 5
(1905), p. 2617. •

*Cf. Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Bncyc, vol. 5, p. 2617.

Heminiscences of Ennius rN Silids Italicds 375

With this are compared Sil. 4, 352-353 :

.... t«ritur iunctis umbonibus umbo,
pesque pedem premit;
Sil, 9, 325 : pes pede, virque viro teritur.
That this poetical form of expreBsion, originated by Homer
and copied by Tyrtaeus and the Roman imitators, as shown
by Gustav Landgraf,' was a favorite one. may be seen from
its frequent use in the works of diflEerent authors. Macro-
bius (Sat. 6, 3, 5) quotes the three following:
II. 13,130:

aan'it n^ nirniS !p<i9t, nrjfivt nopvy, nn'(H' ^ ••nip'

Furius in qvarto annali:

pressatur pede pes, mucro mucrone, viro vir;
Aen. 10, 361 :

haeret pede pes densosque viro vir.
Besides thesie Sanders ' gives also Tyrtaeus, Frg. 11, 31
(Bergk) :

Enn. Ann. 570 :

pila retunduntur venientibus obvia pilis;

Aen. 10, 734: .... seque viro vir eontulit;

Sil. 9, 323-324 : .

.... galea horrida flictu
adversae ardescit galeae, clipeusque fatiseit
impulsu clipei, atque ensie eontunditur ense;

Stat. Theh. 8, 398-399 :

iam clipeus clipeis, nmbone repellitur umbo,
ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis;

Poet, aevi Car. 2, 122, 71 :

cum ferro ferrum, cum scutis scuta repugnant,
cum plumbo plumbum, cumque sudes sudibus.

' Substantivlscbe Farataxen. Archfv lat. Ijex. u. Gramm., voL
5 (1888), pp. 168-169,
' Die Quelleacontamlnatlon im 21. uad 22.

Berlin, 1898, p. 63.

376 University of Michigan Studies

A similar passage is found also, as stated by Lemaire

(note to Sil. 4, 352-353), in Ovid, Met. 9, 44-45 :

.... eratque
cum pede pes iunctns, totoque ego pectore pronus
et digitos digitis, et frontem fronte premebam.

Livy also employs like phrases, as in 7, 10, 10, cuwr scuto

scutum imum perculisset, and 33, 8, 14, simul et densari

ordines iussit, ut vir viro, arma armis iungerentur. Also in

Lucan 1, 6-7 (cf. Vahlen, note to Ann. 570) we find:

.... infestisque obvia signis
signa, pares aqnilas, et pila minantia pilis.

But while the similarity of expression is very noticeable in
all these quotations, whether they are descriptive of the
close proximity of opposing foes in battle or of the densely
crowded lines on either side, yet none of them have the
same verbs, if we except Ovid^s premebam with its different
nouns, save those of Ennius and Silius. Under such cir-
cumstances, it cannot have been an accident that the pes
premitur pede of Ennius reappears in the pesque pedem
premit of Silius and also, as Skutch says, the use of terere
by Silius in the passages quoted above comes without doubt
from Ennius. Likewise the latter^s pila setunduntur pilis
of Ann. 570 receives a suggestive echo in the ensis contun-
ditur ense of Sil. 9, 324.

8) Nos. 31 and 32 of AVezePs list compare the following
familiar eulogy of Quintus Fabius Maximus, found in the
Annals of Ennius, 370-371 :

unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem :
non enim rumores ponebat ante salutem ;

and Sil. 16, 672-674 :

.... sat gloria cauto
non vinci pulchra est Fabio, peperitque sedendo
omnia Cunctator;

7, 269-271 :

.... sed non vacat aegram
invidiam gladios inter lituosque timere
et dubia morsus famae depellere pugna.

Reminiscexces of Ennius in Silius Italicus 377

Both of these quotations from Silius refer to Fabius and
the thought they contain is practically the same as that of
Ennius, although it is expressed in a different way. Blass
(p. 509) acknowledges the influence of Ennius upon Silius,
but thinks it was felt only indirectly through quotations
given by Cicero/ Such dependence need not, however, be
assumed. This characterization of Fabius was a verv" fa-
miliar one and the words and thought of Ennius were used
by some of his other successors* who are known to have
possessed a personal acquaintance with his writings and not
to have been dependent upon the Ciceronian transmission,
although they may have read the latter also. The same
was probably true of Silius. We have found evidence in
other passages of the direct influence of Ennius upon him,
and in this case the imitation, which is one of thought not
of word, shows as close a parallel to the original version as
to any of the later ones. The quotations and variations of
intermediate authors do not remove the possibility of a
direct reminiscence of the description given by Ennius.

9) In the fifteenth book of the Punica, Silius represents
the younger Scipio as debating (11. 18-19) whether or not
to ask the troubled senate to grant him the command in
Spain, where his father and uncle had recently been killed.
At this point Virtus and Voluptas appear before him. The
latter, as a scorned exponent of Epicureanism, entreats him
to forbear, the former urges him in true Stoic form to seek
the trust. Eeproving Voluptas for striving to mislead the
youth (11. 71-72) :

cui ratio et magnae caelestia semina mentis
munere sunt concessa deum,

^De off. 1, 24, 84; Cat. Mai. 4, 10; Ad Atticum 2, 19, 2.
»Cf. Virgil, Aen. 6, 845-846; Livy, 30, 26, 9; 44, 22, 10; Ovid,
Fasti 2, 240-242.

378 University of Michigan Studies

Virtus continues (11. 75-78) :

.... sed foedere certo
degeneres tenebris animas damnavit Avernis.
at, quis aetherii servatur seminis ortus,
caeli porta patet.

The last three words are the same as were once used by

Ennius/ as quoted by Seneca and by Lactantius. Seneca

(Epis. 108, 33-34) says of a certain unknown grammarian :

Deinde Ennianos coUigit versus et in primis illos de
Africano scriptos: .... Felicem deinde se putat, quod
invenerit, unde visum sit Vergilio dicere :

.... quem super ingens
porta tonat caeli.

Ennium hoc ait Homero subripuisse, Ennio Vergilium,
esse enim apud Ciceronem in his ipsis de re publica libris
hoc epigramma Ennii :

si fas endo plagas caelestum ascendere cuiquam,
mi soli caeli maxima porta patet.

Lactantius (Divin. inst. 1, 18, 11-13) quotes from En-
nius these last two lines as the words of Africanus.

In the traditional way Silius associates the thought with

the name Scipio, though it is the younger and not the elder

hero to whom he refers. Wezel (p. 66) says that Drachen-

borch compared this with Cicero, Tusc. disp. 1, 30, 72,

where Socrates is quoted as saying :

duas esse vias duplicesque cursus animorum e corpore
excedentium. nam qui se humanis vitiis contaminavissent
et se totos libidinibus dedidissent, quibus caecati vel dome-
sticis vitiis atque flagitiis se inquinavissent vel re publica
violanda fraudes inexpiabiles concepissent, iis devium quod-
dam iter esse, seclusum a concilio deorum; qui autem se
integros castosque servavissent, quibusque fuisset minima
cum corporibus contagio seseque ab iis semper sevocassent
essentque in corporibus humanis vitam imitati deorum, iis
ad illos, a quibus essent profecti, reditum facilem patere.

Lemaire remarks (note to 1. 78) that Seneca (Hercules
* Cf . Wezel, no. 5, and Lemaire's note to 1. 78.

Eeminiscenobs of Ennius in Silius Italious 379

Oetaeus 1983-1988) and Horace (Od. 3, 3, 9-10) also ex-
press a thought similar to that of Silius. The lines of the
former are as follows :

Numquam Stygias fertur ad umbras
inclita virtus: vivunt fortes
nee Lethaeos saeva per amnes
vos fata trahent, sed cum summas
exiget horas consumpta dies,
iter ad superos gloria pandet.

Those of the latter are:

hac arte Pollux et vagus Hercules
enisus arces attigit igneas.

Thus here again we find in the Punica a blending of later
sources with earlier, a mere touch of the latter in the midst
of more prominent evidence of the former. The statement
of Blass (p. 509) that Silius was indebted to Virgil for the
reminiscence of Ennius here recorded lacks proof. The
quotation from the Georgics (3, 260-261) given above in
the passage from Seneca (Epis. 108), may have been in-
spired by the Ennian lines there cited, but in its changed
form could surely not have suggested to Silius the exact
wording of the original and its association with Scipio. In
the Eclogues (3, 105) the somewhat sihiilar clause pateat

m

caeK spatium is found, but with an altogether different
meaning, and in the Georgics (1, 24-25; 503-504) lines
prophetic of the deification of Caesar are recorded, but with
no suggestion of the verbal phrasing employed by Ennius
and Silius.

10) The passage discussed by Wezel in no. 13 is, accord-
ing to Blass (p. 609), derived from Livy^s copy of Ennius
rather than from the original. The lines of the Punica in
question are these (9, 209-211) :

qui vero extemo socius mihi sanguine Byrsae
signa moves, dextram Ausonia si caede cruentam
attolles, hinc iam civis Carthaginis esto.

380 University of Michigan Studies

The fragment of Ennius, preserved by Cicero (Pro Balbo

22, 51), is the following, Ann. 280-281 :

hostem qui feriet mihi erit Carthaginiensis
quisquis erat; cuiatis siet.

A similar statement, as Wezel acknowledges, is found in

Livy, 21, 45, 4-6 :

equitibus .... vocatis ad contionem certa praemia pro-
nuntiat, in quorum spem pugnarent: agrum sese daturum
esse in Italia Africa Hispania, ubi quisque velit, immunem
ipei, qui accepisset, liberisque; qui pecuniam quam agrum
maluisset, ei se argento satisf acturum ; qui sociorum cives
Carthaginienses fieri vellent, potestatem facturum.

Though this promise is said to have been given before
the battle of Ticinus, while Silius pictures Hannibal as
thus addressing his soldiers before the battle of Cannae,
there can be no doubt that the author of the Punica was
here greatly indebted to Livy. Yet, with all their simi-
larity, there is an Ennian touch in the lines of Silius that
Livy has not preserved. I refer to the suggestion of the
actual contest, the hostem feriet of Ennius expressed by
Silius in the words, dextram Ausonia si caede cruentam
attolles.

Evidently Livy received hjs inspiration for this passage,
perhaps indirectly,^ from Ennius, but expressed the thought
in his own way, and Silius, writing later of a similar inci-
dent, was influenced by both, of his predecessors.

11) At the close of the poem (17, 651-652) Silius ad-
dresses Scipio thus:

Salve, invicte parens, non concessure Quirino
laudibus ac meritis non concessure Camillo.

From the similarity of the opening words to a phrase of

Ennius, Scipio invicte (Yaria 3), preserved by Cicero

*The immedfate source was probably Coelius, cf. Sanders,
op. cit., p. Ill; Gilbert, Die Pragmente des Coelius Antipater,
p. 428.

Eemisiscexces of Exsils in Siuus Italicds 381

{Orat. 45, 152), Wezel {no. 33) thinks that like praise waa
rendered to Scipio by his contemporary friend also, but
Blass (p. 508) strongly contests the theory that Silius was
indebted to this source. It is true that from an isolated
fragment as short as this, to wjiose connection Cicero gives
no clue, conclusive evidence cannot be gained concerning
the exact conditions under which the words were spoken.
Furthermore the adjective invictus is not an uncommon
one. Silius himself uses it in speaking of Vulcan (i, G77),
and other writers employ it with such names as Cato
(Lucan, Phar. 9, 18), Caesar (Statius, Silv. 4, 7, 49; 4, 8,
61; Ovid, Trist. 5, 1, 41), and Quirinus (Ovid, Met. 15,
863), while Virgil, besides using other forms of the word,
employs the vocative invicte twice, once in an address of
Palinurus to Aeneas (Aen. 6, 365) and once in recounting
the victories of Hercules (Aen. 8, 293). Yet the presence
of the same form applied to the same person by both Ennius
and Silius, and by no one else, as far as I can discover, is a
strong argument in favor of the belief that the later poet,
while writing his greeting to Scipio, was reminded of a
similar term of address used by the earlier writer, of whom
Cicero says (Pro Archia 9, 22) :

Carus fuit Afrieano superiori noster Ennius, itaque
etiam in sepulcro Scipionum putatur is esse constitutus ex
marmore; cuius laudihus certe non solum ipse, qui lauda-
tur, Bed etiam populi Romani nomen ornatur.

12) In the dream of Hannibal as given by Silius (3, 172-
213), Mercury chides the Carthaginian commander for
tarrying in Spain and says that Jupiter has sent him as a
guide to lead Hannibal into Italy, where mighty battles and
great destruction will follow. As a result, the author con-
tinues (1. 214) :

his aegrum stimulis liquere deus

A similar effect produced by a dre
Cicero (De div. 1, 20, 40), is describe

382 University of Michigan Studies

51) where the Vestal, Ilia, after recounting her prophetic
dream, adds:

vix aegro cum corde meo me somnus reliquit.

The weakened condition in which the dreamer is left,
thrilled by a feeling half of hope and half of fear, is de-
scribed by both poets as aeger. Whether Ennius analyzed
the feeling further, as Silius does (11. 215-216), or .whether
he caused the one word aeger to convey the whole impres-
sion, cannot now.be determined. But however this may
have been, it is evident that Silius had in mind the picture
given by Ennius and sought to portray in a similar way the
enervating effect of a realistic dream.

13) In the course of the argument by which. Virtus

(Sil. 15, 69-120) seeks to inspire Scipio with confidence in

his power to surpass the Carthaginians in Spain (cf. also

no. 9), she utters a prophecy closely resembling a statement

of Ennius quoted by Cicero (De re pub. 3, 3, 6) as referring

to W. Curius. The two lines are as follows :

Sil. 15, 115 :

nee ferro mentem vincere nee auro;

Enn. Ann. 373 :

quem nemo ferro potuit superare nee auro.

Here neither author makes the usual distinction between
liberty won by the sword and liberty bought with gold, but
each portrays a character so valiant and powerful, so strong
and noble that sword and gold alike are powerless to affect
him. This parallelism of thought, when added to the
marked similarity of verbal expression and metrical effect
at the close of the line, shows clearly that Ennian influence
is present in the words of Silius.

Before closing this enumeration of passages in which evi-
dence of the direct influence of Ennius is found, I wish to
add five (Wezel, nos. 3, 7, 35, 36, 44) whose dependence
upon the annalistic poet is possible but cannot be definitely
proved.

Reuixiscekces of Ennids in SiLius Italicos 383

14) Enn. Ann. 221; '

Poeni suos soliti dis sacrificare puetlos;
Sil. 4, 765-769:

mos fuit in populis, quoB condidit ad vena Dido,
poscere caede deos veniam ac flagrantibus aris,
infandura dictu! parvos imponere natos.
urna reducebat miserandoa annua casus,
sacra Thoanteae ritusque imitata Diauae.
VVezel (no. 3) and Heynaclier (p. 2j) hold that Silius
was indebted to Enniua for this statement of the barbarous
custom of child sacrifice among the Carthaginians and per-
haps also for the narration of the special circumstances in
connection with which this custom is related, namely the
demand instigated by Hanno that Hannibal's son be the
victim. This view is severely attacked by Blass (p. 508)
and by Schlichteisen (pp. 34-35), on the ground that the
practice was well-known and often mentioned, and that it
is impossible to tell whether Ennius employed the quotud
line in a connection similar to that found in the I'unica or
not. The references to other writers prior to or contempo-
rary with Silius that Schlichteisen gives are Diodorus, 20,
14, 4 sqq.; 13, 86; 30, 65; Pompeius Trogus, Philippica;'
Curtiua, 4, 3, 23 ; Pliny, N. H. 36, ',, 39. But though each
of the authors mentions the dread custom, no two give ex-
actly the same particulars. Diodorus ' tells of the expiatory
sacrifice of two hundred children of noble birth offered by
the Carthaginians because they thought their defeat at the
hands of Agathocles was proof of divine wrath incurred as

■Cr. Justlnua, 18, 6. 12; 19. 1. 10; Oroslua, 4. 6, 3; 4. 21. 8.

*Cf. Lactaatlus, Dlvln. last. 1, 21, IS: Pescennfua Festua in
libris hiBtoriarum per saturam refert KarthaelnteDBea Satumo
humaDas liostlas eolitoH Immolai
thocle rege Siculorum, iratura s
diUgentiua piaculum aolneren
immolasse.

384 University of Michigan Studies

a consequence of their secret substitution of other children
for the required victims. He also describes (20, 14, 6) the
practice of immolation by means of a bronze statue of
Kronos and a chasm filled with fire. The other passages
from this author are of a more general nature and con-
tribute no further information in regard to the custom.
Pompeius Trogus, if we may judge from the words of Jus-
tinus and Orosius, simply stated that the Carthaginians,
when afflicted by a pestilence as well as other calamities,
brought young children to the altars pacem deorum san-
guine eorum exposcentes. Curtius states that the Cartha-
ginians derived from their founders this practice of offer-
ing a free-born male child to Saturn and that they con-
tinued this form of sacrifice until their city was destroyed.
Pliny makes but brief mention of the custom, for he merely
says, Hercules, ad quern Poeni omnibus annis humana sacri-
ficaverant mctima,

A comparison of these references with the short account
given in the Punica does not reveal sufficient similarity to
warrant the assumption that Silius derived his information
from any one of them. To be sure, he speaks of the sacri-
ficial altars, as does also Pompeius Trogus, but with the
descriptive adjective flagrantibus and no suggestion of the
sanguine mentioned in the lines of Justinus ; he also speaks
of the sacrifice as an annual one, which is likewise the
meaning of Pliny^s omnibus annis, but the latter merely
gives the time thus briefly, while Silius gives it in connec-
tion with the method of choosing the victims. In fact the
strongest resemblance to the statements of these other
writers is found in another passage * of the Punica, where,
as in the description given by Diodorus, reference is made

^Sil. 15, 464-465:

.... sacris Carthaginis ilium
supposito mater partu subduxerat olim.

Keminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 385

to the practice of secretly offering substitutes for the des-
tined victims.

But as this is the only similarity between the accounts of
these two writers, proof of the indebtedness of Silius to this
source cannot be established. However, some of the sources
used by the author of the Punica must have mentioned the
custom, for though still practiced by certain of the African
tribes during at least a part of Silius^s lifetime/ he can only
have known of the Carthaginians^ adherence to it from the
accounts of earlier writers. The two predecessors to whom
Silius was most deeply indebted, Virgil and Livy, do not
mention such sacrifices, but that they were offered at the
time of the Second Punic War is evident from the words
of Curtius noted above, and that Hanno^s hatred of Hanni-
bal was strong enough to prompt such a demand is clear
from Liv/s statement (21, 10, 11) : et hunc iuvenem tam-
quam furiam facemque huius belli odi ac detestor.

The fragment from Ennius proves that the Annals con-
tained a reference to this custom, and though this fact
is not alone a definite proof, Ennius must remain as the
probable source, inasmuch as we have no hint that any
other writer on the Second Punic War spoke of this subject.

15) In the twelfth book of the Punica, where the retreat
of the Carthaginians before Marcellus is described and the
subsequent lamentation of Hannibal and the joy of the
Eomans is recorded, Silius inserts about eighty lines (342-
419) relating to Sardinia and the contest there. As re-
marked by Heynacher (p. 41), the historical statements
with reference to the engagements themselves occupy less
than half of the passage, the remainder being devoted to an
account of the geography and ancient history of the island
and to the praise of Ennius, whom the author presents in
the capacity of centurion.

*Cf. Tertullian, Apol. 9: Infantes penes Africam Saturno
immolabantur palam usque ad proconsulatum Tiberil, . . ^^

386 University of Michigan Studies

By means of such mythological and imaginary tales as
appealed to his fancy, Silius built a structure in true poetic
style 'upon a small historical foundation, the details of
which, though few, agree in general with those given by
Livy (23, 32; 23, 34; 23, 40-41). Both mention the same
* instigator^ of the renewed hostilities in this region, name
the same Koman and Sardinian leaders, speaJi of the same
reinforcements summoned and sent from Carthage for the
latter, and relate the same awful carnage and the same dis-
astrous results of the conflict overwhelming the Sardinians.
But with this the similarity between the historian and the
poet practically ends. Livy^s gravitate caeli (23, 34, 11)
is suggestive of Silius's tristis caelo (1. 371), but here we
meet a traditional reference, for the baneful climate of the
island, as also its fertility, were proverbial. Thus we find
such statements as the following:*

PolyblUS, 1, 79, 6— 7l 'H fxtv nZv "Sap^u) TovTOP TOP rpoTTov anrjX-
\oTf)iCi)drj Kap)(r]bofiu)Vy i/^crop Kn\ t(o /xcyedct koI rrj iroXvupdpoDma. K<n
rots' y€vvr]p.a(Tt 8in(f)(p(w<ra, rto di noWovf Ktn nnXvv vntp avTt}S
n(7rnt^(T6ai \6yop ovk dvayKuiop f)yovfi€6 fivai ravToXoydp VTTfp rmv
opoXftyovfifVOiv,

Strabo, 5, 2, 7 1 eon 8 avTrjs TO noXv fiipos Tpaxv koi ovk
elprfvnioVj ttoXv be koi \a)pav ^X^*' (vhalp.ovu tois Traai, o-i'tg) be Koi

dia(f)€ pov rtos voo€pa yap fj prjaos tov Bepovs Koi aaKi(TTn ip toIp

fVKapTTovan \(aplois»

Other physical characteristics of the island and also cer-
tain parts of the mythological history similar to those men-
tioned by Silius are found in some of these writers, but the
one author who shows the greatest likeness is Pausanias.
The close resemblance between his account and that of
Silius will be seen from the following quotations :

^Yet the spelling of the name is different, Hampsicora in
Livy, Hampsagoras in Silius.

^Cf. also Val. Max. 7, 6, 1; Mart. 4, 60, 5-6; Pomp. Mela, 2, 7,
19; Tac. Ann. 2, 85, 5.

Reminiscences of Ennics in Silius Italicus 387

Sil. 12,
355-357:

Insula terras

enormls cohibet nudae sub

Imagine plantae.
inde Ichnusa priua Grals
memorata colonle;

Pausanias, 10, 17,

'E^^wji' de oi nar" iftTTOpiav
koft^oPrE^ ^Ixvoiteav EKa/.eaai'^ irt

mox lAbycl Sardus generoso

eanguine fldens
HercullB, ex sese mutavlt

nomiua terrae.

365-369:
fama est. cum la'ceris Actae-

OD fleblle membrls
Buppilclum lueret epectatae

In fonte Dlanae,
attonitum novitate wall fu-

glsse parentem
per freta AriBtaeum et Sar-

Cyrenen monstrasse ferunt
nova litora matrem.
361-362;
affluxere etlam et sedes posu-

dlaperai pelago post eruta
Pergama Teucri.

363-364;
nee parvum decus, Advecto

cum classe paterna
agmloe Thespiadum, terrls,
lolae, dedlsti.
372-373:
qua yidet Itallam, saxoso

torrid a dorso
ezercet scopulis late freta.
26

(a^7»ai Myovrai vav-
ni A i/Juec ■ ^j-e/iiii" iK

'HooKAicn^ lie tjrow/iniiflhToc imfl

AiyvjcTiuv re Hoi hi^iiuv.

S,

irniria H Myoneiv 'Aiiiarainv
'An6ih^vdi Tc clvat *ai 'Kvplp^ .
iwi a Tol ■Airoiui'oc TTipiaaiii
a^yi/navra t!) ovfii^p^ mi Boiun'p
re «ai n-Qoii ttJ ■EAAdcIi «ara rabrd
njflri/ievov, nuruf jf r^u 2a/)ilii
/leroiK^ai ^iiv alirdv.

■IXiov di ihnKO/iipiK ^^^ re

au6liiTt( /If TO Aiiriuu ' Tohruv iioipa
antve;(6Eiea iirrb ai'ifiui' ff SapAu
avt/iixH'/oaf Toic 7r/juevoiKoioiv
'Ef.?ii/ai.
S.

Teripri/ ii /lalpa 'loUov 8am(uv
Tfta i CK r^ 'Arrn^c OTparid kut^
lief cf iapiii.

388 University of Michigan Studies

Sil. 12, Pausanias, 10, 17,

373-374: 11.

pallidaque Intus 'E&ri 6^ koI hXka. dia fieor^g ccvrf/g

arva coquit nimium, Cancro dpTf ^afiaTiurepa' & 6e a^p 6 cv-
fumantibus Austria. ravda OoT^pdg re wf ktziirav karl Ka

voaddrjq • alnoi 6e nl re dAec oi
TTTfyvvfievot koI 6 v6rog ^apv^ xai
piatos kyKelfievoQ.

Such similarities as these must have at least some remote
connection and, as it is not reasonable to assume that the
detailed geographical account of Pausanias was directly
indebted to the incidental description of Silius, we must
conclude that a common source influenced both authors.

For Silius, Wezel (p. 22) thinks that this source was
Ennius, of whom Cornelius Nepos (Cato 1, 4) says: Prae-
tor (Cato) provinciam ohtinuit Sardiniam, ex qua quaestor
superiore tempore ex Africa decedens Q. Ennium poetam
deduxerat. Hence Wezel says, " Cognosse igitur cum in
Sardinia fuerit eius insulae situm, formam, naturam, in-
colas, eorum originem credibile est." As confirmation of
such a theory, he quotes the following fragment of Ennius
(Ann. 568) :

silvarum saltus latebras lamasque lutosas,
with which he compares these lines from Silius :

352 : fraude loci nota, latebrosa per avia saltus ;

354 : virgulta tegitur valle ac frondentibus umbris ;

371 : sed tristis caelo et multa vitiata palude;

376 : hoc habitu terrae nemorosa per invia crebro ;

380 : baud mora : prorumpit latebris.

Blass suggests (p. 482) that Silius, of whose life very
little is known, may have visited Sardinia himself. But
this would not explain the similarities between the descrip-
tion found in the Punica and that given by Pausanias, es-
pecially as the larger number of these resemblances are in
the mythological portions of the account. For these each
writer must have been indebted to earlier records, not such

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 389

as would be preserved in historical sources, for in that case
we should see some trace of their influence upon Livy, but
such as might be expected to be given in a poetical version,
where mjrthology performs a more important part. It
seems very probable, then, that the predecessor to whom
both Silius and Pausanias were indebted was Ennius, the
annalistic poet, whose personal acquaintance with the island
would naturally lead to a description of it. Furthermore
the fact that Ennius is mentioned by Silius as a centurion
in Sardinia shows that the latter knew of the former^s con-
nection with the island, and the fact that the following high
tribute is paid to the elder man as a poet adds favor to the
assumption that Silius was familiar with his writings and
echoed them here as elsewhere, Sil. 12, 405-413 : '

risit nube sedens vani conamina coepti

et telum procul in ventos dimisit Apollo

ac super his : ^ Nimium, iuvenis, nimiumque superbi

sperata hausisti. sacer hie ac magna sororum

Aonidum cura est et dignus Apolline vates.

hie canet illustri primus bella Itala versu

attolletque duces caelo; resonare docebit

hie Latiis Helicona modis nee cedet honore

Ascraeo famave seni/

16) Wezel (no. 35) compares Enn. Ann. 220: Poenos

Sarra oriundos, and Sil. 1, 72 : Sarrana prisci Barcae de

gente. As the latter quotation is descriptive of the lineage

of Hamilcar, father of Hannibal, both authors are speaking

of the Carthaginian line of descent from the mother city,

commonly known as Tyre. The earlier name of this city,

however, was Sarra and with this also the Eomans were

familiar, as is shown by such statements as follow :

Gell. 14, 6, 4 : quod Tyros ^ Sarra ^ ante dicta sit ;
Probus in Geor. 2, 506 : ^ Ut gemma bibat et Sarrano

* Cf. Servii Grammatici comment, rec. Thilo et Hagen, III, 2,
p. 374.

390 University of Michigan Studies

dormiat ostro. Tyriam purpuram vult intellegi Sarranum
ostrum. Tyron enim Sarram appellatam Homerus docet,
quern etiam Ennius sequitur auctorem, cum dicit Poenos
Sarra oriundos;

Serv. ad Geor. 2, 506: Sarrano ostro Tyria purpura:
quae enim nunc Tyros dicitur, olim Sarra vocabatur a pisce
quodam, qui illic abundat, quern lingua sua sar appellant.

Moreover the frequent use of the adjective Sarrcmus in
the sense of Tyrvus is proof of the same fact. But though
both the noun and the adjective are often found, no other
writers, except Ennius and Silius, are known to have asso-
dated them explicitly with the Carthaginians and for this
reason Wezel thinks that the statement ^ in the Punica was
suggested by Ennius. This may be true, but in the absence
of more definite similarity, the connection cannot be con-
clusively established.

17) Wezel (no. 36) discusses the use of the patronymic
Aeacides as applied to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, in the fol-
lowing passages:

Enn. Ann.179:

aiio te Aeacida Eomanos vincere posse,

Enn. Ann. 180-181 : .

.... stolidum genus Aeacidarum :
bellipotentes sunt magis quam sapientipotentes,

Sil. 1, 627 :

hie spolia Aeacidae, hie Epirotica signa,

Sil. 14, 93-95 :

.... tam praecipiti matema furori

Pyrrhus origo dabat stimulos proavique superbum

Aeacidae genus atque aeternus carmine Achilles.

Cicero, who is the earliest writer known to have quoted
the Ennian lines, tells us that they were used of king Pyr-
rhus.* Whether Silius refers to the same ruler when he

* Wezel (p. 41) compares also Sil. 6, 468; 6, 662; 7, 432; 8, 46;
9, 319.

* Cicero, De div. 2, 56, 116.

Eeminisoences of Ennius in Silius Italious 391

employs the patronymic cannot be so definitely stated.
Wezel himself acknowledges that the word, as it occurs in
the first quotation, may designate the Macedonian Perseus,
who claimed descent from the same stock/ .In the four-
teenth book, where Silius is giving the ancestry of Hierony-
mus of Sicily, the name is clearly connected with the family
of Pyrrhus, who was the maternal grandfather * of Hierony-
mus, although it designates not the king himself, but his
father ' or some earlier descendant of Aeacus.

That the association with this mythological ancestor was
an honor that Pyrrhus claimed as an hereditary right is
evident from such references as Eutrop. Breviar. 2, 11, 1:
Hi (Tarentini) Pyrrhum, Epiri regem, contra Romanos
auxilium poposcerunt, qui ex genere AcMllis originem tra-
hehat; and Paus. 1, 13, 3 :

^Cf. Sil. 15, 291-292:

hie (Perseus), gente egregius veterisque ab origine regni,
Aeacidum sceptris proavoque tumebat Achille.
Virg. Aen. 6, 838-839:
eruet ille (Paulus) Argos Agamemnon iasque Mycenas
ipsumque Aeaciden, genus armipotentis Achilli.
Propert. 4, 11, 39-40:

et Persen, proavi simulantem pectus Achilli,
quique tuas proavo fregit, Achille, domos,

* Cf. Polyb. 7, 4, 5: Trporov fihf did rd r^f Ilvppov Qvyarpbg vihv eivai
'Sf]prii6oq.

Livy, 24, 6, 8: aliam deinde infiatus adsentationibus eorum,
qui eum non Hieronis tantum sed Pyrrhi etiam regis, materni
avi, iubebant meminisse, legationem misit.

* Cf . Diod. Sic. 16, 72, 1 : 'Apv/ipag kreXevrriGev anoTu-

TTCJV vlbv rov Ylvppov naripa AlaKidr/v.

Paus. 1, 9, 7: Avalfinxog <Ji Kal eg 7r6?.efiov irpdg IIv ppov KarioTTj rbv

AlaKidov.

Paus. 1, 11, 1 : AiaKiSov yap rov ^Apvft^ov Uvppog ^v,

Plutarch, Pyrrhus, 1: 'E/c de r^g ^iag t(^i AlaKidrf ^vovrai dvyaripeg

Ar/i6dfieia Kal Tp^df, vlbg (U livppog.

392 University of Michigan Studies

Tot/c Bvp€ovt 6 yLnXnaaos Ircopidi Saypop \6avq.

rivppos nno Bpaa^av (Kpffxaatv FaAarai/,
ndpTn TOP Ai/Tiyoi/ou Knd€\u>v (TTparnv ' ov ptya Bavfia '

aixprjTai Kn\ vvp Koi irapos AlnKidtii,

This inscription, attributed by conjecture to Leonidas of
Tarentum/ is quoted also by Plutarch (Pyrrhus 26).

From these statements it is clear that Wezel was mis-
taken when he said, " Pyrrhus autem Epiri rex qui contra
Eomanos pugnavit nusquam Aeacides appellatur nisi a
Silio illis locis et ab Ennio/^ Doubtless there were also
other references to Pyrrhus as Aeacides in the literature no
longer extant, as Blass suggests (p. 509). But notwith-
standing later uses of the name, Ennius was the first
Eoman author to employ it and Silius may have learned the
traditional association of Pyrrhus with the line of Achilles
from this source.

18) In the eighth book of the Punica, 11. 356-621, the
author gives a catalogue of the Eoman allies who were
present at the battle of Cannae. In this enumeration he
mentions the Marsi, Peligiii, and Vestini in the same order,
though not consecutively, in which they are found in the
following fragment of Ennius, Ann. 276 :

Marsa manus, Peligna cohors, Vestina virum vis.
For this reason and because Livy and other writers do not
name the allies but merely give an estimate of their num-
ber, Wezel thinks that Silius must have followed Ennius.
Whether the latter also gave an extended list similar to
that of Silius or whether he wrote the line in the same con-
nection as Silius, it is impossible to say. The mere use of
the names of these neighboring peoples can prove nothing.
They were well-known in antiquity, as is shown by the fact
that they are mentioned in the writings of many ancient

^ Cf. Droysen, Gesch. d. Hellen., vol. 3, p. 204, note 1. Clinton,
Fast. Hellen., vol. 3, p. 503.

Rbmisiscesces op Exnics in Silics Italicds 393

authors, and their very close proximity geographically natu-
rally caused them to be associated with oae auother.
Though Livy does not mention them in this particular
place, he speaks of them frequently in other connections,
sometimes individually and sometimes together. The order
in which their names occur varies and the only ease in
which it is similar to that of Ennius and Silius is descrip-
tive of an entirely different situation, Livy, 8, 29, 4 : Marsi
Paelignique et Mamicini, quos, si Vestinvs atttngeretur,
omnes kabendos hosies. Here, too, just as in the Punica,
the sequence of the Ennian arrangement is broken by the
insertion of another name not found in the fragment from
the annalistic poet. Between the Peligni and the Vestini,
Livy places the Marrueini, whom Silius does not mention
until a few lines later, and in the same position the latter
places the Sidicini, whom Livy in hia account of the Second
Punic War no longer mentions as a people, though he still
speaks of their territory (in agrum Sidiciiiiim, 'ZG, 9, 2),
which Hannibal ravaged on his march from Capua to Rome.
This name, as well as the others, may have come from En-
nius, and Silius may simply have changed the order from
its original form; or it is possible that the later poet bor-
rowed the arrangement of the three names as now found
in the Ennian fragment and then took the liberty of in-
serting an extra one without the sanction of procetlent. But
there seems to be no means of securing a basis of positive
proof for either assumption.

III. PASSAGES SHOWING INDIRECT

INFLUENCE

Another form of Ennian influence discernible in the

Punica came indirectly through the works of intervening

writers, especially Virgil and Livy. Of these there are such

examples as follow:

1) Enn. Ann. 284-285:

hastati spargunt hastas, fit ferreus imber
densantur campis horrentia tela virorum;
Virgil, Aen. 12, 283-284 :

.... it toto turbida caelo
tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber ;
Sil. 13, 181-182 :

tela simul flammaeque micant. tunc saxeus imber
ingruit, et summis ascendunt turribus hastae.

The first line of this fragment from Ennius is quoted by
Macrobius (Sat. 6, 1, 52) as the source of VirgiPs inspira-
tion to express the similar thought here noted and from the
latter the saxeus imber ingruit used by Silius was clearly
derived, as is shown by the use of the same verb ingruit
which Virgil introduced in place of the Ennian verb fit.

Wezel (no. 26) mentions this fragment of the annalistic
poet in comparison with a somewhat similar description of
the beginning of the contest at Cannae (Sil. 9, 310), al-
though he acknowledges that verses of this kind may form
a part of the description of any battle and in confirmation
of this he quotes the Silian passage given above, which is
taken from the account of the storming of Capua, and also
two other lines from the Punica :

Sil. 14, 539 :

perculsi cuneo Poeni densentur in unum;

Eeminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 395

Sil. 17, 418 :

Graia phalanx patrio densarat more catervas*

But neither of these has any further connection with the

quotation from Ennius than the use of the common verb.

The first line, taken from the account of the naval struggle

between the Eoman ship, Perseus, and the Carthaginian lo,

is more suggestive of Ovid's similar expression in Meta. 13,

604-605 :

.... glomerataque corpus in unum
densetur.

The second, from the description of the final encounter in

Africa, recalls Virgil, Aen. 12, 264 :

.... vos unanimi densete catervas.
2) Enn. Ann. 286:

is pernas succidit iniqua superbia Poeni ;
Aen. 9, 762 :

principio Phalerim et succiso poplite Gygen
excipit ;
Aen. 10, 699-700 :

.... poplite Palmum
succiso volvi segnem sinit ;
Livy, 22, 51, 7 : quosdam et iacentis vivos succisis feminibus
poplitibusque invenerunt ;
Sil. 4, 341-342 :

.... Uf entem collapsum poplite caeso
ensis obit, laudemque pedum cum sanguine ademit;
Sil. 5, 547-550 :

.... quem poplite caeso
dum spoliat, gravis immiti cum turbine costas
fraxinus irrupit;
Sil. 10, 38 :

fratres, hie humero, cecidere, hie poplite, caesis.

In these selections from Silius, Wezel (no. 23) seeks to

trace a direct influence from the P]nnian phrase, pernas

succidit, but the ablative of Silius, poplite caeso, bears

closer resemblance to the ablatives of Virgil, siicQJso poplite,

and of Livy, succisis feminibus poplitihusg" the "

earlier expression. Silius has only a sv ^,he

396 University of Michigan Studies

thought of the Ennian line, the intervening writers have
the thought and- the verb, while Livy preserves the idea of
the noun also, though in the more usual form feminibus,
which he joins ^ith the Virgilian noun poplitibus. The
construction and substantive used in the Punica are echoes
of the intermediary sources, the verb is a changed form
employed independently by the author.

3) Enn. Ann. 540:

effudit voces proprio cum pectore sancto;
Aen. 5, 482 :

ille super talis effundit pectore voces ;
Sil. 3, 696 :

inde ubi mandatas effudi pectore voces.
The Virgilian phrase effundit pectore voces, echoing in
shorter form the thought expressed by Ennius, was without
doubt the model that suggested to Silius his closing words.
With varied forms and arrangement, the expression voces
eff under e occurs also, as Wezel points out (no. 38), in other
parts of the Punica. But these too are almost all distinctly
suggestive of Virgil, and no Ennian touch can be detected
in them that shows any closer relation to the earlier poet
than can be traced through the Augustan writer. Thus
there is a parallelism of thought in Sil. 10, 365 : tunc vox
effusa per auras; and in the Aeneid 8, 70 : ac talis effundit
ad aethera voces; there is a likeness of verbal effect gained
by the use of the same closing phrase in Sil. 8, 167 :

has visa in somnis germanae effundere voces ;
Sil. 14, 215 :

credere erat stabulis armenta effundere voces ;
Aen. 5, 723 :

et nox atra polum bigis subvecta tenebat.

visa dehinc caelo facies delapsa parentis

Anchisae subito talis effundere voces;

and there is a marked resemblance between this last picture
and the one presented by Silius, 8, 164-167 :

Keminiscences of Ennius in Siuus Italicus 399

6) Enn. Ann. 600:

fnnduntque elatis naribus lucem ;
Yirg. Aen. 12, 114-115 :

.... cum primum alto se gurgite toUunt

solis equi lucemque elatis naribus efflant;
Sil. 12, 508-509 :

.... Titan dum gurgite lucem

spirantis proferret equos, ....

Here again Servius (ad Aen. 12, 115) acknowledges the
debt of Virgil to Ennius, although the former introduces a
new verb, which is found in Lucretius, 5, 652 : sol ... *
suos efflavit languidiis ignis.

The verb in the Silian quotation is unlike eithel* of these,
but is the same that appears in the following passages:

Lucr. 5, 30 :

et Diomedis equi spirantes naribus ignem ;
Aen. 7, 281 :

.... geminosque iugalis

semine ab aetherio, spirantis naribus ignem;
Geor. 2, 140 : . . . . tauri spirantes naribus ignem ;
Livy, 22, 17, 5 : veluti flammas spirantium miraculo.

As object of the participle, however, Silius uses neither
of the notins found in these last quotations. He describes
the horses of the sun as breathing forth lv£em, not ignem or
flammas, and thus presents the same picture as that por-
trayed by Ennius and Virgil (Aen. 12, 115). Moreover he
adds a specifically Virgilian touch in the use of the noun
gurgite, from which the horses rise. Possibly if we pos-
sessed more than the small fragment quoted above from
Ennius, we might find that this part of the picture also
originated with him, but even so, Silius has not preserved
in this passage so much of the early poet's phrasing as has
Virgil.

Wezel (no. 12) seeks to connect the Ennian fragment
under discussion and also Enn. Ann. 585 : clamore hovan-
tes, with Sil. 7, 356-359 :

400 University of Michigan Studies

.... per altos
saxosi scopulos montis lymphata feruntur
corpora anhela bourn, atque obsessis naribus igni
luctantur frustra rabidi mugire iuvenci.

But here Silius presents an entirely different picture. The
cattle inhale rather than exhale fire, the burning faggots
upon their heads choke them and prevent them from utter-
ing any sound, aiid there is no suggestion of the inner fire
breathed forth as light. Furthermore if we accept Varro's
statement (L. L. 7, 103-104) that the Ennian phrase
clamore hovantes was not used by the author in speaking of
cattle, but was a transferred epithet applied to men, there
would be no possibility of placing it in a connection similar
to either of those described by Silius.

7) Enn. Ann. 282 : '

iamque fere pulvis ad caelum vasta videtur ;
Enn. Ann. 608 : stant pulvere campi ;
Enn. Ann. 27.7 :

consequitur. summo sonitu quatit ungula terrain ;
Yirg. Aen. 12, 407-408 :

.... iam pulvere caelum

stare vident; subeunt equites,

Aen. 9, 33-34 :

hie subitam nigro glomerari pulvere nubem

prospiciunt Teucri ac tenebras insurgere campis ;
Aen. 8, 592-596 :

.... oculisque secuntur

pulveream nubem ....

.... it clamor, et agmine facto

quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum ;
Geor. 3, 88 :

.... cavatque

tellurem et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu;
Livy, 21, 46, 4: neutri alteros primo cernebant; densior
deinde incessu tot hominum et equorum oriens pulvis sig-
num propinquantium hostium f uit ;

* Cf. Wezel, no. 43.

Beminiscexces of Exnius in Siuus Italicus 401

Sil. 4, 94-96 :

verum ubi commoto docuenint pulvere nubes
hostem f erre gradum, et propius propiusque sonoro
quadrupediiin comu tellus gemit, ....

The dependence of Virgil upon Ennius is shown by the
former's nse of the phrases pulvere stare and sonitu quatit
ungula campum, borrowed from the second and third frag-
ments; by his association of pulvis with caelum, as in the
first fragment; and by his expression of kindred ideas in
the other passages.

The dependence of Silius upon Virgil is shown by the
similarity of the general thought in the lines quoted and
also by the verbal echoes of pulvere nubem, quadrupedantc
sonitu, and cavatque tellurem et soUdo gra^^ter sonat mi?-
gula comu, which are found in the following expressions
from the Pimica: pulvere nubes and sonoro quadruped urn
comu tellus gemit.

The influence of Livy upon Silius is likewise very clearly
evident. Both writers are describing tlie situation at tlie
Ticinus river, and though no exact similarity of expression
is to be found in the two passages, yet comnioto pulvctr
nubes and docujerunt hostem ferre gradum in Silius are
equivalent to Ldv/s oriens pulvis and signum propinquatt-
tium hostium fuit. Whether any reminiscence of Ennius is
to be detected in the latter's description or not, it is difficult
to say. Sanders (op. cit. p. Ill) has noted the likeness
between the words oriens pulvis and Enn. Ann. 282, which
he thinks belonged to an account of the same battle, though
he also mentions the resemblance of Livy's entire descrip-
tion to that of Polybius, 3, 65. It is possible that both
Ennius and Polybius exerted an influence upon Livy, who
thus furnished another indirect connection between Ennius
and Silius.

Each of these forms of Ennian influence * could wit^ -^

* For further comparisons made by Wezel see append

402 University of Michigan Studies

doubt be traced in many other lines of the Punica, if we
but possessed more of the fragments of the earlier poet or
could form a more exact idea of the connection in which
the extant portions stood. The similarities noted in the
first class show a familiarity with Ennius on the part of
Silius that would enable the latter often to use a phrase or
express a thought closely resembling one found in the
former and many Ennian tx)uches have no doubt added
their effect to this later description of the Second Punic
War.

Likewise the similarities of the second class could cer-
tainly be greatly multiplied. We know from Macrobius
and Servius how great a debt Virgil owed to Ennius, and
we can trace in the history of Livy many poetic elements
due to the annalistic writer.^ Furthermore, the influence of
both these later authors appears throughout the Punica, so
that even had Silius been entirely ignorant of the writings
of Ennius, he must necessarily have felt their power in an
indirect way and revealed it in his work.

There are also some further possibilities of Ennian in-
fluence in connection with the Punica which have not yet
been discussed. I refer to those larger conceptions that
underlie the structure of the poem as a whole and are not
found in the works of Virgil or Livy or any other extant
writer. To some of these the following section is devoted.

*Cf. Stacey, Archiv f. lat. Lex. u. Gram., vol. 10 (1898), pp.
22-33.

IV. TKEATMEXT OF DIVINITIES AND OMEXS.

A fundamental truth regarding the portrayal of super-
human agency in the Punica is contained in the following
statements of Hevnacher/ " Also entlehnte Silius seinen
Gotterapparat dem Ennius !"...." Diese Stellen be-
weisen unzweifelhaft, dass Silius das Eingreifen der Gotter
nach Ennius schildert/^ Bauer recognizes this fact, when
he says (p. 35), " Zum Schluss sei noch erwahnt die Gotter-
maschine, welche Silius durch seine 17 Biicher hindurch in
Bewegung setzt und deren Spuren wir auch bei Ennius
finden, vgl. Heynacher S. 29 und 39/^ But this dependence
must not be regarded as exclusively Ennian, for in the de-
lineation of the gods, as in all other features of the poem,
traces of a combination of influences are to be seen. It is
a well-known fact that Ennius introduced the Greek pan-
theon into Eoman literature; furthermore we find in Vir-
giPs Aeneid and in Servius^s commentary on the same a few
suggestions as to the method employed by the annalistic
poet in his treatment of these divinities. Thus in explana-
tion of Aen. 1, 281,* Servius says,' Consilia in melius referet
quia hello Punico secwndo ut ait Ennius placata luno coepit
favere Romanis. Again in explanation of Aen. 1, 20,* this

^ Ueber die Stellung des Sil. Ital. etc., pp. 29 and 39.

'Aen. 1, 279-282:

.... quin aspera luno,

quae mare nunc terrasque metu caelumque fatigat,

consilia in melius referet mecumque fovebit

Romanos, rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.

•Cf. Heynacher, p. 39; Wezel, no. 9.

*Aen. 1, 19-20:

progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci ^^

audierat, Tyrias olim quae verteret arces;

27

404 University of Michigan Studies

statement is given/ Audierat a love aut a Fatis . , . . et
perite ' audierat ' ; in Ennio enim indiLcitur luppiter pro-
mittens Romania excidium Carthaginis, Furthermore we
find in the tenth book of the Aeneid, 11. 6-15, the following
address of Jupiter delivered in the presence of an assem-
bled council of the gods :

^ caelicolae magni, quianam sententia vobis
versa retro tantumque animis certatis iniquis ?
abnueram bello Italiam concurrere Teucris.
quae contra vetitum discordia ? quis metus aut hos
aut hos arma sequi ferrumque lacessere suasit?
adveniet iustum pugnae (ne axcessite) tempus,
cum fera Karthago Romanis arcibus olim
exitium magnum atque Alpes immittet apertas :
tum certare odiis, tum res rapuisse licebit.
nunc sinite et placitum laeti componite foedus/

This clear prophecy of coming disasters when the Car-
thaginians should have made their way over the Alps, and
the definite promise that then the gods might ^ struggle in
malice and scramble for issues' are too realistic to be en-
tirely fanciful. Some scene presented in the writings of
an earlier poet must, I think, have suggested the thought,
and the only author preceding Virgil in whose work such
an account of the action of the gods at this time would have
been likely to occur is Ennius, who reproduced the primi-
tive view of Homer and allowed the gods to mingle with
men.

Additional proof that Virgil was thinking of Ennius in

this passage may be found in the following slight verbal

reminiscences traceable therein:

Enn. Ann. 127: quianam legiones caedimus ferro;'
259: quianam dictis nostris sententia fiexa est;'
279: certare abnueo: metuo legionibus labem.

^ Cf . Heynacher, p. 39 ; Wezel, no. 8.

* Cf. Servius ad Aen. 10, 6.

^ Cf. Conington, note to Aen. 10, 6.

Reminiscences of Ennius in Siuus Italious 405

With these general statements in mind, we may proceed

to investigate how far Silins presents the same pictures as

those ascribed to Ennius. In partial conformity with the

conception of a change in the attitude of Juno, the author

of the Punica, at the time of the battle of Cannae, when

Roman misfortunes had reached their climax, represents

the hostile queen of the gods, ironically or seriously, as

bidding Jupiter overthrow the citadels of Carthage and

destroy the Sidonian army, Sil. 9, 535-541 :

excipit hie luno longique laboris ab ira :
^immo,^ ait, 'ut noscant gentes, immania quantum
regna lovis valeant, cunctisque potentia quantum
antistet, coniux, superis tua, disice telo
flagranti — ^nil oramus — Carthaginis arces
Sidoniamque aciem vasto telluris hiatu
Tartareis immerge vadis aut obrue ponto/

In the succeeding books of the poem, a negative favor, at
least, is shown to the Romans. Apparently yielding to the
inevitable decrees of fate, Juno ceases her fierce efforts in
behalf of the Carthaginians and seeks only to save Hanni-
bal. Thus (10, 45-58) she assumes the guise of Metellus
and bids Paulus, who is seeking the Punic leader, flee for
safety, but when he refuses, she resorts to another artifice
(10, 85-91) and, in the likeness of the African Gelestes,
draws Hannibal to a different part of the field by telling
him that Paulus is there. Later when Hannibal plans to
attack Rome, Juno, realizing the futility of his effort,
causes a dream to be sent to him which deters him from
making the assault (10, 337-350). At Nola Marcellus
seeks to provoke Hannibal to a single combat and the latter
is about to accept the challenge, when Juno turns him from
I his determination and causes him instead to rallv his flee-

ing men (12, 201-203). When Hannibal has encamped
outside the walls of Rome and the opposing armies are p-'e-
paring for an engagement, Jupiter entreats Juno to cheek

406 University of Michigan Studies

the mad fury of the Sidonian youth. In compliance with
this request, she appears clearly before Hannibal and
sharpens his vision so that he may see the gods guarding
the hills of Rome and the Campus Martins (12, 701-725).
When at last Carthaginians and Romans meet on African
soil, Jupiter tells Juno, whom he finds gazing sadly upon
the proceedings, that the time has come to end the struggle.
She replies that she is not seeking to oppose fate nor to
prolong the war, but she begs Jupiter to spare the life of
Hannibal and not suffer him to be taken captive or allow
the walls of Carthage to be razed (17, 357-369). A little
later, in order to avert a personal conflict between Hanni-
bal and Scipio, she causes a false image of the latter to ap-
pear before the former, who eagerly pursues the phantom
only to behold it vanish before him and to discern the
divine interference (17, 522-553). Enraged he again
seeks the scene of battle, but through Juno's agency his
horse falls and in despair he contemplates suicide (17, 553-
566). Then, in the guise of a shepherd, Juno comes and,
while pretending to show him the nearest way to Scipio,
leads him farther from the field (17, 567-580) and at last
conducts him to an elevation from which he can see his
own men fleeing and the victorious Romans approaching
his position, when with a vow never to cease hostilities
against his hated foe, he flees to the mountains for safety
(17, 597-617).

Thus far does the portrayal of Juno presented by Silius
conform to the statement of Servius and this continued
policy of defense alone, when contrasted with her former
active measures of offensive warfare, as detailed by Wezel
(p. 25), was probably due to suggestions gained from En-
nius's treatment of the same divinity.

In like manner the statement of Servius concerning
Jupiter^s promise, as given by Ennius, bears a remarkable

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 407

resemblance to the action of the king of gods and men as
described by Silius. Wezel (no. 8) maintains that Servius
spoke thus with reference to a passage in the Annals simi-
lar to that found in the third book of the Punica where,
just as Hannibal has passed the Alps and is about to invade
Italy, Venus comes with anxious lamentations to Jupiter
who consoles her and says, Sil. 3, 590-592 :

.... iamque ipse creatus,
qui Poenum revocet patriae Latioque repulsum
ante suae muros Carthaginis exuat armis.

To this assumption Blass objects, saying (p. 511) "und
doch verspricht er weder den Romem, noch verspricht er
den Untergang Karthagos.^' It is true that in this proph-
ecy given by Jupiter to Venus and likewise in that given
to Minerva at Cannae,^ Silius is speaking of the defeat of
Hannibal at Zama, but later he causes Jupiter to predict to
Juno the final overthrow of her favorite city. The lines are

these, Sil. 17, 373-375 :

.... non longa supersunt
fata urbi, venietque pari sub nomine ductor,
qui nunc servatas evertat funditus arces.
On what occasion Ennius mentioned Jupiter^s promise
cannot be determined, but the words of Servius strictly
interpreted, as well as the prophecy given by Virgil, are
more akin to the passage from the seventeenth book of the
Punica than to either of the othel* two. Wezel acknowledges
that this may be true, but he prefers to assign it to a con-
nection similar to that found in the third book, as the most
appropriate place for a promise of this nature, and for this
reason he interprets the word excidium not as the final
destruction of Carthage wrought by Scipio Aemilianus but

^Sil. 9, 544-546:

ille, o nata, libens cui tela inimica ferebas,
contundet Tyrios iuvenis ac nomina gentls
induet et Libycam feret in Gapltolia laurum.

408 University of Michigan Studies

as the victory gained by the Romans at the close of the Sec-
ond Punic War. However this may be, the general attitude
of Jupiter in his relation to the Romans and the Cartha-
ginians, as portrayed in this short reference, is in harmony
with the picture given by Silius throughout his presenta-
tion. From this we may conclude that he, as well as Virgil,
owed his main conception of the divine king to the annalis-
tic poet.

The prediction quoted above from the tenth book of the
Aeneid is fully realized in the conflict at Cannae as de-
scribed by Silius (9, 438-555). But from what source did
the latter draw his minute account filling out so completely
this vague prophecy? Not from Virgil, for he offers no
further suggestions than those previously given; not from
his own imagination, for his poem affords no evidence of
such power of originality ; not from the extant writings of
any other author, for they contain no such description. If
then Ennius suggested to Virgil the lines we have noted, he
must also have supplied Silius with the foundation of his
detailed portrayal. Under these circumstances, we may
better understand why such delineations of the gods as are
found in the Punica came to be thus introduced into the
midst of historical surroundings. To Emnius may be re-
ferred perhaps a part of the responsibility for that fault for
which Silius has been so gravely censured by Tyrrell,^ who
says, " It was a great mistake when Silius Italicus, applying
the supernatural machinery of the Aeneid to a historical
narrative, made Volturnus, sent by Aeolus at the prayer of
Juno, blind the eyes of the Romans at Cannae, and when
he depicted Venus as plunging the Carthaginians into
sloth at Capua."

But other influences, besides that of Ennius, are also to
be found here. Blended with this general treatment of the

^ Latin Poetry, p. 292.

Eeminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 409

deities there are many individual pictures that suggest an
acquaintance with various other sources. Nor are these
altogether confined to the past. Homeric and Virgilian
scenes, as well as those of other predecessors, played their
part, no doubt, but contemporary influences, though of less
effect, are also discernible. In the description of Hanni-
baFs visit to the temple of Hercules at G-ades (3, 14-44)
there are Greek, Eoman, Phoenician, and Egyptian
touches all combined, some evidently derived from literary
sources and others probably traceable to the author^s per-
sonal knowledge of the sacred rites described. Oriental
ideas, however, are not very prominent. The main outline
of his treatment did not enable Silius to allow much of this
vague mysticism to intrude upon the conceptions of the
divinities he portrayed, and the age in which he lived was
violently opposed to such an intrusion. In the words of
Samuel Dill,^ " the Trinity of the Capitol — Jupiter, Juno,
and Minerva — Hercules and Silvanus, the Nymphs, Semo
Sancus and Dea Dia, Mars and Fortuna, so far from being
neglected, were apparently more popular than ever." Yet
the power of eastern innovations did not escape Silius, and
it is not without significance that he caused Anna, Dido's
sister who is confused with Anna Perenna, a distinctly
Roman deity, to speak in the following disparaging way of
magic, Sil. 8, 98-99 :

ad magicas etiam f allax atque improba gentis
Massylae levitas descendere compulit artes.
His general method, however, was simply one of silence in
regard to the present and the new, and his chief thought
seems to have been to recall the traditions of the past.

Closely connected with this portrayal of superhuman
agency in the action of the poem is the record of the mani-

^ Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius (London,
1904), p. 538.

410 University of Michigan Studies

festations of the will of the gods by means of various omens.
The sources from which Silius drew his numerous descrip-
tions of such divine revelations is a matter of conjecture,
since the great majority of those he introduces are not found
in the same connection in any other account. From this
fact Bauer concludes as follows (p. 21): "Wir miissen
deshalb annehmen, dass dem Silius aus seiner umfassenden
griindlichen Lektiire eine Summe von solchen Geschichten
zu Gebote stand, und dass er davon nach Belieben aus-
wahlte, indem er die betreffenden Prodigien teils der
Hauptsache nach unverandert in sein Werk heriibernahm,
teils auch mutatis mutandis dem Zusammenhang anpasste.^'
This opinion is held also by van Veen (p. 77) and by
Schlichteisen (pp. 114, 115), though the latter places more
emphasis upon the poet^s own power of invention (pp. 85,
86) than is suggested by Bauer. That this decision is in
part correct seems clear from a consideration of the general
method which we have seen was employed by the author of
the Punica. A blending of different sources may be traced
in all parts of the poem. But the assumption that Silius
took all of his omens at random from various sources and
connections or that he united these only with such as he
framed in his own imagination seems to me as false as the
theory of Heynacher (pp. 21, 26, 34) that he found all in
some earlier account of the same period. Undoubtedly here,
as elsewhere, he gives us an account which is the result of a
combination of influences and some omens are true to the
records of the time and some are not. Evidence of the
presence of the former will be given later, evidence of the
use of the latter is not so easily detected, but that there
were such is clear from the following example, which is the
last in the list of those recorded before the battle of Cannae,
Sil. 8, 653-655 :

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 411

Aetnaeos quoque contorquens e cautibus ignis
Vesbius intonuit, scopulisque in nnbila iactis
Phlegraeus tetigit trepidantia sidera vertex.
This cannot possibly be an echo of any historical work
treating of the year 216 b. c, for at tliat time tlie volcanic
nature of Vesuvius seems to have been unknown, save as a
matter of inierence from the peculiar nature of its rocky
surface, and of this inference we find no mention until the
time of Diodorus Siculus and Strabo. The former says
(4, 21, 5) :

avofxtia-Bai dc Kal to vrcdioy tovto ^Xtypaiov dtro rov \6yov tov to
rrnXaiov €K(f)vaS>VTos finXnTov rrvp TrnpnnXrjaKas rjj Kara rr^v ZiKcX/ni'
AiTyfj ' KaXcirai de vvv 6 \6(f>os OvtauvomoSy f)((au ttoXXci arjfMua rov
KtKnvo'Bai Kara rovr dpxaiovs )(p6vovs»

The latter expresses the same thought as follows (5, 4, 8) :

viT€pK€iTat bi tS>v Tonciv Tovrav 6png t6 OvftrovioPf dypotg ntpioiKOV'
fitvov TtayKiWois ttX^v r^c Kopv(f>^s * nvrri d tnintdos ptv no\v ptpos
€<TTiVf n«iprros d oX^, €k di r^r o^<a>f rc^pudi;;, Ka\ «eo(X(idor (fyniPMi
cripayyoidfif irtrpStv tdOiiKidbaw Kara rrfv XP^^^y ^^ ^'^ tK^t^poipivtifv
VTTO TTt/por, 0)9 rtKfxaipotr av rir r6 x<apiov rovro Kaitadai np6rtpov Kill
€;i^fii' Kpnrrjpat TTupop, (rfitaBrjvoi d €ni\irrovTrj9 rrjs t»Xr;ff,

Undoubtedly ^ Silius records in this omen the dread phe-
nomenon that caused such universal consternation during
his own lifetime. Influenced perhaps too by such descrip-
tions as that of the activity of Mt. Aetna (Geor. 1, 471-473)
and by such phrases as Aetnaeos efftantem faucibus ignis
(Aen. 7, 786), which may be echoes of Ennius, he trans-
ferred them to an account of an imaginary eruption of
Vesuvius.

However, to attempt to decide just where the dividing
line between the false and the true should in each case be
drawn would be a hopeless endeavor, since the few histo-
rians who treat of the period present no uniformity in the

*Cf. Cocchla, La forma del Vesuvio [etc.] in Attl deUa R.
Ace. di Arch., Lett, e Belle Arti (Naples), vol. 21 (1900-01),
pp. 1-66.

412 University of Michigan Studies

omens they recount, and we possess no other trustworthy
compilations of the portents seen at that time. The truth
of the matter seems to be that various stories were current
during the Second Punic War and in the several accounts
handed down to later generations many different forms of
such divine manifestations were found. Polybius says
(3, 112/8) that before the battle of Cannae irapra d' rjv ra

Trap avTois \6yia Tracrt rorc dia (rrnfinTOfy a'riti€ici>v df icui rcparaiv vav
fjL€v itpav, naTn d rjv olKia TrXijpiyc, e^ ^v evj^at koi Bvaiai Koi Btav
UfTrfpiai Koi Btrftrus €7rer;^ov Tfjv noXiv, Livy alsO Spcaks of the

universal dread aroused by the omens at that time ; cf . 22,
36, 6 : Ceterum priusquam signa ah urbe novae legiones
moverent, decemviri lihros adire atque inspicere ivssi prop-
ter territos vulgo homines novis prodigiis. Unfortunately
for purposes of comparison, Polybius does not specify any
of these numerous omens and Livy gives but a very few,
which do not correspond with those mentioned by Silius.
But the mere fact that we know there were many currently
recounted at the time favors the assumption that the author
of the Punica did not need to look to other sources than
those dealing with the same period in order to find the
majority, at least, of those he relates. Furthermore several
of the portents he describes seem to have been stock exam-
ples which we find frequently given elsewhere in other con-
nections and which appear many times in the later record of
Julius Obsequens, who mentions no less than six instances
of each of the following omens given in the Punica: the
warning suggested by the presence of the owl (Sil. 8, 634) ;
by swarms of bees (8, 635) ; by wild beasts in the camp
(8, 638-640) ; by drops or streams of blood (5, 67-69; 8,
644-645) ; and by gleaming fire-brands in the heavens
(8, 650-651). Ptobably such omens as these were fre-
quently recorded, both in public and in private lists, during
the critical period of which Silius wrote.

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 413

Other portents given by this author axe concerned with
certain geographical features of Italy and neighboring lo-
calities, where natural phenomena seen at the time of
danger might very easily have been regarded as signs of
supernatural premonitions, but would not so readily be
thus associated in the minds of later writers, especially in
the case of an author who possessed as little imaginative
ability as Silius, of whom Pliny, Epis. 3, 7, 5, very justly
says, scrihehat carmina maiore cura quam ingenio. Thus
the omens relating to Mt. Garganus, the Aufidus river, the
Ceraunian heights, the Alps, and the Apennines would be
most natural interpretations of such storms and earth-
quakes as those to which we know from other sources these
districts were subject. The lines of the Punica to which I
refer are as follows :

Sil. 8, 628-631 :

nutantique mens prostravit vertice silvas
Garganus, fundoque imo mugivit anhelans
Aufidus, et magno late distantia ponto
terruerunt pavidos accensa Ceraunia nautas;

Sil. 8, 648-649 :

non Alpes sedere loco, non nocte dieve
ingentis inter stetit Apenninus hiatus.
Of Mt. Garganus Horace says :

C. 2, 9, 6-8 :

.... aut Aquilonibus
querqueta Gargani laborant
et f oliis viduantur orni ;

Epis. 2, 1, 202 :

Garganum mugire putes nemus.

Likewise the Aufidus, which Horace knew so well, is
spoken of by him in terms that quite accord with the tem-
pestuous nature pictured by Silius ; cf . Hor. C. 4, 9, 2 :

longe sonantem natus ad Aufidum ;
C. 3, 30, 10 :

dicar, qua violens obstrepit Aufidus ;
S. 1, 1, 58 :

cum ripa simul avolsos ferat Aufidus acer.

414 University of Michigan Studies

The nature of the Ceraunian mountains is shown by the
explanation of their name, given by Servius in Aen. 3, 506 :
Ceraunia sunt monies Epiri, a crehris fulminihus propter
altitudinem norrdnati: unde Horatius^ expi'essius dixit
Acroceraunia propter altitudinem et fulminum idctus. The
frequency of earthquake shocks in the Alps and the Apen-
nines is clearly expressed by Pliny, N. H. 2, 82 : Exploror
tum mihi est Alpes Appenninumque saepius iremuisse, Et
autumno ac vere terrae crehrius moventur, sicut fulmina.
Such natural conditions as these, connected in the minds of
a terror-stricken people with supernatural revelations, must
have inspired those who lived during the perilous years of
the Second Punic War with a superstitious dread, and
many popular stories must have been current which tradi-
tion has not preserved at all or has so obscured in the works
of later authors, by whom they have been transmitted, that
the time of their origin and the first source from which
they came can no longer be detected. Some of these cur-
rent myths cannot have failed to find their way into the
account of this critical period written by the poet Ennius,
and from him Silius may have borrowed them. One omen,
in particular, which the latter describes, thoroughly agrees
with that which we should expect the earlier poet to have
written. It occurred just as the opposing forces of the
Komans and the Carthaginians were about to engage in
battle at the river Ticinus and is recorded as follows, Sil.
4, 103-119 :

cum subitum liquida, non ullis nubibus, aethra
augurium mentes oculosque ad sidera vertit.
accipiter, medio tendens a limito solis,
dilectas Veneri notasque ab honore Diones
turbabat violentus aves atque unguibus idem,
idem nunc rostro, duris nunc ictibus alae,
ter quinas dederat saeva inter vulnera leto;

*C. 1, 3, 20: infamis scopulos^ Acroceraunia.

EEinxiscExcEs OF Exxius rx Siurs Italiccs 415

nee finis satiesve, noTi sed sanguinis ardor
gliscere, et nrgebat trepidam iam eaede priorum
incertamqne fngae, pluma labente, columbam^
donee Phoebeo veniens lovis ales ab ortn
in tennis tandem nnbis dare terga coegit.
turn victrix laetos signa ad Eomana Tolatns
conTertit, prolesqne dneis qna parte decora
Scipio qnassabat puerilibns arma lacertis,
elangorem bis terqne dedit, rostroqne comseae
perstringens conum galeae, se reddidit astris.

Lemaire (note to 1. 103) thinks that this is simply an

alteration and expansion of Virgil's Aen. 12, 244-256 :

his aliud mains Intnma adiungit et alto
dat signum eaelo, quo non praesentiiis nllnm
tnrbavit mentes Italas monstroqne fefellit.
namqne volans mbra fulvns loTis ales in aethra
litoreas agitabat avis turbamque sonantem
agminis aligeri, snbito cnm lapsns ad nndas
eycnnm excellentem pedibus rapit inprobus nncis.
arrexere animos Itali, eunctaeque volueres
convertunt clamore fugam (mirabile visn)
aetheraque obscurant pennis hostemqne per auras
facta nube premunt, donee vi victus et ipso
pondere defeeit praedamque ex unguibus ales
proiecit fluvio penitusque in nubila fugit.

But the changes introduced are so great and the adaptation

to the situation described by Silius is so perfect that it

seems to me less probable that he received his suggestion

from the Augustan writer than that both of these later

poets gained their inspiration from some common prior

source.

Schlichteisen (pp. 84-86) considers that this augury was

an invention of Silius and that it was substituted for the

omens narrated by Livy ^ in this connection because it was

of such a nature that the earlier part of it might be accepted

with equal joy by either side and might serve not only as a

^Cf. Livy 21, 46, 2.

416 University of Michigan Studies

stimulus for the immediate future, but also as a prophecy
of the final outcome of the entire war. Such a purpose the
author of the Punica may have had in mind, but this does
not prove that he himself independently devised the means
of expressing the same. In fact the hawk and the eagle had
been associated with augury from the time of Homer, some
of whose descriptions must have been adopted by Ennius
and, with such changes as were necessary, have been incor-
porated in his works. Evidence of this may be gained from
the following lines, II. 15, 690-695 :

aXX &(TT Of}vi6<M}v 7rfrfrjv£>t' uifroc ni6<ov

\r)vSiiv rf yf(}nifa>v r) kukvcju H(w\i\oS€LpaVj
(Of E«cra>p iduat I'Coc Kunponpapniu
npTios ai^as ' top Si ZtifS Sxrtv orrKrBtP
X(ip\ /X'iXa ptyi^jj, utTpvPt d( Xiwv &p atro)*

Here, immediately following the simile in which Hector^s
swift motions are compared to the swooping of the eagle
upon its prey, we find a sentence which is clearly echoed in
Enn. Ann. 569 : '

atque manu magna Eomanos inpulit amnis.
From this in turn Virgil derived line 241 of Aen. 5 : "

et pater ipse manu magna Portunus euntem

impulit :
Moreover VirgiFs fulvus ales and litoreas avis (Aen. 12,
247-248), phrases that Conington' thinks were suggested

by alfTOs aiBoav and 6ppi0a>p norapop mipn ^oaKoptpdcDP lH the

passage quoted above, are used in close connection with the

expression rubra aethra, which as Conington shows is from

Enn. Ann. 435 :

.... interea fax
occidit oceanumque rubra tractim obruit aethra.

^ Cf . Vahlen's note to Ann. 569.

*Cf. Herrmann, Die Veroneser Vergilscholien, Donaueschin-
gen, 1869-70, p. 17.

' P. Vergil i Opera. Commentary by John Conington and
Henry Nettleship, Lon. 1875.

Reminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 417

Perhaps if this Ennian fragment was longer or we pos-
sessed others which now are lost, we might find in them the
origin of the other Virgilian phrases in question, which
could then be referred to Homer only through the inter-
mediary Latin source.

Moreover Silius connects this omen with the youthful
Scipio, which is another consideration in favor of assuming
the influence of Ennius. That many manifestations of
divine power were thought by the contemporaries of Scipio
to guide the various enterprises of this famous leader, we
know from the following statements of Polybius and Livy :
Polyb. 10, 2, 5 :

Oj n€i/ nvv tiWoi mipT€s nvrcif iniTV}(rj rivOf koi t6 trXcioy aici
irapaXoyo)? koi rnvrofKiTc^ KaropBovvra rai tni^oXas 7rap€t(rdyov(Ti ,

Livy, 26, 19, 3-8 :

fuit enim Scipio non veris tantum virtutibus mirabilis,
sed arte quoque quadam ab iuventa in ostentationem earum
compositus, pleraque apud multitudinem aut ut per noc-
turnas visa species aut velut divinitus mente monita agens,
sive et ipse capti quadam superstitione animi, sive ut im-
peria consiliaque velut sorte oraculi missa sine cunctatione
exsequerentur. ad hoc iam inde ab initio praeparans ani-
mos, ex quo togam virilem sumpsit, nullo die prius ullam
publicam privatamque rem egit, quam in Capitolium iret
ingressusque aedem consideret et plerumque solus in se-
creto ibi tempus tereret. hie mos, quem per omnem vitam
servabat, seu consulto seu temere vulgatae opinioni fidem
apud quosdam fecit stirpis eum divinae virum esse, ....
his miraculis numquam ab ipso elusa fides est; quin potius
aucta arte quadam nee abnuendi tale quicquam nee palam
adfirmandi.

If Scipio suffered such stories to be currently reported of
himself, no one was in a better position to know these popu-
lar tales than his intimate friend, Ennius, and no one would
have been more likely to relate this omen of the eagle, whose
eulogistic character was unusually well adapted to the
poet's purposes. Its natural interpretation as a prophecy

418 University of Michigan Studies

of coming greatness ^ would have introduced an element of

divine favor quite in accord with the feeling of Ennius and

to this author it may most properly be referred.

Further evidence that some truth may underlie at least

a part of the portents that Silius relates may be gained from

the following examples, all of which are connected vrith the

time immediately preceding the battle at Lake Thrasymene

or during the contest, Sil. 5 :

59 tunc ales, priscum populis de more Latinis
auspicium, cum bella parant mentesque deorum
explorant super eventu, ceu praescia luctus,
62 damnavit vesci planctuque alimenta refugit.
66 signa etiam affusa certant dum vellere mole,
taeter humo lacera nitentum erupit in ora
exultans cruor, et caedis documenta futurae
69 ipsa parens miseris gremio dedit atra cruento.

611 cum subitus per saxa fragor, motique repente,
horrendum, colles et summa cacumina totis
intremuere iugis ; nutant in vertice silvae
pinifero, fractaeque ruunt super agmina rupes.

615 immugit penitus convulsis ima cavernis
dissiliens tellus nee parvos rumpit hiatus,
atque umbras late Stygias immensa vorago
faucibus ostendit patulis ; manesque profundi
antiquum expavere diem, lacus ater, in altos

620 sublatus montis et sede excussus avita,
lavit Tyrrhenas ignota aspergine silvas.
iamque eadem populos magnorumque oppida regum
tempestas et dira lues stravitque tulitque.
ac super haec reflui pugnarunt montibus amnes,
et retro fluctus torsit mare, monte relicto

626 Apenninicolae fugere ad litora Fauni.

*Cf. Livy 1, 34, 9, where Tanaquil thus interprets a similar
omen affecting her husbanci: excelsa et alta sperare conplexa
virum iubet: eam alitem, ea regione caeli et eius dei nuntiam
venisse, circa summum culmen hominis auspicium fecisse,
levasse humano superposltum capiti decus, ut divinitus eidem
redderet.

Eeminiscences of Ennius in Silius Italicus 419

The first of these omens (Sil. 5, 59-62) is also related by

Cicero, apparently on the authority of Coelius whom he

mentions a little later; De div. 1, 35, 77:

Quid ? bello Punico secundo nonne C. Flaminius consul
iterum neglexit signa rerum futurarum magna cum clade
rei publicae? .... Idem cum tripudio auspicaretur, pul-
larius diem proelii committendi differebat. Tum Plaminius
ex eo quaesivit, si ne postea quidem pulli pascerentur, quid
faciendum censeret. Cum ille quiescendum respondisset,
Flaminius : ^ Praeclara vero auspicia, si esurientibus pullis
res geri poterit, saturis nihil geretur ! '

Furthermore, although Livy does not give this omen in
his description of the divine warnings preceding the battle
at Lake Thrasymene, yet he was familiar with it in connec-
tion with Flaminius as well as in its association with the
name of P. Claudius in the First Punic War, as is clear
from a statement he makes in recording a similar omen
before the engagement at Cannae, Livy 22, 42, 8-9 :

Paulus, cum ei sua sponte cunctanti pulli quoque aus-
picio non addixissent, nuntiari iam efferenti porta signa
collegae iussit. quod quamquam Varro aegre est passus,
Flamini tamen recens casus Claudique consulis primo
Punico bello memorata navalis clades religionem animo
incussit.

The second omen given by Silius (5, 66-69) is mentioned

by Cicero, Livy, Valerius Maximus, Florus, and Plutarch,

though with great variation in the details.

Cic. De div. 1, 35, 77 : Quo tempore cum signifer primi
hastati signum non posset movere loco nee quicquam pro-
ficeretur, plures cum accederent, Flaminius re nuntiata suo
more neglexit.

Livy, 22, 3, 11-13: Haec simul increpans cum ocius
signa convelli iuberet et ipse in equum insiluisset, equus
repente corruit consulemque lapsum super caput effudit.
territis omnibus, qui circa erant, velut foedo omine incipi-
endae rei insuper nuntiatur signum omni vi moliente signi-
fero convelli nequire. conversus ad nuntium ^ Num ^^
quoque ' inquit ^ ab senatu adfers, quae me rem
28

O0

420 University of Michigan Studies

tent? abi, nuntia, effodiant signum, si ad convellendum
manus prae metu obtorpuerunt/

Val. Max. 1, 6, 6 : C. autem Flaminius inauspicato con-
sul creatus, cum apud lacum Trasymenum cum Hannibale
conflicturus convelli signa iussisset, lapso equo super caput
eius humi prostratus est, nihilque eo prodigio inhibitus,
signiferis negantibus signa moveri sua sede posse, malum,
ni ea continuo effodissent, minatus est.

Florus, 1, 22, 14: Nee de dis possumus queri: immi-
nentem temerario duci cladem praedixerant insidentia
signis examina, et aquilae prodire nolentes.

These parallel accounts show that the omen as given in
the Punica was based upon an accepted report. Whether
the author found the poetical ending, which he employs, in
any of his sources or whether he borrowed this from Vir-
girs story of Polydorus (Aen. 3, 28-29 and 33), it is im-
possible to say.

The third omen, which Silius mentions (5, 611-626), the
earthquake that took place during the contest, is also re-
corded by several writers. Cicero (De div. 1, 35, 78) says
that it was mentioned by C'oelius :

Magnum illud etiam, quod addidit Coelius, eo tempore
ipso, cum hoc calamitosum proelium fieret, tantos terrae
motus in Liguribus, Gallia compluribusque insulis totaque
in Italia factos esse, ut multa oppida conruerint, multis
locis labes factae sint terraeque desederint fluminaque in
contrarias partes fluxerint atque in amnes mare influxerit.

Livy (22, 5, 8) relates the following:

tantusque fuit ardor animorum, adeo intentus pugnae
animus, ut eum motum terrae, qui multarum urbium
Italiae magnas partes prostravit avertitque cursu rapidos
amnis, mare fluminibus invexit, montes lapsu ingenti pro-
ruit, nemo pugnantium senserit.

Pliny (K H. 2, 84) says:

Maximus terrae memoria mortalium exstitit motus
Tiberi Caesaris principatu, XII urbibus Asiae una nocte
prostratis, creberrimus Punico bello intra eundem annum
septiens ac quinquagiens nuntiatus Eomam, quo quidem

Remixiscexces of Exxius IX SiLirs Itaucus 421

anno ad Trasimenum lacum dimicantes maximum motum
Deque Poeni sensere nee Eomani.

These and other similar accounts * show that Silins here
states a fact and that the earthquake incident is not a
poetic invention or a free adaptation borrowed from a de-
scription of another situation.

From this examination of the different kinds of omens
narrated by Silius, of which some are assuredly false but a
larger number are evidently true, it is clear that their
origin is to be referred to various sources and among these
Ennius probably exerted no small influence. We know that
he related dreams* and auguries* and that he told of
eclipses/ and it would be but reasonable to suppose that he
also recorded some of the other traditional portents with
which Rome and Italy were filled during his lifetime,
^loreover such stories as these, rendered in poetic form,
would naturally be easily remembered, and Silius doubtless
transferred to his own work many reminiscences from these
accounts of his predecessor.

Further effects of Ennian influence have been claimed to
be traceable in many other phases of the Punica, especially
in the treatment of the Roman leaders. That some im-
portant elements in the description of such men as Fabiiia,
Scipio, and Marcellus were due to Ennius, seems clear from
what has already been said in connection with Fabius (p.
376) and Scipio (pp. 378, 380, 382) and from the statement
of Cicero, Pro Archia 9, 22 : Omnes deniqw illi Maximi,
Marcelli, Fulvii non sine communi omnium nostrum laude
decorantur. But that any one source can be found for any
particular portion of the Punica is, I think, impossible.

^Cf. Plut. Fab. Max. 3; Orosius, 4, 15, 6; Zonaras, 8, 25.

* Cf. Ann. 35-51.
»Cf. Ann. 77-96.

* Cf. Ann. 163.

422 University of Michigan Studies

Everything seems to be the result of a combination and
blending of many elements taken from many diflEerent
sources. Not to Ennius or to Livy alone was Silius in-
debted, but to these authors combined vrith numerous
others. Thus brief phrases and general pictures, as well as
those larger conceptions that underlie the structure of the
poem as a whole, are traceable now to one predecessor, now
to another, and all are so interwoven and confused as to
render a separation impossible.

APPENDIX

Many paeeagee quoted by Wezel have not been mentioned
in the preceding pages, as the relations he seeks to establish
cannot be proved true. Thus the lines from the Punica
given in no. 6, which refer to the overflowing Trebia (Sil. 4,
573-576) appear to be a poetic rendition of the historical
fact related by Polybius, 3, 72, 4, and Livy, 21, 54, 9, but
seem to have no connection whatever with Enn. Ann. 569, if
we can form any idea of the meaning of this fragment from
the kindred expressions in the Iliad, 15, 694-695, and the
Aeneid, 5, 241.' Similarly Enn. Ann. 379: contempsit
fontes quibus exerugit aquae vis refers, according to Vahlen
(p. 68), to Hannibal's advice to Antiochus, as given in Jns-
tinuB, 31, 5, 7, to contend with the Romans in Italy, the
fountain-head of their resources, and not, as Wezel considers
(no. 10), to the endurance of Hannibal of which Silius
{1, 260) and Livy (21, 4, 6) speak.

No&. 11 and 28 are likewise placed by Vahlen in a con-
nection which does not accord with that of the passages of
Silius with which Wezel compares them, and there is noth-
ing in the fragments themselves to prove definitely any
relation between them and the later writer.

Some of the other comparisons made by Wezel are based
merelv upon a general thought which each author expresses
or upon a word common to both, without any further bond
of union. Thus in no. 4 both Ennius and Silius speak of
the devastation of fields and the storming of towns, in no.
19 of pestilence and battle, but there are no

■ Ct. p. 41S.

424 University of Michigan Studies

similarity between them. In nos. 40 and 45 the only re-
semblance lies in the use of the words falarica and Brun-
disium, which are too often found elsewhere to allow any
inference of relationship to be derived from their presence
here. A similar criticism might be urged against the com-
parisons given in nos. 14, 17, 24, 25, 27, 29, 34, 37, 42; and
in nos. 16, 22, 30, and 41, I find no evidence even of this
slight connection.

1

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