Full text of "Statius"
THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
EDITED BV
T. E. PAGE, MIT.D.
E. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D. W. H. D. ROUSE, i.itt.d.
STATIUS
I
s^
STATIUS
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
J. H. MOZLEY, M.A.
SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
LECTURER IN CLASSICS AT EAST LONDON COLLIGE, UNIVERSITY
Of LONDON
IN TWO VOLUMES
SILVAE
THEBAID I-IV
y-b-
LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
NEW YORK : G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
MCMXXVIII
P/9
V.I
&CC.Z
printed iti Great Britain.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I
Inthoduction
PACE
vii
SILVAE
Book I-
Statius to his friend Stella ... 2
I. The statue of Domitian ... 6
II. Epithalaiiiium in honour of Stella and
Violentilla 14
III. The villa of Manlius Vopiscus . . 38
IV. To Kutilius Gallieus .... 46
V. The baths of Claudius Etruscus . . 58
VI. The Kalends of December . . . 6'4
Book II—
Statins to his friend Melior
I. Glaucias
11. The villa of Pollius Felix
III. The tree of Atedius Melior
IV. Melior's parrot
V. The tame lion
VI. To Flavins Ursus .
VII. To Polla on Lucan's birthday
72
76
94
106
112
116
118
128
CONTENTS
Book III—
Statins to his friend Pollius
I. The temjile of Hei'cules at Surrentum
II. To Maecius Celer ....
III. To Claudius Etruscus
IV. The tresses of Elavius Earinus
V. To liis wife Claudia
Book IV—
Statius to his friend Marcellus
I. The seventeenth consulship of Domitian
n. To the Emperor Domitian
III. The Domitian Road
IV To Vitorius Marcellus
V. To Septimius Severus
VI. The Hercules statuette .
VII. To Vibius Maximus
VIII. To Julius Menecrates
IX. To Plotius Grypus
Book V—
Statius to his friend Abascantus
I. On the death of Priscilla
II. The praises of Crispinus
III. A lament for his father .
IV. To Sleep .....
V. A lament for his adoj^ted son
Fragment of a Poem on the German War
THEBAID
Book
I.
Book
II.
Book
III.
Book
IV.
138
140
154
16G
184
192
202
206
210
216
228
236
242
250
256
260
266
268
288
302
328
330
336
340
3.94
450
506
Mai'
. at beginning of volume
INTRODUCTION
PuBLius Papinius Statius was born at Naples, prob-
ably about A.D. 40." His father was a native of
Velia on the Lucanian coast, but had moved to
Naples, where as " graniniatlcus " he conducted a
school to which pupils came from all parts of Italy.
Here he taught literature, which in the secondary
school of the time meant poetry, with exposition of
grammar, style, and antiquities ; he also instructed
his pupils in augury and the various rites of the
Roman state religion. He was himself a poet, and
had won prizes in the Grecian contests, at Delphi,
Nemea, and the Isthmus ; he had written a poem on
the civil war of a.d. 69, and was planning another on
the eruption of Vesuvius in 79, when he died. He
was buried on an estate that he possessed near Alba.
The younger Statius owed to his father's personal
care and instruction all his education and poetical
training, a debt which he acknowledges in terms of
the warmest gratitude ; he soon gained fame as a
poet himself, and won prizes at the local competitions
in Naples, held at the festival of the Augustalia.
Probably after his father's death he left Naples and
" See references to his senium in Silv. iii. 5. 13, 24, iv. 4.
70, V. 2. 158 ; the date also suits his father's Hfetime. Other
information will be found for tlie most part in Silv. v. 3,
and iii. 5.
INTRODUCTION
went to Rome, where he hved till the year Qi, writing
poetry and declaiming extracts from his Thebaid
before crowded audiences. He was awarded a prize
in the annual poetical contest held by Domitian in
honour of Minerva at his residence near Alba, but to
his great disappointment, when he competed at the
important Capitoline " Agon " in Rome, he met with
failure. In Rome he married his wife Claudia, a
widow with one daughter. The poet himself was
childless, and adopted a slave-boy born in his own
house, whose early death he mourns with real sorrow
in his last, unfinished poem. About 9^ he returned
in broken health to Naples, where he died, probably
in 95 or 96.
Although one may take Juvenal's word for it that
Statins, in spite of the large crowds his recitations
drew, made no money out of poetry, one need not
assume that he lived in poverty and was forced to
write libretti for the stage in order to make a living ; *
there is nothing in his own wi'itings that implies it,
while from the mention of his father's estate at Alba
one would gather that he was ^t least moderately
well off. The poet, at any rate, seems to have lived on
terms of familiarity with the wealthy Pollius Felix
and others, and his wife was the personal friend of
Priscilla, whose husband Abascantus was secretary
of state. It seems doubtful whether he formed part
of any circle or group of poets ; his patrons were those
of Martial, Atedius Melior, for instance, and Pollius
Felix, but neither writer ever mentions the other,
whence some have thought that there was a coolness
between the two. This is not unlikely, for from what
we know of the two men we should conclude that they
" See Juv. vii. 82 sqq.
INTRODUCTION
were extremely uncongenial to each other. Juvenal
indeed, is the only Latin writer before Sidonius
Apollinaris who does mention Statius, though his
influence upon later poets was strong.
His relations with the Court were those of the
humble aspirant to Imperial favour ; his poems upon
the colossal equestrian statue of Domitian, the
Emperor's 17th Consulship, the tresses of his favourite
Earinus, and the banquet to which the Emperor
invited him, are all marked by the flattery that the
subservience of the times was eager to bestow ;
Domitian affected to be a patron of letters, even a
poet himself : it was one of the stock compliments of
the time to wonder whether he were more brilliant
a poet or a commander.'* Statius frequently men-
tions his campaigns, and follows the convention of
pretending to be planning a great work on the
Emperor's wars, to which the actual epics are only
preliminary.^
Statius flourished in tlie middle of the Silver Age
of Latin literature, coming after Seneca and Lucan
(though born about the same time as the latter),
before Juvenal, Tacitus, and the younger Pliny, and
contemporary with Martial, Valerius Flaccus, and
Quintilian. The later part of his life was thus spent
under the Flavian dynasty, which in spite of its faults
did really encourage letters. He also lived at a time
when the practice of recitation had become a popular
rage ; his pleasant voice, '^ his poetry, with its subtle
« See Achilleid, i. 15. " See Thebald, i. 32, Ach. i. 19.
'^ vocem iucundam, Juv. vii. 82 : for the dulcedo which
Juvenal also mentions (1. 8i) see on Statius's versification
(below) ; the word was probablj' the origin of Dante's line
(put in Statius's niouth), " Tanto fu dolce mio vocale spirto "
{Purg. xxi. 88).
ix
INTRODUCTION
effects of alliteration and assonance, its brilliant
passages, startling tricks of style and language, its
avoidance of the obvious and occasional touches of
the pathetic and the horrible, all this combined to
tickle the ears and feelings of the popular audiences
of the day." Or again, with an Italian's gift of rapid
improvisation, he would delight a patron by dashing
off a description of his villa in marvellously smooth
hexameters, or obhge him with occasional verse on
any subject, serious or trivial.
The poetry of Statins shows many of the character-
istics of the Silver Age. (i.) The rhetorical influence
is evident, frequency of hyperbole, straining after
epigram and point, superficiality and obedience to
text-book models, (ii.) There is a tendency to realism
which shows itself now in the petty, now in the
horrible, as for instance in many of the battle-scenes
of the Thehaid. (iii.) There is a general diminution of
scale, characteristic perhaps of Silver periods of litera-
ture, when the great subjects are exhausted and
poets descend to more trivial themes ; or, if the
grand themes are still attempted, the treatment is
unequal to them, and lack of proportion is the
inevitable result. The search for new matter takes
the form of describing things that the great poets
would not have thought worth describing, or not
suitable to poetry. The Description, indeed, as such,
the eK(/)/ja<rts, becomes a recogiiized literary form.
(iv.) Another note of the age is the conscious learning
which obtrudes itself into many a passage ; poets
could draw on learned compilations of mythological
matter and general information, on treatises dealing
" See, for a satirical exaggeration of the picture, Persius
i. 13 sqq.
INTRODUCTION
with anything from astronomy to horse-breeding,
while audiences probably relished such compliments
to their culture.
The Sn.rjE "■
These are a collection of occasional poems, many
of which were written hastily to order or just as the
fancy seized the poet ; some, on the other hand, like
the lament for his father (v. 3), are more carefully
constructed. Six of them are Poems of Consolation, **
for the loss of a father, a wife or a favourite slave ;
this was a type of composition of which the Romans
were very fond, in prose as well as in poetry. They
cannot be said to be the most successful examples of
Statius's verse ; to our taste, at any rate, they appear
artificial and exaggerated in tone, and lacking in real
sentiment," also for the most part much too long.
It should be said, however, that he was following
the rules laid downi for that type of poem by the
schools of rhetoric and obeyed by the poets. This
applies also to other literary forms, for example, the
" The word means literally " pieces of raw material," from
sllva= Gk. iiX-q, i.e. pieces ready to be worked up into shape,
or impromptu pieces; cf. Quint, x. 3. 17 " diversum est
eorum vitium, qui primum decurrere per materiam stilo quam
velocissimo volunt, et sequentes calorem atque impetum
ex tempore scribunt ; hanc silvam vocant." " Their fault
is different, who wish to run over their material first with as
rapid a pen as possible, and write impromptu, following the
inspiration of the moment : such work they call silva.'' Cf.
also Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att. Pref. 6.
*" Epicedion, or 'ETri/cijSeioi', from ktjSos, mourning, funeral
lamentation.
" l',\cej)tions are v. 3, v. 5 and the passage at the end of
ii. 1 (i>U8-end).
INTRODUCTION
Epithalamion (i. 2), a much more pleasing composi-
tion, the Propempticon, or Farewell-piece (iii. 2), the
Description ("EK(jbpao-ts, i. 3, i. 5, ii. 2, iv. 6), the
Genethliacon (ii. 7), a name more commonly given to
a poem wTitten for the birthday of a living person,
while here the occasion is the anniversary of the
birthday of the poet Lucan, who has been dead some
years.
More attractive again are such pieces as that on
Atedius Melior's Tree (ii. 3), where Statius's hghtness
of touch and fancy appears at its best, or the account
of the entertainment given to the people by the
Emperor on the Kalends of December (i. 6). The
two imitations of Horatian lyric (iv. 5 and 7) are feeble,
but the hendecasyllables of iv. 9 are spirited, and
in the Lucan ode Statins succeeds in rising above
the conventional, and there is real feehng in Calliope's
lament for her favourite poet. The piece which he
addresses to his wife Claudia is also marked by
sincerity, and so are the two poems on the deaths of
members of his own family, his father (v. 3) and his
adopted son (v. 5) ; this latter poem is left unfinished,
but it seems to have been planned with the same
elaboration that we find in the case of the former.
Best known of all the Silvae, probably, is the httle
sonnet-like poem addressed to the god Sleep (v. 4).
Statius's chief merit in this class of poetry consists
perhaps, in his descriptive power, and to it we owe
much of our knowledge of Roman society in the
Flavian era. The scenes are varied, and include a
state banquet given by the Emperor (iv. 2), a fashion-
able wedding (i. 2), country-seats of patrons of Utera-
ture (i.3,ii.2), funeral scenes (ii. l,ii. 6, etc.), the new
road along the coast of Campania recently opened
INTRODUCTION
(iv. 3), an entertainment in the Amphitheatre (i. 6),
Among the personages introduced are the poet's own
friend and patron Polhus Fehx, wealthy and cultured,
the literary Epicurean Manlius Vopiscus, the soldier
Rutilius Gallicus, of noble birth and distinguished
career, the young Maecius Celer, just off to the
Syrian front, the art-collector Novius Vindex, the
freedman Claudius Etruscus, who had risen from
slavery to the position of secretary of finance to the
Emperor Nero, one of the three great secretaryships
of the early Empire.
By far the greater number of these pieces are
written in hexameters, a metre first applied by
Statius, so far as we know, to the composition of
genre poems of this kind, and employed with
marvellous facility and ease ; the lines run smoothly,
though without the extreme elaboration that we
sometimes find in the Thebaid, and without great
attention to variation of pause, or subtlety of allitera-
tive effect. He displays wonderful skill in expres-
sion and choice of phrase ; when describing, for
instance, the water flowing in its silver channels in
the Baths of Claudius Etruscus, he says (i. 5 . 48) :
argento felix propellitur unda
argentoque cadit, labrisque nitentibus instat
delicias mirata suas et abire recusat.
and, of the stream outside :
extra autem niveo qui margine caerulus amnis
vivit.
In his address to his wife, again, speaking of the
peacefulness of Naples, he says (iii. 5. 87) :
nulla foro rabies aut strictae in iurgia leges,
morum iura viris solum et sine fascibus aequum.
INTRODUCTION
As a poet who depicts the society of his time, Statius
compares very favourably with Martial in avoiding
the coarseness that was so prominent a feature of it,
and his poetry reflects the sensitiveness of his
character.
The Thebaid and Aciiillfjd
To be the author of a great epic poem is to count
as one of the few great poets of the world, and it need
hardly be said that Statius can make no claim to that
honour. He stands with Apollonius, Lucan, and
Valerius Flaccus in the second rank. Yet the Thebaid
received high praise from the elder Scaliger and the
post-Renaissance critics, and the tendency to-day is,
if anything, to underrate its merits. It is, indeed,
somewhat lacking in unity of theme, yet it must be
remembered that much depends on the story chosen,
and that of the Seven against Thebes is a difficult one
to handle owing to the double interest : the Argive
and the Theban strands are hard to combine satis-
factorily ; in fact, the unity of the plot is a duality,
i.e. the conflicting fortunes of the two brothers, and
the real interest consists in the gradual approach and
closer interweaving of the two " subjects," until, as
in the stretto of a fugue, the climax is reached in the
great duel of Bk. XI. Here, it is true, Statius might
have stopped, with the Aeneid as his model, but the
Theban legend is fruitful in incident, and it might be
justly urged that the burial of the Argives, with the
appeal of Theseus that it involves, together with the
striking episode of the " strife of flames upon the
funeral pyre " of the two rivals, formed a real part of
the story ; it must be admitted, however, that the
INTRODUCTION
Thebaid does not end satisfactorily : that Statins was
worried over it we may gather from a hint in the
Silvae (iii. 2. US). H. W. Garrod has defended the
Thebaid as an " episodic " epic, and that is probably
its most conspicuous feature ; at the same time,
though Statius had every right to make his poem
episodic if he wished, it would be wrong to overlook
the unity that it does possess, even if it is less obvious
than in a story like the Argonautica, for example, or
the Aeneid.
The same critic has spoken of the poet's " tender-
ness, mysticism, and piety^ — in short, his Christian-
ity " ; it is true that the tenderness at times becomes
sentimentality, at times a morbid emphasizing of the
horrible, yet, generally speaking, Statius responds
sympathetically to the tender emotions : Argia as
wife and daughter, Hypsipyle in the anguish caused
by the loss of the babe Opheltes, Antigone as sister,
are faithfully drawn, and the relations of mother and
son seem to have had a particular attraction for
Statius, e.g. Atalanta and Parthenopaeus, Ismenis
and Crenaeus in the Thebaid (notice, too, how many
times he refers to Ino and Palaemon), Thetis and
Achilles in the AchiUeid.'^
With regard to the gods, Jupiter and Nature are
both referred to by Statius as supreme, quite apart
from Fate or Destiny ; ^ he does not actually
identify them, but we may see here a tendency to
" In Virgil, as Warde Fowler has pointed out, the father-
son relation is more prominent. Statius loves to describe
children ; cf. the Opheltes episode, and the three epicedia
(Silv. ii. 1, ii. 6, v. 5), and such touches as " qui pueris sopor "
(Ach. i. 229).
* There is also the mysterious triplkis mundi summum of
iv. 516, for whom see note ad loc.
XV
INTRODUCTION
syncretism, or the regarding of different deities as so
many manifestations of one ultimate Power, charac-
teristic of the time." This probably originated A\ith
Stoicism, and Stoicism had become the religion of
educated Romans, so far as they had one. " Dieu,
c'est-a-dire Jupiter, et la Nature ne sont qu'un. Et
cette raison divine, cette loi universelle, c'est le Fatum
qui ne fait aussi qu'un avec la Nature et avec Dieu "
(Legras, La Thebai'de.p.l60). Another apparent incon-
sistency has been laid to the poet's account, in making
Jupiter first announce his decision to embroil Argos
and Thebes, and then attempt to deter the Argives
on their march by hostile omens ; in this, however,
he is doing no more than ancient wTitei's commonly
do in accepting both divine warning by omen and
divine irrevocable will without attempting to reconcile
them. That Statius was not unaware of the difficulty
can be gathered from his discussions of divination
and of omens (iii. 551, vi. QS^).
The divine personages who make up the super-
natural machinery of the Thehaid are treated in the
familiar, realistic manner of traditional epic ; certain
personifications take their place among them, such as
Sleep, Virtue, Piety ; the latter, in her well-meant
effort to stop the duel of the brothers, is treated very
unceremoniously by Tisiphone, and hustled off the
battle-ground whence she flees complaining to the
Thunderer (xi. t57 sq). Yet oc '''^- ^ly the poet
strikes a higher note ; one of iie best known
passages of the Thehaid is the description of the altar
and grove of Clementia at Athens, in which the poet
gives beautiful expression to the old Athenian ideal
" Cf. also i. 696 sq. where Apollo is identified with
Mithras, Osiris, etc.
INTRODUCTION
of humanity, lines that breatlie the spirit of a purer
rehgion than any known to the ancient world, and
may well have given rise to Dante's belief that
Statius was a Christian.
We may now consider briefly some further char-
acteristics of the Thehaid. (I,) Statius revels in de-
scription : in the first book we have the storm that
Polynices encounters on his way to Argos, in Bk. II.
the exciting narrative of the ambush set for Tydeus
on his return from Thebes, in Bk. III. the auspice-
taking, in Bk. IV. the necromancy. The games in
Bk. \T. are well done, Statius, no doubt, owing
several details to his own close observation in the
Roman Circus, as, for example, in the boxing and
WTCstling matches and the discus-throwing. In Bks.
VII. and X. we have two set pieces, the abode of
Mars and of Sleep respectively. Battle-pieces since
Homer have, as a rule, been failures, in painting as
well as in poetry ; those of the Silver Latin poets
suggest the large canvases of third-rate Italian
painters, depicting, for example, the capture of
Constantinople by the Latins for the adornment of a
ducal palace ; the same grim detail, the same hectic
fui-y marks the battle-scenes of Statius. It is in
description that his love of hyperbole becomes most
manifest : the mountain in ii. 32 sq. is so high that
the stars rest upon it, the sei-pent in v. 550 covers
several acres, the Centaur plunging down from
the mountain dams a whole river with his bulk,
iv. 144<, etc.
(II.) Passages of this kind, and also similes, are in
many cases borrowed from previous poets, Virgil,
Ovid, or Lucan. Statius in borrowing often adds
details to fill out the picture, or elaborates the
VOL. I b xvii
INTRODUCTION
language : often, too, he introduces a sentimental
touch, i.e. he either attributes feeling to inanimate
objects, or looks at the scene from the point of view
of some living person : in ix. 90 the sea-resisting
rock " feels no fear," or in the simile of the snake
renewing its skin (iv. 93 sq.) a countrvman is intro-
duced("a! miser agrestum;" etc.) Someof his similes
are worthy of notice, for example, that which com-
pares the calm produced by the majesty of Jove's
utterance to that of lakes and streams under the
tranquil influence of summer (iii. 253), or that of Pluto
coming into his inheritance of the underworld (xi. 44-3).
But we get rather tired of the endless bulls and boars
to which his heroes are compared.
(III.) Of Statius's inequality as a poet it is hardly
necessary to speak ; he suffers from lack of judgement,
rising now to the wildest heights of exaggeration and
bombast, and now sinking to trivial and absurd detail,
as when persons are described kissing each other
through closed visors (" galeis iuvat oscula clausis
inserere," iv. 20), or when Mercurj^'s hat gets wet in
the rainstorms of Thrace (\di. 39)- At the same time
there are lines of great poetic beauty : i. 336-341,
a beautiful description of the rising moon, " her airy
chariot hung with pearly dew " (Pope's transl.), and
of Sleep's mysterious influence ; or the moonbeams
^„«<». glinting on the bronze armour of the ambuscade
(ii. 532), or a picture of sunrise on the fields in winter
(iii. 468-9), or the last breeze dying away on droop-
ing sails (i. 479-481) ; again, in i. 264-5, we seem to
hear the beating of the gongs and the wailing of
votaries by some sacred river of the East, while the
mysterious figure of the Lydian Bacchus, the spirit
of the golden river, appears dimly in " aut Hermi de
xviii
INTRODUCTION
fontibus aureus exis " (iv. 389). There is an effective
touch in the duel of the brotliers, when the ghosts of
Thebans are pei-mitted by Pluto to throng the hills
around and watch the combat ; in the journey of
Argia, too, in Bk. XII. there are some romantic
scenes (xii. 228 sq., 250-54, 267-77).
(IV.) His love of epigram and point has already
been mentioned ; here we may notice that it is
frequently seen at the ends of paragraphs, some-
times producing an effect of overstrain, even of
obscurity. Examples may be found in i. 335, i. 547
(see note), i. 623, iii. 323, 498, v. 485, 533, vi. 795,
X. 570.
(V.) Statins has great skill in versification, which
shows itself not perhaps so much in the ai't of varying
the pauses and the rhythm of his lines, though in this
respect he has learnt more from Virgil than either
Ovid or Lucan, as in his use of assonance and allitera-
tion. The latter especially repays study, both in the
single line, e.g. i. 123, ii. 89, v. 14, v. 615, and in
passages of two or three lines, in which usually one
or two consonant or vowel sounds predominate, with
others as subordinate, e.g. ii. 118-19 (" f "), ii. 538 sq.
(" c," " t," with " f," " V," " h ") or even in longer
passages, e.g. i. 342-54). There is also sometimes
remarkable symmetry in words, see the simile in
iv. 93 sq., where the verb " erigitur " connects two
groups, each consisting of two sub-groups, in each of
which again noun and adjective are arranged in a
chiasmus, and he often brackets his phrase between
noun and adjective or participle, as in ii. 252-3, 718-9.
It was, no doubt, technique of this kind, combined
with the pointed phrases, the appearance of familiar
similes and descriptions in more elaborate form, and
xix
INTRODUCTION .. <-
/
the sprinkling of recondite mythological allusion that
made Statius a popular poet with the audiences of
Flavian Rome.
(VI.) Statius takes great liberties with the Latin
language. There are phrases which it is impossible
to make sense of, if taken grammatically and literally.
Legras is reduced to despair by some, as by v. 115
" vel iustos cuius pulsantia menses vota tument ? "
he says " c'est, si on I'ose dire, un pur charabia" " ;
so too " raptus ab omni sole dies " (v. 364), where
the scholiast is compelled to exclaim " nove dictum ! "
and, perhaps the most untranslatable of all, " viderat
Inachias rapidum glomerare cohortes Bacchus iter "
(\ii. 45). It is impossible, in translating, to do more
than give the general sense ; the poet is here a
pure " impressionist." Postgate has made a similar
comment on the style of Propertius {Select Elegies,
Introduction, p. Ix), " The outhnes of his pictures lack
sharpness and precision, and the colours and even
forms on his canvas tend to blend imperceptibly with
each other. Thus it is the general impression that
fascinates us in his poems, not the proportion and
perfection of the details." Again, speaking of Pro-
pertius' excessive subtlety of construction, he says
" sometimes the sentence must be read as a whole,
as it is almost impossible to give it a detailed con-
struction. . . . Cf. i. 20. 24, where I have compared
the tendency of the Greek tragedians to spread the
meaning through a sentence rather than apportion it
among the words." This verj' well expresses the
character of the Statian phrase, and in this respect
Statius is the successor of Propertius. Both poets
perhaps were led to MTite in this way by an attempt
" i.e. " pure gibberish."
INTRODUCTION
to avoid the hard ghtter of Latin, so suitable to the
clear-cut phrase of Horace or the snap and polish of
Ovid or Martial, and a longing for occasional half-
tones, for lack of precision. Possibly it is due to
Virgilian influence, for part of Virgil's genius consists
in being able to give a soft, mysterious effect without
any sense of unnaturalness. Statius aims at a like
effect, but fails to avoid unnatvn-alness.
(VII.) Psychologically, he is not conspicuous for
remarkable insight ; it may be said, however, in his
defence that the epic does not demand refinement in
character drawing, which is rather the business of the
drama. In the Thebaid, as, indeed, in the Aeneid,
the treatment of character is broad : Amphiaraus the
seer, Eteocles the fierce tyrant, Capaneus the scorner " **
of the gods, Hippomedon the stalwart warrior,
Parthenopaeus the gallant youth, are all true to
type ;<* more carefully drawn are Adrastus and his son-
in-law Polynices ; the former is depicted as an elderly
monarch, grave, kindly, diplomatic, and perhaps some-
what lacking in decision, while the latter is shown
as not altogether easy in mind, even diffident, about
the undertaking, and ready to lapse into utter
despair and to contemplate suicide when things go
badly ; at the same time he is not quite ingenuous
(see iii. 381-2), and on comparing him with his
brother one feels there is not much to choose.
Tydeus is vigorously drawn, especially in the episode
of the embassy ; he becomes the mere warrior in
Bk. X., and his memory is stained by the inhuman
gnawing of his enemy's skull with which the book,
and his career, closes.
" It is not inconsistent with this to point out that Partheno-
paeus is modelled on Virgil's Camilla.
xxi
INTRODUCTION ^ ^'*L«^-
A few touches show some degree of insight : the
people of Crotopus, king of Argos (in Adrastus'
narrative), have just been saved from the awful
pestilence sent on them by Apollo : " stupet Inacha
pubes, magnaque post lacrimas etiamnunc gaudia
pallent " (i. 619)) " the Inachian youth stand appalled
and their joy, though great now sorrow is ended, even
yet is pale and dim." Capaneus is said to be " largus
animae modo suaserit ira " (iii. 603), " lavish of his
life, should wrath but urge him," a development of the
Horatian " animaeque magnae prodigum Paullum."
The Argive leaders who have taken the place of those
slain in the fight are " haud laeti seque hue crevisse
dolentes " (x. 181), " feeling no joy, but grief that
thev are raised so high." Thetis, urging the boy
Achilles to don the girlish clothes, adds " nesciet hoc
Chiron ' {Ach. i. 274), " Chiron will not know of it."
The plot of the Thehaid was probably modelled on
the vast Epic of Antimachus {ji. c. 400 e.g.), which
Cicero calls " magnum illud volumen," and of which
Porphyrio tells us that the author had completed
twenty-four books before the Argive host had been
brought to Thebes. Statius, though he took only
six books in doing it, has been criticized for un-
necessary delay in arriving at Thebes, but he Mas
probablv wise, as twelve books of battle-scenes would
have rendered his work as unreadable as the seven-
teen books of Silius Italicus' Punica.
The following is a summary of the chief events of
the Thehaid : i. 1-45, Invocation of the Emperor.
45-311, Oedipus, who has blinded himself, invokes
Tisiphone and curses his sons : she hears him and
hurries to Thebes ; the brothers, full of mutual hate,
agree to reign alternately ; the lot falls on Eteocles,
INTRODUCTION
and Polynices reluctantly departs. Jupiter an-
nounces his decision to set Argos against Thebes.
312-720, Polynices' journey to Argos and his ex-
periences there, ii. 1-33, Apparition of the shade of
Laius to Eteocles. 134-305, Wedding celebrations of
Polynices and Tydeus at Argos. 306-743, and iii.
1-439, Tydeus goes on embassy to Thebes, the
ambush set for him, his victory and return. 440-721,
Auspice-taking ; war is decided on at Argos. iv.
1-344, Catalogue of the Argive host. 345-645,
Plight of Thebes : neci'omancy. 646-842 and v. 1-16,
Bacchus causes the Argives to be delayed by thirst :
they are saved by Hypsipyle, nurse of Opheltes,
infant son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea. 17-498,
Narrative of Hypsipyle. 499-753, Death of Opheltes.
vi. 1-248, Funeral rites of Opheltes. 249-946,
Funeral games, vii. 1-397, Catalogueofthe Thebans.
398-823, The fighting begins : disappeai-ance of the
augur Amphiaraus. viii. 1-342, Amphiaraus's recep-
tion in the underworld ; his successor is appointed.
342-766, Exploits and Death of Tydeus. ix. 1-569,
Exploits and Death of Hippomedon. 570-907, Fears
of Atalanta for Parthenopaeus : his death, x. 1-261,
Intervention of Juno. 262-448, Night-raid and
devotion of Hopleus and Dymas. 449-826, Devotion
of Menoeceus. 827-936, Death of Capaneus. xi.
1-314, Preparations for the duel between the brothers.
315-761 , The duel. Exile of Oedipus, and end of the
war. xii. 1-463, Funeral rites of the Thebans. De-
votion of Antigone and Ai-gia. 464-809, Intervention
of Theseus, after supplication of Argive woinen at
Athens.
In the concluding lines of the poem Statins exhorts
his Thebaid to follow far behind the divine Aeneicl
INTRODUCTION
and to reverence its footsteps ; " from them we may
gather that he was hnmble enough not to thmk of
himself as a rival of \ irgil, though acknowledging
that poet as the chief inspirer of his work. In fact,
the plan and chief incidents of the Aeneid seem to be
reproduced with an astonishing scrupulousness in the
Thehaid. \'irgil, however, was not the only poet
whom Statius laid under contril)ution ; an analysis
of the Thebaid shows that Ovid and Lucan, and in a
lesser degree Seneca and Valerius Flaccus, have
incidents, or at any rate, details borrowed from them
by our author.* In versification he is, on the whole,
0\idian ; there is no trace of Virgil's gravity, or of
Lucan's heaviness, but the hexameter is predomi-
nantly the smooth, unehded line of Ovid, though the
hephthemimeral pause and caesura, characteristic of
Silver Latin verse, is frequent.
As for the authorities on whom Statius drew for the
actual story of the Seven, we have already referred
to the Thebaid of Antimachus ; its fragments, how-
" nee tu divinam Aeneida tempta,
sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora.
Cf. also references in the Silvae, iv. 4. 53, iv. 7. 25.
'' e.^. Virgil: i. \Q1 sqq.= Aen.'i.'iSSsqq.; x.lsqq.; ii.l33 =
Aen. YU.Sil ;theArgive rush to arms, and Catalogue (Bk. 1 1 1.)
= Aen. vii. 572, etc., the Games. Parthenopaeus= Camilla;
Hopleus and Dvmas= Nisus and Eurvalus, and manv others.
Lucan: iv. 369, etc. = P;;ars. i. 469, 674; iv. i2o=Ph.
iv. 324.
Ovid : v. 505= Met. iii. 32 ; vi. 825, etc.= Met. ix. 33 (c/.
also Luc. PJi. iv. 655).
Seneca : ii. 269, etc.= Medea, 734 etc. ; iv. 443= Oed. 556.
Homer is also largely followed in the funeral rites and
games of Bk. VI., and in the river fight of Bk. IX. (//. xvii.,
xviii., and xxi.). Also some of the episodes of the night raid
(Bk. X. ) are from the JJoloneia.
INTRODUCTION
ever, are so scanty that any estimate of his debt
to it must be purely conjectural, and the same
applies to the Oedipodeia and Thehais of the Epic
Cycle. Of extant authors, Aeschylus and Sophocles
appear to have contributed comparatively little, for,
to take one or two instances, tlie character of
Eteocles is quite diiferent in Aeschylus's-S'gp^ew, and in
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex Jocasta commits suicide and
Oedipus leaves the city immediately after the dis-
covery, while in the Thebaid they are both there all
the time. On the other hand the Phoenissae of
Euripides is closely followed (probably also the
Hypsipiile^) and Seneca's P/ioenissae. For the narra-
tive of Hypsipyle both Statius and Valerius Flaccus
elaborate considerably on the simpler account of
Apollonius of Rhodes.
There is, in fact, little if anything to show that
Statius has done more than work on the traditional
epic material in a manner that seemed to him best
suited to the requirements of his audience ; that he
was successful and enjoyed considerable popularity
as a poet we may gather both from the passage of
Juvenal quoted above and from the closing lines of
the poem itself (xii. 812-15) :
iam certe praesens tibi Fama benignum
stravit iter coepitque novam monstrare futuris.
iam te magnanimus dignatur noscere Caesar,
Itala iam studio discit memoratque iuventus.
" Of a truth already present Fame hath of her bounty
paved thy way, and begun to hold thee up, young as
thou art, to future ages. Already great-hearted
" There are a number of verbal parallels with the
Hypsipyle.
INTRODUCTION
Caesar deigns to know thee, and the youth of Italy
eagerly learns and recounts thy verse."
The fame that Statius so anxiously yearned for
was his throughout the Middle Ages. His epic,
though of the ancient world, seems to herald the new
age : Amphiaraus is almost the warrior bishop,
Chaucer, indeed, calls him " the bisshop Amphiorax " ;
dragons, sorcerers, enchanted woods, maidens waving
to their lovers from high turrets, and other romantic
features fill the pages of his poem, while its actual
influence can be traced in medieval literature." All
readers of Dante remember the meeting of Statius
and \'irgil in Purgatory (Cantos 21, 22), and the
touching lines in which the poet narrates the recogni-
tion of \irgi! by his humble and admiring follower.
Dante's belief that Statius was a Christian was due,
according to Comparetti,^ to the latter's reverence
for Virgil, whom the Middle Ages accepted as a
prophet of Christ on the strength of the Fourth
Eclogue. Mr. P. H. Wicksteed thinks that the
words of xii. 496 " ignotae tantum felicibus arae "
(" the altar is unknown only to the prosperous ")
may have led to an identification with the altar to
the Unknown God, " ignoto Deo," seen at Athens
by St. Paul (Acts xvii. 23).'= See also A. W. Verrall's
" For Amphiorax see Chaucer, Trolhis and Criseyde, ii.
103 ; dragons, i. 600, v. 505, sorcerers, iv. -1'43, x. 600, wood,
iv. 419, maidens, iv. 89, vi. 546, AcJi. ii. 23. Chaucer's
Knight's Tale has borrowed largely from the Thebaid
(through Boccaccio's Teseide), and its influence is seen in
a poem entitled the " Lamentations of Oedipus, King of
Thebes " (Anthology of Mediaeval Latin, S. Gaselee, 1925).
'' Virgil in the Middle Ages, Chapter vii.
" Essay.t in Commemoration of Dante: "Dante and the
Latin Poets," 1921.
INTRODUCTION
ingenious suggestions in " The Altar of Mercy "
(^Collected Literary Essays, 1913). Besides this there
is a conjecture of Prof. Slater : Statius, as we know
from Silv. iv. 4. 5S, Avas in the habit of frequenting
the tomb of Virgil outside Naples ; he suggests that
this fact, together with the well-known tradition of
St. Paul's visit to that spot, may have given rise to
a story of the meeting of the two, and of Statius 's
conversion to Christianity as the result.'*
It is quite possible, however, that Dante origin-
ated the idea for his OAvn purposes ; this was the
opinion of Benvenuto, the commentator on Dante
(quoted by Vernon, Readings on the Purgatorio,
ii. 188), and there seems to be no earlier tradition.
When Dante and Virgil meet Statius, he is in the
Circle of Avarice, where he has been 500 years,
having previously spent 300 in the Ante-Purgatory,
and 400 in the Circle of Sloth. The latter punish-
ment was due, as he explains, to his unreadiness to
declare himself a Christian, the former to his prodi-
gality (by which, apparently, Dante accounts for his
poverty, see Juvenal vii. 82). Statius enlightens
Dante on two matters, first, the natural causes of
winds and earthquakes (C. 21, cf. Theb. vii. 809 sq.),
and second, the nature of the soul when separated
from the body (C. 25). This latter knowledge
depended to some extent on revealed truth, for
which Statius needs to be a Christian. If it be
asked why Statius was chosen, the answer may be
(i.) that he was highly esteemed in the Middle
Ages, (ii.) that his Epic contains similar discussions,
though certainly none so long (auguiy, iii. 482, 551,
" Introduction to translation of Silvae, Oxford, 1908.
xxvii
INTRODUCTION
physiology of horses, vi. 333, omens, vi. 93i, earth-
quakes, vii, 809).
The Achilleid
Owing to tlie poet's ill-health and comparatively
early death no more than 1127 lines of this epic
appear to have ever been ^\Titten. In them Ave have
the \asit of Thetis, anxious for her son at the out-
break of the Trojan War, to Chiron, under whose
charge he is ; she conveys the youthful Achilles to
Scvros, disguises him as a girl and entrusts him to the
care of King Lycomedes ; then come the deception
of Deidaniia, the discovery of Achilles by Ulysses and
Diomede, and his departure for Troy. There the
fragment ends.
The poet's style is simpler and less artificial than
in the Thebaid, and the narrative flows more evenly.
The most successful pai't of it is undoubtedly the
discovery of Achilles, i. 675-920, while the story of
his introduction to and courtship of Deidamia is
also well told.
The mss. of Statius
The " Silvae"
The only ms. that deserves separate notice is the
fifteenth-century MS. at Madrid (hence known as
Matritensis), from which it has been proved that all
other existing mss. are derived (see Klotz, Introduction
to the Silvae, Teubner edition). Besides this ms.,
designated M, there are a certain number of emenda-
tions entered by PoHtian in a copy of the first edition
in the Corsinian library at Rome ; some of these he
INTRODUCTION
expressly describes as taken from an old ms. he has
recently discovered (1494'), which ms. he says is that
which Poggio, the Renaissance scholar, brought into
Italy fronr Gaul. He also says that from this MS. all
other Mss. are derived, but although we can say the
same of M we cannot identify it with Poggio's ms.,
for (i.) Politian states that the line Silv. i. 4. 86a, which
is in M and subsequent mss., was not in Poggio's.
(ii.) Some of the excerpts fi'om the latter differ from
M. (iii.) He would not have called a fifteenth-century
MS. " vetustus." '^ This ms. of Poggio is usually
identified with the one that Poggio says he sent to
Florence in 1416 or 1417, from Constance or St. Gall,
which was probably a copy of a much older one
that he found there. It is quite possible, however,
tliat it was the original that he sent to Florence,
and not a copy, and Politian's description of Poggio's
MS. as " vetustus " would help this identification.
See the Classical Review, Nos. 15-17, 20, 26, 27, 32.*
M : codex Matritensis M 31, dated about 1430.
Ml : first hand, i.e. transcriber of the ms.
M2 : second hand, i.e. first corrector of the ms.
m : later correctors.
Ij : codex I^aurentianus (only of ii. 7), dated
tenth century.
" It should be added that some of Politian's emendations in
the Corsinian copy appear to be of the same date as those
stated by him to be from Poggio's ms., and may therefore
also come from there.
'' Also J. S. Phillimore's Introduction to SUvae (Oxford
Classical Texts). Prof. A. C. Clark would identify Poggio's
MS. with M (Introduction to Asconius, Oxford Classical
Texts, p. xxxi); holding that Politian must have been
mistaken.
xxix
INTRODUCTION
Pol. : emendations of Politian (fifteenth century),
if from Poggio's MS., " from P." is added.
Dom. : Emendations of Domitius Calderinus
(fifteenth century).
5" : later mss.
The " Thehaid " and " Achilleid "
The MSS. of the Thehaid, and in a lesser degree, of
the Achilleid are extremely numerous, the former
epic especially ha\ing been verj- popular in the
Middle Ages. They fall into two well-defined
groups, of which one has only one representative,
the so-called Puteanus, at Paris, wTitten at the end
of the ninth century, and the other consists of a
number of mss. of the tenth and eleventh centui'ies,
the offspring of a ms. now lost, but dating from nearly
a century before Puteanus. These, following the
Teubner and Oxford editions," I have designated P
and oj respectively. When any particular one of the
latter class is quoted, w, of course, signifies the other
members of the group. Later mss. may be ignored.
There are remarkable differences between the two
groups ; the most striking Mill be found at iv. 555,
X. 135, xi. 490, but on frequent occasions the differ-
ence is one that can hardlv be accounted for on
grounds of ordinary textual error.* H. W. Garrod
in his Introduction to the Thehaid and Achilleid
« Bj' A. Klotz (Teubner) and H. W. Garrod (Oxford
Classical Texts).
6 See, for instance. Theh. iii. 36-2, 370, 373, AH, 454, .527,
658, 699.
INTRODUCTION
suggests that the double tradition may be due to a
revised edition made by the poet himself."
On the whole the readings of P are to be preferred,
and they deserve careful consideration even when
they seem most difficult ; but in many cases it is
only judgement that can decide what Statins could or
could not have written. Though the mss. that form
the oj-group hang very much together, D and N have
perhaps more individuality than the others, see
Garrod, Introd. pp. ix, x.
The Achilleid is found in P and in a number of the
oj-group ; also in a ms. denoted E, in the College
Library at Eton.
P : codex Puteanus (Parisinus 8051), end of
ninth century.
Q : codex Parisinus 10317, tenth century.
K : codex Gudianus 54, tenth to eleventh
century.
(These contain both Thehakl and Achilleid).
S : codex Parisinus ISO^O, tenth century.
D : MS. at St. John's Coll. Camb., tenth century.
N : MS. at Cheltenham, tenth to eleventh
century.
B : codex Bambergensis, eleventh century.
C : codex Cassellanus, 164, eleventh century.
L : codex Lipsiensis, i. 12, eleventh century.
(These contain only the Thebaid).
E : codex Etonensis, tenth or eleventh century,
{Achilleid only).
M : consensus of mss. other than P.
" P. viii : he quotes references in the letters to Stella and
Marcellus {Silv. i. and iv.), where two editions seem to be
implied; also T//^6. xii. 812-13 (novam). Klotz dissents,
but without giving any satisfactory reason (p. Ixx).
INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books 1-5 of the Thebaid were translated into
English verse by T. Stephens in \Q\S, the Achilleid
by Sir R. Howard in 1660; Book I. of the Thehaid
by Pope in 1703 ; extracts from Book VI. by Gray in
1736; and all the Thehaid by W. L. Lewis in 1766.
A prose translation of the Silvae by Prof. D. A.
Slater was published by the Oxford Press in 1908.
The only modern edition of the Silvae is that of
Vollmer, Leipzig, 1898. There is no modern edition
of the Thebaid or Achilleid.
For criticism, etc., see chapters in Butler's Post-
Augustan Poetry, Oxford, 1909; Summers' Silver Age
of Latin Literature, Methuen, 1920; B. A. Wise,
The Injluence of Statius on Chaucer, 1911 5 T. S.
Duncan, The Injiuence of Art on Description in the
Poetry of Statius, 1914; J- M. Nisard, Poe<^* latins
de la Decadence, 1849; L. Legras, La Thebaide de
Stace, Paris, 1905.
No Index has been made to the poems of Statius.
The naines that occur in them, and the adjectives
formed from names, are so numerous that no good
purpose would be served by including them all.
The chief characters of the Thebaid and the books
in which they occur will be found in the Summary
of Events (Introduction, pp. xxii, xxiii), while in
the ease of the Silvae the individuals to whom the
different poems are addressed or those whom they
commemorate will be found in the list of Contents
of Vol. I (pp. V. vi).
SILVAE
SILVARUM
LIBER I
Statius Stellae Suo Salutem
Diu multumque dubitavi, Stella, iuvenis optime et
in studiis nostris eniinentissime, qua parte voluisti,
an hos libellos, qui mihi subito calore et quadam
festinandi voluptate fluxerunt, cum singuli de sinu
nieo prodierint/ congregates ipse dimitterem. Quid
enim oportet me huius^ quoque auctoritate editionis
onerari, qui adhuc pro Thebaide mea, quamvis me
reliquerit, timeo ? Sed et Culicem legimus et
Batrachomachiam etiam agnoscimus, nee quisquam
est inlustrium poetarum qui non aliquid operibus
suis stilo remissiore praeluserit. Quid ? Quod haec
serum erat continere, cum ilia vos certe, quorum
honori data sunt, haberetis ? Sed apud ceteros
necesse est multum illis pereat ex venia, cum
amiserint quam solam habuerunt gratiam cele-
^ Lacnna in Mss. after pro : prodierint Pol., prodiissent S~.
* Lacuna in mss. after eniin : oportet me huius Dom.
" One of Virgil's earliest works, probably to be identified
with the extant poem of that name ; see note on Sil'v. ii. 7. 74.
*" Usually known as Batrachomyomachia, or Battle of the
Frogs and Mice, popularly attributed to Homer, a burlesque
of the warlike epic.
SILVAE
BOOK I
Statius to his Friend Stella : Greeting !
Long and seriously have I hesitated, my excellent
Stella — distinguished as you are in your chosen
branch of our common pursuit — about these pieces
of mine, which were produced in the heat of the
moment and by a kind of joyful glow of improvisa-
tion, whether I should collect them, after they have
issued one by one from my bosom, and send them
forth together. For why should I burden myself
with the responsibility for this additional publica-
tion, when I am still apprehensive for my Thehaid,
although it has left my hands ? But we read the
" Gnat,"'* and deign to recognize even the " Battle
of the Frogs " ^ ; nor is there any of the great poets
who has not made prelude to liis works in lighter
vein. Again, was it not too late to keep these
poems back, when others were already in the posses-
sion of those in whose honour they were written
(yourself among them) ? Yet with most people
much of their claim to a lenient judgement must
disappear, since they have lost their impromptu
nature, the only charm that they possessed. For
3
STATIUS
ritatis. Nullum enim ex illis biduo longius tractum,
quaedam et in singulis diebus effusa ; quam timeo,
ne verum istuc versus quoque ipsi de se probent !
Primus libellus sacrosanctum habet testem : sumen-
dum enim erat " a love principium." Centum hos
versus, quos in equum maximum feci, indulgentissimo
imperatori postero die, quam dedicaverat opus,
tradere iussus sum. " Potuisti illud " dicet aliquis
" et ante vidisse." Respondebis illi tu, Stella caris-
sime, qui epithalamion tuum, quod mihi iniunxeras,
scis biduo scriptum. Audacter mehercles, sed ter
centum tamen^ hexametros habet, et fortasse tu pro
collega mentieris. Manilius certe Vopiscus, vir
eruditissimus et qui praecipue vindicat a situ litteras
iam paene fugientes, solet ultro quoque nomine meo
gloriari, villam Tiburtinam suam descriptam a nobis
uno die. Sequitm* libellus Rutilio Gallico convale-
scenti^ dedicatus, de quo nihil dico, ne videar defuncti
testis occasione mentiri. Nam Claudi Etrusci testi-
monium documentum^ est, qui balneolum a me suum
intra moram cenae recepit. In fine sunt Kalendae
Decembres, quibus utique creditur : noctem enim
illam fehcissimam et voluptatibus pubUcis in-
expertam . . . . .^
^ ter centum tamen Elter : tantum tamen M.
^ convalescenti Scriverius and Heinsius : est valent M
{above valent, fee, erased by M2), est valenti Pol.
^ documentum Klotz : domomum M, commodum or
idoneum Phlllimore.
* Seven or eight lines of the page left empty in uss.
SILVAE, I.
none of them took longei- than two days to write,
while some were turned out in a single day. How
I fear lest the poems themselves make that only too
plain !
The first piece can appeal to a witness of inviolable
sanctity: for "from Jove must I needs begin."**
These hundred lines on the Great Horse I was
bidden deliver to our most indulgent Prince the
day after he had dedicated it. " Possibly," some
one will say, " you had seen the statue already."
You will answer him, my dearest Stella, you who
know that the Epithalamium you demanded of me
was wTitten in two days. A bold piece of work, by
Hercules ! but all the same it contains three hundred
hexameters — and perhaps you will tell a fib for a
colleague. Certainly Manilius Vopiscus, a man of
great erudition, who is foremost in rescuing from
decay our almost vanishing literature, often boasts
on my account, and quite spontaneously, that my
sketch of his country-house at Tibur was done in
one day. Then comes a poem dedicated to Rutilius
Gallicus on his recovery from sickness, upon which I
say notliing, lest I seem to be taking advantage of
the death of my witness to exaggerate. For I can
prove my case by the evidence of Claudius Etruscus,
who received his " Bath " from me within the in-
terval of a dinner. Last comes " The Kalends of
December," wliich at all events will find credence :
for a jiight so happily spent and so unprecedented
for public amusements . . .
" A solemn formula with which hymns to the gods often
began, cf. (k Ajos apx^iJ^ecrda (Theocr. /(/. 17. 1), "a love
principium " (Virg. Eel. 3. 60).
STATIUS
1. EQUUS MAXIMUS DOMITIANI IMP.
Quae superimposito moles geminata colosso
Stat Latium complexa forum ? caelone peractum
fluxit opus ? Siculis an conformata caminis
effigies lassum Steropem Brontemque reliquit ?
an te Palladiae talem, Germanice, nobis 5
effinxere manus, qualem modo frena tenentem
Rhenus et attoniti vidit domus ardua Daci ?
Nunc age Fama prior notum per saecula nornen
Dardanii miretur equi, cui vertice sacro
Dindymon et caesis decrevit frondibus Ide : 10
hunc neque discissis cepissent Pergama muris
nee grege permixto pueri innuptaeque puellae
ipse nee Aeneas nee magnus duceret Hector !
adde, quod iDe nocens saevosque amplexus Achivos,
hunc mitis commendat eques : iuvat ora tueri 15
mixta notis belli placidamque gerentia pacem.
nee veris maiora putes : par forma decorque,
par honor, exhaustis Martem non altius armis
Bistonius portat sonipes magnoque superbit
pondere nee tardo^ raptus prope flumina cursu 20
fumat et ingenti propellit Strymona flatu.
1 tardo M : tanto or -us Pol., tantum Phill.
" Two of the Cyclopes who laboured at the forges of
Vulcan.
* i.e., of Pallas Athene, goddess of handicrafts.
" The reference is to Domitian's campaigns against the
Catti, a German tribe from the Taunus, who were threatening
Mainz (a.d. 83-84) ; for this victory he received the title of
" Germanicus " ; also to the defeat of the Dacians in a.d. 89.
" Arduous," because their stronghold was in the mountains
of Transylvania : hence " montem," 1. 80.
<^ i.e., Thracian.
6
SILVAE, I. I. 1-21
I. THE GREAT EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF
THE EMPEROR DOMITIAN
This statue ivas dedicated to Domitian perhaps about
A.D. 91 (i. 36)/ its appearance and position are described ;
it is hailed by Curtius ; the poet declares it to be as immortal
as Rome.
What mighty mass redoubled by the huge form
surmounting it stands gathering to itself the Latian
forum ? Did it glide dov/n, a completed work,
from heaven ? Was the effigy moulded in Sicilian
furnaces, leaving Brontes and Steropes* weary? or
have Palladian hands ^ sculptured thee for us, O Ger-
manicus, in such guise as Rhine of late beheld thee
reining thy steed, and the astounded Dacian's
arduous home '' ?
Come, now, let Fame of old time marvel at the
age-long wonder of the Dardan horse, for whom
Dindymon abased his sacred head and Ida was
shorn of her leafy groves. This horse would Per-
gamum ne'er have held, though wide its walls were
rent, nor could the mingled throng of lads and un-
wedded girls have drawn it, nor Aeneas himself nor
mighty Hector ! That one, besides, was harmful,
and contained fierce Achaeans : this one is com-
mended by his gentle rider. 'Tis a pleasure to
behold that countenance whereon the marks of war
are blended with the guise of tranquil peace. And
think not that truth is here surpassed ; equal beauty
and splendour has he, and equal dignity. Not more
loftily does the Bistonian '^ steed bear Mars when the
fighting is done, exulting in the mighty weight, and
swiftly flies by the river till he is all asteam and with
his strong blowing stirs up the waves of Strymon.
7
ST ATI us
Par operi sedes. hinc obvia limina pandit,
qui fessus bellis adscitae^ munere prolis
primus iter nostris ostendit in aethera divis ;
discit et e vultu, quantum tu mitior armis, 25
qui nee in externos facilis saevire furores
das Cattis Dacisque fidem. te signa ferente
et minor in leges gener et Cato Caesaris iret.^
at laterum passus hinc lulia tecta tuentur,
illinc belligeri sublimis regia Pauli, 30
terga Pater, blandoque videt Concordia vultu.
Ipse autem puro celsum caput aere saeptus
templa superfulges et prospectare videris,
an nova contemptis surgant Palatia flammis
pulchrius, an tacita vigilet face Troicus ignis 35
atque exploratas iam laudet Vesta ministras.
dextra vetat pugnas,^ laevam Tritonia virgo
non gravat et sectae praetendens colla Medusae :
ceu stimulis accendit equum ; nee dulcior usquam
lecta deae sedes nee si, Pater, ipse tenei-es. 40
pectora, quae mundi valeant evolvere curas,
* adscitae M : adsertae 5~.
^ gener et Cato Caesaris iret Scriverius and Housman
{see ManUius, p. Lrvii) : iret gener et Cato castris M.
^ pugnas Pol. : pugnes 3f.
° The statue is opposite the temple of Divus Julius (the
first of the Roman Emperors to be deified), dedicated by
Augustus in 27 b.c, on either side of it are the Basilicas of
Julius Caesar and Aemilius Lepidus respectively, i.e. on the
right and left of one looking down the Forum away from
the Capitol ; behind it is the temple of Jupiter on the
Capitol, and that of Concord.
* Julius Caesar adopted Octavian, his great-nephew, as
his son.
SILVAE, I. I. 22-41
Well suited to the work are its surroundings."
Here facing it he opens wide his portals, who weary
with warfare, by the gift of his adopted son,* first
showed our deities the way to heaven ; and from
thy face he leai-ns thy greater gentleness in arms,
who not even against the foreigner's rage art easily
stern, but with Cattians and with Dacians makest
bond. Under thy leadership both his son-in-law, now
the lesser'' man, and Cato had bowed to Caesar's sway.
Lengthwise thy flanks are guarded, on this hand
by the Julian edifice, on that by the high basilica
of warlike Paullus ; thy back the Sire beholds, and
Concord with tranquil brow.
Thou thyself with lofty head enshrined in the
pure air dost tower resplendent over the temples,
and seemest to look forth to see whether the new
Palace, despising the flames, be rising in greater
beauty, or whether the brand of Trojan fire keep
silent watch, and \^esta now be praising the proved
worth of her ministrants.*^ Thy right hand bids
battles cease ; thy left the Tritonian maiden '" over-
burdens not, and holding out Medusa's sevei'ed head
incites thy steed as with a goad ; never had the
goddess choicer resting-place, not even if thou, O
Father, didst hold her. Thy breast is such as might
avail to solve the riddles of the universe, and thereon
" The point is that the son-in-law was Ponipej' " the
(ireat " (Magnus).
''■ Domitian had recently punished one of the Vestals for
unchastity (Suet. Dom. 8). Domitian, looking slightly to
his right, woukl see the temple of Vesta, and the Palatine
rising above it ; his new buildings there are referred to by
Suetonius {l>om. 5). The sacred fire brought from Troy
was kept concealed in the temple of Vesta, cf. v. 3. 178
" facis opertae." " i.e., Pallas.
9
STATIUS
et quis^ se totis Temese dedit hausta metallis ;
it tergo demissa clilamys ; latus ense qiiieto
securum, magnus quanto mucrone minatur
noctibus hibernis et sidera terret Orion. 45
at sonipes habitus animosque iniitatus equestres
acrius attollit vultus cursumque minatui' ;
cui rigidis stant colla iubis vivusque per armos
impetus et tantis calcaribus ilia late
sufFeetura patent ; vacuae pro caespite terrae 50
aerea captivi erinem tegit ungula Rheni.
hunc et Adrasteus visum extimuisset Arion
et pavet aspiciens Ledaeus ab aede propinqua
Cyllarus. hie domini numquam mutabit habenas
perpetuus frenis atque uni scr\"iet astro ! 55
\ix sola sufficiunt insessaque pondere tanto^
subter anhelat humus ; nee ferro aut aere : laborant
sub genio, teneat quamvis aeterna crepido,
quae superingesti portaret culmina mentis
caeliferique attrita genu durasset Atlantis. 60
Nee longae traxere morae. iuvat ipsa labores
forma dei praesens operique intenta iuventus
miratur plus posse manus. strepit ardua pulsu
machina ; continuus septem per culmina Martis^
it fragor et magnae vincit* vaga murmura Romae.
^ et quis 5' : et qui M, et cui 5~ ; it, cui Phill.
^ tanto r : toto 31.
^ Martis Gronovius : montis M (from 59).
* vincit Heinsius : fingit 3/, frangit conj. Phill.
" A town in Bruttii, on the west coast, famous for copper-
mines ; cf. Odyssey, i. 1 84.
10
SILVAE, I. I. 42-05
Temese" has exhausted tlie wealth of all her mines ; a
cloak hangs from thy shoulders ; the sword sleeps
by thy untroubled side : even so vast a blade does
threatening Orion wield on winter nights and terrify
the stars. But the steed, counterfeiting the proud
mien and high mettle of a horse, tosses his head
in greater spirit and makes as though to move ; the
mane stands stiff upon his neck, his shoulders thrill
with life, and his flanks spread wide enough for
those mighty spurs ; in place of a clod of empty
earth his brazen hoof tramples the hair of captive
Rhine. Seeing him, Adrastus' horse Arion^ would
have been sore afraid, yea Castor's Cyllarus fears
as he looks forth upon him from his neighbouring
temple. Never will this steed suffer another master's
rein ; this curb is his for ever, one star, and one
star only will he serve. Scarce doth the soil hold,
and the ground pants beneath the pressure of
so vast a weight ; and not of iron or bronze :
'tis under thy deity it trembles, ay, even should
an everlasting rock support thee, such as would
bear the peaks of a mountain piled upon it, or
have endured to be pressed by the knee of heaven-
sustaining Atlas.
No lengthy tarrying drew out the time. The
present beauty of the god itself makes labour sweet,
and the workmen intent upon their task marvel at
their greater vigour. Towering cranes creak and
rattle ; continuous runs the roar over the seven
heights of Mars, and drowns the wandering noises
of mighty Rome.
'' The horse of Adrastus, king of Argos, leader of the
Seven against Thebes; see Theb. vi. 301. Neptune was
supposed to have been his father.
11
STATIUS
Ipse loci custos, cuius sacrata vorago 66
famosique lacus nomen memnrabile servant,
innumei'os aeris sonitus et verbere crudo
ut sensit mugire forum, movet horrida sancto
era situ meritaque caput venerabile quercu. 70
ac primum ingentes habitus lucemque coruscam
expavit niaioi-is equi terque ardua mersit
coUa lacu trepidans, laetus mox praeside viso :
" salve, magnorum proles genitorque deorum,
auditum longe numen mihi ! nunc mea felix, 75
nunc veneranda palus, cum te prope nosse tuumque
immortale iubar vicina sede tueri
concessum. semel auctor ego inventorque salutis
Romuleae : tu bella lovis, tu proelia Rheni,
tu civile nefas, tu tardum in foedera montem 80
longo Marte domas. quod si te nostra tulissent
saecula, temptasses me non audente profundo
ire lacu, sed Roma tuas tenuisset habenas."
Cedat equus, Latiae qui contra templa Diones
Caesarei stat sede fori — quem traderis ausus 85
Pellaeo, Lysippe, duci, mox Caesaris ora
rairata cervice tulit — vix lumine fesso
explores, quam longus in hunc despectus ab illo.
" i.e., Curtius who saved Rome by leaping into a chasm
in the Forum ; for his " devotion " see Livy, i. 12, vii. 6.
The place was known as the " lacus Curtius." As one who
had saved the lives of citizens he wears the crown of oak-
leaves, the " corona civica."
* i.e., of the Dacians, as frequenth^
" i.e., in the fighting on the Capitol which took place after
Vespasian's accession.
^ An equestrian statue of Julius Caesar in the Forum
12
SILVAE, I. I. 66-88
The guai-dian" of the spot himself, whose memorable
name the hallowed chasm and famous pools preserve,
hearing the ceaseless clash of bronze and the Forum
echoing with vigorous blows, raises his grisly visage,
venerable even in decay, and his head revered for
the well-deserved oak-wreath. And first, affrighted
at the huge form and flashing glance of a mightier
steed, he thrice in dismay bowed his lofty neck
beneath the lake ; then, joyful at the sight of his
prince : " Hail, offspring and sire of mighty deities,"
he cries, " whose godhead I heard of from afar !
Now is my lake blessed, now is it holy, since it has
been granted me to know thee nigh at hand, and
from my neighbouring seat to watch thy immortal
brightness. Once only was I the author and winner
of salvation for the folk of Romulus : thou dost win
the wars of Jove and the battles of the Rhine,'' thou
dost quell the strife of citizens,'' and in long warfare
constrain the tardy mountain to submit. But if our
age had borne thee, thou wouldest have ventured
to plunge into the lake's depths, though I dared
not ; but Rome would have held back thy rein."
Let that steed '^ give place, whose statue stands in
Caesar's Forum, over against Dione's shrine — thy
daring work, 'tis said, Lysippus, for the Pellaean
chief; thereafter on marvelling back he bore the
effigy of Caesar — scarce could your straining sight
discover how far the downward view from this
monarch to that. Who is so boorish as to deny,
Julium opposite the temple of Venus Genetrix, called "Latia"
here as being the mother of Aeneas, and so of the Roman
race. Both forum and temple were built by Caesar out of
his Gallic spoils. Probably Caesar's head was substituted
for Alexander's ; the practice was common at Rome, cf.
Suet. Caligula, 92.
13
STATIUS
([ids riidis usque adeo, qui non, ut viderit anibos,
tantuni dicat equos quantum distare regentes ? 90
Non hoc inibriferas hienies opus aut lovis ignem
tergeminun:i, Aeolii non agmina carceris horret
annorumve moras : stabit, dum terra polusque,
dum Romana dies, hue et sub nocte silenti,
cum superis terrena placent, tua turba relicto 95
labetur caelo miscebitque oscula iuxta.
ibit in amplexus natus fraterque paterque
et soror : una locum cervix dabit omnibus astris.
Utere perpetuum popuh magnique senatus
munere. Apelleae cuperent te scribere cerae 100
optassetque novo similem te ponere templo
Atticus Elei senior lovis, et tua mitis
ora Tarans, tua sidereas imitantia flammas
lumina contempto mallet Rhodes aspera Phoebo.
certus ames terras et quae tibi templa dicamus, 105
ipse colas ; nee te caeli iuvet aula, tuosque
laetus huic dono videas dare tura nepotes.
11. EPITHALAMION IN STELLAM ET
VIOLENTILLAM
Unde sacro Latii sonuerunt carmine montes ?
» Caesar's statue was probably on a lower pedestal ;
Caesar is as far inferior to Domitian as a ruler as the one
statue is beneath the other !
*" Often for deified members of the Imperial house, cf.
Theb. i. 31.
" i.e., Phidias.
"* The famous Colossus was a statue of the sun-god.
There was a colossal statue of Zeus at Tarentum.
14
SILVAE, I. I. 89—11. 1
when he lias seen both, that ruler differs from ruler
as steed from steed " ?
This statue fears no rainy squalls of winter or
triple fire of Jove, nor the cohorts of Aeolus' prison-
house nor the long hngering years : it will stand while
earth and sky abide, while Rome's sun endures.
Hither also in the silent night, when things of earth
find favour with the gods above, will thy kinsfolk,
leaving heaven, glide down and join with thee in
close embrace. Son and brother, sire and sister
will seek thy welcoming arms : about thy sole neck
Avill cluster all heaven's stars. ^
Enjoy for ever the people's and the mighty Senate's
gift. Fain would the wax of Apelles have portrayed
thee, and the old Athenian'^ would have longed to set
thy likeness in a new temple of Elean Jove ; yea, soft
Tarentum would rather have thy visage, and fiei-ce
Rhodes, scorning her Phoebus,'' thy flame-like glance.
Keep thy aff"ections fixed on earth, and inhabit thyself
the shrines we dedicate to thee ; let not heaven's
high court delight thee, but mayst thou joyously
see thy grandsons offer incense to this our gift.
II. AN EPITHALAMIUM IN HONOUR OF
STELLA AND VIOLENTILLA
A marriage-song in honour of Lucius Arruntius Stella
and his bride Violentilla. Stella was a young noble, a poet
and a friend of Statins ; he was one of the XVviri (see n.
on I. 176), and had held some curule office. The poem con-
tains a long episode relating hoio Venus and one of her
Cupids brouglit about the match ; the usual features of an
Epithalamium {praise of the pair, description of tlie bride,
and of the marriage-festival) are freely treated.
Whence comes this sound of divine melody upon
1.5
STATIUS
cui, Paean, nova plectra moves umeroque comanti
facundum suspendis ebur ? procul ecce canoro
demigrant Helicone deae quatiuntque novena
lampade solemnem thalamis coeuntibus ignem 5
et de Pieriis vocalem fontibus undam.
quas inter vultu petulans Elegea propinquat
celsior adsueto divasque hortatur et ambit
alternum fultm-a^ pedem decimamque videri
se cupit et medias fallit permixta sorores. 10
ipsa manu nuptam genetrix Aeneia duxit
lumina demissam et dulci probitate rubentem,
ipsa toros et sacra parat cinctuque^ Latino
dissimulata deam crinem vultusque genasque
temperat atque nova gestit minor ire marita. 15
Nosco diem causasque sacri : te concinit iste —
pande fores ! — te, Stella, chorus ; tibi Phoebus et
Euhan
et de Maenalia volucer Tegeaticus umbra
serta ferunt. nee blandus Amor nee Gratia cessat
amplexum niveos optatae coniugis artus 20
floribus innumeris et olenti spargere nimbo.
tu modo fronte rosas, viohs modo hlia mixta
excipis et dominae niveis a vultibus obstas.
Ergo dies aderat Parcai'um conditus albo
vellere, quo Stellae \'io]entillaeque professus 25
clamaretur hymen, cedant curaeque metusque,
cessent mendaces obhqui carminis astus,
^ fultura S" : futura M, factura m, furata Sandstroem.
^ cinctuque Barthhts : coetuque M, cestuque Phill.
" The elegiac couplet has the pentameter as its second
line, composed of five instead of six feet : cf. Ovid, Am.
iii. 1.8" et, piito, pes illi (Elegeia) longior alter erat." The
second line, therefore, limps. We may suppose that Stella
had MTitten love-poetrj' in this metre.
16
SILVAE, I. II. 2-27
the Latian hills ? For whom, O Paean, dost thou
ply thy quill anew and hang the eloquent ivory
from thy tress-strewn shoulders ? Lo ! far away
the goddesses troop down fi*om musical Helicon,
and toss on high with ninefold torch the flame that
hallows wedded union and streams of song from
Pierian fountains. Among them pert-faced Elegy
draws nigh, loftier of mien than is her wont, and
implores the goddesses as she goes about, fain to
support her one lame foot,** and desires to make a
tenth Muse and mingles with the Sisters unper-
ceived. The mother of Aeneas * with her own hand
leads forth the bride, downcast of look and the
sweet blush of chastity upon her ; herself she pre-
pares the couch and the sacred rites, and with a
Latin girdle dissembles her deity and tempers the
brilliance of eyes and cheeks and tresses, eager to
yield before the new bride.
Ah, now do I learn what day is this, what hath
caused this solemn rite : 'tis thou, Stella, thou
whom that choir — fling wide the gates ! — is hymning ;
for thee Phoebus and Euhan and the swift Tegean "
from the shades of Maenalus bring garlands. Nor do
winsome Love and Grace grow weary in scattering
countless blossoms and cloudy perfumes o'er thee
as thou boldest close-locked the snow-white limbs
of thy longed-for bride. And now roses, now lilies
mixed with violets dost thou receive upon thy brow,
as thou shieldest the fair face of thy mistress.
This then was the day, laid up in the white wool
of the Fates, whereon the marriage-song of Stella
and Violentilla should be proclaimed and sung.
Let cares and fears give place, and .the clever hints
'' i.e., Venus. " i.e., Bacchus and Mercury.
VOL. I c 17
STATIUS
Fama tace : subiit leges et frena momordit
ille solutus amoi- : consumpta est fabula vulgi
et narrata diu viderunt oscula eives. 30
tu tamen attonitus, quani\ds data eopia tantae
noctis, adhuc optas permissaque numine dextro
vota paves, pone, o duleis, suspiria, vates,
pone : tua est. licet expositum per limen aperto
ire, redire gradu : iam nusquani ianitor aut lex 35
aut pudor. amplexu tandem satiare petito — ■
contigit ! — et duras pariter reniiniscere noctes.
Digna qiiidem merces, et si tibi luno labores
Herculeos, Stygiis et si concurrere nionstris
Fata darent, si Cyaneos raperere per aestus. 40
hanc propter tanti Pisaea lege trementem
currere et Oenomai fremitus audire sequentis.
nee si Dardania pastor temerarius Ida
sedisses, haec dona forent, nee si alma per auras
te potius prensum aveheret^ Tithonia biga. 45
Sed quae causa toros inopinaque gaudia vati
attulit ? hie mecum, dum fervent agmine postes
atriaque et multa pulsantur limina virga,
hie, Erato iocunda, doce. vacat apta movere
colloquia et docti norunt audire penates. 50
Forte, serenati qua stat plaga lactea caeli,
alma Venus thalamo pulsa modo nocte iacebat
amplexu duro Getici resoluta mariti.
^ prensum Parrhasius, aveheret Baehrens : prensa
veheret M.
" The dangerous clashing rocks at the Bosporus.
^ Suitors for the hand of Hippodamia, daughter of
Oenomaus, were challenged by him to a chariot-race, on
condition of forfeiting their lives if they were beaten.
' Aurora was the wife of Tithonus.
"* i.e., Thracian.
18
SILVAE, I. II. 28-53
of lying fables cease, and, Rumour, be thou silent ;
that love that ranged so free now brooks control and
takes the bridle ; we have done with gossip and our
citizens have seen the kisses so long talked of. Yet
thou in bewilderment — although a night so marvel-
lous has been granted thee — still dost pray, and art
affrighted that kindly heaven has given thee thy
wish. Sigh no more, sweet poet, she is thine.
The door lies open, and thou canst come and go
with fearless step : no doorkeeper, no rule of honour
stays thee now. At last take thy fill of the desired
embrace — it is thine to take ! — and remember the
while those nights of misery.
Worthy indeed were thy reward, even though
Juno set thee Herculean toils, and the Fates gave
thee monsters to contend withal, though thou wert
swept through the Cyanean surge." To gain her it
were worth while to run the race in terror of Pisa's
law * and hear the shouts of Oenomaus in hot pursuit.
Nor had such a prize been thine, hadst thou, a bold
shephei'd lad, held thy court on Dardan Ida, nor
though the warm-hearted Dawn ^ had preferred thee,
and snatched thee up and borne thee in her chariot
through the air.
But what was the cause that brought to the poet
the unhoped-for joys of wedlock ? Do thou teach
me, lovely Erato, here by my side, while the halls
and portals are astir with folk, and many a staff beats
upon the threshold. Time permits apt converse, and
the poet's home knows well how to listen.
Once on a time, where the milky region is set in
a tranquil heaven, lay kindly Venus in her bower,
whence night had but lately fled, faint in the rough
embrace of her Getic^ lord. About the posts and
19
STATIUS
fulcra torosque deae tenerum premit agmen Amorum;
signa petunt qua ferre faces, quae pectora figi 55
imperet ; an terris saevire an malit in undis,
an miscere deos an adhuc vexare Tonantem.
ipsi animus nondum nee cordi fixa voluntas,
fessa iacet stratis, ubi quondam conscia culpae
Lemnia depi-enso repserunt vineula lecto. 60
hie puer e turba volucrum, cui plurimus ignis
ore manuque levi numquam frustrata sagitta,
agmine de medio tenera sic dulce profatur
voce — pharetrati pressere silentia fratres.
" Scis ut, mater," ait " nulla mihi dextera segnis 65
militia ; quemcumque hominum divumque dedisti,
uritur. at quondam lacrimis et supplice dextra
et votis precibusque virum concede moveri,
o genetrix : duro nee enim ex adamante creati,
sed tua turba sumus. clarus de gente Latina 70
est iuvenis, quern patriciis maioribus ortum
nobilitas gavisa tulit praesagaque formae
protinus e nostro posuit cognomina caelo.
hunc egomet tota quondam — tibi dulce — pharetra
improbus et densa trepidantem cuspide fixi. 75
quamvis Ausoniis multum gener ille petitus
matribus, edomui victum dominaeque potentis
ferre iugum et longos iussi sperare per annos.
ast illam summa leviter — sic namque iubebas —
lampade parcentes et inerti strinximus arcu. 80
ex illo quantos iuvenis premat anxius ignes,
testis ego attonitus, quantum me nocte dieque
" i.e., made by Hephaestus, whose forges were in the
island of Lemnos. For the story see Odyssey, viii. 266.
20
SILVAE, I. II. 54-82
pillows of hei* couch swarm a troop of tender Loves,
begging her make sign where she bids them bear
her torches, what hearts they shall transfix : whether
to wreak their cruelty on land or sea, to set gods at
variance or yet once more to vex the Thunderer.
Herself she has yet no purpose, no certain will or
pleasure. Weary she hes upon her cushions, where
once the Lemnian chains " crept over the bed and
held it fast, leai'iiing its guilty secret. Then a boy
of that winged crowd, whose mouth was fieriest and
Avhose deft hand ne'er sent his arrow amiss, from
the midst of the troop thus called to her in liis sweet
boyish voice — his quivered brethren held their peace.
" Mother," says he, " thou knowest how no war-
fare finds my right hand idle ; whomsoe'er of gods
or men thou dost assign me, he feels the smart. Yet
once, O Mother, suffer us to be moved by the tears
and suppliant hands, by the vows and prayers of
men ; for not of steely adamant are we born, but are
all thy offspring. There is a youth of famous Latin
family, whom nobility rejoicing brought forth of old
patrician stock, and in prescience of his beauty named
straightway from our sky. Him ere now have I
plied relentlessly — such was thy pleasure — with all
my quiver's armoury, and pierced him to his dismay
with a thick hail of darts ; and for all he is much
sought by Ausonian matrons as a son-in-law, I have
quelled and mastered him, and bidden him bear a
noble lady's yoke and spend long years in hoping.
But her we spared — such was thy command — and did
but lightly graze with the flame's tip and loose-
strung bow. Since then I can bear marvelling
witness what fires the heart-sick youth is smothering,
what strong urgency of mine he suffei-s night and day.
21
ST ATI us
urgentem ferat. haud ulli vehementior umquam
incubui, genetrix, iterataque vulnera fodi.
vidi ego et immiti cupidum decurrere campo 85
Hippomenen, nee sic nieta pallebat in ipsa ;
\idi et Abydeni iuvenis certantia reniis
bracchia laudavique manus et saepe natanti
praeluxi : minor ille calor, quo saeva tepebant
aequora : tu veteres, iuvenis, transgressus amores.
ipse ego te tantos stupui durasse per aestus 91
firmavique animos blandisque madentia plumis
lumina detersi. quotiens mihi questus Apollo,
sic vatem maerere suum ! iam, mater, amatos
indulge thalamos. noster comes ille piusque 95
signifer ; armiferos poterat memorare labores
claraque facta \'irum et torrentes sanguine campos,
sed tibi plectra dedit mitisque incedere vates
maluit et nostra laurum subtexere myrto.
hie iuvenum lapsus suaque aut externa revoUit 100
vulnera ; pro ! quanta est Paphii reverentia, mater,
numinis : hie nostrae deflevit fata columbae."
Finierat^ ; tenera matris cervice pependit
blandus et admotis tepefecit pectora pennis.
ilia refert vultu non aspernata rogari : 105
" grande quidem rarumque \iris, quos ipsa probavi,
Pierius votum iuvenis cupit. hanc ego formae
egregium mirata decus, cui gloria patrum
et generis certabat honos, tellure cadentem
excepi fo\ique sinu nee colla genasque 110
^ finierat S" : emis erat M, finis erat Pol.
" The successful suitor to the hand of Atalanta, whom he
defeated in a race. * i.e., Leander.
' Stella, we maj' gather, had written a poem on the
death of a dove (a bird sacred to Venus) ; the parallel of
29
SILVAE, I. II. 83-110
None ever, mother, have I so fiercely pressed,
thrustmg home oft -repeated wounds. And yet I
saw eager Hippomenes'' run the cruel coui'se, but
even at the very goal he was not so pale ; and I saw,
too, the youth of Abydos,^ whose arms did vie with
oars, and praised his skill and often shone before him
as he swam : yet less was that heat wherewith the
savage sea grew warm ; thou, O youth, hast sur-
passed those loves of old. I myself, amazed that
thou couldest endure such gusts of passion, have
strengthened thy resolve and wiped thy streaming
eyes -with soothing plumes. How oft has Apollo com-
plained to me of his poet's grief ! Grant him at
last, O Mother, the bride of his desire. Our comrade
is he, and loyally bears our standard ; he could tell of
armed prowess and heroes' famous deeds and fields
flowing with blood, but his quill is dedicate to thee
and he prefers to walk in gentle poethood and twine
our myrtle with bay. The follies of lovers are his
theme, and his own or others' wounds ; O Mother,
what reverence hath he for thy Paphian godhead !
'twas he that bewailed the death of our poor dove." ^
He made an end, and from his mother's soft neck
hung persuasive, making her bosom warm with his
covering wings. With a look that scorned not his
petition she replied : "A large request and rarely
granted e'en to lovers that I myself have proved,
this of Pieria's young votary ! Marvelling at this
maiden's peerless beauty, that rivalled the glory of
her sires and her family's renown, I took her to me
at her birth and cherished her in my bosom : nor,
child, has my hand grown weary of giving comeliness
Lesbia's sparrow (Catullus 2, 3), suggests that the dove was
Violentilla's.
23
STATIUS
comere nee pingui crinem deducere amonio
cessavit mea, nate, nianus. mihi dulcis imago
prosiluit. celsae procul aspice frontis honores
suggestumque eomae. Latias metire quid ultra
emineat matres : quantum Latonia nymplias 115
virgo premit quantumque egomet Nereidas exsto.
haec et caeruleis meeum consurgere digna
fluctibus et nostra potuit considere coneha ;
et si flammigeras potuisset scandere sedes
hasque intrai-e domos, ipsi erraretis, Amores. 120
huic quamvis census dederim largita beatos,
vincit opes animo. querimur iam Seras avaros
angustum spoliare nemus Clymenaeaque deesse
germina nee virides satis inlacrimare sorores,
vellera Sidonio iam pauca rubeseere tabo 125
raraque longaevis nivibus crystalla gelari.
huic Hermum fulvoque Tagum decurrere limo,
- — nee satis ad cultus — huie Inda monilia Glaucum
Proteaque atque omnem Nereida quaerere iussi.
banc si Thessalicos vidisses, Phoebe, per agros 130
erraret secura Daphne, si in^ htore Naxi
Theseum iuxta foret haec conspecta cubile,
Gnosida desertam profugus hquisset et Euhan.
quod nisi me longis placasset luno querehs,
falsus huic pennas et cornua sumeret aethrae 135
rector, in banc vero^ cecidisset luppiter auro.
^ Daphne, si in Baehrens : dafnes in M, Daphne, sin
Phill.
* vero M : verso Herzog, alio, fulvo, pluvio Markland,
iteruni Burmann. "^
" " Seres " : here the reference is to cotton, as " nemus "
shows, cf, Pliny's mention of " lanigerae arbores Serum,"
N.II. xii. 10. " Clymenaeaque germina ": amber, because the
Heliades who wept tears of amber for Phaethon their brother
were daughters of Hehos (the Sun) and Clymene. " virides
24
SILVAE, I. II. 111-136
to face and form and smoothing with rich bahii her
tresses. She has grown up my own sweet image.
Behold even from here the lofty beauty of her brow
and high-piled hair. Reckon how far she doth
tower above the matrons of Rome : even so far
as the Latonian maid out-tops the nymphs, or I
myself stand out above the Nereids. This girl is
worthy to rise with me from out the dark-blue waves ;
she could sit with me upon my chariot-shell. Nay,
could she have climbed to the flaming mansions and
entered this abode, even you, ye Loves, would be
deceived. Although in my bounty I have given her
the boon of wealth, her mind is a yet richer dower.
Ah-eady I complain that the avaricious Seres are
stripping their diminished groves, that Clymene's
fruit is failing, that the green Sisters weep not tears
enough ; that already too few fleeces are blushing
with Sidonian dye, and too rarely freeze the crystals
of the immemorial snows." For her Tagus and
Hermus at my bidding run down their yellow sand —
nor yet do they suffice for her arraying ; for her
Glaucus and Proteus and every Nereid go in search
of Indian necklaces. If thou, Phoebus, hadst seen
her on the fields of Thessaly, Daphne had wandered
unafraid. If on Naxos' shore she had been spied
by Theseus' couch, Euhan, too, would have fled
from the Cretan maid and left her desolate. Nay,
had not Juno appeased me by her endless plaint,
heaven's lord would for this maid have taken the
disguise of horns or feathers, on her lap had Jove
descended in true gold. But the youth whom thou
sorores " : because they were turned into poplars, "cry-
stalla " : crystals were thought to be formed from ice, c/,
Propertius, iv. 3. 52 " crystallus aquosa."
25
ST ATI us
sed dabitur iuveni, cui tu, mea summa potestas,
nate, cupis, thalanii quamvis iuga ferre secundi
saepe neget niaerens. ipsam iani cedere sensi
inque viceni tepuisse viro."
Sic fata levavit 140
sidereos artus thalamique egressa superbum
limen Amyclaeos ad frena citavit olores.
iungit Amor laetanique vehens per nubila niatrem
gemmato temone sedet. iam Thybridis arces
Iliacae : pandit nitidos donius alta penates 145
claraque gaudentes plauserunt liniina cygni.
digna deae sedes, nitidis nee sordet ab astris.
hie Libycus Phrvgiusque silex, hie dura Laeonum
saxa virent. hie flexus onyx et concolor alto
vena mari rupesque nitent, quis purpura saepe 150
Oebalis et Tyrii moderator livet aeni.
pendent innumeris fastigia nixa columnis,
robora Dalmatieo lucent satiata metallo.
excludunt radios silvis demissa vetustis
frigora, perspicui vivunt in marmore fontes. 155
nee servat natura vices : hie Sirius alget,
bruma tepet versumque domus sibi temperat annum.
Exsultat visu tectisque potentis alumnae
non secus alma Venus, quam si Paphon aequore ab
alto
" Other descriptions of marble will be found in Silvae,
i. 5. 34, ii. 2. 85, iv. 2. 26. In each passage Libyan and
Phrygian are mentioned, probably a kind of giaJlo
antko and pavonazzetto respectively. Marble of Carystos
also, if " concolor alto vena mari " and " glaucae
certantia Doridi saxa " are to be so explained. This is
perhaps cipollino verde ondato. The green Laconian
(here, i. 5. 40 and ii. 2. 90) is verde antiro. " Flexus onj-x "
is either " onyx alabastrites " or perhaps a kind of agate.
11. 150-1 refer tn porphyry ; other marbles mentioned by
26
SILVAE, I. II. 137-159
favoiirest, my son, my chiefest power, shall have his
will, though many a time she refuse with tears to
bear the yoke of a second wedlock. She herself, I
have noticed, is already yielding, and in her turn
grows warm toward her lover." With these words
she raised her starry limbs, and passing the proud
threshold of her chamber called to the rein her
Amyclaean doves. Love harnesses them, and seated
on the jewelled car bears his mother rejoicing
through the clouds. Soon appears the Ilian citadel
of Tiber : a lofty mansion spreads wide its shining
halls, and the swans exulting beat their wings on its
bright portals. Worthy of the goddess was that
abode, nor mean after the radiant stars. Here is
marl)le of Libya and Phrygia, and the hard green
Laconian rock ^ ; here the winding pattern of the
onyx, and the vein that matches the deep sea's hue,
and the brilliant stone that is envied by Oebalian ''
purple and the mixer of the Tyrian cauldron. The
ceilings rest poised on columns innumei-able ; the
beams glitter in lavish decking of Dalmatian ore.'^
Coolness down-streaming from ancestral trees shuts
out the rays of the sun, translucent fountains play
in basins of marble ; nor does Nature keep her
wonted order : here Siriiis is cool, midAvinter warm,
and the house sways the altered seasons to its
pleasure.
Kindly Venus rejoiced to see the house of her
queenly fosterling, no less than if from the deep
sea she were drawing nigh to Paphos or her Idalian
Statius are those of Thasos, Chios, and Syene, and the
stone called ophites (= serpentine).
'' i.e.. Spartan, Laconian, cf. " purpuras Laconicas," Hor.
C. ii. 18. 7.
" i.e., gold, mined there since Augustus ; cf. iii. 3. 90.
27
STATIUS
Idaliasque domos Eiycinaque templa subiret. 160
tunc ipsam solo reclinem adfata cubili :
" Quonam hie usque sopor vacuique modestia lecti,
o mihi Laurentes inter dileeta puellas ?
quis morum fideique modus ? numquamne virili
summittere iugo ? veniet iam tristior aetas. 165
exerce formam et fugientibus utere donis.
non ideo tibi tale decus vultusque superbos
meque dedi, viduos ut transmittare per annos
ceu non cara mihi. satis o nimiumque priores
despexisse procos. etenim hie tibi sanguine toto
deditus unam omnes inter miratur amatque 171
nee formae nee stirpis egens. nam docta per urbem
carmina qui iuvenes, quae non didicere puellae ?
hunc et bissenos — sic indulgentia pergat
praesidis Ausonii — cernes attollere fasces 175
ante diem ; certe iam nunc Cybeleia movit
limina et Euboicae carmen legit ille Sibyllae.
iamque parens Latins, cuius praenoscere mentem
fas mihi, purpureos habitus iuvenique curule
indulgebit ebur Dacasque — haec^ gloria maior —
exu\ias laurosque dabit celebrare recentes. 181
ergo age, iunge toros atque otia deme iuventae.
quas ego non gentes, quae non face corda iugavi^ ?
alituum pecudumque mihi durique ferarum
^ haec Otto : et M.
* iugavi Dom. : iugali M. Some edd. support Mss. here,
and explain by ellipse.
° From Laurentum on the coast of Latium ; here =
Italian.
'' i.e., the Emperor ; so " the Latian Father," 1. 178.
* i.e., he has been made one of the XVviri, under whose
28
SILVAE, I. 11. 160-184
home or her shrine at Eryx. Then she addressed
the maiden, as she reehned alone upon her couch :
" How long this slothfulness, this modest, unshared
bed, O well -beloved of me among Laurentian "
gix'ls ? What limit wilt thou set to chastity and
thy sworn vow ? Wilt thou never submit to a
husband's yoke ? Soon sadder years will come.
Employ thy beauty and use the gifts that are quick
to fly. Not for that end did I give thee such charm
and pride of countenance and my own spirit, to see
thee pass year after year of loneliness, as though
thou wert not dear to me. Enough, ay and too
much to have despised thy former suitors. For
truly this one with his whole manhood's reverent
devotion loves thee alone among all others, nor
lacks he beauty or noble birth ; and, for his poetry,
what youths, what maidens all the city through have
not his songs by heart ? Him also shalt thou see
— so far may the Ausonian prince* prove gracious !
— raise high the twelvefold rods before the due age ;
of a truth already has he opened Cybele's gates
and read the Euboean Sibyl's song.*^ Soon will the
Latian Father, whose purpose I may foreknow,
bestow upon the youth the purple raiment and the
curule ivory,'' and will permit him to celebrate (a
greater glory this) the spoils of Dacia and the laurels
newly won. Come, marry then and have done with
youth's tarrying. What races, what hearts has my
torch failed to subdue ? Birds, cattle, savage herds
charg'e were all foreign worships as well as the Sibylline
books.
"* It is not certain to what curule office tliis refers, or in
what capacity Stella " celebrated the Dacian victory,"
i.e., the games that accompanied Domitian's triumph at the
end of 89.
29
STATIUS
non renuere greges, ipsum in conubia terrae 185
aethera, cum pluviis rarescunt nubila, solvo.
sic rerum series mundique revertitur aetas.
unde novum Troiae decus ardentumque deorum
raptorem, Phrygio si non ego iuncta marito,
Lydius unde meos iterasset Thybris lulos ? 190
quis septemgeminae posuisset moenia Romae
imperii Latiale caput, nisi Dardana furto
cepisset Martem, nee me prohibente, sacerdos ? "
His mulcet dictis tacitaeque^ inspirat honorem^
conubii. redeunt animo iam dona precesque 195
et lacrimae vigilesque viri prope limina questus,
Asteris et vatis totam cantata per urbem,
Asteris ante dapes, nocte Asteris, Asteris ortu,
quantum non clamatus Hylas. iamque aspera coepit
flectere corda libens et iam sibi dura videri. 200
Macte toris, Latios inter placidissime vates,
quod durum permensus iter coeptique labores^
prendisti portus. nitidae^ sic transfuga Pisae
amnis in externos longe flammatus amores
flumina demerso trahit intemerata canali. 205
donee Sicanios tandem prolatus anhelo
1 tacitaeque VoUmer : tacitoque J/.
^ honorem il : amorem 5".
^ labores Macnaghtfn : laboris M.
^ nitidae 5" : nitiade il/: viduaeP/n7//7«ore: tumidae Dow.
" Cf. Lucretius, i. 1 sqq.^ Perviyillum Veneris, i. 7 sqq.
* Pihea Silvia, or Ilia, mother of Romulus and Remus.
" Dardana " : because descended from Aeneas. " sacerdos " :
because she was a Vestal Virgin.
" Stella= Gk. 'XaT-qp (Aster), therefore he calls his lady
Asteris.
30
SILVAE, I. II. 185-206
of beasts, none have said me nay : " the very air,
when rain-showers empty the clouds, do I melt
into union with the earth. Thus life succeeds to
life, and the world's age is renewed. Whence
could have come Troy's later glory and the rescuer
of the burning gods, had I not been joined to a
Phrygian spouse ? how could Lydian Tiber have
renewed the stock of my own luli ? Who could
have founded the walls of sevenfold Rome, the head
of Latium's empire, had not a Dardan priestess ^
suffered the secret embrace of Mars, which I forbade
not ? "
By such winning words she inspires the silent girl
with the pride of wedlock ; her suitor's gifts and
prayers are remembered, his tears and wakeful
pleading at her gates, and how the whole city sang
of the poet's Asteris,*' before the banquet Asteris,
Asteris at night, Asteris at dawn of day, as never
Hylas' name resounded.'^ And now she begins gladly
to bend her stubborn heart, and now to account
herself unfeeling.
Blessing on thy bridal couch, gentlest of Latian
bards ! Thou hast endured thy hard voyage to the
end and the labours of thy quest, and gained thy
haven. So does the river ^ that fled sleek Pisa, aflame
for an alien love afar, flow with unsullied streams
through a channel beneath the sea, until at last
arriving he drinks with panting mouth of the Sicanian
■* An echo of Virg. G. ill. 6 "cui non dictus Hylas?"
His story was a favourite one, e.(/. Theocr. Id. l.S, Prop. ii. 20.
*■ Alpheus, which flowed through the territory of Pisa
(called " sleek " from the oil of the wrestlers at the Olympian
games), thence under the sea to Sicily. The Naiad is
Arethusa.
31
STATIUS
ore bibat fontes ; miratur dulcia Nais
oscula nee eredit pelago venisse niaritum.
Quis tibi tunc alacri caelestum in munere claro,
Stella, dies, qiianto salierunt pectora voto, 210
dulcia cum dominae dexter conubia vultus
adnuit ! ire polo nitidosque errare per axes
visus. Amyclaeis minus exsultavit harem's
pastor ad Idaeas Helena veniente carinas ;
Thessala nee talem viderunt Pelea Tempe, 215
cum Thetin Haemoniis Chii-on accedere terris
erecto prospexit equo. quam longa morantur
sidera ! quam segnis votis Aurora mariti !
At procul ut Stellae thalamos sensere parari
Letous vatum pater et Semeleius Euhan, 220
hie movet Ortygia, movet hie rapida agmina Nysa.
huic Lycii montes gelidaeque umbracula Thymbrae
et Parnase, sonas^ ; illi Pangaea resultant
Ismaraque et quondam genialis litora Naxi.
tunc caras iniere fores comitique canoro 225
hie chelyn, hie flavam maculoso nebrida tergo,
hie thyrsos, hie plectra ferunt ; hie enthea lauro
tempora, Minoa crinem premit ille corona.
Vixdum emissa dies, et iam socialia praesto
omina, iam festa fervet domus utraque pompa. 230
fronde virent postes, effulgent compita flammis,
et pars immensae gaudet celeberrima Romae.
^ Parnase sonas Dorn. : Parnasis honos M : Parnasis
hiems Schwartz.
" It was there that he made Ariadne his bride.
'' Clearly not the crown of Ariadne ; probably ivy, with
which Bacchus is always connected ; there was a tradition
that he wore it for sorrow after the death of Ariadne (Theon
on Aratus, Phaen. 71).
32
S1L\'AE, I. II, 207-232
springs ; the Naiad marvels at the freshness of his
kisses, nor can beheve her lover has come from the
open main.
What a day was that, O Stella, for thy eager spirit,
when the gods showed thee signal bounty ! How thy
hopes surged within thy heart, when thy lady's
favouring look gave promise of the bliss of wedlock !
Thou didst seem to tread the sky and walk among the
shining heavens. Less exultant was the shepherd
on Amyclae's sand when Helen came to the ships of
Ida ; less eager seemed Peleus to Thessalian Tempe,
when Chiron high on his horse's body looked forth
and beheld Thetis draw nigh to the Haemonian
strand. How tardy are the lingering stars ! how
slow is Aurora to a lover's prayer !
But when the son of Leto, sire of poets, and Euhan,
Semele's son, perceived from afar that Stella's
marriage-chamber was preparing, from Ortygia
the one, from Nysa the other they set their swift
companies in train. To Apollo the Lvcian hills and
cool resorts of shadv Thymbra sound responsive, and
thou, Parnassus ; Pangaea and Ismara re-echo
Bacchus, and the shores of Naxos, once his bridal
bower." Then did they enter the doors they loved,
and brought to their tuneful friend their gifts of
lyre and quill, of dappled yellow fawnskin and
mystic wands : the one adorns the poet's brow with
bay, the other sets a Minoan crown '' upon his hair.
Scarce is the light of day sent forth, and already
the omens of a happy union are at hand, already
cither house is aglow with festal pomp. The door-
posts are green with foliage, the cross-roads bright
with flame, and the most populous part of im-
measurable Rome rejoices. No office of State, no
VOL. I D .'>.'?
STATIUS
omnis honos, euncti veniunt ad limina fasces,
omnis plebeio teritur praetexta tumultu : 234
hinc eques. hinc iuvenuni coetu^ stola mixta laborat.
felices utrosqiie vocant, sed in agmine plures
invidere viro. iamduduin poste reclinis
quaerit Hymen thalamis intactum dieei'e carmen,
quo vatem mulcere queat. dat luno verenda
vincula et insignit gemina^ Concordia taeda. 24u
hie fuit ille dies : noctem canat ipse maritus I
quantum nosse licet, sic victa sopore doloso
Martia fluminea posuit latus Ilia ripa ;
non talis niveos tinxit^ Lavinia vultus,
cum Turno spectante rubet ; non Claudia talis 245
respexit populos mota iam vii'go carina.
Nunc opus, Aonidum comites tripodumque ministri.
diversis certare modis : eat enthea vittis
atque hederis redimita cohors, ut pollet ovanti
quisque lyra. sed praecipui. qui nobile gressu 250
extremo fraudatis opus, date carmina festis
digna toris. hunc ipse Coo plaudente Pliiletas
Callimachusque senex Umbroque Propertius antro
ambissent laudare diem, nee tristis in ipsis
Naso Tomis divesque foco lucente Tibullus. 255
Me certe non unus amor simplexque canendi
1 iuvenuni coetu Bernartius : iiiveniun questus hasta
(hasta erased by M\): in iuvenumque aestu Postgate, hie
iuvenuni vestis ElJls, of. PhiUimore, Pre/, to Silvae, p. xx,
^ insignit gemina PhiUimore : insigni geniinat M.
' tinxit Giiyef : strinxit M.
" Claudia, when accused of incontinency, proved her
maidenhood liy causing to move the vessel that had brought
the image of the Great Mother to Rome (,?04 b.c.) ; the ship
had stuck fast, and according to the soothsayers could only
be moved bv a chaste woman (Livy, xxix. 14 ; Ov. Fast.
iv. 343).
34-
S1L\'AE, I. II. 233-250
train of lictors but seeks that threshold ; Senators'
robes are jostled by crowds of common folk ; yonder
are knights, and women's gowns that mix and
struggle in a throng of youths. Each they call
happy, but more among the multitude envy the
bridegroom. Long since leaning against the portal
hath Hymen sought to utter a new song in honour
of their marriage, and to gladden the poet's heart.
Juno brings the holy bonds, and Concord marks
the union with twofold torch. Such was that day :
of the night let the bridegroom sing ! This only
may we know : 'twas thus that Iha, bride of Mars,
o'ercome by deceitful slumber, laid her side on the
river's bank ; less fair was Lavinia when she tinged
her snow-white cheeks and blushed 'neath the eyes
of Turnus ; not so did Claudia ** turn to meet the
people's gaze, when the ship moved and her maiden-
hood was sure.
Now, comrades of the Aonian'' sisters and ministers
of the tripods, now must we strive in manifold
measures : send forth the inspired train, chapleted
and ivy-crowned, each bard in the strength of his
own exultant lyre. But above all, ye who spoil of its
last pace '^ your noble rhyme, bring songs that are
worthy of the marriage feast. Philetas himself
with Cos to applaud him and old Callimachus and
Propertius in his Umbrian grot would fain have
praised this day, and Naso too right gladly e'en in
Tomi, and Tibullus by the glowing hearth that was
his wealth.
For my part, verily, 'tis no one love, no single
* Boeotian, i.e. Muses, liy "comrades " and " ministers "
he means poets.
" Cf. note on i. 2. 9.
35
STATIUS
causa traliit : tecum similes iunctaeque Camenae,
Stella, mihi, multumque pares bacchamur ad aras
et sociam doctis haurimus ab amnibus undam ;
at te nascentem gremio mea prima recepit 260
Parthenope, dulcisque solo tu gloria nostro
reptasti. nitidura consurgat ad aethera tellus
Eubois et pulchra tumeat Sebethos alumna ;
nee sibi sulpureis Lucrinae Naides antris
nee Pompeiani placeant magis otia Sarni. 265
Heia age, praeclaros Latio properate nepotes,
qui leges, qui castra regant,'^ qui carmina ludant.
acceleret partu decimum bona Cynthia mensem,
sed parcat Lucina precor ; tuque ipse parenti
parce, puer, ne mollem uterum, ne stantia laedas 270
pectora ; cumque tuos tacito natura recessu
formarit vultus, multum de patre decoris,
plus de matre feras. at tu, pulcherrima forma
Italidum, tandem merito possessa marito,
vincla diu quaesita fove : sic damna decoris 275
nulla tibi ; longae^ viridis sic flore iuventae
perdurent vultus, tardeque haec forma senescat.
1 regant Pul. : legant M.
^ longae S" : longe M. See Slater^s note, ad loc.
" i.e., Naples.
'' i.e., Cumae, originally a colony of Chalcis in Euboea.
Sebethos was the name of a small stream flowing past
Naples.
36
SILVAR, I. IT. 257-277
impulse that makes me sing : tliou, Stella, hast a
Muse like to and closely joined with mine, at similar
altars do we feel the poet's rage, and together draw
water from the springs of song. Thee, lady, at thv
birth my own Parthenope " first fostered in her bosom,
and in thy infancy thou wert the glory and delight
of my native soil. Let the Euboean ^ land be exalted
to the starry pole, and Sebethos swell with pride of
his fair nursling ; nor let the Lucrine Naiads boast
more of their sulphur caves, nor Pompeian Sarnus '^
in his SMeet repose.
Come now, hasten ye to bestow on Latium noble
sons who will make her laws and rule her armies,
and practise poesy. May merciful Cynthia hasten
the tenth month for the bringing-forth, but spare
her, I.ucina, I pray thee ; and thou, O babe, spare
thy mother, hurt not her tender womb and swelling
breasts ; and when Nature in secrecy has marked thy
features, much beauty mayst thou draw from thy
father, but more from thy mother. And thou,
loveliest of Italian maids, won at last by a husband
worthy of thee, cherish the bonds he sought so long ;
so may thy beauty suffer no loss, and the fresh prime
of youth abide for many a year upon thy brow, and
that comeliness be slow to age.
•^ A river flowing into the bay of Naples, to-daj- about
two miles from Pompeii, but formerly past its walls.
37
ST ATI us
III
VILLA TIBURTINA MANILII VOPISCI
Cernere facundi 'libur glaciale \'upisci
si quis et inserto geminos Aniene penates
aut potuit sociae commercia noscere ripae
certantescpie sibi doniinuni defendere villa<:,
ilium nee ealido latravit Sirius astro, 5
nee gravis aspexit Nemeae frondentis alumnus :
talis hiems tectis, frangunt sie improba solem
frigora, Pisaeumque domus non aestuat annum.
Ipsa manu tenera tecum seripsisse \'oluptas'^
tune Venus Idaliis unxit fastigia sucis 10
permulsitque comis blandumque reliquit honorem
sedibus, et volueres vetuit diseedere natos.
O longum memoranda dies ! quae inente reporto
gaudia, quam lassos per tot miracula visus !
ingenium quam mite solo ! quae forma beatis l;!
ante"^ manus artemque locis ! non largius usquam
indulsit Xatura sibi. nemora alta citatis
incubuere vadis : fallax responsat imago
frondibus, et longas eadem fugit umbra per undas.
ipse Anien — miranda fides — infraque superque 20
^ yo lacuna In mss. after this line. It was first recognized
by Schwartz, though the text was dovhted by J)om. : Phiili-
more conj. telam /oi" tecum (iii. 1. 117).
^ ante Bursian : arte M.
" i.e., the constellation Leo, the sign of the zodiac in which
the sun is in July.
*" i.e., such heat as at the Olympian js^ames, held at mid-
summer.
38
SILVAE, I. in. 1-2U
III. THE VILLA OF MANILIUS VOPISCUS AT
TIBUR
Matiilii's I'opixcux is mentioned in the Preface to t/iin hook ;
III' u\is a man of literary tastes, and an Epicurean (1. 94).
The villa was prohahly above TUntr ; Volpi found remains
that he said tallied irifh Sfativs's description (" Vetiis Latium
]irofanum," x. p. 3;50, ITOl), bid no trace of if has endured
to modern times.
If anyone lias been privileged to behold eloquent
\'opiscus' cool retreat at Tibur and the double dwell-
ing threaded by Anio's stream, or to see the friendly
intercourse of bank with bank, and each villa striving
to keep their master to itself, on him the hot star of
Sirius has not barked, nor leafy Nemea's offspring "
looked with fierce aspect ; such icy coolness is in the
house, so pitilessly does the cold break the sun's
power, nor does the dwelling swelter in Pisa's summer
heat."
Pleasure herself with her own delicate hand <is
said> to have traced with thee . . . Then Venus
poured Idalian perfumes upon the roof-tops and
caressed them with her hair, and left a winsome
charm upon the house and bade her winged sons
abide there for ever.
O ever memorable day ! What raptures of the
mind, what cloying of the sight by countless marvels
do I recall ! How kindly the temper of the soil !
How beautiful beyond human art the enchanted
scene ! Nowhere has Nature more lavishly spent her
skill. Lofty woods lean over rushing waters ; a false
image counterfeits the foliage, and the reflection
dances unbroken over the long waves. Anio himself
— marvellous to believe — though full of boulders
39
STATIUS
saxeus^ hie tuniidani rabieni spumosaque ponit
murmura, ceu placidi veritus turbare Vopisci
Pieriosque dies et habentes carmina somnos.
litus utrumque domi, nee te mitissimus amnis
dividit. alternas servant praetoria ripas, 25
non externa sibi fluviumve obstare^ queruntur.
Sestiacos nunc Fania sinus pelagusque natatum
iactet et audaci victos delphinas ephebo !
hie aeterna quies, nullis hie iura proeellis, 29
numquam fervor aquis. datur hie transmittere visus
et voces et paene nianus. sic Chalcida fluetus
expellunt reflui, sic dissociata profundo
Bruttia Sicanium circumspicit ora Pelorum.
Quid prinium niediunive canam, quo fine quiescam?
auratasne trabes an Maux'os undique postes 35
an picturata lucentia marmora vena
niirer, an eniissas per cuncta cubiha nymphas ?
hue ocuhs, hue mente trahor. venerabile dicam
lucoruni senium ? te, quae vada fluminis infra
cernis, an ad silvas quae respicis, aula, tacentis, 40
qua tibi tota quies ofFensaque turbine nullo
nox silet et teneros invitant^ murmura somnos ?
an quae graminea suscepta crepidine fumant
balnea et impositum ripis algentibus ignem ?
duaque vaporiferis iunctus fornacibus amnis 45
ridet anhelantes vicino flumine nymphas ?
Vidi artes veterumque manus variisque metalla
^ saxeus . . . spumosa 3/ : Slater conj. spumeus . . .
saxosa.
^ fluviumve obstare Pol. : fluviorum optare M.
' teneros invitant Lemaire: nigros imitantia {or poss.
mutantia) M : pigros Peyraredus : mutantia Postgate.
" i.e., Leander. The point is that these shores are kinder
40
SILVAF-, I. HI. 21-47
below and above, liere silences his swollen rage and
foamy din, as if afraid to disturb the Pierian days
and niusic-liauntcd slumbers of tranquil \opiscus.
On either shore is home, and that most gentle river
parts thee not in twain. Stately buildings guard
either bank, and complain not that they are strange
to each other, or that the stream bars approach.
Now let P'ame boast of the Sestian gulf, and the
bold youth who swam the sea and outstripped the
dolphins ! " Here is eternal quiet, storms have here
no power, waters ne'er grow angry. Here can one
see and talk, ay all but join hands across the stream.
Thus do the ebbing waves repel Chalcis, thus the
curve of Bruttian shore that the deep has sundered
regards Sicanian Pelorus.
What shall be my first, what my middle theme,
whereon shall I conclude ? Shall I marvel at the
gilded beams, the Moorish lintels ^ on every side,
patterned veins of glittering marbles, the water-
nymphs that hie them through every bed-chamber ?
This way my eyes, that way my mind would snatch
me. Shall I tell of the forest's venerable age ? Of
the courtyard which sees the river's lower reaches,
or of that other which looks back towards the mute
woodland, where it hath quiet unbroken and the
silence of night unmarred by any storm, and mur-
muring sounds that invite to gentle slumber ? Or of
the smoking baths upraised on the grassy bank and
the fire kindled upon the icy flood } Or where the
river, chained to the vaporous fui-nace, laughs at the
njmiphs that gasp in its stream hard by ?
Works of art I saw and masterpieces of the ancients
than those of the Hellespont, which parted Leander from
his love. * These were of citrus-wood from Mauretania.
41
ST ATI us
viva modis. labor est auri meniorare figiiras
aut ebur aut dignas digitis contingere gemmas,
quicquid et argento primum, vel in aere minori 50
lusit et enormes manus est experta colossos.
cum vagoi* aspectu visusque per omnia duco,
calcabam neeopinus opes, nam splendor ab alto
defluus et nitidum referentes aera testae
monstravere solum, varias ubi picta per artes 55
gaudet humus superatque novis asarota figuris :
expavere gradus.
Quid nunc iungentia^ mirer
aut quid partitis distantia tecta trichoris ?
quid te, quae mediis servata penatibus arbor
tecta per et postes liquidas emergis in auras, 60
quo non sub domino saevas passura bipennes ?
et nunc ignai-o forsan vel lubrica Nais
vel non abruptos tibi debet^ Hamadryas annos.
Quid referam alternas gemino super aggere mensas
albentesque lacus altosque in gurgite fontes fi5
teque, per obliquum penitus quae laberis amnem,
Marcia, et audaci transcurris flumina pluml)o ?
an solum loniis sub fluctibus Elidis amnem
dulcis ad Aetnaeos deducat semita portus ?
illic ipse antris Anien et^ fonte relicto 70
^ iungentia Dorn. : ingencia M.
* debet Heinsius : demet M.
' illic Krohn, Anien et Pol. : illis ipse antris anienem M.
" A famous mosaic floor by one Sosus in Pergamum, so-
called because it represented the scraps and leavings of a
banquet (see Plin. X.II. xxxvi. 184).
* The term in Greek means a building of three stories ;
here and in Spartianus {Penc. ^'if/. xii. 4) it seems to mean
the upper story or stories of a house. The word is used
42
SILVAE, I. III. 48-70
and metals tliat lived in niainfold forms. A labour
is it to tell of the shapes of gold, the ivories and the
gems worthy to adorn a finger, and of all that the
artist's hand first playfully wrought in silver or
smaller bi'onze, and made trial of huge colossal
forms. While 1 wandered gazing and cast my eyes
on all, I was treading on riches unaware. For the
radiance down-streaming from on high and the tiles
that reflected the brilliant light displayed to me the
floor, where the ground rejoices in manifold skill of
painting, and with strange shapes surpasses the
Unswept Pavement « : awe held my steps.
Why should I now marvel at the central buildings,
or at the outer Avings each with its upper story '' ?
why at thee, preserved in the very heart of the
house, thou tree that risest up through roof and roof-
beam to the pure air above, and under any other
lord wouldest endure the cruel axe ? Even now,
though thou '^ knowest it not, some lissome Naiad or
Hamadryad perchance doth owe to thee the life
that no stroke has severed.
Why should I tell of feasts held now on this bank,
now on that, of white-gleaming pools and springs
deep-hidden 'neath the flood, or of thee, O Marcia,''
that glidest athwart the river's depths and in l)old
lead dost cross its channels ? Shall only the river of
Elis come safe by an unsalt path to Aetna's haven
beneath Ionian waves ? '^ There Anio himself, leaving
nowhere else in classical Latin : in Paulinus of Nola in the
(Ireek sense. " trichora altaria " {Ep. xxxii. 10).
'^ i.e., Vopiscus : the change of person addressed is
awkward, unless we understand Statius's habit of apostro-
phizing, ef. i. 4. 3, 38, 106.
■^ One of the aqueducts that supplied Rome with water.
' See note on i. 2. 904.
43
ST ATI us
nocte sub arcana^ glaucos exutus amictus
hue illuc fragili prosternit pectora musco,
aut ingens in stagna cadit vitreasque natatu
plaudit aqua'., ilia recubat Tiburnus in umbra,
illic sulpureos cupit Albula mergere crines ; 75
haec donius Egeriae nenioraleni abiungere Phoeben
et Drvadum viduare choris algentia possit
Taygeta et silvis accersere Pana Lycaeis.
quod ni templa darent alias Tirynthia sortes,
et Praenestinae poterant niigrare sorores. 80
quid bifera Alcinoi laudem pomaria vosque,
qui numquam vacui prodistis in aethera, rami ?
cedant Telegoni, eedant Laurentia Turni
iugera Lucrinaeque domus litusque cruenti
Antiphatae, cedant vitreae iuga perfida Circes 8")
Dulichiis ululata lupis arcesque superbae
Anxuris et sedes, Phrygio quas mitis alumno
debet anus : cedant, quae te iam solibus artis
Antia- nimbosa revocabunt litora bruma
Scilicet hie illi meditantur pondera mores, 90
hie premitur fecunda quies virtusque serena
fronte gravis sanusque nitor luxuque carentes
deliciae, quas ipse suis digressus Athenis
mallet deserto senior Gargettius horto ;
^ nocte sub arcana S' : nocte sub arcane m, artano 31,
noctis ubi arcano P/iillimore.
^ Antia MarkJancl : avia M: obvia Postgate.
" Tiburnus, usually Tiburtus, was the founder of Tibur ;
Albula, a sulphurous lake from which a stream flowed into
the Anio at Tibur.
* A nymph of Aricia, and servant of Phoebe, who had a
shrine there.
"^ The temple of Fortime at Praeneste was famous for
telling the future by the casting of lots ; the reference to Sisters
is not clear, but ^lartial refers to the " veridicae sorores "
44
SIL\'AK, I. III. 71-94
his grotto and his spring, in niglit's mysterious liour
puts off his grey-green raiment and leans his breast
against the soft moss hereabouts, or plunges in all
his bulk into the pools and swimming splashes among
the glassy waters. In that shade Tiburnus reclines,
there Albula would fain dip her sulphurous tresses ; **
this bower could steal woodland Phoebe from Egeria*
and empty cold Taygetus of Dryad choirs, and
summon Pan from the Lycean glades. Ay, did not
the Tirynthian shrine as well give oracles, even the
Sisters of Praeneste might change their abode .'-'
Why should I belaud the twice-bearing apple-
orchards of Alcinous and the boughs that never
stretched unladen to the air ? <^ Let the domain of
Telegonus give place and Turnus' Laurentian fields,
and the Lucrine dwellings and the shore of cruel
Antiphates ; let the perfidious height of glassy Circe
yield, where the Dulichian wolves once howled, and
Anxur's haughty towers and the home that the kind
old nurse owes to her Phrygian foster-child; let the
shores of Antium give place, which when the suns are
narrowed in their path and winter's storms are come
will call thee to them.''
Ay, here that serious mind broods on weighty
themes ; here silence shrouds a fruitful quiet and
grave virtue tranquil-browed, sane elegance and
comfort that is not luxury, such as the Gargettian
sage ^ had liimself preferred and left his own
Athens and his garden behind him ; these were
of Antium in tlie same way (v. 1. .S). "TirynHiia templa "
is a temple of Hercules. '' Cf. Horn. Od. vii. 117.
" The places are Tusfulum, Ardea, Baiae, Formiae, Circeii
(Dulichian, because they were Odysseus' men), y\nxur, C'aieta
(nurse of Aeneas), Antium. f Epicurus.
4r)
ST ATI us
haec per et Aegaeas liiemes Hyaduinque nivosum 95
sidus et Oleniis dignum petiisse sub astris,
si Maleae credenda ratis Siculosque per aestus
sit via : cur oculis sordet vicina voluptas ?
hie tua Tiburtes Faunos chelys et iuvat ipsum
Alciden dictumque lyra maiore Catillum, 100
seu tibi Pindaricis animus contendere plectris
sive chelyn tollas heroa ad robora sive
liventem satiram nigra rubigine turbes^
seu tua non alia splendescat epistola cura.
Digne Midae Croesique bonis et Perside gaza, lOo
macte bonis animi, cuius stagnantia rura
debuit et flavis Hermus transcurrere ripis
et limo splendente Tagus ! sic docta frequentes
otia, sic omni detectus pectora nube
finem Nestoreae precor egrediare senectae. 110
IV
SOTERIA RUTILI GALLICI
Estis, io, superi, nee inexorabile Clotho
volvit opus, videt alma pios Astraea lovique
^ turbes M : vibres Scriver'ms.
" The star known as Capella, the rising of which heralded
storms ; Aege, daughter of Olenus, was changed into a goat.
* Scylla and Charybdis.
'^ Either Virgil {Aen. vii. 670) or Horace (C i. 18). Catillus
was one of the founders of Tibur.
■* Often identified with Justice.
46
SILVAE, I. III. 95— IV. 2
worth seeing despite Aegean storms and the Hyades*
snowy constellation and the Olenian star,*^ even
though the Ijark must be thrown on Malea's mercy
and the way lie through Sicilian surges ^ : why do
men look slightingly on pleasure near at hand .'' Here
thy lyre delights the Fauns of Tibur and Aleides
himself and Catillus, sung of by a mightier harp,'^
wliether thou hast a mind to strive with the Pindaric
quill or dost lift thy lyre to the height of heroic
deeds or stirrest up the black venom of thy bitter
satire, or whether thy letters glow and sparkle,
composed with no less skill.
O worthy of the wealth of Midas and of Croesus
and of Persian treasure, all blessing on thy wealth
of soul, thou o'er whose watered fields Hermus
should have flowed with yellow channel and Tagus
with liis shining sand ! So mayst thou full oft enjoy
thy learned leisure, I pray, so with heart unclouded
mayst thou outpass the limits of old Nestor's age !
IV. TO RUTILIUS GALLICUS, ON HIS
RECO\'ERY FROM ILLNESS
" iSoteria " means a thanksgiving for recovery from sick-
ness {as here), or for rescue from any serious danger. Here
Stat ins congratulates Rutilius (Jallicus, a man of nohJe rank
and military distinction, who after seeing service in Asia
Minor and Pannonia had become successively Praetor, Gov-
ernor of the province of Asia, Consul, Imperial Commissioner
in Africa, and finally Prefect of the City ; between tlie last
tint offices lie had fought on the lUiine. The recorery is
effected by dirine agency, Apollo and Aesculapius visiting
the patient and tending him t/ienist-l res.
Hurrah ! ye exist then, ye gods, nor is Clotho's
spinning inexorable ; kindly Astraea '^ hath regard
47
ST ATI us
conciliata redit dubitataque sidera cernit
Gallicus. es caelo. dive, es,^ Germanice, cordi
— quis neget r^: erubuit tanto spoliare ministro 5
imperium Fortuna tuum. stat proxima cervix
ponderis immensi damnosaque fila senectae
exuit atque alios melior revirescit in annos.
ergo alacres, quae signa colunt urbana. cohoi'tes
inque sinum quae saepe tuum fora turbida questum 10
confugiunt, leges urbesque ubicumque togatae,
quae tua longinquis implorant iura querelis,
certent laetitia, nosterque ex ordine collis
confremat et sileant peioris murniura faniae I
quippe manet longunique aevo i-edeunte nianebit, lo
quern penes intrepidae mitis custodia Romae.
nee tantuni induerint fatis nova saecula crimen
aut instaurati peccaverit ara Tarenti.
Ast ego nee Phoebum, quamquam milii surda
sine illo
plectra, nee Aonias decima cum Pallade divas 20
aut mitem Tegeae Dircesve hortabor alumnum :
ipse veni \iresque novas animumque ministra,
qui^ caneris ; docto nee enim sine numine tantus
Ausoniae decora ampla togae centumque dedisti
iudicium mentemque viris. licet enthea vatis 25
^ es 5~: et M : dive es Pol.: dives -1/: dis es I)om.:
Diti es Postgate.
^ qui Pol. (from P): quis M.
" One of the titles of the Emperor Domitian.
* The four urban cohorts, directly under the Praefectus
urbi ; the Prefect's court was the supreme court of criminal
jurisdiction, and appeals from Italian towns came to him.
•^ Sometimes explained as Helicon, cf. "nostras" 1. 30;
sometimes as Rome. Slater suggests Alba.
•^ Tarentum was the name given to a depression in the
Campus Mnrtins near the Tiber, where there was nn altar.
48
SILVAE, I. IV. 3-25
for pious folk, and comes back reconciled with Jove,
and Gallicus beholds the stars he doubted e'er to see
again. Beloved of heaven art thou, divine Gernian-
icus,'' who can deny it ? Fortune was ashamed to rob
thy empire of so great a minister. Those shoulders
with tlieir immense burden rise once more next to
thine, and have cast off the ruinous doom of eld and
revive more vigorous yet for many a year. There-
fore let the brisk cohorts ^ that venerate the City's
eagles, and the laws that ofttimes take refuge in thy
bosom, complaining of the courts' confusion, and the
cities of the toga wheresoe'er they be, that with
far-travelling pleas implore thy justice — let them vie
in their rejoicing, and let our own hill'' duly join its
shouts to theirs, and the mutterings of ill report be
silent. For he abides, and long will abide in his new
span of life, in whose merciful hand is placed the
guardianship of fearless Rome. No such grave re-
proach will the new age lay upon the fates, nor will
the altar of Tarentum,'' late restored, so deeply sin.
But I will call neither on Phoebus, although my
quill is mute without him, nor on the Aonian god-
desses with Pallas the tenth Muse, nor on the gentle
sons of Tegea and of Dirce '^ : come thou thyself
and bring new strength and spirit, thou that art
my theme ; for not without genius heaven-sent wert
thou so mighty to shed great glory upon the Ausonian
gown and to give judgement and understanding to
the Hundred./ Thougli god-possessed Pimplea shut
* Mercury and Bacclius.
^ The Centumviral court, prominent under the Empire,
was a court of civil jurisdiction ; its numbers, originally
105 (3 from each tribe) had been raised to 180. Cf. Sllv.
iv. 4. 43.
VOL. I E 49
ST ATI us
excludat Pimplea sitim nee conscia detur
Pirene : largos potius mihi gurges in haustus,
qui rapitur de fonte tuo, seu plana solutis
quoni struis orsa niodis seu quom tibi dulcis in artem
frangitur et nostras curat facundia leges. 30
quare age, si Cereri sua dona merumque Lyaeo
reddimus et dives praedae tamen aecipit omni
exu\ias Diana tholo eaptivaque tela
Bellipotens : nee tu, quando tibi, Gallice, mains
eloquium. fandique opibus sublimis abundas, 3")
sperne coli tenuiore lyra. vaga cingitur astris
luna, et in oceanum rivi cecidere minores.
Quae tibi sollicitus persolvit praemia morum
Urbis amor ! quae turn patrumque equitumque
notavi
lumina et ignarae plebis lugere potentes ? 40
non labente Numa timuit sic Curia felix
Pompeio nee eelsus eques nee femina Bruto.
hoe illud : tristes in\itum audire cateiias,
parcere verberibus nee qua iubet alta potestas
ire, sed armatas multum sibi demere vires 45
dignarique manus humiles et verba preeantum,
reddere iura foro nee proturbare eurules
et ferrum mulcere toga, sic itur in alta
peetora, sic mixto reverentia fidit amori.
ipsa etiam eunetos gravis inclementia fati 50
terruit et subiti praeceps iuvenile pericli,
nil cunetante malo. non illud culpa seneetae
— quippe ea bissenis vixdum orsa excedere lustris — ,
" Pimplea and Pirene were fountains of the Muses.
'' J.I?., of us poets.
" He was mourned by the Pi,oman matrons for a whole
year, Livy, ii. 7,
.50
SILVAE, I. IV. 26-53
out the thirsty bard and conspiring Pirene " be not
granted me, yet dearer are the lavish draughts
snatclied from the flood of thy own fountain, whether
thou dost create free and flowing prose or whether
thy sweet eloquence is broken in to rules of art and
obeys our laws.** Wherefore come — if we make
return to Ceres of her gifts and to Lyaeus of his
wine, and if Diana though rich in booty yet receives
spoils in every temple and the Lord of War our
trophies of the fight — and spurn not, Gallicus, since
tliou hast a mightier utterance and aboundest in
wealth of speech sublime, spurn not the worship of a
humbler Ivre. The wandering moon is ringed Avith
stars, and lesser streams run down into the Ocean.
What rich reward for thy virtues did the City's
loving anxiety give thee ! What famous Senators
and knights, what champions of the obscure multi-
tude saw I then in tears ! The prosperous Curia
feared not so when Numa was failing, nor the noble
Knights at Pompey's danger nor the women at
Brutus' death/ And this is the cause thereof : thou
wert loth to hear the sullen chains, didst spare the
scourge nor go as lofty otfice bade thee, but didst
renounce much of thy armed force, and deign to
regard the petitions of the lowly and their humble
prayers ; thou broughtest back justice to the Forum
nor didst vex the curule magistrates, but temperedst
force by law. So is a way won to the deep places of
the heart, so doth reverence trust the love Avhere-
with it mingles. Terrible too to all was the dire
severity of Fate and the impetuous violence of tlie
sudden peril, as the mischief tarried not. 'Twas not
the fault of thy age — scarce had that begun to with-
draw from its twelfth lustre — but of straining toil
.01
STATIUS
sed labor intendens animique in membra vigentis
imperium vigilesque suo pro Caesare cm'ae, 55
dulce opus, hinc fessos penitus subrepsit in artus
insidiosa quies et pigra oblivio vitae.
Tunc deus, Alpini qui iuxta culmina dorsi
signat Apollineos sancto cognomine lucos,
respicit heu tanti pridem^ securus alumni. 60
praecidensque^ moras : " nunc mecum, Epidauria
proles,
hinc " ait " i^ gaudens : datur — aggredienda
facultas ! —
ingentem recreare virum. teneamus adorti
tendentes* iam fila colos : ne fulminis atri
sit metus : has ultro laudabit luppiter artes. 65
nam neque plebeiam aut dextro sine numine cretam
servo animam. atque adeo breviter, dum tecta
subimus,
expediam. genus ipse suis permissaque retro
nobilitas ; nee origo latet, sed luce sequente
vincitur et magno gaudet cessisse nepoti. 70
prima togae virtus illi quoque : clarus et ingens
eloquio ; mox innumeris exercita castris
occiduas primasque domos et sole sub omni
permeruit iurata manus nee in otia pacis
pei-missum laxare animos ferrumque recingi. 75
hunc Galatea vigens ausa est incessere bello
— me quoque — perque novem timuit Pamphylia
messes
Pannoniusque ferox arcuque horrenda fugaci
1 prideni Dom. : precidem M.
- praecidens Ifou.tman : progressus M : praegressus S".
* ait, i Biirsian : alti M.
* tendentes Markland : tendatis M.
" Probably Turin, the birthplace of Gallicus, is meant.
Evidence for any cult of Apollo there is exceedingly weak.
52
SILVAE, I. IV. 54-78
and a strong mind's mastery o'er the body and
unsleeping diligence in thy Emperor's cause, a labour
of love to thee. Hence came creeping deep into the
weary limbs a treacherous quiet and dull forgetful-
ness of life.
Then the god who luird by the peaks of the Alpine
ridge " sets his sacred name of Apollo ujion the
groves, turns to behold, long alas ! neglectful of so
precious a ward. Then cutting short delay : " Come
with me on the instant, Epidaurian son," he cries,
" away, and gladly too ! 'Tis in our power — the
chance must be seized ! — to restore to health a
mighty hero. Let us advance and grasp the thread
that e'en now the distaff stretches.'' Fear no dread
thunderbolt : '^ Jupiter will be the first to praise this
skill of ours. For 'tis no plebeian life I save nor one
unblest in its begetting. Briefly while we draw nigh
his house will I unfold his story. Himself he gives
pedigree to his line, and reflects thereon his own
nobility ; yet his origin is not obscure, but surpassed
by the glory that follows it, and gladly gives place
to its famous progeny. He too first excelled in the
arts of peace : in eloquence brilliant and powerful ;
then loyal to his oath he served in East and West
and under every sun, bearing the brunt of countless
camps, nor was he suffered to relax his ardour in
peaceful ease nor to ungirdhis swoi'd. Him did Galatia
dare to provoke to war in lusty pride — ay, and me
also '^ — and for the space of nine harvests Pamphylia
feared him, and the bold Pannonian and Armenia's
*" i.e., because it is running out.
" Jupiter fiad slain Aesculapius for restoring tiie dead to
life.
"^ Attack on Delphi by the Gauls, 279 b.c.
53
STATIUS
Armenia et patiens Latii iain pontis Araxes.
quid gcminos fasces magnaeque iterata revolvam 80
iura Asiae ? veiit ilia quidem ter habere quaterque
hunc sibi, sed i-evocant fasti maiorque curulis
nee promissa seniel. Libvci quid niira tributi
obsequia et niissuni media de pace triumphum
laudem et opes quantas nee qui mandaverat ausus 85
exspectare fuit r gaudet Trasimennus et Alpes^
Cannensesque animae ; primusque insigne tributum
ipse palam lacera^ poscebat Regulus umbra,
non vacat Arctoas acies Rhenumque rebellem
eaptivaeque preces \'eledae et, quae maxima nuper 90
gloria, depositam Dacis pereuntibus Urbem
pandere, cum tanti lectus rectoris habenas,
Gallice, Fortuna non admirante subisti.
Hunc igitur, si digna loquor, rapiemus iniquo,
nate, loui. rogat hoc Latiae pater inclitus ui'bis 95
et meruit ; neque enim frustra mihi nuper honora
carmina patricio pueri sonuistis in ostro.
si qua salutifero gemini Chironis in antro
herba, tholo quodcumque tibi Troiana recondit
Pergamus aut medicis felix Epidaurus harenis loo
educat, Idaea profert quam Creta sub umbra
dictamni florentis opem, quoque anguis abundat
^ After this line M has attollam cantii gaiidet Thrasj'-
mennus et Alpes, obviously an interpolation, though various
edd. try to fit it into the text. See Introd.
* lacera Pol. : laeta M. Pol.'s reading was taken by
him from P.
" Some explain as "the praetorship," cf. Mommsen
{Staatsrecht, i. 384 n.), who quotes Cic. De leg. agr. ii. 34.
93. and Plautus, Epid. i. 1. 25. to prove that the praetor
in Rome only had two lictors (cf, bissenos fasces, of the
consulship, Silv. i. 2. 174).
* /.f., the consulship, which would be registered in the Fasti.
SILVAE, I. IV. 79-102
dire retreating bowmen and Araxes that now brooks
a Roman bridge. Why should I tell of the double
command " and the twice repeated governorship of
Asia ? who thrice and four times would fain liave
him for herself, but our Annals and the higher
ciu'ule chair, ** oft promised, call him back. Why
extol the tribute and wondrous obedience of Libya,''
and the spoils of triumph sent to Rome from the
midst of peace, and such wealth as not even he who
gave the charge had dared to expect ? Trasimene
and the Alps exult and the ghosts of Cannae ; and
the mangled shade of Regulus first appears and
claims its glorious reward. Time allows not to re-
count the armies of the North and rebellious Rhine
and the prayers of captive ^Vleda,'^' and, latest and
greatest glory, Rome given thee in charge, when the
Dacians were falling before us and thou wert chosen,
Gallicus, to take up the reins of so great a chief, and
Fortune marvelled not.
" Him then, if my words find favour, we will rescue,
my son, from Pluto's cruelty. This is the prayer of
the illustrious Father of the Latian City,* and lie
has deserved it ; for not in vain of late did ye sing
my praise, ye boys, clad in patrician purple. If
there be any herb in twy-formed Chiron's health-
giving cave, all that Trojan Pergamus stores for thee
in thy shrine or blest Epidaurus nurtures in her
healing sands, all the aid of flowering dittany that
Crete brings forth in the glens of Ida, the abundant
' Vespasian had renewed and increased the tribute paid
by Africa and other provinces ; Gallicus was perhaps sent
there as Special Commissioner for this purpose.
•* A German prophetess, for whom see Tac. Hist. iv. 61,
V. 22.
' i.e., the Emperor.
STATIUS
spumatu : iungam ipse manus atque omne benignum^
virus, odoriferis Arabum quod doctus in arvis
aut Amphrysiaco pastor de gramine cai'psi.^ " 105
Dixerat. inveniunt positos iam segniter artus
pugnantemque animam ; ritu se cingit uterque
Paeonio monstrantque simul parentque volentes,
donee letiferas vario niedicaniine pestes
et suspecta mali ruperunt nubila somni. 110
adiuvat ipse deos morboque valentior omni
occupat auxilium. citius non arte refectus
Telephus Haemonia, nee quae metuentis Atridae
saeva Machaonio coierunt vulnera suco.
Quis mihi tot coetus inter populique patrumque 115
sit curae votique locus ? tamen ardua testor
sidera teque, pater vatum Thymbraee, quis omni
luce mihi, quis nocte timor, dum postibus haerens
assiduus nunc aure vigil nunc lumine cuncta
aucupor^ ; immensae veluti conexa carinae 120
cumba minor, cum saevit hiems, pro parte furentis
parva receptat aquas et eodem volvitur austro.
Nectite nunc laetae candentia fila, sorores,
nectite ! nemo modum transmissi computet aevi :
hie vitae natalis erit. tu Troica dignus 125
saecula et Euboici transcendere pulveris annos
Nestoreosque situs ! qua nunc tibi pauper acerra
digna litem ? nee si vacuet Mevania valles
aut praestent niveos Clitumna novalia tauros,
^ benignum Lindenhrog : benigne M.
^ carpsi Dom. : carpsit M.
* aucupor Heinshts : auguror M.
" Cf. Virg. Aen. xii. 400.
" i.e., by Achilles, cf. Hor. Epod. 17. 8.
' i.e. Apollo.
56
SILVAE, I. IV. 103-129
sj)ume of serpents — <these bring>, and I will join
thei'eto my skill of hand, and every kindly juice that
I learned in Arabia's balmy fields, or gathered as a
shephei'd in the meadows of Amphrysus."
He ended ; they find the sufferer lying languid
and battling for life ; " each girds himself in Paeonian
wise, and willingly both teach and both obey, until
with varied art of healing they have shattered the
deadly plague and dispersed the dire cloud of bane-
ful lethargy. He himself aids the heavenly ones,
and prevailing o'er the utmost power of the disease
anticipated the help they bring. Not more swiftly
was Telephus restored by Haemonian skill,'' nor the
cruel wounds of which Atrides stood in terror stanched
by Machaon's healing balm.
What place, amid such a gathering of Senators
and people, for anxious prayers of mine ? Yet I
call the high stars to witness, and thee, Thymbraean
sire of bards," what terror held me night and day
while I clung to the portals and in unremitting
vigilance caught every hint with eye or ear : just as
a tiny skiff trailing behind a mighty vessel, when the
tempest rages, bears its small share of the waters'
fury and is tossed in the self-same gale.
Twine now, ye Sisters, joyfully twine your threads
of shining white ! Let none reckon the measure of
life already spent : this day is the birthday of life
to be. Thou dost deserve to outlast the age-long
lives of Troy j'^ the Euboean Sibyl's dust and Nestor's
mouldering decay. What censer of mine can avail,
needy as I am, to supplicate for thee ? Not if
Mevania should empty her valleys or the fields of
Clitumnus vouchsafed their snow-white bulls, were
'' Priam or Tithonus, as in ii, 3. 73, v. 3. 256.
STATIUS
sufficiam. sed saepe dels hos intei* liouores 130
caespes et exiguo placuerunt farra salitiu.
BALNEUM CLAUDII ETRUSCT
Non Helicona gravi pulsat chelys enthea plectro,
nee lassata voco totiens mihi numina, Musa!> ;
et te, Phoebe, choris et te diniittinius, Euhan.
tu quoque muta ferae, volucer Tegeaee, sonorae
terga prenias : alios poscunt mea carmina coetus. 5
Naidas, undaruni doniinas, regemque corusci
ignis adhuc fessum Siculaque incude rubentem
elicuisse satis, pauluni arnia nocentia, Thebae,
ponite : dilecto volo lascivire sodali.
iunge. puer. cyathos — set ne numevare^ labora — 10
cunctantemque intende chelyn : discede Laborque
Curaque, dum nitidis canimus gemmantia saxis
balnea dumque procax vittis hederisque, soluta
fronde vereeunda.^ Clio mea ludit E!.trusco.
ite, deae \irides, liquidosque advertite vultus lo
et vitreum teneris crimen redimite corvmbis,
veste nihil tectae. quales emergitis altis
fontibus et visu Satyros torquetis amantes.
non vos, quae culpa decus infamastis aquarum,
^ set ne numerare Scrirerinx : et enumerare 3/, nee et
Postgate.
^ verecunda Baehrens : verecundo M.
" Salt and roasted meal was the simplest form of sacrifice,
cf. Hor. C. iii. 23. 20. The turf formed the altar.
* Mercury invented the lyre from the shell of a tortoise.
" i.e.. \'ulcan.
.58
SILVAE, I. IV. 130— V. 19
tliat sufficient. Yet amid .sucli offerings a simple
turf, some meal and a humble salt - cellar have
ofttinies pleased the gods."
V. THE BATHS OF CLAUDIUS ETRUSCUS
The Baths of Claudius Etrusvus were possibly on tlie
Quirinal ; they are mentioned hy Martial (vi. 42). For
their owner see note to Silv. iii. 3.
Not at Helicon's gates doth my harp resound in
fierce, ecstatic melody, nor call I on the heavenly
Muses, so often wearied by my prayer ; thou
Phoebus, and thou, Euhan, art released from my
choral song, and do thou, sAvift Tegean, keep in
mute silence thy tuneful tortoise-shell ^ : other choirs
doth my song demand. 'Tis enough to lure the
Naiads hither, queens of the wave, and the lord of
the flashing fire, weary still and glowing with the
Sicilian anvil's heat.'' Thebes, lay down thy sinful
arms awhile ^ : I would fain make revel for a friend
I love. Cup after cup, lad !— nay, trouble not to
count them ! Tune the tardy lyre ! Toil and Care,
avaunt ! while I sing of the baths that sparkle with
bright mai-bles, and while my Clio, wantoning in ivy
chaplets and free from the sober laurel, makes sport
for Etruscus. Come then, ye Nymphs of the waters,
turn hither your clear countenances and bind up
your glass-green tresses with tender vine-shoots,
your bodies all unclothed as when ye emerge from
the deep springs and torture your Satyr-lovers with
the sight. You, who with guilt have defamed the
■* He refers to his Thebaid, whicli recounted the impious
strife of the bretliren, Eteocles and Polynices.
59
STATIUS
sollicitare iuvat ; procul hinc et fonte doloso 20
Salmacis et viduae Cebrenidos arida liictu
flumina ct Herculei praedatrix cedat alumni.
vos mihi, quae Latium septenaque culmina, nymphae,
incolitis Thybrimque novis attollitis undis,
quas praeceps Anien atque exceptui-a natatus 25
Virgo iuvat Marsasque nives et frigora ducens
Marcia, praeeelsis quarum vaga molibus unda
crescit et innumero pendens transmittitur arcu — :
vestrum opu'; aggredimur, vestra est. quani carmine
molli 29
pando. domus. non umquam aliis liabil^istis; in antris
ditius. ipsa manus tenuit Cvtherea mariti
monstravitque artes ; neu vilis flamma caminos
ureret, ipsa faces volucrum succendit Amorum.
non hue admissae Thasos aut undosa Carystos,
maeret onyx longe, ([ueriturque exclusus ophites : 35
sola nitet flavis Nomaduni decisa metallis
purpura^ sola cavo Phrygiae quam Synnados antro
ipse cruentavit maculis lucentibus^ Attis,
quasque Tyrus^ niveas secat et Sidonia rupes.
vix locus Eurotae, viridis cum regula longo 40
^ hicentibus M: liventibus Pol., Markland : rf. Apoll.
Si(L xxii. 137.
^ quasque Tyrus Dom. : quoque tiri M : cumque Tyri
Vollmer : quasque Tyrus niveas secuit La/aye : quamque
Paros niveam Pontgate : quaeque Tyri vincas fucatam (or,
fucum et quae) sindona rupes Slater. See also C.R. xx. pp.
38, 39.
" Salmacis enticed Hermaphroditus into her waters and
united herself indissolubly to him. Cebrenis is Oenone.
Hylas, ward of Hercules, was drawn by a nymph into the
spring where he was getting water.
* Two famous aqueducts, excellent for swimming in and
drinking respectivelv, from the purity of the one and the
60
SILVAE, 1. V. 20-40
honour of tJie streams, I care not to solicit : far lience
remove thou, O Salmacis, with thy deceiving fount,
and the river of Cebrenis left forlorn, that grief made
dry, and the ravisher of Hercules' young ward ! "
But ye Nymphs who dwell in I/atium and on the
Seven Heights and make Thybris swell with your
fresh waters, ye whom headlong Anio delights and
the Maiden destined to welcome the swimmer, and
Marcia that brings down the Marsian snow and cold,**
ye whose travelling waves flood through the lofty
masonry and are carried high in air over countless
arches — yours is the work I fain would sing, yours the
home whereof my gentle verse doth tell. Never in
other grottos dwelt ye more sumptuously. Cytherea
herself guided her lord's hand, and taught him skill ;
and that no baser flame miglit scorch the furnace,
herself she kindled the brands of her winged Loves
thereunder. Neither Thasos nor wave-lashed Carystos
are suffered here ; " far off the onyx mourns, and the
serpent-stone rejected makes complaint ; only the
porphyry gleams, hewn from the Nomads' tawny rocks,
only that which in the hollow caves of Phrygian
Synnas Attis bedewed with the bright drops of his
own blood, and the snow-white cliffs that Tyre and
Sidon quarry .** Scarce is there space for stone from
coolness of the other. The " Maiden " fed several baths,
including those of Agrippa. " See note on i. 2. 148.
■^ No emendation of the text is convincing here. It is not
certain whether there is any allusion to marble of Tyre and
Sidon, of which nothing is otherwise known. The parallel
in i. 2. 151 suggests rather a comparison with Tyrian dye,
or, as Slater conjectures, with the purple "sindon" (linen
garment) of a guest at the banquet ; hence he would read
" quaeque Tyri vincas fucatam sindona rapes," " marble of
a deeper purple than fine linen dyed at Tyre."
()1
STATIUS
Synnada distinctu variat. non limina cessant,
effulgent camerae, vario fastigia \itro
in species animosque nitent. stupet ipse beatas
circumplexus opes et pareius impei*at ignis.
multus ubique dies, radiis ubi culmina totis 45
perforat atque alio sol improbus uritur aestu.
nil ibi plebeium ; nusquani Temesaea notabis
aera, sed argento felix propellitur unda
argentoque cadit labrisque nitentibus instat
delicias mirata suas et abire recusat. 50
extra autem niveo qui margine caerulus amnis
V'ivit et in suniniuni fundo^ patet oninis ab inio,
cui non ii-e lacu pigros(|ue exsolvere amictus
suadeat ? hoc mallet nasci Cytherea profundo,
hie te perspicuum melius, Narcisse, videres, 55
hie velox Hecate velit et deprensa lavari.
quid nunc strata solo referam tabulata crepantis
auditura pilas, ubi languidus ignis inerrat
aedibus et tenuem volvunt hypocausta vaporem ?
nee si Baianis veniat novus hospes ab oris, 60
talia despiciet — fas sit componere magnis
parva — Neronea nee qui modo lotus in unda,
hie iterum sudare neget. macte, oro, nitenti
ingenio curaque puer ! tecum ista senescant
et tua lam melius discat fortuna renasci ! 65
^ in summum fundo S" : in funduin summo M.
" See note on i. 1 . 42.
** The baths of Nero on the Campus Martins.
62
SILVAE. I. V 41 65
tlie Eurotas, where the long hne of green picks out
the marble of Synnas. The doorways yield not in
splendour, the ceilings are radiant, the gables glitter
with mosaics of pictured life. The very fire is
astounded at the riches he encompasses, and tempers
the fierceness of his sway. Everywhere is flooding
light, where the sun pierces the roof with all his rays,
and, spite of all his fierceness, is scorched by a heat
that is not his own. NougJit is common there,
nowhere will you mark bronze of Temese," but from
silver is the glad wave poured and into silver it falls,
and marvelling at its own beauty stands poised upon
the gleaming brim and refuses to go its way. But
the dark-blue stream without, running gaily between
snow-white banks, all clear to see from loMcst depth
to surface — whom would it not tempt to throw off
his lazy robe and plunge into the water ? From these
deeps had Cytherea chosen to be born ; here, Narcissus,
hadst thou seen thyself more clearly ; here would
suift Hecate fain bathe, e'en though discovered.
Why now should I tell of the floors laid upon the
earth, destined to hear the noise of balls, whei-e
languidly creeps the warmth about the house and a
scant haze rolls upward from the furnaces below ?
Such beauty would no guest despise, though fresh
from the shore of Baiae, nor, if I may compare great
things with small, would one who had bathed of late
in Nero's baths ^ refuse to sweat here once more.
A blessing, Claudius, on thy brilliant cleverness and
careful thought I may this work grow old with thee,
and thy fortune learn to rise to a new and more
glorious birth.
63
ST ATI us
VI
KALENDAE DECEMBRES
Et Phoebus pater et severa Pallas
et Musae procul ite feriatae :
lani vos revocabimus Kalendis.
Saturnus niihi compede exsoluta
et multo gravidus mei'o December 5
et ridens locus et Sales protervi
adsint, duni refero diem beatum
laeti Caesaris ebriamque apax'chen.^
Vix Aurora novos movebat ortus,
iam bellaria^ linea pluebant 10
— hunc rorem veniens profudit eurus :
quicquid nobile Ponticis nucetis,
fecundis cadit aut iugis Idymes ;
quod ramis pia germinat Damascos,
et quod percoquit ebriosa Caunos,^ 15
largis gratuitum cadit rapinis ;
niolles gaioli lucuntulique,
et massis Amerina non perustis
et mustaceus et latente palma
praegnates caryotides cadebant. 20
^ ebriamque aparchen {i.e. dTrapxv", originally *\/irst-
fruits,'" "first offering,'''' then '\feast," as in Pint. 40 b)
Phillimore : parcen M, pacem Pol., noctem li. TJiomson,
etc. ^ bellaria 5" : vellaria M.
^ ebriosa Cauiios Waller : aebosia caiinos M, aestuosa
Imhnf, Ebosea Vollmer, arbor Inda cannas Ellis, et quod
praecoquit Ebosia cannis La/aye and Slater.
" Saturn was put in chains by Jupiter, but set free,
according- to popular belief, on his festival.
** A rope was stretched across the amphitheatre, from
64
SILVAE, I. VI. 1-20
VI. THE KALENDS OF DECEMBER
An account of an entertainment given by the Emperor to
the people during the Saturnalia. Suetonius (Doniit. 4)
mentions also chariot-races, sham fights, naval battles in the
Amphitheatre, combats of gladiators, beasts, etc., and various
distributions of money and food to the people.
Hence, father Phoebus and stern Pallas ! Away,
ye Muses, go, keep holiday ; we will call you back
at the New Year. But Saturn, slip your fetters '^ and
come hither, and December tipsy with much wine,
and laughing Mirth and wanton Wit, while I recount
the glad festival of our merry Caesar and the ban-
quet's drunken revel.
Scarce was the new da^n stirring, when already
sweetmeats were raining from the line,^ such was
the dew the rising East wind was scattering ; the
fiimous fruit of Pontic nut-groves, or of Idume's
fertile slopes,'' all that devout Damascus grows upon
its boughs ^ or thirsty Caunus " ripens, falls in a
generous profusion. Biscuits and melting pastries,^
Amerian fruit ^ not over-ripe, must-cakes, and burst-
ing dates from invisible palms were showering down.
which the dainties were shaken down amona; the people, cf.
Mart. viii. 78. 7.
" i.e., dates ; Idume often in Statins for Palestine, cf. Liic.
iii. 216. ** i.e., plums (damsons).
<■ Cannus in Asia Minor was famous for its figs. Kbosia,
the MS. reading, would refer to Ebusus, one of the Balearic
isles, modern Iviza, which Pliny praises for its figs ; but
the combination with Caunos, "the fig-town of Ebusus"
(Vollmer), is awkward. Slater, following Eafaye (Notes on
the Silvae, Paris, 1896), reads " et quod praecoquit Ebosia
cannis."
f So-called because they were in the shape of human
figures, i.e. little " Gaii."
' From Ameria came apples and pears.
VOL. I F Q5
66
STATIUS
non tantis Hyas inserena nimbis
terras obruit aut soluta Plias,
qualis per cuneos hiems Latinos
plebem grandine contudit serena.
ducat nubila luppiter per orbem 25
et latis pluvias minetur agris,
dum nostri lovis hi ferantur imbres.
Ecce autem caveas subit per omnis
insignis specie, decora cultu
plebes altera non minor sedente. 30
hi panaria candidasque mappas
subvectant epulasque lautiores ;
ilh marcida vina lai'giuntur :
Idaeos totidem putes ministros.
oi'bem, qua mehor severiorque est, 35
et gentes ahs insimuP togatas,
et cum tot populos, beate,^ pascas,
hunc Annona diem superba nescit.^
i nunc saecula compara, Vetustas,
antiqui lovis aureumque tempus : 40
non sic hbera vina tunc fluebant
nee tardum seges occupabat annum,
una vescitur omnis ordo mensa,
parvi, femina, plebs, eques, senatus :
libertas reverentiam remisit. 45
et tu quin etiam — quis hoc vacare,*
quis promittere possit hoc deorum ? —
nobiscum socias dapes inisti.
iam se, quisquis is est, inops, beatus,
convivam ducis esse gloriatur. 50
Hos inter fremitus novosque hixus
spectandi le\ds effugit voluptas :
^ insimul S" : insemel M.
^ beate Hessius and Lafaye : beata M.
SILVAE, I. VI. 21-52
Not with such torrents do stormy Hyades o'erwhelm
the earth or Pleiades dissolved in rain, as the hail
that from a sunny sky lashed the people in the
theatre of Rome. Let Jupiter send his tempests
through the world and threaten the broad fields,
while our own Jove sends us showers like these !
But lo ! another multitude, handsome and well-
dressed, as numerous as that upon the benches,
makes its way along all the rows. Some carry
baskets of bread and white napkins and more luxu-
rious fare ; others serve languorous wine in abundant
measure ; so many cupbearers of Ida " would you
think them. Thou dost nourish alike the circle of
the noble and austere and the folk that wear the
toga, and since, O generous lord, thou dost feed so
many multitudes, haughty Annona knoweth nought
of this festival.'' Come now. Antiquity, compare
with ours the age of primeval Jove and the times of
gold : less bounteously then did the vintage flow,
not thus did the harvest anticipate the tardy year.
One table serves every class alike, children, women,
people, knights, and senators : freedom has loosed
the bonds of awe. Nay even thyself — ^what god
could have such leisure, or vouchsafe as much ? —
thou didst come and share our banquet. And now
everyone, be he rich or poor, boasts himself the
Emperor's guest.
Amid such excitements and strange luxuries the
pleasure of the scene flies quickly by : women un-
" i.e., so many Ganyinedes.
** The feast is free and gratis, therefore the price of bread
has nothing to do with it.
* nescit M : nescis S".
* vacare Fhillimore : vocare M: vocari Ettigius.
67
ST ATI us
stat sexus rudis insciu-^que ferri ;
ut pugnas capit improbus viriles !
credas ad Tanain ferumque Phasini 55
Thermodontiacas calere turmas.
hie audax subit ordo pumilorum,
quos natura brevis statim peracta
nodosum semel in globuni ligavit.
edunt vulnera conseruntque dextras 60
et mortem sibi — qua manu ! — minantur.
ridet Mars pater et cruenta Virtus
casuraeque vagis grues rapinis
mirantur pugiles^ ferociores.
lam noctis propioribus sub umbris 65
dives sparsio quos agit tumultus !
hie intrant faciles emi puellae,
hie agnoscitur omne, quod theatris
aut forma placet aut probatur arte,
hoc plaudunt grege Lydiae tumentes, 70
illic cymbala tinnulaeque Gades,
ilHc agmina confremunt S\Torum,
hie plebs scenica quique comminutis
permutant vitreis gregale sulpur.
Inter quae subito cadunt volatu 75
immensae volucrum per astra nubes,
quas Nilus sacer horridusque Phasis,
quas udo Xumidae legunt sub austro.
desunt qui rapiant sinusque pleni
gaudent, dum nova lucra comparantur. 80
tollunt innumeras ad astra voces
Saturnaha principis sonantes
68
SILVAE, I. VI. 53-82
trained to the sword take their stand, daring, how
recklessly, men's battles I you would think Ther-
modon's bands " were furiously lighting by Tanais or
barbarous Phasis. Then comes a bold array of
dwarfs, whose term of growth abruptly ended has
bound them once for all into a knotted lump. They
give and suffer wounds, and threaten death — with
fists how tiny ! Father Mars and Bloodstained
Valour laugh, and cranes,^ waiting to swoop on
scattered booty, marvel at the fiercer pugilists.
Now as the shades of night draw on, what com-
motion attends the scattei-ing of largess ! Here
enter maidens easily bought ; here is recognized all
that in theatres wins favour or applause for skill or
l)eauty. Here a crowd of buxom Lydian girls are
clapping hands, here tinkle the cymbals of Cadiz,
there troops of Syrians are making uproar, there are
theatre-folk and they who barter common sulphur
for broken glass.''
Amid the tumult dense clouds of birds swoop
suddenly down through the air, bii-ds from holy Nile '^
and frost-bound Phasis, birds that Numidians capture
'neath the dripping South. Too few are there to
seize them all, exultantly they grasp their fill and
ever clutch fresh plunder. Countless voices are raised
to heaven, acclaiming the Emperor's festival ; with
" i.e., Amazons.
'' These dwarfs seem fiercer fighters than the old enemies
of the cranes, viz. the Pygmies (Hom. //. iii. S).
" Rag-and-bone men plying the same trade are mentioned
bv Martial, i. 41. 4. For sulphur matches cf. also Martial,
x." 3. 3.
** Flamingos (Nile), pheasants (Phasis), guinea-fowl (Nu-
midia).
^ pugiles Friederich : pumilos M.
69
STATIUS
et dulci doniinum favore clamant :
hoc solum vetuit licere Caesar.
Vixdum caerula nox subibat orbem, 85
descendit media nitens harena
densas flammeus orbis inter umbras
vincens Gnosiacae facem coronae.
conlucet polus ignibus nihilque
obscurae patitur licere nocti. 90
fugit pigra Quies inersque Somnus
haec cernens alias abit in urbes.
quis spectacula, quis iocos licentes,
quis convivia, quis dapes inemptas,
largi flumina quis canat Lyaei ? 95
iam iam deficio tuoque Baccho^
in serum trahor ebrius soporem.
Quos ibit procul hie dies per annos !
quam nullo sacer exolescet aevo !
dum montes Latii paterque Thybris, 100
dum stabit tua Roma dumque terris
quod reddis Capitolium manebit.
^ tnoqiie Baccho S" : tuaque Baccho AT.
70
SILVAE, I. VI. 83-102
loving entliusiasm they salute their Lord. This
liberty'' alone did Caesar forbid them.
Scarce was dusky night shrouding the world, when
through the dense gloom a ball of flame fell gleaming
into the arena's midst, surpassing the brigjitness of
the Gnosian crown .^ The sky was ablaze ^vith fire,
and suffered not the reign of darkness : sluggish
Quiet fled, and lazy Sleep betook himself to other
cities at the sight. Who can sing of the spectacle,
the unrestrained mirth, the banqueting, the unbought
feast, the lavish streams of wine ? Ah ! now I faint,
and drunken with thy liquor drag myself at last to
sleep.
For how many years shall this festival abide !
Never shall age destroy so holy a day ! While the
hills of Latium remain and ftither Tiber, while thy
Rome stands and the Capitol thou hast restored to
the world, it shall continue.
" i.e., to salute him as "Dominus"; for Doniitian's titles
of " Dominus et Deus " see Suet. Dom. 1.3.
** The constellation called Ariadne's crown.
71
LIBER II
STATIUS MELIORI SUO SALUTEM
Et familiaritas nostra qua gaudeo, Melior, vir
optime nee minus in iudicio Htterarum quam in
omni vitae colore tersissime, et ipsa opusculorum
quae tibi trado condicio sic posita est ut totus hie
ad te^ liber meus etiamsine epistola spectet.^ Primum
enim habet Glauciam nostrum, cuius gratissima
infantia^ et qualem plerumque infelices sortiuntur
(apud te complexus amabam) iam non tibi. Huius
amissi recens vulnus, ut scis, epicedio prosecutus
sum adeo festinanter, ut excusandam habuerim
afFectibus tuis celeritatem. Nee nunc eam apud te
iacto, qui nosti, sed et ceteris indico, ne quis asperiore
lima carmen examinet et a confuso scriptum et
dolenti datum, cum paene supervacua sint tarda
solacia. Polli mei villa Surrentina quae sequitur,
debuit a me vel in honorem eloquentiae eius dili-
gentius dici, sed amicus igno\-it. In arborem certe
tuam, Melior, et psittacum scis a me leves libellos
quasi epigrammatis loco scriptos. Eandem exigebat
^ ad te Vollmer : altae M, alter s".
^ spectet Baehrens : expect et M. {Baelir. inserted ad te
before spectet.
* gratissima infantia M : gratissimam infantiam S".
BOOK II
Statius to his Friexd Melior : Greeting I
Not only our friendship wherein I take such pleasure,
my excellent Melior. who are as fiiultless in your
literary judgement as in every phase of life, but also
the actual circumstances of the poems I am presenting
to you are responsible for the whole of this book of
mine being directed towards you, even without an
introductory letter. For its first subject is our
beloved Glaucias, whose charming infancy — a charm
so often bestowed on the unfortunate — is lost to
you now ; I loved him when I took him in my
arms at your house. While that wound was yet
fresh, I wrote as you know a poem of consolation,
with such dispatch that I felt my pi'omptness owed
an apology to your feelings. Nor am I boasting of it
now to you who know, but warning others not to
criticize too sharply a poem written in distress and
sent to one in sorrow, seeing that sympathy must be
timely or else superfluous. The Surrentine Villa of
my friend Pollio which follows should have been
written with greater care if only in honour of his
eloquent tongue, but he has displayed a friend's
indulgence. Certainly the trifling pieces on your
tree, Melior, and on the parrot were as you know
dashed off like epigrams. A like facility of pen was
73
STATIUS
stili facilitatem leo mansuetus, quem in amphi-
theatro prostratum frigidum erat, sacratissimo
Imperatori ni statim traderem Ad Ursum quoque
nostrum, iuvenem candidissimum et sine iactura
desidiae doctissimum, scriptam de amisso puero
consolationem super ea quae ipsi debeo huic libvo
libenter in'^erui, quia honorem eius tibi laturus
accepto est. Cludit^ volumen genethliacon Lucani,
quod Polla Argentaria, rarissima uxorum, cum hunc
diem forte eonsuleremus, imputari sibi voluit. Ego
non potui maiorem tanti auctoris habere reverentiam
quam quod laudes eius dicturus hexametros meos
timui. haee qualiaeumque sunt, Melior carissime,
si tibi non displicuerint, a te publicum accipiant ; si
minus, ad me revertantur.
^ esh cludit Madvig : excludit 3/.
74
SILVAE, II.
demanded by the Tame Lion, for had I not presented
liim to His Alost Sacred Majesty while still lying in
the amphitheatre, all the effect would have been
missed. Then there is the consolatory piece I wrote
on the loss of his slave-boy for our friend Ursts, a
youth of blameless life and an accomplished poet,
M'ho wastes no time in idleness ; I was glad to
include it in this book, quite apart from the debt I
owe to him, for he will credit you with the honour
he derives therefrom. The volume is concluded by
the Birthday Ode to Lucan, for which Polla Argen-
taria, rarest of wives, desired to be held accountable,
when we happened to be considering the celebration
of the day. I could not show a deeper reverence for
so great a poet than by distrusting my own hexa-
meters when about to sing his praises. These pieces,
my excellent Melior, such as they are, if you like
them, give them to the world : if not, let them
return to me.
75
STATIUS
I
GLAUCIAS ATEDII MELIORIS DELICATUS
Quod tibi praerepti, Melior, solamen alumni,
improbus ante rogos et adhuc vivente favilla
ordiar ? abruptis etiam nunc flebile venis
vulnus hiat, niagnaeque patet via lubrica plagae.
cum lam egomet cantus et verba medentia saevus 5
consero, tu planetus lamentaque fortia ina\is
odistique chelyn surdaque averteris aura,
intempesta cano : citius me tigris abactis
fetibus orbatique velint audire leones.
nee si tergeminum Sicula de virgine carmen 10
affluat aut sihis chelys intellecta ferisque,
mulceat insanos gemitus. stat pectore demens
luctus et admoto latrant praecordia tactu.
Nemo vetat : satiare malis aegrumque dolorem
libertate doma. iam flendi expleta voluptas 15
iamque preces fessus non indignaris arnicas ?
" i.e., the wound in all its length, a " path " leading to a
vital spot.
* The Sirens, whose number is variously given as two or
as three ; in ii. 2. 1, Statius places them at Sorrento.
76
SILVAE, II. I. 1-16
I. GLA.UCIAS, THE FAVOURITE OF
ATEDIUS MELIOR
In this and the following Epicedia Statins shows the in-
fliience both of philosophic consolation such as ire see it in
Seneca, or the Consolatio ad Liviam, and also of the rhetorical
schools with their enTdcpioL and Trapa/j.v6riTiKoi, divided into
regular parts, such as Praise of the departed, description of
the illness and death, description of the burial, loelcome of
the sold of the dead one in the under-world, etc. Statiiis's
treatment is free, as in the Epithtdamium ; mythological
allusion is frequent, and teas tindouhtedlij part of the poetic
convention of the time, and therefore should, not be condemned
as frigid and implying a lack of true feeling. The reader
may compare earlier poems of the same kind, e.g. Horace,
C. i. 24 ; Propertius, iii. 18, iv. 11 ; Ovid, Am. iii. 9. Two
poems of Martial (vi. 28, 29) were also written on tlie same
occasion.
How can I begin to console thee, Melior, for thy
foster-son untimely taken ? How can I heartlessly
sing before the pyre, while the ashes are still aglow ?
The lamentable wound gapes wide with sundered
veins, and the dangerous path of the great gash lies
open.** Even while I relentlessly compose my spells
and healing words, thou dost prefer to beat the breast
and cry aloud, and hatest my lyre and turnest away
with deaf ear. Untimely is my song : sooner would
a despoiled lioness or tigress robbed of her cubs give
ear to me. Not if the triple chant of the Sicilian
maidens ^ were wafted hither, or the harp that beasts
and woodlands understood, would they soothe thy
distracted wailing. Demented Grief hath his stand
in thy heart ; at a touch thy breast heaves and sobs.
Have thy fill of bitterness : none forbids thee.
Overcome, by giving it rein, the malady of thy
distress. At last is thy luxury of weeping sated ?
At last art thou wearied out and deignest to hear a
77
STATIUS
iamne canani ? lacrimis en et mea carmina in ipso
ore^ natant tristesque cadunt in verba litui-ae.
ipse etenim tecum nigrae solemnia pompae
spectatumque Urbi scelus et puerile feretrum 20
produxi, saevos damnati turis acervos
plorantemque animam supra sua funera vidi,
teque patrum gemitus superantem et brachia matrum
complexumque rogos ignemque haurire parantem
vix tenui similis comes offendique tenendo. 25
et nunc, heu, vittis et frontis honore soluto
infaustus vates versa mea pectora tecum
plango lyra, sed tu^ comitem sociumque doloris,
si merui luctusque tui consortia sensi,
iam lenis patiare precor. me fulmine in ipso 30
audivere pafres, ego iuxta busta profusis
matribus atque piis cecini solacia natis
et mihi, cum proprios gemerem defectus ad ignes
— quem, Natura ! — patrem. nee te lugere severus
arceo, sed confer gemitus pariterque fleamus. 35
lamdudum dignos aditus laudumque tuarum,
o merito dilecte puer, primordia quaerens
distrahor. hinc anni stantes in limine vitae,
hinc me forma rapit, rapit inde modestia praecox
et pudor et tenero probitas maturior aevo. 40
o ubi purpureo suifusus sanguine candor
sidereique orbes radiataque lumina caelo
et castigatae collecta modestia frontis
* carmina in ipso ore 3/ : carmine in ipso ora Friedrich.
^ sed tu Vollmer : et diu M, at diri r, at dici Slater.
" The souls of those untimely dead were supposed to
bewail their lot, cf. Virg. Aen. vi. 427 " infantumque animae
78
SILVAE, II. I. 17-43
friend's entreaty ? Now shall I sing ? Lo ! even in
my mouth my song is choked witli sobs, the words
are blotted by falling tears. For I myself led forth
with thee the solemn line of sable mourners and the
boyish bier, a crime for the City to behold ; I saw
the cruel heaps of incense doomed to destruction and
the soul wailing above its own corpse « ; thee too,
as thou didst break through sobbing fathers and
mothers that would stay thee, and didst embrace
the pyre and prepare to swallow the flames, could I
scarce restrain, thy comrade in like case, and offended
by restraining. And now, alas ! a bard of evil, my
fillets imbound and the glory departed from my
brow, I reverse my lyre and beat my breast with
thee ; but be assuaged, I pray thee, and suffer me
as partner of thy mourning, if I have so deserved and
shared thy sorrow. In the very hour of calamity
fathers have heard my voice ; by the very pyre have
I sung solace to prostrate mothers and loving children
— ay, to myself also, when swooning beside kindred
flames I mourned, O Nature, what a father ! Nor
do I sternly forbid thee to lament ; nay, let us
mingle our tears and weep together.
Long have I sought distractedly, beloved boy, a
worthy approach and prelude to thy praises. Here
thy boyhood, standing on life's threshold, calls me,
there thy beauty, there a modesty beyond thy years
and honour and probity too ripe for thy tender age.
Ah ! where is that fair complexion flushed by the
glow of health, those starry orbs whose glance is
radiant with heaven's light, where the chaste com-
flentes." For souls hovering about the funeral pyre cf.
Theb. V. 163, xii. 55: they are often so represented on Attic
vases.
79
ST ATI us
ingenuique super crines mollisque decorae 44
niargo comae ? blandis ubinam ora arguta querelis
osculaque impliciti vernos redolentia flores
et niixtae risu laerimae peiiitusque loquentis
Hyblaeis vox mixta fjivis ? cui sibila serpens
poneret et saevae vellent servire novercae.
nil veris adfingo bonis, heu lactea colla ! 50
braehia, quo^ numquam domini sine pondere cervix !
o ubi venturae spes non longinqua iuventae
atque genis optatus honos iurataque multum
barba tibi ? cuncta in cineres gravis intulit hora
hostilisque dies : nobis meminisse relictum. 55
quis tua colloquiis hilaris mulcebit amatis
pectora ? quis curas mentisque arcana remittet ?
accensum quis bile fera famulisque tumentem^
leniet ardentique in se deflectet ab ira ?
inceptas quis ab ore dapes libataque vina 60
auferet et dulci turbabit cuncta rapina ?
quis matutinos abrumpet murmure somnos
impositus stratis abitusque morabitur artis
nexibus atque ipso revocabit ad oscula poste^ ?
obvius intranti rursus quis in ora manusque 65
prosiliet brevibusque umei'os circumdabit ulnis ?
muta domus, fateor, desolatique penates,
et situs in thalamis et maesta silentia niensis !
Quid niirum, tanto si te pius altor honorat
funere ? tu domino requies portusque senectae, 70
^ braehia, quo Saftien : brachiaque M.
^ tumentem Pol. {from P) : timentem 31.
^ ipso . . . poste 5" : ipsos . . . postes M.
" Always much admired in ancient times ; " castigata "
80
SILVAE, II. I. 44-70
posure of that low " brow, the ai'tless curls above and
the soft line of lovely hair ? Where is the mouth that
prattled with fond complainings, those kisses redolent,
as he clung, of vernal blossoms, his tears mingled
with smiles, and his accents steeped in Hybla's
honey ? A serpent would hush its hissing and cruel
stepdames be fain to do his bidding. Nothing false
do I add to his true beauty. Alas ! that milk-white
throat ! those arms that were ever about his master's
neck ! Where now is that not far distant hope of
coming manhood, the longed-for glory of his cheeks,
that beard that thou oft didst swear by ? The
remorseless hour and Time the enemy have swept
all to ashes : to us is left but to remember. Who
will beguile thy thoughts with the merry chatter
thou didst love ? who will allay thy cares and brood-
ing mind ? Who will appease thee when incensed
with angry passion and storming at the serving-folk,
and divert thee from thy fury to himself ? Who,
when the feast is begun and the wine poured out, will
snatch it away e'en from thy lips and confound all
things in delightful rapine ? Who will climb on thy
couch in the morning and whisper thee awake, and
clasping thee tight delay thy going, and from the
very gate recall thee to his kisses ? Who will be the
first to meet thee on thy return, and leap to thy kiss
and thy embrace, and put his tiny arms about thy
shoulders ? Mute is the house, I vow, and lonely
the hearth ; desolation is in the chambers and a
drear silence at the board.
What wonder if thy good foster-father honours
thee mth so grand a funeral ? thou wert to thy lord
( =" controlled, narrowed down ") is used of a horse's mane,
Theb. ix. 687 ; cf. also vi. 872, Ov. Am. i. 5. 21.
vol,. I G 81
STATICS
tu modo deliciae, dulces modo pectore curae.
non te barbaricae versabat turbo catastae,
nee mixtus Phai'iis venalis niercibus infans
eompositosque sales meditataque verba locutus
quaesisti lascivus erum tardeque parasti. 75
hie domus, hinc ortus, dominique penatibus olim
carus uterque parens atque in tua gaudia liber,
ne quererere genus, raptum sed protinus alvo
sustulit exsultans ac prima lucida voce
astra salutantem dominus <^ibi niente dicavit, 80
amplexusque sinu tulit et genuisse putavit.
fas niihi sanctorum venia dixisse parentum,
tuque, oro, Natura, sinas, cui prima per orbem
iura animis sancire datum : non omnia sanguis
proximus aut serie generis demissa propago 85
alligat ; interius nova saepe adscitaque serpunt
pignora conexis. natos genuisse necesse est,
elegisse iuvat. tenero sic blandus Achilli
semifer Haemonium vincebat Pelea Chiron,
nee senior Peleus natum comitatus in arma 90
Troica, sed claro Phoenix haerebat alumno.
optabat longe reditus Pallantis ovantis
Evander, fidus pugnas spectabat Acoetes.
cumque procul nitidis genitor cessaret ab astris,
fluctivagus volucrem comebat Persea Dictys. 95
quid referam altricum victas pietate parentes ?
quid te post cineres deceptaque funera matris
" Such as slaves were commonly displayed on.
'' The "lifting-up" of a new-horn child by the father
siarnified his recognition of it as his own. On this occasion
Melior shows that he has adopted the child.
" The son of Danae bj' Zeus. Dictys was a fisherman of
Seriphus, the island to which Danae and her babe were
82
SILVAE, II. I. 71-97
t]ie peaceful haven of his old age, thou wert now his
delight, now the sweet object of his care. No out-
landish revolving stage " turned thee about, no slave-
boy wert thou amid Egyptian wares, to utter studied
jests and well-conned speeches, and by impudent
tricks to seek and slowly Min a master. Here was
thy home, here wast thou born, both thy parents have
long been loved in their master's house, and for thy
joy were they freed, lest thou shouldst complain of
thy birth. Nay, no sooner wert thou taken from the
womb, when thy lord exultantly raised thee,'' and as
thy first cry greeted the shining stars appointed thee
for his own and held thee close in his bosom and
deemed himself thy sire. May the sanctities of
parents forgive my words, and do thou suffer me, O
Nature, to whom it is given to hallow the earliest ties
between soul and soul throughout the world : bonds
of blood and lineage are not all ; often do alien or
adopted children creep further into our hearts than
our own kindred. Of necessity we beget sons, of
our pleasure do we choose them. Thus by his win-
ning ways the half-beast Chiron supplanted Hae-
monian Peleus in young Achilles' favour. Nor did
the aged Peleus accompany his son to the fight at
Troy, but 'twas Phoenix that stirred not from his
pupil's side. Far off Evander prayed for Pallas'
victorious return, but faithful Acoetes watched the
combat. And when his sire for idleness came not
from the shining stars, wave-wandering Dictys tended
the winged Perseus." Why should I speak of mothers
surpassed in their affection by foster-nurses ? Why of
thee, O Bacchus, who when a treacherous doom had
washed in the wooden chest, "volucrem" refers to the
winged sandals given him by Hermes to fight Medusa.
83
STATIUS
tutius Inoo reptantem pectore, Bacche ?
iam secura patris Tuscis i-egnabat in undis
Ilia, portantem lassabat Romulus Accam. 100
vidi ego transertos alieno in robore ramos
altius ire suis. et te iam fecerat illi
mens animusque patrem, necdum moresve decorve :
tu tamen et iunctas^ etiam nunc murmure voces
vagitumque rudem fletusque infantis amabas. 105
Ille, velut prinios exspiraturus ad austros
mollibus in pratis alte flos improbus exstat,
sic tener ante diem vultu gressuque superbo
vicerat aequales multumque reliquerat annos.
sive catenatis curvatus membra palaestris 110
staret : Amyclaea conceptum matre putares,
Oebaliden illo praeceps mutaret Apollo,
Alcides pensaret Hylan ; seu Grains^ amictu
Attica facundi decurreret orsa Menandri :
laudaret ga\isa sonum crinemque decorum 115
fregisset rosea lasciva Thalia corona ;
Maeonium sive ille senem Troiaeque labores
diceret aut casus tarde remeantis Ulixis :
ipse pater sensus, ipsi stupuere magistri.
scilicet infausta Lachesis cunabula dextra 120
attigit, et gremio puerum complexa fovebat
Invidia : ilia genas et adultum comere crinem,
haec monstrare artes et verba infigere, quae nunc
plangimus. Herculeos annis aequare labores
^ iiinctas M2 : vinctas M : truncas Baehrens.
^ Graius S" : aratus M.
" She was the sister of Semele, the mother of Bacchus.
* Ilia (see note on i. 2. 192) was drowned in the Anio by
her father Amulius, but became the wife of the river-god.
Acca was the nurse of Romulus.
84.
SILVAE, II. I. 98-124
laid thy motliei* in ashes nestled moi'e securely in
Ino's bosom ? '^ And when Ilia, fearing her sire no
more, reigned a queen in Tuscan waters,** Romulus
was burdening Acca's arms. I have seen myself
shoots grafted on another tree grow higher than their
own. And already had thy will and purpose, Melior.
made thee his sire, though not yet his charm and
goodness ; nevertheless tliou didst love the words
even now mingled with his utterance, and his rude
infant cries and tears.
He, like a flower that is doomed to perish at the
first breath of the South wind, yet with reckless
daring lifts high its head in the lush meadow, young
as he was liad early surpassed his peers in pride of
step and countenance, and had far outstripped his
years. Did he stand with limbs bent in the locked
wrestling-bout, you would have deemed liim born of
an Amyclaean mother ^ ; Apollo would soon have
exchanged for him the son of Oebalus,^ Alcides had
bartered Hylas ; if in Grecian dress he declaimed
the Attic speech of fluent Menander, Thalia would
have rejoiced and praised his accents, and in wanton
mood have disordered his comely locks witli a rosy
garland ; or if he recited the old Maeonian and the
toils of Troy, or the mishaps and slow returning of
Ulysses, his very father, his very teachers were
amazed at his understanding. Truly did Lachesis "
touch his cradle witli ill-omened hand, and Envy
clasped the babe and held him in her bosom : the
one fondled his cheeks and luxuriant curls, the other
tauglit him his skill and inspired those words over
which we now make moan. His rising years, though
° i.e.. Spartan, the Spartan youths being famed for their
wrestling. ^ i.e., K^arcissus. * One of the Fates.
85
STATIUS
coeperat adsurgens, sed adhuc infantia iuxta ; 125
iam tanien et validi gressus mensuraque niaior
cultibus et visae puero decrescere vestes,
cum tibi quas vestes, quae non gestamina mitis
festinabat erus ! brevibus non stringere^ laenis
pectora et angustante alas^ artare lacerna ; 130
enormes non ille sinus, sed semper ad annos
texta legens modo puniceo velabat amictu,
nunc herbas imitante sinu, nunc dulce rubenti
murice, nunc vivis digitos incendere gemmis
gaudebat : non turba comes, non munera cessant : 135
sola verecundo deerat praetexta decori.
Haec fortuna domus. subitas inimica levavit
Parca manus. quo, diva, feros gravis exseris ungues ?
non te forma movet, non te lacrimabilis aetas ?
hunc nee saeva viro potuisset carpere Procne, 140
nee fera crudeles Colchis durasset in iras,
editus Aeolia nee si foret iste Creusa ;
torvus ab hoc Athanias insanos flecteret arcus,
hunc quamquam Hectoreos cineres Troiamque per-
osus
turribus e Phrygiis flesset missurus Ulixes 145
septima lux, et iam frigentia lumina torpent,
iam complexa manu crinem tenet infera luno.
^ non stringere Postgate : constringere M.
^ angustante alas Postgate : angusta telas M.
" Or, keeping the ms. reading, translate " he would
fasten a short tunic on thy chest, and contract the web with
a narrow cloak." Cf. Theb. vi. 74 ff. In any case the
meaning, first made clear by Macnaghten {Journ. Phil.,
1891), is that Glaucias was ahvays given clothes which fitted
exactly, neither too large nor too small.
'' The toga with a purple border, worn by free-born
children up to the age of 16. Glaucias was slave-born.
86
SILVAE, II. I. 125-147
infancy still was near, had begun to draw level with
the toils of Hercules ; yet already was he firm
of stride, and his height outstripped his dress, and
the garments seemed to shrink upon the lad, for
what garments, what apparel did not thy kindly lord
hasten to procure thee ? He constrained not thy
breast in a narrow tunic," nor cramped thy shoulders in
a straitening cloak ; nor did he drape thee in large,
ill-fitting folds, but ever suiting the raiment to thy
years now garbed thee in scarlet, now in grass-green
clothing, now in the soft blush of purple, or rejoiced
to kindle the flash of gems upon tiiy fingers ; unfail-
ing was thy attendant train, unfailing were his gifts ;
the bordered robe ** alone was lacking to thy modest
beauty.
Such was the fortune of that house. Suddenly
Fate lifted her hand to strike. Wherefore, O god-
dess, dost thou banefully unsheathe those cruel
talons ? Doth not his beauty move thee, or his
piteous tender age ? Fierce Procne would not have
had the heart to rend him for her lord, nor would
the savage Colchian have persisted in her cruel ire,
even though he had been the son of Aeolian Creusa ;
from him would grim Athamas have turned aside his
maddened bow ; Ulysses though hating Hector's
ashes and Troy full sore would have wept to hurl
him from the Phrygian towers.*^ 'Tis the seventh
day, and already those eyes are dull and cold, and
Juno of the underworld hath clasped him and seized
" Procne slew lier son Itys and gave him as food to her
husband Tereus ; Medea was deserted by Jason for Creusa ;
Aeolian = Corinthian, because Sisyphus, King of Corinth, was
son of Aeolus, cf. " Sisyphii portus," Tlteb. ii. 380 ; Athamas
in madness slew his son Learchus ; Astyanax, son of Hector,
was flung by Ulysses from the walls of Troy.
87
STATIUS
ille tamen, Parcis fragiles urgentibus annos,
te vultu moriente videt linguaque cadente
murmurat ; in te omnes vacui iam pectoris efflat 150
reliquias, solum meminit solumque vocantem
exaudit tibique ora movet, tibi verba relinquit
et prohibet gemitus consolaturque dolentem.
gratum est, Fata, tamen, quod non mors lenta iacentis
exedit puerile decus, manesque subivit 155
integer et nullo temeratus corpora damno,
qualis erat.
Quid ego exsequias et prodiga flammis
dona loquar maestoque ardentia funera luxu ?
quod tibi purpureo tristis rogus aggei-e cre\'it,
quod Cilicum flores, quod munera graminis Indi, 160
quodque Arabes Phariique Palaestinique^ liquores
arsuram lavere comam ? cupit omnia ferre
prodigus et totos Melior succendere census,
desertas exosus opes ; sed non capit ignis
invidus, atque artae desunt in munera flammae. 165
horror habet sensus. qualem te funere summo
atque rogum iuxta, Melior placidissime quondam,
extimui ! tune ille hilaris comisque videri ?
unde animi saevaeque manus et barbarus horror,
dum modo fusus humi lucem aversaris iniquam, 170
nunc torvus pariter vestes et pectora rumpis
dilectosque premis visus et frigida lambis
oscula ? erant illic genitor materque iacentis
maesta, sed attoniti te spectavere parentes. 174:
quid mirum ? plebs cuncta nefas et prae\ia flerunt
agmina, Flaminio quae limite Molvius agger
^ Palaestinique Selden : palam est vidique M.
" Saffron, frankincense.
* Myrrh, balsam,
88
SILVAE, II. I. 148-176
in her Jiand tlie lock of hair. Yet he, tliough the
Fates press hard upon his frail life, beholds thee
with his dying vision and murmurs thy name with
faltering tongue ; to thee he gasps out the last
breath from his exhausted frame, thee alone he
remembers, thy cry alone he hears, for thee his lips
are moved and his last words spoken, as he bids thee
not to mourn and consoles thy grief. Yet we thank
thee, O Fate, that no lingering death devoured his
boyish charm as he lay, that he went inviolate to
the shades, just as he was, without touch of harm
upon his body.
Why should I tell of the funeral rites, the gifts
flung prodigally to the flarnes, the melancholy pomp
of the blazing pyre ? How thou didst heap the purples
high on the sad pile, how Cilician blooms and gifts
of Indian herbs," and juices of Arabia and Palestine
and Egypt ^ steeped the hair that Avas to burn ?
Fain would Melior bring all without stinting, and
consume whole fortunes in loathing of his wealth
laid desolate ; but the grudging fire avails not, and
the puny flames are too few to burn the gifts. Awe
lays hold upon my heart. O Melior, once so calm,
how distraught wert thou in that deadly hour beside
the pyre, how I feared thee ! Was that the merry,
kindly face we knew ? Whence that frenzy, those
merciless hands, those spasms of wild grief as thou
liest prostrate on the ground shunning the cruel light,
or fiercely tearest thy clothes and bosom, straining
the dear face to thee and kissing the cold lips ? The
fiither and sorrowing mother of the dead one were
there, but on thee they gazed awe-stricken — what
wonder ? All the people mourned the deadlv blow,
and crowds escorted thee on the Flaminian road
89
STATIUS
transvehit, immeritus flammis dum tristibus infans
traditur, et geniitum formaque aevoque^ meretur :
talis in Isthmiacos prolatus ab aequore portus
naufragus imposita iacuit sub matre Palaemon ; 180
sic et in anguiferae ludentem gramine Lernae
rescissum squamis avidus bibit ignis^ Ophelten.
Pone metus Letique minas desiste vereri :
ilium nee terno latrabit Cerberus ore,
nulla soror flammis, nulla adsurgentibus hydris 185
terrebit ; quin ipse avidae trux navita cumbae
interius steriles ripas et adusta subibit
litora, ne puero dura ascendisse facultas.
Quid mihi gaudenti proles Cyllenia virga 189
nuntiat ? estne aliquid tarn saevo in tempore laetum ?
noverat effigies generosique ardua Blaesi
ora puer, dum saepe domi nova serta ligantem
te videt et similes tergentem pectore ceras.
hune ubi Lethaei lustrantem gurgitis oras
Ausonios inter proceres seriemque Quirini 195
adgnovit, timide primum vestigia iungit
accessu tacito summosque lacessit amictus,
inde magis sequitur ; neque enim magis ille
trahentem
spernit et ignota credit de stirpe nepotum.
mox ubi delicias et rari pignus amici 200
sensit et amissi puerum solacia Blaesi,
tollit humo magnaque ligat cervice diuque
^ aevoque Gulielmiis : ac voce J/.
^ ignis Koestlin : anguis M.
" See Theb. vi. 54 sqq.
^ i.e., no Fury. The Furies, often called by Statins " the
Sisters," are represented with torches and snaky hair.
" Mercurj', who conducted the souls of the dead to the
underworld.
90
SILVAE, II. I. 177-202
across the Mulvian bridge, while an innocent eliild is
given over to the angry ilames, and both by his age
and by his beauty wins their tears. Such was
Palaemon, v,'hen his mother flung herself on him
as he lay ship^vTecked and cast up from the sea in
the Isthmian haven ; such too Opheltes, whom the
serpent tore as he played in the snake-haunted grass
of Lerna, when the greedy fire consumed him."
But lay aside thy fears, and be no more in dread
of threatening Death : Cerberus with triple jaws will
not bark at him, no Sister ** will terrify him with flames
and towering hydras ; nay, even the grim sailor of
the greedy boat will draw nearer to the barren shores
and fire-scorched bank, that the boy's embarking may
be easy.
What message brings the son of Cyllene," waving
a glad wand ? Can there be aught of joy in so
terrible a time ? Well did the lad know the likeness
and lofty countenance of noble Blaesus, for often
had he seen thee at home twining fresli garlands
and pressing that image to thy breast. And when
he recognized him among the Ausonian nobles and
the lineage of Quirinus pacing the shores of Lethe's
stream, he silently drew near and first walked beside
him timidly and plucked at his garment's edge, then
followed him more boldly, for as he more boldly
plucked the other spurned him not, but thought him
an unknown scion of his house. Soon when he knew
that the boy was the darling and favourite of a friend
so rare, the solace for his lost Blaesus,'^ he raised him
from the ground and fastened him about his mighty
^ The points seems to be that the boy himself was
"blaesus," i.e. "stammering," being still under 12, and was
so a consolation to Melior for his friend Blaesus.
9J
ST ATI us
ipse manu gaudens vehit et, quae munera mollis
Elysii, steriles ramos niutasque volucres
porgit et obtunso pallentes genuine flores. 205
nee prohibet nieminisse tui, sed pectora blandus
roiscet et alternum pueri parti tur amorem.
Hie finis rapto. quin tu iam vulnera sedas
et tollis mersum luctu caput ? omnia functa
aut moritura vides : obeunt noctesque diesque 210
astraque, nee solidis prodest sua machina terris.
nam populus mortale genus plebisque caducae
quis fleat interitus ? lios bella, hos aequora poscunt ;
his amor exitio, furor his et saeva cupido,
ut sileam morbos ; hos ora rigentia Brumae, 215
illos implacido letalis Sirius igni,
hos manet imbrifero pallens Autumnus hiatu.
quicquid init ortus, finem timet, ibimus omnes,
ibimus : immensis urnam quatit Aeacus umbris.
ast hie, quem gemimus, felix hominesque deosque
et dubios casus et caecae lubrica vitae 221
efFugit, immunis fatis. non ille rogavit,
non timuit meruitve^ mori : nos anxia plebes,
nos miseri, quibus unde dies suprema, quis aevi
exitus, incertum, quibus instet fulmen ab astris, 225
quae nubes fatale sonet. nil flecteris istis ?
sed flectere libens. ades hue emissus ab atro
limine, cui soli cuncta impetrare facultas,
Glaucia^ — insontes animas nee portitor arcet
nee durae comes ille ferae — : tu pectora mulce, 230
^ meruitve M : renuit\e Heinsiiis.
^ Glaucia M : Glaucia si Macnaghten, Glaucia nam 5".
" Slater suggests that " comes " = Cerberus, and "ferae"
= Hydra, as in Virg. Aen.xi. 287; Vollmer makes Cerberus
the beast, and the comrade a figure found on a wall-painting
by the side of Cerberus, and described Lucan, Phars. vi. 702 ;
cf. Sil. It. Pun. xiii. 587.
92
SILVAE, II. I. 203-230
shoulders, and a long while carried him rejoicing
upon his arm, and offered him such gifts as kindly
Elysium bears, sterile boughs and songless birds and
pale flowers with bruised blossoms. Nor does he
forbid him to remember thee, but fondly blends heart
with heart, and takes part in turn in the affection of
the lad.
It is the end : he is lost to thee. Wilt thou not
now assuage thy pain and lift thy grief-sunken head ?
All that thou seest is dead or doomed to die ; nights
and days perish, and the stars, nor does the frame
of the solid earth avail her. Our race is of mortal
kind, and who should bewail the passing of folk
whose end is sure ? War claims some, the ocean
others ; some are victims of love, of madness, or fell
desire ; these winter's freezing breath awaits, those
the fierce heat of deadly Sirius, others pale Autumn
with rain-bringing j aws . All that hath had beginning
fears its end. Doomed are we all, ay, doomed : for
shades innumerable doth Aeacus shake his urn. But
he whom we mourn is happy : gods and men hath
he escaped, and doubtful chance and the dangers of
our dark life : he is beyond the will of Fate. He
prayed not, nor feared nor deserved to die ; but we,
poor anxious creatures, miserable folk, we know not
whence our death shall come, what our life's end
shall be, from what quarter the thunderbolt threatens,
what cloud utters the sound of doom. Do these
thoughts not move thee ? But thou shalt be moved,
and willingly. Come hither, Glaucias, who alone
canst obtain all thou dost ask ; leave that dark
threshold, for neither the ferryman nor the comrade
of the cruel beast '^ bars the way to innocent souls ;
93
STATIUS
tu prohibe nianare genas noctesque beatas
dulcibus alloquiis et vivis vultibus imple,
et periisse nega, desolatamque sororem,
qui potes, et misei'os perge insinuare parentes.
II
MLLA SURRENTINA POLLII FELICIS
Est intex- notos Sirenum nomine muros
saxaque Tyrrhenae templis onerata Minervae
celsa Dicarchei speculatrix villa profundi,
qua Bromio dilectus ager, collesque per altos
uritur et prelis non invidet uva Falernis. 5
hue me post patrii laetum quinquennia lustri,
cum stadio iam pigra quies canusque sederet
pulvis ad Ambracias conversa gymnade frondes,
trans gentile fretum placidi facundia Polli
detulit et nitidae iuvenilis gratia Pollae, 10
" The name of Surrentum was locally derived from that
of the Sirens, probably through the fact that Parthenope,
the old man of Naples, was also the name of one of the
Sirens themselves ; the islands to the south of the promontory
are called ZnpT^vovffcrai as early as Eratosthenes. The
southernmost headland bore the name and temple of Minerva ;
Tyrrhene, perhaps from the " mare Tyrrhenum," perhaps
from a tradition of Etruscan power {cf. Steph. Byz. 'ZvpivTiov
TToXis Tvpprji'las), Minerva herself being originally Etruscan.
"The Dicarchean deep " is the bay of Naples, from Dicarchus
or Dicarcheus, founder of Puteoli.
* The four-yearly fe>)tival of the Augustalia at Naples,
instituted in a.d. 2 ; it consisted of musical and gymnastic
contests. The Actian (" Ambracian " 1. 8) games came a little
later, beginning on September 2.
94
SILVAE, II, I. 231—11. 10
soothe thou his heart and forbid his tears to flow ;
make liis nights glad with thy sweet converse and
thy hving countenance. Tell him thou art not dead,
and hasten to commend to him — for thou canst — thy
unhappy parents and thy sister left fox-lorn.
II. THE VILLA OF POLLIUS FELIX AT
SURRENTUM
The rjeneral arrangement of the poem follows the lines of
I. 3 ; there is a description of tlie villa and its surroundings,
followed by praise of its master, Pollius, and, in this case,
of his wife Polla as well. Pollivs Felix was a wealthy
patron of Statius. The position of the villa can be deter-
mined with some degree of certainty as having been on the
coast between the Capo di Sorrento and tlie Capo di Massa,
on the heights of the Punta della Calcarella ; just to the
south the Marina di Puolo still preserves the name of Pollius,
and must be the " unum litus " of II. 15, 16 ; the temples of
Neptune and Hercules lay somewhere below the villa. Con-
siderable remains of Roman masonry still exist.
The building of the Temple of Hercules is described in
Silv. iii. 1.
Between the walls that are known by the Sirens'
name and the cliff that is burdened by the shrine of
Etruscan Minerva a lofty villa stands and gazes out
upon the Dicarchean deep ; '^ there the ground is
beloved of Bromius, and the grapes ripen on the high
hills nor envy the Falernian wine-pressess. Hither
was I glad to come after the four-yearly festival ^
of my home, — when at last deep quiet had fallen
and the dust lay white upon the course, and the
athletes had turned them to Ambracian garlands, — •
drawn by the eloquence of gentle Pollius and bright
Folia's girlish charm to cross my native strait :
95
ST ATI us
flectere iam cupidum gressus, qua limite noto
Appia longarum teritur regina viarum.
Sed iuvere niorae. placido lunata recessu
hinc atque hinc cui'vas perrunipunt aequora rupes.
dat natura locum montique intervenit unum^ 15
litus et in terras scopulis pendentibus exit,
gratia prima loci, gemina testudine fumant
balnea, et e terris occurrit dulcis amaro
nympha mari. levis hie Phorci chorus udaque crines
Cymodoce viridisque cupit Galatea lavari. 20
ante domum tumidae moderator caerulus undae
excubat, innocui custos laris ; huius amico
spumant templa salo. felicia rura tuetur
Alcides ; gaudet gemino sub numine portus :
hie servat terras, hie saevis fluctibus obstat. 25
mira quies pelagi : ponunt hie lassa furorem
aequora, et insani spirant clementius austri,
hie praeceps minus audet hiems, nulloque tumultu
stagna modesta iacent dominique imitantia mores.
Inde per obliquas erepit porticus arces, 30
urbis opus, longoque domat saxa aspera dorso.
qua prius obseuro permixti pulvere soles
et feritas inamoena viae, nunc ire voluptas :
qualis, si subeas Ephyres Baccheidos altum
culmen, ab Inoo fert semita tecta Lechaeo.^ 35
1 unum M (Kroltn ; cf. Suet. Tib. 40): uduni, inium,
uncum edd.
^ Lechaeo T>om. : lyceo 3/: Lyaeo S~.
" Old name of Corinth ; the epithet appears to allude to
the Bacchiadae, ancient rulers of Corinth.
*" Lechaeum was the port of Corinth on the Corinthian
gulf, associated with the worship of I no and Palaemon
9Q
SILVAE, II. II. 11 35
tJiough already fain to direct my steps where runs
the worn and well-known track of Appia, queen of
the long roads.
Yet the time I spent delighted me. The crescent
waters of a tranquil bay break through the curving
line of cliff on either hand. The spot is of Nature's
giving : one single beach lies between sea and hill,
ending towards the land in overhanging rocks. The
first charm of the place is a smoking bath-house with
two cupolas, and a stream of fresh water from the
land meeting the salt brine. Here would the nimble
choir of Phorcus wish to bathe, and Cymodoce with
dripping tresses and sea-green Galatea. Before the
building the dark-blue ruler of the swelling waves
keeps watch, and guards that innocent home ; his
shrine is it that is wet with friendly spray. Alcides
protects the happy fields ; in the two deities does
the haven rejoice : one guards the land, the other
resists the angry billows. A wondrous peace is on
the sea : here the Aveary waves rage no more, and
the furious South wind blows more mildly ; here the
swift hurricane is less daring, and the pools lie
tranquil and undisturbed, calm as the spirit of their
lord.
Thence a colonnade climbs slantwise up the cliff,
vast as a city, and its long line of roof gains mastery
over the rugged rocks. Where the sun once shone
through clouds of dust, and the way was wild and
unlovely, now it is a pleasure to go. Even such,
should you scale the lofty height of Bacchic Ephyre,'*
is the covered way that leads from Lechaeum, of
Ino's fame.**
(Melicertes), whence came the Isthmian games ; cf. Theh.
ii. 381.
VOL. I H 97
ST ATI us
Non, mihi si cunctos Helicon indulgeat amnes
et superet Pimplea sitim largeque volantis
iingula sedet equi reseretque arcana pudicos
Phemonoe fontes vel quos meus auspice Phoebo
altius immersa turbavit Pollius urna, 40
innumeras valeam species cultusque locorum
Pieriis aequare modis. vix ordine longo
sufFecere oculi, vix, dum per singula ducor,
suffecere gradus. quae reruni turba ! locine 44
ingenium an domini niirer prius ? haec domus ortus
aspicit et Phoebi tenerum iubar ; ilia cadentem
detinet exactamque negat diniittere lucem,
cum iam fessa dies et in aequora mentis opaci
umbra cadit vitreoque natant praetoria ponto.
haec pelagi clamore fremunt, haec tecta sonoros 50
ignorant fluctus terraeque silentia malunt.
liis favit natura locis, hie victa colenti
cessit et ignotos docilis mansue\'it in usus.
mons erat hie, ubi plana vides ; et lustra fuerunt,
quae nunc tecta subis ; ubi nunc nemora ardua cernis,
hie nee terra fuit : domuit possessor, et ilium 56
formantem rupes expugnantemque secuta
gaudet humus, nunc cerne iugum discentia saxa
intrantesque domos iussumque recedere montem.
iam Methymnaei vatis manus et chelys una 60
Thebais et Getici cedat tibi gloria plectri :
et tu saxa moves, et te nemora alta sequuntur.
" i.e., the fountain Hippocrene struck forth by the hoof of
Pergasus, cf. ii. 7. 4.
*" Daughter of Apollo, and, according to Strabo, the first
Pjthian priestess. Her " pure " springs are those of Castalia
(" castus "), and " arcana " may be meant as an etymologizing
of " Phemonoe," " she who speaks forth hidden thoughts."
" Arion, Amphion, Orpheus.
98
SILVAE, II. II. 3G-62
Not if Helicon were to grant me all her streams,
or Pimplea quench my thirst, or the hoof of the
flying steed " abundantly assuage it : not if mystic
Phemonoe ^ were to unlock her pure springs or those
wherein my Pollius, under the auspices of Phoebus , hath
plunged his deep-immersed urn — not even so could
I equal in Pierian strains the countless charms and
beauties of the place. Scarcely could my eyes sus-
tain the long array, scarce could my feet avail, while
I was led from scene to scene. What a multitude
of things ! Shall I first admire the genius of the
place or of its master ? This part of the house looks
eastward to Phoebus' morning rays ; that part de-
tains him as he sets, nor allows the exhausted light
to disappear, when the day is wearied out and the
shadow of the dark mountain falls on the waters,
and the proud mansion floats upon the glassy flood.
Here the sound of the sea is in the chambers, here
they know not the roaring of the waves, but prefer
the silence of the land. Here are spots that Nature
has favoured, here she has been outdone and given
way to the settler and learnt gentleness in ways
unknown before. Here, where you now see level
ground, was a hill ; the halls you enter were wild
country ; where now tall groves appear, there was
once not even soil : its owner has tamed the place,
and as he shaped and conquered the rocks the
earth gladly gave way before him. See how the
cliff learns to bear the yoke, how the dwellings force
tlieir entry and the mountain is bidden withdraw.
Now let the skill of Methymne's bard and that sole
Theban lyre and the glory of the Getic quill *= give
way before thee : thou too dost move the rocks, thee
too the high woods follow.
99
STATIUS
Quid referam veteres ceraeque aerisque figuras,
si quid Apellei gaudent animasse colores,
si quid adhuc vacua, tamen admirabile, Pisa 65
Phidiacae rasere manus, quod ab arte Myronis
aut Polycliteo iussum est quod vivere caelo,
aeraque ab Isthniiacis auro potiora favillis,
era ducum ac vatum sapientumque ora priorum,
quos tibi cura sequi, quos toto pectore sentis, 70
expers curarum atque animum virtute quieta
compositus semperque tuus ? quid mille revolvam
culmina visendique vices ? sua cuique voluptas
atque omni proprium thalamo mare, transque
iacentem
Nerea diversis servit sua terra fenestris : 75
haec videt Inarimen, illinc Prochyta aspera paret ;
armiger hac magni patet Hectoris, inde malignum
aera respirat pelago circumflua Nesis ;
inde vagis omen felix Euploea carinis
quaeque ferit curves exserta Megalia fluctus, 80
angitur et domino contra recubante proculque
Surrentina tuus spectat praetoria Limon.
una tamen cunctis, procul eminet una diaetis,
quae tibi Parthenopen derecto limite ponti
ingerit : hie Grais penitus delecta metallis 85
saxa ; quod Eoae respergit vena Syenes,
Synnade quod maesta Phrygiae fodere secures
per Cybeles lugentis agros, ubi marmore picto
Candida purpureo distinguitur area gyro ;
hie et Amyclaei caesum de monte Lycurgi 90
" i.e., before the statue of Olympian Zeus was there.
'' Statues supposed to have been cast from the masses
of molten bronze found in Corinth after its burning : see
Petronius, 50 ; Plinj% N.II. xxxiv. 5.
" The cape called after Misenus.
■* Because the name (EuTrXota) means " happy voyaging."
100
SILVAE, II. II. G3-90
Why should I tell of ancient forms in wax or
bronze, or of aught that the colours of Apelles re-
joiced to animate, or the hand of Phidias carved,
though Pisa still was empty," yet wondrously withal,
or what was bidden live by Myron's art or Polycletus'
chisel, the bronzes, from the funeral fire of Corinth,''
more precious than gold, countenances of chieftains
and prophets and sages of old time, whom it is thy
care to follow, whose influence tliou dost feel in all
thy being, untroubled and steadfast in thy tranquil
virtue, and ever lord of thy own heart ? Why should
I recount the numberless summits and the changing
views ? Each chamber has its oAvn deliglit, its own
particular sea, and across the expanse of Nereus each
window commands a different landscape : this one
beholds Inarime, from that rugged Prochyta is seen ;
here the squire of mighty Hector " is outspread,
there sea-girt Nesis breathes tainted air ; yonder is
Euploea, good omen for wandering barks,'^ and
Megalia flung out to repel the curving billows ; and
thy own Limon grieves that his lord reclines there
over against him, and gazes at thy Surrentine mansion
from afar. Yet one room there is, one higher than
all the rest, which over a straight track of sea brings
Parthenope to thy sight : here are marbles chosen
from the heart of Grecian quarries ; ^ the stone of
Eastern Syene, splashed with veining, and that
which Phrygian axes hew in mournful Synnas o'er
the fields of wailing Cybele,^ whereon the white ex-
panse is bordered by a rim of purple ; here too are
green blocks quarried from the hill of Lycurgus at
* See note on i. 2. 148.
^ The Phrygian worship of Cybele, who wails for Attis,
her votary (c/. i. 5. 38), is here referred to.
101
STATIUS
quod viret et molles imitatur rupibus herbas,
hie Nomadum lucent flaventia saxa Thasosque
et Cliios et gaudens fluctus spectare Carystos :
omnia Chalcidicas turres obversa salutant.
macte animo, quod Graia probas, quod Graia^
frequentas 95
ai'va ; nee invideant quae te genuere Diearehi
moenia ! nos docto melius potiemur alumno.
Quid nune ruris opes pontoque novalia dicam
iniecta et madidas Baecheo nectare rupes ?
saepe per autumnum lam pubescente Lyaeo 100
conseendit scopulos noctisque oeculta sub umbra
palmite maturo rorantia lumina tersit
Nereis et dulces rapuit de collibus uvas.
saepe et vicino sparsa est vindemia fluctu,
et Satyri cecidere vadis, nudamque per undas 105
Dorida montani cupierunt prendere Panes.
Sis felix, tellus, dominis ambobus in annos
Mygdonii Pyliique senis nee nobile mutes
servitium, nee te eultu Tirynthia vincat
aula Dicareheique sinus, nee saepius isti 110
blanda Therapnaei plaeent^ vineta Galaesi.
hie ubi Pierias exercet Pollius artes,
seu volvit monitus, quos dat Gargettius auctor,
^ Graia . Graia Gevart : grata . grata M.
^ isti . . placent M : istis . . placeant S".
" Either because of the similarity of colour, or, according
to PhilUmore (quoted by Slater), because the view recalls
tiiat from the Carj'stian quarries.
*" Cumae, a colony of Chalcis in Euboea, was very near
to Naples; " Chalcidian " can therefore = " Neapolitan."
"Diearehi moenia " = Puteoli.
' Statins congratulates Pollius on his love of Greek
marbles, Greek learning {cf. 1. 113), and Greek dwelling-
102
SILVAE, II. II. 91-113
Amyclae, where the stone counterfeits the grass ;
here gleam the tawny rocks from Numidia, Thasian
marble too and Chian, and Carystian stone that joys
to behold the waves : " all turn to salute the Chal-
cidian towers .'' A blessing on thy heart, that thou
approvest what is Greek and hauntest Grecian land ;
nor let the city of Dicarchus that gave thee birth
feel envy ! We shall prove better owners of our
poet- ward."
Why should I rehearse the wealth of the country-
side, the fallows flung out into the sea and the cliffs
steeped in Bacchus' nectar ? Often in autumn-time
when the grapes are ripening a Nereid climbs the
rocks, and under cover of the shades of night brushes
the sea-water from her eyes with a leafy vine-spray,
and snatches sweet clusters from the hills. Often is
the vintage sprinkled by the neighbouring foam ;
Satyrs plunge into the water, and Pan-gods from
the mountain are fain to grasp the sea-nymph as
she flies naked through the waves.
Bless with prosperity, O land, thy lord and lady
both, unto the years of a Nestor or a Tithonus, nor
ever change thy noble servitude ! Let not the
Tirynthian hall and Dicarchus' bay outdo thee as a
home,*^ nor thy lords too often gladden the wistful
vineyards of Laconian Galaesus. Here where Pollius
plies his Pierian craft, whether he ponders the
places (Naples and its surroundings). "We," i.e. we of
Naples, as opposed to Puteoli.
"* Pollius seems to have possessed a house at Bauli near
Puteoli (cf. note on 1. 94), and also near Tarentum. The latter
is represented as " coaxing " ("blanda") him to come and
spend his time there, and jealous (hence " placent ") if he does
not. Therapnaean, because Therapnae is in Laconia, and
Tarentum was a Spartan colony.
103
STATIUS
seu nostram quatit ille chelyn seu dissona nectit
carniina sive niinax ultorem stringit iambon : 115
hinc levis e scopulis meliora ad carmina Siren
advolat, hinc motis audit Tritonia cristis.
tunc rapidi ponunt flatus, maria ipsa vetantur
obstrepere, emergunt pelago doctamque trahuntur
ad clielyn et blandi scopulis delphines aderrant. 120
Vive, Midae gazis et Lydo ditior auro,
Troica et Euphratae supra diademata felix,
quern non anibigui fasces, non mobile vulgus,
non leges, non castra terent, qui pectore magno
spemque metumque domas voto^ subliniior onini, 125
exemptus fatis indignantemque refellens
Fortunam ; dubio queni non in turbine rerum
deprendet suprema dies, sed abire paratum
ac plenum vita, nos, vilis turba, caducis
deservire bonis semperque optare parati, 130
spargimur in casus : celsa tu mentis ab arce
despicis errantes humanaque gaudia rides,
tempus erat, cum te geminae suffragia terrae
diriperent celsusque duas veherere per urbes,
inde Dicarcheis multum venerande colonis, 135
hinc adscite meis, pariterque his largus et illis
ac iuvenile calens plectrique errore superbus.
at nunc discussa rerum caligine verum
aspicis — illo alii rursus iactantur in alto — ,
et tua secures portus placidamque quietem 140
intravit non quassa ratis. sic perge nee umquam
^ voto Waller : tuto M: vitio, motu, titulo edd.
" Pollius, like Vopiscus, was an Epicurean : this, how-
ever, may not mean more than that he enjoyed a cuUured
leisure, and avoided pubhc life.
* i.e., writes epic or elegiac verse.
" Of Croesus. "^ Of the Persian kings.
104
SILVAE, 11. II. 114-141
Gargettian teacher's counsels,'* or strikes my own lyre,
or reunites unequal strains,* or draws the threatening
sword of avenging satire : the nimble Siren speeds
from these rocks to sweeter lays than hers, and here
Tritonia lifts her head and listens. Then the Avild
winds abate, the seas themselves are forbidden to
rage ; the dolphins emerge from the deep, and drawn
to the music of his harp float gently by the cliffs.
Long mayst thou live, enriched beyond Midas'
wealth and Lydian '^ gold, blest" above the diadems
of Euphrates '^ and of Troy ; whom neither fickle
power nor the shifting mob, nor laws nor camps can
vex, whose great heart, raised sublime over all desire,
doth quell hope and fear, who art beyond the will of
Fate and dost baffle the enmity of P'ortune ; thee the
last day shall find, not bewildered in the maze of
things, but sated with life and ready to depart.
But we, a worthless folk, slaves at the beck of transient
blessings and wishes ever new, are tossed from chance
to chance : thou from thy mind's high citadel dost
look down upon our wanderings and laughest at
human joys. There was a time when the loyalty of
two lands tore thee in twain, and thou wert borne
in triumph through two cities, there worshipped, as
is meet, by Dicarchus' folk, here made their own by
mine, and bountiful alike to these and those, in the
full fire of youth and proud of thy wandering Muse.*
But now are the mists dispersed, and thou dost
behold the truth — others in their turn are tossed
upon that sea — and thy unshaken bark has entered
a peaceful haven and a quiet resting-place. Con-
* The phrase refers either to the varied poetical achieve-
ments of Pollius, or Ills travelling to different cities for the
purpose of recitation, perhaps at various festivals.
105
STATIUS
emeritam in nostras puppem dimitte procellas. 142
tuque, nurus inter longe praedocta Latinas 147
parque viro mentem, cui non^ praecordia curae,
non frontem vertere^ minae, sed Candida semper
gaudia et in vultu curarum ignara voluptas ;
non tibi sepositas infelix strangulat area 150
divitias avidique animum dispendia torquent
fenoris : expositi census et docta fruendi
temperies. non ulla deo meliore cohaerent
pectora, non alias docuit^ Concordia mentes. 154
discite securi, quorum de pectore mixtae 143
in longum coiere faces sanctusque pudicae
servat amicitiae leges amor, ite per annos
saeculaque et priscae titulos praecedite famae. 146
III. ARBOR ATEDII MELIORIS
Stat, quae perspicuas nitidi Melioris opacet
arbor aquas complexa lacus, quae robore ab imo
incurvata vadis redit inde cacumine recto
ardua, ceu mediis iterum nascatur ab undis
atque habitet vitreum tacitis radicibus amnem. 5
^ praedocta . . . cui non IF. R. Hardie, C.R. xviii. p.
158.
■^ vertere Pol. {from P) : vescere M.
* docuit M : decuit 5".
1 0(1
SILVAE, II. 11. 142— III. 5
tinue thus, nor ever loose thy vessel, her voyage
over, to face our storms. And thou, who in wisdom
dost surpass the daughters of Latiura and in mind
art equal to thy lord, whose spirit no cares, whose
brow no menace has dismayed, but who art ever
bright and happy, while joy untroubled reigns in thy
countenance : — for thee no churlish money-chest
keeps tight grip of hoarded wealth, no waste of greedy
usury tortures thy heart, but open to all are thy
riches, and thou dost enjoy them in wise restraint.
No union of souls is more blest, such are the minds
that Concord has taught. Learn of her in untroul^led
peace, ye from whose hearts the blending fires are
met in a long union, and wliose hallowed love keeps
fast the laws of chaste affection. Go onward through
the years, and outdo the centuries of old and the
title-roll of ancient fame.
III. THE TREE OF ATEDIUS MELIOR
Atedius Melior, another of StatUis's rich patrons, had a
plane-tree in his (/rounds that grew beside a pool, with a
trunk that bent over and down towards the water, and then
straightening itself grew upwards again ; Statius's poem is
a kind of Alexandrian alVtoj', giving the cause of the phenom-
enon, and reminds one also of an Ovidian Metamorphosis.
It was sent to Melior as a birthday gift.
Enfolding with its overshadowing boughs the clear
waters of my elegant Melior's lake there stands a
tree, whose trunk, curving from its base, bends down
toward the mere, and then shoots up aloft straiglit
to its summit, as though it grew a second time from
the midst of the waves, and dwelt with hidden roots
in the glassy stream. Why ask so slight a tale of
107
STATIUS
quid Phoebum tarn parva rogem ? vos dicite causas,
Naides, et faciles, satis est, date carmina Fauni.
Nynipharum tenerae fugiebant Pana catervae ;
ille quidem it, eunctas tamquani velit, et tamen^ unam
in Pholoen. silvis haec^ fluminibusque sequentis 10
nunc liirtos gressus, nunc improba cornua vitat.
iamque et belligerum lani nemus atraque Caci
rura Quirinalesque fuga suspensa per agros
Caelica tesca subit ; ibi demum victa labore,
fessa metu, qua nunc placidi Melioris aperti 15
stant sine fraude lares, flavos collegit amictus
artius et niveae^ posuit se margine ripae.
Insequitur velox pecorum deus et sua credit
conubia ; ardenti iamiam suspiria librat
pectore, iam praedae levis imminet. ecce citatos 20
advertit Diana gradus, dum per iuga septem
errat Aventinaeque legit vestigia cervae.
paenituit vidisse deam, conversaque fidas
ad comites : " numquamne avidis arcebo rapinis
hoc petulans foedumque pecus, semperque pudici 25
decrescet mihi turba chori ? " sic deinde locuta
depromit pharetra telum breve, quod neque flexis
cornibus aut solito torquet stridore, sed una
eniisit contenta manu laevamque soporae^
Naidos aversa fertur tetigisse sagitta. 30
ilia diem pariter surgens hostemque protervum
vidit et in fonteni, niveos ne panderet artus,
^ et tamen J/ : it tamen S".
^ haec m Pol. {from P) : et M: sed Krohn.
' niveae M : viridi Markland : curvae, nitidae ecld. :
vivae Slater, niveae is certainly doubtful, though he may he
thinking of flowers.
* soporae Krohn : soporem M.
" The precinct of Janus was at the foot of the Capitol, the
108
SILVAE, 11. HI. 6-32
Phoebus ? Do you, O Naiads, relate the cause, and
you, comphant Fauns — ye will suffice — inspire my
song.
Frightened troops of Nymphs were fleeing from
Pan ; on he came, as though all were his quarry, yet
on Pholoe alone was he bent. By copse and stream
she fled, shunning now the hairy following limbs,
now the wanton horns. Through Janus' grove,*
scene of battles, and Cacus' deadly haunts ; through
the fields of Quirinus she came running a-tiptoe and
gained the Caelian wilds ; there at last wearied out
and fordone with feai- — where to-day stands the
quiet home of hospitable Melior — she gathered her
saffron robe closer about her, and sank down on the
edge of the snow-white bank. Swiftly follows the
shepherd-god, and deems the maid his bride ; already
he allays the panting of his fevered breast, already
he hovers lightly o'er his prey. Lo ! with speedy
steps Diana approaches, as she ranges the seven hills
and tracks the flight of a deer on Aventine ; the
goddess was vexed to see it, and turning to her
trusty comrades : " Shall I never keep this un-
seemly, wanton brood from lustful rapine ? Must my
chaste band of followers ever grow fewer ? " So
speaking she drew a short shaft from her quiver, but
sped it not from the bent bow or with the wonted
twang, but was content to fling it with one hand, and
touched — so 'tis said — the left hand of the drowsy
Naiad with the arrow-feathers. She awaking beheld
at once the day and her wanton foe, and lest she
should bare her snow-white limbs plunged just as she
was with all her raiment into the lake, and at the
den of Cacus on the Aventine, on which hill was a shrine of
Diana.
109
ST ATI us
sic tota cum veste ruit, stagnisque sub altis
Pana sequi credens ima latus implicat alga,
quid faceret subito deceptus praedo ? nee altis 35
credere corpus aquis hirtae sibi conscius audet
pellis et a tenero nandi rudis : omnia questus,
immitem Bromium,-'- stagna invida et invida tela,
primaevam \'isu platanum, cui longa propago
innumeraeque manus et iturus in aethera vertex, 40
deposuit iuxta vivamque adgessit harenam
optatisque aspergit aquis et talia mandat :
" vive diu nostri pignus memorabile voti,
arbor, et haec durae latebrosa cubilia nymphae
tu saltern declinis ama, preme frondibus undam. 45
ilia quidem meruit, sed ne, precor, igne superno
aestuet aut dura feriatur grandine ; tantum
spargere tu laticem et foliis turbare memento,
tunc ego teque diu recolam dominamque benignae
sedis et inlaesa tutabor utramque senecta, 50
ut Io\is, ut Phoebi frondes, ut discolor umbra
populus et nostrae stupeant tua germina pinus."
sic ait. ilia dei veteres animata calores
uberibus stagnis obliquo pendula trunco
incubat atque umbris scrutatur amantibus undas. 55
sperat et amplexus, sed aquarum spiritus arcet
nee patitur tactus. tandem eluctata sub auras
libratur fundo rursusque enode cacumen
ingeniosa levat, veluti descendat in imos
stirpe lacus alia, iam nee Phoebeia Nais 60
odit et exclusos invitat gurgite ramos
Haec tibi parva quidem genitali luce paramus
^ Bromium M : Brimo Scaliger: Bormum Ellis.
" Bacchus being the deitj' to whom Pan, together with
Satyrs and Sileni, owed allegiance and therefore trusted for
help. * Oak and bay.
110
SILVAE, II. HI. 33-62
bottom of the mere, believing Pan was following, she
WTapped the weeds about her. What could the
robber do, so suddenly baffled ? Conscious of his
shaggy hide, and from childhood untaught to swim,
he dares not trust himself to the deep waters. Lavish
complaint made he of heartless Bromius, of the jealous
lake and jealous shaft ; " then spying a young plane
tree with long stem and countless branches and
summit aspiring to heaven he set it by him and
heaped fresh sand about it and sprinkled it with the
longed-for waters, and thus commanded it : " Live
long, O tree, as the memorable token of my vow,
and do thou at least stoop down and cherish the secret
abode of this hard-hearted nymph, and cover her
waters with thy leaves. Let her not, I pray, though
she has deserved it, be scorched by the sun's lieat or
lashed by cruel hail ; only mind thou to bestrew the
pool with thickly scattered leaves. Then will I long
remember thee and the mistress of this kindly place,
and guard both to a secure old age, so that the trees
of Jove and Phoebus, and the twy-coloured poplar
shade ^ and my own pines may marvel at thy boughs."
So he spake ; and the tree, quickened with the old
passion of the god, hangs and broods over the full
mere with drooping stem, and searches the waves
with loving shadows, and hopes for their embrace ;
but the breath of the waters put it from them, and
suffered not its touch. At length it struggles upward,
and poised upon its base cunningly hfts its head
without any knot, as though it sank with another
root into the bottom of the lake. Now not even the
Naiad, Phoebe's votary, hates it, but her stream
invites the boughs she banished.
Such is the gift I bring thee on thy birthday,
111
STATIUS
dona, sed ingenti forsan victura sub aevo.
tu, cuius placido posuere in pectore sedem
blandus honos hilarisque tamen cum pondere virtus,
cui nee pigra quies nee iniqua potentia nee spes 66
improba, sed medius per honesta et duleia limes,
ineorrupte fidem nullosque experte tumultus
et secrete, palam quom^ digeris ordine vitam,
idem auri faeilis contemptor et optimus idem 70
comere divitias opibusque immittere lucem :
hac longum florens animi morumque iuventa
Iliaeos aequare senes et \incere persta,
quos pater Elysium, genetrix quos detulit annos :
hoc illi duras exoravere sorores, 7o
hoe, quae te sub teste situm fugitura tacentem
ardua magnanimi revirescet gloria Blaesi.
IV. PSITTACUS EIUSDEM
Psittace, dux volucrum, domini facunda voluptas,
humanae sellers imitator, psittace, linguae,
quis tua tarn subito praeelusit murmura fato ?
hesternas, miserande, dapes moriturus inisti
nobiscum, et gratae carpentem munera mensae 5
errantemque toris mediae plus tempore noetis
vidimus, adfatus etiam meditataque verba
^ quom Vollmer : quod 3/: quo Baehrens: qui Dom.
" The praise of his patron seems to show that MeUor, Hke
Vopiscus and PolUus. cultivated an elegant leisure.
112
SILVAE, II. in. 63— IV, 7
small indeed, but destined perchance to live through-
out long ages. Thou in whose tranquil breast dwells
courteous chgnity and gay, yet thoughtful virtue,
refusest slothful ease and unjust power and over-
weening ambition, but takest the mid-path between
duty and pleasure, thou whose loyalty is unstained,
whose heart has known no storms, whose life is lived
apart, yet ordered and planned for all to see, thou
who readily spurnest gold, yet dost excel in setting
thy wealth in array and bringing thy riches to the
light : long mayst thou flourish and live on in youth-
fulness of mind and heart to rival Priam and Tithonus,
and to surpass the years that thy mother and thy
sire took with them to Elysium ; this guerdon
have they won for thee from the stern Sisters, they
and the lofty fame of great-hearted Blaesus, which,
preserved from silent oblivion by thy witness, shall
floui'ish once again."
IV. MELIOR'S PARROT
Tliis elegy on Melior's parrot recalls of course OvicVs
similar poem (Am. ii. 6), while it is also a kind of parody
of Statius's oivn Epicedia. For talking birds in ancient
times, Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 117, is the locus classicus.
Parrot, prince of birds, glib-tongued favourite of
thy master, parrot that cleverly dost mimic human
speech, who has cut short thy chatter by so sudden
a stroke ? Yesterday, hapless one, thou didst join
our feast, though doomed to die, and we saw thee
plucking the dainties of the table and moving from
couch to couch till after midnight. Greetings also
and well-conned words hadst thou repeated. But
VOL. I I 113
STATIUS
reddideras. at nunc aeterna silentia Lethes
ille canorus habes. cedat Phaethontia vulgi
fabula : non soli celebrant sua funera cygni. 10
At tibi quanta domus rutila testudine fulgens,
conexusque ebori virgarum argenteus ordo,
argutumque tuo stridentia limina cornu,
et, quei-ulae iam sponte, fores ! vacat ille beatus
career et augusti^ nusquam convicia tecti ! 15
Hue doctae stipentur aves, quis nobile fandi
ius Natura dedit : plangat Phoebeius ales
auditasque memor penitus dimittere voces
sturnus et Aonio versae certamine picae,
quique refert iungens iterata vocabula perdix, 20
et quae Bistonio queritur soror orba cubili :
ferte simul gemitus cognataque ducite flammis
funera et hoc cunctae miserandum addiscite carmen :
" Occidit aeriae celeberrima gloria gentis
psittacus, ille plagae viridis regnator Eoae ; 25
quern non gemmata volucris lunonia cauda
vinceret aspectu, gelidi non Phasidis ales,
nee quas umenti Numidae rapuere sub austro.
ille salutator reguni nonienque locutus
Caesareum et queruH quondam vice functus amici, 30
nunc conviva levis monstrataque reddere verba
tarn facilis ! quo tu, Melior dilecte, recluso
numquam solus eras, at non inglorius umbris
mittitur : Assyrio cineres adolentur aniomo
^ augusti M: angusti 5".
" Because the death-song of swans is referred to in it.
'' The raven.
" The maidens who challenged the Muses and were turned
into magpies.
•* Philomela, sister-in-law of Tereus, king of Thrace, turned
into a nightingale ; according to Pliny {loc. cit.) these birds
could be taught both Latin and Greek.
114
SILVAE, II. IV. 8-34
now that minstrelsy hath Lethe's eternal silence for
its portion. Let the well-known tale of Phaethon
give place : 'tis not only swans that sing their
coming death."
But how spacious was thy house, how bright its
gleaming dome ! and the row of silver bars, joined
with ivory, and the gate that echoed shrill at the
touch of thy beak, and the doors that to-day speak
their own complaint ! Empty is that happy cage,
and silent the chattering of that lordly abode.
Flock hither all ye scholar fowl, to whom Nature
has given the noble privilege of speech ; let the bird
of Phoebus ^ beat his breast, and the starling, that
repeats by heart the sayings it has heard, and
magpies transformed in the Aonian contest,^ and the
partridge, that joins and reiterates the words it
echoes, and the sister that laments forlorn in her
Bistonian boAver : <^ mourn all together and bear
your dead kinsman to the flames, and learn all of
you this piteous dirge :
" The parrot, gloiy and renown of all the airy
tribe, green monarch of the East, is dead : whom
neither the bird of Juno with jewelled tail, nor the
fowl of icy Phasis,* nor those whereon the Numidians
prey beneath the moist southern sky, could surpass
in beauty. Once he saluted kings and spoke the
name of Caesar, was now a sympathetic friend, now
a gay companion of the board, so skilful was he to
render the w^ords he had been taught ! Never wert
thou solitary, beloved MeUor, when he was set free.
But not ingloriously is he sent to the shades : his
ashes are rich with Assyrian balm, and the frail
^ See note on i. 6. 77.
115
ST ATI us
et tenues Arabum respirant graniine plumae 35
Sicaniisque crocis ; senio nee fessus inert!
scandet odoratos Phoenix felicior ignes."
V. LEO MANSUETUS
Quid tibi nunc strata^ mansuescere profuit ira ?
quid scelus humanasque animo dediscere caedes
imperiumque pati et domino parere minori ?
quid ? quod abire domo rursusque in claustra reverti
suetus et a capta iam sponte recedere praeda 5
insertasque manus laxo dimittere morsu ?
occidis, altarum vastator docte ferarum,
non grege Massylo curvaque indagine clausus,
non forniidato supra venabula saltu
ineitus aut caeco foveae deceptus hiatu, 10
sed v-ictus fugiente fera. stat cardine aperto
infelix cavea et clausas circum undique portas
hoc hcuisse nefas placidi tumuere^ leones,
turn cunctis cecidere iubae, puduitque relatum
aspicere, et totas duxere in luniina frontes. 15
at non te primo fusum novus obruit ictu
ille pudor : mansere animi, virtusque cadenti
a media iam morte redit, nee protinus omnes
terga dedere minae. sicut sibi conscius alti
vulneris adversum moriens it miles in hostem 20
^ nunc strata Postgate : monstrata M : constrata S" :
deposita Clark, loho considers monstrata due to iv. 31 above.
^ tumuere Baelirens : timuere 3/.
" The MassyHans were an African tribe, and Uons were
conventionally associated with Africa.
** The allusion is not clear to us, though of course it would
be to a witness of the fight.
116
SILVAE, II. IV. 35— V. 20
feathers breathe incense of Arabia and Sicanian
saffron ; and he will mount a fragrant pyre, a happier
Phoenix, free from the weary languor of old age."
V. THE TAME LION
Tame lions are the subject of epigrams by Martial (i. 6, 14,
22, 48, etc.). For the circumstances of the writing of this
piece see Preface to this book.
What now has it availed thee to quell thy rage
and be tamed, to unlearn crime and human slaughter
from thy heart, and endure dominion and obey a
lesser lord ? To have been wont to leave thy cage
and return again to imprisonment, and of thy own
will yield up the captured prey, to open thy jaws
and let go the inserted hand ? Thou art fallen, O
skilled slayer of tall beasts, not caught within the
enclosing circle of a Massylian hunting-band,** nor
flinging thyself with dreaded spring against the spears,
nor deceived by the hidden yawning of a pit, but
overcome by a beast that fled thee.* The unlucky
cage stands open, while behind their barriers all
around the quiet lions grew wrathful that so great a
wrong should have been suffered. Then all their
crests fell, and shame came on them to see the corpse
brought back, and they drew down all their brows
upon their eyes. Yet when the first stroke o'erthrew
thee the unwonted shame o'erwhelmed thee not :
thy valour remained, and even in the hour of death
thy brave spirit rallied as thou didst fall, nor did
all thy fierceness straightway own defeat. Just as
the dying warrior who knows his wound is mortal yet
goes against the foe, and lifts his hand to strike, and
117
STATIUS
attoUitque manum et ferro labente minatur :
sic pigei" ille gradu solitoque exutus honoi'e
firmat hians oculos animamque liostenique requirit.
Magna tamen subiti tecum solacia leti,
victe, feres, quod te maesti populusque patresque, 25
ceu notus caderes tristi gladiator harena,
ingemuere mori ; magni quod Caesaris ora
inter tot Scythicas Libycasque, et^ litore Rheni
et Pharia de gente feras, quas perdere vile est,
unius amissi tetigit iactura leonis. 30
VI. CONSOLATIO AD FLAVIUM URSUM
DE AMISSIONE PUERI DELICATI
Saeve nimis, lacrimis quisquis discrimina ponis
lugendique modos. miserum est primaeva parenti
pignora surgentesque — nefas ! — accendere natos ;
durum et deserti praerepta coniuge partem
conclamare tori, maesta et lamenta sororum 5
et fratrum gemitus : alte tamen ac^ procul intrat
altius in sensus maioraque vulnera \incit
plaga minor, famulum — quia rerum nomina caeca
sic miscet Fortuna manu nee pectora novit — ,
sed famulum gemis, Urse, pium, sed amore fideque
^ et Aldus : in M: ab Baehrens : a Phillimon.
^ alte tamen ac MarMand : ad te tamen at M: alte et
tamen at Vollmer: alter Phillimon (alterius next line).
118
SILVAE, II. V. 21— VI. 10
tlireatens even while tlie weapon falls from liis gvasp ;
so he with laboured step and reft of liis wonted pride
steadies his eyes as with open mouth he pants for
breath and for the foe.
Great solace, nevertheless, shall be thine, poor
victim, for thy sudden fate, that people and Senate
mourned in sorrow to see thee die, as though thou
wert some favourite gladiator fallen on the deadly
sand ; that amid so many beasts of Scythia and
Libya, from the banks of Rhine and the tribes of
Egypt, beasts so cheaply slain, the loss of one lion
alone drew a tear from mighty Caesar's eye.
VI. A POEM OF CONSOLATION TO FLAVIUS
URSUS ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE
SLAVE
This Epicedion follows the same lines as ii. 1, except that
the opening is different. Flavins Ursus, we may gather from
the Preface and this poem, was young and rich, and practised
at the bar.
Too cruel thou, whoever thou art, who makest
distinctions in mourning, and settest bounds to grief !
Piteous it is for a parent to burn — ah ! fearful
thought ! — an infant darling or groA'idng son ; hard
too is it when a consort is snatched away to call the
name of the partner of the deserted couch ; sad are
a sister's tears and a brother's groans : yet deeply
also, ay deeper far does a stroke less deadly probe
the feelings, surpassing mightier blows. 'Tis a slave
— for thus doth Fortune confound with undiscerning
hand the names of things, nor sees into the heart —
a slave whom thou dost mourn, but one that was
119
STATIUS
has meritum lacrimas, cui niaior stemmate iuncto 1 1
libertas ex mente fuit. ne comprinie fletus,
ne pudeat ; rumpat frenos dolor iste diesque/
si tarn dura placent — hominem^ gemis — heu mihi !
subdo
ipse faces — , hominem, Urse, tuum, cui dulce volenti
servitium, cui triste nihil, qui sponte sibique 16
imperiosus erat. quisnam haec in funera missos
castiget luctus ? gemit inter bella peremptum
Parthus equum, fidosque canes flevere Molossi,
et volucres habuere rogum cervusque Maronem. 20
quid, si nee famulus r vidi ipse habitusque notavi
te tantum cupientis erum ; sed maior in ore
spiritus et tenero manifesti in sanguine mores,
optarent multum Graiae cuperentque Latinae
sic peperisse nurus. non talem Cressa superbum 25
callida sollicito revoca\it Thesea filo,
nee Paris Oebahos tahs \isurus amores
rusticus in\-itas deiecit in aequora pinus,
non fallo aut cantus adsueta licentia ducit :
vidi et adhuc video, qualem nee bella canentem 30
litore \-irgineo Thetis occultavit Achillen,
nee circum saevi fugientem moenia Phoebi
Troilon Haemoniae deprendit lancea dextrae.
qualis eras ! procul en cunctis puerisque virisque
pulchrior et tantum domino minor ! illius unus 35
ante decor, quantum praecedit clara minores
luna faces quantumque alios premit Hesperos ignes.
^ diesque M : decusque Peyrared : deisque Dom.
* hominem M : homo enim Macnaghten.
" As for instance the parrot of ii. 4, or the raven men-
tioned by Pliny {N.H. x. 122) as being given a fine funeral.
The stag is that of Silvia {Aen. xii. 475).
*" Because Oebalus was an ancient king of Sparta.
1^20
SILVAE, II. VI. 11-37
loyal, one whose faithful affection merited these
tears, and whose spirit kneM' a freedom that no line
of ancestry could give. Check not thy weeping, feel
no shame ; let that day of thy lament know no
restraining, if the Fates are so cruel — 'tis a man thou
bewailest, Ursus, — alas ! myself I fan thy sorrow ! —
a man who was thine own, ready to find service sweet,
never sullen, eager to give orders to himself. Who
would curb the grief that bursts forth at such a
death ? The Parthian laments his steed slain in the
fight, the Molossians their trusty hounds, even birds
have had their pyres, and the hind its Maro.'' What
if he were no real slave ? Myself I saw and marked
his bearing, how he would have thee only for his
lord ; but nobler yet was the spirit in his face, and
breeding showed clear in his youthful blood. Eagerly
would Grecian and Latin dames desire and pray that
such a son were theirs. Less comely was proud
Theseus, when the cunning maid of Crete drew him
back with her anxious thread, or Paris, when in
haste to see his Spartan ** bride he launched, a
shepherd lad, the unwilling pines upon the main.
'Tis truth I tell, nor does wonted licence sway my
song : I have seen him, ay, and see him yet, out-
matching Achilles when Thetis hid him singing of
wars upon the maiden's strand, or Troilus, Avhen the
lance from the Haemonian hero's arm '^ caught him
as he fled round cruel Phoebus' walls. How fair
thou wert ! lo ! comelier far than all, lads and men
ahke, and sui*passed only by thy lord ! '^ His glory
alone exceeded thine, as the bright moon exceeds
the lesser fires, and as Hesper outshines the other
« Achilles.
^ So, with grosser flattery, of Earlnus (ill. 4. 44).
121
STATIUS
non tibi femineum vultu decus oraque supra
mollis honos, quales dubiae post crimina forniae
de sexu transire iubent, torvoque virilis 40
gratia ; nee petulans acies blandique severo
igne oculi, qualis, bellus iam casside, visu^
Parthenopaeus erat ; simplexque horrore decoro
crinis, et obsessae nondum primoque micantes
flore genae : talem Ledaeo gurgite pubem 45
educat Eurotas, teneri sic integer aevi
Elin adit primosque lovi puer adprobat annos.
nam pudor unde novae menti^ tranquillaque morum
temperies teneroque animus maturior aevo,
carmine quo repetisse^ queam ? saepe ille volentem
castigabat erum studioque altisque iuvabat 51
consiUis ; tecum tristisque hilarisque nee umquam
ille suus vultumque tuo sumebat ab ore :
dignus et Haemonium Pyladen praecedere fama
Cecropiamque fidem, sed laudum terminus esto, 55
quem fortuna sinit : non mente fidelior aegra
speravit tardi reditus Eumaeus Ulixis.
Quis deus aut quisnam tarn tristia vulnera casus
eligit ? unde manus Fatis tarn certa nocendi ?
o quam divitiis censuque exutus opimo 60
^ bellus iam casside visu Krohn : bellis i. c. v. M : casside
missa Pol. : demissa casside visu Slater.
^ novae Skutsch: notae M: menti M2 : mentis M : unde
notem, ingenuae edd.
^ repetisse Postdate : potasse M; par esse Saftien : pensasse
5" etc.
" i.e., when the boyish beauty is beginning to fade into
manhood. Others talce " crimina dubiae formae " as " the
crime that causes ambiguous appearance " (crime, because
forbidden by Domitian, cf. iii. 4. 73, iv. 3. 13).
122
SILVAE, II. VI. 38-00
stars. No womanly cliarm was in thy countenance,
no eifeniinate grace upon thy brow, as with those
whom after the reproach of fading beauty menbid lose
their sex,'* but an earnest, manly beauty was thine ;
nor was thy gaze insolent, but thine eye was gentle
yet stern with fire, Uke Parthenopaeus to behold, when
now decked in his helm ^ ; simple the ruffled charm
of thy locks, thy cheeks not covered yet, but bright
with their first down : such are the lads that Eurotas
nurtures by Leda's stream, such the boys that in
the unstained freshness of boyhood go to Elis,'' and
approve their budding youth to Jove. How indeed
in song can I trace the growth of modesty in liis
young mind, of his calm steadiness of character and
a spirit riper than his years ? Often would he chide
Ills willing lord, and aid him with deep and zealous
counsel ; he shared thy joys and sorrows, nor ever
lived to himself, but guided his looks by thy coun
tenance ; worthy was he to exceed in fame the
Haemonian Pylades '^ and the Athenians' loyalty * ;
but let not his praise o'erstep his fortune : not more
faithfully did Eumaeus, sick at heart, long for the
return of tardy Ulysses.
What god, what chance makes choice of wounds
so deadly ? whence are the Fates so unerring in
their power to harm ? Ah ! how much braver,
Ursus, hadst thou been, stripped of thy wealth and
*■ Parthenopaeus was one of the Seven against Thebes
(see Theb. ix. 699), a warrior with the look of a maiden ; the
name means " maiden-faced."
" i.e., to the Olympian games.
"* i.e., Patroclus ( Haemonian =Thessalian), as faithful to
Achilles as Pylades was to Orestes.
" Of Theseus to Pirithous (Cecrops, ancient king of
Athens).
123
ST ATI us
fortior, Urse, fores ! si vel fumante ruina
ructassent dites Vesuvina incendia Locroe
seu Pollentinos mersissent flumina saltiis
seu Lucanus Acir^ seu Thybridis impetus altas
in dextrum torsisset aquas, paterere serena 65
fronte deos ; sive alma fidem messesque negasset
Cretaque C\Teneque et qua tibi cumque beato
larga redit Fortuna sinu. sed gnara dolorum
Invidia infelix animi vitalia vidit
laedendique vias. vitae modo cardine^ adultae 70
nectere temptabat iuvenum pulcherrimus ille
cum tribus Eleis unam trieterida lustris.
attendit torvo tristis Rhamnusia vultu,
ac primum implevitque toros oculisque nitorem
addidit ac solito sublimius ora levavit, 75
heu ! misero letale favens, seseque videndo
torsit et invidia^ mortemque amplexa iacenti
iniecit nexu* carpsitque immitis adunca
ora verenda manu. quinto vix Phosphoros ortu^
rorantem sternebat equum : iam litora duri 80
saeva, Philete, senis, durumque Acheronta videbas,
quo domini clamate sono ! non saevius atros
nigrasset planctu genetrix tibi salva^ lacertos,
nee pater ; et certe qui vidit funera frater
^ Acir Madvig : ager M.
* cardine Gronovius : carmen 3/, defended by Ellis,
J. Ph. 13.
^ invidia M : invidiam Heinsius : invidit Ellis.
* nexu Schwartz : nexus J/.
* quinto . . . ortu Sclirader : quinta . . . hora M.
* salva Polster : saeva M.
" i.e., if Ursus's property' at Locri in Bruttium had been
destroyed by an eruption (not, of course, of Vesuvius).
* A lustre here is taken for a period of four years, the
124
SILVAE, II. VI. 61-84
goodly fortune ! if in smoking ruin rich Locri had
belched forth Vesuvian fire,'' or rivers had submerged
thy Pollentian glades, if Lucanian Acir or impetuous
Tiber had swung their swollen waters to the right,
thou hadst endured the will of heaven with unruffled
brow ; or if bounteous Crete and Cyrene had for-
sworn thee and denied their harvests, or wherever
lavish Fortune returns to thee with plenteous bosom.
But ill-omened Envy, skilled to hurt, saw the vital
spot and the path of hai-m. Just at the gate of
full-grown life that most beauteous of youths was
striving to link three years to three Elean lustres. **
With grim frown the stern Rhamnusian '^ gave heed,
and first she filled out his muscles and set a brilliance
in his eyes and raised his head higher than of wont ;
deadly alas ! to the poor lad were her favours : she
tortured herself with envy at the sight, and clasping
the sufferer struck death into him by her embrace,''
and with hooked, relentless fingers tore that pure
countenance. Scarce was Phosphor at the fifth rising
saddling his dewy steed : already, Philetus,'' wert
thou beholding the bleak shore of heartless Charon
and heartless Acheron, bewailed how bitterly by thy
lord ! Not more fiercely would thy mother, liad she
lived, blackened and bruised her arms for thee in
lamentation, nor thy father either ; verily thy brother
interval between the Olympic games ; i.e., the youth was
between twelve and fifteen, or perhaps the actual fifteenth
year is meant. " The goddess Nemesis.
"* " Invidiam mortemque aniplexa " does not seem satis-
factory ; it is better to keep " invidia " of the mss., making
it and " videndo " abls, after " torsit," and construe " aniplexa
{sc. iacentem) iniecit mortem (ei) nexu."
* Apparently the boy's name ; the word means " be-
loved."
125
STATIUS
erubuit vinci. sed nee servilis adempto 85
ignis : odoriferos exhausit flamma Sabaeos
et Cilieum messes, Phariaeque exempta volucri
cinnama et Assyrio manantes gramine sucos
et domini fletus : hos tantum hausere favillae,
hos bibit usque rogus ; nee quod tibi Setia canos 90
restinxit cineres, gremio nee lubricus ossa
quod vallavit onyx, miseris acceptius umbris
quam gemitus. sed et ipse iuvat^ ? quid terga dolori,
Urse, damus ? quid damna foves et pectore iniquo
vulnus anias ? ubi nota i-eis facundia raptis ? 95
quid caram crucias tarn saevis luctibus umbram ?
eximius licet ille animi nieritusque doleri :
solvisti. subit ille pios carpitque quietem
Elysiam clarosque illic fortasse parentes
invenit ; aut illi per amoena silentia Lethes 100
forsan Avernales adludunt undique mixtae
Naides, obliquoque notat Proserpina vultu.
pone, precor, questus ; alium tibi Fata Phileton,
forsan et ipse dabit moresque habitusque decoros
monstrabit gaudens similemque doeebit amorem.^ 105
^ iuvat M : iubet, vetat edd.
^ amorem S~ : amori Mi amari 5".
" Incense and saffron. * The Phoenix.
126
SILVAE, II. VI. 85-105
who saw thy funeral blushed to be outdone. No
servile flames were thine : fragrant harvests of Saba
and Cilicia <» did the fire consume, and cinnamon
stolen from the Pharian bird,^ and the juices that
drip from Assyrian herbs — and thy master's tears :
these only did the ashes drink, those the pyre ceased
not to consume ; nor was the Setian Avine that
quenched the hoary ash, nor the smooth onyx that
guarded his bones more grateful to the hapless shade
than those tears. Yet can even tears avail him ?
Why, Ursus, do we surrender to our soitow ? Why
dost thou cherish thy loss, and perversely love thy
wound ? Where is that eloquence that prisoners
dragged to judgement knew ? Why dost tliou vex
that dear shade by savage shows of grief ? Peerless
of soul was he and worthy to be mourned : but thou
hast paid tliat debt, and he is entering the company
of the blest and enjoys Elysian peace, and perchance
finds there famous ancestors ; or haply by the
pleasant silences of Lethe Nymphs of Avernus mingle
and sport around him, and Proserpine notes him with
sidelong glance. Mourn then no more, I pray thee ;
the Fates, and he himself perhaps, will give thee
another Philetus, and gladly he will show him seemly
ways and fashions, and teach him a love to match
his own.
1£7
STATIUS
VII. GENETHLIACON LUCANI AD
POLLAM
Lucani proprium diem frequentet,
quisquis collibus Isthmiae Diones
docto pectora concitatus oestro
pendentis bibit ungulae liquorem.
ipsi, quos penes est honor canendi, 5
vocalis citharae repertor Areas
et tu Bassaridum rotator Euhan
et Paean et Hyantiae sorores,
laetae purpureas novate vittas,
crinem comite, candidamque vestem 10
perfundant hederae recentiores.
docti largius evagentur amnes,
et plus Aoniae virete silvae,
et, si qua patet aut^ diem recepit,
sertis mollibus expleatur umbra. 15
centum Thespiacis odora lucis
stent altaria vietimaeque centum,
quas Dirce lavat aut alit Cithaeron :
Lucanum canimus, favete linguis,
vestra est ista dies, favete, Musae, 20
dum qui vos geminas tulit per artes,
et vinctae pede vocis et solutae,
Romani colitur chori sacerdos.
^ patet aut m : pater aut L: patera ut M : patulam Mark-
land : Patareus coni. Verrall.
" The fountain of Hippocrene caused by the hoof of
Pegasus, which Statius here places on the Isthmus ; he seems
to confuse it with Pirene, the spring at Corinth (c/. Tlieb.
iv. 60). Pirene was also connected with the Pegasus story,
see Pindar, 01. 13. 60. It is not clear what Dione (Venus)
has to do with the Isthmus.
128
SILVAE, II. vn. 1-23
VII. AN ODE TO POLLA IN HONOUR OF
LUCAN'S BIRTHDAY
Tlie title (Jenetldiacon was usually applied to an ode
written In honour of a living person. This ode, however. Is
a commemoration of Lucan after his death, addressed to
Folia, his wldoio. Into it is Introduced a prophecy of his
fame spoken by Calliope on the day of his birth.
Come to Lucan's birthday-feast, all ye who on the
hills of Isthmian Dione, with hearts fired by poetic
frenzy, drink of tlie spring that the flying hoof struck
forth." Ye wlio liave the privilege of song in your
keeping, Arcadian discoverer of the vocal lyre, and
thou, Euhan. whirler of thy Bassarids, and Paean
and the Hyantian Sisters,** joyfully deck yourselves
anew with purple fillets, make your tresses trim and
let fresh ivy enwreathe your shining raiment. Flow
more abundantly, poetic streams, and be more
brightly green, ye woodlands of Aonia,"^ and if
anywhere your shade hath opened and taken in the
sunlight, let soft garlands fill the room. Let a
hundred fragrant altars stand in the Thespian <*
groves, and a hundred victims that Dirce laves and
Cithaeron pastures : 'tis of Lucan we sing, keep holy
silence ; this is your day, ye Muses, keep silence,
while he who made you glorious in two arts, in the
measures of fettered speech and free.'' is honoured as
the high priest of the Roman choir.
' Mercury, Bacchus, Apollo, and the Muses. Hyantian
= Boeotian.
" Boeotia, I.e. Helicon or Parnassus.
"^ Thespiae was at the foot of Helicon.
" Poetry was often described as "fettered," I.e. liound l)y
the rules of metre, prose as freed from such rules.
VOL. I K I 'J .9
STATIUS
Felix — heu niniis ! — et beata tellus,
quae pronos Hyperionis meatus 25
summis Oceani vides in undis
stridoremque rotae cadentis audis,
quae Tritonidi^ fertiles Athenas
unetis, Baetica, provocas trapetis :
Lucanum potes iniputare terris ! 30
hoc plus quam Senecam dedisse mundo
aut dulcem genei-asse Gallionem.
attollat refluos in astra fontes
Graio nobilior Melete Baetis^ ;
Baetim, Mantua, provocare noli. 35
Natum protinus atque humum per ipsam
primo murmure dulce vagientem
blando Calliope sinu recepit.
turn primum posito remissa luctu
longos Orplieos exuit dolores 4U
et dixit : " puer o dicate Musis,
longaevos cito transiture vates,
non tu flumina nee greges fex*arum
nee plectro Geticas movebis ornos,
sed septeni iuga Martiumque Thybiuni 45
et doctos equites et eloquente
cantu purpureuni trahes senatuni.
nocturnas alii Phrygum ruinas
et tardi reducis vias Ulixis
et puppem temerariani Minervae, 50
trita vatibus orbita, sequantur :
tu carus Latio memorque gentis
carmen fortior exseris togatum.
ac primum teneris adhuc in annis
* Tritonidi Bentley : tritonicle M.
« Melete Betis M : m&eleb&is L.
130
SILVAE, II. VII. 24-54
Happy land — too happy alas ! — and blest, tliat on
the verge of Ocean's waves beholdest Hyperion slope
downward to his setting, and hearest the hiss of
plunging wheels ; even thou, Baetica, whose dripping
olive-presses vie with Athens, that is fertile for
Tritonis : thou canst account mankind in debt to
thee for Lucan ! « This is more than to have given
Seneca to the world, or to have borne the sweet-
tongued Gallio. Let Baetis, more renowned than
Grecian Meles,^ flow backward and be exalted to
the stars ; Mantua, dare not to challenge Baetis !
Straightway, wliile yet a new-born babe he crawled
and with earliest accents sweetly whimpered, Calliope
took him to her loving bosom. Tlien first did she
lay aside her grief and cease her long lament for
Orpheus, and said : " O boy, consecrate to poesy,
soon destined to outmatch the bards of old, thou shalt
move no rivers or wild lierds or Thracian ash-trees
with thy music, but with eloquent song shalt draw
after thee the seven hills and Martian Tiber and the
learned knights and purple Senate. Let others follow
the tracks that poets' wheels have worn, the night
of Phrygia's overthrow, Ulysses' slow returning path,
Minerva's daring vessel : '^ thou, dear to Latium and
mindful of thy race, more boldly dost unsheathe a
Roman epic. And first, while in tender youth, thou
" Lucan was born at Corduba, as was also the philosopher
Seneca, his uncle, (jallio was a rhetorician, brother of the
younger Seneca, and the adopted son of Junius Gallio.
* The river near Homer's birthplace, Smyrna ; hence he
is sometimes called Melesigenes. I.iican was born at Corduba
in Baetica. "Tritonis "= Pallas.
' i.e. Iliad, Odyssey, Argonaut ica.
STATIUS
ludes^ Hectora Thessalosque currus 55
et supplex Priami potentis aurum,
et sedes reserabis inferorum,
ingratus Nero dulcibus theatris
et noster tibi proferetur Orpheus.
dices culminibus Remi vagantis 60
infandos domini nocentis ignes.
hinc castae titulum decusque Pollae-
iocunda dabis adlocutione.
mox coepta generosior iuventa
albos ossibus Italis Philippos 65
et Pharsalica bella detonabis,
convulsum^ ducis inter arma divi,
libertate gravem pia Catonem
et gratum popularitate Magnum.
tu Pelusiaci scelus Canopi 70
deflebis pius et Pharo eruenta
Pompeio dabis altius sepulcrum.
haec primo iuvenis canes sub aevo,
ante annos Culicis Maroniani.
cedet Musa rudis ferocis Enni 75
et docti furor arduus Lucreti,
et qui per freta duxit Argonautas,
et qui corpora prima transfigurat.
quid maius loquar ? ipsa te Latinis
Aeneis venerabitur canentem. 80
nee solum dabo carminum nitorem,
1 ludes L : laudes Ml : laudas m.
^ convulsum Sinter : quo fulmen LM, et Dom., quod
Markland.
" The works of I.ucan here alluded to are (i.) The Tale of
Troy, (ii.) A Catachthonion, or Journey to the Underworld,
(iii.) A Praise of Nero, (iv.) The Story of Orpheus, (v.) a de-
132
SILVAE, II. VII. 5n-8\
shalt practise thy pen " on Hector and the cliariots of
Thessaly and king Priam's suppliant gold, and shalt
unlock the abodes of hell ; ungrateful Nero and my
own Orpheus shall be set forth by thee to favouring
theatres. Thou shalt tell how the impious fires of
the guilty monarch ranged the heights of llenuis.
Then by a charming address thou shalt bestow fame
and glory upon chaste Polla. Thereafter more gen-
erous in ripened manhood thou shalt thunderously
rehearse Phihppi, white with Italian bones, and
Pharsalian wars, and Cato, grave champion of Free-
dom, blasted amidst the arms of the divine chief,''
and Magnus, favourite of the people. Thou shalt
shed reverent tears for the crime of Pelusian Canopus,
and raise to Pompev ''■ a memori-d loftier than blood-
stained Pharos. These lays sjialt thou sing as a
youth in early prime,** before the age at which \'irgil
wrote his G?iat. The untutored Muse of bold
Ennius shall give way to thine, and the towering
frenzy of learned Lucretius, he " too who led the
Argonauts through the narrow seas, and he who
changes bodies from their former shapes.^ What
greater praise can I give ? the Aeneid itself, as thou
singest to Roman folk, shall do thee homage. Nor
will I give thee splendour of song alone, but with
clamation " de Incendio Urbis," (vi.) an " allocutio," or
poem to Polla, his wife, (vii.) the I'liarsalki. Fragments of
(i.) and (ii.) remain.
*" Caesar, subsequently deified.
" The murder of Pompey there after Pharsaliis.
"* i.e., before he was twenty-six ; hence it is argued that
" XVI." in Donatus's life of Virgil must be changed to
" XXVI.," as the year in which he wrote the Culex.
" Varro Atacinus.
^ Ovid in the Metamorphoses.
ST ATI us
sed taedis genialibus dicabo
doctam atque ingenio tuo decoram,
qualem blanda Venus daretque luno
forma, simplicitate, comitate, 85
censii, sanguine, gratia, decore,
et vestros hymenaeon ante postes
fastis cantibus ipsa personabo.
o saevae nimium gravesque Parcae !
o numquam data longa fata sumniis ! 90
cur plus, ardua, casibus patetis ?
cur saeva vice magna non senescunt ?
sic natum Nasamonii Tonantis
post ortus obitusque fulminatos
angusto Babylon premit sepulcro. 95
sic fixum Paridis manu trementis^
Peliden Thetis horruit cadentem.
sic ripis ego murmurantis Hebri
non mutum caput Orpheos sequebar.
sic et tu — rabidi nefas tyranni ! — 100
iussus praecipitem subire Lethen,
dum pugnas canis arduaque voce
das solacia grandibus sepulcris,
— o dirum scelus ! o scelus ! — tjicebis."
sic fata est leviterque decidentes 105
abrasit lacrimas nitente plectro.
At tu, seu rapidum poli per axem
Famae cui-ribus arduis levatus,
qua surgunt aniniae potentiores,
^ trementis 5" : prementis LM.
" The construction is paralleled by Plautiis, Miles 619
" neque te decora neque tiiis virtutibus."
'' Alexander the Great, who proclaimed himself the son
of the Liliyan god Ammon (= Jupiter).
134.
SILVAE, II. VII. 82-100
the torclies of wedlock '* will bestow on thee a poetess
suited to thy genius, for beauty, simplicity, gracious-
ness, wealth, lineage, charm, and loveliness worthy of
kindly Venus' or of Juno's giving, and myself will
chant before your gate the festal marriage-hymn.
Alas ! ye Fates, too stern and cruel ! Alas ! that
the highest never long endure ! Why are lofty
things most prone to fall ? Why by a cruel chance
doth greatness ne'er grow old ? Even so is the son
of the Nasamonian Thunderer ,** whose lightning
Hashed from rising to setting sun,*^ confined in a
narrow tomb at Babylon. Even so did Thetis swoon
to see Pelides fall, pierced bv the hand of coward
Paris. Even so did I upon the banks of murmuring
Hebrus follow the head of Orpheus not mute in
death. Even so on thee- — ah ! the impious '^ frenzied
tyrant ! — bidden while singing of battles and with
lofty utterance solacing the mighty dead to plunge
in Lethe's rushing stream — O crime, O most foul
crime ! — on thee too shall silence fall." She spoke,
and with shining quill brushed away her lightly-falling
tears.
But '^ thou, whether uplifted in tlie soaring cliariot
of fame through the whirling vault of heaven, whither
rise more puissant souls, tliou lookest down upon the
" Or " after his lightning-swift rise and setting." But
" fulmen " is commonly used in poetry of a warlike hero,
as " duo fulmina belli " of the Scipios by Virgil, and Sidonius
seems to be imitating Statius in " paterno actum fulmine
pervolasse terras " (ix. 50), and in " vitam fulminibus parem
peregit " (xxiii. 96).
''■ Postgate takes " nefas " in apposition to "tu," " a re-
proach to the frenzied tyrant," i.e. Lucan is to be a reproach
to the tyrant Nero.
* C/. the opening of Phars. ix.
\S5
STATIUS
terras despicis et sepulcra rides ; 110
seu pacis merito nemus reclusi
felix Elysii tenes in oris,
quo Pharsalica turba congregatur,
et te nobile carmen insonantem
Pompei eomitantur et Catones, 115
seu^ magna saeer et superbus umbra
noscis^ Tartaron et procul nocentum
audis verbera pallidumque visa
matris lampade respicis Neronem,
adsis lucidus et vocante Polla 120
unum, quaeso, diem deos silentum
exores : solet hoc patere limen
ad nuptas redeuntibus maritis.
haec te non thiasis procax dolosis
falsi numinis induit figura, 125
ipsum sed colit et frequentat ipsum
imis altius insitum medullis,
ac solacia vana^ subministrat
vultus, qui simili notatus auro
stratis praenitet incubatque somno 130
seeurae. procul hinc abite, Mortes :
haec v'itae genialis est origo.
cedat luctus atrox genisque manent
iam dulces lacrimae dolorque festus,
quicquid fleverat ante, nunc adoret. 135
^ seu Heinsius : tu LM: dum Bnrsian.
^ noscis Haupf : nescis LM.
^ vana LM : vera Baehrens.
" Nero had his mother Aj^rippina put to death.
* Statius has in mind here the story of Laodamia and
Protesilaus, who was allowed to return to his wife for one
day. Laodamia venerated her husband in the form of
136
SILVAE, II. VII. U0-U5
earth and laughest at sepulchres ; or whether on
Elysian sliores that thy deserts have won thee thou
hast gained the bhssful bower of peace, where the
licroes of Pharsalus forgather, and as thy noble lay
resounds a Pompey or a Cato bears tliee company ;
or wlietlier a niiglity shade, inviolable and proud,
thou visitest Tartarus and hearest afar the stripes of
the guilty and beholdest Nero pale at the sight of
his mother's torch : * be present in shining splendour,
and, since Polla calls thee, gain one day, I beg, from
the gods of the silent world : ^ open is that door to
Iiusbands returning to their brides. She clothes
tliee not in the shape of an unreal deity, in the
wantonness of lying revels, but worships thy very
self and has communion with thee in her being's
inmost depths, and wins but empty solace from thy
countenance which carved to thy likeness in gold
sliines above her couch and broods over her un-
troubled slumbers. Depart far hence, ye Deaths :
here is the well-spring of sustaining life.« Let
stubborn sorrow have an end, and tears of happiness
now fall, and the mourning of solemn grief be turned
to adoration.
Uacchus, and seems to have feigned herself a votary of that
god, to avoid a second marriage. Folia's reverence for her
husband does not need such aid. It was a contemporary
custom, to honour the dead in the form of deities, cf. Silrae,
v. 1. 2Sl, Suet. Cal. 7 of the young son of Germanicus
and Agrippina, who died in early boyhood ; Livia set up an
image of him in the character of Cupid, cf. also Apuleius,
Mfit. viii. 7.
" The Genius or vital principle, incarnate in the head of
the family while he is alive, still abides for Polla in the
spirit of the departed, with whom she enjoys a mystic
communion.
137
LIBER III
Statius Pollio suo Salutem
Tibi certe, PoUi dulcissime et hac eui tam fideliter
inhaeres quiete dignissime, non habeo diu proban-
dam libellorum istorum temeritatem, cum scias
multos ex illis in sinu tuo subito natos et banc
audaciani stili nostri frequenter expaveris, quotiens
in illius facundiae tuae penetrali seductus altius
litteras intro et in omnes a te studiorum sinus ducor.
Securus itaque tertius hie silvarum nostrarum liber
ad te mittitur. Habuerat quidem te secundus testem
sed hie habet auctorem. Nam primum limen eius
Hercules Surrentinus aperit, quem in litore tuo con-
secratum, statim ut videram, his versibus adoravi.
Sequitur libellus, quo splendidissimum et mihi
iucundissimum iuvenem, Maecium Celerem, a sacra-
tissimo imperatore missum ad legionem Syriacam,
quia sequi non poteram, sic prosecutus sum. Mere-
batur et Claudi Etrusci mei pietas aliquod ex studiis
nostris solacium, cum lugeret veris — quod iam
" Pollius : see on ii. 2 and iii. 1.
138
BOOK III
Statius to his Friexd Pollius " : Grf.etixg !
To you at least, my dearest Pollius, than whom none
is more worthy of that tranquillity to which you cling
so faithfully, to you at least I need not justify at
great length the boldness of my verses, for you know
that many of them came suddenly to birth under
your protecting care, and often have you been
alarmed at the audacity of my pen, when in the
intimacy of your genius I have ventured deep into
the secluded realm of letters, and have been led by
you through all the winding ways of poesy.
And so it is without fear that I send you this third
volume of my Impromptu vei'ses. For while you lent
your witness to the second, to this you have given
the authority of your name. For its gates are un-
barred by the Surrentine Hercules, to which, when
I had seen it after its dedication on your shore, I at
once paid my tribute in these lines. Then comes a
poem, which, when my charming and distinguished
friend, Maecius Celer, was ordered by our sacred
Emperor to the Syrian front, since I could not
follow him, I sent to attend him on his way. The
devotion of my dear Claudius Etruscus also de-
served some solace from my pen when in real
grief— and how rare that is ! — he was mourning
139
STATIUS
rarissimum^ est — lacrimis senem patrem. Earinus
})raeterea, Germanici nostri libertus — scis^ quamdiu
desideriuni eius moratus sim. cum petisset ut capillos
suos, quos cum gemmata pyxide et speculo ad Per-
gamenum Asclepium mittebat, versibus dedicarem.
Summa est egloga, qua mecum secedere Neapolim
Claudiam meam exhortor. Hie, si verum dicimus,
sermo et quidem securus, ut cum uxore et qui
persuadere malit quam placere. Huic praecipue
libello favebis, cum scias banc destinationem quietis
meae tibi maxime intendere meque non tam in
patriam quam ad te secedere. Vale.
HERCULES SURRENTINUS POLLH FELICIS
Intermissa tibi renovat, Tirynthie, sacra
Pollius et causas designat desidis anni,
quod coleris maiore tholo, nee litora pauper
nuda tenes tectumque vagis habitabile nautis,
sed nitidos postes Graisque efFulta metallis 5
culmina, ceu taedis iterum lustratus honesti
ignis ab Oetaea conscenderis aethera flamma.
vix oculis animoque fides, tune ille reclusi
1 iam Tanssiimum Ba^hrens : amarissimum M : rarissimum
* scis VoUmer : scit M.
" A common epithet of Hercules, who was reared at Tiryns,
though born at Thebes.
* i.e., having the new temple is like being deified anew.
Oeta was the scene of the burning of Hercules and his
apotheosis.
140
SILVAE, III. I. 1-8
for his aged father. Next Earinus, freedman of
our prince Germanicus — you know how long I
have put off the Emperor's expressed desire tJiat
I should write some verses in honour of his tresses,
which he was sending to Asclepius at Pergamum
together with a mirror and a jewelled box. Finally
there is the piece in which I entreat my wife
Claudia to retire with me to Naples. This, to tell
the truth, is just talk, quite unreserved, from a
husband to a wife, and that would persuade rather
than delight. You will particularly favour this poem,
since you will know that you above all are the
object of my proposed retreat, and that my retire-
ment is not so much to my own country as to yourself.
Farewell.
I. THE TEMPLE OF HERCULES BUILT BY
POLLIUS FELIX AT SURRENTUxM
The poem describes how Polllus built a more worthy temple
for Hercules in the neighbourhood of his villa ; the god
himself gave assistance, and the work was finished with
miraculous speed. The piece ends with praise of Pollius,
put into the mouth of the grateful deity.
Pollius renews thy interrupted rites, O lord of
Tiryns," and makes clear the causes of a year's neglect,
seeing that now thou art worshipped beneath a
mightier dome, and no longer hast a beggarly home
on the naked shore, a shanty where wandering
mariners can lodge, but shining portals and towers
upheld by Grecian marbles, as though purified by the
brands of ennobling fire tliou hadst a second time
ascended heavenward from Oeta's flames.'' Scarce
can sight or memory be trusted. Art thou verily that
141
STATIUS
liminis et parvae custos inglorius arae ?
unde haec aula recens fulgorque inopinus agresti 10
Alcidae ? sunt fata deum, sunt fata locoruni !
o velox pietas ! steriles hie nuper harenas,
adsparsum pelago montis latus hirtaque dumis
saxa nee ulla pati faciles vestigia terras
cernere erat. quaenam subito fortuna rigentes 15
ditavit scopulos ? Tyrione haec moenia plectro
an Getica venere lyra ? stupet ipse labores
annus, et angusti bisseno hniite menses
longaevum mirantur opus, deus attulit arces
erexitque suas atque obluctantia saxa 20
sunimovit nitens et niagno pectore montem
reppulit : immitem credas iussisse novercam.
Ergo age, seu patrios hber iam legibus Argos
incohs et mersum tumuhs Eurysthea calcas,
sive tui solium lovis et virtute parata 25
astra tenes, haustumque tibi succincta beati
nectaris excluso melior Phryge porrigit Hebe :
hue ades et genium templis nascentibus infer,
non te Lerna nocens nee pauperis arva Molorchi
nee formidatus Nemees ager antraque poscunt 30
Thracia nee Pharii polluta altaria regis,
sed felix simplexque domus fraudumque malarum
inscia et hospitibus superis dignissima sedes.
pone truces arcus agmenque immite pharetrae
et regum multo perfusum sanguine robur, 35
instratumque umeris dimitte rigentibus^ hostem :
^ rigentibus Gfvart: gerentibus .V: ingentibiis Markland.
" Amphion and Orpheus,
^ He entertained Hercules before the slaying of tlie
Nemean lion.
142
SILVAE, 111. 1. 9-3(i
inglorious warden of a gateless thresliold and a puny
altar ? Whence hath the rustic Alcides this new
court and this unwonted splendour ? Gods liave
their destinies and places also ! What swift de-
votion ! Here of late could be seen but barren
sands, a wave-beaten mountain-side, and boulders
rough with scrub, and cliffs that would scarce admit
a foothold. What sudden fortune has embellished
tliese stark crags ? Did those walls rise to Tyrian
music or to the Getic harp ? " The year itself marvels
at the toil, and the months in their twelvefold orbit
are amazed to see the work of ages. 'Twas the god
that brought and uplifted his own towei-s, and by
might and main moved the resisting boulders, and
with huge breast drove back the mountain ; you
would have thought liis cruel stepdame bade him.
Come then, whetlier free at last from thraldom
thou dwellest in thy ancestral Argos, and spurnest
Eurystheus in his grave, or whether the throne of
thy father Jove and the stars thy valour won thee
are thy abode, and Hebe with robe upgirt, more
charming than tlie banished Phrygian lad, hands
thee the draught of blissful nectar : hither come,
and bi-ing thy presence to the new-born shrine. No
harmful Lerna calls thee, nor the aci-es of poor
Molorchus ^ nor Nemea's dreaded field, nor Thracian
caves nor the polluted altars of the Pharian prince,"
but a blest and innocent home that knows naught
of evil fraud, an abode most worthy of a divine guest.
Lay aside thy ruthless bow and thy quiver's cruel
liorde and the club that plenteous blood of kings
hath stained ; cast off the foe that is spread upon thy
''■ The capture of the Horses of Uioiiiede in Tlirace and
the slaughter of J3u.siris in Egypt are referred to.
143
ST ATI us
hie tibi Sidonio celsum pulvinar acantho
texitur et signis crescit torus asper eburnis.
pacatus mitisque veni nee turbidus ira
nee famulare timens, sed quern te Maenalis Auge 40
confectum thiasis et multo fratre madentem
detinuit qualemque vagae post erimina noetis
Thespius obstupuit, totiens soeer. hie tibi festa
gymnas, et insontes iuvenuni sine eaestibus^ irae
annua veloci peragunt eertaniina lustro. 45
hie templis inseriptus avo gaudente saeerdos
parvus adhue simihsque tui, cum prima novereae
monstra manu premeres atque exanimata doleres.
Sed quaenam subiti, veneranda, exordia tempH,
die age, Calhope ; soeius tibi grande sonabit 50
Aleides tensoque modos imitabitur arcu.
Tempus erat, eaeli eum torrentissimus axis
incumbit terris ietusque Hyperione multo
aeer anhelantes ineendit Sirius agros.
iamque dies aderat, profugis cum regibus aptum 55
fumat Arieinum Triviae nemus et face multa
conseius Hippolyti splendet lacus ; ipsa eoronat
emeritos Diana canes et spicula terget
et tutas sinit ire feras, omnisque pudieis
^ caestibus M : testibus r : caedibus Markland.
" Of Tegea in Arcadia, mother of Telephus by Hercules.
The jovial and amatory character of the god is a common
theme of ancient literature.
* Bacchus was a brother of Hercules, being equally son
of Zeus.
"^ Probably the eldest son of Julius Menecrates, to whom
iv. 8 is addressed.
"* The snakes that Hera sent to slay him in his cradle.
' Hippolytiis when healed by Asclepios was hidden hy
Diana in her precinct by the lake. The lake of Xenii is
144
SILVAE, III. I. 37-59
stalwart shoulders : liere are high-piled cushions for
thee, embroidered with acanthus in purple hue, and
a lofty couch all rough with ivory carving. Come in
a peaceable and gentle spirit, not turbulent with
wrath nor suspicious like a slave, but in such mood
as when Auge "■ the Maenalian maid detained thee,
worn out with revel and drenclied with thy brother's
wine,** or when Thespius, the father of thy many
brides, marvelled at thee after the reproach of that
roving night. Here hast thou a festal playing-
ground, where ungloved youths in innocent rivalry
perform the yearly, swift-recurring contests. Here
on thy temple is written thy priest's name to the
joy of his grandsire : '^ small is he yet, and like to
thee when with thy hand thou didst quell the first
monsters of thy stepdame '^ and weep that they were
slain.
But come, august Calliope, tell how the sudden
shrine arose ; Alcides will bear thee company with
ringing voice, and twang his bowstring to imitate
thy strains.
'Twas the season when the vault of heaven bends
its most scorching heat upon the earth, and the
Dog-star smitten by Hyperion's full might pitilessly
burns the panting fields. And now the day had
come, when the torch-smoke rises from Trivia's
grove at Aricia, refuge of the runaways who reign
there, and the lights twinkle on the lake that knew
the secret of Hippolytus ^ ; Diana herself sets gai--
lands on her faithful hounds, and polishes her darts
and lets the wild beasts go free, while at its virtuous
close to y\ricia ; tlie priest of tlie shrine was called " rex
Neniorensis." and was a runaway slave who " slajs the
slayer and shall himself be slain."
VOL. I h 1 45
ST ATI us
Itala terra focis Hecateidas excolit idus. 60
ast ego, Dardaniae quanivis sub collibus Albae
rus proprium magnique ducis mihi munere currens
unda domi curas midcere aestusque levare
sufficerent, notas Sirenum nomine rupes
facundique larem Polli non hospes habebam, 65
assidue moresque viri pacemque novosque
Pieridum flores intaetaque carmina discens.
forte diem Triviae dum litore ducimus udo
angustasque fores adsuetaque tecta gravati
frondibus et patula defendimus arbore soles, 70
delituit caelum et subitis lux Candida cessit
nubibus ac tenuis graviore favonius austro
immaduit ; qualem Libyae Saturnia nimbum
attulit, Iliaco dum dives Elissa marito
donatur testesque ululant per devia nymphae. 75
diffugimus, festasque dapes redimitaque vina
abripiunt famuli ; nee quo convivia migrent,
quamvis innumerae gaudentia rura superne
insedere domus et niulto culmine dives
mons nitet : instantes sed proxima quaerere nimbi
suadebant laesique fides reditura sereni. 81
stabat dicta sacri tenuis casa nomine templi
et magnum Alciden humili lare parva premebat,
fluctivagos nautas scrutatoresque profundi
vix operire capax. hue omnis turba coinius, 85
hue epulae ditesque tori coetusque ministrum
stipantur nitidaeque cohors gratissima Pollae.
non cepere fores, angustaque deficit aedes.
" August 13th. * i.e., Diana.
"^ Because founded by the Trojans under Aeneas.
"* Domitian had built the poet a water-conduit on his
estate at Alba, where the Emperor himself had a residence.
« Surrentum, c/. ii. 2. f See Virg. Aen. iv. 160.
146
SILVAE, III. I. 00-88
lieai-ths all Italy celebrates the Ides ** of Hecate.^
But I, although beneath Dardanian Alba's hills <^ an
estate of my own and a rivulet that runs for me by
the grace of our great prince '' sufficed to soothe my
cares and to allay the summer heat, was making the
rocks of the Sirens ^ and the home of eloquent Pollius
my abode, no stranger there, and zealously gaining
knowledge of his peaceful soul and studying the new
Pierian blooms of his innocent Muse. It chanced
that, while we were spending Trivia's day upon the
watery shore, and discontented with narrow doors
and wonted house were sheltering from the sun
'neath the foliage of a spreading tree, the sky was
hid, the bright light gave place to sudden cloud and
the faint breeze changed to a heavy downpour from
the south ; such a storm as Saturnia brought upon
Libya, while wealthy Elissa was given to her Ilian
lover and the witnessing Nymphs shrieked in the
pathless glades.^ Helter-skelter we fly, and the
slaves snatch up the festal banquet and wreathed
goblets ; nor was there any refuge for the guests,
though countless houses were planted on the happy
fields above, and the mountain glittered with a
wealth of towers : but the lowering clouds and the
assurance that the fair weather, though ruined,
would return, urged us to seek the nearest shelter.
There stood a mean shanty bearing the name of a
sacred shrine, that confined the great Alcides within
its humble walls, scarce large enough to house sea-
wandering mariners and searchers of the deep Hitlier
all the crowd of us gather, hither throng the band of
slaves with the costly couches and the feast, and all
the pleasant household of elegant Polla. The doors
would not contain us, the narrow shrine lacked room.
147
ST ATI us
erubuit risitque deus dilectaque Polli
corda subit blandisque virum complectitur ulnis. 90
tune," inquit, " largitor opum, qui mente profusa
tecta Dicarchei pariter iuvenemque replesti
Parthenopen ? nostro qui tot fastigia monti,
tot virides lucos, tot saxa imitantia vultus
aeraque, tot scripto viventes lumine ceras 95
fixisti ? quid enim ista domus, quid terra, priusquam
te gauderet, erat ? longo tu tramite nudos
texisti scopulos, fueratque ubi semita tantuni,
nunc tibi distinctis stat porticus alta columnis,
ne sorderet iter, curvi tu litoris ora 100
clausisti calidas gemina testudine nymphas.
vix opera enumerem ; mihi pauper et indigus uni
Pollius ? et tales hilaris tamen intro penates
et litus, quod pandis, amo. sed proxima sedem
despicit et tacite ridet niea limina luno. 105
da templum dignasque tuis conatibus aras,
quas puppes velis nolint transire secundis,
quo pater aetherius mensisque accita deorum
turba et ab excelso veniat soror hospita templo.
nee te, quod solidus contra riget umbo maligni 1 10
montis et immenso non umquam exesus ab aevo,
terreat : ipse adero et conaniina tanta iuvabo
asperaque invitae perfringam viscera terrae.
incipe et Herculeis fidens hortatibus aude.
" Founder of Puteoli.
* " iuvenem " seems to be a pla}' upon the literal meaning of
Parthenope {TrdpOft'os^ maiden), of. iv. 8. 55. Statins is fond
of doing this, rf. Phemonoe (ii. 2. 38), Plmplea (lb. 37).
" Not otlierwise mentioned, exc. 1. 137.
^ It would stop either to look at and salute the temple,
148
SILVAE, III. I. 89-114
Tlie god blushed, and laugliiiig stole into the lieart
of his beloved Pollius, and witli cai-essing arms em-
braced his friend : " Art thou." said he, " that
lavisher of -wealth, who with generous heart hast
iilled full alike the dwellings of Dicai-cheus <* and
youthful ^ Parthenope ? who on my own mount tiast
set so many towers, so many verdant groves, so
many lifelike marbles and bronzes, and waxen forms
that the glow of colour animates ? For what was
that house of thine, tliat country before it rejoiced
in thee ? Thou didst clothe bare rock with a long
pathway, and where before was but a track, now
stands a lofty colonnade with painted ]">illars, that the
road might be seemly. Upon the curving strand thou
didst imprison heated waters 'neath cupolas twain.
Scarce can I number all thy works : and to me alone
is Pollius needy and in want .'' yet even such a shrine
I enter cheerfully, and love tlie shore thou openest
to me. But Juno hard by '' scorns my dwelling, and
laughs silently at my shrine. Give me a temple and
an altar worthy of thy endeavours, an altar such as
no vessel would fain neglect "^ though speeding with
prosperous sail, one to which the ethereal Sire and
the guests of heavenly banquets and my sister in-
vited from her lofty shi'ine might come." Nor be
dismayed that a mass of stark, malignant mountain
doth confront thee, which unnumbered ages liave
not worn away ; I will myself be present to aid so
great an enterprise, and will break through the
flinty bowels of the unwilling earth. Begin, and
dare the task, trusting in Hercules' encouragement.
cf. Stat. Theb. iv. 812, or even to disembark and worship,
cf. Virg. Aen. iii. 453.
* From the promontory of Minerva near by.
1 M)
ST ATI us
non Aniphioniae steterint velocius ai'ces 115
Pergameusve laboi\" dixit nientemque reliquit.
Nee mora, cum scripta formatur imagine tela,
innumerae cuiere manus : his caedere silvas
et levare trabes, illis immergere curae
fundamenta solo, coquitur pars umida terrae 120
protectura hiemes atque exclusura pruinas,
indomitusque silex curva fornace liquescit.
praecipuus sed enim labor est exscindere dextra
oppositas rupes et saxa negantia ferro.
hie pater ipse loci positis Tirynthius armis 12.5
insudat validaque solum deforme bipenni,
cum grave nocturna caelum subtexitur umbra,
ipse fodit. ditesque Caprae^ viridesque resultant
Taurubulae, et terris ingens redit aequoris echo,
non tam grande sonat motis incudibus Aetne, 130
cum Brontes Steropesque ferit, nee maior ab antris
Lenmiacis fragor est, ubi flammeus aegida caelat
Mulciber et castis exornat Pallada donis.
decrescunt scopuli, et rosea sub luce reversi
artifices mirantur opus. \ix annus anhelat 13.5
alter, et ingenti dives Tirynthius arce
despectat fluctus et iunctae tecta novercae
provocat et dignis invitat Pallada templis.
iam placidae dant signa tubae, iam fortibus ardens
fumat harena sacris. hos nee Pisaeus honores 140
luppiter aut Cirrhae pater aspernetur opacae.
nil his triste locis ; cedat lacrimabilis Isthmos,
^ ditesque Caprae 3/ : dites Capreae 5".
" The walls of Troy were built by Apollo and Neptune,
those of Thebes by the music of Amphion.
* Cf. " corda subit,' 1. 90. <^ An island near Naples.
1.50
SILVAE, III. I. 115-142
Anipluon's towei's will not have risen more swiflly,
nor the toilsome walls of Troy."* " He spoke, and
went from out his heart.''
Without delay the design is sketched and the plan
shaped. Innumerable workers gather : some have
the task of felling trees or planing beams, others
sink the foundations in the soil. Moist clay is baked
to protect against storm and to keep out frost, and
imtamed limestone is melted in the round furnace.
But the chief labour is to cleave by might and main
the opposing rock and the boulders that resist the
steel. Hereupon the patron of the place, the
Tirynthian himself, lays by his arms and sweats at
the work, and himself with strong axe hews at the
shapeless mass, when the lowering sky is veiled by
the shades of night. Rich Caprae and green
Taurubulae '^ resound, and the mighty echo of the sea
returns again to the land. Not so loud is Aetna's
din, when the anvils are busy and Brontes and
Steropes ply the hammer, nor greater the noise from
the Lemnian eaves when Mulciber amid his flames
forges the aegis and makes chaste gifts for Pallas.
The cliffs diminish, and the workmen returning in
the rosy dawn marvel at the achievement. Scarce
has a second panting summer come, when the
Tirynthian enriched by a mighty dome looks down
upon the waves and challenges his stepdame's neigh-
bouring abode, and invites Pallas to a temple worthy
of her. Already the peaceful trumpets give the
signal, already the sand smokes and burns with the
valiant contests. Such honours would neither Pisaean
Jove nor the sire of leafy Cirrha spurn.'' No sadness
is here : let tearful Isthmos and cruel Nemea give
'^ i.e., at the games of Olympia and Delphi.
1.51
STATIUS
cedat atrox Nemee : litat hie felicior infans.
ipsae puniiceis^ virides Nereides antris
exsiliunt ultro : scopulis umentibus haerent 145
nee pudet occulta nudas spectare palaestras.
spectat et Icario nemorosus palmite Gaurus
silvaque, quae fixam pelago Nesida coronat,
et placidus Linion omenque^ Euploea carinis
et Lucrina \'enus, Phrygioque e vertice Graias 150
addisces, Misene, tubas, ridetque benigna
Parthenope gentile saci'um nudosque virorum
certatus et parva suae simulacra coronae.
Quin age et ipse libens proprii certaminis actus
invicta dignare nianu ; seu nubila disco 155
findere seu volucres zephyros praecedere telo
seu tibi dulce manu Libycas nodare palaestras,
indulge sacris, et, si tibi poma supersunt
Hesperidum, gremio venerabilis ingere Pollae ;
nam capit et tantum non degenerabit^ honorem. 160
quod si dulce decus ^-iridesque resumeret annos,
— da veniam, Alcide — fors huic et pensa tulisses.
Haec ego nascentes laetus bacchatus ad aras
libamenta tuli. nunc ipse* in limine — cerno '
solventem voces et talia dicta ferentem : 165
^ pumiceis S" : puniceis 3/ Pol. {from P).
* Limon omenque Guyet : limo numenque M.
^ degenerabit M : dejarener ambit Grojiovius.
* ipse 21 : ipsum Jjcm. : ipso 5'. MacnayJiten' s punctua-
tion.
" The Isthmian games were held in honour of the child
Palaemon, son of Ino, those at Nemea in honour of Opheltes
(Archemorus), for whom see Thebaid iv. (end), v. and vi.
(init.).
* Now Monte Barbaro in Campania ; its wines were
famous ; Icarus was a son of Oebalus, king of Sparta, and
152
SILVAE, III. I. 143-1G5
place ; a luckier infant here makes sacrifice." The
very Nymphs of the green waters leap forth unbidden
from their pumice caves ; they cling to tlie streaming-
rocks nor think shame to gaze unseen on the naked
wrestlers. Gaurus ^ too beholds them witli its grove
of Icarian vines, and the wood that crowns the peak
of Nesis set fast in ocean, and calm Limon and Eu-
j)loea of good omen for ships and the Lucrine Venus'' ;
thou too, Misenus, from thy Phrygian height shalt
learn the Grecian trumpet-calls, while Parthenope
smiles with kindly heart upon the ceremonies of her
race and the naked bouts of youths and the humble
garlands that imitate her own.
Come now thyself, and graciously deign to honour
the feats of thine own festival with thy invincible
might : whether it please thee to cleave the clouds
with the discus, or with thy shaft to outstrip the
speedy Zephyrs, or to lock fast thy arms in a Eibyan
MTestle,'^ grant our rites this boon, and, if thou hast
still the apples of the Hesperides, place them in the
lap of venerable Polla ; for she is worthy to take
them, and will not dishonour so great a gift. Nay,
might she but recover the charm and beauty of her
youth — forgive me, Alcides — perchance for her*
thou hadst even spun the wool.
Such is the offering I have brought in joyful
revelry to the new-born shrine. I^o ! now he himself
upon the threshold — I see him opening his mouth
and speaking : "A blessing on thy spirit and thy
father of Penelope ; he was taught the use of the vine by
Bacchus. " A temple of Venus near Baiae.
'' The reference is to Hercules' bout with Antaeus, the
Libyan giant ; this leads to the mention of the apples of the
Hesperides.
" As he did for Omphale, the Lydian princess.
153
STATIUS
" macte animis opibusque meos imitate labores,
qui rigidas rupes infecundaeque pudenda
naturae deserta domas et vertis in usum
lustra habitata feris foedeque latentia prefers
nuniina. quae tibi nunc nieritoruni praemia solvani ?
quas referam grates ? Parcaruni fila tenebo 171
extendamque colus — duram scio vincere Mortem — ,
avertam luctus et tristia damna vetabo
teque nihil laesum viridi renovabo senecta
concedamque diu iuvenes spectare nepotes, ITo
donee et hie sponsae maturus et ilia marito,
rursus et ex illis soboles nova grexque protervus
nunc umeris inreptet avi, nunc agmine blando
certatim placidae concurrat ad oscula Pollae.
nam templis numquam statuetur terminus aevi, 180
dum me flammigeri portabit machina caeli.
nee mihi plus Nemee priscumque habitabitur Argos
nee Tiburna domus solisque cubilia Gades."
sic ait ; et tangens surgentem altaribus ignem
populeaque movens albentia tempera silva 185
et Styga et aetherii iura\it fulmina patris.
II
PROPEMPTICON MAECIO CELERI
Di, quibus audaces amor est servare carinas
" A different meaning in i. 4. 64 ; here the threads are to
be stretched out and made longer.
* Strabo mentions a shrine of Hercules at Gades.
154
SILVAE, III. I. 166— n. 1
wealtli, wherewith thou hast imitated my own
labours, who canst tame the rugged rocks and tlie
abhorred wastes of barren nature, and turnest to thy
use the wild beasts' lairs, and bringest forth my
godhead from shameful hiding ! What reward shall
I now give thee for thy merits ? How show my
gratitude ? I will hold fast the threads of the Fates
and stretch out the wool upon their distaffs " — I can
subdue remorseless Death — I will bid sorrow flee and
suffer not sad loss to harm thee, and I will renew
thee in a green old age untouched by time, and
grant thee long to behold thy growing grandchildren,
until the one is ripe for a bride and the other for a
husband, and from them a new progeny springs, and
a merry band now clambers about their grandsire's
shoulders, now run in eager and loving rivalry for the
kisses of tranquil Polla. To this shrine shall no term
of age be set, so long as the fabric of the flaming sky
shall carry me. Not in Nemea or ancient Argos shall
I niore often dwell, or in my home at Tibur or in
Gades,*" resting-place of the sun." So he speaks,
and touching the fire that rose upon the altar and
nodding his temples white with poplar-leaves he
swore by Styx and by the thunderbolt of his ethereal
sire.
II. A SEND-OFF POEM TO MAECIUS CELER
The Propempticon or valedictory poem seems to have been
one of the regular types of poem for which rules were laid
down in the schools of rhetoric; Horace, C. i. S, Epod. 1,
Tibidliis, i. S, may be called Propemptica, cf. also the song
in Theocritus, Id. 7. Nothing more is known of Maecitis,
except that he teas consul suffectus in 101.
Ye Gods whose delight it is to preserve adventurous
155
STATIUS
saevaquc ventosi muleere pericula ponti,
sternite moUe fretum placid umque advertite votis
concilium, et lenis non obstrepat unda precanti :
" grande tuo rarumque damus, Neptune, profundo 5
depositum. iuvenis dubio committitur alto
Maecius atque animae pai-tem super aequora nostrae
maiorem transferre parat. proferte benigna
sidera et antemnae gemino considite cornu,
Oebalii fratres ; vobis pontusque polusque 10
luceat ; Iliacae longe nimbosa sororis
astra fugate, precor, totoque excludite caelo.
vos quoque caeruleum ponti. Nereides, agmen,
quis honor et regni cessit fortuna secundi
— dicere quae^ magni fas sit mihi sidera ponti — , 15
surgite de vitreis spumosae Doridos antris
Baianosque sinus et feta tepentibus undis
litora tranquillo certatim ambite natatu,
quaerentes ubi celsa ratis, quam scandere gaudet
nobilis Ausoniae Celer armipotentis alumnus. 20
nee quaerenda diu ; modo nam trans aequora terris
prima Dicarcheis Pharium gra\is intulit annum,
prima salutavit Capreas et margine dextro
sparsit Tyrrhenae Mareotica \ina Minervae.
huius utrumque latus molli praecingite gyro, 25
partitaeque vices vos stuppea tendite mali
vincula, vos summis adnectite sipara velis,
vos zephyris aperite sinus ; pars transtra reponat,
^ quae 3/ : quas Heinsius.
" Spartan, from Oebalus, king of Sparta ; i.e.. Castor and
Pollux.
* The star of Helen was considered dangerous to ships.
cf. Theb. vii. 792.
156
SILVAE, III. II. 2-28
sliips, and to assuage the angry perils of tlie gusty
sea, make the waters smooth and cahn, and Usten in
peaceful council to my entreaties, and let the waves
be gentle nor make uproar as I pray : " Great and
rare, O Neptune, is the pledge I commit unto thy
deep ; young Maecius is entrusted to the doubtful
main, and is about to take across the seas the dearer
half of my soul. Bring forth your favouring stars,
Oebalian " brethren, and sit upon the twin horns of
the yard-arm ; let your light illumine sea and sky ;
drive far away, I pray, your Ilian sister's tempestuous
star,* and banish her wholly from the heavens. And
ye too, Nereids, sea-blue horde of ocean, to whom
the glory and the fortune of the second realm have
fallen by lot — suffer me to call you stars of the
mighty deep ! — arise from the glassy caverns of foam-
encompassed Doris, and in peaceful rivalry swim
round the bays of Baiae and the shores where the
hot springs abound ; '^ seek out the loftv ship whereon
Celer, noble offspring of Ausonia mighty in arms,
rejoices to embark. Nor need ye long inquire, for
lately came she across the seas, the first of her convoy,
to the Dicarchean strand, laden with the Pharian '^
harvest, and first was she to salute Capreae, and over
lier starboard side to pour libation of Mareotic wine
to Tyrrhene Minerva.*^ Circle gracefully about her
on either side, and divide your duties : some stretch
taut from the mast the hempen rigging, some set the
topsails and spread the canvas to the Zephyrs ; let
others place the benches, or let down into the water
" The reference is to the warm springs of Baiae, cf. iii. ,5. 96,
V. ;5. 1 70.
"* i.e., of Egypt, so also " Mareotic."
« Cf. note on ii. 2. 2.
157
ST ATI us
pars demittat aquis curvae modei*amina puppis ;
sint quibus exploret^ plumbo gravis alta niolybdus,^ 30
quaeque secuturam religent post terga phaselon
uncaque summersae penitus retinacula vellant ;
temperet haec aestus pelagusque inclinet ad ortus :
officio careat glaucarum nulla sororuni.
hinc multo Proteus geminoque hinc corpore Triton 35
praenatet, et subitis qui perdidit inguina monstris
Glaueus adhuc patriis quotiens adlabitur oi'is
litoream blanda feriens Anthedona cauda.
tu tamen ante onines, diva cum matre Palaenion,
annue, si vestras amor est mihi pandere Thebas, 40
nee cano degeneri Phoebeum Amphiona plectro.
et pater, Aeolio frangit qui carcere ventos,
cui varii flatus omnisque per aequora mundi
spix-itus atque hiemes nimbosaque nubila parent,
artius obiecto Borean Eurumque Notumque 45
monte preniat : soli Zephyro sit copia caeli,
solus agat puppes summasque supernatet undas
assiduus pelago ; donee tua turbine nullo
laeta^ Paraetoniis adsignet carbasa ripis."
Audimur. vocat ipse ratem nautasque morantes 50
increpat. ecce meum timido iam frigore pectus
labitur et nequeo, quamvis monet ominis horror,
claudere suspenses oculorum in margine fletus.
iamque ratem terris divisit fune soluto
^ exploret l)oin. : explorent M.
- plumbo gravis alta niolybdus Turnebus : primes gravis
arte molorchos M. The emendations of this line are
7iumeroKS, but none satisfactory : primos gravis artemo
lembos Volhner : plenos gravis artemo llntres, primos gravia
arma ceruchos are various suggestions.
* laeta M : laesa Heinsius.
158
SIL\ AE, III. II. 29-54
the rudder that guides the curving bark ; let there
be some to make the heavy sounding-lead explore the
depths, and others to fasten the skiff that will follow
astern, and to dive down and drag the hooked
anchor from the depths, and one to control the tides
and make the sea flow eastward : let none of the
sea-green sisterhood be without a task. Then let
Proteus of manifold shape and twy-formed Triton
swim before, and Glaucus " whose loins vanished by
sudden enchantment, and who, so oft as he glides up
to his native shores, wistfully beats his fish-tail on
Anthedon's strand. But above all others thou,
Palaemon, M'ith thy goddess mother, be favourable,
if 'tis thy desire that I should tell of thine own
Thebes, and sing of Amphion, bard of Phoebus, with
no unworthy quill. And may the father whose
Aeolian prison constrains the winds, whom the various
blasts obey, and every air that stirs on the world's
seas, and storms and ckiidy tempests, keep the
North wind and South and East in closer custody
behind his wall of mountain ; but may Zephyr alone
have the freedom of the sky, alone drive vessels
onward and skim unceasingly o'er the crests of the
billows, until he bring without a storm thy glad sails
safe to the Paraetonian ** haven."
My prayer is heard. The West wind himself calls
the ship and chides the laggard crew. Lo ! already
my heart sinks, chilled with fear, and I cannot,
though the omen shocks me, hold back the tears that
hover upon my eyelids' verge. And already the
sailor lias loosed the ro]")e and sundered the vessel
" See Ovid, Met. xiii. 906 sqq.
* Egyptian, from Paraetonium, a town on the Libyan
coast.
159
STATIUS
navita et angustum deiecit in aequora pontem. 55
saevus et e puppi longo clamore magister
dissipat amplexus atque oscula fida revellit,
nee longum cara licet in cer\ice morari.
attamen in terras e plebe no\"issimus onini
ibo nee egrediar nisi iam cedente carina.^ GO
Quis rude et abscissum miseris animantibus aequor
fecit iter solidaeque pios telluris alumnos
expulit in fluctus pelagoque immisit hianti
audax ingenii ? nee enim temeraria Wrtus
ilia magis, sunimae gelidum quae Pelion Ossae 65
iunxit anhelantemque iugis bis pressit Olympum.
usque adeone parum lentas transire paludes
stagnaque et angustos summittere pontibus amnes ?
imus in abruptum gentilesque undique terras
fugimus exigua clausi trabe et aere nudo. 70
inde furor ventis indignataeque procellae
et caeli fremitus et fulmina plura Tonanti.
ante rates pigro torpebant aequora somno,
nee spumare Thetis nee spargere nubila fluctus
audebant. \dsis tumuerunt puppibus undae, 75
inque honiinem surrexit hiems. tunc nubila Plias
Oleniumque pecus, solito tunc peior Orion,
iusta queror ; fugit ecce vagas ratis acta per undas
paulatim minor et longe servantia vincit
lumina tot gracili ligno complexa timores, 80
quaeque super reliquos te, nostri pignus amoris,
portatura, Celer, quo nunc ego pectore somnos
quove^ queam perferre dies ? quis cuncta paventi
1 iam cedente carina Dom. : iam carina M.
^ quo . . . quove Skufsch : quos . . . quosve 31.
" The star called Capella, see note on i. 3. 96. Its rising
denoted the beginning of stormy weather.
160
SILVAE, III. II. 55-8.3
from the land, and dropped the narrow gangway into
the water. On the stern the ruthless master with
long-drawn shout severs our embraces and parts
loving lips, nor may one linger long upon the dear
one's breast. Yet last of all will I be to go on land,
nor will I leave the ship until she is already under
way.
Who made of the strange and sundered sea a high-
way for miserable men, and cast forth upon the waves
the loyal children of the solid earth and hurled them
into the jaws of ocean — daring of spirit ? for not
more adventurous was the valour that joined frozen
Pelion to Ossa's summit, and crushed panting
Olympus beneath two mountains. So small a feat
was it to traverse sluggish lakes and meres and fling
bridges across the narrowed streams ? Forth we go
into sheer void, and are fled from the native lands
about us, enclosed in nought but a few planks and
the empty air. Therefore do the winds and angry
tempests rage, the sky thunders and many a bolt is
sped from the hand of Jove. Before ships were, the
waters lay in a slumbrous calm, Thetis dared not
foam nor the waves assault the clouds. But when
they spied vessels, the billows swelled \vith rage, and
the hurricane arose against man. Then the Pleiads
and the Olenian goat ° grew dark with storm, and
Orion was more wrathful than his wont. Not in
vain is my complaint : lo ! speeding over the pathless
waters flies the ship, lessening by degrees and
baffling the eyes that view her from afar ; how many
fears does she hold within her slender timbers !
thee above all must she bear onward, Celer, object
of my love ! With what feelings can I endure night's
slumbers or the day ? Who will tell me, a prey to
VOL. I M 161
STATIUS
nuntius, an facili te praetermiserit unda
Lucaiii rabida ora maris, num torta Charybdis 85
fluctuet aut Siculi populatrix virgo profundi,
quos tibi currenti praeceps gerat Hadria mores,
quae pax Carpathio, quali te subvehat aura
Doris Agenorei furtis blandita iuvenci ?
sad merui questus. quid enim te castra petente 90
non vel ad ignotos ibam comes impiger Indos
Cimmeriumque chaos ? starem prope bellica regis
signa mei, seu tela manu seu frena teneres,
armatis seu iura dares ; operumque tuorum
etsi non socius, certe mirator adessem. 95
si quondam magna Phoenix reverendus Achilh
htus ad Ihacum Thymbraeaque Pergama venit
imbelhs tumidoque nihil iuratus Atridae,
cur nobis ignavus amor ? sed pectore fido
numquam abero longisque sequar tua carbasa votis.
Isi, Phoroneis olim stabulata sub antris, 101
nunc regina Phari numenque orientis anheh,
excipe multisono puppem Mareotida sistro,
ac iuvenem egregium, Latius cui ductor Eoa
signa Palaestinasque dedit frenare cohortes, 105
ipsa manu placida per limina festa sacrosque
due portus urbesque tuas. te praeside noscat,
unde paludosi fecunda hcentia Nih,
cur vada desidant et ripa coerceat undas
" i.e., Scylla.
* i.e., the sea between Crete and the Phoenician coast,
over which travelled the bull that carried off Europa, daughter
of Agenor, king of Phoenicia.
" The regions to the north of the Euxine, whence the name
Crimea.
■* The sistrum was a sort of rattle much used in the worship
of Isis, here identified with lo, whom Hera out of jealousy
162
SILVAE, III. II. 84-109
every terror, whether the raging coast of the Lucanian
sea has sped thee by on favouring waves, whether
eddying Charybdis be heaving or the maid that
ravages the Sicihan deep," how the furious Adriatic
aids thy course, whether the Carpathian be at peace,
and with what breeze the sea-nymph be wafting
thee, that once smiled on the cunning of the Tyrian
bull ? ^ But I have deserved to mourn : for why,
when thou wert bound for the wars, went I not with
thee, an unwearied traveller, to unknown India and
Cimmerian gloom ? " By my patron's warlike banner
had I been standing, were it weapon or bridle thou
wert holding, or whether thou wert giving laws to
armed peoples, present if not to share, at least to
admire thy deeds. If Phoenix whom great Achilles
honoured came long ago to the Ilian shore and
Thymbraean Troy, though not a warrior nor bound
by oath to proud Atrides, why is my affection
cowardly ? But my loyal thoughts shall be ever with
thee, and my prayers shall follow thy sails to distant
lands.
Isis, once stalled in Phoroneus' caves, now queen
of Pharos and a deity of the breathless East, welcome
with sound of many a sistrum <^ the Mareotic bark,
and gently with thine own hand lead the peerless
youth, on whom the Latian prince hath bestowed
the standards of the East and the bridling of the
cohorts of Palestine,^ through festal gate and sacred
haven and the cities of thy land. Under thy protec-
tion may he learn whence comes the fruitful licence of
marshy Nile, why the waters abate and are hemmed
within the banks that the Cecropian bird has coated
turned into a heifer. Phoroneus was a former king of
Argos. ^ i.e., a command on the Syrian front.
163
ST ATI us
Cecropio stagnata luto, cur in^ida Memphis, 110
curve Therapnaei lasciviat ora Canopi,
cur servet Pharias Lethaeus ianitor aras,
vilia cur niagnos aequent animalia divos ;
quae sibi praesternat \'ivax altaria Phoenix,
quos dignetur agros aut quo se gurgite Nili 115
mergat adoratus trepidis pastoribus Apis,
due et ad Emathios manes, ubi belliger urbis
conditor Hyblaeo perfusus nectare durat,
anguiferamque domum, blando qua mersa veneno^
Actias Ausonias fugit Cleopatra catenas. 120
usque et in AssjTias sedes mandataque castra
prosequere et Marti iuvenem, dea, trade Latino,
nee novus hospes erit : puer his sudavit in ar\-is
notus adhuc tantum maioris lumine^ cla%i,
iam tamen et turmas facih praevertere g}TO 125
fortis et Eoas iaculo damnare sagittas.
Ergo erit ilia dies, qua te maiora daturus
^ qua mersa veneno 5" : quaqua m. v. M, morsa Heinsius.
^ lumine Nohl : numine M : munere ff".
" Pliny, N.H. x. 94, in speaking of swallows says that
their nests prevent the Nile from overflowing for the extent
of about a furlong : "in Aegypti Heracleotico ostio molem
continuatione nidorum evaganti Nilo inexpugnabilem op-
ponunt," etc.. and " insula sacra Isidi, quam ne laceret
amnis, muniunt opere, palea et stramento rostrum eius
firmantes," " on the Heracleotic mouth of the Nile they
oppose an unshakable barrier to the river-floods," and " an
island sacred to Isis, which they fortify by their labour, lest
the river hurt it, strengthening its headland m ith litter and
straw." Cecropian, i.f. Athenian, from Procne, daughter
of Pandion, king of Athens, turned into a swallow.
* "invida," perhaps to be explained by Juv. xv. 33,
" inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas," " neighbours'
quarrel." Note the etjmology again, Memphis from
fie/xcpeadai to blame !
164
SILVAE, III. 11. 110-127
with clay 5*^ why Memphis is jealous,'' why the shore of
Therapnean Canopus " makes wanton revel, why the
warden of Lethe '^ guards the Pharian shrines, why
vile beasts are held equal to mighty gods ; <^ what
altars the long-lived Phoenix prepares for his own
death, what fields Apis,/ adored by trembhng shep-
herds, deigns to graze, and in what waters of Nile
he bathes. Lead him also to the Emathian tomb,»
where steeped in nectar of Hybla abides the warrior
founder of the city, and to the serpent-haunted
palace where, sunk in lulling poison, Cleopatra of
Actian story escaped Ausonian chains. Escort the
youth even to his Assyrian station and the appointed
camp, O goddess, and deliver him to the Roman god
of war. No stranger will he be there ; as a boy he
laboured in those fields, known as yet only by his
gleaming laticlave,'* though already strong to out-
strip the squadrons in nimble wheeling flight, and
with his javeUn to discredit the arrows of the East.*
Therefore that day will come when Caesar, to give
"A luxurious bathing-resort: "Therapnaean," from
Therapnae in Laconia, because Canopus, helmsman of Mene-
laus, king of Sparta, was buried there.
"* Probablj' Anubis is here identified with Cerberus.
* e.g. ibis, crocodile, cat, dog, snake, and others, see
Herod, ii. 65 ; Cic. Tusc. Disp. v. 27.
•'' The sacred ox, called Epaphus by the Greeks, the son
of lo by Zeus, worshipped by the Egyptians, see Herod,
iii. 27.
" i.e., of Alexander the Great at Alexandria.
'^ Maecius would have worn the " tunica laticlavia " as a
young son of a noble family ; it was a tunic with a broad
purple band inwoven, extending from the neck down across
the chest. (The angusticlave was a tunic with two narrow
purple stripes in place of the one broad one.)
' i.e., he could hurl his javelin farther than the flight of
an arrow ; for their relative ranges see Theb. vi. 354 n.
l65
ST ATI us
Caesar ab emerito iubeat discedere hello,
at nos hoc iterum stantes in litore vastos
cernemus fluctus aliasque rogabimus auras. 130
o turn quantus ego aut quanta votiva moveho
plectra lyra ! cum me magna cervice ligatum
attolles umeris atque in niea pectora primum
incumhes e puppe novus servataque reddes
colloquia inque vicem medios narrabimus annos, 135
tu rapidum Euphraten et regia Bactra saerasque
antiquae Bahylonis opes et Zeugma, Latinae
pacis iter, quam^ dulce nemus florentis Idymes,
quo pretiosa Tyros rubeat, quo^ purpura suco
Sidoniis iterata cadis,^ ubi germine primum 140
Candida felices sudent opohalsama virgae :
ast ego, devictis dederim quae busta Pelasgis
quaeve laboratas claudat mihi pagina Thebas.
Ill
CONSOLATIO AD CLAUDIUM ETRUSCUM
Summa deum, Pietas, cuius gratissima caelo
rara profanatas inspeetant numina terras,
^ quam Baehrens : qua M.
" quo . . . quo Gronovius : qua . . . qua M.
* cadis Gronovius : vadis M.
" Where the Euphrates was usually crossed by the Roman
armies. " Zeugma " means a "joining," " yoking." " pacis,"
because their object was to maintain the "pax Romana."
* "iterata," usually known as the "dibapha" (twice
dipped), described by Pliny, N.H. xxi. 45.
" Burial of the Pelasgi ( = Argives), see Theb. xii. 105;
the last line seems to point to some perplexity on Statius's
part as to how he would bring his epic to a close.
■* Duty is addressed as though identified with Astraea, as
again v. 2. 92, 3. 89 ; cf. Theb. xi. 457.
166
SILVAE, III. II. 128— III. 2
thee a nobler prize, shall bid thee return from the
warfare thou hast ended, and I standing again upon
tliis shore shall view the mighty waves and pray for
other breezes. How proud then shall I be ! How
bravely shall I sound my votive lyre ! when you lift
me to your shoulders and I cling about your stalwart
neck, and you, fresh from the ship, fall first upon
my breast, and give me all your stored-up converse,
and in turn we tell the story of the years between,
you of rapid Euphrates and royal Bactra and the
sacred wealth of ancient Babylon, and of Zeugma,*'
the way of the Peace of Rome ; how sweet is Idume's
luxuriant grove, with what dye costly Tyre glows
scai'let, and the purple, twice plunged in Sidonian
vats,** is stained, where the fruitful sprays first exude
the shining spikenard from the bud : while I relate
what burial I have granted to the conquered
Pelasgians, and rehearse the page that closes the
laboured tale of Thebes.''
HI. A POEM OF CONSOLATION TO
CLAUDIUS ETRUSCUS
In this Epicedion Statins has given the chief place to the
story of the dead mail's career, more in tlie manner of a
" laudatio " ; the opening is also varied, cf. on ii. 6. Claudius
Etruscus, the father of tJie man whom Statins is addressing
in this poem, was born a slave at Smyrna, but rapidly rose from
post to post in the Imperial household till he finally became
Secretary of Finances nnder Nero ; he was made a Knight
by Vespasian, and after a brief disgrace nnder Domitian died
at about the age o/90. His wife was of noble birth. Martial
lorote a poem on the same occasion (vii. 40).
Duty,'' most high among gods, whose heaven-
favoured deity rarely beholds the guilty earth, come
l67
STATIUS
hue \dttata comam niveoque insignis amictu,
qualis adhuc praesens nuUaque expulsa nocentum
fraude rudes populos atque aurea regna colebas, 5
mitibus exsequiis ades et lugentis Etrusci
cerne pios fletus laudataque lumina terge.
nam quis inexpleto rumpentem pectora que&tu
complexumque rogos incumbentenique favillis
aspiciens non aut primaevae funera plangi 10
coniugis aut nati modo pubescentia credat
ora rapi flammis ? pater est, qui fletur. adeste
dique honiinesque sacris. procul hinc, procul ite
nocentes,
si cui corde nefas taciturn fessique senectus
longa patris, si quis pulsatae conscius uniquam^ 15
matris et inferna rigidum timet Aeacon urna :
insontes castosque voco. tenet ecce seniles
leniter implicitos vultus sanctamque parentis
canitiem spargit lacrimis animaeque supremum
frigus amat ; celeres genitoris filius annos 20
— mira fides ! — nigrasque putat properasse sorores.
exsultent placidi Lethaea ad flumina manes,
Elysiae gaudete domus ; date serta per aras
festaque pallentes hilarent altaria lucos.
felix, haec,^ nimium felix plorataque nato 25
umbra venit. longe Furiarum sibila, longe
tergeminus custos, penitus via longa patescat
manibus egi'egiis. eat horrendumque silentis
accedat domim solium gratesque supremas
perferat et totidem iuveni roget anxius annos. 30
^ unquam M : anguem Postgate.
^ haec Slater : et M : a, heu, o, en edd.
" Cerberus.
168
SILVAE, III. III. 3-30
hither with fillets on thy hair and adorned with snow-
white robe, as when still a present goddess, before
the violence of sinful men had driven thee away,
thou didst dwell among innocent folk in a reign of
gold ; come to these quiet obsequies, and look upon
the duteous tears of sorrowing Etruscus, and brush
them from his eyes with words of praise. For who
that saw him bursting his heart with unsatisfied
lament and embracing the pyre and bending o'er
the ashes would not think that it was a young wife
whose death he mourned, or a son whose face just
growing into manhood the flames were devouring ?
But it is a father whom he weeps. Come, gods and
men, to the holy rites. Begone, begone, ye wicked,
all in whose hearts is a crime unspoken, any who
deems his aged sire has lived too long, or, conscious
of ever having struck his mother, fears the urn of
unbending Aeacus in the world below : 'tis the pure
and guiltless I invite. Lo ! gently in his arms he
holds the aged face and lets his tears bedew the
sacred white hairs of his sire, and lovingly gathers
the last cold breath ; marvellous, yet true ! a son is
thinking that his father's life is swiftly flown, that
the black Sisters have brought the end too soon.
Exult, ye placid ghosts by the streams of Lethe,
rejoice, Elysian abodes ! enwreathe the shrines, and
let festal altars gladden the pale groves. 'Tis a
happy shade that is coming, ay, too happy, for his
son laments him. Avaunt, ye hissing Furies, avaunt
the threefold guardian <* ! let the long road lie clear
for peerless spirits. Let him come, and approach
the awful throne of the silent monarch and pay his
last due of gratitude and anxiously request for his
son as long a life.
169
ST ATI us
Macte pio gemitu ! dabimus solacia dignis
luctibus Aoniasque tuo sacrabimus ultro
inferias, Etrusce, seni ! tu largus Eoa
germina, tu messes Cilicumque Arabumque superbas
merge rogis ; ferat ignis opes heredis et alto 35
aggere missuri nitido pia nubila caelo
stipentur cineres : nos non arsura feremus
munera, venturosque tuus durabit in annos
me monstrante dolor, neque enim mihi flere parentem
ignotum, similis gemui proiectus ad ignem. 40
ille mihi tua damna dies compescere cantu
suadet : et ipse tuli quos nunc tibi confero questus.
Non tibi clara quidem, senior placidissime, gentis
linea nee proavis demissum stemma, sed ingens
supplevit fortuna genus culpamque parentum 45
occuluit. nee enim dominos de plebe tuUsti,
sed quibus occasus pariter famulantur et ortus.
nee pudor iste tibi : quid enim terrisque poloque
parendi sine lege manet ? vice cuncta reguntur^
alternisque premunt. propriis sub regibus omnis 50
terra ; premit felix regum diademata Roma ;
banc ducibus frenare datum ; mox crescit in illos
imperium superis. sed habent et numina legem :
servit et astrorum velox chorus et vaga servit
luna nee iniussae totiens redit orbita lucis, 55
et — modo si fas est aequare iacentia summis —
^ reguntur Gevart : geruntur J/.
" Statius now addresses the father. At 1. 85 he again
170
SILVAE, III. III. 31-56
A blessing on thy pious moans ! I will bring solace
for a grief so worthy, and unbidden pay thy sire,
Etruscus, an offering of song. Do thou with lavish
hand plunge Eastern incense in the flames, and the
proud harvests of Cilicia and Araby ; let the fire
consume thy heritage of wealth ; heap high the burn-
ing mass that shall waft duteous clouds to the bright
sky. My gift is not for burning, but my record of
thy grief shall endure through the years to come.
For I too know what it is to mourn a father ; I too
have groaned prostrate before the pyre. That day
bids me assuage tjiy loss by song ; the lament I
offer thee now was once my own.
No brilliant lineage indeed was thine,** serene old
man, no descent traced down from distant ancestors,
but high fortune made good thy birth and hid the
blemish of thy parentage. For thy masters were
not of common stock, but those to whom East and
West are alike in thrall. No shame is that servitude
to thee ; ** for what in heaven and earth remains
unbound by the law of obedience ? All things in
turn are ruled and in turn hold sway. To its own
monarch every land is subject : fortunate Rome
lords it o'er monarchs' crowns : 'tis her rulers' duty
to bridle Rome : o'er these in turn rises the sove-
reignty of heaven. But even deities have their laws :
in thraldom is the swift choir of the stars, in thraldom
is the wandering moon, not unbidden is the light
whose path so oft returns. And, if only it be not
a sin to compare the lowly with the highest, the
speaks of him in the 3rd person, but returns to the !3nd
person at 1. 106.
* More familiar parallels to this idea are Soph. Ajax,
669 ff. and Hor. Od. iii. 1. 5.
171
STATIUS
pertulit et saevi Tirynthius horrida regis
pacta, nee erubuit famulantis fistula Phoebi.
Sed neque barbarieis Latio transniissus ab oris :
Smyrna tibi gentile solum potusque verendo 60
fonte Meles Hermique vadum, quo Lydius intrat
Bacchus et aurato reficit sua cornua limo.
laeta dehinc series variisque ex ordine curis
auctus honos ; semperque gradi prope numina, semper
Gaesareum coluisse latus sacrisque deorum 65
arcanis haerere datum. Tibereia primum
aula tibi vixdum ora nova mutante iuventa
panditur — hie annis multa super indole victis
libertas oblata venit — nee proximus heres,
immitis quamquam et Furiis agitatus, abegit. 70
huic^ et in Arctoas tenuis comes usque pruinas
terribilem adfatu passus visuque tyrannum
immanemque suis, ut qui metuenda ferarum
corda domant mersasque iubent iam sanguine tacto
reddere ab ore manus et nulla \ivere praeda. 75
praecipuos sed enim merito surrexit^ in actus
nondum stelligerum senior dimissus in axem
Claudius et longo^ transmittit habere nepoti.
^ huic Pol. : bine M: hunc Aldine.
2 surrexit M : subvexit Pol. {but cf. Tbeb. 11. 27).
* longo M : longum Gevart.
" Hercules served King Eurystheus of Argos, Apollo was
shepherd (hence " fistula ") to Admetus, king of Thessaly.
* Because Homer was born on its banks.
" The Dionysus of the Indian legends has a bull's horns ;
the same Oriental figure appears In Theb. iv. 389, " Hermi
de fontibus aureus exis."
"* " latus " Is often used in this sense ; cf. the Papal legate
"a latere."
* Caligula. The next line seems to be a reference to the
172
SILVAE, III. III. 57-78
Tirynthian also perfonned his dread covenant with
the cruel king, nor did bondage shame the pipe of
Phoebus.'*
Butneitherwert thou sent to Latiumfrom barbarous
shores : Smyrna was thy native soil, and thou didst
drink the honoured ^ springs of Meles and of Hermus'
stream, where Lydian Bacchus bathes and tricks
his horns anew in the golden silt." Thereafter a
prosperous career was thine, and divers offices in due
succession increased thy dignity : it was thy privilege
ever to walk near divinities, ever to be close to
Caesar's person <* and to share the holy secrets of the
gods. The palace of Tiberius first was opened to
thee while early manhood scarce changed as yet thy
boyish countenance ; here — since thy varied gifts
surpassed thy years — freedom came to thee un-
sought ; nor did the next heir,^ though fierce and
Fury-haunted, banish thee. In his train didst thou
go, frail as thou wert, even to the frozen North, and
endure the tyrant terrible in word and look and cruel
to his subjects, as those who tame the dread rage of
beasts and command them, though they have tasted
blood, to let go the hand thrust down their jaws, and
to live without need of prey. But Claudius for thy
merit raised thee to highest office in his old age,^
ere he was summoned to the starry vault, and gave
thee over to the keeping of his nephew's late-born
expedition to Britain, which ended so ridiculously (Suet.
Cal. 46).
f This seems the most satisfactory meaning that can be
got for " longo " ; others are " long-reigning," for which
" longus exul " of Theb. 11. 114, Is not a very good parallel,
and " the long series of descendants," which could only refer
to the Flavians. Nero succeeded at the age of seventeen.
He was the son of Claudius's niece Agrippina.
173
ST ATI us
quis superos metuens pariter tot templa, tot aras
promeruisse datur ? summi Io\ds aliger Areas 80
nuntius ; imbrifera potitur Thaumantide luno ;
stat celer obsequio iussa ad Neptunia Triton :
tu totiens mutata ducum iuga rite tulisti
integer, inque omni felix tua cumba profundo.
lamque piam lux alta domum praecelsaque toto 85
intravit Fortuna gradu ; iam creditur uni
sanctarum digestus opum partaeque per omnis
divitiae populos magnique impendia niundi.
quicquid ab auriferis eiectat Hiberia fossis,
Dalmatico quod monte nitet, quod messibus Afris 90
verritur, aestiferi quicquid terit area Nili,
quodque legit mersus pelagi scrutator Eoi,
et Lacedaemonii pecuaria culta Galaesi
perspicuaeque nives Massylaque robora et Indi
dentis honos : uni parent commissa ministro, 95
quae Boreas quaeque Eurus atrox, quae nubilus
Auster
invehit : hibernos citius numeraveris imbres
silvarumque comas, vigil idem animique sagacis^
et citus^ evolvit quantum Romana sub omni
pila die quantumque tribus, quid templa, quid alti 100
undarum cursus, quid propugnacula poscant
^ vigil idem animique sagacis Leo : vigilite animaeque
sagacis M, variously emended ; usque, iste, ipse edd.,
vigili tu animoque sagaci Peyrared (evolvis 99) etc.
* et citus Salmashis : exitus 3/ : anxius Hirschfeld.
" Mercury and Iris.
* See Pliny, N.H. xxxiii. 78, for the mines of Spain ; the
gold-mines of Dalmatia are also mentioned iv. 7. 13 ; cf.
also the simile in Theb. vi. 880. Since Tiberius mining
rights were vested in the Emperor. The Imperial fiscus also
derived income from African wheat, from pearl-fisheries,
174
SILVAE, III. III. 79 101
son. Who that fears the gods was ever suffered to
serve so many temples, so many altars ? The winged
Arcadian is the messenger of supreme Jove ; Juno
hath power over the rain-bringing Thaumantian ; "
Triton, swift to obey, stands ready at Neptune's
bidding : thou hast duly borne unharmed the yoke
of princes, changed so many times, and thy httle
boat has weathered every sea.
And now from on high a light illumined his loyal
liome, and Fortune towering to her loftiest entered
apace. Now was entrusted to him alone the con-
trolling of the sacred treasure, wealth drawn from
every race, the revenue of the mighty world. All
that Iberia hews from out her gold-mines,*" the
glittering metal of Dalmatian hills, the produce of
African harvests : all that is threshed on the floors
of sultry Nile, or gathered by the divers who search
the Eastern seas : the tended flocks of Lacedae-
monian Galaesus, frozen crystals, Massylian citron-
wood, the glory of the Indian tusk : all is committed
to his charge and subject to him alone, all that the
North wind and fierce East wind and the cloudy
South bring with them ; sooner would you count the
winter rains or forest leaves. Watchful too is he and
shrewd of mind, and quick to reckon what the Roman
arms beneath every sky demand, how much the
tribes " and the temples, how much the lofty aque-
and considerable wealth from Egypt, which was the Em-
peror's own domain.
" "tribus," probably the supplies of free corn, distributed
by tribes ; " propugn. aeq.," perhaps the care of harbours
rather than fortresses; "quod domini," etc., Domitian had
recently built a new palace on the Palatine ; " quae divum,"
etc., the general supervision of statues of the Emperors
{— "divum "), and of the Mint.
175
ST ATI us
aequoris aut longe series porreeta \darum ;
quod domini celsis niteat laquearibus aurum,
quae divum in vultus igni formanda liquescat
massa, quid Ausoniae scriptura crepet igne Monetae,
hinc tibi rara quies animoque exclusa voluptas, 106
exiguaeque dapes et nuraquam laesa profundo
eura mero ; sed iura tamen genialia cordi
et mentem vincire toris ae iungere festa
conubia et fidos domino genuisse clientes. 110
Quis sublime genus formamque insignis Etruscae
neseiat ? haud quamquam proprio mihi cognita visu,
sed decus eximium famae par reddit imago,
vultibus et similis^ natorum gratia monstrat.
nee vulgare genus ; fasces summamque curulem 115
frater et Ausonios enses mandataque fidus
signa tulit, cum prima truces amentia Dacos
impulit et magno gens est damnata triumpho.
sic quicquid patrio cessatum a sanguine, mater
reddidit, obscurumque latus clarescere vidit 120
conubio gavisa domus. nee pignora longe ;
quippe bis ad partus venit Lucina manuque
ipsa levi gra\-idos tetigit fecunda labores.
feUx a ! si longa dies, si cernere vultus
natorum viridesque genas tibi iusta dedissent 125
stamina ! sed media cecidere abrupta iuventa
gaudia, florentesque manu scidit Atropos annos ;
quaUa pallentes decUnant lilia culmos
^ vultibus et similis Phillimore : vultibus et sibimet similis
M: et sibimet similis Skutsch, Krohn.
" i.e., the consulship.
* Domitian triumphed in 85, though without having
obtained any real success.
" The goddess of child-birth, lit. that first brings light to
the infant's eyes ; identified with Juno later.
176
SILVAE, III. III. 102-128
ducts, and the fortresses by the sea, or the far-flung
hnes of road ; what wealth of gold gleams on the
high ceilings of our prince, what weight of ore must
be melted in the fire and shaped into the countenance
of gods, how much shall ring when stamped in the
fiery heat of Ausonia's mint. Therefore hadst thou
but scant repose, thy mind took no thought for
pleasure, thy feasting was meagre and thy cares
never assuaged by plenteous draughts of wine ; yet
thou hadst joy in the ties of marriage, in binding
thy heart with chains of love, in the union of festal
wedlock, and in begetting faithful clients for thy
lord.
Who can but know the high birth and loveliness of
fair Etrusca ? Never with my own eyes have I
beheld her, yet the trusty image of fame reflects her
peerless beauty, and a like charm of countenance in
her sons reveals it. No common birth was hers ;
her brother wielded the rods and the highest curule
power,« and faithfully led Ausonian swordsmen and
the standards entrusted to him, when frenzy first
inspired the ruthless Dacians, and their race was
doomed to afford us a mighty triumph.^ Thus what-
soe'er was lacking in the father's blood was made
good by the mother, and the household rejoicing in
the union saw its obscurity turned to brightness.
Children too were nigh at hand ; twice was Lucina "
present at the birth and deftly with fruitful hand
eased the pain of travail. Ah ! happy, had length
of days and a due measure of years suffered thee to
behold the faces of thy children and the bloom of
youth upon their cheeks ! but in the midst of thy
prime those joys fell shattered, and Atropos roughly
tore the thread of flourishing life ; even so do lilies
VOL.1 N 177
ST ATI us
pubentesque rosae primos moriuntur ad austros,
aut ubi verna novis exspirat purpura pratis. 130
ilia sagittiferi circumvolitastis, Amores,
funera maternoque rogos unxistis amomo ;
nee modus aut pennis laeeris aut erinibus ignem
spargere, colleetaeque pyram struxere pharetrae.
quas tune inferias aut quae lamenta dedisses 135
maternis, Etrusee, rogis, qui funera patris
baud matura putas atque hos pius ingemis annos !
Ilium et qui nutu superas nune temperat arces,
progeniem claram terris partitus et astris,
laetus Idumaei donavit honore triumphi 140
dignatusque loco victricis et ordine pompae
non vetuit, tenuesque nihil minuere parentes.
atque idem in cuneos populo deduxit equestres
mutavitque genus laevaeque ignobile ferrum
exuit et celso natorum aequavit honorem.^ 145
dextra bis octonis fluxerunt saecula lustris,
atque aevi sine nube tenor, quam dives in usus
natorum totoque volens excedere censu,
testis adhuc largi nitor inde adsuetus Etrusci,
cui tua non humilis dedit indulgentia mores. 150
hunc siquidem amplexu semper revocante tenebas
blandus et imperio numquam pater ; huius honori
pronior ipse etiam gaudebat cedere frater.
Quas tibi devoti iuvenes pro patre renato,
summe ducum, grates, aut quae pia vota rependunt !
^ celso . . . honorem Krohn : celso . . . honore M : celse . . .
honori Salmasius.
" Vespasian, whose sons were Titus [d. 81) and Domitian.
'' Here= Judaean ; the reference is to the revolt of the
Jews that culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus.
" The gold ring and the fourteen seats above the orchestra
were privileges of the Equestrian order.
178
SILVAE, III. III. 129-155
droop pale heads and roses die at the first South
wind, or on fresh meadows the purple flower of spring
withers away. Around that funeral train did ye
hover, ye arrow-bearing Loves, and anoint the bier
with your mother's balm ; freely did ye scatter your
torn hair and feathers on the flames, and your
quivers were heaped to build the pyre. What
offerings, what tears wouldest thou have paid at thy
mother's grave, Etruscus, who deemest thy father's
death untimely and mournest witli true aifection for
his years !
He who with his nod now sways the heights of
heaven,'* and has given of his glorious offspring to
earth and sky alike, gladly granted to him the
honour of an Idumaean '' triumph, and deeming him
worthy the distinction and rank that the procession
of victory brings forbade it not, nor did obscurity of
birth diminish his renown.*^ He too led him down to
the benches of the knights from among the people,
and ennobled him and took off the humble iron ring
and made him equal to his sons in lofty eminence.
Twice eight lustres of prosperity flowed by, and his
life's course was without a cloud. How lavish he was
in the service of his sons, how willing to strip himself
of all his wealth, the wonted splendour of Etruscus
from that day to this bears witness, for it was thy
indulgence that gave him his lordly mien. Thou
didst clasp him in an embrace that ever called him
back to tliee, and didst rule by the love and not the
sternness of a father ; to him even liis brother
rejoiced to give way, more anxious for his renown
than for his own.
What gratitude, greatest of princes, what loyal
vows do these youths, devoted to thy service, pay
179
STATIUS
tu — seu tarda situ rebusque exhausta senectus 156
erravit seu blanda diu Fortuna regressum
maluit — attoiiituni et venturi fulminis ictus
horrentem tonitru tantum lenique procella
contentus monuisse senem ; cumque horrida supra
aequora curarum socius procul Itala rura 161
linqueret, hie molles Campani litoris oras
et Diomedeas concedere iussus in arces
atque hospes, non exsul, erat. nee longa moratus
Romuleum reseras iterum, Germanice, limen 165
maerentemque foves inclinatosque penates
erigis. baud mirum, ductor placidissime, quando
haec est quae victis parcentia foedera Cattis
quaeque suum Dacis donat dementia montem,
quae modo Marcomanos post horrida bella vagosque
Sauromatas Latio non est dignata triumpho. 171
lamque in fine dies et inexorabile pensum
deficit, hie maesti pietas me poscit Etrusci,
qualia nee Siculae moderantur carmina rupes
nee fati iam certus olor saevique marita 175
Tereos. heu quantis lassantem braehia vidi
planctibus et prono fusum super oscula vultu !
vix famuli eomitesque tenent, vix arduus ignis
summovet. baud ahter gemuit per Sunia^ Theseus
htora,^ qui falsis deceperat Aegea vehs. 180
tunc immane gemens foedatusque ora tepentes
^ per Sunia Bolster: periuria J/: per inania Burslan:
per Ionia Phillimore.
^ litora M : litore S", and keep periuria.
" Diomede was supposed by legend to have come to S.
Italy and founded Arpi in Apulia.
'' Campaign against the Chatti, 83, unsuccessful fighting
against Dacians and Marcomanni about 88, Sarmatian war,
probably successful but no triumph, 92.
180
SILVAE, III. III. 156-181
thee for theii* sire's rebirth ! For whether he erred
through age, fatigued by decay and exhausted by
affairs, or whether P'ortune so long favourable now
had a mind to leave him, thou wert content, while in
shuddering dismay he awaited the coming lightning-
stroke, to warn the old man by thunder alone and
by a storm that spared him ; and Avhen the partner
of his cares left far behind him the fields of Italy and
crossed the raging seas, he was bidden retire to
Campania's mild coast and the towers of Diomede,'*
a stranger but no exile. Nor didst thou wait long,
Germanicus, before thou didst once more unbar the
gates of Romulus and console his grief and raise again
the stricken house. No wonder, most tranquil prince ;
for this is that clemency that gives terms of mercy to
the conquered Catti ^ and restores their mountain to
the Dacians ; that lately though after a fierce struggle
deigned not that the Marcomanni and the Sarma-
tian Nomads should furnish forth a Roman triumph.
And now his day is ended, and the inexorable
thread runs out. The sorrowing heart of Etruscus
asks me for a dirge, such as even the cliffs of Sicily
re-echoed not, nor doomed swan ever sang nor cruel
Tereus' bride .'^ Ah ! with what violent beating of
his breast did I see him wearying his arms, flung
prostrate with face bowed down to kiss his sire !
Scarce can his friends and servants hold him, scarce
do the towering flames make him withdraw. Not
otherwise did Theseus on the Sunian shore mourn
Aegeus whom his false sails had deceived. Then
fearfully groaning, with disfiguring marks upon his
" The Sirens, and the nightingale (Philomela, ravished by
Tereus) are referred to.
181
ST ATI us
adfatur cineres : " cur nos, fidissime, linquis
Fortuna redeunte, pater ? modo numina magni
praesidis atque breves superuni placa\imus iras,
nee frueris tantique orbatus muneris usu 185
ad manes, ingrate, fugis. nee flectere Parcas
aut placare malae datur aspera numina Lethes ?
felix, cui magna patrem cer\iee vehenti
sacra Mycenaeae patuit reverentia flammae !
quique tener saevis genitorem Scipio Poenis 190
abstulit et Lydi pietas temeraria Lausi.
ergo et Thessalici coniunx pensare mariti
funus et immitem potuit Styga \'incere supplex
Thracius ? hoc quanto melius pro patre liceret !
non totus rapiere tamen, nee funera mittam 195
longius ; hie manes, hie intra tecta tenebo :
tu custos dominusque laris, tibi cuncta tuorum
parebunt ; ego rite minor semperque secundus
assiduas hbabo dapes et pocula sacris
manibus effigiesque colam ; te lucida saxa, 200
te similem doctae referet mihi hnea cerae,
nunc ebur et fulvum vultus imitabitur aurum.
inde \iam morum longaeque examina vitae
adfatusque pios monituraque somnia poscam."
Taha dicentem genitor dulcedine laeta 205
audit et immites lente descendit ad umbras
verbaque dilectae fert narraturus Etruscae.
Salve supremum, senior mitissime patrum,
" Aeneas who carried his father out of burning Troy :
Mycenean= kindled by Greeks.
'" At the battle of Ticinus, 218 b.c.
" Son of Mezentius=: Virg. Aen. x. 786 sqq.
^ Alcestis, wife of Admetus, and Orpheus, husband of
Eurydice.
182
SILVAE, III. III. 182-208
face, he cries to the warm ashes : " Why, truest of
fathers, dost thou leave us, when Fortune smiles once
more ? Only of late did we assuage the godhead of
our mighty prince and the brief anger of the gods,
but thou, naught profiting, dost lose the enjoyment
of a boon so great, and fleest, ungrateful, to the
shades. And is it not granted to move the Fates,
or appease the ruthless deities of deadly Lethe ?
Happy he, before whom as he carried his father on
stalwart shoulders the Grecian flames gave way in
reverent awe ^ ! and Scipio too, who while yet a lad
rescued his sire from the cruel Carthaginians * ;
happy also the daring devotion of Lydian Lausus <^ !
Is it so, then, that the Thessalian consort could give
her life to save her lord ? that the suppUant Thracian
could defeat remorseless Styx ? '^ surely a father's
life hath a juster claim ! Yet shalt thou not be
wholly taken, nor will I send thy ashes far : here,
here within the house will I keep thy shade. Thou
art the guardian and master of the hearth, all tliat
is thine shaU obey thee ; I will ever, as is right,
be second, and hold a lesser place, and to thy sacred
shade bring constant offering of meat and drink, and
worship thy image ; shining marble and the cunning-
lines of wax shall repeat thy likeness to me ; now
ivoi-y, now tawny gold shall imitate thy features.
There in thy long life's story will I seek a guide for
conduct, and loving converse and dreams that bring
good counsel."
So he spoke, and liis father heard him with joy and
gladness, and went down slowly to the pitiless shades,
bearing the message to tell to his beloved Etrusca.
Hail for the last time, aged sire, gentlest of fathers,
183
ST ATI us
supremumque vale, qui numquam sospite nato
triste chaos maestique situs patiere sepulcri. 210
semper odoratis spirabunt floribus arae,
semper et Assyrios felix bibet urna liquores
et lacrimas, qui maior honos. hie sacra htabit
manibus eque tua tumulum tellure levabit.
nostra quoque exemplo meritus tibi carmina sancit
hoc etiam gaudens cinerem donasse sepulcro. 216
IV. CAPILLI FLA VI EARINIi
Ite, comae, facilemque precor transcurrite pontum,
ite coronato recubantes molliter auro ;
ite, dabit cursus mitis Cytherea secundos
placabitque notos, fors et de puppe timenda
transferet inque sua ducet super aequora concha. 5
accipe laudatos, iuvenis Phoebeie, crines,
quos tibi Caesareus donat puer, accipe laetus
intonsoque ostende patri. sine dulce nitentes
comparet atque diu fratris putet esse Lyaei.
forsan et ipse comae numquam labentis honorem 10
praemetet atque alio clusum tibi ponet in auro.
Pergame, pinifera multum fehcior Ida !
^ EARINI Pol. : lEHINI M.
" Asclepius.
184
SILVAE, III. III. 209— IV. 12
and for the last time farewell ! Never while thy son
lives shalt thou suffer the despair of Tartarus, or the
sorrow of a grave forgotten. Ever shall thy altar
exhale the scent of flowers, ever shall thy happy urn
drink Assyrian perfumes, and tears, a greater honour.
Thy son shall make sacrifice to thy spirit, and from
thy own soil raise a monument to thee. My song
too, won by his own M'orth, he dedicates to thee,
glad to have given this sepulchre also to thy ashes.
IV. THE TRESSES OF FLAVIUS EARINUS
A poem upon the dedication of the tresses of the Emperor'' s
faiwurite Earinus ; they were to he sent in a golden box to
the temple of Asclepius at Pergamum, his birthplace. The
dedication of hair was an ancient Greek custom {cf. Achilles
in the Iliad), and should not be confused with the first clipping
of the beard, for which see Petronius, 29, Suetonius, Nero,
12, Juvenal, viii. 166. Martial has similar poems, ix. 16,
17, 36.
Speed, ye tresses, and may ocean smile upon your
passage ! Speed, while ye softly rest upon the
en\vreathed gold ! Speed onward, for gentle Venus
will give you a fair voyage, and make the South
winds tranquil, and perchance will take you fi-om the
dangerous bark and convey you over the sea in her
own shell. Accept, O son of Piioebus," these much-
praised locks that Caesar's favourite presents to thee,
accept them joyfully and show them to thy unshorn
sire. Let him compai'e their beauteous sheen, and
long deem them the tresses of his brother Lyaeus.
Perchance too with his own hand he will shear a lock
from his hair's unfailing glory, and enclose it for thee
in other gold.
Pergamus, more blest by far than pine-clad Ida,
185
STATIUS
ilia licet sacrae placeat sibi nube^ rapinae
— nempe dedit superis ilium, quern turbida semper
luno videt refugitque manum neetarque recusat — ,
at tu grata deis pulchroque insignis alumno 16
misisti Latio, placida quern fronte ministrum
luppiter Ausonius pariter Romanaque luno
aspiciunt et uterque probant. nee tanta potenti
terrarum domino divum sine mente voluptas. 20
Dicitur Idalios Erycis de vertice lucos
dum petit et molles agitat Venus aurea cygnos,
Pergameas intrasse domos, ubi maximus aegris
auxiliator adest et festinantia sistens
fata salutifero mitis deus incubat angui. 25
hie puerum egregiae praeclarum sidere formae
ipsius ante dei ludentem conspicit aras,
ae primum subita paulum decepta figura
natorum de plebe putat ; sed non erat illi
arcus et ex umeris nullae fulgentibus umbrae. 30
miratur puerile decus vultumque comasque
aspiciens " tune Ausonias " ait " ibis ad arces,
neglectus Veneri ? tu sordida tecta iugumque
servitii vulgare feres ? procul absit : ego isti,
quem meruit, formae dominum dabo. vade age
mecum, 35
vade, puer : ducam volucri per sidera curru
donum immane duci ; nee te plebeia manebunt
iura : Palatino famulus deberis amori.
nil ego, nil, fateor, toto tam dulce sub orbe
aut vidi aut genui. cedet tibi Latmius^ ultro 40
^ nube M : laude Markland: pube KoestUn.
* Latmius Doni. : lamus M.
" That of Ganymede. * Domitian and Domitia.
186
SILVAE, III. IV. 13-40
though she boast the cloud that veiled the heavenly
rape " ! She verily gave to the gods him on whom
Juno ever looks in WTath, and withdraws her hand
and refuses the nectar ; but thou, beloved of heaven
and famed for thy fair foster-son, hast sent to Latium
him whom Ausonian Jove and Roman Juno ^ alike
behold Avith favouring brow and both approve. Nor
without the will of heaven was such pleasure vouch-
safed to the lord of earth.
Golden Venus, it is said, Mobile on her way from
the height of Eryx to the Idalian groves, driving her
gentle swans, entered the shrine at Pergamum, where
the great helper of the sick is present to aid, and
stays the hurrying fates and bends, a kindly deity,
o'er his health-bringing snake. Here she espies a
lad of wondrous, starlike beauty, playing before the
very altars of the god. And at first deceived some-
what by the sudden sight of his fair form she
deems him one of her own sons ; but he had no
bow nor shade of wings on his bright shoulders. She
marvels at his boyish charm, and gazing at his
features and his locks, " Shalt thou go," she cries,
" to the Ausonian city, neglected by Venus, and
endure a mean dwelling and slavery's base yoke ?
May that never be ! I myself will find a master
worthy of that beauty. Come, lad, come with me !
I will convey thee in my winged chariot through the
air, a wondi'ous present to a monarch. No common
servitude awaits thee : to the Palace art thou des-
tined, to be the minister of love. Never, I declare,
never the whole world over have I beheld or given
birth to aught so fair.*' Straightway will the Latmian
" Endymion, Attis, Narcissus, and Hylas are referred to
in what follows.
187
STATIUS
Sangariusque puer quemque irrita fontis imago
et sterilis consumpsit amor, te caerula Nais
mallet et adprensa traxisset fortius urna.
tu, puer, ante omnis ; solus formosior ille,
cui daberis." sic orsa leves secum ipsa per auras 45
tollit olorinaque iubet considere biga.
nee mora, iam Latii montes veterisque penates
Evandri, quos mole nova pater incUtus orbis
excolit et summis aequat Germanicus astris.
tunc propior iam cura deae, quae forma capilUs 50
optima, quae vestis roseos accendere vultus
apta, quod in digitis, collo quod dignius aurum.
norat caelestis oculos ducis ipsaque taedas
iunxerat et plena dederat conubia dextra :
sic ornat crines, Tyrios sic fundit amictus, 55
dat radios ignemque suum. cessere priores
deliciae famulumque greges ; hie pocula magno
prima duci murrasque graves crystallaque portat
candidiore manu : crescit nova gratia Baccho.
Care puer superis, qui praelibare verendum 60
nectar et ingentem totiens contingere dextram
electus, quam nosse Getae, quam tangere Persae
Armeniique Indique petunt ! o sidere dextro
edite, multa tibi divum indulgentia favit !
olim etiam, ne prima genas lanugo nitentes 65
carperet et pulchrae fuscaret gratia formae,
ipse deus patriae celsam trans aequora liquit
Pergamon. haud ulli puerum mollire potestas
" i.e., the Palatine, where Domitian had recently built a
new palace.
188
SILVAE, III. IV. 41-68
yield to thee, and the Sangarian youth, and he whom
the fruitless image in the fountain and barren love
consumed. The Nymph of the dark-blue water would
have preferred tliee, and grasped thy urn and drawn
thee down more boldly. Thou, boy, dost surpass
them all ; only he to whom I shall give thee is more
beautiful." So speaking she lifted him with her
own hand through the light air, and bade him sit in
the swan-drawn chariot. Straightway appeared the
Latian hills * and the home of ancient Evander, which
Germanicus, renowned lord of the world, is adorning
with new structures and making as glorious as the
stars above. Then more anxious grew the goddess,
what tiring of the hair best suited him, what raiment
was fittest to light up his rosy countenance, what
gold was worthiest of his neck or his finger. She
knew the Emperor's godlike glance : herself she had
joined the torches of wedlock, and with lavish hand
bestowed on him his bride. So decks she his hair,
so drapes the Tyrian folds about him, and gives him
her own radiant fire. The former favourites yield,
and the crowds of slaves ; 'tis he who bears the
first goblet to our great Chief, and the crystal cups
and heavy murrhine vessels in hands that are fairer
than they ; there is a sweeter savour in the wine.
O youth beloved of heaven, who hast been chosen
to sip first the sacred nectar, and so oft to touch the
mighty hand that the Getae seek to know, and the
Persians and Armenians and Indians to kiss ! O born
under a favouring star, the gods have blest thee with
much goodwill ! Once, lest the first down should
spoil thy radiant cheeks and the charm of thy comeH-
ness be darkened, tlie god of thy land left his lofty
Pergamum and crossed the sea. None else was
189
STATIUS
credita, sed tacita iuvenis Phoebeius arte
leniter haud ullo concussum vulnere corpus^ 70
de sexu transire iubet. tamen anxia curis
mordetur puerique timet Cytherea dolores.
nondum pulehra ducis dementia coeperat ortu
intactos servare mares ; nunc frangere sexum
atque hominem mutare nefas, gavisaque solos 75
quos genuit natura videt, nee lege sinistra
ferre timent famulae natorum pondera matres.
Tu quoque nunc iuvenis, genitus si tardius esses,
umbratusque genas et adultos fortior artus,
non unum gaudens Phoebea ad limina munus 80
misisses ; patrias nunc solus crinis ad oras
naviget. hunc multo Paphie saturabat amonao,
hunc nova tergemina pectebat Gratia dextra ;
huic et purpurei cedet coma saucia Nisi,
et quam Sperchio tumidus servabat Achilles. 85
ipsi, cum primum niveam praecerpere frontem
decretum est umerosque manu nudare nitentes,
adcurrunt teneri Paphia cum matre volucres
expediuntque comas et Serica pectore ponunt
pallia, tunc iunctis crinem incidere sagittis 90
atque auro gemmisque locant, rapit ipsa cadentem
mater et arcanos iterat Cytherea liquores.^
tunc puer e turba, manibus qui forte supinis
nobile gemmato speculum portaverat auro,
" hoc quoque demus," ait; " patriis nee gratius uUum
munus erit templis ipsoque potentius auro. 96
^ corpus 5" : corpeus M, and Pol. (from P), whence
Phillimore suspects corpus cum vulnere carpens.
* arcanos . . . liquores 31: arcano saturat . . . liquore
Schroder.
" See Suet. Dom. vii. * Venus.
'^ The " purpureas senex " of Theh. i. 334, the king of
190
SILVAE, III. IV. 69-96
trusted to unman the lad, but the son of Phoebus
with quiet skill gently bids his body lose its sex,
unmarred by any wound. But Cytherea is devoured
by anxious care, and fears lest the boy suffer. Not
yet had the noble clemency of our prince * begun to
keep our males untouched from birth ; to-day it is
forbidden to destroy sex and violate manhood, and
nature rejoices to behold none but as she brought
them forth, nor does a harsh law make slave-mothers
afraid to bear the burden of sons.
Thou too, had thy birth been later, wert now a
man, and with darkened cheeks and limbs full-grown
and strong hadst gladly sent not one gift only to
Phoebus' fane ; now let this single tress make voyage
to thy country's shores. This did the Paphian''
steep in much balm, this did the fresh Graces comb
with threefold hand ; to this will yield the ravished
pvn'ple tress of Nisus,''and that which wx'athful Achilles
kept for Spercheus. When first it was decreed to
spoil tliat snow-white brow and by force to rob those
gleaming shoulders, winged Cupids mth their Paphian
mother flew to thee, and prepared thy locks and put
a silken robe about thee. Then with joined arrows
they cut off the tress, and laid it on gold and jewels,
and Venus their mother seized it as it fell, and
anointed it once and twice with her mystic essences.
Then one of the troop of boys, who by chance had
brought in his upturned hands a mirror finely set in
jewelled gold, cried : " This too let us give, no gift
could be more pleasing to his country's slirine, and
more powerful even than gold. Do thou but gaze
Megara, who had tlie purple lock on which depended the
safety of his realm. He was betrayed by his daughter Scylla,
who cut it off,
191
ST ATI us
tu modo fige aciem et vultus hie usque relinque."
sic ait et speculum reclusit imagine rapta.
At puer egregius tendens ad sidera palmas,
" his mihi pro donis, hominum mitissime custos, 100
si merui, longa dominum i*enovare iuventa
atque orbi servare vehs ! hoc sidera mecum,
hoc undae terraeque rogant. eat, oro, per annos
IHacos PyHosque simul, propriosque penates
gaudeat et secum Tarpeia senescere templa." 105
sic ait et motas miratur Pergamos aras.
V. ECLOGA AD UXOREMi
Quid mihi maesta die, sociis quid noctibus, uxor,
anxia pervigih ducis suspiria cura ?
non metuo ne laesa fides aut pectore in isto
alter amor ; nullis in te datur ire sagittis
— audiat infesto licet hoc Rhamnusia vultu — , 5
non datur. et si egomet patrio de litore raptus
quattuor emeritis per bella, per aequora lustris
errarem, tu mille procos intacta fugares,
non intersectas commenta retexere telas,
sed sine fraude palam, thalamosque armata negasses.
die tamen, unde alta^ mihi fronte et nubila vultus ? 1 1
anne quod Euboicos fessus remeare penates
auguror et patria senium componere terra ?
^ ECLOGA AD UXOBEM S~: VIA DOMITIANA J/ : AD CLAUDIAM 5"
Ed. Prln.
^ alta M : alia Aldine.
" i.e.. Nemesis, from Rhamnus, a town in Attica, which
possessed a statue of that goddess.
* Like Penelope.
192
SILVAE, III. IV. 97— V. 13
tlierein, and leave thy likeness here for ever." He
spoke, and shut the mirror, imprisoning the image.
But the peerless boy stretched forth his hands to
heaven, and cried : " Most gentle guardian of men,
vouchsafe in reward for my gift, if I so deserve, to
keep our prince in the freshness of undying youth,
and save him for the world. The sky, the sea, and
the earth join with me in my prayer. May he live,
I pray, through the years of a Priam and a Nestor
both, and rejoicing see his own home and the Tar-
peian shi'ine grow to old age with liimself." He
spoke, and Pergamus marvelled that her fanes were
shaken.
V. THE POET TO HIS WIFE CLAUDIA
The poet pleads with his wife to fall in with his plan to
return from Rome to Naples, his birthplace.
Why are you sad, my wife, in the day-time and in
the nights we share together ? Why do you sigh
for anxiety and wakeful sorrow ? I have no fear lest
it be unfaithfulness and a rival passion in your heart ;
you are safe against all poisoned shafts, ay — though
the Rhamnusian * hear my words and frown — safe
indeed ! Even were I torn from my native shores
and after twenty years of Avar and seafaring a
wanderer still, you would repel unharmed a thousand
wooers ; ^ nor would you plan to weave again the
imravelled web, but would be frank and open, and
even with arms deny your chamber. But say, whence
comes this sullen brow, this clouded countenance ?
Is it that, broken in health, I purpose to return to
my P'uboean home, and to settle in old age on my
VOL. I o ] 9-3
ST ATI us
cur hoc triste tibi ? certe lascivia corde^
nulla nee aut rapidi muleent te proelia Cirei 15
aut intrat sensus elamosi turba theatri ;
sed pi-obitas et opaea quies et sordida numquani
gaudia.
Quas auteni eoniiteni te rapto per undas ?
quamquam et si gelidas irem mansurus ad Arctos
vel super Hesperiae vada caligantia Thyles 20
aut septemgemini caput baud penetrabile Nili,
hortarere vias. etenim tua — nempe benigna
quam mihi sorte Venus iunctam florentibus annis
servat et in senium — , tua, quae me vulnere primo
intactum thalamis et adhuc iuvenile vagantem 25
fixisti, tua frena libens docilisque recepi,
et semel insertas non mutaturus habenas
usque premo. tu me nitidis Albana ferentem
dona comis sanctoque indutum Caesaris auro
visceribus complexa tuis sertisque dedisti 30
oscula anhela meis ; tu, cum Capitolia nostrae
infitiata lyrae, saevum ingratumque dolebas^
mecum victa lovem ; tu procurrentia primis
carmina nostra sonis totasque in murmure noctes
aure rapis vigili ; longi tu sola laboris 35
conscia, cumque tuis crevit mea Thebais annis.
qualeni te nuper Stygias prope raptus ad umbras,
cum iam Lethaeos audirem comminus amnes,
aspexi, tenuique oculos iam morte cadentes.
scilicet exhausti Lachesis mihi tempora fatl 40
^ corde M : conVi Doin.
^ dolebas iJom. : doleres M : dolere Krolin.
" Domitian had a residence at Alba, wliere he held con-
tests in music and poetry, at one of which Statins was
victorious. It was a great disappointment that he failed at
194
SILVAE, III. V. 14-40
native soil ? Why does this cause you sorrow ?
Certainly there is no wantonness in your heart ; the
contests of the rushing Circus have no charm for
you, no clamorous tlieatre-crowds find a place in
your soul, but virtue and sheltered quiet and innocent
joys-
But what are the waters o'er which I fain would
liurry you with me ? although even if I went to dwell
at the cold North, or beyond the misty seas of
western Thule, or to the unattainable source of
sevenfold Nile, you would be urging our departure.
For it is you — you, whom Venus of her grace united
to me in the springtime of my days, and in old age
keeps mine, you, who while yet I roved in youth nor
knew aught of love did transfix my heart — you it is
whose rein in willing submission I obeyed, and yet
press the bit once put within my mouth, without e'er
thought of change. When the Alban wreath "
adorned my gleaming locks, and I put on Caesar's
sacred gold, you clasped me to your bosom, and
showered breathless kisses on my garlands ; when
the Capitol rejected my lyre, you shared my defeat
and mourned the cruelty and ingratitude of Jove.
Your wakeful ears caught the first notes of tlie songs
I ventured and whole nights of murmured sound ;
you alone knew of my long labour, and my Thebaid
grew with the years of your companionship. When
lately I was near snatched away to the Stygian
shades, and already heard close at hand the stream
of Lethe, how grateful wert thou to my sight ! My
eyes, already failing in death, were stayed. Surely
it was in pity of thee alone that Lachesis prolonged
the more important Capitoline contest later on (3 1 ) : cf.
also V. 3. 225 f.
195
ST ATI us
te tantum miserata dedit, superique potentes
invidiam timuere tuam. post ista propinquum
nunc iter optandosque sinus comes ire moraris ?
heu ubi nota fides totque explorata per usus,
qua veteres Latias Graias heroidas aequas ? 45
isset ad Iliacas — quid enim deterret amantes ? —
Penelope gavisa demos, si passus Ulixes ;
questa est Aegiale, questa est Meliboea relinqui,
et quam — quam saevi ! — ^ fecerunt maenada planctus.
nee minor his tu nosse fidem vitanique maritis 50
dedere. sic certe cineres umbramque priorem
quaeris adhuc, sic exsequias amplexa canori
coniugis ingentes iterasti pectore planctus,
iam mea. nee pietas alia est tibi curaque natae,
sic et mater amas, sic numquam corde recedit 55
nata tuo, fixamque animi penetralibus imis
nocte dieque tenes. non sic Trachinia^ nidos
Alcyone, vernos non sic Philomela penates
circuit amplectens animamque in pignora transfert.
te^ nunc ilia tenet, viduo quod sola cubili 60
otia iam pulchrae terit infecunda iuventae.
sed venient, plenis venient conubia taedis.
sic certe formaeque bonis animique meretur ;
sive chelyn complexa petit seu voce paterna
^ quamquam saevi M : quam — quam saevi — Pol.
* Trachinia r : intracia M.
^ te Phillimore : et M, heu Dom.
" Aegiale, wife of Diomede and daughter of Adrastus,
called Deipj'le in the Thehaid ; Meliboea is mentioned by
Athenaeus as the wife of Theseus (Ath. p. 557), also by
Servius {Aen. i. 724) as the wife of an Ephesian youth named
Alexis.
* Laodamia, see ii. 7. 126 n.
196
SILVAE, III. V. 41-64
my cxliaustcd term of life, and the gods above
feared thy displeasure. After that do you hesitate
to go with me on this short journey to the desirable
bay ? Ah ! where is that loyalty of yours, well-
known and put to many a test, that makes you one
with the heroines of Greece and Rome ? Penelope
would have rejoiced to go to Ilium's town — for what
deters true lovers ? — had Ulysses suffered her ;
Aegiale chafed, and Meliboea chafed to be left
behind," and she too whom grief — how savage ! —
drove to frenzy.^ Yet you no less than these are
loyal, and your life is devoted to your lord. Not
otherwise indeed do you still seek the ashes and
shade of your former husband,'' and embracing the
relics of your poet-spouse renew your bitter heartfelt
lamentation, even now that you are mine. As great
too is your care and devotion for your daughter ;
your love as a mother is as tender ; she is never
absent from your heart, but the thought of her
abides day and night in the inmost chambers of your
being. Less lovingly does Alcyone of Trachis'' flutter
round her nest, and Philomela cherish her vernal
home, and give her young ones the warmth of her
own life. 'Tis she now keeps you, because alone and
unmarried she is wasting her youth and beauty in
barren leisure. But wedlock will come, ay come
Mith all its festal toi-ches. So assuredly does she
deserve for her sweet face and virtuous mind ;
whether she clasp and strike the lute, or with voice
as tuneful as her sire's sing melodies that the Muses
' It is not known who he was ; he, not Statins, was the
father of her daughter.
"^ Chaniyedljy Zeusintothesea-bird called dXM'w^; according
to the fable, while the bird was nesting, the seas were all calm.
1.97
ST ATI us
discendum Musis sonat et mea carmina flectit, 65
Candida seu molli diducit brachia motu :
ingenium probitas artemque modestia vincit.
nonne leves pueros, non te, Cytherea, pudebit
hoc cessare decus ? nee tantum Roma iugales
coneiliare toros festasque accendere taedas 70
fertilis : et nostra generi tellure dabuntur.
non adeo Vesuvinus apex et flammea diri
montis hiems ti'epidas exhausit civibus urbes :
stant populisque vigent. hinc auspice condita Phoebo
tecta Dicarchei portusque et litora mundi 75
hospita : at hinc magnae tractus imitantia Roniae
quae Capys advectis implevit moenia Teucris.
nostra quoque et propriis tenuis nee rara colonis
Parthenope, cui mite solum trans aequora vectae
ipse Dionaea^ monstravit Apollo columba. 80
Has ego te sedes — nam nee mihi barbara Thrace
nee Libye natale solum — transferre laboro,
quas et mollis hiems et frigida temperat aestas,
quas imbelle fretum torpentibus adluit undis.
pax secura locis et desidis otia vitae 85
et numquam turbata quies somnique peracti.
nulla foro rabies aut strictae in iurgia leges :
morum iura viris solum et sine fascibus aequum.
quid nunc magnificas species cultusque locorum
templaque et innumeris spatia interstincta columnis.
et geminam molem nudi tectique theatri 91
^ Dionea . , . columba Pol. : Dioneae , . . columbae jV.
" Puteoli, Capua, Naples. Dione= Venus.
198
SILVAE, III. V. 65-91
might learn, while she follows the course of my songs,
or wlietlier with lithe movement she toss her snow-
white ai'ms : her innocence and modesty surpass her
talent and lier skill. Surely the nimble Loves,
surely thou, Cytherea, wilt feel shame that such
loveliness is wasted. Nor is it only Rome that is
fruitful in marriage unions and blazing festal torches :
in my country too are bridegrooms found. Not so
utterly has Vesuvius' peak and the flaming tempest
of tlie baleful mountain drained of their townsmen
the terror-stricken cities ; they stand yet and their
people flourish. Here are the dwellings of Dicarchus,
founded with Phoebus' auspices, and the harbour
and the shores that the whole woi-ld visits ; there are
the walls that counterfeit the vastness of mighty
Rome, which Capvs filled with newcomers from Troy.
There too is my own Parthenope, too small for her
own citizens, yet witli no lack of strangers, Parthe-
nope, whom after she had fared across the sea Apollo
himself by the help of Dione's dove guided to a
kindly soil.''
This is the spot — for neither barbarous Thrace nor
I>ibya is my native land — whither I fain would bring
you ; mild winters and cool summers temper its
climate, its shores are lapped by the sluggish waters
of a harmless sea. Peace untroubled reigns there,
and life is leisurely and calm, with quiet undisturbed
and sleep unbroken. No madness of the forum, no
laws unsheatlied in quarrel ; our citizens admit but
duty's ordinance, and Riglit holds sway without rod
or axe. Why should I now praise the gorgeous
scenes and adornments of that land, the temples and
wide halls spaced off by countless columns, the two
great theatres, one open and one covered, and the
199
STATIUS
et Capitolinis quinquennia proxima lustris,
quid laudem litus^ libertatemque Menandri,
quam Romanus honos et Graia licentia niiscent ?
nee desunt variae circa oblectaniina vitae : 95
sive vaporiferas, blandissinia litora, Baias,
enthea fatidicae seu visere tecta Sibyllae
dulce sit Iliacoque iuguni niemorabile renio,
seu tibi Bacchei \"ineta niadentia Gauri
Teleboumque domos, trepidis ubi dulcia nautis 100
lumina noctivagae tollit Pharus aemula lunae,
caraque non molli iuga Surrentina Lyaeo,
quae mens ante alios habitator Pollius auget,
Aenarumque^ lacus medicos Stabiasque renatas :
mille tibi nostrae referam telluris amores ? 105
sed satis, hoc, coniunx, satis est dixisse : creavit
me tibi. me socium longos adstvinxit in annos.
nonne haec amborum genetrix altrixque videri
digna ? sed ingratus qui plura adnecto tuisque
moribus indubito : venies, carissima coniunx, 110
praeveniesque etiam ; sine me tibi ductor aquarum
Thybris et armiferi sordebunt tecta Quirini.
^ litus M : lusus, risus, lites, ritus edd.
* Aenarumque Vollmer : Denarumque M : Aenariaeque
Dom. : Inarimesque Unger.
" The " freedom of Menander " means the free, un-
hampered life that Menander valued highly, and which
forms the subject of some of his extant sajings, e.g. ^iov
5t5dffKa\os I eXeidepov roh iraaiv avdpilirois dypos, " the country
is a teacher of the free life to all." The mixture of Greek
and Roman would be a characteristic of Neapolitan life.
200
SILVAE, III. V. 92-112
quinquennial contests that rival the Capitoline
festival ? Why should I praise the shore and the
freedom of Menander," a blend of Roman dignity
and Grecian licence ? Nor are there lacking all
around the amusements that a varied life affords :
whether you please to visit Baiae with its steaming
springs and alluring coast, or the prophetic Sibyl's
inspired abode, or the hill made memorable by the
Hi an oar '' ; whether you prefer the flowing vine-
yards of Bacchic Gaurus, or the dwellings of the
Teleboae," where the Pharus raises aloft the beacon
that rivals the night-wandering moon and is welcomed
by affrighted sailors, or the Surrentine hills beloved
of fiery Bacchus, which my friend Pollius before all
men honours by his dwelling, or the health-giving
lake of Aenaria and Stabiae reborn <^ ? Shall I
recount to you the thousand beauties of my country ?
No ; 'tis enough, my wife, enough to say : This land
bore me for you, and bound me to you in partner-
ship for many a year. May it not worthily be
deemed the mother and foster-mother of us both ?
But 'twere ingratitude in me to add more words and
to doubt your loyalty ; you will come with me,
dearest wife, ay, even go before me ; without me
Tiber, prince of streams, and the halls of armed
Quirinus will seem dull and worthless in your eyes.
" Of the Trojan Misenus (Virg. Ae7i. vi. 233).
' Capri, which had a lightliouse.
'' After the eruption.
201
LIBER IV
Statius Marcello suo Salutem
Inveni librum, Marcelle carissime, quem pietati
tuae dedicarem. Reor equidem aliter quam invocato
numine maximi imperatoris nullum opusculum meum
coepisse : sed hie liber tres habet . . .^ se quam
quod quarta ad honorem tuum pertinet. Primo
autem septimum decimum Germanici nostri con-
sulatum adoravi ; secundo gratias egi sacratissimis
eius epulis honoratus ; tertio viam Domitianam
mlratus sum, qua gravissimam harenarum moram
exemit. Cuius beneficlo tu quoque maturius epi-
stolam meam accipies, quam tibi in hoc libro a
Neapoli scribo. Proximum est lyricum carmen ad
Septimium Severum, iuvenem, uti scis, inter ornatis-
simos secundi ordinis, tuum quidem et condiscipulum,
sed mihi citra^ hoc quoque ius artissime carum. Nam
Mndicis nostri Herculem Epitrapezion secundum
honorem, quem de me et de ipsis studiis meretur,
* Lacuna recognized by JIahn, though none in MSS. : se
quam quod Jf PoJ. {from P) : sequitur 5". inserting quae
after quarta ; nisi quod quarta etc. s". sed nee hie aliter
res habet se quam quod etc. FhiUimore. Vollmer irotddfill the
lacuna thus : (Ubellos in honorem eius. tum demum
secuntur eclogae ad amicos ; vides igitur te magis honorari
non (potuis)se) quam quod etc. ^ citra Nohl : contra M.
202
BOOK IV
Statius to ins Friend Marcellus : Greeting.
I HAVE found a volume, my dearest Marcellus, that
I can dedicate to your loyal friendship. I believe
that no work of mine has opened without an invoca-
tion of the godhead of our mighty Prince ; but this
book has three <such poems>, . . . and it is only the
fourth that does you honour." In the first I have
paid homage to the seventeenth consulship of our lord
Germanicus ; in the second I have returned thanks
for the privilege of attending his most august
banquet ; in the third I express my admiration of
the Domitian Road, whereby he has ended the
serious waste of time caused by the sandy track.
To him it is due that you will the sooner receive my
letter which 1 am sending from Naples in this volume.
Then follows an Ode to Septimius Severus, who is,
as you know, one of the most distinguished young
men of equestrian rank, and not only a school-
companion of yours, but, even apart from that
claim on me, one of my closest friends. As for the
Hercules-statuette of our friend Vindex, I can make
you responsible for that also, for he has deserved well
° This seems to be the general sense.
203
STATIUS
imputare etiam tibi possum. Maximum Vibium et
dignitatis et eloquentiae nomine a nobis diligi satis
eram testatus epistola, quam ad ilium de editione
Thebaidos meae publicavi ; sed nunc quoque eum
reverti maturius ex Dalmatia rogo. luncta est
egloga ad municipem meum lulium Menecratem,
splendidum iuvenem et Pollii mei generum, cui
gratulor quod Neapolim nostram numei'o liberorum
honestaverit. Plotio Grypo, maioris gradus iuveni,
dignius opusculum reddam, sed interim hendeca-
syllabos, quos Saturnalibus una risimus, huic volumini
inserui.
Quare ergo plura in quarto silvarum quam in
prioribus ? ne se putent aliquid egisse, qui repre-
henderunt, ut audio, quod hoc stili genus edidissem.
Primum supervacuum est dissuadere rem factam ;
deinde multa ex illis iam domino Caesari dederam,
et quanto hoc plus est quam edere ? exercere autem
ioco non licet ? " secreto " inquit. Sed et sphaero-
machias spectamus et palaris lusio admittit. Novis-
sinie : quisquis ex meis invitus aliquid legit, statim
se profitetur^ adversum. Ita, quare consilio eius
accedam ? In summam, nempe ego sum qui
traducor ; taceat et gaudeat. Hunc tamen librum
^ profitetur Vahlen and the Aldine : profiteatur M.
" i.e., from the honour of the "ius trium liberorum" which
had been bestowed upon him.
* I read " profitetur " with \'ahlen and the Aldine, also
Volhner, as with " profiteatur " the following sentence lacks
point, while " taceat " gives a directly contradictory sense.
204
SILVAE, IV.
of poetry in general and of myself in particular. I
bore ample testimony to my affection for Vibius
Maximus on the score both of high character and of
poetic gift in the letter which I published about the
bringing-out of my Thehaid ; but on this occasion
I beg him to return from Dalmatia with all speed.
Next comes a poem to my fellow-townsman Julius
Menecrates, a brilliant youth, noble knight, and the
son-in-law of my friend Pollius : I congratulate him
on having done honour to our city of Naples by the
number of liis children." Plotius Grypus, a youth of
senatorial rank, shall have a poem more worthy of
him, but in the mean time I have included in this
volume some hendecasyllables that we laughed over
together at the Saturnalia.
Why then, you will ask, are there more pieces in
the fourtli book of my Occasional Verses than in the
former ? Why, that they who, as I hear, have
criticized me for publisliing this kind of verse may
feel that they have accomplished nothing. In the
tirst place, the thing is done, and it is useless to
grumble ; in the second, I had already presented
many of them to our Imperial Master, compared with
which publication is a trivial affair. Besides, surely
one may write in sportive vein ? " Only privately,"
say they. But we go to see games of ball, and are
admitted to fencing-matches. Finally : whoever of
my friends reads anything unwillingly, then and
there declares himself an enemy ; ^ very well, why
should I take his advice ? After all, surely it is I
who am being abused ; let him hold his peace and
"ex meis " might perhaps be taken with "aUquid:" "any-
thing of mine." Markland reads " invidus " for " invitus " :
"with disapproval."
• 205
STATIUS
tu, Marcelle, defendes, et si videtur/ hactenus,
minus, reprehendemur. Vale.
SEPTIMUS DECIMUS COXSULATUS IMP.
AUG. GERMAXICI
Laeta bis octonis accedit purpura fastis
Caesaris insignemque aperit Germanicus annum
atque oritur cum sole novo, cum grandibus astris
clarius ipse nitens et primo maior Eoo.
exsultent leges Latiae, gaudete curules, 5
et septemgemino iactantior aethera pulset
Roma iugo, plusque ante alias Evandrius arces
collis ovet : subiere novi Palatia fasces,
et requiem bissenus^ honos precibusque receptis
curia Caesareum gaudet vicisse pudorem. 10
ipse etiam immensi reparator maximus aevi
attollit vultus et utroque a limine grates
I anus agit, quem tu vicina Pace ligatum
1 defendes, et, si videtur etc., 3/ : defendes ; haec, si
videtur etc. ronj. Pfniliinore: sed, si videtur etc. VoUmfr,
irho transposes hunc . . . defendes to between hactenus and
sin minus.
" bissenus Stangius : bissextus 3/.
" The purple is that of the consulship, not of the prin-
cipate. The date is 95 a.d.
^ The title was given him for his campaigns in Germany,
for which he triumphed in 83. It was probably a favourite
title of his. See note on 43. "^ The Palatine.
"* Lit. " the twelvefold honour (the consulship, from the
twelve lictors of the Consul) rejoices to have overcome
repose,"' i.e. to have obtained Caesar as consul ; others take
206
SILVAE, IV. I. 1-13
be glad. But you, Marcellus, will champion tjiis
book ; if you agree, well, so far so good ! otherwise,
I must submit to criticism. Farewell !
I. THE SEVENTEENTH CONSULSHIP OF THE
EMPEROR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS
Tills poem belongs to the class of Panegyric or laudation
of the Emperor or other distinguished personage, which he-
comes common in later times, e.g. Claudian, Sidonius, etc.
With happy augury the Imperial consulship " adds
yet another to its twice eight terms, and Germanicus ^
opens a year of glory ; he rises with the rising
sun and the mighty constellations, himself more
brilliant than they and outshining the early Morning
Star. Exult, ye laws of Latium, rejoice, ye curule
chairs, and let Rome more proudly strike the sky
with her sevenfold summit, and Evander's hill '^
make louder boast than other heights ! Once more
the rods and axes have entered the Palace, the
twelvefold honour '' rejoices to rest idle no more,
and the Senate that its prayers are heard and Caesar's
modesty is overcome. Janus himself, great renewer
of eternal Time, near whom thou hast set Peace ^
"requiem" as "Caesar's repose." The former interpreta-
tion implies that only when Caesar was consul was the
office really alive, a characteristic bit of flattery, as Domitian
rarely held it for long, never beyond May 1st, and often
only till January 13th, according to Suetonius, Bom. 13.
* Vespasian built a temple of Pax " near the Forum "
(Romanum), Suet. Vesp. 9, see iv. 3. 17 n. Whether the
old Janus-arch of the Forum or the new Janus Quadrifrons
of the Forum Transitorium, lietween the Roman and Julian
Fora, is meant, is uncertain, though " utroque " suggests the
former. The " new forum " is probal)ly the F. Transitorium.
207
ST ATI us
omnia iussisti componere bella novique
in leges iurare fori, levat ecce supinas 15
hinc atque inde manus geminaque haec voce profatui- :
Salve, magne parens mundi, qui saecula mecum
instaurare paras, taleni te cernere semper
mense meo tua Roma cupit ; sic tempora nasci,
sic annos intrare decet. da gaudia fastis 20
continua ; hos umeros multo sinus ambiat ostro
et properata tuae manibus praetexta Minervae.
aspicis ut templis alius nitor, altior aris^
ignis et ipsa meae tepeant tibi sidera bruniae ?
moribus atque tuis gaudent turmaeque tribusque 25
purpureique patres, lucemque a consule ducit
omnis honos ? quid tale, precor, prior annus habebat ?
die age, Roma potens, et mecum, longa Vetustas,
dinumera fastos nee parva exempla recense,
sed quae sola meus dignetur vincere Caesar. 30
ter Latio deciesque tulit labentibus annis
Augustus fasces, sed coepit sero mereri :
tu iuvenis praegressus avos. et quanta recusas,
quanta vetas I flectere tamen precibusque senatus
promittes hunc saepe diem, manet insuper ordo 35
longior, et totidem felix tibi Roma curules
terque quaterque dabit. mecum altera saecula
condes,
et tibi longaevi renovabitur ara parentis^ ;
mille tropaea feres, tantum permitted triumphos :
^ aris M : astris Ml in marg. Pol. notes that P has both
readings.
^ parentis M : Tarenti Turnebus.
' permitte 5" : promitte M.
" Augustus owed his earlier consulship to force of arms
rather than to merit.
208
SILA^AE, IV. I. 14-39
to fetter him, and bidden liini bring all warfare to
an end, and swear allegiance to the laws of thv new
Forum, Janus lifts up his head and from either
threshold utters his gratitude. Lo ! on this side and
on that he raises suppliant hands, and speaks thus
with twofold voice : " Hail, great Father of the
world, who with me preparest to begin the ages
anew, thus would thy Rome ever see thee in my
month ; thus should eras be born, thus should the
vear be opened. Give joys perpetual to our annals ;
let those shoulders many a time be draped in purple
folds, and in the bordered robe that thy own
Minerva's hands make haste to weave for thee.
Seest thou how the temples gleam more radiant, how
the fire leaps higher on the altars, and even my
mid-winter skv grows warmer ? how tribes and knights
and purple-clad Senators rejoice in thy virtues, and
every rank shines in the lustre of its consul ? What
glory so great, I ask, had the year just gone ? Come,
speak, imperial Rome, recount. Antiquity, with me
the long annals, take no note of petty names, but
such only as my Caesar would deign to surpass.
Thrice and ten times in the lapse of years did
Augustus wield the fasces over Latium, but only late
by right of merit " : thou as a youth didst outstrip
thy grandsires. And how many a time hast thou
refused, how many a time forbidden to offer ! Yet
wilt thou be persuaded, and oft vouchsafe this day
to the Senate's prayers. A longer line awaits thee
yet, and as oft again, ay, thrice and four times as
often will fortvniate Rome grant thee the curule
chair. With me shalt thou found a second age, and
the altar of thy long-lived sire shall be restored ; a
thousand trophies shalt thou win, wilt thou but
VOL. I p 209
ST ATI us
restat Bactra novis, restat Babylona tributis 40
frenari ; nondum gremio lovis Indica laurus,
nondum Arabes Seresque rogant, nondum omnis
honoreni
annus habet, cupiuntque decern tua nomina menses."
Sic lanus clausoque libens se poste recepit.
tunc omnes patuere dei laetoque dederunt 45
signa polo, longamque tibi, dux^ magne, iuventam
annuit atque suos promisit luppiter annos.
II
EUCHARISTICON AD IMP. AUG. GERM.
DOMITIANUM
Regia Sidoniae convivia laudat Elissae,
qui magnum Aenean Laurentibus intulit arvis,
Alcinoique dapes mansuro carmine monstrat,
aequore qui multo reducem consumpsit Ulixem :
ast ego, cui sacrae Caesar nova gaudia cenae 5
nunc primum dominaque dedit consurgere mensa,
qua celebrem mea vota lyra. quas solvere grates
sufficiam ? non, si pariter mihi vertice laeto
nectat odoratas et SniA'rna et Mantua lauros,
digna loquar. mediis videor discumbere in astris 10
^ dux Markland : rex 31.
" Statins elsewhere flatters Doniitian for abstaining from
triumphs that he might have celebrated, cf. iv. 3. 159.
*■ After his triumph at the end of 83 Doniitian had adopted
the title of Ctermanicus, and later on, probably in 86, had
the months September and October called Germanicus and
Domitianus (Suet. Doni. 13).
" See Virgil, Aen. i. 696 ; Homer, Odyss. viii. 57.
210
SILVAE, IV. I. 40—11. 10
permit tlie triumphs." B;ictra and Babylon are still
to be curbed with new tribute, not yet have Indian
laurels been laid in the lap of Jove ; not yet do tlie
Arabs and Seres make petition, not yet hath the
vear its full tale of honour : ten months still yearn
for thee to name them." **
So Janus ended, and gladly withdrew into his
closed portals. Then all the gods flung wide their
temples, and gave signs in the glad vault of heaven,
and Jupiter vouchsafed thee, O mighty leader, a
perpetual youth and his own years.
II. A POEM OF THANKSGIVING TO THE
EMPEROR AUGUSTUS GERMANICUS
DOMITIANUS
Statius offers his thanks to the Emperor for the great
banquet given to Senators and Knights in his new palace,
to which the poet had been invited.
He who brought great Aeneas to the Laurentian
fields extols the royal banquet of Sidonian Elissa, and
he who ended Ulysses' story with his return after
long seafaring portrays in lasting verse the supper of
Alcinous : " but I, on Avhom now for the first time
Caesar has bestowed the unwonted rapture of a feast
divine, and granted me to ascend to the table of my
prince, what skill have I to sing my blessings, what
power to express my thankfulness ? Not even if
Smyrna ** and Mantua both were to bind their laurels
on my exultant head, could I make worthy utterance.
Methinks I recline with Jove in mid-heaven, and take
■^ One of the reputed birthplaces of Homer.
211
STATIUS
cum love et Iliaca porrectum sumere dextra
immortale nierum ! steriles transmisimus annos :
haec aevi mi hi prima dies, hie Hmina vitae.
tene ego, regnator terrarum oi'bisque subacti
magne parens, te, spes hominum, te, cura deorum, 15
cerno iacens ? datur haec iuxta, datur ora tuei'i
vina inter mensasque et non adsurgere fas est ?
Tectum augustum, ingens, non centum insigne
columnis,
sed quantae superos caelumque Atlante remisso
sustentare queant. stupet hoc vicina Tonantis 20
regia, teque pari laetantur sede locatum
numina. nee magnum properes escendere caelum^ ;
tanta patet moles efFusaeque impetus aulae
Uberior campo^ multumque amplexus operti
aetheros et tantum domino minor ; ille penates 25
implet et ingenti genio iuvat. aemulus ilhc
mons Libvs IHacusque nitens et^ multa Syene
et Chios et glaucae certantia Doridi saxa
Lunaque portandis tantum sufFecta columnis.
longa supra species : fessis vix culmina prendas 30
visibus auratique putes laquearia caeli.
hie cum Romuleos proceres trabeataque Caesar
agmina mille simul iussit discumbere mensis,
ipsa sinus accincta Ceres Bacchusque laborat
^ nee magnum properes escendere caelum Gronovms :
excedere M: ne in m. pr. excedere c." Lundstroem.
^ campo Pol. : campi M.
' Iliacusque nitens et. I havp filled the lacuna of the Mss.
fliua : Iliacusque nitet . . . multa M, Xilaea Syene Slater,
cumulata conj. PJriUimore ; others in various ways.
" Of Ganymede.
'' The temple of Jupiter on the Capitol, or, perhaps,
" magnum caelum," i.e. Olympus (23). Some edd. take
" nee properes " as " do not hasten."
212
SILVAE, IV. 11. 11-34
the immortal wine proffered by an Ilian hand " ! I
have hved barren yeai-s, but this is my natal day,
this day is the threshold of my life. Is it thou, O
ruler of the nations and mighty sire of the conquered
world, is it tliou, 0 hope of men and care of the gods,
whom I behold while I lie at meat ? Is it granted me
indeed to gaze at those features face to face, amid
the feasting and the wine, and lawful not to rise up
in thy presence ?
An edifice august, huge, magnificent not witli an
hundred columns, but with as many as would support
heaven and the gods, were Atlas eased of his burden.
The neighbouring palace of the Thunderer ^ views it
with awe, and the Powers rejoice that thou hast a
like abode. Nor wouldst thou hasten to ascend to the
great sky ; so huge expands the pile, and the reach
of the fai'-flung hall, more unhampered than a plain,
embracing beneath its shelter a vast expanse of air,
and only lesser than its lord ; he fills the house, and
gladdens it with his mighty spirit. Libyan moun-
tain and gleaming Ilian stone are rivals there,*^ and
much Syenite and Chian and the marble that vies
with the grey-green sea ; and Luna also, chosen but
to bear the pillars' weight. Far upward travels the
view ; scarce does the tired vision reach the summit,
and you would deem it the golden ceiling of the sk3^
Here when Caesar has bidden the Roman chieftains
and the ranks of knighthood '^ recline together at a
thousand tables, Ceres herself with robe upgirt and
' See note on i. 2. 148. The quarries of Luna in Etruria
supplied white marble only, despised in comparison with the
coloured kinds.
^ The " trabea " was a decorated robe worn by the knights
on solemn occasions, also sometimes by the consuls, and
originally by the kings.
213
STATIUS
sufficere. aetherii felix sic orbita fluxit 35
Triptolemi ; sic vitifei'o^ sub palmite nudos
umbravit coUes et sobria rura Lyaeus.
Sed niihi non epulas Indisque innixa columnis
robora Maurorum famulasque ex ordine turmas,
ipsum, ipsum cupido tantum spectare vaoavit 40
ti'anquillum vultus et maiestate serena
mulcentem radios summittentemque modeste
fortunae vexilla suae ; tamen ore nitebat
dissimulatus honos. talem quoque barbarus hostis
posset et ignotae eonspectum agnoscere gentes. 45
non aliter gelida Rhodopes in valle recumbit
dimissis Gradivus equis ; sic lubrica ponit
membra Therapnaea resolutus gymnade Pollux,
sic iacet ad Gangen Indis ululantibus Euhan,
sic gravis Alcides post horrida iussa reversus 50
gaudebat strato latus adclinare leoni.
parva loquor necdum aequo tuos, Gern:ianice, vultus :
talis, ubi Oceani finem mensasque revisit
Aethiopum sacro diffusus nectare vultus
dux superum secreta iubet dare carmina Musas 55
et Pallenaeos Phoebum laudare triumphos.
Di tibi — namque animas saepe exaudire minores
dicuntur — patriae bis tei-que exire senectae
annuerint fines ! rata numina miseris astris,
^ vitiferoJ/: uvifero AVo/m.
» He taught men how to sow corn, as Bacchus how to
cultivate the grape.
" There was a cycle of legends about Bacchus's conquests
in India, for which see the Dionyslaca of Nonnus.
' Supposed scene of the battle of gods and giants, more
usually called Phlegra.
214
SILVAE, IV. II. 35-59
Bacchus strive to serve them. So bounteous were
the ghding wheels of airy Triptolemus " ; so did
Lyaeus overshadow the bare hills and sober fields
with the branches of his vines.
But no leisure had I to behold the feast or the
tables of Moorish wood resting on supports of Indian
ivory, or the rows of attendant slaves, so eager was
I to gaze upon himself, ay himself, calm-visaged and
in majesty serene tempering his rays and gently
veiling the glory of his state ; yet the splendour that
he would fain conceal shone in his countenance.
Such as he Vv'as, barbarian foes and foreign tribes
would have known him had they seen him. Not
otiierwise does Gradivus recline in the cool vale of
Rhodope, his steeds unyoked ; even so does Pollux
weary from the wrestling-bouts of Therapnae lay
down his slippery limbs ; so lies Euhan by Ganges'
side while Indians howl ;^ so stern Alcides, returning
after his grim errand, rejoices to lay his side upon the
outstretched lion-skin. I speak of trivial tilings, nor
can I yet find any rival to thy countenance, O
Germanicus : such is the monarch of the gods, when
he visits once more the bounds of Ocean and the
Ethiopian board, and, his face suffused with sacred
nectar, bids the Muses utter their mystic songs, and
Phoebus praise the triumph of Pallene.'^
May the gods grant thee — for 'tis said they oft give
ear to lesser souls — to surpass, twice and thrice over,
the limits of thy sire's old age ! Mayst thou send
appointed deities to the sky,** and grant teniples and
^ An alhision may be intended here to the Temple of the
Flavian Gens consecrated by Domitian. Cf. Theh. i. 30.
Divine honours were given by Domitian to his brother Titus
and to his niece Julia. " demos " = the Palatine.
215
STATIUS
templaque des habitesque donios ! saepe annua
pandas 60
limina, saepe novo lanum lictore salutes,
saepe coronatis iteres quinquennia lustris !
qua mihi felices epulas mensaeque dedisti
sacra tuae, talis longo post tempore venit
lux niihi, Troianae qualis sub collibus Albae, 65
cum modo Germanas acies modo Daca sonantem
proelia Palladio tua me manus induit auro.
Ill
VIA DOMITIANA
Quis duri silicis gravisque ferri
immanis sonus aequori propinquum
saxosae latus Appiae replevit ?
certe non Libycae sonant catervae
nee dux advena peierante bello
Campanos quatit inquietus agros,
nee frangit vada montibusque caesis
inducit Nero sordidas paludes,
sed qui limina bellicosa lani
iustis legibus et foro coronat,
qui castae Cereri diu negata
10
" The Capitoline contest.
*" See note on iii. 5. 28.
" The prize was a golden olive-wreath.
"^ The reference is to Hannibal's army, and to the bad
faith (" punica fides ") of that commander.
'' The reference is to Nero's attempt to make a canal
from Lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber, which meant
216
SILVAE, IV. 11. 60— III. 11
abide in tliy palace ! Many a time mayst tliou fling
wide the threshold of the year, and many a time
with new lictors offer thy greetings to Janus, many
a tin^.e renew the garlanded festival of the quin-
quennial games ! " The day whereon thou didst
vouchsafe to me the sacred blessings of thy feast and
board came to me after long time as glorious as that
when beneath the hills of Trojan '' Alba I sang now
of German wars, now of Daeian battles, and thy hand
set the golden circlet of Pallas '^ on my brow.
III. THK DOMITIAN ROAD
T}ie Via JJo)nitiana, built in 95, replaced t/ie old, very bad
road along the coast from Sinuessa to Naples ; tJte Appian
Way struck inland at Sinuessa, and a long detour was
necessary, if travellers to Naples wished to avoid, the bad
read. The new road tlius effected a considerable shortening
^\f the journey.
What fearful sound of hard flint and heavy iron
fills the stony Appian way wliere it draws nigh the
sea ? Certainly no Libyan '^ liordes are thundering,
no foreign chieftain scours restlessly the Campanian
fields in treacherous warfare, nor is Nero hewing a
canal,*" and making a way for squalid meres through
cloven mountains. Nay, he who encircles the war-
like threshold of Janus with justice and courts of
law,-'^ he wlio restores to innocent Ceres acres long
cuttiiifi' thrcuigh two mountain ridges, see Tac. Ann. xv. 42.
"pahides," probably the Poniptine marshes.
^ Probably the Fornni Transitorium, see iv. 1. 13 n., and
the new Janus Quadrifrons. Cf. Mart. x. 28. 5.
217
ST ATI us
reddit iugera sobriasque terras,
qui fortem vetat interire sexum
et censor prohibet mares adultos
pulchrae supplicium timere formae, 15
qui reddit Capitolio Tonanteni
et Pacem propria domo reponit,
qui genti pati-iae futura semper
sancit lumina^ Flaviumque caelum^ :
Iiic seguis^ populi vias gravatus* 20
et campos iter omne detinentes
longos eximit ambitus novoque
iniectu solidat graves harenas
gaudens Euboicae domum Sibyllae
Gauranosque sinus et aestuantes 25
septem montibus admovere Baias.
Hie quondam piger axe vectus uno
nutabat cruce pendula viator
sorbebatque rotas maligna tellus,
et plebs in mediis Latina campis 30
horrebat mala navigationis ;
nee cursus agiles, sed impeditum
tardabant iter orbitae tacentes,^
dum pondus nimium querens sub alta
repit languida quadrupes statera. 35
^ lumina M : limina s", numina Buecheler.
^ caelum Turnebus : calvum M, cultiim, culmen, cliviim,
clavum (J. Ph. 13) edd.
^ segnis 5": senis J/: caenis Gronovius.
* gravatus He'nisius : gravatas M.
^ tacentes M : tenaces Davies.
" Domitian encouraged wheat-growing at the expense of
vine-growing in Italy, and actually ordered vineyards to be
destroyed in the provinces, Suet. JJom. 1.
218
SILVAE, IV. HI. 12-35
denied her'^ and a sobei- countryside, he who forbids
the strength of sex to be destroyed, and as Censor
will allow grown males no more to fear the punish-
ment of beauteous form,** he who restores the
Thunderer to the Capitol,^ and sets Peace in her own
home, he who consecrates to his father's line '^ lights
that will aye endure, a Flavian heaven '' — 'tis he who,
brooking ill the slow journeys of his people and the
plains that clog every minute of the road, sweeps
away tedious windings and lays a new solid paving
upon the weary sands, rejoicing to bring the Euboean
Sibyl's home and the dells of Gaurus and sweltering
Baiae nearer to the seven hills.
Here on a time the tardy traveller, borne on a
single axle,^ was balanced on the swaying pole,
while the unkindly earth sucked in the wheels, and
Latin folk shuddered in mid-plain at the evils of a
sea-voyage ; nor could carriages run nimbly, but the
noiseless track made their course hampered and
slow, while the fainting beast, complaining of a too
heavy load, crept on beneath its lofty yoke. But
* Refers to Domitian's proliibition of the practice of
castration.
" The restoration of the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol
after the fire of 69.
^ Domitian was only completing the work of Vespasian.
Cf. Suet. Dom. 5, " omnia sub titulo tantum suo, ac sine
ulla pristini auctoris memoria."
' The " Flavia domus " on the Quirinal was made a
shrine of that family, cf. v. 1 . 240.
f The picture seems to be of a two-wheeled gig with its
wheels sunk in the mud and the unfortunate traveller
precariously clinging to the pole ; " crux " is not elsewhere so
used, but can easilj' be understood of the pole with the
joke: "axe vectus uno " is perhaps "with one wheel
foundered " (Slater), but V'ollmer is surely wrong in making
it a four-wheeled carriage.
219
STATIUS
at nunc, quae solidum diem terebat,
horarum via facta vix duarum.
non tensae volucruni per astra pennae
nee velocius ibitis, carinae.
Hie primus labor incohare sulcos 40
et rescindere limites et alto
egestu penitus cavare terras ;
mox haustas aliter replere fossas
et summo gremium parare dorso,
ne nutent sola, ne maligna sedes 45
det pressis dubium cubile saxis ;
tunc umbonibus hinc et hinc coactis
et crebris iter alligare gomphis.
o quantae pariter manus laborant !
hi caedunt nemus exuuntque niontes, 50
hi ferro scopulos trabesque levant ;
illi saxa ligant opusque texunt
cocto pulvere sordidoque tofo ;
hi siccant bibulas manu lacunas
et longe fluvios agunt minores. 55
hae possent et Athon cavare dextrae
et maestum pelagus gementis Helles
intercludere ponte non natanti.
his parvus, nisi di via^ vetarent.
Incus freta miscuisset Isthmos. 60
fervent litora mobilesque silvae,
it^ longus medias fragor per urbes,
' di via Macnaghten : deviae M, di viam Barth, cliviae
/. Voss {ich. VoUmer reads), laurus nisi Deliae Constantinus
Fanensis {and Ellin).
2 it Pol. : et M.
" This description of road-making- is confirmed by ex-
cavations, see extract from Bergier's Histoire des grands
220
SIL\'AE, IV. in. 36-62
now a journey that once wore out a solid day is
performed in scarce two hours. No swifter fare ye
througli the heavens, ye birds with outstretched
pinions, nor will ye more swiftly sail, ye ships.
The first labour was to prepare furrows and mark
out the borders of the road,'' and to hollow out the
g'round with deep excavation ; then to fill up the
dug trench with other material,'' and to make ready
a base for the road's arched ridge, lest the soil give
way and a treacherous bed provide a doubtful
resting-place for the o'erburdened stones ; then
to bind it with blocks set close on either side and
frequent wedges. Oh ! how many gangs are at
work together ! Some cut down the forest and strip
the mountain-sides, some plane down beams and
boulders with iron ; others bind the stones together,''
and interweave the work with baked sand and dirty
tufa ; others by dint of toil dry up the thirsty jiools,
and lead far away the lesser streams. These hands
could hollow out Athos, and bar with no floating
liridge the doleful sea of moaning Helle. These
hands, did not the gods forbid the passage,'' had
made Ino's puny Isthmus '^ mingle the sundered seas.
The shores are astir and the waving Avoods, the din
travels afar through the cities that lie between, and
diemins de Vempire Romain, in Pauly's Real- Encycl,
iv. 2. 3547. See also Smith's Diet. jint. s.v. "Via."
** Lime was used to cement the intermediate strata of the
road, consistinjj- of stones, broken brick and pottery,
"sordido": called by Vitriivius " tofus niger."
" Various attempts were made to cut through the Isthmus
by Demetrius of Macedon, Julius Caesar, Caligula, and
Nero, but the gods seemed to be against the undertaking,
" net'asto, ut omnium exitu patuit, incepto," Plin. N.H. iv. 10.
■* It was at Lechaeum, a port on the Isthmus, that Ino
was worshipped.
221
ST ATI us
atque echon siniul hinc et inde fractam
Gauro Massicus uvifer remittit.
niiratur sonitum quieta Cyme 65
et Literna palus pigerque Savo.
At flavum caput umidumque late
crinem moUibus impeditus uhis
Vulturnus levat ora niaximoque
pontis Caesarei reclinus arcu 70
raucis talia faucibus redundat :
" camporum bone conditor nieorumj
qui me vallibus aviis refusum
et^ ripas habitare nescientem
recti legibus alvei ligasti, 75
et nunc ille ego turbidus minaxque,
vix passus dubias prius carinas,
iam pontem fero perviusque calcor ;
qui terras rapere et rotare silvas
adsueram — pudet ! — , amnis esse coepi ; 80
sed grates ago ser\itusque tanti est,
quod sub te duce, te iubente cessi,
quod tu maximus arbiter meaeque
victor perpetuus legere ripae.
et nunc limite me colis beato 85
nee sordere sinis malumque late
deterges sterilis soli pudorem,
ne me pulvereum gravemque caelo
T}Trheni sinus obluat^ profundi,
qualis Cinyphius tacente ripa 90
Poenos Bagrada serpit inter agros,
sed talis ferar, ut nitente cursu
tranquillum mare proximumque possim
puro gurgite provocare Lirim."
1 et r : it M.
* obluat 31 : obruat 5".
222
SILVAE, IV. in. 63-94
the vine-bearing Massie mount throws back to
Gaurus the echoes that scatter on every side. Quiet
Cyme marvels at the noise, and the Liternian lake
and sluggish Savo.
But Vulturnus,'* his yellow Jiead and wide-flung
watery tresses entangled in soft sedge, raises his face
and leaning against the mighty arch of Caesar's
bridge pours out from his strident throat such words
as tliese : " Gracious benefactor of my plains, who,
wliile I poured o'er trackless vales nor knew how to
dwell witliin my banks didst bind me by the law of
a strict channel, now do I, that turbulent and danger-
ous stream, who once scarce brooked frail vessels,
already endure a bridge, and am trodden by travellers
imderfoot ; I who was wont to whirl forest and field
to ruin, shame on me ! am beginning to be a river.
But I give thee thanks, and my servitude is worth
the while, because under thv rule and at thy com-
mand I have yielded, and because thou wilt be read
of perpetually as supreme lord and conqueror of mv
bank. And now thou honourest me with splendid
embankments,* nor sufferest me to be foul, and far
and wide dost purge away the evil shame of barren
soil ; so that the gulf of the Tyrrhenian sea need
not cleanse my muddy, sky-polluting stream, like to
Cinyphian Bagrada crawling between silent banks
through Punic fields : nay, so brightly shall I flow
that I shall challenge the calm sea with my sparkling
current, or neighbouring Liris with my unstained
waters."
" Tlie \'iilturniis flows into the sea about 10 miles S. of
Sinuessa: the road woukl cross it not far from its mouth.
* Or, " with a splendid channel," as Ov. Met. viii. 559
" solito dum limite currunt flumina," etc.
223
STATIUS
Haec amnis pariterque se levarat 95
ingenti plaga marmorata dorso.
huius ianiia prosperumque limen
arcus, belligeris ducis tropaeis
et totis Ligurum nitens nietallis,
quantus nubila qui coronat imbri.^ lOU
illic flectitur excitus ^iator,
illic Appia se dolet relinqui.
tunc velocior acriorque cursus,
tunc ipsos iuvat impetus iugales ;
ceu fessis ubi reniigum lacertis 105
primae carbasa ventilatis, aurae.
ergo onmes, age, quae sub axe primo
Romani colitis fidem parentis,
prono limite commeate gentes,
Eoae citius venite laurus. 110
nil obstat cupidis, nihil moratur :
qui primo Tiberim relinquit ortu,
primo vespere naviget Lucrinum.
Sed quam fine viae recentis imo,
qua monstrat veteres Apollo Cumas, 1 1 ">
albam crinibus infulisque cerno !
visu fallimur ? an sacris ab antris
profert Chalcidicas Sibylla laurus ?
cedamus ; chely, iam repone cantus :
vates sanctior incipit, tacendum est. 120
en ! et colla rotat novisque late
bacchatur spatiis viamque replet,
tunc sic virgineo profatur ore :
" dicebam, veniet^manete campi
atque amnis — , veniet favente caelo, 125
^ imbri M : Iri s".
22i
SILVAE, IV. III. !)5 li'.j
Thus spoke the river, and tlierewith a marbled
stretch of roadway had arisen with mighty ridge.
Its portal and auspicious threshold was an arch that
shone M'ith the warlike trophies of the Prince and all
Liguria's mines,'* as vast as that which rings the
clouds with rain. There the wayfarer turns aside with
quickened speed, there the Appian road gi-ieves that
she is left. Then swifter and more furious grows the
pace, and even the beasts exult in the speed : as
wlien the rowers' arms are weary and the first breezes
f;\n the sails. Con:ie then all ye who beneath the sky
of dawn owe fealty to the Roman Sire, flock hither all
ye races on this easy road, come more swiftly than
befoi-e, ye laurels of the East. Nought hinders your
eagerness, nought delays your course : he who leaves
Tiber at dawn of day, let him sail the Lucrine lake
at earliest eventide.
But what woman is this with snow-white hair and
fillet whom I see at the new road's extremest end,
where Apollo's temple shows Cumae's ancient site * ?
Does my vision err ? or does the Sibyl bring forth
the Chalcidic " bayleaves from her sacred grot ? Let
us retire ; lute, lay by thy song ! a holier bard
begins, and Ave must be silent. Lo ! how she whirls
her head around, and rushing in frenzy far and wide
about the new-made track fills all the roadway !
Then thus she speaks with virgin mouth : "I said
it, he will come — have patience, ye fields and river ! —
he will come by heaven's favour, who will raise this
" Possibly the mines of Luna are referred to.
*' It is a habit of Statins to reinforce his own praise with
tliat of some supernatural person, e.</. Hercules in iii. 1,
Janus in iv. 1, Venus in iii. 4, etc.
<= Cumae (Cyme) was a colony of Chalcis in Euboea.
VOL. I Q 225
STATIUS
qui foedum nemus et putres harenas
celsis pontibus et via levabit.
en ! hie est deus, hunc iubet beatis
pro se luppiter imperare terris ;
quo non dignior has subit habenas, 130
ex quo me duce praescios Averni
Aeneas avide futura quaerens
lucos et penetravit et rehquit.
hie paci bonus, hie timendus armis,
Natura mehor potentiorque. 135
hie si flammigeros teneret axes,
largis, India, nubibus maderes,
undaret^ Libye, teperet Haemus.
salve, dux hominuni et parens deoruni,
provisum mihi conditunique numen. 140
nee iam putribus evoluta chartis
sollemni prece quindecim virorum
perlustra niea dicta, sed canentem
ipsani comminus, ut mereris, audi.
vidi^ quam seriem^ merentis^ aevi 145
pronectant tibi candidae sorores :
magnus te manet ordo saeculorum,
natis longior abnepotibusque
annos perpetua geres iuventa,
quos fertur placidos adisse Nestor, 150
quos Tithonia computat senectus
et quantos ego Dehum poposci.
iuravit tibi iam nivaUs Arctus,
nunc magnos Oriens dabit triumphos.
ibis qua vagus Hercules et Euhan 155
ultra sidera flammeumque solem
et Nili caput et nives Atlantis,
226
SILVAE, IV. III. 126-157
rotting woodland and these pestilent sands on lofty-
bridges and a causeway. Lo ! a god is he, at Jove's
command he rules for him the happy world ; none
worthier than he has held this sway since under my
guidance Aeneas, eagerly searching out the future,
penetrated Avernus' prescient groves and went forth
again. A friend is he to peace, and terrible in arms,
more bountiful than Nature and more powerful.
Were his the government of the flaming sky, thou
India wouldst be moist with abundant showers, I>ibya
would stream with waters, Haemus would be warm.
Hail, ruler of men and parent of gods, foreseen by me
and fore-ordained was thy godhead. No longer scan
those words of mine that tlie fifteen men " with solemn
prayer unroll on mouldering sheets, but face to face,
as thou deservest, hear me chant my oracle. I have
seen what chain of meritorious years the Fates
white-clad are weaving for thee ; a mighty roll of
centuries awaits thee, longer than son or grandson
shalt thou bear the years that Nestor reached, as
they say, in tranquil age, as many as old Tithonus
counted or I myself asked of the Delian god.*
Already the snowy North has paid thee homage,
soon the Orient will give thee mighty triumphs.
Where Avandering Hercules and Euhan " went thou
shalt go, beyond the stars and the flaming sun, and
the source of Nile and the snows of Atlas, and blest
" The XVviri, who had charge of the Sibylline oracles.
** i.e., as many grains as were in a handful of dust ; see
Ovid, 3l€t. xiv. 130. « Bacchus.
^ undaret M : umbraret Postdate,
^ vidi M : audi Heinsius. ^ seriem Dom. : series M.
* merentis M : variously emended, recentis, morantis,
sequentis, etc.
227
STATUS
et laudum cunuilo beatus omni
scandes^ belliger abnuesque currus ;
donee Troicus ignis et renatae 160
Tarpeius pater intonabit aulae,
haee donee ^^a te regente^ terras
annosa magis Appia senescat."
IV. EPISTOLA AD VITORIUM MARCELLUM
Curre per Euboicos non segnis, epistola, campos,
hac ingressa \"ias,^ qua nobilis Appia crescit
in latus et niolles solidus premit agger harenas.
atque ubi Romuleas velox penetraveris arces,
continue dextras flavi pete Thybridis oras, 5
Lvdia qua penitus stagnum navale coercet
ripa suburbanisque vadum praetexitur hortis.
illic egregium formaque animisque \idebis
Marcelluni et celso praesignem vertice nosces.
cui primam solito vulgi de more salutem, 10
mox inclusa modis haec reddere verba memento :
^ scandes 5" : sandes -1/: laudes conj. PhilL, frondes
Slater.
^ regente r : gerente M. ' vias 3/ : via Vollmer.
" Apparently a reference to Domitian's supposed mag-
nanimity in refusing triumphs, rf. iii. 3. 168 n.
" The fire brought from Troy and kept in the temple of
Vesta.
* The plains of Campania, so-called from the town of
Cumae, originally colonized by Chalcis in Euboea.
^ This (leftward) bend of the Appian Way to the sea is
the same as that referred to in the note at the beginning of
the last poem, where the road is mentioned as striking
inland (to one travelling from Rome) at Sinuessa.
228
SILVAE, IV. III. 158— IV. 11
in all thy wealth of noble deeds thou shalt mount
and again refuse the chariots of war "■ : so long as
the Trojan fire '' shall abide and the Tarpeian Father
thunder in his reborn shrine, yea, until under thy
governance of the earth this road grows older than
the Appian's years."
IV. A LETTER TO VITORIUS MARCELLUS
Vitorius Marcellus was of eqveKtrian famiiy, but became
Praetor, and was also (liven charge of t/ie Ma Latina ; for
other details see iPraef., II. 9, 41 jf. and 65 of this poem.
Haste at no laggard speed, my letter, o'er the
Euboean plains " ; set out upon thy road where the
famous Appia branches sideward,'' and a solid mound
is planted on the yielding sands. And when swiftly
travelling thou hast reached the tow'ers of Romulus,
seek forthwith the right bank of yellow Tiber, Avhere
the I^ydian shore straitens narrowly the naval basin,''
and suburban pleasure-gardens fringe the water.
There shalt thou see Marcellus, peerless both in
valour and in looks, and thou shalt know him by the
mark of his lofty stature. First pay thy greeting in
the accustomed manner, then remember to deliver
this verse-embodied message :
* The "stagnum navale " was a lake excavated bj' Augustus
at the foot of the Janiculum for the purpose of naval
displays and sham fights ; it was about 50 acres in extent,
and surrounded by pleasure gardens. " Lydia ripa " probably
means the rising ground on the right bank, i.e. the Etruscan
side of the river. The Etruscans were supposed to have
come originally from Lydia : cf. \irg. Aen. ii. 781 *' Lydius
fiuvius," of the Tiber.
229
ST ATI us
lam terras volucremque polum fuga veris aquosi
laxat et Icariis caelum latratibus urit ;
ardua iam densae rarescunt moenia Romae.
hos Praeneste sacrum, nemus bos glaciale Dianae, 15
Algidus aut horrens aut Tuscula protegit umbra,
Tiburis hi lucos Anienaque^ frigora captant.
te quoque clamosae quaenam plaga mitior urbi
subtrahit ? aestivos quo decipis acre soles ? 19
quid ? tuus ante omnis, tua cura potissima, Gallus,
nee non noster amor — dubium morumne probandus
ingeniine bonis — Latiis aestivat in oris
anne metalliferae repetit iam moenia Lunae
Tyrrhenasque domos ? quod si tibi proximus haeret,
non ego nunc vestro procul a sermone recedo ; 25
certum est, inde sonus geminas mihi circuit aures.
sed tu, dum nimio possessa Hyperione flagrat
torva Cleonaei iuba sideris, exue curis
pectus et assiduo temet furare labori.
et sontes operit pharetras arcumque retendit 30
Parthus et Eleis auriga laboribus actos
Alpheo permulcet equos et nostra fatescit
laxaturque chelys : \ares instigat alitque
tempestiva quies, maior post otia virtus !
talis cantata Briseide venit Achilles 35
acrior et positis erupit in Hectora plectris.
te quoque flammabit tacite repetita parumper
desidia et solitos^ novus exultabis in actus,
certe iam Latiae non miscent iurgia leges,
^ Anienaque S" : amenaque M.
^ solitos S" : soljdos M and Vollmer.
" i.e., of the Dogstar, " canis Icarius " (Ov. Am. ii. 16. 4) ;
the dog, named Maera, belonged to Icarus, son of Oebahis,
king of Sparta, and was made a star after its death.
230
SILVAE, IV. IV, 12-39
" Already the flight of rainy spring sets free the
earth and the rushing pole, and scorches the heaven
with Icarian hayings " ; already the high walls of
crowded Rome grow empty. Some sacred Praeneste
shelters, some Diana's ice-cool glade or rugged
Algidus or the shades of Tusculum ; others are eager
for the groves of Tibur or Anio's cold waves. And
thou — what gentler region draws thee from the
clamorous city ? With what sky art thou baffling
the summer suns ? And Gallus, thy favourite, thy
chiefest care, whom I too love — whether more to be
praised for virtue or for wit I know not — does he pass
the summer on Latium's coast, or seek again the
walls of Luna rich in mines and his Tyrrhenian home ?
But if he is close by thy side, my name now is not
far from thy converse ; ay, 'tis certain ; that is why
both my ears are buzzing. But do thou, while the
angry mane of Cleonae's star ^ is blazing, possessed
by Hyperion's exceeding might, set free thy heart
from cares and escape from constant toil. The
Parthian puts up his noxious arrows and unstrings his
bow, and the charioteer refreshes in Alpheus the
steeds that Elean labours have exhausted, and my
lyre grows weary and is relaxed : timely repose
heartens and nourishes strength, valour is increased
by a spell of ease. Even so Achilles, when he had
sung of Briseis, went forth the fiercer, and putting
by his quill burst out against Hector. Thee too will
leisure sought once more awhile secretly kindle, and
thou wilt go forth refreshed and exultant to thy
wonted tasks. Now indeed the Roman courts have
ceased to bicker, 'tis the season of idleness and peace,
** The Constellation Leo, from Cleonae, near Nemea, where
Hercules killed the lion.
231
ST ATI us
et pacem plger annus liabet niessesque reversae 40
dimisere forum, nee iani tibi turba reoruni
vestibule querulicjue rogant exire elientes ;
cessat centeni moderatrix iudieis hasta,
qua tibi sublimi iam nune eeleberrinia fania
eminet et iuvenis facundia pi-aeterit annos. 45
felix curarum, cui non Heliconia cordi
serta nee imbelles Parnasi e vertice laurus,
sed viget ingenium et magnos aceinctus in usus
fert animus quascumque vices : nos otia vitae
solamur cantu ventosaque gaudia famae 50
quaerimus. en egomet somnum et geniale secutus
litus, ubi Ausonio se condidit hospita portu
Parthenope, tenues ignavo pollice chordas
pulso Maroneique sedens in margine templi
sumo animum et magni tumulis adeanto magistri : 55
at tu, si longi cursum dabit Atropos aevi,
— detque, precor, Latiique ducis sic numina pergant,
quern tibi posthabito studium est coluisse Tonante,
quique tuos alio subtexit munere fasces
et spatia obliquae mandat renovare Latinae ! — GO
forsitan Ausonias ibis frenare cohortes
aut Rheni populos aut nigrae litora Thyles
aut Histrum servare datur metuendaque portae
limina Caspiacae. nee enim tibi sola potentis
eloquii virtus : sunt membra accommoda bellis 65
" The Centumviri were an important court of ci\ il juris-
diction. Its emblem was the spear, originally set up at sales
of property captured from the enemy, as questions of pro-
perty, e.g. inheritance, often came before it.
* According to the legend the Siren of that name threw
herself Into the sea after being foiled by Ulysses and was
232
SILVAE, IV. IV. 40-G5
and tlie return of the harvest has emptied the forum.
Defendants no more throng thy chambers, no querul-
ous chents pray thee to come forth. Idle is the spear
that rules the Hundred Judges," before whom even
now, in all tlie brilliance of high renown, thy elo-
quence is pre-eminent and outstrips thy youthful
years. Happy thou in thy labours, who carest not
for the chaplets of Helicon nor for unwarlike bays
from Parnassus' summit, but thy intellect is keen,
and thy mind girt up for mighty deeds endures
wliatever may befall : we beguile a leisured life with
song, and seek the fickle delights of fame. Lo ! I
myself, in quest of sleep and that genial shore where
the stranger Parthenope ** found refuge in an Auso-
nian haven, pluck at my frail strings M'ith feeble
fingers, and seated by the threshold of Maro's shrine
take heart and make melody at the mighty master's
tomb."^ But thou, if Atropos gives thee a long span
of life — and 'tis my prayer she may, and that tlic
godhead of the Latian prince may so appoint, whose
zealous worshipper, ay even before the Thunderer,
thou art, and who adds another duty to thy year of
office, and bids thee renew the hilly courses of the
Latin Way — thou perchance shalt go to curb the
cohorts of Ausonia, or 'tis thy task to guard the
peoples of the Rhine or dark Thule's shores, or Ister
and the dread approaches of the Caspian gate. For
it is not only tlie gift of powerful eloquence that is
thine : thou hast limbs that are made for war, and
washed up in the harbour of Naples, which was called after
her. For another legend see iv. 8. 48 n.
" X'irgil's tomb was on tlie road from Naples to Puteoli,
about two miles out from Naples, and was the object of the
pious worship of Silius Italicus and many others.
233
ST ATI us
quique gravem tarde^ subeant thoraca lacerti :
seu campo pedes ire pares, est agmina supra
nutaturus apex ; seu frena sonantia fleetes,
serviet asper equus. nos facta aliena canendo
vergimur in senium : propriis tu pulcher in armis 70
ipse canenda geres parvoque exempla parabis
magna Getae, dignos quern iam nunc belliger actus
poscit avus praestatque^ domi novisse triumphos.
surge, agedum, iuvenemque, puer, deprende paren-
tem,
stemmate materno felix, virtute paterna, 75
iam te blanda sinu Tyrio sibi Gloria^ felix
educat et cunctas gaudet spondere curules." —
Haec ego Chalcidicis ad te, Marcelle, sonabam
litoribus, fractas ubi Vesvius erigit iras,
aemula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis. 80
mira fides ! credetne virum ventura propago,
cum segetes iterum, cum iam haec deserta virebunt,
infra urbes populosque premi proavitaque fato*
rura abiisse pari^ ? necdum letale minari
cessat apex, procul ista tuo sint fata Teati 85
nee Marrucinos agat haec insania montes.
Nunc si forte meis quae sint exordia musis
scire petis, iam Sidonios emensa labores
Thebais optato collegit carbasa portu
Parnasique iugis silvaque Hehconide festis 90
^ tarde M: subeant arte O. Mueller: artandi conj.
Phillimore.
^ avus praestatque M (avos prestatque) : perstatque
Peyrared and Vollmer: avo spernitque Phillimore.
* gloria M : curia Markland.
* fa to Slater: toto 3f: tosto Vollmer: tota Grasherger.
^ pari Slater : mari M.
" "tarde," apparently because his frame is so robust; the
idea can be paralleled from the Thehaid, e.g. i. 489.
234
SILVAE, IV. IV. 66-90
thews that with difficulty ^ put on the heavy corselet ;
should'st thou prepare to go on foot, thy helmet's
peak will nod high above the ranks ; should'st thou
bend the jingling reins, the mettlesome charger will
do thy bidding. We, singing the deeds of others,
fall into old age : thou resplendent in thy armour
shalt perform actions meet for song, and set a noble
pattern before the youthful Geta,^ of whom already
his warrior grandsire is demanding worthy feats and
grants him to know the triumphs of his house. Up,
then, be doing, and overtake thy sire, though he be
a man and thou but a lad, happy alike in thy mother's
lineage and thy father's prowess. Already blissful
Glory nourishes thee, and fondles thee in her robe
of Tyrian dye, and delights to promise thee all the
curule chairs."
Such, Marcellus, is the song I am singing thee on
the Chalcidic strand, where Vesuvius hurls forth
broken rage, outpouring fire that would rival Tri-
nacrian flames. Marvellous, but true ! Will future
ages believe, when once more crops are growing, and
these wastes are green again, that cities and peoples
lie beneath, and that their ancestral lands have
perished by a like fate ? And still that peak threatens
ruin. Far be that fate from thy Teate, nor may
such madness seize the Marrucinian hills !
If now perchance you ask what my muse is attempt-
ing, my Thehaid having completed her Sidonian '^
toils has at last furled her sails in the wished-for
haven, and on the ridges of Parnassus and in the
'' His son was called Vitorius Hosidius Geta after his
mother, who was of the Hosidii, a senatorial family.
" i.e. Theban, from the descent of the Thebans from
Cadmus.
235
STATUS
tura dedit flammis et virginis exta iuvencae
votiferaque meas suspendit ab arbore vittas.
nunc vacuos crines alio subit infula nexu :
Troia quideni magnusque mihi teniptatur Achilles,
sed vocat arcitenens alio pater arniaque monstrat 95
Ausonii niaiora ducis. trahit impetus illo
iam pi-ideni retrahitque timor. stabuntne sub ilia
mole umeri an magno vincetur pondere cervix ?
die, Marcelle, feram ? fluctus an sueta minores
nosse ratis nondum loniis credenda periclis ? 100
lamque vale et penitus voti tibi vatis honorem^
corde exire veta ; nee enim Tirynthius almae^
parens^ amicitiae ; cedet tibi gloria fidi
Theseos, et lacerum qui circa moenia Troiae
Priamiden caeso solacia traxit amico. 105
V. ODE LYRICA AD SEPTIMIUM
SE\ERUM
Parvi beatus ruris honoribus,
qua prisca Teucros Alba colit lares,
fortem atque facundum Severum
non solitis fidibus saluto.
^ honorem M : amorem Dorn.
^ Lacuna, ace. to most edd., after Tirynthius : Vollmer
makes al. pec. am. in apposition, cf. Mart. ix. 14. 2, and
explains by ellipse of te superat: others read tihj notius,
retinentius. •'' parous Slater : pectus M.
" See the prelude to the Achilleid ; it was conventional
flattery to suppose that one's real ambition was to sing of
the exploits of the F^mperor.
silvaf:, IV. IV. 91— V. 4
glades of Helicon has thrown incense on the festal
flames and the entrails of a virgin heifer, and hung
up my chaplets on a votive tree. And now another
band new twined encircles my vacant locks : ay,
'tis Troy I am attempting and great Achilles," but
the Sire that wields the bow calls me elsewhere and
points me to the mightier arms of the Ausonian chief.
Long since has impulse urged me thither, but fear
holds me back. Will my shoulders sustain so great
a burden, or will my neck yield under the weight ?
Tell me, Marcellus, shall I essay the task ? or must
my bark that knows but lesser seas not yet be trusted
to Ionian perils ^ ?
And now farewell, and let not regard for the poet
who is wholly devoted to thee pass from thy mind ;
for neither was the Tirynthian chary of warm-
hearted friendship ; to thee shall yiekl the fame
of loyal Theseus, and of him who to comfort his
slain friend dragged Priam's mangled son around the
walls of Troy.
V. A LYRIC ODE TO SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
An Alcaic ode in the Horatian manner to his friend
Septirnius, a younff man of equestrian family, who, like the
future Emperor of that name, was born in Leptis in Africa.
He had been a fellow-pupil of Vitorius Marcellus.
Happy amid the glories of my small estate, where
ancient Alba dwells in her Trojan home, I salute in
unwonted strains the brave and eloquent Severus.
'' The Ionian and Adriatic seas were proverbially dan-
gerous for ships that preferred to hug the shore.
237
ST ATI us
iam ti'ux ad Arctos Parrhasias hiems 5
concessit altis obruta solibus,
iam pontus ac tellus renident
in Zephyros Aquilone fracto.^
nunc cuncta veris^ frondibus annuis
crinitur arbos, nunc volucruni novi 10
questus inexpertumque carmen,
quod tacita statuere^ bruma.
nos parca tellus per\-igil et focus
culmenque multo lumine sordidum
solantur exemptusque testa 15
qua modo ferbuerat Lyaeus.
non mille balant lanigei-i greges,
nee vacca dulci mugit adultero,
unique siquando canenti
mutus ager domino reclamat. 20
sed terra primis post patriam mihi
dilecta curis ; hie mea carmina
regina bellorum virago
Caesareo peramavit* auro,
cum tu sodalis dulce periculum 25
conisus omni pectore tolleres,
ut Castor ad cunctos tremebat
Bebryciae strepitus harenae.
^ in ZephjTOS . . . fracto Buecheler, Krohn : iam zephiros
. . . fractos M.
* veris 31 : veri Bafhrens. Postgate punctuates after
veris : sc. sunt.
238
SILVAE, IV. V. 5 28
At last harsh winter has fled to the Parrhasian
North," o'erwhelnied by lofty suns ; at last the cold
winds are softened into mild zephyrs, and sea and
land are smiling. Now every tree puts forth her
yearly tresses of spring leaves, now are heard the
birds' new plainings and the unpractised songs which
they planned in the silent winter. As for me, my
thrifty domain and ever-wakeful hearth and rooftree
blackened by many a fire console me, and the wine ^
that I take from the jar where lately it fermented.
Here no thousand woolly sheep utter bleatings, no
cow lows to its sweet lover ; and only to their
master's voice, as he sings, whene'er he sings, do the
mute fields re-echo. But this land, after my native
country, holds first place in my love : here the maiden
queen of battles " favoured my songs with Caesar's
golden crown, when you, striving with all your might,
succoured your friend in his joyous hazard, even as
Castor trembled at all the noise of the Bebrycian
arena ."^
" From Callisto, an Arcadian maiden, who was turned
into a bear by Hera out of jealousy, and then made the
constellation of the Bear ; Parrhasus is a town in Arcadia.
'' Bacchus, i.e. wine.
" i.e., Pallas. The reference is to the golden olive-wreath that
Mas the prize of victory in the Alban contest ; <•/. iv. 2. 67.
"* When Pollux fought against Amycus, king of the
Bebrycians, during the voj'age of the Argo. The meaning
of 11. 25-26 seems to be that his friend gave him all the
encouragement he could, being as anxious for him to win as
Castor was when Pollux was fighting.
' statuere M : tacuere conj. Phillimore.
* peramavit M : decoravit Markland : reparavit conj.
Phillimore.
239
STATIUS
tene in remotis Syrtibus avia
Leptis creavit ? iam feret Indicas 30
messes odoratisque rara
cinnama praeripiet Sabaeis.
quis non in omni vertice Romuli
reptasse dulcem Septimium putet ?
quis fonte luturnae relictis 35
uberibus neget esse pastum ?
nee mira virtus : protinus Ausonum
portus vadosae nescius Africae
intras adoptatusque Tuscis
gurgitibus puer innatasti. 40
hinc parvus inter pignora curiae
contentus artae lumine purpurae
crescis, sed inimensos labores
indole patricia secutus.
non sermo Poenus, non habitus tibi, 45
externa non mens : Italus, Italus.
sunt Urbe Romanisque turmis,
qui Libyam deceant alumni.
est et frementi vox hilaris foro,
venale sed non eloquium tibi ; 50
ensisque vagina quiescit,
stringere ni iubeant amici.
sed rura cordi saepius et quies,
nunc in paternis sedibus et solo
Veiente, nunc frondosa supra 55
Hernica, nunc Curibus vetustis.
" A spring in Rome.
* The angusticlave, or two narrow purple stripes down
240
SILVAE, IV. V. 29-56
Did Leptis that loses itself in the distant Syrtes
beget you ? soon shall she bear Indian harvests,
and despoil tlie perfumed Sabaeans of their rare
cinnamon. Who would not think that my sweet
Septimius had crawled an inffint on all the hills of
Rome ? Who would not say that he had drunk, his
weaning done, of Juturna's fountain " ? Nor is your
prowess to be wondered at : straightway, still
ignorant of Africa and its shalloAvs, you entered the
havens of Ausonia, and sailed, an adopted child, on
Tuscan waters. Tlien, still a lad, you grew to man-
hood among the sons of the Senate, content with the
glory of the narrow purple,'' but witli patrician soul
seeking unmeasured laboui-s. Neither your speech
nor your dress is Punic,'' yours is no stranger's mind :
Italian are you, Italian ! Yet in our city and among
the knights of Rome are men who might well be
foster-sons of Libya .<^ Pleasing too is your voice in
tlie strident courts, but your eloquence is never venal ;
your sword sleeps in its scabbard, save when your
friends bid you draw it. But oftener do you enjov
the quiet country, now in your father's home on
\'eientine soil, now on the leafy heights of Hernica,
now in ancient Cures. Here will you plan more
the front of the tunic, was the mark of knighthood (see
Preface to Book IV.), but young sons of knights were some-
times granted the right of wearing- the laticlave, one broad
purple stripe ; one may perhaps gather that this right was
not granted in the case of Septimius. His soul, however,
was truly noble (" patricia indole ").
" From which one may gather that Roman families living
in Africa sometimes showed traces of Carthaginian speech ;
\'ollmer, however, takes this as meaning " your word is
true," not characterized by " punica tides," as in 1. 4S.
'' i.e., so untrustworthy are they. It could also be rendered :
" Yes in the City . . . Libya has sons who would adorn her."
VOL. I R 241
ST ATI us
hie plura pones vocibus et modis
passu^ solutis, sed memor interim
nostri verecundo latentem
barbiton ingemina sub antro. 60
VI. HERCULES EPITRAPEZIOS NOVI
VINDICIS
Forte remittentem curas Phoeboque levatum
pectora, cum patulis tererem vagus otia Saeptis
iani moriente die, rapuit me cena benigni
Vindicis. haec imos animi perlapsa recessus
inconsumpta manet. neque enini ludibria ventris 5
hausimus aut epulas diverso a sole petitas
vinaque perpetuis aevo certantia fastis,
a miseri ! quos nosse iuvat, quid Phasidis ales
distet ab hiberna Rhodopes gi'ue, quis magis anser
exta ferat, cur Tuscus aper generosior Umbro, 10
lubrica qua recubent conchylia mollius alga :
nobis verus amor medioque Helicone petitus
^ passu Markland : passum M, passim 5".
" The Saepta Julia was a much frequented public place
in the Campus Martins, with some of the best shops in
Rome ; see Mart. ii. 14, ix. 59.
" The dinner has passed into the soul, and becomes a
precious memory. \^ollmer quotes Cic. Tusc. v. 100, " vestrae
quidem cenae non solum in praesentia, sed etiam postero
die iucundae sunt,'" " your dinners delight one not at the
time only, but also on the morrow " ; also Epicurus, who
praises " plain living and high thinking."
" The pheasant.
■* Or, with more point in "hiberna," "a crane caught on
242
SILVAE, IV. V. 57— VI. 12
themes in the words and measures that move un-
fettered, but remembering me at times strike anew
the lyre that hes hid in some shy grotto.
VI. THE HERCULES STATUETTE OF
NOVIUS VINDEX
The poem consists chiefly of the description of the Hercules,
a statuette {epitrapezios= statue to be put on a table) belonging
to Novius Vindex, a connoisseur in art, who is mentioned by
Martial (vii. 72. 7) in addition to the two epigrams in which
the same statuette is described (ix. 43, 44-). The statue was
a bronze, and represented the god as seated, loifh a goblet in
one hand and the club in the other ; the type is a common one
{see Roscher's Lexicon der Mythol. i. 2176). It is clear that
both Statius and Martial, as well as Novius, took it for a
genuine work of Lysippus.
One day when putting aside my tasks with heart
unburdened by Phoebus I was wandering aimlessly at
sundown in the broad spaces of the Enclosure,** kind
Vindex took me off to dine. That feast sank deep into
the recesses of my soul,** and remains unconsumed.
For it Avas no wanton dainties of the belly that we
devoured, no sMeetmeats sought under distant suns,
no wines whose ages rival our continuous Annals.
Unhappy they whose delight is to know how the bird
of Phasis " differs from a crane of wintry Rhodope,*^
what kind of goose has the largest liver, why a
Tuscan boar is richer than an Umbrian, on what
seaweed the slippery shell-fish most comfortably
recline : as for us, real affection and discourse
fetched from the heart of Helicon and merry jests
Pihodope in winter," i.e. a rarity, as cranes always flew
south in winter.
243
ST ATI us
sermo hilaresque ioci brumalem absumere noctem
suaserunt niollenique oculis expellere somnuni,
donee ab Elysiis prospexit sedibus alter 15
Castor et hesternas risit Tithonia mensas.
o bona nox iunctaque utinani Tirynthia luna !
nox et Erythraeis Thetidis signanda lapillis
et memoranda diu geniumque habitura perennem !
mille ibi tunc species aerisque eborisque vetusti 20
atque locuturas mentito corpore ceras
edidici. quis namque oculis certaverit usquani
Vindicis, artificum veteres agnoscere ductus
et non inscriptis auctorem reddere signis ?
hie tibi quae docto multum vigilata Myroni 25
aera, laboriferi vivant quae marmora caelo
Praxitelis, quod ebur Pisaeo pollice rasum,
quid Polycliteis iussum spirare caminis,
linea quae veterem longe fateatur Apellen,
rnonstrabit : namque haec, quotiens chelyn exuit, illi
desidia est, hie Aoniis amor avocat antris. 31
Haec inter castae genius tutelaque mensae
Amphitryoniades multo mea cepit amore
pectora nee longo satiavit lumina visu :
tantus honos operi finesque inclusa per artos^ 35
maiestas ! deus ille, deus ! seseque videndum
indulsit, Lysippe, tibi parvusque \-ideri
sentirique ingens ! et cum mirabilis intra
^ finesque . . . perartosS": finesque (tenuesque, iuvenesque
edd.) per artus M.
" Castor and Pollux were allowed to live on alternate
days : Tithonia is the Dawn.
" i.e., such a night as that wherein Hercules was begotten,
of twice the usual length.
" i.e., pearls, fetched from the Erji;hraean sea ; an im-
244
SILVAE, IV. VI. 13-38
persuaded us to sit out a winter's night and to banisli
soft sleep from our eyes, until the other Twin ^
looked forth from Elysium, and Tithonia laughed at
yesterday's banquet. O night of bliss ! would it
liad been Tirynthian, with moon added to moon ! *
a night to be marked with the Erythraean gems '^ of
Thetis, a night to be long told of, a night whose
spirit '^ will live for ever ! There and then did I
learn of a thousand beauties of bronze and ancient
ivory, and deceiving shapes of wax on the verge of
speech. For who ever rivalled the keen glance of
Vindex in recognizing the hand of an old master and
telling the author of an untitled work ? 'Tis he who
will show you on what bronzes cunning Myron spent
anxious vigils, what marbles the chisel of untiring
Praxiteles has made to live, what ivories the thumb
of the Pisaean « has smoothed, what statues have
been bidden breathe in Polyclitus' furnaces, what
lines confess from afar the old Apelles ; for this,
whensoe'er he puts his lyre from him, is his leisure,
this passion calls him fi'om Aonian ■'' dells.
Amid these treasures was a Hercules, the deity
and guardian of his frugal board, with which I fell
deeply in love ; nor, though long I gazed, were my
eyes sated with it ; such dignity had the work, such
majesty, despite its narrow limits. A god was he,
ay, a god ! and he granted thee to behold him,
Lysippus, small to the eye, yet a giant to the mind !
And though his stature be marvellously confined
provement on the usual " chalk," as a means of marking
a " white " day. Thetis was a sea-goddess.
^ For " genius " see note on ii. 7. 132.
'' Phidias, famed for his chryselephantine statue of Zeus
at Olympia (Pisa).
' i.e., of the Muses (= Boeotian).
245
STATIUS
stet mensura pedem, tamen exclamare libebit,
si visus per membra feres : " hoc pectore pressus 40
vastator Nemees, haec exitiale ferebant
robur et Argoos frangebant braehia remos."
a ! spatio^ tam magna brevi mendacia formae !
quis modus in dextra, quanta experientia docti
artificis curis, pariter gestamina mensae 45
fingere et ingentes animo versare colossos !
tale nee Idaeis quicquam Telehines in antris
nee stolidus Brontes nee, qui polit arma deorum,
Lemnius exigua potuisset ludere massa.
nee torva effigies epulisque aliena remissis, 50
sed qualem parci domus admirata Molorclu
aut Aleae lucis vidit Tegeaea sacerdos ;
qualis et Oetaeis emissus in astra favillis
nectar adhuc torva laetus lunone bibebat :
sic mitis vultus, veluti de pectore gaudens, 55
hortatur mensas. tenet haec marcentia fratris
pocula, at haec clavae^ meminit manus ; aspera sedis^
sustinet et cultum Nemeaeo tegmine saxum.
Digna operi fortuna sacro. Pellaeus habebat
regnator laetis numen venerabile mensis 60
et comitem occasus secum portabat et ortus,
praestabatque^ libens modo qua diademata dextra
^ a ! spatio Baelirens : ac spatium J/, hoc Pol., an Dom.,
nee PhiUimore, spatio Dom.
^ clavae Markland : levae M.
' sedis 3/(=sedes ace. to Vollmer).
* praestabatque M : prensabatque Pol.
" This appears to be a direct reference to the " crab "
caught by Hercules in the Argo through the breaking of his
oar (see the Argonantica of \"a]erius Flaccus, iii. 476).
* "magna" by hypaJlage for "magnae"; the same idea
246
SIU^AE, IV. VI. 39-62
within a foot's height, yet will you be fain to cry, as
you cast your eyes o'er his limbs : " This is the
breast that crushed the ravager of Nemea, these the
arms that bore the deadly club, and broke the oars
of Argo." ^ To think that a tiny frame should hold
the illusion of so mighty ^ a form ! What preciseness
of touch, what daring imagination the cunning master
had, at once to model an ornament for the table
and to conceive in his mind mighty colossal forms !
No such work could Telchines in the caves of Ida, or
dull Brontes or the Lemnian '^ who makes bright the
armour of the gods have playfully fashioned from
some small lump of metal. No wrathful likeness was
it, unsuited to the gaiety of the feast, but in such
mood as the home of thrifty Molorchus '^ marvelled
to behold, or the Tegean priestess " in Alea's groves ;
or as when, sent heavenward from Oeta's ashes, he
joyfully drank the nectar, though Juno still frowned :
with even so kindly a countenance, as if rejoicing
from his heart, doth he cheer the banquet. One
hand holds his brother's tipsy goblet, but the other
forgets not his club ; a rocky seat supports him, and
the Nemean lionskin drapes the stone.
So divine a work had a worthy fate. It was a
deity revered at the merry banquets of the Pellaean
monarch,^ and alike in East and West it bore him
company ; gladly did he set it before him, with that
same hand that had given crowns and taken them
is expressed in lines 37 and 45, i.e. the artist's skill in
making a small image convey the impression of giant form.
" \'ulcan.
''■ The cottager who entertained Hercules when about to
slay the lion of Nemea.
' Auge, for whom see note on iii. 1. 40.
' Alexander the Great.
247
ST ATI us
abstulerat dederatque et magnas verterat urbes.
sempei' ab hoc animos in crastina bella petebat,
huic acies semper victor narrabat opimas, 65
sive catenates Bromio detraxerat Indos
seu clusam magna Babylona refregerat hasta
seu Pelopis terras libertatemque Pelasgam
obruerat bello : magnoque ex agmine laudum
fertur Thebanos tantum excusasse triumphos. 70
ille etiam, magnos Fatis rumpentibus actus,
cum traheret letale merum, iam mortis opaca
nube gravis vultus alios in numine caro
aeraque supremis timuit sudantia mensis.
Mox Nasamoniaco decus admii'abile regi 75
possessum ; fortique dec libavit honores
semper atrox dextra periuroque ense superbus
Hannibal. Italicae perfusum sanguine gentis
diraque Romuleis portantem incendia tectis
oderat. et cum epulas, et cum Lenaea dicaret 80
dona, deus castris maerens comes ire nefandis,
praecipue cum sacrilega face miscuit arces
ipsius immeritaeque domos ac templa Sagunti
polluit et populis furias immisit honestas.
\ec post Sidonii letum ducis aere potita 85
egregio plebeia domus. convivia Syllae^
ornabat semper claros intrare penates
adsuetum et felix dominorum stemmate signum.
Nunc quoque, si mores humanaque pectora curae
nosse deis ; non aula quidem, Tirynthie, nee te 90
^ Syllae Dom, : sibillae M.
" Bacchus also was supposed to have conducted successful
campaigns in India, see note on iv. 2. 49.
*" Alexander captured and destroyed Thebes, which
248
SILVAE, IV. VI. 63-90
away, and had ruined mighty cities. From it he
sought courage for to-morrow's battle, to it he
related, triumphant, the glorious fight, whether he
had despoiled Bromius of fettered Indians," or Mith
his strong spear had burst the enclosing walls of
Babylon, or overwhelmed in war the lands of Pelops
and Pelasgian freedom ; and of all that tale of
mighty deeds he is said to have asked pardon only
for his Theban triumph.'' He too, when the T'ates
cut short his prowess, and he drank the deadly
draught, in the very gloom and heaviness of death,
was afraid at the altered face of his favourite deity,
and at the bronzes that dripped sweat at that last
banquet.
Next its marvellous beauty was possessed by the
Nasamonian "^ chief ; and Hannibal, that ruthless
warrior, haughty and treacherous in fight, paid
honoui's to the valiant god. Yet the god hated him,
drenched in Italian blood and threatening Roman
homes with terrible flame, ay, even when he set
feasting and gifts of wine before him ; in sorrow did
the god go forth with that cursed troop, especially
when his own shrines were impiously fired, when the
homes and temples of innocent Saguntum were out-
raged, and its people filled with righteous frenzy.
And after the death of the Sidonian leader 'twas
no plebeian house obtained the peerless bronze.
Kver wont to enter famous houses and blest in the
lineage of its lords it adorned the feasts of Sulla.
NoAv too, if deities care to know the hearts and
souls of men, no palace, no royal pomp surrounds
thee, O Tirynthian, but thy master's soul is pure and
revolted against him. Thebes was the birthplace of
Hercules.
* = African, i.e. Hannibal.
24y
STATIUS
regius ambit honos, sed casta ignaraque culpae
mens domini, cui prisca fides coeptaeque perenne
foedus amicitiae. scit adhuc florente sub aevo
par magnis ^^estinus avis, quem nocte dieque
spirat et in carae vivit complexibus umbrae. 95
hie igitur tibi laeta quies, fortissime divum,
Alcide, nee bella vides pugnasque feroces,
sed chelyn et vittas et amantes carmina laurus.
hie tibi solemni memorabit carmine, (juantus
Iliacas Geticasque domos quantusque nivalem 100
Stymphalon quantusque iugis Erymanthon aquosis
terruei'is, quem te pecoris possessor Hiberi,
quem tulerit saevae Mareoticus arbiter arae.
hie penetrata tibi spoliataque limina mortis
concinet et flentes Libyae Scythiaeque puellas. 105
nee te regnator Macetum nee barbarus umquam
Hannibal aut saevi posset vox horrida Syllae
his celebrare modis. certe tu, muneris auctor,
non aliis malles oculis, Lysippe, probari.
VII. ODE LYRICA AD VIBIUM MAXIMUM
lam diu lato satiata^ campo
fortis heroos, Erato, labores
differ atque ingens opus in minores
contrahe gyros ;
^ satiata 5": sociata M : spatiata 5", PliilUmore, cf. Theb.
ix. 213.
" The exploits of Hercules referred to are Trojan war,
horses of Diomede, Stymphalian birds, Erymanthian boar,
Gerj'on, Busiris, Alcestis and Cerberus, Plesperides,
Amazons.
' i.e., Macedonians.
250
SILVAE, IV. VI. 91— VII. 4
innocent of error ; old-world loyalty is his, and the
unfailing bond of a friendship once begun. Vestinus
knows it, Avho even in youth equalled his mighty
sires, and whose spirit Vindex breathes by night and
day, and lives in the embrace of that beloved shade.
Here then hast thou a welcome resting-place, Alcides,
most valiant of gods, nor beholdest battles or savage
fights, but the lyre and chaplets and music-loving
bays. Here in solemn chant will he recount to thee
in what might thou didst terrify Getic and Ilian
homes and snowy Stymphalus and Erymanthus with
its streaming ridges ; how the owner of the Iberian
herd, how the Mareotic guardian of the cruel shrine
endured thy power ; he will sing of the gates of
Death penetrated and spoiled by thee, of the weeping
maids of Libya and of Scythia." Neither the ruler
of the Macetae ^ nor barbarous Hannibal nor the
uncouth accents of fierce Sulla could e'er have
celebrated thee in such strains. And of a surety
thou, Lysippus, the author of the gift, wouldst not
have chosen to be approved by other eyes than these.
VII. A LYRIC ODE TO VIBIUS MAXIMUS
A Sapphic ode in which the poet expresses his desire to
see his friend again, and congratulates him on the birth of a
son. Vibiiis Maximus was serving in Ikdmatia ; at a later
time he was prefect of Egypt, as we learn from an inscription
(C.I.L. iii. 38). One may also gather that he had literary
tastes.
Long time, bold Erato, hast thou had thy fill of
the spreading field, but now put off thy heroic laboui-s
and contract thy mighty task to narrower circles ;
251
ST ATI us
tuque, regnator lyricae cohortis, 5
da novi paulum niihi iura plectri,
si tuas cantu Latio sacravi,
Pindare, Thebas :
Maximo carmen tenuare tempto ;
nunc ab intonsa capienda myrto 10
serta, nunc maior sitis et bibendus
castior amnis.
quando te dulci Latio remittent
Dalmatae montes, ubi Dite viso
pallidus fossor redit erutoque 15
concolor auro ?
ecce me natum propiore terra
non tamen portu retinent amoeno
desides Baiae liticenve notus
Hectoris armis.^ 20
torpor est nostris sine te Camenis,
tardius sueto venit ipse Thymbrae
rector et priniis meus ecce metis
haeret Achilles.
quippe te fido monitore nostra 25
Thebais multa cruciata lima
temptat audaci fide Mantuanae
gaudia famae.
sed damns lento veniam, quod alma
prole fundasti vacuos penates. 30
o diem laetum ! venit ecce nobis
Maximus alter !
252
SILVAE, IV. VII. 5-32
and thou, Pindar, ruler of the lyric choir, grant me
awhile the privilege of unwonted song, if I have
hallowed thy own Thebes in Latin strains : 'tis for
Maximus that I attempt to refine my verse ; now
must I take my garlands from unplucked myrtle,
now a nobler thirst is mine, a purer stream must be
quaffed. When wilt thou return again to pleasant
Latium from the Dalmatian mountains, where the
miner returns all pale at the sight of Dis and yellow
as the gold he has unearthed ? "■ Lo ! I, though
born in nearer lands, am not held fast by lazy Baiae's
lovely haven, or by the trumpeter known to Hector's
battles.'' Without thee my Muse is sluggish, even
Thymbra's lord '^ is slower than of wont in his coming,
and lo ! my Achilles halts at the first turning-point
of his course : while it is with thee for trusty
counsellor that my Tkebaid, tortured by endless
polishing, attempts with audacious string the joys of
Mantuan renown. But we pardon thy delaying,
because thou hast established thy empty home with
flourishing offspring. O happy day ! lo ! a second
" Statins here is clearly imitating Silius Italicus, Pun. i.
i. 231.
Astur avarus
visceribus lacerae telluris niergitiir imis
et redit infelix effosso concolor auro.
For other mentions of Dalmatian mines cf. i. 2. 153 and
iii. 3. 90. " Dis " : i.e. he has descended so far into the
earth (Dis= Pluto).
'' Misenus. « Apollo, god of inspiration.
^ liticenve . . . armis ed. Parmensis : laticemve motus
Hectoris amnis M,
253
STATIUS
orbitas omni fugienda nisu,
quam preniit votis inimicus heres,
optimo poscens — pudet heu ! — propinquum 35
funus amico.^
orbitas nullo tumulata fletu :
stat domo capta cupidus superstes
imminens leti spoliis et ipsum
computat ignem. 40
duret in longuni generosus infans,
perque non miiltis iter expeditum
crescat in mores patrios avumqiie
provocet actis !
tu tuos parvo meniorabis enses, 45
quos ad Eoum tuleris^ Orontem
signa frenatae moderatus alae
Castore dextro ;
ille ut invicti rapiduni secutus
Caesaris fulmen refugis aniaram 50
Sarmatis legem dederit, sub uno
vivere caelo.
sed tuas artes puer ante discat,
omne quis mundi senium remensus
orsa Sallusti brevis et Timavi 55
reddis alumnum.
^ propinquum funus amico 5" and edd. : propinquo . . .
amici M : propinquo . . . amice Krohn, Klotz.
* tuleris Avantius : tuleras M.
251
SILVAE, IV. VII. 33 56
Maximus conies to us ! Childlessness " must be
shunned by every effort ; the heir with hostile vow^s
presses liard upon it, asking — ah ! for shame ! — that
his best friend soon may die. Childlessness wins
no tears at the grave ; in the captured house stands
the greedy survivor, eager for the spoils of death,
and counts the cost of the vei-y pyre. Long live the
high-born babe, and, by a path that few may tread,
may he grow into his father's virtues, and rival his
grandsire by his deeds ! Thou shalt tell thy child how
thou didst lead thy swordsmen to Eastern Orontes,
commanding 'neath Castor's favour ^ the banners of
thy well-curbed squadrons. He shall relate how he
followed the swift-flashing brand of invincible Caesar,
and imposed a hard law on the fugitive Sarmatians,"
to live under one sky.<^ But first let the lad learn
thy skill, whereby retracing all the old age of the
world thou dost render again the woi'k of brief
Sallust * and the foster-son of Timavus.
" The poet himself was chiklless, but adopted a slave
boy ; the death of this boy was deeplv felt by him (see
V. 3).
* As a cavalry leader he would be under the protection of
Castor and Pollux, patrons of the Roman knights.
* Domitian's campaign against the Sarmatians, 92-93.
■* i.e., to cease to be nomads.
* Apparently a sort of handbook of world-history, with
an epitome of Sallust and Livy.
255
STATIUS
VIII. GRATULATIO AD lULIUM
MENECRATEN
Pande fores superum vittataque templa Sabaeis
nubibus et pecudum fibris spirantibus imple,
Parthenope ; clari genus ecce Meneeratis auget
tertia iani soboles. proceruni tibi nobile vulgus
crescit et insani solatur damna Vesaevi. 5
nee solum festas secreta Neapolis aras
ambiat : et socii portus dilectaque miti
terra Dicarcheo nee non plaga cara madenti
Surrentina deo sertis altaria cingat,
materni qua litus avi, quern turba nepotum 10
circuit et similes contendit reddere vultus.
gaudeat et Libyca praesignis avunculus hasta,
quaeque sibi genitos putat attollitque benigno
Polla sinu. macte, o iuvenis, qui tanta merenti
lumina das patriae, dulci tremit ecce tumultu 15
tot dominis clamata domus. procul atra recedat
Invidia atque alio liventia pectora flectat :
his senium longaeque decus virtutis et alba
Atropos et patrius laurus promisit Apollo,
ergo quod Ausoniae pater augustissimus urbis 20
ius tibi tergeminae dederat laetabile prolis,
omen erat. venit totiens Lucina piumque
" The eruption of Vesuvius took place in 79 a.d.
*■ l.fi., probably in some campaign against African tribes.
" The " ius tritim liberorum,' on this occasion as on others
(see Mart. iii. 95 ; Plin. Ep. x. 2) awarded purely as a com-
pliment.
256
SILVAE, IV. viii. 1-22
Vm A POEM OF CONGRATULATION TO
JULIUS MENECRATES
This, like the last piece, is a GenetJiliacon, or birthday
foein ; Statins congratulates his friend on the birth of his
third child. Menecrates was the son-in-laio of Pollius Felix.
Hing wide the thresholds of the gods, Parthenope,
and fill the chaplet-hung shrines with clouds of
Sheba's incense and tlie breathing entrails of victims!
lo ! by yet a third offspring is the house of illustrious
Menecrates increased. Thy noble host of princes
grows and atones the loss that mad Vesuvius'^ caused
thee. Nor let Naples in lonely isolation throng her
festal altars ; let her fellow-haven and the land that
gentle Dicarcheus loved and the Surrentine tract dear
to the tipsy god enwreathe their shrines with gar-
lands,— that shore M'here dwells the babe's maternal
grandsire, with his crowd of grandchildren around
him, rivalling each other in their likeness to him.
Let the uncle too, famed for his Libyan spear,''
rejoice, and Polla, who counts them her own sons as
she raises them to her loving bosom. A blessing on
thee, O youth, who givest in due reward to thy
country such bright progeny. Lo ! the house rocks
with delightful tumult, ringing with the cries of so
many masters. Avaunt, black Envy, turn elsewhere
thy livid breasts ! To tliese hath white-robed
Atropos promised old age and the glory of enduring
wortli, and their native Apollo vouclisafed the bays
of poesy. Therefore was it an omen that the most
august sire of the Ausonian City had given thee the
glad privilege of triple offspring.^ Thrice has Lucina
come, and again and yet again visited thy dutiful
VOL. I s 257
ST ATI us
iiitravit repetita larem. sic fertilis, oro,
stet domus et donis numquam mutata sacratis.
macte, quod et proles tibi saepius aucta virili 25
robore, sed iuveni laetanda et^ virgo parent!
— aptior his virtus, citius dabit ilia nepotes — ,
qualis materms Helene iam digna palaestris
inter Amyclaeos reptabat Candida fratres ;
vel qualis caeli facies, ubi nocte serena 30
admovere iubar mediae duo sidera lunae.
Sed queror haud faciles, iuvenum rarissime, questus
irascorque etiam, quantum irascuntur amantes.
tantane me decuit vulgari gaudia fama
noscere ? cumque tibi vagiret tertius infans, 35
protinus ingenti non venit nuntia cursu
littera, quae festos cumulare altaribus ignes
et redimire chelyn postesque ornare iuberet
Albanoque cadum sordentem promere fumo
et cantu signare diem, sed tardus inersque 40
nunc demum mea vota cano ? tua culpa tuusque
hie pudor, ulterius sed enim producere questus
non licet ; en hilaris circumstat turba tuorum
defensatque patrem. quem non hoc agmine vincas ?
Di patrii, quos auguriis super aequora magnis -45
litus ad Ausonium devexit Abantia classis,
tu, ductor populi longe migrantis, Apollo,
cuius adhuc volucrem laeva cervice sedentem
respiciens blande felix Eumelis adorat,
1 laetanda et Vollmer : letam dat M, laetandast Baehrens.
" i.e., for the wrestling-bouts in Sparta, the home of I.eda,
in which the Spartan girls took part Statins probably has
Propertius iii. It in mind.
* According to Homer the Aljantes inhabited Euboea.
" i.e., Parthenope, daughter of Eumelus (who was perhaps
the warrior at Troy so-called, the son of Admetus) ; she was
258
SILVAE, IV. VIII. 23-49
home. Long live that house, I pray, in fruitfuhiess
and never robbed of its hallowed gifts ! A blessing
on thee also, that thy issue was increased naore often
by the strength of males, yet the girl too must needs
delight her youthful father — for them is prowess
more fitting, while she will the sooner bear him
grandsons ; — so fair a child was Helen, as she walked
between her Amyclaean brethren, yet ripe already
for her mother's wrestling-bouts ; ** so fair is the face
of heaven, when on a tranquil night two radiant stars
draw near to the moon that shines between them.
But I have a complaint, O rarest of youths, and no
gentle one, ay, angry am I even, so far as love admits
of anger. Was it right that common report should
tell me of such joys ? and when thy tliird infant was
wailing, did no letter straightway haste full speed to
bid me heap the altar with festal flames and entwine
my lyre and wreathe my portals, and bring out a
cask sooted with Alban smoke and mark the day
with song, but only now, a tardy laggard, do I
celebrate my vows ? Thine is the fault, thine is the
shame of it ! But I cannot further prolong my
plaint ; lo ! in a merry crowd thy children surround
thee, and defend their sire. Whom wouldst thou
not conquer with such a troop ?
Gods of our land, whom with mighty omens the
Abantian ^ fleet conveyed o'er the sea to the Ausonian
shore, and thou, Apollo, guide of thy far-wandering
folk, whose bird seated on thy left shoulder prosperous
Eumelis " lovingly beholds and worships, and thou,
guided to Italy by a dove sent by Apollo, cf. iii. 5. 80. The
reference is to the founding of Cumae by emigrants from
Chalcis in Euboea, who probably brought with them the
deities mentioned here, Apollo, Ceres, Castor and Pollux.
259
ST ATI us
tuque, Actaea^ Ceres, cursu cui semper anhelo 50
votivam taciti quassamus lampada mystae,
et vos, Tyndaridae, quos non horrenda Lycurgi
Taygeta umbrosaeque magis coluere Therapnae :
hos cum plebe sua, patrii,^ servate penates.
sint, qui fessam aevo crebrisque laboribus urbem 55
voce opibusque iuvent viridique in nomine servent,
his placidos genitor mores largumque nitorem
monstret avus, pulchrae studium virtutis uterque.
quippe et opes et origo sinunt hanc^ lampade prima
patricias intrare fores, hos pube sub ipsa, 60
si modo prona bonis invicti Caesaris adsint
numina, Romulei Hmen pulsare senatus.
IX. HENDECASYLLABI lOCOSI AD
PLOTIUM GRYPUM
Est sane iocus iste, quod hbellum
misisti mihi, Grype, pro hbello.
urbanum tamen hoc potest videri,
si post hoc aHquid mihi remittas ;
nam si ludere, Grype, perseveras, 5
non ludis. hcet, ecce, computemus !
noster purpureus novusque charta
et binis decoratus umbiUcis,
^ Actaea Pol. : acea M.
^ patrli M : patriae Gronovius.
^ hanc Gevart : hac M.
" There was a worship of Demeter at Naples, and mysteries
no doubt like those of Eleusis.
'' One at each end of the stick on which the paper was
rolled.
260
SILVAE, IV. VIII. 50— IX. 8
Attic Ceres, for wliom in brctatliless dance we thy
mute votaries cease not to Avave the mystic torch,''
and you, ye Tyndarids, to whom not grim Taygetus,
Lycurgus' mount, nor shady Therapnae gives truer
worsliip : gods of our country, preserve this home
with all its souls ! May there be those who by
speech or wealth shall succour their city that age
and many toils have wearied, and keep her as green
and youthful as her name ! From their father may
they learn gentle ways, and from their grandsire
splendour that yet is bountiful, and from both the
desire of glorious virtue. Assuredly their riches and
their birth suffer the maid to enter patrician doors
with the first marriage-torches, and the sons, so soon
as manhood comes — if only the godhead of invincible
Caesar favour the deserving — to tread the threshold
of the Senate-house of Romulus.
IX. LINES WRITTEN IN JEST TO
PLOTIUS GRYPUS
Tlie nuhjerf svggests CatuUvs, xiv. 12. Stathis rfhulves
Plotixs Ori/pus/or giving him an unwortliy present in return
for a fne one. Tlie hendecasgJlahle v<is a favourite metre
for comic or gibing verse.
Yours was indeed a jest, Grypus, to send me a
book in return for a book ! And yet even that may
seem graceful, if after it you send me something
worth having ; for if, Grypus, you keep on with
such jests, they are jests no longer. Look, we can
reckon the account. Mine, painted purple, its paper
new, adorned with two knobs,* cost me, besides my
261
STATIUS
praeter me mihi constitit decussis'^ :
tu rosum tineis situque putrem, 10
quales aut Libycis madent olivis
aut tus Niliacum piperve servant
aut Byzantiacos colunt^ lacertos,
nee saltern tua dicta continentem,
quae trino iuvenis foro tonabas, 15
aut centum prope iudices, priusquam
te Germanicus arbitrum sequenti
annonae dedit oniniumque late
praefecit stationibus viarum,
sed Bruti senis oscitationes 20
de capsa niiseri libellionis
emptum plus minus asse Galano,
donas, usque adeone defuerunt
caesis pillea suta de lacernis
vel mantelia luridaeve mappae, 25
chartae, Thebaicaeve Caricaeve ?
nusquam turbine conditus ruenti
prunorum globus atque cottanorum ?
non enlychnia sicca, non replictae
bulborum tunicae ? nee ova tantum 3t)
^ decussus M : decussi Turnebus.
^ colunt 3/ : olent Heinslus.
" Roman, Julian, and Augustan. Courts of law were
often situated in the buildings of the "fora."
* See iv. 4. 43 n. It usually sat in the Basilica Julia, in
the Forum Romanum.
" It is a question whether these are two posts or one :
if the former, they would be the prefectship of the corn-
supply, and supervision of the relay-stations on the great
highways ; if the latter, it has been suggested that the post
was one of organizing supplies for Domitian's last Dacian
campaign, or, as Hirschfeld thinks, of commissariat officer
2fi2
SILVAE, IV. IX. 9-30
own trouble, well, certainly a ten-as piece ! Yours,
moth-eaten and mouldering, like those that are
soaked by Libyan olives, or wrap up incense or
pepper from the Nile, or cultivate the Byzantine
tuimy ; not containing even your own youthful
speeches that you thundered at the three Courts ^
or the Hundred Judges,^ before Germanicus placed
the obedient corn-supply under your control, or put
you in chai-ge of the posts on all the roads,^ but the
mumblings of ancient Brutus <* out of a wretched
book-peddler's case, that cost you, roughly shall we
say, an as of Gains *" — that was your present ! Were
there then no more felt caps stitched together from
rags of tunics, no towels or faded napkins ? no writing-
paper, or Theban dates, or Carian figs ? nowhere a
bunch of plums or Syrian figs packed in a collapsible
case / ? no dry wicks or cast-off jackets of onions ?
for Doniitian when on the march (" sequent! " might support
this).
''■ The friend of Cicero and murderer of Caesar, "senis,"
because he dates so long back.
« The Emperor Gains had debased tlie coinage.
f Apparently a cone-shaped case ("turbo" is commonly
used of objects so shaped, e.f/. a top) ; "ruenti " suggests that
the contents could easily be upset into the purchaser's bag ;
at any rate it would be a purely temporary receptacle, which
is the point here ; a paper bag, or paper screw would be the
modern equivalent. Vollmer compares Mart. xiii. i?5 (of a
packet of pine-cones), " poma sumus Cybeles : procul hinc
discede viator, ne cadat in miserum nostra ruina caput."
The "torta meta " in which "cottana" were packed, Mart,
xiii. 28, may also be compared. "Cottana" were smaller
than ordinary figs; as Mart, says, "si maiora forent
cottana, ficiis erat." The reader may also be referred to
Martial's ISth book, in which a large number of Xenia, or
presents for the Saturnalia, are described, each in a couplet ;
e.ff. incense (4), figs (23), cheeses (30-3.S), sausage (35), etc.
26S
ST ATI us
nee lenes^ haliccae nee asperum far ?
nusquam Cinypliiis vagata campis
eurvaruni donius uda eoelearuni ?
non lardura grave debilisve perna ?
non lucanica, non graves falisci, 35
non sal oxyporumve caseusve,
aut panes viridantis aphronitri
vel passum psithiis suis recoctum,
dulci defruta vel lutosa caeno ?
quantum nee dare cereos olentes, 40
cultelluni^ tenuesve codicillos ?
ollares, rogo, non licebat uvas,
Cumano patinas in orbe tortas
aut unam dare synthesin — quid horres ? —
alborum calicuni atque caccaborum ? 45
sed certa velut aequus in statera,
nil mutas, sed idem mihi rependis.
quid si, cum bene mane semicrudus
inlatam^ tibi dixero salutem,
et tu me vicibus domi salutes ? 50
aut, cum me dape iuveris opima,
exspectes similes et ipse cenas ?
irascor tibi, Grype. sed valebis ;
tantum ne mihi, quo soles lepore,
et nunc hendecasyllabos remittas. 55
^ lenes He ins i us : leves M.
^ cultelluin r : cutellum M: scutellum Slater.
* inlatam 31 : inlotam Scriverius.
264.
SILVAE, IV. IX. 31-55
no eggs even, oi* fine flour, or coarse spelt ? not tlie
slimy shell of a curving snail that had strayed far on
the Cinyphian plains ? "- no rancid fat or gristly
ham ? no sausage, no tougli haggis ? no salt, no
pickle, no cheese ? or cakes of green saltpetre ? or
raisin-wine boiled grapes and all ? or must made
muddy by sweet lees ? How unkind, not to give me
smelly candles, or a knife, or a tiny notebook !
Pray, could you not have sent some tinned grapes, or
some plates turned on the wheel at Cumae ? * or
even one set '^ — why do you start ? — of white cups
and pots ? No, like a fair dealer with a correct scale,
you dock nothing, but give me exactly equal weight.
But look ! I get up betimes, feeling rather queasy,
and bring you my morning greeting : are you to
return it at my house ? you have regaled me with a
luxurious feast : do you expect a similar repast your-
self? I am angry with you, Grypus ! However,
farewell ! only do not with your usual wit send me
back gibing verses by return of post !
" i.f., African snails, which were often shell-less.
* The cheapest kind of pottery was tliat of Cumae.
" The point of this is that "synthesis" can also mean a
set of wearing-apparel, usually of a costlj' kind, as in Mart,
ii. 46. 4.
265
LIBER V
Statius Abascanto suo Salutem
Omnibus affectibus pi'osequenda sunt bona exera-
pla, cum publice prosint. Pietas, quam Priscillae
tuae praestas, et morum tuoruni pars et nulli non
conciliare te, praecipue marito, potest. Uxorem
enim vivam amare voluptas est, defunctam religio.
Ego tamen huic operi non ut unus e turba nee tantum
quasi officiosus adsilui. Amavit enim uxorem meam
Priscilla et amando fecit mihi illam probatiorem ;
post hoc ingratus sum, si lacrimas tuas transeo.
Praeterea latus omne divinae domus semper demereri
pro mea mediocritate conitor. Nam qui bona fide
deos colit, amat et sacerdotes. Sed quam vis pro-
piorem usum^ amicitiae tuae iampridem cuperem,
mallem tamen nondum invenisse materiam.
^ usum Pol. : visum M.
" " latus " here means those who are " a latere principis,"
see note on iii. 3. 65, and cf. v. 1. 187, and for different uses
V. 1. 80, iii. 3. 120.
* The reference is, of course, to the Imperial House.
" He seems to mean that the death of Priscilla had drawn
Abascantus and himself closer together. Vollmer, however.
266
BOOK V
Statius to his Friend Abascantus : Greeting !
Good examples should be whole-lieartedly honoured,
since they are publicly beneficial. The devotion
which you show to your Priscilla is a true part of
your character, and must needs win you the affection
of all, especially of a husband. For to love a wife is
a joy, while she is alive, and a religion, when she is
departed. It was not, however, as a mere stranger
that I undertook this task, nor only with the readiness
of one bound by ties of duty. For Priscilla loved my
wife, and by that love made her more worthy in my
eyes ; after that it were ingratitude in me to take
no notice of your grief. Further, I always strive,
insignificant as I am, to deserve well of all adherents
of the Sacred Palace." For he who in good fiiith
worships the gods, loves their priests also.** But
although I had long desired a more intimate experi-
ence of your friendship," yet I would rather the
occasion had not come so soon.
understands by the phrase, "a more intimate use of j'our
friendship," an opportunity of dedicating a poem to one in
so high a position.
267
STATIUS
I. EPICEDION IN PRISCILLAM
Si raanus aut .similes docilis luilii fingere ceras
aut ebur impressis aurumve auiinare figuris,
hinc, Priscilla, tuo solacia grata marito
conciperem. namque egregia pietate meretur,
ut vel Apelleo vultus signata colore, 5
Phidiaca vel nata manu reddare dolenti.
sic auferre regis umbrani conatur et ingens
certamen cum Morte gerit curasque fatigat
artificum inque omni te quaerit amare metallo.
sed mortalis honos, agilis quern dextra laborat. 10
nos tibi. laudati iuvenis rarissima coniunx,
longa nee obscurum finem latura perenni
temptamus dare iusta lyra, modo dexter Apollo
quique venit iuncto mihi semper Apolline Caesar
annuat : baud alio melius condere sepulcro. 15
Sera quidem tanto struitur medicina dolori,
altera cum volucris Phoebi rota torqueat annum ;
sed cum plaga recens et adhuc in vulnere prime
nigra^ domus, miseram quis tunc^ accessus ad aurem
coniugis orbati ? tunc flere et scindere vestes 20
et famulos lassare greges et vincere planctus
Fataque et iniustos rabidis pulsare querelis
caelicolas solamen erat. licet ipse levandos
^ ni^ra 3/ : aegra Heinsius.
^ miseram quis tunc P/illlimore : quaestu miseramque
M : questu miseram qui MacnagJiten : quis tum miserandam
Adrian.
" The allusion is to the struggle of Hercules with Death
for Alcestis : here the husband strives to rescue his wife from
death by making a living image of lier. Priscilla's body
was not burnt, but embalmed, and placed in a shrine, such
as Cicero wished to build for his daughter Tullia (Ad Att.
xii. 19). Poppaea, too, was embalmed (Tac. Arai. xvi. 6).
268
SILVAE, V. I. 1-23
I. A POEM OF CONSOLATION ON THE
DEATH OF PRISCILLA
Prise ilia was tJie wife of Abascantus, who Iield the im-
portant post of Secretary of State to Domitian. This
epicedion follows the usual lilies of such poems, see Introd. to
ii. 1.
Had I but skill of hand to mould likenesses in
wax or to leave a living impress upon gold or ivory,
thence would I imagine, Pi-iscilla, a grateful solace
for thy husband. For his conspicuous devotion
merits that thou thyself, whether painted by Apelles'
brush or given life by Phidian ai't, shouldst be brought
back to calm his grief ; so valiantly strives he to
rescue tliy ghost from the pyre, and wages a mighty
struggle with Death,** and exhausts the cunning of
the craftsmen, and in every metal would fain show
his love of thee. But mortal is the honour that toil
of clever hands can pay : 'tis the poet's endeavour to
bring thee, peerless consort of a youth renowned, a
tribute that will endure nor suffer oblivion at the
last, the due offering of eternal song, if only Apollo
be propitious, and Caesar, who ever in Apollo's
company aids me, gives assent ; no other nobler
sepulchre wilt thou find.
Late indeed is the balm composed for so great a
sorrow, when yet once more the wheels of Phoebus
are bringing round the year ; but when the stroke
is recent and the house still sable-clad in the first
shock of woe, what access then to the poor husband
in his loss ? Then were it solace enough to weep
and tear the raiment, to fatigue troops of slaves and
outdo their lamentations, to assail the Fates and an
unjust heaven with wild and frenzied cries. Though
269
STATUS
ad geniitus sihis comitatus et amiiibus Orpheus
adforet atque oninis pariter matertera vatem, 25
omnis Apollineus tegeret Bacchique sacerdos :
nil cantus, nil fila deis pallentis Averni
Eumenidumque audita comis niulcere valerent :
tantus in attonito regnabat pectore luctus !
nunc etiam ad planctus i-efugit iam plana cicatrix, 30
dum canimus, gravibusque oculis uxorius instat
imber. habentne pios etiamnum haec lumina fletus ?
mira fides ! citius genetrix Sipyleia fertur^
exhausisse genas, citius Tithonida maesti
deficient rores aut exsatiata fatiscet 35
mater Achilleis hiemes adfrangere bustis.
macte animi ! notat ista deus, qui flectit habenas
orbis et humanos propior love digerit actus,
maerentemque videt ; lectique arcana ministri !
hinc etiam documenta capit, quod diligis umbram 40
et colis exsequias. hie est castissimus ardor,
hie amor a domino meritus censore probari.
Nee mirum, si vos collato pectore mixtos
iunxit inabrupta Concordia longa catena,
ilia quidem nuptumque pi-ior taedasque marito 45
passa alio, sed te ceu virginitate iugatum
visceribus totis animaque amplexa fovebat ;
qualiter aequaevo sociatam palmite vitem
ulmus amat miscetque nemus ditemque precatur
autumnum et caris gaudet redimita racemis. 50
^ Sipj^leia fertur £" : si pelea fertur M: Sipylea feretiir
Heinsius.
" Xiobe, Aurora (for her son Memnon) and Thetis.
*" The reference no doubt is to Domitian's activities as
Censor Morum.
270
silvap:, v. I. 24-50
Orpheus himself with woods and streams for com-
pany came to assuage thy groans, though all his
motlier's sisters and every priest of Bacchus and
Apollo sustained the minstrel, yet nought would
avail to give relief, not music, not those strings
whereto the gods of pale Avernus and the Furies'
locks paid heed : such anguish held sway in his dis-
tracted heart. Even now does the scar though
smooth yet wince at my lament, and the rain of a
husband's love forces itself into those burdened eyes.
E'en yet do those orbs hold pious drops ? O marvellous
truth ! Sooner, as they say, does the Sipylean dame
drain dry her tears, or the dews of sorrow fail
Tithonia, or Achilles' mother grow weary and sated
of breaking her wild waves against his tomb." Bless
thy passionate soul ! the god who holds the reins of
earth, he who nearer than Jove directs the doings of
mankind — lie marks thee and beholds thy grief ;
and hence also doth he take secret knowledge of his
chosen minister, because thou lovest her shade and
honourest her in death. Here is a zeal that is pure
indeed, a passion that merits the praise of thy keen-
searching lord.**
Yet 'tis no wonder, if long-enduring Harmony
bound you by an unbroken chain in the close union
of Jieart with heart. She indeed had known a
former husband and the torches of earlier wedlock,
yet did she embrace and cherish thee with all her
soul and inmost being, as though she were a virgin
bride ; even so does the elm love the clinging tendrils
of the coeval vine, and mingles with its foliage and
prays tliat autumn may bring it richness and rejoices
in its dear entwining clusters. Women who lack the
271
ST ATI us
laudantur proavis seu^ pulchrae munere forniae,
quae morum caruere bonis, falsoque'^ potentes
laudis egent verae : tibi quamquam et origo niteret
et felix species multumque optanda maritis,
ex te maior honos, unum novisse cubile, 55
unum secretis agitare sub ossibus ignem.
ilium nee Phrvgius vitiasset raptor amorem
Dulichiive proci nee qui fraternus adulter
casta Mvcenaeo conubia polluit auro.
si Babylonos opes, Lydae si pondera gazae 60
Indorumque dares Serunique Arabunique potentes
divitias, mallet cum paupertate pudica
intemerata mori vitamque rependere famae.
nee frons triste rigens nimiusque in moribus horror,
sed simplex hilarisque fides et mixta pudori 65
gratia, quod si anceps metus ad maiora vocasset,
ilia vel armiferas pro coniuge laeta catervas
fulmineosque ignes mediique pericula ponti
exciperet. melius, quod non adversa probarunt,
quae tibi cura tox*i, quantus pro coniuge pallor ! 70
sed meliore via dextros tua vota marito
promeruere deos, dum nocte dieque fatigas
numina, dum cunctis supplex advolveris aris
et mitem genium domini praesentis adoras.
audita es, venitque gradu Fortuna benigno. 75
vidit quippe pii iuvenis navamque quietem
intactamque fidem succinctaque pectora curis
et vigiles sensus et digna evolvere tantas
^ proavis seu 5": prnavi seu M {Tmlmf keeps this and
reads munera) : proavis aut Heinsms.
^ falsoque M : falsaeque Heinslus.
" " potentes," occasionally used in Statius= " great," " im-
portant," rf. i. f)l, "divitias p."="lordlv wealth," and
V. 2. 29.
272
SILVAE, V. I. 51-78
graces of tlie soul are praised for ancestry or gift of
loveliness ; and falsely great they lack a true
renown;" but though a brilliant lineage was thine,
and the blessing of a beauty that husbands would
prize, yet thy own boast is prouder, that thou knewest
but one bed, didst feed but one passion in thy secret
heart. That love no Phrygian ravisher would have
outraged, no Dulichian suitors, nor that adulterer
who polluted his brother's innocent spouse with
Mycenaean gold.^ Ay, did you offer the riches of
Babylon or weight of Lydian treasure or the lordly
wealth of Ind or Araby or China, she had preferred
to die poor in untainted chastity, and given her life
to save her honour. Yet was there no forbidding
sternness in her look, nor o'ermuch austerity in her
ways, but a gay and simple loyalty, and modesty
blent with charm. Yet if some dread crisis had
summoned her to harder tasks, gladly would she
have borne on her lord's behalf the assault of armed
bands or the lightning's stroke or the perils of mid-
ocean. Happier was thy fate, that adversity ne'er
proved how true thy devotion, how great thy anxiety
for thy spouse. Ay, happier was thy path, and thy
prayers merited heaven's favour for thy husband,
while day and night thou didst weary the gods, and
lie prostrate at every altar and adore the present
godhead of our gentle lord. Thy prayers were heard,
and Fortune came with favoui'ing step. For he
beheld the quiet industry, the unsullied devotion of a
loyal youth, whose mind was busy with schemes,
whose alert intelligence and sober judgement were
** Paris, the wooers of Penelope, Thyestes who seduced
Aerope the wife of Atreus.
VOL. I T 273
STATIUS
sobria corda vices, vidit, qui cuncta suorum
novit et inspectis ambit latus omne ministris. 80
nee mirum : videt ille ortus obitusque, quid auster,^
quid boreas hibernus agat, ferrique togaeque^
consilia atque ipsam mentem probat. ille subactis^
niolem immensam umeris et vlx tractabile pondus*
imposuit — nee enim numei'osior altera sacra 85
cura domo — , magnum late dimittere in orbem
Romulei niandata ducis viresque modosque
imperii tractare manu ; quae laurus ab arcto,
quid vagus Euphrates, quid ripa binominis Histri,
quid Rheni vexilla ferant, quantum ultimus orbis 90
cesserit et refugo cireumsona gurgite Thyle —
omnia nam laetas pila attollentia frondes,
nuUaque famosa signatur lancea penna —
praeterea, fidos dominus si dividat enses,
pandere quis centum valeat frenare, maniplos 95
inter missus eques,^ quis praecepisse cohorti,
quern deceat clari praestantior ordo tribuni,
quisnam frenigerae signum dare dignior alae ;
niille etiam praenosse vices, an merserit agros
^ auster 5" : arctos M.
^ togaeque Uom. : rotagae M,
^ subactis .limnfiiis : iubatis 3/: probatis R'rohn.
* pondus A rant ins: tenipus M. PhiUhnore suspects
damage to arrhetifpe at the ends of these four lines.
* maniplos intermissus eques M : maniplis intermixtus
equos Salmasius : maniplo intermissus eques Madvig.
" " A laurel fastened to the dispatch was the sign of news
of victory, but a feather — the sign of haste — marked the
bearer of disastrous news. . . . The greatness and sureness
of the Imperial organization is exemplified in the fact that
the news of defeat or danger was urgent and hurried, while
that of victory was not." A. M. Ramsay, Journal of Roman
Studies, XV. Pt. 1, p. 66. He also quotes Juv. iv. 147-9,
where the point is the same.
274
SILVAE, V. I. 79-99
fitted to unravel tlie skein of circumstance — he saw,
who knows the hearts of all his subjects, and with
well-tried servants guards safely every quarter. Nor
is that wonderful : he scans the East and the West,
he knows wliat the South and what the wintry North
is doing, and puts sword and gown to the proof, ay,
the very heart itself. He placed upon those bowed
shoulders a mighty burden, a weight scarce tolerable
— no duties more manifold does the Sacred Palace
know — to send far and wide into the great world the
commands of the Roman Prince, to handle all the
powers and modes of empire ; to learn what laurelled
message comes from the North, what news from
wandering Euphrates or from tlie bank of twy-named
Ister or from the standards of the Rhine, how much
we have won of the world's end or of Thule round
Avhich the tidal waters roar — for every spear raises
joyous leaves on high," and no lance is marked with
the feather of ill -report ; moreover, should the
Master distribute loyal swords,** to make known who
suffices to control a century, a knight .sent among the
companies of foot, who to command a cohort, whom
the more excellent rank of illustrious tribune befits,
who is suited rather to give orders to a cavalry troop ;
again, to anticipate a thousand chances, whether Nile
has drenched his fields, whether Libya has been
'' These, according to Madvig, Opusc. i. 39, are the four
military appointments open to knights in ascending order :
i. Primipilus, or Senior Centurion (" maniplos inter missus
eques," shows that something more than the ordinary
centurionship is intended) ; ii. Praefectus cohortis ; iii.
Tribunus legionis ; iv. Praefectus equitum. The higher
appointments were made " per epistolam sacram Inipera-
toris," see Veget. ii. 7. Cf, v. 12. 65 n.
275
ST ATI us
Nilus, an inibrifero Libye sudaverit austro ; 100
cunctaque si numerem, non plura interprete virga
nuntiat ex celsis ales Tegeaticus astris
quaeque cadit liquidas lunonia virgo per auras
et picturato pluvium ligat aera gyro
quaeque tuas laurus volucri, Germanice, cursu 105
Fama vehit praegressa diem tardumque sub astris
Arcada et in medio linquit Thaumantida caelo.
Qualem te superi, Priscilla, hominesque benigno
aspexere die, cum primum ingentibus actis
admotus coniunx ! vicisti gaudia paene^ HO
ipsius, efFuso dum pectore prona sacratos
ante pedes avide domini tam magna merentis
volveris. Aonio non sic in vertice gaudet.
quam pater arcani praefecit hiatibus antri
Delius, aut primi cui ius venerabile thyrsi 115
Bacchus et attonitae tribuit vexilla catervae.
nee tamen hinc mutata quies probitasve secundis
intumuit : tenor idem animo moresque modesti
fortuna crescente manent. fovet anxia curas
coniugis hortaturque simul flectitque labores. 120
ipsa dapes modicas et sobria pocula tradit,
exemplumque ad erile monet ; vehit Apula coniunx
agricolae parci vel sole infecta Sabina,
quae videt emeriti iam prospectantibus asti'is
tempus adesse viri, propere mensasque torosque 125
instruit exspectatque sonum redeuntis aratri.
parva loquor. tecum gelidas comes ilia per arctos
Sarmaticasque hiemes Histrumque et pallida Rheni
^ paene Burmann : cene 31, certe Markland.
" Mercury and Iris, as in 11. 102-3.
'' The Pj'thian priestess and the leader of a Bacchic revel.
276
SIIA^AE, V. I. 100-128
moistened by Southern rains ; were I to count all
his labours, no more numerous are the messages that
the winged Tegean with revealing wand bears from
the stars on liigh, or Juno's maid, who glides down
through the liquid air and binds her pictured arc
about the rainy sky, or Fame, who brings thy laurels,
O Germanicus, in her swift flight outstripping the
day, and leaves the slow Arcadian beneath the stars
and Thaumantia in mid-heaven."
How joyful, Priscilla, wert thou seen of gods and
men on that auspicious day when first thy spouse
Avas promoted to his great career ! Almost did thy
happiness surpass his own, while thou didst eagerly
fling thyself prostrate before the sacred feet of thy
lord for his great favour, and pour out all thy heart.
Not such joy doth she know upon the Aonian mount
whom the Delian sire hath put in charge of the
openings of the mystic cave, or she to whom Bacchus
hath awarded the dread privilege of the foremost
wand, and to bear the banner of the frenzied rout.*
Yet was her tranquillity not changed, nor her good-
ness puffed up by prosperity ; her mind keeps the
same course, and her modesty abides, though her
fortunes rise. Anxiously she tends her husband's
cares, and cheers and alleviates his toils. Herself
she serves his modest board and sober cups, and
admonishes him by the example of his chief; just as
the Apulian wife of some thrifty husbandman, or
sun-burnt Sabine dame, who sees by the peeping
stars that her lord will soon be come, his labours o'er,
briskly sets the tables and the couches, and listens
for the returning plough. I speak of trivial things :
nay, at thy side she had willingly braved the gelid
North and Sarmatian snows and Ister and the pale
277
STATIUS
frigora, tecum omnes aninio durata per aestus
et, si castra darent, vellet gestare pharetras, 130
vellet Amazonia latus intercludere pelta ;
dum te pulverea bellorum nube^ videret
Caesarei prope fulmen equi divinaque tela
vibrantem et magnae sparsum sudoribus hastae.
Hactenus alma chelys. tempus nunc ponere
frondes, 135
Phoebe, tuas maestaque comam damnare cupresso.
quisnam impacata consanguinitate ligavit
Fortunam Invidiamque deus ? quis iussit iniquas
aeternum bellare deas ? nullamne notabit
ilia domum, torvo quam non haec lumine figat 140
protinus et saeva proturbet gaudia dextra ?
florebant hilaves inconcussique penates :
nil maestum. quid enim, quamvis infida levisque,
Caesare tarn dextro posset Fortuna timeri ?
invenere viam liventia Fata, piumque 145
intravat vis saeva larem. sic plena maligno
adflantur vineta noto, sic alta senescit
imbre seges nimio, rapidae sic obvia puppi
invidet et velis adnubilat aura secundis.
carpitur eximium Fato Priscilla decorem ; 150
qualiter alta comam silvarum gloria pinus
seu lovis igne malo seu iam radice soluta
deficit et nulli spoliata remurmurat aurae.
quid probitas aut casta fides, quid numina prosunt
culta deum ? furvae miseram circurn undique leti
vallavere plagae, tenduntur dura sororum 156
licia et exacti superest pars ultima fili.
^ pulverea b. nube 3/ : pulvereum Baehrens : in nube edd.
278
SILVAE, V. I. 129-157
frosts of Rhine, at thy side steeled her courage
throughout summer heats and gladly borne the
quiver, did the camp permit, and gladly shielded her
body with an Amazonian targe — so but she might see
thee in the dust-clouds of battle hard by the Em-
peror's thundering steed, brandishing godlike shafts
and bedewed with the sweat of his great spear.
So far my lyre has been propitious ; but now it is
time to doif thy bays, O Phoebus, and doom my
tresses to sad cypress-leaves. What god joined
Fortune and Envy in truceless kinship ? who bade
the cruel goddesses engage in unending war ? Will
the one set her mark upon no house, but the other
must straightway fix it with her grim glance, and
with savage hand make havoc of its gladness ?
Happy and prosperous was this abode, no shock
assailed it, no thought of sorrow ; wiiat cause was
there to have fear of Fortune, treacherous and
fickle thougli slie be, while Caesar was favourable ?
yet the jealous Fates found a way, and barbarous
violence entered that blameless home. So do the
laden vineyards feel the deadly sirocco's blast, so
rots the high corn with too much rain, so does the air
envy the rapid craft it meets, and gathers storm-
clouds about its prosperous sails. Fate plucks away
the peerless beauty of Priscilla : just as the lofty
pine, the glory of the woodland, is wasted of its
foliage, be it by fell fire of Jove or that its roots are
loosened, and so despoiled answers no more the
whispering breeze. What avails goodness, or chaste
loyalty, or worship paid to heaven ? The dark
snares of death encompassed around the wretched
woman, the Sisters' ruthless threads are tightened,
and there abides but the last portion of the exhausted
279
STATIUS
nil famuli coetus, nil ars operosa medentum
auxiliata malis ; comites tamen undique ficto
spem simulant vultu, flentem notat ilia maritum.
ille modo infernae nequiquam flumina Lethes 161
incorrupta rogat, nunc anxius omnibus aris
inlacrimat signatque fores et pectore terget
liraina ; nunc magni vocat exorabile numen
Caesaris, heu durus fati tenor ! estne quod illi 165
non liceat ? quantae poterant mortalibus annis
accessisse morae, si tu, pater, omne teneres
arbitrium ? caeco gemeret Mors clusa barathro
longius et vacuae posuissent stamina Parcae.
lamque cadunt vultus oculisque novissimus error
obtunsaeque aurc;, nisi cum vox sola mariti 171
noscitur ; ilium unum media de morte reversa
mens videt, ilium aegris circumdat fcrtiter ulnis
immotas obversa genas, nee sole supremo
lumina, sed dulci mavult satiare marito. 175
turn sic unanimum moriens solatur amantem :
"pars animae victura meae, cui linquere possim
o utinam, quos dura mihi rapit Atropos, annos :
parce, precor, lacrimis, saevo ne concute planctu
pectora, nee crucia fugientem coniugis umbram. 180
linquo equidem thalamos, salvo tamen ordine mortis,^
quod prior : exegi longa potiora senecta
tempora ; vidi omni pridem te flore nitentem,
vidi altae propius propiusque accedere dextrae.
non in te fatis, non iam caelestibus ullis 185
^ mortis S" : mostis M: mestos Pol. {marg. note in Ex,
Cors.): noctis Ed. Prin.: maeatos Ph III imore.
" i.e., of the Emperor.
280
SIL\'AE, V. I. 158-185
span. No succour could crowds of slaves bring her
in her distress, nor the physicians' toilful art ; yet
while friends on every side feign looks of hopefulness,
she marks her husband weeping. He now implores
in vain Lethe's inexorable stream, now sheds anxious
tears at every shrine and leaves his imprint at the
gates and flings himself down upon the tln-eshold,
now calls upon Caesar's merciful deity. Alas ! the
cruel course of P'ate ! is there then aught that
Caesar may not do ? What tarrying could there
have come to mortal lives, if thou, O Sire, hadst been
all-powerful ! far away would Death be groaning,
imprisoned in the unseeing pit, and the idle Fates
would have laid their spinning down.
And now her face falls, her eyes take their last
wavering glances, and the hearing of the ears is
dulled, save when only she recognizes her husband's
voice ; him only does her mind returning from the
midst of death perceive, him with faint amis does
she bravely grasp, turning to him her stiffened
cheeks, nor wishes to sate her eyes with the last
glimpse of light, but only Avith her dear spouse.
Then dying she thus consoles the loving heart that
was one with hers : " O thou, my soul's still-
surviving half, to Avhom I would fain leave the
years that cruel Atx-opos takes from me, spare thy
tears, I pray, beat not thy breast with savage lament,
nor vex thy consort's fleeing spirit. I leave, 'tis true,
a marriage-bower, yet in the due order of dying,
because I die the first ; better the life I have lived
than a long old age ; I have seen thee in the full
splendour of thy fame, I have seen thee draw nearer
and more near to the right hand on high." No fate,
no god has power over thee now ; I take with me
281
ST ATI us
arbitrium : mecum ista fero. tu limite coepto
tende libens sacrumque latus geniumqiie potentem
inrequietus ama. nunc, quod cupis ipse iuberi,
da Capitolinis aeternurn sedibus aurum,
quo niteat sacri centeno pondere vultus 190
Caesaris et propriae signet cultricis amorem
sic ego nee Furias nee deteriora videbo
Tartara et Elysias felix admittar in oras. '
haec dicit labens sociosque amplectitur artus
haerentemque animam non tristis in ora mariti 195
transtulit et cara pressit sua lumina dextra.
At iuvenis magno flammatus pectora luctu
nunc implet saevo viduos clamore penates,
nunc ferrum laxare cupit, nunc ardua tendit
in loca — vix retinent coniites — , nunc ore ligato 200
incubat aniissae mersumque in corde dolorem
saevus agit, qualis conspecta coniuge segnis^
Odrysius vates positis ad Strymona plectris
obstupuit tristemque rogum sine carmine flevit.
ille etiam erecte^ rupisset tempora vitae, 205
ne tu Tartareum chaos incomitata subires,
sed prohibet mens fida ducis mirandaque sacris
imperiis et maior amor.
Quis carmine digno
exsequias et dona malae feralia pompae
perlegat ? omne illic stipatum examine longo 210
ver Arabum Cilicumque fluit floresque Sabaei
Indorumque arsura seges praereptaque templis
^ conspecta coniuge segnis M : conspecto coniugis igni
Barth.
* erecte M : certe 5" : fractae Imhof.
" Orpheus.
'' i.e., of the Emperor himself.
282
SILVAE, V. I. 186-212
their power to harm. Do thou go gladly on in the
path thou hast entered, and love unfailingly the
saci-ed presence, the spirit of our Prince. Now — a
behest after thine own heart — give to the temple on
the Capitol gold that endures for ever, that the
countenance of sacred Caesar may gleam in a statue
that weighs a hundred pounds, and prove his constant
votary's love. So shall I behold neither Furies nor
dire Tartarus, but be admitted, a blessed soul, to
Elysian regions." Thus with failing strength she
speaks, and clings to her consort's arms, and un-
repining breathed out her lingering soul into her
husband's lips, and closed her eyes with the hand
she loved.
But the heart of her spouse was ablaze with
passionate grief ; now he fills the bereaved home
with frenzied crying, now would fain set free the
steel, now climbs to lofty heights — scarce can his
friends restrain him — now broods o'er his lost one
with mouth joined fast to mouth, and savagely
excites the grief that is hidden in his heart : even
as the Odrysian bard * seeing his wife's corpse fell
dazed and horror-struck, and flinging down his quill
on Strymon's bank in songless sorrow mourned the
pyre. He too had courageously cut short the term
of life, that thou shouldst not go uncompanioned to
Tartarean gloom, but loyalty to his Prince forbids,
loyalty that roused the wonder of the Sacred
Monarch, and a yet greater love.**
Who could recount in worthy song the obsequies
and funeral gifts of that unhappy train ? There
heaped together in long array is all tlie liquid wealth
of Arabian and Cilician springs, Sabaean blooms and
Indian produce destined for the flames, and incense,
283
STATIUS
tura Palaestinis, simul Hebraeique liquoves
Coryciaeque comae Cinyreaque germina ; et altis
ipsa toris Serum Tyrioque umbrata recumbit 215
tegmine. sed toto spectatur in agmine coniunx
solus ; in hunc magnae flectuntur lumina Romae
ceu iuvenes natos suprema ad busta ferentem :
is dolor in vultu, tantum crinesque genaeque
noctis habent. illam tranquillo fine solutam 220
felicemque vocant, lacrimas fudere marito.
Est locus, ante urben^ qua primum nascitur ingens
Appia quaque Italo gemitus Almone Cybebe
ponit et Idaeos iam non reminiscitur amnes.
hie te Sidonio velatam molliter ostro 225
eximius coniunx — nee enim fumantia busta
clamoremque rogi potuit perferre — beato
composuit, Priscilla, toro. nil longior aetas
carpere, nil ae^i poterunt vitiare labores
siccatam^ membris : tantas venerabile marmor 230
spirat opes, mox in varias mutata novavis
effigies : hoc aere Ceres, hoc lucida Gnosis,
illo Maia tholo,^ \enus hoc non improba saxo.
accipiunt vultus haud indignata decoros
numina : circumstant famuli consuetaque turba 235
obsequiis, tunc rite tori mensaeque parantur
^ siccatam S~ : sic catum M: sic cautum PhiUhnore.
^ tholo M : polo, loco edd. : luto Baehrcns.
" i.e., saffron (repeated from " ver Cilicum ") and m3Trh.
* i.e., his hair is dark with the dust and ashes poured upon
it, his ej-es with grief.
* The reference is to the ceremonial washing of the image
of Cybele, the Magna Mater, on March ;?7th in the river
Almo, a small tributary of the Tiber.
■^ See note on ii. 7. 121. Statues representing various
284
SIL^'AF>, V. I. 213-236
spoil of Palestinian shrines, Hebrew essences witlial
and Corycian petals " and Cinyrean buds ; she herself
reclines on a lofty couch of silk 'neath the shade of a
Tyrian awning. But in all the concourse none looks
but at the husband, on liim is bent the gaze of
mighty Rome, as though he were bearing youtliful
sons to burial : such grief in his looks, such darkness
upon his hair * and eyes. Her call they happy in her
quiet and peaceful end, 'tis for the husband their tears
are shed.
There is a spot before the city where the mighty
Appian way has its first beginning, and Cybele lays
aside her grief in Italian Almo," nor remembers
the streams of Ida any more. Here thy peerless
consort — for he could not bear the smoke of burning
and the clamour of the pyre — laid thee, delicately
arrayed in Sidonian purple, blissfully to rest. Length
of years will have no power to harm thee, nor the
labours of time to wither and mar thy limbs : such
wealth of perfume does the venerable marble
breathe. Soon art thou changed into manifold
images "^ and born anew : here art thou Ceres in
bronze, here the bright Cretan maid,*' Maia beneath
that dome, an innocent Venus in this marble. The
deities scorn not to accept thy lovely features :
attendants stand about thee, a multitude wont to
obe,y ; then couches and tables duly without ceasing.^
a-oddesses with Priscilla's features were placed round about
the sarcophagus (" marmor ") containing her embalmed
body.
^ Dictynna, i.e. Diana {rf. Thcb. ix. 632) ; clearly not
Ariadne.
' Apparently to maintain the illusion of Priscilla being
still alive, her embalmed body is surrounded by attendants,
and couches and banquets are made ready for her.
285
STATIUS
assiduae. donius ista, domus ! quis triste sepulcrum
dixerit ? hac merito visa pietate mariti
protinus exclames : "est hie, agnoseo, minister
illius, aeternae modo qui sacraria genti 240
condidit inque alio posiiit sua sidera caelo."
sic, ubi magna novum Phario de litore puppis
solvit iter iamque innumeros utrimque rudentes
lataque veliferi porrexit brachia mali
invasitque vias, it^ eodem angusta phaselos 245
aequore et immensi partem sibi vindicat austri.
Quid nunc immodicos, iuvenum lectissime, fletus
corde foves longumque vetas exire dolorem ?
nempe times, ne Cerbereos Priscilla tremescat
latratus ? tacet ille piis ! ne tardior adsit 250
navita proturbetque vadis ? vehit ille merentes
protinus et manes placidus locat hospite cumba.
praeterea, si quando pio laudata marito
umbra venit, iubet ire faces Proserpina laetas
egressasque sacris veteres heroidas antris 255
lumine purpureo tristes laxare tenebras
sertaque et Elysios animae praesternere flores.
sic manes Priscilla subit ; ibi supplice dextra
pro te Fata rogat, reges tibi tristis Averni
placat, ut expletis humani finibus aevi 260
pacantem terras dominum iuvenemque relinquas
ipse senex ! certae iurant in vota sorores.
1 it Gevart : in M.
" See note on iv. 3. 19. *" Egyptian.
286
I
SILVAE, y. I. 237-262
A liouse liast thou there, a house ! Who would call
it a gloomy sepulchre ? Justly would one exclaim,
seeing the devotion of her spouse : " Truly is he the
minister of him who lately for his everlasting race
founded a sacred shrine," and set his kindred stars
in another heaven." So when some great ship sets
forth on a new voyage from the Pharian ^ strand,
and already has stretched out on either side a
thousand ropes and the broad arms of her sail-
bearing mast, and started on her way, some tiny
pinnace sails on the same sea, and claims her share
of the limitless South wind.
Why now, choicest of youths, dost thou cherish
sorrow in thy heart beyond due measure, nor suffer
thy long grief to have an end ? Fearest thou lest
Priscilla tremble at Cerberus' howling ? he is silent
for the blessed. Lest the sailor be slow to draw nigh
her, or disturb her on the waters ? He conveys
deserving souls forthwith, and quietly sets them in
his welcoming craft. Moreover, whenever a shade
approaches that has won the praise of a loving
spouse, Proserpine bids summon joyful torches, and
the heroines of old to come forth from hallowed
bowers and scatter the shades of gloom in radiant
light, and strew garlands and Elysian flowers before
her. "Thus doth Priscilla enter the kingdom of the
dead ; there with suppliant hand she prays the
Fates for thee, and placates the lords of grim Avernus,
that having fulfilled the term of human life thou in
old age mayst leave thy prince still giving peace to
the world and still young ! The unfailing Sisters
take oath to grant her prayers.
287
STATIUS
II. LAUDES CRISPINI VETTI BOLANI
FILII
Rura nieus Tyrrhena petit saltusque Tagetis
Crispinus ; nee longa mora est aut avia tellus,
sed mea secreto velluntur pectora morsu,
udaque turgentes impellunt lumina guttas,
ceu super Aegaeas hiemes abeuntis amici 5
vela sequar spectemque ratem iam fessus ab altis
rupibus atque oculos longo querar aere vinci.
Quid ? si militiae iam te, puer inclite, primae
clara rudimenta et castrorum dulce vocaret
auspicium, quanto manarent gaudia fletu 10
quosve darem amplexus ! etiamne optanda pro-
pinquis^
tristia ? et^ octonos bis iam tibi circuit orbes
vita, sed angustis animus robustior annis,
succumbitque oneri et mentem sua non capit aetas.
nee mirum : non te series inhonora parentum 15
obscurum proavis et priscae lucis egentem
plebeia de stirpe tulit : non sanguine cretus
turmali trabeaque recens^ et paupere clavo
^ propinquis 5" : propinqui 3/: et iamne . . . propinquas
PhilUmore.
- et s~ : lit M.
^ trabeaque recens /iVo/oi : trabeque et reniis J/: trabeaque
Remi nee Lipsius.
" An Etruscan, the founder of the art of the " haruspices "
(see Ovid, Met. xv. 553).
*■ i.e., " must they be glad and proud at his going to war,
while they grieve to lose him ? "
•^ The "trabea " was a toga marked by purple horizontal
stripes ; originally royal, it was worn by knights on certain
occasions, and so became regarded as a knightly badge.
'288
SILVAE, V. II. 1-18
II. THE PRAISES OF CRISPINUS, SON OF
VETTIUS BOLANUS
A letter of congratulation and good wishes to Crispinus,
a lad of sixteen, just appointed military tribune. The an-
nouncement of this appointment is kept back till the end of
the poem, the opening lines referring to a holiday taken by
the boy shortly before that event, but is anticipated throughout.
His fatJier was a celebrated officer named Bolanus, who had
served with distinction in Asia Minor, Armenia, and Scot-
land.
My Crispinus is off to Etruscan fields and the
glades of Tages ; "• not for long is his sojourning, nor
distant the land, but my heart is torn with secret
pangs, and my brimming eyes set the large tears
rolling, as though I watched o'er the stormy Aegean
the sails of a departing friend, and from a cliff gazed
wearily yet after the vessel, and complained that my
sight was baffled by the long reach of air.
Ah ! if it were the brilliant opening of a soldier's
career that called thee, noble youth, or the glad
auspices of the camp, what joyful tears would flow,
in what warm embraces would I clasp thee ! Must
friends then even welcome sadness ? ^ And already
thy life has accomplished twice eight courses, but
tliy spirit is more robust than thy tender age, and
thy years quail before their task, and thy will brooks
not their control. Nor is that wonderful : thine
was no unrenowned lineage, nor wast thou born of
plebeian stock, obscure of family and devoid of
ancestral fame ; no child of equestrian blood or but
newly granted the robe of knighthood "^ and the
humble stripe '^ didst thou as a newcomer knock at
"* The angusticlave, for which see note on iii. 2. 124.
VOL. I U 289
STATIUS
augustam sedem et Latii penetrale senatus
advena pulsasti, sed praecedente tuorum 20
agmine. Romulei qualis per iugera circi,
cum pulcher visu, titulis generosus avitis
exspectatur equus, cuius de stemmate longo
felix demeritos habet admissura parentes,
ilium omnes acuunt plausus, ilium ipse volantem 25
pulvis et incurvae gaudent agnoscere metae :
sic te, clare puer, genitum sibi curia sensit,
primaque patricia clausit vestigia luna.
mox Tyrios ex more sinus tunicamque potentem
agnovere umeri. sed enim tibi magna parabat 30
ad titulos exempla pater, quippe ille iuventam
protinus ingrediens pharetratum invasit Araxen
belliger indocilemque fero servire Neroni
Armeniam. rigidi summam Mavortis agebat
Corbulo, sed comitem belli sociumque laborum 35
ille quoque egregiis multum miratus in armis
Bolanum ; atque illi curarum asperrima suetus
credere partirique metus, quod tempus amicum
fraudibus, exserto^ quaenam bona tempora bello,
quae suspecta fides aut quae fuga vera ferocis 40
Armenii. Bolanus iter praenosse timendum,
Bolanus tutis iuga quaerere commoda castris,
metiri^ Bolanus agros, aperire malignas
torrentum nemorumque moras tantamque verendi
mentem implere ducis iussisque ingentibus unus 45
^ exserto Livineius : exorto M.
^ metiri 3/: meiari Avantius.
" The crescent-shaped buckle on the senatorial shoe.
* The " toga praetexta " and the laticlave (tunic with one
broad purple stripe down the middle). See note to v. 1. 52.
'' For the campaigns of Corbulo see Tac. Ann. xv. 1.
'' " metiri " is usually changed to " metari," as being more
290
SILVAE, V. 11. 19-45
tlie august abode and hallowed chamber of the
Latian Senate, but preceded by a long array of thine
own kinsmen. Just as when on the wide spaces of
the Roman Circus a horse is awaited, comely to
behold and generous with the blood of famous sires,
in whose long pedigree a lucky mating has produced
distinguished parentage ; the applause of all excites
him, the very dust and the round turning-points
welcome with joy his flying hooves : so did the
Senate-house know thee, illustrious boy, as born for
itself, and set the patrician crescent " on thy youthful
feet. Soon did thy shoulders recognize as their own
the wonted Tyrian fold% and the proud tunic.** And
indeed thy sire was preparing for thee mighty
patterns of thy fame to be. For on the threshold of
manhood he straightway made warlike attack on
quiver-bearing Araxes and Armenia that would not
learn to serve fierce Nero. Corbulo " held command
in the stern warfare, but even he admired Bolanus,
his comrade in battle and partner of his toils, in many
a glorious fight ; on him too was he wont to lay his
keenest anxieties, and shared with him his fears,
what occasion befriended ambush, what times were
good for open fighting, when to suspect the word
and when to trust the flight of proud Armenia.
Bolanus it was who knew beforehand the perils of
the route, Bolanus who sought the ridge that served
the safety of the camp, Bolanus who measured '^ out
the fields and cleared the dangerous hindrances of
torrent or forest, who fulfilled the mighty purposes
of that revered chieftain, and alone of all availed to
appropriate to camps ; Statins, however, may not be think-
ing of castrametation at all, or may prefer the less technical
word.
291
STATIUS
sufficere. ipsa virum norat iam barbara tellus,
ille secundus apex bellorum et proxima cassis,
sic Phryges attoniti, quamquam Nemeaea viderent
arma Cleonaeusque acies impelleret arcus,
pugnante Alcide tamen et Telamona timebant. 50
disce, puer, — nee enim externo monitore petendus
virtutis tibi pulcher amor : cognata ministret
laus animos. aliis Decii reducesque Camilli
monstrentur — tu disce patrem, quantusque ne-
ganteni
fluctibus occiduis fesso usque^ Hyperione Thylen 55
intrarit mandata gerens quantusque potentis
mille urbes Asiae sortito rexerit anno,
imperium mulcente toga, bibe talia pronis
auribus, haec certent tibi conciliare propinqui,
haec iterent comites praecepta senesque paterni. 60
lamque alio moliris iter nee deside passu
ire paras ; nondum validae tibi signa iuventae
inrepsere genis, et adhuc tenor integer aevi.
nee genitor iuxta ; fatis namque haustus iniquis
occidit et geminam prolem sine praeside linquens. 65
nee saltern teneris ostrum puerile lacertis
exuit albentique umeros induxit aniictu.
quern non corrupit pubes effrena novaeque
^ fesso usque Vollmer : fessusque M: fessoque Dotn.:
fessoque Hyperioni Imhof.
° The Trojans feared Telamon, father of Ajax, as well as
Hercules (slayer of the Nemean lion near Cleonae). The
reference is to the previous sack of Troy, in which Hercules
took part.
*" Decius devoted himself to death for Rome ; Camillus
returned from exile to defeat the Gauls.
"= He was legatus in Britain 70-71.
''■ lit. "that says no to," "opposes," c/. iii. 1. 124 "saxa
292
SILVAE, V. II. 46-68
carry out his great commands. Already the bar-
barian land itself knew the hero well ; his was the
second crest in battle, his helm stood nearest to
his chief's. So were the Phrygians dismayed,** and
though it was the arms of Nemea they saw, and
Cleonae's bow that drove their ranks in rout, ay,
though Alcides fought, yet feared they Telamon also.
Learn, boy — for no stranger needst thou seek to
teach thee the fair love of valour ; let kindred renown
inflame thee : others may seek a pattern in Decius
or the returning of Camillus ** — learn thou the lesson
of thy sire,*^ in what might he entered Thule that sets
a barrier to western waves,*^ where Hyperion is ever
weary, and bore the commands of Caesar, how
powerfully he governed the thousand cities of lordly
Asia in the allotted year, yet with justice tempering
authority. Drink in with ready ear these stoi-ies,
for these let thy kinsmen strive to win thy love, these
precepts let thy comrades and thy father's friends
repeat.
And now thou art planning a journey to other
lands, and art preparing to be gone with no sluggish
stride ; not yet have the signs of vigorous manhood
crept about thy cheeks, blameless still is the tenour
of thy life. Nor is thy father with thee : a cruel fate
has taken him, he is dead, leaving two children with-
out a guardian. He did not even take off the purple
of boyhood from thy youthful arins, or put the white
raiment about thy shoulders.*' Whom hath not un-
restrained youth corrupted, and the too hasty freedom
nef!:antia ferro," also Theh. ii. 668. Thule was regarded
rather as in the extreme W. than in the N.
" The change from the pur])le-bordered toga of childhood
to the white toga of manhood is referred to.
293
ST ATI us
libertas properata togae ! ceu nescia falcis
silva comas tollit fructumque exspirat in umbras. 70
at tibi Pieriae tenero sub pectore curae
et pudor et docti legem sibi dicere mores ;
tunc hilaris probitas et frons tranquilla nitorque
luxuriae confine tenens pietasque per omnes
dispensata modos ; aequaevo cedere fratri 75
mirarique patrem miseraeque ignoscere matri,
admonuit fortuna domus. tibine ilia nefanda
pocula letalesque manu componere sucos
evaluit, qui voce potes praevertere morsus
serpentum atque omnes \Tiltu placare novercas ? 80
infestare libet manes meritoque precatu
pacem auferre rogis ; sed te, puer optime, cerno
flectentem visus^ et talia dicta parantem :
" parce, precor, cineri : fatum illud et ira nocentum
Parcarum crimenque dei. mortalia quisquis 85
pectora sero videt nee primo in limine sistit
conatus scelerum atque animos infanda parantes.
excidat ilia dies aevo nee postera credant
saecula ! nos certe taceamus et obruta multa
nocte tegi propriae patiamur crimina gentis. 90
exegit poenas, hominum cui cura suorum,
quo Pietas auctore redit terrasque revisit,
quern timet omne nefas. satis haec lacrimandaque
nobis
ultio. quin saevas utinam exorare liceret
^ visus Postgate : iustis M.
" Ace. to Lemaire, " admonuit " implies " you have
learnt from the storj' of your house to," etc.
" Crispinus is praised for his generosity towards his
mother who tried to poison him perhaps out of favour
294
SILVAE, V. II. 69-94
of the gown ! even as a tree, when it knows not
the knife, luxuriates in growth and wastes its fruit-
fuhiess in leaf? But beneath thy youthful breast
are modesty and study of the Muse and a nature
self-controlled ; mirth too thou hast and honesty
and a tranquil brow, and an elegance that stops short
of luxury, and loyal devotion lavished on every side ;
the fortune of thy house has taught '^ thee to give
place to thy brother of equal age, to reverence thy
sire and to forgive thy hapless mother,* Could she
bring herself to mix for thee the accursed cup of
deadly juices, Avho by thy voice canst avert the bite
of serpents, and by thy look soften the heart of any
stepmother ? Fain would I vex her shade, and by
merited curses banish peace from her pyre : but thou,
O best of youths, dost turn thy face," I see, and
ponderest such words as these : " Spare the dust, I
pray ; 'twas destiny and the wrath of guilty Fates ;
that god was to blame, who looks too late into human
hearts, nor checks upon the threshold the motions of
evil and the unhalloMed plottings of the mind. May
that day perish from Time's record, nor future
generations beheve it ! Let us at least keep silence,
and suffer the crimes of our own house to be buried
deep in whelming darkness. He wreaked the penalty
who hath care of those who are his, at whose word
Loyalty hath returned and come on earth again,
whom every sin doth fear.*^ Sufficient for us and
deserving of our tears is his vengeance. Nay, could
we but implore the fierce Avengers, and keep Cer-
towards his brother. A friend, Optatus, is mentioned at
the end of the poem.
" i.p., "dost refuse to gratify my wish."
'' I.e., the Emperor.
295
ST ATI us
Eumenidas timidaeque avertere Cerberon umbrae 95
immemoremque tuis citius dare manibus amnem."
Macte animo, iuvenis ! sed crescunt crimina matris.
nee tantum pietas, sed protinus ardua \irtus
aiFectata tibi. nuper cum forte sodalis
immeritae falso palleret crimine famae 100
erigeretque forum succinctaque iudice multo
surgeret et castum vibraret lulia fulmen :
tu, quamquam non ante forum legesque severas
passus, sed tacita studiorum occultus in umbra,
defensare metus adversaque tela subisti 105
pellere, inermis adhue et tiro, parentis amici.
baud umquam tales aspexit Romulus annos
Dardaniusque senex medii bellare togata
strage fori, stupuere patres temptamina tanta
conatusque tuos, nee te reus ipse timebat.^ 110
par vigor et membris, promptaeque ad fortia vires
sufficiunt animo atque ingentia iussa sequuntur
ipse ego te nuper Tiberino in litore \idi,
qua Tyrrhena vadis Laurentibus aestuat unda,
tendentem cursus vexantemque ilia nuda 115
calce ferocis equi, vultu dextraque minaeem :
— si qua fides dictis, stupui armatumque^ puta\i — :
Gaetulo sic pulcher equo Troianaque quassans
tela novercales ibat venator in agros
^ nee te reus ipse timebat M : some edd. mark a lacuna
after reus : de te, pro te edd., nee tunc Leo : se . . . tenebat
conj. PJtilUmore.
* armatumque M : Martemque Markland.
" The charge was probably one of adultery, which would
be dealt with under the Lex lulia de maritandis ordinibus.
* Romulus and Aeneas, i.e. their statues in the Forum.
•^ I adopt this interpretation with a good deal of hesita-
tion (" nee reus ipse= et ipse is qui non erat reus "). I do not,
296
SILVAE, V. 11. 95-119
berus from tliat timid shade, ay, more swiftly grant
thy ghost the waters of forgetfuhiess !
A blessing on thy heart, O youth ! yet the greater
grows thy mother's crime. Not devotion only, but
high courage also has been thy aim. Lately when
thy friend grew pale at a false charge and unmerited
ill-fame, and the Julian law awoke the Courts," and
girt with her train of justices arose and shook her
lightning-brand of chastity : thou, although without
expei'ience of trials or stern laws, but ever hidden in
the silence of thy studious shade, yet didst take upon
thee to avert his fears, and, thyself an unarmed
recruit, to repel the bolts that threatened thy terror-
stricken friend. Never before did Romulus and our
Dardanian ancestor ^ behold so young a combatant
wage gowned warfare in mid-forum. The fathers
were amazed at so brave a venture and at thy daring
and even the innocent feared thee." In thy limbs
too is the same vigour, and thy strength ever ready
for valiant deeds is sufficient for thy courage and
obedient to high behests. Myself I saw thee of late
on Tiber's bank, where the Tyrrhenian M'ave foams
against I-atian shallows, speeding on thy course, and
with naked heel goading the flank of thy mettled
steed, with threatening hand and visage : — as I
speak ti'uth, I stood aghast, and thought thee armed
for battle — ; so fair to see rode Ascanius on a
Gaetulian horse a -hunting into his stepmother's
fields, brandishing Trojan shafts, and made hapless
however, think there is a lacuna here. Prof. Hardie adopts
Prof. Slater's suggestion that nee te is a corruption of vecti, i.e.
Crispinus hhuself, and reads after 109 —
ipse etiam stupuit tanti modo criminis auctor
conatusque tuos, Vecti, — reus ipse — tiniebat.
297
STATIUS
Ascanius miseramque patri flagrabat Elissam ; 120
Troilus haud aliter gyro le\iore niinantes
eludebat equos aut quern de turribus altis
Arcadas Ogygio versantem in pulvere metas
spectabant Tyriae non torvo lumine matres.
Ergo age iam^magno — ducis indulgentia pulsat 125
certaque dat votis hilaris vestigia frater —
surge aninio et fortes castrorum concipe curas.
monstrabunt acies Mavors Aetaeaque virgo,
flectere Castor equos, umeris quatere arnia Quirinus,
qui tibi tam tenero pernn'sit plaudere collo 130
nubigenas clipeos intactaque caedibus arma.
Quasnam igitur terras, quern Caesaris ibis in orbem?
Arctoosne amnes et Rheni fracta natabis
flumina an aestiferis Libyae sudabis in arvis ?
an iuga Pannoniae mutatoresque domorum 135
Sauromatas quaties ? an te septenus habebit
Hister et umbroso circumflua eoniuge Peuee ?
an Solymum cinerem palmetaque capta subibis
non sibi felices silvas ponentis Idymes ?
quod si te magno tellus frenata parenti 140
accipiat, quantum ferus exsultabit Araxes !
quanta Caledonios attollet gloria campos !
cum tibi longaevus referet trucis incola terrae :
" hie suetus dare iura parens, hoc caespite turmas
^ lam Phillimore : nam M ; punctuation Vollmer's.
" i.e., wheeled as though he were racing in Arcadia.
" versantem metas " is grammatically a sort of hypallage, for
"versantem currum circa metas." Cf. Theb. ix. 683.
* i.e., Parthenopaeus.
" Pallas Athene.
** He was one of the youthful Salii Quirinales, the priests
of Mars, who carried the sacred shields (" ancilia "J in his
worship.
!^98
SILVAE, V. II. 120-144
Elissa burn with passion for his sire ; not otherwise
did Troilus circhng more nimbly elude the menacing
steeds, or he whom as he wheeled round the turning-
posts of Arcady " in the dust of Thebes the Tyrian
matrons beheld from their high towers mth no
unkindly eyes.^
Come then — for thy Prince's favour urges thee on,
and thy brother leaves sure footprints for thy vows,
— arise with valiant heart, and bethink thee of the
camp and its manly cares. Mars and the Attic maid*^
shall show thee the battle line. Castor shall teach
thee to wheel thy horsemen, Quix'inus '^ to clash thy
arms upon thy shoulders, Quirinus who suffered thee
to make ring upon thy youthful neck the cloud-born
shields and armour unstained with blood.
To what lands then, to which of Caesar's worlds
wilt thou go ? Wilt thou s\vim Northern rivers and
the broken waters of Rhine, or sweat in the hot fields
of Libya ? Wilt thou make Pannonian mountains
tremble, and the Sauromatae that shift their dwell-
ing ? Shall sevenfold Danube hold thee, and Peuce
that lies amid her lover's shady streams ? ^ Or wilt
thou tread the dust of Solyma,^ and the captive palm-
groves of Idume, who not for herself did plant her
fruitful orchards ? But if the land that thy mighty
parent curbed receive thee, how will savage Araxes
thrill with joy ! What glory will exalt the Caledonian
plains ! when some aged dweller in that bloodthirsty
land tells thee : s " Here was thy father wont to give
* An island in the Danube, so called after the wife of the
river-god, cf. Val. Fl. A7y. viii. 217.
^ i.e., Jerusalem.
" Vollmer quotes Tac. Agr. v. and the references to Vettius
Bolanus in Agr. viii.
STATIUS
adfari ; late^ speculas^ castellaque longe 145
— aspicis ? — ille dedit cinxitque haec moenia fossa ;
belligeris haec dona dels, haec tela dica\it
— cernis adhuc titulos — ; hunc ipse vocantibus armis
induit, hunc regi rapuit thoraca Britanno."
qualiter in Teucros victricia bella paranti 150
ignotuni Pyrrho Phoenix narrabat Achillem.
Felix, qui viridi fidens, Optate, iuventa
durabis quascumque vias vallumque subibis,
forsan et ipse latus — sic numina principis adsint —
cinctus et unaninii comes indefessus amici, 155
quo Pylades ex more pius, quo Dardana gessit
bella Menoetiades. quippe haec concordia vobis,
hie amor est duretque precor ! nos fortior aetas
lam fugit ; hinc votis animum precibusque iuvabo,
et mihi ! sed questus solitos si forte ciebo 160
et mea Romulei venient ad carmina patres,
tu deeris, Crispine, mihi, cuneosque per omnes
te meus absentem circumspectabit Achilles,
sed venies melior — vatum non irrita currunt
omina — , quique aquilas tibi nunc et castra recludit,
idem omnes perferre gradus cingique^ superbis 166
fascibus et patrias dabit insedisse curules.
Sed quis ab excelsis Troianae colhbus Albae,
^ late Waller : vitae M, vicis, vigiles, Vetti, viden has
etc. edd. * speculas S" : specula M.
* cingique Pol. : cingitque J/.
" i.e., as I recite it (my Achilleid).
* i.e., the rank of military tribune ; such tribunes were
called " tribuni laticlavii," as compared with " tr. angusti-
clavii," who were knights (Suet. OtJio, 10). This rank and
that of " praefectus alae (equitum) " were often given
to sons of senators (Suet. Oct. 38). Hence "clari" in
V. 1. 97. This would be the first step (i. 173) in the senatorial
career.
300
SILVAE, V. II. 145-168
justice, from this mound would he harangue his
horsemen ; watch-towers and strongholds in wide
circuit did he set — dost thou see ? — and drew a
trench around these walls ; these gifts, these weapons
did he dedicate to the god of war^thou seest still
their titles ; this cuirass he himself put on at the
battle's summons, this one did he take from off the
British king." Such tales would Phoenix tell to
Pyrrhus, as he planned victorious war against the
Trojans, of Achilles whom he had never known.
Happy thou, Optatus, who trusting in thy supple
youth shalt endure whatever road or rampart thou
shalt approach, girt thyself also with the sword,
perchance — so be the godhead of the Prince pro-
pitious— and the untiring comrade of thy bosom
friend, even as was devoted Pylades, or Patroclus
in the Dardan war. A union of hearts is yours ;
true affection is this, and I pray that it abide. For
me, the years of vigour speed fast away ; there-
fore with vows and prayers will I cheer thy spirit,
and mine as well ! But if I utter my wonted lament
and the Roman fathers come to hear my song, I shall
then feel thy loss, Crispinus, and my Achilles " will
look on every bench for thee in vain. But thou shalt
return yet more renoM^ned — not idly run the pro-
phecies of the seers — and he who now admits thee
to the eagles ^ and the camp shall grant thee to
accomplish all the degrees of rank, and to be sur-
rounded by the rods of power, and to take thy seat
on thy father's curule chair.
But who is this that from Trojan Alba's ^ lofty hills,
"^ Alba, founded by Ascanius ; the Emperor had a resi-
dence there.
301
STATIUS
unde suae iuxta prospectat moenia Romae
proximus ille deus, Fama velocior intrat 170
nuntius atque tuos implet, Crispine, penates ?
dicebam certe : vatum non irrita currunt
auguria. en ! ingens reserat tibi limen honorum
Caesar et Ausonii committit munia ferri.
vade,^ puer, tantisque enixus suffice donis, 175
felix, qui magno iam nunc sub praeside iuras
cuique sacer primum tradit Germanicus ensem !
non minus hoc, fortis quam si tibi panderet ipse
Bellipotens aquilas torvaque induceret ora
casside. vade alacer maioraque disce mereri ! 180
III. EPICEDION IN PATREM SUUM
Ipse malas vires et lamentabile carmen
Elysio de fonte niihi pulsumque sinistrae
da, genitor praedocte, lyrae. neque enim antra
moveri
Delia nee solitam fas est impellere Cirrham
te sine. Corycia quicquid mode Phoebus in umbra,
quicquid ab Ismariis monstrabat colhbus Euhan, 6
dedidici. fugere meos Parnasia crines
vellera, funestamque hederis inrepere taxum
^ vade Pol. : unde M.
« On Parnassus {cf. Theb. vii. 348).
* In Thrace, with which Bacchus was connected in legend.
302
SILVAE, V. II. 169— III. 8
whence that present deity looks forth upon the walls
of his own Rome hard by, enters outstripping Rumour,
and with his news fills all thy house, Crispinus ?
Surely was I saying : " Not idly run the prophecies
of the seers." Lo ! Caesar unbars for thee the
mighty threshold of renown, and entrusts the sword
of Ausonia to thy keeping. Forward, lad ! having
striven so far have strength for this great privilege,
happy, who even now dost swear homage to thy
mighty Cliief, and to whom divine Germanicus doth
give thy first sword ! This is no lesser gift, than if
the God of war himself bestowed on thee his strong
eagles, and set his grim casque upon thy head. Go
in good heart, and learn to merit yet higher honours !
III. THE POET'S LAMENT FOR HIS FATHER
TJie longest and most elaborate of the epicedia, and
marked by much deeper and more genuine feeling than the
others {except perhaps v. 5) / it is to be noticed that it only
appears in the fifth book of the Silvae, though his father had
died about fifteen years previously. Possibly the last book
was posthumous ; it has no preface to it, as the others have,
only a letter to Abascantus, and its last poem is an unfinished
one.
Do thou thyself, most learned sire, vouchsafe me
from Elysian springs a bitter potency in the music of
grief, and the touch of an ill-omened lyre. For
without thee I may not move the Delian grottoes, or
awake Cirrha to wonted strains. All that Phoebus
of late revealed in his Corycian bower," and Euhan
upon the hills of Ismara,** I have unlearnt. The
fillets of Parnassus have dropped from my brow, and
I have beheld in fear the deadly yew creep in among
ST ATI us
extimui trepidamque — nefas ! — arescere laurum.
certe ego, magnanimum qui facta attollere regum 10
ibam altum spirans Martemque aequare canendo.
quis sterili mea corda situ, quis Apolline merso
frigida damnatae praeduxit nubila menti ?
stant circum attonitae vatem et nil dulce sonantes
nee digitis nee voce deae. dux ipsa silenti 15
fulta caput cithara, qualis post Orphea raptuni
astitit, Hebre, tibi, cernens iam surda ferarum
agmina et immotos sublato carmine lucos.
At tu seu membris emissus in ardua tendens
fulgentesque plagas rerumque elementa recenses, 20
quis deus, unde ignes, quae ducat semita solem,
quae minuat Phoeben quaeque integrare latentem
causa queat, notique modos extendis Arati,
seu tu Lethaei secreto in graniine campi
concilia herouni iuxta manesque beatos, 25
Maeoniuni Ascraeumque seneni, non segnior umbra
accolis alternumque sonas et carmina misces :
da vocem magno, pater, ingeniumque dolori.
nam me ter relegens caelo^ terque ora retexens
Luna videt residem nullaque Heliconide tristes 30
solantem curas ; tuus ut mihi vultibus ignis
inrubuit cineremque oculis umentibus hausi,
vilis honos studiis. vix haec in munera solvo
primum animum, tacitisque situm depellere curis^
^ caelo M : caelum Heinsius.
^ tacitis . . . curis M : tactis . . . chordis Polster.
" Author of an astronomical treatise called Phaenomena.
* Homer and Hesiod.
" This perhaps is not to be literally taken, i.e. that the
poem was written three months after his father's death ;
still in any case he must have kept it by him for a long
while before publishing it — if indeed the publication was
not posthumous.
304
SILVAE, V. in. 9-34
the ivy-leaves, and the trembling bay — ah ! lioiTor !
— ^\ither and die. Yet surely I am he who, loftily
inspired, essayed to extol tlie deeds of great-hearted
kings, and to raise my song to the height of Mars
himself. Who has doomed my spirit to decay ?
Who has drawn a cold shroud of mist about my
blighted heart, and drowned my inspiration } The
goddesses stand dismayed around the bard, and with
neither voice nor finger make sweet melody. Their
queen herself sinks her head upon her silent lyre, as
when after Orpheus' loss she halted by thy stream,
O Hebrus, and gazed at the troops of beasts that
listened no more, and the woods that moved not
since the strains were gone.
But thou, whether freed from the body thou
soarest to the heights and reviewest the glittering
realms and the elements of things, learning what is
God, whence cometh fire, what orbit guides the sun,
what cause makes Phoebe wane and has power to
restore her hidden light, and dost continue the music
of renowned Aratus " ; or whether in the secluded
grassy meads of Lethe, among gatherings of heroes
and spirits of the blest, thou dost attend the Maeonian
and Ascraean sages, ^ thyself no feebler shade, and
makest music in thy turn and minglest thy song ^\ith
theirs : O grant a voice and inspiration, father, to
my great grief. For thrice ^ has the moon journeyed
o'er the heaven, and thrice displayed her counten-
ance, and still beholds me sluggish, and my sadness
unconsoled by any draught of Helicon ; ever since
thy pyre shed its red light upon my face, and with
streaming eyes I gazed upon thy ashes, I have held
cheap my poet's art. Scarce do I for the first time
free my mind for tasks like this, and (e'en now
VOL. 1 X 805
ST ATI us
nunc etiam labente manu nee lumine sieco 35
ordior adelinis tuniulo, quo niolle quieseis
iugera nostra tenens, ubi post Aeneia fata
stellatus Latiis ingessit montibus Albam
Ascanius, Phrygio dum pingues sanguine campos
odit et infaustae regnum dot ale novercae. 40
hie ego te — nam Sicanii non mitius halat
aura croci, dites nee si tibi rara Sabaei
cinnama, odoratas nee Arabs decerpsit aristas —
inferiis cumulande sacris, te^ carmine plango
Pierio ; sume o gemitus et vulnera nati 45
et lacrimas, rari quas umquam habuere parentes.
atque utinam foi'tuna milii, dare manibus aras,
par templis opus, aeriamque educere molem,
Cyclopum scopulos ultra atque audacia saxa
Pyramidum, et magno tumulum praetexere luco ! 50
illic et Siculi superassem dona sepulcri
et Nemees lucum et Pelopis solemnia trunci.
illic Oebalio non finderet aera disco
Graiorum vis nuda^ virum, non arva rigaret
sudor equum aut putri sonitum daret ungula fossa ;
sed Phoebi simplex chorus, et frondentia vatum 56
praemia laudato, genitor, tibi rite ligarem.^
ipse madens oculis, umbrarum animaeque sacerdos,
^ inferiis cumulande sacris te PhiUimore : inferni cum
laudae laci M : inferiis cum laude datis et Krohn : inserui cum
laude loci Dom., te conj. Markland.
^ nuda 5" : unda M: uncta Polster.
^ ligarem M : dicarem S", litarent Ellis.
" Probably refers to the incident related Aen. ii. 682 :
ecce levis summo de vertice visus luli
fundere lumen apex, etc.
'' Lavinia.
306
SILVAE, V. III. 35-58
with failing hand and no tearless eye) essay to
shake my silent sorrow from its torpor, leaning
against the tomb in which thou dost rest at peace
in our own fields, — those fields where after Aeneas'
death star-bright Ascanius set Alba upon Latian
hills,'' in hatred of the plains that Phrygian blood
had drenched, the royal dower of his ill-omened
stepdame.^ Here in thy honour — nor softer is the
fragrant breath of Sicanian crocus, nor the rare
cinnamon that rich Sabaeans pluck thee, nor per-
fumed blossoms of Arabia — O thou who deservest
full meed of holy offerings, do I make musical lament ;
ah ! receive the groans and the anguish of thy son,
and tears such as have been shed for but few fathers.
Would it were my fortune, to build an altar to thy
shade, a work that would match temples, to raise
high the soaring fabric, higher than Cyclopean rock
or the Pyramids' bold masonry, and plant a mighty
grove about thy tomb. There had I surpassed the
tribute of the Sicilian sepulchre, and Nemea's pre-
cinct and the rites of maimed Pelops.'' There no
naked band of Grecian athletes would cleave the air
with the Oebahan disk,*^ no sweat of steeds would
water the ground or hoof-beat ring upon the
crumbling track ; there would be but the choir of
Phoebus, and I would duly sing thy praise, O father,
and bind on thee the minstrel's prize of leaves. I
myself, as priest of the dead and of thy soul, would
with moist eyes lead a mournful dirge, from which
" The references are to the tomb raised by Aeneas for
Anchises, that of Opheltes (see Tlieh. vi. 242), and the
Olympian games founded in honour of Pelops.
■* It was with the quoit that Apollo slew Narcissus, son
of Oebalus, king of Sparta.
307
ST ATI us
praecinerem gemitum, cui te nee Cerberus omni
ore nee Orpheae quirent avertere leges. 60
atque ibi me^ moresque tuos et facta canentem
fors et magniloquo non posthabuisset Homero,
tenderet et torvo pietas aequare Maroni.
Cur magis incessat superos et aena sororum
stamina, quae tepido genetrix super aggere nati 65
orba sedet vel quae primaevi eoniugis ignem
aspicit obstantesque manus turbamque tenentem
vincit in ardentem, liceat, moritura^ maritum ?
maior et his forsan superos et Tartara pulsem^
invidia : externis etiam miserabile visu 70
funus eat.^ sed nee modo se Natura dolenti
nec^ Pietas in iusta® dedit ; mihi limine primo
fatorum et viridi, genitor, ceu raptus ab aevo
Tartara dura subis. nee enim Marathonia virgo
parcius exstinctum saevorum crimine agrestum 75
fleverit Icarium, Phrygia quam turre cadentem
Astyanacta parens, laqueo quin ilia supremo
^ ibi me Heinslus : tibi M.
^ moritura M : modo itura Schrader, ruitura Heinshis.
^ maior et his . . . pulsem /tro/o^: aliis 3/: at his ^af/?re«s:
ais Vollmer : ab his Pliilhmore, who reads pulset.
* invidia: . . eat. edd.: invidia? . . . eat? PlriUimore.
* nee Mi sed Phillimore, bracketing nee modo to dedit.
* in iusta Boxhorn : iniusta edd.
" The idea running through this passage is that to him
his father is as one untimely dead, and that therefore this
bitterness is added to the grief felt bj' natural affection ;
Erigone is an example of the same thing. She bewailed her
308
SILVAE, V. III. 59-77
neither Cerberus with all his mouths nor Orpheus'
cruel bond could keep thee. There as I sang of thy
goodness and thy deeds perchance thy love had
deemed me not second to Homer's mighty utterance,
ay, would even fain hold me equal to Maro's solemn
chant.
« Why does the mother who sits bereaved by her
son's still-glowing pile assail the gods and the Sisters'
brazen threads more bitterly than I ? Why she who
looks upon the flames that consume her youthful
spouse, and breaks through the hands that stay her
and the resisting crowd, to die, do they but suffer
her, upon her husband's blazing corpse ? More
fiercely even than theirs, perchance, does my I'eproach
strike Tartarus and the gods ; ^ perchance even alien
eyes find sorrow in the funeral train. Ay, not
Nature only nor Affection have lent themselves to
my grief for tliese sad rites : for to me, O father,
thou wei't cut off on manhood's earliest thi-eshold,
and in the prime of hfe didst enter cruel Tartarus.
For neither did the Marathonian maid lament
Icarius' death, that savage countrymen wrought,
more sparingly than his mother mourned Astyanax
hurled down from the Phrygian tower. Nay, Erigone
stifled her sobs in the noose that took her life ; but
father Icarius no less bitterly than Andromache mourned
Astyanax her son ; Erigone slew herself, while Andromache
became the slave of Pyrrhus.
" The construction seems to be " perhaps fiercer than
these in my reproach I strike," etc. ; " invidia " is strictly
the feeling of bitterness against a person, often of the
bereaved towards the gods, c/. Tliph. ix. 723 ; Silv. v. 5. 78.
The sympathy of onlookers is often referred to as being
aroused especially by cases of untimely death, cf. ii. 1. 175,
V. 1. 217.
'S09
STATIUS
inclusit gemitus : at te post funera magni
Hectoris Haemonio pudor est servisse marito.
Non ego, quas fati certus sibi morte canora 80
inferias praemittit olor nee rupe quod atra
Tyrrhenae volueres nautis praedulce minantur,
in patrios adhibebo rogos : non murmure truneo
quod gemit et durae queritur Philomela sorori :
nota nimis vati. quis non in funere cunctos 85
Heliadum ranios lacrimosaque gerniina dixit
et Phrygiuni silicem atque ausum contraria Phoebo
carmina nee fida^ gavisam Pallada buxo ?
te Pietas oblita virum revoeataque caelo
lustitia et gemina plangat Faeundia lingua 90
et Pallas doctique cohors Heliconia Phoebi,
quis labor Aonios seno pede ducere cantus^
et quibus Arcadia carmen testudine mensis
cura lyrae^ nomenque fuit quosque orbe sub omni
ardua septena numerat Sapientia fania, 95
qui furias regumque domos aversaque caelo
sidera terrifico super intonuere cothurno,
et quis lasciva vires tenuare Thalia
^ fida M: foeda Heinsius: bifida PliiUimore.
" cantus Barth : campos M : currere campos Heinsius.
* cura lyrae Gronovius : cydalibem M.
" i.e., Andromache, mother of Astyanax: she became the
slave of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles after the death of her
husband. Hector. * See on ii. 2. 1.
' Pallas had her own reasons for disliking the flute, and
was therefore glad when it betrayed Marsyas. The other
310
SILVAE, V. III. 78-98
thou,'' when mighty Hector was dead, didst stoop to
serve a Haemoman lord.
I shall not bring to my father's pyre that tribute of
death-music which the swan when he knows his doom
sends to the world beneath, nor the warning strains
surpassing sweet that the Tyrrhenian ^ winged maids
chant to mariners from the fatal cliff : no sorrowful
tongueless plaint of Philomela to her cruel sister :
the minstrel knows them all too well. Who by the
grave's side has not recounted all the branches and
all the amber tears of the Sun's daughters, and
Phrygia's flinty rock, and him who dared make music
against Phoebus, while Pallas rejoiced that the
boxwood-pipe deceived him ? '^ Nay, let Pity that
has forgotten men,*^ and Justice recalled to heaven,
and Eloquence in either tongue bewail thee, and
Pallas and the Heliconian train of minstrel Phoebus ;
those also whose toil it is to guide Aonian song in
six-foot measures,*^ and they who fit their strains to
the Arcadian tortoise-shell,-'' and find in the lyre their
labour and renown, those whom 'neath every sky
sublimest Wisdom counts in the sevenfold roll of
Fame » ; they who in the dread buskin have thun-
dered out the fury and the wickedness of kings, and
told of the sun's light hidden from the earth, and
they whose joy it is to relax their powers in Thalia's
references are to the daughter of the Sun who wept for
Phaethon, and to Niobe (from Mt. Sipylus in Phrygia, where
the tigure of Niobe was, according to legend).
^ See ill. 3. 1 n.
^ i.e., the epic hexameter. Aonian=of the Muses, lit. =
Boeotian.
^ i.e., lyric, suggested by "carmen" and "mensis."
^ The Seven Wise Men ; probably prose composition
generally.
31]
STATIUS
dulce vel heroos gressu truncare tenores.^
omnia namque animo complexus et omnibus auctor ^
qua fandi vis lata patet, sive orsa libebat 101
Aoniis \incire modis seu voce soluta
spargere et effreno nimbos aequare profatu.
Exsere semirutos subito de pulvere vultus,
Parthenope, crinemque adflato monte sepultum 105
pone super tumulos et magni funus alumni,
quo non Munichiae^ quicquam pi-aestantius arces
doctaque Cyrene Sparteve animosa creavit.
si tu stirpe vacans famaeque^ obscura iaceres
nil gentile tenens, illo te cive probabas 110
Graiam atque Euboico maiorum sanguine duci.
ille^ tuis totiens praestabat® tempora sertis,
cum stata laudato caneret quinquennia versu
ora supergressus Pylii senis^ oi-aque regis
Dulichii specieque comam subnexus utraque.^ 115
non tibi deformes obscuri sanguinis ortus
nee sine luce genus (quamquam fortuna parentum
artior expensis^) ; etenim te divite ritu
^ tenores Dom. : leones J/, Vollmer: labores, lepores, etc.
edd.
^ auctor Dom. : utor M.
^ Munichiae Pol.: moniciae M : Monichiae He'msivs'.
Monychiae Postgate.
* vacans famaeque Baehrens : vetas famaeque M : nefas
famaque PhiUimore: vetus Dom,
^ ille M : ilia Postgate.
* praestabat Elter : prestat sed M : praestant se Vollmer.
' senis 5" : gregis M, Klotz, Vollmer : regis Pj^lii conj.
Postgate.
^ specieque . . . utraqiie Z>o?n. : speciemque . . . utroque
M, Vollmer, Klotz.
® expensis Avantius: extensis M.
312
SILVAE, V. in. 99-118
wantoning, or to maim of one foot the heroic tenor
of their lay." For all measm'es in the broad path of
eloquence did thy mind embrace, in all wert thou a
master, whether it pleased tliee to bind thy utterance
in poesy, or to fling it wide in unfettered speech and
rival the rainstorms by the unbridled torrent of thy
words.
Lift up, Parthenope, lift up thy head half-buried
from tlie dust that suddenly whelmed thee, lay thy
tresses merged beneath the mountain's exhalations
upon the tomb of thy great departed son : than
whom neither the Munychian towers ^ nor learned
Cyrene nor Sparta's valiant spirit '^ gave birth to
aught more excellent. Wert thou lacking in lineage,
humble and unrenowned, with nought of thine own
race to show, his citizenship would prove thee Grecian
and sprung from Euboea by ancestral blood. He,
whene'er he celebrated the solemn quinquennial
feast '^ in famous verse, as often offered his temples
to receive thy laurel-prize, surpassing the utterance
of Pylian sage and Dulichian prince alike,'' and
binding the likeness of either on his brow. No mean
birth of blood obscure was thine, nor was thy family
without distinction (though expenses straitened thy
parents' means) ; for it was in rich pomp that Infancy
" On the MS. reading Volhner remarks : " kiihn nennt
der Dichter die \erse, welche die wie Lowen kampfenden
Helden darstellen, selbst ' leones.' " Traged}-, comedy, and
elegy are denoted in 11. 96-99.
* Athens.
" Callimachus from Cyrene, Alcman from Sparta.
^ The Augustalia at Naples.
* Nestor and Ulysses are referred to, both of whom were
eloquent speakers.
313
STATIUS
ponere purpureos Infantia legit^ anxictus
stirpis honore datos et nobile pectoris aurum. 120
protinus exorto dextrum risere sorores
Aonides, puerique chelyn summisit et ora
imbuit amne sacro iam turn milii blandus Apollo.
nee simplex patriae decus, et natalis origo
pendet ab^ ambiguo geminae certamine terrae. 125
te de gente suum Latiis ascita colonis
Graia refert Hyele,^ gravidas* qua puppe magister
exeidit et mediis miser evigilavit in undis ;
maior at inde suum longo probat ordine vitae
Parthenope ^
Maeoniden aliaeque aliis natalibus urbes 130
diripiunt cunctaeque probant ; non omnibus ille
verus, alit victos immanis gloria falsi.
atque ibi dum prefers annos vitamque salutas,
protinus ad patrii raperis certamina lustri
vix implenda viris, laudum festinus et audax^ 135
ingenii. stupuit primaeva ad earmina plebes
Euboea et natis te monstravere parentes.
inde frequens pugnae nulloque ingloria sacro
vox tua : non totiens victorem Castora gyro
nee fratrem caestu virides plausere' Therapnae. 140
' legit M : adegit Dom. ^ ab Barth : et M.
^ Hyele Heinsius : sele M : Velie ff" .
* gravidus Ellis : gravis M : Graius S".
* Lacuna recognized iiere by Markland, as there is no
mention of Parthenope ; no lacuna in Mss.
^ festinus et audax Lipsius : festina sed ut dux M.
' plausere Dom. : clausero M.
" There is no justification for changing " ponere " to
" sumere " ; the ceremony clearly is the lading aside of the
" toga praetexta " and the golden " bulla," emblems of
childhood ; the fact that this ceremony was performed with
great pomp is given as a proof of the statement " non tibi
814
SILVAE, V. HI. 119-140
chose thee to lay by the purple garb '^ given in
honour of thy birth and the proud gold from off thy
breast. Straightway at thy appearing the Aonian
sisters favourably smiled, and Apollo even then my
friend dipped thy boyish lyre and steeped thy lips
in the sacred stream. Nor is thy country's glory
single, and the undecided contest of two lands leaves
the place of thy origin in doubt. Grecian Hyele,''
where the drowsy steersman fell from the poop and
passed a distressful vigil in the waves, — Hyele, made
their own by Latian settlers, claims thee on the score
of bii-th ; but then mightier <Parthenope> proves
thee hers by thy life's long course — even so different
cities with as many birth-places divide Maeonides '^
among themselves, and prove their case every one ;
yet is he not the true scion of all, but the vast pride
of a false claim puffs up the vanquished. There,
while thou didst begin thy lays and offer thy greeting
to life, straightway wert thou hurried into the con-
tests of thy native festival that men can scarce sus-
tain, so eager wert thou for praise and bold of wit.
The Euboean folk stood amazed at thy youthful verse,
and parents showed thee to their sons. Thereafter
was thy voice frequent in combat, and at no solemn
feast inglorious : not so often did green Therapnae
applaud Castor's victory upon the round course, or
Pollux triumphant in the boxing-match. But if to
deformes," etc. Possibly "ex tantis" (out of so many,
" tanti " often=" tot," iv. 1. 33, iv. 8. 14) should be read
for " expensis." " stirpis honore datos " does not refer to the
grant of the laticlave, for this took place only with the
assumption of the " toga virilis," but simply to the fact that
he was a freeborn citizen.
" Velia, on the Lucanian coast ; tlie reference is to
Palinurus (Virg. Aen. vi. 366). " Homer.
315
STATIUS
sin^ pronuni \icisse donii : quid Achaea mereri
praemia nunc ramis Phoebi nunc gramine Lernae
nunc Athamantea protectum tempora pinu,
cum totiens lassata tamen nusquam a\ia frondes
abstulit aut alium tetigit Victoria crinem ? 145
Hinc tibi vota patrum credi generosaque pubes
te nionitore regi, mores et facta priorum
discere, quis casus Troiae, quam tardus Ulixes,
quantus equos pugnasque \'irum decurrere versu
Maeonides quantumque pios ditarit agrestes 150
Ascraeus Siculusque senex, qua lege recurrat
Pindaricae vox flexa lyrae volucrumque precator
Ibycus^ et tetricis Alcman cantatus Amyclis
Stesichorusque ferox saltusque ingressa \'iriles
non forraidata temeraria Leucade^ Sappho, 155
quosque alios dignata chelys. tu pandere doctus
carmina Battiadae latebrasque Lycophronis arti*
Sophronaque implicitum tenuisque arcana Corinnae.
sed quid parva loquor ? tu par adsuetus Homero
ferre iugum senosque pedes aequare solutis 160
versibus et numquam passu breviore relinqui.
quid mirum, patria si te petiere relicta,
quos Lucanus ager, rigidi quos iugera Dauni,
quos Veneri plorata domus neglectaque tellus
1 sin M : sit Dom. ^ Ibycus Pol. : Obsicus 31.
^ Leucade Pol. (from some commentator itnknown) :
calchide M. * arti Baehrens : ari M : atri S".
" The laurel of Apollo in the Pj'thian games, the wild
parsley at Nemea, the pine-branch at Isthmus (Athamas
was the father of Palaemon, who with his mother Ino was
worshipped there ; Lerna is in the neighbourhood of Nemea).
^ Hesiod and Epicharmus {cf. Columella, i. 1. 8).
<^ Ibycus called on a flock of cranes to avenge him on
some robbers who had ill-treated him.
■* The only support for the ws. Calchide is a statement
316
SILVAE, V. in. 141-164
win at home was easy, what a feat to gain Achaean
prizes, shading thy temples now with the spray of
Phoebus, now with Lerna's grasses, now with the
Athamantian pine,** when Victory so often quailed
for weariness, yet never missed thee or robbed thee
of thy leaves, or touched another's hair !
Hence came it that thou wert trusted with the fond
hopes of parents, and under thy guidance noble
youths were ruled, and learnt tlie ways and the
prowess of men of old — the fate of Troy, Ulysses'
tardy return, what power has Maeonides to describe
in song the battles and steeds of heroes, how the
bards of Ascra and of Sicily ** enriched the faithful
husbandmen, the law that sways the recurrent, wind-
ing rhythms of Pindar's lyre, Ibycus who besought
the birds,'^ Alcman whose strains warlike Amyclae
sang, proud Stesichorus, and bold Sappho '^ who
feared not Leucas, but took the heroic leap, and all
others whom the harp has deemed worthy. Skilled
wert thou to expound the songs of Battus' son,*' and
the dark ways and straitened speech of Lycophron,
and Sophron's tangled mazes and the hidden thought
of subtle Corinna. But why speak I of lesser names ?
Thou wert wont to bear an equal yoke with Homer,^
and match his hexameters in prose, nor ever be out-
distanced and fail to keep his pace. What wonder
if they left their own land and sought thee, all whom
Lucania sent and the acres of stern Daunus,^ and the
home that Venus bewailed and the land that Alcides
of Stephanus of Byzantium that there was a Chalcis on or
near the island of Lesbos.
' Callimachus (Battus, founder of Cyrene).
f He had written a prose paraphrase of Homer.
" i.e., Apulia; a legendary king, "stern": cf.Hor. C.
i. 22. 14 " militaris Daunias."
317
ST ATI us
Alcidae vel quos e vertice Surrentino 165
mittit Tyrrheni speculatrix \-irgo profundi,
quos propiore sinu lituo remoque notatus
collis et Ausonii pridem laris hospita Cyme
quosque Dicarchei portus Baianacjue mittunt
litora, qua mediis alte permixtus-'^ anhelat 170
ignis aquis et operta domos incendia servant ?
sic ad Avernales scopulos et opaca Sibyllae
antra rogaturae veniebant undique gentes ;
ilia minas divum Parearumque acta canebat
quam\is decepto vates non irrita Phoebo. 175
mox et Romuleam stirpem proceresque futuros
instruis inque patrum vestigia ducere perstas.
sub te Dardanius facis expl orator opertae,
qui Diomedei celat penetralia furti,
crevit et inde sacrum didicit puer ; arma probator^
monstrasti Saliis^ praesagumque aethera certi* 181
auguribus ; cui Chalcidicum fas volvere carmen,
cur Phrygii lateat coma flaminis, et tua multum
verbera succincti formidavere Luperci.
^ permixtus S" : permissus M.
* probator Ellis: probatur J/: probatus Vollmer: pro-
batis Baehrens.
^ monstrasti Saliis Lipsius : monstrastis aliis 3f.
* certi Vollmer : certis 3/.
" Pompeii, of which Venus was patron goddess, Hercu-
laneum, Surrentum with the promontory of Minerva, Cape
Misenum.
* Of jNIisenus.
" Slater : " that welcomed long ago the Ausonian Lar,"
i.e. Aeneas.
■^ By refusing his love after he had granted whatever she
chose to ask {i.e., as many years as there were grains in a
handful of dust).
* The reference is to the " pontifices," under whose super-
318
SILVAE, V. III. 165-184
slighted, and the maidoi who from Sorrento's height
watches the Tyrrhenian deep, and the hill above the
nearer bay * marked by the trumpet and the oar,^
those too whom Cyme sent, once a stranger to her
Ausonian home," and the haven of Dicarchus and
Baiae's shore, where pants the fire deep-mingled
with the mjdmost waves and the smotliered con-
flagrations keep their dwellings ? So from every
side came the folk to Avernus' rocks and the dai-k
grotto of the Sibyl, to ask their questions, while she
sang of the wrath of heaven and the doings of the
Fates, no vain prophet even though she foiled Apollo.**
Soon dost thou educate the Roman youth and the
chieftains that shall be, and firmly leadest them in
the footsteps of their sires. Under thy care grew
the Dardanian overseer of the hidden fire,^ who
conceals the mysterious theft of Diomede, and from
thee while a boy did he learn the rite : thou didst
approve the Salii, and teach them their weapons' use
and show to the augurs the sure foreknowledge of
the air ; thou didst tell to whom belongs the privilege
of unfolding the Chalcidic oracle, and why the hair
of the Phrygian flamen is concealed ; and the girt-up
Luperci sorely feared thy blows .^
vision was the sacred fire in the temple of Vesta, and the
Palladium that Diomede stole from Troy.
^ The " pontifices " had charge of the sacred fire in the
temple of Vesta, and the Palladium taken from Troy by
Diomede and Ulysses ; the Salii were priests of Mars, the
augurs had supervision of the auspices, and the XVviri of
the Sibylline books ; the priests of the Phrygian Cybele
(like other flamens, who are therefore included) had to wear
the " apex," a small sacrificial cap. The Luperci ran through
the city half-naked, striking women with goatskin thongs to
cause fertility ; here they are girt up to receive, not to inflict
stripes !
S]9
STATIUS
Et nunc ex illo forsan grege gentibus alter 185
iura dat Eois, alter compescit Hiberas,
alter Achaemenium secludit Zeugmate Persen,
hi dites Asiae populos, hi Pontica frenant,
hi fora pacificis emendant fascibus, ilU
castra pia statione tenant : tu laudis origo. 190
non tibi certassent iuvenilia fingere corda
Nestor et indomiti Phoenix moderator alumni
quique tubas acres lituosque audire volentem
Aeciden alio frangebat carmine Chiron.
Talia dum celebras, subitam civihs Erinys 195
Tarpeio de monte facem Phlegraeaque movit
proelia. sacrilegis lucent Capitolia taedis,^
et Senonum furias Latiae sumpsere cohortes.
vix requies flammae necdum rogus ille deorum
siderat, excisis cum tu solacia templis 200
impiger et multum facibus velocior ipsis
concinis ore pio captivaque fulmina defies,
mirantur Latii proceres ultorque deorum
Caesar, et e medio divum pater annuit igni.
iamque et flere pio \^esuvina incendia cantu 205
mens erat et gemitum patriis impendere damnis,
cum pater exemptum terris ad sidera montem
sustulit et late miseras deiecit in urbes.
Me quoque vocales lucos Boeotaque^ tempe
^ taedis r : rhedis M.
^ Boeotaque -Bae/jrens : biota- or hiotaque M : Inoaque
etc. edd.
" See note on iii. 2. 137.
* Both Phoenix and Chiron acted as tutor to Achilles.
' The fighting in Rome between the \'itelhan and Flavian
troops, A.D. 69.
■* Such as when the gods fought against the giants in the
plains of Phlegra, cf. i. 1. 79 " bella lovis." The Senones were
a Gallic tribe.
320
SILVAE, V. III. 185-209
And now of that company one perchance gives laws
to Eastern races, another quells Iberian tribes,
another at Zeugma "' sets bounds to the Achaemenian
Persian ; these curb the rich peoples of Asia, those
the lands of Pontus, these by peaceable authority
declare pure justice in the courts, those hold loyal
watch and ward in camps ; thou art the source of
their renown. In moulding youthful minds neither
Nestor nor Phoenix, guide of his untamed foster-
child, had striven with thee, nor Chiron, who with
ftir different strains subdued the heart of Aeacides,
f;iin to hear the bugles and the blast of horns.''
Whilst thus thou wert busy, of a sudden civil
Strife '^ raised her torch on the Tarpeian mount, and
stirred Phlegraean combats .'* The Capitol glows
ulth impious fire, and Latian cohorts showed the
fui-y of the Gauls. Scarce had the flame abated,
still burnt that funeral pyre of gods, when thou un-
dismayed, eagerly forestalling the brands themselves,
didst chant with pious voice a solace for the shrines
destroyed and lament the captured thunderbolts.
The Roman chieftains and Caesar, heaven's avenger,
marvel, and from the midst of the blaze the Sire of
the gods gives sign of favour. And already was it
thy purpose to bewail in pious chant the conflagration
of V^esuvius, and expend thy tears on the I'uin of thy
native land, when the Father caught up the mountain
from the earth and lifted it to the skies, then hurled
it far and wide upon the hapless cities.^
I too, when I knocked at the groves of song and
" Statius's father had written a poem on the fighting on the
Capitol in 69, and was planning one on the eruption of
Vesuvius in 79.
VOL. I Y o2l
ST ATI us
pulsantem, cum stirpe tua descendere dixi, 210
admisere deae ; nee enim mihi sidera tantum
aequoraque et terras, quae mos debere parenti,
sed decus hoc quodcumque lyrae primusque dedisti
non vulgare loqui et famam sperare sepulcro.
qualis eras, Latios quotiens ego carmine patres 215
mulcerem felixque tui spectator adesses
muneris ! heu quali confusus gaudia fletu
vota piosque metus inter laetumque pudorem !
quam tuus ille dies, quam non mihi gloria maior !
tahs Olympiaca iuvenem cum spectat harena 220
qui genuit, plus ipse ferit, plus corde sub alto
caeditur ; attendunt cunei, spectatm- Achaeis^
ille magis, crebro dum lumina pulveris haustu
obruit et prensa vovet exspirare corona.
ei mihi quod tantum patrias ego vertice frondes 225
solaque Chalcidicae Cerealia dona coronae
te sub teste tuli ! qualem te Dardanus Albae
vix cepisset ager, si per me serta tuhsses
Caesarea donata manu ! quod subdere robur
ilia dies, quantum potuit dempsisse senectae ! 230
nam quod me mixta quercus non pressit oliva,
et fugit speratus honos : quam^ dulce parentis
invia^ Tarpei caperes ! te nostra magistro
Thebais urgebat priscorima exordia vatum ;
tu cantus stimulare meos, tu pandere facta 235
^ Achaeis Imhof : achates M: Acestes Dom.
^ quam Baehrens : qua M.
' invia Ellis : invida M.
« Cf. iii. 5. 38 n.
* The wreath of ears of corn won at the Augustalia at
Naples ; for "patrias " cf. note on iv. 8. 45.
" The oak-wreath of the CapitoHne (Tarpeian) contest was
not joined to the oUve-^vreath of the Alban contest, see note
322
SILVAE, V. III. 210-235
the glens of Boeotia, and claimed myself thy off-
spring, was given entrance by the goddesses ; for it
was not only sky and sea and land that thou didst
give me, the due and v.onted gift of parents, but this
glory of the lyi'e, such as it is, and thou first taughtest
me no common utterance, and to hope for fame
even in the tomb. What was thy pride, so oft as I
charmed the Latian fathers vvith my song, while thou
wert present, a happy Avitness of thy own bounty !
What confusion of delight and tears was thine, of
hope and loving fear and modest joy ! That was
indeed thy day, the glory as much thine as mine !
Such is the father that beholds his son upon Olympian
sand, he strikes each blow himself more mightily,
deeper in his heart's depth does he receive the
stroke ; 'tis he whom the crowded tiers are watching,
he on whom the Achaeans gaze, while his eyes grow
dim with the whirling dust, and he prays to die so
but the prize be grasped. Alas ! that in thy sight I
bore only native chaplets on my brow," and only
Ceres' gift of the Chalcidic wi-eath.^ How proud
hadst thou been, scarce had thy Dardan estate of
Alba held thee, if through me thou hadst won a
garland given by Caesar's hand ! What sti'ength
had that day ministered to thee, Avhat rehef to thy
old age ! For in that the oak and ohve together did
not press my brow, and the hoped-for prize eluded
me — ah ! how gladly hadst thou received the Tar-
peian Father's unattainable reward ! " Under thy
guidance my Thehaid followed the footsteps of
ancient bards ; thou didst teach me to give vigour
on iii. 5. 28. If the reading of M "invida" be retained, the
passage might be rendered " how gently did you receive the
grudging decision," etc.
323
STATIUS
heroum bellique modos positusque locorum
monstrabas. labat incerto mihi limite cursus
te sine et orbatae caligant vela carinae.
nee solum larga memet pietate fovebas :
talis et in thalamos. una tibi cognita taeda 240
eonubia, unus amor, certe seiungere matrem
iam gelidis nequeo bustis ; te sentit habetque,
te xidet et tumulos ortuque obituque salutat,
ut Pharios aliae ficta pietate dolores
Mygdoniosque colunt et non sua funera plorant. 245
Quid referam expositos servato pondere mores ?
quae pietas, quam \-ile lucrum, quae cura pudoris,
quantus amor recti ? rursusque, ubi dulce remitti,
gratia quae dictis ? animo quam nulla senectus ?
his tibi pro meritis famam laudesque benignas 250
iudex^ cura deum nulloque e vulnere tristem
concessit, raperis. genitor, non indigus ae\i,
non nimius, trinisque decem quinquennia lustris
iuncta ferens. sed me pietas numerare dolorque
non sinit, o Pylias ae\i transcendere metas 255
et Teucros aequare senes, o digne \'idere
me similem ! sed nee leti tibi ianua tristis :
quippe leves causae, nee segnis labe senili
exitjis instanti praemisit membra sepulcro,
sed te torpor iners et mors imitata quietem 260
explicuit falsoque tulit sub Tartara somno.
quos ego tunc gemitus, — comitum manus anxia vidit,
vldit et exemplum genetrix ga\-isaque no\it —
^ iudex M : vindex Aldine.
" The reference is to the lamentation that formed part of
the cults of Isis and Cybele, when Osiris and Attis were
bewailed ; cf. " the women weeping- for Thammuz." I.e.
Adonis. Pharian and M ygdonian= Egyptian and Phrygian.
' i.e., of Nestor, who Uved through three generations.
324
SILVAE, V. III. 236-263
to my song, to describe heroic deeds and modes of
war and the setting of the scene. Without thee my
course wavers and runs uncertainly, and mist shrouds
the sails of my lonely craft. Nor was it I alone thy
bountiful love did cherish : such wert thou too
toward thy spouse. Thou knewest the torches of
but one wedlock : one passion alone inspired thee.
Assuredly I cannot separate my mother from thy cold
tomb : there doth she feel and know thy presence,
she sees thee, and morn and eve salutes thy grave,
as other women in feigned loyalty attend on Pharian
or Mygdonian grief, and bewail an alien death.''
Why should I tell of thy frank, yet earnest nature ?
thy loving heart, thy contempt of gain, thy care for
honour, thy passion for the right ? and yet again,
when it pleased thee to relax, of the charm of thy
converse ? of thy mind that knew no age ? For these
deserts of thine the ruling providence of the gods
has granted thee renown and kindly fame, and saved
thee from the sadness of any blow. Thou art taken,
father, not lacking years, nor overburdened ; ten
spaces of five years hast thou added to three lustres.
But grief and affection suffer me not to count thy
days, O thou who wert worthy to surpass the Pylian **
bounds of life and equal a Priam's age, worthy to see
me too as old ! But the gate of death was not dark
for thee : gentle was thy passing, nor did a tardy
end fore-ordain thy frame in senile dissolution to the
ever-threatening grave, but a tranquil unconscious-
ness and death that counterfeited slumber set free
thy soul, and bore thee to Tartarus under the false
semblance of repose. Ah ! what groans I uttered
then ! my friends saw me with anxiety, my mother
saw me and rejoiced to recognize her son. What
325
ST ATI us
quae lamenta tuli ! veniam concedite, manes,
fas dixisse, pater : non tu mihi plura dedisses. 265
felix ille patrem vacuis circumdedit ulnis :
vellet et Elysia quamvis in sede locatura
abripere et Danaas iterum portare per umbras ;
temptantem et vivos molitum in Tartara gressus
detulit infernae vates longaeva Dianae ; 270
sic ehelyn Odrysiam pigro transmisit Averno
causa minor, sic Thessalicis Admetus in oris ;
si lux^ una retro Phylaceida rettulit umbram,
cur nihil exoret, genitor, chelys aut tua manes
aut mea ? fas mihi sic patrios contingere vultus, 275
fas iunxisse ntianus, et lex quaecumque sequatur.
At vos, umbrarum reges Ennaeaque^ luno,
si laudanda precor, taedas auferte comasque
Eumenidum ; nullo sonet asper ianitor ore,
Centauros Hydraeque greges Scyllaeaque monstra
aversae celent valles, umbramque senilem 281
invitet ripis, discussa plebe, supremus
vector et in media componat molliter alga.
ite, pii manes Graiumque examina vatum,
inlustremque animam Lethaeis spargite sertis 285
et monsti*ate nemus, quo nulla inrupit Erinys,
in quo falsa dies caeloque simillimus aer.
inde tamen venias, melior qua porta malignum
cornea vincit ebur, somnique in imagine monstra,
^ si lux Heinsius : silua M: sic lux Vollmer. Lacuna
before this line ace. to Postgate.
* Ennaeaque GroTCOwt'tts : aecneaque 3/: Aetnaeaque PoL
" The allusion is to Aeneas, who carried his father through
the darkness of the night when the Greeks took Troj- ; he
embraced his phantom in the underworld.
*■ Orpheus sought Eurydice, Hercules sought Alcestis.
" See note on ii. 7. 122.
326
SILVAE, V. HI. 264-289
lamentation did I make ! Pardon me, O shades ;
father, I may say it with truth : thou wouldst not
have wept more for me ! Happy was he who grasped
his sire "svith ineffectual arms ; ay, he would fain
have snatched him away, though set in Elysium, and
carried him once more through Danaan darkness : *
and when he made essay and strove to walk with
living steps to the underworld, the aged priestess of
Diana, goddess of the dead, conducted him. Even
so a lesser cause brought the Odrysian lyre to sluggish
Avernus : so was it with Admetus in the land of
Thessaly.'' If one day brought back the shade of
Protesilaus,'' why should thy harp or mine, O father,
vnn no request of the underworld ? Might I but
touch the face of my sire, might I but grasp his hand
with mine, let any law that will o'ertake me !
But do ye, O monarchs of the dead and thou,
Ennean Juno,** if ye approve my prayer, send far
away the Furies' brands and snaky locks ! Let
the warder of the gate make no fierce barking, let
distant vales conceal the Centaurs and Hydra's
multitude and Scylla's monstrous horde, and, scatter-
ing the throng, — let the ferryman of the dead invite
to the bank the aged shade, and lay him gently to rest
amid the grasses. Go, spirits of the blest and troops
of Gi-ecian bards, shower Lethaean garlands on the
illustrious soul, and point him to the grove where no
Fury disturbs, where there is day like ours and air
most like to the air of heaven. Thence mayst thou
pass to where the better gate of horn o'ercomes the
envious ivory,* and in the semblance of a dream teach
me what thou wei*t ever wont to teach. Even so
"^ Proserpine, carried off from the fields of Enna.
^ See Virg. Aen. vi. 894..
327
STATIUS
quae solitus. sic sacra Nuniae ritusque colendos 290
mitis Aricino dictabat nympha sub antro,
Scipio sic plenos Latio love ducere somnos
creditur Ausoniis, sic^ non sine Apolline Sylla
IV. SOMNUS
Crimine quo nierui, iuvenis placidissime divum,
quove errore miser, donis ut solus egerem,
Somne, tuis ? tacet omne pecus volucresque feraeque
et simulant fessos curvata cacwmina somnos,
nee trucibus fluviis idem sonus ; occidit horror 5
aequoris, et terris mai-ia adclinata quiescunt.
septima iam i-ediens Phoebe mihi respicit aegras
stare genas ; totidem Oetaeae Paphiaeque revisunt^
lampades et totiens nostros Tithonia questus
praeterit et gelido spargit miserata flagello. 10
unde ego sufficiam ? non si mihi lumina mille,
quae sacer alterna tantum statione tenebat
Argus et haud umquam vigilabat corpore toto.
at nunc heu ! si aliquis longa sub nocte puellae
brachia nexa tenens ultro te, Somne, repelht, 15
inde veni nee te totas infundere pennas
luminibus compello meis — hoc turba precetur
laetior — : extremo me tange cacumine \irgae,
sufficit, aut leviter suspense poplite transi.
^ sic Sud/tans : nee M.
^ re\dsunt Dom. : revisent M: renident Baehrens.
" For Numa and Egeria see Livy, i. 19. 5.
* Scipio was accustomed to visit the temple of Jupiter on
the Capitol, where he was said to have communion with the
god. Sulla always wore a small image of Apollo, under
whose protection he held himself to be.
•^ i.e., the evening and the morning stars, often spoken of
by the ancients as shining on the same day. " Paphiae,"
328
SILVAE, V. III. 290— IV. 19
the gentle Nymph ordained for Numa '^ in the Arician
grot the sacred rites for his observing, so — as the
Ausonians beheve — had Seipio nightly visions full of
Latian Jove, so too was Sulla not without Apollo.''
IV. TO SLEEP
O youthful Sleep, gentlest of the gods, by what
crime or error of mine have I deserved that I alone
should lack thy bounty ? Silent are all the cattle,
and the wild beasts and the birds, and the curved
mountain summits liave the semblance of weary
slumber, nor do the raging torrents roar as they were
v/ont ; the ruffled waves have sunk to rest, and the
sea leans against earth's bosom and is still. Seven
times now hath the returning moon beheld my fixed
and ailing eyes ; so often have the lights of Oeta and
Paphos '^ revisited me, so oft hath Tithonia passed by
my groans, and pitying sprinkled me with her cool
whip.*^ Ah ! how may I endure ? Not if I had the
thousand eyes of sacred ^ Argus, which he kept but
in alternate watchfulness, nor ever waked in all his
frame at once. But now — ah, me ! — if some lover
through the long hours of night is clasping a girl's
entwining arms, and of his own will drives thee from
him, come thence, O Sleep ! nor do I bid thee shower
all the influence of thy wings upon my eyes — that
be the prayer of happier folk ! — touch me but with
thy Avand's extremest tip — 'tis enough — or pass over
me with lightly hovering step.
i.e. the planet of Paphian \'enus ; "Oetaeae," from Virg.
Eel. viii. 30.
"^ The whip is that with which she chases the stars, cf.
Theb. viii. 274 ; from it fall drops of dew upon the wakeful
poet. * "sacer," as being sent by Juno.
329
STATIUS
V. EPICEDION IN PUERUM SUUM
Me miserum ! neque enim verbis solemnibus ulla
incipiam nunc^ Castaliae vocalibus undis
invisus Phoeboque gravis, quae vestra, sorores,
orgia, Pieriae, quas incestavdmus aras ?
dicite, post poenam liceat commissa fatei'i. 5
numquid inaccesso posui vestigia luco ?
num vetito de fonte bibi ? quae culpa, quis error
quern luimus tantus^ ? morientibus ecee lacertis
viscera nostra tenens animamque avellitur infans,
non de stirpe quidem nee qui mea nomina ferret 10
oraque ; non fueram genitor, sed cernite fletus
liventesque genas et credite planctibus orbi :
orbus ego. hue patres et aperto pectore matres
conveniant ; cineremque oculis et crimina ferto,
si qua sub uberibus plenis ad funera natos 15
ipsa gradu labente tulit madidumque cecidit
pectus et ardentes restinxit lacte fa villas.^
quisquis adhuc tenerae signatum flore iuventae
immersit cineri iuvenem primaque iacentis
serpere crudeles vidit lanugine flammas, 20
adsit et alterno mecutD clamore fatiscat :
vincetur lacrimis, et te, Natura, pudebit.
tanta mihi feritas, tanta est insania luctus.
hoc quoque cum nitor ter* dena luce peracta
adclinis tumulo et planctus^ in carmina verto 25
^ nunc Scriverhis : nee M.
^ tantus Pol. : tanti.s JI.
* favilJas Dom. : papillas 2f.
* nitor ter Gronovius : ni . . . ter M.
* tumulo et planctus Krohn : tumul . . . nctus M.
330
SILVAE, V. V. 1-25
V. A LAMENT FOR HIS ADOPTED SON
Tiiat this epicedion would have rivalled in length ii. 1 and
V. 3 may be gathered from the prelude, II. 1-65. The poet
appears to have keenly felt the loss of his adopted son, if we
may judge from the last lines of this fragment.
Woe is me ! for with no hallowed words can I
begin, hateful now as I am to Castalia's vocal streams
and detested of Phoebus. What rites of yours,
Pierian sisters, what altars have I violated ? Speak ;
after the punishment let the crime be known. Have
I set foot in some untrodden grove ? or drunk from
a forbidden spring ? what fault, what error so great
that I am atoning ? Lo ! as with dying arms he
chngs to my heart, ay, to my very soul, my child is
torn away : no child of my own blood, or bearing my
name or features ; his sire I was not, but look upon
my Avoe and my livid cheeks, and give credence, O
ye bereaved, to my lament : for verily bereaved am
I. Let fathers come hither, and mothers with open
bosom ; and let her endure to behold these ashes
and this crime, whoever with tottering step has borne
her sons to the grave in her own arms beneath full
breasts, and beaten a teeming bosom, and quenched
with her milk the glowing embers ; whoever has
plunged into the fire a lad still marked with the
bloom of tender youth, and seen the cruel flames
creep over the fresh down of the dead boy — let him
come and grow Aveary with me in alternate wailing ;
his tears will be outdone, and thou wilt feel shame,
O Nature. So fierce am I, so senseless in my grief.
And while I thus strive, now when thirty days are
past, leaning against the tomb I turn my mourning
331
STATIUS
discordesque modos et^ singultantia verba^
molior : orsa lyrae vis^ est atque ira tacendi
impatiens. sed nee solitae mihi vertice laurus
nee fronti vittatus honos. en taxea marcet
silva comis, hilaresque hederas plorata cupressus 30
excludit ramis ; nee eburno pollice chordas
pulso, sed incertam digitis errantibus aniens
scindo chelyn. iuvat heu, iuvat inlaudabile carmen
fundere et incompte miserum nudare^ dolor em.
sic merui ? sic me cantuque habituque nefastum 35
aspiciant superi ? pudeat Thebasque novumque
Aeaciden ? nil iam placidum manabit ab ore ?
ille ego qui — quotiens ! — blande matrumque patrum-
que
vulnera, qui viduos potui mulcere dolores,
ille ego lugentum mitis solator, acerbis 40
auditus tumulis et descendentibus umbris,
deficio medicasque manus fomentaque quaero
vulneribus, sed summa, meis. nunc tempus, amici,
quorum ego manantes oculos et saucia tersi
pectora : reddite opem, saevas exsolvite grates. 45
nimirum cum vestra modis ego funera maestis^
increpitans : " qui damna doles aliena, repone
infelix lacrimas et tristia carmina serva."
verum erat : absumptae vires et copia fandi
nulla mihi, dignumque nihil mens fulmine tanto 50
repperit : inferior vox omnis et omnia sordent
^ modos et 5' : m . . . M.
^ verba M: acerba PhiUimore.
' lyrae vis Krohn : ly . . J/: lyra vox Davies. Most
edd. punctuate after molior : PhiUimore lyra : satis est.
* nudare Markland : laudare M.
332
SILVAE, V. V. 26-51
into verse, and contrive discordant strains, and words
that are but sobs ; the power of my lyre is awake, its
spirit brooks not silence. But no wonted bays are
on my head, no chaplet's glory on my brow. Behold,
the yew-sprays Avither on my hair, and the lamentable
cypress-leaves exclude the cheerful ivy, nor do I
strike the chords with quill of ivory, but with errant
fingers tear distractedly my uncertain harp. I
delight, ay, alas ! delight to pour forth hateful
strains, and to lay bare my wretched grief in random
utterance. Is such my desert ? Must the gods
behold me thus with the garb and music of woe ?
Must Thebes and young Achilles " be put to shame ?
Will calm utterance flow nevermore from my lips ?
Yet I am he who was able — how many a time ! — to
soothe by appeasing words the pain of mother and
of sire, and the sorrow of bereavement ; I, the gentle
consoler of the afflicted, whose voice was heard in the
hour of untimely death by spirits departing, I now
am at a loss, and seek healing hands and remedies,
ay, the most powerful, for my wounds. Now is the
time, my friends, whose streaming eyes and pierced
breasts I stanched ; bring me succour, pay your debt
of frenzied gratitude. Doubtless when I in sad
strains <bewailed> your losses <one among you spake>
rebuking : " Thou who dost grieve for others' loss,
preserve thy ill-omened tears, and keep thy melan-
choly song." 'Twas true : exhausted are my powers,
I have no store of speech, my mind can find nought
to match so great a blow ; too feeble is all my music,
" His Thebaid and recently begun Achilleid.
* vestra modis . . . maestis Klotz {hut in his edition
he follows M) : vestra domus . . . maestus M. Baehrens
recognized lacuna after 46, so all edd.
333
STATIUS
verba, ignosce, puer : tu me caligine maesta
obruis. a ! durus,^ viso si vulnere carae
coniugis invenit caneret quod Thracius Orpheus
dulce sibi, si busta Lini complexus Apollo 55
non tacuit. nimius fortasse avidusque doloris
dicor et in lacrimis iustum excessisse pudorem ?
quisnam autemgemituslamentaque nostra reprendis^ ?
o nimium felix, nimium crudelis et expers
imperii, Fortuna, tui, qui dicere legem 60
fletibus aut fines audet censere dolendi !
incitat heu ! planctus ; potius fugientia ripas
flumina detineas rapidis aut ignibus obstes,
quam miseros lugere vetes. tamen ille severus,
quisquis is est, nostrae cognoscat vulnera causae. 65
Non ego mercatus Pharia de puppe loquaces
delicias^ doctumque sui eonvicia Nili
infantem, lingua nimium* salibusque protervum,
dilexi : meus ille, meus. tellure cadentem
aspexi atque unctum genitali carmine fovi 70
poscentemque novas tremulis ululatibus auras
inserui vitae. quid plus tribuere parentes ?
quin alios ortus libertatemque sub ipsis
uberibus tibi, parve, dedi, cum^ munera nostra
rideres ingratus adhuc. properaverit ille, 75
sed merito properabat, amor, ne perderet uUum
libertas tam parva diem, nonne horridus inde^
invidia superos iniustaque Tartara pulsem ?
^ durus Pol. : duro M.
^ reprendis Pol. : rependis M, Pol. {from P).
* delicias Avantius : aedituas M.
* nimium Markland : sumum M : eximium Waller.
* cum Pol. : heu M.
" ullum, inde Baehrens : om. M.
" A favourite of Apollo who died young.
*" Probably a reference to the solemn purification of the
S3i
SILVAE, V. V. 52-78
no word but is unwortliy. Forgive me, lad : 'tis
thou dost cloud my mind with sorrow. Ah ! verily
hard of heart was Thracian Orpheus, if he found a
song that pleased him when he saw the wound of
his dear spouse, and Apollo, if holding the corpse of
Linus " in his arms he was not mute ! Too violent
am I called perchance and greedy of woe, and
extravagant beyond due measure in my weeping ?
Who art thou that blamest my groans and tears ?
Ah ! too happy he, and heartless, and ignorant.
Fortune, of thy law, who dares to set conditions to
lamentation, or adjudge the bounds of grief ! Alas !
mourning incites to mourn : sooner wilt tliou check
the rivers that hurry past their banks or stay devour-
ing fire than forbid the sorrowful to lament. Yet
let him leai*n, that severe judge, whoe'er he be, my
wound and my complaint.
No chattering favourite was it, bought from a
Pharian vessel, no infant skilled in the repartee of
his native Nile, with over-ready tongue and impuc^nt
wit, that won my heart ; mine was he, mine indeed.
When he lay on the ground, a new-born babe, I saw
him, and with a natal ode I welcomed his anointing, **
and as with tremulous wailing he claimed liis new
heritage of air, I set him among living souls. What
more did h.is own parents give ? Nay, another birth
I gave thee, little one, and thy liberty while yet at
the breast, though yet thou didst laugh ungrateful
at my gift. Hasty my love may have been, yet with
good reason so, lest even a day be lost to so tiny a
freedom. And shall I not then all unkempt hurl my
reproaches at the gods and at unjust Tartarus ? Shall
child on the nintli day after birth ; " inserui " perhaps of
formal registration.
335
ST ATI us
nonne geniam te, care puer ? quo sospite natos
non cupii, primo genitum quera protinus ortu 80
implicui fixique^ mihi, cui verba sonosque
monstravi questusque et vulnera caeca resolvi,^
reptantemque solo demissus ad oscula nostra
erexi, blandoque sinu iam iamque cadentes^
exsopire* genas dulcesque accersere somnos. 85
cui nomen vox prima meum ludusque tenello
risus, et a nostro veniebant gaudia vultu.
STATU DE BELLO GERMANICO
FRAGMENTUM
lumina : Nestorei niitis prudentia Crispi
et Fabius Veiento — potentem signat utrumque
purpura, ter memores implerunt nomine fastos —
et prope Caesareae confinis Acilius aulae.
^ quem . . . implicui fixique Pol. : qui . . . implicuit fixitque
M.
^resolvi S" : ne solvam M: resolvens Markland.
' cadentes Baehrens : om. M: natantes S".
* exsopire Vollmer : excepere M: exceptare, excipere
ipse, etc. edd.
" It is not clear what should be read for " excepere " ;
for historic infinitives to avoid succession of past tenses cf.
ii. 1. \2-2.
'> These lines are quoted by Valla, commenting on
Juvenal, Sat. iv. 94, and are the onlj' evidence we have for
this work of Statins.
" Crispus is probably Vibius Crispus, whom Quintilian
mentions as "vir ingenii iucundi et elegantis " (v. 13. 48).
336
SILVAE, V V. 79-87
I not mourn for thee, dear lad ? Whilst thou didst live,
I desired no sons, thou wert my first-born and from
thy very birth I bound thee to myself and made thee
truly mine ; I taught thee sounds and words, and
soothed thy complainings and thy hidden hurts, and
as thou didst crawl on the ground, I stooped and
lifted thee to my kisses, and lovingly in my bosom
lulled to sleep thy drooping eyes,"" and bade sweet
slumber take thee. My name was thy first speech,
my play thy infant happiness, and my countenance
was the source of all thy joy. . . .
FRAGMENT OF A POEM ON THE WAR
IN GERMANY &
. . . lights : the gentle wisdom of Nestor-like
Crispus," and Fabius Veiento '^ — the purple marks
each as eminent, thrice have they filled the recording
annals Mith their names — and Acilius," near neigh-
bour of Caesar's palace.
Juvenal also describes him (iv. 81) " venit et Crispi iucunda
senectus j cuius erant mores qualis facundia, mite \ ingenium ";
cf. Tac. Hist. ii. 10.
"^ If Fabius Veiento is the same as Fabricius Veiento, he
was notorious as an informer under Domitian ; he too is
mentioned by Juvenal (iv. ;113, iii. 185, vi. 113).
" Acilius Glabrio and his father were present, with the two
preceding, at the famous council of the Turbot (Juv. iv.);
the former was a contemporary of Crispus, the latter (men-
tioned here) was consul with Trajan in 91, and subsequently
put to death by Domitian.
337
THEBAID
THEBAIDOS
LIBER I
Fraternas acies alternaque regna profanis
decertata odiis sontesque evolvere Thebas,
Pierius menti calor incidit. unde iubetis
ire, deae ? gentisne canani primordia dirae,
Sidonios raptus et inexorabile pactum 5
legis Agenoreae scrutantemque aequora Cadmum ?
longa retro series, trepidum si Martis operti
agricolam infandis condentem proelia sulcis
expediam penitusque sequar, quo carmine muris
iusserit Amphion Tyrios accedere montes, 10
unde graves irae cognata in moenia Baccho,
quod saevae lunonis opus, cui sumpserit arcus
infelix Athamas, cur non expaverit ingens
Ionium socio casura Palaemone mater,
atque adeo iam nunc gemitus et prospera Cadmi 15
prae^eriisse sinam : limes mihi carminis esto
Oedipodae confusa domus, quando Itala nondum
" For the situation at the opening of the Epic and its
plot see Introduction.
'' Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia, was sent by
his father in search of Europa when carried off by Zeus in
the form of a bull ; he subsequently founded Thebes, and
sowed the dragon's teeth there ; hence " anxious husband-
man," etc.
" Juno's jealousy caused the death of Semele, mother of
340
THEBAID
BOOK I«
My spirit is touched by Pierian fire to recount the
strife of brethren, and the battle of the alternate
reign fought out with impious hatred, and all the
guilty tale of Thebes. Whence, O goddesses, do ye
bid me begin ? — Shall I sing the origins of the
dreadful race, the Sidonian rape and the inexorable
terms of Agenor's law, and Cadmus searching o'er
tlie main ? ** Far backward runs the story, should I
tell of the anxious husbandman of hidden war, sowing
battles in the unhallowed soil, and, searching to the
uttermost, relate with what song Amphion bade the
Tyrian mountains move to form a city's walls, whence
came Bacchus' grievous wi'ath against his kindred
towers; what deed fierce Juno wrought; against whom
unhappy Athamas caught up his bow, and why with
Palaemon in her arms his mother quailed not to leap
into the vast Ionian sea.'^ Nay rather here and now I
will suifer the sorrows and the joys of Cadmus to have
gone by : let the troubled house of Oedipus set a
limit to '^ my song, since not yet may I venture to
Bacchus ; Athamas went mad and slew his son Learchus,
Ino leapt with Palaemon into the sea. Ino and Semele were
daughters of Cadmus.
'^ Or, " be the track, the course of."
341
STATIUS
signa nee Arctoos ausim spirare^ triumphos
bisque iugo Rhenum, bis adactum legibus Histrum
et coniurato deiectos vertice Dacos 20
aut defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis
bella lovis teque, o^ Latiae decus addite famae,
quern nova mature^ subeuntem exorsa parentis
aeternum sibi Roma cupit. licet artior omnis
limes agat Stellas et te plaga lucida caeli, 25
Pleiadum Boi'eaeque et hiulci fulminis expers,
sollicitet, licet ignipedum frenator equorum
ipse tuis alte radiantem crinibus arcum
imprimat aut magni cedat tibi luppiter aequa
parte poli, maneas hominum contentus habenis, 30
undarum terraeque potens, et sidera dones.
tempus erit, cum Pierio^ tua fortior oesti'o
facta canam : nunc tendo chelyn satis arma refeiTC
Aonia et geminis sceptrum exitiale tyrannis
nee furiis post fata modum flammasque rebelles 35
seditione rogi tumulisque carentia regum
funera et egestas alternis mortibus urbes,
caerula cum rubuit Lernaeo sanguine Diree
et Thetis arentes adsuetum stringere ripas
horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo. 40
quern prius heroum, Clio, dabis ? immodicum irae
^ spirare, Pi, Heinsius, Bentley : sperare Proi.
^ teque o P {vnth u written over the first e) : tuque o w,
tuque ut Lachmann.
* mature Lachmann : maturi Pw.
* Pierio P (laurigero written over by a later hand) :
laurigero w.
" The reference is to Domitian's campaigns against Ger-
mans and Dacians, and to the part he took in the fighting
on the Capitol between Flavians and Vitellians in a.d. 69.
342
THEBAID, I. 18-41
utter the theme of tlie standards of Italy and the
triumphs of the North, or Rhine twice brought
beneath our yoke and Ister twice subject to our law
and the Dacians hurled down from their conspiring
mount, or how in those days of scarce-approaching
manhood Jove was forfended from attack,** and of
thee, O glory added to the Latian name, whom
succeeding early to thy sire's latest exploits Rome
longs to be her own for ever. Yea, though a closer
bound confine the stars, and the shining quarter of
tlie sky ** that knows nought of Pleiads or Boreas or
rending thunderbolt tempt thee, though he who
curbs the fiery-footed steeds set with his own hand
upon thy locks the exalted radiance of his diadem, or
Jupiter yield thee an equal portion of the great
heaven, abide contented with the governance of men,
thou lord of earth and sea, and give constellations
to the sky.*^ A time will come when emboldened by
Pierian frenzy I shall recount thy deeds : now do I
pitch my harp but to the singing of Aonian ^ arms
and the sceptre fatal to both tyrants ; of their mad-
ness unchecked by death and the strife of flames in
the dissension of the funeral pyre ; " of kings' bodies
lacking burial and cities drained by mutual slaughter,
when the dark-blue waters of Dirce blushed red with
Lernaean gore, and Thetis stood aghast at Ismenos,
once wont to graze arid banks, flowing down with
mighty heaps of slain. Which hero first dost thou
make my theme, O Clio ? Tydeus, uncontrolled in
ft The south.
' By deifying members of the Imperial house ; the idea
of stars being divine spirits is an old one in mythology,
e.g. Castor and Pollux ; it is also found in Plato and his
successors.
^ Boeotian, i.e. Theban. ^ See xii. 429.
343
STATIUS
Tydea ? laurigeri subitos an vatis hiatus ?
urget et hostilem propellens caedibus amnem
turbidus Hippomedon, plorandaque bella protervi
Arcados atque alio Capaneus hoiTore canendus. 45
Impia iam nierita scrutatus lumina dextra
merserat aeterna damnatum nocte pudorem
Oedipodes longaque animam sub morte^ tenebat.
ilium indulgentem tenebris imaeque recessu
sedis inaspectos caelo radiisque penates 50
, servantem tamen adsiduis circumvolat alis
saeva dies animi, scelerumque in pectore Dirae.
tunc vacuos orbes, crudum ac miserabile vitae
supplicium, ostentat caelo manibusque cruentis
pulsat inane solum saevaque ita voce precatur : 55
" di, sontes animas angustaque Tartara poenis
qui regitis, tuque umbrifero Styx livida fundo,
quam video, multumque mihi consueta vocari
adnue. Tisiphone, perversaque vota secunda :
si bene quid merui, si me de niatre cadentem 60
fovisti gremio et traiectum vulnere plantas
firmasti, si stagna peti Cirrhaea bicorni
interfusa iugo, possem cum degere falso
contentus Polybo, trifidaeque in Phocidos arto
longaevum implicui regem secuique trementis 65
^ morte P : nocte w.
" Oedipus had torn out his own eyes when he realized
that he was guilty of parricide and incest. Statins has in
mind the Virgilian " nox atra caput circumvolat" Aen.
vi. 866 (c/. also Hor. jS. ii. 1. 58), but here it is the "saeva
dies " that hovers round.
** Or, as some take it, " beats upon the empty sockets " ;
but to beat on the earth was a recognized way of summoning
infernal deities.
344
THEBAID, I. 42-65
wrath ? the sudden cliasm that gaped for the laurel-
crowned prophet ? Distraught Hippomedon, too,
repelling his river-foe with corpses demands my song,
and I must lament the gallant Arcadian and his wars,
and sing with a yet fiercer thrill the fate of Capaneus.
Already had Oedipus with avenging liand probed
deep his sinning eyes and sunk his guilty shame in
eternal night, abiding in a long and living death.
But while he liugs his darkness and the uttermost
seclusion of his dwelling, and keeps his secret chamber
which the sun's rays and heaven behold not, yet with
unwearied wings the fierce daylight of the mind hovers
around him," and the Avenging Furies of his crimes
assail his heart. Then he displays to heaven those
empty orbs, the cruel, pitiful punishment of his life,
and with blood-stained hands beats upon the liollow
earth,'' and in dire accents utters this prayer : " Gods
who hold sway over guilty souls and over Tartarus
crowded with the damned, and thou O Styx, whom I
behold, ghastly in thy shadowy depths, and tliou
Tisiphone, so oft the object of my prayer, be fjivour-
able now, and further my unnatural wish : if in aught
I have found favour ; if thou didst cherish me in thy
bosom when I fell from my mother's womb, and didst
heal the wounds of my pierced feet ; if I sought the
lake of Cirrha where it winds between the two
summits of the range," when I could have lived con-
tented with the false Polybus, and in the Phocian
strait where three ways meet grappled witli.the aged
king and cleft the visage of the trembling dotard,
" i.e., the Castalian spring at Delphi, beneath the two peaks
of Parnassus, where he went to consult the oracle. He was
brought up as the son of Polybus, king of Corinth (hence
" false ").
345
ST ATI us
ora senis, dum quaero patrem, si Sphinges iniquae
callidus ambages te praemonstrante i-esolvi,
si dulces fui'ias et lamentabile matris
conubium gavisus ini noctemque nefandam
saepe tuli natosque tibi, scis ipsa, para\a, 70
mox avidus poenae digitis caedentibus ultro
incubui miseraque oculos in niatre reliqui :
exaudi, si digna precor quaeque ipsa furenti
subiceres. orbuni visu regnisque carentem^
non regere aut dictis maerentem flectere adorti, 75
quos genui quocumque toro ; quin ecce superbi
— pro dolor ! — et nostro iamdudum in funere reges
insultant tenebris gemitusque odere paternos.
hisne etiani funestus ego ? et videt ista deorum
ignavus genitor ? tu saltern debita vindex 80
hue ades et totos in poenam ordire nepotes.^
indue quod madidum tabo diadema cruentis
unguibus abripui, votisque instincta paternis
i media in fratres, generis consortia ferro
dissiliant. da, Tartarei regina barathri, 85
quod cupiam vidisse nefas, nee tarda sequetur
mens iuvenum ; modo digna veni,^ mea pignora
nosces."
Taha dieenti crudehs diva severos
advertit vultus. inamoenum forte sedebat
Cocyton iuxta, resolutaque vertice crines 90
lambere sulpureas permiserat anguibus undas.
ilicet igne lovis lapsisque citatior astris
tristibus exsiluit ripis ; discedit inane
^ carentem PL : parenteni w.
^ totos in poenam, nepotes Pw : poenam in totos BaeJi-
rens, penates Ed. Parmensis.
* modo digna veni Pcj : niodo dira Lachmann : modo
diva Mueller : mens iuvenum, me digna : veni Garrod conj.
346
THEBAID, I. 06-93
searching for my true sire ; if by wit of tliy fore-
showing I solved the riddles of the cruel Sphinx ; if I
knew exulting the sweet ecstasy and fatal union of
my mother's bed, and passed many an unhallowed
night, and begot sons for thee, as well thou knowest,
yet soon, greedy for punishment, did violence to
myself with tearing fingers and left my eyes upon
my wretched mother — hear me to the end, if my
prayer be worthy and such as thou wouldest inspire
my raging heart withal. Sightless tliough I was and
driven from my throne, my sons, on whatever couch
begotten, attempted not to give me guidance or
consolation in my grief ; nay, haughtily (ah ! the
maddening sting !) and raised to royalty with me
long dead, they mock my blindness and abhor their
father's groans. Do these too hold me accursed ?
and the father of gods beholds it, and does naught ?
Do thou at least, my due defender, come hither, and
begin a work of vengeance that will blast their seed
for ever ! Set on thy head the gore-drenched circlet
that my bloody nails tore off, and inspired by their
father's curses go thou between the brethren, and
with the sword sunder the binding ties of kinship.
Grant me, thou queen of Tartarus' abyss, grant me
to see the evil that my soul desires, nor will the spirit
of the youths be slow to follow ; come thou but
worthy of thyself, thou shalt know them to be true
sons of mine."
So prayed he, and the cruel goddess turned her
grim visage to hearken. By chance she sat beside
dismal Cocytus, and had loosed the snakes from her
head and suffered them to lap the sulphurous waters.
Straightway, faster than fire of Jove or falling stars
she leapt up from the gloomy bank : the crowd of
347
STATIUS
vulgus et occursus dominae pavet ; ilia pei- umbras
et caligantes animarum examine campos 95
Taenariae limen petit im-emeabile portae.
sensit adesse Dies, pieeo Nox obvia nimbo
lucentes turbavit equos ; procul arduus Atlas
horruit et dubia caelum cervice remisit.
arripit extemplo Maleae de valle resurgens 100
notum iter ad Thebas ; neque enim velocior ullas
itque reditque vias cognatave Tartara mavult.
centum illi stantes umbrabant ora cerastae,
turba minax^ diri capitis ; sedet intus abactis
ferrea lux oculis, qualis per nubila Phoebes 105
Atracia rubet arte labor ; sufFusa veneno
tenditur ac sanie gliscit cutis ; igneus atro
ore vapor, quo longa sitis morbique famesque
et populis mors una venit ; riget horrida tergo
palla, et caerulei redeunt in pectora nodi : 110
Atropos hos atque ipsa novat Proserpina cultus.
tunc geminas quatit ira manus : haec igne rogali
fulgurat, haec vivo manus aera verberat hydro.
Ut stetit, abrupta qua plurimus arce Cithaeron
occurrit caelo, fera sibila ci'ine virenti 115
congeminat, signum terris, unde omnis Achaei
ora maris late Pelopeaque regna resultant,
audiit et medius caeli Parnassos et asper
Eurotas, dubiamque iugo fragor impulit Oeten
^ minax Lachmann : minor Pw.
* A promontory in Laconia, which had a cave supposed
to be an entrance to the underworld.
* Edd. who keep "minor" explain either as the lesser
half of the crowd of snakes, or as the small fry, compared
with the big snake in the Fury's hand (113).
" i.e., Thessalian. Thessaly was famous for magic spells
and witches, cf. iii. 140.
348
THEBAID, I. 94-119
phantoms gives way before her, fearing to meet
their queen ; then, journeying through the shadows
and the fields dark with trooping ghosts, she hastens
to the gate of Taenarus,** whose threshold none may
cross and again return. Day felt her presence,
Night interposed her pitchy cloud and startled his
shining steeds ; far off towering Atlas shuddered
and shifted the weight of heaven upon his trembling
shoulders. Forthwith rising aloft from Malea's
vale she hies her on the well-known way to Thebes :
for on no errand is she swifter to go and to return,
not kindred Tartarus itself pleases her so well.
A hundred horned snakes erect shaded her face,
the thronging terror of her awful head ; ^ deep
within her sunken eyes there glows a light of iron
hue, as when Atracian '' spells make travailing Phoebe
redden through tlie clouds ; suiFused with venom, her
skin distends and swells with corruption ; a fiery
vapour issues from her evil mouth, bringing upon
mankind thirst unquenchable and sickness and famine
and universal death. From her shoulders falls a stark
and grisly robe, whose dark fastenings meet upon her
breast : Atropos and Proserpine herself fashion her
this garb anew. Then both her hands are shaken
in wrath, the one gleaming with a funeral torch, the
other lashing the air ^vith a live water-snake.
She halted, where the sheer heights of vast Cith-
aeron rise to meet the sky, and sent forth from her
green locks fierce repeated hisses, a signal to the
land, whereupon the whole shore of the Achaean
gulf and the realm of Pelops echoed far and wide.
Parnassus also in mid-heaven heard it, and turbulent
Eurotas ; with the din Oete rocked and staggered,
349
STATIUS
in latvis, et geminis vix fluctibus obstitit Isthmos. 120
ipsa suum genetrix curvo delphine vagantem
abripuit frenis gremioque Palaemona pressit.
Atque ea Cadmeo praeceps ubi culmine primum
constitit adsuetaque infecit nube penates,
protinus adtoniti fratrum sub pectore motus, 125
gentilesque animos subiit furor aegraque laetis
in\idia atque parens odii metus, inde regendi
saevus amor, ruptaeque vices iurisque secundi
ambitus impatiens, et summo dulcius unum^
stare loco, sociisque comes discordia regnis. 130
sic ubi delectos per torva armenta iuvencos
agricola imposito sociare adfectat aratro,
illi indignantes, quis nondum vomere multo
ardua nodosos cervix descendit in armos,
in diversa trahunt atque acquis vincula laxant 135
viribus et vario confundunt limite sulcos :
haud secus indomitos praeceps discordia fratres
asperat. alterni placuit sub legibus anni
exsilio mutare ducem. sic iure maligno
fortunam transire iubent, ut sceptra tenentem 140
foedere praecipiti semper novus angeret heres.
haec inter fratres pietas erat, haec mora pugnae
sola nee in regem perduratura secundum,
et nondum crasso laquearia fulva^ metallo,
montibus aut alte Grais efFulta nitebant 145
atria, congestos satis explicitura clientes :
non impacatis regum advigilantia somnis
pila, nee alterna ferri statione gementes
excubiae nee cura mere committere gemmas
atque aurum violare cibis : sed nuda potestas 150
^ unum Poj : uno D : uni Heinsius.
^ fulva Pw : fulta Mueller.
" See note on i. 14.
350
THEBAID, I. 120-150
and Isthmos scarce witlistood the waves on either
side. With her own hand his mother snatched
Palaemon from the curved back of his straying
dolphin steed and pressed him to her bosom.*^
Then the Fury, swooping headlong upon the Cad-
mean towers, straightway cast upon the house its
wonted gloom : troubled dismay seized the brothers'
hearts and the madness of their race inspired them,
and envy that repines at others' happiness, and hate-
engendering fear ; and then fierce love of power, and
breach of mutual covenant, and ambition that brooks
not second place, the dearer joy of sole supremacy,
and discord that attends on partnered rule. Even so
would a farmer fain unite under the plough-yoke
two picked bullocks of the savage herd, but they
indignant — for not yet has the frequent coulter
bowed those arching necks to the sinewy shoulders —
pull contrariA\'ise and with strength well-matched
break harness and confound the furrows with divers
tracks : not otherwise does furious discord enrage
the proud brothers. 'Twas agreed to change rule
for exile by the ordinance of the alternate year. By
a grudging law they bade their fortunes change, so
that a new claimant should ever embitter the
monarch's fast-expiring term. No other bond united
the brethren, this was their sole stay from arms, nor
destined to endure to a second reign. Yet then no
ceilings glittered with thick plates of yellow gold, nor
did quarried Grecian pillars bear aloft vast halls that
could freely spread the serried mass of clients ; no
spears kept guard o'er a monarch's troubled slumbers,
no sentinels groaned at the recurring duty of the
watch ; they thought not to entrust precious stones
to the wine-cup, nor to soil gold with food ; 'twas for
351
STATIUS
armavit fratres, pugna est de paupere regno.
dumque uter angustae squalentia iugera Dirces
verteret aut Tyrii solio non altus ovaret
exsulis ambigitur, periit ius fasque bonumque
et vitae mortisque pudor. quo tenditis iras, 155
a, miseri ? quid si peteretur crimine tanto
limes uterque poll, quern Sol emissus Eoo
cardine, quern portu vergens prospectat Hibero,
quasque procul terras obliquo sidere tangit
avius^ aut borea gelidas madidive tepentes 160
igne noti ? non si Phrygiae Tyriaeque sub unum
convectentur opes, loca dira arcesque nefandae
sufFecere odio, furiisque immanibus emptum
Oedipodae sedisse loco.
lam sorte carebat^
dilatus Polvnicis honos. quis tunc tibi, saeve, 165
quis fuit ille dies, vacua cum solus in aula
respiceres ius omne tuum cunctosque minores,
et nusquam par stare caput ? iam murmura serpunt
plebis Echioniae, tacitumque a principe vulgus
dissidet, et, qui mos populis, venturus amatur. 170
atque aliquis, cui mens humiU laesisse veneno
summa nee impositos umquam cer\ice volenti
ferre duces, " hancne Ogygiis," ait, " aspera rebus
fata tulere vicem, totiens mutare timendos
alternoque iugo dubitantia subdere coUa ? 175
partiti versant populorum fata manuque
^ avius (j3 : aut notus P.
^ carebat Pw : cadebat Bernartins.
« i.e., of course, Eteocles.
* Theban, from Echion, king of Thebes.
' Theban, from Ogyges, founder of Thebes according to
one legend.
352
THEBAID, I. 15i-i7fi
naked power the brethren armed, a starveling realm
was their cause of battle. And while they dispute
which of the twain shall plough scant Dirce's squalid
fields, or boast himself on the Tyrian exile's lowly
throne, the laws of God and man are broken, right-
eousness perisheth, and honour botJi in life and death.
Alas ! unhappy ones ! what limits set ye to your
wrath ? what if it were the sky's farthest bounds ye
dared so impiously, whereon the sun looks when he
issues from the eastern gate and when he sinks into
his Iberian haven, or the lands he touches afar with
slanting devious ray, lands that the North wind
freezes or the moist South warms with fiery breath ?
nay, even though the wealth of Phrygia and of Tyre
were gathered as the prize ! A land of horror and
a city God-accursed sufficed to rouse your hatred, and
hell's madness was the price of sitting in the seat of
Oedipus !
And now by the losing of the hazard Polynices saw
his reign deferred. How proud a day for thee, fierce
tyrant," when alone and unchallenged in thy palaee
thou didst look and behold all power thine, all other
men thy subjects, and never a head but bowed
beneath thy sway ! Yet already murmurs are creep-
ing among the Echionian '' folk, the people is at
silent variance with its prince, and, as is the wont of
a ci-owd, 'tis the claimant that they love. And one
among them, whose chief thought it was to hurt by
mean and venomous speech and never to bear the
yoke of rulers with submissive neck, said : " Is this
tlie lot that the hard fates have appointed for our
Ogygian " land, so often to change those whom we
must fear, and to give uncertain allegiance to an
alternate sway ? From hand to hand they toss the
VOL. I 2 A 353
STATIUS
fortunam fecere levem. semperne vicissim
exsulibus ser\ire dabor ? tibi, summe deorum
terrarmnque satoi*, sociis banc addere mentem
sedit ? an inde vetus Thebis extenditur omen, 180
ex quo Sidonii nequiquani blanda iuvenci
pondera Carpathio iussus sale quaerere Cadmus
exsul Hyanteos invenit regna per agros,
fraternasque acies fetae telluris hiatu
augurium seros dimisit ad usque nepotes ? 185
cernisj ut erectum torva sub fronte^ minetur
saevior adsurgens dempto consorte potestas.
quas gerit ore rninas, quanto premit omnia fastii !
hicne umquam privatus erit ? tamen ille precanti
mitis et adfatu bonus et patientior aequi. 190
quid mirum ? non solus erat. nos vilis in omnis
prompta manus casus, domino cuicumque parati.
quabter bine gebdus Boreas, bine nubifer Eurus
vela trahunt, nutat mediae fortuna carinae,
— lieu dubio suspensa metu tolerandaque nulHs 195
aspera sors populis I — hie iniperat, ille minatur."
At lovis imperio rapidi super atria caeli
lectus concilio divum convenerat ordo
interiore polo, spatiis hinc omnia iuxta,
primaeque occiduaeque domus et fusa "^ub omni 200
terra atque unda die. mediis sese arduus iiifert
ipse deis, placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu,
stellantique loeat solio ; nee protinus ausi
caelicolae, veniam donee pater ipse sedendi
^ sub fronte P<j : cervice 1).
" Boeotian. See n. nn J. 6.
354
THEBAID, I. 177-204
destinies of peoples and of their own accord make
Fortune fickle. Am I always to serve princes that
take their turn of exile ? Is this thy will and purpose
for thy kindred realm, great Lord of heaven and
earth ? Does the ancient augury still have power
for Thebes, since Cadmus, bidden search in vain the
Carpathian sea for tlie winsome burden of the
Sidonian bull, found an exile's kingdom in the Hyan-
tean " fields, and in the gaping of the pregnant earth
bequeathed the warfare of brethren as an omen to
his posterity for ever ? See how the tyi-ant, rid of
his colleague, rises erect more fiercely threatening
under cruel brows ! what terror in his look, how
overbearing his pride ! will this man ever stoop to
subject rank ? But the other was gentle to our
pi-ayers, affable of speech, and more patient of the
right. What wonder ? he was not alone. A worth-
less crowd indeed are we, ready for every chance, at
the bidding of every lord, whosoe'er he be ! As the
sails yield to the cold north wind on this side and to
the cloudy east wind on that, and the vessel's fate
hangs wavering — alas ! for the cruel, intolerable lot
of peoples, racked by doubt and fear ! — so now one
commands and the other threatens."
But now by Jove's command the High Court and
chosen council of the gods had assembled in the
spacious halls of the revolving sphere, in heaven's
innermost depths. Equally removed from hence is
the whole world's extent, the abodes of east and
west, and earth and sea outspread beneath the
infinite sky. Loftily through their midst moves the
King himself making all tremble, yet with counten-
ance serene, and takes his seat on the starry throne :
nor dare they sit, the heavenly ones, until the sire
355
ST ATI us
tranquilla iubet esse manu. mox turba vagorum 205
semideum et summis cognati nubibus Amnes
et compressa metu servantes murmura Venti
aurea tecta replent. mixta convexa deorum
maiestate tremunt, radiant maiore sereno
culmina et arcano florentes lumine postes. 210
postquam iussa quies siluitque exterritus orbis,
incipit ex alto — grave et immutabile Sanctis
pondus adest verbis, et vocem fata sequuntur — ;
" terrarum delicta nee exsaturabile'^ Diris
ingenium mortale queror. quonam usque nocentum
exigar in poenas ? taedet saevire corusco 216
fulmine, iam pridem Cyclopum operosa fatiscunt
bracchia et Aeoliis desunt incudibus ignes.
atque adeo tuleram falso rectore solutos
Solis equos, caelumque rotis errantibus uri, 220
et Phaethontea mundum squalere fa villa,
nil actum, neque tu valida quod cuspide late
ire per inlicitum pelago, germane, dedisti.
nunc geminas punire domos, quis sanguinis auctor
ipse ego, descendo. Perseos alter in Ai-gos 225
scinditur, Aonias fluit hie ab origine Thebas.
mens cunctis imposta manet^ : quis funera Cadnii
nesciat et totiens excitam a sedibus imis
Eumenidum bellasse aciem, mala gaudia matrum
erroresque feros nemorum et reticenda deorum 230
crimina ? vix lucis spatio, vix noctis abactae
^ exsaturabile P: also D, with exsatiabile icritten over:
exsuperabile ui.
^ imposta manet Pw : infausta, infesta, etc., edd. : movet B
Guyet : manet D icith movet written over.
" The slaughter of the armed warriors who sprang from
the dragon's teeth.
* The old commentators took this as purposelj' ambiguous,
crimes committed bj^ or against the gods. The latter mean-
356
THEBAID, I. 205-231
himself with tranquil hand permit them. Next a
crowd of wandering demigods and Rivers, of one kin
with the high clouds, and Winds, their clamours
hushed by fear, throng the golden halls. The aixh-
ing vaults of heaven are all agleam with majesty, the
heights glow with a fuller radiance, and a light that
is not of earth blooms upon the portals. When quiet
was commanded and heaven's orb fell silent, he
began from his lofty throne — the sacred words have
authority and power immutable, and Destiny waits
upon his voice : " Of Earth's trangressions I com-
plain, and of Man's mind that no Avenging Powers
can satiate. Am I ever to be spent in punishing the
wicked ? I am weary of venting my anger with the
flashing brand, long since are the busy arms of the
Cyclopes failing, and the fires droop that serve
Aeolian anvils. Yea, I had suffered the Sun's steeds
to run free of their false driver, and heaven to be
burned with their straying wheels and earth to be
foul with the ashes that once were Phaethon. Yet
naught availed it, nor that thou, brother, didst with
thy strong spear send the sea flooding wide over the
forbidden land. Now am I descending in punish-
ment on two houses, whereof I am myself pro-
genitor. The one branches from the stem to Persean
Argos, the other flows from its source to Aonian
Thebes. In all the implanted character abides :
who knows not Cadmus' bloodshed "■ and the array
of warring Furies so oft summoned from the depths
of hell, the mothers' unhallowed joys and frenzied
ranging of the forests, and the reproaches of gods
that must be veiled in silence *" ? Scarce would the
ing is the easier one, e.ff. Niobe, Pentheus, Semele, and it is
difficult to see what the other could refer to.
357
STATIUS
enumerare queam mores gentemque profanam.
scandere quin etiani thalamos hie impius heres
patris et inimeritae gremium incestare parentis
appetiit, proprios — monstrum^ ! — revolutus in ortus.
ille tamen superis aeterna piacula solvit 236
proiecitque diem, nee iam amplius aethere nostro
vescitur ; at nati — facinus sine more ! — cadentes
calcavere oculos. iam, iam rata vota tulisti,
dire senex ! meruere tuae, meruere tenebrae 240
ultorem sperare lovem. nova sontibus arma
iniciam regnis, totumque a stirpe revellam
exitiale genus, belli mi hi semina sunto
Adrastus socer et superis adiuncta sinistris
conubia. hanc etiam poenis incessere gentem 245
decretum ; neque enim arcano de pectore fallax
Tantalus et saevae periit iniuria mensae."
Sic pater omnipotens. ast illi saucia dictis
flammato versans inopinum corde dolorem
talia luno refert : " mene, o iustissime divum, 250
me bello certare iubes ? scis, semper ut arces
Cyclopum magnique Phoroneos inclyta fama
seeptra viris opibusque iuvem, licet improbus illic
custodem Phariae somno letoque iuvencae
exstinguas, saeptis et turribus aureus intres. 255
mentitis ignosco toris : illam odimus urbem,
^ monstrum D Scallger : monstro Pa>.
° Lit. "Adrastus as a father-in-law," i.e., "giving his
daughter in marriage."
*" When Tantalus, according to one legend, cut up his son
Pelops and boiled him as a feast for the gods. Tantalus
was king of Argos, though in some legends king of Lydia
or Phrygia. " hanc " therefore means " Argive."
' Phoroneus, son of Inachus, was commonly considered
358
THEBAID, I. 232-256
period of day or passing night avail me to recount
the impious doings of the race. Nay, this unnatural
heir has even ventured to climb his father's couch
and defile the womb of his innocent mother, returning
(oh ! horror !) to his own life's origin. Yet he has
made atonement everlasting to the gods above,
casting fortli from himself the light of day, nor any
more feeds upon the air of heaven ; but his sons (a
deed unspeakable) trampled on his eyes as they fell.
Now, now are thy prayers fulfilled, terrible old man !
deserving art thou, yea, deserving in thy blindness
to hope for Jove as thy avenger. New strife will I
send upon the guilty realm, and uproot the whole
stock of the deadly race. Let the gift of Adi'astus'
daughter" and her ill-omened nuptials furnish me
the seeds of war. This race too I am resolved to
scoui'ge with punishment : for never hath the deceit
of Tantalus, nor the crime of the pitiless banquet *
been forgotten in the secret counsels of my heart."
So spake the Almighty Sire. But wounded by his
words and nursing sudden v/rath in a heart aflame
Juno thus makes answer : " 'Tis I, then, jus test of
gods, I whom thou biddest to engage in war ? for
thou knowest how I ever give aid of men and might
to the Cyclopean towers and the far-famed sceptre
of great Phoi'oneus, although there thou didst ruth-
lessly cast on sleep and slay the guardian of the
Pharian heifer, ay, and dost enter barred turrets in
a shower of gold.'' Concealed amours I pardon thee :
as the founder of Argos, whose walls, like those of other
ancient cities, were thought to have been built by the
Cyclopes. Argus, the watcher of lo, daughter of Inachus,
was slain there, and there Danae, daughter of king Acrisius,
was visited by Jupiter.
359
ST ATI us
quam vultu confessus adis, ubi conscia magni
signa tori tonitrus agis et mea fulmina torques,
facta luaiit Thebae : cur hostes eligis Argos ?
quin age, si tanta est thalami discordia sancti, 260
et Samon et veteres armis exscinde Mvcenas,
verte solo Sparten. cur usquam sanguine festo
coniugis ara tuae, cumulo cur turis Eoi
laeta calet ? melius votis Mareotica fumant
Coptos et aerisoni lugentia flumina Xili. 265
quod si prisca luunt auctorum crimina gentes
subvenitque tuis sera haec sententia curis,
"^^ percensere ae\i senium, quo tempore tandem
terrarum furias abolere et saecula retro
emendare sat est ? iamdudum ab sedibus illis 270
incipe, fluctivaga qua praeterlabitur unda
Sicanios longe relegens Alpheos amores.
Arcades hie tua — nee pudor est^delubra nefastis
imposuere locis, illic Mavortius axis
Oenomai Geticoque pecus stabulare sub Haemo 275
dignius, abruptis etiamnum inhumata procorum
relliquiis trunca ora rigent. tamen hie tibi templi
gratus honos, placet Ida nocens mentitaque manes
Creta tuos. me Tantaleis consistere terris,^
1 terris Q : tectis P: regnis D: considere regnis Heinsius.
" Thebes : the reference is to his union with Semele,
when he revealed himself in all his majesty ^vith thunder
and lightning.
*" i.e., why should I be worshipped as a goddess at all,
when I am so dishonoured by you ? 1. 265 again alludes
to lo, with whom Isis, worshipped by the Egyptians, was
\ commonly identified.
■^ Where were the man-eating horses of king Diomede of
Thrace. Those of Oenomaus, king of Pisa, used to devour
360
THEBAID, I. 257-279
that city " I hate where thou goest undisguised,
where thou soundest the thunders that proclaim our
high union, and wieldest the Hghtnings that are
mine. Let Thebes atone her crimes ; why dost thou
choose Argos as her foe ? Nay, if such discord hath
seized our holy marriage-chamber, go, raze Sparta
to the ground, bring war's destruction upon Samos
and old Mycenae. Why anywhere ^ is tlie altar of
thy spouse made warm by sacrificial blood or fragrant
with heaps of eastern incense ? Sweeter is the smoke
that rises from the votive shrines of Mai'eotic Coptos
or from the wailing crowds and brazen gongs of river
Nile. But if 'tis the evil deeds of former men that
mankind now doth expiate, and this resolve hath
come so tardily to minister to thy wrath, to cast back
thy gaze through days of old, at what far stage of
time doth it suffice to drive away earth's madness
and purge the backward-reaching ages ? Choose
straightway that spot for thy beginning where
Alpheus following afar the track of his Sicanian love
glides by with sea-wandering wave. Here on ac-
cursed ground the Arcadians set thee a shrine — yet
it shames thee not — here is Oenomaus' chariot of
war and the steeds more fitly stalled beneath Getic
Haemus,'' nay even yet the severed heads and
mangled corpses of the suitors lie stark and un-
buried. Yet hast thou here the welcome honours of
a temple, yea, and guilty Ida ** pleases thee, and Crete
that tells falsely of thy death. Why dost thou
the suitors to the hand of his daughter Hippodamia whom
lie defeated in a chariot-race.
"^ In Crete ; for the charge cf. Callimachus, Hymn to
Zeus, 1. 8, where he accuses the Cretans of speaking of tlie
death of /yens, whereas Zeus is alive and immortal.
361
j
STATIUS
quae tandem invidia est ? belli deflecte tumultus 280
et generis miseresce tui. sunt impia late
regna tibi, melius generos passura nocentes."
Finierat precibus miscens convicia luno.
at non ille gravis dictis, quamquam aspera motu,
reddidit haec : " equidem baud rebar te mente
secunda 285
laturam, quodcumque tuos, licet aequus, in Argos -
eonsulerem, neque me, si detur copia, fallit ■
multa super Thebis Bacchum ausuramque Dionen ^
dicere, sed nostri reverentia ponderis obstat.
horrendos etenim latices, Stygia aequora fratris 290
obtestor, mansurum atque inrevocabile verbum,^
nil fore, quod dictis flectar ! quare impiger alis^
portantes praecede notos, Cyllenia proles,
aera per liquidum regnisque inlapsus opacis
die patruo : superas senior se adtollat ad auras 295
Laius, exstinctum nati quern vulnere nondum
ulterior Lethes accepit ripa profundi
lege Erebi ; ferat hie diro mea iussa nepoti :
germanum exsilio fretum Argolicisque tumentem
hospitiis, quod sponte cupit, procul impius aula 300
arceat, alternum regni infitiatus honorem.
hinc causae irarum, certo reliqua ordine ducam."
Paret Atlantiades dictis genitoris et inde
summa pedum propere plantaribus inligat alis,
obnubitque comas et temperat astra galero. 305
^ verbum Scriverius : verum Pio.
^ alis Gruter : ales Pw.
" "aspera," because his words were intended to embroil
the brothers yet more.
* Mercury, son of Jupiter, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia.
His mother Maia was the daughter of Atlas (303J.
362
THEBAID, I. 280-305
grudge me then to abide in my Tantalean land ?
Tm'n hence the tumults of war, and have compassion
on thine own blood. Many a wide and wicked realm
hast thou, that can better suffer the criines of
offending sons."
Juno had finished her mingled entreaty and
reproach. But he made reply, not in hard words,
though cruel" was its purport : "In truth I deemed
not that thou wouldest bear with favouring mind all
that I might devise, albeit justly, against thy Argos,
nor does it escape me that, did occasion grant,
Bacchus and Dione would dare to make long plead-
ing on Thebes' behalf, but reverence for my authority
forbids. For by those awful waters, my brother's
Stygian stream, I swear — an oath abiding and irre-
vocable,— that naught will make me waver from my
word ! Wherefore, my Cyllenian,* in winged speed
outstrip the winds that bear thee, and gliding through
the limpid air down to the dusky realms tell this
message to thy uncle : Let old Laius betake himself
to the world above, Laius, whom his son's blow bereft
of life and whom by the law of Erebus profound
the further bank of Lethe hath not yet received ;
let him bear my commands to his hateful grandson :
His brother, to whom exile has brought confidence
and his Argive friendship boastful pride, let him in
despite of kin keep far from his halls — as already he
doth well desire — and deny him the alternate honour
of the crown. So will angry deeds be begotten, and
the rest will I lead on in order due."
Obedient to his father's word the grandson of
Atlas straightway fastens on his ankles the winged
sandals, and with wide hat veils his locks and tempers
the brilliance of the stars. Then he took in his right
.'363
STATIUS
turn dextrae virgam inseruit, qua pelleve diilces
aut suadere iterum somnos, qua nigra subire
Tartara et exsanguis animare adsueverat umbras,
desiluit, tenuique exceptus inhorruit^ aura,
nee mora, sublimis raptim per inane volatus 310
carpit et ingenti designat nubila gyro.
Interea patriis olim vagus exsul ab oris
Oedipodionides fui'to deserta pererrat
Aoniae. iamiamque animi^ male debita regna
concipit, et longum signis cunctantibus annum 315
stare gemit. tenet una dies noctesque recursans
cura virum, si quando humilem decedere regno
germanum et semet Thebis opibusque potitum
cerneret ; hac aevum cupiat pro luce^ pacisci.
nunc queritur ceu tarda fugae dispendia, sed mox 320
attollit flatus ducis et sedisse superbus
deiecto iam fratre putat : spes anxia mentem
extrahit et longo consumit gaudia voto.
tunc sedet Inachias urbes Danaeiaque arva
et caligantes abrupto sole Mycenas 325
ferre iter impavidum, seu praevia ducit Erinys,
seu fors ilia viae, sive hac immota vocabat
Atropos. Ogygiis ululata furoribus antra
deserit et pingues Baccheo sanguine colics,
inde plagam, qua molle sedens in plana Cithaeron 330
porrigitur lassumque inclinat ad aequora montem,
^ inhorruit in D has " perstrepit " icrltten above it.
^ animi Mueller : animis Pw : animus Q Baehrens.
^ luce Pu3 : laude Q (luce above).
" Or " hurtled " ; see critical note.
*" Inachus and Danaus were former kings of Argos.
Mycenae was shrouded in darkness as a sign of divine anger
35*4
THEBAID, I. 306-331
hand the wand wherewith he was wont to dispel or
call again sweet slumber, wherewith to enter the
gates of gloomy Tartarus or summon back dead souls
to life. Then down he leapt, and slmddered " as the
frail air received him ; delaying not, he Mings his
speedy flight through the void on high, and draws a
mighty curve upon the clouds.
Meanwhile the son of Oedipus, long time a wander-
ing outlaw from his father's lands, traverses by
stealth the waste places of Aonia. Already he
broods on the lost realm that was his due, and cries
that the long year stands motionless in its tardy
constellations. One thought recurring night and
day holds him, could he ever but behold his kinsman
degraded from the throne, and himself master of
Thebes and all its power ; a lifetime would he bargain
for that day. Now he complains that his exile is
but time consumed in idleness, but soon the gust of
princely pride swells higli, and he fancies his brother
already cast down and himself seated proudly in his
place ; fretful hope keeps his mind busy, and in far-
reaching prayers he tastes all his heart's desire. Then
he resolves to journey undismayed to the Inachian
cities and Danaan lands and to Mycenae dark with
the sun's withdrawal,** whether it were the Fury
piloting his steps, or the chance direction of the road,
or the summoning of resistless Fate. He leaves the
Ogygian glades that resound with frenzied bowlings,
and the hills that drink deep of Bacchic gore,*^ tlien
passes the region where long Cithaeron settles gently
to the plain and stoops his weary height to the sea.
when Atreus served up the sons of Thyestes as a meal for
their father.
" Blood shed in worship of Bacchus.
365
ST ATI us
praeterit. liinc arte scopuloso in liniite pendens
infames Scirone petras Scyllaeaque rura
purpureo regnata seni mitemque Corinthon
linquit et in mediis audit duo litora campis 335
lamque per emeriti surgens confinia Phoebi
Titanis late, mundo subvecta silenti,
rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga :
iam pecudes volucresque tacent, iam Somnus avaris
inrepsit curis pronusque ex aethere nutat, 340
grata laboratae referens oblivia vitae.
sed nee puniceo rediturum nubila caelo
promisere iubar, nee rarescentibus umbris
longa repereusso nituere crepuscula Phoebo :
densior a terris et nulli pervia flammae 345
subtexit nox atra polos, iam elaustra rigentis
Aeoliae percussa sonant, venturaque rauco
ore minatur hiemps, venti transversa frementes
confligunt axemque emoto eardine vellunt,
dum caelum sibi quisque rapit ; sed plurimus Auster
inglomerat noctem, tenebrosa volumina torquens, 351
defunditque imbres, sicco quos asper hiatu
praesolidat Boreas ; nee non abrupta tremiscunt
fulgura, et attritus subita face rumpitur aether,
iam Nemea,^ iam Taenariis contermina lucis 355
Arcadiae capita alta madent ; ruit agmine magno
Inachus et gelidas surgens Erasinus in undas.^
1 Nemea w : Nemeae P.
^ gelidas surgens E. in undas gelidas w : vergens P : in
undas P : ad arctos Pew : surgens BD : gelida s. E. in unda
Mueller.
" Scylla was the daughter of Nisus, king of Megara, who
had the purple lock.
* i.e., there was no morning twilight giving promise of
366
THE13A1D, I. 331'- 357
Thereafter with dizzy climb along a rocky path he
puts behind him Sciron's infamous cliffs and Scylla's
country where the purple monarch ruled," and kindly
Corinth, and in the midmost plain hears two shores
resound.
But now through the wide domains which Phoebus,
his day's work ended, had left bare, rose the Titanian
queen, borne upward through a silent world, and
with her dewy chariot cooled and rarefied the air ;
now birds and beasts are hushed, and Sleep steals o'er
the greedy cares of men, and stoops and beckons
from the sky, shrouding a toilsome life once more
in sweet obUvion. Yet no reddening clouds gave
promise of the light's return, nor as the shadows
lessened did the twilight gleam with long shafts of
sun-reflecting radiance ; ** black night, blacker to
earthward and shot by never a ray, veiled all the
pole. And now the rocky prisons of Aeolia " are
smitten and groan, and the coming storm threatens
with hoarse bellowing : tlie winds loud clamouring
meet in conflicting currents, and fling loose heaven's
vault from its fastened hinges, while each strives for
mastery of the sky ; but Auster most violent thickens
gloom on gloom with whirling eddies of darkness,
and pours down rain which keen Boreas with his
freezing breath hardens into hail ; quivering light-
nings gleam, and from the colliding air bursts sudden
fire. Already Nemea and the high peaks of Ai'cadia
that border the forests of Taenarum are drenched ;
Inachus flows in miglity spate, and Erasinus swelling
the coming clay. " longa " might be taken as long-abiding,
not far-streaming.
" The domain of Aeolus, lord of the winds, as in Virg.
Aen. i. 52.
367
ST ATI us
pulverulenta prius calcataque flumina nuUae
aggeribus tenuere morae, stagnoque refusa est
f'unditus et veteri spumavit Lerna veneno. 360
frangitur omne nemus, rapiunt antiqua procellae
bracchia silvarum, nullisque aspecta per aevum
solibus umbrosi patuere aestiva Lycaei.
ille tamen, modo saxa iugis fugientia ruptis
miratus, modo nubigenas e montibus amnes 365
aure^ pavens passimque insano turbine raptas
pastorum pecorumque domos, non segnius amens
incertusque viae per nigra silentia vastum
haurit iter ; pulsat metus undique et undique frater.
ac velut hiberno deprensus navita ponto, 370
cui neque Tenio piger neque aniico sidere monstrat
Luna vias, medio caeli pelagique tumultu
stat rationis inops, iamiamque aut saxa malignis
exspectat submersa vadis aut vertice acuto
spumantes scopulos erectae incurrere prorae : 375
talis opaca legens nemorum Cadmeius heros
adcelerat, vasto metuenda umbone ferarum
excutiens stabula, et prono virgulta refringit
pectore ; dat stimulos animo vis maesta timoris,
donee ab Inachiis victa caligine tectis 380
emicuit lucem devexa in moenia fundens
Larisaeus apex, illo spe concitus omni
evolat, hinc celsae lunonia templa Prosymnae
laevus habens, hinc Hereuleo signata vapore
Lernaei stagna atra vadi, tandemque reelusis 385
^ aure Ptxi : ire Laclimann.
" Nothing else is known of this place.
* Hercules used tire to burn away the hydra's heads.
368
THEBAID, I. 358-385
higli into icy billows. Streams that before were
dusty road-tracks now defy all stay of confining
bank, Lerna surges up from her deepest depths and
foams with her ancient poison. Shattered are all
the forests, aged boughs are swept out upon the
storm, and the shady summer-haunts of Lycaeus,
unbeheld before by any suns, are now stripped bare
to view. Yet he, now marvelling at the rocks down-
hurled from the cloven mountains, now listening in
terror to the cloud-born torrents dashing from the
hills, and the raging flood whirling away home of
shepherd and stall of beast, slackens not his pace,
though distraught and uncertain of his way, but
through the dark silences devours the lonely stretches
of his road ; on every side fear and the thought of
his brother assail his heart. And just as a sailor,
caught in a tempest on the deep, to whom neither
lazy Wain nor Moon with friendly beam show bear-
ings, stands beggared of resource in mid-tumult of
sky and sea, and even now expects the treacherous
reef submerged beneath the wave, or waits to see
foaming jagged rocks fling themselves at his prow
and heave it high in air : so the Cadmean hero
threads the darkness of the forests with hastening
step, while with huge shield he braves the lairs of
fearsome beasts and forward-stooping thrusts through
the brushwood thickets ; terror's sombre influence
adds spurs to his resolve, till from above the town of
Inachus, conquering the gloom with beam of light
downpoured upon the shelving walls, shone forth
the Larissaean height. Thither sped by every hope
he hies him fast, with Juno's temple of Prosymna "
high on his left hand, and yonder the black marsh of
Lerna's water branded by Herculean fire,'' and at
VOL. I 2 B 369
ST ATI us
infertur portis. actutum regia cernit
vestibula ; hie artus imbri ventoque rigentes
proicit ignotaeque adclinis postibus aulae
invitat tenues ad dura cubilia soninos.
Rex ibi tranquille, medio de limite vitae 390
in senium vergens, populos Adrastus habebat,
dives avis et utroque lovem de sanguine ducens.
hie sexus mehoris inops, sed prole virebat
feminea, gemino natarum pignore fultus.
cui Phoebus generos — monstrum exi Habile dictu ! 395
mox adaperta fides — fato^ ducente canebat
saetigerumque suem et fulvum adventare leonem.
id volvens non ipse pater, non docte futuri
Amphiarae vides, etenim vetat auctor Apollo,
tantum in corde sedens aegrescit cura parent! . 400
Eeee autem antiquam fato Calvdona relinquens
Olenius^ Tydeus — fraterni sanguinis ilium
conscius horror agit — eadem sub nocte sopora
lustra terit, similesque notos dequestus et imbres,
infusam tergo glaciem et liquentia nimbis 405
ora eomasque gerens subit uno tegmine, cuius
fusus humo gelida partem prior hospes habebat.
hie vero ambobus rabiem fortuna cruentam
adtulit : haud passi sociis defendere noctem
culminibus, paulum alternis in verba minasque 410
cunctantur ; mox ut iactis sermonibus irae
intumuere satis, tum vero erectus uterque
exsertare umeros nudamque lacessere pugnam.
celsior ille gradu procera in membra simulque
^ fato P : aevo w.
^ Olenius Pw : Oenius 1) : Oeneus Heinslus.
" i.e., Aetolian, from a town called Olenos.
370
THEBAID, I. 386-414
length the gates are opened and he enters. Straight-
way he spies the royal portals ; there he flings down
his limbs stiffened with rain and wind, and leaning
against the unknown palace doors woos gentle
slumber to his hard couch.
There king Adrastus, verging now toward old age
from life's mid-course, ruled his folk in tranquil
governance, rich in the wealth of ancestry, and
on either side tracing his line to Jove. Issue lacked
he of the stronger sex, but was prosperous in female
offspring : two daughters gave him pledge of love
and service. To him had Phoebus at fate's bidding
told that sons-in-law drew nigh — a deadly horror to
tell ! yet soon was the truth made manifest — in the
shapes of bristly swine and tawny lion. Naught
comprehends the sire therein for all his ponderings,
nor thou, wise Amphiaraus, for thy master Apollo
forbids. , Only the father's heart sickens ever in
deep-felt anxiety.
But lo ! Olenian " Tydeus leaving ancient Calydon
by fate's decree — the guilty terror of a brother's
blood drives him forth — treads beneath night's
slumbrous veil the same wild ways, bewailing like-
wise wind and rain, and with ice-sheeted back, and
fjice and hair streaming with the storm, comes to
the self-same shelter, whereof the former stranger,
stretched on the cold earth, had part. Thereat so
chanced it that both were seized with bloody rage,
and suffered not a shared roof to ward off the night ;
for a while they tarry with exchange of threatening
words, then when flung taunts had swelled their
anger to the pitch, each uprose, set free his shoulders,
and challenged to naked combat. Taller the Tlieban,
with long stride and towering limbs and in life's
371
ST ATI us
integer annorum, sed^ non et viribus infra 415
Tydea fert animus, totosque infusa per artus
maior in exiguo regnabat corpore virtus.
iam crebros ictus ora et cava tempora circum
obnixi ingeminant, telorum aut grandinis instar
Riphaeae, flexoque genu vacua ilia tundunt. 420
non aliter quam Pisaeo sua lustra Tonanti
cum redeunt crudisque virum sudoribus ardet
pulvis ; at hinc teneros caveae dissensus ephebos
concitat, exclusaeque exspectant praemia matres :
sic alacres odio nullaque cupidine laudis 425
accensi incurrunt, scrutatur et intima vultus
unca manus penitusque oculis cedentibus intrat.^
forsan et accinctos lateri — sic ira ferebat —
nudassent enses, meliusque hostilibus armis
lugendus fratri, iuvenis Thebane, iaceres, 430
ni rex, insolituni clamorem et pectore ab alto
stridentes gemitus noctis miratus in umbris,
movisset gressus, magnis cui sobria curis
pendebat somno iam deteriore senectus.
isque ubi progrediens numerosa luce per alta 435
atria dimotis adverso limine claustris
terribilem dictu faciem, lacera ora putresque
sanguineo videt imbre genas : " quae causa furoris,
externi iuvenes— neque enim mens audeat istas
civis in usque manus — , quisnam implacabilis ardor 440
exturbare odiis tranquilla silentia noctis ?
usque adeone angusta dies et triste, parumper
pacem animo somnumque pati ? sed prodite tandem,
unde orti, quo fertis iter, quae iurgia ? nam vos
^ sed Pw : nee Priscian. * intrat P : instat w.
" Statius here has Homer in mind : jjuKpbs jj-^v ^-qv Sefxas,
dWd ixaxnT-qs (of Tydeus, II. v. 801).
* i.e., Olympian Zeus.
372
THEBAID, I. 415-444
prime, yet was Tydeus in strength and spirit no whit
the less, and though his frame was smaller greater
valour in every part held sway." Then closing
fiercely they deal many a blow on face and temple,
like sliowers of darts or Rhipaean hail, and with bent
knee belabour hollow loins. Even as when the fifth
year brings back his festival to the Pisaean Thun-
derer,'' and all is dust and heat and the crude sweat
of men, while yonder the rival favours of the cro\A d
urge on the youthful striplings, and the mothers,
excluded from the scene, await the prizes of their
sons : so these with but hate to spur them, and in-
flamed by no lust of praise, fall on, and the sharp
nails probe far into their faces and force their way
into the yielding eyes. Perchance — so hot their
anger — they had bared the swords girt to their sides,
and thou hadst lain, O Theban youth, the victim of
a foeman's arms — far better so — and earned a
brother's meed of tears, had not the king, marvelling
at the night's unwonted clamour and the fierce
panting groans deep-heaved, bent his steps thither :
age and the burden of grave cares held him now in
broken fitful slumber. And when proceeding through
the high halls with attendant train of torches he
beheld, the bars undone, upon the fronting threshold
a sight terrible to tell, faces torn and cheeks dis-
figured with streaming blood : " Whence this fury,
stranger youths ? " he cx'ied, " for no citizen of mine
would dare such violence as this ; whence this im-
placable desire to let your hate disturb the tranquil
silence of the night ? Has then day so little room,
or is it grievous to suffer, even for a while, sleep and
peace of mind ? But now come tell me, whence are
ye sprung, whither do ye fare, and what may be
373
ST ATI us
baud humiles tanta ira docet, generisque superbi 445
magna per effusum clarescunt signa cruorem."
Vix ea, cum mixto clamore obliqua tuentes
incipiunt una : " rex o mitissime Achivum,
quid verbis opus ? ipse undantis sanguine vultus
aspicis.^^ haec passim turbatis vocis amarae 450
eonfudere sonis ; inde orsus in ordine Tydeus
continuat : " maesti cupiens solacia casus
monstriferae Calvdonis opes Acheloiaque arva
deserui ; vestris haec me ecce in finibus ingens
nox operit. tecto caelum prohibere quis iste 455
arcuit ? an quoniam prior haec ad limina forte
molitus gressus ? pariter stabulare bimembres
Centauros unaque ferunt Cyclopas in Aetna
compositos. sunt et rabidis iura insita monstris
fasque suum : nobis sociare^ cubilia terrae — 460
sed quid ego ? aut hodie spoliis gavisus abibis,
quisquis es, his, aut me, si non efFetus oborto
sanguis hebet luctu, magni de stirpe creatum
Oeneos et Marti non degenerare paterno
accipies." " nee nos animi nee stirpis egentes — " 465
ille refert contra, sed mens sibi conscia fati
cunctatur proferre patrem. tunc mitis Adrastus :
" immo agite, et positis, quas nox inopinaque suasit
aut virtus aut ira, minis succedite tecto.
iam pariter coeant animorum in pignora dextrae, 470
non haec incassum di\'isque absentibus acta ;
forsan et has venturus amor praemiserit iras,
^ suum nobis Pw : suum ut nobis Garrod : nobis sociare
Po) : sociae novisse Postgate : bines sociare Housman : norunt
sociare Baehrens. Housman brackets as parenthesis sunt . . .
suum, Garrod sunt . . . nobis,
374
THEBAID, I. 445-472
your quarrel ? Mean of soul ye cannot be — such
anger proves it — even through bloodshed the noble
signs of a proud race show clear."
Scarce had he spoken, when with mingled clamour
and sidelong glance together they begin : " Achaean
prince ! most gracious monarch ! what need of
words ? thou seest thyself this face all bloody "- —
their words are lost in the confused sound of bitter
accents. Then Tydeus taking first place of speech
thus recounts his tale : " Desiring solace for my
unhappy lot I left the wealth of Calydon, nurse of
monsters, and the Acheloian fields : and lo ! in your
l)oundaries deepest night o'ertakes me. Who was he
to forbid me shelter from the sky ? or was it because
he won his way first to this threshold ? But twy-
form Centaurs stall with eacli other, so 'tis said, and
Cyclopes have peace together beneath Aetna ; nay
even to wild monsters nature has given laws and
their own rule of right ; and for us to share a lodging
on the ground — ? but why waste words ? either
thou, whoe'er thou art, shalt to-day depart rejoicing
in my spoils, or, if rising pain dulls not my blood,
thou shalt know me to be of mighty Oeneus' stock
and no degenerate scion of my forefather Mars !
" Nor lack I spirit or race " returns the other, but
conscious in his heart of ruthless fate he hesitates to
name his sire. Then kindly Adrastus : " Nay come
now, cease the threatening words which night or
sudden wrath or valour prompted, and pass beneath
my palace-roof. Now let your riglit hands be joined
to pledge your hearts. These doings have not been
vain nor without the sanction of the powers above :
perchance even these angry quarrels do but fore-
shadow a friendship to come, so that ye may have
375
ST ATI us
ut meminisse iuvet. " nee vana voee locutus
fata senex, siquidem banc perhibent per^ vulnera
iunctis
isse^ fidem, quanta partitum extrema protervo 475
Thesea Pirithoo, vel inanem mentis Oresten
opposite rabidam Pylade vitasse Megaeram.
tunc quoque mulcenteni dictis corda aspera regem
iam faciles, ventis ut decertata residunt
aequora, laxatisque diu tamen aura superstes 480
immoritur velis, passi subiere penates.
Hie primum lustrare oculis cultusque virorum
telaque magna vacat : tergo \idet huius inanem
impexis utrimque iubis horrere leonem,
illius in speciem, quem per Teumesia tempe 485
Amphitryoniades fraetum iuvenalibus annis^
ante Cleonaei vestitus proelia monstri.
terribiles contra saetis ac dente recurve
Tydea per latos umeros ambire laborant
exuviae, Calydonis honos. stupet omine tanto 490
defixus senior, divina oracula Phoebi
agnoscens monitusque datos vocalibus antris.
obtutu gelida ora premit, laetusque per artus
horror iit ; sensit manifesto numine ductos
adfore, quos nexis ambagibus augur Apollo 495
portendi generos, vultu fallente ferarum,
ediderat. tunc sic tendens ad sidera palmas ;
" nox, quae terrarum caelique amplexa labores
ignea multivago transmittis sidera lapsu,
1 per P : post w. ^ isse Gruter : esse Pw.
^ annis PB : armis w : annis D {with armis above).
" Because he tried to carrj^ off Proserpine.
* One of the Furies who pursued Orestes when he had
slain his mother.
' Teumesus is a mountain near Thebes.
376
THEBAID, I. 473-499
pleasure in remembrance." Nor were the old man's
words an empty presage, for they say that from
their comradeship in wounds grew such loyalty as
Tiieseus showed when he shared extremest peril with
wanton " Pirithous, or Pylades when he rescued
distraught Orestes from the fury of Megaera.'' So
then, yielding their savage hearts to the king's
soothing words — even as waters that winds have
made their battleground sink to rest, and yet on the
drooping sails one surviving breath is long in dying
— even so submissive they entered the palace.
Here first he has leisure to let his glance pass
oer the heroes' dress and mighty weapons. On
Polynices' back he spies a lion flayed, all rough with
uncombed mane, like to that one which in the
Teumesian'^ glades Amphitryon's son laid low in his
boyish years and clothed himself withal, before the
battle with the monster of Cleonae.** Tydeus' broad
shoulders the proud spoils of Calydon, grim with
bristles and curved fang, strive to enfold. Aghast
and motionless stands the old king at so dire an
omen, calling to mind the divine oracles of Phoebus
and the warning uttered from the inspired cell. His
countenance is fixed in frozen silence, while through
his limbs ran a thrill of joy ; he felt that they
had come, led by heaven's clear prompting, whom
prophetic Apollo in riddling obscurities had fore-
shown to be his destined sons-in-law, under the
feigned guise of beasts. Then stretching forth his
hands to the stars, " O Night," he cries, " who castest
thy mantle over toiling earth and heaven, and
sendest the fiery stars on their divers roaming courses,
'' The Nemean lion ; Cleonae, a village near Nemea.
377
ST ATI us
indulgens reparare animum, dum proximus aegris 500
infundat Titan agiles animantibus ortus,
tu niihi perplexis quaesitam erroribus ultro
advehis alma fidem veterisque exordia fati
detegis : adsistas operi tuaque omina firmes.
semper honoratam dimensis orbibus anni 505
te domus ista colet ; nigri tibi, diva, litabunt
electa cervice greges, lustraliaque exta
lacte novo perfusus edet Vulcanius ignis.
salve pi'isca fides tripodum obscurique recessus !
deprendi, Fortuna, deos ! " sic fatus, et ambos 510
innectens manibus tecta interiorisi ad aulae
progreditur. canis etiamnum altaribus ignes
sopitum cinerem et tepidi libamina sacri
servabant ; adolere focos epulasque recentes
instaurare iubet. dictis parere ministri 515
certatim adcelerant ; vario strepit icta tumultu
regia : pars ostro tenues auroque sonantes
emunire toros alteque inferre tapetas,
pars teretes levare manu ac disponere mensas.
ast alii tenebras et opacam vincere noctem 520
adgressi tendunt auratis vincula lychnis.
his labor inserto torrere exsanguia ferro
viscera caesarum pecudum, his cumulare canistris
perdomitam saxo Cererem ; laetatur Adrastus
obsequio fervere domum.
lamqiie ipse superbis 525
fulgebat stratis solioque effultus eburno.
parte alia iuvenes siccati vulnera lyniphis
discumbunt, simul ora notis foedata tuentur
^ interioris Schrader : ulterioris Pto.
378
THEBAID, I. 500-528
gracious refresher of the mind, till the next sun shed
blitlxe upspringing upon faint mortality, thou, kindly
Night, dost bring me of thy bounty assurance long
sought in perplexity and doubt, and dost reveal the
ancient purposes of fate : aid now my work, and
certify the omens thou hast given. Ever shall this
house throughout the circling periods of the year
hold thee high in honour and in worship ; black bulls
of chosen beauty shall pay thee sacrifice, O goddess !
and V^ulcan's fire shall eat the lustral entrails, where-
o'er the new milk streams. Hail, ancient truth of
mystic Tripod ! hail, secret grotto ! I have found,
O Fortune, that the gods are gods indeed ! " So
saying, and joining arms with both he goes forward
to the inner chamber of his dwelling. Even yet the
fires slumbered in the grey ashes on the altars, and
the poured offerings of the sacrifice were yet warm ;
he bids the flames again be roused and the late
banquet be renewed. His henchmen obey his words
in emulous haste : manifold tumult echoes through-
out the palace. Some array the couches with delicate
purple and rustling embroidery of gold and pile the
cushions high, some polish smooth and place in order
the tables : others again set about to banish the
darkness of gloomy night by stretching chains for
gilded lanterns ; these have the task of roasting on
a spit's point the bloodless flesh of slain beasts, those
of crushing grain on a stone and heaping the bread
in baskets ; Adrastus rejoices to see his house aglow
with obedient service.
And now he himself, raised high on the proud
cushions of an ivory tin-one, shone resplendent ;
elsewhere the youths recline, their wounds healed
with cleansing water, and beholding each other's
379
ST ATI us
inque vicem ignoscunt. tunc rex longaevus Acasten —
natarum haec altrix eadem et fidissima custos 530
lecta sacrum iustae V'eneri occultare pudorem —
imperat acciri tacitaque immurmurat aure.^
Nee mora praeceptis, cum protinus utraque virgo
arcano egressae thalamo : mirabile visu,
Pallados armisonae pharetrataeque ora Dianae 535
aequa ferunt, terrore minus, nova deinde pudori
visa virum facies : pariter pallorque ruborque
purpureas hausere genas, oculique verentes
ad sanctum rediere patrem. postquam ordine mensae
victa fames, signis perfectam auroque nitentem 540
lasides pateram famulos ex more poposcit,
qua Danaus libare deis seniorque Phoroneus
adsueti. tenet haec operum caelata figuras :
aureus^ anguicomam praesecto Gorgona collo
ales habet, iamiamque vagas — ita visus^ — in auras 545
exsilit ; ilia graves oculos languentiaque ora
paene movet vivoque etiam pallescit in auro.
hinc Phrygius fulvis venator tollitur alis,
Gargara desidunt surgenti et Troia recedit,
stant maesti comites, frustraque sonantia lassant 550
ora canes umbramque petunt et nubila latrant.
hanc undante mere fundens vocat ordine cunctos
caelicolas, Phoebum ante alios, Phoebum omnis ad
^ tacitaque . . . aure Pw : tacitaeque , . . auri Klotz : tacite-
que . . . auri Deipser: tacitoque . . . ore Koestlin.
^ aureus Pui : Perseus Bentley.
^ ita visus Pw : gavisus D.
" " hausere " is used by a startling zeugma both with
"pallor" (its natural use), and with "rubor" (for "suf-
fuses").
'' He was a former king of Argos.
380
THEBAIC, I. 629-553
scarred visages bear mutual forgiveness. Then the
aged king bids Acaste be summoned — liis daughters'
nurse and trusty guardian, chosen to keep ward on
maiden modesty consecrated to lawful wedlock — -
and murmurs in her silent ear.
She stayed not upon his bidding, but straightway
both maidens came forth from their secret bower, in
countenance, marvellous to tell, like to quiver-
bearing Diana and warrior Pallas, yet without their
terror. They spy the new faces of the heroes and
are shamed ; pallor at once and blushes made havoc of
their bright cheeks, and their timorous eyes resought
their reverend sire." When in the banquet's course
hunger was quelled, the son of lasus,* as his custom
was, bade his thralls bring a goblet fair -wrought
with figures and shining with gold, wherefrom both
Danaus and elder Phoroneus were wont to pour
libation to the gods. Thereon was embossed work of
images : all golden, a winged youth holds the snake-
tressed Gorgon's severed head, and even upon the
moment — so it seems— leaps up into the wandering
breeze ; she almost moves her heavy eyes and droop-
ing head, and even grows pale in the living gold.''
Here the Phrygian hunter <* is borne aloft on tawny
wings, Gargara's range sinks downwards as he rises
and Troy grows dim beneath him ; sadly stand his
comrades, in vain the hounds weary their throats
with barking and pursue his shadow or bay at the
clouds. From this he pours the streaming wine and
in order due calls on all the denizens of heaven,
Phoebus before the rest ; Phoebus' presence all
" Gold is naturally pale, and so suggests the face growing
pale in death : " vivo " means the natural, native metal,
cf. " vivoque sedilia saxo." ■* Ganymede.
381
STATIUS
laude ciet comitum famulumque evincta pudica
fronde nianus, cui testa dies largoque refecti 555
ture vaporatis lucent altaribus ignes.
" Forsitan, o iuvenes, quae sint ea sacra quibusque
praecipuum causis Phoebi obtestemur lionorem "
rex ait, " exquirant animi. non inscia suasit
relligio, niagnis exercita cladibus olim 560
plebs Argiva litant ; animos advertite, pandam.
postquam caerulei sinuosa volumina monstri,
terrigenam Pythona deus septem orbibus atris
amplexum Delphos squamisque annosa terentem
robora, Castaliis dum fontibus ore trisulco 565
fusus hiat nigro sitiens alimenta veneno,
perculit, absumptis numerosa in vulnera telis,
Cirrhaeique dedit centum per iugera campi
vix tandem explicitum, nova deinde piacula caedis
perquirens nostri tecta haud opulenta Crotopi 570
attigit. huic primis et pubem ineuntibus annis
mira decore pios^ servabat nata penates
intemerata toris. felix, si Delia numquam
furta nee occultum Phoebo sociasset amorem !
namque ut passa deum Nemeaei ad fluminis undam,
bis quinos plena cum fronte resumeret orbes 576
Cynthia, sidereum Latonae feta nepotem
edidit ; ac poenae metuens — neque enim ille coactis
donasset thalamis veniam pater — avia rura
eligit ac natum saepta inter ovilia furtim 580
montivago pecoris custodi mandat alendum.
non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti
^ pios BentJey : pio Pw.
" From Cirrha, the port of Delphi ; so 1. 641.
382
THEBAID, I. 554-582
invoke with praise, garlanded with reverent myrtle,
friend and thrall alike, about his altar ; for in his
honour they make holiday, and the altars, refreshed
by lavish incense, glow through wreaths of smoke.
" Perchance ye may inquire, O youths," thus says
the monarch, " what means this sacrifice, and for
what reason we pay Phoebus signal honour. Urged
by no ignorant fear, but under stress of dire calamity,
the Argive folk aforetime made this offering. Lend
me your hearing, and I will recount the tale. When
that the god had smitten the dark and sinuous-
coiling monster, the earth-born Pytho, who cast about
Delphi his sevenfold grisly circles and with his scales
ground the ancient oaks to powder, even while
sprawling by Castalia's fountain he gaped with three-
tongued mouth athirst to feed his deadly venom :
when having spent his shafts on numberless wounds
he left him, scarce fully stretched in death over a
hundred acres of Cirx'haean " soil, then, seeking fresh
expiation of the dead, he came to the humble
dwelling of our king Crotopus. A daughter, in the
first years of tender maidenhood, and wondrous fair,
kept this pious home, a virgin chaste. How happy,
had she ne'er kept secret tryst with the Delian, or
shared a stolen love with Phoebus ! For she suffered
the violence of the god by Nemea's stream, and
when Cynthia had twice five times gathered her
circle's visage to the full, she brought forth a child,
Latona's grandson, bright as a star. Then fearing
punishment — for her sire would ne'er have pardoned
a forced wedlock — she chose the pathless wilds, and
stealthily among the sheep-pens gave her child to a
mountain-wandering guardian of the flock for nur-
ture. No cradle worthy of a birth so noble, hapless
383
STATIUS
gramineos dedit herba toros et vimine querno
texta domus ; clausa arbutei sub cortice libri
membra tepent, suadetque leves cava fistula somnos,
et pecori commune solum, sed fata nee ilium 586
concessere larem ; viridi nam caespite terrae
proiectum temere et patulo caelum ore trahentem
dira canum rabies, morsu depasta cruento,
dissicit. hie vero attonitas ut nuntius aures 590
matris adit, pulsi ex animo genitorque pudorque
et metus : ipsa ultro saevis plangoribus amens
tecta replet, vacuumque ferens velamine pectus
occurrit confessa patri ; nee motus et atro
imperat — infandum I^cupientem occumbere leto. 595
sero memor thalami maestae solacia morti,
Phoebe, paras monstrum infandis Acheronte sub imo
conceptum Eumenidum thalamis, cui virginis ora
pectoraque ; aeternum stridens a vertice surgit
et ferrugineam frontem discriminat anguis. 600
haec tum dira lues nocturno squalida passu
inlabi thalamis, animasque a stirpe recentes
abripere altricum gremiis morsuque cruento
devesci et multum patrio pinguescere luctu.
haud tulit armorum praestans animique^ Coroebus 605
seque ultro lectis iuvenum, qui robore primi
famam posthabita faciles extendere vita,
obtulit. ilia novos ibat populata penates
portarum in bivio — lateri duo corpora parvum
dependent, et iam unca manus vitalibus haeret 610
ferratique ungues tenero sub corde tepescunt — :
obvius huic, latus omne virum stipante corona,
^ animique Pco : animisque D.
384
THEBAID, I. 583-612
infant, did thy grassy bed afford thee, or thy woven
home of oaken twigs ; enclosed in the fibre of arbutus-
bark thy hmbs are warm, and a hollow pipe coaxes
thee to gentle slumbers, while the flock shares thy
sleeping-ground. But not even such a home did the
fates permit, for, as he lay careless and drinking in
the day with open mouth, fierce ravening dogs
mangled the babe and took their fill with bloody
jaws. But when the tidings reached the mother's
horror-struck ears, father and shame and fear were
all forgot ; herself straightway she fills the house
with wild lamentation, all distraught, and baring her
breast meets her father with her tale of grief. Nor
is he moved, but bids her — Oh horrible ! — even as
she desires, suffer grim death. Too late remember-
ing thy union, O Phoebus, thou dost devise a solace
for her miserable fate, a monster conceived 'neath
lowest Acheron in the Furies' unhallowed lair : a
maiden's face and bosom has she, from her head an
ever-hissing snake rises erect, parting in twain her
livid brow. Then that foul pest, gliding at night with)
unseen movement into the chambers, tore from the\
breasts that suckled them lives newly-born, and with
blood-stained fangs gorged and fattened on the
country's grief. But Coroebus, foremost in prowess^
of arms and high courage, brooked it not, and with
chosen youths, unsurpassed in valour and ready at
life's hazard to enlarge their fame, went forth, a
willing champion. From dwellings newly ravaged
she was going, where in the gateway two roads meet,
the corpses of two little ones hung at her side, and
still her hooked talons claw their vitals and the iron
nails are warm in their young hearts. Thronged by
his band of heroes the youth rushed to the attack,
VOL. I 2 c 385
STATIUS
flt^ iuvenis, ferrumque ingens sub pectore duro
condidit, atque imas animae mucrone corusco
scrutatus latebras tandem sua monstra profundo 615
reddit habere lovi. iuvat ire et %isere iuxta
liventes in morte oeulos uterique nefandam
prolu\dem et crasso squalentia pectora tabo,
qua nostrae cecidere animae. stupet Inacha pubes,
magnaque post lacrimas etiamnum gaudia pallent. 620
hi trabibus duris, solacia vana dolori,
proterere exanimos artus asprosque molares
deculcare genis : nequit iram explere potestas.
illam et nocturno circum stridore volantes
impastae fugistis aves, rabidamque canum vim 625
oraque sicca ferunt trepidorum inhiasse luporum.
saevior in miseros fatis ultricis ademptae
Dehus insurgit, summaque biverticis umbra
Parnassi residens arcu crudehs iniquo
pestifera arma iacit, camposque et celsa Cyclopum 630
tecta superiecto nebularum incendit amictu.
labuntur dulces animae, Mors fila Sororum
ense metit captamque tenens fert manibus urbem.
quaerenti, quae causa, duci, quis ab aethere laevus
ignis et in totum regnaret Sirius annum, 635
idem auctor Paean rursus iubet ire cruento
inferias monstro iuvenes, qui caede potiti.
fortunate animi longumque in saecula digne
promeriture diem ! non tu pia degener arma
occuhs aut certae trepidas occurrere morti. 640
1 fit P : it w.
386
THEBAID, I. 613-640
and buried his broad blade in her cruel breast, and
with flashing steel probing deep the spirit's lurking-
place at length restored to nether Jove his monstrous
offspring. What joy to go and see at close hand
those eyes livid in death, the ghastly issue of her
womb, and her breasts clotted with foul corruption,
whereby our young lives perished ! Appalled stand
the Inachian youth, and their gladness, though great
now sorrow is ended, even yet is dim and pale.
With sharp stakes they mangle the dead limbs —
vain solace for their grief — and beat out the jagged
grinding teeth from her jaws : they can — yet cannot
glut their ire. Her did ye flee unfed, ye birds,
wheeling round with nocturnal clamour, and ravening
dogs, they say, and wolves gaped in terror upon her,
dry-mouthed. But against the unhappy youths the
Delian rises up fierce at the doom of his slain
avengeress, and seated on the shady top of twin-
peaked Parnassus with relentless bow he cruelly
scatters shafts that bring pestilence, and withers
beneath a misty shroud the fields and dwellings of
the Cyclopes." Pleasant lives droop and fail. Death
with his sword cuts through the Sisters' threads, and
hurries the stricken city to the shades. Our leader
then inquiring what the cause may be, what is this
baleful fire from heaven, why Sirius reigns throughout
the whole year, the word of the same god Paean
brings command, to sacrifice to the blood-stained
monster those youths that caused her death. O
valour heaven-blest ! O worth that will merit a long
age of fame ! No base craven thou to hide thy
devoted deed, or shun in fear a certain death !
" i.e., Argos, which the Cyclopes were supposed originally
to have built.
387
ST ATI us
comminus or a ferens Cirrhaei in limine templi
constitit et sacras ita vocibus asperat iras :
' non missus, Thymbraee, tuos siipplexve penates
advenio : mea me pietas et conscia virtus
has egere vias. ego sum, qui caede subegi, 645
Phoebe, tuum mortale nefas, quern nubibus atris
et squalente die, nigra quern tabe sinistri
quaeris, inique, poh. quodsi monstra effera magnis
cara adeo superis, iacturaque vilior orbi 649
mors hominum et saevo tanta inclementia caelo est,
quid meruere Argi ? me, me, divum optime, solum
obiecisse caput fatis praestabat. an illud
lene^ magis cordi, quod desolata domorum
tecta vides, ignique datis cultoribus omnis
lucet^ ager ? sed quid fando tua tela manusque 655
demoror ? exspectant matres, supremaque fiunt
vota mihi. satis est : merui, ne parcere velles.
proinde move pharetras arcusque intende sonoros
insignemque animam leto demitte ; sed ilium,
pallidus Inachiis qui desuper imminet Argis, 660
dum morior, dispelle globum.'
Sors aequa merentes
respicit. ardentem tenuit reverentia caedis
Letoiden, tristemque viro submissus honorem
largitur vitae ; nostro mala nubila caelo
diffugiunt, at tu stupefacti a limine Phoebi 665
exoratus abis. inde haec stata sacra quotannis
sollemnes recolunt epulae, Phoebeaque placat
^ lene Pw : laeve Gronovius : saeve Bentlei/ : an illud lene?
Garrod.
^ lucet Poo : luget Heinsius.
888
THEBAID, I. 641-667
Unabashed he stood on the threshold of Cirrha's
temple, and with these words gives fierce utterance
to his sacred rage : ' Not sent by any, nor suppliant,
O Thymbraean," do I approach thy shrine : duty and
consciousness of right have turned my steps this
way. I am he, O Phoebus, who laid low thy deadly
scourge, I am he whom thou, ruthless one, dost seek
out by poison-cloud, and the light of day defiled, and
the black corruption of a baleful heaven. But even "' ''''^-;
if raging monsters be so dear to the gods above, and ? vyi-^v^
the destruction of men a cheaper loss to the world, ^'
and heaven be so stern and pitiless, in what have
the Argives sinned ? My life, my life alone, most
righteous of the gods, should be offered to the fates !
Or is it more soothing to thy heart that thou seest
homesteads desolate, and the countryside lit up by
the burning roofs of husbandmen ? But why by
speaking do I delay the weapons of thy might ? our
mothers are waiting, and the last prayers for me are
being uttered. Enough : I have deserved that thou
should'st be merciless. Bring then thy quiver, and
stretch thy sounding bow, and send a noble soul to
death ! but, even wliile I die, dispel the gathered
mist tliat from on high hangs pallid over Inachian
Argos.'
Equity hath regard for the deserving. Awe of
slaughter took hold on Leto's fiery son, and yielding
he grants the hero the sad boon of life ; the deadly
clouds fly scattering from our heaven, while thou,
thy prayer heard, departest from marvelling Phoebus'
door. Thenceforward do we in solemn banquet
yearly renew the appointed sacrifice, and placate the
" A title of Apollo, from fiis shrine at Thj^mbra in the
Troad, cf. 699.
389
STATIUS
templa novatus honos. has forte invisitis aras
vos quae progenies ? quamquam Calydonius Oeneus
et Parthaoniae, si dudum certus ad aures 670
clamor iit, tibi iura domus. tu pande, quis Argos
advenias, quando hae variis sermonibus horae."
Deiecit maestos extemplo Ismenius heros
in terram vultus, taciteque ad Tydea laesum
obliquare oculos ; turn longa silentia movit : 675
" non super hos divum tibi sum quaerendus honores,
unde genus, quae terra mihi, quis defluat ordo
sanguinis antiqui : piget inter sacra fateri.
sed si praecipitant miserum cognoscere curae,
Cadmus origo patrum, tellus Mavortia Thebe, 680
est genetrix locasta mihi." tum motus Adrastus
hospitiis — agnovit enim : — " quid nota recondis ?
scimus " ait, " nee sic aversum fama Mycenis
volvit iter, regnum et furias oculosque pudentes
novit et Arctois si quis de solibus horret 685
quique bibit Gangen aut nigrum occasibus intrat
Oceanum, et si quos incerto htore Syrtes
destituunt. ne perge queri casusque priorum
adnumerare tibi : nostro quoque sanguine multum
erravit pietas, nee culpa nepotibus obstat. 690
tu modo dissimilis rebus mereare secundis
excusare tuos. et iam temone supino
languet Hyperboreae glaciahs portitor Ursae.
fundite vina focis, servatoremque parentum
Letoiden votis iterumque iterumque canamus. 695
" Parthaon was a king of Calydon, father of Oeneus.
'' Theban, from the river Ismenus.
" Statins has quaintly combined the two names of the
constellation, the Bear and the Wain ; by the Hyperborean
Bear he simply means the North, so that the phrase cor-
responds to Spenser's " the Northern Waggoner."
390
THEBAID, I. 668-695
shrine of Phoebus in recurring festival. Of what
stock come ye, whom chance has led to these our
altars ? though, if but now my ears did rightly catch
your outcry, Oeneus of Calydon is thy sire, and thine
the lordship of Parthaonia's house.** But thou, do
thou reveal who thou art that comest thus to Argos,
since now the hour permits of varied discourse."
Straightway did the Ismenian ^ hero bend his sad
looks to earth, and cast at injured Tydeus a silent
sidelong glance ; then after a long pause he spoke :
" Not at these honours paid to heaven is it meet to
ask me of my birth or land or ancient descent of
blood ; hard is it to confess the truth amid the holy
rites. But if your wish is urgent to know my un-
happy tale, Cadmus was the ancestor of my sires,
my land Mavortian Thebes, my mother is Jocasta."
Then Adrastus, moved to friendly compassion — for
he recognized him — said : " Why hide what all have
heard ? this know we, nor doth Fame journey so
distant from Mycenae. Yea, of that reign, and the
madness, and the eyes that knew shame of their
seeing, even he hath heard who shivers 'neath an
Arctic sun, and he who drinks of Ganges, or sails
into the Ocean darkening to the west, and they whom
the shifting shoreline of the Syrtes fails. Cease to
lament, or to recount the woes of thy fathers : in
our house also hath there been many a fall from duty,
but past error binds not posterity. Only do thou,
unlike to them, win by fortune's favour this reward,
to redeem thy kindred. And now the frosty wag-
oner of the Hyperborean Bear " droops languidly,
with backward slanting pole. Pour your wine upon
the altar-hearths, and chant we our prayer, again and
yet again, to Leto's son, the saviour of our fathers !
391
ST ATI us
Phoebe parens, seu te Lyciae Patarea nivosis
exercent dumeta iugis, seu rore pudico
Castaliae flavos amor est tibi mergere crines,
seu Troiam Thymbraeus habes, ubi fama volentem
ingratis Phrygios umeris subiisse molares, 700
seu iuvat Aegaeum feriens Latonius umbra
Cynthus et adsiduam pelago non quaerere Delon :
tela tibi longeque feros lentandus in hostes
areus, et aetherii dono cessere parentes
aeternum florere genas, tu doctus iniquas 705
Parcarum praenosse manus fatumque quod ultrast
et summo placitura lovi, quis letifer annus,
bella quibus populis, quae mutent sceptra cometae,
tu Phryga submittis citharae, tu matris honori
terrigenam Tityon Stygiis extendis harenis ; 710
te viridis Python Thebanaque mater ovantem
horruit in pharetris, ultrix tibi torva Megaera
ieiunum Phlegyan subter cava saxa iacentem
aeterno premit accubitu dapibusque profanis
instimulat, sed mixta famem fastidia vineunt : 715
adsis, o memor hospitii, lunoniaque ai"va
dexter ames, seu te roseum Titana vocari
gentis Achaemeniae ritu, seu praestat Osirin
frugiferum, seu Persei sub rupibus antri
indignata sequi torquentem cornua Mithram." 720
" i.e., hunting. * i.e., in building Troy.
" The mountain in Delos. ^ INIarsyas.
* Niobe, daughter of Cadmus.
f A Lapith who had set fire to Apollo's temple.
^ i.e., Argos.
'' The reference is to the sun-worship of the Persians ;
Mithras is frequently represented dragging a bull to be
sacrificed. " Persean," from Perses, son of Perseus and
Andromeda, founder of the Persian nation, cf. Hdt. vii. 61.
392
THP:BAID, I. G9G-720
Phoebus, Sire ! whether the copses of Patara and
Lycia's snowy uplands keep thee busy," or thou
dehghtest to bathe thy golden hair in Castalia's pure
dew, or M'hether as Thymbra's lord thou dwellest in
Troy, where they say thou didst willingly bear on
thankless shoulders blocks of Phrygian stone, '' or
whether Latonian Cynthus '^ pleases thee, casting his
shadow on the Aegean wave, and Delos, settled sure
in the deep, nor needing now thy search, — thine are
the arrows and the bending of the bows against the
savage enemy afar ; to thee did celestial parents
grant thy cheeks' eternal bloom ; thou art skilled to
foreknow Fate's cruel handiwork, and the destiny
that lies beyond, and high Jove's pleasure, to what
peoples pestilence cometh or wars, Avhat change of
sceptres comets bring ; thou makest the Phrygian '^
subject to thy lyre, and for thy mother's honour
dost stretch the earth-born Tityos on the Stygian
sands ; thee the green Python and the Theban
mother * horror-struck beheld triumphant with thy
quiver, to avenge thee grim Megaera holds fast the
starving Phlegyas,-'' who lies ever pressed beneath
the cavernous rocks, and tortures him with the un-
holy feast, but mingled loathing defeats his hunger :
be thou present to our succour, mindful of our
hospitality, and shed on the fields of Juno ^ the
blessings of thy love, whether 'tis right to call thee
rosy Titan, in the fashion of the Achaemenian
race,'' or Osiris bringer of the harvest, or Mithras,
that beneath the rocky Persean cave strains at the
reluctant-following horns."
39s
LIBER II
Interea gelidis Maia satus aliger umbris
iussa gerens magni remeat Io\is ; undique pigrae
ire vetant nubes et turbidus impUcat aer,
nee zephyri rapuere gradum, sed foeda silentis
aura poll. Styx inde novem circumflua campis,i 5
hinc obiecta vias torrentum incendia cludunt.
pone senex trepida succedit Laius umbra
vulnere tardus adhuc ; capulo nam largius illi
transabiit animam^ cognatis ictibus ensis
impius, et primas Furiarum pertulit iras ; 10
it tamen et mediea firmat vestigia \arga.
tum steriles luci possessaque manibus arva
et ferrugineum nemus adstupet, ipsaque Tellus
miratur patuisse retro, nee li\ida tabes
invidiae functis quamquam et iam lumine cassis 15
defuit. unus ibi ante alios, cui laeva voluntas
semper et ad superos — hinc et gra\as exitus ae\i—
insultare malis rebusque aegrescere laetis,
" vade " ait, " o felix, quoscumque vocaris in usus,
seu lovis imperio, seu maior adegit Erinys 20
ire diem contra, seu te furiata sacerdos
Thessalis arcano iubet emigrare sepulcro,
heu dulces visure polos solemque reBctum
^ campis Pw : ripis Bentley.
^ animam P : costas w.
.S94
BOOK II
Meanwhile the winged son of Maia returns from
the cold shades, fulfilling the eri'and of great Jove ;
on every side sluggish clouds hinder his way and
misty air enfolds him, no Zephyrs wafted his course,
but the foul vapours of the silent world. On this
side Styx encircling its nine regions, on that a barrier
of fiery torrents encloses his path. Behind him
follows old Laius' trembhng shade, still halting from
his wound ; for deeper than the hilt had his kins-
man's impious swordthrust pierced into his hfe and
sped the first blow of Avenging Wrath ; yet on he
goes, strengthening his steps with the healing wand.
Then barren woods and spirit-haunted fields and
groves of lurid hue stand in amaze, and Earth herself
marvels that the backward road lies open, nor even
to the dead and those already bereft of light was
lacking the livid blight of envy. One there, per-
versely eager beyond the rest ever to revile the
gods — thus indeed had he come by a grievous doom
— and to repine at happiness, cries : " Good speed,
thou lucky one, on what behest soever summoned,
whether by Jove's command, or whether an over-
mastering Fury drive thee to meet the day, or
frenzied witch of Thessaly bid thee come forth from
thy secret sepulchre : alas ! thou that wilt see the
pleasant sky and the sunhght thou didst leave behind
395
STATIUS
et virides terras et puros fontibus amnes,
tristior has iterum tamen intrature tenebras." 25
illos ut caeco recubans in limine sensit
Cerberus atque omnes^ capitum subrexit hiatus
saevus et intranti populo ; iam nigra tuniebat
colla minax, iam sparsa solo turbaverat ossa,
ni deus horrentem Lethaeo vimine mulcens 30
ferrea tergemino domuisset lumina somno.
Est locus — Inachiae dixerunt Taenara gentes — ,
qua formidatum Maleae spumantis in auras
it caput et nullos admittit culmine \isus.
stat sublimis apex ventosque imbresque serenus 35
despicit et tantum fessis insiditur astris.
illic exhausti posuere cubilia venti,
fulminibusque iter est^ ; medium cava nubila mentis
insumpsere latus, summos nee praepetis alae
plausus adit colles, nee rauca tonitrua pulsant.^ 40
ast ubi prona dies, longos super aequora fines
exigit atque ingens medio natat umbra profundo.
interiore sinu frangentia litora curvat
Taenaros, expositos non audax scandere^ fluctus.
illic Aegaeo Neptunus gurgite fessos 45
in portum deducit equos, prior haurit harenas
ungula, postremi solvuntur in aequora pisces.
hoc, ut fama, loco pallentes devius umbras
trames agit nigrique Io\is vacua atria ditat
mortibus, Arcadii perhibent si vera coloni, 50
^ atque omnes Pw : aeque Unger, alte Lachmann : angui-
comus Koch. ^ iter est Pw : quies conj. Postgate.
^ U. 37-40 omitted by Pw, though inserted in the margin by
another hand in PBQ. Elsewhere in Statins tonitrus is
masculine.
* frangentia . . . scandere Pw : scandentia . . . frangere
Koestlin (cf. Prop. iv. 1. 125): scindere Kohlnmnn (but of.
Ach. i. 449).
396
THEBAID, II. 24-50
and the green earth and the pure river-springs, yet
more sadly wilt return again to this darkness."
Cerberus lying on the murky threshold perceived
them, and reared up with all his mouths wide agape,
fierce even to entering folk ; but now his black
neck swelled up all threatening, now had he torn
and scattered their bones upon the ground, had not
the god with branch Lethaean soothed his bristling
frame and quelled with threefold slumber the steely
glare.
There is a place — named Taenarum by the Inachian
folk — where foaming Malea's dreaded headland rises
into the air, nor suffers any vision to reach its summit.
Sublime stands the peak and looks down serene on
winds and rain, and only to weary stars affords a
resting-place. There tired winds find repose, and
there the hghtnings have their path ; hollow clouds
hold the mountain's midmost flanks, and never beat
of soaring wing comes nigh the topmost ranges nor
the hoarse clap of thunder. But when the day in-
clines towards its setting, a vast shadow casts its
fringes wide over the level waters, and floats upon
mid-sea. Around an inner bay Taenaros curves his
broken shore-line, not bold to breast the outer
waves. There Neptune brings home to haven his
coursers wearied by the Aegean flood ; in front their
hooves paw the sand, behind, they end in fishy tails
beneath the water. In this region, so 'tis said, a
hidden path conducts the pallid ghosts, and dowers
with many a death the spacious halls of swarthy
Jove." If Arcadian husbandmen speak truth, shrieks
" i.e., Pluto.
397
STATIUS
stridor ibi et gemitus poenarum, atroque tumultu
fervet ager ; saepe Eumenidum vocesque manusque
in medium sonuere diem, Letique^ triformis
ianitor agricolas campis auditus abegit.
Hac et tunc fusca volucer deus obsitus umbra 55
exsilit ad superos, infernaque nubila vultu
discutit et vivis adflatibus ora serenat.
inde per Arcturum mediaeque silentia Lunae
arva super populosque meat. Sopor obvius illi
Noctis agebat equos, trepidusque adsurgit honori 60
numinis et recto decedit limite caeli.
inferior volat umbra deo, praereptaque noscit
sidera principiumque sui ; iamque ardua Cirrhae
pollutamque suo despectat Phocida busto.
ventum erat ad Thebas ; gemuit prope limina nati 65
Laius et notos cunctatus inire penates.
ut vero et celsis suamet^ iuga nixa columnis
vidit et infectos etiamnum sanguine currus,
paene retro turbatus abit : nee summa Tonantis
iussa nee Arcadiae retinent spiramina virgae. 70
Et tunc forte dies noto signata Tonantis
fubnine, praerupti cum te, tener Euhie, partus
transmisere patri. Tyriis ea causa colonis
insomnem ludo certatim educere noctem
suaserat ; efFusi passim per tecta, per agros, 75
serta inter vacuosque mero crateras anhelum
proflabant sub luce deum ; tunc plurima buxus
^ Letique Pco : Lethesque Friesemann.
^ suamet Pw : sedem et L.
" Mercury was born in Arcadia.
* Bacchus, untimely born from Semele who was blasted
by the lightning of Jove, and lodged in his father's thigh
till he was ripe for birth.
" i.e., Thebans.
398
THEBAID, II. 51-77
are heard there and the moaning of the damned,
and the land is all astir with hm-rying grisly forms ;
often the cries and blows of the Furies have resounded
till mid-day, and the baying of Death's tri-formed
warder has scared the rustics from the fields.
By this way then did the nimble god, all wrapped
about with dusky shadow, leap forth to the upper
world, and shake from his face the vapours of the
nether region, and make serene his countenance with
draughts of living air. Thence by Arcturus and the
moon's mid silences o'er fields and cities he wends
his way. Sleep, driving Night's coursers, met him,
and rose abashed to salute his godhead, turning
aside from his celestial path. Beneath the god flies
the shade, and knows again his lost stars and the
land that bore him ; and now he looks down on
Cirrha's heights and Phocis, that his own corpse
polluted. Now they were come to Thebes, and hard
by his own son's threshold Laius groaned, tarrying
to enter the well-known house. But when he saw
his own yoke hanging on the lofty pillars and the
chariot still stained with blood, almost had he in
wild fear turned back and fled, nor could the
Thunderer's high commands restrain him, nor the
waving of the Arcadian '^ wand.
That too chanced to be the day marked by the
well-known falling of the Thunderer's brand, when
thy birth's untimely hastening, O infant Euhius,''
caused thy sire to take thee to himself. Therein
had the Tyrian settlers '^ found cause to pass the
night in sleepless rivalry of sport ; scattered far and
wide through house and field, amid garlands and
mixing-bowls drained dry they panted forth the wine-
god under the light of day ; then many a boxwood
399
ST ATI us
aeraque taurines sonitu vincentia pulsus.^
ipse etiam gaudens nemorosa per avia sanas
impulerat matres Baccho meliore Cithaeron ; 80
qualia per Rhodopen rabido convivia coetu
Bistones aut mediae ponunt convallibus Ossae.
illis semianinium pecus exeussaeque leonuni
ore dapes, et lacte novo domuisse furorem^
luxus : at Ogygii si quando adflavit laechi 85
saevus odor, tune saxa manu, tunc pocula pulchrum
spargere et immerito sociorurn sanguine fuso
instaurare diem festasque reponere mensasj
Nox ea, cum tacita volucer Cyllenius aura
regis Echionii stratis adlapsus, ubi ingens 90
fuderat Assyriis exstructa tapetibus alto
membra toro. pro gnara nihil mortalia fati
corda sui ! capit ille dapes, habet ille soporem.
tunc senior quae iussus agit, neu falsa videri
noctis imago queat, longaevi vatis opacos 95
Tiresiae vultus vocemque et vellera nota
induitur. mansere comae propexaque mento
canities pallorque suus, sed falsa cucurrit
infula per crines, glaucaeque innexus olivae
\ittarum pi'ovenit honos : dehinc tangere ramo 100
pectora et has visus fatorum expromere voces :
" non somni tibi tempus, iners, qui nocte sub alta,
germani secure, iaces, ingentia dudum
acta vocant rerumque graves, ignave, paratus.
tu, veluti magnum si^ iam tollentibus austris 105
^ taiirinos sonitu vincentia pulsus Pu> (ducentia X with
vincentia icritten over) : Tyrrhenes sonitus vincentia pulsu
Laclmumn. ^ furorem P : cruorem w. ^ si w : se P.
" Thracians. * Eteocles.
"^ Probably with reference to Sardanapalus (Assurbanipal),
the Assyrian, proverbial for luxury (Juv. x. 362).
400
THEBAID, II. 78-105
pipe resounded and cymbals louder than the beat of
bull-hide drum. Cithaeron himself exultant had set
prudent matrons flocking in a nobler frenzy through
his pathless groves : even as the Bistonians " in wild
concourse hold their revels upon Rhodope or in the
depths of Ossa's vales. For them one of the flock
snatched half-alive from the lion's jaw is a feast, and
to abate their fury with new milk is luxury ; but
when the fierce fragrance of Ogygian lacchus breaths
upon them, then how glorious to fling stones and
goblets, and with the shedding of guiltless comrades'
blood to begin the day anew and appoint once more
the festal banquet !
Such was the night when the swift Cyllenian glided
down on the silent air to the couch of the Echionian
prince, '' where in huge bulk he had flung his limbs on
a bed piled high with Assyrian '^ coverlets. Alas !
for mortal hearts that know not their destiny ! He
feasts and he slumbers. Then the old man performs
what he is bidden, and, lest he seem but a false
phantom of the night, puts on the darkened visage
of the ancient seer Tiresias, and his voice and well-
known woollen bands. His own long hair and hoary
beard combed downward from the chin remain, and
his own pallid hue, but through his locks there runs
the feigned circlet, and the sacred fillets entwined
with the grey olive are plain to view. Then he
seemed to touch his breast with the olive bough and
give utterance to these fateful words : " This is no
time of sleep for thee, thou sluggard, who liest
careless of thy brother in the depth of night ! long
time have great deeds summoned thee, slothful one,
and weighty preparings for what shall be. But
thou, even as if some ship's captain, while the south
VOL. I 2d 401
ST ATI us
Ionium nigra iaceat sub nube magister
^■j\
(^^"5J^■ '
■JL'V^
immemor armorum versantisque aequora clavi,
cunctaris. iamque ille no vis — scit Fama — superbit
conubiis viresque parat, quis regna capessat,
quis neget, inque tua senium sibi destinat aula. 110
dant animos socer augurio fatalis Adrastus
dotalesque Argi, nee non in foedera vitae
pollutus placuit fraterno sanguine Tydeus.
hinc tumor, et longus fratri promitteris exsul,
ipse deum genitor tibi me miseratus ab alto 115
mittit : habe Thebas, caecumque cupidine regni
ausurumque eadem germanum expelle, nee ultra
fraternos inhiantem obitus sine fidere coeptis
fraudibus aut Cadmo dominas inferre Mycenas."
Dixit, et abscedens — etenim iam pallida turbant 120
sidera lucis equi — ramos ac vellera fronti
deripuit, confessus avum, dirique nepotis
incubuit stratis, iugulum mox caede patentem
nudat et undanti perfundit vulnere soninum.
illi rupta quies, attolUt membra toroque 125
eripitur^ plenus monstris, vanumque cruorem
excutiens simul horret avum fratremque requirit.
quaBs ubi audito venantum murmtire tigris
horruit in maculas somnosque excussit inertes ;
bella cupit laxatque genas et temperat ungues, 130
mox ruit in turmas natisque alimenta cruentis
^ eripitur P : erigitur w.
402
THEBAID, II. 106-131
winds are already raising the billows on the Ionian
main, should He idle beneath a black storm-cloud,
forgetful of his tackling and of the rudder that sways
the waters, — thou tarriest. And he even now — so
Fame can tell — waxes proud of his new wedlock, and
gets to himself might whereby to seize the realm and
refuse thee thy part, and appoints himself an old age
in thy halls. Adrastus, foretold by omen to be the
father of his bride, and the Argive dowry raise his
spirits, yea, and Tydeus, stained by a brother's
blood, hath he graciously received into a lifelong
bond. Hence swelling pride, and a promise to thy
brother of long exile for thee. The sire of gods
himself in pity sends me down to thee from on high :
hold fast to Thebes, and drive away thy kinsman who
is blind with lust of rule, and will dare as much
against thyself, nor suffer him all agape for a brother's
death to trust any more in the treachery he devises,
nor to bring Mycenae to queen it over Cadmus."
He spoke, and departing — for already the sun's
horses were driving in rout the pale stars- — tore from
his head the chaplet and woollen bands, and revealed
himself his grandsire, then leaning over his dread
grandson's couch bared his throat's open wound and
flooded his sleep with streaming blood. The other,
startled from his slumbers, springs up and leaps from
the couch, full of horror, and shaking from him the
phantom blood shrinks appalled from his grandsire
and seeks out his brother. Just as when a tigress
hearing the noise of hunters has grimly faced the
nets and shaken off lazy sleep ; 'tis war she yearns
for, and she loosens her jaws and trims her talons,
and soon she rushes amid the companies and carries
off in her mouth a man still breathing, to feed her
403
ST ATI us
spirantem fert ore virum : sic excitus ira
ductor in absentem consumit proelia fratrem.
Et iam Mygdoniis elata cubilibus alto
dispulerat^ caelo gelidas Aurora tenebras, 135
rorantes excussa comas multumque sequenti
sole rubens ; illi roseus per nubila seras
advertit flanimas alienumque aethera tardo
Lucifer exit equo, donee pater igneus orbem
impleat atque ipsi radios vetet esse soi-ori : _140
cum senior Talaionides nee longa morati
Dircaeusque gradum pariterque Acheloius heros
corripuere toris. illos post verbera fessos
exceptamque hiemem cornu perfuderat omni
Somnus ; at Inachio tenuis sub pectore regi 145
tracta quies, dum mente deos inceptaque versat
hospitia, et quae sint generis adscita repertis
fata movet. postquam mediis in sedibus aulae
congressi inque vicem dextras iunxere locumque,
quo serere arcanas aptum atque evolvere curas, 150
insidunt, prior his dubios compellat Adrastus :
" egregii iuvenum, quos non sine numine regnis
invexit nox dextra meis, quibus ipse per imbres
fulminibus mixtos intempestumque Tonantem
has mens usque domos vestigia fecit Apollo, 155
non equidem obscurum vobis plebique Pelasgae
esse rear, quantis conubia nostra procorum
turba petant studiis ; geminae mihi namque, nepotum
laeta fides, aequo pubescunt sidere natae.
quantus honos quantusque pudor, ne credite patri, 160
1 dispulerat Lachmann : impulerat Pj).
° Tithonus, her husband, was son of Laomedon. king of
Phrygia ; Mygdonia was a part of Phrygia.
*" Adrastus was the son of Talaus ; Dirce was a fountain
at Thebes, Achelous a river in Aetoha.
404
THEBAID, II. 132-lGO
savage whelps ; even so stirred by rage the chieftain
dreams of war against his absent brother.
And now Aurora rising from her Mygdonian *
resting-place had scattered the cold shadows from the
high heaven, and shaking the dew-drops from her
hair blushed deep in the sun's pursuing beams ;
toward her through the clouds the rosy morning-star
turns his late fires, and with slow steed leaves an
alien world, until the fiery father's orb be full re-
plenished and he forbid his sister to usurp his rays.
Then did the aged son of Talaus and with no long
delay the heroes twain of Dirce and of Achelous ^
rise swiftly from their couches. Upon them, wearied
by blows and endurance of the storm, had Sleep
poured all his horn's bounty ; but scant repose
visited the breast of the Inachian monarch, while in
his thoughts he broods upon heaven's will and the
new ties of friendship, and wonders what destinies
he is admitting to his house in his new-found sons-in-
law. They meet in the mid chambers of the palace,
and draw nigh and grasp each other's hand in turn,
then seat themselves where they may best make
interchange of secret counsel, and, the others hesitat-
ing, Adrastus thus begins : " Peerless youths, whom
a propitious night has brought heaven-prompted to
my realm, whose steps my own Apollo has guided
even to my palace in spite of rain and lightning-flash
and the Thunderer's unseasonable sky, I cannot
deem it unknown to you and the Pelasgian folk, how
zealous a crowd of suitors seeks alliance with my
house ; for my two daughters, joyful pledge of
grandchildren, are reaching equal years of full-grown
maidenhood. How great their beauty and their
modesty, trust not a father's word, nay, ye could
405
ST ATI us
et super hesternas licuit cognoscere mensas.
has tumidi solio et late dominantibus armis
optavere viri — longum enumerare Pheraeos
Oebaliosque duces — ^et Achaea per oppida matres
spem generis, nee plura tuus despexerat Oeneus 165
foedera Pisaeisque socer metuendus habenis.
sed mihi nee Sparta genitos nee ab Elide missos
iungere fas generos : vobis hie sanguis et aulae
cura meae longo pi'omittitur ordine fati.
di bene, quod tales stirpemque animosque venitis, 170
ut responsa iuvent : hie durae tempore noctis
partus hones, haec ilia venit post verbera merces."
Audierant, fixosque oculos per mutua paulum
era tenent, visique inter sese ordine fandi
cedere. sed cunctis Tydeus audentior actis 175
incipit : " o quam te parcuni in praeconia famae
mens agitat matura tuae, quantumque ferentem
fortunam virtute domas ! cui cedat Adrastus
imperiis ? quis te soho Sicyonis a\dtae
excitum infrenos componere legibus Argos 180
nesciat ? atque utinam his manibus permittere gentis,
luppiter aeque, veHs, quas Doricus alligat intus^
Isthmos et alterno quas margine submovet infra !
non fugeret diras lux intercisa Mycenas,
saeva nee Eleae gemerent certamina valles,^ 185
Eumenidesque ahis ahae sub regibus, et quae
^ intus P : undis w.
^ After this line Duebner, Mueller, Kohlmann and Post-
gate recognize a lacuna ; it seems sufficient to understand
fuissent in 186.
" i.e., Thessalian and Spartan, from N. and S. Greece.
' Oenomaus, who challenged the suitors of Hippodamia
to a chariot-race, and slew them when they lost.
" See note on i. 325. "* See note oni'. 166.
406 n
THEBAID, 11. 161-186
judge at yesterday's banquet. Many a one, with
throne and wide-extending sway to boast of, has
desired them — 'twere long to tell the tale of Pheraean
and Oebalian princes " — and mothers also throughout
the towns of Achaea, for hope of posterity ; nor did
Oeneus thy own father despise more proffered unions,
nor the sire of Pisa's bride with his terrible chariot-
reins.'' But none of Spartan birth nor of them that
liail from Ehs may I choose for my daughters' con-
sorts : to you doth ancient destiny pledge my blood
and the guardianship of my halls. The gods are
gracious, in that ye come to me so high in birth and
spirit that I rejoice in their oracles. This is the
prize that the night's sufferings have won, tliis is
your reward for the blows ye bore."
They heard him, and for a while held their eyes
fixed in mutual gaze, seeming to yield each other
place of speech. But Tydeus, in every deed more
daring, begins : " O how sparingly doth thy sage
mind impel thee to proclaim thy own renown,
and how greatly by worth dost thou outdo all
fortune's favour ! To whom should Adrastus yield
in power ? Who knows not that thou, when driven
from thy ancestral Sicyon's throne, didst give law
to turbulent Argos ? and would that thou wert
willing, O just Jupiter, to entrust to these hands the
races that Dorian Isthmus contains within the
interior lands, and those which it removes beneath
its other bound ! The interrupted light would not
have fled from dire Mycenae,'^ nor would the vales
of Elis have groaned at the fierce contests,** nor
divers Furies afflicted divers kings, nor happened all
407
STATIUS
tu potior, Thebane, queri : nos vero volentes
expositique animis." sic interfatus et alter
subicit : " anne aliquis soceros accedere tales
abnuat ? exsulibus quaniquani patriaque fugatis 190
nondum laeta Venus, tamen omnis corde resedit
tristitia, adfixique animo cessere dolores.
nee minus haec laeti trahimus solacia, quam si
praecipiti convulsa noto prospectet amicam
puppis humum. iuvat ingressos felicia regni 195
omina, quod superest fati vitaeque laborum
fortune: transire tu5." nee plura morati
consurgunt, dictis impensius aggerat omne
promissum Inachius pater, auxilioque futurum
et patriis spondet reduces inducere regnisj 200
Ergo alacres Argi, fuso rumor e per urbem
advenisse duci generos primisque hymenaeis
egregiam Argian nee formae laude secundam
Deipylen tumida iam virginitate iugari,
gaudia mente parant ; socias it Fama per urbes, 205
finitimisque agitatur agris procul usque Lycaeos
Partheniosque super saltus Ephyraeaque rura
nee minus Ogygias eadem dea turbida Thebas
insilit. haec totis perfundit moenia pinnis
Labdaciumque ducem praemissae consona nocti 210
territat ; hospitia et thalamos et foedera regni
permixtumque genus — quae tanta licentia monstro,
quis furor ? — et iam^ bella canit.
^ furor ? et iam Lachmann : furor est iam Pw.
" I understand "fuissent" with "Eumenides"and "quae,"
etc.
408
THEBAID, II. 187-213
that thou, O Theban, canst best bewail." We verily
are willing, and our hearts are open to thee." So
spake he, and the other added : " Would any one
refuse to welcome such a father of his bride ? Though
Venus smile not yet upon us exiles, banished from
our land, nevertheless all sorrows of our hearts are
calmed, and the grief is gone that held fast upon our
minds. No less joyfully do we take unto us this
solace, than a ship rent by the tearing gale beholds
the friendly shore. We delight to enter upon a
reign of happy omen, and to pass, under thy destiny,
what remains of our allotted lives and labours."
Without more ado they i-ise, and the Inachian sire
adds weight of eager words to every promise, and
vows that he will succour them and bring them back
to their fathers' realms.
The Argives, therefore, as the report spreads
through the city that husbands for his daughters
have come to the king's court, and that illustrious
Argia, and Deipyle famed no less for beauty, are
giving in wedlock their lusty maidenhood, eagerly
prepare for great rejoicing. Fame flies through the
kindred cities, and is carried from lip to lip in the
neighbouring lands even as far as the Lycaean and
beyond Parthenian glades and the Ephyrean ''
countryside, nor less does the same tumultuous
goddess descend upon Ogygian Thebes. With wings
full-stretched she broods over those walls, bringing
terror that accords with the past night to the Lab-
dacian chief : the welcome and the marriage does
she relate, and the royal covenant and the union of
houses — what mad licence in the devilish monster's
tongue ! — and at last she tells of war.
'' Ephyre was an old name of Corinth.
409
STATIUS
Diffuderat Argos
exspectata dies : laeto regalia coetu
atria complentur, species est cernere avorum 215
comminus et vivis certantia vultibus aera.
tantum ausae perferre manus ! pater ipse bicornis
in laevum prona nixus sedet Inaehus urna ;
hunc tegit lasiusque senex placidusque Phoroneus,
et bellator Abas^ indignatusque Tonantem 220
Acrisius Inudoque ferens caput ense Coroebus,
torvaque iam Danai facinus meditantis imago ;
exin mille duces, foribus tum^ immissa superbis
unda fremit volgi, procerum manus omnis et alto
quis propior de rege gradus, stant ordine primi. 225
interior sacris calet et sonat aula tumultu
femineo ; casta matrem^ cinxere corona
Argolides, pars virginibus circum undique fusae
foedera conciliant nova solanturque timorem.
ibant insignes vultuque habituque verendo 230
Candida purpureum fusae super ora pudorem
deiectaeque genas ; tacite subit ille supremus
virginitatis amor, primaeque modestia culpae
eonfundit vultus ; tunc ora rigantur honestis
imbribus, et teneros lacrimae iuvere parentes. 235
non secus ac supero pariter si cardine lapsae
Pallas et asperior Phoebi soror, utraque telis,
utraque torva genis flavoque in vertice nodo,
ilia suas Cyntho comites agat, haec Aracyntho ;
^ turn Baehrens : cum Pco. ^ matrem PKQ : matrum w.
" Or perhaps, " had gladdened the Argives," by an
extension of " animum diifundere," cf. Ov. A. A, i. 218
" diifundetque animos omnibus ista dies."
* Because Jupiter visited his daughter Danae in the
brazen tower. For Coroebus see i. 605 sq. The " murder "
was that of their husbands by the Danaides.
410
THEBAID, II. 213-239
The long-expected day had spread the Argives all
abroad '^ : the royal halls are filled with joyous gather-
ing, here may they look face to face upon their
forefathers, and see bronzes that vie with the living
countenance. So much hath skill dared and wrought !
Father Inachus himself, twin-horned, leans leftward
upon his tilted urn ; old lasius supports him and calm
Phoroneus and wari'ior Abas, and Acrisius angry with
the Thunderer,'' and Coroebus bearing a head upon his
naked sword, and the grim likeness of Danaus already
meditating murder ; and many a prince thereafter.
Then the common folk in clamorous flood are given
entrance at the proud portals, while the whole com-
pany of chiefs and all who in degree stand nigh the
monarch's majesty take first place of rank. Within,
the palace is all aglow with sacrificial fires, and loud
with female tumult ; a chaste band of Argive women
surrounds the mother-queen, others thronging about
the maidens reconcile them to the new bonds and
reassure their timorous hearts. They moved in
splendour and majesty of look and dress, with eyes
cast down and modest blush suifusing all their fair-
ness ; that last regretful love of maidenhood steals
silently into their hearts, and the first shame of guilt
overwhelms their countenances ; then a generous
rain bedews their cheeks, and tears bring joy to their
tender-hearted parents. Just so might Pallas and
Phoebus' sterner sister " glide down together from
high heaven, terrible alike in armour and in looks,
and with golden hair braided on their heads, bringing
their maiden company, from Cynthus she and she
* i.e., Diana, as the huntress ; " sterner," perhaps by com-
parison with other daughters of Jove, e.g. Venus ; not witli
Pallas, who is here the goddess of war, cf. 1. 243 (" cristas ").
411
STATIUS
tunc, si fas oculis, non umquam longa tuendo 240
expedias, cui maior honos, cui gratior, aut plus
de love, mutatosque velint transumere cultus,
et Pallas deceat pharetras et Delia cristas.
Certant laetitia superosque in vota fatigant
Inachidae, quae cuique domus sacrique facultas. 245
hi fibris animaque litant, hi caespite nudo,
nee minus auditi, si mens accepta, merentur^
ture deos, fractisque obtendunt limina silvis.
ecce metu subito — Lachesis sic dura iubebat —
impulsae mentes, excussaque gaudia patri, 250
et turbat^ dies, innuptam limine^ adibant
Pallada, Monychiis cui non Argiva per urbes
posthabita est Larissa iugis ; hie more parentum
lasides, thalamis ubi casta adolesceret aetas,
virgineas libare comas primosque solebant 255
excusare toros. celsam subeuntibus arcem
in gradibus summi delapsus culmine templi,
Arcados Euhippi spolium, cadit aereus orbis,
praemissasque faces, festum nubentibus ignem,
obruit, eque adytis simul exaudita remotis 260
nondum ausos firmare gradum tuba terruit ingens.
in regem conversi omnes formidine prima,
mox audisse negant ; cunctos tamen omina rerum
dira movent, variisque metum sermonibus augent.
nee mirum : nam tum infaustos donante marito 265
' merentur P : meretur w.
* innuptam limine Pw : innupto in limine Garrod conj.
and cp. V. 68 nupta limina.
" Mountains in Delos and on the border of Attica
respectively.
' Possibly, as Klotz suggests, because those who were
about to be brides were not allowed to enter the temple of
" innupta Pallas." "= i.e., Athenian.
412
THEBAID, II. 240-265
from Aracynthus ** ; then wouldst thou never learn
by long gazing, even had thine eyes leave to gaze,
whicli had the greater beauty, which the greater
charm, or which had more of Jove, and were they
but pleased to take each other's dress, Pallas would
beseem the quiver and Delia the crested helmet.
The sons of Inachus contend in rivalry of joy, and
weary the gods with vows, as each had household-
gear and power of offering. These make supplica-
tion with enti-ails and the victim's life, those with
bare turf ; others, heard no less, if their heart be
accepted, would fain win merit of the gods by in-
cense, and shade their portals with the spoil of the
woodlands. But lo ! a sudden fear — so cruel Lachesis
commanded — strikes on their hearts and robs the
sire of his rejoicing, and turns the day to gloom.
On her threshold ** they were drawing nigh to Pallas
the unwedded, who among cities prefers not the
Munychian '^ hills to Argive Larissa ; here by an-
cestral rite the daughters of lasus, so soon as their
chaste yeai-s grew ripe for wedlock, were wont to
make offering of virgin tresses, and pray pardon for
the first marriage-bed. As they climb the steps and
approach the lofty pile, there fell from the temple's
highest summit a brazen shield, the spoil of Arcadian
Euhippus, and overwhelmed the heralding torches,
the festal light of the marriage train ; and while
they dare not yet to make sure advance, a mighty
trumpet-blare, heard from the shrine's inmost re-
cesses, filled them with terror. All at the first shock
of panic turned toward the king, then denied they
had heard aught ; yet all are troubled by the event's
dire omen, and increase their fear by various talk.
Nor was it wonderful : for thou wast wearing, Argia,
413
STATIUS
ornatus, Argia, geris dirumque monile
Harmoniae. longa est series, sed^ nota malorum
persequar, unde novis tarn saeva potentia donis.
Lemnius haec, ut prisca fides, Mavortia longum
furta dolens, capto postquam nil obstat amori 270
poena nee ultrices castigavere catenae,
Harmoniae dotale decus sub luce iugali
struxerat. hoc, docti quamquam maiora, laborant
Cyclopes, notique operum Telchines arnica
certatim iuvere manu ; sed plurimus ipsi 275
sudor, ibi arcano florentis igne zmaragdos
cingit et infaustas percussum adamanta figuras
Gorgoneosque orbes Siculaque incude relictos
fulminis extremi cineres viridumque draconum
lucentes a fronte iubas ; hie flebile germen 280
Hesperidum et dirum Phrixei velleris aurum ;
turn varias pestes raptumque interplicat atro
Tisiphones de crine ducem, et quae pessima ceston
\as probat ; haec circum spuniis lunaribus ungit
callidus atque hilari perfundit cuncta veneno. 285.
non hoc Pasithea blandarum prima sororum,
non Decor Idaliusque puer, sed Luctus et Irae
^ sed Pu) : et Baehrens, who with most edd. punctuates
after malorum, whence Lachmann condemned 268.
" Daughter of Venus and wife of Cadmus.
'' Vulcan. The reference is to the famous bed which he
contrived. It was fitted with chains which closed upon
Venus and Mars as they lay together on the bed. (See
Hom. Od. viii. 266 f.) Harmonia was the daughter of Venus
and Mars.
" Statius must mean amber, wept by the daughters of the
sun when turned into poplars, but he calls them Hesperides
(as being in the west) instead of Heliades.
<* The girdle of Venus is spoken of as having power to
instil desire; see Horn. II. xiv. 214.
414
THEBAID, II. 266-287
the ill-starred ornament of thy husband's giving, the
dread necklace of Harmonia." Far back the story
runs, but I will pursue the well-known tale of Moes,
whence came it that a new gift had such terrible
power.
The Lemnian,^ so they of old believed, long time
distressed at Mars' deceit and seeing that no punish-
ment gave hindrance to the disclosed amour, and
the avenging chains removed not the offence, Mrought
this for Harmonia on her bridal day to be the glory
of her dower. Thereat, though taught mightier
tasks, the Cyclopes labour, and the Telchines famed
for their handiwork helped in friendly rivalry of skill ;
but for himself the sweat of toil was heaviest. There
forms he a circlet of emeralds glowing with a hidden
fire, and adamant stamped with figures of ill omen,
and Gorgon eyes, and embers left on the Sicilian anvil
from the last shaping of a thunderbolt, and the crests
that shine on the heads of green serpents ; then
the dolorous fruit of the Hesperides " and the dread
gold of Phrixus' fleece ; then divers plagues doth he
intertwine, and the king adder snatched from
Tisiphone's grisly locks, and the wicked power that
commends the girdle '^ ; all these he cunningly anoints
about with lunar foam,^ and pours over them the
poison of delight. Not Pasithea,^ eldest of the
gracious sisters, nor Charm nor the Idalian youth did
mould it, but Grief, and all the Passions, and Anguish,
" For this cf. Val. Fl. Arg. vi. 447 ; Apuleius, Met. i. 3. It
was supposed that witches could obtain foam or spume from
the moon when they drew it down to earth, and so made
their poisons more deadly.
' The eldest of the Graces ; their names were more
commonly said to be Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia.
415
ST ATI us
et Dolor et tota pi-essit Discordia dextra.
prima fides operi, Cadmum comitata iacentem
Harmonia versis in sibila dira querellis 290
Illyricos longo sulcavit pectore campos.
improba mox Semele vix dona nocentia coUo
induit, et fallax intravit limina luno.
teque etiam, infelix, perhibent, locasta, decorum
possedisse nefas ; vultus hac laude^ colebas, 295
heu quibus, heu placitura toris ! post longior ordo.
tunc donis Argia nitet vilisque sororis
ornatus sacro praeculta supervenit auro.
\iderat hoc coniunx perituri vatis et aras
ante omnis epulasque trucem secreta coquebat 300
invidiam, saevis detur si quando potiri
cultibus, heu nihil auguriis adiuta propinquis.
quos optat gemitus, quantas cupit impia clades !
digna quidem, sed quid miseri decepta mariti
arma, quid insontes nati meruere furores ?j 305
Postquam regales epulas et gaudia vulgi
bisseni clusere dies. Ismenius heros
respicere ad Thebas iamque et sua quaerere regna.
quippe animum subit ilia dies, qua, sorte benigna
fratris, Echionia steterat privatus in aula, 310
respiciens descisse^ deos trepidoque tumultu
dilapsos comites, nudum latus omne fugamque
^ laude Pw : fraude Garrod, luce Baehrens.
^ descisse <j : discisse P {ci from ce, i.e. disce.ss(lss)e).
" According to the legend. Harmonia and Cadmus her
husband were turned into serpents, and ended their lives in
Illyria.
* Juno persuaded Semele to ask her lover Jupiter to
reveal himself to her as Wielder of the Lightning ; he did
so, and Semele was blasted by the stroke, and died giving
birth to Bacchus.
" Eriphyle, wife of Amphiaraus, in exchange for the neck-
416
THEBAID, II. 288-312
and Discord, with all the craft of her riglit liand.
The work first proved its worth, when Harmonia's
complaints turned to dreadful hissing, and she bore
company to grovelling Cadmus, and with long trail-
ing breast drew furrows in the Illyrian fields.** Next,
scarce had shameless Semele put the hurtful gift
about her neck, when lying Juno crossed her thresh-
old.** Thou too, unhappy Jocasta, didst, as they
say, possess the beauteous, baleful thing, and didst
deck thy countenance with its praise— on what a
couch, alas ! to find favour ; and many more beside.
Last Argia shines in the splendour of the gift, and
in pride of ornament and accursed gold surpassed
her sister's mean attiring. The wife of the doomed
prophet '^ had beheld it, and at every shrine and
banquet in secret cherished fierce jealousy, if only it
might ever be granted her to possess the terrible j ewel,
nought profited, alas ! by omens near at hand.
What bitter tears she doth desire ! to what ruin
tend her impious wishes ! Worthy is she, indeed,
but what hatli her hapless consort deserved, and his
deluded arms ? And what the guiltless frenzy of her
son
When twice six days had ended the regal banquet-
ing and the rejoicing of the people, the Ismenian
hero turned his gaze toward Thebes, and would fain
now be seeking his kingdom. For he recalls that
day, when by the hazard that favoured his brother
he stood in Echion's palace stripped of power, and
saw his cause deserted by the gods and his friends
all slunk away in hurry and alarm, himself defence-
lace persuaded her husband to go to the war, where he met
his death. Her son Alcmaeon is said to have slain his
mother in revenge (305).
VOL. I 2 E 417
ST ATI us
fortunae. namque una soror producere tristis
exsulis ausa vias ; etiam hanc in limine primo
liquerat et magna lacrimas incluserat ira. 315
tunc quos excedens hilares, quis cultus iniqui
praecipuus ducis, et profugo quos ipse notarat
ingemuisse sibi, per noctem ac luce sub omni
digerit ; exedere animum dolor iraque demens
et, qua non gravior mortalibus addita curis, 320
spes, ubi longa venit. talem sub pectore nubem -
consilii volvens Dircen Cadmique negatas
adparat ire domos. veluti dux taurus amata
valle carens, pulsum solito quem gramine victor
iussit ab erepta longe mugire iuvenca, 325
cum profugo placuere tori cervixque recepto
sanguine magna redit fractaeque in pectora quercus,^
bella cupit pastusque et capta armenta reposcit
iam pede, iam cornu melior — pavet ipse reversum
victor, et attoniti vix agnovere magistri — : 330
non alias tacita iuvenis Teumesius iras
mente acuit. sed fida vias arcanaque coniunx
senserat ; utque toris primo complexa iacebat
aurorae pallore virum, " quos, callide, motus
quamve fugam moliris ? " ait " nil transit amantes. 335
sentio, pervigiles acuunt suspiria questus,
numquam in pace sopor, quotiens haec ora natare
fletibus et magnas latrantia^ pectora curas
* in pectora quercus PB {with vires written over) : in
pectore w, vires I)KS, vires Q {witit quercus written over).
^ latrantia PBJV : iactantia w.
418
THEBAID, 11. 313-338
less on every side and all his fortune fled. I'or but
one sister had dared to escort the exile on his sad
path ; from her even had he parted, his journey
scarce begun, and in deep anger repressed his tearful
grief. Then nightly and day by day does he recount
in order those whose joy he marked as he went forth,
those who were foremost in flattery of the unjust
prince, or whom he had himself seen to bewail his
exile ; anguish devours his mind, and furious wrath,
and hope, than which the heart can bear no heavier
burden, when 'tis long deferred. Brooding thus in
iiis mind upon a cloud of care, he makes ready to
set out for Dirce and the Cadmean home denied
liim. Even as a chieftain bull, banished from his
loved valley, whom a conqueror has driven from his
wonted meadow and bidden low far parted from his
stolen love, yet anon in exile takes pleasure in his
mighty thews, and his neck fresh-blooded waxes
strong again, and he bethinks him of the oaks that
he has shattered, and eager for battle demands back
the pastures and the captive herds ; already in
speed of foot and power of horn hath he the mastery,
his conqueror himself is dismayed at his return, and
the astonished herdsmen scarce know him for the
same : not otherwise does the Teumesian youth
sharpen his wrath in brooding silence. But his faith-
ful wife had marked his secret yearning to be gone,
and lying on the couch in the first pale light of dawn,
her arms about her lord, " What thoughts of flight,"
she said, " are these thou ponderest ? nought escapes
a lover's eye. I know thy wakeful complainings and
thy bitter sighs, thy ever-troubled slumber. How
often touching thee with my hand do I find this face
all wet with tears, and thy breast loud groaning with
419
ST ATI us
admota deprendo manu ? nil foedere rupto
conubiisve super moveor viduaque iuventa, 340
etsi crudus amor necdum post flammea toti
intepuere tori : tua me, properabo fateri,
angit,^ amate,^ salus. tune incomitatus, inermis
regna petes poterisque tuis decedere Thebis,
si neget ? atque ilium sollers deprendere semper 345
fama duces tumidum narrat raptoque superbum
difficilemque tibi : necdum consumpserat^ annum,
me quoque nunc vates, nunc exta minantia divos
aut avium lapsus aut turbida noctis imago 349
terret; et a ! memini, numquam mihi falsa per umbras
luno venit. quo tendis iter ? ni conscius ardor
ducit et ad Thebas melior socer." hie breve tandem
risit Echionius iuvenis tenerumque dolorem
coniugis amplexu solatus et oscula maestis
tempestiva genis posuit lacrimasque repressit ; 355
" solve metus animo, dabitur, mihi crede, merentum
consiliis tranquilla dies ; te fortior annis
nondum cura decet. sciat haec Saturnius olim
fata parens, oculosque polo demittere si quos
lustitia et rectum terris defendere curat : 360
fors aderit lux ilia tibi, qua moenia cernes
coniugis et geminas ibis regina per urbes."
Sic ait, et caro raptim se limine profert.
Tydea iam socium coeptis, iam pectore fido
^ angit Po) : tangit Bentley. ^ amate KC : amata Pu.
* consumpserat Pw : consumpserit Heinsius.
" i.e., when you fled from Thebes ; he will be all the
fiercer when his year is over. The old emendation con-
snmpserit (" nor will he have reigned ") misses the point.
420
THEBAID, II. 339-364
thy weight of cares ! 'Tis not the sundering of
our marriage-bond that moves me, nor a widowed
youth ; although our love is still fresh, nor has our
couch yet since tlie bridal lost the first glow of
passion. 'Tis thy own safety, O beloved — I hasten
to confess it — that wrings my heart. Wilt thou seek
thy realm unarmed, unfriended, and be able to quit
thine own Thebes, should he refuse it ? Yea, Report,
that is ever cunning to catch the mind of princes,
tells that he is proud and arrogant in his stolen
power, and ill-disposed to hear thee ; nor had he
yet reigned a full year.* Terrified too am I now by
soothsayers, now by entrails that speak of threaten-
ing gods, by flight of birds, or by disturbing visions
of the night ; and ah ! never do I call to mind that
Juno came falsely to me in my dreams. Whither
doth thy journey lead thee ? except it be a secretly
cherished passion that draws thee to Thebes, and union
withanobler house." Tlienat last theEchionianyoutli
brief-laughing consoled his wife's tender grief, and
set timely kisses on her sorrowful cheeks and stayed
her tears : " Free thy mind of fear ; prudent coun-
sels, believe me, win peaceful days ; cares beyond
thy years become thee not. But should one day the
Saturnian father take knowledge of my fate, and
Justice, if she think at all to glance down from
heaven and defend the right on earth : then per-
chance that day shall dawn for thee, when thou shalt
see thy husband's walls, and go in queenly pomp
through two cities."
So saying he hurried forth from the chamber that
he loved, and sadly accosts Tydeus, already the
partner of his enterprise, already sharing his troubles
/ 421
STATIUS
aequantem curas — taiitus post iiirgia mentes 365
vinxit amor — socerumque adfatur tristis Adrastum.
fit mora consilio, cum multa moventibus una
iam potior cunctis sedit sententia, fratris
pertemptare fidem tutosque in regna precando
explorare aditus. audax ea munera Tydeus 370
sponte subit : nee non et te, fortissime gentis
Aetolum, multum lacrimis conata morari
Deipyle, sed iussa patris tutique regressus
legato iustaeque pi'eces vicere sororis.
lamque emensus iter silvis ac litore durum, 37.")
qua Lernaea palus ambustaque sontibus alte
intepet hydra vadis, et qua vix carmine raro
longa sonat Nemee nondum pastoribus ausis,
qua latus Eoos Ephyres quod vergit ad euros
Sisyphiique sedent portus irataque terrae 380
curva Palaemonio secluditur unda Lechaeo.^
hinc praetervectus Nisum et te, mitis Eleusin,
laevus abit,^ iamque arva gi'adu Teumesia et arces
intrat Agenoreas ; ibi durum Eteoclea cernit
sublimem solio saeptumque horrentibus armis. 385
iura ferus populo trans legem ac tempora regni
iam fratris de parte dabat ; sedet omne paratus
in facinus queriturque fidem tam sero reposci.
Constitit in mediis — ramus manifestat olivae
legatum — causasque viae nomenque rogatus 390
^ Lechaeo PDX : liceo w ; cf. Silv. ii. 2. 35.
^ abit PB : habet (i over e) Q : habet w.
" i.e., after the slaughter of the Xemean Hon.
" Lechaeum was the port of Corinth (EphjTe), where
Sisvphus had been king. For the reverse journey cf.
i. 312 sq.
422
THEBAID, II. 365-390
witli faithful heart — so strung the bund uf luve that
united them after their quarrel — and Adrastus, father
of his spouse. Long time do they hold counsel,
when after pondering many a scheme one plan at
last finds preference with all, to make trial of his
brother's constancy and seek by humble request a
safe return to the realm. Bold Tydeus volunteers the
mission ; yea, and thee too, bravest of the Aetolian
race, would Deipyle fain stay by many a tear, but
her father's command and the assurance of an envoy's
safe return and her sister's just entreaties make her
yield.
And now he had accomplished the full measure of
a journey made rough by forests and seashore :
where lay the marsh of Lerna and the burnt Hydra's
heat makes warm the depths of those unrighteous
waters, and where through the length of Nemea
scarce is heard the scanty song of the yet timid
shepherds" : where Ephyre's eastern side slopes to
the Avinds of Orient and the Sisyphian havens lie,
and the wave that vents its wrath upon the land lies
in the cui-ved retreat of Lechaeum sacred to Palae-
mon.* Thence passes he by Nisus, leaving thee,
kindly Eleusis, on his left hand, and at last treads the
Teumesian fields and enters the Agenorean towers.
There he beholds the cruel Eteocles high upon a
throne and girt round with bristling spears. The
appointed season of his reign already past, he was
holding the folk under savage governance in his
brother's stead ; prepared for every crime he sits,
and complains of so late a claiming of his promise.
Standing in the midst — the branch of olive pro-
claims him ambassador — when asked his name he
declared it and the purpose of his coming ; then, rude
423
STATIUS
edidit ; utqiie vudis fandi pronusque calori
semper erat, iustis miscens tamen aspera coepit :
" si tibi plana fides et dicti cura manei-et
foederis, ad fratrem complete iustius anno
legatos hinc ire fuit teque ordine certo 395
fortunam exuere et laetum descendere regno,
ut vagus ille diu passusque baud digna per urbes
ignotas pactae tandem succederet aulae.
sed quia dulcis amor regni blandumque potestas,
posceris : astriferum iam velox eirculus orbem 400
. torsit et amissae redierunt montibus umbrae,
•>*^ ex quo frater inops ignota per oppida tristes
exsul agit casus ; et te iam tempus aperto
sub love ferre dies terrenaque frigora membris
ducere et externos submissum ambire penates. 405
pone modum laetis ; satis ostro dives et auro
conspicuus tenuem germani pauperis annum
risisti ; moneo, regnorum gaudia temet
dedoceas patiensque fugae mereare reverti."
Dixerat. ast illi tacito sub pectore dudum 410
ignea corda fremunt, iacto velut aspera saxo
comminus erigitur serpens, cui subter inanes
longa sitis latebras totumque agitata per artus
convocat in fauces et squamea coUa venenum :
" cognita si dubiis fratris mihi iurgia signis 415
ante forent nee clara odiorum arcana paterent,
sufficeret vel sola fides, qua^ torvus et^ ilium
mente gerens,^ ceu saepta novus iam moenia laxet
^ qua Klotz : quam Pw : quod Postgate.
* torvus et w : servo sed P.
* gerens Puj : geris DN.
" i.e., the shade of the leaves which have fallen and grown
again.
424.
THEBAID, II. 391-418
of speecli as ever and quick to anger, and with mixture
of harsli words, altliough his plea was just, he thus
began : " Hadst thou simple honesty left thee and
regard for a sworn bond, 'twere more right that
envoys should go hence to thy brother, now thy
year is finished, and that thou in due course shouldst
put off thy state and contentedly leave thy throne,
so that he, after long wanderings and unseemly hard-
ships in many a strange city, should at length succeed
to the promised kingdom. But since thy darling
passion is to reign, and power exerts its flattering
charm, we summon tliee ; already hath the swift
circle brought round the starry globe, and the
mountains have regained the shadows that they lost,"
since thy brother hath suffered the unhappy lot of
poverty and exile in unknown cities ; now is it time
thou too didst spend thy days under Jove's open sky,
and let earth's coldness freeze thy limbs, and pay
submissive court at the hearths of strangers. Set a
term to thy prosperity ; long enough in rich pomp
of gold and purple hast thou mocked at thy brother's
year of mean poverty ; I warn thee, unlearn of thine
own will the joys of ruling, and in patient exile merit
thy return."
He ended, but the other's fiery heart rages beneath
his silent breast, as when a serpent angered by a
flung stone darts up close at hand, whose limbs long
thirst has racked, down in its hollow lair, and gathered
all the venom to its throat and scaly neck. " Had
they been doubtful signs that forewarned me of my
brother's quarrel, did not his secret hate shine clear
as day to me, that bold assurance alone would
suffice, whereby you, in mind his very pattern, thus
prelude his fury, as though already a new train of
425
STATIUS
fossoi* et liostiles ininiicent olassica turmas,
praefui'is. in medios si coniminus orsa tulisses 420
Bistonas aut refuge pallentes sole Gelonos,
parcior eloquio et niedii reverentior aequi
inciperes. neque te furibundae crimine mentis
arguerim : mandata refers, nunc omnia quando
plena minis, nee sceptra fide nee pace sequestra 425
poscitis, et propior capulo manus, haec mea regi
Argolico, nondum aequa tuis, vice dicta reporta :
quae sors iusta mihi, quae non indebitus annis
sceptra dicavit lionos, teneo longumque tenebo.
te penes Inachiae dotalis regia dono 430
coniugis, et Danaae — ^quid enim maioribus actis^
invideam ? — cumulentur opes, felicibus Argos
auspiciis Lernamque regas ; nos horrida Dirces
pascua et Euboicis artatas fluctibus oras,
non indignati miserum dixisse parentem 435
Oedipoden : tibi larga — Pelops et Tantalus auctor ! — ■
nobilitas, propiorque fluat de sanguine iuncto
luppiter. anne fei-et luxu consueta paterno
hunc regina larem ? nostrae cui iure sorores
anxia pensa trahant, longo quam sordida luctu 440
mater et ex imis auditus forte tenebris
ofFendat sacer ille senex ! iam pectora volgi
adsuevere iugo : pudet heu ! plebisque patrumque,
ne totiens incerta ferant mutentque gementes
^ actis Pcj : aulis Madvig.
" The Argive house was more directly descended from
Jove than that of Oedipus.
426
THEBAID, II. 419-444=
sappers were breaching our fenced walls, and the
trumpets were kindling the hostile bands to fierce-
ness. Even if thuu hadst been speaking to Bis-
tonians face-to-face in their midst, or to the pale
Geloni, on wlioni the sun shines not, thou wouldst
have been more sparing of thy eloquence, and more
observant of what is fair and just, in opening thy
cause. Nor would I accuse thee of this madness :
thou speakest but at command. Now, therefore,
since all your words are threats, and ye demand the
sceptre with warrant neither of trust nor peace, and
your hands are ever on the sword-hilt, carry back in
turn this message of mine, far short of thine as yet,
t(j the Ai'golic prince : The fortune that is my right,
the sceptre that due privilege of years hath assigned
me, I hold, and Avill hold long. Keep thou thy royal
dower, the gift of thy Inachian consort, pile up thy
Danaan treasure — for why should I envy thee those
nobler deeds ? — rule Argos and Lerna under happy
auspices ! Be it mine to hold the rough pastures of
Dirce, and the shores narrowed by the Euboean
waves, nor think it shame to call unhappy Oedipus
my sire ! Let ancestral splendour be thy boast —
scion of Pelops and Tantalus ! — and by a nearer
channel of descent unite Jove's blood with thine."
Will thy queen, accustomed to her father's luxury,
endure this simple home ? rightly would my sisters
perform their anxious tasks for her, my mother,
unsightly from long mourning, and that accursed
dotard, heard clamouring pei'chance from his dark
seclusion, would give her oflTence ! The people's
minds are already accustomed to my yoke ; I am
ashamed, alas ! for the folk and elders alike, lest
they should suffer so oft the uncertainty of fortune
427
STATIUS
imperia et dubio pigeat parere tyranno. 445
non parcit populis regnum breve ; respice, quantus
horror et attoniti nostro in discrimine cives !
hosne ego, quis certa est sub te duce poena, relin-
quam ?
iratus, germane, venis. fac velle : nee ipsi,
si modo notus amor meritique est gratia, patres 450
reddere regna sinent." non ultra passus et orsa
iniecit mediis sermonibus obvia : " reddes,"
ingeminat, " reddes ; non si te ferreus agger
ambiat aut triplices alio tibi carmine muros
Amphion auditus agat, nil tela nee ignes 455
obstiterint, quin ausa luas nostrisque sub armis
captivo moribundus humum diademate pulses,
tu merito ; ast horum miseret, quos sanguine viles
coniugibus natisque infanda ad proelia raptos
proicis excidio, bone rex. o quanta Cithaeron 460
funera sanguineusque vadis, Ismene, rotabis !
haec pietas, haec magna fides ! nee crimina gentis
mira equidem duco : sic primus sanguinis auctor
incestique patrum thalami ; sed fallit origo :
Oedipodis^ tu solus eras,^ haec praemia morum 465
ac sceleris, violente, feres ! nos poscimus annum ;
sed moror." haec audax etiamnum in limine retro^
vociferans iam tunc impulsa per agmina praeceps
evolat. Oeneae vindex sic ille Dianae
erectus saetis et aduncae fulmine malae, 470
^ Oedipodis Jortin : Oedipodes Poj.
^ eras P : eris Deipser. ' retro w : regis P.
" The Calydonian boar, who avenged the neglected wor-
ship of Diana.
428
THEBAID, II. 445-470
and the distressful change of rulers, and unwillingly
obey a doubtful throne. Unsparing to a people is a
short reign ; turn and behold the dismay and horror
of my citizens at my danger ! Shall I abandon these,
whom under thy sway sure punishment awaits ?
'Tis in anger, O kinsman, that thou comest. Or
suppose me willing : the fathers themselves will not
suffer me to render up the crown, if I but know
their love and there is gratitude for all my bounty."
No more endured he, but even in mid-speech flung
at him this retort : " Thou shalt restore," he cries,
and again, " Thou shalt restore ! Nay, should an
iron rampart fence thee, or Amphion with the strains
of another song draw about thee a triple wall, in no
wise shall fire or sword defend thee from paying for
tliy bold deed, and, ere thou die, beating thj' captive
diadem on the ground beneath our arms. Such a
fate wilt thou deserve ; those do I pity, whose cheap
lives thou dost seize and hurl to death in horrid
butchery, worthy king, and their wives and babes
withal. What carnage shalt thou see, Cithaeron,
and thou, Ismenus, roll down upon thy blood-stained
waters ! This then is loyalty, and this thy trusted
word ! Nor marvel I at the crimes of your race ;
such was the first author of your blood, such your
incestuous sires ; but there is a flaw in your parent-
age, thou only art the son of Oedipus, and this, O
man of violence, shall be the reward of thy sin and
crime ! We claim our year ! But I waste words — "
Boldly thus he shouted back while still in the door-
way, then dashed out headlong through their dis-
ordered ranks. Even so the famous champion of
Oenean Diana," with bristles stiff and lightning stroke
of tusked jaw, liard pressed though lie be by the
429
STATIUS
cum premeret Pelopea phalanx, saxa obvia volvens
fractaque perfossis arbusta Acheloia ripis,
iam Telamona solo, iam stratum Ixiona linquens
te, Meleagre, subit : ibi^ demum cuspide lata
haesit et obnixo ferrum laxavit^ in armo. 475
talis adhuc trepidum linquit Calydonius heros
concilium infrendens, ipsi ceu regna negentur,
festinatque vias ramumque precantis olivae
abicit. attonitae tectorum e limine summo
aspectant matres, saevoque infanda precantui* 480
Oenidae tacitoque simul sub pectore regi.
Nee piger ingenio scelerum fraudisque nefandae
rector eget. iuvenum fidos, lectissima bello
corpora, nunc pretio, nunc ille hortantibus ardens
sollicitat dictis, nocturnaque proelia saevus 485
instruit, et sanctum populis per saecula nomen
legatum insidiis tacitoque invadere ferro —
quid regnis non vile ? — cupit. quas quaereret artes,
si fratrem, Fortuna, dares ! o caeca nocentum
consilia ! o semper timidum scelus ! exit in unum 490
plebs ferro iurata caput ; ceu castra subire
apparet aut celsum crebri arietis ictibus^ urbis
inclinare latus : densi sic agmine facto
quinquaginta altis funduntur in ordine portis.
macte animi, tantis dignus qui crederis armisjy 495
Fert via per dumos propior, qua calle latenti
praecelerant densaeque legunt compendia silvae.
^ ibi oj : tibi P. - laxavit P : lassavit Madvig.
* crebri arietis ictibus Unger : crebris arietibus Pw.
430
THEBAID, II. 47l-i07
Argive band, that rolls down stones upon him and
boughs of trees uprooted from Achelous' banks,
yet leaves now Telamon, now Ixion prostrate on the
ground, and attacks thee, Meleager ; there at last
was he stayed upon the spear-thrust, and relaxed the
weapon's force in his fierce-struggling shoulder.
Such was the Calydonian hero, as he left the yet
timorous council, wdth savage threats, as though
'twere he who was denied the kingdom ; he hastes
away, hurling from him the branch of ohve. The
mothers in amazement watch him from their
thresholds' edge, and utter curses on the fierce son
of Oeneus, and withal in their secret hearts upon
the king.
But the monarch is not slothful, nor lacks cunning
resource of crime and fraud unspeakable. A faithful
company of chosen warriors he urges now by bribes,
now by ardour of persuasive words, and fiercely plots
a nocturnal affray, and would fain attack the ambas-
sador— a name reverenced by peoples through the
ages — by treachery and the silent-lurking sword.
What is there that kings hold not vile .'' What
cunning would he devise, were it his brother thou
didst place in his power, O Fortune ! O blind and
guilty counsels ! O ever timorous crime ! A sworn
band of soldiery go out against one single life, as
though they made ready to storm a camp or level a
city's lofty side Avith the ram's battering blows ;
fifty thus form close array, and march in order through
the tall gates. Heaven favour now thy courage, w^ho
art deemed worthy of so numerous a foe !
A nearer road leads them through copses, where
by a hidden path they make the better speed and
travel by a cut through the dense woods. It was a
431
ST ATI us
lecta dolis sedes : gemini procul urbe nialignis
faucibus urgentur colles, quos umbra superni^
montis et incurvis claudunt iuga frondea silvis — 500
insidias natura loco caecamque latendi
struxit opem — mediasque arte secat aspera rupes
semita, quam subter campi devexaque latis
arva iacent spatiis. contra importuna crepido,
Oedipodioniae domus alitis ; hie fera quondam 505
pallentes erecta genas sufFusaque tabo
lumina, concretis infando sanguine plumis
relliquias amplexa virum semesaque nudis ^c«-<^^^-m;
pectoribus stetit ossa premens visuque tremendo^
conlustrat campos, si quis concurrere dictis 510
hospes inexplicitis aut comminus ire viator
audeat et dirae commercia iungere linguae ;
nee mora, quin acuens exsertos protinus ungues
liventesque manus strictosque^ in vulnera* dentes
terribili adplai^u circum hospita surgeret ora ; 515
et latuere doli, donee de rupe cruenta
heu ! simili deprensa viro, eessantibus alis,
tristis inexpletam scopulis adfligeret alvum.
monstrat silva nefas : horrent \acina iuvenci
gramina,damnatis avidum pecus abstinet herbis ; 520
nonDryadum placet umbra choris,non commodasacris
Faunorum, diraeque etiam fugere volucres
prodigiale nemus. tacitis hue gressibus acti
^ quos superni Pw : quas superne Mueller : quos superne
Garrod.
" tremendo Mueller : frementi P : trementi w.
* strictosque Housman : fractosque Pw.
* in vulnera PN : in vulnere w.
" The scene of the ambush is modelled on ^'irg. Aen.
xi. 522 sq., but Statins has made it obscure and difficult :
"colles urgentur faucibus " seems to be merely an inversion
432
THEBAID, II. 498-523
clioice spot for a stratagem : " at a distance from the
city two hills bear close upon each other with a
grudging gulf between ; the shadow of a mountain
above and leafy ridges of curving woodland shut
them in. Nature has implanted treachery in the
place, and the means of hidden ambush. Through
the middle of the rocks threads a rough and narrow
track, below which lies a plain and a broad expanse
of sloping fields. Over against it a threatening cliff
rises high, the home of the winged monster of
Oedipus ** ; here aforetime she stood, fierce uplifting
her pallid cheeks, her eyes tainted with corruption and
lier plumes all clotted with hideous gore ; grasping
human remains and clutching to her breast half-
eaten bones she scanned the plains with awful gaze,
should any stranger dare to join in the strife of
riddling words, or any traveller confront her and
parley with her terrible tongue ; then, without more
ado, sharpening forthwith the unsheathed talons of
her livid hands and her teeth bared for wounding,
she rose with dreadful beating of wings around the
faces of the strangers ; nor did any guess her riddle,
till caught by a hero that proved her match, with
failing wings — ah ! horror ! — from the bloody cliff
she dashed her insatiate paunch in despair upon the
rocks beneath. The wood gives reminder of the dread
story : the cattle abhor theneighbouring pastures, and
the flock, though greedy, will not touch the fateful
herbage ; no Di-yad choirs take delight in the shade,
it ill beseems the sacred rites of the Fauns, even birds
obscene fly far from the abomination of the grove.
Speeding hither with silent steps comes the doomed
of "fauces urgentur collibus." The "gemiiii colles " recur
in vi. 257. '' The Sphinx.
VOL. I 2 K 433
ST ATI us
deveniunt }3eritura cohors, hostemque superbuni
adnixi iaculis et humi posita arma tenentes 525
exspectant densaque nemus statione coronaiit.;
Coeperat umenti Phoebuni subtexere palla
Nox et caeruleam terris infuderat umbram.
ille propinquabat sihas et ab aggere celso
scuta virum galeasque \idet rutilai-e eomantis, 530
qua laxant rami nemus adversaque sub umbra
flammeus aeratis lunae tremor errat in armis.
obstipuit visis, ibat tamen ; horrida tantum
spicula et inclusum capulo tenus admovet ensem,
ac prior " unde, \iri, quidve occultatis in armis ? " 535
non humili terrore rogat. nee reddita^ contra
vox, fidamque negant suspecta silentia pacem.
ecce autem vasto Chtlionii contorta lacerto,
quo duce freta cohors, fuscas intervolat auras
hasta ; sed audenti deus et fortuna recessit. 540
per tamen Olenii tegimen suis atraque saetis
terga super laevos umeros vicina cruori
effugit et viduo iugulum ferit inrita ligno.
tunc horrere comae sanguisque in corda gelari.
hue ferus atque illuc animum pallentiaque ira 545
ora ferens — nee tanta putat sibi bella parari — :
" ferte gradum contra campoque erumpite aperto !
quis timor audendi, quae tanta ignavia ? solus,
solus in arma voco." neque in his mora ; quos ubi
plures,
quam ratus, innumeris videt excursare latebris, 550
hos prodire^ iugis, illos e vallibus imis
crescere, nee paucos campo, totumque sub armis
eonlucere iter, ut clausas indagine profert
in medium vox prima feras, quae sola medendi
1 reddita w : credita P.
^ prodire «: deire P ; cf. vi. 519.
434-
THEBAID, II. 524-554
band ; leaning on their spears and with grounded
arms held ready, they await their haughty foe, and
set strong guard around the wood.
Night had begun to shroud the sunlight in her
dewy pall, and had cast over the earth her dark
shadow. The hero drew nigh the woods, and from
a lofty mound sees the red gleam of warriors' shields
and plumed helmets, where the forest boughs leave
an open space, and through the opposing shade the
flickering moonlight plays upon the brazen armour.
Appalled at the sight he yet went onward ; he but
draws to him his spiky darts, and the sword sheathed
to the hilt. Then first he makes question, in no
base terror : " Whence are ye, men, what mean ye
lurking thus armed ? " No voice made answer, the
suspicious silence holds no sure pledge of peace. Lo !
a spear, hurled by the miglity arm of Chthonius, the
leader of the band, flies through the dusky air ; but
heaven and fortune lent no aid to his venture. Yet
through the covering of Olenian boar and the black
bristly hide it sped, over his shoulder, near drawing
l)lood, and widowed of its point strikes harmless on
his throat. With hair erect and blood frozen about
liis heart he looks this way and that, fiercely alert
and pale with rage, nor deems so large a troop to be
equipped against him : " Come forth against me ! out
with you into the open ! why such timorous daring,
such arrant cowardice? alone I challenge you, alone ! "
Nor waited they ; but when he saw them, more
than he thought, swarming up from countless lurking
places, some issuing from the ridges, others in ever-
growing numbers coming from the valley-depths, nor
few upon the plain, as when the first cry drives the
encircled quarry into the open, and the road all lit
485
ST ATI us
turbata ratione via est, petit ardua dirae 555
Sphinges et abscisis infringens cautibus uncas
exsuperat iuga dira manus, scopuloque potitus,
unde procul tergo metiis et via prona noeendi,
saxum ingens, quod vix plena cervice gementes
vertere humo valeant niurisque^ inferre iuvenci, 560
rupibus evellit ; dein toto sanguine nixus
sustinet, imnianem quaerens librare ruinam,
qualis in adversos Lapithas erexit inanem
magnanimus cratera Pholus. stupet obvia leto
turba superstantem atque emissi turbine mentis 565
obruitur ; simul ora viruni, siniul arnia nianusque
fractaque conimixto sederunt pectora ferro.
quattuor hie adeo disiecti mole sub una
congemuere, fuga tremefactum protinus agmen
excutitur coeptis. neque enim temnenda iacebant 570
funera : fulmineus Dorylas, quern regibus ardens
aequabat virtus, Martisque e semine Theron
terrigenas confisus avos, nee vertere cuiquam
frena seeundus Halys, sed tunc pedes occubat arvis,
Pentheumque trahens nondum te Phaedimus aequo,
Bacche, genus, quorum ut subitis exterrita fatis 576
agmina turbatam vidit laxare catervam,
quae duo sola manu gestans adclinia monti
fixerat, intorquet iacula et fugientibus addit.
mox in plana libens, nudo ne in pectore tela 580
inciderent, saltu praeceps defertur et orbem,
quem procul oppresso vidit Therone volutum,
corripuit, tergoque et vertice tegmina nota
^ valeant murisque Kooten : murisque valent Pw.
" As he had been Pentheus' foe, when the latter tried to
suppress the Bacchanals.
436
THEBAID, II. 555-583
by gleams of armour, he makes for the heights of
the dire Sphinx — the only path of safety in his
bewilderment — and tearing his nails upon the slieer
cliff he scales the dreadful steep and gains mastery
of the rock, where he has security behind and
a clear downward range of harm. Then he tears
away from the rocks a huge boulder, that groaning
bullocks scarce with full strength could move from
the ground and drag up to the wall ; then heaving
with all his force he raises and strives to poise the
deadly mass : even as great-hearted Pholus lifted
the empty mixing-bowl against his Lapith foes.
Right in death's path, aghast they view him high
aloft ; the mountain falls hurtling, and whelms them ;
at once human limbs and faces, weapons and armour
lie in mingled ruin. Four men in all groan mangled
beneath that one rock ; straightway the host flees
panic-stricken, dashed from their enterprise. For no
cowards were they who lay there dead : Dorylas of
the lightning stroke, in glowing valour a match for
princes, and Theron of the seed of Mars, proudly
confident in earth-born ancestors, Halys, second to
none in swaying at will his reined steed, but fallen
on those fields in dismounted fight, and Phaedimus,
who drew his birth from Pentheus, and found thee,
Bacchus, still his foe." But when he saw the band
in terror and disordered rout from the sudden fate
of these, he hurls two javelins — these alone did he
carry, and had leant them against the mountain — •
and sends them after the fugitives. Soon, lest darts
should fall on his exposed breast, of his ow'n will he
leapt down swiftly to the level plain, and seized the
shield which he saw had rolled away when Theron
was crushed down, and with his wonted covering of
4.S7
STATIUS
saeptus et hostili propugnans pectora parma
constitit. inde iterum densi glomerantur in uiium 585
Ogygidae firmantque gradum ; trahit ocius ensem
Bistonium Tydeus, Mavortia munera niagni
Oeneos, et partes pariter divisus in omnes
hos obit atque illos ferroque micantia tela
decutit ; impeditant numero seque ipsa vicissim . 590
arma premunt, nee vis conatibiis ulla, sed ipsae
in soeios errare manus et corpora turba
involvi prolapsa sua ; manet ille ruentes
angustus telis et inexpugnabilis obstat.
non aliter — Geticae si fas est credere Phlegrae — 595
armatum immensus Briareus stetit aethera contra,
hinc Phoebi pharetras, hinc torvae Pallados anguis,
inde Pelethroniam praefixa cuspide pinum
Martis, at hinc lasso mutata^ Pyracmone temnens
fulmina, cum toto nequiquam obsessus Olympo 600
tot queritur cessare manus : non segnior ardet
hue illuc clipeum obiectans, seque ipse recedens
circuit, interdum trepidis occurrit et instat
spicula devellens, clipeo quae plurima toto
fixa tremunt armantque virum saepe aspera passum
volnera, sed nullum vitae in secreta receptum 606
nee mortem sperare valet. ^ rotat ipse furentem
Deilochum, coniitemque illi iubet ire sub umbras
Phegea sublata minitantem bella securi
Dircaeumque Gyan et Echionium Lycophontem. 610
^ mutata Pw : niotata Laclimann.
^ valet Pw : valens, iubet, vacat edd.
438
THEBAID, II. 58^-610
hack and head, and breast defended by his enemy's
shield he stood his ground. Then gathering again
into one dense body the Ogygians advance ; instantly
Tydeus draws his Bistonian blade, great Oeneus'
warlike gift, and attacking every quarter alike con-
fronts now these, now those, and with his sword
strikes down their glittering weapons ; their numbers
hinder them, and their arms impede each other ; no
strength is in their efforts, but their blows go astray
on their own fellows, and falling they are entangled
in their own disorder. He awaits their onset, a
narrow mark for javelins, and resists them, firm and
unshakable. Not otherwise — if Getic Phlegra be
worthy credence "■ — stood Briareus vast in bulk
against embattled heaven, contemning on this hand
Phoebus' quiver, on that the serpents of stern Pallas,
here Mars' Pelethronian pinewood shaft, with point
of iron, and yonder the thunderbolts oft changed
for new by weary Pyracmon, and yet complaining,
though combated in vain by all Olympus, that so
many hands were idle ; no fainter was he in ardour,
with shield outheld now this way, now that, himself
retiring, doubling round, and ever and anon darting
on their irresolute lines and pressing his vantage,
while he pulls forth the many javelins that are stuck
quivering all about his shield, an armoury for the
hero ; and many a bitter wound he suffers, yet none
gains entrance to life's secret courses, nor may hope
to be deadly. A whirling stroke deals he at raging
Deilochus, and bids Phegeus, who threatens attack
with axe upraised, go join him beneath the shades,
Dircean Gyas too and Lycophontes of Echionian
" Phlegra in Thrace where the gods fought the giants.
439
STATIUS
iam trepidi sese quaerunt numerantque, nee idem
caedis amor, tantamque dolent rarescere turbam.
Ecce Chromis Tyrii demissus origine Cadmi —
liunc utero quondam Dryope Phoenissa gravato
rapta repente choris onerisque oblita ferebat, 615
dumque trahit prensis taurum tibi cornibus, Euhan,
procidit impulsus nimiis conatibus infans — •
tunc audax iaeulis et capti pelle leonis
pinea nodosae quassabat robora clavae
increpitans : " unusne, viri, tot caedibus unus 620
ibit ovans Argos ? vix credet fama reverse !
heus socii, nullaene manus, nulla arma valebunt ?
haec regi promissa, Cydon, haec, Lampe, dabamus ? "
dum clamat, subit ore cavo Teumesia cornus,
nee prohibent fauces ; atque illi voce repleta 625
intercepta natat prorupto in sanguine lingua.
stabat adhuc, donee transmissa morte per artus
labitur immorsaque cadens obmutuit hasta.
vos quoque, Thespiadae, cur infitiatus honora
arcuerim^ fama ? fratris moribunda levabat 630
membra solo Periphas — nil indole clarius ilia
nee pietate fuit — , laeva marcentia colla
sustentans dextraque latus ; singultibus artum
exhaurit thoraca dolor, nee vincla coercent
undantem fletu galeam, cum multa gementi 635
pone gravis curvas perfringit lancea costas.
1 arcuerim K : argiierim Pu.
" i.e., Bacchus.
** Teumesus was a mountain near Thebes.
440
THEBAID, II. 611-636
stock. And now, losing heai't, they seek each other
and count tlieir numbers, nor feel the same zest for
blood, but grieve that so large a band is growing few.
Lo ! Chromis, of Tyrian Cadmus' seed — him
once Phoenician Dryope was carrying in her weighted
womb, when revelling bands swept her along forget-
ful of her burden, and while she was dragging a
bull unto thee, O Euhan," grasping its horns, the
babe fell forth by stress of undue striving — Chromis
at that time, in bold confidence of spears and hide
of captured lion, brandished a stout club of knotted
pinewood, and taunting cried : "Is one man, ye
warriors, one man to go to Argos, boasting of so
many slain ? Scarce will he gain credence on his
return ! Come, friends, are there none strong in arm
or weapon any more ? was this our promise to the
king, O Cydon ? was it this, O Lampus ? " While
yet he shouts, the Teumesian * cornel-shaft enters
liis open mouth, nor does his throat stay it ; his voice
is choked, and the sundered tongue floats in the
rush of blood. Awhile he stood, till death poured
through his limbs, and he fell, and falling was silent,
while his teeth bit upon the spear.
You too, O Thespians, why should I deny you and
withhold from honourable renown } Periphas — none
of brighter parts than he, or truer devotion — was
raising from the ground his brother's dying frame,
his left hand supporting the languid neck, and his
right arm about his side ; his breast beneath the
cuirass is drained by choking sobs of grief, nor can
the fastenings restrain the welling tears that flow
from his helm, when amid his deep groans a heavy
spear shatters his curved ribs from behind him,
441
STATIUS
exit et in fratrem, cognataque pectora telo^
consent ; ille oculos etiamnum^ in luce natantes
sistit et aspecta germani morte resolvit.
at cui v'ita recens et adhuc in vulnere vires G40
" hos tibi complexus, haec dent " ait " oscula nati."
procubuere pai-es fatis, miserabile votum
mortis, et alterna clauserunt luniina dextra.
Protinus idem iiltro iaculo parmaque Menoeten
proterrebat agens trepidis vestigia retro 645
passibus urgentem, donee defecit iniqua
lapsus humo, pariterque manus distractus in ambas
orat et a iugulo nitentem sustinet hastam :
" parce per has stellis intcrlabentibus umbras,
per superos noctemque tuam ; sine, ti'istia Thebis 650
nuntius acta feram vulgique per ora paventis
contempto te rege canam : sic inrita nobis
tela cadant, nullique tuum penetrabile ferro
pectus, et optanti victor reveharis amico,"
dixerat. ille nihil vultu mutatus " inanes 655
perdis " ait " lacrimas, et tu, ni fallor, iniquo
^^ pollicitus mea colla duci : nunc arma diemque
proice ; quid timidae sequeris compendia vitae ?
bella manent." simul haec, et crassum sanguine telum
iam redit ; ille super dictis infensus amaris 660
prosequitur victos : " non haec trieterica vobis
nox patrio de more venit, non orgia Cadmi
cernitis aut avidas Bacchum scelerare parentes.
nebridas et fragiles thyrsos portare putastis
^ telo Po) : ferro Schol. iii. 152 : leto Nattke.
^ etianinuni w : et adhuc P : temii iam Garrod, tclto cj).
Sil. It. ii. 132.
" Perhaps Tydeus should be regarded as the subject of
"conserit."
* i.e., in war there is no use for the craven.
442
THEBAID, II. 637-664
Issuing from him it pierces his brother also, and
with one weapon unites the kindred breasts." The
other steadies his swimming eyes, where light still
lingered, but beholding his kinsman done to death
closes them in darkness. But he, to whom life re-
mains and strength as yet despite his wound, cries :
" Such an embrace, such kisses may thy sons give
thee ! " So fell they, alike in doom, their vow per-
forn^ed alas ! in death, and their eyes closed each
by the other's hand.
But Tydeus, straightway attacking, drove Menoetes
with shield and spear before him terrified, in hurried
backward retreat, till stumbling on the uneven ground
lie lost his footing ; then prays he with both hands
spread wide in supplication, and pushes away the
spear that presses at his throat : " Spare me, I
beseech thee by these star-inwoven shades, by the
gods above, and by this night that favours thee :
suffer me to bear to Thebes the sad tidings of thy
deeds, and in our king's despite laud thee before our
trembling folk ; so may our darts fall fruitless and
no steel pierce thy breast, and thou return triumphant
to thy friend's desire ! " He finished, but the other
with countenance unchanged : " Vain tears thou
wastest, and thou, if I mistake not, didst promise
my head to the cruel prince. Surrender now thy
arms and the light of day ! Why seek the gaining of
thy craven life ? 'Tis wars are waiting." ^ While yet
he speaks, the spear-point returns thick-clotted with
blood. Thereupon with bitter words he pursues the
vanquished : " No triennial night or solemn festival
are ye keeping now ! no orgies of Cadmus do ye
behold, no mothers eager to profane Bacchus ! Did
ye think ye were carrying fawnskins and brittle
443
STATICS
imbellem ad sonitum maribusque incognita veris 665
foeda Celaenaea committere proelia buxo ?
hie aliae caedes, alius furor : ite sub umbras,
o timidi paucique ! " haec intonat ; ast tamen illi
membra negant, lassusque ferit praecordia sanguis,
iam sublata manus cassos defertur in ictus, C70
tardatique gradus, clipeum nee sustinet umbo
mutatum^ spoliis,^ gelidus cadit imber anhelo
pectore, tum crines ardentiaque ora cruentis
roribus et taeti'a morientum aspargine manant :
ut leo, qui campis longe custode fugato 675
Massylas depastus oves, ubi sanguine multo
luxuriata fames cervixque et tabe gravatae
consedere iubae, mediis in caedibus adstat
aeger, hians victusque cibis ; nee iam amplius irae
crudescunt : tantum vacuis ferit aera malis 680
molliaque eiecta delambit vellera lingua.
Ille etiam Thebas spoliis et sanguine plenus
isset et attonitis sese populoque ducique
ostentasset ovans, ni tu, Tritonia virgo,
flagrantem multaque operis caligine plenum 685
consilio dignata virum : " sate gente superbi
Oeneos, absentes cui dudum vincere Thebas
adnuimus, iam pone modum nimiumque seeundis
parce deis : huic una fides optanda labori.
fortuna satis usus abi." restabat acerbis 690
funeribus socioque gregi non sponte superstes
^ mutatum Pw : nutantem Lachmann.
^ spoliis Pw : spiclis conj. Alton.
" Where Marsyas the flute-player was defeated by Apollo.
^ Cf. the use of " mutare " in vii. 71. E. H. Alton
suggests *' spiclis " for " spoliis." The spoils are apparently
regarded as carried on the shield, "spiclis" ("darts")
would refer to the missiles sticking in the shield, flung by
his enemies.
444
THEBAID, II. 665-G91
wands to your un\\arlike music ? or were joining the
fray that true men know nought of at the sound of
Celaenae's" boxwood pipe? Far other carnage is
this, far other madness ! To death with you, cowards
and too few ! " So tluxnders he, but nevertheless
his hmbs deny him, and the tired blood beats heavy
on his heart. His arm is raised, but falls in idle
blows, his steps are slow, nor can his elbow bear
the weight of the buckler changed * by the spoils
it bears ; the cold sweat pours down his panting
breast, and his hair and burning visage stream with
gory dew and the foul bespattering of dying bodies :
even as a lion, who has driven the shepherd tar from
tlie meadows and taken his fill of Massylian sheep,
when his hunger is sated in abundance of blood, and
his neck and mane are congealed and heavy with
corruption, stands faint in the midst of the slaughter,
his mouth agape, fordone with gorging ; gone is
his savage fury, he only snaps in the air his empty
jaws, and with hanging tongue licks them clean of
the soft wool.
Rich in spoils and bloodshed, he would even have
gone to Thebes, and vaunted his triumph before
astonished prince and people, hadst not thou, Tri-
tonian maid,'' deemed worthy of thy counsel the hero,
still ardent and all dazed by his deeds : " Scion of
proud Oeneus, to whom just now, though far away,
we granted victory over Thebes, set now a limit, and
strain no more the gods' undue favour ; seek only
credence for these toils. Depart, having used thy
fortune to the full." There yet remained, an un-
willing survivor of his comrades' slaughter, Maeon,
" Pallas Athene, who was born, according to one legend,
from a lake Triton in Libj'a.
44.5
ST ATI us
Haemonides — ille liaec praevidei'at, oniina docLus
aeris^ et nulla deceptus ab alite — Maeon,
nee veritus prohibei-e ducem, sed fata monentem
privavere fide, vita miserandus inerti 695
damnatur ; trepido Tydeus immitia mandat :
" quisquis es Aonidum, quern crastina munere nostro
manibus exemptum mediis Aurora videbit,
haec iubeo perferre duci : cinge aggere portas,
tela nova, fragiles aevo circum inspice muros, 700
praecipue stipare viros densasque memento
multiplicare acies ! fumantem hunc aspiee late
ense meo campum : tales in bella venimus."
Haec ait, et meritae pulcbrum tibi, Pallas, honorem
sanguinea de strage parat, praedamque iacentem 705
comportat gaudens ingentiaque acta recenset.
quercus erat tenerae iam longum oblita iuventae
aggere camporum medio, quam plurimus ambit
frondibus incurvis et crudo robore cortex,
huic leves galeas perfossaque vulnere crebro 710
inserit arma ferens, huic truncos ictibus enses
subligat et tractas membris spirantibus hastas.
corpora tunc atque arma simul cumulata superstans
incipit — oranti nox et iuga longa resultant — :
" diva ferox, magni decus ingeniumque parentis, 715
bellipotens, cui toi'va genis horrore decoro
cassis et asperso crudescit sanguine Gorgon,
nee magis ardentes Mavors hastataque pugnae
impulerit Bellona tubas, huic adnue sacro,
seu Pandionio nostras invisere noctes^ 720
1 aeris P : aeros BKN -. heros IJQ (aeris inritten over in Q).
^ noctes Postgate : voces P : caedes P in margin, and w.
* The AcropoHs of Athens, M-here Pandion once reigned.
446
THEBAID, II. G92-720
tlie son of Haemon ; all this he had foreseen, taught
of omens from the air nor deceived by any bird ; nor
had he feared to deter his chieftain, but the fates
deprived his warnings of belief. His doom is to
be pitied as a useless life ; in terror he receives
Tydeus' stern behest-: " Whosoever of the Aonians
thou art, whom saved by my bounty from uttermost
darkness to-morrow's Dawn shall yet behold, this
message I command thee to carry to thy prince :
Raise a mound about your gates, renew your weapons,
see to your old and mouldering walls, mind above all
to marshall your men in close array and press troop
on troop ; look now at this field, everywhere smoking
from my sword : even so do we make war ! "
So speaking, he prepares for thee, O Pallas, of thy
deserving a fair guerdon from the gory rout, and in
joy collects the booty lying there and surveys all his
mighty deeds. Upon a hillock in niid-plain there
was an oak tree, long time forgetful of its tender
youth, with curving boughs and rude strength of
trunk and thick encompassing bark. To this he
brings and fastens smooth helmets and armour
pierced by many a stroke, to this he binds swords
that his blows have broken short and spears pulled
out from limbs yet breathing. Standing then on the
heap of arms and bodies he thus begins, while night
and the long ridges make echo to his prayer : " Stern
goddess, glory and wisdom of thy mighty sire,
powerful in war, thou on whose cheeks the terrible
splendour of thy grim casque and blood-besprinkled
Gorgon glow fierce with rage, — nor did ever Mavors
or Bellona with her battle-spear inspire more furious
trumpet-blasts — look favourably on this offering,
whether thou comest from Pandion's hill ^ to be
4.17
ST ATI us
monte venis, sive Aonia devertis^ Itone
laeta choris, seu tu Libyco Tritone repexas
lota comas, qua te biiugo temone frementem
intemeratarum volucer rapit axis equarum :
nunc tibi fracta virum spolia informisque dicamus 725
exuvias. at si patriis Parthaonis arvis
inferar et reduci pateat mihi Martia Pleuron,
aurea tunc mediis urbis tibi templa dicabo
collibus, lonias qua despectare procellas
dulce sit, et flavo toUens ubi vertice pontum 730
turbidus obiectas Achelous Echinadas exit,
hie ego maioruni pugnas vultusque tremendos
magnanimum effingam regum, figamque superbis
arma tholis, quaeque ipse meo quaesita revexi
sanguine, quaeque dabis captis, Tritonia, Thebis 735
centum ibi virgineis votae Calydonides aris
Actaeas tibi rite faces et ab arbore casta
nectent purpureas niveo discrimine vittas,
pervigilemque focis ignem longaeva sacerdos
nutriet, arcanum numquam spretura^ pudorem. 740
tu bellis, tu pace feres de more frequentes
primitias operum, non indignante Diana."
dixerat, et dulces iter instaurabat ad Argos.
^ devertis Pw: divertis DX: de vertice conj. Garrod.
^ spretura P : inspectura w.
" A mountain in Thessaly, on which there was a temple
of Athena. Aonian seems here to mean haunt of Muses,
from its usual meaning, Boeotian : the Muses were con-
nected with Thessaly also.
* See note on 1. 684.
448
THEBAID, II. 721-743
present at my night of triumph, or whether thou
dost turn aside from thy glad dances in Aonian Itone,"
or hast washed and combed thy hair again in Libyan *
Triton's waters, whither the fleet axle of thy inviolate
mares doth speed thee shouting loud upon thy two-
horsed chariot; now do we dedic<ate to thee the
shattered spoils and shapeless armour of heroes. But
should I come to my native Parthaonian fields," and
Martian Pleuron throw wide her gates for my return-
ing, then in the midst of the city's hills will I con-
secrate to thee a golden temple, where it may be thy
pleasure to look down upon Ionian storms, and where
turbulent Achelous with yellow head tossed high
disturbs the deep, and leaves the barrier of the
Echinades behind. Here will I carve ancestral wars
and the awful visages of great-hearted kings, and
arms will I hang in the proud shrines, arms that I
myself bore home and gained at my own blood's
cost, and those that thou, Tritonian maid, shalt
give when Thebes is taken. A hundred Calydonian
maidens there, votaries of thy virgin altars, shall duly
twine thee Attic torches, and weave from thy chaste
olive-tree purple fillets set off with snow-white wool ;
an aged priestess shall tend a never-failing fire upon
the hearths, and hold in continual reverence thy
mystic sanctities. Thou as of old shalt win in war
and in peace rich first-fruits of my labours, nor shall
Diana be offended." '^ So prayed he, and set out
again for pleasant Argos.
" See note on i. 670.
■^ Diana was the most important deity of Aetolia.
2g 44.9
LIBER III
At non Aoniae moderator perfidus aulae^
nocte sub ancipiti, quamvis umentibus astris
longus ad auroram superet labor, otia somni
accipit ; invigilant animo scelerisque parati
supplicium exercent curae ; turn plurima versat 5
pessimus in dubiis augur timor. " ei mihi " clamat,
" unde morae ? " — nam pi'ona ratus facilemque tot
armis
Tydea, nee numero virtutem animumque rependit —
" num regie diversa viae ? num missus ab Argis
subsidio globus ? an sceleris data fama per urbes 10
finitimas ? paucosne, pater Gradive, manuve
legimus indecores ? at enim fortissimus illic
et Chromis et Dorylas et nostris turribus aequi
Thespiadae totos raperent mihi funditus Argos.
nee tamen ille meis, reor, impenetrabilis armis 15
aere gerens solidoque satos^ adamante lacertos
venerat ; heu segnes, quorum labor haeret in uno,
si conserta manus." vario sic turbidus aestu
angitur ac sese culpat super omnia, qui non
orantem in mediis legatum coetibus ense 20
perculerit foedasque palam satiaverit iras.
iam pudet incepti, iam paenitet. ae velut ille
^ aulae w : orae P.
^ satos Heinsius : datos Pw.
+50
BOOK III
But not to the perfidious lord of the Aonian p<alace
comes the repose of slumber in the twilight hours,
although for the dank stars long travail yet remain
till dawn ; in his mind care holds vigil and WTcaks the
penalty for his plotted crime ; then fear, gloomiest
of augurs in perplexity, broods deeply. " Ah me ! "
he cries, " why this tarrying ? " — for he had deemed
the task a light one, and Tydeus an easy prey to so
many warriors, nor weighed his valour and spirit
against their numbers — " Went they by different
roads ? Was a company sent from Argos to his
succour ? Or has news of the deed spread round the
neighbouring cities ? Chose we too few, O father
Gradivus, or men unrenowned in action ? But
valiant Chromis and Dorylas and the Thespians, a
match for these towers of mine, could at my bidding
level all Argos with the ground. Nor proof, I ween,
against my weapons had he come hither, though bis
frame were wrought of bronze or solid adamant.
For shame, ye cowards, whose efforts fail before a
single foe, if indeed ye fought at all ! " Thus is he
tormented by various gusts of passion, and above all
blames hiinself, for that he struck not the envoy with
his sword as he spoke in mid assembly, nor openly
sated to the full his savage wrath. Now he feels
shame of his design, and now repents him of the
451
STATIUS
fluctibus loniis Calabrae datus arbiter alno —
nee rudis undarum, portus sed linquere amicos
purior Olenii frustra gradus impulit astri — , 25
cum fragor hiberni subitus lovis, omnia mundi
claustra tenant multusque polos inclinat Orion,
ipse quidem malit terras pugnatque reverti,
fert ingens a puppe notus, tunc arte relicta
ingemit et caecas sequitur iam nescius undas : 30
talis Agenoreus ductor caeloque morantem
Luciferum et seros maerentibus increpat ortus.
Ecce sub occiduas versae iam Noctis habenas
astrorumque obitus, ubi primum maxima Tethys
impulit Eoo cunctantem Hyperiona ponto, 35
ima flagellatis, signum lugubre malorum,
ponderibus trepidavit humus, motusque Cithaeron
antiquas dedit ire nives ; tunc visa levari
culmina septenaeque iugo concurrere portae.
et prope sunt causae : gelido remeabat Eoo 40
iratus fatis et tristis morte negata
Haemonides ; necdum ora patent, dubiusque notari
signa dabat magnae longe manifesta ruinae
planctuque et gemitu ; lacrimas nam protinus omnis
fuderat. haud aliter saltu devertitur orbus 45
pastor ab agrestum nocturna strage luporum,
cuius erile pecus sihds inopinus abegit^
imber et hibernae ventosa cacumina lunae :
^ abegit Pw : adegit Ellis.
° The star Capella, whose rising was at the rainy season ;
from Aege, daughter of Olenus (from whom the AetoHan
town derived its name), who with her sister Hehce suckled
Zeus in Crete, and as a reward Mas turned into a goat and
given a place in the sky. The rising of Orion was also at
the rainy season. " Brings low the poles " : i.e., when the
low clouds make the sky seem to touch the earth.
452
THEBAID, III. 23-48
shame. And like to the appointed helmsman of a
Calabrian barque upon Ionian waters (nor does he
lack sea-craft, but the Olenian star" rising clearer than
its wont has beguiled him to leave a friendly haven),
when a sudden uproar fills the wintry sky, and all
heaven's confines thunder, and Orion in full might
brings low the poles — he himself would fain win tlie
land, and struggles to return, but a strong south
wind astern bears him on ; then, abandoning his
craft, he groans, and heedless now follows the blind
waters : even so the Agenorean chieftain upbraids
Lucifer, yet lingering in the heavens, and the sun,
so slow to rise on the distressed.
Lo ! beneath the western rein of Night, her course
already turned, and the setting stars, so soon as
mighty Tethys had driven forth tardy Hyperion
from the Eastern sea, the earth with swaying masses
trembled to her foundations, drear sign of ills to come,
and Cithaeron was stirred and made his ancient
snows to move ; then were the rooftops seen to rise
and the sevenfold gates to meet the mountain-
ridges. Nor distant was the cause : wroth with his
destiny and sad that death had been denied him, the
son of Haemon ^ was returning in the cold hour of
dawn ; not yet is his face plain, but, though indistinct
to view, he gave from afar clear signs of dire disaster
by wailing and beating his breast ; for all his tears
had soon been shed. Not otherwise does a bereaved
herdsman leave the glade where savage wolves have
wrought nocturnal carnage, what time a sudden
squall of rain and the windy horns of the winter
moon have driven his master's cattle to the woods ;
'' Maeon, see ii. 690.
453
STATIUS
luce patent caedes ; domino perferre recentes
ipse timet casus, haustaque informis harena 50
questibus implet agros, stabulique silentia magni
odit et amissos longo ciet ordine tauros.
Ilium congestae portarum ad limina matres
ut solum \ddere — nefas ! — nulla agmina circum
magnanimosque duces, nil ansae quaerere tollunt 55
clamorem, qualis bello supremus apertis
urbibus, aut pelago iam descendente^ carina,
ut primum invisi cupido data copia regis :
" hanc tibi de tanto donat ferus agmine Tydeus
infelicem animam, sive haec sententia divum, 60
seu fortuna fuitj seu, quod pudet ira fateri,
vis invicta \dri. vix credo et nuntius : omnes
procubuere, omnes. noctis vaga lumina testor
et socium manes et te, mala protinus ales,
qua redeo, non hanc lacrimis meruisse nee astu 65
crudelem veniam atque inhonorae munera lucis.
sed mihi iussa deum placitoque ignara moveri
Atropos atque olim non haec data ianua leti
eripuere necem. iamque ut mihi prodiga vitae
pectora et extremam nihil horrescentia mortem 70
aspicias : bellum infandum ominibusque negatam
movisti, funeste, aciem ; dum pellere leges,
et consanguineo gestis^ regnare superbus
exsule, te series orbarum excisa domorum
planctibus adsiduis, te diro horrore volantes 75
quinquaginta animae circum noctesque diesque
■■■ descendente Pco : desidente Heinsius. Klotz cp. Val.
Flacc. viii. 332. ^ gestis P : gliscis w.
" " protinus " : lit. " thou immediately, i.e., inevitably evil
454
THEBAID, III. 49-76
light makes the slaugliter manifest ; he fears to take
the new tidings to his lord, and pouring unsightly
dust upon his head fills the fields with his lamenta-
tions, and hates the vast and silent stalls, while he
calls aloud the long roll of his lost bulls.
When the mothers crowding to the threshold of
the gates beheld him all alone — ah, horror ! — no
troop around him or valiant chieftains, they venture
not to question him, but raise a cry like unto that
last cry when cities are flung open to the victors, or
when a ship sinks at sea. As soon as audience at
his desire was granted by the hated king : " This
hapless life fierce Tydeus doth present thee of all
that company, whether the gods have willed it so, or
fortune, or, as my anger feels shame to confess, that
man's unconquerable might. Scarce do I believe
my own report ; all have perished, all ! Witness
night's wandering fires, my comrades' ghosts, and
thou, evil omen wherewith I must needs return,*^
no tears nor wiles won me this cruel grace and
dishonoured gift of light. But the gods' commands
snatched destruction from me, and Atropos, whose
pleasure knows no denial, and the fate that long
since shut against me this door of death. And now
that thou mayst see that my heart is prodigal of
life, nor shrinks from final doom : 'tis an unholy
war thou hast begun, thou man of blood, no omens
will approve thy arms ; and while thou endeavourest
to banish law, and reign exultant in thy kinsman's
exile, the unceasing plaint of a long line of ruined
desolate homes, and fifty spirits hovering night and
day shall haunt thee with dire terror ; for I also
omen " : the very fact of his cominif home alive was an evil
omen, because it meant that he must kill himself.
455
STATIUS
adsilient ; neque enim ipse moror." iam moverat iras
rex feruSj et tristes ignescunt sanguine vultus.
inde ultro Phlegyas et non cunctator iniqui
Labdacus — hos regni ferruni penes — ire manuque 80
proturbare parant. sed iam nudaverat ensem
magnanimus vates, et nunc trucis ora tyranni,
nunc ferrum aspectans : " numquam tibi sanguinis
huius
ius erit aut niagno feries imperdita Tydeo
pectora ; vado equidem exsultans ereptaque fata 85
insequor et comites feror exspectatus ad umbras,
te superis fratrique — " et iam media orsa loquentis
absciderat plenum capulo latus ; ille dolori
pugnat et ingentem nisu duplicatus in ictum
conruit, extremisque animae singultibus errans 90
alternus nunc ore venit, nunc vulnere sanguis,
excussae procerum mentes, turbataque mussant
concilia ; ast ilium coniunx fidique parentes
servantem vultus et torvum in morte peracta,
non longum reducem laetati, in tecta ferebant. 95
sed ducis infandi rabidae non hactenus irae
stare queunt ; vetat igne rapi, pacemque sepulcri
impius ignaris nequiquam manibus arcet.
Tu tamen egregius fati mentisque nee umquam —
sic dignuni est — passure situm,qui comminus ausus 100
vadere eontemptum reges, quaque ampla veniret
libertas, sancire viam : quo carmine dignam,
quo satis ore tuis famam virtutibus addam,
augur amate deis ? non te caelestia frustra
4.56
THEBAID, III. 77-104
delay not." Already the fiei-ce king's anger was
stirred, and blood lights up his scowling visage.
Then Phlegyas and Labdacus, who never dallied at
evil work — the realm's armed might was in their
keeping — prepare unbidden to go and assault him
with \'iolence. But ah-eady the great-souled seer
had bared his blade, and looking now at the truculent
tyrant's face, now at his sword : " Never shalt thou
have power upon this blood of mine nor strike the
breast that great Tydeus spared ; I go, yea exultant,
and meet the fate whereof he robbed me ; I am borne
to the shades of my expectant comrades. As for
thee, to the gods and thy brother " Even as he
spoke, the sword was in his side to the hilt, cutting
short his words ; he fights against the agony, and with
a strong effort doubling himself over the mighty blow
sinks down, and the blood, sped by the last gaspings
of his life, comes forth now from his mouth, now from
the wound. Tlie chiefs are stricken with dismay, the
councillors mutter in alarm ; but he, with visage set
and grim in the death his hand accomplished, is
borne to his house by his wife and trusty kinsmen,
who have had no long joy of his return. But the
mad rage of the impious ruler cannot so long be
stayed ; he forbids that the corpse be consumed with
fire, and in vain defiance bars the peace of the tomb
from the unwitting shades.
But thou, so noble in thy death and in thy con-
stancy, thou who wilt never suffer oblivion — such is
thy due reward — thou who daredst scorn a monarch
to his face, and thus hallow the path of ample free-
dom : by what strain of sufficing utterance can I add
due renown to thy liigh prowess, augur beloved by
the gods ? Not in vain did Apollo teach thee all his
457
STATIUS
edocuit lauruque sua dignatus Apollo est/ 105
et nemorum Dodona parens Cirrhaeaque virgo
gaudebit^ tacito populos suspendere Phoebo.
nunc quoque Tartareo multum divisus Averno
Elysias, i, carpe plagas, ubi manibus axis
invius Ogygiis nee sontis iniqua tyranni 1 10
iussa valent ; durant habitus et membra cruentis
in\dolata feris, nudoque sub axe iacentem
et nemus et tristis volucrum reverentia servat.
At nuptae exanimes puerique aegrique parentes
moenibus effusi per plana, per avia, passim 115
quisque suas a\idi ad lacrimas miserabile currunt
certamen, quos densa gradu comitantur euntes
milia solandi studio ; pars \asere flagrant
unius acta viri et tantos in nocte labores.
fervet iter gemitu et plangoribus arva reclamant. 120
ut vero infames scopulos silvamque nefandam
perventum, ceu nulla prius lamenta nee atri
manassent imbres, sic ore miserrimus uno
exoritur fragor, aspectuque accensa cruento
turba furit : stat sanguineo discissus amictu 125
Luctus atrox caesoque invitat pectore matres.
scrutantur galeas frigentum inventaque monstrant
corpora, prociduae super externosque suosque.
hae pressant in tabe comas, hae lumina signant
vulneraque alta rigant^lacrimis,pars spiculadextra 130
nequiquam parcente trahunt, pars molliter aptant
bracchia trunca loco et cervicibus ora reponunt.
^ There is possibly a lacuna after this line.
^ gaudebit Markland : audebit Pw.
^ rigant P : replent w.
" Theban ; see n. on i. 173.
458
THEBAID, III. 105-132
heavenly lore and deem thee worthy of his laurel,
and Dodona mother of forests and the Cirrhaean
^drgin shall rejoice to keep the folk in suspense
while Phoebus holds his peace. And now far re-
moved from Tartarean Avernus go thou and roam
Elysian regions, where the sky admits not Ogygian"
souls, nor a guilty despot's cruel behests have power ;
thy raiment and thy limbs endure, left inviolate by
gory beasts, and the forest and the birds with
sorrowing awe watch o'er thee, as thou liest beneath
the naked sky.
But fainting wives and children and aihng parents
pour forth from the city walls, and by easy road or
trackless region everywhere haste in piteous rivalry,
eager to gain the object of their own lament, while
in their company go crowded thousands zealous
to console ; some are burning with desire to see one
warrior's achievement and all the labours of the
night. The road is loud with lamentation, and the
fields re-echo the cries of grief. But when they
reached the infamous rocks and the accursed wood,
as though none had mourned before, nor bitter tears
had flowed, one cry of keenest anguish rises, as from
one mouth, and the sight of the carnage drives the
folk to madness ; Grief inconsolable stands there
with bloody raiment rent and with pierced breast
incites the mothers. They search the helmets of the
warriors now cold in death, and display the bodies
they have found, stretched prostrate alike on stranger
and on kinsman. Some steep their hair in the gore,
some close up eyes and wash the deep wounds with
their tears, others draw out the darts with vainly
merciful hand, others gently replace the severed limbs
and set the heads again to their shoulders.
4.^9
STATIUS
At vaga per dumos vacuique in pulvere campi
magna parens iuvenum, gemini nunc funeris, Ide
squalentem sublata comam liventiaque ora 135
ungue premens — nee iam infelix miserandaque, verum
terror inest lacrimis — , per et anna et corpora passim
canitiem impexam dira tellure volutans
quaerit inops natos omnique in corpore plangit.
Thessalis haud aliter bello gaxisa recenti, 140
cui gentile nefas hominem renovare canendo,
multifida attollens antiqua lumina cedro
nocte subit campos versatque in sanguine functum
vulgus et explorat manes, cui plurima busto
imperet ad superos : animarum maesta queruntur 145
concilia, et nigri pater indignatur Averni.
lUi in secessu pariter sub rupe iacebant
felices, quos una dies, manus abstulit una,
pervia vulneribus media trabe pectora nexi.
ut vidit lacrimisque oculi patuere profusis : 150
" hosne ego complexus genetrix, haec oscula, nati,
vestra tuor ? sic vos extreme in fine ligavit
ingenium crudele necis ? quae vulnera tractem,
quae prius ora premam ? vosne ilia potentia matris,
vos uteri fortuna mei, qua tangere dives 155
rebar et Ogygias titulis anteire parentes ?
at quanto melius dextraque in sorte iugatae,
quis steriles thalami nulloque ululata dolore
respexit Lucina domum ! mihi quippe malorum
" A Theban mother, not elsewhere mentioned : the names
of her sons are not given.
* i.e., of being disturbed by the witch.
460
THEBAID, III. 133-159
But Ide "■ wanders through tlie thickets and on the
open dusty plam — Ide, mighty mother of twin
heroes, twinned now in death — with dishevelled hair
all flowing, and nails piercing deep her livid cheeks ;
no more unhappy or pitiable is she, but terrible in
her grief ; and everywhere by weapons and by bodies
she strews on the dire ground her white uncombed
locks, and in helpless plight seeks her sons and over
every corpse makes lamentation. Not otherwise does
the Thessalian witch, whose race's hideous art it is
to charm back men to life by spell of song, rejoice
in warfare lately ended, and holding high her faggot-
torch of ancient cedar nightly haunt the fields, while
she turns the slain folk over in their blood, and tries
the dead, to see to which corpse she shall give many
a message for the world above ; the gloomy councils
of the shades complain,^ and black Avernus' sire
waxes indignant.
Together they were lying, apart from the rest
beneath a rock, fortunate, that one day, one hand
had wrought their doom ; their wound-pierced
breasts are knit fast by the uniting spear. She saw
them, and her eyes made passage for the streaming
tears : " Is it so ye embrace, my sons, is it so ye
kiss, before your mother's eyes ? Is it so that
Death's cruel cunning at the final hour hath bound
you ? Which wounds shall I first touch, which face
caress ? Are ye those strong defenders of your
mother, that glory of my womb, whereby I thought
to touch the gods, and surpass the mothers of Ogygia
in renown ? How much better far, how happy in
their union are they whose chamber is barren, whose
house Lucina never visited at the cry of travail !
Nay, to me my labour hath brought but sorrow.
461
STATIUS
causa labor ; sed nee bellorum in luce patenti 160
conspicui fatis aeternaque gentibus ausi
quaesistis miserae vulnus memorabile matri,
sed mortem obscuram numerandaque^ funera passi,
heu quantus furto cruor et sine laude iacetis !
quin ego non dextras miseris complexibus ausira 165
dividere et tanti consortia rumpere leti :
ite diu fratres indiscretique supremis
ignibus et caros uma confundite manes ! "
Nee minus interea digesta strage suorum
hie Cthonium coniunx, hie mater Penthea clamat 170
Astyoche, puerique rudes, tua, Phaedime, proles,
amissum didicere patrem, Marpessaque pactum
Phyllea, sanguineumque lavant Acamanta sorores.
tunc ferro retegunt silvas collisque propinqui
annosum truncant apicem, qui eonscius actis 175
noctis et inspexit gemitus ; ibi grandior aevo
ante rogos, dum quisque suo nequit igne revelli,
concilium infaustum dictis mulcebat Aletes :
" saepe quidem infelix varioque exercita ludo
fatorum gens nostra fuit,^ Sidonius ex quo 180
hospes in Aonios iecit sata ferrea suleos,
unde novi fetus et formidata colonis
arva suis. sed nee veteris cum regia Cadmi
fulmineum in cinerem monitis lunonis iniquae
consedit, neque funerea cum laude potitus 185
infelix Athamas trepido de monte veniret,
^ numeranda w : numerosa P : numerosa ubi funera
Garrod.
^ fuit P (ruit written over) : ruit w.
" Lit. " suffering deaths which were (only) for the count-
462
THEBAID, III. 160-186
Nor in the broad glare of battle met ye a glorious
fate, nor daring deeds ever famous among men did
ye seek a death whose story might be told to your
unhappy mother, but obscure ye fell and counting but
in the tale of deaths " ; alas ! in what streams of blood
ye lie, unnoticed and unpraised ! I dare not indeed
sunder your poor embracing arms, or break the union
of so noble a death ; go, then, and long abide true
brothers, unparted by the final flames, and mingle
your loved ashes in the urn ! "
No less in the meantime do the rest make lament,
each over their own slain : here doth his wife mourn
Chthonius, there Astyoche his mother grieves over
Pentheus, and tender lads, thy offspring, Phaedimus,
have learnt their father's fate ; Marpessa laves
Phylleus, her betrothed, and his sisters cleanse the
blood-stained Acamas. Then with the iron they lay
bare the woods, and lop the antique crown of the
neighbouring hill, that knew the secret of the night's
doings and watched the agony ; there before the
funeral piles, while each clings to the fire he himself
has kindled, aged Aletes speaks consoling words to
tlie unhappy company : " Often indeed has our race
known sorrow and been racked by the heartless sport
of Fate, ay, ever since the Sidonian wanderer cast
the iron seed upon the furrows of Aonia, whence
came strange growing and fear to the husbandmen
of their own fields. But neither when old Cadmus'
palace sank into fiery ashes at cruel Juno's bidding,''
nor when hapless Athamas,'' gaining a deadly fame,
came down from the astonied mount, hahng, alas !
ing," numeranda, not memoranda ; they were only two more
in the list of dead.
*" See note on ii. 293. " See n. on i. 13.
463
ST ATI us
semianimem heu laeto referens clamore Learchum,
hie gemitus Thebis, nee tempore clarius illo
Phoenissae sonuere domus, cum lassa furorem
vicit et ad eomitum lacrimas expavit Agave. 190
una dies similis fato specieque malorum
aequa fuit, qua magniloquos luit impia flatus
Tantalis, innumeris cum circumfusa ruinis
corpora tot raperet terra, tot quaereret ignes.
talis erat vulgi status, et sic urbe relicta 195
primaevique senesque et longo examine matres
invidiam planxere deis miseroque tumultu
bina per ingentes stipabant funera portas.
meque ipsum memini — necdum aptalaboribus aetas —
flesse tamen gemituque meos aequasse parentes. 200
ilia tamen superi. nee quod tibi, Delia, castos
prolapsum fontes specula temerare profana
heu dominum insani nihil agnovere Molossi,
deflerim magis, aut verso quod sanguine fluxit
in subitos regina lacus : sic dura Sororum 205
pensa dabant visumque lovi. nunc regis iniqui
ob noxam immeritos patriae tot culmina cives
exuimus, nee adhuc calcati foederis Argos
fama subit, et iam bellorum extrema dolemus.
quantus equis quantusque viris in pulvere crasso 210
sudor ! io quanti crudele rubebitis amnes !
" Agave slew her son Pentheus unwittingly, under the
influence of Bacchic frenzy.
'■ Xiobe, daughter of Tantalus and wife of Amphion, king of
Thebes. She boasted of her seven sons and seven daughters,
and was punished by their being all slain by Apollo and
Artemis.
464
THEBAID, III. 187-211
with exultant cries Learehus, nigh a corpse, hath
such woe come to Thebes ; nor louder then did
Phoenician homes re-echo, when weary Agave over-
came her frenzy, and trembled at her comrades'
tears." One day alone matched this in doom, and
brought disaster in like shape, that day when the
impious Tantalid ^ atoned her presumptuous boast-
ing, when she caught up all those bodies whose
countless ruin strewed the earth around her, and
sought for each its funeral flames. As great then
was our people's woe, and even so from forth the city
went young and old and mothers flocking, and cried
out their hearts' bitterness against heaven, and in
crowding misery thronged the double pyre at each
mighty gate. I too, so I remember, though my
years were tender, wept nevertheless, and equalled
my parents' tears. Yet those ills were heaven-sent ;
nor would I more lament that the mad Molossian
hounds knew not their master, when he crept forth
from his unholy spying-place to profane, O Delia, thy
chaste fountains, nor that the queen, her blood trans-
formed, melted suddenly into a lake." Such was the
hard assignment of the Sisters, and so Jove willed it.
But now by a cruel monarch's crime have we lost
these guiltless citizens, so many chiefs of our land ;
and not yet hath the fame of the spurned covenant
reached Argos, and already we suffer the extremities
of war. Alas ! what sweat of toil in the thick dust
of battle is in store for men and steeds ! alas ! how
high will ye flow, ye rivers, blushing your cruel red !
" The references are to Actaeon and Dirce ; the latter,
the wife of Lycus, a Theban prince, was changed into the
fountain of that name.
VOL. I 2 H 46" 5
STATIUS
Adderit haec bello viridis manus : ast ego doner
dum licet igne meo terraqufe insternar avita !
haec senior, multumque nefas Eteoclis acervat
crudelem infandumque vocans poenasque daturum.
unde ea libertas ? iuxta illi finis et aetas 216
tota^ retro, seraeque decus velit addere morti.
Haec sator astrorum iamdudum e vertice mundi
prospectans primoque imbutas sanguine gentes
Gradivum acciri propere iubet. ille furentes 220
Bistonas et Geticas populatus caedibus urbes
turbidus aetherias currus urgebat ad arces,
fulmine cristatum galeae iubar armaque in auro
tristia, terrificis monstrorum animata figuris,
incutiens : tonat axe polus clipeique cruenta 223
lux rubet, et solem longe ferit aemulus orbis.
hunc ubi Sarmaticos etiamnum efflare labores
luppiter et tota perfusum pectora belli
tempestate videt : " talis mihi, nate, per Argos,
talis abi, sic ense madens, hac nubilus ira. 230
exturbent resides frenos et cuncta^ perosi
te cupiant, tibi praecipites animasque manusque
devoveant, rape cunctantes et foedera turba,
cui dedimus, tibi fas ipsos incendere bello
caelicolas pacenique meam. iam seniina pugnae 235
ipse dedi : remeat portans immania Tydeus
ausa, ducis scelus et, turpis primordia belli,
^ tota Pw : torta Garrod, from MS. at Peterhouse.
• cuncta Pw : vincla Bentley. tuta Garrod.
466
THEBAID, III. 212-237
All this will our youth behold, yet green to war ; as
for me, may I be granted, while it may be, my own
funeral pyre, and be laid in my ancestral earth !
So spoke the aged man, and heaped high the crimes
of Eteocles, calling him cruel and abominable and
doomed to punishment. Whence came this freedom
of speech ? his end was near, and all his life behind
him, and he would fain add glory to a late-found
death.
All this the creator of the stars had long observed
from the summit of the world, and seen the peoples
stained by the first bloodshed ; then bids he Gradivus
straight be called. He having laid waste with
slaughter the wild Bistonian folk and Getic towns
was driving his chariot in hot haste toward the
ethereal heights, flashing the splendour of his light-
ning-crested helm and angry golden armour, alive
with monstrous shapes of terror ; heaven's vault
roars thunderous, his shield glows with blood-red
light and its emulous orb strikes on the sun from far.
When Jupiter saw that he yet panted with his
Sarmatic toils, and that all the tempest of war yet
swayed his breast : " Even as thou art, my son,
even so hie thee through Argos, Mith thy sword thus
dripping, in such a cloud of wrath. Let them cast
off the sloth that curbs them, let them hate all and
desire but thee, let them in frenzy vow to thee their
lives and hands ; sweep away the doubting, confound
all treaties ; thou mayst consume in war — to thee
have I granted it — even gods themselves, ay, and
the peace of Jove. Already I have sown the seeds
of battle : Tydeus, as he returns, brings news of
monstrous outrages, the monarch's crime, the first
beginnings of base warfare, the ambush and the
467
STATIUS
insidias fraudesque, suis quas ultus in armis.
adde fidem. vos o superi, meus ordine sanguis,
ne pugnare odiis, neu me temptare precando 240
certetis ; sic Fata mihi nigraeque Sororuni
iuravere^ colus : manet haec ab origine mundi
fixa dies bello, populique in proelia nati.
quodni me veterum poenas sancire malorum
gentibus et diros sinitis punire nepotes — 245
arcem hanc aeternam, gentis^ sacraria nostrae,
tester et Elysios, etiam mihi numina, fontes — ,
ipse manu Thebas correptaque moenia fundo
excutiam versasque solo super Inacha tecta
effundam turres aut stagna in caerula verram^ 250
imbre superiecto, licet ipsa in turbine rerum
luno suos coUes templumque amplexa laboret."
dixit, et attoniti iussis. mortalia credas
pectora, sic cuncti vocemque animosque tenebant.^
non secus ac longa ventorum pace solutum 255
aequor et imbelli recubant ubi litora somno,
silvarumque comas et abacto flamine nubes
mulcet iners aestas ; tunc stagna lacusque sonori
detumuere, tacent exusti solibus amnes.
Gaudet ovans iussis et adhuc temone calenti 260
fervidus in laevum torsit Gradivus habenas.
iamque iter extremum caelique abrupta tenebat,
^ iuravere Pcj : lustravere Servius ad Aen. viii. 409.
* gentis Lachmann, who cp. Silv. v. 1. 240 aeternae qui
sacraria genti condidit : mentis Pw, and Garrod, who cp.
Silv. ii. 2. 131 celsa tu mentis ab arce.
^ verram P : vertam w.
* The punctuation is Garrod's : former edd. made mortalia
. . . pectora a parenthesis : Lachmann read di /or sic.
" mentis, the mss. reading here, can hardly be right,
though " celsa tu mentis ab arce " {Silv. ii. 2. 131) is quoted
468
THEBAID, III. 238-262
treachery, which with his own weapons he avenged.
Add thou credence to his tale. And you, ye gods,
scions of my blood, indulge no angry strife, no
rivalry to win me by entreaties ; thus have the
Fates sworn to me, and the dark spindles of the
Sisters : this day abides from the beginning of the
world ordained for war, these peoples are destined
to battle from their birth. But if ye suffer me not
to exact solemn vengeance for their sins of old, and
to punish their dreadful progeny — I call to witness
these everlasting heights, our race's holy shrine,* and
the Elysian streams that even I hold sacred — with
my own arm will I destroy Thebes and shatter her
walls to their foundations, and cast out upon the
Inachian dwellings her uprooted towers, or else pour
down my rain upon them and sweep them into the
blue depths, ay, though Juno's self should embrace
her hills and temple, and toil amid the chaos."
He spoke, and they were spellbound at his com-
mands. Mortal in mind thou hadst deemed them,
so curbed they one and all their voice and spirit.
Even as when a long truce of winds has calmed the
sea, and the shores lie wrapt in peaceful slumber,
indolent summer sets her spell upon forest leaves
and clouds, and drives the breezes far ; then on
lakes and sounding meres the swelling waters sink
to rest, and rivers fall silent 'neath the sun's scorching
rays.
Exulting with joy at these commands, and glowing
yet with his chariot's burning heat, Gradivus left-
ward swung the reins ; soon he was gaining his
journey's end and the steeps of heaven, when Venus
in its defence. " Elysian streapis " : i.e., Styx, a river of
the underworld,
469
STATIUS
cum Venus ante ipsos nulla formidine gressum
figit equos ; cessere retro iamiamque rigentes
suppliciter posuere iubas. tunc pectora summo 265
adclinata iugo voltumque obliqua madenteni
incipit — interea dominae vestigia iuxta
spumantem proni mandunt adamanta iugales — :
" bella etiam in Thebas, socer o pulcherrime, bella
ipse paras ferroque tuos abolere nepotes ? 270
nee genus Harmoniae nee te conubia caelo
festa nee hae quicquam lacrimae, furibunde, moran-
tur ?
criminis haec merces ? hoc fama pudorque relictus,
hoc mihi Lemniacae de te meruere catenae ?
perge libens ; at non eadem Volcania nobis 275
obsequia, et laesi servit tamen ira mariti !
ilium ego perpetuis mihi desudare caminis
si iubeam vigilesque operi transmittere noctes,
gaudeat ornatusque novos ipsique laboret
arma tibi ; tu — sed scopulos et aena precando 280
flectere corda paro ; solum hoc tamen anxia, solum
obtestor, quid me Tyrio sociare marito
progeniem caram infaustisque dabas hymenaeis ?
dum fore praeclaros armis et vivida rebus
pectora vipereo Tyrios de sanguine iactas 285
demissumque Io\'is serie genus, a ! mea quanto
Sithonia mallem nupsisset virgo sub Arcto
trans Borean Thracasque tuos. indigna parumne
pertulimus, divae Veneris quod filia longum
reptat et lUyricas deiectat virus in herbas ? 290
" i.e., the people of Thebes, which was founded by Cadmus,
whose wife she was.
470
THEBAID, III. 263-290
unafraid stood in his horses' very path ; backward
they gave place, and e'en now have drooped their thick
manes in suppHant wise to earth. Then leaning her
bosom on the yoke, and with sidelong tearful glance
she begins — meanwhile bowed at their mistress' feet
the horses champ the foaming steel : " War even
against Thebes, O noble father, war dost thou thyself
prepare, and the sword's destruction for all thy race ?
And does not Harmonia's offspring,** nor heaven's
festal day of wedlock, nor these tears of mine, thou
madman, give thee one moment's pause ? Is this
thy reward for my misdoing ? Is this the guerdon
that the Lemnian chains and scandal's tongue and
loss of honour have won for me at thy hands ?
Proceed then as thou wilt ; far different service does
Vulcan pay me, and even an injured husband's
wrath yet does my bidding. If I were to bid him
sweat in endless toil of furnaces and pass unsleeping-
nights of labour, he would rejoice and work at arms
and at new accoutrements, yea, even for thee !
Thou — but I essay to move rocks and a heart of
bronze by praying ! — yet this sole request, this only
do I make in anxious fear : why didst thou have me
join our beloved daughter to a Tyrian husband in
ill-omened wedlock ? ^ And boast the while that the
Tyrians, of dragon stock and direct lineage of Jove,
would win renown in arms and show hearts keen and
alive for action ? Ah ! would rather our maiden had
married beneath the Sithonian pole, beyond Boreas
and thy Thracians ! Have I not suffered wrong
enough, that my daughter crawls her length upon
the ground, and spews poison on the Illyrian grass .''
* i.e., Harmonia, wife of Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of
Tyre.
471
ST ATI us
nunc gentem immeritam — " lacrimas non pertulit
ultra
Bellipotens, hastam laeva transumit et alto,
haud mora, desiluit curru, clipeoque receptam
laedit in amplexu dictisque ita mulcet amicis :
" O mihi bellorum requies et sacra voluptas 295
unaque pax animo ! soli cui tanta potestas
divorumque hominumque meis occui'rere telis
impune et media quamvis in caede frementes
hos adsistere equos, hunc ensem avellere dextrae.
nee mihi Sidonii genialia foedera Cadmi 300
nee tua cara fides — ne falsa incessere gaude ! — -
exciderunt : prius in patrui deus infera mergar
stagna et pallentes agar exarmatus ad umbras,
sed nunc fatorum monitus mentemque supremi
iussus obire patris — neque enim Vulcania tali 305
imperio manus apta legi — , quo pectore contra
ire lovem dictasque parem contemnere leges,
cui modo — pro vires ! — terras caelumque fretumque
adtremere oranti tantosque ex ordine vidi
delituisse deos ? sed ne mihi corde supremos 310
concipe, cara, metus ! quando haec mutare potestas
nulla datur — cum iam Tyriis sub moenibus ambae
bellabunt gentes, adero et socia arma iuvabo.
tunc me sanguineo late defervere^ campo
res super Argolicas haud sic deiecta videbis ; 315
hoc mihi ius, nee fata vetant." sic orsus aperto
flagrantes immisit equos. non ocius alti
in teiTas cadit ira lovis, si quando nivalem
Othryn et Arctoae geUdum caput institit Ossae
arma\"itque in nube manum : volat ignea moles 320
^ late deferv'ere Pw : bellantem fervere conj. Garrod.
472
THEBAID, III. 291-320
but now her innocent race — " no longer could the
Lord of war endure her teai-s, but changed his spear
to his left hand, and in a moment leapt from the
lofty car, and clasping her to his shield hurt her in
liis embrace, and with loving words thus soothes her :
" O thou who art my repose from battle, my sacred
joy and all the peace my heart doth know : thou
who alone of gods and men canst face my arms
unpunished, and check even in mid-slaughter my
neighing steeds, and tear this sword from my right
hand ! neither the marriage-bond of Sidonian Cadmus
have I forgotten, nor thy dear loyalty — rejoice not
in false accusing ! — may I be rather plunged, god
though I be, in my uncle's infernal lakes, and be
hunted weaponless to the pale shades ! But now
'tis the Fates' behests and the high Father's purpose
I am bid perform — no fit choice were Vulcan's arm
for such an errand ! — and how can I dare face Jove
or go about to spurn his spoken decree, Jove, at
whose word — such power is his ! — I saw of late earth
and sky and ocean tremble, and mighty gods, one
and all, seek hiding ? But, dear one, let not thy
heart be sore afraid, I pray thee — these things no
power can change ; and when soon beneath the
Tyrian walls both races are making war, I will be
present and help our kindred arms. Then with
happier mien shalt thou behold me descending in
fury upon the Argive fortunes far and wide over the
bloody plain ; this is my right, nor do the fates
forbid it." So speaking, he drove on through the
open air his flaming steeds. No swifter falls upon
the earth the anger of Jove, whene'er he stands on
snowy Othrys or the cold peak of northern Ossa,
and plucks a weapon from the cloud ; fast flies the
473
STATIUS
saeva dei mandata ferens, caelumque trisulca
territat omne coma iamduduni aut ditibus agris
signa dare aut ponto miseros involvere nautas. .
lamque remensus iter fesso Danaeia Tydeus
arva gradu viridisque legit devexa Prosymnae 325
terribilis visu : stant fulti pulvere crines,
squalidus ex umeris cadit alta in vulnera sudor,
insomnesque oculos rubor excitat, oraque retro
solvit^ anhela sitis ; mens altum spirat lionorem
conscia factorum. sic nota in pascua taurus 330
bellator redit, adverso cui colla suoque
sanguine proscissisque natant palearibus armi ;
tunc quoque lassa tumet virtus multumque superbit
pectore despecto^ ; vacua iacet hostis harena
turpe gemens crudosque vetat sentire labores. 335
talis erat ; medias etiam non destitit urbes,
quidquid et Asopon veteresque interiacet Argos,
inflammare odiis, multumque et ubique retexens
legatum sese Graia de gente petendis
isse^ super regnis profugi Polynicis, at inde 340
vim, noctem ; scelus, arma, dolos, ea foedera passum
regis Echionii ; fratri sua iura negari.
prona fides populis ; deus omnia credere suadet
Armipotens, geminatque acceptos fama pavores.
Utque introgressus portas — et forte verendus 345
concilio pater ipse duces cogebat Adrastus —
^ solvit P : sorbet w.
^ pectore despecto Pa;: despecto pecore, at conj. Garrod:
despectus Baehrens.
^ isse PDN : esse w (c/. i. 475).
° Literally " and terrifies all the heaven so that it gives
signs " ; the infinitive is best explained as following " territat "
by analogy with " cogit " ; " territat," therefore, is equivalent
474
THEBAID, III. 321-346
fiery bolt, bearing the god's stern command, and all
heaven, affrighted at its threefold trail, soon threatens
with ominous signs the fruitful fields or overwhelms
unhappy sailors in the deep."
And now Tydeus on his homeward way passes with
weary step through the Danaan lands and down the
slopes of green Prosymna ; terrible is he to behold :
his hair stands thick with dust, from his shoulders
filthy sweat drips into his deep wounds, his sleepless
eyes are raw and red, and gasping thirst has made
his face drawn and sunken ; but his spirit, conscious
of his deeds, breathes lofty pride. So does a warrior
bull return to his well-known pastures, with neck and
shoulders and torn dewlaps streaming with his foe's
blood and his own ; then too doth weary valour
swell high, filled with pride, as he looks down upon his
breast ; his enemy lies on the deserted sand, groan-
ing, dishonoured, and forbids him to feel his cruel
pains. Such was he, nor failed he to inflame with
hatred the midway towns, all that lie between Asopos
and ancient Argos, renewing everywhere and oft the
tale, how he had gone on embassy from a Grecian
people to claim the realm of exiled Polynices, but
had endured violence, night crime, arms, treachery,
— such was the Echionian monarch's plighted faith ;
to his brother he denied his due rights. The folk
are swift to believe him ; the Lord of Arms inclines
them to credit all, and, once welcomed. Rumour
redoubles fear.
When he entered within the gates — and it hap-
pened that the revered sire Adrastus was himself
summoning his chiefs to council — he appears all
to "terrore cogit." Such uses of analogy are very charac-
teristic of Statius.
475
STATIUS
inprovisus adest, iam illinc a postibus aulae
vociferans : " arma, arma viri, tuque optime Lernae
ductor, magnanimum si quis tibi sanguis avorum,
arma para ! nusquam pietas, non gentibus aequum 350
fas aut cura^ lovis ; melius legatus adissem
Sauromatas rabidos^ servatoremque cruentum
Bebryeii nemoris, nee iussa incuso pigetve
officii : iuvat isse, iuvat, Thebasque nocentes
explorasse manu ; bello me, credite, bello, 355
ceu turrem validam aut artam compagibus urbem,
delecti insidiis instructique omnibus armis
nocte doloque viri nudum ignarumque locorum
nequiquam elausere ; iacent in sanguine mixti 359
ante urbem vacuam. nunc o, nunc tempus in hostes,
dum trepidi exsanguesque metu, dum funera portant,
nunc, socer, haec dum non^ manus excidit ; ipse ego
fessus
quinquaginta illis heroum immanibus umbris
vulneraque ista ferens putri insiccata cruore
protinus ire peto ! " trepidi de sedibus adstant 365
Inachidae, cunctisque prior Cadmeius heros
accurrit vultum deiectus et " o ego divis
invisus vitaeque nocens haec vulnera cerno
integer ! hosne mihi reditus, germane, parabas ?
in me haec tela mei* ! pro vitae foeda cupido ! 370
^ aut cura w : auctura P : aut iura L and Garrod.
- rabidos Wakefield (feroces Schol. of D) : avidos Pw.
^ nunc socer haec dum non P : dum capulo nondum w
(nondum haec ccmj. Garrod). * mei P : dabas w.
" As often, for Argos.
* Where Amycus, king of the Bebryeii, fought all strangers
476
THEBAID, III. 347-370
unexpectedly, and from the very portals of the
palace cries aloud : " To arms, to arms, ye men, and
thou, most worthy ruler of Lerna," if thou hast the
blood of thy brave ancestors, to arms ! Natural ties,
justice, and reverence for Jove have perished from
the world ! Better had I gone an envoy to the wild
Sauromatae, or the blood-stained warden of the
Bebrycian grove.^ I blame not thy commands, nor
regret my errand ; glad am I that I went, yea glad,
and that my hand has probed the guilt of Thebes.
'Twas war, believe me, war ! like a strong tower or
city stoutly fortified was I beset, all defenceless and
ignorant of my path, treacherously at night, by a
picked ambuscade armed to the teeth, ay, but in
vain ! — they lie there in their own blood, before a
city desolated ! Now, now is the time to march
against the foe, while they are struck by panic and
and pale with fear, while they are bringing in the
corpses, now, sire, while this right arm is not yet
forgotten." I myself even, wearied by the slaughter
of those fifty warriors, and bearing the wounds ye
see still running with foul gore, beg to set forth upon
the instant ! " In alarm the sons of Inachus start
up from their seats, and before them all the Cadmean
hero runs forward with downcast countenance : " Ah !
hated of the gods and guilty that I am ! do I see
these wounds, myself unharmed ? Is this, then, the
return thou hadst in store for me, brother ? An:i I the
mark, then, of my kinsman's weapons ? Ah ! shame-
and slew those whom he defeated, until he was himself slain
by Pollux.
'^ " excidit," sc. " memoria " as in 1. 302. It is easier to
suppose that this was not understood and " capulo " therefore
inserted and " nunc socer " dropped than to account for the
latter replacing "capulo."
477
STATIUS
infelix, fratri facinus tarn grande negavi.
et nunc vestra quidem maneant in pace quieta^
moenia, nee vobis tanti sim causa tumultus
hospes adhue. scio — nee me adeo res dextra levavit— ,
quam durum natis, thalamo quam triste revelli, 375
quam patria ; non me ullius domus anxia culpet
respectentve truces obliquo lumine matres.
ibo libens certusque mori, licet optima coniunx
auditusque iterum revocet socer ; hunc ego Thebis,
hunc, germane, tibi iugulum et tibi, maxime Tydeu,
debeo." sic variis pertemptat pectora dictis 381
obliquatque preces. commotae questibus irae
et mixtus lacrimis caluit dolor ; omnibus ultro
non iuvenum modo, sed gelidis et inertibus aevo
pectoribus mens una subit, viduare penates, 385
finitimas adhibere manus, iamque ire. sed altus
consiliis pater imperiique baud flectere molem
inscius : " ista quidem superis curaeque medenda^
linquite, quaeso, meae, nee te germanus inulto
sceptra geret, neque nos avidi promittere bellum. 390
at nunc egregium tantoque in sanguine ovantem
excipite Oeniden, animosaque pectora laxet
sera quies : nobis dolor baud rationis egebit."
Turbati extemplo comites et pallida coniunx
Tydea circum omnes fessum bellique viaeque 395
stipantur. laetus mediis in sedibus aulae
constitit, ingentique exceptus terga columna,
vulnera dum lymphis Epidaurius eluit Idmon,
^ quieta P : serena w.
^ medenda w : medentia P : medenti Garrod.
" For "auditus " with noun, simply meaning " the voice
of," see ii. 54, ii. 455, v. 94. The word has been unnecessarily
emended.
478
THEBAID, III. 371-398
ful lust of life ! Unhappy I, to have spared my
brother so great a crime ! Let now your walls at
least abide in tranquil peace ; let me not, who am
still your guest, bring on you such tumult. I know
— so hardly has fate dealt with me — how cruel it is,
how sad to be torn from children, wife, and country ;
let no one's anxious home reproach me, nor mothers
fling at me sidelong glances ! Gladly will I go, and
resolved to die, ay, though my loyal spouse call me
back, and her father's voice * once more plead with
me. This life of mine I owe to Thebes, to thee, O
brother, and to thee, great Tydeus ! " Thus with
varied speech he tries their hearts and naakes dis-
sembling prayer. His complaints stir their Mrath,
and they Avax hot in tearful indignation ; spon-
taneously in every heart, not only of the young,
but of those whom age has made cold and slow to
action, one purpose rises, to leave desolate their
homes, to bring in neighbouring bands, and then to
march. But the deep-counselling sire, well-versed
in the government of a mighty realm : " Leave that,
I pray you, to the gods and to my wisdom to set
aright ; thy brother shall not reign unpunished, nor
are we eager to promise war. But for the present
receive this noble son of Oeneus, who comes in
triumph from such bloodshed, and let long-sought
repose calm his warlike spirit. For our part, grief
shall not lack its share of reason."
Straightway his comrades and anxious wife bestir
tliemselves in haste, all thronging round the way-
worn and battle- weary Tydeus. Joyfully in mid-hall
he takes his seat, and leans his back against a huge
pillar, while Epidaurian Idmon cleanses his wounds
479
STATIUS
nunc velox ferro, nunc ille tepentibus^ herbis
mitior, ipse alta seductus mente renarrat 400
principia irarum, quaeque orsus uterque vicissim,
quis locus insidiis, tacito quae tempora bello,
qui contra quantique duces, ubi maximus illi
sudor, et indicio servatum Maeona tristi
exponit. cui fida manus proceresque socerque 405
adstupet oranti, Tyriusque incenditur exsul.
Solverat Hesperii devexo margine ponti
flagrantes Sol pronus equos rutilamque lavabat
Oceani sub fonte comam, cui turba profundi
Nereos et rapidis adcurrunt passibus Horae, 410
frenaque et auratae textum sublime coronae
deripiunt, laxant calidis^ umentia loris
pectora ; pars meritos vertunt ad molle iugales
gramen et erecto currum temone supinant.
nox subiit curasque hominum motusque ferarum 415
composuit nigroque polos involvit amictu,
ilia quidem cunctis, sed non tibi mitis, Adraste,
Labdacioque duci : nam Tydea largus habebat
perfusum magna virtutis imagine somnus.
et lam noctivagas inter deus armifer umbras 420
desuper Arcadiae fines Nemeaeaque rura
Taenariumque cacumen Apollineasque Therapnas
armorum tonitru ferit et trepidantia corda
implet amore sui. comunt Furor Iraque cristas,
frena ministrat equis Pavor armiger. at vigil omni 425
^ tepentibus P : potentibus w. ^ calidis P : roseis w.
" i.e., Polynices.
* Theban, from Labdacus, grandfather of Oedipus.
480
THEBAID, III. 399-425
with water — Idmon, now swift to ply the knife, now
gentler with warm juice of herbs ; — he himself, with-
drawn into his mind's deep brooding, tells over the
beginning of the deeds of wrath, the words each
spoke in turn, the place of ambush, and the time of
secret battle, what chieftains and how great were
matched against him, and where most he laboured,
and he relates how Maeon was preserved to take the
sad tidings. The faithful company, the princes and
his wife's sire, are spellbound at his words, and wrath
inflames the Tyrian exile.*^
Far on the sloping margin of the western sea the
sinking Sun had unyoked his flaming steeds, and
laved their bright manes in the springs of Ocean ;
to meet him hastens Nereus of the deep and all his
company, and the swift-striding Hours, who strip
him of his reins and the woven glory of his golden
coronet, and relieve his horses' dripping breasts of
the hot harness ; some turn the well-deserving steeds
into the soft pasture, and lean the chariot backward,
pole in air. Night then came on, and laid to rest
the cares of men and the prowlings of wild beasts,
and wrapped the heavens in her dusky shroud,
coming to all with kindly influence, but not to thee,
Adrastus, nor to the Labdacian prince ^ ; for Tydeus
was held by generous slumber, steeped in dreams of
valiant prow'ess. And now amid the night- wandering
shades the god of battle from on high made to re-
sound with the thunder of arms the Nemean fields
and Arcady from end to end, and tlie height of
Taenarum and Therapnae favoured of Apollo, and
filled excited hearts with passion for himself. Fury
and Wrath make trim his crest, and Panic, his own
squire, handles his horses' reins. But Rumour, awake
VOL. I 2 1 481
STATIUS
Fama sono vanos rerum succincta tumultus
antevolat currum flatuque impulsa gementum
alipedum trepidas denso cum murmure plumas
excutit : urget enini stimulis auriga cruentis
facta, infecta loqui, curruque infestus ab alto 430
terga comamque deae Scythica pater increpat hasta.
qualis ubi Aeolio dimissos carcere Ventos
dux prae se Neptunus agit magnoque volentes
incitat Aegaeo ; tristis comitatus eunti
circum lora fremunt Nimbique Hiemesque profundae
Nubilaque et vulso terrarum sordida fundo 436
Tempestas : dubiae motis radicibus obstant
Cyclades, ipsa tua Mycono Gyaroque revelli,
Dele, times magnique fidem testai-is alumni.
Septima iam nitidum terris Aurora deisque 440
purpureo veliit ore diem, Perseius heros
cum primum arcana senior sese extulit aula,
multa super bello generisque tumentibus aniens
incertusque animi, daret armis iura novosque
gentibus^ incuteret stimulos, an frena teneret 445
irarum et motos capulis adstringeret enses.
hinc pacis tranquilla movent, atque inde pudori
foeda quies, flectique nova dulcedine pugnae
difficiles populi ; dubio sententia tandem
sera placet, vatum mentes ac provida veri 450
sacra movere deum. sollers tibi cura futui'i,
^ gentibus Pw : mentibus K.
« Bellona, cf. vii. 73,
" Mars.
<^ Delos, formerly a floating island, was made fastened
to Myconos and Gyaros and made stationary, when Leto
was about to give birth to Apollo and Artemis on it.
482
THEBAID, III. 42(5-451
to every sound and girt with empty tidings of
tumult, flies before the chariot, sped onward by the
\\ inged steeds' panting breath, and with loud whirring
shakes out her fluttering plumes ; for the cliarioteer *
with blood-stained goad urges her to speak, be it
truth or falsehood, while threatening from the lofty
car the sire ** with Scythian lance assails the back and
tresses of the goddess. Even so their chieftain
Neptune drives before him the Winds set free from
Aeolus' cell, and speeds them willing over the wide
Aegean ; in his train Storms and high-piled Tempests,
a surly company, clamour about his reins, and Clouds
and the dark Hurricane torn from earth's rent bowels ;
wavering and shaken to their foundations the Cyclades
stem the blast ; even thou, Delos, fearest to be torn
away from thy Myconos and Gyaros, and entreatest
tlie protection of thy mighty son/
And now the seventh Dawn with shining face was
bearing bright day to earth and heaven, when the
Persean hero '^ first came forth from the private
chamber of his palace, distracted by thought of war
and the princes' swelling ambition, and perplexed in
mind, whether to give sanction and stir anew the
rival peoples, or to hold tight the reins of anger and
fasten in their sheaths tlie restless swords. On the one
side he is moved by the thought of tranquil peace,
on the other by the shame of dishonoured quiet and
the hard task of turning a people from war's new
glamour ; in his doubt this late resolve at last finds
favour, to try the mind of prophets and the true
presaging of the sacred rites. To thy wisdom,
'^ Adrastus; " Persean " here, as in i. 225, means Argive,
because Perseus was son of Danae, daughter of Acrisius,
king of Argos.
483
STATIUS
Ampliiarac, datur. iuxtaque Amythaone cretus
iam senior — sed mente viret Phoeboque — Melampus
adsociat passus : dubium, cui pronus^ Apollo
oraque Cirrhaea satiarit largius unda. 455
principio fibris pecudumque in sanguine divos
explorant ; iam tunc pavidis maculosa bidentum
corda negant diraque nefas minitantia vena,
ire tamen vacuoque sedet petere omina caelo.
Mons erat audaci seductus in aethera dorso — 460
nomine Lernaei memorant Aphesanta coloni — ,
gentibus Argolicis olim sacer ; inde ferebant
nubila suspense celerem temerasse volatu
Persea, cum raptos pueri perterrita mater
prospexit de rupe gradus ac paene secuta est. 465
hue gemini vates sanctam canentis olivae
fronde comam et niveis ornati tempora vittis
evadunt pariter, madidos ubi lucidus agros
ortus et algentes laxavit sole pruinas.
ac prior Oeclides solitum prece numen amicat : 470
" luppiter omnipotens — nam te pernicibus alis
addere consilium volucresque implere futuri
ominaque et causas caelo deferre latentes
accipimus — , non Cirrha deum promiserit antro
certius, aut frondes lucis quas fama Molossis 475
Chaonias sonuisse tibi : licet aridus Hammon
invideat Lyciaeque parent contendere sortes
^ pronus P : dexter w : pectora Bentley.
" Perseus was given wings to enable him to fly, when he
slew the Gorgon Medusa.
* i.e., Amphiaraus, son of Oecleus.
" The oracles referred to are those of Apollo at Delphi,
484
THEBAID, III. 452-477
Arnphiaraus, is given the charge to read tlie future,
and with thee Melampus, son of Aniythaon — an old
man now, but fresh in vigour of mind and Phoebus'
inspiration — bears company ; 'tis doubtful which
Apollo more favours, or whose mouth he has sated
with fuller draughts of Cirrha's waters. At first
they try the gods with entrails and blood of cattle :
even then the spotted hearts of sheep and the dread
veins threatening disaster portend refusal to the
timorous seers. Yet they resolve to go and seek
omens in the open sky.
A mount there was, with bold ridge rising far
aloft — the dwellers in Lerna call it Aphesas — sacred
of yore to Argive folk : for thence they say swift
Perseus " profaned the clouds with hovering flight,
when from the cliff his mother terror-stricken beheld
the boy's high-soaring paces, and well nigh sought
to follow. Hither the prophets twain, their sacred
locks adorned with leaves of the grey olive and their
temples decked with snow-white fillets, side by side
ascend, when the sun rising bright has melted the
cold hoarfrost on the humid fields. And first
Oeclides '' seeks with prayer the favour of the
wonted deity : " Almighty Jupiter, — for thou, as we
are taught, impartest counsel to swift wings, and dost
fill the birds with futurity, and bring to light the
omens and causes that lurk in mid-heaven, — not
Cirrha " can more surely vouchsafe the inspiration
of her grotto, nor those Chaonian leaves that
are famed to rustle at thy bidding in Molossian
groves : though arid Hammon envy, and the
Lycian oracle contend in rivalry, and the beast of
Zeus at Dodona, Zeus Amnion in Libya, Apollo in Lycia,
Apis in Egypt, Branchus (son of Apollo] at xMiletus.
485
STATIUS
Niliacumque pecus patrioque aequalis^ honori
Branchus, et undosae qiiem^ rusticus accola Pisae
Pana Lycaonia nocturnum exaudit in umbra, 480
ditior ille animi, cui tu, Dictaee, secundas
impuleris manifestus aves. mirum unde, sed olim^
hie honor alitibus, superae seu conditor aulae
sic dedit effusum chaos in nova semina texens,
seu quia mutatae nostraque ab origine versis 485
corporibus subiere notes, seu purior axis
amotumque nefas et rarum insistere terris
vera decent ; tibi, summe sater terraeque deumque,
scire licet, nos Argohcae primordia pugnae
venturumque sinas caele praenosse laborem. 490
si datur et duris ^jedet haec sententia Parcis
solvere Echienias Lernaea cuspide portas,
signa feras laevusque tones ; tunc omnis in astris
consonet arcana velucris bona murmura lingua.
si prehibes, hie necte moras dextrisque prefundum 495
alitibus praetexe diem." sic fatus, et alte
membra leeat seopulo ; tune plura ignetaque iungit
numina et immensi fruitur caligine mundi.
Pestquam rite diu partiti sidera cunctis
perlegere animis oculisque sequacibus auras, 500
tune Amythaonius longe post tempore vates :
" nonne sub exeelso spirantis limite caeli,
Amphiarae, vides, eursus ut nulla serenos
^ aequalis Pw : aequatus Schol. Theb. viii. 198.
^ quern Mueller : qui Pw.
^ olim w: olims (olis) P : olimst Mueller: olim est Gar rod.
" Jupiter was born on Mt. Dicte in Crete, according to
one legend.
486
THEBAID, III. 478-503
Nile, and Branchus, whose honour is equal to his
sire's, and Pan, whom the rustic dweller in wave-
beat Pisa hears nightly beneath the Lycaonian
shades, more richly blest in mind is he, for whom
thou, O Dictaean," dost guide the favouring flights
that show thy will. Mysterious is the cause, yet of
old has this honour been paid to the birds, whether
the Founder of the heavenly abode thus ordained,
when he wrought the vast expanse of Chaos into
fresh seeds of things ; or because the birds went forth
upon the breezes with bodies transformed and
changed from shapes that once were oui's ; or because
tliey learn truth from the purer heaven, where error
comes not, and alight but rarely on the earth : 'tis
known to thee, great sire of earth and of the gods.
Grant that we may have foreknowledge from the
sky of the beginnings of the Argive struggle and the
contest that is to come. If it is appointed and the
stern Fates are Set in this resolve, that the Lernaean
spear shall shatter the Echionian gates, show signs
thereof and thunder leftward ; then let every bird
in heaven join in propitious melody of mystic lan-
guage. If thou dost forbid, then weave delays, and on
the right shroud with winged creatures the abyss of
day." So spoke he, and settled his limbs upon a
high rock ; then to his prayer he adds more deities
and deities unknown, and holds converse with the
dark mysteries of the illimitable heaven.
When they had duly parted out the heavens and
long scanned the air with keen attention and quick-
following vision, at last the Amythaonian seer :
" Seest thou not, Amphiaraus, how beneath the
breathing sky's exalted bounds no winged creature
travels on a course serene, nor hangs aloft, en-
487
STATIUS
ales agat liquidoque polum complexa ineatu
pendeat aut fugiens placabile planxerit omen ? 505
non comes obscurus tripodum, non fulminis ardens
vector adest, flavaeque sonans avis unca Minervae,
non venit auguriis melior ; quin^ vultur et altis
desuper accipitres exsultavere rapinis.
nionstra volant, dirae stridunt in nube volucres, 510
nocturnaeque gemunt striges et feralia bubo
damna canens. quae prima deum portenta sequamur?
hisne dari, Thymbraee, polum ? simul ora recurvo
ungue secant rabidae planctumque imitantibus alis
exagitant zephyros et plumea pectora caedunt." 515
ille sub haec : " equidem varii, pater, omina Phoebi
saepe tuli : iam tum, prima cum pube virentem
semideos inter pinus me Thessala reges
duceret, liic casus terraeque marisque canentem
obstipuere duces, nee me ventura locuto 520
sacpius in dubiis auditus lasoni Mopsus.
sed similis non ante metus aut^ astra^ notavi
prodigiosa magis ; quamquam maiora parantur.
hue adverte animum : clara regione profundi
aetheros innumeri statuerunt agmina cygni, 525
sive hos Strymonia Boreas eiecit ab Arcto,
seu fecunda refert placidi dementia Xili.*
fixerunt cursus : has rere in imagine Thebas ;
nam sese immoti gyro atque in pace silentes
eeu muris valloque tenent. sed fortior ecce 530
^ quin Bernartius {from a its.) : qui Pw.
^ aut Poj : tamen I).
^ astra Pw : monstra Mueller : signa Slater, etc., hut astra
= caelum. * Nili w : caeli P.
" The raven (bird of Apollo), the eagle (of Jupiter), and
the owl.
" Apollo was worshipped at ThymVjra, in the Troad.
•^ The Argo, which started from lolcos in Thessalj'.
4S8
THEBAID, III. 004-530
circling tlie pole in liciiiid flight, nor as it speeds
along utters a cry of peaceful import ? No dark
companion of the tripod," nor fiery bearer of
the thunderbolt is here, and fair-haired Minerva's
hooting bird with the hooked beak comes not with
better augury ; but hawks and vultures exult on
high over their airy plunder. Monstrous creatures
are flying, and direful birds clamour in the clouds,
nocturnal screech-owls cry, and the horned owl with
its dismal funeral chant. What celestial portents
are we to follow first ? must we take these as lords
of the sky, O Thymbraean '^ f Even now in frenzy do
they tear each other's faces with crooked talons, and
lash the breezes with pinions that seem to smite the
bosom, and assail their feathery breasts." The other
in reply : " Oft indeed, father, have I read omens
of various sort from Phoebus. Yea, when in my
vigorous youth the pinewood barque of Thessaly "
bore me in company of princes half-divine, even then
did the chieftains listen spellbound to my chant of
what should befall us on land and sea, nor Mopsus'
self was hearkened to more often by Jason in per-
plexity than my presagings of the future. But never
ere this day felt I such terror, or observed prodigies
so dire in heaven ; yet happenings more awful are
in store. Look hither then : in this clear region of
profound aether numberless swans have marshalled
their ranks, whether Boreas has driven them from
the Strymonian North, or the benignant fostering
air of placid Nile recalls them. They have stopped
their flight : these deem thou in fancy to be Thebes,
for they hold themselves motionless in a circle and
are silent and at peace, as though enclosed by
walls and rampart. But lo ! a more valiant cohort
+89
STATIUS
adventat per inane coliors ; septem ordine fulvo
armigeras summi lovis exsultante catei'va
intuor : Inachii sint lii tibi, concipe, reges.
invasere globuni nivei gregis uncaque pandunt
caedibus ora novis et strictis unguibus instant. 535
cernis inexperto rorantes sanguine ventos,
et plumis stillare diem ? quae saeva repente
victores agitat leto lovis ira sinistri ?
hie excelsa petens subita face solis inarsit
submisitque animos, ilium vestigia adortum 540
maiorum volucrum tenerae deponitis alae.
hie hosti implicitus pariter ruit, hunc fuga retro
volvit agens sociae linquentem fata catervae.
hie nimbo glomeratus obit, hie praepete viva
paseitur immoriens ; spai-git cava nubila sanguis." 545
" quid furtim inlacrimas ? " " ilium, venerande Me-
lampu,
qui cadit, agnosco." trepidos sic mole futuri
cunctaque iam rerum certa sub imagine passos
terror habet vates ; piget inrupisse volantum
concilia et caelo mentem insertasse vetanti, 550
auditique odere deos. — unde iste per orbem
primus venturi miseris animantibus aeger
crevit amor ? divumne feras hoc munus, an ipsi,
gens avida et parto non umquam stare quieti,
'^ i.e., eagles, " ministers of the thunderbolt."
* In the following lines the fate of the Seven is foreshown,
first Capaneus, then Parthenopaeus, Polynices, Adrastus,
Hippomedon, Tydeus : finally Amphiaraus sees his own fate.
•^ "tenerae " shows that Parthenopaeus is meant here.
"* This is the only instance in the Thihaid of a change of
speaker without introductory words {e.g., he said) ; I have
kept the traditional punctuation, though it would be quite
possible to give " quid," etc., to Amphiaraus, and not make
490
THEBAID, III. 531-554
advances through the empty air ; a tawny hne of
seven birds that bear the weapons of Jupiter supreme**
I see, an exultant band ; suppose that in these thou
hast the Inachian princes. They have flung them-
selves on the circle of the snow-white flock, and open
wide their hooked beaks for fresh slaughter, and with
talons unsheathed press on to the attack. Seest
thou tlie breezes dripping unwonted blood, and the
air raining feathers ? What sudden fierce anger of
unpropitious Jove is driving the victors to destruc-
tion ? This one ^ soaring to the height is consumed
by the sun's quick fire, and lays down liis proud spirit,
that other, bold in pursuit of mightier birds, you let
sink, ye still frail pinions." This one falls grappling
with his foe, that one is swept backward by the rout
and leaves his company to their fate. This one a
rain-cloud overwhelms, another in death devours his
winged foe yet living ; blood bespatters the hollow
clouds . " " What mean those secret tears '^ ? " "Him
yonder falling, reverend Melampus, him I know full
well ! " Affrighted thus by the future's dire import,
and having suffered all under a sure image of things
to come, the seers are held by terror ; it repents
them that they have broken in upon the councils of
the flying birds, and forced their will upon a for-
bidding heaven ; though heard, they hate the gods
that heard them. Whence first arose among un-
happy mortals throughout the world that sickly
craving for the future ? Sent by heaven, wouldst
thou call it ? Or is it we ourselves, a race insatiable,
never content to abide on knowledge gained, that
Melampus speak at all. Melampus weeps because he under-
stands Amphiaraus's fate; then Amphiaraus says "Why do
you weep for me: I know my fate."
STATIUS
eruiinus, quae prima dies, ubi terminus aevi, 555
quid bonus ille deum genitor, quid ferrea Clotho
cogitet ? hinc fibrae et volucrum per nubila sermo
astrorumque vices numerataque semina^ lunae
Thessalicumque nefas. at non prior aureus ille
sanguis avum scopulisque satae vel robore gentes 560
mentibus his usae ; silvas amor unus humumque
edomuisse manu ; quid crastina volveret aetas,
scire nefas homini. nos pravum et flebile vulgus
scrutari penitus superos : hinc pallor et irae,
hinc scelus insidiaeque et nulla modestia voti. 565
Ergo manu vittas damnataque vertice serta
deripit abiectaque inhonorus fronde sacerdos
inviso de monte redit ; iam bella tubaeque
comminus, absentesque fremunt sub pectore Thebae.
ille nee aspectum volgi, nee fida tyranni 570
conloquia aut coetus procerum perferre, sed atra
sede tegi, et superum clausus negat acta fateri ;
te pudor et curae retinent per rura, Melampu.
bissenos premit ora dies populumque ducesque
extrahit incertis. et iam suprema Tonantis 575
iussa fremunt agrosque viris annosaque vastant
oppida ; bellipotens prae se deus agmina passim
mille rapit ; liquere domos dilectaque laeti
conubia et primo plorantes limine natos ;
tantus in attonitos cecidit deus. arma paternis 580
postibus et fixos superum ad penetralia currus
1 semina PL : semita w.
" The reference is apparently to horoscopes.
** It is not clear what he means by this : possibly " semita "
should be read, " the calculated path of the moon."
*■ The earliest races, e.g. the Arcadians, were supposed to
hav^e sprung from trees or rocks.
492
THEBAID, III. .355-581
search out tlie day of oiii' birth " and tlie scene of
our hfe's ending, what the kindly Father of the gods is
thinking, or iron-hearted Clotho ? Hence comes it that
entrails occupy us, and the airy speech of birds, and_
the moon's numbered seed^^and Thessalia's horrid
rites. But that earlier golden age of our forefathers,
and the races born of rock or oak " were not thus
minded ; their only passion was to gain the mastery
of the woods and the soil by might of hand ; it was
forbidden to man to know what to-morrow's day
would bring. We, a depraved and pitiable crowd,
probe deep the counsels of the gods ; hence come
wrath and anxious fear, hence crime and treachery,
and importunity in prayer.
Therefore the priest tears from his brow the fillets
and wreaths condemned of heaven, and all un-
lionoured, his chaplet cast away, returns from the
liated mount ; already war is at hand, and the sound
of trumpets, and in his heart he hears the clamour
of absent Thebes. Not sight of populace, nor trusted
converse ^^'ith the monarch, nor council of chieftains
can he bear, but hidden in his dark chamber refuses
to make known the doings of the gods ; thee,
Melampus, shame and thy own cares keep in thy
country region. For twelve days he speaks not, and
holds people and leaders in long-drawn suspense.
And now tumultuous grow the Thunderer's high
behests, and lay waste of men both fields and ancient
towns ; on every side the war-god sweeps countless
troops before him ; gladly do they leave their homes
and beloved wives and babes that Mail upon the
threshold ; with such power hath the god assailed
their frenzied hearts. Eager are they to tear away
the weapons from their fathers' doorposts and the
493
ST ATI us
vellere amor ; tunc fessa putri i-obigiue pila
haerentesquc situ gladios in saeva recurant^
vulnera et adtrito cogunt iuvenescere saxo.
hi teretes galeas magnorumque aerea suta 585
thoracum et tunicas chalybum squalore crepantes
pectoribus temptare, alii Cortynia lentant
cornua ; iam falces avidis et aratra caminis
rastraque et incurvi saevum rubuere ligones.
caedere nee validas Sanctis e stirpibus hastas, 590
nee pudor emerito clipeum vestisse iuvenco.
inrupere Argos maestique ad limina regis
bella animis, bella ore fremunt ; it clamor ad auras,
quantus Tyrrheni gemitus sails, aiit ubi temptat
Enceladus mutare latus ; super igneus antris 595
mons tonat, exundant apices fluctusque Pelorus
contrahit, et sperat tellus abrupta reverti.
Atque hie ingenti Capaneus Mavortis amore
excitus et longam pridem indignantia pacem 599
corda tumens — ^huic ampla quidem de sanguine prisco
nobilitas ; sed enim ipse manu praegressus avorum
facta, diu tuto superum contemptor et aequi
impatiens largusque animae, modo suaserit ira — ,
unus ut e silvis Pholoes habitator opacae
inter et Aetnaeos aequus consurgere fratres, 605
ante fores, ubi turba ducum vulgique frementis,
Amphiarae, tuas " quae tanta ignavia " clamat,
^ recurant P : recurvant w : recurunt {with r written over)
D.
494
THEBAID, III. 582-G07
chariots made fast in the inmost shrines of the gods ;
then they refashion for cruel wounds the spears that
rotting rust has worn, and the swords that stick in
their scabbards from neglect, and on the grindstone
force them to be young once more. Some try
shapely helms and the brazen mail of mighty corse-
lets, and fit to tlieir breasts tunics that creak with
the mouldering iron, others bend Gortynian bows ; in
greedy furnaces scythes, ploughs and harrows and
curved mattocks glow fiercely red. Nor are they
ashamed to cut strong spear-shafts from sacred trees,
or to make a covering for their shields from the worn-
out ox. They rush to Argos, and at the doors of the
despondent king clamour with heart and voice for
war, for war ! And the shout goes up like the roar of
the Tyrrhenian surge, or when Enceladus " tries to
shift his side : above, the fiery mountain thunders
from its caves, its peak o'erflows and Pelorus' flood
is narrowed, and the sundered land hopes to return
once more.
Then Capaneus, impelled by war's overmastering
passion, with swelling heart that had long thought
scorn of lingering peace, — nobility of ancient blood
had he in full measure, but, surpassing the prowess
of his sires, he had long despised the gods ; impatient
too was he of justice, and lavish of liis life, did WTath
but urge him — even as a dweller in Pholoe's dark
forests, or one who might stand equal among
Aetnaean brethren,* clamours before thy portals,
Amphiaraus, amid a crowd of chieftains and yell-
ing folk : " What shameful cowardice is this, O sons
" A giant imprisoned under Aetna, Pelorus was a
promontory to the N.E. of Messana.
'' i.f., like a Centaur or one of the Cyclopes.
ST ATI us
" Inachidae vosque o socio de sanguine Achivi ?
unius— heu pudeat ! — ^plebeia ad limina civis
tot ferro accinctae gentes animisque paratae GIO
pendemus ? non si ipse cavo sub vertice Cirrhae,
quisquis is est, timidis famaeque ita visus, Apollo
niugiat insano penitus seclusus in antro,
exspectare queam, dum pallida virgo tremendas
nuntiet ambages, virtus mihi numen et ensis, 615
quern teneo ! iamque hie timida cum fraude sacerdos
exeat, aut hodie, volucrum quae tanta potestas,
experiar." laetum fremit adsensuque furentem
implet Achaea manus. tandem prorumpere adactus
Oeclides: " alio curavum agitante tumultu 620
non equidem efFreno iuvenis clamore profani
dictorumque metu, licet hie insana minetur,
eUcior tenebris ; alio mihi debita fato
summa dies, vetitumque dari mortahbus armis,
sed me vester amor nimiusque arcana profari 625
Phoebus agit ; vobis ventura atque onine, quod ultra
est,
pandere maestus eo ; nam te, vesane, moneri
ante nefas, unique tacet tibi noster Apollo,
quo, miseri, fatis superisque obstantibus arma,
quo rapitis ? quae vos Furiarum verbera caecos 630
exagitant ? adeone animarum taedet ? et Argos
exosi ? nil dulce domi ? nulla omina curae ?
quid me Persei secreta ad culmina montis
ire gradu trepido superumque inrumpere coetus
egistis ? potui pariter nescire, quis armis 635
" Parnassus : Cirrha was really the town on the Corinthian
gulf, but is often used for Delphi.
496
THEBAID, III. 608-635
of Inacluis, and ye Achaeans of kindred blood ?
Before one citizen's lowly door — for shame ! — do we
liang irresolute, so vast a host, iron-girt and of ready
valour ? Not if beneath Cirrha's caverned height "■
he, whoe'er he is — Apollo cowards and rumour account
him — were to bellow from the deep seclusion
of his crazy grotto, could I wait for the pale virgin
to announce the solemn riddlings ! V'alour and the
good sword in my hand are the gods I worship !
And now let this priest with his timid trickery come
out, or this very day I shall make trial, what wondrous
power there is in birds." The Achaean mob raise
joyful outcry, and encourage his madness. At last
Oeclides, driven to rush forth among them : " 'Tis
not the unrestrained clamour of a blasphemous
stripling nor the fear of his taunts that draws me
tVom my darkness, mad though liis threatenings be ;
far different are the tumultuous cares that vex me,
far other is the destiny that brings my final doom,
nor may mortal arms have power upon me. But
now my love for you and Phoebus' strong inspiration
compel me to speak forth my oracle ; sadly to you
will I reveal what is to come, yea all that lies beyond,
— to you, I say, for to thee, thou madman, nought
may be foreshown, concerning thee only is our lord
Apollo silent. Whither, unhappy ones, whither are
ye rushing to war, though fate and heaven would
bar the way ? What Furies' lash drives you blindly
on ? Are ye so weary of life ? Is Argos grown so
hateful ? Hath home no sweetness ? Heed ye not
the omens ? Why did ye foi'ce me to climb with
trembling step to the secret heights of Perseus'
mount, and bi'eak into the council of the heavenly
ones ? I could have remained in ignorance with
VOL. I 2 K 497
ST ATI us
casus, ubi atra dies, quae fati exordia cunctis,
quae mihi. consulti testor penetralia mundi
et volucrum adfatus et te, Thymbraee, vocanti
non alias tana saeve mihi, quae signa futuri
pertulerim : vidi ingentis portenta ruinae, 640
vidi hominum divumque nietus^ hilarenique Megaeram
et Lachesin putri vacuantem^ saecula penso.
proicite arma manu ; deus ecce furentibus obstat,
ecce deus ! niiseri, quid pulchrum sanguine victo
Aoniam et diri saturare novalia Cadnii ? 645
sed quid vana cano, quid fixos arceo casus ?
ibimus — " hie presso gemuit semel ore sacerdos.
ilium iteruni Capaneus : " tuus o furor auguret^ uni
ista tibi, ut serves vacuos inglorius annos
et tua non umquam Tyrrhenus tempora circum 650
clangor eat. quid vota virum meliora moraris ?
scilicet ut vanis avibus natoque domoque
et thalamis potiare iacens, sileamus inulti
Tydeos egregii perfossum pectus et arma
foederis abrupti ? quodsi bella efFera Graios 655
ferre vetas, i Sidonios legatus ad hostes :
haec pacem tibi serta dabunt. tua prorsus inani
verba polo causas abstrusaque nomina^ rerum
eHciunt ? miseret superum, si carmina curae
^ metus P : nefas w.
^ vacuantem Pcj : laxantem P margin.
^ auguret Mueller : augur et Pw.
* nomina P : semina w, momina Baehrens.
498
THEBAID, III. 636-659
you, of what hap awaits our arms, when cometh the
black day of doom, what heralds the common fate —
and mine ! I call to witness the mysteries of the
universe I questioned, and the speech of birds, and
thee, Thymbraean, never before so pitiless to my
supplication, what presagings of the future I en-
dured : I saw a mighty ruin foreshown, I saw
gods and men dismayed and Megaera exultant and
Lachesis with crumbling thread laying the ages
waste. Cast away your arms ! behold ! heaven,
yea, heaven withstands your frenzy ! Miserable
men, what glory is there in drenching Aonia and
tlie tallows of dire Cadmus with the blood of van-
quished foes ? But why do I warn in vain ? why do
I repel a fate foredoomed ? I go to meet it — "
Here ceased the prophet, and groaned. To him
Capaneus yet once more : "To thyself alone utter
thy raving auguries, that thou mayst live empty and
inglorious years, nor ever the Tyrrhenian clangour "
resound about thy temples. But why dost thou delay
the nobler vows of heroes .'' Is it forsooth that thou
in slothful ease mayst lord it over thy silly biids and
thy son and home and women's chambers, that we
are to shroud in silence the stricken breast of peerless
Tydeus and the armed breach of covenant ? Dost
thou forbid the Greeks to make fierce war ? then go
thyself an envoy to our Sidonian foe : these chaplets
will assure thee peace. Can thy words really coax
from the void of heaven the causes and hidden names
of things ? Pitiable in sooth are the gods, if they
" i.e., of the trumpet ; the Etruscans excelled in bronze
work, and this epithet of the trumpet is as old as Aeschylus
{Eum. 567).
499
STATIUS
humanaeque preces ! (}uid inertia pectora terres? 660
primus in orbe deos fecit timor ! et tibi tuto
nunc eat iste furor ; sed pi-ima ad classica cum iam
hostilem Ismenon galeis Dircenque bibemus,
ne mihi tunc, moneo, lituos atque arma volenti
obvlus ire pares venisque aut alite visa 665
bellorum proferre diem : procul haec tibi mollis
infula terrificique aberit dementia Phoebi :
illic augur ego et mecum quicumque parati
insanire manu." rursus fragor intonat ingens
hortantum et vasto subter volat astra tumultu. 670
ut rapidus torrens, animos cui verna ministrant
flamina et exuti concrete frigore montes,
cum vagus in campos frustra prohibentibus exit
obicibus, resonant permixto turbine tecta,
arva, armenta, viri, donee stetit improbus alto 675
colle minor magnoque invenit in aggere ripas :
haec alterna ducum nox interfusa diremit.
At gemitus Argia viri non amplius aequo
corde ferens sociumque animo miserata dolorem,
sicut erat laceris pridem turpata capillis 680
et fletu signata genas, ad celsa verendi
ibat tecta patris, parvumque sub ubere caro
Thessandrum portabat avo iam nocte suprema
ante novos ortus, ubi sola superstite plaustro
Arctos ad oceanum fugientibus invidet astris. 685
utque fores iniit magnoque adfusa parenti est :
" cur tua cum lacrimis maesto sine coniuge supplex
bmina nocte petam, cessem licet ipsa profari,
" See Petronius, frag. 27, where this commonplace of the
rhetoricians is developed in verse.
500
THEBAID, III. (.60-688
take heed of enchantments and prayers of men !
Why dost thou affright these shiggish minds ? Fear
first created gods in tlie world ! "■ Rave therefore
now thy fill in safety ; but when the first trumpets
bray, and we are drinking from our helms the hostile
waters of Dirce and Ismenos, come not then, I warn
thee, in my path, when I am yearning for the bugle
and the fray, nor by veins or view of winged fowl
put off the day of battle ; far away then will be thy
soft fillet and the crazy alarms of Phoebus : then
shall I be augur, and with me all who are ready to
be mad in fight." Again out thunders a vast ap-
proving shout, and rolls uproarious to the stars.
Even as a swift torrent, drawing strength from the
winds of spring and from the melting of the frozen
cold upon the mountains, when o'er vainly hindering
obstacles it bursts its way out upon the plain, then
homesteads, crops, cattle, and men roar mingled in
the whirling flood, until its fury is checked and batHed
by a rising hill, and it finds itself embanked by
mighty mounds : even so interposing night set an
end to the chieftains' quarrel.
But Argia, no longer able to bear with calm mind
her lord's distress, and pitying the grief wherein she
shared, even as she was, her face long marred by
tearing of her hair and marks of weeping, went to
the high palace of her reverend father in the last
watch of night ere dawn, when Arctos' wagon sole-
surviving envies the ocean-fleeing stars, and bore in
her bosom to his loving grandsire the babe Thessander .
And wlien she had entered the door and was clasped
in her mighty parent's arms : " Why I seek thy
threshold at night, tearful and suppliant, without my
sorrowful spouse, thou knowest, father, even were I
501
STATIUS
scis genitor. sed iura deum genialia testor
teque pater, non ille iubet, sed pervigil angor ; 690
ex quo primus Hymen movitque infausta sinistram
luno facem, semper lacrimis gemituque propinquo
exturbata quies. non si mihi tigridis horror
aequoreasque^ super rigeant praecordia cautes,
ferre queam ; tu solus opem, tu summa medendi 695
iura tenes ; da bella, pater, generique iacentis
aspice res humiles, atque banc, pater, aspice prolem
exsulis ; huic olim generis pudor. o ubi prima
liospitia et iunctae testato^ numine dextrae !
hie certe est, quem fata dabant, quem dixit Apollo ;
non egomet tacitos Veneris furata calores 701
culpatamve facem : tua iussa verenda tuosque
dilexi monitus. nunc qua feritate dolentis
despiciam questus ? nescis, pater optime, nescis,
quantus amor castae^ misero nupsisse marito. 705
et nunc maesta quidem grave et inlaetabile munus,
ut timeam doleamque, I'ogo ; sed cum oscula rumpet
maesta dies, cum rauca dabunt abeuntibus armis
signa tubae saevoque genas fulgebitis auro,
ei mihi ! care pater,^ iterum fortasse rogabo." 710
Illius umenti carpens pater oscula vultu :
" non equidem has umquam culparim, nata, querellas ;
pone metus, laudanda rogas nee digna negari.
sed mihi multa dei — nee tu sperare, quod urges,
desine — , multa metus regnique volubile pondus 715
^ aequoreas Klotz : aequoreae Pw.
" testato to : funesto P : manifesto Baelirens.
^ castae P : causae w.
* pater w : parens P.
502
THEBAID, III. 089-715
slow to tell the cause. But I swear by the sacred
laws of wedlock and by thee, O sire, 'tis not he that
bids me, but my wakeful anguish. For ever since
Hymen at the first and unpropitious Juno raised the
ill-omened torch, my sleep has been disturbed by
my consort's tears and moans. Not if I were a tigress
bristling fierce, not if my heart were rougher than
rocks on the sea-strand, could I bear it ; thou only
canst help me, thou hast the sovereign power to
heal. Grant war, O father ; look on the low estate
of thy fallen son-in-law, look, father, here on the
exile's babe ; what shame for his birth will he one
day feel ! Ah ! where is that first bond of friend-
ship, and the hands joined beneath heaven's bless-
ing ? This surely is he whom the fates assigned,
of whom Apollo spake ; no hidden fires of Venus
have I in secret cherished, no guilty Medlock ;
thy reverend commands, thy counsel have I ever
esteemed. Now with what cruelty should I despise
his doleful plaint ? Thou knowest not, good father,
thou knowest not, what deep affection a husband's
misery implants in a loyal bride. And now in sad-
ness I crave this hard and joyless privilege of fear
and grief ; but when the sorrowful day interrupts
our kisses, when the clarions blare their hoarse
commands to the departing iiost, and your faces
glitter in their stei-n casques of gold, ah ! then, dear
father, mayhap I shall crave a different boon."
Her sire, with kisses on her tear-bedewed face :
" Never, my daughter, could I blame these plaints
of thine ; have no fears, praiseworthy is thy request,
deserving no refusal. But much the gods give me
to ponder — nor cease thou to hope for what thou
urgest — much my own fears and this realm's un-
50:)
ST ATI us
subiciunt animo. veniet, qui debitus istis,
nata, modus, neque te incassum flevisse quereris.
tu solare virum, neu sint dispendia iustae
dura morae : magnos cunctamur, nata, paratus.
proficitur bello." dicentem talia nascens 720
lux monet ingentesque iubent adsurgere curae.
504
THEBAID, III. 716-721
certain governance. In due measure shall thy prayers
be answered, and thou shalt not complain thy tears
were fruitless. Console thy husband and hold not
j ust tarrying cruel waste of time ; 'tis the greatness
of the enterprise that brings delay. So gain we
advantage for the war." As thus he spoke, the
new-born light admonished him, and his grave cares
bade him arise.
505
LIBER IV
Tertius horrentem zepliyris laxaverat annum
Phoebus et angustum cogebat limite verno^
longius ire diem, cum fracta impulsaque fatis
consilia et tandem miseri data copia belli,
prima manu rutilam de vertiee Larissaeo 5
ostendit Bellona facem dextraque trabalem
hastam intorsit agens, liquido quae stridula caelo
fugit et Aoniae eelso stetit aggere Dirces.
mox et castra subit ferroque auroque coruscis
mixta viris turmale fremit ; dat euntibus enses, 10
plaudit equos, vocat ad portas ; hortamina fortes
praeveniunt, timidisque etiam brevis addita virtus.
Dicta dies aderat. cadit ingens rite Tonanti
Gradivoque pecus, nullisque secundus in extis
pallet et armatis simulat sperare sacerdos. 15
iamque suos circum pueri nuptaeque patresque
funduntur mixti summisque a postibus obstant.
nee modus est lacrimis : rorant clipeique iubaeque
triste salutantum, et cunctis dependet ab armis
suspiranda domus ; galeis iuvat oscula clusis 20
^ angustum . . . verno w : angusto . . . vernum P.
506
BOOK IV
Thrice had Phoebus loosened stark winter with the
Zephyrs, and was constraining the scanty day to
move in its vernal path witli a longer course, when
counsellings yielded to the shock of fate, and pitiful
war was given at last an ample field. First from the
Larissaean height Bellona displayed her ruddy torch,
and with right arm drove the spear-shaft whirling ;
hissing, it flew through the clear heaven, and stood
fixed on the high rampart of Aonian Dirce. Then
to the camp she goes and, mingling with the heroes
that glittered in gold and steel, shouts like a squadron ;
she gives swords to hurrying warriors, claps their
steeds and beckons gatewaixl ; the brave anticipate
her promptings and even the timid are inspired to
short-lived valour.
The appointed day had come. A mighty herd
falls in due sacrifice to the Thunderer and to Mars ;
the priest, cheered by no favouring entrails, pales and
feigns hope before the host. And now around their
kinsmen sons and brides and fathers pour mingled,
and from the summit of the gates would fain delay
them. No stint is there of tears : bedewed are the
shields and helmet-crests of those who make their
sad farewell, and the household, the object of their
sighs, clings to every weapon ; they delight to find
entrance for their kisses through the closed visors,
507
ST ATI us
inserere amplexuque truces deducere conos.
illi, quis ferrum modo, quis mors ipsa placebat,
dant gemitus fractaque labant singultibus ira.
sic ubi forte viris longum super aequor ituris,
cum iam ad vela noti et scisso redit ancora fundo, 25
haeret amica manus : certant innectere collo
brachia, manantesque oculos liinc oscula turbant,
hinc magni caligo maris, tandemque relicti
stant in rupe tamen ; fugientia carbasa visu
dulce sequi, patriosque dolent crebrescere ventos. 30
stant tamen, et nota puppim de rupe salutant.^
Nunc niihi, Fama prior mundique arcana Vetustas,
cui meminisse ducum vitasque extendere curae,
pande vlros, tuque o nemoris regina sonori,
Calliope, quas ille manus, quae moverit arma 35
Gradivus, quantas populis solaverit urbes,
sublata molire Ivra : neque enim altior uUi
mens hausto de fonte venit. rex tristis et aeger
pondere curarum propiorque abeuntibus annis
inter adhortantes vix sponte incedit Adrastus, 40
contentus ferro cingi latus ; arma manipli
pone ferunt, volucres portis auriga sub ipsis
comit equos, et iam inde iugo luctatur Arion.
huic armat Larissa viros, huic celsa Prosymna,
aptior armentis Midea pecorosaque Phlius, 45
1 //. 29, 30 omitted by w, 31 omitted by P.
" E. H. Alton (Class. Quarterly, xvii. p. 175) interprets,
possibh' correctly, " content with a bodyguard," and " arma
ferunt " as " march, fully armed," comparing vii. 501
" multoque latus praefulgurat ense," also " ferrum " in
i. 148, iv. 145.
508
THEBAID, IV. 21-45
and to draw down the grim helmet-peaks to their
embrace. They who of late took pleasure in the
sword, yea in death itself, now groan and shake with
sobbing, their warlike temper broken. Even so,
when men are about to go perchance on some long
voyage o'er the sea, and already the south winds are
in the sails and the anchor rises from its torn bed,
the loving band clings fast and enlaces their necks
with eager arms, and their streaming eyes are
dimmed, some with kisses, some with the sea's vast
haze ; at last they are left behind, yet stand upon
a rock, and rejoice to follow the swift-flying canvas
with their gaze, while they grieve that their native
breezes are blowing ever stronger ; yet still they
stand, and beckon to the ship from the well-known
rock.
Now, Fame of olden time, and thou, dark Antiquity
of the world, whose care it is to remember princes
and to make immortal the story of their lives,
recount the warriors, and thou. Calliope, queen of the
groves of song, uplift thy lyre and begin the tale,
what troops of arms Gradivus roused, what cities
he laid waste of their peoples ; for to none comes
loftier inspiration from the fountain's draught. The
king Adrastus, sick with misgiving beneath the
burden of his cares, and drawing nigh his life's
departure, walked scarce of his own will amongst
the applauding people, content to be girt but with
his sword ; " attendants bear his arms behind him,
his charioteer tends the swift horses close by the
city gates, and already is Arion struggling against
the yoke. To support their king Larissa and high
Prosymna arm their men, and Midea, fitter home
of herds, and Phlius rich in cattle, and Neris that
509
STATIUS
quaeque pavet longa spumantem valle Charadron
Neris, et ingenti turritae mole Cleonae
et Lacedaemoniuin Thyrea lectura^ cruorem.
iunguntur niemores transmissi ab origine regis,
qui Drepani scopulos et oliviferae Sicyonis 50
culta serunt, quos pigra vado Strangilla^ tacenti
lanibit et anfractu riparum incurvus Elisson.
saevus honos fluvio : Stygias lustrare severis
Eumenidas perhibetur aquis ; hue mergere suetae
ora et anhelantes poto Phlegethonte cerastas, 55
seu Thracum vertere domos, seu tecta Mycenes
impia Cadmeumve larem ; fugit ipse natantes
amnis, et innumeris livescunt stagna venenis.
it comes Inoas Ephyre solata querellas
Cenchreaeque manus, vatum qua conscius amnis 60
Gorgoneo percussus equo, quaque obiacet alto
Isthmos et a terris maria inclinata repellit.
haec manus Adrastum numero ter mille secuti
exsultant ; pars gaesa manu, pars robora flammis
indurata diu — non unus namque maniplis 65
mos neque sanguis — habent, teretes pars vertere^
fundas
adsueti vacuoque diem praecingere gyro.
^ Thyrea lectura Weber : thyla electura F : thyre lectura ui.
^ Strangilla P : stagilla X* : Langia w {but Langia is near
Nemea) ; various conjectures have been made.
^ vertere w : vertice P. Garrod reads teretis . . . fundae
here, and conj. vacuomque.
" A district on the borders of Argolis and Laconia, which
was the subject of constant fighting between Argives and
Spartans down to as late as a hundred years after Statius's
time.
* Adrastus was originally ruler of Sicyon, having fled
thither from Argos owing to a feud, but subsequently
returned to Argos; cf. ii. 179.
.510
THEBAID, IV. 46-67
tjuails at Cliaradros foaming down his valley's length,
Cleonae with her piled mass of towers, and Thyrea "
destined one day to reap a harvest of Spartan gore.
To them are joined men who remember the king-
sent thence in early days,** men who cultivate the
rocky heights of Drepanum and olive-bearing Sicyon,
and whom Strangilla laves with lazy, silent stream,
and Elisson winding through his curving banks. An
awful privilege has that river : it cleanses, so 'tis
said, with its austere waters the Stygian Eumenides ;
liere are they wont to dip their faces and the horned
snakes that gasp from drinking Phlegethon, whether
they have ruined Thracian homes " or Mycenae's
impious palace or Cadmus' dwelling ; the river itself
flees from them as they bathe, and its pools grow
livid with countless poisons. Ephyre, who consoled
the weeping Ino,'' lends her company, and Cenchreae,
where the river, struck by the Gorgon-quelling steed,
owns the presence of the bard, and where Isthmos
lies athwart the deep and Avards off from tlie land
the sloping seas. This troop, in all three thousand,
followed in Adrastus' train exultant ; some bore
pikes in their hand, some stakes long hardened in
the fire — for neither blood nor custom are shared
by all their bands — some are wont to whirl firmly-
Moven slings and gird the air with a trackless circle.
'^ Probably refers to the madness sent upon Lycurgus,
king of Thrace, by Dionysus.
■^ She bewailed lier son Palaemon at Lechaeum, port of
Corinth (Ephyre). Cenchreae was the port on the Saronic
Gulf ; the spring struck out by the hoof of Pegasus was
usually placed on Helicon (Hippocrene), but was sometimes
identified with Pirene, the fountain at Corinth, cf. Silvae,
ii. 7. 2.
51 I
ST ATI us
ipse annis sceptrisque subit venerabilis aeque :
ut possessa diu taurus meat arduus inter
pascua iam laxa cervice et inanibus armis, 70
dux tamen : baud ilium bello adtemptare iuvencis
sunt animi ; nam trunca vident de vulnere multo
cornua et ingentes plagarum in peetore nodos.
Proxima longaevo profert Dircaeus Adrasto
signa gener, cui bella favent,^ cui conmiodat iras 75
cuncta cohors : huic et patria de sede volentes
advenere viri, seu quos movet exsul et haesit
tristibus aucta fides, seu quis mutare potentes
praecipuum, multi, melior quos causa querenti
conciliat ; dederat nee non ipse regendas 80
Aegion Arenenque, et quas Theseia Troezen
addit opes, ne rara movens inglorius iret
agmina, neu raptos patriae sentiret honores.
idem habitus, eadem arma viro, quae debitus hospes
hiberna sub nocte tulit : Teumesius implet 85
terga leo et gemino lucent hastilia ferro,
aspera volnifico subter latus ense riget Sphinx,
iam regnum matrisque sinus fidasque sorores
spe votisque tenet, tamen et de turre suprema
attonitam totoque exstantem corpore longe 90
respicit Argian ; haec mentem oculosque reducit
coniugis et dulces avertit peetore Thebas.
Ecce inter medios patriae ciet agmina gentis
fulmineus Tydeus, iam laetus et integer artus,
^ favent Pw : gerit Bentley.
" He was born there, at the home of his mother Aethra,
whose father Pittheus was king of Troezen.
" See i. 483.
512
THEBAID, IV. 68-94
The king himself moves venerable alike in years
and rank : as a tall bull goes amid the pastures he
has long possessed, his neck and shoulders now
drooping and void of strength, yet the leader still ;
no courage have the steers to try him in the fight,
for they see the horns that many a blow has broken,
and huge scars of wounds upon his breast.
Next to the aged Adrastus his Dircaean son-in-law
brings forth his standards ; to his cause the war does
service, to him the whole army lends its martial ire,
for him even from his native home have men come
gladly, whether those whom his exile moves, and
in whom loyalty has stood sure strengthened by
adversity, or those in whom desire to change their
ruler is uppermost, many again whom the better
cause makes favourable to his complaint. Moreover,
his father-in-law had given him Aegion and Arene
to rule, and all the wealth that Troezen, famous for
Theseus," brings, lest with scant following he should
go inglorious, and feel the loss of his native honours.
The hero wears the same dress and carries the same
arms as on that winter's night, when he owed the
duty of a guest : ^ a Teumesian lion covers his back,
and the twin points of javelins glitter, while by his
side a cruel Sphinx rises stiff on his wound-dealing
sword. Already in his hopes and prayers he is
master of his realm, and holds his mother and faith-
ful sisters in his embrace, yet he looks back upon
distraught Argia as she stands on the high tower
against the sky ; she draws back to herself her
husband's eyes and thoughts, and drives pleasant
Thebes from out his mind.
Lo ! in their midst Tydeus flashing bright leads
on his native squadrons, glad already and hale of
VOL. 1 2 L 513
STATIUS
ut primae strepuere tubae : ceu lubricus alta 95
angiiis humo verni blanda ad spiramina solis
erigitur liber senio et squalentibus annis
exutus laetisque minax interviret herbis :
a miser ! agrestum si quis per gramen hianti
ob\'ius et primo fraudaverit^ ora veneno. 100
huic quoque praesentes Aetolis urbibus adfert
belli fama viros : sensit scopulosa Pylene
fletaque cognatis avibus Meleagria Pleuron
et praeceps Calydon, et quae love provocat Iden
Olenos, loniis et fluctibus hospita portu 105
Chalcis et Herculea turpatus gymnade vultuc
amnis ; adhuc imis vix truncam adtollere frontem
ausus aquis glaucoque caput submersus in antro
maeret, anhelantes aegrescunt pulvere ripae.
omnibus aeratae propugnant pectora crates, 110
pilaque saeva manu, patrius stat casside Mavors.
undique magnanimum pubes delecta coronant
Oeniden, hilarem bello notisque decorum
vulneribus ; non ille minis Polynicis et ira
inferior, dubiumque adeo, cui bella gerantur. 115
Maior at inde novis it Doricus ordo sub armis,
qui ripas, Lyrcie, tuas, tua litora multo
vomere suspendunt, flu\iorum ductor Achivum,
Inache — Persea neque enim violentior exit
amnis humo, cum Taurum aut Pleiadas hausit aquosas
^ fraudaverit P : siccaverit w.
" i.e., after his wounds received at Thebes in the ambush.
*" The sisters of Meleager wept for him until Artemis
turned them into guinea-fowl, hence called " meleagrides."
" Olenos was an Aetolian town called after a king of that
name who was a son of Zeus. The Ida referred to is the
mountain in Crete, which boasted of having given birth to
Zeus. "* The Achelous.
514
THEBAID, IV. 95-120
limb,'' so soon as the first bugles sounded : even so
a slippery snake raises itself from the deep earth
at tlie coaxing breath of the vernal sun, freed of its
eld and the unsightly years put off, and gleams, a
bright green danger, in the lush herbage ; unhappy
the husbandman who meets its gaping mouth in the
grass, and spoils its fangs of their new venom ! To
him also the rumour of war brings present help of
warriors from the Aetolian cities ; rocky Pylene
heard the tidings, and Pleuron of Meleager, wept
for by his sister-birds ; ^ steep Calydon, and Olenos
whose Jove doth challenge Ide,'' and Chalcis, welcome
haven from Ionian billows, and the river ** whose face
the athlete Hercules did mar : even yet scarce
dares he raise his stricken visage from the waters'
depth, but mourns with liead sunk far below in his
green cave, while the river-banks pant and sicken
with dust. All these defend their bodies with
bronze-bound targes, and bear fierce halberds in
their hands, while native Mars stands erect upon
their helms. Chosen youths surround the great-
hearted son of Oeneus, high-spirited for battle and
in all the glory of his well-known scars ; no meaner
he in threatening ire than Polynices ; 'tis doubtful
even for whom the war is waged.
But mightier comes thereon the Dorian * array
new-armed, they whose numerous ploughs turn up
thy banks, Lyrcius, and thy shores, Inachus, prince
of Achaean streams — for no more tempestuous
torrent flows forth from Persean-'^ land, when he has
drunk deep of Taurus ^ or the watery Pleiades, foam-
* i.e., Peloponnesian. ^ i.e., Argive.
" Taurus, the sign of the Zodiac, mentioned as rainy,
because the Hyades were in it (c/. Phn. N.H. ii. 110).
515
STATIUS
spumeus et genero tumuit love — quos celer ambit 121
Asterion Dryopumque trahens Erasinus aristas,
et qui rura domant Epidauria — dexter laceho
collis, at Hennaeae Cereri negat — ; avia Dyme
mittit opem densasque Pylos Neleia turmas ; 125
nondum nota Pylos iuvenisque aetate secunda
Nestor, et ire tamen peritura in eastra negavit.
hos agitat pulchraeque docet virtutis amorem
arduus Hippomedon ; capiti tremit aerea cassis
ter niveum scandente^ iuba, latus omne sub amis 130
ferrea suta terunt, umeros ac pectora late
flammeus orbis habet, perfectaque vivit in auro
nox Danai : sontes Furiarum lampade nigra
quinquaginta ardent thalami ; pater ipse cruentis
in foribus laudatque nefas atque inspirit enses. 135
ilium Palladia sonipes Nemeaeus ab arce
devehit arma pavens umbraque immane volanti
implet agros longoque attollit pulvere campum.
non aliter silvas umeris et utroque refringens
peetore montano duplex Hylaeus ab antro 140
praecipitat : pavet Ossa vias, pecudesque feraeque
procubuere metu : non ipsis fratribus horror
afuit, ingenti donee Peneia saltu
stagna subit magnumque obiectus detinet amnem.
Quis numerum ferri gentisque et robora dictu 145
aequarit mortale sonans ? suus excit in arma
^ ter niveum scandente Pw : nivea N, candente Heinsius.
D^s Schol. has " triplici ordine."
" Jupiter was the lover of lo, daughter of Inachus, and
"Jove" is used for "rain"; cf. Virg. Georg. ii. 419
"maturis metuendus Jupiter arvis."
'' Where Proserpine was carried off by Pluto.
" Danaus planned the murder of the fifty suitors of his
daughters, who slew their husbands on the wedding night.
5] 5"
THEBAID, IV. 121-146
ing high and swollen with Jove, his daughter's lover "•
— they too whom swift Asterion encircles and
Erasinus sweeping on his flood Dryopian harvests,
and they who tame the fields of Epidaurus — favour-
able to lacchus are those hill-sides, but they give
denial to Ceres of Henna '' — desolate Dyme sends
aid, and Neleian Pylos her swarming squadrons ;
not yet renowned was Pylos, and Nestor was as yet
in the prime of his second age, but would not join
a host doomed to perish. These doth tall Hippo-
medon excite and teach the love of glorious valour ;
on his head a brazen helm doth shake with triple
tier of snow-white plume, beneath his armour iron
mail fits close upon his flanks, his shoulders and breast
a wide flaming circle covers, whereon the night of
Danaus " lives in the gold handiwork : the fifty
guilty chambers blaze with the Furies' murky torch,
the sire himself on the blood-stained threshold
praises the crime and views the swords. A Nemean
steed in terror of the fight bears the hero from the
citadel of Pallas,*^ and fills the fields with the huge
flying shadow, and the long trail of dust rises upon
the plain. Not otherwise, crashing through the
forests with shoulders and either breast, does twy-
formed Hylaeus " speed headlong from his mountain
cave ; Ossa trembles at his going, and beasts and
cattle fall in terror ; yea, even his brethren are
affrighted, till with a great leap he plunges into the
waters of Peneus, and with thwarting bulk dams
back the mighty flood.
Who could describe in mortal speech that numerous
armament, its peoples and their valiant might ?
'' There was a temple of Athena on the acropolis of Argos
(Paus. ii. 24. 4). * One of the Centaurs.
.517
STATIUS
antiquam Tiryntha deus ; non fortibus ilia
infecunda viris famaque^ immanis alumni
degenerat, sed lapsa situ fortuna, neque addunt
robur opes ; rarus vacuis habitator in ar\is 150
monstrat Cyclopum duct as sudoribus arces.
dat tamen haec iuvenum tercentum pectora, vulgus
innumerum bello, quibus haud ammenta nee enses
triste micant : flavae capiti tergoque leonum
exuviae gentilis honos, et pineus armat 155
stipes, inexhaustis artantur tela pharetris.
Herculeum paeana canunt, vastataque monstris
omnia ; frondosa longum deus audit ab Oeta
dat Xemea comites, et quas in proelia vires
sacra Cleonaei cogunt vineta Molorchi. 160
gloria nota casae, foribus simulata salignis
hospitis arma dei, parvoque ostenditur arvo,
robur ubi et laxos qua reclinaverit artus
ilice, qua cubiti sedeant vestigia terra.
At pedes et toto despectans vertice bellum 165
quattuor indomitis Capaneus erepta iuvencis
terga superque rigens iniectu molis aenae
versat onus ; squalet triplici ramosa corona
Hydra recens obitu : pars anguibus aspera vivis
argento caelata micat, pars arte reperta^ 170
conditur et fulvo moriens nigrescit^ in auro ;
circum amnis torpens et ferro caerula Lerna.
^ famaque Pw : famaeve Baehrens, on the ground that
this verb is never found with the ablative.
^ reperta Pco : reposta Deiter, retorta, repressa, etc., edd.
Alton conj. pars acre perempta (i.e. " dead " as opp. to
" dying "). Garrod conj. pars altera reptans. reperta must
be corrupt, hut no emendation seems convincing.
^ nigrescit P : ignescit w, pallescit D.
" Hercules. * The scene of his apotheosis.
518
THEBAID, IV. 147-172
Ancient Tiryns is roused by her own god" to arms,
not barren of brave men, nor degenerate from her
tremendous son's renown, but desolate and her day
of fortune past, nor hath she the power that wealth
can give ; the scanty dweller in her empty fields
points out the towers raised by the sweat of Cyclopean
brows. Yet she sends three hundred manly hearts,
a company undisciplined for war, without javelin-
thongs or the sui'ly gleam of swords ; on their heads
and shoulders the tawny spoil of lions, their tribe's
adornment, a pinewood stake their weapon, and shafts
crammed tight in inexhaustible quivers. They sing
the paean of Hercules and the world swept clear
of monsters : the god listens from afar on leafy
Oeta.'' Nemea gives them comrades and all the
might that the sacred vineyards of Cleonaean
Molorchus summon to war. Well known is the glory
of that cottage " ; pictured upon its willow doors are
the arms of the god who was its guest, and in the
humble field 'tis shown where he laid his club, and
under what holm-oak he reposed his limbs at ease,
and where yet the ground bears traces of his lying.
But Capaneus, on foot and looking down by a
whole head's height upon the host, wields the burden
of four hides torn from the backs of untamed steers
and stiffened above with a covering of massy bronze ;
there lies the Hydra with triple-branching crown,
lately slain and foul in death : part, embossed in
silver, glitters fierce with moving snakes, part by a
cunning device is sunken, and grows dark in the
death agony against the tawny gold ; around, in
dark-blue steel runs the torpid stream of Lerna.
" The cottage of Molorchus at wliich Hercules .stayed on
the night before the slaying of the Nemean lion.
5 If)
STATIUS
at laterum tractus spatiosaque pectora servat
nexilis innumero Chalybum subtemine thorax,
horrendum, non matris, opus ; galeaeque corusca 175
prominet arce gigans ; atque uni missilis illi
cuspide praefixa stat frondibus orba cupressus.
huic parere dati, quos fertilis Amphigenia
planaque Messene montosaque nutrit Ithonie,
quos Thryon et summis ingestum niontibus Aepy, 180
quos Helos et Pteleon, Getico quos flebile vati
Dorion ; hie fretus doctas anteire canendo
Aonidas mutos Thamyris damnatus in annos
ore simul citharaque — quis obvia numina teninat ? —
conticuit praeceps, qui non certamina Phoebi 185
nosset et inlustres Satyro pendente Celaenas.
lamque et fatidici mens expugnata fatiscit
auguris ; ille quidem casus et dira videbat
signa, sed ipsa manu cunetanti iniecerat arma
Atropos obrueratque deum, nee coniugis absunt 190
insidiae, vetitoque domus iam fulgurat auro.
hoc aurum vati fata exitiale monebant
Argolico ; scit et ipsa^ — nefas ! — sed perfida coniunx
dona \dro mutare velit, spoliisque potentis
imminet Argiae raptoque excellere cultu. 195
ilia libens — nam regum animos et pondera belli
hac nutare videt, pariter ni providus heros
militet — ipsa sacros gremio Polynicis amati
exuerat cultus^ haud maesta atque insuper addit :
^ ipsa Sandsfroem : ipse Pw.
^ exuerat cultus P : deposuit nexus w.
" Marsyas, who strove with Phoebus on the flute, but,
being defeated, was hung up and flayed by him.
520
THEBAID, IV. 173-199
His long flanks and spacious breast are guarded by
a corselet woven of iron threads innumerable, a
work inspiring terror, no mother's task ; a giant
rises from the summit of his flashing helm ; his
spear, that he alone can throw, is a cypress standing
stripped of leaves and pointed with iron. Assigned
in fealty to him are they whom fertile Amphigenia
nourishes, and Messene's plain and mountainous
Ithome, Thryon and Aepy high-piled on mountain-
tops, Helos too and Pteleon and Dorion that bewails
the Getic bard : here Thamyris made bold to surpass
in song the skilled daughters of Aonia, but doomed
to a life of silence fell on the instant mute with voice
and harp alike — who may despise deities met face
to face ? — for that he knew not what it was to strive
with Phoebus, nor how the hanging Satyr " brought
Celaenae fame.
And now even the fate-foretelling augur's resolve
begins to weaken under strong assault ; he saw indeed
what should befall and the dread signs thereof, but
Atropos herself had made violent attack upon his
doubting will, and overwhelmed the god ^vithin him,
nor is wifely treachery absent, and already the house
sparkles with the forbidden gold. From that gold
did the fates bode destruction to the Argive seer,
yea, and she knew it — ah, impious crime ! — but the
perfidious wife would fain barter her husband for a
gift, and yearns to gain the spoils of the princess
Argia, and to excel her in the stolen finery. She
not unwilling — for she sees that the spirit of the
princes and the resolve for war must fail, should not
the foreseeing hero join their enterprise — herself put
off from her bosom the fatal ornament of her beloved
Polynices, nor grieved thereat, but saith moreover :
521
STATIUS
" non haec apta mihi nitidis ornatibus " inquit, 200
" tempora, nee miserae placeant insignia formae
te sine : sat dubiuni coetu solante timorem
fallere et incultos aris adverrere crines.
scilicet — infandum^ ! — , cum tu cludare minanti
casside ferratusque sones, ego di\itis aurum 205
Harmoniae dotale geram ? dabit aptior ista
fors deus. Argolicasque habitu praestabo maritas,
cum regis coniunx, cum te mihi sospite templa
votivis implenda choris : nunc induat ilia,
quae petit et bellante potest gaudere marito." 210
sic Eriphylaeos aurum fatale penates
inrupit scelerumque ingentia semina movat,
et grave Tisiphone risit gavisa futuris.
Taenariis hie celsus equis, quam dispare coetu
Cyllarus ignaro generarat Castore prolem, 215
quassat humum ; vatem cultu Parnassia monstrant
vellera : frondenti crinitur cassis oliva,
albaque puniceas inteqilicat infula cristas,
arma simul pressasque iugo moderatur habenas.
hinc atque inde morae iaculis, et ferrea curru 220
silva tremit ; procul ipse gravi metuendus in hasta
eminet et clipeo victum Pythona coruscat.
huius Apollineae currum comitantur Amyclae,
quos Pylos^ et dubiis Malea vitata cai-inis
plaudentique habiles Caryae resonare Dianae, 225
quos Pharis volucrumque parens Cythereia Messe,
Taygetique phalanx et oloriferi Eurotae
^ infandum P : heu siiperi u.
^ Pjlos Poj : Helos Kolihnann, who cp. Horn. 11. ij. 584 :
Pylos ha^ already been mentioned i. 125.
522
THEBAID, n'. 200-227
" No fit times these to deck myself in shining jewelry,
nor without thee let me take delight in adorning nly
hapless beauty ; enough to beguile my doubts and
fears with the solace of my maidens, and trail my
unkempt tresses at the altars. Shall I — oh ! thought
unspeakable ! — shall I wear rich Harmonia's dower
of gold, while thou art shut within thy threatening
helmet, and dost clang in arms of steel ? More fitly
mayhap will heaven grant me that boon, and I outdo
the Argolic brides in apparel, when I am queen
indeed, and must fill the temples with votive choirs,
upon thy safe return. Now let her put it on who
desires it, and can rejoice while her husband is at
war." Thus the fatal gold made entry to the
chambers of Eriphyle, and set in motion the begin-
nings of great crimes, and Tisiphone laughed loud,
exulting in what should come to pass.
Aloft behind Taenarian steeds, whom Cyllarus
unknown to Castor had begotten on mares of meaner
stock, he makes earth tremble ; the adornment of
Parnassian wool betrays the prophet, sprays of olive
wreath his helmet, and the white fillet intertwines
the scarlet crest. He handles at once his weapons
and the reins held tight upon the yoke. On either
side there is a shelter fi-om darts, and an iron forest
trembles on his chariot ; far seen he stands, con-
spicuous and terrible A\ith stern spear, and flashes
the conquered Python on his shield. Amyclae,
Apollo's town, bears his car company, and the bands
of Pylos, and Malea shunned by doubting keels,
and Caryae skilled to raise the hymn that wins
Diana's applause, and Pharis and Cytherean Messe,
mother of doves, the phalanx of Taygetus, and the
hardy troop of swan-nurturing Eurotas. The
523
STATIUS
dura manus. deus ipse vii'os in pulvere crudo
Areas alit nudaeque modos virtutis et iras
ingenerat ; vigor inde animis et mortis honorae 230
dulce sacrum, gaudent natorum fata parentes
hortanturque mori, deflent iamque omnis ephebum
turba, coronato contenta est funere mater,
frena tenent duplexque inserto missile nodoj
exserti ingentes umeros, chlamys horrida pendet, 235
et cono Ledaeus apex, non hi tibi solum,
Amphiarae, merent : auget resupina maniplos
Elis, depressae populus subit ineola Pisae,
qui te, flave, natant terris, Alphee, Sicanis
advena, tam longo non umquam infecte profundo. 240
curribus innumeris late putria arva lacessunt
et bellis armenta domant : ea gloria genti
infando de more et fractis durat ab usque
axibus Oenomai ; strident spumantia morsu
vincula, et efFossas niveus rigat imber harenas. 245
Tu quoque Parrhasias ignara matre eatervas —
a rudis armorum, tantum nova gloria suadet ! — ,
Parthenopaee, rapis ; saltus tunc forte remotos
torva parens — neque enim haec iuveni foret ire
potestas —
pacabat cornu gelidique aversa Lycaei. 250
pulchrior baud ulli triste ad discrimen ituro
vultus et egregiae tanta indulgentia formae ;
nee desunt animi, veniat modo fortior aetas.
quas non ille duces nemorum fluviisque dicata
" Mercury, cf. Hor. C. i. 10. 4.
'' i.e., a crest of swan's feathers.
" King of Elis, who challenged the suitors of his daughter
Hippodamia to a chariot-race, and slew them when he
defeated them ; he was finally defeated and slain himself
by Pelops. ^ i.e.. Arcadian.
524
THEBAID, IV. 228-254
Arcadian god '^ himself trains them in the dust of
combat, and implants in them the ways of naked
valour and warlike temper ; hence dauntless courage
and the welcome consecration of a glorious death.
Their parents rejoice in their children's fate and urge
them on to die ; and while the whole band of youths
makes lamentation, the mother is content with the
wreath that crowns the victim. They hold the reins
and two javelins with thong attached, bared are
their mighty shoulders, from which a rough cloak
hangs ; a Ledaean crest * is on their helms. Not
these alone, Amphiaraus, are in thy service : the
slopes of Elis swell thy array, and low-lying Pisa's
folk, who swim thy waters, yellow Alpheus, thou
who farest to Sicanian lands, yet art never tainted
by so long a passage through the deep. Countless
chariots vex their crumbling fields far and wide,
their beasts are broken to war : that glory of the race
endures even from the impious ways and broken axles
of Oenomaus ^ ; the champed bits foam between the
jaws, and the white spume bedews the churned earth.
Thou too, Parthenopaeus, unknown to thy mother
— unschooled alas ! in arms, such lure hath young
ambition — speedest onward thy Parrhasian'* cohorts.
Thy warlike parent," so it chanced — not otherwise
could the boy have left her — was bringing peace with
her bowto distant glades, and the farther slopes of cool
Lycaeus. No fairer face was there of any marching
to the grim hazard of war, none wins such favour for
pre-eminent beauty ; nor lacks he courage, so he but
come to sterner years. What forest-queens and spirits
« Atalanta, a comrade of Diana, and so vowed to virginity,
but Diana " forgave her the crime " of becoming the mother
of Parthenopaeus (1. 258).
525
STATIUS
numina. quas rnagno non abstulit-"^ igne Napaeas ? 255
ipsam, Maenalia puerum cum vidit in umbra,
Dianam, tenero signantem gramina passu,
ignovisse ferunt comiti, Dictaeaque tela
ipsam et Amyclaeas umeris aptasse pharetras
prosilit audaci Martis percussus amore, 260
arma, tubas audire calens et pulvere belli
flaventem sordere comam captoque referri
hostis equo : taedet nemorum, titulumque nocentem
sanguinis humani pudor est nescire sagittas.
igneus ante omnes auro micat, igneus ostro, 265
undantemque sinum nodis inrugat Hiberis,
imbelli parma pictus Calydonia matris
proelia ; trux laeva sonat arcus, et aspera plumis
terga Cydonea corytos harundine pulsat
electro pallens et iaspide clarus Eoa. 270
cornipedem trepidos suetum praevertere cervos,
velatum geminae deiectu lyncis et arma
mirantem gravioris eri, sublimis agebat,
dulce rubens \iridique genas spectabilis aevo.
Arcades huic veteres astris lunaque priores, 275
agmina fida datis, nemorum quos stirpe rigenti
fama satos, cum prima pedum vestigia tellus
admirata tulit ; nondum arva domusque nee urbes
conubiisve modus ; quercus laurique ferebant
cruda puerperia, ac populos umbrosa creavit 280
^ abstulit P : impulit w.
" i.e., Cretan ; Crete was famous for bows and arrows.
* The reference may, however, be to a steel cuirass (c/.
Hor. C i. 29. 15) fitting tightly upon a full undergarment.
" The Arcadians were the most primitive people of ancient
Greece, and were supposed to have been born originally from
rocks or trees (c/. 1. 340). For the quaint idea of 11. 282 sqq.
526
THEBAID, IV. 255-280
enshrined in rivers, what nymphs of the ghide hath he
not fired witli consuming passion ? Diana herself,
when she saw the boy beneath the shade of Maenakis
stepping youthful o'er the grass, forgave her comrade,
so they say, and Avith her own hand fitted to his
shoulders the Dictean " shafts and Amyclean quiver.
Smitten by dauntless love of war he dashes to the
front, burning to hear the clash of arms and bray
of trumpets, to soil his fair hair with the dust of
battle, and to ride home on a foeman's captive steed.
He is weary of the woodlands, and ashamed that
he knows not the arrows' baneful boast of human
blood. Foremost he shines, ablaze with purple and
gold, his streaming cloak furrowed by Iberian cords, **
and his innocent shield adorned with his mother's
Calydonian battles ; fierce sounds tlie bow at his
left side, and on his back, plumed with feathery
shafts, rattles the quiver set with pale electrum and
brilliant Eastern jasper, full of Cydonian arrows.
His charger, accustomed to outstrip the flying stags,
was covered with two lynxes' hides, and marvelled
at his armed master's heavier weight ; him he loftily
bestrode, comely to look upon from the pleasant flush
of youth upon his cheeks. To him the Arcadians "
an ancient people, older than the moon and stars,
give trusty cohorts ; they were born, 'tis said, of
the hard trunks of forest trees, when the wondering
earth first bore the print of feet ; not yet were fields
or houses or cities or ordinance of marriage : oaks
and laurels suffered rude child-birth, and the shady
cf. Lucretius, v. 973 —
nee plangore diem magno solemque per agros
quaerebant i)avidi palantes noetic in umbris,
i.e., wandered about in search of the sun that had set below
the horizon.
527
STATIUS
fraxinus, et feta \arjdis puer excidit orno.
hi lucis stupuisse vices noctisque feruntur
nubila et occiduum longe Titana secuti
desperasse diem, rarescunt alta colonis
Maenala, Parthenium fugitur nemus, agmina bello 285
Rhipeque et Stratie ventosaque donat Enispe.
non Tegea, non ipsa deo vacat alite felix
Cyllene templumque Aleae nemorale Minervae
et rapidus Clitor et qui tibi, Pythie, Ladon
paene socer, candensque iugis Lampia nivosis 290
et Pheneos nigro Styga mittere credita Diti.
venit et Idaeis ululatibus aeniulus Azan
Parrhasiique duces, et quae risistis, Amores,
grata pharetrato Nonacria rura Tonanti,
dives et Orchomenos pecorum et Cynosura ferarum.
Aepytios idem ardor agros Psophidaque celsam 296
vastat et Herculeo vulgatos robore montes
monstriferumque Erymanthon et aerisonum Stym-
phalon.
Arcades hi, gens una viris, sed dissona cultu
scinditur : hi Paphias myrtos a stirpe recurvant 300
et pastorali meditantur proeha trunco,
his arcus, his tela sudes, his cassida crines
integit, Arcadii morem tenet ille galeri,
ille Lycaoniae rictu caput asperat ursae.
hos belU coetus iurataque pectora Marti 305
" He was father of Daphne.
* A lake near the town of that name in Arcadia ; the
underground channels of the rivers were supposed to lead
down to Hades.
" Because there too Cybele was worshipped.
^ When he assumed the shape of Diana to gain the favours
of Callisto.
528
THEBAID, IV. 281-305
mountain-ash peopled the earth, and the young babe
fell from the pregnant ash-tree's womb. 'Tis said
that, struck with terror at the change from light to
murky darkness, they followed far the setting Titan,
despairing of the day. The husbandmen grow few
on high Maenalus, the forests of Parthenius are
deserted, Rhipe and Stratie and windy Enispe give
their troops to aid the war. Neither Tegea nor
Cyllene blest by the winged god stand idle, nor
Alea, woodland shrine of Minerva, nor swift Clitor,
nor Ladon," almost, O Pythian, the father of thy
bride ; nor yet Lampia with her shining snow-white
ridges, nor Pheneos,'' believed to send down Styx to
swarthy Dis. Azan, that can rival the howling mobs
of Ida,'' came, and the Parrhasian leaders, and the
Nonacrian countryside, wherein the Thunderer quiver-
clad'' took delight, and furnished laughter for you,
ye Loves, and Orchomenos rich in cattle, and
Cynosura abounding in wild beasts. The same
ardour lays bare the fields of Aepytus and lofty
Psophis and the mountains famed for Hercules'
might, Erymanthos home of monsters, and Stym-
phalos with its clanging bronze.* All Arcadians
these, one race of men, but sundered by differing
customs : these bend back Paphian myrtle-saplings,
and practise warfare with pastoral staves ; some
have bows, some pikes for weapons ; some cover
their hair with helmets, while that one keeps the
fashion of the Arcadian hat, and another makes his
head terrible with the jaws of a Lycaonian she-bear.^
This warlike gathering of hearts sworn true to Mars
' Refers to the brazen rattle with which Hercules frightened
the Stymphalian birds.
^ Such as Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, was turned into.
VOL. I 2 M 529
ST ATI us
milite vicinae nullo iuvere Mycenae ;
funereae tunc namque dapes mediique recursus
solis, et hie alii miscebant proelia fratres.
lamque Atalantaeas implerat nuntius aures,
ire ducem bello totamque impellere natum 310
Arcadiam : tremuere gradus, elapsaque iuxta
tela ; fugit silvas pernicior alite vento
saxa per et plenis obstantia flumina ripis,
qualis erat, correpta sinus et vertice flavum
crinem sparsa noto ; raptis velut aspera natis 315
praedatoris equi sequitur vestigia tigris.
ut stetit adversisque impegit pectora frenis
— ille ad luimum^ pallens — : " unde haec furibunda
cupido,
nate, tibi ? teneroque unde improba pectore virtus ?
tu bellis aptare viros, tu pondera ferre 320
Martis et ensiferas inter potes ire catervas ?
quamquam utinam quires^ ! nuper te pallida vidi,
dum premis obnixo venabula comminus apro,
poplite succiduo resupinum ac paene ruentem,
et ni curvato torsissem spicula eornu, 325
nunc ubi bella tibi ? nil te mea tela iuvabunt
nee teretes arcus, maculis nee discolor atris
hie, cui fidis, equus ; magnis conatibus instas,
vix Dryadum thalamis Erymanthiadumque furori
Nympharuni mature puer. sunt omina vera : 330
mirabar, cur templa mihi tremuisse Dianae
nuper et inferior vultu dea visa, sacrisque
exuviae cecidere tholis ; hoc segnior arcus
difficilesque manus et nullo in vulnere certae.
^ ille ad humum Pw : ilia ad eum Peyrared.
^ quires Postgate : vires Pw : vidi Bentley.
" Atreus and Thyestes.
530
THEBAID, IV. 306-334
Mycenae, neighbour though she was, helped with
no soldiery ; for then was the deadly banquet and
the sun's midday withdrawing, and there, too, was
a feud of warring brothers."
And now the tidings had filled the ears of Atalanta,
that her son was going a captain to the war, and
rousing all Arcadia ; her steps faltered and the darts
fell by her side ; swifter than the winged Avind she
fled from the woodland, o'er rocks and brimming
rivers that would stay her, just as she was, with
snatched-up raiment and fair hair streaming behind
her on the breeze ; even as a tigress, bereft of her
cubs, fiercely tracks the horse of him that robbed her.
When she halted and pressed her bosom on the reins
that met her (he pale, with eyes downcast) : " Whence
comes this mad desire, my son, whence this reckless
valour in thy young breast ? Canst thou drill men
to war, canst thou bear the burdens of Mars and go
among the sword-bearing companies ? Yet would that
thou wert able ! Lately I paled to see thee plying
thy hunting-lance in close conflict with a struggling
boar, foi'ced back upon bent knee and almost fallen,
and had I not drawn my bow and sped an arrow,
where now would be thy wars ? Nought will my
shafts avail thee, nor my shapely bows, nor this
black-spotted steed in whom thou trustest ; mighty
are the endeavours to which thou hastenest, and thou
a boy scarce ripe for the embraces of Dryads or the
passions of Erymanthian Nymphs. Omens tell true :
I wondered why Diana's temple seemed to me of
late to tremble, and the goddess herself to frown
upon me, and why the votive spoils fell from her
roof ; this it was that made my archery slack and
my hands to falter and never to strike sure. Nay,
531
STATIUS
exspecta, dum maior honos, durri firmius aevum, 335
dum roseis venit umbra genis vultusque recedunt
ore mei ; tunc bella tibi ferrumque, quod ardes,
ipsa dabo, et nullo matris revocabere fletu.
nunc refer arma domum ! vos autem hunc ire sinetis,
Arcades, o saxis nimirum et robore nati ? " 340
plura cupit ; fusi circum natusque ducesque
solantur minuuntque metus, et iam horrida clangunt
signa tubae. nequit ilia pio dimittere natum
complexu multumque duci commendat Adrasto.
At parte ex alia Cadmi Mavortia plebes, 345
maesta ducis furiis nee moUi territa fama,
quando his vulgatum descendere viribus Argos,
tardius ilia quidem regis causaque pudore,
verum bella movet. nulli destringere ferrum
impetus, aut umeros clipeo clausisse paterno 350
dulce nee alipedum iuga comere, qualia belli
gaudia ; deiecti trepidas sine mente, sine ira
promisere manus ; hie aegra in sorte parentem
unanimum, hie dulces primaevae coniugis annos
ingemit, et gremio miseros adcrescere natos. 355
bellator nulli caluit deus ; ipsa vetusto
moenia lapsa situ magnaeque Amphionis arces
iam fessum senio nudant latus, et fide sacra
aequatos caelo surdum atque ignobile muros
firmat opus, tamen et Boeotis urbibus ultrix 360
adspirat ferri rabies, nee regis iniqui
subsidio, quantum socia pro gente moventur.
" For the legend see 1. 275 n.
532
THEBAID, IV. 335-362
wait till thy prowess be greater, thy years more firm,
till the shadow come upon thy rosy cheeks and my
likeness fade from off thy face. Then I myself will
give thee the battles and the sword for which thou
dost burn, and no mother's tears shall call thee back.
Now take back thy weapons home ! But you, will
you suffer him to go to war, ye Arcadians, O born
assuredly of rock and oak ? " " More would she fain
entreat ; her son and the chieftains thronging round
console her and lessen her fears, and already the
bugles' horrid signal blares forth. She cannot loose
her son from her loving embrace, and commends him
earnestly to his leader Adrastus.
But in another region the Martian folk of Cadmus,
dismayed by the madness of the king and terrified
by news that is grave indeed — for 'tis spread abroad
how Argos is making descent in force — tardily in
truth for shame of the monarch and his cause, never-
theless prepare for war. None rush to draw the
sword, or take pleasure in covering their shoulders
with their father's shield or making trim the harness
of wing-footed horses, delights such as war affords ;
despondent, without resolve or warlike temper, they
vouchsafe a timorous aid ; this one bewails a loving
parent in his evil case, another his wife's pleasant
youth and the hapless babes ripening in her womb.
In none does the war-god wax hot ; even the walls
crumbling with age-long neglect and Amphion's
mighty towers lay bare their worn and ancient sides,
and a mean and unresponsive toil repairs those
parapets once raised to heaven by the inspired harp.
Yet the Boeotian cities are moved by the avenging
lust of battle, and are stirred in behalf of their
kindred race rather than to aid the unjust king.
533
STATIUS
ille velut pecoris lupus expugnator opimi,
pectora tabenti sanie gravis hii'taque saetis
ora cruentata deformis hiantia lana, 365
decedit stabulis hue illuc turbida versans
lumina, si duri comperta clade sequantur
pastores, magnique fugit non inscius ausi.
Adcumulat crebros turbatrix P"ama pavores :
hie iam disperses errare Asopide ripa 370
Lernaeos equites ; hie te, baeehate Cithaeron^
ille rapi Teumeson ait noetisque per umbras
nuntiat excubiis vigiles arsisse Plataeas.
nam Tyrios sudare lares et sanguine Dircen
inriguam fetusque novos iterumque locutam 375
Spliinga petris, eui non et scire licentia passim
et vidisse fuit ? novus his super anxia turbat
corda metus : sparsis subito correpta canistris
silvestris regina chori deeurrit in aequum
vertice ab Ogygio trifidamque hue tristis et illuc 380
lumine sanguineo pinum disiectat et ardens
erectam attonitis implet clamoribus urbem :
"omnipotens Xysaee pater, eui gentis a\itae
pridem lapsus amor, tu nunc horrente sub arcto
belhca ferrato rapidus quatis Ismara thyrso 385
pampineumque iubes nemus inreptare Lycurgo,
aut tumidum Gangen aut claustra novissima Rubrae
Tethyos Eoasque domos flagrante triumpho
perfuris, aut Hermi de fontibus aureus exis :
" i.e., Theban : so also " Ogygian," line 380.
^ The leader of the Bacchanals, or women that in Bacchic
frenzy roamed the hills round about Thebes.
" A mountain-cit}' in India, according to some legends
the birthplace of Bacchus ; Oriental triumphs play a large
part in the Dionysian legend.
^ King of Thrace, who resisted Bacchus and his vines.
534
THEBAID, IV. 363-389
Like is he to a wolf that has forced an entx'ance to
a rich fold of sheep, and now, his breast all clotted
witli foul corruption and his gaping bristly mouth
unsightly with blood-stained wool, hies him from
the pens, turning this way and that his troubled
gaze, should the angry shepherds find out their loss
and follow in pursuit, and flees all conscious of his
bold deed.
Disturbing Rumour heaps panic upon panic : one
says that scattered cavalry of Lerna wander upon
Asopus' bank, one tells of thy capture, Cithaeron of
the revels, another reports Teumesos taken, and
Plataeae's watch-fires burning through the darkness
of the night. And to whom throughout the land
hath not knowledge, yea sight been granted, of the
Tyrian * walls a-sweat and Dirce stained with blood,
of monstrous births and Sphinx yet once more speak-
ing from her I'ock ? And to crown all, a new fear
confounds their anxious hearts : of a sudden the
queen of the woodland dance '' is seized by frenzy,
and scattering the sacred baskets runs down to the
plain from the Ogygian heights, and bloodshot-eyed
waves fiercely to and fro a triple pine-torch, and
fills the alarmed city with wild distracted cries :
" Almighty Sire of Nysa,*' who long hast ceased to
love thy ancestral nation, swift-borne beneath the
frozen North thou art shaking warlike Ismara now
with thine iron-pointed thyrsus, and bidding the
vine-gi'oves creep over Lycurgus' ** realm, or thou
art rushing in mad and flaring triumph by swelling
Ganges and the farthest confines of red Tethys '^
and the Eastern lands, or issuing golden from the
* i.e., what the ancients called the Red Sea, viz. the Persian
Gulf.
535
STATIUS
at tua progenies, positis gentilibus arniis 390
quae tibi festa-^ litant, bellum lacrimasque metumque
cognatumque nefas_. iniusti munera regni,
pendimus. aetei'nis potius me, Bacche, pruinis
trans et An:iazoniis ululatum Caucason armis
siste ferenS; quam monstra ducum stirpemque pro-
fanam 395
eloquar. en urges ; alium tibi, Bacche, fui'orem
iuravi : similes video concurrere tauros ;
idem ambobus honos unusque ab origine sanguis ;
ardua conlatis obnixi cornua miscent
frontibus alternaque truces moriuntur in ira. 400
tu peior, tu cede,^ nocens qui solus avita
gramina communemque petis defendere montem.
a miseri morum ! bellastis sanguine tanto,
et saltum dux alter habet." sic fata gelatis
vultibus et Baccho iam demigrante quie\dt. 405
At trepidus monstro et variis terroribus impar
longaevi rex vatis opem tenebrasque sagaces
Tiresiae, qui mos incerta paventibus, aeger
consulit. ille deos non larga caede iuvencum,
non alacri pinna aut verum salientibus^ extis, 410
nee tripode implicito numerisque sequentibus astra,
turea nee supra volitante altaria fumo
tarn penitus, durae quam Mortis limite manes
elicitos patuisse refert, Lethaeaque sacra
et mersum Ismeni subter confinia ponto 415
1 festa Pw : bella D.
^ cede Pw : caede Baehrens.
^ salientibus P : spirantibus u.
° i.e., the thyrsus. "Thy progeny," because Bacchus
was the guardian deity of Thebes.
" " parat " must be taken both with " Lethaeaque sacra "
and with " ducem," i.e., Laius ; " miscentis " is intrans.
536
THEBAID, IV. 390-415
springs of Hermus. But we, thy progeny, have laid
aside our counti'y's weapons'* that do thee festal
honour, and have our portion of war and tears, and
terror and kindred crime, the cruel burdens of this
unrighteous reign. Rather, O Bacchus, take and
set me among the eternal frosts, beyond Caucasus
that I'ings with the war-cry of the Amazons, than
that I sliould tell the horrors of our rulers and their
unnatural brood. Lo ! thou drivest me ! far different
was the frenzy I vowed to thee, O Bacchus : I behold
two similar bulls engage, alike in honour and sharing
one inherited blood ; A\'ith butting foreheads and
lofty horns they close in fierce struggle, and perish
in the violence of their mutual wrath. Thou art the
villain ! do thou give way, who WTongfully seekest
all alone to hold ancestral pastures and the hills ye
both do own. Ah ! miserable and wicked ! such
bloodshed have your wars cost you, and another
champion is master of your meadow." So spake she,
and as the god withdrew his presence fell mute with
ice-cold face.
But the king, affrighted by the portent and a prey
to various terrors, in sick despair — such is the way
of those who fear they know not what — seeks aid from
the long-lived seer and the clear-sighted blindness of
Tiresias. He replies that heaven shows not its will
so clearly by lavish slaughter of steers or nimble
feathered wing or the truthful leap of entrails, not
by means of garlanded tripod or star-determined
numbers, or by the smoke that hovers about the
altar's frankincense, as by the ghosts called up from
Death's stern barrier ; then he prepares the rites
of Lethe,** and makes ready beforehand to evoke the
monarch sunk below the confines of Ismenos where
537
STATIUS
miscentis parat ante ducem, circumque bidentum
visceribus laceris et odori sulpuris aura
graminibusque no\is et longo niurmure piirgat.
Silva capax aevi validaque incurva senecta,
aeternum intonsae frondis, stat per\ia nullis 420
solibus ; baud illam brumae minuere, Notusve
ius habet aut Getica Boreas impactus ab Ursa,
subter operta quies, vacuusque silentia servat
horror et exclusae pallet male lucis imago,
nee caret umbra deo : nemori Latonia cultrix 425
additur ; hanc piceae cedrique et robore in omni
effietam Sanctis occultat silva tenebris.
huius inaspectae luco stridere sagittae
nocturnique canum gemitus, ubi limina patrui
efFugit inque novae melior redit ora Dianae ; 430
aut ubi fessa iugis, dulcisque altissima somnos
■lux mo vet, hie late iaculis circum undique fixis
efFusam pharetra cervicem excepta quiescit.
extra immane patens tellus Mavortia campi,
fetus ager Cadmo. durus qui vomer e primo 435
post consanguineas acies sulcosque nocentes
ausus humum versare et molha sanguine prata
eruit ; ingentes infelix terra tumultus
lucis adhuc medio solaque in nocte per umbras
exspirat, nigri cum vana in proelia surgunt 440
terrigenae ; fugit incepto tremibundus ab arvo
agricola insanique domum rediere iuvenci.
538
THEBAID, IV. 416-442
it mingles with the deep, and makes purgation all
around with the torn entrails of sheep and the strong
smell of sulphur, and with fresh herbs and the long
mutterings of prayers.
There stands a wood, enduring of time, and strong
and erect in age, ^\^th foliage aye unshorn nor pierced
by any suns ; no cold of winter has injured it, nor
has the South wind power thereon nor Boreas swoop-
ing down from the Getic Bear. Beneath is sheltered
quiet, and a vague shuddering awe guards the
silence, and the phantom of tlie banished light gleams
pale and ominous. Nor do the shadows lack a divine
power : Latonia's haunting presence is added to
the grove ; her effigies wrought in pine or cedar
and wood of eveiy tree are hidden in the hallowed
gloom of the forest. Her arrows whistle unseen
tlirough the wood, her hounds bay nightly, when
she flies from her uncle's threshold and resumes
afresh Diana's kindlier shape. Or when she is weary
from her ranging on the hills, and the sun high in
heaven invites sweet slumber, here doth she rest
with head flung back carelessly on her quiver, while
all her spears stand fixed in the earth around.
Outside, of vast extent, stretches the Martian plain,
the field that bore its harvest to Cadmus. Hardy
was he who first after the kindred warfare and the
crime of those same furrows dared with the plough-
share till the soil and upturned the blood-soaked
meads ; even yet the accursed earth breathes
miglity tumults at midday and in the lonely night's
dim shadows, when the black sons of eartli arise to
phantom combat : with trembling limbs the husband-
man flees and leaves the field unfinished, and his
oxen hie them to their stalls, distraught.
539
STATIUS
Hie senior vates — Stygiis adcommoda quippe
terra sacris, vivoque placent sola pinguia tabo —
velleris obscuri pecudes armentaque sisti 445
atra monet, quaecumque gregum pulcherrima cervix
dueitur ; ingemuit Dirce maestusque Cithaeron,
et nova clamosae stupuere silentia valles.
turn fera caeruleis intexit cornua sertis
ipse manu tractans, notaeque in limite silvae 450
principio largos noviens tellure cavata
inclinat Bacchi latices et munera verni
lactis et Actaeos imbres suadumque cruorem
manibus ; adgeritur, quantum bibit arida tellus.
trunca dehinc nemora advolvunt, maestusque sacerdos
tris Hecatae totidemque satis Acheronte nefasto 456
virginibus iubet esse focos ; tibi, rector Averni,
quamquam infossus humo superat tamen agger in
auras
pineus ; hunc iuxta cumulo minor ara profundae
erigitur Cereri ; frontes atque omne cupressus 460
intexit plorata latus. iamque ardua ferro
signati capita et frugum libamine puro
in vulnus cecidere greges ; tunc innuba Manto
exceptum pateris praelibat sanguen, et omnes
ter circum acta pyras sancti de more parentis 465
semineces fibras et adhuc spirantia reddit
viscera, nee rapidas cunetatur frondibus atris
subiectare faces, atque ipse sonantia flammis
virgulta et tristes crepuisse ut sensit acervos
Tiresias — illi nam plurimus ardor anhelat 470
ante genas impletque eavos vapor igneus orbes, —
exclamat — tremuere rogi et vox terruit^ ignem : —
^ terruit P : impulit w.
" Honey, for which Hymettus in Attica was famous.
540
THEBAID, IV. 443-472
Here the aged seer — for well suited is the ground
to Stygian rites, and the soil, rich with living
gore, delighted him — bids dark-fleeced sheep and
black oxen be set before him, all the finest heads
that the hei*ds can show ; Dirce and gloomy
Cithaeron wailed aloud, and the echoing valleys
shuddered at the sudden silence. Then he entwined
their fierce horns with wreaths of dusky hue, handling
them himself, and first at the edge of that well-
known wood he nine times spills lavish draughts
of Bacchus into a hollowed trench, and gifts of
vernal milk and Attic rain '' and propitiatory blood
to the shades below ; so much is poured out as the
dry earth will drink. Then they roll tree trunks
thither, and the sad priest bids there be three
altar-fires for Hecate and three for the maidens
born of cursed Acheron ; for thee, lord of Avernus,
a heap of pinewood though sunk into the ground
yet towers high into the air ; next to this an altar
of lesser bulk is raised to Ceres of the underworld ;
in front and on every side the cypress of lamentation
intertwines them. And now, their lofty heads
marked with the sword and the pure sprinkled meal,
the cattle fell under the stroke ; then the virgin
Manto, catching the blood in bowls, makes first
libation, and moving thrice round all the pyres, as
her holy sire commands, offers the half-dead tissues
and the yet living entrails, nor delays to set the
devouring fire to the dark foliage. And when
Tiresias heard the branches crackling in the flames
and the grim piles roaring — for the burning heat
surges before his face, and the fiery vapour fills
the hollows of his eyes— he exclaimed, and the
pyres trembled, and the flames cowered at his voice :
541
STATIUS
" Tartareae sedes et formidabile regnum
Mortis inexpletae, tuque, o sae\assime fratrum,
cui servire dati manes aeternaque sontum 475
supplicia atque imi famulatur regia mundi,
solvite pulsanti loca muta et inane severae
Persephones vulgusque cava sub nocte repostum
elicite, et plena redeat Styga portitor alno.
ferte simul gressus, nee simplex manibus esto 480
in lucem remeare modus ; tu separe coetu
Elysios, Persei,^ pios, virgaque potenti
nubilus Areas agat ; contra per crimina functis,
qui plures Erebo pluresque e sanguine Cadmi,
angue ter excusso et flagranti praevia taxo, 485
Tisiphone, dux pande diem, nee lucis egentes
Cerberus occursu capitum detorqueat umbras."
Dixerat, et pariter senior Phoebeaque virgo
erexere animos : illi formidine nulla,
quippe in corde deus, solum timor obruit ingens 490
Oedipodioniden. vatisque horrenda canentis
nunc umeros nunc ille manus et vellera pressat
anxius inceptisque velit desistere sacris.
qualis Gaetulae stabulantem ad confraga silv^ae
venator longo motum clamore leonem 495
exspectat firmans animum et sudantia nisu
tela premens ; gelat ora pavor gressusque tremiscunt,
^ Persei Q : persae (-saee) Pw.
" Hades, or Pluto, was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon ;
they obtained sky and sea respectively, while he had to be
content with the underworld.
54-2
THEBAID, IV. 473-497
"Abodes of Tartarus and awful realm of insatiable
Death, and thou, most cruel of the brothers,* to
whom the shades are given to serve thee, and the
eternal punishments of the damned obey thee, and
tlie palace of the underworld, throw open in answer
to my knocking the silent places and empty void
of stern Persephone, and send forth the multitude
that lurk in hollow night ; let the ferryman row back
across the Styx with groaning bark. Haste ye all
together, nor let there be for the shades but one
fashion of return to the light ; do thou, daughter
of Perses,^ and the cloud- wrapt Arcadian with rod of
power lead in separate throng the pious denizens
of Elysium ; but for those who died in crime, who
in Erebus, as among the seed of Cadmus, are most
in number, be thou their leader, Tisiphone, go on
before with snake thrice brandished and blazing
yew-branch, and throw open the light of day, nor
let Cerberus interpose his heads, and turn aside the
ghosts that lack the light."
He spoke, and together the aged man and Phoebus'
maiden waited in rapt attention. Nought feared
they, for their hearts were inspired of the god ; only
the son of Oedipus was overcome by a great terror,
and in agony he grasps, now the shoulders, now the
hands and sacred fillets of the seer as he chants his
awful strain, and would fain leave the rites unfinished.
Even so a hunter awaits a lion roused by long shouting
from his lair in the brushwood of a Gaetulian forest,
steeling his courage and holding his spear in a
perspiring grip ; his face is frozen in terror and his
steps tremble ; " what beast approaches ? " he
" He was brother of Circe and Aeetes, Perseis is Hecate.
543
STATIUS
quis veniat quantusque, sed horrida signa frementis
accipit et caeca metitur murmura cura. 499
Atque hie Tii-esias nondum adventantibus umbris :
" tester " ait, " divae, quibus hunc saturavimus ignem
laevaque convulsae dedimus carchesia terrae.
iam nequeo tolerare moram. cassusne sacerdos
audior ? an, rabido iubeat si Thessala cantu,
ibitis et Scythicis quotiens medicata^ venenis 505
Colchis aget, trepido pallebunt Tartara motu :
nostri cura minor, si non attollere bustis
corpora nee plenas antiquis ossibus urnas
egerere et mixtos caehque Erebique sub unum
funestare deos hbet aut exsanguia ferro 510
ora sequi atque aegras functorum carpere fibras ?
ne tenues annos nubemque hanc frontis opacae
spernite, ne, moneo ; et nobis saevire facultas.
novimus et quidquid dici noscique timetis,
et turbare Hecaten, ni te, Thymbraee, vererer 515
et triphcis mundi summum, quern scire nefastum.
ilium — sed taceo : prohibet tranquilla senectus.
iamque ego vos " — a vide subicit Phoebeia Manto :
"audiris, genitor, vulgusque exsangue propinquat.
panditur Elysium chaos, et telluris opertae 520
dissilit umbra capax, silvaeque et nigra patescunt
flumina, hventes Acheron eiectat harenas.
^ medicata P : armata w.
" i.e., if I care not to practise evil rites.
'' It is not clear whom or what Statius means by this
mysterious phrase. Cf. Lucan, Phars. vi. 743, where a
similar Power is appealed to. The Scholiast identifies with
the Demiurgus, or Creator, who appears in some philosophical
systems (Orphic, Gnostic, Plato's Timaeus), but more prob-
ably Statius is using the language of magical formulae, in
which such invocations as " highest," " greatest," " king,"
without any particular application are common. Cf. the
544
THEBAID, 1\'. -HJ8~522
wonders, and " how mighty ? " and he hears the
roar that gives ominous signal, and measures the
growing sound in bhnd anxiety.
Then Tiresias, as the ghosts did not yet draw
nigh : "I bear you witness, goddesses, for whom
we have drenched these flames and poured pro-
pitious goblets upon the rent earth, I can endure
delay no further. Am I heard in vain, priest though
I be ? Or, if a hag of Thessaly bid you with her
frenzied chant, will ye then go, or so often as a
Colchian witch drives you with Scythian drugs and
poisons, will Tartarus grow pale and stir affrighted :
but of me have ye less regai-d, if I care not to raise
bodies from the tomb, and bring forth urns crammed
with ancient bones, and profane the gods of heaven
and Erebus alike, or hunt with the sword the blood-
less faces of the dead and pluck out their sickly
tissues ? " Despise not these frail years nor the
cloud that is upon my darkened brow, despise it not,
I warn you ! I, too, can vent my wrath. I know
the name whose knowing and whose speaking ye
so dread, even Hecate I can confound, feared I
not thee, O Thymbraean, and the high lord of the
triple world,** who may not be known. Him — but
I am silent ; peaceful old age forbids. Now will
I " but \Ianto, votary of Phoebus, eagerly
cries : " Thou art heard, O father, the pale host
draws nigh. The Elysian void is flung open, the
spacious shadows of the hidden region are rent, the
groves and black rivers lie clear to view, and Acheron
belches forth noisome mud. Smoky Phlegethon
(Iraeco-F.a-yptian ina^'ic spells edited by Wesseiy (< •rifc/i.
Zauberpapi/ri, JSSS), or l)y Eitreni (I'dp. Oalofti.s^s, l!)Jo).
Typhon ( -Seti) is frequently called on in similar language.
VOL. I 2 N 5 l,j
STATIUS
fumidus atra vadis Phlegethon incendia volvit,
et Styx discretis interflua manibus obstat.
ipsum pallentem solio circumque ministras 525
funestorum operum Euraenidas Stygiaeque severos
lunonis thalamos et torva cubilia cerno.
in speculis Mors atra sedet dominoque silentes
adnumerat populos ; maior superimminet ordo.
arbiter hos dura versat Cortynius urna 530
vera minis poscens adigitque expromere vitas
usque retro et tandem poenarum lucra fateri,
quid tibi monstra Erebi, Sc3dlas et inane furentes
Centauros solidoque intorta adamante Gigantum
vincula et angustam centeni Aegaeonis umbram ? "
" Immo" ait, "onostrae regimen viresque senectae,
ne volgata mihi. quis enim remeabile saxum 537
fallentesque lacus Tityonque alimenta volucrum
et caligantem longis Ixiona gyris
nesciat ? ipse etiam, melior cum sanguis, opertas 540
inspexi sedes, Hecate ducente, priusquam
obruit ora deus totamque in pectora lucem
detulit. Argolicas magis hue adpelle precando
Thebanasque animas ; alias avertere gressus
lacte quater sparsas maestoque excedere luco, 545
nata, iube ; turn qui vultus habitusque, quis ardor
sanguinis adfusi, gens utra superbior adsit,
die agedum nostramque mone per singula noctem."
lussa facit carmenque serit, quo dissipat umbras,
quo reciet sparsas ; qualis, si crimina demas, 550
" i.e., Proserpine. <> Minos.
54()
THEBAID, IV. 523 550
rolls down his streams of mui'ky flame, and Styx
interfluent sets a barrier to the sundered ghosts.
Himself I behold, all pale upon his throne, with
Furies ministering to his fell deeds about him, and
the remorseless chambers and gloomy couch of
Stygian Juno.** Black Death sits upon an eminence,
and numbers the silent peoples for their lord ; yet
the greater part of the troop remains. The Gortynian
judge '^ shakes them in his inexorable urn, demanding
the truth with threats, and constrains them to
speak out their whole lives' story and at last confess
their extorted gains. Why should I tell thee of
Hell's monsters, of Scyllas and the empty rage of
Centaurs, and the Giants' twisted chains of solid
adamant, and the diminished shade of hundredfold
Aegaeon ? " " Even so," said he, " O guide and
strength of my old age, tell me not things well
known. Who knows not the aye-returning rock,
and the deceiving waters, and Tityos food of vultures,
and Ixion swooning on the long circlings of the
Avheel ? I myself in the years of stronger manhood
beheld the hidden realms with Hecate as my guide,
before heaven whelmed my vision, and drew all my
light within my mind. Rather summon thou hither
with thy prayers the Argive and the Theban souls ;
the rest, my daughter, bid thou with milk four times
sprinkled to avert their steps, and to leave the
dreary grove. Then tell me, pray, the dress and
countenance of each, how great their desire for the
spilled blood, which folk draw nigh more haughtily,
and thus of each several thing inform my darkness."
She obeys, and weaves the charm wherewith she
disperses the shades and calls them back when
scattered ; potent (but without their crimes) as the
547
STATIUS
Colchis et Aeaeo siiuulatrix litore Circe.
tunc his sacrificum dictis adfata parenteni :
" primus sanguineo submittit inertia Cadmus
ora lacu, iuxtaque virum Cythereia proles
insequitur, geminusque bibit^ de vertice serpens. 555
terrigenae comites illos, gens Martia, cingunt,
quis^ aevi mensura dies, manus omnis in armis,
omnis et in capulo ; prohibent obstantque ruuntque
spirantmn rabie, nee tristi incumbere fossae
cura, sed alternum sitis exhaurire cruorem. 500
proxima natarum manus est fletique nepotes.
hie orbani Autonoen et anhelam cernimus Ino
respectantem arcus et ad ubera dulce prementem
pignus et oppositis Semelen a ventre lacertis.
Penthea iam fractis genetrix Cadmeia thyrsis 565
iamque remissa deo pectusque adaperta^ cruentum
insequitur planctu ; fugit ille avia Lethes
et Stygios super usque lacus, ubi mitior^ ilium
flet pater et lacerum componit corpus Echion.
tristem nosco Lycum dextramque in terga reflexum
Aeoliden, umero iactantem funus onusto. 571
necdum ille aut habitus aut versae crimina formae
mutat Aristaeo genitus : fi'ons aspera cornu,
tela manu, reicitque canes in vulnus hiantes.
^ insequitur geminusque bibit P : effluit amborum geminus
w. Cf. X. 134, xi, 490.
^ quis L Naiike : his Pw.
^ adaperta Gronovius : adoperta Pu.
* mitior w : ianitor P : Garrod conj. inaniter.
" Referring to her power of changing men into beasts (lit.
" disguising " them as beasts).
* Harmonia, wife of Cadmus. They were changed into
serpents.
548
THEBAID, IV. 551-574
Colcliian maiden, or the encliantress" Circe on the
Aeaean strand. Then with these words she ad-
dressed her priestly sire : " First from the blood-
red lake doth Cadmus raise his strengthless head,
and the daughter of Cytherea ^ folloM's hard upon
her spouse, and from their head twin serpents
drink. The earth-born company, seed of Mars,
throng round them, whose span of life one day did
measure, and every hand is on its weapon, yea, on
the sword-hilt ; they repel and bar approach, and
rush to combat with the fury of living men, nor care
they to stoop to the gloomy trench, but thirst to
drain each other's blood. Near by is a band of
Cadmus' daughters and the sons they mourned.
Here we behold bereaved Autonoe '' and panting
I no, looking back at the bow and pressing her sweet
pledge to her bosom, and Semele with arms held
out to protect her womb. With shivered wands
and bosom bare and bleeding, the frenzy of the god
now spent, doth his mother, Cadmus' daughter,
follow Pentheus with wailing cries ; but he fleeth
bv Lethe's pathless region even beyond the Stygian
lakes, where his kindlier sire Kchion weeps over
him and tends his mangled body. Sad I^ycus '' too,
I recognize, and the son of Aeolus/' his right arm
bent behind him, and a corpse thrown upon his laden
shoulder. Nor yet doth that one change his appeai'-
ance or the reproach of his transformation, even
Aristaeus' son ^ : the horns roughen his brow,
while spear in hand he repels the hounds agape to
" Mother of Actaeon (iii. 201). She and Ino, Semele and
Agave (565) were all daughters of Cadmus.
"^ A Theban king, slain by Hercules.
' Athanias, who slew his son Learchus. ^ Actaeon.
549
STATIUS
ecce autem magna subit invidiosa caterva 575
Tantalis et tumido percenset funera luctu,
nil deiecta malis ; iuvat eifugisse deorum
numina et insanae plus iam permittere linguae."
Talia dum patri canit intemerata sacerdos,
illius elatis tremefacta adsurgere vittis 580
canities tenuesque impelli sanguine vultus.
nee iam firmanti baciilo nee virgine fida
nititur, erectusque solo "desiste canendo,
nata" ait, "externae satis est mihi lucis, inertes
discedunt nebulae, et vultum niger exsilit^ aer. 585
umbrisne an supero dimissus Apolline complet
spiritus ? en video quaecumque audita, sed ecce
maerent Argolici deiecto lumine manes !
torvus Abas Proetusque nocens mitisque Phoroneus
truncatusque Pelops et saevo pulvere sordens 590
Oenomaus largis umectant imbribus ora.
auguror hinc Thebis belli meliora. Quid autem
hi grege condenso, quantum arma et vulnera mon-
stx-ant,
pugnaces animae, nobis in sanguine multo
oraque pectoraque et falso clamore levatas 595
intendunt sine pace manus ? rex, fallor, an hi sunt
quinquaginta illi ? cernis Chthoniumque Chrominque
Phegeaque et nostra praesignem Maeona lauro.
ne saevite, duces, nihil hie mortalibus ausum,
credite, consiliis : hos ferrea neverat annos 600
1 exsilit Alton : exiiit Pu, exserit Lachmann, iclio cp.
Silv. V. 3. 104.
" Niobe.
'' Pelops was said to have been cut up and boiled by his
father Tantalus as a dish for the gods ; they, however, put
550
THEBAID, IV. 575-600
I'end him. But lo ! with numerous train comes the
jealous TantaHd," and proud in her grief counts o'er
the bodies, nought humbled by her woes ; she
rejoices to have escaped the power of heaven, and
now to give freer rein to her mad tongue."
While the chaste priestess thus recounts the tale
to her father, his hoary locks trembling rise erect
with lifted chaplet, and his pale visage throbs with
a rush of blood. No longer rests he on the supporting
staff or faithful maiden, but standing upright cries :
" Cease thy song, my daughter, enough have I of
external light, the sluggish mists depart, black
night flees from my face. Comes it from the shades
or from Apollo on high, this flooding inspiration ?
Lo ! I behold all that thou didst tell me of. Behold !
there mourn the Argive ghosts with eyes downcast !
grim Abas, guilty Proetus and gentle Phoroneus,
and Pelops maimed ^ and Oenomaus soiled with
cruel dust, all bedew their faces with plenteous
tears. Hence do I prophesy for Thebes a favouring
issue of the war. But what means this dense throng
of warrior-souls, for such their wounds and weapons
prove them ? Why show they gory faces and breasts,
and with unsubstantial clamour raise and shake at
me threatening arms ? Do I err, O king, or are
these that band of fifty ''' ? Chthonius thou dost
behold, and Chromis and Phegeus and Maeon
distinguished by my laurel. Rage not, ye chieftains,
no mortal, believe me, dared that enterprise ;
'twas iron Atropos span you those destined years.
him together again, with the exception of one shoulder,
which was replaced by one of ivory.
" i.e.. the fifty who were sent by Eteocles to lie in wait for
Tydeus, but slain l)v him, rf. ii. 527 fP.
551
STATIUS
Atropos. existis casus : bella liorrida nobis,
atque iterum Tydeus." dicit, vittaque ligatis
frondibus instantes abigit monstratque cruorem.
Stabat inops comitum Cocyti in litore maesto
Laius, immiti queni iam deas ales Averno 605
reddiderat, dirumque tuens obliqua nepoteni —
noscit enim vultu — non ille aut sanguinis haustus,
cetera ceu plebes, aliumve accedit ad imbrem,
immortale odium spirans. sed prolicit ultro
Aonius vates : " Tyriae dux inclyte Thebes, 610
cuius ab interitu non ulla Amphionis arces
vidit arnica dies, o iam satis ulte cruentum
exitium et multum placata minoribus umbra,
quos miseranda fugis ? iacet ille in funere longo,
quern fremis, et iunctae sentit confinia mortis, 015
obsitus exhaustos paedore et sanguine vultus
eiectusque die : sors leto durior omni,
crede mihi ! quaenam immeritum vitare nepotem
causa tibi ? confer vultum et satiare litanti
sanguine venturasque \aces et funera belli 620
pande vel infensus vel res miserate tuorum.
tunc ego te optata vetitam transmittere Lethen
puppe dabo placidumque pia tellure reponam
et Stvgiis mandabo deis." mulcetur honoris
muneribus tingitque genas, dein talia reddit : 625
" cur tibi versanti manes, aequaeve sacerdos,
" The ghosts were to drink of the blood which would
enable them to speak of the future. In fact only Laius
drinks ; rf. line ^2o^ where " tingit genas " means that the
invigorating blood makes his cheeks ruddy and lifelike.
* Laius in Bk. ii. (init.) had been brought from the
underworld to appear to Eteocles in a dream.
" i.e., Oedipus, his son, who slew him.
552
THEBATD. IV. ooi-62r.
Ye have fulfilled your fate ; for us cruel war remains,
and Tydeus yet again." He spake, and as they
swarmed upon his wool-bound chaplets he drove
them off and pointed them to the blood."
Reft of his comrade ghosts stood Laius on Cocytus'
dreary strand — for already had the winged god
restored him to unpitying Avernus '' — and glancing
sidelong at his dire grandson, for he knew him by
his face, came not like the rest of the multitude to
drink the blood or the other outpourings, but breathed
immortal hatred. But the Aonian seer delays not
to lure him forward : " Renowned prince of Tyrian
Thebes, since whose death no day has looked with
kindly aspect on Amphion's citadel, O thou who
hast now enough avenged thy bloody murder, O
shade to whom thy issue have made full atonement,
whom dost thou fly, unhappy one ? He '' against
whom thou ragest lies a living corpse, and feels
Death joined with him in linked companionship, his
sunken visage besmeared with blood and filth, and
all the light of day put out. Trust me, 'tis a fate
fiir worse than any dying ! What cause hast thou
to shun thy innocent grandson ? Turn thy gaze
hither, and take thy fill of sacrificial blood ; then
tell the chances that shall be, and the war's victims,
whether thou art in hostile mood or pityest thy
kindred's fortunes. Then will I grant thee to cross
forbidden Lethe in the bark thou dost desire, and
set thee again at peace in the blessed land, in the
safe keeping of the gods of Styx." Soothed is he
by the proffered honour, and brings the colour to
his cheeks,"^' then thus replies : " Why, when thou
wert marshalling the spirits, O prophet equal to me
'' See note a.
553
STATIUS
lectus ego augurio tantisque potissimus umbris,
qui Ventura loquar ? satis est meminisse priorum.
nostrane praeclari, pudeat, consulta nepotes
poscitis ? ilium, ilium sacris adhibete nefastis. 630
qui laeto fodit ense patrem, qui semet in ortus
vertit et indignae regerit sua pignora matri.
et nunc ille deos Furiarumque atra fatigat
concilia et nosti'os rogat liaec in proelia manes,
quodsi adeo placui deflenda in tempora vates, 635
dicam equidem, quo me Lachesis, quo torva Megaera
usque sinunt : bellum, innumero venit undique bellurn
agmine, Lernaeosque trahit fatalis alumnos
Gradivus stimulis ; hos terrae monstra deumque
tela manent pulchrique obitus et ab igne supremo 640
sontes lege morae. certa est victoria Thebis.
ne trepida, nee regna ferox germanus habebit,
sed Furiae geminumque nefas. miserosque per enses.
ei mihi ! crudelis vincit pater." haec ubi fatus,
labitur et flexa dubios ambage relinquit. 645
Interea gelidam Nemeen et conscia laudis
Herculeae dumeta vaga legione tenebant
Inachidae ; iam Sidonias avertere praedas,
sternere, ferre domos ardent instantque. quis iras
flexerit, unde morae, medius quis euntibus error, 650
Phoebe, doce : nos rara manent exordia famae.
" i.e., the Argives.
* Oracular reference to the fate of Amphiaraus (swallowed
up by the earth), Capaneus (struck by lightning), and the
other heroes, and to Eteocles' decision to refuse burial to
the Argive slain. Cf. Ach. i. 526.
554
THEBAID, IV. 627-651
in years, why was I chosen, first out of so many
shades, to speak augury and to foretell what shall
befall ? 'Tis enough to have remembrance of the
past. Seek ye my counsel, illustrious grandsons ?
nay, shame upon you ! Him summon ye, him, to
your unhallowed rites, who gladly pierces his father
with the sword, who turns him to the place of his
begetting, and casts back upon his innocent mother
her own dear pledge of love. And now he wearies
the gods and the dark councils of the Furies, and
supplicates my shade for the coming strife. But
if I have found such favour as a prophet of these
times of woe, I will speak, so far as Lachesis and
grim Megaera suffer me : War cometh from every
side, v.ar of countless hosts, Gradivus sweeps on the
sons of Lerna " before the goads of fate ; them there
await portents of the earth, and weapons of heaven,
and glorious deaths, and unlawful withholdings from
the final fire.** Victory is sure for Thebes, doubt it
not, nor shall thy fierce kinsman have thy realm ;
but Furies shall possess it, and twofold impious
crime, and alas, in your unhappy swords your cruel
father triumphs." So speaking he faded from their
sight, and left them in doubt at his mazy riddling
words.
Meanwhile the sons of Inachus with scattered
troop had reached cool Nemea and the glades that
witness to Hercules' renown ; already they burn
with eagerness to drive off Sidonian plunder, to
destroy and ravage homesteads. Say thou, O
Phoebus, who turned them from their path of anger,
whence came their staying, and how in mid course
they wandered from the way ; to us but scant
beginnings of the tale remain.
555
STATIUS
Marcidus edoniito bellum referebat ab Haemo
Liber ; ibi armiferos geminae^ iam sidera^ brumae
orgia ferre Getas canumque virescei-e dorso
Othryn et Icaria Rhodopen adsueverat umbra, 655
et iam pampineos materna ad moenia currus
promovet ; efFrenae dextra laevaque secuntur
lynces, et uda mero lambunt retinacula tigres,
post exsultantes spolia armentalia portant
seminecesque lupos scissasque Mimallones m-sas. 660
nee comitatus iners : sunt illic Ira Furorque
et Metus et Mrtus et numquam sobrius Ardor
sueciduique gradus et castra simillima regi.
isque ubi pulverea Nemeen efFervere nube
conspicit et solem radiis ignescere ferri,^ 665
necdum compositas belli in certamina Thebas,
concussus visis, quamquam ore et pectore marcet,
aeraque tympanaque et biforem reticere tumultum
imperat, attonitas qui circum plurimus aures,
atque ita : "me globus iste meamque exscindere
gentem 670
apparat ; ex longo recalet furor ; hoc mihi saevum
Argos et indomitae bellum ciet ira novercae.
usque adeone parum cineri data mater iniquo
natalesque rogi quaeque ipse micantia sensi
fulgura ? relliquias etiam fusaeque sepulcrum 675
paelicis et residem ferro petit impia Theben.
^ geminae cj : gelidae P. ^ sidera P : sidere w.
^ solem radiis ignescere ferri Pw : soils . . . ferrum
Madvig, silvam Koestlin, frondem Slater, pallescere Garrod
{cf. 171), etc. A similar p/irase occurs x. 844-.
" That of the vine, which Icarus of Sparta was taught by
Bacchus to cultivate.
** " Mimallones," i.e.. Bacchanals.
556
THEBAID, IV. 052-07(5
In drunken languor Liber was bringing back his
array of war from conquered Haemus ; there had
lie taught the warrior Getae, two winters through,
to hold the orgies, and white Othrys to grow green
along his ridges and Rhodope to bear Icarian shade ; "
already he draws nigh in his chariot decked with
vine-leaves to his mother's city ; wild lynxes bear
him company to right and left, and tigers lick the
wine-soaked reins. In his train exulting Bacchanals ^
carry their spoil of beasts, half-dead wolves and
mangled she-bears. No sluggish retinue is his :
Anger and Fury are there, and Fear and Valour,
and Ardour never sober, and steps that stagger, an
army most like to its prince. But when he sees the
cloud of dust surge up from Nemea, and the sun
kindling on the flashing steel, and Thebes not yet
marshalled for battle, horror-struck at the sight,
though faint and reeling, he commands the brazen
cymbals and the drums and the noise of the double
pipe, screaming loudest about his astonished ears,
to be silent, and thus speaks : " Against me and
my race doth that host plan destruction ; after
long time their rage gains violence anew ; savage
Argos and my stepmother's indomitable wrath are
stirring up this war. Doth it not even yet suffice —
my mother's cruel burning, the natal pyre, and the
lightning-flash that I myself perceived ? Nay, even
against the relics and the tomb of her consumed rival,
against idle Thebes doth she make impious attack.''
" The reference is to Semele, mother of Bacchus, to whom
she gave birth when struck by Jove's lightning. " residem "
seems to mean '* unwarlike," often a taunt in the mouths
of enemies of Thebes, here a reproach against Argos for
attacking her, as she is doing Argos no harm.
557
STATIUS
nectam fraude moras ; ilium, ilium tendite campum,
tendite, io, comites." Hyrcanae ad signa iugales
intumuere iubas, dicto prius adstitit arvis.
Tempus erat,medii cum solem in culminamundi 680
tollit anliela dies, ubi tardus hiantibus arvis
stat vapor atque omnes admittunt aethera luci.
undarum vocat ille deas mediusque silentum
incipit : " agrestes fluviorum numina Nymphae
et nostri pars magna gregis, perferte laborem, 685
quern damus. Argolicos paulum mihi fontibus amnes
stagnaque et errantes obducite pulvere rivos.
praecipuam Nemeen, qua nostra in moenia bellis
nunc iter, ex alto fugiat liquor ; adiuvat ipse
Plioebus adhuc summo, cesset ni vestra voluntas, 690
limite ; vim coeptis indulgent astra, meaeque
aestifer Erigones spumat canis. ite volentes,
ite in operta soli ; post vos ego gurgite pleno
eliciam, et quae dona meis amplissima sacris,
vester habebit honos, nocturnaque furta licentum 695
cornipedum et cupidas Faunorum ai'cebo rapinas."
dixerat ; ast illis tenuis percurrere visus
ora situs, viridisque con:iis exhorruit umor.
protinus Inacliios haurit sitis ignea campos :
diffugere undae, squalent fontesque lacusque, 700
et cava ferventi durescunt flumina limo.
aegra solo maeies, tenerique in origine culmi
inclinata seges, deceptum margine ripae
" The Hyrcanians were a people on the Caspian ; the
name is often used by the poets = " wild, savage."
* Because the sun pierces through them.
'■ Named Maera, and set in the heavens as the Dog-star,
after the death of Erigone from grief for her father Icarius.
558
THEBAID, IV. 677-703
By craft will I contrive delay ; hasten then thither,
ho ! my comrades, thither to yon plain ! " At
tb.e signal the Hyrcanian " team pricked up their
crests, and, the word scarce spoken, he halted at
his goal.
It was the hour when panting day uplifts the sun
to the mid summit of the world, when the languid
heat hangs over the gaping fields, and all the
groves let in the sky.^ He summons the spirits of
the waters, and as they throng round him in silence
he begins : " Ye rustic Nymphs, deities of the
streams, no small portion of my train, fulfil the task
that I now do set you. Stop fast with earth awhile
the Argolic river-springs, I beg, and the pools and
running brooks, and in Nemea most of all, whereby
they pass to attack our walls, let the water flee
from the depth ; Phoebus himself, still at the summit
of his path, doth aid you, so but your own will fail
not ; the stars lend their strong influence to my
design, and the heat-bringing hound of my Erigone "
is foaming. Go then of your goodwill, go into the
hidden places of earth ; afterwards will I coax you
forth with swelling channels, and all the choicest
gifts at my altar shall be for your honour, and I will
drive afar the nightly raids of the shameless horn-
footed ones, and the lustful rapine of the Fauns."
He spoke, and a faint blight seemed to overspread
their features, and the moist freshness withered
from their hair. Straightway fiery thirst drains dry
the Inachian fields : the streams are gone, fountains
and lakes are parched and dry, and the scorched
mud hardens in the river-beds. A sickly drought
is upon the soil, the crops of tender springiilg wheat
droop low ; at the edge of tlie bank the flock stands
ST ATI us
stat pecus, atque armies quaerunt armeiita natatos.
sic ubi se magnis refluus suppressit in antris 705
Nilus et Eoae liquentia pabula brumae
ore premit, fumant desertae gurgite valles
ct patris undosi sonitus exspectat hiulca
Aegyptos, donee Phariis alimenta rogatus
donet agris magnumque inducat messibus annum. 710
Aret Lerna nocens, aret Lyrcius et ingens
Inachus advolvensque natantia saxa Charadrus
et numquam in ripis audax Erasinus et aequus
fluctibus Asterion, ille alta per a\ia notus
audiri et longe pastorum runipere somnos.^ 715
una tamen tacitas sed iussu numinis undas
haec quoque seer eta nutrit Langia sub umbra,
nondum illi raptus dederat lacrimabile nomen
Archemorus, nee fama deae ; tamen avia servat
et nemus et fluvium ; manet ingens gloria Nympham,
cum tristem Hypsipylen ducibus sudatus Achaeis 721
ludus et atra sacrum recolet trieteris Ophelten.
Ergo nee ardentes clipeos vectare nee artos
thoracum nexus — tantum sitis liorrida torret —
sufficiunt : non ora modo angustisque perusti 725
faucibus, interior sed vis quatit ; aspera pulsu
corda, gelant venae, et siccis cruor aeger adhaeret
visceribus ; tunc sole putris, tunc pulvere tellus
exhalat calidam nubem. non spumeus imber
^ Seven lines, only found in L and regarded as spurious
by all edd., are here omitted.
" i.e., Nile, as source of Egypt's fertility ; so Tib. i. 7. 34
" Nile pater."
" The name means " Beginner of Doom," and denoted
the beginning of doom for the Argive host. Cf. v. 64.7.
Elsewhere the infant is called Opheltes.
" i.e., when the Nemean festival is established with its
560
THEBAID, IV. 704-729
baffled, and the cattle seek in vain the rivers where
they bathed. Even so, Avhen ebbing Nile buries
itself in mighty caverns and gathers into its mouth
the life-giving streams of Eastern winters, the flood-
deserted valleys steam, Egypt gapes wide and waits
expectant for the roar of her sire's waves," till by
dint of many prayers he give sustenance to the
Pharian fields and Ijring on a great year of harvest.
Dry is guilty Lerna, dry Lyrcius and great Inachus,
and Charadrus that rolls down boulders on his stream,
bold Erasinus whom his banks ne'er contain, and
Asterion like a billowy sea ; oft hath he been heard
on pathless uplands, oft known to break the repose
of distant shepherds. But Langia alone — and she
by the god's command — preserves her waters in the
silence of a secret shade. Not yet had slaughtered
Archemorus ^ brought her sorrowful renown, no
fame had come to the goddess ; nevertheless, in
far seclusion, she maintains her spring and grove.
Great glory awaits the nymph, when the toiling
contests of Achaean princes and the four-yearly
festival of woe shall do honour to sad Hypsipyle
and holy Opheltes.'^
So then neither burning shields nor close-fitting
breastplates have they power to carry — so fiercely
doth fiery thirst"^ scorch them — not only their
mouths and the throat's passage are parched, but
a fever rages within, their hearts beat heavily, the
veins are thick congealed, and the tainted blood
cleaves to the dried-up tissues ; then the crumbling,
sunburnt earth exhales a hot vapour. No rain of
games in honour of Opheltes (the infant whom Hypsipyle
nursed, and who was slain by the serpent).
" For other descriptions of thirst rf. iii. 828, vi. 471,
VOL. I 2o 56l
STATIUS
manat equum : siccis inlidunt ora lupatis, 730
ora catenatas procul exsertantia linguas ;
nee legem dominosve pati, sed perfurit arvis
flammatum pecus. hue illuc impellit Adrastiis
exploratores, si stagna Licymnia restent,
si quis Amymones superet liquor : omnia caecis 735
ignibus hausta sedent, nee spes umentis Olympi,
ceu flavam Libyen desertaque pulveris Afri
conlustrent nullaque umbratam nube Syenen.
Tandem inter silvas — sic Euhius ipse pararat —
errantes subitam pulehro in maerore tuentur 740
Hypsipylen ; illi quamvis et ad ubera Opheltes
non suus, Inacbii proles infausta Lycurgi,
dependet — neglecta comam nee dives amictu —
regales tamen ore notae, nee mersus aeerbis 744
exstai: honos. tune haec adeo stupefaetus Adrastus :
'• diva potens nemorum — nam te vultusque pudorque
mortali de stirpe negant — , quae laeta sub isto
igne poli non quaeris aquas, sueeurre propinquis
gentibus : Arquitenens seu te Latonia easto
de grege transmisit thalamis, seu lapsus ab astris 750
non humilis fecundat amor — neque enim ipse deorum
arbiter Argolidum thalamis novus — , aspiee maesta
agmina. nos ferro meritas exseindere Thebas
mens tulit, imbelli sed nunc sitis aspera fato
submittitque animos et inertia robora carpit 755
da fessis in rebus opem, seu turbidus amnis,
seu tibi foeda palus ; nihil hac in sorte pudendum,
" King of Nemea. Hypsipyle was daughter of Thoas,
king of Lemnos. For her story see her own narrative in
Bk. iv.
* Adrastus mistakes her for Diana.
562
THEBAID, IV. 730-757
foam falls from the horses' mouths, their jaws close
on dry bits, and far out hang their bridled tongues ;
no restraint of their masters do they suffer, but
scour the plain, maddened by the fiery heat. This
way and that Adrastus sends scouts to discover if
the Licymnian lakes yet remain, or aught of Amy-
mone's waters, but all lie drained by fire unseen,
nor is there hope of moisture from Olympus, as
though they ranged yellow Libya and Africa's
desert sand and Syene shaded by no cloud.
At length wandering in the woodland — for so had
Euhius himself devised — they behold on a sudden
Hypsipyle, beauteous in her grief; at her breast
Opheltes hangs, not her own child, but the ill-starred
offspring of Inachian Lycurgus " ; dishevelled is her
hair and poor her raiment, yet in her countenance
are marks of kingly birth, and a dignity not over-
whelmed by a bitter lot. Then Adrastus, awe-
struck, thus addressed her : " Goddess, queen of
the woodlands ^ — for thy countenance and honourable
bearing proclaim thee of no mortal birth — thou who
beneath this fiery vault art blest in needing not to
search for water, succour a neighbouring people ;
whether the Wielder of the Bow or Latona's daughter
hath set thee in the bridal-chamber from her chaste
company, or whether it be no lowly passion but one
from on high doth make thee fruitful — for the ruler
of the gods himself is no stranger to Argive bowers —
look upon our distressed ranks. Us hath the resolve
to destroy guilty Thebes with the sword brought
hither, but the unwarlike doom of cruel drought
doth bow our spirits and drain our exhausted strength.
Help thou our failing fortunes, whether thou hast
some turbid river or a stagnant marsh ; nought is
20 2 563
STATIUS
nil humile est ; tu nunc Ventis pluvioque rogaris
pro love, tu refugas vires et pectora bellis
exanimata reple : sic hoc tibi sidere dextro 760
crescat onus, tantum reduces det flectere gressus
luppiter, o quanta belli donabere praeda !
Dircaeos tibi, diva, greges numerumque rependam
sanguinis, et^ magna lucus signabitur ara."
dixit, et orantis media inter anhelitus ardens 765
verba rapit, cursuque animae labat arida lingua ;
idem omnes pallorque viros flatusque soluti
oris habet. reddit demisso Lemnia vultu :
" diva quidem vobis, etsi caelestis origo est,
unde ego ? mortales utinam baud transgressa fuissem
luctibus ! altricem mandati cei-nitis orbam 771
pignoris ; at nostris an quis sinus uberaque ulla,
scit deus, et nobis regnum tamen et pater ingens — •
sed quid ego haec, fessosque optatis demoror undis ?
mecum age nunc, si forte vado Langia perennes 775
servat aquas ; solet et rabidi sub limite Cancri
semper, et Icarii quamvis iuba fulguret astri,
ire tamen." simul haerentem, ne tarda Pelasgis
dux foret, a ! miserum vicino caespite alumnum —
sic Parcae volvere — locat ponique negantis^ 780
floribus adgestis et amico murmure dulces
solatur lacrimas : qualis Berecyntia mater,
^ sanguinis et P : plebis et hie w.
^ ponique negantis L Schol. Gronovlus Bentley. ponitque
negantem Pw,
" See note on line 692.
564
THEBAID. n'. 758-782
to be lield shameful, nought too mean in sucli a
pass as ours. Thee now in phice of the Winds and
rainy Jupiter do we suppHcate, do thou restore our
ebbing might and fill again our spiritless hearts ;
so may thy charge grow under suspicious stars !
Only let Jupiter grant us to return, what high-piled
booty of war shalt thou be given ! With the blood
of numerous herds of Dirce will I recompense thee,
O goddess, and a mighty altar shall mark this
grove." He spoke, but a fevered gasping makes
havoc of his words even in mid-utterance, and with
the rush of breath his dry tongue stutters ; a like
pallor holds all his warriors, and like panting of the
hollow cheeks. W^ith downcast eyes the Lemnian
makes answer : " No goddess indeed am I, to help
you, though of heaven be my descent ; would that
my griefs were not more than mortal ! 'Tis an
entrusted pledge you behold me nursing, and a
nurse herself bereaved. But whether my sons
found any lap or breasts to suckle them, heaven
knoweth, — and yet I had once a kingdom and a
mighty father. But why do I speak thus, and
stay you in your weariness from the waters ye
desire ? Come now with me, perchance Langia's
stream yet runs unfailing ; for even beneath the
path of the furious Crab 'tis ever wont to flow,
yea, though the shaggy hide of the Icarian star "
be blazing." Forthwith, lest she prove a tardy
guide to the Pelasgians, she sets down the clinging
infant — alas ! poor child ! — on the grass near by
— so willed the Fates — and when he would not be
put down consoled his pretty tears with flowers
heaped around and coaxing murmurs : like the
Berecyntian mother, while she bids the Curetes
565
ST ATI us
duin parvum circa iubet exsultare Tonantem
Curetas trepidos ; illi certantia plaudunt
orgia, sed magnis resonat vagitibus Ide. 785
At puer in gremio vernae-'^ telluris et alto
gramine nunc faciles sternit procursibus herbas
in vultum nitens, caram modo lactis egeno
nutricem plangore ciens iterumque renidens
et teneris meditans verba inluctantia labris 790
miratur nemorum strepitus aut obvia carpit
aut patulo traliit ore diem nemorique malorum
inscius et vitae multum securus inerrat.
sic tener Odrysia Mavors nive, sic puer ales
vertice Maenalio, talis per litora reptans 795
improbus Ortygiae latus inclinabat Apollo.
Illi per dumos et opaca virentibus umbris
devia ; pars cingunt, pars arta plebe sequuntur
praecelerantque ducem. medium subit ilia per agmen
non humili festina modo ; iamque amne propinquo
rauca sonat vallis, saxosumque impulit aures 801
murmur : ibi exsultans conclamat ab agmine primus,
sicut erat levibus toUens vexilla maniplis
Argus " aquae ! " longusque wum super ora cucurrit
clamor " aquae ! " sic Ambracii per litora ponti 805
nauticus in remis iuvenum monstrante magistro
fit sonus inque vicem contra percussa reclamat
terra, salutatus cum Leucada pandit Apollo,
incubuere vadis passim discrimine nullo
turba simul primique, nequit secernere mixtos 810
^ vernae Poi : tenerae conj. Garrod : variae Klotz.
" Delos.
** The temple of Apollo at Actium on the Ambracian Gulf.
566
THEBAID, IV. 783-810
leap in excited dance around the infant Thunderer ;
their cymbals clash in emulous frenzy, but Ida
resounds with his loud wailings.
But the child, lying in the bosom of the vernal
earth and deep in herbage, now crawls forward on
his face and crushes the soft grasses, now in clamorous
thirst for milk cries for his beloved nurse ; again he
smiles, and would fain utter words that wrestle with
his infant lips, and wonders at the noise of the
woods, or plucks at aught he meets, or with open
mouth drinks in the day, and strays in the forest all
ignorant of its dangei's, in carelessness profound. Such
was the young Mars amid Odrysian snow, such the
Avinged boy on the heights of Maenalus, such was
the rogue Apollo when he crawled upon Ortygia's "
shore, and set her side atilt.
They go through the coppices and by devious
dusky ways of shadowy green ; some cluster round
their guide, some throng behind, othei's outstrip
her. In the midst of the band she moves with
proud mien and hurrying step ; and now the vale
echoes loud as they approach the stream, and the
f)lashing of water upon rocks assails their ears :
then first from the column's head, just as he was,
with banner raised high for the nimble companies,
Argus exultant ci-ies " Water ! " and through the
warrior's mouths ran the long-drawn shout of
" Water ! " Even so, along the shores of the
Ambracian sea, sounds forth at the helmsman's
prompting the shout of the seamen at the oars, and
in turn the smitten land sends back the echo, when
Apollo ^ at their salutation brings Leucas into view.
Into the stream the host plunged, indiscriminate
and disordered, chieftains alike and common soldiers ;
567
ST ATI us
aequa sitis, frenata suis in curribus intrant
arnienta, et pleni dominis armisque feruntur
quadripedes ; hos turbo rapax, hos lubrica fallunt
saxa, nee implicitos fluvio reverentia reges
proterere aut mersisse vado clamantis amiei 815
ora. fremunt undae, longusque a fontibus amnis
diripitur, modo lene virens et gurgite puro
perspicuus nunc sordet aquis egestus ab imis
alveus ; inde tori^ riparum et proruta turbant
gramina ; iam crassus eaenoque et pulvere sordens, 820
quamquam expleta sitis, bibitur tamen. agmina bello
decertare putes iustumque in gurgite Martem
perfurere aut captani tolli vietoribus urbem.
Atque aliquis regum medio circumfluus amni :
silvarum, Nemea, longe regina virentum, 825
lecta lovis sedes, quam tu non Herculis actis
dura magis, rabidi cum colla comantia monstri
angeret et tumidos animam angustaret in artus !
hac saevisse tenus populorum in coepta^ tuorum
sufficiat ; tuque o cunctis insuete domari 830
solibus, aeternae largitor corniger undae,
laetus eas, quacumque domo gelida ora resolvis
imrnortale tumens ; neque enim tibi cana repostas
Bruma nives raptasque alio de fonte refundit
Arcus aquas gravidive indulgent nubila Cori, 835
sed tuus et nulli ruis expugnabilis astro.
* tori P : toros w {sc. alveum).
^ in coepta Schroder : incepta PI), incoepta BQN.
" The river here is addressed in the masculine, as distinct
from its nymph.
* The idea of the rainbow sucking up moisture is common
in Latin writers, «.^. "bihit ingens Arcus," Virg. G. i. 380,
and Theh. ix. 405 ; the present passage is an original applica-
tion of the idea.
' The north-west wind.
568
THEBAID, IV. 811-836
levelling thirst makes no distinction in their confused
ranks ; bridled horses with their chariots, chargers
with armed riders all dash madly in. Some the
flood whirls away, some lose their footing on the
slippery rocks, nor have they shame to trample
their princes as they wrestle with the torrent, or to
sink beneath the stream the face of a friend who
cries for succour. Loud roar the waves, while far
from the fountain-head is the river plundered, that
once flowed green and clear, with gentle lucid
waters, but now from the depths of its channel is
muddied and befouled. Then the sloping banks
and torn herbage are mingled with the stream ; and
now, though it be stained and filthy with mire and
earth, and though their tliirst be quenched, yet
they drink still. One would think armies strove in
flght, or a pitched battle raged in the flood, or the
conquerors were looting a captured city.
And one of the princes, standing in the midst of
the streaming river, cried : " Nemea, noblest by far
of verdant glades, chosen seat of Jove, not even to
the toils of Hercules wert thou more cruel, when he
strangled the furious monster's shaggy neck, and
throttled the breath within its swollen limbs. So
far let it suffice thee to have vexed thy people's
enterprise. And thou," whom no suns are wont to
tame,0 horned one, so lavish of never failing waters,
flow with prosperous current, from whatsoever
storehouse thou settest free thy cooling springs,
immortally replenished ; for hoary Winter pours
not out for thee her laid-up snows, nor doth the
rainbow shed waters stolen from another fount,'' nor
do the pregnant storm-clouds of Corns '^ show thee
favour, but thou flowest all thine own, and no star
569
ST ATI us
te nee Apollineus Ladon nee Xanthus uterque
Spereheusque minax Centaureusque Lyeormas
praestiterint ; tu paee mihi, tu nube sub ipsa
armoruni festasque super celebrabere mensas — 840
a love primus honos — bellis niodo laetus ovantes
aecipias fessisque libens iterum hospita pandas
flumina defensasque veils agnoscere turmas."
" I.e., in the Troad or in Lycia.
*" A river in Aetolia. As there is no known connexion
between the river and any Centaur, the epithet may mean
" Centaur-like," i.e., as furious as a Centaur.
570
THEBAID, IV. 837-843
can overcome thee or destroy. Thee neither Ladon,
Apollo's river, shall surpass, nor either Xanthus,"
nor threatening Spercheus, nor Lycormas ^ of
Centaur's fame ; thee will I celebrate in peace, thee
beneath the very cloud of war, and at the festal
banquet, ay, honour thee next to Jove himself —
so but thou gladly receive our triumphing arms,
and again be pleased to give the welcome of thy
streams to our tired warriors, and recognize of thy
grace the host thou once didst save."
571
Printed in Cieai Britain hy R. & R. Ci.akk, LniiiED, Edinljirgh.
PA
6697
Statius, Publius Papiniu£
Statius ' "
A2
1928
v.]
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