Per Vvlnera Regnvm: Self-Destruction, Self-Sacrifice and Devotio in Punica 4-10

Abstract

Over the past twenty-five years numerous studies have addressed the theme of sacrifice in Virgil'sAeneid. In 1993 the second chapter (‘Sacrifice and Substitution’) of Philip Hardie'sThe Epic Successors of Virgilbroadened the scope of the topic to include post-Virgilian epic as well, but since then little attention has been paid to sacrifice in the case of at least one of Virgil's epic successors, Silius Italicus. The aim of the present paper is to narrow this gap in the existing literature by examining the evidence for a particular form of sacrifice, a kind of ‘self-sacrifice’ known as thedeuotio, in thePunica. Although Silius' epic ideally requires a more thorough and comprehensive study of sacrifice than what is offered here, it is nevertheless hoped that the present study may lead to further inquiry into this aspect of the poem and may help, more generally, to disabuse readers of the notion that its poet is uninterested in or un-knowledgeable about matters of a religious nature.