Punica (poem) - Poetic Models and Historical Sources

Poetic Models and Historical Sources

Silius, as a poet of historical epic, had to make use of both historical sources and poetic models. Livy is considered his single most important historical source, however, Silius differs his work from Livy's by often embellishing themes which are only briefly treated in Livy and altering the focus of his narrative. It is known that Silius also used other historians as sources. Silius should not be viewed as a simple transmitter of his historical sources, as "Livy in verse", but should be viewed as a poet who, while making use of historians, is not bound by the rules of historiography but rather of poetry.

In choosing a historical subject, the Second Punic War, Silius had many poetic predecessors. From the time of Naevius onwards every great military struggle in which the Romans had been engaged had found its poet. Naevius' influence cannot be gauged because of the almost total loss of his poem on the First Punic War. Silius specifically names Virgil, Homer, and Ennius as his epic inspiration. Homer is mentioned at 13.778-797, where Silius has Scipio meet his shade in the underworld. Of Homer Silius' sybil praises Homer as the preeminent, universal, and divine poet who made Troy, (i.e. Rome) famous in song, saying "his poetry embraced the earth, sea, stars, and shades and he rivaled the Muses in song and Phoebus in glory," to which Scipio replies "If Fate would allow this poet to sing of Roman deeds, for all the world to hear, how much deeper an impression the same deeds would make upon posterity if Homer sang of them." Ennius is a character in Book 12 of the Punica (12.387-414) where he participates in a battle in Sardinia. Silius says that his account of Ennius' fight is his attempt to "hand down to long ages noble deeds, too little known, of a great man." He describes Ennius' birth, his prowess in war, and has Apollo prophesy his future, saying "he shall be the first to sing of Roman wars in noble verse, exalting their commanders to the skies; he shall teach Helicon to repeat the sound of Roman poetry..."

Virgil is mentioned at 8.593-594, where Silius says of Virgil's hometown Mantua that it was "home of the Muses, raised to the sky by immortal verse, and a match for the lyre of Homer." Indeed, Virgil is considered Silius' most pervasive influence. His contemporaries Pliny and Martial discuss his almost crazed devotion to the spirit of Virgil (whom Silius is known to have worshipped as a god and whose tomb he bought and repaired) and often compare his poetry to the works of Virgil. Silius employs constantly Virgilian images, similes, tropes, and elements (such as his nekyia or the historically-themed shield of Hannibal) in the Punica, and hardly a page goes by without some significant allusion to the Aeneid. Finally, Lucan is a significant model for Silius, although Silius differs dramatically from Lucan's historical epic by his use of the divine machinery. Frederick Ahl posits that Silius construed his epic as occupying the historical and poetic midpoint between the Aeneid and the Bellum Civile, forming a trilogy of poems on Roman history. Silius is closest to Lucan in his treatment of historical description, especially geography and battlefields, his focus on the macabre and violence, and his stoic tone.