Prayer to Hercules

The siege of Saguntum in the first book of the Punica. A defender of the city prays to Hercules as its founder — by tradition Saguntum was planted by Hercules' companions, and that gave it a claim on Roman protection against Hannibal.

Cuius vestigia sacra incolimus — "whose sacred footprints we inhabit". Not "whose city", but literally: we live inside your tracks. Foundation is understood physically, as a trace left by a god and settled in.

The "storm threatening the land" is Hannibal, and the choice of god is contested: the Carthaginian traced himself to the same Hercules-Melqart and crossed the Alps, by his own account, in his footsteps. One god on both sides of the wall — Silius knows it, and places the prayer deliberately.

The condition at the end is a soldier's: "if it is with no sluggish right hand that I defend your walls". No sacrifices, no vows; the merit is produced on the spot, weapon in hand. Saguntum will fall, and its people will burn themselves along with the city.