Post-Augustan Poetry From Seneca to Juvenal Part 43

501. See p. 183.

502. The pa.s.sage may conceivably be only a rough draft, cp p. 197 note.

503. Cp. also i. 130-48, 251-4.

504. There is little evidence that he had any influence on posterity, though there may be traces of such influence in Hyginus and the Orphic Argonautica. Of contemporaries Statius and Silius seem to have read him and at times to imitate him. See Summers, pp. 8, 9. Bla.s.s, however (_J.

f. Phil. und Pad._ 109, 471 sqq.), holds that Valerius imitates Statius.

505. Cp. V. F. i. 833 sqq.; _Aen._ vi. 893, 660 sqq., 638 sqq.; V. F. i.

323; A. viii. 560 sqq.; V. F. vi. 331; A. ix. 595 sqq.; V. F. iii. 136; A. xii. 300 sqq.; V. F. viii. 358; A. x. 305; V. F. vi. 374; A. xi. 803.

See Summers, pp. 30-3. His echoes from Vergil are perhaps more obvious in some respects than similar echoes in Statius, owing to the fact that he had a more Vergilian imagination than Statius, and lacked the extreme dexterity of style to disguise his pilferings. But in his general treatment of his theme he shows far greater originality; this is perhaps due to the fact that the Argonaut saga is not capable of being 'Aeneidized' to the same extent as the Theban legend. But let Valerius have his due. He is in the main unoriginal in diction, Statius in composition.

506. Cp. Summers, p. 49. See also note, p. 123.

507. Cp. beside the pa.s.sages quoted below iii. 558 sqq., 724, 5; iv.

16-50, 230, 1; v. 10-12; vii. 371-510, 610, 648-53.

508. One is tempted at times to account for the profusion and lack of spontaneity of similes in poets of this age by the supposition that they kept commonplace books of similes and inserted them as they thought fit.

509. vi. 260:

qualem populeae fidentem nexibus umbrae siquis avem summi deducat ab aere rami, ante manu tacita cui plurima crevit harundo; illa dolis viscoque super correpta sequaci inplorat ramos atque inrita concitat alas.

510. vii. 124:

sic adsueta toris et mensae dulcis erili, aegra nova iam peste canis rabieque futura, ante fugam totos l.u.s.trat queribunda penates.

511. iv. 699:

discussa quales formidine Averni Alcides Theseusque comes pallentia iungunt oscula vix primas amplexi luminis oras.

512. This simile is a free translation from Apollonius, iii. 966 [Greek: t_o d' aneo kai anaudoi ephestasan all_eloisin, h_e drusin h_e makr_esin eeidomenoi elat_esin, ai te para.s.son ek_eloi en ourresin erriz_ontai, n_enemiae meta d' autis upo mip_es anemoio kitumenai omad_esan apeiriton _os ara t_oge mellon alis phthenchasthai upo pnoi_esin Er_otos.] Valerius has compressed the last three lines into _rapidus nondum quas miscuit Auster_. The effective _miscuit_ conveys nearly as much as the longer and not less beautiful version in the Greek.

513. This acc.u.mulation is probably due to the lack of revision.

_obvius ... pavor_ fits the context ill and is curiously reminiscent of I. 392 ('iam stabulis gregibusque pavor strepitusque sepulcris inciderat'), while II. 400-2 would probably have been considerably altered had the poem undergone its final correction. There are other indications of the unfinished character of the work to be found in this pa.s.sage (p. 181, note).

514. Cp. also viii. 10, where Medea bids farewell to her home. 'O my father, would thou mightest give me now thy last embrace, as I fly to exile, and mightest behold these my tears. Believe me, father, I love not him I follow more than thee: would that the stormy deep might whelm us both. And mayest thou long hold thy realm, grown old in peace and safety, and mayest thou find thy children that remain more dutiful than me.'

515. Ap. Rh. iii. 1105 sqq.; cp. also Murray on Apollonius in his _History of Greek Literature_, p. 382.

516. _Silv._ v. 3. 116 sqq.

517. Ib. 146 sqq.

518. Ib. 163.

519. Ib. 141.

520. Ib. 195-208. This pa.s.sage suggests that the elder Statius died soon after 79 A.D. On the other hand, he probably lived some years longer as the _Thebais_, inspired and directed by him, was not begun till 80 A.D.

He must, however, have died before 89 A.D., the earliest date a.s.signable to Statius' victory at the Alban contest.

521. _Silv._ v. 3. 225.

522. Juv. vii. 86. Paris had fallen from imperial favour by 83 A.D. Dio.

lxvii. 3. 1.

523. _Silv._ v. 3. 215.

524. Juv. vii. 82.

525. _Silv._ v. 3. 227. The subject of his prize recitation was the triumph of Domitian over the Germans and Dacians; i.e. after 89 A.D.

526. Praef. _Silv._ i. 'pro Thebaide quamvis me reliquerit timeo.' The first book of the _Silvae_ was published in 92 A.D. For the time taken for its composition and the poet's antic.i.p.ations of immortality see _Th._ xii. 811 sqq.

527. See previous note.

528. _Silv._ iii. 5. 28, v. 3. 232. The Agon Capitolinus was inst.i.tuted in 86 A.D. The contests falling in Statius' lifetime are those of 86, 90, 94 A.D. As his failure is always mentioned after the Alban victory, 94 A.D. would seem the most probable date.

529. Rutilius Gallicus had just died when the first book was published; cp. Praef., bk. i. This took place in 92 A.D.; cp. _C.I.L._ v. 6988, vi. 1984. 8. _Silv._ iv. 1 celebrates Domitian's seventeenth consulate (95 A.D.).

530. See previous note.

531. Such at least is a legitimate inference from the fact that it is not mentioned before the fourth and fifth books of the _Silvae_; cp. iv.

4. 94, iv. 7. 23, v. 2. 163.

532. Written probably in 95 A.D. Statius promises such a work in _Silv._ iv. 4. 95. Four lines are quoted from it in G. Valla's scholia on Juv. iv. 94:

lumina: Nestorei mitis prudentia Crispi et Fabius Veiento (potentem signat utrumque purpura, ter memores implerunt nomine fastos), et prope Caesareae confinis Acilius aulae.

533. Praef. _Silv._ iv 'Maximum Vibium et dignitatis et eloquentiae nomine a n.o.bis diligi satis eram testatus epistula quam ad illum de editione Thebaidos meae publicavi.'

534. Witness poems such as the Villa Surrentina Pollii. _Silv._ ii. 2. 3, 1.

535. _Silv._ iii. 5. 13.

536. Praef. _Silv._ iii. and iii. 5. He was married soon after beginning the _Thebais_, i.e. about 82 A.D. (cp. _S._ iii. 5. 35). Claudia had a daughter by her first husband, iii. 5. 52-4.

537. v. 5. 72-5.

538. iii. 5. 13, iv. 4. 69, v. 2. 158. It is worth noting how late in life all his best work was done, i.e. 80-95 A.D.

539. The well-known pa.s.sage of Juvenal, vii. 86 ('c.u.m fregit subsellia versu, esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven'), as has been pointed out, is only Juvenal's exaggerated way of saying that the _Thebais_ brought Statius no material gain. The family was not, however, rolling in wealth; cp. v. 3. 116 sqq.

540. His friendships do not throw much light on his life, though they show that he moved in high circles. Rutilius Gallicus (i. 4) had had a distinguished career and rose to be _praefectus urbis_; Claudius Etruscus (i. 5), originally a slave from Smyrna, had risen to the imperial post _a rationibus_; Abascantus (v. 1) held the office known as _ab epistulis_; Plotius Grypus (iv. 9) came of senatorial family; Crispinus (v. 2) was the son of Vettius Bola.n.u.s, Governor of Britain and afterwards of Asia; Vibius Maximus (iv. 7) became praefect of Egypt under Trajan; Polla Argentaria (ii. 7) was the widow of Lucan; Arruntius Stella (i. 2) was a poet, and rose to the consulship. Most of these persons must have been possessed of strong literary tastes. Some are mentioned by Martial, e.g. Stella, Claudius Etruscus, Polla Argentaria.

Atedius Melior and Novius Vindex were also friends of the two poets.

Both must have moved in the same circles, yet neither ever mentions the other. They were probably jealous of one another and on bad terms.

541. e.g. ii. 2. Cp. also i. 3. 64-89.