This dissertation provides the first comprehensive reading of Silius Italicus' Punica as a narrative of the “fall” of Rome. Through a close intratextual and intertextual reading of selected passages from the epic, I argue that Silius transforms his account of the Second Punic War—Rome's greatest bellum externum—into a template for the chaos of A.D. 69—Rome's greatest (or, rather, worst) bellum civile. I also argue that, in carrying out this transformation of bellum externum into bellum civile, Silius casts the “fall” of Rome at the end of the poem, like the fall of Saguntum at its beginning, as a repetition of the fall of Troy. In chapter 1, I provide a brief history of scholarship since Poggio's rediscovery of the text in 1417. I also review the testimonia (collected in Appendix 1). In chapter 2, I discuss the structure. First, I divide the epic into “siege-books” (1–2, 11–12, 13–14, and 17[–18]) and “battle-books” (3–10 and 15–16); then, I discuss what I call the “four- clades” structure. In chapter 3, I integrate this analysis of the structure into a complementary analysis of the themes. First, I address the general thematic concerns of the poem through a close reading of the opening invocation of the Muses (1.1–20); then, I explain the idea of the “fall” of Rome with a close reading of the divine conversation on Mt. Olympus between Venus and Jupiter during Hannibal's march over the Alps (3.557–629). In chapter 4, I explore the role which Hannibal plays in the “fall” of Rome, including the single combat between Hannibal and Murrus at Saguntum (1.376–555), and the frustrated single combat between Hannibal and Jupiter at Rome (12.682–752). In chapter 5, I explore the role which Scipio plays in the “fall” of Rome, including the frustrated single combat between Scipio and Hannibal at Zama (17.406–624), and Scipio's triumphant return to Rome and his entrance into the city (17.625–654). By the end of the study, we will see how Silius transforms Rome (like Carthage) into an altera Troia.