Neil BERNSTEIN Rome's
Sword and Shield: Fabius, Marcellus, and the Poetics of
Paternity in Silius' Punica
A
significant theme of Silius' Punica is
negotiating the value and meaning of kin relationships in
the context of military and national leadership.
Scholarly attention to paternal and leadership roles in
the Punica has
focused on Scipio and Hannibal, primarily in their roles
as successors. I argue that the episodes involving Q.
Fabius Maximus (RE #116) and M. Claudius Marcellus (RE #220) offer contrasting visions of the
relationship between paternal responsibilities and
leadership obligations. While Scipio perceives a symmetry
between these obligations, the epic's other fathers
negotiate conflict between them.
The epic both
creates parallels between Fabius and Marcellus and also
represents each man as a forerunner to Scipio. Both men
address instructive speeches to their sons before combat
(Sil. 7.539-66, 15.353-61).
Critics have observed that these scenes,
which have no support from the
historiographical tradition, allude
to Vergilian interactions between fathers and sons
(Aeneas and Ascanius, Mezentius and Lausus) and reinforce
the theme of heroic emulation between generations. This
paper examines Fabius and Marcellus' negotiation of
conflict between personal obligations and the needs of
the Roman state.
Silius' Fabius willingly subordinates his
need for personal and familial honor to the immediate
demands of Roman troops. Citing the Senate's insult in
granting Fabius' magister equitum Minucius equal powers, Fabius' son opposes
rescuing Minucius when he is overwhelmed by Hannibal's
forces. His father, however, resolves the conflict
through an appeal to ancestral wisdom buttressed by the
example of Camillus (Sil. 7.539-66).
In gratitude, Minucius' soldiers call Fabius pater,
while Minucius addresses him as genitor
(Sil. 7.732-9). Fabius' exemplary
performances in both consanguineous and fictive kin
relationships offer a highly personalized model of
negotiating conflicts between kingroup and state.
In contrast to the relationship between
Fabius and Minucius, the collegiality between Marcellus
and his fellow consul Crispinus provides a model of
ideally functioning governance (cf. Sil. 15.350-1). Their
mutual support contrasts with the images of familial
conflict or bereavement used to represent the struggles
between other leaders (e.g., Paulus as a bereaved mother,
Sil. 9.38-43). Rather than enter conflict with his son,
Marcellus' praise and instruction gain additional
significance through evocation of the fathers of the
Aeneid. His
address to his son before departing on his final mission
alludes to Aeneas' address to Ascanius, while the ambush
that leads to his death recalls the Mezentius and Lausus
episode.
The epic's multiple perspectives on the
paternal relationship offer an implicit commentary on the
ideals represented by the Flavian moral renovation and
the emperor Domitian's self-presentation as a national
father. The episodes involving Fabius and Marcellus offer
exemplary images of paternal and leaderly authority.
Through conflicts with subordinates and family members,
Fabius negotiates the boundaries between individual,
kingroup, and state. By contrast, Marcellus offers a
pattern of collegial governance and virtuous instruction
that invites comparison with Vergilian images of
paternity.
Abstracts
Index