Table Of Content
oxford world’s classics
HANNIBAL’S WAR
books twenty-one to thirty
Titus Livius (Livy), the historian, was born in Patavium (mod-
ern Padua) in 64 or 59 bc and died in ad 12 or 17 in Patavium,
surviving therefore into his late seventies or early eighties. He came
to Rome in the 30sbc and began writing his history of Rome not
long after. There is no evidence that he was a senator or held other
governmental posts, although he was acquainted with the emperor
Augustus and his family, at least by his later years. He appears to
have had the means to spend his life largely in writing his huge
history of Rome, Ab Urbe Condita or ‘From the Foundation of the
City’, which filled142 books and covered the period from Rome’s
founding to the death of the elder Drusus (753–9bc). Thirty-five
books survive: 1–10 (753–293bc) and 21–45 (218–167bc).
J. C. Yardley has been Professor and Head of Classics at the
Universities of Calgary and Ottawa and is a former President of the
Classical Association of Canada. He has also translated The Dawn of
the Roman Empire (Books 31–40 of Livy’s history) for Oxford
World’s Classics, as well as Quintus Curtius’ History of Alexander
for Penguin Classics (1984) and Justin for the American Philological
Association Classical Resources series (1994) and (Books 11–12) for
the Clarendon Ancient History series (1997). His most recent books
areJustin and Pompeius Trogus (2003) and (with Waldemar Heckel)
Alexander the Great (2004).
Dexter Hoyos was born in Barbados, studied at Oxford, and
teaches Roman history and historians, and Latin, at Sydney Uni-
versity. His most recent publications include Unplanned Wars
(1998), on the causes of the first two Punic Wars, and Hannibal’s
Dynasty: Power and Politics in the Western Mediterranean 247–183
B.C. (2003).
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OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
LIVY
Hannibal’s War
Books Twenty-One to Thirty
Translated by
J. C. YARDLEY
With an Introduction and Notes by
DEXTER HOYOS
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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Translation © J. C. Yardley 2006
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1
For
Andrea, Elaine, Jane, Camilla, Jann, and Barbara
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CONTENTS
Introduction ix
Note on the Text and Translation xxxiv
Select Bibliography xxxvi
A Chronology of Events xxxix
Maps xliv
HANNIBAL’S WAR 1
book twenty-one 3
book twenty-two 66
book twenty-three 135
book twenty-four 195
book twenty-five 252
book twenty-six 310
book twenty-seven 378
book twenty-eight 448
book twenty-nine 514
book thirty 563
Appendix1. List of Variations from the Teubner Text 619
Appendix2. Hannibal’s Route over the Alps 620
Explanatory Notes 631
Glossary 715
Index 727
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INTRODUCTION
Livy and his history
Titus Livius was born at Patavium in northern Italy, today’s Padua,
probably in 64 bc, and died there probably in ad 12; his family’s
communal epitaph may still be seen. He began writing his history
From the Foundation of the City (Ab Urbe Condita) around 27bc, just
as Rome’s latest supreme leader, Augustus, was consolidating his
primacy over the city and the empire. Starting with the origins of
Rome, he concluded with the year 9 bc in Book 142, an average
yearly output of nearly four sizeable books. Of these, only 35 (1–10
and 21–45) survive, though luckily a collection of epitomes or
résumés of nearly all 142 is extant.
The history made Livy famous in his own lifetime: there is a story
of an admirer from Gades (Cádiz) in Spain who travelled to Rome
simply to see the man of renown, and then went home. Livy was on
friendly terms with Augustus, but From the Foundation of the City
was not a commissioned work or propaganda piece for the new
regime: Livy openly wondered whether it would have been worse or
better for the Roman people if Julius Caesar had never been born,
and accorded enough praise to Caesar’s foe Pompey for Augustus to
tease him with being a ‘Pompeian’––perhaps a punning joke based
on his Patavine origin.1
Books 21–30 of From the Foundation comprise our most detailed
and exciting ancient account of the Second Punic War, Hannibal’s
war against Rome.2 The two warring states, Rome and Carthage,
were supposedly founded within a few decades of each other:
Carthage in 814, Rome in 753. It will help a better understanding of
Livy’s narrative to summarize the events that led to their rivalry.
1 Doubt about Caesar: Seneca, Natural Questions 5.18. Friendship with Augustus,
and the joke: Tacitus, Annals 4.34; perhaps a pun on Livy’s origin––not really a
‘Patavine’ but a ‘Pompeian’ (Pompeii being the well-known town in Campania).
2 ‘Punic’ (Latin Punicus or Poenicus) is an alternative term for ‘Carthaginian’, recall-
ing the city’s Phoenician ancestry.
