Livy On The War With Hannibal

Zabrina Ting
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Titus Livy was a Roman historian and the author of History of Rome – his only

surviving work, which he wrote not for students of history but rather as a monument

dedicated to Rome. He sought to document all the events, virtues and vices that attributed

to Rome’s greatness as well as destruction, serving as warning and guidance to future

Romans to keep the prominence of the empire alive; a moral lesson taught by the history

of Rome. He wanted his readers to be able to take away a sense of what factors had

contributed to Rome’s success and which to her demise, and to be able to use that

knowledge to ensure that the continuation and expansion of her greatness and success

would be imminent. In Book 21: From Saguntum to the Trebia, Livy recounts what he

calls “the most memorable of all wars – the war waged by Hannibal and the

Carthaginians against the Roman people”; both empires were great in strength, rich in

resources, and well prepared to withstand the strain of a long war (21.1). Though Livy

wrote his accounts as a Roman citizen, it is evident in his chronicle of the Second Punic

War that he held a great deal of admiration for Hannibal, the commander-in-chief of the

Carthaginians.

According to Livy, it was Hamilcar – Hannibal’s father – who was the prime

instigator of the war; he was a “man of great pride” and the loss of Sicily and Sardinia

devastated him (21.1). Hamilcar’s desire for retaliation was strong and it was apparent in

the manner in which he conducted the African war – and also from the way in which he

strengthened and extended the rule of Carthage during the nine years’ war with Spain –

that he was meditating a far greater war than any he was actually engaged in. Had he

lived longer, there is no doubt that it would have been under his command that the

invasion of Italy would be carried out; however, his untimely death was opportune for
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Rome. Though Hamilcar had made Hannibal swear that he would show himself the

enemy of Rome as soon as he was able, he was too young to take any action at the time

of his father’s death, so command of the army was taken over by Hasdrubal, Hamilcar’s

son-in-law, for the next five years. Through his diplomacy and tendency of trusting to

policy rather than to arms, he was successful in “conciliating tribes and joining to his

empire” and established a renewed treaty with Rome. Livy admired his success but also

criticized his passive approach, saying that “peace afforded him no great security,” for he

ended up being publicly assassinated by a barbarian (21.2).

Finally, the role of the Carthaginian military commander-in-chief was in the

rightful possession of Hannibal. Livy wrote that “upon his first arrival in Spain Hannibal

became the center of attention in the whole army” (21.4); he was a quick favourite of

everyone’s. At first it was because many veterans imagined him as Hamilcar restored to

them as he was in his youth – they saw in Hannibal the same determined expression and

cast of features as his late father – however, it was soon apparent that it was not only his

father’s memory that helped him win the affections of his army. Livy goes on to

vigorously praise Hannibal’s amazing strength and leadership skills:

It was Hannibal that Hasdrubal chose to put in charge of any business that

required courage and energy, and it was under Hannibal that the soldiers

displayed greatest confidence and daring. He was fearless in undertaking

dangerous enterprises, he was prudent in discharging them. Toil could not weary

his body or subdue his spirit. Heat and cold he endured alike. He ate and drank to

satisfy nature, not pleasure. Hours for sleeping and waking were not determined

by the clock; whatever time was left after work was done he devoted to sleep. Nor
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was sleep wooed by soft couches and stillness; often he could be seen lying on the

ground among the sentries and pickets, covered with a soldier’s cape. His dress

was no different from his contemporaries’, but his arms and horses were

preeminent (21.4).

Livy’s opinion of Hannibal was that he was an extremely disciplined individual as

well as a humble leader. His dress was in no way superior to that of his comrades and he

did not afford himself luxuries or leisure based on his rank; what made him conspicuous

were his arms and horses. He was fearless in the face of danger and perfectly self-

possessed in its presence. Livy goes on to say that, during the whole three years that

Hannibal served under Hasdrubal, Hannibal never once let pass an opportunity to gain by

either practice or observation the experience necessary for him to become a great leader

of men. However, regardless of the many awesome traits he was endowed with, Hannibal

also had characteristics that Livy considered to be enormous faults. In contrast to the

previous example, he is described as being inhumanly cruel, having deceitfulness and

untrustworthiness and utter absence of truthfulness, reverence, fear of the gods, respect

for oaths and sense of religion. To someone like Livy, a man who dwelled with great

delight on the ways of the old republic, these were extremely unattractive features for a

person to have. Such was Hannibal’s character, though – a compound of virtues and vices

that reached opposite ends of the spectrum.

Titus Livy intended his didactic view of history to be more than just a means of

educating students of history on the past; he wanted it to be used as a guide, so to speak,

for people to see why their predecessors had prevailed or fallen and to learn from

mistakes made in the past. The characteristics that Livy seemed to admire most in
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Hannibal were his military strengths, bravery, his ability to be a great leader and inspire

the best out of those he commanded, his steadfastness, fortitude, dedication and loyalty.

In contrast, he found Hannibal’s complete lack of faith and reverence in the gods or

respect for religion to be highly distasteful. However, as a military leader Hannibal

possessed all the right traits and led and appealed to his men in an unparalleled manner.

The reason why Livy, a Roman writer, would have depicted the enemy leader as having

such amazing qualities and brilliance was so that future Romans could look back and

learn from Hannibal’s successes.

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Works Cited

Livy, The History of Rome, trans. M. Hadas and J.P. Poe, in Livy: A History of Rome

(New York: The Modern Library, 1962), pp. 207-10 and 243-51.

Livy, The History of Rome, trans. Rev. Canon Roberts in The History of Rome, Vol. 3

(London: J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1905)

Pelham, Henry Francis. "Livy (Titus Livius), Roman Historian (59 B.C. - A.D. 17)."

1902 Encyclopedia (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th and 10th Editions). Nov.

2005. Web. 22 Jan. 2011. <http://www.1902encyclopedia.com/L/LIV/livy.html>.