III. PASSAGES SHOWING INDIRECT INFLUENCE Another form of Ennian influence discernible in the Punica came indirectly through the works of intervening writers, especially Virgil and Livy. Of these there are such examples as follow: 1) Enn. Ann. 284-285: hastati spargunt hastas, fit ferreus imber Virgil, Aen. 12, 283-284: it toto turbida caelo tempestas telorum ac ferreus ingruit imber; Sil. 13, 181-182: tela simul flammaeque micant. tunc saxeus imber The first line of this fragment from Ennius is quoted by Macrobius (Sat. 6, 1, 52) as the source of Virgil's inspiration to express the similar thought here noted and from the latter the saxeus imber ingruit used by Silius was clearly derived, as is shown by the use of the same verb ingruit which Virgil introduced in place of the Ennian verb fit. Wezel (no. 26) mentions this fragment of the annalistic poet in comparison with a somewhat similar description of the beginning of the contest at Cannae (Sil. 9, 310), although he acknowledges that verses of this kind may form a part of the description of any battle and in confirmation of this he quotes the Silian passage given above, which is taken from the account of the storming of Capua, and also two other lines from the Punica: Sil. 14, 539: perculsi cuneo Poeni densentur in unum; Graia phalanx patrio densarat more catervas. But neither of these has any further connection with the quotation from Ennius than the use of the common verb. The first line, taken from the account of the naval struggle between the Roman ship, Perseus, and the Carthaginian Io, is more suggestive of Ovid's similar expression in Meta. 13, 604-605: glomerataque corpus in unum densetur. The second, from the description of the final encounter in Africa, recalls Virgil, Aen. 12, 264: succiso volvi segnem sinit; Livy, 22, 51, 7: quosdam et iacentis vivos succisis feminibus poplitibusque invenerunt; Sil. 4, 341-342: Ufentem collapsum poplite caeso ensis obit, laudemque pedum cum sanguine ademit; Sil. 5, 547-550: quem poplite caeso dum spoliat, gravis immiti cum turbine costas fraxinus irrupit; Sil. 10, 38: fratres, hic humero, cecidere, hic poplite, caesis. In these selections from Silius, Wezel (no. 23) seeks to trace a direct influence from the Ennian phrase, pernas succidit, but the ablative of Silius, poplite caeso, bears closer resemblance to the ablatives of Virgil, succiso poplite, and of Livy, succisis feminibus poplitibusque than to the earlier expression. Silius has only a suggestion of the thought of the Ennian line, the intervening writers have the thought and the verb, while Livy preserves the idea of the noun also, though in the more usual form feminibus, which he joins with the Virgilian noun poplitibus. The construction and substantive used in the Punica are echoes of the intermediary sources, the verb is a changed form employed independently by the author. 3) Enn. Ann. 540: effudit voces proprio cum pectore sancto; Aen. 5, 482: ille super talis effundit pectore voces ; Sil. 3, 696: inde ubi mandatas effudi pectore voces. The Virgilian phrase effundit pectore voces, echoing in shorter form the thought expressed by Ennius, was without doubt the model that suggested to Silius his closing words. With varied forms and arrangement, the expression voces effundere occurs also, as Wezel points out (no. 38), in other parts of the Punica. But these too are almost all distinctly suggestive of Virgil, and no Ennian touch can be detected in them that shows any closer relation to the earlier poet than can be traced through the Augustan writer. Thus there is a parallelism of thought in Sil. 10, 365: tunc vox effusa per auras; and in the Aeneid 8, 70: ac talis effundit ad aethera voces; there is a likeness of verbal effect gained by the use of the same closing phrase in Sil. 8, 167: has visa in somnis germanae effundere voces ; Sil. 14, 215: credere erat stabulis armenta effundere voces; Aen. 5, 723: et nox atra polum bigis subvecta tenebat. and there is a marked resemblance between this last picture and the one presented by Silius, 8, 164-167: cuncta per tacito nox atra sopore et terras et lati stagna profundi condiderat, tristi cum Dido aegerrima vultu has visa in somnis germanae effundere voces. Suggestions of Virgilian influence are thus plainly seen and through him the similarity to the original Ennian phrase must apparently be traced. 4) Enn. Ann. 561-562: non si, lingua loqui saperet quibus, ora decem sint, innumerum, ferro cor sit pectusque revinctum; Geor. 2, 43; Aen. 6, 625: non, mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum, Sil. 4, 525-526: non, mihi Maeoniae redeat si gloria linguae, centenasque pater det Phoebus fundere voces. In this quotation from the Punica, likewise, the closing words suggest the Virgilian phrase just mentioned and again we find other touches of marked resemblance to the Augustan poet. Both authors use the same words to begin the conditional sentence and both long for the same number of tongues with which to express themselves. Though Silius uses the distributive form of the numeral, centenas, while Virgil employs the more usual centum, yet even in this Silius is not without Virgilian precedent, for in Aen. 10, 207, we find a similar phrase, centenaque arbore. The original expression of this thought may be traced back to Homer, who says (Il. 2, 488-489): οὐδ ̓ εἴ μοι δέκα μὲν γλῶσσαι, δέκα δὲ στόματ ̓ εἶεν, From him, according to Macrobius (Sat. 6, 3, 6), Hostius borrowed the following similar line, found in the second book of his Bellum Histricum: . . non si mihi linguae centum atque ora sient totidem vocesque liquatae. To the latter Macrobius says Virgil was indebted. There is, to be sure, a noticeable similarity between these two authors and the opinion of Macrobius may be in part correct, yet it seems clear that Virgil, perhaps unconsciously, betrays in the one word ferrea the influence of Ennius, who plainly substituted ferro for Homer's xλkeov and did not translate it, as Lucretius did,' into the corresponding aereum. If Hostius had used this same expression, it does not appear likely that Macrobius would have failed to note this additional proof of his influence upon Virgil. The gift of many tongues was one craved by poets generally, as Persius says, and Silius was doubtless familiar with many expressions of this desire. But he especially echoes the words of Virgil and thus suggests an indirect reminiscence of Ennius. 5) Enn. Ann. 556: perque fabam repunt et mollia crura reponunt; Geor. 3, 75-76 : continuo pecoris generosi pullus in arvis altius ingreditur, et mollia crura reponit; Sil. 16, 443-444: tum, mollia crura superbi attollens gressus, magno clamore triumphat. This fragment of Ennius is noted by Servius (Comm. ad Virg. Geor. 3, 76) as being the prototype of Virgil's phrase mollia crura reponit, although the former is speaking of cranes and the latter of horses. That Silius was here directly indebted only to Virgil seems clear from the fact that he borrowed merely the mollia crura, adding superbi attollens gressus from another Virgilian phrase, gressus superbos (Geor. 3, 117), and without any further Ennian touch applied them to the horse, as the Augustan poet did. 1 Cf. Servius ad Aen. 6, 625: Non mihi si linguae centum sint Lucretii versus sublatus de Homero, sed aerea vox dixit. 2 Persius 5, 1-2: Vatibus hic mos est, centum sibi poscere voces, |