Inhumana Crudelitas: Hannibal's Monstrosity
in Livy's A.U.C. and Cicero's De Divinatione

Christina E. Franzen (University of Washington)

Hannibal, in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, is a monstrum: he serves as a religious warning of impending doom to the people of Rome and simultaneously is characterized as a ferocious monster that destroys everything in its path.  The numerous prodigies surrounding the Second Punic War in Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita, I argue, represent perversions of traditional, iconic symbols of Rome. These prodigies, in turn, announce the imminent approach of the ultimate prodigium and monstrum, Hannibal, a perversion of Roman virtus, who serves as an indication of the potential downfall of Rome. 

I examine Hannibal as monstrum in three ways: first, I look at how the prodigies in Books 21-32 signify perversions of iconic symbols of Roman mythology and history, which, in turn, reflect the monstrous perversion of Roman virtus that Hannibal represents.  Wolves exhibit strange and violent behavior (21.62; 22.1; 27.37); crows, ominous symbols of death, fly into, defile and settle on temples (21.62; 24.10; 30.2); weapons, the tools with which Rome is able to expand and conquer, are objects of divine prodigal activity (21.62).

Next, I examine how Hannibal is like a prodigium or monstrum in his display of virtus, simultaneously possessing and perverting this quintessentially Roman quality.  In his habits and behavior in battle, he is the paragon of Roman virtus: he is an outstanding soldier and general, possesses amazing stamina and strength, and is a fair fighter.  He requires no luxury, only the barest of essentials, and, thus, begins to resemble a Stoic sapiens (21.4).  Livy immediately turns this shining description of the Carthaginian general on its head by juxtaposing it with a description of Hannibal’s monstrous characteristics: inhumana crudelitas, perfidia plus quam Punica, nihil ueri, nihil sancti, nullus deum metus, nullum ius iurandum, nulla religio (21.5).  He is a combination of natural and unnatural, human and inhuman, an ambiguous figure that embodies the utmost in Roman virtue and foreign depravity.  Because he is an amalgamation, a creature that straddles two worlds, he resembles the monstra and prodigia of religious significance, like the monstrous births and behavior exhibited by people and animals taken as signs and warnings of the gods.

Finally, I look at Hannibal’s prodigious dream in which he sees a monstrum that foretells the absolute destruction of Italy (Cic, Div. 1.49; Livy, A.U.C. 21.22.6-9).  Hannibal sees an enormous beast (vasta belua) enfolded by serpents overturning everything in its path.  Hannibal asks the god accompanying him what kind of monster it is, and the god responds that it is the devastation and seizure of Italy.  I suggest that Hannibal is this vasta belua – he is a monstrous, ferocious force intent on destroying Rome.  As monstra and prodigia proliferate throughout Italy, Hannibal, a perversion of nature, simultaneously a voracious beast and man, proceeds to be a warning and threat to Rome who terrorizes and slaughters the people of Italy.

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