Punica

Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus, born between AD 23 and 35, was a prominent Roman senator, orator, and epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His birthplace remains uncertain – suggested to be Italica in Hispania or Patavium in northern Italy. Silius gained early fame as a forensic orator, and was appointed as a consul in 68AD, the year of the Emperor Nero’s death, and after the Year of the Four Emperors, AD69, Silius served under Vitellius.

He was proconsul of Asia around AD77-78. Thereafter Silius left political life for a more leisurely existence in Campania, engaging in literary and philosophical pursuits. His epic work ‘Punica’, concerning the Second Punic War, is dated between 83 and 101AD. Comprising over 12,000 lines across 17 books, ‘Punica’ is the longest surviving Classical Latin poem. It draws heavily on the works of Virgil, Livy, Ennius, and Homer, blending epic poetry with historical accounts.

Silius was esteemed by contemporaries including Epictetus and Cornutus, and revered Cicero and Virgil, purchasing Cicero’s Tusculum estate and restoring Virgil’s tomb. As a Stoic adherent, Silius idealised the act of suicide under duress, a philosophy reflected in his work. Afflicted with an incurable tumour, he chose to starve himself, passing away around 101AD.

Silius’ ‘Punica’ reflects a blend of epic tradition and historiography, characterized by diverse character focus and Stoic undertones. Although his work was little known in the Middle Ages, it strongly influenced later writers including Montaigne, Milton, and Pope.

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