Statius: Thebaid IX [online ed.] 9780198144809, 0198144806

Table of contents :
DEDICATION
PREFACE
ABBREVIATIONS
INTRODUCTION
SIGLA
P. PAPINI STATI THEBAIDOS LIBER NONUS
COMMENTARY
INDEX VERBORVM
INDEX RERVM ET NOMINVM

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online DEDICATION

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

........................................................................................................................... PG V

DEDICATION

PRAECEPTORI DOCTISSIMO A. S. HOLLIS

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online PREFACE

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

........................................................................................................................... PG VII

PREFACE

THIS edition grew from a commentary submitted as a D.Phil. thesis to the Faculty of

Literae Humaniores in the University of Oxford in 1987. The original commentary, though considerably shortened overall, has been expanded in many places to take into account material that has come to my attention since then. A text, an apparatus criticus, a translation, and a general introduction have been added. The text and apparatus rely entirely on the manuscript readings reported by earlier editors, above all Klotz, Garrod, and Hill. The translation can lay no claim to literary merit, but seeks merely to provide a reasonably accurate key to a difficult text without wholly sacrificing the flavour and exuberance of the original. The introduction is intended to offer some information on Statius' life, on the themes and content of the Thebaid, and on Statius' enormous influence on later literature.

  Both thesis and book were supervised at every stage by Professor R. G. M. Nisbet, from whose erudition and common sense I have profited on every page. For two terms his place was taken by my former undergraduate tutor Mr Adrian Hollis, whose great knowledge and understanding of both Hellenistic and Roman poetry enriched the commentary enormously. Mr Jasper Griffin and Dr Dennis Feeney, who examined the thesis, also made many helpful suggestions. Still further references I owe to Dr Martin Cropp, Dr Claire Gruzelier, Mrs Ariel Herrmann, Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones, and Miss Ute Wartenberg. From 1985 to 1989 I was honoured to hold a Senior Scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford: the generosity of that institution enabled me to complete and revise the thesis at a pace dictated by scholarly considerations rather than by grim financial necessity. To the staff of the library at Christ Church, as also to the staff of the Bodleian Library, I am greatly indebted. Dr John Dillon, against almost overwhelming odds, helped with the preparation of the typescript, and the expertise and vigilance of the editors of the Oxford University Press have saved me from countless errors and inconsistencies. Among those many friends whose help took the form of ........................................................................................................................... pg viii

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encouragement and support, I should particularly like to thank Miss Sarah Graham, Mr David Herrmann, Miss Sophie Mills, and Dr Simon Walker. To all those named above I am deeply grateful. MICHAEL DEWAR

Calgary December 1989

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online ABBREVIATIONS

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

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ABBREVIATIONS

Amar–Lemaire

Thebais P. Papinii Statii cum varietate lectionum et selectis variorum adnotationibus quibus suas addiderunt, ed. J. A. Amar and N. E. Lemaire, 4 vols. (Paris, 1825–30)

André

J. André, Étude sur les termes de couleur dans la langue latine (Paris, 1949)

ANET

J. B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3rd edn. (1969)

Axelson

B. Axelson, Unpoetische Wörter: Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis der lateinischen Dichtersprache (Lund, 1945)

Barth

P. Papinii Statii quae exstant, ed. C. Barth (Zwickau, 1664)

Burck

E. Burck, Das römische Epos (Darmstadt, 1979)

Butler

H. E. Butler, Post-Augustan Poetry from Seneca to Juvenal (Oxford, 1909)

Cid

El Poema de Mío Cid

CIL

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin, 1862)

Ch. Rol.

La Chanson de Roland

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Clausen

W. Clausen, Virgil's Aeneid and the Tradition of Hellenistic Poetry (California, 1987)

Coleman

Statius, Silvae IV, edited with an English translation and commentary by K. M. Coleman (Oxford, 1988)

Collectanea Alexandrina

J. U. Powell (ed.), Collectanea Alexandrina (Oxford, 1925)

Damsté

P. H. Damsté, 'Annotationes ad Statii Thebaidem', Mnemosyne 36 (1908), 353–96 and 37 (1909), 77–111

Dilke

Statius, Achilleid, edited with introduction, apparatus, and notes by O. A. W. Dilke (Cambridge, 1954)

Duncan

T. S. Duncan, The Influence of Art on Description in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius (diss. Baltimore, 1914)

Farnell

L. R. Farnell, Greek Hero-Cults and Ideas of Immortality (Oxford, 1921)

FGH

F. Jacoby (ed.), Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker (Berlin, 1923– ; repr. Leiden, 1954)

Fiehn

C. Fiehn, Quaestiones Statianae (diss. Berlin, 1917)

Fortgens

P. Papinii Statii de Opheltis funere carmen epicum, Theb. Lib. VI. 1–295, versione Batava, commentarioque exegetico instructum, H. W. Fortgens (Utrecht, 1934)

Font. Iur.

Fontes Iuris Romani Antiqui, ed. C. G. Bruns. Post curas T. Mommseni ed. 5 et 6 adhibitas, 7um ed. O. Gradenwitz (Tübingen, 1909; repr. 1958)

Frazer

J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough: a Study in Magic and Religion, 3rd edn. (London, 1911–15)

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Garrod

P. Papinii Statii Thebais et Achilleis, ed. H. W. Garrod (Oxford, 1906)

Gossage

A. J. Gossage, 'Statius', in D. R. Dudley (ed.), Neronians and Flavians (London, 1972), pp. 184–235

Griffin

J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford, 1980)

Grimal

P. Grimal, Les Jardins romains (Paris, 1943)

Håkanson

L. Håkanson, Statius' Thebaid: Critical and Exegetical Remarks (Lund, 1972–3)

Håkanson, Silave

L. Håkanson, Statius' Silvae: Critical and Exegetical Remarks (Lund, 1969)

Hardie

A. Hardie, Statius and the Silvae (Liverpool, 1983)

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Helm

R. Helm, De P. Papinii Statii Thebaide (Berlin, 1892)

Hill

P. Papinii Statii Thebaidos libri XII, ed. D. E. Hill (Leiden, 1983)

Housman, Cl. P.

J. Diggle and F. R. D. Goodyear (eds.), The Classical Papers of A. E. Housman, 3 vols. (Cambridge, 1972)

H.–Sz.

J. B. Hofmann and A. Szantyr, Lateinische Syntax und Stilistik, ii (Munich, 1965)

Hübner

W. Hübner, Dirae im römischen Epos (Hildesheim, 1970)

IG

W. Dittenberger (ed.), Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, 3d edn. (Leipzig, 1915–24)

Imhof

A. Imhof, Das Lied von Theben (Ilmenau/ Leipzig, 1885–9)

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Jortin

J. Jortin, Miscellaneous Observations upon Authors Ancient and Modern (London, 1731)

Juhnke

H. Juhnke, Homerisches in römischer Epik flavischer Zeit (Munich, 1972)

Ker

A. Ker, 'Notes on Statius', CQ 3 (1953), 1–10, 175–82

Klinnert

T. C. Klinnert, Capaneus-Hippomedon; Interpretationen zur Heldendarstellung in der Thebais des P. Papinius Statius (diss. Heidelberg (Berlin, 1970))

Klotz

P. Papinius Statius, Thebais, ed. A. Klotz (Leipzig, 1908; corr. T. C. Klinnert, 1973)

Kromayer–Veith

J. Kromayer and G. Veith, Heerwesen und Kriegführung der Griechen und Römer (Munich, 1928)

Lactantius

Lactantii Placidi qui dicitur commmentarii in Statii Thebaida, ed. R. Jahnke (Leipzig, 1898)

K.–S.

R. Kühner and C. Stegmann, Ausführliche Grammatik der lateinischen Sprache: Satzlehre, 3rd edn., revised by A. Thierfelder (Darmstadt, 1955)

Legras

L. Legras, Étude sur la Thébaïde de Stace (Paris, 1905)

Lehanneur

L. Lehanneur, De P. Publii Papinii Statii vita et operibus (Paris, 1878)

Lewis

C. S. Lewis, The Allegory of Love (Oxford, 1936)

Löfstedt

E. Löfstedt, Syntactica: Studien und Beiträge zur historischen Syntax des Lateins, 2nd edn. (Lund, 1956)

Markland

P. Papinii Statii Libri Quinque Silvarum, ed. J. Markland (London, 1828)

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Marouzeau

J. Marouzeau, Traité de stylistique latine, 2nd edn. (Paris, 1946)

Moerner

F. Moerner, De P. Papinii Statii Thebaide Quaestiones Criticae, Grammaticae, Metricae (diss. Königsberg, 1890)

Morford

M. P. O. Morford, The Poet Lucan. Studies in Rhetorical Epic (Oxford, 1967)

Mozley

Statius, with an English translation, J. H. Mozley (Cambridge and London, 1928)

Mulder

P. Papinii Statii Thebaidos liber II commentario exegetico aestheticoque instructus, H. M. Mulder (diss. Groningen, 1954)

Müller

O. Müller, Quaestiones Statianae (Berlin, 1861)

Nauke

A. Nauke, Observationes Criticae et Grammaticae in P. Papinium Statium (Breslau, 1863)

N.–H.

R. G. M. Nisbet and M. Hubbard, A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book I (Oxford, 1970), A Commentary on Horace: Odes Book II (Oxford, 1978)

OCD

N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard (eds.), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd edn. (Oxford, 1970)

OLD

P. G. W. Glare (ed.), Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1968–82)

Palmer

L. R. Palmer, The Latin Language (London, 1954)

PL

J. Milton, Paradise Lost

Platnauer

M. Platnauer, Latin Elegiac Verse (Cambridge, 1951)

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Poynton

Statius, Thebaid, trans. J. B. Poynton (Oxford: I–III, 1971; IV–VIII, IX–XII, 1975)

RE

Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (Stuttgart, 1893–)

Rieks

R. Rieks, Homo, Humanus, Humanitas (Munich, 1967)

Roscher

W. H. Roscher (ed.), Ausführliches Lexicon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1884–1937)

Sandström

C. E. Sandström, Studia Critica in P. Papinium Statium (Uppsala, 1878)

Schamberger

M. Schamberger, De P. Papinio Statio Verborum Novatore (diss. Halle, 1907)

Schetter

W. Schetter, Untersuchungen zur epischen Kunst des Statius (Wiesbaden, 1960)

Schrader

J. Schrader, emendations reported by M. Haupt, in Opuscula, vol. iii (Leipzig, 1875)

Smolenaars

J. J. L. Smolenaars, P. Papinius Statius, Thebaid: A Commentary on Book VII, 1– 451 (Amsterdam, 1983)

Snijder

H. Snijder, P. Papinius Statius, Thebaid: A Commentary on Book III with Text and Introduction (Amsterdam, 1968)

Suppl. Hell.

H. Lloyd-Jones and P. Parsons (eds.), Supplementum Hellenisticum (Berlin/ New York, 1983)

ten Kate

R. ten Kate, Quomodo Heroes in Statii Thebaide describantur quaeritur (diss. Groningen, 1955)

TLL

Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Leipzig, 1900– )

Toynbee

J. M. C. Toynbee, Death and Burial in the Roman World (London, 1971)

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van Dam

P. Papinius Statius, Silvae Book II, ed. H.J. van Dam (Leiden, 1984)

Venini

P. Papinii Statii Thebaidos Liber XI, ed. P. Venini (Florence, 1970)

Vermeule

E. Vermeule, Aspects of Death in Early Greek Art and Poetry (Berkeley, Calif., 1979)

Vessey

D. W. T. C. Vessey, Statius and The Thebaid (Cambridge, 1973)

von Moisy

S. von Moisy, Untersuchungen zur Erzählweise in Statius' Thebais (diss. Munich, 1970 (Bonn, 1971))

von Stosch

G. von Stosch, Untersuchungungen zu den Leichenspielen in der Thebais des P. Papinius Statius (diss. Tübingen, 1965 (Berlin, 1968))

Wackernagel

J. Wackernagel, Vorlesungen über Syntax (Basle, 1920, 1924)

Walde

A. Walde, Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd edn., revised by J. B. Hofmann (Heidelberg, 1938–56)

Wilkinson

L. P. Wilkinson, Golden Latin Artistry (Cambridge, 1963)

Williams

P. Papinii Statii Thebaidos liber X, ed. R. D. Williams (Leiden, 1972)

G. Williams

G. Williams, Change and Decline (Berkeley, Calif., 1978)

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online INTRODUCTION

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

Published online:

1991

July 2015

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INTRODUCTION

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1. STATIUS' LIFE AND WORKS The precise date of Statius' birth cannot be determined, but the best estimates vary 1

between c.45 and 50. The exact date of his death is also impossible to calculate, but 2

since Book 4 of the Silvae was certainly published in 95 and Book 5 appears to have been produced posthumously, he is generally assumed to have died c.96, probably not long before the assassination of his principal patron, the emperor Domitian. His father was born in the Greek city of Velia in Magna Graecia (Silv. 5. 3. 126 f.) but later moved to Naples, where Statius himself was born (Silv. 3. 5. 12 f., 4. 7. 17 ff.). The family was freeborn and, according to Statius, not undistinguished (Silv. 5. 3. 116 ff.), but had suffered financial difficulties (Silv. 5. 3. 117 f.). It has accordingly been suggested that they perhaps had lost equestrian rank 3

because they were unable to meet the property qualification. Both Statius and his father won themselves distinction as professional poets performing in the poetry competitions 4

that accompanied the great games. Both won victories in the Augustalia at Naples, and the elder Statius at least went on to achieve great success on the Greek circuit, at the 5

Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Games. This success was matched by a splendid career as a fashionable grammaticus to whom the leading Neapolitans, along with the gentry of other neighbouring Campanian towns, sent their sons (Silv. 5. 3. 146 ff.) for instruction in Greek literature. Significantly, the learned elder Statius taught not merely such standard classics as Homer and Pindar but also much more difficult and obscure Hellenistic poets, among them Callimachus, Lycophron, Sophron, and Corinna (Silv. 5. 3. 148 ff.). As his reputation grew, the ........................................................................................................................... pg xvi elder Statius took his family to Rome, where he educated the sons of the wealthy; among 6

his pupils, it appears, was Domitian. Indeed, the Statii seem to have enjoyed a close Page 1 of 32

relationship with the Flavians. Statius possessed an estate at Alba Longa which was equipped by Domitian with a water supply (Silv. 3. 1. 61 ff.). On this estate his father was buried: it is possible that it was originally a gift from Vespasian, his pupil's father.

7

  The younger Statius thus grew up in Naples and in Rome in circles which were devoted to the study and production of literature and clearly connected with men of the highest rank. From his father he learned the art of composition (Silv. 5. 3. 209 ff.), and he delivered his first recitations before him and an audience that included senators (Silv. 5. 3. 215 f. 'Latios quotiens ego carmine patres / mulcerem'). He emulated his father's career as a professional poet and, as well as his victories in the Augustalia, he won the prize in one celebration of Domitian's Alban Games with a poem on the emperor's triumphs over the Germans and Dacians in 89 (Silv. 4. 2. 65 ff.). On that occasion he was crowned by Domitian himself, but 8

his career and self- confidence seem to have received a hard blow when some time later he was defeated in the Capitoline Games founded by the emperor in Rome in 86 (Silv. 3. 5. 28 ff., 5. 3. 231 f.). In addition to the emperor Statius enjoyed the favour of numerous rich aristocratic patrons. Examples are Polla Argentaria, widow of Lucan, the wealthy Campanian Pollius Felix, the former consul and prefect of the city Rutilius Gallicus, and a whole range of 9

up-and-coming young men such as Arruntius Stella, Vitorius Marcellus, and Plotius Grypus. Important contacts were brought him by his marriage to a widow named Claudia 'in the prime of life' (Silv. 3. 5. 23 'florentibus annis'), herself the former wife of a poet. She brought him a step-daughter, but otherwise he died childless.   Statius' poetry can usefully be divided into two principal ........................................................................................................................... pg xvii groups, the epics and the occasional poems. His greatest work, the one which he hoped would secure his fame after his death, was the Thebaid. Probably completed about 91, it represents twelve years of assiduous labour (Theb. 12. 811 'o mihi senos multum vigilata per annos / Thebai'; Silv. 3. 5. 35 f. 'longi tu sola laboris / conscia, cumque tuis crevit mea Thebais annis'). Although in his envoi to the poem he enjoins humility on it (Theb. 12. 816 f. 'nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta, / sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora') elsewhere he displays pride in the perfect polish he has given it and expresses the highest hopes for it:                   nostra         Thebais multa cruciata lima         temptat audaci fide Mantuanae             gaudia famae. (Silv. 4. 7. 25 ff.)   No doubt portions of the poem were recited while the work was in progress, and this supposition would partly explain its highly episodic character. Juvenal (7. 82 ff.) refers to the great success of these recitations and to Statius' 'vocem iucundam'. He was also composing Page 2 of 32

an epic on the life of Achilles when death apparently overtook him: the first book and some 160 lines survive. Also preserved for us is a four-line scrap of the lost De Bello Germanico, 10

perhaps the same as the poem which earned him victory in the Alban Games. Although a great deal of the occasional poetry and all the competition pieces are lost to us, many of the no doubt better poems are preserved in five books of Silvae. These include numerous descriptions of villas and works of art, poems on births and marriages or of thanksgiving on recovery from illness, laments and the like. Juvenal 7. 87 is also usually read as evidence that he composed a libretto under the title Agave for Domitian's favourite, the pantomime 11

Paris.

2. THE THEBAID Though there has been a great deal of argument about the structure of the Thebaid, seems best to regard it as a

12

it

........................................................................................................................... pg xviii deliberately episodic work bound together by a unified tone and by numerous correspondences between individual passages and books. The one obvious division is that between the two halves, the first covering the events leading up to the war and the second the war itself and its final outcome. Though the brothers Eteocles and Polynices slay each other in Book 11, the twelfth book, in which Theseus of Athens defeats Creon and imposes order and piety on Thebes, is less a postscript than the culmination of the poem, the restoration of harmony and justice. Since the Thebaid is generally not well known and is full of incident and a large number of characters, the following summary of the plot may be of use to the reader.   After a proem defining the poem's subject and praising Domitian (1. 1–45), the scene changes to Thebes where Oedipus curses his sons Eteocles and Polynices, invoking the aid of the Fury Tisiphone. She speeds to Thebes and sets the brothers against each other. They agree to alternate a year's rule for each with a year's exile, and the lots assign the first year of kingship to Eteocles (1. 46–196). On Olympus Jupiter explains to a council of the gods his plan to cleanse both Thebes and Argos of their sin by the blood of war (1. 197–311). Polynices journeys by night to Argos in the midst of a terrible storm. At the palace of king Adrastus he meets Tydeus, exiled after the killing of his own brother. The two quarrel and fight until Adrastus, wakened by the noise, separates them. By their dress and weapons he recognizes in them the sons-in-law promised him by Fate, and immediately orders a banquet to be set (1. 312–556). To explain what feast they are celebrating in Argos he tells them the story of Linus and Coroebus (1. 557–720). Meanwhile Mercury brings Laius' ghost from Hades to inspire hatred and mistrust of Polynices in Eteocles' heart (2. 1–133). In Argos Adrastus gives his daughters Argia and Deipyle in marriage to Polynices and Tydeus, among

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many evil omens (2. 134–305). Polynices' thoughts turn to Thebes, and Tydeus undertakes to act as ambassador to demand the throne, the allotted year having expired. His speech is provocative and Eteocles refuses to yield. An ambush of fifty Thebans is set for Tydeus, but he slays them all, sparing only Maeon (2. 306–743). Maeon returns to Thebes to recount the disaster and to inveigh against Eteocles' impiety, then kills himself (3. 1–113). ........................................................................................................................... pg xix The Thebans pour out of the city to find and bury their dead (3. 114–217), and Jupiter commands Mars to begin battle. He does so joyfully, though Venus attempts to intervene on behalf of the Thebans, descendants of their daughter Harmonia (3. 218–324). Tydeus reaches Argos and rouses Adrastus' men to fury; the king decides to try the will of the gods (3. 325–459). The prophets Amphiaraus and Melampus take the auspices and foretell disaster, but the god-despiser Capaneus decides the Argives for war and Argia's pleas on her husband's behalf convince her father (3. 460–721).   The Argives muster, their captains and troops being identified in a lengthy catalogue (4. 1–344). There is panic at Thebes, and Tiresias, at Eteocles' command, summons up ghosts from the underworld to learn the future (4. 345–645). Meanwhile the Argives have reached Nemea. Bacchus, to protect his native city, causes a drought, but Hypsipyle, once queen of Lemnos and now a slave, reveals to the Argives the stream of Langia (4. 646–843). At Adrastus' request she tells the tale of the slaughter visited on their menfolk by the Lemnian women (5. 1–498). While she is giving her account, however, her infant charge Opheltes, son of king Lycurgus of Nemea, is crushed to death by a mighty serpent which dwells in the grove (5. 499–638). Lycurgus is prevented by the Argives from slaying Hypsipyle in revenge (5. 639–753). An elaborate funeral is given the unfortunate child, now called Archemorus, and games follow in which the seven princes each win an event (6. 1–946). At this point Jupiter, impatient of the delay, sends Mercury to Thrace to urge Mars to action (7. 1–89). The Argives advance as Mars spreads panic, but Jupiter refuses Bacchus' request for mercy for Thebes (7. 90–226). At Thebes, from the walls, Phorbas identifies to the maiden Antigone the leaders of the Thebans and their allies, while Eteocles encourages his men (7. 227–423). The Argives reach the Asopus and pitch their camp: the Thebans spend a fearful night. At dawn Jocasta leaves the city with her daughters and attempts to dissuade Polynices from attacking his homeland, but Tydeus urges the troops on (7. 424–563). Battle begins, and the seer Amphiaraus, aided by Apollo, enjoys an aristeia until, claimed by Fate but spared death for the sake of his pietas, he descends to the underworld through a chasm that opens in the earth ........................................................................................................................... pg xx (7. 564–823). In the underworld Pluto, angered by Amphiaraus' unlawful descent still living into Hades, sends Tisiphone to the upper world to wreak mischief (8. 1–126). Before Thebes the Argives, horrified by the portent, flee. Darkness falls and they lament the lost seer, while Page 4 of 32

the Thebans, their confidence growing, rejoice (8. 127–270). The Argives choose Thiodamas to replace Amphiaraus, and he sacrifices and prays to Earth to avert the omen (8. 271–341). The Thebans issue forth, battle is joined, and Hypseus and Haemon distinguish themselves (8. 342–518). Haemon then retreats before Tydeus, who now enjoys an aristeia in his turn. Among his victims is the youthful Atys, betrothed to Ismene; fatally wounded, Atys dies in his beloved's arms (8. 519–654). Tydeus continues victorious until he is struck by a spear cast by Melanippus. At his command Capaneus brings him Melanippus' body and the hero in his fury sinks to cannibalism, so disgusting his patron Pallas that she withholds the boon of immortality she had won for him from Jupiter (8. 655–766).   Book 9 begins with a study of the reactions of the armies and their generals to Tydeus' unspeakable act of cannibalism. The gleeful false indignation of Eteocles is contrasted with the utter desolation of Polynices, whom his friend's death reduces to despair and attempted suicide (9. 1–85). Hippomedon stoutly defends his comrade's corpse (9. 86–144) but is deceived by Tisiphone into abandoning this duty, with the result that the Thebans capture and disfigure it (9. 145–95). He seeks revenge and, on Tydeus' horse, drives the Thebans before him to the river Ismenos, where his merciless sword, the river's high waters, and the general confusion produce many horrific woundings and deaths (9. 196–314). Hippomedon goes too far, however, and callously cuts down Crenaeus, the young grandson of the rivergod himself (9. 314–50). Moved to fury by the lamentations and taunts of the bereaved mother, Ismenos gathers all his waters and assails the hero; in the ensuing conflict of god and man the superhuman hero long endures, a quite magnificent figure, until forced to turn and flee by divine might (9. 351–491). Unable to escape and fearing an ignoble death by drowning, he asks for Mars' help; he is reprieved, only to fall before whole troops of cowardly Thebans, defeated but not dishonoured (9. 492–538). His corpse is defended by ........................................................................................................................... pg xxi Capaneus (9. 539–69). The scene now changes to Arcadia, where Atalanta, terrified by dreams of ill-omen foretelling her son's death, begs their patron Diana to save him (9. 570–636). Diana hurries to Thebes but, meeting her brother Apollo on the way, is told that unalterable Fate demands the boy's death: she resolves to grant him glory in battle at the end and to punish his slayer (9. 637–67). Full of joy and reckless of danger, Parthenopaeus, with Diana's never-erring arrows, kills mercilessly: he ignores the warnings of the gruff warrior Amphion and of Diana, disguised as his tutor Dorceus. He weakens and finally falls before the monstrous Dryas, the ancestral enemy of Diana and her devotees, who is then himself mysteriously slain (9. 670–876). The boy's last words are a pathetic address to his mother, acknowledging his folly and cruelty (9. 877–907).   The Thebans confidently camp outside the walls, but Juno sends Somnus to entrap them and, as they sleep, the Argives slaughter them (10. 1–346). Hopleus and Dymas attempt to retrieve the bodies of their fallen princes, Parthenopaeus and Tydeus, but dawn overtakes

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them and they die a heroic death (10. 347–448). In the next day's fighting the Argives gain the upper hand and, as the Thebans panic, Tiresias reveals that Fate demands 'the last of the serpent's blood' in return for the salvation of the city. Menoeceus, spurred on by the goddess Virtus, realizes that he is meant by this and leaps to his death from the walls (10. 449–826). Capaneus now climbs the walls, challenging Jupiter, who smites him with his thunderbolt (10. 827–939). Tisiphone urges her sister Megaera to help her bring the brothers to single combat. Polynices hesitates at first, until Eteocles, driven by the Fury and by Creon's taunts, appears on the battlefield. Jocasta tries in vain to dissuade him, while Antigone, from the walls, pleads with Polynices (11. 1–402). As the brothers clash, Adrastus flees in horror and Tisiphone drives Pietas from the field. Polynices fatally wounds Eteocles, who treacherously feigns death and in his turn smites Polynices as he stoops to strip the corpse (11. 403–579). Oedipus is overcome with remorse and laments his crime, and Jocasta takes her own life. Creon, now king, begins his reign by banishing Oedipus and forbidding the Argives to be buried (11. 580–761). The next day, the Thebans stream out of the city once more to find their dead, and Creon laments his own ........................................................................................................................... pg xxii son (12. 1–104). Meanwhile the women of Argos set out to bury their dead, but are told by Ornytus of Creon's cruel command. Argia, accompanied only by her old guardian Menoetes, makes her way to Thebes while the other women go to Athens to enlist the aid of Theseus. On the battlefield Argia and Antigone, who is defying Creon's orders, meet over the body of Polynices, which they wash and place upon the same pyre where Eteocles' already burns. The flame divides, proof of a hatred that has outlived even death (12. 105–463). The Argive women reach Athens and the altar of Clementia. A speech by Evadne moves Theseus to action and he musters the men of Attica. He attacks Thebes, slays Creon, and restores order and piety by allowing the burial of all the dead, on both sides. The poem ends with the pyres and the laments of the women of Argos (12. 464–819).

3. THEMES AND CHARACTERS The first day of battle had deprived the Argives of their only righteous champion, the seer Amphiaraus (7. 794 ff.), leaving the sinners to work out their own destruction. The second will be disastrous for both armies, as Death uncompromisingly chooses the best of the heroes:             nigroque viros invitat hiatu,         nil vulgare legens, sed quae dignissima vita         funera, praecipuos annis animisque cruento         ungue notat.                   (8. 378 ff.)

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Among these fall four of the six remaining princes. Book 8 showed us the gruesome cannibalism and death of Tydeus, and 10 will narrate the blasphemies and punishment of Capaneus. Book 9 records first the various reactions to Tydeus' horrific crime and then the aristeiae of Hippomedon, strongest of the seven, and Parthenopaeus, the youngest and fairest of the host. Structurally, therefore, we can distinguish three major sections in Book 9, dealing in turn with the aftermath of Tydeus' death, Hippomedon's battle with Ismenos, and the woeful tale of Parthenopaeus. Horror, magnificent hyperbole, and pathos overtoppling into sentimentality: nothing could be more typical of Statius or of 'Silver' Latin poetry as a whole.    ........................................................................................................................... pg xxiii This structure rests primarily on the contrast in character between the two heroes whose achievements and deaths it records, while its themes are unified by the similarities of their 13

14

condition. Hippomedon is a giant, beneath whose tread the earth trembles. He can keep an army at bay single-handed (9. 144 ff.) or even drive it in terror before him (9. 222 ff.): 15

indeed he is strong enough to prove, at least for a time, a match for a god. But, though magnificent, he is devoid of thought: 'There is something bestial, less than human about him: his strength is his esse, unredeemed by other or finer qualities: it is as if some extinct 16

monster had strayed into the world.' Parthenopaeus, on the other hand, is a mere boy with no experience of killing except in the hunt. Far from matching Hippomedon's strength, he is too weak and immature to be on a battlefield at all: even at the hunt he needed his 17

mother to save him from the onslaught of a boar. Yet, while Hippomedon merely demands awestruck admiration, Parthenopaeus inspires love by virtue of his grace, youth, joyful spirit 18

and boyish confidence, and, above all, his outstanding beauty. Excitement is thus the dominating emotion in the tale of Hippomedon's victories and death, and pathos the keynote of the Parthenopaeus episode. Their deaths have been ordained by Fate as part of Jupiter's 19

plan to cleanse both the wicked cities of Thebes and Argos. Strength and beauty are as powerless as Tydeus' courage or Amphiaraus' wisdom against Fate: Death opens her vast jaws, 'nil vulgare legens'.   Their deaths, however, are the due punishment for their sins. True, these sins are less easily distinguished than the cannibalism, blasphemy, or fratricide of the other heroes. Moreover, Statius does not emphasize their wrongdoing as he does in the cases of the other 20

princes,

but even obscures them, perhaps

........................................................................................................................... pg xxiv

Page 7 of 32

more than he intended, by the admiration and sympathy he arouses in us. Both heroes nonetheless share the burden of guilt carried by the whole Argive army, since, fighting as 21

they do in an evil war, their victories are victories for Tisiphone and hell. the general total his own sins.

Each also adds to

  In the case of Hippomedon the offence is both moral and religious because, in killing Crenaeus, the river-god's grandson, he both attacks the god himself and also breaks the 22

heroic code. On one level, as Klinnert well demonstrates, his victim is one who enjoys divine favour and is endowed with divine powers: Crenaeus is actually fighting in his grandfather's holy waters, which bear him up (9. 325 'levat unda gradus'). This miracle clearly marks him out as being unlike other men, but Hippomedon wrongly refuses to take any account of this. Hence when he kills Crenaeus the waters shudder at the sin (nefas, 9. 347). On the simpler level of ordinary morality Hippomedon is also guilty of brutally cutting down a mere boy who is no match for him. He does not even give him the warning 23

Amphion will give Parthenopaeus or Aeneas gave Lausus, nor even deign to speak to him at all. His only answer to Crenaeus' reminders of the sanctity of the river is cold steel and contemptuous silence: 'nihil ille, sed ibat comminus' (9. 343 f.). In all this he shows himself to be in the grip of the furor endemic among the participants in this war and so unable to 24

distinguish good from evil.

  The sin of Parthenopaeus is perhaps harder to identify. It could be argued that he simply errs through noble motives: seeking glory as a hero should, he is too precocious, driven by a virtus greater than his physical strength, and tragically pays for his folly with death. Certainly he fails to realize the limits of his power, and this is of course the mainspring of his tragedy. As Diana says, 'cruda heu festinaque virtus / suasit et hortatrix animosi gloria leti' (9. 716 f.). Yet that is not merely to say that he is a victim, because so eager is he for his own glory that he takes no thought for others. If he were risking his own life ........................................................................................................................... pg xxv alone, he might be excused, but the life and joy of his mother Atalanta depend upon him and she may not be able to bear the loss of him. He fights like an unthinking beast, unconcerned for anything except his own fame:         nec se mente regit, patriae matrisque suique 25

        immemor, et nimium

caelestibus utitur armis. (9. 737 f.)

He has all the beauty and charm of youth, but also its egotism and cruelty. Only as the darkness gathers over his eyes does he realize his guilt and what his death will mean to Atalanta:             merui, genetrix; poenas invita capesse: Page 8 of 32

        arma puer rapui, nec te retinente quievi,         nec tibi sollicitae saltem inter bella peperci. (9. 891 ff.) The reader has already seen what he has not, Atalanta's grief and terror at the very dream of his death (9. 570 ff.), and so can easily begin to imagine what the reality will mean for her. 26

Whereas for him both sin and punishment are over, the innocent have still to suffer.

  It is this pathos and cruelty which dominate Book 9, as grief and violence dominate the poem as a whole. The two elements are closely mixed, on the small scale and on the 27

large, in the pitiful deaths of Hippomedon's once-mentioned victims as in the tale of Parthenopaeus. The sheer violence of the first aristeia also makes a good balance with the sentimentality of the second.

28

Statius, however, probably composed for recitations

........................................................................................................................... pg xxvi of a book at a time, and pride of place no doubt went to the finale. Helm rightly points to the effort taken to ensure that each book ends with a scene that seems to demand applause. 30

29

31

There are other doomed youths and bereaved mothers in the Thebaid but none is intended to leave so strong an impression on the reader's or the audience's memory as Parthenopaeus and Atalanta. They come to symbolize the wasteful destructiveness of war and the suffering of the innocent bystanders, and so the poem ends with them filling the picture:      Arcada quo planctu genetrix Erymanthia clamet,      Arcada, consumpto servantem sanguine vultus,      Arcada, quem geminae pariter flevere cohortes. (12. 805 ff.)   The pathos and the loss are felt in Heaven too, by the goddess Diana, Parthenopaeus' protectress. Her heart was captured by the infant Parthenopaeus the moment she saw him, 32

and for his sake she pardoned his mother her loss of her virginity.

He grew up under her 33

protection, was trained in her art of hunting, and received his weapons from her. Now, hearing the mother's prayer, Diana's statue sheds tears (9. 635 ff.) and the goddess herself hastens to Thebes to save him. As she passes Parnassus she meets her brother, whose light, the light of the sun, is dimmed by grief for his own favourite, Amphiaraus. As he could not save his own devotee so too, he tells her, she cannot now save hers:         saevus ego inmeritusque coli. lugentia cernis         antra, soror, mutasque domos: haec sola rependo         dona pio comiti; nec tu peritura movere         auxilia et maestos in vanum perge labores.         finis adest iuveni, non hoc mutabile fatum,

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        nec te de dubiis fraterna oracula fallunt. (9. 657 ff.) Thus Diana, though confusa (9. 663), can only yield, promising the boy the consolation of a glorious death and vengeance on his killer. When she reaches Thebes her heart is moved by the spectacle of so much joy and beauty doomed to die that day ........................................................................................................................... pg xxvii and, as her image had wept before, her own eyes are now defiled by tears (9. 713 'fletuque genas violata'). She gives him her heavenly arrows, protects him from Amphion, and, in the form of Dorceus, tries to reason with him. Her efforts are, of course, useless, and before long he falls victim to Dryas' spear. As death approaches he thinks with tenderness not of the childless goddess but only of his mother, and Diana, of whose attempts to rescue him he can know nothing, is mentioned only at the end:         haec autem primis arma infelicia castris         ure, vel ingratae crimen suspende Dianae. (9. 906 f.) In the dark world of the Thebaid even the gods may suffer the injustice of man.

4. THE TEXT In general the manuscript tradition of the Thebaid is a relatively simple one, presenting two principal branches. By far the most reliable manuscript of the poem is P (Puteanus, Parisinus 8051), copied in the ninth century in northern France. It is both the oldest manuscript surviving and the one which has suffered from the least interpolation. Against P stands a group of some two dozen manuscripts of the tenth and eleventh centuries, known as the ω‎ manuscripts. The situation is somewhat complicated by large-scale contamination both among the manuscripts of the ω‎ group and between some of them and P itself. In particular it has been convincingly demonstrated by R.J. Getty (CQ 27 (1933), 129–39) that P was used to correct S in the tenth and twelfth centuries. The clearest review of the manuscript tradition of Statius is that made by M. D. Reeve in Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics (ed. L. D. Reynolds (Oxford, 1983), pp. 394 ff.).   For the text of the Thebaid scholars have relied for most of this century on the editions prepared by H. W. Garrod (Oxford, 1906) and A. Klotz (Bibl. Teub., Leipzig, 1908, revised by T. C. Klinnert, 1973). These have recently been superseded by the edition of D. E. Hill (Leiden, 34

1983). Though Hill's text has received some harsh criticism,

it none the less

........................................................................................................................... pg xxviii represents a considerable improvement on its predecessors. In particular it derives great benefit from the researches of L. Håkanson (Statius' Thebaid: Critical and Exegetical Page 10 of 32

Remarks (Lund, 1972–3)) and thus avoids the previous editors' excessive reliance on P at the expense of the often preferable readings of ω‎. Moreover, it is distinguished by the most comprehensive bibliography and apparatus criticus available. The text and apparatus printed in this present edition have been constructed on the strength of the manuscript readings reported in the earlier editions, above all that of Hill. Differences between the text printed here and Hill's edition are listed below for convenience.

 

Hill

Dewar

19

inmite P

mite ω‎

51

funus Håkanson

†nudus Pω‎

71

(num fallor?) et Pω‎

num fallor an Bentley

213

satiabere ωΣ‎

spatiabere Bentley

270

Sagen ω‎

Tagen P

315

expugnaverit ω‎

inclinaverit ς, Klotz‎

338

fidem pelago, nec

fidem, pelago nec

430

alioque P

altoque ω‎

501

passa virum Barth

passurum Pω‎

561

Hypseos Markland

ipsius Pω‎

604

armatae ω‎

armigerae P mg.

630

cur penitus

†cur penitus†

663

misero ω‎

certe P

732

violetur Ptδ‎

temeretur ω‎

787

dabimus leto moriare Housman

dabimus: leto moriere Pω‎

847

duces Pω‎

†duces

853 f.

sensit, sentit PS

855

fert ira Alton

fert arma Pω‎

872

tegmine PCQBr

tegmina ω‎

876

patebant ω‎

patebunt P

891

genetrix, poenas;

genetrix; poenas punxit Gronovius

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r

1

sentit, sentit ω‎

........................................................................................................................... PG XXIX

5. SOURCES

'The Thebaid is to a very large extent an exercise in imitatio or aemulatio, a deliberate and conscious endeavour to rework over a large scale material which Statius had inherited from 35

his reading and study of Greek and Latin poetry.' Scholars in the early part of this century considered Statius an inept copier devoid of ideas of his own, and study of his sources 36

37

mainly consisted of finding parallel passages. A seminal article by G. Krumbholz first explored the ways in which Statius adapted inherited subject-matter to new poetic purposes, 38

and this work has been further advanced by B. Kytzler,

39

G. Aricò,

P. Venini,

40

and D.

41

W. T. C. Vessey. These critics have successfully demonstrated the originality of Statius' adaptation of his models and the important function in the general structure of the poem fulfilled by passages previously regarded as mere digressions capitalizing on other poets' glory. Nevertheless it must be confessed that the modern reader often experiences a feeling of déjà vu and that, to contemporary taste, the unity of the poem does suffer.   Statius' doctrina, acquired in the school of his learned father, was impressive and he draws on the work of many poets, both Greek and Latin. His primary model is the revered magnus 42

magister Virgil but he also extensively imitates Homer, Callimachus, Ovid, Lucan, and Valerius Flaccus, among others. The great problem is the question of how much he owes to the Thebaid of Antimachus of Colophon, the fourth-century poet reviled by Callimachus (fr. 398 Pf.) and Catullus (95 b). Much argument has been caused by the famous scholium which Kaspar von Barth claimed to have found on 3. 466: 'dicunt poetam ista omnia e Graeco poeta Antimacho deduxisse'. If ........................................................................................................................... pg xxx genuine, however, this would surely refer most naturally to the particular passage under discussion rather than to the whole poem, and there are also good grounds for believing 43

the whole thing to be Barth's own fabrication. Prima facie it seems incredible that Statius should not have known and in some way used Antimachus, who was ranked second after Homer among epic poets by Hellenistic commentators and whose work must have largely replaced the Cyclic Thebaid. Yet, as it stands, the sparse fragments of Antimachus cannot be shown to have inspired Statius, who in fact frequently diverges from them in many details. 44

Vessey, who has most recently and exhaustively examined this problem, is surely right to conclude that we shall never know for sure what Statius' debt was, but should give our attention to evaluating the literary worth of the text before us.   In any case, Book 9 clearly must owe less than other books to Antimachus. Hippomedon's defence of Tydeus' body and his battle with the river-god Ismenos do not feature in the Page 12 of 32

Septem contra Thebas of Aeschylus or the Phoenissae of Euripides. Undoubtedly they did not feature in Antimachus either and were not part of the tradition: they are surely novelties introduced into the legend by Statius to allow him to compete with Homer. As for 45

Parthenopaeus, Antimachus had made him the son of Talaus

and thus no boy but a full46

grown warrior, and also brother of King Adrastus and an Argive. Statius, however, follows the tragedians in making him a boy on the verge of manhood and an Arcadian, although he 47

develops their account considerably.

Statius' main models were none the less Homer and

Virgil. The defence of the body of Tydeus is based on the battle for the body of Patroclus, 49

just as the river-battle is directly inspired by that of Achilles with the Scamander, character of Parthenopaeus,

48

while the

........................................................................................................................... pg xxxi 50

his aristeia, and the vengeance of Diana owe much to the Camilla episode in Aeneid XI. These primary sources are modified by an admixture of more contemporary ones. Much of the grisly horror of Statius' river-battle, for example, is inspired by Lucan's sea-battle 51

at Massilia (3. 509–762). Moreover, if Wistrand is right, then Statius probably included a river-battle in his poem in order to compete with Silius Italicus, who, using the same Homeric model, matched Scipio in conflict with the Trebia (Punica 4. 570–703). In particular the catalogue of horrifying deaths in the river at 9. 266–83 seems designed to surpass the terrors of Punica 4. 585–97.   Individual passages and details from all these models are discussed in the body of the commentary. It is enough here to remark that, far from simply reproducing his predecessors, Statius seeks to adapt their material to his poetic needs and indeed to surpass his models. Thus Hippomedon is portrayed as a stronger and more magnificent hero than Achilles, and Parthenopaeus as more openly pathetic than Camilla. In the heightened tone of their portrayals each accordingly satisfies the taste of the contemporary audience and contributes to the creation of something new in ancient literature—the 'mannerist' epic.

6. LANGUAGE, STYLE, AND METRE Though not unduly abstruse, Statius' style is often extremely subtle and can seem difficult. Until one grows accustomed to it, much of the point he strives for can prove elusive, much of the hyperbole unbearable. It none the less produces a rich and fascinating texture which well repays study and which, in its strange blend of intensity and delicacy, is unique in Latin literature. Although there are many dangers in transferring terms from art criticism to literature, it is useful to speak of the Thebaid as a 'mannerist' or perhaps 'baroque' work. This could be seen as being in large measure the product of a conflation of ........................................................................................................................... Page 13 of 32

pg xxxii the two main traditions in contemporary Latin literature, namely the 'standard classicism' exemplified by such disciples of Virgil as Valerius Flaccus and Silius Italicus, and the 'alternative' mannered style of Ovid and such later authors as Seneca and Lucan.

52

  It is to be hoped that something of the character of Statius' style will emerge in detail from the commentary, but a few general observations here may help identify some of its salient features. Perhaps most striking is Statius' fondness for paradoxical phrases (e.g. 9. 6 'offensum … virtute', 9. 80 'leti animosa voluntas', 9. 469 'stat pugna impar') or ideas (e.g. 9. 37 f., 378–80). Polynices speaks of having 'squandered' deaths (9. 58) and of having 'used up' Tydeus (9. 60), while Diana begs Parthenopaeus to 'spare the gods' (9. 814). Hyperbole is also a major feature of the 'rhetorical' style. Thus the hero keeps his horse afloat by the power of his own legs (9. 249 f.) and holds at bay a whole river in flood, using only his shield and physical strength (9. 455 ff., esp. 463–6). A tree is so huge that its leaves are 'mixed with heaven' (9. 536) and when it falls it 'looses the vast air' (9. 534 'ingentemque aera laxat'). Statius is also fond of ecphraseis, whether of works of art (a shield at 9. 332 ff.) or natural objects (a tree hanging over the river at 9. 492 ff.). Such descriptions form a large portion of the Silvae, where there are poems describing, for example, the colossal equestrian statue of Domitian (1. 1), the great villas of Manlius Vopiscus (1. 3) and Pollius Felix (2. 2), and Novius Vindex' statuette of Hercules (4. 6), as well as oddities of nature such as Atedius Melior's tree (2. 3). As in these large-scale descriptions, Statius in the ecphrasis often blurs the distinction between art and nature, and the painted sea through which Europa and the bull swim on Crenaeus' shield is made to seem more real by the waters of the river Ismenos in which the young man is fighting. Akin to this perhaps is a taste for fantasy: Crenaeus miraculously walks on the water (9. 324 ff.) and the conjunction of sun and moon is figuratively seen as a meeting in heaven of Apollo and Diana (9. 647–9).   In general Statius' diction is traditional and though there are a few apparent neologisms they are not unusual in form (9. 305 ........................................................................................................................... pg xxxiii 'fluctivago', 9. 647 'inrubuit'). More striking is the sensuous character given his verse by a particularly high proportion of Greek names and nouns, often in their Greek forms, and daring uses of ordinary words such as we see in 'omnis anhelat / unda nefas' (9. 431 f.) or 'cassis anhela' (9. 700). Adjectives too are frequently transferred with chilling effect. Thus, as Hippomedon rampages, it is not he but the sword he wields that is said to be 'blind' (9. 198), and we realize that he has been dehumanized into a mere killing machine. On the other hand a tendency to sentimentality manifests itself in the attribution of human emotion to inanimate nature; ships are 'pitiful' (9. 94), a river 'is astounded' (9. 228 f.) or 'shudders' (9. 347), woods 'weep' (9. 347) and the river-banks 'groan' (9. 348).

Page 14 of 32

  Statius also revels in the depiction of horrific woundings, seeking to communicate a grisly pathos. Good examples of this are the sad deaths of Agenor (9. 272 ff.), Agyrtes (9. 281 ff.), and Eurytion (9. 749 ff.). Occasionally, however, it overtopples into a disturbing eroticism as Parthenopaeus' beautiful white breast is streaked with crimson blood (9. 883), or into the downright bizarre and even ludicrous, as when Menoeceus shears Argipus' arms off and these remain clutching an elm tree while the boy slips into the river and 'truncus in excelsis spectat sua bracchia ramis' (9. 266–9). More successful are the grisly details sketched in a few words. Eryx, hit by a spear in the throat, dies choking on blood which is 'murmure plenus' (9. 131), men and horses alike run with sweat when the Fury Tisiphone goes by, even though she is disguised (9. 150 ff.) and from bank to bank the waters of the river Ismenos are darkened by the shades of the slain (9. 432 f.).   But most typical of all of Statius' style is the concentration of several such features in a few lines, as in the following simile:         qualiter Isthmiaco nondum Nereida portu         Leucothean planxisse ferunt, dum pectore anhelo         frigidus in matrem saevum mare respuit infans. (9. 401–3) Three Greek words, all in their Greek forms, impart a stylized beauty and exotic flavour, while the phrase 'nondum Nereida' learnedly alludes to the later, happy outcome of the scene described. Much of the pathos is concentrated in the single word frigidus; the child is already drowned and dead. ........................................................................................................................... pg xxxiv Meanwhile he spews up the sea water he has swallowed. This is a reflex action carefully and meticulously observed, but it seems to signal a rejection of the weeping mother by her son. Thus, though saevum is appropriate of the sea, perhaps here it is in one sense transferred and may be intended to mark the child's unintentional cruelty. The overall effect is one of a strange, remote beauty and of stylized grief.   The verse is lucid and smooth, and Statius' command of the hexameter second only to Ovid's in fluency: witness the Silvae, often composed at speed, even 'intra moram cenae' (Silv. 1 praef.). He steers something of a middle course between Virgil and Ovid, seeking the dignity of the one but the ease of the other. Thus he strikes a balance 53

between them in the proportion of dactyls in the first four feet 54

elisions.

55

Enjambement is also freely employed, 56

and in the use of

but he is somewhat cautious in that 57

he uses spondaic fifth feet rather sparingly, and avoids monosyllabic endings. Of his metrical skill, however, he had a right to be proud, and the Thebaid, 'multa cruciata lima', refreshingly avoids the dull monotony of rhythm seen in the poems of Lucan and Silius.

Page 15 of 32

7. THE PARTHENOPAEUS EPISODE:

SUCCESS AND CONTEMPORARY TASTE 58

The key-notes of Statius' tale of Parthenopaeus are pathos and sensualism. The grief we are expected to feel at his death is brought into relief by sexual undertones disconcerting to modern readers. The youth and beauty of the Heldenknabe are brutally violated by Dryas' spear and 'ibat purpureus niveo de pectore sanguis' (9. 883).   Much of this is due to the influence of Virgil, and we should recall the death of Euryalus (A. 9. 431 ff., esp. 432–4 'ensis … / ........................................................................................................................... pg xxxv transadigit costas et candida pectora rumpit. / volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus / it cruor'). It seems, however, to have satisfied a rather mawkish sensibility which is particularly Roman and which increased in prominence in literature in the first century. Persius castigates the 'Romulidae saturi' for a debased taste which laps up 'vatum … plorabile siquid' (1. 34), and insinuates that they derive sexual excitement from public recitations (1. 19–21). The Virgilian Heldenknabe would thus have been in demand, and so we find examples incongruously introduced into even the stern Roman epic of Silius Italicus (12. 225 ff., 13. 194 ff.) while Valerius Flaccus indulges himself in a lengthy retelling of the 59

Hylas story (3. 509–4. 57). But of all the Heldenknaben the one given the fullest treatment and most in conformity with this taste is Parthenopaeus. We know, moreover, from the hostile remarks of Juvenal (7. 82–7) that Statius' recitations were enormously popular, and it seems that readings from the Parthenopaeus episode may have been a famous part of his repertoire.   Evidence for this comes first from apparent imitation. At Punica 14. 492–515 Silius introduces one Podaetus who, like Parthenopaeus, is beautiful and an excellent athlete, but 'temerarius' (14. 503). Too young for battle (14. 494 'nec sat maturus laudum'), he is tragically killed by a stronger opponent after a glorious but brief aristeia in which he sinks a ship in the sea-battle at Syracuse. In all this he is clearly very similar to Statius' Heldenknabe. Silius may be responding to Statius' success by attempting to supply the same demand with material not normally congenial to him. He may even be trying to outdo Statius, for, whereas Parthenopaeus was a skilled runner, Podaetus is also expert in the javelin, discus, and jumping (14. 505–9), and Silius also piles on the pathos by stressing that Podaetus dies by drowning and will have no tomb (14. 513–15). Lastly, 14. 496 'arma puer niveis aptarat picta lacertis' may possibly be an echo of Theb. 9. 892 'arma puer rapui'.   More evidence is found in Martial. The epigrammatist never mentions Statius, and it has long been suspected that

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........................................................................................................................... pg xxxvi 60

professional rivalry made them enemies, since he can hardly have failed to know the work of Flavian Rome's most successful poet. Parthenopaeus had been half boy, half man even for Aeschylus (Sept. 533), but the delicate charm and winsomeness of Statius' character are 61

new. Thus, when Martial makes Parthenopaeus a proverbial exemplum of extreme youth (6. 77. 2 'tam iuvenis quam nec Parthenopaeus erat') and gives the name to a wheedling schoolboy who feigns a cough in order to keep a supply of throat sweets flowing (11. 86. 6 'non est haec tussis, Parthenopaee, gula est') he must surely have Statius' character in mind. More striking is the following passage where Parthenopaeus is listed among those recondite mythological subjects which Martial rejects in favour of contemporary satire: quid tibi raptus Hylas, quid Parthenopaeus et Attis,         quid tibi dormitor proderit Endymion? (10. 4. 3 f.) Here Parthenopaeus, the favourite of Diana, is listed among beautiful youths loved by gods. Certainly this is not the Parthenopaeus of Antimachus, and it is hard to see why the name should come to Martial's mind at all unless it had recently been made the talk of the city's literary circles. As one critic puts it, 'the reference to Parthenopaeus … can hardly be accidental. Indeed to have dropped in the exemplum casually, or not to have eschewed delicately such an obvious reference to an important epic by one of the most distinguished 62

63

Flavian poets would be a sign of a carelessness in Martial that strains belief.' F. Delarue also believes that the references in Martial must be allusions to Statius' poem, but surely, 64

far from being an 'échange de politesses traditionnel', the tone is distinctly hostile. In any case, though it must be admitted that the evidence is circumstantial, it is not unlikely that with the ........................................................................................................................... pg xxxvii Parthenopaeus episode Statius scored a great success. Its titillating sensualism will no doubt have seemed to some further proof of the degeneracy of contemporary society, and it is perhaps passages such as this that Juvenal had in mind when he wrote of Statius' recitations 'tanta dulcedine captos / adficit ille animos tantaque libidine volgi / auditur'(7. 84 ff.). Certainly there are good grounds for thinking that this was one of the best-known portions of the poem and one of those that did most to establish Statius' reputation as an epic poet.

8. STATIUS AND LATER EUROPEAN LITERATURE Juvenal testifies to the great popularity of the Thebaid and of Statius' recitations from it in his own day, and Statius himself, in the envoi to the poem, refers to the fame it has earned

Page 17 of 32

65

and to its early-acquired status as a school text. But Martial never mentions him and there is no substantial evidence that his works were much read in the two or three centuries that followed his death. Perhaps he was too closely associated with an emperor whose reign ended in tyranny, murder, and ignominy. Unlike the acquiescent Pliny and Tacitus or the plainly opportunistic Martial, Statius did not outlive Domitian and never recanted his adulatio.   Certainly his influence does not clearly emerge until the end of the fourth century, in the works of another professional poet of the Greek-speaking world writing panegyric for an autocratic court. Claudian of Alexandria composed a series of panegyrics, epithalamia, and small-scale epics for the young emperor Honorius and his guardian and father-inlaw Stilicho the Vandal. Claudian's poems are in essence a blend of traditional encomium and the matter and techniques of 'Silver' epic. Like the Thebaid, they abound in long set speeches, allegorical figures, fantasies, and descriptions, while there are also numerous 66

verbal echoes.

Indeed, were it not for his

........................................................................................................................... pg xxxviii subject-matter, Claudian's poetry in its style and execution could almost pass for work from the hand of Statius or a contemporary. Claudian also knew the Silvae, and himself produced a great deal of occasional poetry. Among these lesser works is an epithalamium for the marriage of Honorius to Stilicho's daughter Maria (Carm. IX–X). This poem, with its fantasy of Venus especially concerning herself with the happiness of the couple, obviously derives from Silv. 1. 2, the epithalamium for Stella and Violentilla. The same Statian original lies behind another marriage poem for the tribune and notary Palladius and his bride Celerina (Carm. Min. XXV), as well as later epithalamia by Paulinus of Nola and Dracontius. penchant for allegory was noted by C. S. Lewis,

68

Statius'

who also points to an imitation of Statius

in the Psychomachia of another late fourth-century poet, Prudentius. Pudicitia:         adgreditur piceamque ardenti sulphure pinum         ingerit in faciem pudibundaque lumina flammis         adpetit, et taetro temptat subfundere fumo. (43–5) recalls Tisiphone's assault on Pietas at Theb. 11. 492–5:             sic urget, et ultro         vitantem aspectus etiam pudibundaque longe         ora reducentem premit adstridentibus hydris         intentatque faces.

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67

69

Libido's attack on

  This revived interest in Statius continued into the fifth century, and both the Thebaid and the Silvae were clearly well known to Sidonius Apollinaris, who speaks of         quod Papinius tuus meusque         inter Labdacios sonat furores         aut cum forte pedum minore rhythmo         pingit gemmea prata silvularum. (Carm. 9. 226 ff.) Sidonius imitated those of the Silvae describing the villas of Statius' patrons in a poem of his own about the castle of his friend Pontius Leontius (Carm. 22). He defends the unusual length of the piece (235 lines) by appealing to the example of ........................................................................................................................... pg xxxix Statius, 'vir ille praeiudicatissimus', a phrase which implies that our poet was at this time held in the greatest esteem.   The works of Statius, along with so much else, disappear from sight in the murk that covers western and northern Europe for the next three hundred years. They are not heard of again until the last quarter of the eighth century, where they feature in a catalogue of the court 70

library of Charlemagne (c.790)

and are said by Alcuin to have had a place in the great

71

library at York. Copies multiplied in the fervour of the Carolingian renaissance, and by the end of the ninth century the survival of the Thebaid and the Achilleid was practically 72

assured. It is to this period that our principal manuscript of the Thebaid, the Parisinus, belongs. Perhaps also to be dated to some time near the millennium is the original of what has come down to us as the Middle Irish Togail na Tebe, or 'Destruction of Thebes',

73

while

two Middle Irish versions of the Achilleid, one in prose and the other in verse, also exist.

74

  As the high Middle Ages wore on, Statius' reputation continued to grow. By the first half of the twelfth century he had become a standard curriculum author, and is so named, for 75

example, by Conrad of Hirsau and Eberhard the German. Among Latin poets only Virgil, Ovid, and Juvenal enjoyed similar favour, and the Thebaid and Achilleid were widely imitated in both Latin and vernacular poetry. Of Statius' medieval Latin imitators the most sensitive and intelligent is the great English poet Joseph of Exeter, nephew of Baldwin of Exeter, Archbishop of Canterbury in the reign of Henry II. Joseph's superb command of the language and style of Silver Latin epic is unparalleled in this period. 'No one had understood the rules of the game better since the days of Lucan ........................................................................................................................... pg xl … He had no peer as a rhetorician in his own time. No one had so fully assimilated the Latin of the Silver Age: for with Joseph there was no mere imitation or wholesale borrowing of his

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76

material.' Certainly there are many adaptations of individual phrases from the Thebaid in Joseph's poem, the Bellum Troianum. For example, Statius had written 'fors ingentibus ausis / rara comes' (Theb. 10. 384 f.). Joseph adapts this to another maxim and says of prudentia that it is 'turbe / rara comes' (BT 1. 142 f.). Again, one ingenious idea begets another. Statius shows how, as the Fury Tisiphone retreats from Hippomedon's gaze, her snake-hair bursts out into the open (Theb. 9. 174). Similarly, in the beauty contest on Mt. Ida, Joseph makes Juno belittle Pallas by implying that with the Gorgoneia she is all too like a fury:         da facilem visu faciem, frontem exere, cedat         cassis et inclusum sine respirare cerastam. (BT 2. 257 f.) But though Joseph's six-book epic poem is littered with verbal echoes of Statius and Lucan, it is in his numerous passages of sustained imitation that he is at his most impressive. When, for example, the prophet Helenus attempts to warn the Trojans against Paris' illomened journey to Sparta and is subjected to a torrent of abuse by the headstrong Troilus, 'bellique sititor / et gladii consultor' (BT 3. 65 f.), we can hear the voices of Amphiaraus and Capaneus, 'longam pridem indignantia pacem / corda tumens' (Theb. 3. 599 f.).   One of the most magnificent sections of the Thebaid inspired in its turn one of the finest in Joseph's poem. Acting as ambassador for Polynices, Tydeus goes to Thebes and demands the surrender of the throne. Though his plea is just, his speech (Theb. 2. 389–409) is the work of a man who is hot-tempered and poor in diplomacy (Theb. 2. 391 'rudis fandi pronusque calori'). His blunt speaking only serves to enrage Eteocles, who asserts his intention to keep what he holds (Theb. 2. 429 'teneo longumque tenebo'). Likewise, Joseph describes how Antenor is sent to request the return of Hesione from Telamon. Antenor botches the mission, for though Paris' accusations of treachery and deliberate failure are unfair (BT 2. 191 f.), his speech, like ........................................................................................................................... pg xli Tydeus', strikes the wrong note. Here, though, there is an important difference, since, whereas Tydeus gave offence by his aggressive tone as he insisted on Polynices' rights, Antenor fails out of excessive mildness, appearing all too humble and easy to dismiss in his reiterated pleas for mercy (BT 2. 161–83). Telamon, exasperated, forces his attentions on Hesione before the assembled company, and, in a direct echo of Eteocles, replies with the fatal words 'teneo longumque tenebo' (BT 2. 187).   Roughly contemporary with Joseph's poem were prose and verse vernacular versions (direct or indirect) of the Theban myth as related by Statius, both known as the Roman de Thèbes. Of these the verse adaptation represents a highly sensitive modification of the original to bring it into tune with current ideas about the nature of chivalry and courtly

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love. In tone the general trend is to lay still further emphasis than Statius on the romantic and pathetic elements of the tale, while playing down those which are bloody and horrific. The narrative is cast not in stern Alexandrines (the standard French epic metre) but in octosyllabic couplets, and the effect of this is to give the French poem as a whole a graceful lyricism missing from the model except on a small scale. For the vernacular poet the cannibalism of Tydeus was apparently too gruesome to be retained, and the Aetolian is in fact depicted as the perfect warrior, while his slayer is a treacherous coward who kills him with the bow—a villainous weapon—from a hiding-place in a bed of reeds (RTh 6377 ff.). Hippomedon's brutal killing of Crenaeus is also omitted, as is his battle with the river: perhaps it seemed too fantastic. Instead, the tragic content of Hippomedon's aristeia is severely cut, and the hero is slain because he drives his horse too hard and it, unable to endure further, drowns, taking him with it (RTh 8577 f.). If the effect of all this is rather to mute the splendour of Statius' poem and replace its rigorously constructed narrative with something much less colourful, compensation is offered by the poet's highly imaginative treatment of Parthenopaeus. No doubt deciding that two heroic youths are one too many, 77

the French poet transferred most of the pathetic material of Book 9 to Atys. and not

So it is Atys

........................................................................................................................... pg xlii Parthenopaeus who is made the fairest of the warriors before Thebes (RTh 2031 f. 'onques plus bele creature / en cest siecle ne fist Nature'; cf. Theb. 4. 251 f.). Likewise it is Atys for whom we feel all the pity due the youth who dies before his time. As Statius writes of Parthenopaeus, for example,         ibat purpureus niveo de pectore sanguis. (9. 883) so the death of Atys is described in similar terms:         Athes en sanc vermeil se baingne. (RTh 5864) AS for Parthenopaeus, he becomes once more what he had surely been in the Cyclic Thebaid,

a mature warrior of great rank and valour (RTh 4122–6). He is deliberately deromanticized, 78

to prevent reduplication of material with Atys. Thus, though the poet provides him with a beloved in the form of Antigone, he makes no mention of her as he dies, and all the pathos of his death is consciously muted so that it becomes only 'un écho discret de la mort si 79

poignante d'Atys'. Parthenopaeus, in fact, becomes a model knight of outstanding chivalry. He fights courageously against Eteocles (who will not kill him because he is betrothed to his sister), but is finally dealt a fatal blow by Dryas (RTh 8683 ff.). Eteocles, moved by his courage, beauty, and rank, runs up to him in pity (RTh 8731 ff. 'Mout pleint li rois son vasselage, / sa grant biauté, son grant parage', etc.), and receives his final instructions. Thus Eteocles sets Dorceus free and sends him back to tell Atalanta the grim news and to Page 21 of 32

pass on his instructions. Like a good feudal lord, Parthenopaeus commands her to find a new husband to protect her lands (RTh 8793–8810). This will be easy, since she is still young, and we gain an insight into the mechanics of medieval marriage when the dying hero reveals that she gave birth to him when she was only eleven years old (RTh 8807 f. 'onze anz avoit quant ele m'ot, / onc plus tost avoir ne me pot'). On the orders of Eteocles he is duly buried with honour in a splendid tomb.   The popularity of Statius in the Middle Ages can be partly explained by the ease with which his poem could be read as a Christian allegory. This is most clearly seen in the Super Thebaiden of Pseudo-Fulgentius. Originally attributed to the ........................................................................................................................... pg xliii sixth-century bishop, this work is now recognized as a product of the twelfth or thirteenth 80

century. In it the tale of Thebes becomes a full-blown psychomachia. Thebes is the human soul, defiled by licentiousness, that is, by Oedipus, whose name is interpreted as being derived from haedus ('goat'). Polynices and Eteocles are personifications of greed and lust, Creon of excessive pride, the seven princes of the liberal arts, and so forth. Theseus is God ('theos suus') who overcomes pride (Creon) and liberates the human soul (Thebes). It was no doubt partly because of such allegorizations that there grew up a tradition that Statius was a secret Christian. Similarly, the great altar of Clementia in the holy city of Athens must have 81

spoken to many medieval readers of the infinite mercy of God.

  For Dante, perhaps the greatest of his imitators, Statius therefore enjoyed particularly high status as both a great epic poet in his own right and as one of the few authors of classical 82

antiquity who had embraced the True Faith. He plays a significant part in the structure of the Divine Comedy, where Dante and Virgil encounter him on the fifth terrace of Purgatory among the avaricious and the prodigal (Purgatorio XXI–XXII). As he himself explains, he had been given his first insight into the Faith by a reading of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue with its supposed allegorical prediction of the birth of Christ. His faith and his poetic merit alike he therefore owes to his poetic master:         Per te poeta fui, per te cristiano. (XXII 73) Later he was moved by the courage of the martyrs under Domitian, and received baptism, but through fear concealed his belief under a screen of paganism (XXII 76–93). The details of the account given may be traditional or may be an invention of Dante's own. What is significant here is Dante's recognition in Statius of a noble and uplifting humanity amidst all the horrific carnage of the Thebaid. Now, as he confesses his ........................................................................................................................... pg xliv

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sins to his master and to his disciple, Statius' penance is completed, and after giving a discourse on the relationship between soul and body (Purgatorio XXV), he ascends with Dante to Paradise.   As for the influence of the Thebaid on Dante's poem, it is manifest and omnipresent; 'the 83

dramatis personae of the Thebais are constantly referred to in the Commedia.' They appear in person, or in similes, or else Statius' story lies behind Dante's account of later happenings. The dreadful tale of Ugolino's cannibalism, for example, is explicitly modelled 84

on Statius' description of the dishonourable death of Tydeus. In general, no Roman poet is so consistently echoed by Dante except for Virgil himself, and possibly Ovid.   In the works of Chaucer too the enormous influence of Statius is easily seen, given a prominent place in the House of Fame:

85

and he is

        There saugh I stonden, out of drede,         Upon an yren piler strong,         That peynted was al endelong,         With tygres blood in every place, 86

        The Tholosan that highte Stace,         That bar of Thebes up the fame         Upon his shuldres, and the name         Also of cruel Achilles. (2. 1456 ff.) A full summary of the plot of the Thebaid is given at Troilus and Criseyde 5. 1485 ff., and in the envoi to that poem Chaucer tells his 'litel book' as follows:         And kiss the steppes, whereas thou seest pace         Virgile, Ovyde, Omer, Lucan and Stace. (5. 1791 f.) These lines are, of course, themselves an imitation of Statius' advice to his own epic at Theb. 12. 811 f. 'nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta, / sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora'. 87

Although Chaucer surely knew Statius directly,

he often

........................................................................................................................... pg xlv approaches him through other authors. Thus the twelfth book of the Thebaid serves as 88

model for both the Teseide of Boccaccio and the Knight's Tale. Both poems relate how, at dawn on the morning of the day on which the fortunes of war are to decide who her husband 89

will be, the virgin Emelye goes to pray at the temple of Diana. The setting, substance, and wording of her prayer closely follow Atalanta's prayer for Parthenopaeus at Theb. 9. 570 ff. Both Emelye and Atalanta approach the shrine at dawn on a day of misfortune, purify

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themselves in a stream, and perform the rite with their hair let down. Emelye begins 'O chaste goddesse of the wodes grene' (Cant. Tales A 2297) as Atalanta invokes Diana with the words 'virgo potens nemorum' (Theb. 9. 608), and both refer to their preference for a life without marriage in her service:             inviso quamvis temerata cubili         . . . . .         . . . . .         sic quoque venatrix animumque innupta remansi. (Theb. 9. 613–16)         I am, thow woost, yet of thy compaignye,         A mayde, and love huntynge and venerye,         And for to walken in the wodes wilde,         And noght to ben a wyf, and be with childe. (Cant. Tales A 2307 ff.) But both pray for something Fate will not permit, and the goddess in both cases leaves her suppliant weeping at the altar. Chaucer's veneration of Statius and the closeness with which he followed him are unmistakable. Indeed, 'with the exception of Ovid, and possibly of 90

Boethius, Statius was Chaucer's most familiar Latin author'.

  The Thebaid, however, receives its most substantial and comprehensive recasting in English poetry in Lydgate's Siege of Thebes (c. 1420), but the direct source of Lydgate's poem is not Statius' original but probably a lost prose romance ultimately deriving from 91

the Old French poem, the Roman de Thèbes, discussed above. Like that work, Lydgate's version portrays Tydeus as 'the beste knyght' (3. 4231) and, with the aid of a ........................................................................................................................... pg xlvi 92

few contemporary political references, associates him with Henry V of England. In these circumstances, needless to say, his inglorious cannibalism is omitted, but the whole of the matter of Book 9 is also summarily dispatched in little over a dozen lines (3. 4240–54). In general the English poem treats its sources with considerable freedom, and is in many ways far removed from the Latin original. The tale of Thebes was now so firmly ensconced in the vernacular tradition that even nominal fidelity to Statius was no longer required.   Near Lake Constance in 1417, shortly before Lydgate composed his poem, Poggio unearthed a manuscript of the Silvae, which had been almost totally unknown since the days 93

of the Carolingian renaissance. The rediscovery of these poems not only revealed much about Statius' own life and his patrons, but also provided excellent models for the kind of ceremonial occasional pieces much in demand at princely courts of the time. One example among many is the Suburbanum Augustini Chisii of the Roman humanist Blosio Palladio. This poem, published in Rome in 1512, is a description of the magnificent new villa (the present Villa Farnesina) built on the banks of the Tiber by the rich and influential banker Agostino Page 24 of 32

Chigi. In structure and phrasing it is closely modelled, as the prefatory letter acknowledges, on Statius' poems on the villas of Manlius Vopiscus (Silv. 1. 4) and Pollius Felix (Silv. 2. 2). Like its models Palladio's poem offers a generous mixture of ecphrasis and encomium, a technique in which Statius, he observes, has no rival:         Phoebe mone. seu tu potius qui carminis huius         Silvarumque Papini auctor. nam nec tibi Phoebus         par sonet et centum prestas hac laude Marones.   None the less it was still primarily to the Thebaid that the more discerning of imitators turned. To the roll of Statius' admirers we should add Spenser, who has a fine burlesque of the fight between Polynices and Tydeus at Argos in Book 1. Spenser relates how Paridell, with Satyrane, is denied access to the house of Malbecco, an avaricious and lascivious parody of ........................................................................................................................... pg xlvii the noble and generous Adrastus. Doing duty for his lazy porter, Malbecco grudgingly allows them to sleep in 'a little shed, / the which beside the gate for swine was ordered' (The Faerie Queene, 9. 3. 11). Soon a storm arises and Britomart, disguised as a knight, tries to take shelter. But when the others flatly refuse to admit the unknown knight into the pig-sty, she hotly challenges them. A brawl ensues, and then she and Paridell knock each other down; Satyrane pacifies them and they decide instead to make common cause against the discourteous Malbecco. Only when their unwilling host hilariously excuses himself 'As ignoraunt of servants bad abuse, / And slacke attendaunce unto strangers call' (9. 3. 18), are they permitted to enter the house and Britomart finally revealed to be a woman.   During the seventeenth century interest in Statius steadily declined, though there seem 94

to be occasional echoes in Paradise Lost. Summers, prayer for inner light:

for example, suggests that Milton's

        So much the rather thou celestial light         Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers         irradiate, there plant eyes. (PL 3. 51 ff.) is inspired by these words of Amphiaraus:         obruit ora deus totamque in pectora lucem         detulit. (Theb. 4. 542 f.)   In 1664, only a year after Milton finished his masterpiece, Paris saw the first production of Racine's earliest tragedy, La Thébaïde. But, despite its subject, the play owes relatively little to Statius, its principal debts being to Rotrou's Antigone and, indirectly, to Euripides'

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Phoenissae and Seneca's fragmentary tragedy of the same title. Pope turned the first book into English verse at the tender age of fifteen, but even he excused the choice of subject on 95

the grounds of youth, and though Dryden imitated the famous poem to Sleep (Silv. 5. 4) and Gray wrote translations of the discus competition at Theb. 6. 646 ff., the hyperbolic and irrational Thebaid swiftly retreated before the incoming tide of the Age of Reason and the new ........................................................................................................................... pg xlviii Classicism. Ever since, those who have read him have been expected to echo Pope's apologies with their own, while he is belittled by those who have never taken the trouble to read him at all. Yet the vigour, the colour, the magnificence, and, not least, the humanity which won the admiration of Dante are still there for anyone who cares to study the Thebaid with an open mind. It should certainly not be too lightly assumed that his rôle in the history of European literature is wholly over.

Notes 1

These estimates depend upon the date of the death of Statius' father, put at 90 by Hardie (pp. 13 f.) but rather earlier by Coleman (p. xviii). The elder Statius was sixty-five at the time of his death (Silv. 5. 3. 253 f.). See also Hardie, p. 58, Coleman, p. xx. 2

Coleman, p. xix.

3

Hardie, p. 6, Coleman, p. xv.

4

The elder Statius: Silv. 5. 3. 134 ff., Hardie, p. 6. The younger Statius: Silv. 5. 3. 225 ff., Hardie, pp. 58 f. 5

Silv. 5. 3. 141 ff., Hardie, p. 7.

6

Silv. 5. 3. 178 ff., G. Curcio, Studio su P. Papinio Stazio (Catania, 1893), p. 8; Hardie, pp. 10

f. 7

Hardie, p. 13.

8

Most probably the celebration of 90, or, just possibly, 94: see Hardie, pp. 62 f., Coleman, pp. xvii f. 9

For the background and status of these patrons see Hardie, pp. 66–72.

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10

Quoted by the scholiast Valla on Juv. 4. 94: see C. Büchner, Fragmenta Poetarum Latinorum (Leipzig, 1982), p. 166. 11

Coleman, p. xvi.

12

Vessey, pp. 317–28.

13

See 9. 91 arduus n.

14

See 9. 221 f. n.

15

See 9. 469 n.

16

See Vessey, p. 221.

17

Theb. 4. 318 ff. Note especially Atalanta's astonishment: 320 ff. 'tu bellis aptare viros, tu pondera ferre / Martis et ensiferas inter potes ire catervas? / quamquam utinam quires!' 18

See 9. 699 ff. n.

19

See 1. 211 ff. and Heuvel ad loc. The deaths of Hippomedon and Parthenopaeus are expressly foretold in the augury of the eagles (3. 524–45). 20

Tydeus, 8. 760–6, 9. 1–7; Capaneus, 10. 827–36; Polynices, 11. 574–9.

21

The whole war is a nefas: so Oedipus, its inspirer (1. 86), and Amphiaraus (3. 628).

22

Pp. 113 ff.

23

See 776–807 n. and Virg. A. 10. 810 ff.

24

He can scarcely distinguish friend from foe; see 9. 198–200. Cf. also 9. 303 ac nunc ense furit, and see Vessey, pp. 295 f. 25

Note nimium: his aristeia is of shocking cruelty and horror: see especially 9. 763 ff. and Diana's words to him, saeve ac miserande puer (9. 715 f.). A Roman audience would also surely feel uneasy about his use of so barbarous a weapon as a poisoned arrow: see 9. 748 n. The bow in general is, of course, a traditionally unheroic weapon: see Mayer on Luc. 8. 385 f., R. O. A. M. Lyne, Further Voices in Virgil's Aeneid (Oxford, 1987), p. 202 n. 75.

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26

It is true that Diana regards the boy as 'guiltless' (9. 666), but this is a personal judgement and hardly an unbiased and emotional one: it need not be supposed to conform to that of Jupiter, and certainly does not conform to Parthenopaeus' own. One is reminded of Dido, who, though finally acquitted by the poet and by Juno (A. 4. 696 'merita nec morte peribat'), realizes her guilt in breaking the oath she swore to remain faithful to her first husband (A. 4. 172 'coniugium vocat, hoc praetexit nomine culpam'; 4. 552 'non servata fides cineri promissa Sychaeo'). 27

See especially 9. 305–14.

28

For Statius' scheme of balancing the hero's death at the end of the book with a major event in the middle see Schetter, p. 92. 29

RE s.v. Papinius, 18. 2, 993.

30

Especially Atys (8. 554 ff.) and Crenaeus (9. 315 ff.).

31

Examples are Ide (3. 133 ff.), Eurydice (6. 134 ff.), Ismenis (9. 351 ff.), and the mother of Menoeceus (10. 792 ff.). 32

See 9. 617 f. n., and also 4. 256 ff.

33

See 4. 258 f.

34

CR 35 (1985), 289–91.

35

Williams, p. xiv.

36

See Legras and Helm, passim; B. Deipser, De P. Papinio Statio Vergilii et Ovidii imitatore (diss. Strasbourg, 1889); E. Eissfeldt, 'Zu den Vorbildern des Statius', Philologus 63 (1904), 378–424; A. Reussner, De Statio et Euripide (diss. Halle, 1921). 37

'Der Erzählungsstil in der Thebais des Statius', Glotta 34 (1955), 93–139, 231–60.

38

Statius-Studien: Beiträge zum Verständnis der Thebais (diss. Berlin, 1955) and 'Imitatio und Aemulatio in der Thebais des Statius', Hermes 97 (1969), 209–32. 39

Ricerche Staziane (Palermo, 1972).

40

Studi staziani (Pavia, 1971) and P. Papini Statii Thebaidos liber XI (Florence, 1970).

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41

Especially Statius and the Thebaid (Cambridge, 1973), passim.

42

Silv. 4. 4. 55.

43

See R. D. Sweeney, Prolegomena to an Edition of the Scholia of Statius (Leiden, 1969), pp. 3 f. 44

'Statius and Antimachus: A Review of the Evidence', Philologus 114 (1970), 118–43.

45

Schol. on Eur. Phoen. 150 (= Wyss 17).

46

Schol. on Aesch. Sept. 547 (= Wyss 17).

47

See in general 9. 683–711 n.

48

Iliad 17. See Juhnke, pp. 132–7, Legras, pp. 105 f.

49

Iliad 21. 1–382. See Juhnke, pp. 24–44, Legras, pp. 106–10.

50

Legras, pp. 110 ff. In character and situation he also recalls other Heldenknaben, especially Lausus and Euryalus, though direct imitation—noted in the commentary when it occurs—is much rarer in these cases. 51

E. Wistrand, Die Chronologie der Punica des Silius Italicus (Gothenburg, 1956), pp. 58 f.; cf. Juhnke, pp. 12 f. Wistrand argues that Punica 4 was composed c.84, Thebaid 9 some time shortly before 88. 52

Vessey, pp. 9 ff.

53

Theb. 50.25%: cf. Aen. 43.5%, Met. 54.5%. For these figures see E. Frank, 'Struttura dell'esametro di Stazio', RIL 102 (1968), 397 f. See also G. E. Duckworth, TAPhA 98 (1967), 77–150 and H. C. R. Vella, Repeats and Symmetrical Clusters in the First Four Feet of Metrical Patterns in Latin Silver Age Epic Poetry (Sliema, 1987). 54

Theb. 39 per 100 hexameters: cf. Aen. 52.8, Met. 19.7; see Frank, op. cit., p. 404.

55

E. D. Kollmann, 'Zum Enjambement in der lateinischen Hexameterdichtung', RhM 125 (1982), 117–34. 56

See 9. 305 n.

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57

See 9. 249 f. n.

58

See especially Schetter, pp. 43 f., and 9. 683 ff. n.

59

See R. W. Garson, 'The Hylas Episode in Valerius Flaccus', CQ 13 (1963), 260–7.

60

See D. Nisard, 'Martial et Stace, poètes rivaux', in Études sur les poètes latins de la décadence (Paris, 1834), vol. i, pp. 378–96; G. G. Curcio, Studio su P. Papinio Stazio (Catania, 1893); H. Heuvel, 'De Inimicitiarum quae inter Martialem et Statium fuisse dicuntur indiciis', Mnemosyne 4 (1937), 299–330. 61

All the Martial poems cited here postdate 88, the probable upper limit for the estimated date of the completion of Book 9, by several years. 62

J. P. Sullivan, Literature and Politics in the Age of Nero (Ithaca/London, 1985), pp. 193 f.

63

Latomus 33 (1974), 539–43.

64

Ibid., p. 543.

65

Theb. 12. 812 ff. 'iam certe praesens tibi Fama benignum / stravit iter coepitque novam monstrare futuris. / iam te magnanimus dignatur noscere Caesar, / Itala iam studio discit memoratque iuventus.' 66

See A. Cameron, Claudian. Poetry and Propaganda at the Court of Honorius (Oxford, 1970), pp. 255, 263 n. 1, 272, 282, 315. Collections of individual echoes are given in the notes to the text of Claudian prepared by T. Birt, MGH X (Berlin, 1892). 67

See Z. Pavlovskis, 'Statius and the Late Latin Epithalamia', CPh 60 (1965), 164–77.

68

C. S. Lewis, pp. 49–56.

69

Ibid., p. 68.

70

L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars. A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Classics, 2nd edn. (Oxford, 1984), p. 86. 71

Ibid., p. 79.

72

Ibid., p. 89.

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73

Edited with a facing English translation by G. Calder as Togail na Tebe. The Thebaid of Statius. The Irish Text (Cambridge, 1922). 74

See D. O. hAodha, 'The Irish Versions of Statius' Achilleid', Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, sect. c, 79 (4), (1979), 83–137. The translations are probably to be dated to c.1100. 75

E. R. Curtius, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (tr. W. R. Trask, London, 1953), pp. 49 f., 260. The Achilleid in particular became an extremely popular medieval textbook: see P. M. Clogan, The Medieval Achilleid of Statius (Leiden, 1968), pp. 1 ff. 76

F. J. E. Raby, A History of Secular Latin Poetry in the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1934), vol. ii, p. 137. Books I–III of the Bellum Troianum can be most conveniently consulted in the edition by A. K. Bate (Warminster, 1986). 77

See the discussion by L. G. Donovan, Recherches sur Le Roman de Thèbes (Paris, 1975), pp. 134 ff. 78

Donovan, op. cit., pp. 176 ff.

79

Ibid., p. 179.

80

L. G. Whitbread, Fulgentius the Mythographer (Ohio, 1971), pp. 235 ff. The text of the Super Thebaiden is included by R. Helm in Fabii Planciadis Fulgentii V.C. Opera (Leipzig, 1898). 81

See Vessey, p. 311 n. 4.

82

For Statius and Dante see Vessey, p. 2 n. 3.

83

Curtius, op. cit., p. 18.

84

See the commentary, 1–31 n.

85

The various imitations are gathered and discussed by B. A. Wise in The Influence of Statius upon Chaucer (diss. Baltimore, 1911). 86

Until the rediscovery of the Silvae, in which Statius often refers to his Neapolitan origins, he was generally confused with the rhetorician Statius of Toulouse, hence 'Tholosan'. See Wise, op. cit., p. 139.

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87

Ibid., pp. 27, 116 ff.

88

Ibid., pp. 78 ff.

89

Teseide 7. 68 ff., Canterbury Tales A 2273 ff. See Wise, op. cit., pp. 99–102.

90

Wise, op. cit., p. 141.

91

This is the conclusion of A. Erdmann, Lydgate's Siege of Thebes. Part 1: The Text (London, 1911), introduction, p. vi. 92

Erdmann, op. cit., introduction, p. vii.

93

See Coleman, p. xxxii, Reynolds and Wilson, op. cit., p. 122. Reynolds and Wilson, p. 110, argue that the Silvae were known to Lovato Lovati (1241–1309), one of the earliest humanists. 94

W. C. Summers, The Silver Age of Latin Literature From Tiberius to Trajan (London, 1920), p. 53. 95

See W. C. Summers, CR 28 (1914), 268 f.

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........................................................................................................................... pg 2 ASPERAT Aonios rabies audita cruenti Tydeos; ipsi etiam minus ingemuere iacentem Inachidae, culpantque virum et rupisse queruntur fas odii; quin te, divum implacidissime, quamquam praecipuum tunc caedis opus, Gradive, furebas offensum virtute ferunt, nec comminus ipsum ora sed et trepidos alio torsisse iugales. ergo profanatum Melanippi funus acerbo vulnere non aliis ultum Cadmeia pubes insurgunt stimulis, quam si turbata sepulcris ossa patrum monstrisque datae crudelibus urnae. accendit rex ipse super: 'quisquamne Pelasgis mitis adhuc hominemque gerit? iam morsibus uncis (pro furor! usque adeo tela exatiavimus?) artus dilacerant. nonne Hyrcanis bellare putatis tigribus, aut saevos Libyae contra ire leones? et nunc ille iacet (pulchra o solacia leti!) ore tenens hostile caput, dulcique nefandus inmoritur tabo; nos ferrum mite facesque: illis nuda odia, et feritas iam non eget armis. sic pergant rabidi claraque hac laude fruantur, dum videas haec, summe pater. sed enim hiscere campos conquesti terraeque fugam mirantur; an istos vel sua portet humus?' magno sic fatus agebat procursu fremituque viros, furor omnibus idem Tydeos invisi spoliis raptoque potiri ................................................................................................................

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corpore. non aliter subtexunt astra catervae incestarum avium, longe quibus aura nocentem aera desertasque tulit sine funere mortes; illo avidae cum voce ruunt, sonat arduus aether plausibus, et caelo volucres cessere minores.   Fama per Aonium rapido vaga murmure campum spargitur in turmas (solito pernicior index cum lugenda refert), donec, cui maxima fando damna vehit, trepidas lapsa est Polynicis ad aures. deriguit iuvenis lacrimaeque haesere paratae et cunctata fides: nimium nam cognita virtus Oenidae credi letum suadetque vetatque. sed postquam haud dubio clades auctore reperta est, nox oculos mentemque rapit; tum sanguine fixo membra simul, simul arma ruunt: madet ardua fletu iam galea atque ocreae clipeum excepere cadentem. it maestus genua aegra trahens hastamque sequentem, vulneribus ceu mille gravis totosque per artus saucius: absistunt socii monstrantque gementes. tandem ille abiectis, vix quae portaverat, armis nudus in egregii vacuum iam corpus amici procidit et tali lacrimas cum voce profudit: 'hasne tibi, armorum spes o suprema meorum, Oenide, grates, haec praemia digna rependi, †nudus ut invisa Cadmi tellure iaceres sospite me? nunc exul ego aeternumque fugatus, quando alius misero ac melior mihi frater ademptus. nec iam sortitus veteres regnique nocentis periurum diadema peto: quo gaudia tanti empta mihi aut sceptrum quod non tua dextera tradet? ite, viri, solumque fero me linquite fratri: nil opus arma ultra temptare et perdere mortes; ite, precor; quid iam dabitis mihi denique maius? Tydea consumpsi! quanam hoc ego morte piabo? o socer, o Argi! et primae bona iurgia noctis

pg 4

................................................................................................................ pg 6 alternaeque manus et, longi pignus amoris, ira brevis! non me ense tuo tunc, maxime Tydeu, (et poteras) nostri mactatum in limine Adrasti! Page 2 of 241

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quin etiam Thebas me propter et impia fratris tecta libens, unde haud alius remeasset, adisti, ceu tibimet sceptra et proprios laturus honores. iam Telamona pium, iam Thesea fama tacebat. qualis et ecce iaces! quae primum vulnera mirer? quis tuus hic, quis ab hoste cruor? quae te agmina quive innumeri stravere globi? num fallor, an ipse invidit pater et tota Mars impulit hasta?' sic ait, et maerens etiamnum lubrica tabo ora viri terget lacrimis dextraque reponit. 'tune meos hostes hucusque exosus, et ultra sospes ego?' exuerat vagina turbidus ensem aptabatque neci: comites tenuere, socerque castigat bellique vices ac fata revolvens solatur tumidum, longeque a corpore caro paulatim, unde dolor letique animosa voluntas, amovet ac tacite ferrum inter verba reponit. ducitur amisso qualis consorte laborum deserit inceptum media inter iugera sulcum taurus iners colloque iugum deforme remisso parte trahit, partem lacrimans sustentat arator.   ecce autem hortatus Eteoclis et arma secuti, lecta manus, iuvenes, quos nec Tritonia bello, nec prope conlata sprevisset cuspide Mavors, adventant; contra, conlecta ut pectora parmae fixerat atque hastam longe protenderat, haeret arduus Hippomedon: ceu fluctibus obvia rupes, cui neque de caelo metus et fracta aequora cedunt, stat cunctis inmota minis, fugit ipse rigentem pontus et ex alto miserae novere carinae. ................................................................................................................ pg 8 tunc prior Aonides (validam simul eligit hastam): 'non pudet hos manes, haec infamantia bellum funera dis coram et caelo inspectante tueri? scilicet egregius sudor memorandaque virtus hanc tumulare feram, ne non maerentibus Argos exequiis lacrimandus eat mollique feretro infandam eiectans saniem! dimittite curam. nullae illum volucres, nulla impia monstra nec ipse, si demus, pius ignis edat.' nec plura, sed ingens Page 3 of 241

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intorquet iaculum, duro quod in aere moratum transmissumque tamen clipei stetit orbe secundo. inde Pheres acerque Lycus; sed cassa Pheretis hasta redit, Lycus excelso terrore comantem perstringit galeam: convulsae cuspide longe diffugere iubae patuitque ingloria cassis. ipse nec ire retro, nec in obvia concitus arma exilit, inque eadem sese vestigia semper obversus cunctis profert recipitque, nec umquam longius indulget dextrae motusque per omnes corpus amat, corpus servans circumque supraque vertitur. imbellem non sic amplexa iuvencum infestante lupo tunc primum feta tuetur mater et ancipiti circumfert cornua gyro; ipsa nihil metuens sexusque oblita minoris spumat et ingentes imitatur femina tauros. tandem intermissa iaculantum nube potestas reddere tela fuit; iamque et Sicyonius Alcon venerat auxilio, Pisaeaque praepetis Idae turma subit cuneumque replent. his laetus in hostes Lernaeam iacit ipse trabem; volat illa sagittis aequa fuga mediumque nihil cunctata Politen transabit et iuncti clipeum cavat improba Mopsi. Phocea tum Cydona Tanagraeumque Phalanthum atque Erycem, hunc retro conversum et tela petentem, ................................................................................................................ pg 10 dum spes nulla necis, crinito a vertice figit: faucibus ille cavis hastam non ore receptam miratur moriens, pariterque et murmure plenus sanguis et expulsi salierunt cuspide dentes. ausus erat furto dextram iniectare Leonteus, pone viros atque arma latens, positumque trahebat prenso crine caput: vidit, quamquam undique crebrae, Hippomedon, ante ora minae, saevoque protervam abstulit ense manum; simul increpat: 'hanc tibi Tydeus, Tydeus ipse rapit; post et confecta virorum fata time magnosque miser fuge tangere manes!' ter Cadmea phalanx torvum abduxere cadaver, ter retrahunt Danai: Siculi velut anxia puppis seditione maris nequiquam obstante magistro Page 4 of 241

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errat et averso redit in vestigia velo.   non ibi Sidoniae valuissent pellere coepto Hippomedonta manus, non illum impacta moverent tormenta oppositum, formidatique superbis turribus impulsus temptato umbone redissent. sed memor Elysii regis noxasque recensens Tydeos in medios astu subit impia campos Tisiphone: sensere acies subitusque cucurrit sudor equis sudorque viris, quamquam ore remisso Inachium fingebat Halyn, nusquam impius ignis verberaque, et iussi tenuere silentia crines. arma gerit iuxtaque feri latus Hippomedontis blanda genas vocemque venit, tamen ille loquentis extimuit vultus admiraturque timorem. illa autem lacrimans, 'tu nunc' ait 'inclute, frustra exanimes socios inhumataque corpora Graium (scilicet is nobis metus, aut iam cura sepulcri?) protegis; ipse manu Tyria tibi captus Adrastus raptatur, teque ante alios, te voce manuque invocat; heu qualem lapsare in sanguine vidi, exutum canos lacero diademate crines! nec procul hinc, adverte oculos: ubi plurimus ille ................................................................................................................ pg 12 pulvis, ubi ille globus.' paulum stetit anxius heros librabatque metus; premit aspera virgo: 'quid haeres? imus? an hi retinent manes, et vilior ille qui superest?' miserum sociis opus et sua mandat proelia et unanimi vadit desertor amici, respiciens tamen et revocent si forte paratus. inde legens turbata trucis vestigia divae huc illuc frustra ruit avius, impia donec Eumenis ex oculis reiecta caerula parma fugit et innumeri galeam rupere cerastae. aspicit infelix discussa nube quietos Inachidas currumque nihil metuentis Adrasti.   et Tyrii iam corpus habent, iam gaudia magnae testantur voces, victorque ululatus aderrat auribus occultoque ferit praecordia luctu. ducitur hostili (pro dura potentia fati!) Tydeus ille solo, modo cui Thebana sequenti Page 5 of 241

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agmina, sive gradus seu frena effunderet, ingens limes utrimque datus; nusquam arma, manusque quiescunt; nulla viri feritas: iuvat ora rigentia leto et formidatos impune lacessere vultus. hic amor, hoc una timidi fortesque sequuntur nobilitare manus, infectaque sanguine tela coniugibus servant parvisque ostendere natis. sic ubi Maura diu populatum rura leonem, quem propter clausique greges vigilantque magistri, pastorum lassae debellavere cohortes: gaudet ager, magno subeunt clamore coloni, praecerpuntque iubas inmaniaque ora recludunt damnaque commemorant, seu iam sub culmine fixus excubat, antiquo seu pendet gloria luco.   at ferus Hippomedon quamquam iam sentit inane auxilium et seram rapto pro corpore pugnam, it tamen et caecum rotat inrevocabilis ensem, vix socios hostesque, nihil dum tardet euntem, secernens; sed caede nova iam lubrica tellus ................................................................................................................ pg 14 armaque seminecesque viri currusque soluti impediunt laevumque femur, quod cuspide fixum regis Echionii, sed dissimulaverat ardens, sive ibi nescierat. maestum videt Hoplea tandem; Tydeos hic magni fidus comes et modo frustra armiger alipedem prona cervice tenebat fatorum ignarum domini solumque frementem quod vacet inque acies audentior ille pedestres. hunc aspernantem tumido nova pondera tergo (unam quippe manum domitis expertus ab annis) corripit adfaturque: 'quid o nova fata recusas, infelix sonipes? nusquam tibi dulce superbi regis onus; non iam Aetolo spatiabere campo gaudentemque iubam per stagna Acheloia solves. quod superest, caros, i, saltem ulciscere manes aut sequere; extorrem neu tu quoque laeseris umbram captivus tumidumque equitem post Tydea portes.' audisse accensumque putes: hoc fulmine raptum abstulit et similes minus indignatur habenas. semifer aeria talis Centaurus ab Ossa Page 6 of 241

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desilit in valles: ipsum nemora alta tremescunt, campus equum. trepidi cursu glomerantur anhelo Labdacidae, premit ille super, necopinaque ferro colla metens linquit truncos post terga cadentes.   ventum erat ad fluvium; solito tunc plenior alveo (signa mali) magna se mole Ismenos agebat. illa brevis requies, illo timida agmina lassam de campis egere fugam; stupet hospita belli unda viros claraque armorum incenditur umbra. insiluere vadis, magnoque fragore solutus agger et adversae latuerunt pulvere ripae. ille quoque hostiles saltu maiore per undas inruit attonitis (longum dimittere habenas) sicut erat, tantum viridi defixa parumper caespite populeo commendat spicula trunco. ................................................................................................................ pg 16 tunc vero exanimes tradunt rapientibus ultro arma vadis: alii demissa casside, quantum tendere conatus animae valuere sub undis, turpe latent; multi fluvium transmittere nando adgressi, sed vincla tenent laterique repugnat balteus et madidus deducit pectora thorax. qualis caeruleis tumido sub gurgite terror piscibus, arcani quotiens devexa profundi scrutantem delphina vident; fugit omnis in imos turba lacus viridesque metu stipantur in algas; nec prius emersi quam summa per aequora flexus emicet et visis malit certare carinis: talis agit sparsos, mediisque in fluctibus heros frena manu pariter, pariter regit arma, pedumque remigio sustentat equum; consuetaque campo fluctuat et mersas levis ungula quaerit harenas. sternit Iona Chromis, Chromin Antiphos, Antiphon Hypseus, Hypseus Astyagen evasurumque relicto amne Linum, ni fata vetent et stamine primo ablatum tellure mori. premit agmina Thebes Hippomedon, turbat Danaos Asopius Hypseus: amnis utrumque timet, crasso vada mutat uterque sanguine, et e fluvio neutri fatale reverti. iam laceri pronis volvuntur cursibus artus Page 7 of 241

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oraque et abscisae redeunt in pectora dextrae, spicula iam clipeosque leves arcusque remissos unda vehit, galeasque vetant descendere cristae: summa vagis late sternuntur flumina telis, ima viris; illic luctantur corpora leto, efflantesque animas retro premit obvius amnis.   flumineam rapiente vado puer Argipus ulmum prenderat, insignes umeros ferus ense Menoeceus amputat; ille cadens, nondum conamine adempto, truncus in excelsis spectat sua bracchia ramis. ................................................................................................................ pg 18 Hypseos hasta Tagen ingenti vulnere mersit, ille manet fundo, rediit pro corpore sanguis. desiluit ripis fratrem rapturus Agenor, heu miser et tenuit, sed saucius ille levantem degravat amplexu: poterat resolutus Agenor emersisse vadis, piguit sine fratre reverti. surgentem dextra Capetum vulnusque minantem sorbebat rapidus nodato gurgite vertex; iam vultu, iam crine latet, iam dextera nusquam, ultimus abruptas ensis descendit in undas. mille modis leti miseros mors una fatigat. induit a tergo Mycalesia cuspis Agyrten; respexit: nusquam auctor erat, sed concita tractu gurgitis effugiens invenerat hasta cruorem.   figitur et validos sonipes Aetolus in armos exiluitque alte vi mortis et aera pendens verberat; haud tamen est turbatus fulmine ductor, sed miseratur equum magnoque ex vulnere telum exuit ipse gemens et sponte remisit habenas. inde pedes repetit pugnas gressuque manuque certior, et segnem Nomium fortemque Mimanta Thisbaeumque Lichan Anthedoniumque Lycetum continuat ferro geminisque e fratribus unum Thespiaden; eadem poscenti fata Panemo 'vive superstes' ait 'diraeque ad moenia Thebes solus abi miseros non decepture parentes. di bene quod pugnas rapidum deiecit in amnem sanguinea Bellona manu: trahit unda timentes gurgite gentili, nuda nec flebilis umbra Page 8 of 241

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stridebit vestros Tydeus inhumatus ad ignes; ibitis aequoreis crudelia pabula monstris, illum terra vehit suaque in primordia solvet.' ................................................................................................................ pg 20 sic premit adversos et acerbat vulnera dictis; ac nunc ense furit, nunc tela natantia captans ingerit: innuptae comitem Therona Dianae, ruricolamque Gyan cum fluctivago Ergino, intonsumque Hersen, contemptoremque profundi Crethea nimbosam qui saepe Caphereos arcem Euboicasque hiemes parva transfugerat alno— quid non fata queant? traiectus pectora ferro volvitur in fluctus, heu cuius naufragus undae! te quoque sublimi tranantem flumina curru, dum socios, Pharsale, petis, resupinat ademptis Dorica cuspis equis; illos violentia saevi gurgitis infelixque iugi concordia mergit.   nunc age, quis tumidis magnum inclinaverit undis Hippomedonta labor, cur ipse excitus in arma Ismenos, doctae nosse indulgete sorores: vestrum opus ire retro et senium depellere famae. gaudebat Fauno nymphaque Ismenide natus maternis bellare tener Crenaeus in undis, Crenaeus, cui prima dies in gurgite fido et natale vadum et virides cunabula ripae. ergo ratus nihil Elysias ibi posse Sorores, laetus adulantem nunc hoc, nunc margine ab illo transit avum, levat unda gradus, seu defluus ille, sive obliquus eat; nec cum subit obvius ullas stagna dedere moras pariterque revertitur amnis. non Anthedonii tegit hospitis inguina pontus blandior, aestivo nec se magis aequore Triton exerit, aut carae festinus ad oscula matris cum remeat tardumque ferit delphina Palaemon. arma decent umeros, clipeusque insignis et auro lucidus Aoniae caelatur origine gentis. Sidonis hic blandi per candida terga iuvenci, iam secura maris, teneris iam cornua palmis ................................................................................................................ pg 22 Page 9 of 241

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non tenet, extremis adludunt aequora plantis; ire putes clipeo fluctusque secare iuvencum. adiuvat unda fidem, pelago nec discolor amnis. tunc audax pariter telis et voce proterva Hippomedonta petit: 'non haec fecunda veneno Lerna, nec Herculeis haustae serpentibus undae: sacrum amnem, sacrum (et miser experiere!) deumque altrices inrumpis aquas.' nihil ille, sed ibat comminus; opposuit cumulo se densior amnis tardavitque manum; vulnus tamen illa retentum pertulit atque animae tota in penetralia sedit. horruit unda nefas, silvae flevistis utraeque, et graviora cavae sonuerunt murmura ripae. ultimus ille sonus moribundo emersit ab ore, 'mater!', in hanc miseri ceciderunt flumina vocem.   at genetrix coetu glaucarum cincta sororum protinus icta malo vitrea de valle solutis exiluit furibunda comis, ac verbere crebro oraque pectoraque et viridem scidit horrida vestem. utque erupit aquis iterumque iterumque trementi ingeminat 'Crenaee' sono: nusquam ille, sed index desuper (a miserae nimium noscenda parenti!) parma natat; iacet ipse procul, qua mixta supremum Ismenon primi mutant confinia ponti. fluctivagam sic saepe domum madidosque penates Alcyone deserta gemit, cum pignora saevus Auster et algentes rapuit Thetis invida nidos. mergitur orba iterum, penitusque occulta sub undis limite non uno, liquidum qua subter eunti lucet iter, miseri nequiquam funera nati vestigat plangitque tamen; saepe horridus amnis obstat, et obducto caligant sanguine visus. illa tamen praeceps in tela offendit et enses scrutaturque manu galeas et prona reclinat corpora; nec ponto summota intrabat amaram ................................................................................................................ pg 24 Dorida, possessum donec iam fluctibus altis Nereidum miserata cohors ad pectora matris impulit. illa manu ceu vivum amplexa reportat insternitque toris riparum atque umida siccat Page 10 of 241

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mollibus ora comis, atque haec ululatibus addit: 'hoc tibi semidei munus tribuere parentes nec mortalis avus? sic nostro in gurgite regnas? mitior heu misero discors alienaque tellus, mitior unda maris, quae iuxta flumina corpus rettulit et miseram visa expectasse parentem. hine mei vultus? haec torvi lumina patris? hi crines undantis avi? tu nobile quondam undarum nemorumque decus, quo sospite maior diva et Nympharum longe regina ferebar. heu ubinam ille frequens modo circa limina matris ambitus orantesque tibi servire Napaeae? cur nunc te, melius saevo mansura profundo, amplexu misero tumulis, Crenaee, reporto non mihi? nec tantae pudet heu miseretque ruinae, dure parens? quae te alta et ineluctabilis imo condidit amne palus, quo nec tam cruda nepotis funera nec nostri valeant perrumpere planctus? ecce furit iactatque tuo se in gurgite maior Hippomedon, illum ripaeque undaeque tremescunt, illius impulsu nostrum bibit unda cruorem: tu piger et trucibus facilis servire Pelasgis. ad cineres saltem supremaque iusta tuorum saeve veni non hic solum accensure nepotem.' his miscet planctus multumque indigna cruentat pectora, caeruleae referunt lamenta sorores: qualiter Isthmiaco nondum Nereida portu Leucothean planxisse ferunt, dum pectore anhelo frigidus in matrem saevum mare respuit infans.   at pater arcano residens Ismenos in antro, unde aurae nubesque bibunt atque imbrifer arcus pascitur et Tyrios melior venit annus in agros, ................................................................................................................ pg 26 ut lamenta procul, quamquam obstrepit ipse, novosque accepit natae gemitus, levat aspera musco colla gravemque gelu crinem, ceciditque soluta pinus adulta manu dimissaque volvitur urna. illum per ripas annoso scrupea limo ora exertantem silvae fluviique minores mirantur: tantus tumido de gurgite surgit, Page 11 of 241

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spumosum attollens apicem lapsuque sonoro pectora caeruleae rivis manantia barbae. obvia cognatos gemitus casumque nepotis Nympharum docet una patrem monstratque cruentum auctorem dextramque premit: stetit arduus alto amne, manuque genas et nexa virentibus ulvis cornua concutiens sic turbidus ore profundo incipit: 'huncne mihi, superum regnator, honorem quod totiens hospesque tuis et conscius actis (nec memorare timor) falsa nunc improba fronte cornua, nunc vetitam currus disiungere Phoeben, dotalesque rogos deceptaque fulmina vidi praecipuosque alui natorum? an vilis et illis gratia? ad hunc certe repsit Tirynthius amnem, hac tibi flagrantem Bromium restinximus unda. aspice quas fluvio caedes, quae funera portem continuus telis altoque adopertus acervo. omne vadum belli series tenet, omnis anhelat unda nefas, subterque animae supraque recentes errant et geminas iungunt caligine ripas. ille ego clamatus sacris ululatibus amnis, qui molles thyrsos Baccheaque cornua puro fonte lavare feror, stipatus caedibus artas in freta quaero vias; non Strymonos impia tanto stagna cruore natant, non spumifer altius Hebrus Gradivo bellante rubet. nec te admonet altrix unda tuasque manus, iam pridem oblite parentum Liber? an Eous melius pacatur Hydaspes? ................................................................................................................ pg 28 at tu, qui tumidus spoliis et sanguine gaudes insontis pueri, non hoc ex amne potentem Inachon aut saevas victor revehere Mycenas, ni mortalis ego et tibi ductus ab aethere sanguis.'   sic ait infrendens et sponte furentibus undis signa dedit: mittit gelidus montana Cithaeron auxilia antiquasque nives et pabula brumae ire iubet; frater tacitas Asopos eunti conciliat vires et hiulcis flumina venis suggerit. ipse cavae scrutatur viscera terrae stagnaque torpentesque lacus pigrasque paludes Page 12 of 241

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excutit, atque avidos tollens ad sidera vultus umentes nebulas exhaurit et aera siccat. iamque super ripas utroque extantior ibat aggere, iam medium modo qui superaverat amnem Hippomedon, intactus aquis umerosque manusque, miratur crevisse vadum seseque minorem. hinc atque hinc tumidi fluctus animosaque surgit tempestas instar pelagi, cum Pliadas haurit aut nigrum trepidis impingit Oriona nautis. non secus aequoreo iactat Teumesius amnis Hippomedonta salo, semperque umbone sinistro tollitur et clipeum nigrante supervenit aestu spumeus adsultans fractaque refunditur unda et cumulo maiore redit; nec mole liquenti contentus carpit putres servantia ripas arbusta annosasque trabes eiectaque fundo saxa rotat. stat pugna impar amnisque virique, indignante deo; nec enim dat terga nec ullis frangitur ille minis, venientesque obvius undas intrat et obiecta dispellit flumina parma. stat terra fugiente gradus, et poplite tenso lubrica saxa tenet, genibusque obnixus et haerens subruta fallaci servat vestigia limo, sic etiam increpitans: 'unde haec, Ismene, repente, ira tibi? quove has traxisti gurgite vires, ................................................................................................................ pg 30 imbelli famulate deo solumque cruorem femineis experte choris, cum Bacchica mugit buxus et insanae maculant trieterida matres?' dixerat; atque illi sese deus obtulit ultro turbidus imbre genas et nube natantis harenae, nec saevit dictis, trunca sed pectora quercu ter quater oppositi, quantum ira deusque valebat, impulit adsurgens: tandem vestigia flexit excussumque manu tegimen, conversaque lente terga refert. instant undae sequiturque labantem amnis ovans; nec non saxis et grandine ferri desuper infestant Tyrii geminoque repellunt aggere. quid faciat bellis obsessus et undis? nec fuga iam misero, nec magnae copia mortis. Page 13 of 241

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  stabat gramineae producta crepidine ripae undarum ac terrae dubio, sed amicior undis fraxinus ingentique vadum possederat umbra. huius opem (nam qua terras invaderet?) unca arripuit dextra: nec pertulit illa trahentem, sed maiore super, quam stabat, pondere victa solvitur et, qua stagna subit radice quibusque arentem mordebat humum dimissa, superne iniecit sese trepido ripamque, nec ultra passurum subitae vallavit ponte ruinae. huc undae coeunt, et ineluctabile caeno verticibusque cavis sidit crescitque barathrum. iamque umeros, iam colla ducis sinuosa vorago circumit: hic demum victus suprema fateri exclamat: 'fluvione (pudet!), Mars inclute, merges hanc animam, segnesque lacus et stagna subibo ceu pecoris custos, subiti torrentis iniquis interceptus aquis? adeone occumbere ferro non merui?' tandem precibus commota Tonantem Iuno subit: 'quonam miseros, sator inclute divum, ................................................................................................................ pg 32 Inachidas, quonam usque premes? iam Pallas et odit Tydea, iam rapto tacuerunt augure Delphi: en meus Hippomedon, cui gentis origo Mycenae Argolicique lares numenque ante omnia Iuno (sic ego fida meis?), pelagi crudelibus ibit praeda feris? certe tumulos supremaque victis busta dabas: ubi Cecropiae post proelia flammae, Theseos ignis ubi est?' non spernit coniugis aequas ille preces, leviterque oculos ad moenia Cadmi rettulit, et viso sederunt flumina nutu. illius exangues umeri et perfossa patescunt pectora: ceu ventis alte cum elata resedit tempestas, surgunt scopuli quaesitaque nautis terra, et ab infestis descendunt aequora saxis. quid ripas tenuisse iuvat? premit undique nimbo telorum Phoenissa cohors, nec tegmina membris ulla, omnisque patet leto; tunc vulnera manant, quique sub amne diu stupuit cruor, aere nudo solvitur et tenues venarum laxat hiatus, Page 14 of 241

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incertique labant undarum e frigore gressus. procumbit, Getico qualis procumbit in Haemo seu Boreae furiis putri seu robore quercus caelo mixta comas, ingentemque aera laxat: illam nutantem nemus et mons ipse tremescit qua tellure cadat, quas obruat ordine silvas. non tamen aut ensem galeamve audacia cuiquam tangere; vix credunt oculis ingentiaque horrent funera et astrictis accedunt comminus armis.   tandem adiit Hypseus capulumque in morte tenenti extrahit et torvos laxavit casside vultus; itque per Aonios alte mucrone corusco suspensam ostentans galeam et clamore superbit: 'hic ferus Hippomedon, hic formidabilis ultor Tydeos infandi debellatorque cruenti gurgitis!' agnovit longe pressitque dolorem magnanimus Capaneus, telumque inmane lacerto ................................................................................................................ pg 34 hortatur librans: 'ades o mihi, dextera, tantum tu praesens bellis et inevitabile numen, te voco, te solam superum contemptor adoro.' sic ait, et voti sese facit ipse potentem. it tremibunda abies clipeum per et aerea texta loricae tandemque animam sub pectore magno deprendit: ruit haud alio quam celsa fragore turris, ubi innumeros penitus quassata per ictus labitur effractamque aperit victoribus urbem. cui super adsistens, 'non infitiamur honorem mortis' ait 'refer huc oculos, ego vulneris auctor; laetus abi multumque aliis iactantior umbris!' tunc ensem galeamque rapit clipeumque revellit ipsius; exanimemque tenens super Hippomedonta, 'accipe' ait 'simul hostiles, dux magne, tuasque exuvias, veniet cineri decus et suus ordo manibus; interea iustos dum reddimus ignes, hoc ultor Capaneus operit tua membra sepulcro.' sic anceps dura belli vice mutua Grais Sidoniisque simul nectebat vulnera Mavors: hic ferus Hippomedon, illic non segnior Hypseus fletur, et alterni praebent solacia luctus. Page 15 of 241

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  tristibus interea somnum turbata figuris torva sagittiferi mater Tegeatis ephebi, crine dato passim plantisque ex more solutis, ante diem gelidas ibat Ladonis ad undas purgatura malum fluvio vivente soporem. namque per attonitas curarum pondere noctes saepe et delapsas adytis, quas ipsa dicarat, exuvias, seque ignotis errare sepulcris extorrem nemorum Dryadumque a plebe fugatam, saepe novos nati bello rediisse triumphos, armaque et alipedem notum comitesque videbat, numquam ipsum, nunc ex umeris fluxisse pharetras, effigiesque suas simulacraque nota cremari. praecipuos sed enim illa metus portendere visa est ................................................................................................................ pg 36 nox miserae totoque erexit pectore matrem. nota per Arcadias felici robore silvas quercus erat, Triviae quam desacraverat ipsa electam turba nemorum numenque colendo fecerat: hic arcus et fessa reponere tela, armaque curva suum et vacuorum terga leonum figere et ingentes aequantia cornua silvas. vix ramis locus, agrestes adeo omnia cingunt exuviae, et viridem ferri nitor impedit umbram. hanc, ut forte iugis longo defessa redibat venatu, modo rapta ferox Erymanthidos ursae ora ferens, multo proscissam vulnere cernit deposuisse comam et rorantes sanguine ramos expirare solo; quaerenti nympha cruentas Maenadas atque hostem dixit saevisse Lyaeum. dum gemit et planctu circumdat pectus inani, abrupere oculi noctem maestoque cubili exilit et falsos quaerit per lumina fletus.   ergo ut in amne nefas merso ter crine piavit verbaque sollicitas matrum solantia curas addidit, armigerae ruit ad delubra Dianae rore sub Eoo, notasque ex ordine silvas et quercum gavisa videt. tunc limine divae astitit et tali nequiquam voce precatur: 'virgo potens nemorum, cuius non mollia signa Page 16 of 241

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militiamque trucem sexum indignata frequento more nihil Graio (nec te gens aspera ritu Colchis Amazoniaeve magis coluere catervae): si mihi non umquam thiasi ludusve protervae noctis et, inviso quamvis temerata cubili, non tamen aut teretes thyrsos aut mollia gessi pensa, sed in tetricis et post conubia lustris, sic quoque venatrix animumque innupta remansi, nec mihi secretis culpam occultare sub antris cura, sed ostendi prolem posuique trementem ante tuos confessa pedes, nec degener ille ................................................................................................................ pg 38 sanguinis inque meos reptavit protinus arcus, tela puer lacrimis et prima voce poposcit: hunc mihi (quid trepidae noctes somnusque minantur?), hunc, precor, audaci qui nunc ad proelia voto heu nimium tibi fisus abit, da visere belli victorem, vel, si ampla peto, da visere tantum! [si non victorem des victum cernere saltem!] hic sudet tuaque arma ferat. preme dira malorum signa; quid in nostris, nemoralis Delia, silvis Maenades hostiles Thebanaque numina regnant? ei mihi! cur penitus (simque augur cassa futuri!), †cur penitus† magnoque interpretor omine quercum? quod si vera sopor miserae praesagia mittit, per te maternos, mitis Dictynna, labores fraternumque decus, cunctis hunc fige sagittis infelicem uterum; miserae sine funera matris audiat ille prior!' dixit, fletuque soluto aspicit et niveae saxum maduisse Dianae.   illam diva ferox etiamnum in limine sacro expositam et gelidas verrentem crinibus aras linquit, et in mediis frondentem Maenalon astris exuperat gressu saltumque ad moenia Cadmi destinat, interior caeli qua semita lucet dis tantum, et cunctas iuxta videt ardua terras. iamque fere medium Parnasi frondea praeter colla tenebat iter, cum fratrem in nube corusca aspicit haud solito visu: remeabat ab armis maestus Echioniis, demersi funera lugens Page 17 of 241

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auguris. inrubuit caeli plaga sidere mixto, occursuque sacro pariter iubar arsit utrimque, et coiere arcus et respondere pharetrae. ille prior: 'scio, Labdacias, germana, cohortes et nimium fortes ausum petis Arcada pugnas. fida rogat genetrix: utinam indulgere precanti fata darent! en ipse mei (pudet!) inritus arma ................................................................................................................ pg 40 cultoris frondesque sacras ad inania vidi Tartara et in memet versos descendere vultus; nec tenui currus terraeque abrupta coegi, saevus ego inmeritusque coli. lugentia cernis antra, soror, mutasque domos: haec sola rependo dona pio comiti; nec tu peritura movere auxilia et maestos in vanum perge labores. finis adest iuveni, non hoc mutabile fatum, nec te de dubiis fraterna oracula fallunt.' 'sed decus extremum certe,' confusa vicissim virgo refert, 'duraeque licet solacia morti quaerere, nec fugiet poenas quicumque nefandam insontis pueri scelerarit sanguine dextram impius, et nostris fas sit saevire sagittis.' sic effata movet gressus libandaque fratri parcius ora tulit, Thebasque infesta petivit.   at pugna ereptis maior crudescit utrimque regibus, alternosque ciet vindicta furores. Hypseos hinc turmae desolatumque magistro agmen, at hinc gravius fremit Hippomedontis adempti orba cohors; praebent obnixi corpora ferro, idem ardor rabidis externum haurire cruorem ac fudisse suum, nec se vestigia mutant: stat cuneo defixa acies, hostique cruento dant animas et terga negant: cum lapsa per auras vertice Dircaei velox Latonia montis astitit; agnoscunt colles notamque tremescit silva deam, saevis ubi quondam exerta sagittis fecundam lasso Nioben consumpserat arcu.   illum acies inter coepta iam caede superbum nescius armorum et primas tunc passus habenas venator raptabat equus, quem discolor ambit Page 18 of 241

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................................................................................................................ pg 42 iactantur niveo lunata monilia dente. ipse bis Oebalio saturatam murice pallam lucentesque auro tunicas (hoc neverat unum mater opus) tenui collectus in ilia vinclo, cornipedis laevo clipeum demiserat armo, ense gravis nimio: tereti iuvat aurea morsu fibula pendentis circum latera aspera cinctus, vaginaeque sonum tremulumque audire pharetrae murmur et a cono missas in terga catenas; interdum cristas hilaris iactare comantes et pictum gemmis galeae iubar. ast ubi pugna cassis anhela calet, resoluto vertice nudus exoritur: tunc dulce comae radiisque trementes dulce nitent visus et, quas dolet ipse morari, nondum mutatae rosea lanugine malae. nec formae sibi laude placet multumque severis asperat ora minis, sed frontis servat honorem ira decens. dat sponte locum Thebana iuventus, natorum memores, intentaque tela retorquent; sed premit et saevas miserantibus ingerit hastas. illum et Sidoniae iuga per Teumesia Nymphae bellantem atque ipso sudore et pulvere gratum laudant, et tacito ducunt suspiria voto.   talia cernenti mitis subit alta Dianae corda dolor, fletuque genas violata, 'quod,' inquit 'nunc tibi, quod leti quaeram dea fida propinqui effugium? haecne ultro properasti in proelia, saeve ac miserande puer? cruda heu festinaque virtus suasit et hortatrix animosi gloria leti! scilicet angustum iamdudum urguentibus annis Maenalium tibi, parve, nemus, perque antra ferarum vix tutae sine matre viae, silvestria cuius nondum tela procax arcumque implere valebas. et nunc illa meas ingentem plangit ad aras ................................................................................................................ pg 44 Page 19 of 241

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invidiam surdasque fores et limina lassat: tu dulces lituos ululataque proelia gaudes felix et miserae tantum moriture parenti.' ne tamen extremo frustra morientis honori adfuerit, venit in medios caligine fulva saepta globos, primumque leves furata sagittas audacis tergo pueri caelestibus implet goryton telis, quorum sine sanguine nullum decidit; ambrosio tunc spargit membra liquore, spargit equum, ne quo temeretur vulnere corpus ante necem, cantusque sacros et conscia miscet murmura, secretis quae Colchidas ipsa sub antris nocte docet monstratque feras quaerentibus herbas.   tunc vero exerto circumvolat igneus arcu nec se mente regit, patriae matrisque suique inmemor, et nimium caelestibus utitur armis: ut leo, cui parvo mater Gaetula cruentos suggerit ipsa cibos, cum primum crescere sensit colla iubis torvusque novos respexit ad ungues, indignatur ali, tandemque effusus apertos liber amat campos et nescit in antra reverti.   quos, age, Parrhasio sternis, puer improbe, cornu? prima Tanagraeum turbavit harundo Coroebum extremo galeae primoque in margine parmae angusta transmissa via: stat faucibus unda sanguinis, et sacri facies rubet igne veneni. saevius Eurytion, cui luminis orbe sinistro callida tergeminis acies se condidit uncis. ille trahens oculo plenam labente sagittam ibat in auctorem: sed divum fortia quid non tela queant? alio geminatum lumine vulnus explevit tenebras; sequitur tamen improbus hostem, qua meminit, fusum donec prolapsus in Idan decidit: hic saevi miser inter funera belli ................................................................................................................ pg 46 palpitat et mortem sociosque hostesque precatur. addit Abantiadas, insignem crinibus Argum et male dilectum miserae Cydona sorori. [illi perfossum telo patefecerat inguen]   .   .   .   .   . Page 20 of 241

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huic geminum obliqua traiecit harundine tempus, exilit hac ferrum, velox hac penna remansit; fluxit utrimque cruor. nulli tela aspera mortis dant veniam, non forma Lamum, non infula Lygdum, non pubescentes texerunt Aeolon anni: figitur ora Lamus, flet saucius inguina Lygdus, perfossus telo niveam gemis, Aeole, frontem. te praeceps Euboea tulit, te candida Thisbe miserat, hunc virides non excipietis †Amyclae. numquam cassa manus, nullum sine numine fugit missile, nec requies dextrae, sonitumque priori iungit harundo sequens. unum quis crederet arcum aut unam saevire manum? modo derigit ictus, nunc latere alterno dubius conamina mutat, nunc fugit instantes et solo respicit arcu.   et iam mirantes indignantesque coibant Labdacidae, primusque Iovis de sanguine claro Amphion ignarus adhuc, quae funera campis ille daret: 'quonam usque moram lucrabere fati, o multum meritos puer orbature parentes? quin etiam menti tumor atque audacia gliscit, congressus dum nemo tuos pugnamque minorem dignatur bellis, iramque relinqueris infra. i, repete Arcadiam mixtusque aequalibus illic, dum ferus hic vero desaevit pulvere Mavors, proelia lude domi: quodsi te maesta sepulcri fama movet, dabimus: leto moriere virorum!' iamdudum hunc contra stimulis gravioribus ardet trux Atalantiades; necdum ille quierat, et infit: ................................................................................................................ pg 48 'sera etiam in Thebas, quarum hic exercitus, arma profero; quisnam adeo puer, ut bellare recuset talibus? Arcadiae stirpem et fera semina gentis, non Thebana vides: non me sub nocte silenti Thyias Echionio genetrix famulata Lyaeo edidit, haud umquam deformes vertice mitras induimus turpemque manu iactavimus hastam. protinus astrictos didici reptare per amnes horrendasque domos magnarum intrare ferarum et—quid plura loquar? ferrum mea semper et arcus Page 21 of 241

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mater habet, vestri feriunt cava tympana patres.' non tulit Amphion vultumque et in ora loquentis telum inmane rotat; sed ferri lumine diro turbatus sonipes sese dominumque retorsit in latus atque avidam transmisit devius hastam. acrior hoc iuvenem stricto mucrone petebat Amphion, cum se medio Latonia campo iecit et ante oculos omni stetit obvia vultu.   haerebat iuveni devinctus amore pudico Maenalius Dorceus, cui bella suumque timorem mater et audaces pueri mandaverat annos. huius tum vultu dea dissimulata profatur: 'hactenus Ogygias satis infestasse catervas, Parthenopaee, satis; miserae iam parce parenti, parce deis, quicumque favent.' nec territus ille: 'hunc sine me (non plura petam), fidissime Dorceu, sternere humi, qui tela meis gerit aemula telis et similes cultus et frena sonantia iactat. frena regam, cultus Triviae pendebitis alto limine, captivis matrem donabo pharetris.' audiit et mixto risit Latonia fletu.   viderat hanc caeli iamdudum in parte remota Gradivum complexa Venus, dumque anxia Thebas commemorat Cadmumque viro caraeque nepotes ................................................................................................................ pg 50 Harmoniae, pressum tacito sub corde dolorem tempestiva movet: 'nonne hanc, Gradive, protervam virginitate vides mediam se ferre virorum coetibus, utque acies audax et Martia signa temperet? en etiam donat praebetque necandos tot nostra de gente viros. huic tradita virtus, huic furor? agrestes superest tibi figere dammas.' desiluit iustis commotus in arma querelis Bellipotens, cui sola vagum per inane ruenti Ira comes, reliqui sudant ad bella Furores. nec mora, cum maestam monitu Letoida duro increpat adsistens: 'non haec tibi proelia divum dat pater; armiferum ni protinus improba campum deseris, huic aequam nosces nec Pallada dextrae.' quid faciat contra? premit hinc Mavortia cuspis, Page 22 of 241

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hinc plenae tibi, parve, colus, Iovis inde severi vultus: abit solo post haec evicta pudore.   at pater Ogygias Mavors circumspicit alas horrendumque Dryanta movet, cui sanguinis auctor turbidus Orion, comitesque odisse Dianae (inde furit) patrium. hic turbatos arripit ense Arcadas exarmatque ducem; cadit agmine longo Cyllenes populus Tegeesque habitator opacae Aepytiique †duces Telphusiacaeque phalanges. ipsum autem et lassa fidit prosternere dextra, nec servat vires: etenim huc iam fessus et illuc mutabat turmas; urguent praesagia mille funeris, et nigrae praecedunt nubila mortis. iamque miser raros comites verumque videbat Dorcea, iam vires paulatim abscedere sentit, sentit et exhaustas umero leviore pharetras; iam minus atque minus fert arma, puerque videtur et sibi, cum torva clipei metuendus obarsit ................................................................................................................ pg 52 luce Dryas: tremor ora repens ac viscera torsit Arcados; utque feri vectorem fulminis albus cum supra respexit olor, cupit hiscere ripam Strymonos et trepidas in pectora contrahit alas: sic iuvenem saevi conspecta mole Dryantis iam non ira subit, sed leti nuntius horror. arma tamen, frustra superos Triviamque precatus, molitur pallens et surdos expedit arcus. iamque instat telis dextramque obliquus in ulnam cornua contingit mucrone et pectora nervo, cum ducis Aonii magno cita turbine cuspis fertur in adversum nervique obliqua sonori vincla secat: pereunt ictus, manibusque remissis vana supinato ceciderunt spicula cornu. tunc miser et frenos turbatus et arma remisit, vulneris impatiens umeri quod tegmina dextri intrarat facilemque cutem; subit altera cuspis cornipedisque fugam succiso poplite sistit. tum cadit ipse Dryas (mirum!) nec vulneris umquam conscius: olim auctor teli causaeque patebunt.   at puer infusus sociis in devia campi Page 23 of 241

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tollitur (heu simplex aetas!) moriensque iacentem flebat equum; cecidit laxata casside vultus, aegraque per trepidos expirat gratia visus, et prensis concussa comis ter colla quaterque stare negant, ipsisque nefas lacrimabile Thebis, ibat purpureus niveo de pectore sanguis. tandem haec singultu verba incidente profatur: 'labimur, i, miseram, Dorceu, solare parentem. illa quidem, si vera ferunt praesagia curae, aut somno iam triste nefas aut omine vidit. tu tamen arte pia trepidam suspende diuque decipito; neu tu subitus neve arma tenenti veneris, et tandem, cum iam cogere fateri, ................................................................................................................ pg 54 dic: "merui, genetrix; poenas invita capesse: arma puer rapui, nec te retinente quievi, nec tibi sollicitae saltem inter bella peperci. vive igitur potiusque animis irascere nostris et iam pone metus. frustra de colle Lycaei anxia prospectas, si quis per nubila longe aut sonus aut nostro sublatus ab agmine pulvis: frigidus et nuda iaceo tellure, nec usquam tu prope, quae vultus efflantiaque ora teneres. hunc tamen, orba parens, crinem"', dextraque secandum praebuit, '"hunc toto capies pro corpore crinem, comere quem frustra me dedignante solebas. huic dabis exequias, atque inter iusta memento ne quis inexpertis hebetet mea tela lacertis dilectosque canes ullis agat amplius antris. haec autem primis arma infelicia castris ure, vel ingratae crimen suspende Dianae."' ........................................................................................................................... pg 56

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P. PAPINIUS STATIUS THEBAID BOOK NINE

........................................................................................................................... pg 3 THE news of blood-stained Tydeus' frenzy maddens the Aonians; even the children of Inachus themselves lamented the less his fallen figure, but censured the hero, and complained that he had broken the law of hatred; indeed, Gradivus, least gentle of the gods, though then most of all you were raging in the work of slaughter, you were, so they say, offended by his heroism, and turned not your own eyes upon him but even swung elsewhere your terrified team. So it was that the youth of Cadmus' city rose up to avenge Melanippus' corpse, profaned with bitter wounding, no less outraged than if their fathers' bones had been flung from out their tombs and their urns given as prey to savage monsters. The king himself inflames them further: 'Is any one still merciful to the Pelasgians, or does any act like a human being towards them? Now with hook-like fangs—What madness! Have we then so glutted our spears?—they tear our limbs apart. Surely you must think you are making war on Hyrcanian tigers, or going to meet fierce Libyan lions? And now he lies—O glorious consolation for his doom!—holding his enemy's head between his jaws, and dies an unspeakable death over the gore that tastes so sweet; we have gentle steel and firebrands, but they have naked hate, and their savagery has now no need of arms. Let them continue thus in their frenzy and enjoy this radiant renown, provided only that you see it, Father on high. But they complained that the field of battle gaped open and are astonished to see the earth flee from them; would even their own soil bear such as them?' So he spoke and drove his men onwards in a great charge, shouting loudly; all felt the same mad desire to seize and to possess the hated Tydeus' spoils and body. Just so do ................................................................................................................ pg 5 hordes of filthy birds weave a pall beneath the stars, when from afar the breeze has brought them the smell of corruption from bodies lying deserted and unburied. Thither in their greed they rush, loudly clamouring, the high heaven resounds with their beating wings, and the lesser birds have withdrawn from the sky.   Fame, wandering with rapid murmurs over the Aonian plain, spreads from company to company—a swifter talebearer than usual when her news is of grief—until she glided up to the fearful ears of Polynices, to whom by her speech she brings the greatest loss. The youth turned stiff, and his tears, though ready to fall, stood still, and he was hesitant to believe: for the valour of Oeneus' son, which he knew all too well, both prompts and forbids belief that he is dead. But when the disaster

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was revealed by a source he could not doubt, night snatched away his sight and mind alike; then his blood stood motionless and his body all at once, and all at once his weapons came tumbling down: his lofty helmet is now awash with tears and his greaves caught his shield as it fell. In sorrow he goes, dragging strengthless knees and a spear that trails behind, as if weighed down by countless wounds and bloodied in all his limbs: his comrades shrink back and with groans point out to him the way. At last, throwing away the arms he had scarcely had the strength to carry, he fell unarmed upon his illustrious friend's body, now empty of breath, and poured forth his tears with such words as these: 'Is this the thanks, O son of Oeneus, last hope of my arms, is this the due recompense I have paid you, that you should lie unburied in the hated land of Cadmus, and I suffer no harm? Now am I an exile and forever banished, since my second and better brother is taken from me to my sorrow. Nor do I ask any more for the old drawing of lots or the lying diadem of a guilty kingdom: what good to me are joys so dearly bought or a sceptre that your right hand will not give me? Go, warriors, and leave me alone to my beastlike brother: no need to make further trial of war and squander deaths; go, I beg you; what, pray, will you give me now that is greater? I have used up Tydeus! With what kind of death shall I atone for this? O father of my bride! O Argos! and our firstnight's wellomened quarrel, our exchange of blows, and the short-lived ................................................................................................................ pg 7 anger that was a pledge of undying love! To think that I was not then struck down by your sword, most mighty Tydeus—it lay within your power—on the threshold of our own Adrastus! Why, for my sake you even went to Thebes and my brother's sinful house, from which no other would have returned, as willingly as if you intended to win honour and the sceptre for yourself. Already of Telamon the faithful, already of Theseus Fame was silent—How great a sight are you even as you lie in death! Which wounds should I first admire? Which blood here is yours, and which comes from your foe? What hosts or what unnumbered bands laid you low? Am I mistaken, or did the Father himself feel envy and Mars drive at you with all the force of his spear?' Thus he speaks, and in grief wipes with his tears the hero's face, even now slippery with gore, and with his own hand restores it to order. 'Did you so hate my enemies, and still I suffer no harm?' Wildly he had taken his sword from its scabbard and was fitting it for death: his comrades restrained him, and his father-in-law rebukes him, and, rehearsing the vicissitudes of war and the will of fate, he consoles his swelling heart, and little by little moves him far away from the beloved's body whence come his grief and his lively wish for death, and, while talking, silently puts back the sword. Polynices is led like a bull which, numbed by the loss of the partner of its labours, abandons in the midst of the fields the furrow it has begun, and on

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its drooping neck half drags the ungainly yoke, while the other half the weeping ploughman bears up.   But now, following Eteocles' call to arms, comes up a chosen band of youths, whom neither the Tritonian would have scorned in war, nor Mars when spears are brought to meet each other; when he had gathered and fixed his breast to his shield and held his spear far out before him, towering Hippomedon holds firm: like a rock that fronts the waves, which fears nothing from heaven, and the waters break upon it and retreat, it stands unmoved by every threat, the sea itself flees its unyielding aspect, and from the deeper waters the wretched ships know it well. Then first the Aonian—as he speaks he ................................................................................................................ pg 9 chooses a stout spear: 'Do you feel no shame in the presence of the gods and under heaven's gaze to guard this ghost, this corpse that spoils the fame of war? A glorious labour it is, no doubt, and a heroic deed to be talked of, to bury this wild beast, for fear he should not go, fit sight for tears, to Argos in a grieving funeral train, and on his soft bier spew out his cursed gore! Have no care. No birds, no unholy monsters, no, not even the holy flames themselves, if we should grant them, would devour him.' He said no more, but hurled his mighty javelin, which, though halted in the hard bronze, yet passed through and stopped in the second layer of his shield. Then Pheres threw, and eager Lycus; but Pheres' spear fell back unavailing, while Lycus grazed the helmet with its high and terrifying mane: torn out by the spear-point the plumes scattered far and wide, and the casque lay bare and inglorious to view. He himself never retreats, nor when provoked leaps out to attack the enemy before him, but, facing them all, continually moves back and forth over the self-same tracks, and never gives his right arm play over any greater distance, but in all his movements hugs the corpse, keeping the corpse in sight, and wheels over and around it. Not with such resolve does a mother embrace and protect her timid calf, her first-born, when a wolf assails it, and she swings her horns around in a doubtful circle; she herself fears nothing and, forgetful of her weaker sex, sprays foam and, though female, imitates the mighty bulls. At last there was a break in the cloud of javelins, letting him return their spears; and now Alcon of Sicyon had also come to his aid, and swift-footed Idas' Pisaean troop arrives, and they fill up his phalanx. Rejoicing in their presence he himself throws his Lernaean shaft at the enemy; it flies as fast as arrows fly, and, not one jot delayed, passes clean through Polites and relentlessly cuts through the shield of Mopsus who stood close behind. Then he pierces Cydon of Phocis and Phalanthus of Tanagra and Eryx, the last as he turns back and seeks his weapons, with no thought of death, through the head with its ................................................................................................................ pg 11 Page 27 of 241

flowing locks: he, as he dies, is astonished that he has received the spear not in his mouth but in his hollow throat, and at that same moment both the blood full of his death-rattle and his teeth, driven out by the spear-point, sprang forth. Lurking behind the heroes and their fight, Leonteus had dared to lay on his hand in secret and, gripping the hair, was dragging the prostrate body by the head: Hippomedon saw him, though threats faced him on every side, and with his cruel sword lopped off the impudent hand; with that he taunted him: 'Tydeus it is, Tydeus himself, who snatches this from you; hereafter fear the destiny of heroes even when it has run its course and flee, poor wretch, from touching mighty ghosts!' Three times the phalanx of Cadmus' city drew off the grim-faced corpse, three times the Danaans pull it back: just as a vessel fearful at the turmoil of the Sicilian sea goes adrift, while the helmsman resists in vain, and then, her sail blown back, retraces her tracks.   No Sidonian forces would there have had the power to drive Hippomedon from his undertaking, no missiles dashed from war-engines would move him from his resistance, and blows feared by over-weening towers would have dropped back unavailing from the shield that they assailed. But mindful of the Elysian king, and counting up the guilty deeds of Tydeus, impious Tisiphone with cunning came up to the middle of the field: the armies felt her presence and sweat suddenly ran over the horses, sweat over the men, although, relaxing her own features, she was counterfeiting Inachian Halys; nowhere to be seen were her impious torch and lash, and at her command her locks fell silent. She bears arms and to the side of fierce Hippomedon she comes, mild in looks and voice, but none the less he feared her countenance as she spoke, and felt wonder at his fear. Then in tears she said: 'Now all in vain, famed warrior, do you protect our dead companions and the unburied bodies of the Greeks (to be sure, that is our fear, or do we now have any care for a tomb?); look there, Adrastus himself, captured by a Tyrian band, is carried off, and on you above all others, on you with cries and outstretched hands he calls: alas! how pitiful a sight, as he slithered in the blood, his diadem torn and stripped from his white hair! Nor is he far from here, only turn your gaze: where that cloud of dust and that host of men ................................................................................................................ pg 13 are thickest.' A little while the hero stood in doubt, and weighed his fears in the balance; the pitiless maiden presses him hard: 'Why do you hesitate? Shall we go? Or does this ghost hold you back, and is he who still remains of lesser worth?' His sad task and the fight that should be his he entrusts to his comrades, and, a deserter of his devoted friend, goes forth, yet looking behind him and at the ready should they by chance call him back. Then picking up the grim goddess's confused trail he rushes aimlessly here and there, until the impious Kindly One threw her shield over her shoulder and disappeared from sight in a dark haze, and Page 28 of 241

the numberless serpents broke through her helmet. The cloud scatters and through it the unhappy man can see the sons of Inachus unperturbed and the chariot of Adrastus, wholly free from fear.   And now the Tyrians possess the body, now their loud cries bear witness to their joy, and the howl of victory drifts to his ear and strikes his heart with unseen grief. Dragged over enemy soil—alas for fate's cruel power!—is that famed Tydeus, before whom of late as he pursued the Theban troops, whether on foot or letting his chariot-reins flow loose, a vast swathe was left bare on either hand; on no side do weapons or hands or any human savagery rest: they delight to wound with impunity a face now stiff in death and features they had feared. This is their passion, by this the fearful and the brave alike strive to ennoble their hands, and they keep their blood-tinged spears to show their wives and little children. So when weary battalions of herdsmen have warred down a lion which has long devastated the Moorish fields, and on whose account the flocks have been penned up and their keepers are watchful: the countryside rejoices, up come the farmers shouting loudly, and they pluck at his mane and open his vast jaws and tell the tale of their losses, whether he now keeps watch fastened up beneath the roof or hangs, the glory of an ancient grove.   But fierce Hippomedon, though now he realizes that his help is in vain and that battle for the stolen corpse is all too late, advances none the less and, acknowledging no summons back, whirls his unseeing sword, scarcely distinguishing friend from foe, provided nothing should slow his advance; but now the earth is slippery with freshly spilled blood, and the weapons ................................................................................................................ pg 15 and dying men and shattered chariots hinder him, as does his left thigh, which had been pierced by the spear of the Echionian king, but in the heat of battle he had ignored it, or else had at the time not known of it. At last he sees the sorrowing Hopleus; he, the great Tydeus' faithful companion and of late in vain his squire, was holding his wing-footed horse which, its neck bent downwards, knew nothing of its master's fate and chafed only because it was idle and Tydeus went more boldly against the battle-lines of infantry. Though it scorns a new weight upon its haughty back—for since the time when it was tamed it had endured one hand alone —he seized it and said: 'Why, O unhappy steed, do you refuse your new destiny? No more for you your proud king's sweet burden; no longer shall you range upon the Aetolian plain and let your mane stream in joy past Achelous' pools. Do what remains for you, go, and at least avenge his beloved ghost, or else follow after him, lest you too as captive prove to have vexed his banished shade, and bear an overweening rider after Tydeus.' You would think that it had heard and was inflamed: with such lightning violence did it snatch him away, resenting the less reins so like the ones it used to know. Just so the half-beast Centaur leaps down from lofty Ossa Page 29 of 241

to the valleys: at himself the high groves tremble in fear, and at his horse-half the plain. In breathless flight the panic-stricken sons of Labdacus mass together, he presses down upon them, and shearing with his sword their unexpecting necks he leaves the headless trunks behind him, still falling.   They had reached the river; Ismenos, his channel fuller than usual (an omen of evil), was then driving on his waters in a mighty mass. That provided a brief respite, and thither from the plain the fearful columns drove their weary flight; the waters, host to war, are astonished at the warriors and are set alight by their arms' bright reflection. They leapt into the shallows, and with a mighty crash the high bank collapsed and the other shore lay hid in dust. Hippomedon too with a greater leap through the hostile waters fell on the astonished foe just as he was—letting go the reins would be too slow—only fixing his javelins for a while into the green turf and entrusting the care of them to the trunk of a poplar tree. Then indeed they in their ................................................................................................................ pg 17 terror give up their weapons to the waters that snatched them of their own accord: some lower their helmets and, as long as they had the strength to hold their breath beneath the waves, lie basely hidden; many attempt to cross the river by swimming, but the fastenings hold them and the sword-belts struggle with their breathing, and their sodden corselets weigh down their breasts. As terror seizes the blue-dark fish beneath the swelling flood, whenever they see a dolphin probing the sloping bottom of the mysterious deep; the whole crowd flees to the bottom-most pools and fearfully huddles in the green seaweed; nor do they come out before he flashes and darts over the ocean's surface and prefers to race the ships he spies: just so the hero scatters and drives them on, and in the midst of the waves plies in his hands at once the reins and at once his weapons, and with the oarage of his feet holds up his horse; and the nimble hoofs, accustomed to the plain, move with the waves and try to find the deep-sunk sands. Chromis lays Ion low, Antiphos Chromis, Hypseus Antiphos, Hypseus also Astyages and Linus who, leaving the river, was about to escape, did not fate prevent him and were it not denied him by his life's first thread to die upon the earth. Hippomedon presses hard upon the troops of Thebes, and Asopian Hypseus wreaks havoc among the Danaans: the river fears each of them, each alters the waters with thick blood, and to neither was it fated to return from the stream. Now mangled limbs and heads are rolled along on the downward current, and severed hands return to their breasts, now the water bears along spears and light shields and slackened bows, and their plumes do not allow helmets to sink: the river's surface is strewn far and wide with drifting weapons, but the depths with men; there bodies wrestle with death, and the obstructing river presses back their escaping breath.

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  The boy Argipus had seized an elm on the river-bank as the flood swept him on, but savage Menoeceus shears with his sword those glorious shoulders; as he falls, a mere trunk, his straining muscles not yet relaxed, he gazes at his own arms upon the high branches. Hypseus' spear plunged Tages under ................................................................................................................ pg 19 with a mighty wound: he stays at the bottom, and in his body's stead blood came back up. Agenor—alas! poor wretch!—leapt down from the bank to snatch away his brother, and got a hold on him, but the wounded man weighed him down with his embrace as he sought to lift him: Agenor could have freed himself and escaped from the water, but had no wish to return without his brother. As Capetus rose with his right hand uplifted and threatened a blow, a swift whirlpool sucked him down in its knotted flood; now up to his face, and now to his hair he is concealed from view, now is his right hand nowhere to be seen, lastly his sword goes down into the precipitous waters. One death in a thousand shapes of doom harries the poor wretches. A Mycalesian spear sheathed itself in Agyrtes from behind; he looked around: there was none there who threw it, but, hurled by the current of the stream, the spear had fled and found blood.   The Aetolian steed too is pierced through its strong shoulders, and reared up high at the shock of death, and, hanging aloft, beats the air; yet the captain was not dismayed by the lightning stroke, but pities the horse and, groaning, himself removed the spear from the great wound and of his own accord let go the reins. Then on foot he goes back to the fight, surer of his footing and of his aim, and in unbroken series slays cowardly Nomius and brave Mimas and Lichas of Thisbe and Lycetus of Anthedon with his sword, and one of the twin sons of Thespius; to Panemus demanding the same fate he said 'Live on after him, and go off alone to the walls of accursed Thebes, doomed no more to deceive your unhappy parents. The gods be thanked that Bellona has with her bloody hand hurled the battle down into the rapid river: the waves drag off the cowards on their native stream, but Tydeus will not, a naked and unburied ghost, shriek tearfully by your funeral-pyres; you shall go as grim fodder for monsters of the deep, but him the earth bears and will resolve into her own elements.' ................................................................................................................ pg 21 Thus he presses hard upon his adversaries and embitters their wounds with his words; and now he rages with sword, now snatching up their floating spears he flings them at them: Theron, companion of unwedded Diana, he slays, and Gyas the country-dweller along with the wave-wanderer Erginus, and long-haired Herses and Cretheus who scorned the deep, he who had often sped past Caphereus' cloudcapped peak and the storms of Euboea in his little boat—what might not fate achieve? His breast pierced with steel, he rolls into the waves, shipwrecked alas! on Page 31 of 241

what waters! You too, Pharsalus, as you were crossing the river on your high chariot to join your comrades, a Dorian spear deprived of your horses and flung you on your back; them the violence of the cruel flood and the ill-starred union of the yoke drives under.   Come now, you learned sisters, grant me to know what toil laid great Hippomedon low in the swollen waters, why Ismenos himself was roused to arms: your task it is to look to the past and drive old age away from fame. Callow Crenaeus, born of Faunus and the nymph Ismenis, rejoiced to wage war in his mother's waters— Crenaeus, whose first day dawned in that trusted stream, whose native river it was, and whose cradle was its green banks. Thinking therefore that the Elysian sisters had no power there, joyfully now from this bank, now from that, he makes his way across his caressing grandfather: the waves bear up his steps, whether he go downstream or on a slanting path; nor when he goes against the current did the pools make any delay, and the river goes backwards with him. Not more gentle the sea that covers the waist of the Anthedonian guest, nor does Triton rise higher from the sea in summer, or Palaemon when he returns in haste to his dear mother's kisses and strikes his laggard dolphin. His weapons adorn his shoulders and his shield, glorious and gleaming with gold, is engraved with the origins of the Aonian race. Here is the Sidonian maid upon the winsome bullock's brilliant white back, now fearless of the sea, and now holding no more his horns in her delicate hands, while ................................................................................................................ pg 23 the sea plays around the extremities of her feet; you would think the bullock moved upon the shield and cut through the waves. The water adds credence, nor is the river a different colour from the graven sea. Then boldly he attacks Hippomedon with spears and insolent words alike: 'This is not Lerna teeming with poison, nor are these the waters that were drunk by Hercules' snakes: sacred is the river, yes sacred—and so you shall find it, poor fool!—on which you trespass, and its waters have nursed gods.' The other made no reply, but went on to meet him; the river reared up in a denser mass to oppose him and slowed his hand; that hand, however, drove home the wound thus hindered, and came to rest in his soul's inner chambers. The waters shuddered at the sinful deed, you woods on either side did weep, and the hollow banks resounded with deeper groans. From his dying lips this last cry came forth, 'Mother!': over this utterance of the poor boy's the river-waters closed.   But no sooner was his mother, surrounded by her company of grey-green sisters, smitten by doom than, loosing her hair in frenzy, she sprang from the glassy valley, and, all unkempt, tore with many a blow her face and breast and green robe. And when she burst through the waters, again and again with trembling voice she repeats her cry of 'Crenaeus': nowhere is he to be seen, but on the surface floats— Page 32 of 241

alas! all too surely must the unhappy mother know it—the tell-tale shield; he himself lies far away, where the sea first borders with Ismenos' final flood, mingling and changing his waters. So the abandoned Alcyone often laments her wave-wandering dwelling, her seadrenched home, when the cruel South wind has snatched her children and envious Thetis her shivering nestlings. Bereaved as she is once more she dives and, hidden deep-down beneath the waves, by more tracks than one, wherever a path shines bright beneath her as she goes, she seeks in vain the body of her luckless son, and though she seeks, none the less she still bewails; often the bristling river obstructs her way, and her sight is dimmed by the haze of blood before her. But still she flings herself against the weapons and the swords, and probes with her hands the helmets, and turns upon their backs the prostrate corpses; and not debarred from the sea she was on the point of entering Doris' bitter waters, until a troop of Nereids ................................................................................................................ pg 25 in pity pushed the body, now in the keeping of the waves of the deep, towards the mother's breast. Embracing him as if he were alive she carries him back in her arms and lays him down upon the couch-like bank and dries his wet face with her soft hair, and this she added to her keening: 'Is this the gift your half-divine parents and immortal grandfather have given you? Is this how you reign in our stream? Gentler to you, alas, poor boy, was the earth, though at variance and foreign to us, gentler too the waves of the sea, which brought your body back to the river and seemed to await your unhappy mother. Are these my features? These your fierce father's eyes? This your streaming grandfather's hair? Once you were the noble glory of the waters and the groves, and while you lived I was thought a greater goddess and by far the queen of the nymphs. Alas! where is that crowd of rivals for your hand that so lately stood around your mother's door, and the woodland nymphs that begged to serve you? Why, when I would do best to stay beneath the cruel deep, do I now bring you back in my sad embrace, Crenaeus, for your tomb and not for me? And are you not ashamed, and have no pity, hard-hearted father, for such a calamity? What deep and inescapable marsh has hidden you in the river's depths, what place where neither your grandson's bloody death nor my own laments have power to break through? See, Hippomedon rages and boasts himself master in the torrent that is yours, he it is before whom the banks and waters tremble, and his the blow by which the waves drink our blood: you are a laggard and too willing a slave to the grim Pelasgians. Come at least, cruel one, to the ashes and last rites of your kin, doomed not to light pyres here for your grandson alone.' With this she mingles lamentation and stains with much blood her guiltless breast, while her seablue sisters echo her wailing: just so, men say that Leucothea, not yet a nymph, mourned in the Isthmian haven, while over his mother with gasping breath the cold child spewed out the cruel sea. Page 33 of 241

  But father Ismenos, seated in his secret cavern, whence drink the winds and clouds and the rain-bearing bow is fed, and the year's harvest comes in greater fulness to the Tyrian fields, ................................................................................................................ pg 27 when far away he heard, though his own waters roared against them, his daughter's laments and unfamiliar groans, he raises his moss-rough neck and hair heavy with frost, and the full-grown pine fell from his loosened grip, and the urn was dropped and rolled away. Along the banks as he revealed his face, rough and hard with years of mud, the woods and lesser rivers gaze at him in wonder: so great of stature from the swelling flood he rises, lifting his foaming head and his breast streaming with rivulets that fall resounding from his blue-black beard. One of the nymphs meets him and tells her father of their kinswoman's tears and of his grandson's fate, and points out the bloody author of the deed and presses his right hand: he stood towering in the deep river, and striking with his hands his face and his horns entwined with green sedge, thus with troubled countenance he begins to speak with a deep-throated voice: 'Is this the reward you give me, ruler of the gods above, for so often playing host to you and being accomplice to your deeds—nor am I afraid to tell of them—and because I saw you now with shameless horns upon your counterfeited brow, now Phoebe forbidden to unyoke her chariot, and the funeral pyre that was your wedding gift and the lightning bolts deceived? And because I reared the foremost of your sons? Or do they too hold gratitude but cheap? But true it is that by this stream the Tirynthian crawled, and with these waters I quenched Bromius for you as he burned. See what blood and what corpses I carry on my stream, covered by an unbroken roof of weapons and the high-piled dead. Battle upon battle possesses my every pool, every wave reeks of sin, and the ghosts of the newly slain wander above and below and join the twin banks in darkness. I, that famed river made to resound with holy cries, whose praise it is that I wash in my pure stream the soft wands and horns of Bacchus, now clogged with corpses seek a constricted path to the sea; not Strymon's unholy pools flood with so much gore, not foam-bearing Hebrus is more deeply dyed when Gradivus wages war. Do not the waters that nourished you rebuke you, Liber, and call you to action, you who have long since forgotten your ancestors? Or is it better to give peace to Oriental Hydaspes? But you, who boastfully rejoice in the ................................................................................................................ pg 29 spoils and blood of a guiltless boy, you shall not return as victor from this river to mighty Inachos or cruel Mycenae, unless it is I who am mortal and you whose blood is drawn from heaven.'   Thus he spoke, gnashing his teeth, and gave the signal to advance to waters raging of their own accord: cold Cithaeron sends auxiliaries from the highlands and Page 34 of 241

orders his ancient snows and winter stores to go forth; even as he goes, his brother Asopus combines with these his secret forces and supplies his waters through widegaping veins. Ismenos himself scours the bowels of the hollow earth and shakes out his pools and sluggish lakes and slothful meres, and raising his greedy face to the stars he drains the dripping clouds and dries the air. And already he flowed over the banks and higher than the mounds on either side, already Hippomedon, who but lately stood clear of the river even in midstream, his arms and shoulders untouched by the waters, marvels that the shallows have grown and he himself has shrunk. On this side and on that the billows swell and a spirited storm arises, with all the force of the sea when it drains the Pleiads or hurls black Orion against the trembling sailors. Just so the Teumesian river tosses Hippomedon about on a flood like the surge of the sea, and time and time again is thrown up by the boss of the shield on his left arm, and comes over the buckler in a black tide, foaming and leaping, and, its waters broken, is poured back, only to return in a still greater pile; and not content with the liquid mass, it plucks at the trees that hold the crumbling banks in place, and whirls along aged beams and rocks torn from its bed. The ill-matched battle between river and man stands motionless, for all the god's resentment; for the man neither retreats nor is broken by any threats, and, advancing, marches into the oncoming waves and, with his shield held before him, divides the waters. He stands firm while the ground flees his steps, and with leg-muscles taut he hangs on to the slippery rocks, and, straining at the knees and clinging, he keeps his foothold though the treacherous mud undermines it, and thus he even taunts him: 'Whence comes this sudden wrath of yours, Ismenos? Or from what flood have you drawn this strength, ................................................................................................................ pg 31 you who are slave to an unwarlike god, and have known blood only in the revelry of women, when Bacchus' pipe of boxwood bellows and the mothers in their frenzy defile the three-yearly rite?' He had spoken; and the god, his face murky with rain and a cloud of floating sand, assailed him in answer. Nor does he rage in words, but three times and four, with all the strength of anger and divinity, he rose and struck his adversary's breast with an oak-trunk: at last Hippomedon turned his steps and the shield was knocked out of his hand, and slowly he turns and retreats. The waves press on after him, and the river in triumph follows his slithering figure; the Tyrians too with rocks and a hail of steel harry him from above, driving him back from either bank. What is he to do, beset by war and water? The unfortunate man has now neither a means of flight nor the chance of a glorious death.   Protruding from a ledge of the grassy bank there stood an ash-tree, on doubtful ground between the waves and land, but more friendly to the waters, and with its mighty shadow it had taken possession of the stream. The help that this tree proferred—for how could he lay hands upon the land?—he seized with his claw-like Page 35 of 241

right hand: nor did it endure his dragging, but overcome by a weight above greater than that which held it down, it gave way, and, released by the roots whereby it enters the waters and by that with which it bit at the dry earth, it hurled itself and the bank down from above upon the terrified man, and with the bridge created by the sudden crash barricaded the hero, who could resist no further. Hither the waves rush all together, and an inescapable abyss of mud and hollow whirlpools rises and falls. Now around the captain's shoulders and now his neck the twisting chasm goes: here at last he is compelled to admit his end is come and cries out: 'Will you, famed Mars—for shame!—drown in a river this life, and shall I sink beneath the sluggish lakes and pools, like some keeper of the flock caught in the cruel waters of a sudden spate? Have I so little deserved to fall by the sword?' At last, moved by his prayers, Juno approaches the Thunderer: 'How long, famed sire of the gods, how long will you afflict the wretched ................................................................................................................ pg 33 sons of Inachus? Already Pallas even hates Tydeus, already has Delphi, robbed of its seer, fallen silent: behold, my own Hippomedon, whose race springs from Mycenae, whose home is Argos, who honours Juno before all things—is it thus that I keep faith with mine own?—shall he go as prey for the sea's cruel beasts? Surely you promised tombs and a last resting-place for the conquered: where then are the Cecropian flames that follow the battle, where then is Theseus' fire?' He does not spurn his consort's just request, and lightly turned his eyes back to Cadmus' walls, and, seeing his nod, the waters came to rest. Hippomedon's shoulders, drained of blood, and wounded breast lie plain to see: as when a storm, raised high by the winds, has subsided, the rocks and the land the sailors sought for rise up, and the sea retreats from the threatening cliffs. What good is it to have gained the bank? The Phoenician host presses him on every side with a cloud of spears, and there are no coverings on his limbs, and he is wholly exposed to death; then his wounds stream, and the blood which long stood numb beneath the river, is released by the naked air and looses the slender openings that gape in the veins, and his footsteps stumble, made unsure by the chill of the waters. He falls, as on Getic Haemus falls an oak, its foliage mingling with heaven, either before the fury of Boreas or from the crumbling of its wood, and looses its hold on the vast air. As it totters the grove and the very mountain tremble in dread to see on what ground it will fall, what woods it will crush in a line. Yet no one had the boldness to touch either his sword or his helmet; they can scarcely believe their eyes and shudder at the monstrous corpse, and come up close with swords tightly grasped.   At last Hypseus went up and drew out the sword-hilt from the grip that continued in death, and loosened his grim face from the helm. And he goes through the Aonian lines displaying the helmet held high upon the glittering spear-point and boastfully

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shouts: 'Here is fierce Hippomedon, here the dread avenger of accursed Tydeus and the conqueror of the gory flood!' Great-hearted Capaneus knew him from afar and checked his sorrow, and poising his huge spear with his arm, he ................................................................................................................ pg 35 exhorts it: 'Do only you, O my own right arm, assist me, you the divinity always by my side in battle and whom none can flee, on you do I call, you only do I, who scorn the gods, revere.' Thus he spoke, and himself answered his prayer. The quivering firwood spear goes through the shield and through the breastplate's woven bronze, and at last finds out the soul beneath the mighty breast: down he falls with a crash as loud as a lofty tower gives, when, shaken to its foundations by countless blows, it sinks and opens up the breached city to the conquerors. Standing over him he said: 'We do not deny you your glorious death: turn hither your gaze, I am he who dealt the blow; go now in joy, with much greater boast than the other ghosts!' Then he seizes the sword and shield, and plucks away the other's own shield, and holding them over the lifeless Hippomedon 'Receive, great captain,' he says, 'your enemy's spoils and your own together: your ashes will have their glory, and your ghost its proper station; meanwhile, until we pay you the fires that are your due, with this tomb your avenger Capaneus covers your limbs.' Thus impartial Mars in war's cruel exchange wove mutual wounds for Greeks and Sidonians alike: here fierce Hippomedon and there Hypseus, no slower to the fight, is mourned, and to each side the other's grief gives comfort.   Meanwhile, her sleep troubled by gloomy visions, the stern mother of Tegea's archer youth, her hair left flowing all around and her feet, as custom bids, unshod, was making her way before dawn to Ladon's chill waters, in order to cleanse in the living stream her ill-omened sleep. For often through nights frenzied by her weight of cares, she would see even the spoils which she herself had dedicated fallen from the shrines, and herself wandering among the tombs of strangers, exiled from the groves and driven from the Dryad folk, and often too her son's new-won triumphs returning from war, and his weapons and well-known steed, and companions, but never himself, and she would see that now the quiver had dropped from her shoulders and that her very images and familiar likenesses were aflame. But that night seemed to the unhappy woman to portend special cause for fear, and roused up the mother in all ................................................................................................................ pg 37 her breast. There was an oak, well-known through the forests of Arcadia for its fruitful strength, which she herself had chosen from the crowd of the groves and had consecrated to Diana of the Crossways, and by her worship had given it the power of divinity: here she would lay aside her bows and weary arrows, and would fasten up the boars' curving weapons and the skins of flayed lions and antlers as huge as Page 37 of 241

mighty woods. There was scarcely room for the branches, so much do the rustic spoils encircle everything, and the blaze of steel obstructs the green shade. This tree, when by chance she was returning from the slopes wearied by long hunting, triumphantly bearing the newly severed head of an Erymanthian she-bear, she sees cut down with many a wound, its foliage fallen and its branches dewy with blood, and dying on the ground; in answer to her questions a nymph told of the fury of blood-stained Maenads and her enemy Lyaeus. While she groans and surrounds her breast with imagined blows, her eyes shattered the night, and she leaps from her sorrowful bed, and searches in her eyes for the illusory tears.   And so when by dipping her hair three times in the river she had atoned for the abomination and added the words that give solace to the anxious cares of mothers, she rushes to the shrine of armour-bearing Diana under the morning dew, and rejoices to see the well-known woods and the oak in place. Then she stands upon the threshold of the goddess and, all in vain, utters this prayer: 'Maiden, who have power over the groves, whose unwomanly standards and grim service I follow, disdaining my sex, in a manner no way Greek—nor ever did Colchis, a people of cruel customs, or the Amazonian troops revere you more—if never I performed the revels or the sport of wanton night and, though defiled by a hateful union, none the less I have not handled the smooth thyrsos wands or soft spinning-wool, but even after wedlock remained in the forbidding wilds, still a huntress as before, unmarried in my heart; and if I had no thought to hide my guilt in secret caves, but showed you my child and laid him trembling before your feet, confessing all; nor did he disgrace his lineage, but crawled forthwith upon ................................................................................................................ pg 39 my bow, and, though a babe, with tears and his first cries demanded arrows: him, pray—what do these nights of fear and these dreams portend?—him, I beg you, who now goes off to battle full of confident hope, but trusting too much alas! in your protection, grant me to see victorious in war, or, if I ask too much, grant me only to see! [If not victorious, grant me to see him at least in defeat!] Here let him toil and bear your arms. Suppress the dire signs of evil; what power to rule in our forests, O Diana of the groves, have hostile Maenads and the gods of Thebes? Ah me! Why deep in my heart—and may I prove an unavailing prophet of what is yet to come!— why deep in my heart do I interpret the oak as a terrible omen? But if the presages that sleep sends my unhappy mind are true, I pray you, by your mother's travail, merciful Dictynna, and by your brother's splendour, pierce with all your arrows this ill-starred womb; let him hear first of his unhappy mother's death.' She spoke, and sees that even the stone face of snow-cold Diana has grown wet with the release of tears.   The fierce goddess leaves her even now stretched out upon the threshold of the shrine and sweeping the cold altar with her hair, and with one step she surmounts Page 38 of 241

Maenalos that puts forth his leaves amid the stars, and directs her leap to Cadmus' walls, where heaven's inner path shines for the gods alone, and from high up she sees all the earth close together. And now, almost half-way there, she was keeping to her course past Parnassus' leafy ridges, when in a glittering cloud she sees her brother, not with his usual aspect: he was returning in sorrow from the Echionian war, mourning the death of his sunken prophet. The zone of heaven turned red as the celestial bodies met, and at their holy conjunction radiance from each blazed up at once, and their bows met as quiver answered quiver. He began first: 'I know, my sister, that it is the Labdacian ranks you go to find, and the Arcadian who dares battles too doughty for him. His loyal mother asks it: would that Fate might grant us to indulge her prayer! See, I myself—for shame!—have looked powerless upon my worshipper's arms and the holy garlands as they went ................................................................................................................ pg 41 down into the void of Tartarus, and upon his face upturned towards me; nor did I stay his chariot and close the chasm in the earth, cruel as I am and unworthy of worship. You see my cave grieving, sister, and my speechless shrine: this alone is the reward I pay to my devoted companion. And you too, in your turn, should not persist persist in bringing aid that will come to nothing, and continue in vain your mournful labours. The young man's end is come, this decree of fate cannot be changed, nor do your brother's oracles deceive you on a matter that admits of doubt.' 'But glory at the end I can surely seek for him', the maiden, dismayed, replied in turn, 'and solace for his cruel death, nor will that sinner, whoever he be who shall stain his unholy hand with the blood of a guiltless boy, escape his punishment, and for my arrows too may it be lawful to work violence.' Thus she spoke and moves upon her way, and grudgingly offered her brother her cheek to kiss, and with hostile intent she made for Thebes.   But with princes slain on either side the battle grows greater and more bloody as desire for vengeance rouses mutual fury. On one hand the squadrons of Hypseus, a troop forlorn of its leader, but on the other roars more loudly the lost Hippomedon's orphaned host; straining forwards they offer their bodies to the sword, equally eager in their frenzy to drain the blood of others and to pour forth their own, nor does their footing change: line stands locked with phalanx, and to their bloody foe they give up their lives and deny their backs: when gliding through the air the swift child of Latona stood upon the crest of the Dircaean mountain; the hills recognize her and the woods tremble before the goddess they know only too well, where once bare-breasted she had with cruel arrows reduced to nothing Niobe's fruitfulness, wearying her bow.   As for the boy, his hunter-horse, untrained in warfare and enduring then for the first time the rein, was sweeping him along between the battle-lines, proud to be there now that the slaughter had begun: around it goes a striped tiger-skin, and it Page 39 of 241

beats with gilded claws upon its shoulders. Its neck sits upon a bed of muscle, as does the controlled exuberance of its mane, and near the top of its breast is tossed a crescent-shaped ................................................................................................................ pg 43 necklace of snow-white tusks, tokens of his woodland hunting. The boy himself wears a cloak twice steeped in Oebalian purple and a tunic gleaming with gold (this work alone had his mother woven) gathered in at the hips by a slender cord, and, overburdened by too great a sword, he had let his shield hang down on the steed's left shoulder: the gold buckle of the belt that hangs with its smooth clasp around his mail-clad flank delights him, as does hearing the sound of his scabbard and the tremulous rattling of the quiver and the chains let down from his helmet peak over his back; from time to time he gaily tosses his flowing plume and the brilliant gemstudded helm. But when the helmet grows hot and breathless in the fight, he sets his head free and, bare-headed, rises plain to see: then sweetly shines his hair, and sweetly his eyes that quiver with rays of light, and the cheeks whose slowness he himself laments, cheeks not yet changed by the rose-coloured down. Nor does he take pleasure in praise of his beauty, and with many grim and threatening looks he harshens his features, yet the anger becomes him and preserves the comeliness of his brow. Unbidden the Theban soldiery, remembering their sons, make way for him, and turn away the weapons that they hold poised; but he presses hard upon them and, though they pity him, he assails them with his merciless javelins. Him even the Sidonian nymphs along the ridges of Teumesus praise as he fights, winning favour by the very dust and sweat, and they breathe out in sighs the prayer they cannot speak.   As she looks upon this sight a gentle sorrow steals deep into Diana's heart, and, her cheeks ravished by tears, she says: 'What escape for you now, what escape from death near at hand shall I, your faithful goddess, seek? Was it to such battles as these that you willingly hastened, cruel and pitiful boy? Alas! a courage immature and precipitate won you over, and thoughts of glory that urge men to a spirited death! Long since too constricting, no doubt, as your manhood approached, my little one, was the Maenalian grove, and the paths through the lairs of wild beasts that were scarcely safe without your mother, she whose woodland weapons and bow you for all your forwardness had not as yet the strength to wield. And now she wails out her mighty rancour at my altars and wearies my ................................................................................................................ pg 45 unhearing door and threshold: you rejoice at the sweet trumpets and the shrieks of battle, happy and, though only your wretched mother sees it, doomed to die.' Yet, lest she should be present at his death and prove to be of no use to his final glory, she comes into the midst of the press enclosed in a tawny-coloured mist, and first Page 40 of 241

she steals the light arrows from the back of the daring lad and fills his quiver with her heavenly darts, none of which falls to the ground without drawing blood; then she sprinkles his limbs with liquid ambrosia, and sprinkles his horse, lest his body be defiled by any wound before his death, and with this she mingles sacred spells and conspiring whispers, which she herself, by night in secret caverns, teaches the women of Colchis, showing them the savage herbs they seek.   Then indeed he draws out his bow and flies like a bolt of fire around the field, nor is he ruled by reason, forgetful of homeland, and of mother, and of himself, and uses to excess his heaven-given weapons: like a lion, whose Gaetulian mother herself provides him with bloody food while he is young, when first he feels the mane grow thick upon his neck, and has looked grim-faced at his new claws, he scorns to be fed and, breaking forth at last, revels, now free, in the open plains, and has no thought of returning to the cave.   Come, whom do you lay low, unrelenting boy, with your Parrhasian bow? Your first shaft overwhelmed Coroebus of Tanagra, passing along a narrow path between the bottom edge of the helmet and the topmost one of the shield: a wave of blood stands still in his throat, and his face grows red with the fire of the accursed venom. More cruelly was Eurytion slain, for in his left eye-ball the cunning steel buried itself with its triple barb. Drawing out the arrow, full as it was of melting eye, he began to make for his assailant: but what might not the gods' strong weapons do? The wound was doubled in the other eye, completing his darkness; and yet relentlessly he pursues his foe where memory leads, until he trips and falls down on Idas' prostrate form: here amid the cruel war's dead the poor wretch ................................................................................................................ pg 47 writhes and begs both friend and foe for death. To his tally he adds the sons of Abas, Argus, glorious with his long hair, and Cydon, whom his sad sister loved with a guilty love. [The groin of one he had gored and lain open with his arrow …] The other one he pierced through both temples with a shaft that entered from the side: here the steel tip burst through, and there the swift plume was stayed; from both sides the blood ran down. To none do the harsh arrows grant reprieve from death, his beauty did not shield Lamus, not his priestly fillet Lygdus, nor yet Aeolus his ripening years: Lamus is transfixed in the face, Lygdus weeps for his wounded groin, and you, Aeolus, pierced by an arrow, bewail your snow-white brow. You steep Euboea bore, and you had shining Thisbe sent, and this youth, green Amyclae, you will not welcome home. Not once does his hand miss the mark, no missile flew unaided by heaven's power, nor does his right hand rest, and each shaft that follows unites its twang with the one before. Who would believe that one blow or one hand was dealing destruction? Now he aims the blows, and now, shifting unpredictably from side to side, he changes the direction of his attack, now he flees before their onset and turns to face them with his bow alone. Page 41 of 241

  And now in wonder and indignation the sons of Labdacus were combining, and first Amphion, of Jupiter's glorious blood, still unaware what deaths the other dealt upon the plain, cries out: 'How long will you profit from fate's delay, you boy who will leave sorely bereft your worthy parents? Indeed, in your spirit the swelling pride and rashness grow, while no one holds a duel with you or your trivial fighting worthy of war, and you are left as one below the notice of their wrath. Go, return to Arcadia, and mingling there with boys of your own age, while here fierce Mars rages his fill in the real dust, play battles at home: but if the sad glory of a tomb moves you, we shall grant you one: you shall die by the doom that warriors die.' Long since the grim son of Atalanta blazes with keener taunts against him—Amphion had not yet ceased—and now begins: 'The arms I bear are even late against Thebes, ................................................................................................................ pg 49 whose host this is; who is so much of a boy as to refuse to make war on such as these? The stock and fierce seed of the Arcadian race, not of Thebes, you see before you: I was not brought forth in the silence of the night by a Thyiad mother enslaved to Echionian Bacchus, never have I worn the shameful turban on my head, or waved in my hand your degrading spear. From the first I learned to crawl across the frozen rivers and enter the fearful lairs of huge wild beasts and—why should I say more? My mother always carries spear and bow, your fathers beat the hollow drums.' This Amphion did not brook, and he whirls his huge spear at his face and mouth even as he speaks: but the steed was startled by the ghastly gleam of steel and twisted itself and its master to the side and, swerving, let the greedy spear go flying past. This made Amphion wilder and, sword drawn, he was making for the youth when Latona's daughter flung herself in the middle of the plain and stood full-faced before his eyes to block his way.   Close by the young man's side, and bound to him by a blameless love, was Maenalian Dorceus, to whom the mother had entrusted her fears for the war and the boy's rash youth. Disguised beneath his features the goddess then addresses the lad: 'It is enough, Parthenopaeus, enough to have harried thus far the Ogygian bands; now spare your unhappy mother, spare such gods as favour you.' And he, unterrified, replies: 'Let me, most loyal Dorceus—I shall ask for nothing more— cut to the ground this man, who bears weapons that rival my own, and dress and resounding reins like mine. The reins I shall ply, the garments will hang on the high doorway of Diana of the Crossways, and I shall make of the captive quiver a gift for my mother.' Latona's daughter heard him, and smiled amidst her tears.   In a far distant part of Heaven Venus, embracing her Gradivus, had long since seen her, and while in distress she reminds her lord of Thebes and Cadmus and the grandsons of their beloved Harmonia, and with timely words stirs the Page 42 of 241

................................................................................................................ pg 51 resentment stifled in his silent breast: 'Can you not see her, Gradivus, wanton in her maidenhood and bearing herself to and fro in the midst of the troops of warriors? And how in her audacity she orders the lines and Mars' own standards? See, she even presents and offers for slaughter so many heroes of our race. Is it to her that valour, to her that battle-fury has been entrusted? All that remains for you, then, is to kill the woodland deer!' Moved to battle by her just complaints the Lord of War leapt down: as he plunged through the shifting void his only companion was Wrath, for all the other Madnesses are sweating at the toil of war. Without delay he stands by Leto's sorrowing child and rebukes her with a harsh warning: 'These are not the battles which the father of the gods gives you; unless you leave forthwith, shameless creature, the armour-bearing plain, you will learn that not even Pallas is a match for this right arm.' What might she do against him? On one side the spear of Mars compels her, on another, little one, your distaff, now quite full, and over there Jupiter's forbidding face: thereupon she departs, conquered by modesty alone.   But father Mars looks around the Ogygian bands, and rouses the terrifying Dryas, the founder of whose line was stormy Orion, and from him (hence his fury) he had inherited a hatred for Diana's companions. With his sword he assails and throws in disarray the Arcadians, and strips their leader of his defences; in a long train fall the people that dwell in Cyllene and shady Tegea, and the Aepytian captains and the Telphusian troops. But him too the boy trusts he can lay low, even though his right arm is tired, and does not husband his strength: and so this way and that he wearily changed one troop for another; a thousand forebodings of doom crowd in on him, and the black clouds of death pass before his eyes. And now the poor lad could see but few of his companions and the real Dorceus, and now he feels his strength little by little drain away, and feels too his shoulders lighter and the quivers emptied out; and now less and less can he bear up his weapons, and even to himself seems a mere boy, when Dryas blazed before him, fearful with the terrible light of his shield: a ................................................................................................................ pg 53 sudden tremor wrenched the Arcadian's face and inwards; and as when a white swan has seen above it the bird that bears the fierce thunder-bolt, it longs for Strymon's bank to gape wide open, and draws its trembling wings into its breast: thus when the youth sees cruel Dryas' bulk he now feels not the wrath of battle, but a shudder that announces death. But still he labours at his weapons, pale-faced and praying in vain to the gods above and to Diana of the Crossways, and makes ready his unanswering bow. And now he urgently plies his weapon and, bending at the right elbow, brings the bow into contact with the arrow-point and his breast with the string, when the Aonian captain's spear, sent whirling with a mighty throw, comes

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straight at him and cuts the slanted fastenings of the resounding string: his shot is lost, and as his hands slacken their grip the bow straightens out and the dart falls unavailing. Then in confusion the unhappy lad lets go both reins and arms, unable to bear the wound which had gone through the coverings on his right shoulder and the yielding skin; another spear follows and, cutting the tendons of the knee, stays the charger's flight. Then falls Dryas himself—a wonder to all!—and never knows himself wounded: one day the one who threw the spear and the reasons will be revealed.   But the boy, limp in his comrades' arms, is carried to a distant part of the field and—alas for the innocence of youth!—though dying, he wept for his fallen horse; with the helmet loosed his face fell forward, and the ailing beauty goes out from his quivering eyes; and though they seize his hair and shake his head three times and four, still the neck refuses to stay upright, and, dreadful sight for which Thebes itself might weep, crimson from his snow-white breast the blood went forth. At last, although his sobbing breath broke up his words, he utters this: 'I am failing, go Dorceus, console my unhappy mother. She in truth, if care brings true forebodings, has already seen this sad horror either in her dreams or in omens. But do you with dutiful deceit keep in suspense her fears and long play her false; nor come upon her suddenly or when she holds a weapon in her hand, and at the last, when you are finally forced to confess it, say this: "I have what I deserve, my ................................................................................................................ pg 55 mother; exact against your will this your punishment: I seized arms though still a boy, and when you held me back, would not be still; nor even spared your pain in battle. Live on therefore, and rather be angry with my rash courage, and now lay aside your fears. In vain from Lycaeus' hill you anxiously look out, to see if any sound comes through the clouds from afar, or any dust raised up by our marching troop: cold and on the naked earth I lie, and you are nowhere near at hand to hold my face and catch my departing breath. And yet, my childless mother, this lock of hair"', and with his right hand he held it out to be cut, '"you shall take in place of my whole body, this lock of hair, which all for nothing, though I disdained it, you would often comb. To this you will give due burial, and, amid the rites, remember that none should blunt my weapons with untrained hands, or any more lead my beloved hounds through any glens. But burn these arms that brought ill fortune on my first battle, or else hang them up as a reproach to the ungrateful Diana."'

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online COMMENTARY

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

........................................................................................................................... PG 57

COMMENTARY

1–195 THE STRUGGLE FOR TYDEUS' CORPSE 1–31. On the battlefield all recoil before the bestial crime of Tydeus, but Eteocles encourages the Thebans to fight for possession of the corpse.   Book 8 ended with Tydeus gnawing the head of the man who had fatally wounded him, Melanippus: this so horrified his patron Minerva that she withheld from him the immortality his other deeds had earned. This tale of cannibalism is an integral part of the Theban legend and already appears in the Cyclic Thebaid (schol. on Il. 5. 126). In the usual version Amphiaraus, intending to punish Tydeus as the champion of an ill-fated war, maliciously brought him the head in order to tempt him into disgracing himself. Statius, however, portrays Amphiaraus as a guiltless holy man unwillingly caught up in an impious war; so his Tydeus, the instrument of Tisiphone (8. 757 f.), yields to passionate anger and demands the head himself, a significant adaptation of traditional material to the themes of the poem (ten Kate, pp. 90 ff.). Tydeus' grisly sin dehumanizes him, reducing to the status of a wild beast one who should have been immortal: see R. Rieks, Homo, Humanus, Humanitas (Munich, 1967), pp. 214 ff. Though the crime disgusts both armies, and even the war god, the tyrant Eteocles cynically harnesses the Thebans' indignation to his own ends. The terrible contagion of sin which characterizes this fratricidal war is seen in the way Tydeus' madness infects the Thebans (1 asperat … rabies, 25 furor), so that they too become no better than beasts, the carrion birds of 27 ff.   A similar incident from a real war is related by Livy (22. 51. 9) and Silius (6. 41 ff.); the latter is probably also indebted to Statius (P. Venini, RIL 103 (1969), 778 ff.). All three authors describe the cannibalism as madness, but what Statius condemns as savagery Silius approves as patriotism (6. 42 'virtutis sacram rabiem'). See further E. L. Barrett, CPh 54 (1959), 10–34. Compare also Tacitus' story of the accusation levelled against the delator Regulus that 'post caedem Galbae, datam interfectori Pisonis pecuniam a Regulo, adpetitumque morsu Pisonis caput' (Hist. 4. 42: see further G. Williams, pp. 221 f.). The Page 1 of 195

gory legend was popular in art: see J. D. Beazley, JHS 67 (1947), 1–9, for two bell-craters depicting Athena leading Athanasia away from Tydeus, and I. Krauskopf, 'Der Thebanische Sagenkreis' (Mainz, 1974), pp. 43 ff., for the famous Etruscan terracotta relief of the scene (from Pyrgi, c. 510–485 BC). Statius' own account inspired Dante's description of Count Ugolino and Ruggieri (Inferno 32. 125 ff.; the borrowing is acknowledged in the simile of 130 f. 'Non altrimenti Tideo si rose / le tempie a Melanippo per disdegno'), and this in its turn is illustrated on a terracotta by Pierino da Vinci (c. 1550: J. Shearman, Mannerism (London, 1967), p. 186) in a curious echo of the Pyrgi relief. 1. Aonios the Aones were a native Boeotian people defeated by Cadmus, but permitted to remain and mingle with his colonists at Thebes (Paus. 9. ........................................................................................................................... pg 58 5. 1, Strabo 9. 2. 3). If Valckenaer's conjecture is correct, Statius may have seen πεδία … / πυροφόρ' Ἀόνων‎ at Eur. Phoen. 643 f., a primary model; but the earliest undoubted use of the adjective is Call. fr. 572 ἀρότας κύματος Ἀονίου‎, where see Pfeiffer. This piece of Hellenistic learning (cf. Call. Hymn 4. 75, fr. 2a, 30 Pf (Add. II), Ap.Rh. 3. 1178, 1185) seems to have entered Latin poetry through the neoterics, the first extant example being Catul. 61. 28 'Aonios specus'. It passes into Virgil's Theocritean Eclogues (6. 65, 10. 12, both times in connection with Gallus), and is thereafter common in verse, especially Ovid and Statius (cf. 32, 333, 542, 867). See further Clausen, p. 129 n. 59. So too for Milton Helicon is 'th' Aonian Mount' (PL 1. 15), and Pope refers to the Muses as 'th' Aonian Maids' (Messiah 4).   rabies audita 'the madness heard', meaning 'the news of the madness', just as ab urbe condita means 'from the foundation of the city' and 'Paradise Lost'—a conscious Latinism —means 'the loss of Paradise'. The Latin idiom, however, produces a powerful effect lost in translation—here madness itself is said to enrage the Thebans. See H.–Sz., pp. 393 f., N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 37. 13 and 2. 4. 10, Coleman on Silv. 4. 4. 40. 1 f. rabies … cruenti / Tydeos recalling the 'rabiem … cruentam' (1. 408) which filled him on his first meeting with Polynices and which is an integral part of the ira which characterizes him (1. 41). The epithet (cf. 8. 478 f., 530 f.) is here shockingly literal, as Melanippus' blood is on his lips. Its origin lies in Homer's μιαιφόνος‎ (of Ares, at Il. 5. 31, 455, 844: cf. Theb. 7. 264 'Mavorte cruento', 8. 231 f.), but Statius also has in mind Virg. A. 1. 471 'Tydides multa vastabat caede cruentus'. Tydeus, son of king Oeneus of Calydon, killed his brother and fled to Argos. There, after first quarrelling with the exiled Polynices, he became his faithful friend and ally, and, like him, a son-in-law of Adrastus (1. 401 ff.: cf. the account given by his son Diomedes at Il. 14. 109 ff.). His greatest achievement was his single-handed defeat of an ambush of fifty men sent by Eteocles after his embassy to Thebes to reclaim Polynices' throne (2. 363 ff., where see Mulder: cf. 65–67 n., and also Il. 4. 370 ff., 5. 800 ff.,

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10. 284 ff.). He is for Statius a great but imperfect hero, a failed Hercules: see Legras, pp. 214 ff., ten Kate, pp. 82 ff., Vessey, pp. 95 ff., 141 ff., 198 ff., 223 ff., 283 ff. 2. ingemuere iacentem cf. Virg. Ecl. 5. 27 f. 'tuum Poenos etiam ingemuisse leones / interitum … loquuntur'. The expected pathos of iacentem (cf. 878, 8. 602, Virg. A. 9. 485 f., Luc. 4. 803) is undermined by minus. Statius intends us to remember and contrast the fate of the pious Maeon's body (3. 112 f. 'nudoque sub axe iacentem / et nemus et tristis volucrum reverentia servat'): the carrion birds spared Maeon out of respect, but men like vultures will defile Tydeus (27 ff.). Cf. 102 f. n. 3. Inachidae cf. 176, 512. The Argives are so called after their first king, the river-god Inachus (Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 781 ff.).   culpant found in e.g. Plautus (Mos. 180, As. 510), elegy (e.g. Prop. 2. 1. 49) and even once in the Aeneid of Virgil (2. 602), but rather colloquial in tone and avoided in classical prose, where reprehendo is preferred. It becomes much commoner in the Silver period (in verse cf. 3. 19, 712, V. Fl. 1. 244). 3 f. rupisse queruntur / fas odii cf. Tac. Ann. 1. 42 'hostium quoque ius et ........................................................................................................................... pg 59 sacra legationis et fas gentium rupistis' for a similar extension of the common phrase rumpere foedus (Cic. Balb. 5. 13, Lucr. 2. 254, Liv. 3. 25. 5, Hor. Ep. 1. 3. 35). fas odii, a trenchant and memorable phrase, means the limits placed on odium by fas. As Lactantius ad loc. explains, hatred should end with death (cf. also 12. 573 f.). 4 ff. Note the crescendo: the Thebans are horrified, even Tydeus' allies (ipsi etiam) are shocked, indeed even the cruellest of the gods, despite his battle-fury, is revolted. Compare the parallel address to Mars on the death of Capaneus at 11. 40 f. and Virgil's powerful apostrophe to Jupiter at A. 12. 503 f. See also Schetter, p. 25, von Moisy, pp. 12 f. 4. divum implacidissime an unexpected phrase, as gods are traditionally 'serene' (placidi): contrast Ov. Met. 11. 623 'placidissime, Somne, deorum', Silv. 5. 4. 1 'iuvenis placidissime divum' and for the phrasing cf. also Silv. 3. 3. 43, 167, Ach. 1. 729. The archaic genitive plural (cf. 511, 752) is discussed by Williams on Virg. A. 5. 174. Other examples in Statius are (nouns) socium (3. 64), avum (3. 560), equum (4. 730), Graium (9. 158), Argivum (10. 540), (adjectives) parvum (1. 609) and magnanimum (2. 733). 5. opus … furebas the construction is perhaps most easily understood if we begin with Virg. A. 12. 680 'hunc, oro, sine me furere ante furorem': this is a 'cognate' accusative, because furere and furorem are related (cf. 'pugnare pugnam' or such English phrases as 'to fight the good fight'). The cognate accusative should be understood as a sub-class of

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the 'internal' accusative, in which the infinitive and noun need not necessarily be related (e.g. 'pugnare proelium', to 'fight a battle'). See further K.–S. 1. 275 ff., H.–Sz. 38 f. Here, as often, Statius is greatly extending the use of the internal accusative: see 722 f., 724 nn. The much less colourful ferebas of P is no doubt a simplification made by a scribe who did not understand the construction.   Gradive a cult title of Mars, derived by the Roman etymologists from gradi or gradus (Servius on A. 3. 35, Festus, p. 97 Müller). This seems unlikely, however, since the a in gradior is short, while Gradivus is scanned with a long a in all but a handful of instances (Ov. Met. 6. 427, V. Fl. 5. 650, Sil. 15. 15). Boehm (RE 7. 2. 1688) dismisses as still more doubtful the derivations from 'gravem deum' (Servius) and κραδαίνειν‎ ('a vibratione hastae', Festus). The word's origins thus remain unknown ('ein Fremdwort unbekannter Herkunft', Walde, i, p. 616), though E. Norden, Alt Germanien (Leipzig, 1934), pp. 105, 280, is perhaps right to suggest a Thracian or Illyrian origin (cf. 439 n.). Thrace is the traditional home of Ares as early as Homer: see Il. 13. 301, Od. 8. 361, RE 2. 642 f. See further Coleman on Silv. 4. 2. 47. 6. offensum virtute the oxymoron is so daring that scholars have tried various emendations ('offensum feritate' (Müller), 'offensa virtute' (Garrod) ). As G. M. Lee, Latomus 24 (1965), 995, explains, Mars would normally applaud a hero's blood-thirsty courage but here is shocked and offended by an excessive virtus which paradoxically turns a vir into a fera. Mozley compares V. Fl. 2. 647 'effera virtus' and Theb. 11. 1 'iniqua virtus', but 'in both cases the epithet helps' by making the paradox more explicit. ........................................................................................................................... pg 60 7. ora … torsisse torsisse is used by syllepsis with both ora and iugales. The phrase 'torquere ora' seems modelled on e.g. Cic. Luc. 80 'cum oculum torsisset' and Virg. A. 7. 399 'sanguineam torquens aciem'. For the 'poetic' plural of parts of the body cf. 74, 156 (vultus), 309 (pectora) etc. and see P. Maas, Kleine Schriften (Munich, 1973), pp. 527–85, Williams on Virg. A. 5. 98, Löfstedt, i, pp. 27 ff., Austin on Virg. A. 2. 57 and 4. 673, Bömer on Ov. Met. 9. 320.   alio ω‎ has retro, perhaps rightly.   iugales first used as a substantive at Virg. A. 7. 280 'currum geminosque iugalis': Fordyce ad loc. claims it is 'not found again till Silius' (i.e. Pun. 16. 583), but cf. Ov. Met. 5. 661. Statius finds it a welcome alternative to equi (cf. 3. 268, 413, 6. 391, 481, 7. 72, 743), but also picturesquely uses it of the tigers which draw Bacchus' chariot ('Hyrcanae … iugales', 4. 678). 8. ergo the shortened terminal o is normal in poetry by this period: see O. Müller, pp. 8 ff., and cf. e.g. Ov. Ep. 5. 59, Tr. 1. 1. 87. ergo is preferred by the epic poets to itaque.

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  Melanippi funus see 1–31 n., 8. 716 ff., Apollod. 3. 6. 8. Cleisthenes of Sicyon, when at war with Argos, was forbidden by oracles to remove the cult of Adrastus, and so malevolently transferred his festival and sacrifices to Melanippus, ἔχθιστον ἐόντα Ἀδρήστῳ, ὅς τόν τε ἀδελφεόν οἱ Μηκιστέα ἀπεκτόνεε καὶ τὸν γαμβρὸν Τυδέα‎ (Herod. 5. 67, Farnell, p. 335). funus with the sense of 'corpse' is found in Propertius (1. 17. 8) and Virgil (A. 9. 491 'funus lacerum tellus habet'), but it is particularly common in Statius: see Williams on 10. 7, Dilke on Ach. 1. 88. 9. ultum for the use of the supine to express purpose see H.–Sz. 2. 380–2. It begins with eo (e.g. Sal. Jug. 68. 1 'ultum ire iniurias festinat'). The motion is implied here in insurgunt.   Cadmeia pubes the Thebans are called Kαδμεῖοι‎, after their legendary founder Cadmus, from the dawn of poetry (e.g. Il. 4. 388, Hes. Th. 326, Eur. Phoen. 1021, 1631; Theb. 1. 376, 3. 366, 4. 565 etc.: cf. the variant form Cadmeus, at e.g. 140 'Cadmea phalanx'). Though proles (P, Garrod) can be used of a people (e.g. Virg. A. 4. 236, where see Pease) pubes is both more fitting for an army of young men and more majestic and elevated in tone: cf. Cic. Mil. 61, Liv. 1. 9, Catul. 64. 4 'Argivae robora pubis', Virg. A. 7. 219 'Dardana pubes'. 10 f. The Thebans are as indignant as they would be if their ancestral tombs had been ravaged by wild beasts: Tydeus is seen as a monstrum crudele and the disfigurement of Melanippus' corpse as gross impiety. The horror evoked by these lines recalls Horace's grim picture of Rome's ruin at Epod. 16. 11 ff. 'barbarus heu cineres insistet victor … / … / quaeque carent ventis et solibus ossa Quirini, / nefas videre! dissipabit insolens'.   Statius' similes are listed and classified by Legras (pp. 294–310). There are 195 in total (contrast only 105 in the Aeneid and 119 in Lucan), occupying 763 lines, or as much space as a whole book. Critics have dismissed them as repetitive and unimaginative (Legras, p. 300, Helm RE 18. 3. 997), but B. Kytzler, WS 75 (1962), 141 ff., argues that, as well as allowing Statius to indulge his talent for visualizing a scene, the numerous ones involving bulls and lions (e.g. 82 ff. n., 739 ff. n.) are carefully varied ........................................................................................................................... pg 61 in detail and important in the development of the underlying themes of sin and violence. Particularly effective examples in this book are 27 ff., 82 ff., 360 ff., 858 ff. 11. monstris chillingly vague, but implying a horrible and quite unnatural creature: cf. 102, an echo of this passage, and 300. 12. accendit rex Eteocles inflames his men by arguing that the Argives are no better than wild beasts and that the Thebans are therefore no longer bound by the laws of humanity. This perverse logic and assumed righteousness suit the character of 'the Tyrant' of the poem: see further ten Kate, pp. 45 ff., Vessey, pp. 108 ff., 127 f., 142 ff., and also F. Ahl,

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ANRW 2. 32. 5, pp. 2832 ff., who implausibly argues that Eteocles is intended to recall Domitian. For speeches in the Thebaid see Legras, pp. 280 ff., C. Fiehn, Quaestiones Statianae (Berlin, 1917), pp. 30 ff.   Pelasgis the various conjectures of scholars ('Pelasgus' (Owen), 'Pelasgum' (Imhof), 'supple "ex" Pelasgis' (Berald)) originate in a failure to understand Eteocles' specious logic. In Roman poetry 'Pelasgi' normally means 'Greeks' (Virg. A. 2. 83, Ov. Met. 12. 19, 13. 13, 14. 562, Ach. 1. 751, 906) but here 'Argives': cf. 396, 10. 2 etc., Il. 2. 681 to τό πελασγικὸν Ἄργος‎, Eur. Phoen. 107 f., 256, and also Plin. Nat. 4. 4. 9. 13. hominemque gerit by analogy with the use of agere in such phrases as Sen. Tro. 715 'gere captivum', Ag. 959 'agere domita feminam disces malo': cf. also Just. 22. 3. 1 'nec heredem regni sed regem gerebat', Claud. IV Cons. Hon. 294.   morsibus uncis modelled on Virgil's description of an anchor (A. 1. 169 f. 'hic fessas non vincula navis / ulla tenent, unco non alligat ancora morsu') but here suggesting fanged teeth: cf. 11. 532 'dentibus uncis', of boars' tusks. For morsus of the teeth cf. Juv. 14. 297. 14. pro furor such powerful interjections are rare in Virgil (only at A. 4. 590 'pro Iuppiter') but much commoner in the mannered and emotional Thebaid (2. 92, 3. 370, 5. 718, 10. 270 etc.). furor is a major theme of the poem: see Vessey, passim, esp. pp. 74 ff., 177 ff., 259 ff., and cf. 1–31, 25 nn.   tela exatiavimus the weapons are wild animals, glutted with blood: cf. Sil. 7. 534 f. 'multoque cruore / exsatiate, viri, plenos rubiginis enses'. So too spears in Homer 'long to taste flesh' (Il. 11. 574, 15. 317, 21. 168). 15 f. Lions and tigers are of course proverbially savage in poetry, and are therefore often paired: cf. Virg. G. 2. 151 f., Ciris 135 f., Silv. 2. 1. 8 f. 'citius me tigris abactis / fetibus orbatique velint audire leones'. Tigers were especially associated with the Caucasus, hence Hyrcanis: cf. Virg. Ecl. 5. 29, A. 4. 367 'Hyrcanaeque … tigres' (Pease ad loc. offers a wealth of examples), Ov. Met. 8. 121 with Hollis, Luc. 1. 327 f., Theb. 4. 678, 10. 288 f., 12. 170, and, in later poetry, Tasso, Ger. Lib. 16. 56. 4, Shakespeare, Macbeth 3. 4. 101, 3 Henry VI 1. 4. 153. See also Plin. Nat. 8. 66 for the historical facts. Lions, on the other hand, are especially found in the various regions of Africa, Libya as here (Virg. G. 3. 249, Sen. Oed. 919, Sil. 7. 401), Gaetulia (Hor. Carm. 1. 23. 10, 3. 20. 2, Theb. 9. 739 below), or the territory of the Mauri (189 below), the Massyli (8. 124), or the Carthaginians (Virg. Ecl. 5. 27, A. 12. 4, Ov. Tr. 4. 6. 5, Sen. Phaed. 348). Statius unexpectedly mixes these traditions by talking of a 'Hyrcana leo Caspius ........................................................................................................................... pg 62

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umbra' at 8. 572. In the Thebaid tigers are emblems of savage rage: see 10. 288 ff., and D. Vessey, CPh 60 (1971), 90, for the suggestion that the tigers maddened by Tisiphone (7. 564 ff.) represent the sons of Oedipus. 17. pulchra o solacia leti the stylization of the phrase and the emphasis placed on the adjective by the position of o amplify the irony: contrast the tone of armorum spes o suprema meorum (49). For pulcher with the sense 'glorious' cf. Virg. A. 1. 286, Ov. Met. 11. 389, Theb. 7. 69, 788 'pulchrum nati commendo furorem'. For solacia leti cf. 664 n. 18. hostile caput significantly recalling Pluto's curse (see 148 n.) 'sit, qui rabidarum more ferarum / mandat atrox hostile caput' (8. 71 f.). For the substitution of an attributive adjective for the noun in the genitive preferred by serious prose see Löfstedt 1. 107–24 and cf. Ter. Eu. 289, Catul. 101. 9 'fraterno … fletu', Virg. Ecl. 4. 17 'patriis virtutibus', Tert. Coron. 3, Vulg. Apoc. 1. 10, and late Latin 'Dominica dies' for 'the Lord's day'.   nefandus a key word, indicating the highest moral indignation, and used to condemn the many crimes which characterize this war and the sinful house of Oedipus, e.g. the incestuous marriage (1. 69), Eteocles' plans to murder an envoy (2. 482), Eriphyle (7. 787, 8. 120), and the brothers themselves (7. 386, 11. 341, 450, 552, 12. 341). Eteocles' use of it here is sheer hypocrisy. 18 f. dulci … / inmoritur tabo this grisly and memorable phrase suggests that Tydeus fell on Melanippus' brains with relish: the horror is immeasurably increased by dulci. We should also recall the bird which represented Tydeus in the augury at Argos: 'praepete viva / pascitur inmoriens' (3. 544 f.). For inmorior with the dative cf. Ov. Met. 6. 295 f. 'sorori / inmoritur', Pont. 3. 7. 40, Sen. Phaed. 712, V. Fl. 6. 569 f. 'Nestoris hastae / inmoritur'. 19 f. Understand tenemus with nos (cf. Lactantius) and sunt with telis: as Damsté (pp. 89 f.) saw, the sense is 'nos quidem ferrum facesque tractamus, arma crudelia sed usu vulgata— illis vero nuda odia pro telis sunt, et tanta feritas quae armis non eget'. The difficult change of construction (cf. 2. 433 ff.), the rhetorical antithesis, and the ellipse of the verbs, though typical of Statius' style, are here especially difficult, hence the confusion among earlier scholars: Klotz understood 'nos ferrum facesque crudelia putamus', nos was altered to nunc by Perard and to non by Koestlin and Helm, Bernart read illi to balance nos, and Imhof thought a whole line had fallen out after facesque. Damsté's explanation perhaps supports P's inmite (cf. also Ach. 1. 909 'inmitis … ensis') but surely the mite of ω‎ is more pointed. In any case such conjectures as rite, e more (Poynton, CR NS 13 (1963), 260) and Marte (Shackleton Bailey, MH 40 (1983), 57) are certainly wide of the mark. The natural metonymy of ferrum is as old as Ennius (Ann. 389 Skutsch). faces are firebrands for setting alight the enemy's city or camp (e.g. Virg. A. 4. 604, Ov. Pont. 4. 7. 41 f.).

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20. nuda i.e. without weapons, as at Caes. Gal. 1. 25. 4, Sen. Phoen. 154 f., Theb. 1. 413, 6. 18, Sil. 6. 45 ff., 'in artis / abstulerat Fors arma; tamen certamine nudo / invenit Marti telum dolor'. Men fight with weapons, but wild beasts use teeth and claws: a relief from the temple of Apollo at Bassae ........................................................................................................................... pg 63 (Br. Mus., panel 9) shows a Centaur sinking his teeth into a Lapith's neck in a scene symbolizing the conflict of civilization and savagery. Compare also these lines from Seneca's description of the end of the Golden Age: Phaed. 544 ff. 'tum primum manu / bellare nuda saxaque et ramos rudes / vertere in arma'. For Propertius (4. 1. 28), however, 'proelia nuda' characterize the relative innocence of early Rome. 21 f. Apostrophe (aversio) is so called because the speaker 'turns away' to address one party while his words are in fact intended to affect another: Eteocles calls on Jupiter but his real aim is to rouse the Thebans to indignant fury. See Quint. Inst. 9. 2. 38, 9. 3. 24–6, and, in this book, cf. 389 ff., 768 f. See in general J. Endt, WS 27 (1905), 106–29 (esp. pp. 110, 114, 118 for Statius), E. Hampel De Apostrophae apud Romanorum poetas usu (diss. Jena, 1908), Williams on 10. 498, von Moisy, pp. 8–15. Characters in ancient poetry are more usually found complaining that Jupiter sees sin and does nothing (Virg. A. 4. 206 ff., Sen. Phaed. 670 ff. etc.). 22. summe pater perhaps slightly archaic: cf. e.g. Naev. fr. 16 Morel 'summe deum regnator', Pl. Am. 780 'summe Iuppiter'. Jocelyn, on Enn. Trag. 176 'Iuppiter tibi summe', sees it as a poetic translation of ὕψιστος or ὕπατος‎. 22 ff. Eteocles' rhetoric reaches its climax with a reference to the events of 7. 794 ff. when the Theban plain opened and swallowed the seer Amphiaraus along with his chariot and horses. Though the gods' intention was to remove the holy man from the contagion of sin and spare him the indignities fated to be inflicted upon the other princes' bodies by Creon (see 7. 776 f.), the portent was interpreted by the Argives as a mark of divine anger (8. 127 ff.). Eteocles suggests that now, after Tydeus' crime, far from being surprised that the land of Thebes fights for her own children (for the idea cf. 8. 141 f., 317 ff.), the Argives should expect their own native soil to swallow them in disgust. 23. terraeque fugam mirantur the earth flees in horror before the supposed impiety of Amphiaraus: cf. 8. 142 f. 'fugere ecce videtur / hic etiam, quo stamus, ager'. Gronovius attempts to defend miserantur (ω‎): 'id est, cum invidia fatorum et misericordiae erga se concitandae deplorant'. Astonishment, however, is the more natural reaction, and makes much better sense with an istos vel sua portet humus?. 25. furor omnibus idem an echo, of course, of another grim passage and another destructive passion, Virg. G. 3. 244 'amor omnibus idem'. Compare 675 f. below, and also Page 8 of 195

Hypsipyle's description of the Lemnian massacre: 5. 148 ff. 'furor omnibus idem, / idem animus solare domus iuvenumque senumque / praecipitare colos'. 26 f. raptoque potiri / corpore take rapto and potiri closely together: the Thebans aim to 'seize and gain possession' of the corpse. Imhof (p. 206) thought that Melanippus' body was meant here, but the phrase is merely an expansion of Tydeos invisi spoliis and the whole battle which follows is for Tydeus' corpse. Note the echo of this line at the capture of the body (197). 27 ff. As carrion birds tear and eat the flesh of their prey so the Thebans set out to defile Tydeus' corpse in defiance of fas and custom: cf. 177–95 n. The simile is developed for the sake of the horrible picture: 28 f. cannot ........................................................................................................................... pg 64 mean that the Thebans can smell the decaying body since Tydeus is newly dead. Details not stated in the narrative are, however, surely implied at 30 f.: the Thebans too are 'greedy' for Tydeus' corpse, and they too cum voce ruunt, startling and scattering lesser warriors from their path. 27. subtexunt astra i.e. their flocks are so thickly packed that the birds obscure the stars by 'weaving' darkness between them and earth. This is a striking development of the more usual metaphors involving clouds (Lucr. 5. 466, 6. 482, Sen. Phaed. 955 f.), smoke (Virg. A. 3. 582) or night (1. 346, 2. 527 f., Silv. 3. 1. 127). Silver poets almost seem to be competing in daring hyperbole with this image: cf. Sen. Phoen. 422 'Sphinx … atra nube subtexens diem', Luc. 7. 519 'ferro subtexitur aether', V. Fl. 5. 413 'curvo … diem subtexit Olympo'. Birds are found flying as high as the stars also at Virg. A. 5. 517, Sen. Her. O. 1237, Theb. 3. 493 f., 12. 21, Silv. 4. 3. 38. astra probably means no more than 'high heaven': see TLL 2. 974. 18 ff. and cf. Virg. A. 1. 287, 2. 460, Ov. Met. 1. 316, 15. 147 f., Theb. 10. 78, 375. 28. incestarum avium i.e. 'humano sanguine pollutarum: sive quia cadavera eminus sentiunt' (Lactantius). They are no doubt vultures (Il. 4. 237, 16. 836, 22. 42, Od. 11. 578, Enn. Ann. 125 f. Skutsch: see further D'Arcy Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds (London, 1936), pp. 82 ff.) or possibly crows (Juv. 8. 251 f.), though perhaps Statius is also thinking of Virgil's harpies (A. 3. 241 'obscenas … volucris').   quibus postponement of the relative pronoun (cf. 46, 104, 307, 456, 586, 623, 872, 902), connecting particles (329, 836), interrogatives (752, 772), and conjunctions (52, 199, 755, 782) is an extremely common device of Roman poetry as early as Ennius (Ann. 522 Skutsch): see Williams on Virg. A. 3. 25, 37, 5. 5, 22. Often metrically convenient, it also allows variety of construction and lays extra stress on the preceding word(s).

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28 f. nocentem / aera recalling the corpses at Pharsalus, Luc. 7. 830 'aera non sanum motumque cadavere'. For aer applied to a smell cf. also Luc. 4. 438, 10. 167. 29. mortes the metonymy is well attested in both prose (e.g. Cic. Mil. 32 'mortem eius lacerari') and verse (e.g. Prop. 2. 13. 22 'in Attalico mors mea nixa toro') but is especially common in Silver poetry: see Williams on 10. 351. 30. For cum voce without an epithet cf. Virg. A. 12. 952 'vitaque cum gemitu fugit', Liv. 2. 23. 8 'cum clamore in forum curritur'. arduus aether is a Virgilian collocation (G. 1. 324, A. 10. 102: cf. A. 12. 892 f. 'ardua … / astra') also found in Ovid (Met. 1. 151) and Lucan (2. 290: cf. 5. 632 'arduus axis'). The epithet suggests steepness. 31. plausibus i.e. of wings: cf. Virg. A. 5. 215 f. (a dove) 'plausumque exterrita pennis / dat tecto ingentem', 5. 515 f., Ov. Met. 8. 238, Theb. 2. 39 f. 32–85. On hearing of Tydeus' death Polynices utters a passionate lament over the corpse and has to be restrained from suicide. Whereas Eteocles joyfully assumed indignation and reviled the dead hero, Polynices in stark contrast praises his many glorious achievements before succumbing to guilt and despair. The simile which ends the passage reveals that Polynices' loyalty ........................................................................................................................... pg 65 and love for his friend are a perversion of the pietas he owed his brother: see 82 ff. n. Statius' models here are discussed at 49–76 n. 32 f. Surely an echo of Ov. Met. 8. 267 'sparserat Argolicas nomen vaga fama per urbes'. 32. Fama similarly she brings the news of a loved one's death to Euryalus' mother (Virg. A. 9. 473 ff.) and Evander (A. 11. 139 ff.). The locus classicus for the description of Fama is Virg. A. 4. 173 ff.: see Pease and Austin for the popularity of the topos with later poets and cf. Ov. Met. 9. 137 ff., 12. 39 ff., Luc. 1. 469 ff., V. Fl. 2. 116 ff., Theb. 2. 205 ff., 3. 425 ff., Chaucer, House of Fame 3. 251 ff. Statius adds a good touch to the tradition here in the malevolence of solito pernicior index cum lugenda refert (33–4). Such personifications have their Greek models, especially in Hesiod (see Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 801 ff.), but are greatly developed by Roman poets. They occur in profusion at Virg. A. 6. 273 ff., but the first largescale use of such figures seems to be in Ovid (Met. 2. 25 ff. (Invidia), 4. 480 ff., 8. 788 ff. (Fames), 11. 592 ff. (Somnus)). Statius' important contribution is that his abstractions partly replace traditional mythology and so pave the way for medieval allegory: see esp. 7. 34 ff. (Mars), 10. 84 ff. (Somnus), 10. 632 ff. (Virtus) and Williams ad loc., and 11. 457 ff. (Pietas). See further Lewis, pp. 48 ff., G. Williams, pp. 263 ff., M. B. Ogle, TAPhA 55 (1924), 90 ff., esp. 112 f.

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  rapido speed is Fama's most striking characteristic: Virg. A. 4. 174 'malum qua non aliud velocius ullum', Luc. 1. 471. This swiftness is well expressed by the line's five dactyls. 33. index a word never free of its sinister associations ('informer', 'talebearer'): cf. 356, 10. 381 f. 'indexque minatur / ortus', Ach. 1. 674. 35. trepidas L. A. Mackay, TAPhA 92 (1961), 308 ff., shows how Statius and Lucan make much greater use than Virgil or Ovid of words expressing fear: his figures provide a useful indication of the far more emotional colouring of Silver poetry. On trepidus (8 times in this book) he comments (p. 314) 'Statius runs wild with this adjective, in keeping with his liking for physical concomitants'. Burck, p. 345, gives similar statistics on the relative use of such words as maestus, ira, furor, etc. in the Aeneid and Thebaid. 36. deriguit derigesco is a powerful word first found at Virg. A. 3. 259 f. 'gelidus formidine sanguis / deriguit', where see Williams. It is common thereafter of the 'paralysing' or 'chilling' effect of fear: cf. Virg. A. 3. 309, 7. 447, Luc. 1. 246, Theb. 5. 396 etc. Ovid uses it of the process of turning to stone at Met. 5. 186 and 6. 303 'deriguit … malis' (of Niobe, perhaps Statius' inspiration here). On the preferability of de- to di-, see Hill on 5. 396, Dilke on Ach. 1. 303. To the following description compare in general the incapacitation of Turnus at Virg. A. 12. 903 ff., esp. 905 'genua labant, gelidus concrevit frigore sanguis'. 37 f. Tydeus' prowess, well-known from such exploits as the defeat of the Theban ambush, makes it impossible to believe that he is dead, but on the other hand 'suadere vult, quod nimia virtus faciat semper incautos sive illud magis asserit, quod interdum nimia virtus consilio careat' (Lactantius). Lehanneur (p. 190) complains of excessive ingenuity, but the clever ........................................................................................................................... pg 66 paradox powerfully expresses Polynices' astonished incredulity. For the phrase cognita virtus cf. [Tib.] 4. 1. 1. 38. Oenidae again at 50. The use of the dignified patronymic indicates that for Polynices at least Tydeus remains a hero. For Oeneus, ruler of Calydon in Aetolia, see Diomedes' speech at Il. 14. 115 ff., RE 17. 2193 ff. suadetque vetatque double -que, in imitation of the Homeric τε … τε‎, is a mannerism of high style as old as Ennius (e.g. Ann. 389, 404 Skutsch): see Austin on Virg. A. 4. 83, K. F. Smith on Tib. 1. 1. 33, Williams on Theb. 10. 558. It normally links two related objects or concepts (as at 114, 190, 289, 354 f., 394, 425, 469, 823) but here, paradoxically, expresses two conflicting reactions on Polynices' part: for a less striking example cf. 757 'mortem sociosque hostesque precatur'.

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39. haud dubio … auctore similarly a nameless 'certior auctor' informs Aeneas of Pallas' death (Virg. A. 10. 510): contrast the naming of Antilochus as the announcer of Patroclus' death to Achilles at Il. 18. 15 ff. auctor is also used of a news-bearer at Luc. 1. 485, Theb. 7. 113. For the whole phrase cf. Tac. Ann. 4. 1 'nullo auctore certo'. 40. In epic 'night' or 'darkness' is said to cover a warrior's eyes when he dies: e.g. Il. 11. 356 ἀμφὶ δὲ ὄσσε κελαινὴ νὺξ ἐκάλυψεν‎, 13. 438 f., Virg. A. 10. 746 'in aeternam clauduntur lumina noctem': cf. Il. 4. 461, 503 etc. Polynices, then, is falling into a death-like faint. Both the extreme reaction and vivid phrasing are probably modelled on Lucan's description of Cornelia fainting at the news of Pompey's defeat: 'obvia nox miserae caelum lucemque tenebris / abstulit' (8. 58 f.), though cf. also Ov. Am. 3. 5. 45 f. For nox with the connotation 'unconsciousness' see further OLD s.v. 6a. There is perhaps also a learned allusion to the device representing Night on Tydeus' shield at Aesch. Sept. 387 ff. and to Eteocles' wry observation on how fitting it would be 'if night were to fall upon his eyes in death' (Sept. 403 ff.). 41. For the mannered repetition of simul cf. Ov. Met. 11. 141 'subde caput, corpusque simul, simul elue crimen'. 41 f. madet ardua fletu / … galea a favourite hyperbole also found at e.g. 2. 635 'undantem fletu galeam', 8. 163: cf. Claud. Ruf. 2. 2. 258 f. 'galeasque solutis / umectat lacrimis'. For similar phrases cf. Catul. 101. 9, Ov. Tr. 3. 5. 12. Helmets are 'lofty' because of the emblems they bear: cf. Turnus' 'galea alta' with its Chimaera (Virg. A. 7. 785 f.), Theb. 8. 706 f. 'ardua coni / gloria'. 43. genua aegra trahens echoing Virg. A. 5. 468 'genua aegra trahentem', itself imitated from Il. 23. 696. Polynices has all but fallen to his knees (membra … ruunt, 41) and now staggers painfully towards the body. Knees usually give way through fear (e.g. Virg. A. 5. 431 f., Ov. Met. 2. 180 etc.), but for a mixture of foreboding and grief cf. perhaps 5. 544 f. (Hypsipyle hears Opheltes' dying wail) 'facilemque negantia cursum / exanimis genua aegra rapit'.   hastamque sequentem he is too weak to carry his spear and so trails it behind him. Juhnke (p. 132) rightly sees in this 'wohl eine bizarre Umwandlung' of Il. 5. 664 f. βάρυνε δέ μιν δόρυ μακρὸν / ἑλκόμενον‎. Claudian seems to be imitating this line at Gild. 1. 25. ........................................................................................................................... pg 67 44. ceu never found in extant prose before the younger Seneca and clearly thought 'poetic' or archaic. Statius is especially fond of it: contrast 61 appearances in the Thebaid and 6 in the Achilleid with 19 in the Aeneid, 10 in Lucan, and 30 in Valerius Flaccus.

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45. His comrades are not shrinking from Polynices, as Mozley thought, but from Tydeus' corpse; they are showing him the way, however, since he was far off when he heard of Tydeus' death and is now going in search of the body (it, 43). Poynton translates 'the throng stood back and Tydeus was revealed'. 46. portaverat implying more effort than tulerat could: cf. 10. 842 'aerium sibi portat iter' of Capaneus' vast ladder. porto is avoided by elegant prose stylists but supplants ferre in the Romance languages and may be colloquial in tone. High poetic style, however, often affects 'archaisms' which survive in speech but are avoided by prose, and porto is found 18 times in the Aeneid, 28 in the Thebaid, and 60 times in Silius. See further Axelson, pp. 30 f. 47. nudus 'unarmed' (20 n.), an indication of the recklessness caused by his great grief.   egregii significantly used of Tydeus by Polynices himself on his return from the ambush (3. 391), and again by Capaneus (3. 654). For Statius' fondness of the word see Mulder on 3. 203.   vacuum i.e. 'empty of life', a truly poetic use of the word. Perhaps Statius has in mind Ovid's lament for Tibullus: Am. 3. 9. 5 f. 'Tibullus / ardet in extructo corpus inane rogo'. 49–76. Pace Juhnke (p. 132), Polynices' lament owes little to Achilles' speech on hearing of Patroclus' death (Il. 18. 324 ff.). Achilles expresses resignation to Fate (his own as well as his friend's) and promises revenge: Polynices gives voice to his feelings of guilt, pronounces a laudatio of Tydeus' achievements and loyalty, and, much less heroic than Achilles, ends with an attempt not at vengeance but at suicide. Statius' real model is Mezentius' speech at the death of Lausus (Virg. A. 10. 846 ff.). Both Mezentius and Polynices are racked with guilt because their life or honour has been bought with a loved one's blood (for 49–52, esp. sospite me, cf. A. 10. 84 f. 'tuane haec genitor per vulnera servor / morte tua vivens?'); both declare that now more than ever they keenly feel the torment of exile (for 52 f. cf. A. 10. 849 ff. 'heu, nunc misero mihi demum / exilium infelix' etc. and see M.J. Dewar, CQ 38 (1988), 261 f.). Both also end with the decision to die (75 f., A. 10. 855 f.), though note that Polynices chooses suicide while the sterner Mezentius plans to die in battle. The last scenes of Aeneid 10 were very much in Statius' mind when he composed this book: see also 211 ff. n.   We should also remember Polynices' earlier, equally impassioned, address to the Argives when Tydeus returned from his embassy to Thebes (3. 365 ff.: 9. 65 ff. help the reader to make the connection). There too he contrasted Tydeus' pietas with Eteocles' treachery (to 53, 57 cf. 3. 369 'hosne mihi reditus, germane, parabas?', 3. 379–81) and expressed similar feelings of guilt (to 49–52 cf. 3. 367 ff. 'o ego divis / invisus vitaeque nocens haec vulnera cerno / integer'). Both speeches also ended with Adrastus' having to restrain an excess of passion, that of the Argives (3. 386 ff.) in ........................................................................................................................... Page 13 of 195

pg 68 one case and of Polynices (77 ff.) in the other. The main difference is that in Book 3 Polynices' motive was partly to stir up indignation against Eteocles and war-fury (3. 381 f. 'sic variis pertemptat pectora dictis / obliquatque preces'), but here he is overcome by sincere guilt, grief, and despair.   Readers tempted to view Polynices sympathetically should remember that he is driven by a lust for power and revenge, and that, as Statius makes clear (1. 316 ff.), he would be just as savage as his brother if he replaced him. See further D. Vessey, Latomus 31 (1971), 379 f., CPh 66 (1971), 90 f., Burck, p. 328, ten Kate, pp. 53 ff., Vessey, pp. 66, 92 ff., 139 ff., 150 f., 212 f. 49. armorum spes o suprema meorum for the mannered construction, here dignified in tone, see 17 n. There is an echo here of Lucan's apostrophe of Brutus, 7. 588 'o decus imperii, spes o suprema senatus'. Tydeus was the mightiest of the seven princes, and his death is a serious blow for Polynices' cause: damna, 35, and clades, 39, are not empty hyperbole. Both ἐλπίς‎ and spes are commonly used of persons who embody hopes for the future (Aesch. Cho. 776, Thuc. 3. 57. 5, Virg. A. 12. 57, 168, Luc. 7. 588, Silv. 2. 4. 15, Theb. 12. 637 etc.), and Statius is also playing on the frequent appearance of these words in funerary inscriptions, of those untimely stolen by death (IG 3. 1311. 2, CIL 6. 2. 9437. 4, 6. 3. 20070. 4): cf. also Call. Ep. 19. 2. 51. All the manuscripts read nudus, which could only mean 'unburied' (cf. 298 n.). Tydeus' body will indeed lie unburied, at Creon's command (11. 661 ff.), but as yet there is no need for Polynices to fear this. Moreover, as Hill saw, nudus has probably crept in from 47. Realizing that sospite me needs a strong contrast, Imhof suggested mutus. Håkanson (p. 58) points out that Statius never uses mutus to mean 'dead' and offers the splendid conjecture funus ('corpse', see 8 n.). Nonetheless funus seems very odd indeed when combined with iaceres, and it seems best to obelize. 52. exul a highly emotive word, as exile in the ancient world entailed not only estrangement from one's city and family but also the loss of citizen rights and being at the mercy of one's hosts: consider the horror in which it is held by e.g. the chorus at Eur. Med. 642 ff., Argia (3. 697 f.), and Tydeus (2. 403 ff.). Being an exile wins Polynices the support of his sisters (8. 615) and many Argives (4. 77). The dreadful fate also awaits Oedipus (11. 723), and almost seems an ancestral curse inherited from Cadmus (1. 153 f., 182 f.). 53. This line is omitted from all but a handful of manuscripts, and should perhaps be regarded as an interpolation explaining nunc exul ego et aeternumque fugatus: there is no corresponding explanation in Mezentius' speech (see 49–76 n.), and no real need for one here. It is hard to say whether the echo of Catul. 101. 6 'heu miser indigne frater adempte mihi' makes the line look more or less genuine. Page 14 of 195

54. sortitus veteres not a drawing of lots but the things allotted, i.e. the years of rule due to Polynices but denied him by his brother. For sortitus of the object obtained by lot cf. V. Fl. 3. 379 f. 'sortitusque breves … / perpetimur' and Theb. 12. 557. ........................................................................................................................... pg 69 55. periurum diadema a reference to the treachery of Eteocles, the 'Aoniae moderator perfidus aulae' (3. 1): cf. also 10. 587. The diadem, a purple band with white ornamentation, was believed to have been invented by Dionysus (Plin. Nat. 7. 57). Alexander and Hellenistic rulers borrowed it from the kings of Persia, and it is thus an anachronism here, though Statius probably thought of it simply as a badge of Greek, rather than Roman, kingship: see Servius on A. 11. 334 'Romanorum enim imperatorum insigne fuit sella curulis et trabea: nam diadema, ut aliarum gentium reges, non habebant', and RE 5. 303 ff. The word is very rare in poetry, but cf. 163, Hor. Carm. 2. 2. 21, Juv. 8. 259. 56. sceptrum recalling the prologue, 1. 34 'geminis sceptrum exitiale tyrannis'. The sceptre is a symbol of authority as early as Homer and indeed the Assyrian kings: see Griffin, pp. 9 f. 57 f. The duel Polynices suggests here will not take place until yet more heroes— Hippomedon, Parthenopaeus, Capaneus—have given their lives in his cause: cf. his words to Adrastus at 11. 157 ff. 58. perdere mortes a much more arresting phrase than 'perdere vitas' would have been. Statius' inspiration is probably either Sen. Ag. 518 f. 'ignava fortes fata consument viros? / perdenda mors est?', or Luc. 3. 706 f. 'non perdere letum / maxima cura fuit': cf. also Sil. 4. 605. These parallels guarantee perdere (ω‎) against the far duller pergere of P. Ker, p. 177, compares 11. 174 'vestris … mortibus utar' and 'Tydea consumpsi' (60). 59. ite cf. 57. Anaphora is, of course, a natural device of poetry for emphasizing a word or idea, but is particularly affected by 'rhetorical' writers, and is sometimes used to excess by Roman poets, as at Prop. 2. 25. 41–4 (four lines beginning with vidistis) and Ov. Ars 3. 633– 43 (seven examples of cum). Statius mainly uses it in speeches: cf. 69 f., 161, 378 f., 381 f., 394 f., 550. 60. Tydea consumpsi F. Ahl argues (ANRW 2. 32. 5, p. 2882) that the sense is 'I have devoured Tydeus' and that the phrase 'recalls Tydeus' gnawing of Melanippus' head' but the metaphor is surely primarily financial: cf. perdere, 58. For the more normal use of both verbs in connection with material goods see e.g. Ter. Hau. 465 'sumat consumat perdat'. Statius is fond of using consumo in unusual ways: cf. 682 n., 6. 767 f., 10. 171, and Williams ad loc., Silv. 4. 2. 4.

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60 ff. In general, Silver poets seek an 'Ovidian' smoothness in versification and avoid rough elisions, thus forgoing the brilliant emotional effects which, above all, Virgil derives from them. To a considerable extent Statius reverses this trend (see E. Frank, RIL 102 (1968), 404): the 'gulping' or 'sobbing' effect of these lines, so expressive of Polynices' grief, is largely achieved from such violent elisions, e.g. quanam hoc, Argi et, me ense, mactatum in. For the elision of monosyllabic words, especially common with me, te, and se, see 63, 70, Platnauer, pp. 76 ff. 61 ff. Polynices emotionally recalls the night he and Tydeus first met and fought for possession of the shelter offered by Adrastus' palace (1. 401 ff.). Had Adrastus not parted them, the poet commented, Polynices might have been killed: 'meliusque hostilibus armis / lugendus fratri, iuvenis Thebane, iaceres' (1. 429 f.), lines which give particular point to 63 f. Their quarrel ........................................................................................................................... pg 70 seems paradoxically to have increased the affection which followed it (1. 471–7, 2. 365 f. 'tantus post iurgia mentes / vinxit amor'), hence the oxymoron bona iurgia (61) and the observation longi pignus amoris ira brevis (62 f.). Polynices speaks of their friendship in terms which recall love elegy: for the erotic tone of primae … noctis cf. Prop. 3. 20. 13 'nox mihi prima venit! primae data tempora noctis!', and for 'eternal love' cf. Ov. Ars 1. 38 'ut longo tempore duret amor'. See also 79 n. 61. socer i.e. Adrastus, whose daughters, Argia and Deipyle, became the wives of Polynices and Tydeus respectively (2. 201 ff.; cf. nostri … Adrasti, 64). 62. longi more than 'long-lasting'. See Mulder on 2. 429 'sceptra … teneo longumque tenebo', comparing Sil. 3. 571 ff. 'tenet longumque tenebit / Tarpeias arces sanguis tuus', a prophecy of eternal Roman rule in which longum must imply 'for ever'. 63. maxime Tydeu repeated from Polynices' earlier speech (3. 380) and here recalling Aeneas' moving address to a boy warrior fallen in battle, Virg. A. 11. 97 'maxime Palla'. The tradition that Tydeus was small in stature but a fearsome fighter is already found in Homer (Il. 5. 801 Τυδεύς τοι μικρὸς μὲν ἔην δέμας, ἀλλα μαχητής‎). Statius develops this: his Tydeus is regularly called 'magnus' (3. 84, 9. 205, 12. 763), and is portrayed as stronger and more courageous than both Polynices (1. 415 ff., esp. 417 'maior in exiguo regnabat corpore virtus') and his vast opponent in the wrestling match, Agylleus (6. 843 ff.). Cf. 37 f. and 49nn. 64. et poteras the use of forms of possum in parenthesis recalls the Homeric prayer formula δύνασαι γάρ‎: see Williams on 10. 69 'in Thebas aliud (potes) excute fulmen'.

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  mactatum Gronovius rightly compares Virg. A. 1. 37 f. 'mene incepto desistere victam / nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regnum!' for the construction, mactasti is undoubtedly a scribe's simplification. 65. me propter echoed at 11. 175 f. 'vidi ego me propter ruptos telluris hiatus, / nec subii' in a similarly guilty speech delivered by Polynices just before his fatal duel with his brother. Anastrophe of prepositions is primarily a feature of high style and is mainly found with disyllabic prepositions (cf. 683, 788, 2. 430, 4. 202, 459, 7. 444, 8. 308, 11. 189 etc.), while the use of the device with monosyllables seems to be almost entirely limited to phrases where other words governed by the preposition follow it: see 746, 801 nn. An accompanying dependent noun in the genitive is sometimes added, producing a somewhat mannered construction, as at Virg. Ecl. 8. 59 'aëri specula de montis', G. 4. 333, 419. Anastrophe of propter in the local sense is common enough in Lucretius (e.g. 1. 90, where see Bailey) but is first found with the causal sense in extant Latin poetry in Virgil (A. 4. 320 ff., 12. 177). Statius invariably uses it (cf. 6. 916 f., 9. 190, Ach. 1. 269, 654), a good example of his conscious stylization. See further Williams on 10. 97, Virg. A. 5. 663, Platnauer, pp. 97 f, K.–S. 2. 1. 586, 588, Moerner, pp. 55 ff., Coleman on Silv. 4. 2. 17. In English poetry cf. e.g. Milton, PL 2. 300 'Satan except'. 66. libens Tydeus volunteered as ambassador: 2. 370 f. 'audax ea munera Tydeus / sponte subit'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 71 67. So too Tydeus left Eteocles' council-chamber 'infrendens, ipsi ceu regna negentur' (2. 477).   laturus Silver poets use the future participle very freely. Here it implies purpose, as at 272 desiluit … fratrem rapturus: cf. also 11. 561 'ceu templis decus et patriae laturus ovanti'. Such uses are very rare in prose, but E. Laughton, The Participle in Cicero (Oxford, 1964), pp. 118–22, quotes Gel. 11. 10. 4 (a speech of Gaius Gracchus) 'qui prodeunt dissuasuri, ne hanc legem accipiatis' and Cic. Att. 8. 9. 2. It is surely no accident that the affected construction appears in the lines quoted mockingly by Persius (1. 100 f. 'raptum vitulo caput ablatura superbo / Bassaris'). Cf. also Luc. 9. 72, V. Fl. 6. 389, Theb. 8. 115 f., 10. 574 f., 11. 263, 320. Claudian seems especially fond of it, e.g. Rapt. Pros. 1. 232 f., 2. 14, 312, 3. 267. 68. Telamon and Theseus are exempla of devoted friends. Telamon was the faithful companion of Hercules (not Meleager, as Lactantius says) whom he helped against the Amazons (Schol. on Ap. Rh. 1. 1289, Roscher 5. 220 f.), and also against Laomedon at the sack of Troy (Pind. Nem. 25 f., Isth. 6. 26 ff., Roscher 5. 221 f.). Hence Theocritus (13. 38) tells us they always dined at the same table; allusions to their friendship are frequent in Valerius Flaccus, e.g. 1. 353, 2. 384, 451 and, especially relevant here, 3. 637 'at pius Page 17 of 195

ingenti Telamon iam fluctuat ira' (of Telamon's rage when the Argonauts abandon Hercules). Theseus' devotion to Pirithous, whom he helped against the Centaurs and in his expedition to Hades, is well known: see Roscher 3. 1758 ff. The other standard exempla of such undying friendships are Orestes and Pylades, and Achilles and Patroclus (Silv. 1. 6. 54 f., 4. 4. 103 ff., and esp. Theb. 1. 475 ff.). The frequent use of such exempla is of course typical of the rhetorical style: see van Dam on Silv. 2. 6. 54 f., Coleman on Silv. 4. 4. 102–3, and, in general, Fr. Streich, De Exemplis atque comparationibus quae exstant apud Senecam Lucanum Valerium Flaccum Statium Silium Italicum (Breslau, 1913). 69. qualis et ecce iaces! an interjection, as ecce shows: Housman (Cl. P., p. 1213) is scornful of those who thought it was an interrogative. The tone of qualis is pathetic (cf. 162), since Tydeus' corpse is smeared with Melanippus' blood. Contrast e.g. Sil. 10. 521 'quantus, Paule, iaces!'.   quae primum vulnera mirer? cf. 3. 153 f. (Ide over her sons' bodies) 'quae vulnera tractem, / quae prius ora premam?'. Tydeus' honourable wounds are the proof of his courage. The rhetorical device dubitatio was employed by orators to express bewilderment at e.g. a 'ridiculous' accusation, or an adversary's many crimes: see Quint. Inst. 9. 2. 19, Austin on Virg. A. 1. 327 and, for a full list of examples in literature, Pease on Virg. A. 4. 371. 70. Note the remarkable total of eleven words in this line: cf. Virg. A. 6. 367, with Austin. 71. innumeri the adjective is rare in Augustan verse (in Virgil only at A. 6. 706, 11. 204) but popular with the Silver poets (Thebaid 28 times, Lucan 14, Silius 15; V. Fl. only 4 however).   num fallor, an ni may be right: Hill compares 2. 656, 7. 123 and Ach. 1. 40, and discusses manuscript confusion of num and ni in his note on 7. 123. The real problem, however, is et which, if retained, would yield the rather ........................................................................................................................... pg 72 awkward sense 'Surely I am not mistaken? Both Jupiter and Mars smote you'. Garrod's num Pallas et is a brave attempt and, given Athena's special love for Tydeus, might be thought to have particular point. It would none the less destroy the balance of 72 by giving invidit two subjects rather than one, and the best solution is Bentley's conjecture 'num fallor, an': cf. 4. 596 'fallor, an hi sunt', Silv. 4. 3. 117, and Ov. Pont. 2. 8. 21. 72. Lactantius clearly took pater and Mars together, but this is unlikely: Mars was Tydeus' ancestor (1. 463 f.), but his father was Oeneus (38 n.). et, moreover, is surely connecting two separate but parallel statements, each with its own subject and verb (invidit pater, Mars impulit). For simple 'ipse pater' of Jupiter cf. Virg. G. 1. 121, 328 and Catul. 64. 21. tota … hasta is an impressive indication of Tydeus' prowess: Mars would need all his strength to overcome him.

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73 f. The washing of the body, the closing of the eyes, and the composing of the features were duties normally performed soon after death and were regarded as the ritual preliminaries of the funeral itself (Toynbee, pp. 43 ff., Vermeule, pp. 12 ff.). Traditionally these tasks were primarily imposed on the female relatives of the deceased, above all their wives, mothers, and sisters, as can be seen at Eur. Phoen. 1317 ff. where Creon, rather than wash Menoeceus' body himself, is looking for Jocasta, the boy's nearest female relative (here aunt); cf. Od. 11. 425 f., 24. 294 ff., Virg. A. 9. 486 f., Ov. Tr. 4. 3. 43 ff., Theb. 3. 172 f., 9. 898 f. n., 12. 409 ff., 413 f. There is thus particular pathos here in Polynices' doing what Deipyle, far away in Argos, cannot: cf. 8. 651 ff. (of Atys and Ismene) 'tunc quia nec genetrix iuxta positusque beata / morte pater, sponsae munus miserabile tradunt / declinare genas'. For the survival of such beliefs in Greece see M. Alexiou, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition (London, 1974), pp. 5, 39 f., and cf. also C. Brontë, Jane Eyre 2, ch. 6; 'at twelve o'clock that night she died. I was not present to close her eyes; nor were either of her daughters'; Racine, Andromaque 1100, Phèdre 228.   lubrica tabo / ora viri a grisly 'improvement' on the horror of Virg. A. 9. 471 f. 'ora virum … / … fluentia tabo'. 74. terget lacrimis of course one would normally 'wipe away' tears, not use them to wipe something else. Achilles and his companions poured oil on the wounds of Patroclus (Il. 18. 351), but Roman poets are prone to sentimentality and talk of washing wounds with tears instead. See Heinsius on Ov. Ep. 11. 125, Mayer on Luc. 8. 727, and cf. Ov. Ars 3. 744 'lacrimis vulnera saeva lavat', Theb. 3. 130.   dextraque rightly preferred to dextramque (ω‎) by Hill and other modern editors since 'os Tydei in magis indecoro loco erat quam dextra' (Hill ad loc.). dextra also gives the proper balance needed by lacrimis. 75. hucusque exosus i.e. as to die drinking their brains. exosus is a rare word in epic: cf. 3. 632, 11. 588, and see Williams on Virg. A. 5. 687. The prefix intensifies the meaning: cf. the use of perosus at e.g. Virg. A. 6. 435. 76 ff. Polynices' speech began with feelings of guilt that Tydeus should be dead while he still lives, and now ends with an attempt at suicide: the echo of 52 in sospes ego (76) marks how his thoughts have come full circle. His companions restrain him by force, Adrastus with words of consolation: cf. ........................................................................................................................... pg 73 Il. 18. 32 ff. where Antilochus holds Achilles' hands to prevent him from killing himself out of grief for Patroclus. The conceit that the mourner has to be restrained from suicide seems to be a rhetorical commonplace of the epicedion: see H. Lohrisch, De P. Papinii Statii Silvarum Poetae Studiis Rhetoricis (Halle, 1905), pp. 42 ff., and cf. esp. Silv. 2. 1. 24 f., 3. 3. 178 'vix Page 19 of 195

famuli comitesque tenent', 5. 1. 200. Adrastus' spiritual comfort parallels that given by him to Lycurgus on his son's death: to 78 f. cf. 6. 46 ff. 'solatur Adrastus / … nunc fata recensens / resque hominum duras et inexorabile pensum'. 76. exuerat of unsheathing a sword also at 10. 271, Virg. A. 9. 303. 77. aptabatque neci the reader expects e.g. dextrae, and so neci, a kind of dative of purpose, administers something of a shock.   socer Statius portrays Adrastus as a pious lover of peace embroiled in an evil war through weakness and fate's malevolence. This represents a significant departure from tradition: see G. Aricò, Ricerche Staziane (Palermo, 1972), pp. 107 ff. and, in general, ten Kate, pp. 29 ff., Vessey, pp. 94 ff., 134 ff., 226 ff., 315 f., F. Ahl, ANRW 2. 32. 5, pp. 2855 ff. 79. tumidum here describing inarticulate grief. The adjective is more usually applied to anger (Virg. A. 6. 407, Ov. Ep. 11. 15, Theb. 11. 676) or pride (217, 442, Virg. A. 10. 21, Ov. Met. 1. 754).   corpore caro for the erotic tone cf. 61 ff. n. and cf. Catul. 66. 31 f. 'an quod amantes / non longe a caro corpore abesse volunt?'. 80. letique animosa voluntas Statius was clearly pleased with this ingenious paradox: cf. 717 animosi gloria leti, 12. 456 f. 'animosaque leti / spes'. animosus is a rare word in epic (Virgil has it only once, 12. 277, for example), but Statius likes it (ten times in the Thebaid). 82 ff. Statius' model here is Virgil's description of a bullock suddenly felled by plague: G. 3. 517 ff. 'it tristis arator / maerentem abiungens fraterna morte iuvencum, / atque opere in medio defixa reliquit aratra', also imitated by Ovid at Met. 7. 538 f. 'concidere infelix validos miratur arator / inter opus tauros medioque recumbere sulco'. Statius develops his models by increasing the sentimentality—his ploughman is not merely 'sorrowful' but actually 'weeping'—and adding a few details of his own. iners is a good touch: both the bull and Polynices are too stunned with grief to move. Less successful, perhaps, is the rather grotesque picture of the iugum deforme dangling down, especially as it adds nothing to the narrative.   Far from being simply decorative, however, the simile has been impressively put to use in developing the themes of Statius' own poem. Its full significance is to be understood by reference to Il. 13. 703 ff. (closely imitated at Theb. 10. 511 f.), where the Aiantes defending the Greek wall are compared to two oxen driving a plough down the same furrow. As H.–A. Luipold shows (Die Brüder-Gleichnisse in der Thebais des Statius, diss. Tübingen, 1970, pp. 81 ff.) the keynote is concordia, for only when working in harmony can the bulls dig their furrow. This simile should be put side by side with the poem's first, 1. 131 ff., where in their

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discordia (1. 137) Polynices and Eteocles are like yoke-fellows who will not work together and so 'vario confundunt limite sulcos' (1. 136). The harmony Polynices should have achieved with this brother is thus seen to be perverted into ........................................................................................................................... pg 74 concord with an outsider. See further Luipold, pp. 12 ff. For bull similes in the Thebaid in general see Legras, p. 298, Mulder on 2. 323 ff., R. B. Steele, TAPhA 49 (1918), 83 ff., and esp. B. Kytzler, WS 75 (1962), 144 ff. 82. consorte laborum a variation on the more common 'socius laborum' (Silv. 5. 2. 35, Cic. Fam. 13. 71, Tac. Ann. 4. 2): cf. Cic. Brut. 2 'socium potius et consortem gloriosi laboris amiseram'. Significantly consors appears in only two other places in the Thebaid, both times in connection with the brothers' uneasy partnership (1. 187, 12. 428). 83. Since both Polynices and the bull were forcibly led away from their companion's body (amovet, 81; ducitur, 82), deserit should therefore be understood as expressing subjectively their feelings of guilt. The point of inceptum is that, just as the furrow is unfinished, so too Polynices' throne has not been regained. 84 f. The dead bull has been unyoked, but the ploughman is too weak to be an adequate substitute. The living bull's neck therefore droops (collo … remisso) as he drags (trahit) the yoke, which is now deforme, 'disfigured', i.e. 'lop-sided'. Ker, p. 180, thought the change of construction from parte trahit to partem sustentat 'rather sudden … for Statius', and makes the attractive suggestion that we read parte inlacrimans. For the common confusion of -m and in- in manuscripts see 3. 546 (P furtim inlacrimas, ω‎ furtim lacrimas). On the other hand Statius may have thought the change of construction elegant. 84. deforme normally the yoke held upright by the two oxen is a splendid sight, as at Il. 13. 706 τὼ μέν τε ζυγὸν οἶον ἐΰξοον ἀμφὶς ἐέργει‎.   remisso the verb is often used of relaxing parts of the body: cf. Lucr. 5. 852, Virg. G. 1. 202, Sen. Thy. 635, V. Fl. 3. 334 'vadit sonipes cervice remissa', Theb. 9. 151, 869 ff. nn., 10. 516. 86–195. Hippomedon stoutly drives back the Thebans from Tydeus' corpse but is tricked by the fury Tisiphone into abandoning his task to lesser men. The enemy capture and disfigure the body.   Statius draws his inspiration from Homer's account of the battle for possession of Patroclus' corpse (Iliad 17). As this episode was not adapted in the Aeneid it offered Statius a fine opportunity to display his skill with a fairly free hand, though he is probably not breaking totally new ground in Roman epic: see Juhnke, p. 137, but cf. V. Fl. 6. 342 ff. Both Menelaus

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and Hippomedon defend their fallen friend at first alone (86 ff., Il. 17. 1 ff.) and later with help (121 ff., Il. 17. 114 ff.), but are eventually thwarted by supernatural intervention (see 144–176 n.). If the Greeks keep Patroclus' body whereas the Argives lose that of Tydeus, it is not before Hector can strip it (177 ff., Il. 17. 82 ff.). Lastly, as Automedon replaces Patroclus as driver of Achilles' chariot, so too Hippomedon takes over Tydeus' horse (204 ff., Il. 17. 424 ff.). Statius sensitively and intelligently adapts the episode to his own poetic purposes, using it to reintroduce a major character not seen since 7. 430 ff., showing him to be a true successor to Tydeus' virtus, and preparing us for the superhuman achievement of Hippomedon in his forthcoming fight with Ismenos. Note too how Statius reduces over 700 lines of rather confused events in his original to a clear, ordered narrative to which the character of ........................................................................................................................... pg 75 Hippomedon gives coherence and unity. See further 115 ff., 133 ff. and 140 f. nn., Juhnke, pp. 132–7, E. Eissfeldt, Philologus 63 (N.F. 17) (1904), 395 f., and, for Statius' techniques of imitatio generally, B. Kytzler, Hermes 97 (1969), 208 ff. 87. lecta manus, iuvenes for the highly mannered construction see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 3. 20 'infamis scopulos Acroceraunia', comparing e.g. Ov. Ep. 4. 171, Met. 2. 616, Norden on Virg. A. 6. 7, and H.–Sz., p. 409. Cf. also virides cunabula ripae (322), a further refinement. Statius seems to be imitating Ov. Met. 8. 300 'lecta manus iuvenum', of the heroes at the Calydonian boar-hunt, but learned poetry had previously used such phrases primarily of the Argonauts: see Call. Hymn 3. 218, Ap. Rh. 4. 831 λεκτοὺς ἡρώων‎, Catul. 64. 4 'lecti iuvenes' and also, somewhat surprisingly, Enn. Scen. 250 Vahlen 'Argivi … delecti'. 87 f. An echo of Homer's words at Il. 17. 398 f. οὐδέ κʼ ʼ′Αρης λαοσσόος οὐδέ κʼ ʼΑθήνη / τόν γε ἰδοῦσʼ ὀνόσαιτʼ, οὐδʼ εἰ μάλα μιν χόλος ἵκοι‎. Compare also 5. 356 f. for the association of Athena and Mars as divinities of war. Athena was believed either to have been born at lake Triton in Africa (Sil. 3. 322 ff.) or to have first alighted there after springing from her father's head (Luc. 9. 350 ff.): see RE 2 Reihe 7. 244 f., Austin on Virg. A. 2. 171, and, for a variant version making Triton a river in Greece, Fordyce on Catul. 64. 395. She is therefore called Τριτογένεια‎ as early as Homer (Il. 4. 515 where see Leaf–Bayfield) and commonly thereafter, though nowhere more so than in Statius. See Pfeiffer (1. 41) on Call. Aitia fr. 37. 1, West on Hes. Theog. 895 and cf. Lucr. 6. 750, Virg. A. 2. 615, V. Fl. 7. 442, Theb. 2. 684, 735, 7. 33, 10. 895 etc. 89 f. So Homer describes Menelaus as holding his shield before him as he stands astride Patroclus' corpse (Il. 17. 7): cf. also Virg. A. 11. 605 f. 'hastasque reductis / protendunt longe dextris'. Statius' unusual phrasing—Hippomedon had 'fixed his gathered breast to his shield'—effectively makes a defensive posture seem more aggressive and self-confident.

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Lactantius explains collecta (Jahnke wrongly gives the lemma as collata: see Damsté, p. 90) as 'sub scuto curvata'. 89. ut postponement of conjunctions is found as early as Ennius, Ann. 577 Skutsch 'cum legionibus quom proficiscitur induperator'. See H.–Sz., p. 399, Williams on Virg. A. 5. 22, and 28 n. above. 91. arduus Hippomedon there was a tradition that Hippomedon was the son of Talaus and so Adrastus' brother (Soph. OC 1317 f.), but most sources make him nephew to the Argive king, the son of either Adrastus' brother Aristomachus (Apollod. 3. 6. 3) or of a sister, called Nasica by Lactantius (on 1. 44) and Mythidice by Hyginus (Fab. 70): cf. Paus. 10. 10. 2. This is probably the relationship envisaged by Statius, for whom Adrastus is clearly much older (1. 390 f.) than Hippomedon. He lived near Argos (514 f. n.), is said to have led the assault on either the Oncaean (Apollod. 3. 6. 6, Aesch. Sept. 486 f.) or the Ogygian gate (Eur. Phoen. 1113 f.) at the siege of Thebes, and, according to Apollodorus, was slain by Ismaros. The tragedians portray him as a giant of terrifying stature, e.g. Aesch. Sept. 488, 489 f., 500, Eur. Phoen. 127 f. ʼ′Ε ἔ ὡς γαῦρος, ὡς φοβερὸς ........................................................................................................................... pg 76 εἰσιδεὶν, / γίγαντι γηγενέτᾳ προσόμοιος‎. Accordingly Statius compares him to a centaur under whose feet the earth trembles (220 ff. n.), a dolphin terrifying smaller fish (242 ff.), or a great tree reaching to heaven (532 ff.). His regular epithet in the Thebaid is arduus (4. 129, 5. 560, 6. 654), applied elsewhere only to Atlas (1. 98) and, significantly, Hippomedon's divine opponent Ismenos (418): cf. also Virg. A. 8. 299 (of Typhoeus). Thus, though von Stosch, p. 179, is perhaps right to argue that arduus implies superbia, Klinnert's contention that it merely translates Euripides' γαῦρος‎ and refers to character alone cannot be accepted.   Hippomedon may be an exemplar of courage to his men (4. 128) and noble in his loyalty to Tydeus, but he is principally characterized by unreflecting violence and by impiety. He is therefore compared to centaurs, half man, half beast (4. 140 ff., 9. 220 ff.), to the monstrous Polyphemus and to the giants who assailed Olympus (6. 716 ff.). His inability to distinguish good from evil is symbolized by the representation of the crime of the Danaids on his shield (4. 131 ff., esp. 135 'laudat … nefas': see Klinnert, p. 83), and in this book results in his cruel and sacrilegious killing of Crenaeus, and so, eventually, his own death. Overall, however, he remains less a character than a type, and it is his achievements rather than his personality which engage our interest. See further H. Glaesener, Musée Belge 3, (1899), 104 f., Butler, p. 218, Gossage, p. 205, Vessey, pp. 198 ff., 220 f., 295 ff., ten Kate, pp. 95 ff., Legras, pp. 217 f., and above all the illuminating discussion by Klinnert, pp. 79–132. For Statius' foreshadowing of his battle with Ismenos at 4. 139 ff. and 7. 425 ff., see B. Kytzler, Hermes 97 (1969), 228.

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91 ff. This simile is a close imitation of Virg. A. 10. 693 ff. (Mezentius resists the Etruscans) 'ille velut rupes vastum quae prodit in aequor, / obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto, / vim cunctam atque minas perfert caeli que marisque / ipsa immota manens', itself derived from Il. 15. 618 ff.: cf. also Ap. Rh. 3. 1293 ff. with Mooney, Page, Loeb GLP 3, p. 522, vv. 21 ff., Sen. Phaed. 580 ff., V. Fl. 7. 581 ff., Theb. 5. 723 f. Good discussions will be found at Klinnert, pp. 100–2, von Moisy, pp. 62–5 (stressing Statius' 'Tendenz zum Gefühlsmässigen') and R. G. Tanner, ANRW 2. 32. 5, pp. 3030 f. (tracing the fearlessness of the rupes to Stoic doctrines). 91. fluctibus obvia the cliff is ready to repel the sea's attack. The military flavour is continued by fracta, cedunt (92), minis, fugit (93) and stat (93), and these terms, almost forming an extended metaphor, help bind narrative and simile together. 92. de caelo metus no doubt storm-winds, if we compare Il. 15. 620 λιγέων ἀνέμων‎, Virg. A. 10. 694 'obvia ventorum furiis'. For metus with the semi-concrete sense of 'grounds of fear' cf. 583, Sen. HF 230, Ph. 29, Tro. 62 'sum Danais metus', V. Fl. 1. 23, Juv. 3. 198, Tac. Ann. 16. 5, Plin. Ep. 6. 20. 6. TLL 8. 299. 50 ff.   fracta aequora cedunt so, we imagine, the Thebans retreat, their attack ignominiously smashed. frango is naturally common of waves breaking (Lucr. 6. 695, Virg. A. 1. 161, Luc. 6. 266 etc.), but is also used of crushing military defeats (e.g. Liv. 28. 44. 11, Vell. 1. 12. 1). So too cedunt means both 'ebb' and 'yield'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 77 93. stat picking up haeret (90). The verb is often used of 'standing firm' in battle, as at 8. 150, Virg. A. 7. 374, Luc. 6. 156. Compare also Virg. A. 6. 471 'aut stet Marpesia cautes'.   fugit … rigentem P's fugit is more dramatic than timet and also suits cedunt (92) better. rigeo is used of a cliff standing stiff and erect at Ov. Met. 4. 527, but, as Lactantius saw when he explained durum, there is an element of personification present. For rigens with the sense 'unyielding' cf. Sen. Phaed. 413 'animum rigentem tristis Hippolyti doma', Thy. 304 'rigentem … virum'. See also N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 2. 9. 20 'rigidum Niphaten'. 94. miserae … carinae an echo of V. Fl. 6. 665 f. 'at illum (sc. the south wind) / protinus inmanem miserae sensere carinae'. H. Mozley, PVS 3 (1963–4), 20, describes miser as 'an epithet which occurs all too frequently' in our sentimental poet (28 times in this, the most self-consciously pathetic book of the Thebaid). For its application to inanimate objects cf. 5. 514 (silvae), 7. 512 (penates) and 10. 490 (urbem). See Legras, pp. 330 ff., for such personifications and cf. 14, 141, 493. See also 168 n.

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95. Aonides Eteocles. Statius is fond of such Grecisms, and his work offers many apparent neologisms ending in -ides: cf. 293, 789 nn., and see further Schamberger, pp. 256 ff., and also 127 n.   eligit so Heinsius. The manuscripts and Lactantius have elicit, which would perhaps be more appropriate to taking a sword from a scabbard than it can be of a spear. 96 ff. Eteocles' taunts here echo the rhetoric of his earlier invective (12 ff.) and are based on the same contention, i.e. that Tydeus is no more than a savage beast. In particular fera recalls feritas (99, 20) and infandam eiectans saniem is not unlike the equally colourful and gruesome inmoritur tabo (101, 19). More remarkable is Eteocles' success in perverting the meaning of Tydeus' last words: to 99–101 cf. 8. 736 ff. 'non ossa precor referantur ut Argos / Aetolumve larem; nec enim mihi cura supremi / funeris'. Tydeus had meant that burial was unimportant to him compared to his virtus: Eteocles asserts that burial is unnecessary because no wild animals will touch his defiled flesh. See further Klinnert, pp. 102 f. 96. manes often used by association of mortal remains. See Mayer on Luc. 8. 844 f., Williams on 10. 351, and cf. also 139, 167, 12. 366, Luc. 8. 751, 9. 151 'inhumatos condere manes', TLL 8. 299. 50 ff. 97. caelo inspectante Statius has in mind Homeric scenes where the gods look down on the actions of men below, e.g. Il. 11. 336 f., 14. 153 f. For similar phrases cf. Cic. Ver. 5. 75, Liv. 4. 42. 3 'inspectante populo Romano'. 98. scilicet is often used ironically: cf. Cic. Vat. 8, Virg. A. 4. 379, 6. 526 'scilicet id magnum sperans fore amanti', where Austin refers to 'bitter sarcasm', Luc. 1. 314, V. Fl. 3. 673, 6. 732, 8. 274, Theb. 9. 159, and also certe, 517. For the cutting tone of egregius cf. likewise Cic. Cael 63 'in balneis delituerunt: testis egregios', Virg. A. 4. 93, 6. 523 ('a sneer', Austin), 7. 556. For memorandus see Venini on 11. 11 'memoranda … facta'.   sudor a bold usage not found in Virgil or Lucan, though cf. V. Fl. 5. 668 'solus nostris sudoribus obstat', Theb. 3. 404, 5. 124, 6. 296, 8. 637, 10. 783. Compare the similar use of sudare at 8. 510, 9. 626, 833, 10. 526, and ........................................................................................................................... pg 78 also Sil. 3. 531 'exsudatosque labores', of Hannibal's crossing of the alps. egregius sudor makes a strikingly scathing paradox. 100. lacrimandus Schamberger, p. 312, thought Statius was the first poet to give lacrimare the sense 'bewail', but he is in fact imitating Sen. Phaed. 881 'mors optima est perire lacrimandum suis' ( = 'a fit object for tears'). Cf. also Silv. 5. 2. 93 f., Hyg. Astr. 2. 4, Avien. Arat. 592.

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  molli … feretro cf. Virg. A. 11. 64 ff. The bier carried the torus and would be burnt with the body (Ov. Met. 14. 747). In historical times it might be highly elaborate (Toynbee, p. 40), but, like Virgil, Statius probably imagines those of the heroic age to have been simple affairs of wicker-work and grass-covered twigs, i.e. easy to carry and burn, and therefore soft (molli). Varro, L. 5. 166, derives the word from fero, φέρω‎. 101. eiectans saniem cf. Luc. 3. 658 'eiectat saniem permixtus viscere sanguis', Sen. Oed. 140 f. See Williams on Virg. A. 5. 470 for eiecto, a word not found before Virgil. 102 f. For the implied contrast between Tydeus and Maeon see 2 n. Eteocles' selfrighteousness is undercut by the way in which volucres recalls the simile of 27 ff. 103. pius ignis edat for ignis of the flames of a funeral pyre cf. 299, 519. The fire is pius because it carries out a holy duty. edat is to be taken literally with volucres and monstra, and metaphorically with ignis: cf. Virg. G. 3. 566 'artus sacer ignis edebat', A. 4. 66, 5. 683, Theb. 1. 508. It is similarly used with e.g. robigo (Virg. G. 1. 151), frigus (Mart. 8. 68. 4) and aetas (Sil. 4. 22).   nec plura for ellipse of verbs of saying in high poetic style see Löfstedt 2. 244 ff. 104. intorquet iaculum torqueo and its compounds imply a spinning motion, and Statius probably has in mind the amentum, a thong usually looped over the first two fingers of the throwing hand. It gave extra force and distance to the throw and, by making it spin on its axis, gave the javelin a steadier flight: see Kromayer-Veith, p. 410 and H. A. Harris, Greek Athletes and Athletics (London, 1964), pp. 93 f. and plate 12c, and cf. Liv. 37. 41. 4, Virg. A. 9. 665 'amenta … torquent', Ov. Met. 12. 321, Sil. 1. 318, 4. 14 f. The prefix in- has intensive force, as at Virg. A. 9. 744 and Theb. 8. 586: so too contorqueo at e.g. Virg. A. 2. 50 ff., Theb. 2. 538. Eteocles' spear is obviously the hasta of 95. The iaculum was properly a light throwing spear while the shorter and stouter hasta was used for thrusting (Kromayer-Veith, pp. 278 f., 326 f.), but poets rarely trouble to make the distinction. 104 f. The idea is Homeric: see Il. 7. 247 f., where Hector's spear pierces six of the layers of Ajax's shield but is stopped by the seventh, and 20. 267 ff. Compare also Ov. Met. 12. 95 ff., a humorous account of a spear passing through no fewer than nine layers before lodging in the tenth. Poets love to vary the materials and number of layers in the construction of a shield. Thus there may be four (Il. 15. 479) or five (Il. 20. 267 ff.), but that of Ajax has seven layers of bull-hide and another of bronze (Il. 7. 219 ff., 11. 545). Seven, however, is the norm, as at Virg. A. 8. 448 (Aeneas'), A. 12. 925 (Turnus'), V. Fl. 6. 349, 367, Theb. 7. 310. Hence too woman's 'shield', her petticoat, is described by Pope (Rape of the Lock 2. 119) as 'that sev'nfold ........................................................................................................................... pg 79

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Fence'. For orbes of 'layers' (= πτύχες‎) cf. Virg. A. 8. 448, 12. 925, Ov. Met. 12. 97. Compare further Cid 3633 ff., where Pedro Bermúdez' spear passes through Fernando's shield and two layers of chain-mail, but is stopped by the third. 104. moratum passive, like transmissum. The use of the past participles of deponents with passive sense is discussed by H.–Sz. at p. 139: the perfect participle appears more likely to waver between active and passive than other parts of the verb. 105. transmissum also used of letting something pierce and pass through at Luc. 7. 623 f. 'qui pectore tela / transmittant', Sil. 2. 119, Theb. 12. 746. Cf. also 747 angusta transmissa via. 106 f. The repetition of the names of Lycus and Pheres helps give some substance to characters introduced merely to be killed by a greater hero: for such techniques of pathos cf. 127 f. n. and Griffin, pp. 103 ff. Lycus' name is no doubt chosen to provide word play with lupo, 116. 107 ff. The motif is found at Il. 5. 535 ff., where Meges' spear deprives Dolops of his crest, and seems to pass into Latin epic as early as Ennius, Ann. 173 f. Skutsch 'tamen induvolans secum abstulit hasta / insigne': cf. also V. Fl. 3. 196 f., Sil. 1. 524 f. Statius, however, expects us to remember Virg. A. 12. 492 ff. 'apicem tamen incita summum / hasta tulit summasque excussit vertice cristas. / tum vero adsurgunt irae', also closely imitated by Silius (16. 58 ff.). The point is that, unlike Aeneas, Hippomedon does not allow anger at the insult to provoke him (nec in obvia concitus arma / exilit), as that would put Tydeus' body in danger of being captured. The loss of the crest should also be taken as an evil omen, since ingloria cassis recalls 'nusquam ardua coni / gloria' (8. 706 f.) of Tydeus' losing the emblem of Mars on his helmet, a mishap on which Statius commented 'haud laetum domino ruit omen' (8. 708).   Herodotus (1. 21) claims that the Greeks adopted the custom of fitting crests to helmets from the Carians. For evidence of their use in the Mycenaean age see H. L. Lorimer, Homer and the Monuments (London, 1950), pp. 148, 229–31. Though merely an ornament of the parade ground in historical times, they were originally designed to give extra stature in battle and to make heroes more terrifying: see Kromayer–Veith, p. 324, and cf. Aristophanes' mockery of Lamachus' fearsome triple-crested helmet (Ach. 1109). 107. comantem commonly applied to crests and helmets (Virg. A. 2. 391, Sen. Phaed. 545, Theb. 2. 530), and literally accurate since in heroic poetry the crests are thought of as being made of hair from horses' manes: Il. 3. 369 κόρυθος … ἱπποδοσείης‎, 4. 459 etc., Ov. Met. 12. 88 f., and cf. 109 n., 698. The use of red or black feathers, on the other hand, was an Italian custom: see Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 25, quoting Polybius 6. 23. 12. 108 perstringit the present tense is needed to balance redit, 107.

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109. iubae cf. 107 n. Austin, on Virg. A. 2. 412, says that iuba of both horses' manes and the crests made from them is a Virgilian innovation, but see Enn. Ann. 538 Skutsch (a horse) 'saepe iubam quassat simul altam'. Cf. also Prop. 4. 10. 20, Sil. 1. 524 f., Theb. 4. 18, 8. 166 f. etc.   cassis the forms cassida (Virg. A. 11. 775, Prop. 3. 11. 15) and cassis ........................................................................................................................... pg 80 (Luc. 7. 586) are rare before Flavian epic. In Valerius, Silius, and the Thebaid, however, cassis becomes a serious rival to galea: the ratios are 7 to 19, 29 to 44, and 30 to 45 respectively. For the cassis see Kromayer-Veith, p. 324. 110 ff. In standing firm over the corpse, never retreating and never allowing himself to be provoked into advancing against his attackers, Hippomedon is following the instructions Ajax gave to the Greeks defending Patroclus' body (Il. 17. 357 ff.). Take in … eadem sese vestigia with both profert and recipit. Hippomedon advances a little then retreats, again and again, always over the same ground. Cf. 143 redit in vestigia, and also Virg. G. 2. 402 'in se sua per vestigia volvitur annus'. 112. obversus cunctis cf. 8. 485 'turmis obversum'. Heinsius, comparing 123, wanted to read cuneis (cf. 7. 372, where he suggested cuneique). Scribes do confuse the words (e.g. 10. 740) but cunctis makes better sense: Hippomedon repels 'all-comers'. 113. longius indulget not a reference to time as Mozley thought ('nor ever for long gives his right arm play'), but to distance: Hippomedon keeps close to the body and never strikes further than his chosen vestigia allow. For indulgeo of 'giving free rein' to a passion or desire cf. Virg. A. 2. 776 'quid tantum insano iuvat indulgere dolori?', Liv. 29. 19. 4, Theb. 5. 670. 114. corpus amat a vivid metaphor expressing his devotion to his comrade. For amare of keeping close to something cf. Virg. A. 5. 163 'litus ama', Hor. Carm. 1. 25. 3. f., Prop. 2. 6. 24. 115. vertitur see Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 784 'vertitur arma tenens', and cf. 5. 636 f. 'circa vestigia regum / vertitur'. 115 ff. For negative similes see Austin on Virg. A. 2. 496, adding Luc. 8. 199 ff., and P. Hardie, Cosmos and Imperium (Oxford, 1986), p. 177 n. 56. Statius' model is Il. 17. 4 f. (Menelaus over the body of Patroclus) ἀμφὶ δʼ ἄρʼ αὐτῷ βαῖνʼ ὥς τις περὶ πόρτακι μήτηρ / πρωτοτόκος κινυρή, οὐ πρὶν εἰδυῖα τόκοιο‎, but he has expanded this considerably. First, he has added a predator (infestante lupo) to correspond with the oncoming Thebans: in this he may have been influenced by the companion to the Homeric simile, Il. 17. 132 ff., where Ajax defends Patroclus as a lion his cubs against hunters (imitated at V. Fl. 6. 346

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ff., Theb. 10. 414 ff.). He has also given us a colourful picture of the normally placid female making threatening movements with her horns like a bull. This last detail, however, is hardly appropriate for a seasoned warrior like Hippomedon, while imbellem too may suit the young calf, but could not easily be applied to Tydeus, even when dead. The simile seems, therefore, to have been developed for the sake of a fine cameo description, but without very great attention to its relevance to the narrative. See further E. Eissfeldt, Philologus 63 (NF 17) (1904), 395 f., Klinnert, pp. 103 f. 115. imbellem … amplexa iuvencum the verb suggests both affection and a protective, 'surrounding' stance. For imbellem cf. 8. 594 'imbellis vitulos', Sil. 2. 685. It is also commonly applied to deer (e.g. Virg. G. 3. 265, Mart. 13. 94. 2). 116. infestante a verb never found in Virgil and only twice in Ovid (Am. 2. 11. 18, Met. 13. 731), but which Statius seems keen to experiment with (cf. ........................................................................................................................... pg 81 489, 812, 7. 67, Silv. 5. 2. 81). It may imply repeated attacks, as at Ciris 57, V. Fl. 4. 495, Sil. 4. 624 'innumeris infestat caedibus hostem'.   tunc primum feta Sandström, p. 56, complained that primum could be taken with either feta or tuetur but the Homeric model (πρωτοτόκος … οὐ πρίν εἰδυῖα τόκοιο‎) guarantees the sense 'having given birth for the first time': cf. also Lactantius' gloss 'in primo enim partu maior est fetus affectio'. 117. ancipiti … gyro the OLD s.v. 5b translates ancipiti here as 'liable to move in either direction': she swings her horns round, ready to launch an attack to either side. The same phrase is applied to smoke at 10. 602, though there Williams sees a reference to 'the vagueness of the shape'. One might also compare Ach. 1. 314 'nondum toto peraguntur cornua gyro', though there the reference is to the shape formed by the horns as they grow. 118. sexusque oblita minoris so Polyxo tells the women of Lemnos 'firmate animos et pellite sexum' (5. 105), Adonetus' mares 'sexum indignantur' (6. 334), and Psyche 'et corporis et animi alioquin infirma … viribus roboratur et … sexum audacia mutatur' (Apul. Met. 5. 22). On the other hand when the Lemnian women see the Argonauts' strength their unwonted courage dissolves and 'rediit in pectora sexus' (5. 397). To sexus minor of the 'weaker sex' contrast 1. 393 'sexus melioris inops', of Adrastus, who has no sons. At 7. 479 Antigone and Ismene display such manly courage and are so superior to their weak and wicked brothers that they become 'melior iam sexus'. 119. spumat indicating ferocity. Statius uses the verb of a bullock at Ach. 1. 317, but it is more usually associated with wild boars (Virg. A. 1. 324, 4. 158 f. where see Pease, Mart. 11. 69. 9) and stallions (Virg. A. 4. 135, Theb. 3. 268, 4. 244, 6. 397, 7. 67, Sil. 10. 318).

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  femina originally a respectful term when applied to humans ('lady', as opposed to mulier, 'woman') but the normal word, in both prose and verse, of the female of animal species: cf. Enn. Ann. 66 Skutsch 'lupus femina', Var. R. 2. 1. 17 'feminis bubus', Cato Agr. 134. 1 'porco femina', Virg. G. 3. 216, Ov. Ars 1. 279 f., Met. 2. 701. 120. intermissa iaculantum nube there is a break in the attack, allowing Hippomedon to return fire. Though nubes can be used of 'a great number (of persons, animals) moving together' (OLD s.v. 5b, citing Liv. 35. 49. 5 'peditum equitumque nubes', Luc. 7. 530, Sil. 6. 336: cf. also Il. 4. 274 νέφος … πεζῶν‎, Triphiodorus 37), intermissa makes a rare metaphor quite extraordinary, and a parallel for the phrase is nowhere to be found. Accordingly at CQ 37 (1987), 533 ff., I argue at greater length for the possibility that we should read iaculorum. The metaphor of 'a cloud of missiles' is a very common one (e.g. Virg. A. 10. 808 ff., Luc. 2. 262, Sil. 1. 311, 2. 37 etc.: cf. esp. Liv. 21. 55. 6 'velut nube iaculorum a Baliaribus coniecta'), and indeed appears in this very book, at Hippomedon's death (526 f.) premit undique nimbo … telorum Phoenissa cohors. These lines are surely designed to echo the present passage: a second time the Thebans shower Hippomedon with their missiles, but this time there will be no relief. There is no unambiguous support for this suggestion in the manuscripts, but ........................................................................................................................... pg 82 interesting circumstantial evidence is offered by the Middle Irish prose translation of the Thebaid. There we read that Alcon and Idas came to Hippomedon's aid 'agus ba foirithin dosum sin ona ceathaib cumascda cruadarm robadar as gach aird air' ('and that was a help to him from the confused showers of hard weapons that were on him from every quarter', G. Calder, Togail na Tebe. The Thebaid of Statius. The Irish Text (Cambridge, 1922), p. 220). The key words are ceathaib … cruadarm, 'showers of hard weapons', which surely point to iaculorum nube in the translator's presumably long-vanished Latin manuscript. Furthermore, as the language of the Irish version exhibits very old features which had disappeared by the tenth and eleventh centuries, this Latin manuscript will have been of considerable antiquity. 120 f. potestas … / reddere tela not 'they could hurl weapons etc.' (Mozley) but 'he': cf. Lactantius' explanation that reddere tela means 'in se ab hostibus missa in ipsos iterum retorquere'. potestas of the opportunity to do something is more normally used with the genitive of the gerund (Cic. Att. 11. 2. 4 'potestas mittendi non fuit', Caes. Gal. 3. 17. 5, Hor. Ars 10) or a final cause (Liv. 43. 3. 4 'potestatem fieri, uti numero colonorum essent', Petr. 70. 3). The construction with the infinitive, however, is invariably used by Statius in preference to the more prosaic alternatives (e.g. 3. 296 f., 311 f., 4. 249, 6. 167 f., 10. 214, 792, 11. 615, 12. 81 f; cf. Virg. A. 9. 739, Sil. 11. 188). 121. Alcon the name is perhaps chosen for the sake of the word play with ἀλκή‎ ('defence', 'help').

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122. praepetis Idae not the Argonaut (e.g. 5. 405) but the Pisaean youth who cheated Parthenopaeus of victory in the foot race (6. 607 ff.). He had been an Olympic victor (6. 554), while Alcon, called 'celer' at 6. 606, also took part in the race: their speed is no doubt the reason for their being the first to come to Hippomedon's aid. See also 755 n. The phrasing looks like a reminiscence, no doubt conscious, of Virg. A. 5. 254 'praepes ab Ida', of the eagle abducting Ganymede. Statius may also be thinking of the 'velox Idas' who took part in the Calydonian boar hunt (Ov. Met. 8. 305). 123. turma better suited to cuneum than turba would be: each youth leads a contingent designated by a technical term. See also Hill on 4. 850.   his laetus Kohlmann printed is but (a) if accepted, it could not be nominative, as Statius would have written ille, and (b) the ablative plural is is not found elsewhere in Statius (though cf. isdem, 6. 595). This form, moreover, does appear in archaic verse (Pac. trag. 40 Warmington, Pl. Mil. 732) but is not used by any Latin poet of the classical period. For manuscript confusion of is and his see Hill on 159. fretus (ω‎) was accepted by editors before Kohlmann and could be right (cf. 2. 539 'quo duce freta cohors', 10. 475, Claud. Gild. 1. 194 'his fretus sociis'), but laetus is more striking and vividly conveys the hero's relief and pleasure in their arrival. 124. Lernaeam … trabem i.e. Hippomedon's own spear, not one thrown at him by the enemy. Though Lernaeus is commonly used in the Thebaid to give relief from Argivus (cf. 1. 38, 5. 499, 8. 112), it is especially relevant to Hippomedon, whose home was at Lerna itself (Eur. Phoen. 126, Paus. 2. 36. 8). For trabs of a spear-shaft, made from a length of wood cut from a tree ........................................................................................................................... pg 83 and used by metonymy for the whole spear, cf. Sil. 4. 282 f., and also Virg. A. 12. 887 f. 'telum … / arboreum'. 126. transabit the word means 'move away on the far side (of), go away beyond' (OLD s.v. 1b) and so is used of weapons piercing and continuing on their path: see Williams on Virg. A. 9. 431 f. 'viribus ensis adactus / transabiit costas', and cf. Theb. 2. 9 'transabiit animam … ensis', where see Mulder for the transitive use, and Sil. 12. 264, for the absolute use. See also Schamberger, p. 319.   improba for the various meanings given to this word by Statius see Dilke's exhaustive note on Ach. 1. 41. The hyperbole is extravagant: not only does the spear pass right through Polites, it also pierces the shield of Mopsus who is standing close behind him. 127 f. The so-called 'Todeskette', or chain of the names of those slain by a great warrior, is a frequent device in ancient epic. As well as suggesting swiftness of action, such piling up of

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names stresses the glory of the victor, and T. Greene, The Descent from Heaven. A Study in Epic Continuity (Yale, 1963), p. 16, comments 'A hero wears his victims' names like scalps, and his own name is aggrandized by theirs'. This is not an unduly long list, as Odysseus kills seven Lycians (Il. 5. 677 f.), Teucer eight Trojans (Il. 8. 274 ff.), and Turnus seven of Aeneas' men (Virg. A. 9. 573 ff.). Cf. also Virg. A. 9. 334 f., 702 f., 762 ff., Ov. Met. 12. 459 f., 13. 256 ff., Sil. 1. 437 ff., Theb. 8. 491 ff., 9. 290 ff., 764 f. Such techniques as naming insignificant characters, distinguishing them with epithets, and describing the horrific death of one, usually the last mentioned, in detail, also help avoid monotony and communicate pathos: cf. Virg. A. 9. 334 ff. (Rhoetus) and see Griffin, pp. 140 f. 127. Cydona the name of the founder of Cydonia in Crete, and so firmly associated with Crete in poetry (e.g. 6. 596) that Phocea … Cydona almost seems a paradox. Parthenopaeus will kill another Theban of the same name at 759, and as both the principal heroes of this book also slay a Tanagraean (127, 745) perhaps Statius is suggesting that their aristeiai are similar, and that Parthenopaeus, in a sense, inflicts the same defeats as the greater hero.   Tanagraeum … Phalanthum the name of the founder of Tarentum (Hor. Carm. 2. 6. 12): cf. Sil. 4. 529. The adjective, borrowed from Callimachus (Suppl. Hell. 257. 2), first appears in extant Roman poetry here, though cf. Cic. Dom. 111 'Tanagraea quaedam meretrix' and the form Tanagricus, regularly applied to a type of chicken (Var. R. 3. 9. 6, Col. 8. 2. 4, 13). For Statius' fondness for coining new, exotic adjectives from Greek place names see Schamberger, pp. 247 ff., and cf. Asopius (256), Mycalesius (281), Anthedonius (291), Isthmiacus (401), Telphusiacus (847); Tegeatis (571), Erymanthias (594). 128. Erycem the name of the famous son of Venus and Butes (Virg. A. 1. 570, 5. 24, 392 etc.) after whom the Sicilian mountain was named (Virg. A. 12. 701, V. Fl. 2. 523, 4. 322). For heroes sharing their names with natural features see 152 n. This is the first of several grisly deaths in this book: cf. 266 ff., 745 ff. 129. spes for the neutral sense 'expectation, anticipation' cf. Ter. Ph. 239 ........................................................................................................................... pg 84 'praeter spem atque incredibile hoc mi obtigit' (of something unpleasant), Liv. 2. 3. 1. The similar use of sperare can be seen at Virg. A. 1. 543 (where see Austin), 2. 492, 4. 419 'hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem' (where Austin translates 'foresee'), 11. 275. 130. faucibus … cavis in strong contrast to non ore, where it should have entered but instead came out. For the more usual order see 2. 624 f. 'subit ore cavo Teumesia cornus, / nec prohibent fauces'. 131 f. For similarly repulsive descriptions of the effect of a spear in the mouth cf. Il. 5. 74 f., 290 ff., Theb. 2. 625 f. The horror comes from the unflinching precision of the details,

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especially the sickening gargling noise of Eryx' dying cry murmure plenus sanguis and the shocking violence of expulsi salierunt. For the motif of the pressure of blood driving out a weapon from the body see G. Williams, pp. 257 ff., and cf. Ov. Met. 13. 393 f., Luc. 3. 587 ff., V. Fl. 3. 105 ff. Above all cf. Theb. 10. 322 f. (Calpetus is killed in his wine-induced sleep) 'expulit ingens / vina cruor fractumque perit in sanguine murmur'. 132. expulsi capping Virgil's picture of the defeated Dares 'crassumque cruorem / ore eiectantem mixtosque in sanguine dentes' (Virg. A. 5. 469f.). Priscian (2. 541. 3) quotes this line with excussi but was probably relying on his memory and so confusing it with Juv. 16. 10: see P. Dierschke, De Fide Prisciani in versibus Vergilii Lucani Statii Iuvenalis Examinata (diss. Greifswald, 1913), p. 81.   salierunt to be taken with both dentes and sanguis. For salire of liquids 'spouting' or being forcibly ejected cf. Cat. Agr. 154, Var. R. 1. 13. 3, Mart. 14. 104. 2. 133 ff. Leonteus' action here is modelled on that of Hippothous, who tries to drag away Patroclus' corpse and is slain by Ajax (Il. 17. 288 ff.). Statius greatly compresses the original, and has nothing to correspond to Homer's picture of Hippothous' death or his reflections on his home. Also, perhaps for the sake of decorum, Homer's rather technical description of how the Trojan tied his baldric round Patroclus' ankles and attempted to drag the corpse by its feet (Il. 17. 298 f.: cf. also Il. 14. 475 ff., 18. 155 ff.) is replaced by Leonteus' simply grabbing the body by the hair (135). Lastly, Statius replaces the killing of the culprit by a punishment which fits the crime, that is the loss of his hand; the alteration clearly illustrates the Latin poet's search for 'point'. For the idea cf. Suet. Cl. 15. 2 'proclamante quodam praecidendas falsario manus'. Also similar is the fate of Pharus at Virg. A. 10. 322 f., where his boasting is punished by wounding in the mouth: see further R. Heinze, Vergils Epische Technik (Leipzig, 1908), p. 207, Homo Viator. Classical Essays For John Bramble, edited by Michael Whitby, Philip Hardie, and Mary Whitby (Bristol, 1987), pp. 247 n. 22, 281 n. 9. 133. furto like pone viros atque arma latens (134), this clearly suggests cowardice. For 'quasi-adverbial' furto see Dilke on Ach. 1. 66. There is some justice in Barth's acerbic comment on Leonteus' hopes: 'satis ridicule inter tot pugnantium cuneos'.   iniectare Klotz tried to defend P's eiectare by taking it to mean 'e latebris' but, as Håkanson (p. 59) shows, there are no latebrae here. In any case iniectare is very appropriate as Leonteus actually 'lays hands upon' the ........................................................................................................................... pg 85 corpse (prenso crine, 135). Moreover Statius is combining his Homeric material with an imitation of Luc. 3. 609 ff. 'alter … / ausus Romanae Graia de puppe carinae / iniectare manum; sed eam gravis insuper ictus / amputat'. Cf. also Sil. 3. 183 'dextram iniectare'.

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135 f. The mannered word-order, with the subject of the main verb standing defiantly in the middle of a dependent clause, is by no means an affectation limited to Silver poetry, and Statius' use of such violent hyperbata will have been influenced by their apparent popularity with Hellenistic poets (e.g. Call. fr. 178. 9 f., Pf., fr. 384. 31, Theoc. 29. 3) and their Roman admirers (e.g. Catul. 66. 18 'non ita me divi, vera gemunt, iuverint', Ov. Ep. 10. 110). See further H.–Sz., pp. 689 ff., Housman on Man. 1. 58, Cl. P., pp. 140, 415 f., Wilkinson, pp. 213 ff. Fordyce on Catul. 66. 18 shows that, as similar dislocations of normal word-order can be found even in poetry which imitates ordinary speech (Pl. Mil. 862, Ter. Hec. 262, Hor. S. 1. 5. 72, 2. 1. 60), the Roman ear must have been more attuned to them than our own can be. 136 f. protervam / abstulit ense manum Leonteus' hand is 'impudent' because he is a coward hoping to win fame through an assault on a now defenceless hero. The loss of a hand is a favourite mutilation in epic battle-scenes (cf. Virg. A. 10. 395 f., 414 f., 545 f., Luc. 3. 611 f., Sil. 9. 386 f., 16. 66 f.) and, like the blinding of the eye by an arrow, seems to symbolize for Statius the horrors of war: see 749 ff. n. and cf. 12. 29 ff. 'patuere recisae / cum capulis hastisque manus mediisque sagittae / luminibus stantes'. See also Ch. Rol. 1903 for its symbolic importance in a later heroic poem, and S. J. Bonner, AJP 87 (1966), 281 f. for the importance of the motif in declamation. Though protervus is very rare in epic, Statius has it five times in the Thebaid, all either in Book 9 or in connection with one of its heroes (339, 612, 825; 1. 44). For the collocation cf. Ov. Met. 12. 233 f., and for the common phrase abstulit ensis / ense cf. Virg. A. 10. 394, 12. 382, Ov. Met. 6. 557. 137. increpat heroes in epic battles regularly exchange ritual taunts with the intention of raising their own courage and of intimidating the enemy (Il. 5. 632 ff., Virg. A. 2. 547 ff., 9. 735 ff., Theb. 8. 677 ff., 9. 339 ff., 11. 547 ff. etc.). Alternatively, their purpose may be to celebrate victory over a dead or dying opponent (e.g. Il. 22. 344 ff., Virg. A. 9. 634 ff., 10. 554 ff., 591 ff., 896 ff., 11. 685 ff., Theb. 8. 472 ff., 588 ff., 9. 543 ff., 557 ff., 12. 778 ff.) or else to reprove an ally's unwillingness to fight (e.g. Il. 17. 140 ff., Virg. A. 12. 664, Theb. 8. 600 f.). Here, however, the insults emphasize the ignominy of being reprieved: cf. 294 ff. and see Aeschin. 2. 181. Though naturally highly stylized in literature such taunting will no doubt have been important in face-to-face combat in primitive times. Claudius Quadrigarius (at Gel. 9. 13. 4 ff.) tells us of the giant Gaul killed by Torquatus that 'inridere coepit atque linguam exertare', a useful reminder of the immutability of human nature and the resilience of effective ways of expressing it. Cf. also the taunts Laeg throws at Cú Chulainn to rouse his mettle against Ferdia: 'Well now!' he said. 'Your enemy shook you then as easily as a loving mother slaps her son!', The Táin, tr. T. Kinsella (Oxford, 1970, p. 195). Likewise the Saracen Aelroth 'de noz Franceis vait disant si ........................................................................................................................... pg 86 mals moz' until Roland cuts him down and throws his words back in his teeth (Ch. Rol. 1190 ff.). Cf. also Milton, PL 6. 130 ff., 260 ff., 608 ff. Hippomedon's taunts here and to Panemus

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(294 ff.) perhaps indicate the violence and hubris which will destroy him: consider Odysseus' rebuke to Eurycleia at Od. 22. 411 ff. For increpo of taunting cf. 835, Sal. Cat. 53. 1, Virg. A. 10. 830, Silv. 3. 2. 51. 137 f. Statius is imitating Virg. A. 12. 948 f. 'Pallas te hoc vulnere, Pallas / immolat'. For the idea of the avenger as a kind of reincarnation of the dead hero see Klinnert, pp. 104 ff., 124 ff. and cf. Sil. 12. 236 ff. Epanalepsis is more usually pathetic than triumphant: see 320 f. n. 139. fuge tangere manes a striking oxymoron: for manes of a corpse see 96 n. The elegant use of fuge with the infinitive belongs to the high style and seems to be modelled on the Greek construction (e.g. Eur. Tro. 891 ὁρᾶν δὲ τῆνδε φεῦγε‎): see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 9. 13 'fuge quaerere', TLL 6. 1. 1491. 64, and cf. Lucr. 1. 1052, Hor. Carm. 2. 4. 22, Virg. A. 9. 199 f., Prop. 4. 1. 71, Tib. 1. 4. 9, Pers. 6. 65. Though much rarer in prose, it is found at e.g. Cic. de Orat. 3. 153. 140 f. These lines correspond to Il. 18. 155 ff., where Hector drags Patroclus' body away three times and three times the Aiantes drag it back. The ritual threefold attack and threefold repulse is a frequent motif in Homer: cf. Il. 5. 436 f., 8. 169 ff., 11. 462 ff., 16. 702 ff., 18. 228 f., 20. 445 f., 21. 176 f. Herodotus (7. 225) says the Greeks drove the Persians back four times before recovering Leonidas' body at Thermopyle. 140. Cadmea phalanx cf. Cadmeia, 9 n. The Thebans are Καδμεῖοι‎ as early as Il. 4. 388: cf. also Ap. Rh. 3. 1095, Prop. 1. 7. 1 'Cadmeae … Thebae', [Tib.] 3. 6. 24, Sen. Phoen. 392, V. Fl. 6. 437, Sil. 1. 6, Theb. 7. 328, 10. 67, 12. 635. For phalanx, used in the poets of any densely-packed group of soldiers, see Austin on Virg. A. 2. 254. It is already common in Homer (e.g. Il. 6. 6, 11. 90, 19. 158). 141. Danai in verse the word is usually applied to the Greeks in general (Il. 1. 42, 56, Virg. A. 1. 30, 2. 5, 49, Ov. Met. 12. 13, 13. 134, Ach. 1. 550, 894, 2. 47) but in the Thebaid always refers to the Argives (cf. 6. 689, 8. 457, 9. 256, 12. 598). 141 ff. Though violently buffeted, both corpse and ship remain eventually in the same position. Storms are a traditional subject for the rhetorical descriptio. The Theban legend contained none, and so Statius ingeniously accommodates the topos by having a storm on land (1. 336 ff.) and several similes (cf. 459 ff.): see further Legras, p. 297, B. Kytzler, WS 75 (1962), 155 ff., M. P. O. Morford, The Poet Lucan (Oxford, 1967), chapters 3 and 4. The sea between Sicily and Africa may have been generally associated with storms: See Eur. El. 1347 f. with Cropp. The choice of location here, however, is surely dictated by Virgil's great storm at A. 1. 34 ff. ('vix e conspectu Siculae telluris' etc.), while seditio echoes the famous simile which describes the calming of that storm (A. 1. 148 ff. 'ac veluti … cum saepe coorta est / seditio'). The more traditional dangers of the seas off Sicily were Scylla and Charybdis (Silv.

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3. 2. 85 f.). Statius also seems to owe something to Ovid's simile describing the indecision of Althaea: Ov. Met. ........................................................................................................................... pg 87 8. 470 ff. 'utque carina, / quam ventus ventoque rapit contrarius aestus, / vim geminam sentit paretque incerta duobus'. 141. anxia puppis ships are also personified in Statius at 94 and 5. 469 f. 'ratis ipsa moram portusque quietos / odit'. Take anxia with seditione maris. 144–176. The Fury Tisiphone, disguised as Halys, tricks Hippomedon into believing Adrastus to be in danger, and he abandons the body. Juhnke, pp. 134 f., describes this episode as a conflation of three Homeric passages from the account of the defence of Patroclus' corpse, namely Il. 17. 70 ff., 319 ff., and 18. 165 ff. The main model, however, is clearly the first of these passages: Menelaus, the defender, would have been able to retrieve the body had not Apollo taken the form of Mentes, leader of the Cicones, and roused Hector against him. The Homeric source is none the less not the only one being used here; cf. also Sil. 2. 553 ff. where Tisiphone takes the form of the widow Tiburna in order to drive the Saguntines to suicide. Behind both Statius' and Silius' Furies we can sense Allecto's impersonation of Calybe at Virg. A. 7. 406 ff. See further Klinnert, pp. 105 ff. and cf. also Virg. A. 5. 618 ff. (Iris disguises herself as Beroe in order to cause trouble) and V. Fl. 2. 141 ff. (Venus in the form of Neaera). Statius' choice of trick here, however, is his own invention, and he should also take the credit for the splendidly chilling description of how, though disguised, the Fury still inspires fear (149 ff.). Note also that whereas Menelaus was forced to retreat and seek help against Hector (Il. 17. 106 ff.) only supernatural deceit can prevail against Hippomedon: so too in the river battle he will surpass even Achilles before falling to a god. 144 ff. These lines naturally recall the simile of the cliff (91 ff.): to non moverent cf. inmota (93), to oppositum cf. obvia (91), and to non valuissent pellere cf. stat (93). 144. Sidoniae Cadmus was the son of Agenor, king of Tyre and Sidon: cf. 567, 709, and see Heuvel on 1. 5. The scansion with the short o, frequent in Greek poetry (e.g. Il. 23. 743, Od. 4. 84, 618), is greatly preferred by Statius: see Williams on 10. 126. 146 f. tormenta not siege-engines here but their missiles: cf. 10. 859, Curt. 4. 2. 9 'non tormenta nisi e navibus procul excussa mitti'. This is of course an anachronism, though all known Roman siege-engines were derived from Greek models of historical times: see Kromayer–Veith, pp. 144 f. Hippomedon here recalls and excels Lucan's Scaeva: Luc. 6. 198 ff. 'hunc aut tortilibus vibrata falarica nervis / obruat aut vasti muralia pondera saxi, / hunc aries ferro ballistaque limine portae / promoveat. stat non fragilis pro Caesare murus'. Mighty engines of war would be necessary to dislodge Scaeva, but even they could not have prevailed against Hippomedon. Page 36 of 195

146. The four heavy words of which this line is composed help suggest the rock-like immovability of the hero. The four-word hexameter is well discussed by Mayer on Luc. 8. 407, who points out that it is found occasionally in Homer (e.g. Il. 2. 92, 18. 355: cf. also Hes. Th. 90), and ........................................................................................................................... pg 88 then in Callimachus, 'presumably as an ornament of style' (Hymn 3. 171, 216). Ennius introduced it into Latin poetry, but it remains rare in the Republican and Augustan period, though a special favourite with Silius and Claudian. Among Greek poets, Nonnus in particular makes great use of it: see D. 1. 85, 204, 215, 249, 292, 293 etc. In this book cf. 156, 191, 253, 291, 306, 545, 847: it is hard to imagine Virgil admitting six such lines in the space of only 161 verses.   formidatique similarly used with the dative at Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 256, Ach. 1. 1 f. 'formidatamque Tonanti / progeniem', Avien. 2. 248 f. Statius is fond of using this verb in its majestic gerundive (7. 242, 10. 161) and past participle (2. 33, 3. 182, 8. 128, 9. 185) forms. 148 ff. Lactantius explains memor Elysii regis as 'qui scelera solet ulcisci. non enim exciderant Tisiphones animo scelera, quae Tydeus parricidio perpetrarat, sive quod nuper Melanippi caput assumpserat', but the reference is more specific. Pluto, enraged at Jupiter's apparent assault on his kingdom by sending Amphiaraus down living into Hades, commanded Tisiphone to avenge Tartarus by instigating a series of previously unheard-of sins, among them the mutual fratricide of the brothers and the cannibalism of Tydeus (8. 65 ff.). All this she successfully achieves: see 8. 757 f. and esp. 11. 76 ff., where she boasts that she has fulfilled all the 'Stygii metuenda parentis / imperia' except the duel of the brothers. She here abducts Hippomedon from the defence of Tydeus' corpse in order to fulfil Pluto's order that she arrange Creon's impious denial of burial to the Argive dead (8. 72 ff. 'quique igne supremo / arceat exanimes et manibus aethera nudis / commaculet'). In all this Statius is imitating Petronius' Bellum Civile, esp. 90 ff. where Pluto infects the world with the sin of civil war in retaliation for the profanation of his kingdom. See P. Venini, Athenaeum 46 (1968), pp. 136 ff.   Tisiphone (the 'avenger of bloodshed': see Servius on Virg. A. 4. 609, and cf. A. 6. 570 ff., esp. 'ultrix … Tisiphone', Theb. 8. 65, 757 f.) was associated with the Theban legend from the earliest times: see Venini on 11. 58. Statius, however, is no doubt the first poet to portray her as the prime instigator of the furor which infects Thebes and Argos alike: see Fiehn, pp. 11 ff., Legras, pp. 202 ff., Vessey, pp. 74 ff., 161 ff., 276 f., Burck, p. 338. Her rôle thus raises to the status of a major theme in this poem the episode of the Aeneid in which Allecto stirs up civil war (Virg. A. 7. 323 ff.: see Venini, Athenaeum 42 (1964), 210 f.). This led Schetter (pp. 5 ff.) to argue that the poem's characters are 'die willenlose Beute einer damonischen Macht' (p. 7), but P. Venini (art. cit., pp. 207 ff.) demonstrates that the Fury merely exploits

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evil tendencies already present in the characters. For this parallel motivation cf. e.g. 5. 57 f. 'dis visum turbare domos, nec pectora culpa / nostra vacant', and see further B. Kytzler's review of Schetter (Gnomon 33 (1931), 169 ff., quoting Theb. 1. 86 f.), Gossage, pp. 193 ff., D. Vessey, Latomus 30 (1971), 375 ff., Klinnert, pp. 108 f., Burck, p. 326. See also Hübner, pp. 77 ff., for a general discussion of Tisiphone's literary precedents, rôle, and nature, and S. G. Farron, Stud. Ant. 1 (1979–80), 42 f., for the view that she is an ancestor of Milton's ........................................................................................................................... pg 89 Satan. For her delight in battle cf. Virg. A. 10. 761, V. Fl. 4. 409 ff., 6. 179 f., 402 f.: she also appears in the plague at Virg. G. 3. 551 ff., and inspires the mass suicide of the Saguntines at Sil. 2. 529 ff. 148. Elysii regis for the periphrasis cf. Virg. A. 6. 252 'Stygio regi', Theb. 8. 22 'dux Erebi', 11. 76 'Stygii … parentis' and, surely an imitation of Statius' phrase here, Ausonius, Epig. 62. 8 'Iovis Elysii tu catamitus eris'. It is odd to see Pluto associated with the more pleasant part of his realm, but cf. Ach. 1. 826 'Elysii … sponsa tyranni', Theb. 4. 520 'Elysium chaos', 9. 323 n., Mart. 10. 24. 20 'Elysiae … puellae' (of Proserpina).   noxasque recensens i.e. his fratricide, support of this impious war, and cannibalism: see Lactantius' comments, cit. supra on 148 ff. Editors formerly printed retexens until Gronovius showed that retexere would mean dissolvere (as at Hor. S. 2. 3. 2, Sen. Ep. 94) so that 'foret igitur potius, delens ex animo, quam in eo retinens'. Moreover 3. 338 cannot be used to support retexens, since there Tydeus is 'unwinding' the thread of his tale. The present line is also an ironic echo of his former glory when, after defeating the ambush, he 'ingentia … acta recenset' (2. 706). Cf. also Sil. 10. 450 f. 149. astu subit impia cf. 172 n. Tisiphone is impia both because in general she inspires crime and, more specifically, because here her intention is to deny Tydeus' burial. For the phrasing cf. also Virg. A. 10. 522. The ablative singular astu is an archaism common in e.g. Plautus, Terence, Pacuvius: Cicero would have written astute. 150 ff. A magnificently eerie description. Though disguised, Tisiphone still inspires terror in men and horses alike because they can sense her evil presence (sensere, 150), while Hippomedon, unable to see anything strange, cannot understand his own feelings of fear. Cf. 10. 639 ff., where Virtus takes human form, 'tamen aspera produnt / ora deam nimiique gradus'. Allecto on the other hand disguises herself successfully (Virg. A. 7. 415 f.). For the reverse process see also V. Fl. 2. 102 ff., where Venus sheds her kindly aspect to take on the appearance of a Fury. 150 f. Compare Virg. A. 7. 446 (Turnus' fear on seeing Allecto in all her horror) 'iuveni oranti subitus tremor occupat artus'. For the phrasing and for the traditional epic collocation of horses and men see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 15. 9 f. 'heu heu quantus equis, quantus adest Page 38 of 195

viris / sudor!'; add Theb. 3. 210 f. Here the unexpected twist in the topos is that the sweat is caused by fear, not the toil of battle. 151. ore remisso see 84 n., and for the same phrase used of a fierce or angry face relaxing cf. 7. 61, Ach. 1. 718. Similar are Ach. 1. 615 'vultumque animumque remisit', Sil. 13. 733. Statius also uses remitto of metaphorical 'relaxation' and informality: see Coleman on Silv. 4. 2. 19 'Atlante remisso', 4. 6. 50 'epulis … remissis'. 152. fingebat Halyn for similar but less daring uses of fingo of 'pretending to be' someone cf. Ov. Rem. 504 'qui poterit sanum fingere, sanus erit', V. Fl. 6. 539 'neve deum mihi finge'. Halys owes his name to the great river of Asia Minor: warriors of the same name are killed by Tydeus (2. 547), Turnus (Virg. A. 9. 765), and Jason (V. Fl. 3. 157). The use of the names of rivers to designate minor heroes may have been instituted by Virgil: see ........................................................................................................................... pg 90 Fordyce on A. 7. 532. Other examples are Caicus (Virg. A. 1. 183), Hypanis (A. 2. 340, V. Fl. 6. 252), Thymbris (A. 10. 124), Hebrus (A. 10. 696, V. Fl. 3. 149, Theb. 10. 315), Tanais (A. 12. 513), Strymon (V. Fl. 6. 193), Padus (Sil. 4. 232), Rhodanus (Sil. 15. 722), Tagus (10. 314), and, possibly, Lamus at 764 (see Paus. 9. 31. 7 for the small Boeotian river of that name). See also 290 n. 152 f. Furies traditionally had snakes for hair and carried a torch in one hand and a whip in the other, using all three to torment sinners (Virg. A. 6. 570 ff., Sen. Med. 958 ff.). In the Thebaid, however, Tisiphone uses them to inspire madness and sin on earth rather than punish evil-doers in Hell: cf. Virg. A. 7. 345 (one of Allecto's snake-hairs maddens Amata), 451 ff. (her torch and lash inflame Turnus with fury). Hence her torch is an impius ignis by association: contrast 103 n. Statius is at pains to heighten the horror of Tisiphone's attributes: thus her lash is a living snake and her torch was lit from the flames of a funeral pyre (1. 112 f.). Moreover, the torch is made not of the normal pine-wood (Luc. 1. 573, V. Fl. 2. 105, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 40, Ruf. 1. 121) but of yew, a tree associated with death and with Hades (11. 93 f. 'infera … / taxus'): cf. Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3. 386 f. 'qualis pestiferas animare ad crimina taxos / torva Megaera ruit'. It seems that Aeschylus was the first poet to speak of the Furies as having snakes for hair (see Paus. 1. 28. 6 and Cho. 1050): cf. e.g. Eur. Or. 256, Virg. G. 4. 482 f., A. 7. 329, 346, 447, 450, Ov. Met. 4. 491 f., Prop. 3. 5. 40, Luc. 1. 574, Theb. 1. 103, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 39 f. Statius grimly plays on the idea of the hair as sentient creatures: cf. the chilling description of Tisiphone at 1. 90 f. 'resolutaque vertice crines / lambere sulphureas permiserat anguibus undas'. For the phrase iussi tenuere silentia cf. Ov. Met. 1. 206 'tenuere silentia cuncti' and Ach. 1. 230 f. 'iussa tacere / litora'. 154. feri a standard epithet for the inhuman Hippomedon: cf. 7. 430, 9. 196, 544, 568.

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155. blanda genas vocemque the true 'accusative of respect' appears to be a Grecism found in Latin poetry as early as Lucr. 3. 489 'tremit artus' but mainly popularized by Virgil. Its progress in prose was naturally slower, but Quintilian (9. 3. 17) remarks that 'saucius pectus' was in his day 'iam vulgatum actis quoque'. See K.–S. 1. 285 ff., Palmer, p. 289, Austin on Virg. A. 1. 320 and 4. 558, Conway on A. 1. 320, Williams on A. 3. 594 and Theb. 10. 233. Other examples in this book are turbidus imbre genas (482) and saucius inguina (766): for a full list of occurrences in Statius see Nauke, pp. 25–7. For the 'retained' accusative see 163 n. To blanda genas cf. Ach. 1. 351 'torva genas', and contrast 'torva genis' at 2. 238, 716. 156. extimuit vultus the compound verb is rare in epic, but cf. Virg. A. 8. 129, Luc. 5. 634. For the 'poetic' plural vultus see 7 n., Austin on Virg. A. 2. 57, 4. 673, Williams on A. 5. 98. 157 ff. Juhnke, p. 135, traces Tisiphone's false report of Adrastus' plight to Nestor's real difficulties and Diomedes' exhortation to Odysseus at Il. 18. 80 ff. There are also similarities of situation and tone to Virg. A. 12. 650 ff., where Saces rebukes Turnus for dawdling far from the battle where his comrades need him. Note how a shadow is thrown over the Fury's speech ........................................................................................................................... pg 91 by the emphatic frustra, while the positive action implied by protegis is annulled by the scathing aside of 159: cf. also 365 n. 158. The plurals are rhetorical, their purpose being to belittle Tydeus: he is one of many. Statius may be recalling Virg. A. 11. 22 f. 'socios inhumataque corpora terrae / mandemus': cf. also Theb. 12. 151. Statius far prefers the form exanimis (Theb. 14 times: cf. 236) to exanimus (4 times: e.g. 561). 159. For ironical scilicet see 98 n. There is an echo here of Virg. A. 4. 379 'scilicet is superis labor est'.   aut iam cura sepulcri like Eteocles (96 ff. n.), Tisiphone is cunningly alluding to Tydeus' last words 'nec enim mihi cura supremi / funeris' (8. 737 f.: hence iam implies 'does it matter now when it did not then?'). This denial of the importance of burial—a major theme in the Thebaid (297 ff. n.)—is of course the flaw in Tisiphone's impious argument. See also Austin on Virg. A. 2. 646 'facilis iactura sepulchri'. 160. Tyria i.e. Theban: see 144 n. and cf. 177, 406, 489.   tibi ethic dative—Adrastus' danger is Hippomedon's concern—and clearly superior to iam (ω‎). Cf. te … te, 161.

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161. raptatur suggesting both force and speed. Since Adrastus has fallen from his chariot and is being dragged along, perhaps the choice of verb has been influenced by Virg. A. 1. 483 'ter circum Iliacos raptaverat Hectora muros': cf. also Enn. Scen. 100 f. Vahlen 'vidi … / Hectorem curru quadriiugo raptarier'. 162. invocat usually used of appealing for help from a god, and so continuing the flattery of te … ante alios, 161. Cf. V. Fl. 7. 342 (Jason and Medea) 'te nunc invocat unam'.   lapsare in sanguine vidi the rare frequentative verb is first found at Virg. A. 2. 551 'in multo lapsantem sanguine nati' and retains associations from that passage both here and at its only other appearance in the Thebaid: 5. 223 f. (Hypsipyle on the Lemnian massacre) 'Gyan vidi lapsare cruentae / vulnere Myrmidones'. For 'floundering' in spilt blood cf. also Tac. Ann. 1. 65 (horses) 'sanguine suo et lubrico paludum lapsantes', Sil. 7. 610, 10. 145. For the use of vidi to stress the horror one feels at having witnessed terrible events and to appeal for credence in one's account cf. Enn. Scen. 97 ff. Vahlen 'haec omnia vidi inflammari' etc., Virg. A. 2. 5 'quaeque ipse miserrima vidi', 3. 623 ff., Theb. 5. 223, 3. 640 f. At 8. 58 f. Statius ingeniously adapts it to express Pluto's horror at the pity Orpheus rouses in his realm: 'vidi egomet blanda inter carmina turpes / Eumenidum lacrimas'. 163. An echo of Tydeus' threat to Eteocles (2. 457) 'captivo moribundus humum diademate pulses'.   exutum canos … crines canos is not otiose but pathetic. For the accusative of the direct object after a past participle with 'middle' sense, see Williams on 10. 641, who sees it as 'probably inherent in the Latin language' but made more attractive to the poets through Greek influences. Compare Plaut. Men. 511 f., Virg. A. 2. 392 f., 4. 518 'unum exuta pedem vinclis', 7. 640, Ov. Met. 2. 425, Theb. 6. 352 'omnes exuta comas', 6. 835 f., 9. 691 f., 10. 647, 11. 460 'vittis exuta comam', Silv. 1. 3. 71. Perhaps more ........................................................................................................................... pg 92 common is the analogous, and also Greek-inspired, use of the 'retained' accusative after a past participle with passive sense: see Austin on Virg. A. 2. 57, and Nauke, pp. 27–9, for an exhaustive list of examples in Statius. In this book we have intactus … umerosque manusque (457), caelo mixta comas (534), somnum turbata (570), animumque innupta (616), and fletuque genas violata (713). The construction is found as early as Ennius, e.g. Ann. 519 Skutsch 'succincti corda machaeris'. See further Skutsch on Ann. 310, Austin on Virg. A. 1. 228, Williams on A. 3. 65 and 5. 135, Fordyce on Catul. 64. 64 f., H.–Sz., p. 37, Löfstedt 2. 421, K.–S. 1. 288 ff., and cf. 155 n. above.   lacero diademate the epithet confirms that Statius is thinking of a band of cloth, the diadem proper, that is, not a crown: cf. 55 n.

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165 f. Hippomedon, normally a man of impulsive action, is confused by having to make a moral decision—should he help Tydeus or Adrastus? 166. librabat metus the striking metaphor is repeated at 11. 260. Cf. also 8. 288 'incerta formidine gaudia librat', and see Dilke on Ach. 1. 762.   premit aspera virgo for premo of insistently urging someone to action cf. 6. 34, V. Fl. 4. 648 f. 'hortatur supplexque manus intendit Iason / nomine quemque premens', Apul. Met. 11. 28. The phrase aspera virgo is applied by Virgil to Camilla (A. 11. 664). The Furies were all maidens (Aesch. Eum. 72, Serv. on A. 6. 280 'Furiae numquam nupserunt'): they were presumably not considered a good catch.   haeres a taunt, suggesting fear, as at 10. 522, Virg. A. 3. 597. What was commendable at 91 is now, she suggests, despicable. 168. miserum the poet's own comment, indicating that without Hippomedon his companions will fail. miser, though overused in the Thebaid (94 n.), none the less has a thematic significance in that it reveals a powerlessness which, with mortality and ignorance of fate, characterizes Statius' portrayal of man: see Rieks, pp. 204 ff. 169. unanimi vadit desertor amici Tydeus had complained (8. 738 f.) 'odi artus fragilemque huius corporis usum, / desertorem animi': the echo shows that Hippomedon too has failed his friend. desertor is a very rare word in epic, found only once in Virgil (A. 12. 15) and in one other place in Statius (Ach. 1. 629 'desertoris alumni', with adjectival force: cf. Sen. Phoen. 45). In prose the suffix -tor implies habitual action (e.g. potor, a drunkard, arator, piscator), but this seems not to be a hard and fast rule in early Latin or in poetry: clearly Hippomedon only deserted Tydeus once, as Odysseus, the 'domitor Troiae' (Hor. Ep. 1. 2. 19) only sacked Troy on one occasion. Cf. also Sen. Oed. 221 'peremptor incluti regis'. unanimus (cf. ὁμόφρων, σύμφρων‎), a slightly archaic sounding word, may be used of any kinsman (see Pease on Virg. A. 4. 8, Williams on Theb. 10. 547, and e.g. 4. 354, 8. 669, 10. 727, Silv. 5. 1. 176). It is applied more rarely to close friends, but cf. Catul. 30. 1 'unanimis … sodalibus', Silv. 5. 2. 155 'unanimi comes indefessus amici', Sil. 9. 401. 171 f. The Fury deliberately leads him on a confused path to keep him away from the body and so give the Thebans time to capture it. His aimless rushing about here is in sharp contrast with his firm battle-stance by the body at 110 ff. We naturally remember Turnus, kept far off on the edge of the battle by Juturna (Virg. A. 12. 614 ff.). ........................................................................................................................... pg 93 172. impia cf. 149 n. The repetition signals the successful completion of her mission.

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173. reiecta … parma i.e. in order to cover her retreat (fugit, 174): she is apparently taking to her heels before Hippomedon can challenge her. So too Ajax, as he prepares to flee from Hector, throws his famous seven-fold shield over his back (Il. 11. 545). Cf. also Cic. de Orat. 2. 294, Fam. 10. 30. 3, Virg. A. 11. 618 f., Milton PL 1. 284 ff.   caerula Damsté, p. 90, thought the epithet 'ieunum sane … et satis obscurum' and read in caerula ('into the (blue) air'), comparing 3. 250, 10. 679, 928. These 'parallels' do not in fact help his case much, and furthermore, as Mozley saw, the adjective should be taken with fugit: Tisiphone 'vanishes darkly', her form becoming indistinct, a sinister blue-black figure, with the snakes on her head breaking through her helmet. caerulus is the colour of Hell: compare Virg. A. 6. 410 'caeruleam … puppim', of Charon's boat, with Austin, Prop. 2. 28b. 39 f. Thus Tisiphone's cloak is fastened with 'caerulei … nodi' (1. 110) and her snake hair is the same colour (11. 66: cf. Virg. G. 4. 482 f., A. 7. 346). Statius, like Virgil, seems to have thought of the word as designating a sort of black, rather shiny and with blue undertones: see Serv. on A. 3. 64, Austin on Virg. A. 2. 381, J. André, pp. 169 ff. 174. Only now do we realize that the snakes were all the time coiled up under the helmet, just out of sight: a chilling detail. 175. discussa nube perhaps the most attractive possibility is to see this 'cloud' as a supernatural gloom which Tisiphone brought with her from Hades and which she now disperses. On the other hand Juhnke, p. 135, thinks that the reference is to a real cloud of dust, the one mentioned by Tisiphone (164 ff.): it originally obscured the realities of battle from sight but now vanishes along with the Fury and reveals that Adrastus is in fact safe. It perhaps corresponds to the darkness which shrouds the battle for Patroclus' corpse (Il. 17. 366 ff.), but whereas Zeus scattered that gloom out of pity for Ajax, Tisiphone's motive is malevolence. Moreover, similar phrases are also used metaphorically of the revelation of truth, e.g. Virg. A. 12. 669 'ut primum discussae umbrae et lux reddita menti', Silv. 2. 2. 138 f. 'at nunc discussa rerum caligine verum / aspicis'. For the wording cf. also 12. 3 f., Ach. 1. 646 'discussa nube soporis'. 177–195. The Thebans capture Tydeus' corpse and take vengeance by spitefully mutilating it. Since Patroclus' body was eventually saved, that episode of the Iliad has no influence on this scene. Statius' inspiration, however, is Homer's description of the Greeks' maltreatment of Hector's corpse, Il. 22. 369 ff., esp. 371 οὐδ' ἄρα οἵ τις ἀνουτητί γε παρέστη‎. Cf. also V. Fl. 6. 351, and especially the description of how the Argives disfigure the body of the monster killed by Coroebus, Theb. 1. 621 ff. 'hi trabibus duris, solacia vana dolori, / proterere exanimos artus asprosque molares / deculcare genis; nequit iram explere potestas'. The tone of this passage is scornful: the Thebans fled before Tydeus when he was alive but have the false courage to attack him now that they can do so impune (185), while their bestial fury confirms the insinuations of the simile of 27 ff. For the importance of the mutilation of corpses in epic in general see C. Segal, The Theme of the Page 43 of 195

........................................................................................................................... pg 94 Mutilation of the Corpse in the Iliad (Leiden, 1971), S. Farron, Acta Classica 29 (1986), 72 ff. Griffin, p. 47, comments acutely on the maltreatment of Hector's corpse: 'It is natural to think that underlying this we see the superstition at work, that so many wounds will ensure that Hector is really dead (as an Assyrian might put it, to make him more dead than he was before)'. 177 f. An echo of Ov. Met. 8. 420 (the killing of the Calydonian boar) 'gaudia testantur socii clamore secundo'. Cf. 187 f. n. 178. ululatus normally used of howls of lamentation, and especially those of women, (Servius and Austin on Virg. A. 4. 667), but here apparently a joyful, triumphant war-cry reminiscent of the whooping of American Indians in battle: cf. Caes. Gal. 5. 37. 3 (of the Gauls) 'tum vero suo more victoriam conclamant atque ululatum tollunt', Liv. 21. 28. 1, Theb. 7. 121, 9. 724 ululata … proelia. Such associations with barbarians are hardly to the Thebans' credit.   aderrat both the TLL and OLD opt for oberrat, comparing the use of that verb with e.g. oculis, menti in the sense of 'stray, hover before the eyes or mind', as at 8. 436 f., Sen. HF 1279 ff., Plin. Ep. 9. 13. 25. That sense does not seem appropriate here—this is a real sound, not a vision or apparition—and in any case aderrat enjoys far superior manuscript authority. That Statius should use a neologism in so regular a fashion is totally in conformity with his regular practice: it is found again at Silv. 2. 2. 120 'blandi scopulis delphines aderrant'. 179. occulto the TLL s.v. 9(2). 366. 15 ff. includes this line in its section on occultus of 'concealed emotions' (cf. 1. 574, 11. 300, Ach. 1. 857), i.e. Hippomedon conceals his grief so as not to seem weak. Perhaps we should rather understand it to mean 'of unknown provenance'; Hippomedon has not seen what has happened, but feels grief none the less, guessing what the ululatus means. Cf. Virg. A. 12. 617 f. 'attulit hunc illi caecis terroribus aura / commixtum clamorem'. 180. pro dura potentia fati Statius is guilty of a certain weakness for such trite observations: cf. 254, 309, 752 f. and see von Moisy, pp. 31 ff. 182. sive gradus seu frena effunderet a striking zeugma. effundo is common enough of loosing the reins and giving a horse its head, either literally (e.g. Virg. A. 5. 818, Sil. 12. 223, Curt. 8. 14. 6) or metaphorically (Virg. A. 6. 1, 12. 499, Ov. Met. 1. 280), but its use with gradus is unparalleled, though perhaps derived from Luc. 4. 271 'effuso … decurrere passu'. Praising a soldier for his prowess both on foot and on horseback seems to have been a topos of panegyric: cf. Pind. Pyth. 2. 64 ff., Virg. A. 6. 879 ff. 'non illi se quisquam impune tulisset / obvius armato, seu cum pedes iret in hostem / seu spumantis equi foderet

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calcaribus armos'. The motif goes back to Homer, Od. 9. 49 f. (the Cicones) ἐπιστάμενοι μὲν ἀφ' ἵππων / ἀνδράσι μάρνασθαι καὶ ὅθι χρὴ πεζὸν ἐόντα‎. 183. nusquam clearly superior to numquam (P), which would yield the sense 'not for a moment do their hands or weapons stand still'. This line is selected by Housman (Cl.P. 3, p. 1197) for his opening attack on the 'obtuse partiality' of Kohlmann, Garrod, and Klotz for P. Cf. 212 n. ........................................................................................................................... pg 95 184. iuvat implying an inhuman delight: cf. amor, 186. There is an echo here of a passage describing a similar scene of relief: Virg. A. 2. 27 f. 'iuvat ire et Dorica castra / desertosque videre locos litusque relictum'.   rigentia cf. 1. 277 'ora rigent', of corpses. The choice of the present participle rather than rigidus reminds us that Tydeus has not been long dead (cf. modo, 181). 185. impune lacessere while alive Tydeus could have said with the Scottish kings 'nemo me impune lacessit': now that he is dead brave men and cowards alike (186) have nothing to fear from him. lacessere here may retain its common sense of 'repeatedly striking', as at 6. 523, Virg. A. 12. 85 f., Sen. Phaed. 581. 186. sequuntur for the sense of 'strive' with this verb cf. e.g. Cic. Fam. 10. 26. 3, Sen. Ben. 1. 11. 5 'sequemur, ut (sc. beneficia) opportunitate grata sint'. 187 f. nobilitare manus is heavily ironic: they all hope to share in the glory of Tydeus' defeat by taking their grisly souvenirs of his blood, but are in fact degrading themselves by their display of cowardly savagery. For these grim mementoes cf. Virg. A. 5. 413 (Entellus, of Eryx's boxing gloves) 'sanguine cernis adhuc sparsoque infecta cerebro', Ov. Met. 8. 422 ff. (the Calydonian boar has been killed) 'immanemque ferum multa tellure iacentem / mirantes spectant, neque adhuc contingere tutum / esse putant, sed tela tamen sua cruentant'. 188. servant … ostendere ironic: the Thebans fail to see that these 'trophies' are more to Tydeus' credit than to their own. The free use of the infinitive made by the Golden poets, especially with verbs of command or desire or where purpose is intended, in order to avoid cumbersome final clauses, is extended further in the Silver period: see Williams on 10. 221, Lehanneur, pp. 69 f., Dilke, Intro. p. 16, W. K. Clement, TAPhA 33 (1902), lxxiii–lxxiv. 189 ff. This is the companion simile to 8. 691 ff., where the Thebans protect Eteocles against Tydeus as a 'pastorum turba' drives a wolf away from a bullock. The ultimate source is perhaps Il. 20. 164 ff. where Achilles is compared to a lion ὅν τε καὶ ἄνδρες ἀποκτάμεναι μεμάασιν / ἀγρόμενοι, πᾶς δῆμος‎. Also similar, however, is V. Fl. 2. 458 ff. 'qualiter, implevit

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gemitu cum taurus acerbo / avia, frangentem morsu super alta leonem / terga ferens, coit e sparso concita mapali / agrestum manus et caeco clamore coloni'; shared features are the African setting ('mapali'), the line-ending 'clamore coloni', and the emphasis on the concerted action of the country-dwellers. Tydeus, then, is a ferocious wild beast against whom united action is necessary. Like the lion, he has long (diu, 189) been a danger —ever since the slaughter of the ambush—and only great effort could wear him down (lassae debellavere, 191). The pride and relief of the shepherds and Thebans alike are thus understandable, but Statius' disapproval of their cowardice (impune, 185 n., nobilitare manus, 187 f. n.) and bestial and impious maltreatment of the corpse (cf. 27 ff.) can be clearly seen. The context is further discussed by N. J. Tarleton, D. Phil. thesis (Oxford, 1989), chapter 3. 5. Lion similes are very common in the Thebaid: cf. 739 ff. n. For Statius lions symbolize not so much strength or prowess as ........................................................................................................................... pg 96 wild blood-lust, and are thus especially compared to Tydeus: cf. 2. 675 ff., 8. 592 ff., and see further B. Kytzler, WS 75 (1962), 150–4. 191. For the four-word hexameter see 146 n. Here the heavy spondees also help to suggest effort, which lassae makes explicit. The phrasing of 190 f. recalls Sil. 2. 689 f. 'late fusa iacent pecudes custosque Molossus / pastorumque cohors stabulique gregisque magister', of the havoc wrought by a ravening lion. Compare also Claud. Ruf. 2. 252 ff., where Stilicho retreats as a lion is reluctantly driven off by 'pastorales … catervae'. The compound debellavere implies fighting on steadfastly to the end: see Austin on Virg. A. 6. 853, Williams on A. 5. 731. It is not found before Virgil, and Statius uses it sparingly (cf. 5. 31, 7. 86). cohortes suggests organized resistance and, being more appropriate to the Thebans than the shepherds, helps bind narrative and simile. The word is used very freely by Statius, most strikingly of the personified dreams in the Hall of Sleep, the 'Noctis opaca cohors' (10. 114). 192. gaudet ager picking up the narrative's gaudia (177). Contrast 10. 174 'pavet omnis ager'; for ager used half as a weak personification (for rustici) and half in metonymy (for rus) cf. 12. 170 f. 'ipse / auditu turbatus ager', Cic. Phil. 5. 44, Ov. Met. 7. 362. Claudian may have this line in mind at Stil. 3. 343 f. 'respirant pascua tandem; / agricolae reserant iam tuta mapalia Mauri'. 193. praecerpuntque iubas i.e. as keepsakes. The rare verb first apppears in extant Latin poetry at Catul. 64. 353: Statius has it again at Silv. 3. 4. 86. 194 f. A good, psychologically realistic detail: long after the lion has been hung up as a votive offering they continue to talk about his great deeds (damna from their point of view), stressing their past terror to magnify their present achievement. He confers gloria on his setting precisely because he was so great an opponent; the passage describing the defilement of Tydeus' corpse thus ends with a subtle reminder that his fame will outlive that Page 46 of 195

of his despoilers. Hides, teeth, horns etc. were offered as thank-gifts to a god in return for help in the hunt. They would perhaps usually be hung up in a temple (sub culmine: cf. e.g. Virg. A. 9. 407 f.), but for the practice of hanging them in sacred groves see 589 ff. n. 194. damnaque commemorant cf. Hor. Carm. 4. 4. 67 f. 'geretque / proelia coniugibus loquenda'. Statius has commemoro again at 823 and 8. 172, but usually prefers the simple verb (Thebaid 15 times). 195. excubat like a living lion, on guard.   antiquo … luco probably 'aut Dianae aut Silvani' (Lactantius). Cf. 608 n.

196–569 HIPPOMEDON'S ARISTEIA 196–224. A bridge passage, taking us from the land part of Hippomedon's aristeia to the river battle. Enraged at the capture of Tydeus' body the hero cuts down everything in his path and, commandeering Tydeus' charger, drives the Thebans to the banks of the Ismenos, intent on revenge and death. Statius has drawn his inspiration from Il. 17. 422 ff., where Achilles' ........................................................................................................................... pg 97 immortal horses Xanthos and Balios, borrowed from him by Patroclus, re-enter the fray after their 'master's' death. Many details have been altered: thus, though Achilles' horses witnessed Patroclus' death and actually weep, Tydeus' horse knows nothing of its master's fate (207) and if, like them, it stands with head bowed (206, Il. 17. 437), that is only because it believes its lord is fighting while it is idle. Moreover Zeus breathes courage into Xanthos and Balios who then rush back into battle without encouragement from Automedon (Il. 17. 456 ff.), but Hippomedon has to deliver a speech, for which Statius' model is thus not Homer but Virgil (211 ff. n.). See further Juhnke, pp. 136 f.   His failure to save Tydeus' body fills Hippomedon with a sense of guilt and uselessness (196–8, 216 n.). He begins to yield to furor, as his inability to distinguish friend from foe reveals (199 f.): in this he resembles Aeneas after Pallas' death (Virg. A. 10. 510 ff., 545 'furit', 604 'furens'), as each feels that he has failed in a sacred duty, and can only redeem himself in vengeance and blood. For Hippomedon this furor will be fatal. In mounting the horse (like him, infelix, 175, 212) he finds a partner, however, and a new sense of purpose: both steed and he will avenge Tydeus (215 f.; cf. 544 f.) or die in the attempt. 196. inane for the sense cf. e.g. Ter. Hec. 344 'laborem inanem ipsus capit', Virg. A. 10. 758 'iram miserantur inanem', Tac. Ann. 2. 15.

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198. it tamen the starkness of the phrase suggests grim determination: cf. vadit, 169, 552, V. Fl. 5. 89. There is also something of the sense of 'going forth to war' (cf. e.g. Il. 13. 298 Βροτολοιγὸς Ἄρης πολεμόνδε μέτεισι‎). The weak monosyllables which supply many of the parts of eo must be emphatically placed if they are to have any impact at all. Hence they are replaced in Late Latin by parts of vado: see Löfstedt 2, pp. 38 ff. Modern Romance languages still avoid weak monosyllables (French 'lève-toi', not 'lève-te').   caecum i.e. 'undiscriminating', 'random': cf. e.g. Ov. Fast. 1. 623, Luc. 3. 722 'caeca tela', Plin. Ep. 4. 22. 5. We see here the 'insane blindness' of furor which 'shows that the spirit of Thebes (typified by the blind Oedipus) has taken absolute hold of Hippomedon' (Vessey, p. 295).   inrevocabilis cf. Luc. 1. 509 'ruit inrevocabile vulgus', Tac. Ag. 42. 3 'Domitiani vero natura praeceps in iram, et quo obscurior, eo inrevocabilior', Plin. Ep. 3. 7. 2. 199 f. Perhaps an echo of Il. 5. 85 f., where Homer says it was impossible to say whether Diomedes was fighting Achaeans or Trojans. Note vix, however: Statius does not actually go so far as to claim that Hippomedon slays Argives. 200 ff. Hippomedon was on horseback earlier in the battle (8. 600 f.), but presumably dismounted in order to defend Tydeus' body. Now on foot and hindered by a thigh-wound, he finds it difficult to make headway over ground slippery with blood and strewn with battle débris. He commandeers Tydeus' horse, which allows him to pursue the Thebans even into the river (234 n.), and remains mounted until the Aetolian charger is wounded. ........................................................................................................................... pg 98   The thigh-wound inflicted by Eteocles must have been made by the spear cast at 103 ff., though there Statius said it did not penetrate beyond the shield's second layer. The inconsistency can only be explained as the result of uncharacteristic carelessness. Hippomedon here recalls Mezentius, wounded in the thigh by Aeneas (Virg. A. 10. 783 ff., 856 f.: cf. 211 ff. n. below), and also, perhaps, Scipio in Silius' river-battle, entering the Trebia 'quamquam tardata morantur / vulnere membra virum' (4. 622 ff.). Klinnert, p. 111, argues that the thigh-wound is a symbol of Hippomedon's coming defeat. 200. caede nova i.e. blood which has not yet dried: cf. Virg. A. 5. 328 ff., where Nisus slips on grass wet with the blood of bullocks, though here it is the blood of men. Even this grim picture is monochromatic, however, compared to e.g. 10. 298 f. 'stagnant nigrantia tabo / gramina, sanguineis nutant tentoria rivis'. caedes of 'blood shed in slaughter' is a poeticism based on the similar use of φόνος‎ (e.g. Il. 10. 298, 24. 610), and first found at Catul. 64. 360, 368 in extant Latin poetry. It is common in high style ever after (e.g. Lucr. 3. 643, 5. 1313, Virg. A. 9. 818, Hor. Carm. 2. 1. 35 etc.).

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201. soluti 'aut fracti aut a frenis liberi' (Lactantius). The first sense seems much better: for solvere of 'shattering', 'smashing', cf. Luc. 3. 491 'densi conpagem solvere muri', Sen. Tro. 1115 f., V. Fl. 8. 360 f., Sil. 5. 295, Theb. 3. 492 'solvere Echionias Lernaea cuspide portas', 12. 9 f. For a similar scene of disarray see Virg. A. 9. 317 ff., though the phrase seminecesque viri is borrowed from A. 9. 455. 203. regis Echionii i.e. Eteocles, as at 2. 90, where see Mulder for the value of such periphrastic phrases. So too Polynices is 'Echionius iuvenis' (2. 353) and 'Echionides' (6. 467). Echion, the 'snake-man', was one of the five survivors of the Spartae: as husband of Cadmus' daughter Agave he became the ancestor of the house of Oedipus (Apollod. 3. 4. 1, Ov. Met. 3. 126, Hyg. Fab. 178: see also Ov. Met. 10. 686 ff. for his great temple to the Magna Mater). The adjective was well-established before Statius (Virg. A. 12. 515, Hor. Carm. 4. 4. 64 'Echioniae … Thebae', Ov. Met. 8. 345, Tr. 5. 5. 53), but he naturally makes particularly great use of it: cf. 646, 794 etc.   sed Håkanson, p. 59, argues in favour of seu (ω‎), pointing out that although Statius has 'seu … sive' about a hundred times, he only has 'seu' by itself twice (6. 600, Silv. 5. 1. 51): cf. also K.-S., 2. 438. Hill rightly prefers sed, commenting 'multo aptius videtur, et quod bis scribitur, id ter scribi potest'. It is also easier to imagine a scribe simplifying sed to seu than vice versa. 204. nescierat the phenomenon of warriors not noticing wounds inflicted on them in the heat of battle is discussed by Lucretius (3. 642 ff.). Cf. Theb. 3. 334 f., 7. 674 (a lion) 'praedam videt et sua vulnera nescit'.   Hoplea a fitting name for a squire in charge of a hero's arms (ὅπλα‎). His loyalty (fidus, 205) will be clearly demonstrated this very night when he will give his life in the attempt to rescue Tydeus' body for burial (10. 347 ff.). Hopleus is no doubt meant to have witnessed his master's death (hence maestum); earlier he stood at his side and gave him the spear with ........................................................................................................................... pg 99 which he killed Melanippus (8. 726 'proximus Hopleus'). His knowledge contrasts with the horse's ignorance of Tydeus' fate (207). 205. magni see 63 n. Elsewhere in the poem this is a regular epithet of Hercules (6. 346, 7. 601, 668, 10. 296): for Tydeus as a failed Hercules see Vessey, pp. 112, 125, 199 f., 225 ff. 206 ff. As Lactantius says 'poetis licet equis humanos sensus dare', no doubt because of their strength, nobility, and beauty, and because of all the animals they alone endured with man the terrors of war. Statius' source is Il. 17. 426 ff., where Achilles' horses, standing aside from the battle, weep for Patroclus: see Griffin, pp. 135 f., and cf. also Virg. A. 11. 90 (Pallas' horse at his funeral) 'it lacrimans guttisque umectat grandibus ora'. Here, however, the

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faithful stallion grieves because it is not with its master in the battle: much of the pathos comes from our knowing what it does not, that it will never fight with him again. The horse's quasi-human feelings also seem to come with an understanding of human speech (218 f.). All this is as nothing to Xanthos, who actually talks (Il. 19. 408 ff.), as indeed, according to a tradition not followed by Statius, Arion spoke at the funeral games of Archemorus (see e.g. Prop. 2. 34. 37 f.). Cf. also Racine, Phèdre 1505 f. (Hippolyte's horses) 'L'œil morne maintenant et la tête baissée / Semblaient se conformer à sa triste pensée'. 206. alipedem originally an epithet, applied to stags by Lucretius (6. 765) and to horses by Virgil (A. 12. 484), and first used as a substantive in surviving Roman poetry at Virg. A. 7. 277. Cf. 580, and also the similar use of sonipes (212 n.) and cornipes (874.). Such 'kenning' terms in general are discussed by Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 376. In Homer horses are sometimes, more plainly, described as 'swift' (Il. 4. 500 παρʼ ἵππων ὠκειάων‎, 7. 15, 240). Compare also A. Pl. 234. 4 'Ερμῆς ὁ πτερόπους‎. 209. aspernantem for the sense of 'refusing to submit' to someone's authority cf. Cic. Q. Rosc. 4 'nec auctoritatem aspernari', Liv. 6. 4. 5., Tac. Hist. 1. 5.   nova repeated at 211, and in the same position in the line. Though such repetitions strike us as clumsy, they seem to have troubled ancient poets very little. See Dilke on Ach. 1. 753 f. 210. quippe an explanatory conjunction, clarifying what has preceded it. Conway on Virg. A. 1. 59 explains that it is 'a compound of "quid" and the particle which appears in nem-pe, prope'. See also Austin on Virg. A. 4. 218. Virgil restricts the word to the beginning of the line, but medial or final quippe is common enough in later epic: cf. 3. 159, 5. 381, 10. 513, Luc. 2. 377, 7. 240, V. Fl. 4. 569 etc. 211. corripit no doubt the hero grasps the horse's reins literally, but the common sense of 'stopping somone in his tracks' by forceful verbal rebuke is surely present too: cf. eg. Hor. S. 2. 3. 257 'impransi correptus voce magistri', Ov. Fast. 1. 625, Mart. 9. 39. 9, Plin. Ep. 3. 5. 16. 211 ff. Hippomedon's speech to the horse, with its mixture of hope for revenge and warning of death, is inspired by that of Mezentius to Rhaebus: Virg. A. 10. 861 ff. 'Rhaebe, diu, res si qua diu mortalibus ulla est, / viximus aut hodie victor spolia illa cruenti / et caput Aeneae referes ........................................................................................................................... pg 100 Lausique dolorum / ultor eris mecum, aut, aperit si nulla viam vis, / occumbes pariter; neque enim, fortissime, credo, / iussa aliena pati et dominos dignabere Teucros': cf. esp. 215–17. These echoes cast a shadow of death over Hippomedon's words for the attentive reader: see Klinnert, p. 111.

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212. sonipes for the 'hollow noise' which an unshod horse would have made see Austin on Virg. A. 4. 135. sonipes is fairly common in old Latin (e.g. Lucil. 507, Acc. trag. 603) and no doubt featured in Ennius, though the first extant appearances in epic are in Virgil (A. 4. 135, 11. 600, 638).   nusquam for the manuscript confusion here cf. 183 n. Statius is fond of using nusquam to say that something is 'gone' or 'nowhere to be found'. See M. R. J. Brinkgreve, Mnemosyne 42 (1914), 107, Williams on 10. 29, and cf. 278, 282, 356, 10. 823, 12. 218, 443, Silv. 1. 2. 35 f., and also Virg. A. 2. 438, 5. 633, 12. 918. 213. spatiabere Bentley's splendid conjecture fits the joyous picture of 214 very well: cf. Silv. 4. 7. 1, where one manuscript offers 'spatiata campo' as a variant for 'satiata campo', and see Coleman ad loc. Lactantius explains the manuscript reading satiabere with the gloss 'cursu vel pastu' and is defended by Hill, who quotes 6. 305 f. 'insatiatus eundi / ardor' (of Arion's love of running). But it is very hard to see how one could be 'sated by a plain'. 214. gaudentemque iubam … solves the exhilaration, sense of freedom, and detail of the streaming mane, recall the famous Homeric simile of the freed horse (Il. 6. 506 ff., esp. 509 f. ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται / ὤμοις ἀΐσσονται‎) and the imitations in Ennius (Ann. 535 ff. Skutsch, esp. 538) and Virgil (A. 11. 492 ff., esp. 497 'luduntque iubae per colla, per armos').   stagna Acheloia the mighty Achelous divides Acharnania from Tydeus' native Aetolia. It is the greatest and longest river in Greece (RE 1. 213) and, after Oceanus, the greatest of the river gods: see Il. 21. 193 ff., Bömer on Ov. Met. 8. 549 f. stagnum was originally used of a pool or any standing water, but the poets soon extended its meaning considerably. Thus it may mean the sea (Virg. A. 1. 125 f., where see Austin; A. 10. 764 f., Luc. 8. 853, Theb. 6. 20) and is also often applied to the sluggish waters of the rivers of the underworld (Virg. A. 6. 323, Prop. 4. 7. 91, Sen. HO 1162). Statius uses it in this book also of the Strymon (483) and the Ismenos in flood (498, 507). 215. quod superest for the use of the phrase in parenthetical construction see Dilke on Ach. 1. 49, and cf. Virg. A. 5. 796, 9. 157, Theb. 10. 47; also, for plain superest, Virg. G. 2. 354, Luc. 8. 212 and Theb. 9. 830 below. 216. sequere either avenge Tydeus, or follow him to Hades. The sense is guaranteed by the model: Mezentius told Rhaebus 'ultor eris mecum, aut, … / occumbes pariter' (A. 10. 864 f.).   extorrem Lactantius saw the point: 'in exsilio degentem, quasi cuius umbra careat patria sepultura'. 216 f. quoque is very pointed, and Hippomedon means 'do not fail Tydeus as I did in abandoning his body'. For the perfect subjunctive (laeseris) with ne see H.–Sz., p. 337

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Zusätze β‎: present and perfect subjunctive with ne‎ seem interchangeable in independent prohibition. 218. audisse accensumque putes i.e. because of the speed of its reaction. ........................................................................................................................... pg 101 The suggestion that the horse can understand is Statius' invention: Virgil merely said Rhaebus sprang into action when he felt his master's 'consueta … / membra' (A. 10. 867 f.). For putes see 337 n.   hoc fulmine an extremely daring metaphor, the sense being 'tantae velocitatis nimietate' (Lactantius): cf. E. H. Alton, CQ 17 (1923), 176 'fulmen signifies 'rush', the sudden plunge of the horse which is burning to be off'. See also 286 n. and Silv. 5. 1. 133 'Caesarei … fulmen equi'. This is presumably a development of such regular similes as Virg. A. 5. 319 'fulminis ocior alis', 9. 705 f., 11. 615 ff., Ov. Am. 3. 4. 13 f. 'vidi ego nuper equum … / fulminis ire modo', Sil. 15. 569 f. Cf. also the implications of speed and destructive power in 2. 470 (a boar) 'erectus saetis et aduncae fulmine malae' and Ach. 2. 124. 220 ff. This simile takes its inspiration from Virg. A. 7. 674 ff. (Catillus and Coras) 'ceu duo nubigenae cum vertice montis ab alto / descendunt Centauri Homolen Othrymque nivalem / linquentes cursu rapido; dat euntibus ingens / silva locum et magno cedunt virgulta fragore'. Statius has compressed this, but adds an element of terror, insisting on the bestial nature of the centaur (semifer: cf. Luc. 6. 386 'semiferos … centauros'), and introducing the ingenious idea of the trees trembling in fear at the human half, the plain shuddering under the horror of the horse half: for the ingenious distinction cf. V. Fl. 1. 147 'nigro Nessus equo fugit', Ach. 1. 235 (Chiron) 'erecto prospectabat equo'. Statius is drawing attention to Hippomedon's semi-bestial nature: see 91 n., and cf. esp. the companion simile to this, in which he is compared to the centaur Hylaeus (4. 139 ff., esp. 141 f. 'pavet Ossa vias, pecudesque feraeque / procubuere metu'). Centaurs regularly symbolize savagery in the Thebaid: cf. 3. 602 ff., 5. 261 ff. 221. ipsum tremescunt ipsum is the conscious, human half, the seat of the centaur's intelligence. For tremesco cf. 394, 535, 680, and see Williams on Virg. A. 3. 648 for Virgil's introduction of the transitive sense. It is a regular motif of the poem that the giant Hippomedon sets nature trembling: cf. 5. 564 f., 6. 714 f. (his discus throw) 'viridesque umeros et opaca theatri / culmina ceu latae tremefecit mole ruinae'. Here and at 535 f. this is transposed into a simile and must be read back into the narrative. 222. glomerantur here almost with middle sense: see W. H. Semple, CR 60 (1946), 61 ff. and Williams on Virg. A. 3. 377.

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  anhelo similar but more unusual examples of the transference of this epithet are cassis anhela calet (700) and 'viresque instaurat anhelas' (12. 600). 223. Labdacidae cf. 6. 451, 9. 777, 10. 36, 611. Labdacus was Cadmus' grandson and the father of Laius. Schamberger, p. 253, claims Statius is the first poet to use the patronymic, but cf. Call. Hymn 5. 126, Sen. Oed. 710. The adjective goes back to Sophocles (OT 267), but it seems that Statius is the first Roman poet to use it (e.g. 650) and it comes naturally to Sidonius' mind when he speaks of the Thebaid: Carm. 9. 226 f. 'non quod Papinius tuus meusque / inter Labdacios sonat furores'. 223 f. Hippomedon beheads the Thebans and presses on so fast that he has ........................................................................................................................... pg 102 passed them before the headless trunks have fallen to the ground. The bizarre hyperbole also attracted Silius, though he expresses it far less epigrammatically: 13. 246 ff. 'deiectum protinus ense / ante pedes domini iacuit caput; ipse secutus / corruit ulterior procursus impete truncus'. 224. metens the idea of a warrior 'harvesting' his enemies goes back to Homer's simile at Il. 11. 67 ff. In Roman poetry cf. Catul. 64. 353 ff.,Virg. A. 10. 513, Hor. Carm. 4. 14. 31, Sil. 4. 462. 225–569 The Battle with the Ismenos Statius now begins his account of how 'Thetis arentes adsuetum stringere ripas / horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo' (1. 39 f.). The primary model for Hippomedon's slaughter of the Thebans in the river and his struggle with the god himself is Iliad 21, where Homer tells of Achilles' deeds in the Scamander, his conflict with the god, and how, at the request of Hera, Hephaestus burns the river into submission. The same passage is imitated by Silius at Punica 4. 570–703, where Hannibal and his elephants cause havoc in the Trebia, but Scipio is saved by Venus and Vulcan, after his accusations of treachery bring the Trebia's wrath down upon him. Both Flavian poets were surely attracted to the theme by the fact that neither Virgil nor Lucan had attempted it. Lucan's description of the Massilian sea-battle (3. 509– 762, imitated more directly at Sil. 14. 353 ff.) none the less furnishes numerous details for the scenes of carnage before Ismenos' intervention: see 238, 266 ff. nn. In adapting Homer, Statius is also entering into competition with his contemporary Silius, whose account is almost certainly the earlier (see Introduction, p. xxxi). Statius' desire to 'surpass' him is clearly visible in the ingenious catalogue of horrific deaths (266–283 n.), and he is careful to learn from Silius' mistakes, particularly in choosing not to imitate the Homeric scorching of the river. This last topos, so inappropriate to his historical subject, almost renders Silius' otherwise flat and predictable narrative totally absurd. A very significant change made by Statius from his models is that Hippomedon is portrayed as the greatest of the heroes of Page 53 of 195

these contests: both Achilles (Il. 21. 241 f.) and Scipio (Sil. 4. 655 ff.) had found it impossible to resist the god, but for a time Hippomedon succeeds in standing his ground (469 ff.). Moreover, if they survive while his deliverance is soon followed by his death, that is because the legend demanded it, not because his prowess failed him: he is unfairly brought down by a mass of Thebans acting together. Perhaps the most important change, however, is the introduction of Crenaeus and the tragedy which ensues. Scamander acted out of anger at the killing of his country's sons, Trebia out of pique at being accused of treachery and at being used as a battlefield, but Ismenos' aims are to avenge his grandson and reassert his rights as a god against the hero's impiety. Statius thus gives his tale a powerful new coherence and a totally original moral significance: though magnificent, Hippomedon is also a sinner rightly doomed to die. When we add to this the fine description of Ismenis' search for her son and pathetic lament and, above all, the splendid hyperbole of the duel itself, we will see that the whole constitutes one of the finest passages of the poem. Note lastly that Statius is almost certainly making a major ........................................................................................................................... pg 103 departure from tradition in order to rival, not the Cyclic Thebaid or Antimachus, but Homer and Silius: the only known tradition about Hippomedon's death asserts that he fell to Ismarus in a battle before the gates (Apollod. 3. 74), and no doubt Antimachus' account was along these lines. See further Helm, pp. 20 ff., and more particularly the thorough discussion at Juhnke, pp. 24–44 (also pp. 13–24 for an analysis of Silius' imitation). 225 ff. The debt to Homer is particularly clear in these opening lines (see esp. 225 f. n.): the pursued host (Thebans, Trojans) flees to the river where, amid much noise, it takes refuge (225–31; Il. 21. 1–10). The pursuer (Hippomedon, Achilles) rids himself of his cumbersome spears and plunges in after them (232–5; Il. 21. 17 f.). Several details are changed for the sake, it seems, of variety (Hippomedon sticks his spears in the ground by a poplar tree, not near tamarisk bushes like Achilles), or of economy (e.g. the locust simile of Il. 21. 12 ff. is not translated). More importantly, Achilles dismounts, but Hippomedon, eager to kill, leaps in with the horse (234 n.) because it would take too long to let go of the reins. Another significant detail added by Statius is that the Ismenos is already in flood, portending disaster (266) and foreshadowing Hippomedon's death, because all this water will be used by the god to destroy him. See further E. Eissfeldt, Philologus 63 (NF 17) (1904), 418, Juhnke, pp. 24–8. In all this and in the terrible scenes of panic at 236 ff. Statius possibly has in mind Thucydides' description of the lamentable fate of the retreating Athenians in the Assinaros (7. 84), or perhaps Livy's account of the flight of some of the Romans into Lake Trasimene (22. 6 f.). Compare also Tacitus' account of Vitellius' return from Germany in the teeth of a storm: (Ann. 1. 70) 'et opplebantur terrae: eadem freto litori campis facies … sternuntur fluctibus, hauriuntur gurgitibus; iumenta, sarcinae, corpora exanima interfluunt occursant. permiscentur inter se manipuli, modo pectore, modo ore tenus extantes, aliquando subtracto solo disiecti aut obruti.' For other, later epic accounts cf. Ch. Rol. 2465 ff. where the Saracens

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are driven into the Ebro and, weighed down by their armour, are all drowned (2474: cf. 241 f. below), and Cid 1227 ff., where the Moors are drowned in the Júcar. 225 f. Statius openly acknowledges his model: cf. Il. 21. 1 f. Ἀλλʼ ὅτε δὴ πόρον ἷξον ἐϋρρεῖος ποταμοῖο, / Ξάνθον δινήεντος‎. Scamander is normally a deep river and the epithets there are formulaic (Il. 2. 877, 5. 479, 7. 329 etc.), but the Ismenos here is in flood (solito … plenior alveo). The Ismenos, the modern Hagios Ioannis, is mentioned fairly frequently in tragedy (Eur. Phoen. 827, Suppl. 383 ff.). Seneca seems to think of it as a placid stream normally (HO 140 f. 'fluit / Ismenos tenui flumine languidus'), but elsewhere calls it rapidus (Phoen. 116): cf. Ov. Met. 2. 244 'celer Ismenos'. For the impersonal ventum erat cf. Virg. A. 6. 45, Hor. S. 1. 9. 35, Ov. Fast. 3. 651, Theb. 2. 65. 225. alveo a spondee, the e undergoing synizesis, as at e.g. Virg. A. 6. 412, 7. 33, 9. 32, Ov. Met. 1. 423, Sil. 4. 602, 9. 188, 14. 229, and possibly Theb. 5. 1, where see Hill. Other examples of synizesis in the Thebaid can be seen at 3. 84, 4. 429, 5. 49, and 6. 706. See also Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 33, Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 310 f. ........................................................................................................................... pg 104 226. magna se mole … agebat the verb is used of Palinurus at Virg. A. 6. 337 where Donatus remarks 'agere se … tardi et tristes dicuntur'. This is clearly not the case either at A. 9. 696, where it describes the proud and sprightly movements of Antiphates, or here, since the Ismenos is moving swiftly (rapientibus … / … vadis, 236 f.). Austin on A. 6. 337 points out, however, that se agere is often used in comedy simply to mean ire and can indicate any speed. Here, with magna … mole, it suggests strength and power.   Ismenos Statius seems to prefer the Greek forms in -os and -on with local river names: cf. 317, 359, 404, Theb. 1. 40, 3. 663, 7. 800, and Theb. 3. 337, 7. 315, 9. 449 (Asopos, -on), and also 444 n. 228. stupet hospita belli 'nova cladibus, quae adhuc nullo fuerat belli cruore fuscata' (Lactantius). For the genitive with hospita cf. Silv. 3. 5. 75 f., 5. 3. 168. stupeo with the direct accusative seems to be a poeticism first found in Virgil and common only in him and Statius: cf. 2. 564 f., 4. 282, Ach. 1. 14 and see Austin on A. 2. 31. 229. claraque armorum incenditur umbra the waters of the Ismenos are 'set on fire' by the bright light reflected from polished steel: see Mozley, p. 268, note c, and D. R. Shackleton Bailey, MH 40 (1983), 57. The Romans conceived of a reflection as a kind of umbra (Plin. Nat. 33. 129), but calling reflected light 'a bright shadow' remains a very daring oxymoron. For the play of reflected weapons and water cf. Prop. 4. 6. 26 'armorum et radiis picta tremebat aqua'. For Statius' fondness for describing the effects of light see van Dam on Silv. 2. 2. 45–9.

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230 f. Homer merely says that river and bank resounded loudly as the Trojans fell into the water (Il. 21. 9 f.), but Statius is perhaps imitating Sil. 4. 575 'haurit subsidens fugientum corpora tellus'. We also recall how, at the crossing of the Asopus, 'Hippomedon magno cum fragmine ripae / cunctantem deiecit equum' (7. 430 f.). 231. agger for agger of a high river-bank see Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 106 'gramineo ripae … ab aggere' and Fortgens on Theb. 6. 274. Cf. also Virg. A. 2. 496, Theb. 1. 359, 5. 516, 9. 456, 490. 234. sicut erat 'id est armatus' (Lactantius); understand rather 'still on horseback', a sense guaranteed by longum dimittere habenas (233). Cf. the horses that leap, with riders and weapons, into the Langia during the drought at Nemea (4. 812 f.). sicut erat is a phrase much used by Ovid (Bömer on Met. 3. 178) as well as by Statius. 234 f. He sticks his spears head-down in the grass, leaning them against the tree-trunk: cf. Il. 21. 17 f. δόρυ μὲν λίπεν … / κεκλιμένον μυρίκῃσιν‎. He intends to leave them there only 'for a while' but will never reclaim them. 236 ff. The Trojans cowered in the river beneath the banks (Il. 21. 25 f.), but the Thebans have already brought the bank of the Ismenos down (230 f.), and so have to conceal themselves by ducking. The cowardly terror of the Thebans is seen in their voluntarily abandoning their weapons (note the force of ultro). 236. exanimes for the sense cf. Virg. A. 4. 672 'audiit exanimis trepidoque exterrita cursu', Luc. 6. 658, Theb. 5. 493. 237. demissa demitto is regular of deliberately 'lowering' or 'sinking' ........................................................................................................................... pg 105 something, and so is more appropriate than dimissa here. dimitto usually implies unwillingly 'letting go' of something (e.g. 7. 648, 9. 410), though not always, as 233 above shows. 238. tendere conatus animae literally 'strain the efforts of their breath': a highly elaborate way of saying 'hold their breath'. tendere, like conatus, implies exertion. Lactantius saw in this an echo of Lucan's diver, (3. 697) 'eximius Phoceus animam servare sub undis'. 239 f. transmittere nando / adgressi Austin on Virg. A. 4. 154 argues that the transitive use of transmitto normally implies speed: the Thebans are swimming for their lives. The vivid construction with the verbal noun (regular in Romance languages, e.g. Fr. 'traverser en nageant', Sp. 'pasar a nado') stresses the physical action in a way transno could not have

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done. Cf. also Sil. 4. 345 'lacum tramittere nando', Theb. 10. 521 'saltu transmittere fossas', and, for adgredior with the infinitive, cf. 1. 520 f. 'opacam vincere noctem / adgressi'. 240. vincla not in fact 'calceamentorum stricturae' as Lactantius thought (cf. Virg. A. 4. 518, 8. 458), since the word's uses are very wide, and it is applied to e.g. boxing gloves (Virg. A. 5. 408) or a diadem (Theb. 12. 89 f.). In this context we should understand it to mean fastenings on the armour of the upper body, which here hamper breathing. 240 f. laterique repugnat / balteus the balteus held the scabbard and hung from the left shoulder across the chest to the right hip (Kromayer–Veith, p. 325): if tied tightly it would greatly restrict the swimmer's breathing. We should also probably imagine the belts as being heavy: cf. Virg. A. 10. 496 'immania pondera baltei'. For latus of the seat of lung-power cf. Cic. Ver. 2. 52, Tusc. 1. 37, Plin. Ep. 2. 11. 15. 241. madidus deducit pectora thorax apparently the linen corslet mentioned by Homer (Il. 2. 529, 830) and Alcaeus (fr. 15. 5 Bergk) cf. also Sil. 3. 272, 4. 290 f., 9. 587 f., Plin. Nat. 19. 25 'thoracibus lineis paucos tamen pugnasse testis est Homerus'. It seems to be oriental, or more specifically, Egyptian in origin: Herodotus (2. 182) mentions a particularly fine linen corslet dedicated by the Pharaoh Amasis at the temple of Athena at Lindus in Rhodes, while Xenophon (Cyr. 6. 4. 2) remarks that they were regularly worn by Persian soldiers. There is evidence of its use in Greece in the seventh century from an oracle (A.P. 14. 73) describing the Argives as λινοθώρηκες‎, and in the fourth century from Aeneas Tacticus (29. 4). See further H. L. Lorimer, Homer and the Monuments (London, 1950), pp. 210 f. It must have been largely obsolete by Statius' time, though cf. Suet. Gal. 19 'loricam … induit linteam, quamquam haud dissimulans parum adversus tot mucrones profuturam'. Pausanias, who informs us that many such garments could be seen in his day in, among others, the sanctuary of Asclepius in Athens, says they were ineffective against iron weapons but useful for hunters: (1. 21. 7) θηρεύοντας δὲ ὠφελοῦσιν, ἐναποκλῶνται γάρ σφίσι καὶ λεόντων ὀδόντες καὶ παρδάλεων‎, where see Frazer's note. For deduco with the sense 'weigh down' cf. Lucr. 2. 205, Sen. Phaed. 392. 242 ff. An adaptation of Il. 21. 22 ff. ὡς δʼ ὑπὸ δελφῖνος μεγακήτεος ἰχθύες ἄλλοι / φεύγοντες πιμπλᾶσι μυχοὺς λιμένος εὐόρμου, / δειδιότες· μάλα γάρ τε κατεσθίει ὅν κε λάβῃσιν‎: cf. also Sil. 15. 783 ff., Quint. Smyr. 3. 270 ff. ........................................................................................................................... pg 106 Statius turns Homer's 'harbours' into the mysterious depths of the open sea (arcani … profundi), accentuates the terror caused by the dolphin, and adds the picture of the fish lying hidden until the dolphin forgets them and goes off to race against ships. This added element is surely not otiose: rather, the Thebans stay under water until Hippomedon passes on to fight nobler opponents who stay visible (visis, 247) above the suface of the river. See von Moisy, pp. 75 ff. Statius perhaps influenced Ausonius, Mosella 240 ff. Page 57 of 195

242. caeruleis the adjective is regularly used of the sea, fish, sea-divinities etc.: cf. 400, 415 and see Servius on Virg. A. 7. 198 'caerulum est viride cum nigro, ut est mare'.   tumido sub gurgite the open sea: cf. Virg. A. 8. 671 'tumidi … maris', V. Fl. 8. 13, Theb. 10. 13. The swollen stream of Ismenos in flood, however, is almost as rough as the sea itself (315, esp. 413). For the poets' use of gurges of 'sea', 'flood' etc. see Henry's monolithic note on Virg. A. 1. 118. 244. scrutantem though found as early as Enn. Scen. 244 Vahlen, and common in Lucretius, the verb is largely avoided in Golden poetry, perhaps because it was thought too technical or prosaic (e.g. Lucr. 1. 830 'scrutemur'—'let us examine'). It recovers a certain popularity in the Silver period, being fairly common in Seneca, Lucan, and their admirer Statius (369, 451). These poets delight in using it of inflicting grisly wounds (Sen. Oed. 965, Luc. 8. 556 f., Theb. 1. 46 'impia iam merita scrutatus lumina dextra'), but in this context Statius is probably thinking of Lucan's diver (3. 698 'scrutari … fretum'): cf. 238 n.   delphina the Latin form delphinus is found as early as Acc. trag. 394, and is standard in prose (Cic. Div. 2. 145, Plin. Nat. 11. 191). Poets, however, usually affect the Greek form: cf. Virg. A. 8. 673, Ov. Tr. 3. 10. 43, Luc. 5. 552. 245. lacus cf. 214 stagna n., 452, Virg. A. 8. 66 f. 246 f. A short but vivid and pictorially brilliant description. Dolphins are a common sight in the warm waters of the Mediterranean, and ancient poets are fascinated by their ability to leap in and out of the sea: see e.g. Ov. Met. 3. 683 f. 'undique dant saltus, multaque aspergine rorant, / emerguntque iterum, redeuntque sub aequora rursus': cf. also Virg. A. 5. 594 f., Ov. Tr. 3. 10. 43 f. Descriptions of dolphins playing around ships are also very common: see Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 666 and cf. Hom. Hymn to Apollo 494, Ap. Rh. 4. 933 ff., A.P. 9. 83. 1 f., Acc. trag. 393 f., Sen. Oed. 466, and almost certainly Liv. Andr. trag. 5 f., Pac. trag. 353 f. 247. certare i.e. in speed. Pliny (Nat. 9. 20) says the dolphin is the fastest of all living creatures. Legras thinks Statius has in mind Plin. Nat. 9. 24 (a dolphin) 'obviam navigiis venit … certat etiam et quamvis plena praeterit vela'. 249. Controlling the reins of his horses and his weapons simultaneously is something Homer expressly says Automedon cannot do (Il. 17. 464 f.). The superhuman feat is successfully performed in the Thebaid, however, by both the mortal Amphiaraus (4. 219) and the god Apollo (7. 752 f.). Hippomedon, who will soon prove no mean opponent for a god, is not an ordinary warrior. The remarkable nature of the feat described is better ........................................................................................................................... pg 107

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appreciated by the reader who remembers that the ancients never invented the stirrup. 249 f. pedumque / remigio sustentat equum too audacious an idea for Jortin, who suggested pedum se, or Housman who, with his well-known jibe that 'Hippomedon keeps afloat a large quadruped which can swim for itself by rowing with his feet' (Cl. P. 3, p. 1216), wanted to read pedem quem. As Klotz saw and R. Mayer (PCPhS NS 22 (1976), 56 f.) convincingly proves, both conjectures violate the metrical practice of Statius, who only ends a line with monosyllables when the word is Greek or he has Virgil's authority. In any case, however objectionable and simply incredible the hyperbole may seem to modern taste, 'agitur num incredibilius sit quam ut Statio placeat' (Hill). Hippomedon is in fact performing a superhuman feat thoroughly in keeping with what has gone before (249 n.) and with the battle against the river-god which will soon follow. Moreover, as Housman himself admitted, manu and pedum surely correspond with each other and 251 'does not so well describe a swimming horse as a helpless poetical beast lifted off its legs by an almighty poetical rider'. Housman here illustrates the truth of his own assertion that 'modern scholars are disadvantaged by their remoteness and estrangement from the ways of thinking and writing which were fashionable and admired in the Silver age of Latin poetry' (art. cit., p. 1). 249 f. pedum … / remigio a daring adaptation of Virgil's famous 'remigium alarum' (A. 1. 301, 6. 19: cf. Ov. Met. 8. 228 and Hollis ad loc.). Cf. also Milton, PL 7. 438 ff. 'the Swan … / … rows / Her state with Oary feet', George Eliot, Middlemarch, Prelude (a cygnet's) 'oary-footed kind'. 250 f. These lines represent a learned adaptation of a standard epic picture at e.g. Enn. Ann. 242, 263, 431 Skutsch, Virg. A. 8. 596 'quadripedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum', 11. 875. The hooves of Tydeus' horse are consueta … campo, but find themselves in unusual circumstances. For levis ungula cf. Ov. Met. 2. 671. 252 ff. Juhnke, p. 30, sees in this mannered 'Todeskette' a variant on the well-known 'Liebeskette' seen at e.g. Moschus 6. 1 f., Virg. Ecl. 2. 63 ff. 'torva leaena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam, / florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella, / te Corydon, o Alexi'. Both 'Todeskette' and the epanalepsis of Hypseus' name seem to have originated in Ovid's mêlée at Met. 5. 98 f. 'Prothoenora percutit Hypseus, / Hypsea Lyncides'. 252. Hypseus one of Thebes' seven principal captains, introduced in the teichoscopy (7. 309 ff.). His prowess has already been seen in battle (7. 723 ff., 8. 355, 428 ff.), and he now proves the only Theban capable of acting as a make-weight to Hippomedon. Both heroes cut down the enemy's common soldiery and foul Ismenos with blood (255–8), but their fates are well-balanced, for neither will leave the river alive (258). Though Hippomedon gains the upper hand, his death will give the Thebans the advantage (526 ff.) until Capaneus restores the balance by killing Hypseus (540 ff.). Thus Mars is anceps, and both sides have their losses to bewail (566–9, lines clearly intended to balance 255 ff.). Hypseus was the son of Page 59 of 195

Boeotia's great river, the Asopos (7. 315; hence 'Asopius Hypseus' at 7. 723, 8. 428, 9. 256), and so Hippomedon's 'victory' over the Asopos at 7. 424 ff. ........................................................................................................................... pg 108 will be avenged by his defeat at the hands of Ismenos, Asopos' 'brother' (449 n.), and his spoiling by Asopos' son (9. 540 ff.). See further Vessey, pp. 207 f., and cf. the symbolism of Parthenopaeus' being killed by Dryas (841–876 n.). 254. amne Austin on Virg. A. 2. 496 remarks that 'Virgil and Ovid use amnis less often than flumen, but in Silver Epic amnis predominates'. This is substantially correct, but already in the Aeneid amnis is almost as common as flumen (ratios: Aeneid, 38 to 43, Thebaid, 64 to 31, Punica, 47 to 19).   ni fata vetent cf. Luc. 10. 485, Theb. 3. 316, Ach. 1. 84. Early Latin made no distinction between 'ideal' and 'unreal' in conditional sentences, and the present tense could refer to present as well as future time. This construction predominates in comedy and survives in e.g. Catul. 6. 3 f., Virg. A. 2. 599 f. 'ni mea cura resistat, / iam flammae tulerint', Tib. 1. 4. 63 f., but is probably a deliberate archaism here. See further S. A. Handford, The Latin Subjunctive (London, 1947), pp. 121 f. 254 f. Treat stamine primo as an instrumental ablative dependent on ablatum and understand esset. 255. Thebes cf. 294. The singular form is prominent in poetry (Il. 1. 366, 4. 378, Soph. Ant. 149, Sen. Oed. 112, V. Fl. 6. 118) and can be found in prose (e.g. Liv. 37. 19. 7, Plin. Nat. 5. 60), though the plural form Thebae is far commoner in both. The Greek genitive adds an exotic flavour, as at 846. 257 f. crasso vada mutat … / sanguine the river is both dyed in colour and made thicker and more turbid by the gore. For crassus of a muddied river cf. Luc. 6. 364 'crassis oblimat Echinadas undis', Theb. 4. 820; of a river clouded with blood cf. Ach. 1. 87 f. (Achilles filling Scamander with corpses) 'modo crassa exire vetabit / flumina'. For mutare with the sense 'stain', 'change the colour of', see P. H. Damsté, Sertum Nabericum (Leiden, 1908), p. 79, and cf. Virg. Ecl. 4. 44 'croceo mutabit vellera luto', Silv. 3. 3. 67, Theb. 7. 70 f. 'diraque aspergine latos / mutat agros', and possibly 9. 703. 258. Strictly speaking, both heroes die not actually in the river, but on the bank (526, 540 ff.). For this authorial statement cf. the words of Virgil on the parallel destinies of Pallas and Lausus at A. 10. 434 ff. 'nec multum discrepat aetas, / egregii forma, sed quis Fortuna negarat / in patriam reditus', which clearly lie behind 254 f. too. The same passage surely inspired these melancholy lines: Ach. 1. 175 ff. 'Patroclus tantisque extenditur aemulus

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actis, / par studiis aevique modis, sed robore longe, / et tamen aequali visurus Pergama fato'. 259 ff. A consciously horrific scene: weapons and mutilated limbs litter the river's surface while on the bottom (illic = ima, 264) we see the struggling bodies of the drowning. This general overview prepares us for the detailed examination of the fates of unfortunate individuals in 266 ff., while the sickening cleverness of 260 abscisae redeunt in pectora dextrae (cf. 137 n.) is a forerunner to the gruesome ingenuity shown in dispatching Argipus (266–9) and Agyrtes (281–3). Note the hyperbolic plurals artus, ora, dextrae: cf. such phrases as Virg. A. 9. 490 'artus avulsaque membra', Tac. Ann. 1. 61 'adiacebant fragmina telorum equorumque artus'. Though extravagant, Statius' description is less so than Sil. 4. 625 f. 'corporibus clipeisque simul ........................................................................................................................... pg 109 galeisque cadentum / contegitur Trebia, et vix cernere linquitur undas'. Cf. also 429 ff. n. 261. remissos of a slackened bow also at Hor. Carm. 3. 27. 67 f., and cf. 871 arma (bow and arrows) remisit. 262. The idea that their plumes keep the helmets afloat seems extremely fanciful: Kromayer–Veith, p. 324, remind us that real helmets were so unbearably heavy that on the march legionaries carried them suspended on a leather strap. 263 f. summa and ima are opposed in sense, and this is emphatically brought out by their initial position in the line. This pattern is discussed by Mayer on Luc. 8. 116 f. 264. luctantur corpora leto inspired by two expressions from Lucan's description of men drowning in the Massilian sea-battle: 3. 578 f. 'hi luctantem lenta cum morte trahentes / fractarum subita ratium periere ruina' and esp. 3. 661 f. 'pars maxima turbae / naufraga iactatis morti obluctata lacertis'. Cf. also Sil. 10. 295 'luctatur morti' and Sen. Phoen. 142 f. 'effundere hanc cum morte luctantem diu / animam': also, for the idea rather than the phrasing, Virg. A. 4. 695 (the dying Dido) 'luctantem animam', Sen. Apoc. 3. 1. 265. The souls, being air, apparently cannot rise but are choked back by the river, since water is the heavier element. For this piece of popular philosophy see O. Immisch, RhM 80 (1931), 98 ff. and K. Smolak, WS NF 9 (1975), 148 ff., who discuss a passage of Synesius of Cyrene in which some soldiers, facing shipwreck, fall on their swords to allow their souls to escape.   efflantes … animas Imhof, p. 213, wanted to read efflandasque because the verb is normally transitive and the dying person 'breathes out his soul' (e.g. Pl. Per. 638, Suet. Aug. 99. 2, Theb. 8. 324: cf. Il. 13. 654). Statius, however, uses it intransitively quite often, as at

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8. 168 and 10. 109 f. 'niger efflat anhelo / ore vapor', where see Williams. See also Damsté, p. 94, and 899 n. below. 266–283. The grisly catalogue of unexpected and horrific deaths in the river is designed to 'surpass' Sil. 4. 585–97, to which it exhibits many similarities: see 266 ff., 280, 281 ff. nn. This is the kind of passage at which detractors of Silver epic have found it easy to point the finger of scorn, and which its admirers have found hard to defend: Mulder, p. 128, for example, sadly admits 'concedendum est poetam rerum sanguinearum peramantem fuisse'. Bloodthirstiness, however, is endemic in societies in which people live close to the real horrors of war: as Vermeule, p. 96, says, if Homer includes gruesome incidents in his poetry that is because 'he and his audience enjoy the scene enormously', and cf. e.g. Ch. Rol. 3603 ff. Though Silver poets offer particularly extensive and mannered descriptions of horror (e.g. Ov. Met. 5. 30 ff., Luc. 2. 98 ff., 3. 583 ff., 7. 617 ff., Theb. 5. 200 ff., 10. 262 ff.), they are in general merely developing tendencies already found in Roman epic. Compare Enn. Ann. 485 Skutsch 'quomque caput caderet carmen tuba sola peregit', of a decapitated charioteer, and Virg. A. 9. 324 ff., a passage often ignored by those who extol Virgil for his gentleness. The blame lies not ........................................................................................................................... pg 110 simply with the poets but with a whole society for whom bloody war was a grim inevitability and the amphitheatre a source of amusement. See further the sensible remarks of M. Hadas, CW 29 (1936), 157, C. Galinsky, Ovid's Metamorphoses (Oxford, 1975), pp. 110–57, esp. p. 129 'Other episodes … suggest that he (sc. Ovid) revelled in bloodthirsty and repulsive descriptions of human agony simply because he liked cruelty', and G. Williams, pp. 184–90. 266 ff. Argipus' lamentable fate corresponds to that of Silius' Roman, pinned to the riverbank at 4. 585 ff. 'ille, celer nandi, iamiamque apprendere tuta / dum parat et celso conisus corpore prensat / gramina summa manu liquidisque emergit ab undis, / contorta ripae pendens affigitur hasta'. The actual idea, however, is borrowed from Luc. 3. 663 ff., where Romans attempting to board a Massilian vessel have their arms sheared off, and (667 ff.) 'bracchia linquentes Graia pendentia puppe / a manibus cecidere suis: non amplius undae / sustinuere graves in summo gurgite truncos': cf. also Luc. 3. 610 ff. where the verb amputat also appears. The reflexes of severed limbs seem to have fascinated Roman poets: cf. Virg. A. 10. 395 f., Ov. Met. 5. 103 ff., 123 ff., Sil. 1. 347, 4. 206 ff., 386 ff., Theb. 8. 441 ff. A scientific explanation of the phenomenon is offered by Lucretius at 3. 634 ff. 266. puer Argipus his youth is of course pathetic: this battlefield is no place for boys. Cf. puer of Crenaeus (443) and of Parthenopaeus (666, 716, 855, 892). The word is applied by Virgil for similar effect to Troilus (A. 1. 475), Euryalus (A. 9. 181, 217) and Pallas (A. 8. 581, 11. 42, 12. 943), as well as to 'Almonem puerum' (A. 7. 575) who, like Argipus, is a minor

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victim of much greater events than he can control. The pathos of Argipus' death is increased by the waste of his beauty: like Parthenopaeus he has insignes umeros (267, 6. 572).   ulmum Achilles grasps an elm on the bank in order to hoist himself from the river at Il. 21. 242 ff.: see also 446–539 n. 267. Menoeceus no doubt the son of Creon whose self-sacrifice is related at 10. 589 ff.: cf. 204 n. for Statius' technique here. 268. amputat given emphasis by enjambement and the sudden cutting-off between it and ille, as brutal and sharp as Menoeceus' sword. The trick seems to have been learned from Luc. 3. 611 f. 'sed eam gravis insuper ictus / amputat: illa tamen' etc. amputo is avoided by poets until the Silver Age (cf. 10. 315, Luc. 2. 184, Sen. Thy. 727, Sil. 2. 202, etc.). To the Romans its connotations may have been not surgical but agricultural, since it is regularly used of cutting branches or roots, pruning plants etc. (e.g. Hor. Epod. 2. 13 'inutilisque falce ramos amputans', Cic. Sen. 52, Plin. Nat. 17. 248). In a context involving a tree we might even suspect word-play.   conamine first appears in Latin poetry in Lucretius (e.g. 6. 326, 835, 1041), who seems responsible for many other neologisms in -men, some highly popular later (e.g. documen, velamen), others less so (e.g. vexamen). Though it is generally rare in epic, Statius (8 times) and Silius (15 times) ........................................................................................................................... pg 111 rather like it. See further J. Perrot, Les Dérivés latins en -men et -mentum (Études et commentaires 37) (Paris, 1961), pp. 37, 92, 109 ff. 270. Tagen rejected by Hill who thought it originated in hasta by dittography of the final syllable. On the other hand Tages is a well-known name, that of the earth-born Etruscan who invented the art of the haruspex (Ov. Met. 15. 552 ff., Luc. 1. 636 f.) as Statius knew (Silv. 5. 2. 1 f.). Moreover, the scholiast on Luc. 1. 636 tells us the ancients derived the name ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς‎, so Statius may intend some irony in Tages' watery grave. A Scythian Tages is cut down at V. Fl. 6. 223.   ingenti vulnere mersit a Virgilian phrase (A. 10. 842, 12. 640). There is perhaps some word-play between mersit and Hypseos (cf. ὕψι, ὑψηλός‎). 272 ff. Agenor, unable to save his wounded brother, prefers to drown with him. This is an adaptation of Sil. 4. 589 f., where the struggling enemies drown each other in the Trebia: cf. Luc. 3. 694 ff. Statius adds real pathos and transforms a scene of horror into an exemplum of pietas which throws into relief the evil desire of Eteocles and Polynices to destroy each other.

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For a similar pair of pious brothers cf. 2. 629 ff., and see Mulder ad loc. and Vessey, pp. 125 ff. 272. rapturus see 67 n.   Agenor perhaps a member of the Theban royal house, since this is the name of the father of Cadmus and Europa. 274. degravat very rare in poetry generally, and found only twice in extant Latin epic, though cf. Prop. 3. 7. 58, Ov. Met. 13. 777, Sen. Phaed. 1230. 274 f. poterat … / emersisse Statius rather likes the perfect infinitive for present with posse: cf. also 526 quid ripas tenuisse iuvat, 6. 500 'Eumenides vidisse queant'. Here, however, there is a nuance in the tense: Agenor was in a position 'to have got out' if he wanted, but chose to remain. 275. piguit Hill points to 10. 901 and Ach. 1. 635 for similar confusion between parts of pudet and piget in manuscripts. piguit provides a higher motive: he could have escaped, but life without his brother held no attractions for him. The parataxis and change of tense (poterat–piguit) perhaps imply suddenness of decision. 276. surgentem dextra imitating Virg. A. 10. 797 f. 'iamque adsurgentis dextra plagamque ferentis / Aeneae subiit mucronem'.   vulnusque minantem vulnus is common enough in poetry of 'prospective wounds residing in missiles, blows etc.' (OLD s.v. 1c), cf. Virg. A. 7. 533, 9. 745, Luc. 8. 384, Theb. 11. 53 'cum subitum obliquo descendit ab aere vulnus', Ach. 2. 135, with Dilke, and line 345 below. For the poetic use of minari here cf. Prop. 4. 6. 49 'prorae Centaurica saxa minantis'. 277. sorbebat rapidus … vertex recalling two Virgilian whirlpools, A. 1. 117 'rapidus vorat aequore vertex' and A. 3. 420 ff. 'Charybdis / … vastos / sorbet in abruptum fluctus'.   nodato gurgite Lactantius explains 'quia astringit vertigo fluvii natantes et non dat spatium evadendi', clearly appropriate to nodato, though Jahnke gives the lemma nudato (the reading of P). Ker, p. 180, thought nodato 'a strange verb to use of water, too impressionistic even for ........................................................................................................................... pg 112 Statius' and so suggested motato. The conjecture well illustrates the tendency of scholars to deprive Statius of his colour and daring: 'knotted flood' is a splendid phrase of the type in which Statius excels. For nodare see also Dilke on Ach. 2. 155 'liquidam nodare palen'.

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278. iam vultu, iam crine latet the sense is clear, but the construction seems to be an experiment in mannerism for which the TLL offers no parallel. Elsewhere in Statius lateo is found with the ablative meaning 'be hidden by', e.g. 231 above, 7. 655 'crine latent umeri', 12. 537 f. One would more normally expect sub (e.g. Virg. A. 4. 582) but cf. Luc. 6. 344 'perpetuis quondam latuere paludibus agri'. 279. abruptas defended by Håkanson, pp. 59 ff., who points out that abruptus is sometimes used of a swiftly flowing river, as at Germ. Arat. 48 'abrupti fluminis instar'. abreptus (P), on the other hand, is apparently applied nowhere else to a river, and the TLL's explanation ('sc. gurgitis impetu, undas') is 'a little far-fetched'. We should add that Statius is echoing Virg. A. 3. 420 ff. 'Charybdis / obsidet, atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos / sorbet in abruptum fluctus', imitated from Catul. 68. 107 f. Thus the word implies not so much speed as Håkanson appears to think, but a precipitous descent into a chasm of water (note descendit). 280. A chilling line which imitates Luc. 3. 689 f. 'mille modos inter leti mors una timori est / qua coepere mori'. Rather less striking is Silius' imitation of the same line, 4. 591 'mille simul leti facies'. Cf. also Tib. 1. 3. 50.   fatigat for the sense see Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 582 and Dilke on Ach. 1. 104. The use of fatigo and lasso (as at 723) of plaguing the gods with one's prayers is discussed by Mulder on 2. 244. 281 ff. The bizarre death of Agyrtes matches that of Irpinus at Sil. 4. 594 ff. 'enabat tandem medio vix gurgite pulcher / Irpinus sociumque manus clamore vocabat, / cum rapidis illatus aquis et vulnere multo / impulit asper equus fessumque sub aequora mersit'. Statius' picture, which has the merit of being rather less ludicrous than Silius', draws its ultimate inspiration from Lucan's sea-battle: 3. 580 ff. 'inrita tela suas peragunt in gurgite caedes, / et quodcumque cadit frustrato pondere ferrum / exceptum mediis invenit volnus in undis'. Note the direct echo in invenerat at 283. 281. induit Lactantius explains 'totum pertransiit'. In the context of plunging a weapon into a body Seneca writes 'manum cerebro indue' (Phoen. 180), but using the verb of the weapon itself seems to be Statius' innovation.   Mycalesia Mycalesos is a Boeotian city on the road from Thebes to Chalcis (cf. 7. 272). The adjective, found only here in extant Latin literature, is one of several apparent neologisms ending in -ius (-ioς‎) in the Thebaid: see Schamberger, pp. 252–4, and cf. Anthedonius (291, 328), Meleagrius (4. 103), Palaemonius (2. 381) etc. Mycalesia cuspis stands in a tradition going back to Hellenistic epic: see M. L. West, CR NS 14 (1964), 242 for Μακηδονὶς … λόγχη‎, and cf. 313, Virg. A. 9. 698, Prop. 4. 4. 26.

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282. nusquam auctor teli auctor teli is a Virgilian phrase common in later epic, e.g. A. 9. 748, Ov. Met. 8. 349, Sil. 4. 464, Theb. 9. 876. Compare also vulneris auctor at 558 and A. 9. 748; plain auctor appears again at 418 and ........................................................................................................................... pg 113 752. For the use of such phrases in combination with the theme of the unseen attacker cf. Virg. A. 9. 420 f., Theb. 8. 717 'teli non eminet auctor'. 283. effugiens also of a missile speeding on its way at Virg. A. 9. 632. Cf. 770 n. 283–314. The horse is fatally wounded and Hippomedon continues his fight on foot. His aristeia gathers speed, but also cruelty. This is seen most clearly in the Panemus episode, an excellent adaptation and compression of Achilles' encounter with Priam's son Lycaon (Il. 21. 34 ff.). Whereas Lycaon had begged for his life, offering ransom, and had been brutally refused his request, Panemus piously asks to be slain as his twin brother was: with a cruelty more refined than Achilles' Hippomedon spares him so that he may live in torment. His unwelcome reprieve and the rhetorical ingenuity with which it is expounded recall the sparing of Domitius by the calculating Caesar (Luc. 2. 507 ff.) and of Maeon by Tydeus (Theb. 2. 690: see Vessey, pp. 107 ff.). Hippomedon's savagery here is thematically significant; Furor is tightening its grip on him and this will soon reach a climax in the brutal murder of Crenaeus. See further Juhnke, pp. 31 f. 285 ff. Tydeus' horse, on being wounded, rears just as Rhaebus does at Virg. A. 10. 890 ff. 'inter / bellatoris equi cava tempora conicit hastam. / tollit se arrectum quadripes et calcibus auras / verberat, effusumque equitem super ipse secutus / implicat eiectoque incumbit cernuus armo'. Though Mezentius was thrown and his horse rolled on top of him, Hippomedon, the greater hero, is not unseated, but dismounts of his own accord (sponte), out of pity for the wounded animal. Both poets describe how the horse rears itself up high and beats the air with its forelegs, but Statius stresses the violence of the sudden movement (exiluit, fulmine), adds the detail that the forelegs are momentarily suspended (pendens), and intimates that death will soon follow (vi mortis). 286. fulmine see 218 n., and Alton, p. 176. flumine (ω‎) would hardly be relevant: the point is that the horse rears suddenly and violently at the shock of the blow, but the hero is not thrown off.   ductor the history of this word is discussed by Austin on Virg. A. 2. 14: Servius remarks on that line that 'sonantius est quam duces … quod heroum exigit carmen'. Statius seems to be the first to use it of a horse's rider, but cf. dux at Virg. A. 3. 470.

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288. exuit of 'removing' a weapon from a wound also at V. Fl. 6. 253: cf. Hyg. Fab. 167. 3 'ex cuius utero Liberum exuit'. This looks like an experiment in extending the application of an everyday word: cf. induit, 281 n. 289 f. gressuque manuque / certior having dismounted, he is now both surer of his footing on the river-bed and, not having the reins to manage, better able to wield his weapons. 290. segnem see 568 n.   Mimanta the name of mountain-ranges in both Ionia and Thrace (e.g. Ov. Met. 2. 222, Luc. 7. 450: cf. 152 Halyn n.) and given to other minor ........................................................................................................................... pg 114 epic characters at Ap. Rh. 2. 105, Virg. A. 10. 702. The association with the mountain must surely be present when Silius gives it to a giant (4. 276). Perhaps, too, when Apollonius (2. 105) writes ʼΙτυμονῆα πελώριον ἠδὲ Μίμαντα‎ the word ἠδὲ‎ is postponed and Mimas is the giant. 291. Thisbaeumque Thisbe, a town just to the south of Helicon, was associated with doves (Il. 2. 502, Ov. Met. 11. 300 'Thisbaeas … columbas', Theb. 7. 261). She loses a son to Parthenopaeus too (768).   Anthedonium see 281, 328 nn. 292. continuat ferro i.e. slays them one after another, a strikingly original use of the verb, repeated by Statius at 12. 744 f. 'quos eminus hastis / continuat'. The nearest parallel I can find elsewhere is Plin. Nat. 20. 35 'nemo tres siseres edendo continuaret'. 293. Thespiaden for the rare patronymic cf. Sen. HO 369, Sil. 11. 19, 12. 364, Hyg. Fab. 162, Theb. 2. 629, 3. 14 where see Snijder. Cf. also 95 n. Panemus and his brother are probably descendants of that Thespius, eponymous founder of Thespiae, whose fifty daughters were raped by Hercules, and all presented him with twin grandsons: Statius alludes to the legend at Silv. 3. 1. 42 f. The piety shown by Panemus to this brother matches that shown by his cousin Periphas to his twin at 2. 629 ff. 294. vive superstes 'une imitation e contrario' (Legras) of Aeneas' rebuke to Lucagus at Virg. A. 10. 600 'morere et fratrem ne desere frater'. Compare also Caesar's words to Domitius at Luc. 2. 512 f. ' "vive, licet nolis, et nostro munere" dixit / "cerne diem."'. Statius' wording may also have been influenced by Luc. 9. 72.   dirae an adjective regularly associated with Thebes and its cursed royal family: see Hübner, p. 74, and Heuvel on 1. 4 'gentis … dirae'. Page 67 of 195

295. A savage taunt. Panemus and his brother were so alike that even their parents could not tell them apart, but now that he is solus there will be no problem. The idea is found already in Virgil, whose treatment exhibits remarkable ingenuity in its savagery: A. 10. 390 ff. 'vos etiam, gemini, Rutulis cecidistis in arvis, / Daucia, Laride Thymberque, simillima proles, / indiscreta suis gratusque parentibus error; / at nunc dura dedit vobis discrimina Pallas. / nam tibi, Thymbre, caput Evandrius abstulit ensis; / te decisa suum, Laride, dextera quaerit'. In both situation and wording here, however, Statius owes more to Luc. 3. 605 ff. 'discrevit mors saeva viros, unumque relictum / agnorunt miseri sublato errore parentes, / aeternis causam lacrimis; tenet ille dolorem / semper et amissum fratrem lugentibus offert'. The motif is taken to absurd lengths by Silius Italicus, who goes so far as to describe the grieving mother of slain twins calling the corpses by the wrong names (2. 636 ff.). For identical twins in epic cf. also V. Fl. 1. 366 ff.   miseros … parentes see 357 n.   decepture the vocative of the future participle, though often metrically convenient and found in Greek tragedy, seems on the whole to be an elegant and highly stylized mannerism favoured by Callimachus and learned Latin poets. It is especially common in honorific and pathetic addresses: here its tone is, of course, mocking. See the good note by Mayer ........................................................................................................................... pg 115 on Luc. 8. 338. Statius is particularly fond of it: cf. 398 accensure, 725 moriture, 780 orbature. For the vocative of the past participle see 440 n. 296. di bene pace Klinnert, pp. 112 f., Hippomedon's assumption of divine favour is not to be taken seriously, since Bellona means little more than 'the fortunes of war'. 297. sanguinea Bellona manu also found at 7. 73 and apparently an imitation of Sen. Ag. 81 f. 'sequitur tristis / sanguinolenta Bellona manu'. For Bellona's blood-stained whip cf. also Virg. A. 8. 703 and Luc. 7. 568. Bellona was a very ancient Italian war-goddess, honoured by a temple built on the Campus Martius by Claudius Caecus in 296 BC (Liv. 10. 19. 17) and later associated with Enyo and the Cappadocian goddess Ma. See Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 319, Smolenaars on Theb. 7. 72 f., Williams on Theb. 10. 855. Lactantius, on 5. 155, says she was Mars' sister, and she acts as his charioteer in Silius (4. 438 f.) and Statius (3. 429, 7. 72 f.): cf. also Liv. 8. 9. 6. For Shakespeare Macbeth is 'Bellona's bridegroom' (1. 2. 55). 297 ff. Because they die in the river, the Thebans will not receive burial and thus Tydeus' ghost will not be tormented by the sight of their funeral pyres (297–9). In fact, his fate is even better than theirs; while their bodies will be consumed by savage monsters (see 300 n.), his will remain on land and endure normal decay (300 f.). The ancients thought death by drowning a particularly horrific fate (Od. 5. 299 ff., Hes. Op. 687, Virg. A. 1. 92 ff., Prop. 2. 26b. 43 f., Ov. Tr. 1. 2. 51 ff. etc.) because of the enormous emotional and religious Page 68 of 195

significance attached to burial (see Mayer on Luc. 8. 712–872 ( = p. 167)). Indeed there was a tradition that the spirits of the unburied could not enter the underworld: see Il. 23. 71 ff., Virg. A. 6. 321 ff. For the frequent appearance of the theme in epitaphs see Lattimore, pp. 199 ff.   In the Thebaid burial is a general human right demanded by pietas: this idea receives its fullest expression in Evadne's appeal to Theseus, in which she insists on the common humanity of slayer and slain (12. 555 ff. 'hominum, inclute Theseu, / sanguis erant' etc.). Evil characters deny their opponents' spirits rest in defiance of fas, as when Eteocles refuses Maeon's body burial (3. 96 ff.). Creon's denial of these basic rights to the Argives is the final sin of a sinful house (11. 661 ff.) and Theseus' vindication of custom at the end of the poem re-establishes justice. Conversely, noble characters give or risk their lives in order to uphold divine law (Hopleus and Dymas, 10. 347 ff.; Argia and Antigone, 12. 173 ff.). See further Vessey, pp. 113 ff., Snijder, p. 82, and compare Lucan's indignation at Caesar's inhuman refusal to allow burial to the Republican dead at Pharsalus: 7. 797 ff. 'ac, ne laeta furens scelerum spectacula perdat, / invidet igne rogi miseris, caeloque nocenti / ingerit Emathiam' etc. 298. nuda … umbra the construction with the ablative is an echo of Luc. 1. 11 'umbraque erraret Crassus inulta': see Fedeli on Prop. 1. 19. 10 for the commoner use of umbra in apposition. Servius glosses nudus as 'insepultus' at Virg. A. 5. 871 'nudus in ignota, Palinure, iacebis harena'; there are several examples of the word with this sense in Lucan (8. 434 'ultorem cinerum nudae speravimus umbrae', 8. 761 where see Mayer, 9. 64, 157) and Statius (12. 56, 216 'heu si nudus adhuc, heu si iam forte sepultus', ........................................................................................................................... pg 116 711). So too the unburied bodies of Maeon and the Argives lie 'nudo … sub axe' (3. 112, 11. 663). Compare also Claud. Gild. 1. 403 'nudi pulvere manes'.   flebilis naturally associated with sepulchral inscriptions (TLL 6. 1. 891. 24 ff.). 299. stridebit also of the unearthly shrieking of tormented ghosts at 7. 770, Luc. 6. 623. 300. The idea is taken from Achilles' cruel taunt to Lycaon at Il. 21. 122 ff., where it is said that Lycaon's mother will not bury him, but his white flesh will be eaten by the fish in the river. The same passage is imitated at length by Virgil at A. 10. 557 ff. Statius, however, aims at something more eerie than either of these poets, replacing Homer's fish with more terrifying undefined 'monsters' (cf. 11 n.) and achieving a more sinister effect by transferring the epithet crudelia from the monsters to their pitiful prey (cf. Virg. A. 3. 616 'crudelia limina', of the Cyclops' cave). For the motif cf. also Prop. 3. 7. 8 ff. (of the drowned Paetus) 'et nova longinquus piscibus esca natat' etc., Ov. Ib. 146, Tr. 1. 2. 54 ff. 'est aliquid, fatove suo ferrove cadentem / in solida moriens ponere corpus humo, / et mandare suis aliqua, et Page 69 of 195

sperare sepulchrum, / et non aequoreis piscibus esse cibum'. It is of course a variation on the well-known theme of dead warriors being eaten by dogs, birds etc., for which the locus classicus is Il. 1. 4 f. See Griffin, pp. 44 ff. and the Assyrian parallels quoted there, and cf. esp. 516 f. n.   crudelia pabula borrowed from Prop. 3. 7. 3, a poem clearly much in Statius' mind here. To the transference of the epithet here contrast crudelibus … / praeda feris, 516 f. 301. The Stoic division between body and soul is regularly observed by Statius: cf. 8. 738 f., and see Mulder on 2. 63, Legras, pp. 177 f. The body comes from the earth, hence the decaying corpse will return sua … in primordia (cf. Lactantius 'quia omnis dicitur caro terrena esse', quoting Luc. 7. 845 f.). The soul's primordia, on the other hand, are the stars: cf. 8. 324 'pugnaces efflare animas et reddere caelo'. To the sentiments expressed here compare Lucan's consolation for the Roman dead left unburied by Caesar at Pharsalus (7. 809 ff. 'nil agis hac ira …' etc.). 303. nunc ense furit cf. 393. Unreasoning bloodlust now has Hippomedon in its grip: see Vessey, pp. 261, 295, who shows how each Argive hero gives way to furor before his aristeia reaches its climax (cf. 7. 768, 8. 595, 10. 752 f., 831 f.). 303 f. tela natantia captans / ingerit a mark of the urgency of his desire to kill: so too Amphiaraus even tears weapons from corpses and reuses them (7. 768 ff.). Once again Statius is thinking of Lucan's sea-battle: 3. 674 f. 'sidentia pessum / corpora caesa tenent spoliantque cadavera ferro', a passage also imitated by Silius, 4. 629 'torquet rapido correptum e gurgite pilum'. 304. innuptae more usually an epithet of Minerva (e.g. Virg. A. 2. 31, Theb. 2. 251 f., 12. 531: cf. Luc. 9. 605), but also applied to Diana at 7. 258 and Ov. Met. 1. 476, cf. also Hor. Carm. 3. 4. 70 f. 'integrae / … Dianae'. Bömer on Ov. Met. 1. 476 remarks that the word is used exclusively in poetry until Apuleius.   Therona the death of this devotee of Diana prefigures that of ........................................................................................................................... pg 117 Parthenopaeus. Service to a particular deity, like reference to a native city, profession, ancestry, or physical appearance, is another way of giving some personality to minor warriors: cf. 7. 715, 8. 453 ff. 305. ruricolamque this splendid compound epithet appears to be Ovid's invention (Am. 3. 2. 53, Met. 5. 479, 11. 91, 15. 124: cf. also V. Fl. 5. 142, Sil. 8. 446, 13. 535) as does the similar hapax legomenon rurigena (Met. 7. 765). Epithets in -cola (e.g. caelicola) are

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traditional in the 'high style', and this one is rather tame compared to some, e.g. Sil. 14. 443 'Neptunicolae' (i.e. 'sea-dweller').   fluctivago Ergino a clever piece of doctrina since the name is borrowed from the son of Poseidon who replaced Tiphys as helmsman of the Argo (Ap. Rh. 1. 187, 2. 896, V. Fl. 1. 415, 5. 65 ff., 8. 177 ff.). For the consciously learned combination of spondaic fifth foot, hiatus, and Greek name see Austin on Virg. A. 1. 617 'Dardanio Anchisae' and Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 315 'Parrhasio Ancaeo'. The four other spondaic lines in the Thebaid (4. 5, 227, 298, 12. 630) similarly end with Greek proper names. To fluctivagus cf. undivagus (Sil. 14. 572). It looks like a neologism of which Statius was rather proud (cf. 1. 271, Silv. 2. 1. 95, 3. 1. 84), but is not found again until the late empire (TLL 6. 1. 939. 36 ff.). Like most of Statius' 'neologisms' it is formed on very traditional lines (cf. e.g. montivagus (Lucr. 1. 405), nemorivagus (Catul. 63. 72) etc.). So too the other apparent novelties in this book are verbs made from new compounds of prefix and root (178 aderrat, 586 desacraverat, 647 inrubuit, 686 adverberat, 856 obarsit). Cf. 438 n., and see further Legras, pp. 313 ff., Schamberger, pp. 231 ff., Williams on 10. 47. 306. contemptoremque profundi cf. 6. 542 f. (Leander) 'Phrixei … contemptor ephebus / aequoris'. There is perhaps a suggestion of hubris: cf. 550 n. 307. Crethea to his pathetically ironic death cf. the misfortunes of the Massilian whose confidence in his skill as a diver proves misplaced (Luc. 3. 696 ff.).   nimbosam … Caphereos arcem the Euboean promontory was associated with shipwrecks since the destruction there of the ships returning from Troy (Paus. 2. 23. 1, Hyg. Fab. 116, Virg. A. 11. 260, Hor. Epod. 10. 11 ff., Prop. 3. 7. 39, Sen. Ag. 560, Ach. 1. 92 ff. etc.). Cf. also Herodotus' account (8. 13) of the shipwrecking of Persian ships off Euboea in 480 BC. nimbosus is not found before Virgil (A. 1. 535, 3. 274), and is rare in later poetry, but cf. 12. 305. Statius is very fond of adjectives ending in -osus: cf. annosus (411, 468) and see Heuvel on 1. 217, Williams on Virg. A. 3. 705, 5. 352, Brink on Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 70. 308. transfugerat a very rare use of the word indeed. See Goodyear on Aetna 348 f. 'tantusque ruinis / impetus attentos oculorum transfugit ictus', a metaphorical application of the verb with the same sense as here.   alno Mayer on Luc. 8. 39 sees the metonymy as an innovation on the part of Lucan, but 'a natural development' of Virg. G. 1. 136, 2. 451 'undam levis innatat alnus': cf. Theb. 3. 23, 4. 479, 8. 270 etc. Lucan will have been encouraged by the similar but older use of pinus (Catul. 64. 1, Virg. Ecl. 4. 38, Luc. 3. 553, Theb. 3. 518, 5. 337, Ach. 1. 156 etc.). 309. quid non fata queant see 180 n. ...........................................................................................................................

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pg 118   traiectus pectora ferro similar phrases with the same 'retained accusative' construction are Virg. A. 9. 543 f., Ov. Met. 9. 102 'traiectum terga sagitta', Luc. 7. 528 'transfixus pectora ferro', Theb. 1. 61, 10. 619 'traiectus cuspide pectus'. Statius is consciously varying the structure of Virg. A. 1. 355 f. 'traiectaque pectora ferro'. 311 ff. Statius' language is a little confusing here. The contrast between te and illos surely indicates different fates: the spear kills the driver, flinging him backwards (resupinat), and the yoked horses, with no one to guide them, drown. ademptis … equis thus cannot mean 'and slays thy horses' (Mozley). Poynton's 'of his steeds was dispossessed' looks right, but only because it is as vague as the Latin. The phrase may be merely an unusual and emotional way of saying death deprived Pharsalus of the means by which he hoped to escape to safety (dum socios … petis) because it separated him from them by throwing him from the chariot. Since the horses drown because of the violentia saevi gurgitis, however, we should perhaps interpret ademptis as meaning 'carried away' by the river. Note how apostrophe here provides a useful way of both adding pathos and introducing stylistic variation into a potentially dull list of names. The device is a common one in Roman poetry: see J. Endt, WS 27 (1905), 113 f., von Moisy, p. 11, and cf. Virg. A. 10. 139 ff., Ov. Met. 4. 457 ff., Luc. 1. 441 f., V. Fl. 6. 130 f., Sil. 1. 414 ff., Theb. 2. 382 f., 7. 282 ff., 340 f., 9. 767 ff. 311. sublimi hence clear of the water, so that Pharsalus probably thought himself relatively free from danger. The collocation with curru seems to be Statius' own, but is modelled on the common use of altus (e.g. 3. 292 f., 430, 12. 641): cf. also Sil. 4. 472 'celso curru'. A chariot's occupant is more usually said to be sublimis compared to those on foot around him (5. 707, 6. 326 f.).   tranantem an extension of the common use of the word to mean 'cross by boat' (Virg. A. 6. 671, Ciris 416, Man. 5. 43). 312. resupinat a very rare word, found only here in Statius, but also used with a rather violent sense at Acc. trag. 87 and Liv. 4. 19. 5. Cf. the similar use of sterno of 'laying someone low' in death. 313. Dorica see Heuvel on 2. 182 for the wide applications of this epithet in Statius.   saevi common of the sea (e.g. 387, 403) or storm winds etc. (361 f.), but the Ismenos in flood is now like a tempest-racked sea: cf. naufragus, 310. 314. infelix … iugi concordia as one horse founders in the turbulent river, it drags down the other with it, and both drown. For the symbolism of the iugi concordia see 82 ff. n.

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315–350. Statius invokes the Muses' aid to tell how and why Hippomedon met his end, and begins with his murder of Crenaeus, grandson of the river-god himself. Hippomedon is destroyed for impiety. His sin begins with his defiling the river's holy waters with human blood: as Crenaeus warns him, this is a sacred stream which has nourished two gods (342 f.; pace Klinnert, p. 113, this is confirmed by Ismenos himself at 434 ff.). This reaches a climax in the slaughter of the young hero, for though mortal, Crenaeus is protected by the river and shares its sanctity, as the miracle of 324 ff. should have made ........................................................................................................................... pg 119 clear to Hippomedon. In killing Crenaeus, Hippomedon thus assaults the divinity of Ismenos himself: the very waters of the river shudder at the nefas (347), and sin must inevitably be followed by punishment.   Crenaeus is modelled on Asteropaeus, grandson of the river-god Axius, who similarly confronts Achilles with a bold challenge, only to find his confidence tragically misplaced (Il. 21. 139–204). One important difference between the two passages is that Asteropaeus makes his lineage clear to Achilles (Il. 21. 152 ff.), but Crenaeus merely insists on the holiness of the Ismenos. Therefore, while his failure to recognize the importance of the river's miraculous favour for Crenaeus is culpable, Hippomedon never actually seems to know why Ismenos is fighting him, a mark of his furor and inability to tell right from wrong. Secondly, the murder of the engaging and courageous young Crenaeus is particularly brutal. Achilles, though cruel, at least observed the heroic code and warned Asteropaeus off (Il. 21. 150 f.: cf. the warnings given by Aeneas to Lausus (Virg. A. 10. 819 ff.) and by Amphion to Parthenopaeus (779 ff.) ), but Hippomedon callously and brutally runs Crenaeus through without a word (343 f. nihil ille, sed ibat / comminus), not even counting the corpse worthy of the ritual taunts of victory (contrast Il. 21. 184 ff.). In piety and humanity alike, in duty to the gods and to himself as a warrior, Hippomedon fails. See further Juhnke, pp. 32 ff., Klinnert, pp. 113 ff. 315 ff. The ritual invocation of the Muses, in which the poet confesses his inadequacy for his task and appeals for help from the goddesses to 'remember' the past; see West on Hes. Op. 1, Austin on Virg. A. 1. 8–11. Such invocations are especially made at the beginning of the poem, but are common elsewhere when the poet prepares to deal with a particularly difficult or challenging part of his tale, e.g. Homer's catalogue of ships (Il. 2. 484 ff.) or Virgil's 'maius opus' of the wars in Italy (A. 7. 37 ff.). See also the comments of Quintilian at Inst. 4. praef. 4–6. Statius has such invocations before the aristeiai of Amphiaraus (7. 628 ff.) and Capaneus (10. 831), the second day of battle (8. 373 ff.), the Argive catalogue (4. 32 ff.), the devotio of Menoeceus (10. 628 ff.), and here, where it seems to stress the magnificence of Hippomedon's fatal battle with the god. Here the Muses are invoked collectively, but the Thebaid seems to be under the special care of Clio (1. 41, Silv. 1. 4. 14).

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315. nunc age remembered from Virg. A. 7. 37 and repeated at 10. 628.   tumidis magnum inclinaverit undis though expugnaverit (ω‎) would yield good and fitting sense, some form of inclinare would not only have the authority of P but would also be bolder and more original, and contrast well with tumidis. inclinare is also a favourite verb of Statius' (fourteen times in the Thebaid: contrast only one in the Aeneid, at 12. 59). P's inclinavit in undis is unacceptable for two reasons: (1) a perfect subjunctive is required and (2), as Hill shows in his note on 2. 580 f., with verbs with the prefix in- Statius uses in and the accusative or a simple dative or ablative, but never in with the ablative. The true reading has been preserved by Lactantius. P's inaccurate reading can be explained by a process in which one scribe, perhaps failing to understand the perfect subjunctive, simplified inclinaverit ........................................................................................................................... pg 120 to inclinavit, while a later one restored the metre by introducing in. Though Hippomedon is literally magnus (91 n.), he is also heroically 'great' because he resists a god with some success: cf. 553, 562. For tumidis … undis, likening the river to the sea, see 242 n. and cf. also V. Fl. 1. 83 'tumidum … Enipea nimbo', similarly of a river in spate. 317. doctae … sorores for the 'neoteric' periphrasis see Bömer on Ov. Met. 5. 255, and cf. Catul. 65. 2 'doctis … virginibus', [Tib.] 3. 4. 45, Ov. Fast. 6. 811. Tr. 2. 13, Mart. 1. 70. 15, 10. 58. 5 f. 'doctas … / Pieridas', Theb. 4. 182 f. 'doctas … / Aonidas'. Statius also speaks of the 'docti … amnes' of Helicon (Silv. 2. 7. 12). The words σοφός‎ and doctus are particularly associated with Hellenistic learned poetry: see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 1. 29, F. Cairns, Tibullus. A Hellenistic Poet at Rome (Cambridge, 1979), pp. 11 f., TLL 5. 1. 1757.   indulgete first found with this sense in poetry in the last two decades of the century (cf. 4. 691, 10. 762 f., Sil. 14. 672 f., Mart. 1. 104. 2 f.), though rather earlier in prose (e.g. Liv. 40. 15. 16). The construction with the dative and infinitive is first found in Statius and particularly affected by him: cf. 1. 500, 10. 763, 11. 738, Sil. 14. 672 f. For the use of the word in connection with the poet's divine inspiration cf. esp. Silv. 2. 2. 36 'mihi si cunctos Helicon indulgeat amnes', and see van Dam ad loc. 318. It is the task of the Muses, the daughters of Mnemosyne, to remember: Il. 2. 484 ff., Virg. A. 7. 645, Theb. 10. 639.   senium depellere famae cf. Sil. 3. 20 'seniumque repellere templis': both phrases are bold adaptations of Luc. 4. 812 'a quibus omne aevi senium sua fama repellit'. Statius has replaced rĕpellere with dēpellere for metrical convenience. 319. gaudebat cf. laetus, 324, and hilaris, 698, of Parthenopaeus. The innocent joy of both young men heightens the tragedy of their death.

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  Fauno a god with a weakness for river-nymphs: cf. Hor. Carm. 3. 18. 1 'Faunus nympharum fugientium amator', Virg. A. 7. 47, 10. 550 f., Ov. Met. 13. 750. 320 f. Crenaeus … / Crenaeus epanalepsis, of proper names especially, is an ancient poetic ornament sometimes intended to be merely emphatic (e.g. 137 f. n.) or picturesque, but usually, as here, pathetic. Though found as early as Homer (Il. 2. 671 ff., Od. 1. 22 f.), it is especially popular with Hellenistic poets and their admirers: cf. Call. Hymn 1. 33 f., 4. 118 f., 5. 40 f., Theoc. 9. 2 f., Catul. 64. 26 f., 61 f., 132 f., Virg. G. 4. 526 f., A. 2. 405 f., 3. 523 f., 6. 162 ff., Sil. 3. 438 f., Theb. 2. 452 f., 12. 276 f. etc. See in general Housman on Juv. 8. 159 f., Austin on Virg. A. 1. 109, and, for its use with names, on A. 6. 164, Fordyce, p. 275, Mulder on Theb. 2. 452. The name Crenaeus may be inspired by a tradition giving it to one of the gates of Thebes (Aristodemus, FHG 3 B 383, fr. 6 Jacoby), though, alternatively, Statius may have been thinking of the beautiful youth killed in the slaughter at Cyzicus at V. Fl. 3. 17 ff. 321. prima dies Lactantius 'quando natus est': cf. natale vadum, 322. 322. virides cunabula ripae this stylized phrase, where cunabula intrudes between a noun and its epithet, is similar to e.g. Virg. Ecl. 1. 57 'raucae, tua cura, palumbae', 2. 3 'inter densas, umbrosa cacumina, fagos', but here ........................................................................................................................... pg 121 cunabula is the predicate ('cui virides ripae cunabula sunt'), not in apposition. See further Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 226 'odoratas, pennarum vincula, ceras', J. B. Solodow, HSCPh 90 (1986), 129–53. The collocation virides ripae may be remembered from Virg. G. 4. 121. 323 ff. Crenaeus can even walk on the waters of the Ismenos, and the protection it offers makes him feel invulnerable. This fantastic adynaton come true is a traditional indicator of divinity or divine favour: cf. Job 9:8, St Matthew 14:22 ff., St Mark 6:45 ff., St John 6:22 ff., Ap. Rh. 1. 182 ff. (Euphemus, son of Poseidon) πόντου ἐπὶ γλαυκοῖο θέεσκεν / οἴδματος, οὐδὲ θοοὺς βάπτεν πόδας‎ etc., Menander fr. 751 K, Nonnus 23. 125 ff. Similarly miraculous is the ability of Erichthonius' horses (Il. 20. 226 ff.) and the warrior-maiden Camilla (Virg. A. 7. 808 ff.) to run over a corn-field or the sea without breaking the ears of corn or wetting their feet. So too Circe 'ingreditur ferventes aestibus undas, / in quibus ut solida ponit vestigia terra / summaque decurrit pedibus super aequora siccis' (Ov. Met. 14. 48 ff.). 323. Elysias … sorores the Fates: cf. 148n. One might have expected 'Stygiae … sorores' as at Luc. 9. 838, but perhaps Statius wants to distinguish them from the Furies who are 'Stygiae … sorores' at 10. 833 and 11. 415 (cf. also 4. 53 f.) and 'Tartareas … sorores' at 5. 66 (cf. Virg. A. 7. 327 ff.). 324. adulantem a rare word, found in extant Latin epic poetry only here and at Ov. Met. 14. 46, 259, and usually applied to faithful animals, especially dogs, e.g. Ov. Met. 14. 46, Sen.

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Dial. 4. 31. 6 'adulantisque dominum feras'. Thus the ferocious waters tamely fawn upon the hero, and there is also a suggestion of devoted worship (Lactantius 'alluit ac blanditur, interdum supplicat'). For its application to water cf. Avien. Descr. Orb. 337 f. 'utque Syenen / caerulus accedens diti loca flumine adulat'. 325. defluus suggesting ease of motion. The word is not found before Statius (cf. Silv. 1. 3. 53 f.) and remains rare afterwards: cf. e.g. Apul. Met. 3. 3, and see Schamberger, p. 281. 327. pariterque revertitur amnis an adynaton traditionally achieved by the sorceress or, less commonly, the master-poet: cf. Ap. Rh. 3. 532 f., Tib. 1. 2. 56 and esp. Virg. A. 4. 489, where Pease collects a wide range of examples. 328 ff. The point of these three brief, learned similes is that Crenaeus is as joyful and as confidently at home in his grandfather's waters as the sea-gods Glaucus, Triton, and Palaemon are in the sea itself. The same three gods are similarly associated at Silv. 3. 2. 35 ff. The legend of how Glaucus swallowed a herb which made him immortal, with the lower part of his body turned into a fish-tail (hence tegit … inguina pontus, 328) appealed to Hellenistic poets and their admirers: it was the subject of poems by Callimachus, Alexander Aetolus (fr. 1 Collectanea Alexandrina) and Cornificius (fr. 2 Morel), and was treated at length by Ovid at Met. 13. 898 ff.: cf. also Lycophron, Alex. 754, Theb. 7. 335 ff., Silv. 3. 2. 36 f. Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, was similarly human from the waist up but fish below, hence θαλασσόπαις δίμορφος … θέος‎ (Lyc. Alex. 892), 'geminus … Triton' ........................................................................................................................... pg 122 (5. 707), and 'gemino … corpore Triton' (Silv. 3. 2. 35). Particularly to Statius' taste, however, was the tale of Ino and Melicertes. Ino, sister of Semele and wife of Athamas, was driven mad by Hera as a punishment for nursing Bacchus: she threw her infant son Melicertes into a cauldron of boiling water and then leapt into the sea with him. At Aphrodite's request, Poseidon took pity and turned them both into sea-gods, named Leucothea and Palaemon. A dolphin took Melicertes' body to Corinth, where Athamas' brother Sisyphus buried it, built a temple, and founded the Isthmian games in Palaemon's honour. These sea-gods were regarded generally as benevolent to travellers: thus Ino lends Odysseus her magical veil and saves him from drowning (Od. 5. 333 ff.), and Orestes prays to Palaemon at Eur. IT 270 f. Euripides also wrote a tragedy entitled 'Ino' (cf. also Med. 1284 f.), and Pindar alludes to the legend at Ol. 2. 30 f. and Pyth. 11. 2. The grim tale was particularly appealing to the writers of learned poetry, above all Callimachus (fr. 91 Pf., Suppl. Hell. 275) and Lycophron (Alex. 107, 229 ff., 757 ff.). Laevius wrote an 'Ino' (fr. 12 Morel, describing her leap), and, as well as the full account by Ovid (Met. 4. 416 ff.), there are numerous allusions to the story in Roman poetry, e.g. Pl. Rud. 160, Virg. G. 1. 437 (imitating a line of Parthenius, according to Gell. 13. 26), A. 5. 823, Prop. 2. 26A. 10, 2. 28. 19 f., V. Fl. 8. 21, Sen. Phoen. 23 ff., Oed. 444 ff. No poet, however, refers to it as often as Statius, who was no doubt attracted by its mixture of

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sentimentality and horror (cf. esp. 401 ff. n.), as well as by his fascination for the Isthmian games: cf. 1. 12 f., 121 f., 4. 59, 562, 6. 10, 7. 420 f., 10. 425, Silv. 2. 1. 180, 2. 2. 35, 3. 2. 39. See further Paus. 1. 42. 6, 1. 44. 7 f., 2. 1. 3, 4. 34. 4, Lact. on Theb. 1. 12, Hyg. Fab. 2 and 4, Frazer on Apollod. 3. 4. 3, Fortgens on Theb. 6. 10, J. Fontenrose, TAPhA 79 (1948), 125 ff. The cult of Melicertes-Palaemon is discussed by W. Burkert, Homo Necans (trans. P. Bing, California, 1983), pp. 196 ff. Imperial Corinthian colonial coins frequently feature motifs drawn from the legend, principally the temple, pine-tree, dolphin, and boy's body: see e.g. BM Cat. Corinth 545, 594, 611 ff., 623, 634 f. etc., and, for a small issue of such coins in the Domitianic period, see K. M. Edwards, Corinth. Results of Excavations Conducted by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Vol. VI. Coins (Cambridge, Mass., 1933), no. 94: cf. also nos. 135–7, 164 f., 185, 204 f. 328. Anthedonii … hospitis Glaucus was a fisherman from Anthedon, a port in Boeotia: see 7. 335, Silv. 3. 2. 38, Ov. Met. 13. 905, Lyc. Alex. 754. For Anthedonius cf. 291: it is no doubt Statius' influence that makes Ausonius (Mos. 276) and Servius Auctus (on A. 5. 823) also apply it to Glaucus. For the traditional device of identifying a character by his homeland rather than name see N.-H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 27. 10. Glaucus is called 'stranger' because the sea was not his original home. To Glaucus compare Milton's demon Dagon 'Sea Monster, upward Man / And downward Fish' (PL 1. 426 f.). 329. aestivo therefore calm. This is part of the miracle: elsewhere the Ismenos is like an angry sea (242 n.).   nec D. O. Ross, Style and Tradition in Catullus (Cambridge, Mass., 1969), ........................................................................................................................... pg 123 pp. 67–9 sees the postponement of particles as 'a clear feature of neoteric style' based on imitation of Hellenistic technique. Cf. 28 f. No doubt by Statius' time, however, it was too much part of the regular material of verse to feel particularly 'poetic'. 330. There is a grim echo of this delightful picture at 372 where a troop of Nereids bring Crenaeus' body ad pectora matris. 331. tardum … delphina the epithet is subjective: the dolphin, as the ancients knew (247 n.), is in fact very swift, but the boy is in haste and so it seems slow to him. For the friendliness of dolphins and their giving rides to boys cf. Herod. 1. 23 f., Plin. Nat. 9. 24 ff., Plin. Ep. 9. 33, Gel. 16. 19 (Arion). For Palaemon's dolphin cf. 1. 121 f. 'ipsa suum genetrix curvo delphine vagantem / abripuit frenis gremioque Palaemona pressit', Apul. Met. 4. 31 'auriga parvulus delphini Palaemon', Claud. Nupt. 156. See also K. F. Smith, AJA 7 (1903), 93. 332 ff. Like those of Achilles (Il. 18. 478 ff.) and Aeneas (Virg. A. 8. 625 ff.), Crenaeus' golden shield illustrates numerous scenes from history, here the history of 'the Aonian race'.

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Only one of these, however, is selected by Statius for description, that of the bull carrying the now fearless Europa over the sea. Devices on armour conventionally tell us something about the wearer: the Chimaera on Turnus' helmet symbolizes his furor (Virg. A. 7. 785 ff.), for example, and the tale of the Danaids on Hippomedon's breastplate (4. 131 ff.) marks him out as a sinner. The choice of Europa here seems intended to continue the mood of the preceding similes: like Crenaeus, Europa is now without fear in the water and fully trusts the god. See also 332 n.   Statius' description of Europa may have been inspired by a work of art, since the legend was a popular subject for both mosaics and wall-paintings: see esp. V. Gaymann, Kunstarchäologische Studien zu Pap. Statius (Würzburg, 1898), pp. 20 f., who points out the very close similarities between Statius' lines here and a mosaic from the Vigna Casali near Rome. Cf. also Achilles Tatius 1. 1 and Ov. Met. 6. 103 ff. Statius' use of art in general is discussed at Legras, pp. 264 ff. T. S. Duncan, The Influence of Art on Description in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius (Baltimore, 1914), A. M. Taisné, Caesarodunum 9 (1974), 110 ff., J.-M. Croisille, Poésie et art figuré de Néron aux Flaviens (Brussels, 1982, coll. Latomus 179), reviewed by A. Wallace-Hadrill, JRS 73 (1983), 180 ff. It is, however, rarely easy to say how much the poet owes to art rather than to literary tradition: see 335 f. n. Statius perhaps has in mind Moschus 2. 37 ff., where Europa carries a golden basket depicting Io as a heifer, swimming in the sea: cf. esp. 338 n. 332. arma decent umeros a brief indication of Crenaeus' beauty: cf. 266 n.   insignis et auro perhaps remembered from Virg. A. 4. 134, but in this context we think more particularly of Turnus' shield: Virg. A. 7. 789 ff. 'at levem clipeum sublatis cornibus Io / auro insignibat, iam saetis obsita, iam bos' etc. 333. lucidus so Achilles' shield is μαρμαρέην‎ (Il. 18. 480) and Aeneas' forms part of his 'arma … radiantia' (Virg. A. 8. 616). ........................................................................................................................... pg 124 334. candida for the bullock's beautiful whiteness cf. Ov. Met. 2. 861, where it has 'candida … ora'. Note that Europa's rapist is not a frightening bull, but a young, winsome (blandi), beautiful bullock. 335 f. The emphatic anaphora of iam stresses that Europa was at first terrified but now confidently relaxes her grip on the horns. Europa's holding on to the bull's horns, with one hand or two, seems a favourite detail in art (Gaymann, op. cit., p. 21) and literature alike. At Achilles Tatius 1. 1. 12 she holds a horn in one hand and the tail in the other, while Moschus (2. 125 ff.) shows her clutching the horns with one hand and with the other keeping her purple dress from trailing in the sea. See W. Bühler, Hermes Einzelschriften 13 (Wiesbaden,

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1960) on Moschus 2. 125 ff. Cf. also Ov. Am. 1. 3. 24, Met. 2. 873 ff., Sil. 14. 568 f., Theb. 8. 229 f. 'hi mare Sidonium manibusque adtrita Tonantis / cornua et ingenti sulcatum Nerea tauro'; also V. Fl. 1. 282 (Helle on the ram) 'adstrictis … sedit cornibus'. 337. ire putes clipeo with beauty, realism was what the ancients most admired in art, as can be seen from the many epigrams on e.g. Praxiteles' Aphrodite (A.P. 16. 162) or Myron's famous cow which seemed ready to low (A.P. 9. 719, 740). Great works of art are said to 'breathe' (e.g. Virg. G. 3. 34 'spirantia signa', A. 6. 847, Sil. 2. 430, Silv. 5. 1. 2, Plin. Ep. 3. 6. 2), be 'alive' (e.g. Prop. 2. 31. 8 'vivida signa', Virg. A. 6. 848, Theb. 1. 547, 2. 216, 4. 132 f., Silv. 1. 3. 47 f., 2. 2. 67, 3. 1. 95, 4. 6. 21 with Coleman, Claud. IV Cons. Hon. 591), be 'about to move' (Theb. 6. 544 f.,) or 'make a noise' (Theb. 6. 247 f., 7. 59, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 257 f.). Particularly ingenious is Statius' statement about a cloak depicting Leander swimming, that 'nec siccum speres in stamine crinem' (6. 545). See in general G. Zanker, Realism in Alexandrian Poetry: A Literature and its Audience (Beckenham, 1987). For putes cf. 10. 560, 917 and, in connection with lifelike art, esp. Ov. Met. 6. 104 'verum taurum, freta vera putares' with Bömer, and Apul. Met. 2. 4. Cf. also the use of credas (Virg. A. 8. 691), φαίης‎ (Theoc. 1. 42, Philostratus, Imag. 339. 20, Ap. Rh. 3. 1265) and even ἀκέοις‎ (Ap. Rh. 1. 765) of falling silent in wonder. 338. A difficult line to interpret. The best sense is obtained if nec is understood as postponed and a comma therefore placed after, not pelago, but fidem: 'the (river-) waves add credence (to the engraving), nor is the river a different colour from the (graven) sea'. Scholars have had difficulty in accepting that Statius wrote unda and amnis in the same line with the same meaning: hence Alton (p. 183) replaced unda with umbra ('the reflexion helps the illusion': cf. Silv. 1. 3. 19 for the sense). The point of unda, however, is that the Ismenos has waves like the sea, while amnis refers more particularly to colour. Note that Lactantius' explanation of discolor ('non dissimilis mari multarum incremento aquarum') clearly shows that he took amnis to mean 'river'. Hill follows Weber in taking amnis to mean the sea engraved on the shield, but the parallels he cites (V. Fl. 4. 338, 345) refer to the Hellespont, a narrow river-like channel: to use amnis of the open sea would be quite another thing. The whole line was perhaps inspired by Moschus 2. 47 κυάνου δ' ἐτέτυκτο θάλασσα‎: cf. 332 ff. n. 340 f. The marsh of Lerna in the Argolis (Hippomedon's home: 514 f. n.) was the lair of the nine-headed hydra, slain by Hercules: Crenaeus' contrast is ........................................................................................................................... pg 125 between a land whose waters rear foul monsters inimical to civilization and one whose holy river has 'nursed' gods. Crenaeus' words recall the laudes Italiae: cf. Virg. G. 2. 140 f. 'haec loca non tauri spirantes naribus ignem / invertere satis immanis dentibus hydri', and also Prop. 3. 22. 27 f.

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342 f. Crenaeus' boast recalls that of Eunaeus to Capaneus at 7. 666 ff. 'gens sacrata sumus: gener huic est Iuppiter urbi / Gradivusque socer; Bacchum haud mentimur alumnum / et magnum Alciden'. Eunaeus too was cut down by a bloodthirsty warrior with scant regard for the demands of pietas. The content of these lines will be repeated and vindicated by Ismenos himself: to sacrum amnem cf. 434 sacris ululatibus amnis and to deumque / altrices … aquas cf. 427 f., 439 (to Bacchus) nec te admonet altrix / unda. 343. altrices cf. 7. 147 (Bacchus gazes on Thebes) 'altricemque domum et patrios reminiscitur ignes'. altrix is common in poetry of one's native land, e.g. Pac. trag. 404, Virg. A. 3. 273, Luc. 6. 426 f., and (a parody) Sen. Apoc. 7. 2. v. 14. Cf. also Cic. Flac. 62. nihil ille compare the cold callousness of Tydeus' killing of Atys at 8. 583 f.   ibat recalling Volcens' attack on another heroic youth: 'simul ense recluso / ibat in Euryalum' (Virg. A. 9. 423 f.). See also Mayer on Luc. 8. 577, and cf. 752. 344 f. The very waters of the river in indignation rise up to prevent the murder, but they merely delay the blow. There seems to be a slightly illogical division between the sentient waters and the conscious mind of the god who rules them, since at 477 ff. Ismenos does not yet know his son is dead. 345 f. Hill rightly punctuates with a semi-colon after manum, understanding illa to mean 'manus'. In this case, however, the subject of pertulit and sedit must be the same, since a change of subject from illa to vulnus would be intolerably abrupt. Numerous conjectures have been suggested by scholars unable to accept this (e.g. Nauke, pp. 9 f., Sandström, p. 56 'manus hastam iacientis quomodo in animae penetralia sedisse dicatur, equidem non intellego'), but given the unanimity of the manuscripts it seems best to assume that we have here an extreme example of Statius' fondness for startling experiments in extending the range of ordinary words. Note that Lactantius suggests that vulnus may mean 'hastam' as at Virg. A. 2. 529 f. 'illum ardens infesto vulnere Pyrrhus / insequitur': for vulnus of a blow, however, cf. 276 n. 346. animae … penetralia the phrase seems to be Statius' own: cf. Silv. 3. 5. 56 and also Apul. Met. 3. 15 'pectoris tui penetralibus'.   sedit more common, of course, of weapons or blows, as at e.g. Virg. A. 10. 785, Ov. Met. 3. 87 f., Sil. 7. 606, Theb. 10. 656 'omne sedet telum'. 347 f. The idea that nature shares or reflects human feelings and especially that trees, rivers, mountains, animals etc. grieve for dead men is found in the most ancient literature (e.g. Gilgamesh's lament for Enkidu, ANET, p. 87), but in Greek and Latin poetry is especially associated with pastoral: see Gow on Theoc. 7. 74, and cf. Bion 1. 31 ff., Mosch. 3. 1 f.,

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Virg. Ecl. 1. 38 f., 5. 27 f., 10. 13 ff. In epic it thus adds a melancholy and rather fantastic atmosphere: cf. Virg. A. 7. 759 f., Ov. Met. 11. 44 ff., V. Fl. 4. ........................................................................................................................... pg 126 374 f., Theb. 5. 333 f., 579 ff., 7. 685 ff., 10. 503 ff., Ach. 1. 237 ff., Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2. 244 f. For Ismenos' sentient waters cf. 446 n. 347. flevistis Statius is very fond of apostrophizing natural features (towns, rivers etc.), especially in pathetic contexts: cf. 769 n., 2. 382, 3. 438 f., 4. 117, 119, 239, 371, 7. 424, 12. 623. 348. cavae not otiose according to Lactantius ('quia naturaliter loca concava gravius sonant'). Statius is perhaps imitating Sil. 2. 545, where, at the advent of Tisiphone 'gravior sonuit per litora fluctus'. 349. moribundo regularly transferred to parts of the body, e.g. Cn. Matius, fr. 6 Morel 'herbam moribundo contigit ore', Lucr. 3. 653, Virg. A. 6. 732, 10. 341. 350. mater echoed by Ismenis' anguished cry of Crenaee (356). So too the drowning Paetus calls on his mother (Prop. 3. 7. 17 f. 'quid cara natanti / mater in ore tibi est?'), and Ceyx on his father and father-in-law but above all his wife (Ov. Met. 11. 561 ff.). Statius, however, is thinking especially of the fall of Icarus: Ov. Ars. 2. 91 f. 'decidit atque cadens "pater o pater, auferor", inquit; / clauserunt virides ora loquentis aquae'. Other one word 'speeches' in Statius are 356, 4. 804, 805. 351–403. Ismenis, hearing the boy's cry, speeds to the surface where she sees his shield floating. Diving once more she searches for the corpse which now lies at the river's mouth. Having recovered it with the aid of some Nereids she lays it on the bank and delivers a passionate lament which then turns into a demand that Ismenos avenge his grandson. Statius here departs from his imitation of Iliad 21, recalling instead Il. 18. 35 ff., where Thetis hears the groans of Achilles grieving for Patroclus and comes to him. Both mothers are surrounded by a troop of nymphs (351, Il. 18. 38 ff.) in a shining underwater dwelling (352, Il. 18. 50 ἀργύφεον … σπέος‎), and both break violently through the water's surface (355, Il. 18. 66 f.). The same Homeric model lies behind Virg. G. 4. 333 ff. and Ach. 1. 25 ff. For the sake of economy, however, Statius concentrates on the violence of Ismenis' grief and does not reproduce Homer's long list of nymphs (Il. 18. 38–49: cf. Virg. G. 4. 334–44); to communicate the speed of her reaction, he allows us to infer the essential information that she hears her son (contrast Il. 18. 35 ἄκουσε δὲ πότνια μήτηρ‎). The superbly eerie picture of Ismenis' hunting for her son's body among the corpses on the river-bottom is Statius' own, and is an adaptation of the more usual scenes on the battlefields on dry land (e.g. Ide at 3. 133 ff.). Her lament also owes little to any particular model. See further Juhnke, pp. 34 ff. Ismenis prefigures Atalanta as Crenaeus is the forerunner of Parthenopaeus: like other bereaved Page 81 of 195

mothers in the Thebaid—Ide (3. 133 ff.), Eurydice (6. 135 ff.), the mother of Menoeceus (10. 792 ff.)—she represents the helpless bystanders in this pitiless war. 351. glaucarum … sororum again at Silv. 3. 2. 34, of Nereids: cf. Theoc. 7. 59 γλαυκαῖς Νηρηΐσι‎. glaucus is a regular epithet for rivers and the sea or those who live there: see TLL 6. 2–3. 2039. 40 ff. 352. protinus icta to be taken closely together: 'as soon as she was smitten'. This elegant mannerism imitates the use of εὐθύς‎ with a participle, a ........................................................................................................................... pg 127 construction rather more common in Greek and even found in Koine, e.g. St Mark 1: 10 εὐθέως ἁναβαίνων ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος‎. Cf. Ov. Tr. 1. 1. 23 'protinus admonitus repetet mea crimina lector', Tac. Dial. 28 'natos statim excipiunt'. Statius rather affects it: 11. 66 f., Silv. 2. 7. 36 ff., 5. 3. 121, 5. 5. 80 f.   vitrea de valle Homer's nymphs were in a cave (Il. 18. 50), and this is perhaps more usual with river and sea divinities (cf. 404 antro n., Silv. 3. 2. 16, Sil. 7. 413 f. cit. infra), but Virgil had already spoken of a 'thalamus' (G. 4. 333), so Statius' 'valley' need not surprise us: all three poets have in mind a private, sheltered place on the river- or sea-bottom. The valley is vitrea. So too Cyrene and her sisters sat on 'vitreis sedilibus' (Virg. G. 4. 350) where Page explains the epithet as 'glassy' with the dual sense of '(sea-) green' and 'transparent'. N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 17. 20 remind us that ancient glass, though translucent, was not colourless but rather 'more exotic and sinister than the modern product'. Hence the grotto may be a mysterious semi-opaque green. The sense of 'shining', however, is surely uppermost, since the word corresponds to Homer's ἀργύρεον‎: cf. also Call. fr. 238. 16 Pf. ὑάλοιο φαάντερος οὐρανὸς‎, A.P. 5. 48. 1, Hor. Carm. 3. 13. 1 'splendidior vitro', Ov. Met. 13. 791, Revelation 4: 6. θάλασσα ὑαλίνη‎. For vitreus of the sea etc. cf. also Silv. 1. 3. 73 f., 2. 2. 49, 2. 3. 5, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2. 53 f., Aus. Mos. 179 etc. For the general picture here cf. esp. Sil. 7. 413 f. 'cum trepidae fremitu vitreis e sedibus antri / aequoreae pelago simul emersere sorores'. In English poetry cf. Milton, PL 7. 619 'On the clear Hyaline, the Glassy Sea'. 353. furibunda Statius may be thinking of Ov. Met. 10. 410 'exiluit gremio furibunda', on which see Bömer for the particular emphasis gained by exilio at the head of the line. There is possibly also an unconscious echo of Prop. 4. 8. 52 'non operosa comis, sed furibunda decens'. 353 f. For the beating and tearing of the face etc. in grief see Austin on Virg. A. 4. 590. 354. oraque pectoraque et a quite extraordinary rhythm for which I can offer no parallel: it effectively suggests the sound of the beating.

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  viridem … vestem cf. the 'glauci amictus' worn by other water-divinities such as Tiber (Virg. A. 8. 33), Juturna (A. 12. 885) and Anio (Silv. 1. 3. 71). 355 f. Note how the elisions and tottering alliteration of dentals suggest speed and frenzied agitation. Cf. Virg. A. 2. 769 f. 'Creusam / nequiquam ingeminans iterumque iterumque vocavi'. 356. ingeminat though the simple verb gemino is found as early as Ter. Ad. 173, ingemino appears to be the invention of Virgil and remains 'poetic' until Tertullian begins to use it. Virgil and Statius prefer the compound form, while Lucan and Silius use only gemino, the form also preferred by Ovid in the Metamorphoses. 356 ff. The magnificent shield, so readily recognizable, floats abandoned on the surface, a sinister messenger of evil (for index see 33 n.). 357. a miserae … matri Virgil may use the interjection a several times in the Eclogues (1. 15, 2. 20, 69, 6. 52, 77, 10. 49, 50) and even twice in the Georgics (2. 252, 4. 526), but never in the Aeneid. Silver epic consciously ........................................................................................................................... pg 128 cultivates a less dispassionate tone than traditional epic, and so a appears several times in Lucan (e.g. 5. 615, 7. 555) and there are no fewer than eleven examples in the Thebaid; often, as here, it is combined with miser (1. 156, 4. 99, 403, 7. 116: cf. Luc. 6. 724). miserae … matri / parenti is a phrase which will recur frequently in this book, identifying the two grieving mothers, Ismenis (cf. 380) and Atalanta (634, 725, 813, 885: cf. 584, 631), and stressing the similarity of their plight, for all that one is a goddess and the other a mortal. For similar phrases cf. 295, Silv. 5. 2. 76, Theb. 3. 162 (Ide), Virg. A. 9. 484 (Euryalus' mother), Ov. Fast. 4. 579 (Demeter at the loss of Persephone), Met. 14. 744. 358 f. Crenaeus' body lies at the mouth of the Ismenos, where the river 'changes' and becomes salt (Lactantius 'mutans colorem et saporem'). In fact, the Ismenos empties, not into the sea but, after joining Dirce, into Lake Hylice, but Statius is assimilating Ismenos with Scamander, who had complained that he was choked with corpses (Il. 21. 219 f.). For the wording cf. 4. 415 f. 'mersum Ismeni subter confinia ponto / miscentis … ducem'. 360 ff. Alcyone, daughter of Aeolus, threw herself into the sea out of grief at the death of her husband Ceyx by shipwreck. The gods took pity and transformed them into sea-birds, the kingfisher (as the halcyon was later believed to be) and the tern or sea-swallow (Ov. Met. 11. 410 ff., Hyg. Fab. 65). For several days a year (seven according to Ov. Met. 11. 744 ff., nine or fourteen in other accounts) Aeolus restrained his winds, calming the sea so that his daughter could rest: cf. Theoc. 7. 59, Virg. G. 1. 399, Sil. 14. 275 f. Here, however, the 'halcyon days' are over and Alcyone's nestlings have been destroyed by the cruel winds and

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a now hostile Thetis. Ismenis and Alcyone are thus both bereaved mothers (deserta, 361, orba, 363), whose offspring have been drowned, and who lament bitterly (361 gemit n.). Livia mourning for Drusus is compared to the halcyon at Epic. Drus. 105 ff., but Statius is directly imitating Valerius' comparison of Hercules after the loss of Hylas to a halcyon: 4. 44 ff. 'fluctus ab undisoni ceu forte crepidine saxi / cum rapit halcyones miserae fetumque laremque, / it super aegra parens queriturque tumentibus undis / certa sequi, quocumque ferant, audetque pavetque, / icta fatiscit aquis donec domus haustaque fluctu est; / illa dolens vocem dedit et se sustulit alis.' As usual, Statius aims at greater compression and a closer relationship between narrative and simile. Also similar in tone and content are Virg. G. 4. 511 ff. 'qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra / amissos queritur fetus' etc., and Theb. 5. 599 ff. For the halcyon as an exemplum of parental devotion cf. also Silv. 3. 5. 57 ff. The abstruse legend, surprisingly, was also the subject of an apparently neoteric poem by Cicero (Morel, fr. 1). See further D. W. Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds (London, 1936), pp. 46 ff. 361. Alcyone deserta an echo of Prop. 1. 17. 2 'nunc ego desertas alloquor alcyonas'.   gemit the cry of the halcyon was noted for its sorrowful tone in antiquity. Normally Alcyone lamented, not her children, but Ceyx (Eur. IT 1089 ff., Ov. Met. 11. 734 f.), though Statius has Homer's authority here, since Il. 9. 562 ff. tells us Meleager's wife Cleopatra was called ........................................................................................................................... pg 129 Alcyone by her parents οὕνεκ' ἄρ' αὐτῆς / μήτηρ ἀλκυόνος πολυπενθέος οἶτον ἔχουσα / κλαῖεν, ὅ μιν ἑκάεργος ἀνήρπασε Φοῖβος 'Απόλλων‎. 362. algentes … nidos for the sense 'nestlings' cf. Virg. G. 4. 17 'ore ferunt dulcem nidis immitibus escam', A. 12. 475, Prop. 4. 5. 10, Julius Montanus fr. 1. 3 Morel. The phrase amplifies pignora (361), as madidos penates does domum (360).   invida perhaps because only Alcyone is privileged to nest upon her, or because she has children while Thetis' son is dead, but more probably because the sea is naturally cruel as the wind is saevus (361). Contrast Virg. G. 1. 399 'dilectae Thetidi alcyones'. 363. orba a highly significant and emotive word: she now knows the worst. Cf. also orba parens (900) and 'orba … mater' (11. 178) of Atalanta. The same word is similarly applied to Opheltes' mother Eurydice (5. 631, 6. 35, 160). 364 f. liquidum … / lucet iter perhaps influenced by Prop. 3. 21. 14 'iam liquidum nautis aura secundat iter', and cf. also Sid. Carm. 2. 436 'liquido … tramite', of Roma descending through air rather than water. lucet iter looks like an imitation of another Propertian line, 2. 14. 17 'ante pedes caecis lucebat semita nobis'. The idea is that the nymph searches where

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she can see her way through clear water. For shining paths cf. also Ap. Rh. 1. 1281, Virg. A. 9. 383 'lucebat semita', 641 n. 365. nequiquam casting a grim shadow of futility over the following lines (cf. 157 ff. n.), as she cannot find the body, and the sea-nymphs have to bring it to her (371 ff.). 366. vestigat plangitque tamen Ker, pp. 8 f., following the suggestion of Mynors, explains that tamen has to be understood with nequiquam (365) as equivalent to μάτην ὅμως‎: he compares 1. 202 'placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu', Silv. 2. 3. 65. See also Housman on Luc. 1. 333. Håkanson's objection (p. 60) that Ismenis does not yet know for sure that her son is dead is invalid. The floating shield (356 ff.) revealed the truth and when she dived again she already knew she was 'childless' (363 n.). This is why she now searches for Crenaeus' corpse on the river-bottom, not for the living warrior above the surface. vestigat is possibly a Virgilian experiment in epic diction (Aeneid 6 times) repeated only in Valerius and Statius: cf. 11. 137. 367. obstat 'non sponte', as Lactantius says, but because the Ismenos is 'limo et cadaveribus turbatus' and also 'choppy' like the sea (horridus, 366: cf. Catul. 64. 205 f., Hor. Carm. 3. 24. 40 f., Silv. 3. 3. 160 f.).   obducto caligant sanguine visus the wording recalls Virg. A. 2. 604 ff. 'namque omnem, quae nunc obducta tuenti / mortalis hebetat visus tibi et umida circum / caligat, nubem eripiam'. For caligare with the plain ablative cf. Virg. G. 4. 468, Theb. 1. 995. Statius has the verb no fewer than eight times (contrast only two appearances in Virgil) and is also fond of the noun (Dilke on Ach. 2. 149 f.). 368. offendit suggesting violence, like praeceps. For offendo with in and the accusative cf. Quint. Inst. 11. 3. 118. Statius also uses it with the dative at 5. 170 f. 'primis iamque offendere carinae / litoribus'. 369 f. This grisly scene is a memorable variant on similar descriptions of the ........................................................................................................................... pg 130 aftermath of land battles: cf. esp. 3. 127 (women searching among the bodies of Tydeus' victims for their loved ones) 'scrutantur galeas frigentum' and 12. 289 (Argia looking for Polynices' corpse) 'corpora prona supinat'. For scrutor see 244 n. reclino has the sense of supino at Hor. Epod. 17. 24, Apul. Met. 4. 35 'vallis subditae florentis caespitis gremio leniter delapsam reclinat'. 370. ponto summota because she is a fresh-water nymph. For the sense of summoveo ('exclude', 'debar') cf. Sen. Ben. 4. 26. 3, Luc. 8. 5. 85, Quint. Inst. 11. 1. 85, and see OLD s.v. a

5 .

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370 f. amaram / Dorida borrowed from Virg. Ecl. 10. 5. The sea is 'bitter' with salt, fresh water is 'dulcis'. Statius likes to play on the contrast between the two kinds of water: see van Dam on Silv. 2. 2. 18 f. 'e terris occurrit dulcis amaro / nympha mari', and cf. esp. 8. 361 f., where the Nile enters the sea and the Nereids flee from the fresh water which pollutes their element, 'penitus cessere fugatae / Nereides dulcique timent occurrere ponto'. 371. possessum … iam fluctibus altis the body was at the river's mouth at 358 f. but has now been carried out on to the high sea. fluctibus altis may be dative as at Sil. 5. 263 'possessa mapalia soli' (i.e. Volunci), but is more probably ablative: cf. Sen. HO 1294 'possessus atra nocte', Luc. 6. 314, V. Fl. 1. 60 f., Theb. 10. 676, Silv. 4. 4. 27. The construction is not found before the Neronian period, and even the verb is rare in Augustan poets, never being used, for example, by Virgil. 372. A group of Nereids takes pity on Ismenis and pushes the corpse towards her. She wrongly believes this to have been the action of the tide (379 f.), and so Amar and Lemaire comment 'quod maris ingenio fit artifice et poetice tribuit Nereidibus poeta'. Statius' statement is, however, to be taken literally and, although she never saw the Nereids, Ismenis too says the sea 'seemed to await' her arrival (380). Statius' inspiration is probably Prop. 3. 7. 67 ff., where Thetis and the Nereids are rebuked for not keeping the drowning Paetus afloat. 373. ceu vivum amplexa a pathetic detail in which Juhnke saw a possible echo of Thetis' clasping the head of her living son at Il. 18. 71. Cf. also Virg. Ecl. 5. 22 f. 'complexa sui corpus miserabile nati / … mater'. 374. toris riparum the bank forms a couch not merely because it is 'sloping' (Mozley), a torus being bolster-shaped, but because it is soft (Poynton 'laid to rest / In softest grass'). Compare Claud. Cons. Prob. et Olyb. 116 'surguntque toris maioribus herbae', of the banks of a river. The nymph takes thought for her son's comfort as if he were still alive (ceu vivum, 373). 374 f. Ismenis piously dries Crenaeus' face with her hair: see 73 f. n., and cf. esp. the famous scene where Mary annoints Christ's feet: St John 11: 2 ἡ ἀλείψασα τὸν κύριον μύρω̣, καὶ ἐκμᾶξασα τούς πόδας αὐτοῦ ταῖς θριξὶν αὐτῆς‎. 376 ff. Ismenis' passionate speech falls into two rough halves. The first (376–89), dominated by a string of rhetorical questions, expresses bewilderment at Crenaeus' death in the very waters where he should have been safest and the realization that, having lost the honour and glory which accrued to her as his mother, she now has nothing to live for. Her demands for vengeance ........................................................................................................................... pg 131

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and accusations of cowardice and cruelty levelled at Ismenos form the second part of the speech (389–98). Her lament takes its place alongside those of other grieving mothers in the Thebaid, e.g. Ide (3. 151 ff.), Eurydice (6. 138 ff.: cf. 375 and 6. 137 'longis praefata ululatibus infit'), and the mother of Menoeceus (10. 793 ff.). These laments are characterized by self-pity and injustice originating in grief, e.g. when Eurydice demands Hypsipyle's death, and Menoeceus, whose mother is blind to his heroism and indeed to anything other than her own loss, is accused by her of unnatural heartlessness. So too Ismenis' grief for her son swells into a shriek of agony at her own pain (reporto / non mihi, 388 f.) and then into vitriolic invective and demands for the spilling of more blood. 376. semidei … parentes though extremely long-lived, neither nymphs nor fauns and satyrs were immortal: dryads, for example, were usually believed to live as long as their tree and to die with it: see Silv. 1. 3. 59 ff., Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 771, and cf. also 6. 94 ff. (a sacred wood) 'nec solos hominum transgressa veterno / fertur avos, Nymphas etiam mutasse superstes / Faunorumque greges'. Ismenos, by contrast, is an immortal (377 nec mortalis avus) because rivers never cease to flow. 378 ff. Crenaeus should have been safe in the Ismenos, his family's ancestral kingdom (sic nostro in gurgite regnas?), but paradoxically the normally cruel sea (387, 403) is now calmer than the river and even seemed to take pity on the nymph when it brought Crenaeus' body back to her (380: cf. 372). 378. heu if haec were accepted its wide separation from tellus would make it very emphatic and Ismenis would be saying 'this the land of Thebes'—Crenaeus' home and the land for which he is fighting—was aliena. Clearly the true contrast is not with other lands, but with water.   misero the over-worked epithet, also used of Crenaeus at 350 and 365, appears again in 380, in the same position in the line, with reference to Ismenis (cf. also 357 n.). This may be simply carelessness, though perhaps the repetition is intended to stress the similarity of the misfortunes of mother and son: one has lost his life, the other all she had to live for.   discors alienaque tellus a conscious paradox, since the ancients would normally regard the sea as 'alien'. discors suggests that the elements cannot mix: cf. Ov. Met. 1. 9 'non bene iunctarum discordia semina rerum', of the warring elements of primeval chaos. Consider also the phrase 'concordia discors' (Hor. Ep. 1. 12. 19, Ov. Met. 1. 433, Luc. 1. 98). 381. torvi wildness is a characteristic long attributed to Faunus, who was originally conceived as being half-man and half-wolf and was thus connected with the Lupercalia: see H.J. Rose, Mnemosyne NS 60 (1933), 386 ff. His name is also cognate with θώς‎ and θαῦνον‎, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 5. 16, tells us he was believed to enjoy terrifying people by assuming strange shapes and uttering mysterious blood-curdling yells.

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382. crines undantis avi though the epithet is of course entirely appropriate to a rivergod, Statius may also be cleverly adapting the metaphor seen at e.g. V. Fl. 6. 618 'terrificis undantem crinibus Hebrum'. 383. undarum nemorumque decus i.e. the glory of the realms of both his parents. The phrase is remembered from V. Fl. 3. 523, where it is used of nymphs. The bereaved mother's lament for the loss of the glory her great ........................................................................................................................... pg 132 son used to bring her goes back to Hecuba's words at Il. 22. 432 f. ὅ μοι νύκτας τε καὶ ἦμαρ / εὐχωλὴ κατὰ ἄστυ πελέσκεο‎. Cf. also 3. 154 ff. (Ide) 'vosne illa potentia matris, / vos uteri fortuna mei, qua tangere divos / rebar et Ogygias titulis anteire parentes?'. 384. regina also used to designate one at the top of her class at 12. 111 and Ach. 1. 295 f. 'effulget tantum regina decori / Deidamia chori'. Similarly rex designates the leader of children's games (e.g. Hor. Ep. 1. 1. 59). 385. The Napaeae who thronged Ismenis' house in supplication are probably to be imagined as suitors for Crenaeus' hand (Lactantius 'AMBITUS quia rogabant tibi in matrimonium sociari'), though servire properly refers only to a vaguer, more general devotion. For the idea cf. Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3. 412 f. (Ceres, after the disappearance of Proserpina) 'quam nuper sublimis eram quantisque procorum / cingebar studiis', no doubt imitating the present passage. The Napaeae clustering around Ismenis' limina remind one of Roman clients at a patron's door. As nymphs of wooded valleys, however (cf. Ap. Rh. 1. 1066, 1227, Virg. G. 4. 535, Ov. Met. 15. 490), they will perhaps have been a little uncomfortable in Ismenis' watery grotto. 386. orantes … servire the construction with the infinitive first appears in extant Latin poetry in Virgil, e.g. Ecl. 2. 43, A. 6. 313 (Servius 'figura Graeca est'), 9. 231. It is particularly popular with Silver poets and Tacitus (e.g. V. Fl. 3. 628 f., Theb. 7. 482 f., Tac. Ann. 6. 2, 12. 9), but, far from being Greek as Servius claims, such free constructions may be colloquial or rather archaic: see Bömer on Ov. Met. 8. 707 f., and cf. Pl. Rud. 394 'quam liberam esse oporteat, servire postulare'. 387. melius … mansura i.e. 'melius fuerat in mari me tecum exstingui' (Lactantius): Ismenis means it would be better for her to remain hidden in the deep rather than come here, only to bury her son and so find not delight but grief and pain (tumulis … reporto / non mihi, 388 f.). Baehren's mansure is clearly wrong, and it is impossible to imagine any mother saying, in defiance of ancient beliefs about the importance of burial (297 ff. n.), that it would be better for her son's body to lie unburied at the bottom of the river, the prey of aequorea … monstra (300). See further Håkanson, p. 61. For melius with the sense 'to better purpose' see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 2. 22 (ferrum) 'quo graves Persae melius perirent', Brink on Hor. Page 88 of 195

Ars 40, K.–S. 1. 795, H.–Sz. 827, and cf. Carm. 2. 12. 10 f., Prop. 3. 11. 37, Ov. Ep. 6. 93, and 441 below. 390. dure parens i.e. Ismenos, not Faunus. To dure cf. saeve, 398: the two vocatives frame the part of Ismenis' speech addressed to the river-god. 390 ff. Ismenis' question is incredulous and rather sarcastic, but actually quite unjust, as her father is in fact arcano … in antro, and because of the great distance (procul) and the noise of his own rushing waters (obstrepit ipse) can hear her laments only with difficulty (404 ff.). The phrasing and reproachful tone recall the pastoral motif seen at e.g. Theoc. 1. 66 ff. πᾶ ποκ' ἄρʼ ἦσθʼ. ὅκα Δάφνις ἐτάκετο‎ etc. and esp. Virg. Ecl. 10. 9 f. 'quae nemora aut qui vos saltus habuere, puellae / Naides, indigno cum Gallus amore peribat?'. 390. ineluctabilis a Virgilian neologism: see Austin on A. 2. 324 f. 'ineluctabile tempus / Dardaniae', and cf. A. 8. 334 'ineluctabile fatum'. Statius is ........................................................................................................................... pg 133 the only other classical poet to use it: cf. 5. 45 (Nemea) 'ineluctabilis umbra', 9. 502. Statius' phrasing here has perhaps been influenced by Sen. Nat. 6. 72 'ineluctabiles navigio paludes'. Cf. also Vell. 2. 57. 2, Lactantius ad Theb. 4. 677. 391 f. cruda … / funera the sense of funera is 'death', as often (cf. 634, 646, 778, 851): Statius' liking for the daring use of crudus with abstract nouns can also be seen at 1. 53 f. 'crudum ac miserabile vitae / supplicium' and 3. 335 'crudosque vetat sentire dolores'. As well as being literally 'bloody' (crudus is cognate with cruor: cf. e.g. Ov. Pont. 1. 3. 16 'vulnera cruda') and metaphorically 'cruel', Crenaeus' death is also 'untimely': cf. 716 n. 393. ecce conveying urgency, and perhaps literal: Ismenis can, from her position on the bank, actually see Hippomedon engaged in the work of slaughter.   tuo deliberately provocative. Ismenis is answering her own question at 377 sic nostro in gurgite regnas? and concluding that it is Hippomedon who is master (maior) here. 395. impulsu sometimes used by the Silver poets almost as a synonym for impetus: cf. V. Fl. 6. 522 'proterit impulsu gravis agmina', Sil. 4. 157 f. 'sternitur impulsu vasto perculsa Camertum / prima phalanx', 15. 716. 396. facilis servire the construction facilis ('suited' or 'willing' to do something) with the infinitive is common in poetry in the first century: see Fedeli on Prop. 1. 11. 12 'alternae facilis cedere lympha manu'. Statius uses it liberally: cf. 1. 607, 5. 44, 8. 217, Silv. 1. 1. 26, 2. 4. 31 f., 3. 1. 14.

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397. saltem heavily ironic. If Ismenos will not avenge Crenaeus, he should at least have the decency to appear at the funeral.   iusta 'right and due observances', hence funeral rites. The word with this sense had associations of great and venerable antiquity, as can be seen from its appearance in the wording of a law of the reign of Numa Pompilius; 'homo si fulmine occisus est, ei nulla iusta fieri oportet' (Font. Iur. p. 8). Cf. Pl. Cist. 176, Cic. S. Rosc. 23, Ov. Fast. 2. 569, Mart. 10. 61. 4, Theb. 6. 169, 9. 903, 11. 610, 12. 34. busta would suit suprema far less well: for the common scribal confusion see Hill on 6. 169 and cf. 518, 903 nn. 398. non hic solum … nepotem Lactantius thinks this refers to Ismenos' 'nephew' Hypseus, slain by Capaneus at 540 ff., but Ismenis cannot know as the poet does that Hypseus' death is fated (252 n., 258). She is thinking of the many Thebans—all in a sense Ismenos' sons—whom Hippomedon is slaughtering. 399. indigna cf. 6. 624 f. 'ora indigna cruento / ungue secat'. This poetic transference of the epithet from the person to the part of the body affected by the punishment first appears at Ov. Met. 1. 508 f. 'indignave laedi / crura': see Bömer ad loc., and note also Hor. Carm. 1. 17. 27 f. 'scindat haerentem coronam / crinibus immeritamque vestem'. 400. caeruleae … sorores cf. glaucarum … sororum, 351: the nymphs who were with her at the beginning of this section now join her at the end in order to share her lament. For caerulus of sea-divinities, river-gods, nymphs etc. cf. 415, and see van Dam on Silv. 2. 2. 21. 401 ff. For the Palaemon-Leucothea myth see 328 ff. n. Duncan, pp. 61 ff., found this simile unsatisfying: 'the touch of real feeling is gone, and the ........................................................................................................................... pg 134 description has become stereotyped. Our mind is taken from Ismenis and our eye directed to a statue.' For Statius, however, the myth seems to have symbolized the universal pathos of bereavement. Note the careful identification of the fates of Ismenis and Leucothea: planxisse (402) picks up planctus (399) as saevum mare (403) echoes saevo … profundo (387). 401. Isthmiacus the learned adjective, apparently a Statian experiment in diction, is found again at 6. 557, 12. 131, Silv. 2. 1. 179, 2. 2. 68. Silius plays with it too (14. 341, 642), but then it disappears until Statius' admirer Claudian uses it (Ruf. 1. 252, IV Cons. Hon. 464). See further Schamberger, p. 255, and cf. Telphusiacae (847) for a similar neologism. In Greek poetry ʼΙσθμιακός‎ is also rare, but see Ar. fr. 491, and cf. the use of ʼΙσθμιoς‎ (Eur. Tr. 1098, Soph. OT 940) and ʼΙσθμιάς‎ (Pind. Isth. 1. 8. 4, Thuc. 8. 9, Call. fr. 59. 7 Pf.). The exotic Greek flavour here is continued by Nereida and Leucothean.

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  nondum Nereida i.e. before Poseidon's gift of immortality to mother and son alike had transformed her grief into joy. The learned allusion of the poet to the remainder of the legend looks like a Hellenistic technique especially common in aetiological contexts: cf. Call. Hymn 1. 17 f., 4. 39 f. τόφρα μὲν οὔπω τοι χρυσέη ἐπεμίσγετο Λητώ, / τόφρα δ̓ ἔτ ʼΑστερίη σὺ καὶ οὐδέπω ἔκλεο Δῆλος‎, 4. 90 f., Aet. fr. 100, 184 Pf., Ap. Rh. 1. 508 ff., Euphorion, fr. 84. 3 Collectanea Alexandrina, Ov. Met. 1. 450, 8. 372 'gemini, nondum caelestia sidera, fratres', with Bömer, 9. 17 'nondum erat ille deus', V. Fl. 4. 346 'Nile, tuis nondum dea gentibus Io', Theb. 4. 126, 725 f., 12. 617 'nondum Eoo Marathona triumpho'. 402. Leucothean identified from early times with the native Italian dawn-goddess Matuta: cf. Priscian, Inst. Gram. 2. 53 (= GL 2. 76. 18) 'matutinus a Matuta, quae significat Auroram, vel, ut quidam Λευκοθέαν̓‎, Cic. Tusc. 1. 12. 28, ND 3. 19. 48, Lucr. 5. 656 f. and Bailey ad loc., Ov. Fast. 6. 479, 545 f. The identification underlies Milton's lines at PL 11. 133 ff. 'Meanwhile / To resalute the world with sacred light / Leucothea waked, and with fresh dews embalmed / The Earth.' 402 f. A grim, memorable picture, intended to be both gruesomely realistic and pathetic. The little child (infans), already frigidus (i.e. dead), vomits sea-water over his mother: though the stomach heaves by reflex (hence pectore anhelo) in order to void itself of the swallowed water, the action seems cruel and shocking. 404–445. Far off in his secret cavern Ismenos hears his daughter's lament and, rising above the waters, is informed by a nymph of Crenaeus' murder. He inveighs against the ingratitude of Jupiter and Bacchus and, turning to Hippomedon, swears revenge. His speech is a fusion of two by the Homeric Scamander, one accusing Achilles directly of defiling his waters with indiscriminate slaughter (Il. 21. 214 ff.) and another reproaching Apollo for failing to help the Trojans (Il. 21. 229 ff.). The first of these is also imitated by Silius (4. 659 ff.), but Statius' adaptation is rather more free. Ismenos' main complaints (429 ff. nn.) are directed, not at Hippomedon, but at Jupiter, to whom he appeals as avenger of evil and also defender of the rights of all the gods (434 ff. esp.). Ismenos' speech, moreover, is infused with a sense of ........................................................................................................................... pg 135 personal grief and tragic loss absent from the original. Also new to the material is Statius' fine, fantastic description of Ismenos as both river and god: see 408 f. n., D. W. T. C. Vessey, ANRW 2. 32. 5, pp. 3000 ff. For river-gods in general see Roscher 1. 1487 ff., esp. 1487 for illustrations on vases depicting Ismenos as a white-haired old man bearing a sceptre as the badge of his authority (cf. the pinus adulta in the god's hand at 410). Statius' description may well owe something to art. Thus the Danube seems to be in a cave on the lowest panel of Trajan's column (E. Nash, A Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Rome (London, 1968), 1. p. 286), Cephisus is seen reclining in the frieze from the west gable of the Parthenon, and the Tiber has an urn on the Arch of Constantine (Roscher 1. 1489 f.). These examples

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could easily be multiplied: see further Coleman on Silv. 4. 3. 68. Such details are, however, extremely common in literature too (404, 409 f. nn.). Extensive imitations of this passage can be found at Claud. Cons. Olyb. et Prob. 209 ff. and Sid. Carm. 2. 332 ff. 404. pater a common honorific title of river-gods in poetry, above all of Tiber (Enn. Ann. 26 Skutsch, Virg. G. 4. 369, A. 8. 72, 10. 421, Silv. 1. 6. 100), but also of e.g. Inachus (Ov. Met. 1. 651, V. Fl. 5. 209, Theb. 2. 217 f., 5. 748, 10. 767) and Nile (Tib. 1. 7. 23). Cf. esp. Call. Hymn 4. 77.   antro Ismenos' 'home' (cf. Ov. Met. 1. 574 ff. (of Peneus) 'haec domus, haec sedes, haec sunt penetralia magni / amnis, in his residens facto de cautibus antro' etc.) and the source of his stream, as urna (410) makes clear. Since Asopus and he seem to share certain channels, and the cave also supplies moisture for not just the river but also the local winds, clouds etc. (405 f.), we should perhaps imagine this as part of a vast underground system, like that at Virg. G. 4. 363 ff. A. Crabbe, 'Virgil's Aristaeus Epyllion' (unpublished D. Phil. thesis, Oxford, 1975), pp. 76 ff., traces such subterranean complexes of water-sources to the theories of Ionian philosophers, especially Anaxagoras. Since Homer portrayed Thetis and her sisters as living in a 'silver-shining cave' (Il. 18. 50 ἀργύφεον … σπέος‎), caves were the traditional homes of both sea-divinities (V. Fl. 4. 92, 6. 565, Sil. 3. 49, 7. 413, 12. 543, Silv. 1. 5. 30, 3. 2. 16, Ach. 1. 540) and river-gods (cf. Ov. Met. 1. 583, V. Fl. 5. 209, Theb. 4. 108, Silv. 1. 3. 70, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2. 69, 3. 5, Cons. Olyb. et Prob. 209, Sid. Carm. 2. 332). Statius, however, seems to be alluding to Ov. Met. 1. 583 ff. 'Inachus unus abest imoque reconditus antro / fletibus auget aquas natamque miserrimus Io / luget ut amissam'. 405 f. From Ismenos' source in the cave the local winds and clouds, as well as the rainbow, suck up moisture which will later fall as rain. For ancient scientific theories of precipitation see Arist. Met. 3. 2 ff., Sen. Nat. 1. 3 ff. The moisture was believed to be obtained principally from the sea, but for fresh water sources cf. Lucr. 5. 463, 6. 476 f. 'fluviis ex omnibus et simul ipsa / surgere de terra nebulas aestumque videmus', Tac. Ann. 2. 23. Poets naturally talk of this process in terms of 'feeding' or 'drinking' (bibunt, pascitur). Thus 'bibit arcus' is a regular phrase (Pl. Cur. 131, Virg. G. 1. 380 f., Prop. 3. 5. 32), and for pasco cf. Ach. 1. 220 'pelago solitam Thaumantida pasci', 2. 144, Theb. 7. 9, 11. 115. Cf. also e.g. Ov. Met. 1. ........................................................................................................................... pg 136 271 'concipit Iris aquas alimentaque nubibus adfert'. For the belief that stars and other heavenly bodies lived on a diet of water see Smolenaars on 7. 8 f. and esp. Pease on Cic. ND 2. 40, and cf. also Luc. 10. 258 f., Serv. Dan. on A. 1. 608. 405. imbrifer arcus remembered from Tib. 1. 4. 44 and also found at 7. 427. The ancients associated the rainbow with the coming, not the end, of rain: e.g. Pl. Cur. 131 'ecce autem bibit arcus; pluet, credo, hercle hodie', Hor. Ars 18, Plin. Nat. 18. 353. For adjectives in -fer see 438 spumifer n. Page 92 of 195

406. annus also of the harvest at Luc. 3. 70 'effusis magnum Libye tulit imbribus annum', Silv. 3. 2. 22, Tac. Ag. 31, Ger. 14. 407. obstrepit preferable to the simple form strepit: Ismenos' waters almost drown out the noise of his daughter's laments. For obstrepo of rushing rivers cf. Calp. Ecl. 6. 62 'ne vicini nobis sonus obstrepat amnis', Silv. 3. 2. 4 'lenis non obstrepat unda precanti'. 408. accepit common of hearing sounds, particularly ones likely to inspire dread of unseen terror. Cf. Virg. A. 10. 674 f. 'gemitumque cadentum accipio', Theb. 6. 599, Claud. Cons. Olyb. et Prob. 209 'accepit sonitus curvis Tiberinus in antris'. 408 f. aspera musco / colla first of a series of details playing with Ismenos' dual status as a river and an anthropomorphic god. The moss which would normally grow on the rocks on his bed here grows on his neck, the ice covering his spring in the mountains weighs down his head (409), and his face, covered with mud and silt, shares the texture of his gravelly river-bed (411 f.). This kind of frivolous conflation of the animate with the inanimate seems Hellenistic in spirit, and Statius may even have in mind Call. Hymn 4. 77 f. ʼΙσμηνοῦ χέρα πατρός, ὁ δ̓ εἵπετο πολλὸν ὄπισθεν / ʼΑσωπὸς βαρύγουνος ἐπεὶ πεπάλακτο κεραυνῷ, where βαρύγουνος‎ is appropriate to the god, πεπάλακτο‎ to the river's waters. Cf. Virg. A. 8. 31 ff., esp. 33 f. (Tiber) 'eum tenuis glauco velabat amictu / carbasus, et crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo', 8. 711 ff., Sil. 4. 659 f. (Trebia) 'tum madidos crines et glauca fronde revinctum / attollit cum voce caput' (a noticeably less fantastic description than Statius'), Silv. 4. 3. 67 ff. 'at flavum caput umidumque late / crinem mollibus impeditus ulvis / Volturnus levat ora', with Coleman. Such descriptions look like a favourite topos of learned poetry: rather excessive examples are Morel, Incert. 34 'te, Neptune pater, cui tempora cana crepanti / cincta salo resonant, magnus cui perpete mento / profluit Oceanus et flumina crinibus errant' and Epic. Drus. 221 ff. 'ipse pater flavis Tiberinus adhorruit undis, /sustulit et medio nubilus amne caput. / tum salice implexum muscoque et harundine crinem / caeruleum magna legit ab ore manu / uberibusque oculis lacrimarum flumina misit: / vix capit adiectas alveus altus aquas.' Similar to this is Virgil's description of Atlas as both Titan and mountain at A. 4. 246 ff., and also Ov. Met. 1. 264 ff. (Notus), esp. 266 f. 'barba gravis nimbis, canis fluit unda capillis; / fronte sedent nebulae, rorat pennaeque sinusque'. 409. gravemque gelu crinem the god's hair is weighed down with frost. The colour perhaps implies venerable old age, and recalls the white-haired Ismenos of Roscher's vase (1. 1487). ........................................................................................................................... pg 137 409 f. In his agitation Ismenos drops his urn, the source of his waters, and his pine-tree. This is imitated by Claudian (Ruf. 1. 133 'Rhenus proiecta torpuit urna', at the arrival of Megaera) and Sidonius (Carm. 2. 409 f. 'manibusque remissis / Remus et urna cadunt'). Claudian's Page 93 of 195

Tiber, however, is more self-possessed and 'Nymphis urnam commendat erilem' (Cons. Olyb. et Prob. 213). For river-gods' urns cf. Virg. A. 7. 792 'caelataque amnem fundens pater Inachus urna', Theb. 2. 217 f., 6. 275. The pine-tree may be a kind of sceptre (404– 445 n.) but is more probably a staff. It is adulta because he is a giant (arduus, 418): so too Polyphemus uses a pine-tree at Virg. A. 3. 659 'trunca manum pinus regit et vestigia firmat'. The pine, however, is not (pace Amar–Lemaire) associated with river-banks, and one might have expected Ismenos to use willow or elder wood (cf. Virg. G. 2. 110 f.). 411. scrupea though found as early as Ennius (Scen. 115 Vahlen) and Pacuvius (trag. 310), the adjective is rare in later poetry, though cf. Virg. A. 6. 238, Sen. Ag. 558. Since a scrupus is a 'lapillus brevis, qui incedentibus impedimento est et pressus sollicitudinem creat' (Serv. on A. 6. 238), so here we think of small pebbles on Ismenos' bed.   limo the mud that will undermine Hippomedon's footing (475). This is rather a prosaicsounding word, but it is also found in epic at Ov. Met. 1.424. 412. ora exertantem there is no direct verbal dependency, but we naturally recall Neptune majestically rising from the waves at Virg. A. 1. 124 ff. For similar situations cf. also Catul. 64. 14, Virg. G. 4. 352 (Arethusa) 'prospiciens summa flavum caput extulit unda', Ov. Met. 2. 270 f., Sen. Ag. 554 'Neptunus imis exerens undis caput', and esp. Sil. 4. 659 f., Silv. 4. 3. 67 ff., Epic. Drus. 221 ff., cit. supra on 408 f. The choice of the frequentative form of the verb is rather odd here—Ismenos rises above the surface only once—and is perhaps to be put down to Statius' having borrowed the present phrase from Virg. A. 3. 425, where it is used of Scylla in her repeated attacks on passing ships. On the other hand, metrical considerations may have been the determining factor: exerentem is impossible in a hexameter.   minores the division of river-gods into 'greater' and 'lesser' is amusingly exploited in Claudian's description of the council of the gods at Rapt. Pros. 3. 14 ff. 'nec non et senibus Fluviis concessa sedendi / gloria: plebeio stat cetera more iuventus, / mille Amnes'. 413. mirantur a kind of reversal of Catul. 64. 14 f., where the Nereids rise from the sea 'admirantes' the Argo. Barth took their astonishment to imply that the woods and lesser rivers had never seen Ismenos' majestic figure before and ironically suggested various explanations of this: 'omnes igitur vel nulli affuerunt concilio, vel caeci fuerunt, non visa magnitudine sui illius vicini; vel post eius visum sunt prognati demum'. It seems simpler to take it that the god is so huge and impressive that, now as always, they gaze at him in wonder. 414. spumosum … apicem continuing the conceit of god and river in one: cf. 'spumosae Doridos' (Silv. 3. 2. 16). The sense of apicem ('top of the ........................................................................................................................... pg 138

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head') can be paralleled by Sid. Ep. 1. 2. 2 'capitis apex rotundus'. The TLL (2. 227. 25 f.) inexplicably lists this line as an example of apex with the sense avium crista.   lapsuque sonoro note that this is the only detail dealing with sound: Statius' imagination is primarily visual in character. For the dripping beard cf. Morel, Incert. 34, cit. supra on 408 f., Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2. 315 f., Cons. Olyb. et Prob. 220 ff., esp. 223 'in liquidos fontes se barba repectit': for the noise cf. Sid. Carm. 2. 335 ff. 'dat sonitum mento unda cadens, licet hispida saetis / suppositis multum sedaret barba fragorem; / pectore ructabat latices lapsuque citato / sulcabat madidam iam torrens alveus alvum'. 416 ff. The nymph who informs Ismenos of Crenaeus' fate is one of his daughters (patrem, 417) and thus one of Ismenis' glaucae sorores (351). Her gesture (dextram … pressit, 418) is perhaps as much an incitement to action as a gesture of sympathy. 416. casum for the sense cf. Virg. A. 10. 352, Prop. 3. 16. 21, Liv. 2. 46. 5. 417. docet for doceo with the double accusative, of explaining something to someone, cf. Virg. A. 6. 759 'et te tua fata docebo', V. Fl. 8. 221.   cruentum cf. 1 f. n. The repetition of the epithet helps the reader to draw the parallel between Tydeus, the murderer of Atys, and Hippomedon, the killer of Crenaeus. 418. arduus applied to tall men at e.g. Virg. A. 12. 789 (Aeneas) and V. Fl. 5. 336 (Aeetes), but more normally used of giants or titans, e.g. Atlas (1. 98), Polyphemus (Virg. A. 3. 619), Hercules (A. 8. 229). It is also a regular epithet of Hippomedon (91 n.), and the clear implication is that the hero has found an equal. Cf. also Ach. 1. 57 f. (Neptune) 'placidis ipse arduus undis / eminet'. 419 f. The various conjectures offered to replace concutiens arise from a failure to see that the sense of the verb here is not 'shake' (as assumed, for example, by Sandström, p. 56 'genas quidem quomodo concutere possit—cogitatione effingere vix possum') but 'strike so as to weaken or damage': see OLD s.v. 2, quoting Lucr. 6. 595, Prop. 1. 7. 15 'te quoque si certo puer hic concusserit arcu', Sil. 1. 492 'subsedit duro concussus fragmine muri'. The beating of the head or face in grief is discussed by C. Sittl, Die Gebärden der Griecher und Römer (Leipzig, 1890), p. 24, esp. n. 9; cf. Silv. 5. 5. 10, Tac. Ann. 1. 23, Juv. 13. 128, Apul. Met. 3. 25, 4. 25. Ismenos also beats his cornua, therefore his head, in the Greek fashion. 419. ulvis probably 'fen-sedge' according to R. Coleman on Virg. Ecl. 8. 87. The plants which grow on Ismenos' banks are here intertwined with his horns: cf. Silv. 4. 3. 68 f. 'crinem mollibus impeditus ulvis / Volturnus' and Coleman ad loc., Milton, Lycidas 104 'his bonnet sedge'. Reeds are more commonly associated with river-gods, in both literature and art: see Virg. A. 8. 34 (Tiber) 'crinis umbrosa tegebat harundo', Ov. Met. 9. 3, Ars 1. 223.

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420. cornua Porphyrion on Hor. Carm. 4. 14. 15 explains 'omnium fluminum genii taurino vultu cum cornibus pinguntur propter impetus et fremitus ipsarum aquarum'. See further RE 6. 2781 f., and cf. Virg. G. 4. 371 f., A. 8. 77, Ov. Met. 9. 1 ff. (the tale of how Achelous lost a horn when ........................................................................................................................... pg 139 he fought Hercules in the form of a bull), V. Fl. 1. 106, Theb. 7. 66, Mart. 10. 7. 6, Milton PL 11. 831 'the horned flood'.   turbidus both 'troubled in expression' (cf. Virg. A. 4. 353, Sen. Phaed. 423 'turbidam frontem gerens') and 'with troubled waters' (cf. Cic. Tusc. 5. 97. Virg. A. 6. 296 'turbidus … caeno … gurges'). 421. honorem compare the similar incredulous sarcasm at Virg. A. 1. 253 'hic pietatis honos?' and see Austin ad loc. 422. hospesque … et conscius though avoided by prose authors, -que … et ('both … and') is quite common in epic and also, rather oddly, the nugae of Catullus (e.g. 28. 5, 44. 15): see Williams on Virg. A. 5. 467. Ismenos' complaint is that Jupiter, god of hospitality, has betrayed a guest-friend and ally.   actis here ironic. For the sense cf. Ov. Met. 9. 134 f. 'actaque magni / Herculis', Pont. 3. 3. 32 'magnorum … acta ducum', Theb. 4. 826 (= 4. 833 Hill). 423 ff. Ismenos, learnedly and without naming names, refers to three women whom he has helped Jupiter to seduce. The second and third are clearly Alcmene and Semele, but the first is more problematic. One might think first of Europa, but she was not in fact seduced in Boeotia. Rather, as Lactantius saw, the reference is to Antiope, daughter of Nycteus according to Ovid and Statius, but of Asopus according to Homer. Zeus took her in the form of a satyr, hence falso … improba fronte / cornua: cf. Od. 11. 260 ff., Ov. Met. 6. 110 f. 'addidit, ut satyri celatus imagine pulchram / Iuppiter inplerit gemino Nycteida fetu', Theb. 7. 190. She bore Zeus twin sons, Amphion and Zethus. The theme of the gods—usually Jupiter —transforming themselves into birds, animals etc. in order to woo mortal maidens was a favourite of Hellenistic poets and their admirers. Ovid can offer both a lengthy catalogue (Met. 6. 108 ff.) and a spoof (Am. 1. 10. 1 ff.). 424. The story of how Jupiter prolonged the night in order to enjoy his love-making with Alcmene and to achieve the mighty task of creating Hercules is well-known to the Roman poets: e.g. Pl. Am. 113 'nox est facta longior', Prop. 2. 22. 25 f., Ov. Am. 1. 13. 45 f., Sen. HF 24 ff., Theb. 12. 301 f., Silv. 4. 6. 17. Lactantius' note on this line also preserves our only fragment of Lucan's Catachthonion, Morel fr. 7 'Thebais Alcmene, qua dum frueretur Olympi / rector, Luciferum ter iusserat Hesperon esse'.

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  disiungere preferable to deiungere which, though by no means impossible, is extremely rare and found in extant Latin literature before Statius only at Var. R. 2. 6. 4. On the other hand Tacitus (Dial. 11. 3) has 'me deiungere a forensi labore constitui'. 425. For the legend of Semele see especially Eur. Bac. 1 ff., Ov. Met. 3. 256 ff.; also Hes. Theog. 940 ff., Apollod. 3. 4. 3 and Frazer ad loc.   dotalesque rogos this shocking and semi-ironic phrase is perhaps inspired by Ovid's account of Semele's death, Met. 3. 309 'donis … iugalibus arsit'. For the rare application of dotalis to a gift given by the bridegroom to the bride see TLL 5. 1. 2054. 79 ff. and cf. Porphyrion on Hor. Epod. 9. 11 'Romanos milites velut dotales Cleopatrae datos', Eleg. Maec. 1. 53 f., Ov. Fast. 5. 209, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 28.   deceptaque fulmina the daring transference of the epithet—from ........................................................................................................................... pg 140 Semele to the instrument of her death—stresses the criminal deceit of Juno, and that Jupiter, too, is a victim. Cf. Silv. 2. 1. 97 'post cineres deceptaque funera matris', also of Semele's death, and also 7. 156 f. (Bacchus to Jupiter) 'nec te telluris amatae / deceptique laris miseret cinerumque meorum?'. 426. praecipuosque alui natorum for the boast cf. 342 f. n. The sense of praecipuus here is 'of pre-eminent importance', as at e.g. Virg. A. 8. 177 f. 'praecipuumque toro … / accipit Aenean', Tac. Ann. 3. 26, Quint. Inst. 10. 1. 81. These greatest of Jupiter's sons are Hercules (427 Tirynthius), traditionally his father's favourite (Il. 18. 118) and Bacchus (428 Bromium), namely the ones who were accepted into the Olympian twelve. 427. repsit Tirynthius something of an oxymoron, bringing before us a delightful picture of the mighty hero (Tirynthius) as a little child, crawling on all fours. repo is a verb naturally associated with small children: see 619 ff. n., and cf. also Quint. Inst. 1. 2. 6 'quid non adultus concupiscet qui in purpuris repit?', Juv. 14. 208 'pueris repentibus'. For the whimsical effect here cf. also 4. 795 f. (= 4. 802 f. Hill) 'talis per litora reptans / improbus Ortygiae latus inclinabat Apollo', Silv. 4. 5. 34 'reptasse dulcem Septimium', 4. 8. 28 f. 'Helene … / inter Amyclaeos reptabat candida fratres'. 428. flagrantem the lightning which engulfed Semele also set on fire the child in her womb: Statius bizarrely and rather grotesquely imagines Jupiter dipping the child into Ismenos' waters in order to extinguish the flames. For the literalness cf. Strabo 13. 4. 11 εἰκότως πυριγενῆ τὸν Διόνυσον λέγεσθαί φασιν‎, Ov. Met. 4. 11 f. 'Bacchumque vocant … / ignigenamque'. Statius is surely imitating Eur. Bac. 520 ff. πότνἰ εὐπάρθενε Δίρκα, / σὺ γὰρ ἐν σαῖς ποτε παγαῖς / τὸ Διὸς βρέφος ἔλαβες, / ὅτε μηρῷ πυρὸς ἑξ ἀ / θανάτον Ζεὺς ὁ τεκὼν

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ἥρ / πασέ νιν, τάδ̓ ἀναβοάσας‎. He is perhaps also playing with the idea of the mixing of water and wine. 429 ff. This is Statius' rhetorical expansion of Scamander's complaint to Achilles at Il. 21. 218 ff. πλήθει γὰρ δή μοι νεκύων ἐρατεινὰ ῥέεθρα, / οὐδέ τί πῃ δύναμαι προχέειν ῥόον εἱς ἅλα δῖαν / στεινόμενος νεκύεσσι, σὺ δὲ κτείνεις ἀϊδήλως‎. The same passage was imitated by Silius, to whom Statius' very wording seems indebted: Pun. 4. 662 ff. 'quot corpora porto / dextra fusa tua! clipeis galeisque virorum, / quos mactas, artatus iter cursumque reliqui. / caede, vides, stagna alta rubent retroque feruntur'; cf. esp. quae funera portem (429), stagna cruore natant (438), rubet (439), caedes / caedibus (429, 436) and artas … / vias (436 f.). Statius avoids Silius' hyperbole of the river flowing backwards. Note also that Scamander and Trebia speak directly to the offending hero, but Ismenos appeals to a higher authority. 429. caedes recalling the prooemium, 1. 43 f. 'urguet et hostilem propellens caedibus amnem / turbidus Hippomedon' and, ultimately, Catul. 64. 359 f. 'cuius iter caesis angustans corporum acervis / alta tepefaciet permixta flumina caede'. The plural can be paralleled by Hor. Carm. 2. 1. 34 f. 'quod mare Dauniae / non decoloravere caedes': see further N.– H. on Hor. Carm. 2. 1. 4 f. 'arma / nondum expiatis uncta cruoribus' where the plural is characterized as 'poetic and grandiose'. It is perhaps modelled on ........................................................................................................................... pg 141 the use of αἵματα‎, for which see Denniston on Eur. El. 1172 νεοφόνοις ἐν αἵμασι‎. 430. continuus telis implying an unbroken covering of weapons on the river's surface. For this use of continuus cf. 5. 516 f. (of a serpent) 'super fluvios geminae iacet aggere ripae / continuus', Tac. Ann. 4. 36 'postulandis reis tam continuus annus fuit' and see TLL 4. 727. 75 ff.   altoque adopertus acervo pace Håkanson, p. 61, good sense can be had from alioque if we understand it to mean inusitato with Hill: Hebrus and Strymon are accustomed to carrying heaps of slain warriors, Ismenos is not. None the less, altoque seems superior, since, as Damsté (p. 92) saw, this is an echo of the proemium: 1. 40 (Thetis) 'horruit ingenti venientem Ismenon acervo'. Håkanson also points to the appearance of 'altus acervus' at Lucr. 3. 197: note in addition stipatus caedibus (436). 431 f. omnis anhelat / … unda nefas for nefas—here the pollution of Ismenos' holy waters—cf. 347 n. anhelat suggests the exhalations of foul monsters, e.g. Cic. Catil. 2. 1 'L. Catilinam … scelus anhelantem', Luc. 6. 92 'antraque letiferi rabiem Typhonis anhelant', Theb. 4. 55 'anhelantes … cerastas'.

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432 f. The ghosts of recently slain warriors wandering through the river, both above and below the surface, are so numerous that they cast a grey mist-like shadow over the water, mysteriously darkening it from bank to bank. Note how the word order of subterque animae supraque recentes suggests their weaving in and out between the corpses and discarded weapons. The eerie picture is also tinged with melancholy, recalling as it does Virgil's description of Dido in Hades (A. 6. 450 f. 'recens a vulnere Dido / errabat') and the sad, unburied souls who 'centum errant annos' (A. 6. 329). Cf. also Man. 4. 69 f. 'quot subitae veniunt validorum in corpora mortes / seque ipsae rursus fugiunt errantque per ignes'. 432. animae … recentes borrowed from Ov. Met. 8. 488: cf. also Theb. 8. 105 f. 'turba recentum / umbrarum'. 433. caligine not so much 'a mist … exuding from the spirits of the dead bodies' (Dilke on Ach. 2. 149) as the collective dark shadow of the wraiths. So when Jupiter allows the ghosts of Amycus' victims out of Hell to witness his punishment 'summi nigrescunt culmina montis' (V. Fl. 4. 260). 434. ille ego for the proud tone of this phrase see Dilke on Ach. 1. 650, Owen on Ov. Tr. 2. 533, and cf. 5. 34, 11. 165. At Silv. 5. 5. 38, 40 the tone is wistful and ironic.   clamatus sacris ululatibus i.e. made to resound with the ritual cries of the Bacchants. For clamo with this sense see TLL 3. 1254. 60 ff. and cf. 11. 116 'clamant amnes, freta, nubila, silvae'. The use of the past participle is similar to e.g. Prop. 2. 19. 6 'nec tibi clamatae somnus amarus erit'. For ululatus and ululare of the ecstatic cries of worshippers in orgiastic cults cf. Catul. 63. 24, Pease on Virg. A. 4. 168, Maecenas fr. 6 Morel, Ov. Ars. 1. 508, Met. 3. 725, Silv. 4. 2. 49. 435. molles thyrsos remembered from Virg. A. 7. 390: see Fordyce ad loc. and, for the thyrsos in general, Dodds on Eur. Bac. 113. These wands were wreathed with leaves and ivy, hence molles: cf. Virg. Ecl. 5. 30 f. 'Daphnis ........................................................................................................................... pg 142 thiasos inducere Bacchi / et foliis lentas intexere mollibus hastas', Ach. 1. 261 'molles … hastas', 617, 634.   cornua these, like cymbals, were properly associated with the worship of Cybele (see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 18. 13 f.), but Catul. 64. 263 also speaks of horns in Bacchus' retinue. 436. feror not false modesty as Barth thought ('ne se ipsum laudet, ambigue de semet loquitur') but a proud boast: cf. Virg. A. 12. 235 'vivusque per ora feretur', Prop. 2. 5. 1 'tota te ferri, Cynthia, Roma' (of infamy), and see TLL 6. 1. 550. 13 ff.

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  stipatus caedibus a grisly echo of Sil. 1. 47 f. 'Trebia et stipantibus armis / corporibusque virum retro fluat'. For stipatus cf. 10. 107 'stipatos flore tapetas'. 437 ff. Negative comparisons similar to this are found in Greek poetry (e.g. Il. 14. 394 ff., 17. 20 ff.), but they are much more common in Latin authors. See Austin on Virg. A. 2. 496, and cf. Theb. 8. 407 ff. 437. quaerŏ for Statius' freedom in his metrical treatment of final o see Müller, p. 9, Heuvel on 1. 41, Williams on 10. 89, Dilke on Ach. 1. 32, and, in particular, R. Hartenberger, De O Finali apud Poetas Latinos ab Ennio usque ad Iuvenalem (diss. Bonn, 1911), pp. 82–6, Platnauer, pp. 50 ff., Austin on Virg. A. 2. 735. Cf. vocŏ at 550 and proferŏ at 791: see also 514 n. for examples of the shortening of final o in nouns and pronouns.   Strymonos forming the barrier between Macedonia and Thrace, and generally associated with Mars and warfare: see 439 n., and cf. 5. 188 f. 'dum quae per Strymona pugnae / … / enumerare vacat'. As Strymon and Hebrus stand for Thrace, so Hydaspes (441) represents India, and Inachus (444) the Argolis: Ismenos not unnaturally thinks of countries in terms of their principal rivers. Strymon's pools are impia principally because they are so often polluted with blood, but perhaps also because Lycurgus, Dionysus' first enemy in the Greek world (Il. 6. 130 ff., Strabo 471, Roscher, ii. 2. 2191 ff.), was king of the Edonians on the Strymon's banks (Apollod. 3. 5. 1). Both Strymon and Hebrus are more conventionally connected in poetry with the snow and ice of Northern winters, e.g. Ecl. 10. 65, Hor. Ep. 1. 3. 3, Ov. Tr. 5. 3. 21 f., Luc. 5. 711, Theb. 3. 526. 438. cruore natant the verb is quite common of land, fields etc. being awash with water (Lucr. 6. 267, Virg. G. 1. 372 etc.), and hence is used hyperbolically of places being flooded by blood, e.g. Virg. A. 3. 625 f. 'sanieque aspersa natarent / limina', Sen. Ag. 44 'natabit sanguine alterno domus'. Applying the metaphor to a river, however, is, to say the least, rather unusual.   spumifer apparently a Statian neologism (cf. 5. 56, Ach. 1. 59), though spumiger is already found at e.g. Lucr. 5. 985, Ov. Met. 11. 140. For compound adjectives in -fer/-ger— a traditional feature of Roman epic but especially common in Ovid and Statius—see Schamberger, pp. 286 f., Williams on 10. 28, 158, and on Virg. A. 5. 452, J. C. Arens, Mnemosyne 4 ser. 3 (1950), 241 ff. In this book cf. imbrifer (405), sagittifer, (571) and armifer (836). 439. Gradivo bellante see 5 n. Ares may well have been originally a ........................................................................................................................... pg 143 Thracian god (see Farnell, pp. 399 f.) and is associated with Thrace as early as Homer (Il. 13. 301, Od. 8. 361). The ferocity of the inhabitants (for which see Hor. Carm. 2. 16. 5, Ov. Tr. 5.

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3. 22, Pont. 1. 8. 6, Ep. 2. 84) made Thrace a land especially dear to Mars in Roman poetry, and sometimes he is even said to dwell there: cf. Virg. G. 4. 462, A. 3. 13, 35, V. Fl. 3. 83 ff., 5. 618, 7. 645, 8. 228, Sil. 1. 433, 17. 487 ff., Theb. 5. 357, 6. 665, 12. 733 ff., Ach. 1. 485 f., Silv. 1. 1. 18 f. See especially Statius' description of the hall of Mars in Thrace at 7. 34 ff. and the ingenious idea that the god bloodily slaughters the Thracians but loves them none the less, 7. 12 f. 'caraeque in sanguine gentis / luxuriat'. Statius may have been influenced here by Virg. A. 12. 331 ff. 'qualis apud gelidi cum flumina concitus Hebri / sanguineus Mavors clipeo increpat', etc.   admonet the sense is primarily 'stirs your memory' (cf. Cic. Fam. 2. 11. 2 'ipse dies me admonebat', Ov. Met. 11. 473, 15. 543, Luc. 4. 241), but the memory of his birthplace perhaps also 'rebukes' Bacchus (cf. Virg. A. 4. 353 'admonet in somnis … imago', Theb. 12. 405). 439 f. altrix / unda cf. 343 n., alui, 425. 440. iam pridem much rarer than iamdudum but cf. 1. 217, Silv. 4. 4. 97.   oblite the vocative of the past participle is a mannerism of high style already found in Catullus (64. 25, 217); its use in epic must have been greatly encouraged by its frequent appearances in the Aeneid (Virg. A. 2. 283, 5. 870, 8. 38, 10. 186, 11. 715, 12. 947). In the Thebaid cf. 1. 22, 2. 686, 3. 104, 4. 240, 372, 612, 621, 830, 6. 726, 7. 547, 9. 478 f., 10. 498. For the rebuke contained in oblite cf. 7. 547 'heu nimium mitis nimiumque oblite tuorum', Ach. 1. 496, Sil. 3. 109. 441. Eous … Hydaspes the Jhelum, a tributary of the Indus, here doing duty for the whole East (hence Eous): for a still more cavalier attitude to geography of Virg. G. 4. 211 'Medus Hydaspes'.   melius for the sense ('to better purpose') see 387 n. 442. tumidus spoliis semi-metaphorical rather than literal: Hippomedon, far from stopping to strip Crenaeus of his armour, killed him and passed on without a word.   sanguine gaudes recalling Virg. G. 2. 510 'gaudent perfusi sanguine fratrum', Luc. 4. 278 'gaudebit sanguine fuso'. 443. insontis pueri Ismenos' words here as he swears to avenge Crenaeus will be significantly repeated by Diana when she promises vengeance on Parthenopaeus' killer (665 ff.). For the emotive effect of pueri cf. 266 n.   potentem also of Inachus at 7. 419 f.: cf. 5. 733 f. 'potentes / Inachidae'.

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444. Inachon the greatest river of the Argolis. Statius invariably uses the Latin form (Inachus) in the nominative, but the Greek accusative also appears at 7. 420. See further 226 n.   saevas … Mycenas Hippomedon's home: see 514 f. n. The phrase is borrowed from Virg. A. 7. 222. For Polynices, on the other hand, 'dulces … Mycenae' (11. 187) has happier associations than for Ismenos. 445. ductus ab aethere sanguis a sonorous phrase, apparently Statius' own but modelled on similar uses of duco of 'drawing descent' such as Virg. ........................................................................................................................... pg 144 A. 1. 19 f. 'progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci / audierat', 5. 568 'genus unde Atii duxere Latini', Hor. Carm. 3. 17. 5 'auctore ab illo ducis originem', Ov. Met. 5. 494 'ab Elide ducimus ortus'. 446–539. The battle begins. Ismenos gathers his waters and hurls them against Hippomedon. The mighty hero stands firm at first, but is eventually forced to flee. He attempts to escape by hauling himself out of the river with the aid of an over-hanging ash tree, but it falls and traps him. His prayer for deliverance from the ignoble death of drowning is answered, but, exhausted, he succumbs on the bank to the hail of Theban missiles. Statius follows closely Homer's account of Achilles' battle with Scamander (Il. 21. 232 ff.), while making several changes of detail and in the order of events: see Juhnke, pp. 37 ff. Some of these are insignificant, such as the substitution of an ash-tree for Homer's elm (494, Il. 21. 242), but others are thematically much more important. Athena and Poseidon had reassured Achilles that he was fated not to die before he had killed Hector (Il. 21. 283 ff.): Hippomedon, whose life the Fates demand today, can receive no such comfort. Hephaestus, at Hera's request, had scorched Scamander into submision (Il. 21. 324 ff., imitated by Silius at 4. 667 ff.), but Statius seems to have thought this out of place here, perhaps because it would have detracted from the grandeur of Hippomedon's death, and replaces it with a discreet nod of the head from Jupiter. Most importantly of all, Hippomedon is shown to be a greater hero than either Achilles or Silius' Scipio. No sooner had Achilles been attacked than he turned to his elm-tree for help, and, when it broke, he fled in terror (Il. 21. 248 δείσας‎), quite unable to keep his footing on the slippery bottom. Hippomedon's strength and resolution, however, keep him firmly on his feet and, miraculously, for some time stat pugna impar amnisque virique (469). Indeed, he even taunts the god (476 ff.) and makes some headway against him (469 ff.). Disdaining base flight, he only turns for aid to the ash-tree at the very end: only when it crashes down on him does he at last feel fear (trepido, 500) and, all human resources having failed, turn to the gods for succour. His virtus is thus quite superhuman. Schetter, pp. 39 ff., believes that it is based on the Stoic principle of constancy in adversity enshrined by Seneca at Phoen. 188 f., Const. Sap. 19. 4. In general this is a

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splendid passage, 'baroque' in its movement, speed, fantasy, and hyperbole, and surely one of the finest adaptations of Homer in the whole of Latin epic. The idea of the river-battle seems to have particularly fascinated Statius: cf. Ach. 2. 143 ff., where the young Achilles relates how Chiron trained him to stand his ground against the current of Spercheios in flood. Significantly he had little success then too: 'sed me referebat concitus amnis' (Ach. 2. 149). 446. infrendens sc. dentibus. The gnashing of teeth indicates anger and is especially associated with lions (Cic. Tusc. 2. 22, Sil. 2. 688) and boars (Ov. Ars 1. 46), but is common enough of humans too: cf. Plaut. Capt. 913, Virg. G. 4. 452, A. 3. 664, 8. 230, 10. 718, Sil. 12. 636, 17. 221, Theb. 2. 447, 5. 663, 6. 768 (Capaneus), 8. 579 (Tydeus), 11. 297 (Creon). Both frendo and infrendo are frequent, though the compound verb is not found before Virgil. Statius creates a variant in 'dentibus horrendum stridens' (6. 790, of ........................................................................................................................... pg 145 Capaneus). The corresponding Greek idiom can be seen at e.g. Ar. Ra. 927 μὴ πρῖε τοὺς ὀδόντας‎, Babr. 96. 3.   sponte furentibus undis i.e. already in spate and already seeking vengeance. For the independence of Ismenos' waters see 344 f., 347 f. nn. 447 ff. A learned fantasy. Ismenos is a general marshalling his troops and summoning his allies. Note the military flavour of the language (signa dedit, mittit … / auxilia, ire iubet) and the numerous phrases, indicated below, which recall epic catalogues. In atmosphere the passage recalls Jupiter's speech to his 'troops', the rivers, at the flood (Ov. Met. 1. 274 ff.). 447. signa dedit a military phrase: cf. Cic. Ver. 5. 88, Caes. Gal. 2. 21. 3, Virg. A. 7. 519 f. 'bucina signum / dira dedit'.   gelidus because of its height (1409 m.: cf. 10. 372 'altus … Cithaeron', 448 n.) the mountain is usually snow-capped. In his Italian catalogue Virgil applies the same epithet to the Anio (A. 7. 683) and the Ufens (A. 7. 801) which rise in the Apennines. Cf. also 'frigida … / Nursia' (A. 7. 715 f.).   montana suggesting hardy mountain dwellers well used to war: cf. Virg. A. 7. 744 ff. 'et te montosae misere in proelia Nersae, / Ufens, …, / horrida praecipue cui gens'. 448. antiquasque nives the picture is repeated from 3. 37 f. 'motusque Cithaeron / antiquas dedit ire nives', the model apparently being Luc. 1. 553 f. 'veteremque iugis nutantibus Alpes / discussere nivem'. antiquas means that, since on so high a mountain the snow-cap rarely melts, the snow has long lain undisturbed. There is perhaps also a suggestion that Cithaeron is 'hoary with age': cf. Mart. 1. 49. 5 'senem … Caium nivibus', Silv. 1. 2. 126 'longaevis nivibus'.

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  pabula brumae repeated from 4. 706 f. 'Nilus et Eoae liquentia pabula brumae / ore premit'. For similar phrases see Luc. 7. 5, Theb. 6. 361, 8. 358, and for the idea see 405 f. n. 449 ff. Statius' model is Il. 21. 307 ff., where Scamander calls on Simois to rouse his torrents and aid him against Achilles. To frater, 449, cf. esp. Il. 21. 308 φίλε κασίγνητε‎. Every river is perhaps in a sense the brother of all the others, but Ismenos and Asopus are especially closely related because of their geographical proximity and shared underground channels: cf. 404 antro n., and see Mozley, p. 284 n. So too Ausonius calls the Moselle and the Rhine brothers (Mos. 420, 430). Cf. also Ov. Met. 1. 274 f. (Neptune helps Jupiter create the flood) 'sed illum / caeruleus frater iuvat auxiliaribus undis'. 450. flumina applied to a river's 'waters', as opposed to the whole entity, as early as Enn. Ann. 453 Skutsch 'et Tiberis flumen 〈flavom〈 vomit in mare salsum': cf. Virg. A. 11. 659, 12. 331, Theb. 9. 472 below. 451. suggerit of 'supplying a need' again at 740: the verb is similarly used of supplying ammunition at Virg. A. 10. 333 'suggere tela mihi'. Cf. esp. Theb. 7. 331 'quos … suggerit Arne', for the teichoscopia, of men sent to the aid of Thebes.   cavae … terrae apparently borrowed from Virg. A. 12. 893 'clausumque cava te condere terra'. As often, cavus here implies 'enclosing' something, with the added notion of secrecy or protection: see Fordyce on ........................................................................................................................... pg 146 Catul. 64. 259 and Austin on Virg. A. 2. 53 'insonuere cavae gemitumque dedere cavernae', and cf. Virg. A. 1. 516, 2. 360, Prop. 3. 14. 12, Ov. Ars 1. 764.   scrutatur viscera for scrutari see 244 n. viscera is quite common of the 'bowels' of the earth: see Bömer on Ov. Met. 1. 138, and cf. Plin. Nat. 2. 158, 33. 2, [Sen.] Oct. 417. There is perhaps a suggestion of violence here, given the echo of Luc. 8. 556 f. 'quid viscera nostra / scrutaris gladio?'. 452. Ismenos presses into service marshes and ponds which have long been literally 'stagnant' and metaphorically 'inactive' or 'idle'. This looks like playing on Virgil's catalogue where Messapus 'iam pridem resides populos desuetaque bello / agmina in arma vocat subito' (A. 7. 693 f.): see further A. 6. 813 ff. In both these passages Virgil's resides is semimetaphorical, the warriors being thought of as 'stagnant water' (for this sense of reses see Var. R. 3. 17. 8). The collocation torpentes lacus is also found at Sen. Ph. 1202. 453. excutit he violently 'shakes them out' of their torpor: cf. Virg. A. 2. 302 'excutior somno' and the clever adaptation of this phrase at Ov. Met. 11. 621, Sen. Ep. 56. 14. The

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common sense of 'search' is also present: cf. Cic. S. Rosc. 97 'non excutio te, si quid forte ferri habuisti, non scrutor', Ov. Ars 2. 627.   tollens ad sidera vultus i.e. in order to suck moisture down from the sky, greedily reclaiming (note avidos) in his hour of need the water he was said usually to dispense (405 f.). The more normal epic phrase is tollens ad sidera palmas (e.g. Virg. A. 1. 93, 2. 153, V. Fl. 1. 80, Theb. 1. 497, 10. 336, Sil. 15. 561 etc.), a prayer gesture for which see F. A. Sullivan, CJ 63 (1968), 358 ff.: Ismenos, then, is in a sense praying for rain. Statius is perhaps imitating Ov. Met. 1. 731 (Io pleading with Jupiter) 'quos potuit solos, tollens ad sidera vultus'). 454. umentes nebulas borrowed from Lucan (6. 369, 468). umeo is quite common of the sky, clouds etc. impregnated with moisture soon to fall as rain, snow, or dew: cf. Virg. A. 3. 589, 4. 351, and, two particularly striking examples in Statius, Theb. 3. 2 'umentibus astris' and 4. 736 (= 4. 743 Hill) 'nec spes umentis Olympi' (of a drought in which there was no hope of rain). 455. extantior the only occurrence of the comparative form in extant Latin literature. Bentley glossed the word as excelsior: the TLL 5. 2. 1936. 39 ff. shows that this sense is not found before Statius and can only be paralleled from later Latin with certainty by Avien. Descr. Orb. 1379 'ima iugi exstantis vestigia'. 456. medium superior to Damsté's medius: the giant Hippomedon was until recently taller than the river even at its mid-point where it would, of course, be deepest.   superaverat common of natural features, buildings etc. with the sense 'stand clear of' (e.g. Liv. 43. 19. 9 'aggerem … cuius altitudine muros superaret'). It is more rarely used of living beings, though cf. Virg. A. 2. 206 f. (snakes) 'iubaeque / sanguineae superant undas'. It is especially pointed here, since it is commonly associated with rivers overflowing their banks, e.g. Pl. St. 279, Sil. 6. 297 'non Trebia infaustas superasset sanguine ripas'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 147 458. crevisse regularly used of rivers rising in flood, e.g. Caes. Gal. 7. 55. 10, Virg. A. 11. 393. Note how crevisse vadum and seseque minorem provide a neat chiasmus of meaning.   seseque minorem sc. flumine. Contrast the subjugation of oriental rivers which now 'minores volvere vertices' (Hor. Carm. 2. 9. 22; see N.–H. ad loc.). 459. animosa suggesting both violent anger and also the winds which whip up the sea: cf. Virg. G. 2. 441 'animosi Euri' and Page ad loc. for the connection of animus with ἄνεμος‎.

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Similarly anima can mean 'wind' or designate the substance of a wind, as at Acc. trag. 11, Lucr. 5. 1230, Hor. Carm. 4. 12. 2. 460. instar pelagi instar is a neuter noun possessing only nominative and accusative cases. It generally implies equivalence, above all with a literal reference to weight or size, but also metaphorically of value, power, and appearance or effect. See Austin on Virg. A. 2. 15, Williams on A. 3. 637, Fordyce on A. 7. 707, Bömer on Ov. Met. 4. 135. The usual poetic construction with a dependent noun in the genitive first appears in extant literature at Catul. 17. 12. Virgil popularized it (five times in the Aeneid) and thereafter it is a standard, if sparingly used feature of high diction: cf. Theb. 1. 419, 6. 351, 369, 10. 361.   Pliadas haurit cf. nebulas exhaurit (454) and esp. 4. 119 f. (Inachus in spate) 'Persea neque enim violentior exit / amnis humo, cum Taurum aut Pliadas hausit aquosas'. The rising of the Pleiads was associated with rainy weather from the time of Hesiod: see West on Op. 619 ff., and cf. Virg. G. 4. 234 f., Luc. 8. 852, Silv. 3. 2. 76. 461. nigrum … Oriona the risings and settings of Orion were traditionally accompanied by stormy weather: see Gow on Theoc. 7. 53 f., Pease on Virg. A. 4. 52 'aquosus Orion', and cf. A. 1. 535 'nimbosus Orion', 7. 719, Hor. Epod. 15. 7 f., Carm. 3. 27. 17 f. The Greek prosody of Ὠρίων‎ yields three long syllables, that of Ὠρίωνος‎ three longs and a short. Roman poets alter this at will. The full Greek prosody is retained at e.g Virg. A. 3. 517, 7. 719, Theb. 9. 843, but the first syllable is short at Virg. A. 1. 535, 4. 52, 10. 763, Theb. 3. 27, Silv. 1. 1. 45, 3. 2. 77. Statius' scansion here, with both the first and third syllables short, is much rarer, but cf. 7. 256 for shortening of the third syllable. See further N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 28. 21, Bömer on Ov. Fast. 5. 493.   trepidis impingit … nautis a striking reversal of the more usual kind of hyperbole seen at e.g. Virg. A. 1. 103 'fluctus … ad sidera tollit', Luc. 5. 625 'tanta maris moles crevisset in astra'. For trepidis … nautis cf. 12. 616, and also 7. 86 ff., a storm simile in which 'nec toto respirant pectore nautae'. See further 523–5 for the companion to this simile. The sailors' terror foreshadows Hippomedon's (trepido, 500). 462 ff. Note how Statius describes the same events twice, first from the point of view of Ismenos (462–9), then from Hippomedon's (470–5): the hero's using his shield to break the rushing waters, for example, is mentioned twice (463–6, 471 f.). See further G. Krumbholz, Glotta 34 (1955), 244 f. 462. Teumesius amnis P's ignis was accepted by Vollmer (RhM NF 51 (1896), 31) and Klotz, who understood it to mean 'the angry Boeotian ........................................................................................................................... pg 148

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river'. Housman (Cl. P. 3, p. 1217), however, shows that, though ardor and ira are possible in such a periphrasis, ignis would be much more daring and would in any case more naturally mean the object of Ismenos' passion, on the analogy of 'meus ignis Amyntas' (Virg. Ecl. 3. 66). Teumesos was a hill near Thebes (e.g. 4. 372, 8. 344, 12. 52), hence Teumesius means 'Boeotian': cf. 2. 331, 383, 624, 4. 85, 9. 709. Statius' use of the epithet perhaps reflects Antimachus' practice: see fr. 4 Τευμησόνδε‎ and Wyss ad loc. 463. salo used of the sea (Gr. σάλος‎) as early as Enn. Scen. 195 and common thereafter. Statius applies it to the heaving of a river in spate again at 10. 867. 463 f. umbone sinistro / tollitur cf. 146 f.: here the 'blows' are more fearful still. The shield acts as a wall, breaking the force of the water and throwing it upwards (tollitur): it drains back again, only to return with greater force. Achilles, too, used his shield against Scamander, but was driven back: Il. 21. 241 ὤθει δʼ ἐν σάκεϊ πίπτων ῥόος‎. Both Hippomedon and Scipio outdo the Greek hero: cf. Sil. 4. 651 f. 'arduus adversa mole incurrentibus undis / stat ductor clipeoque ruentem sustulit amnem'. This is reminiscent of those hyperbolic conceits such as 'bella umbone propellit' censured by Quintilian (Inst. 8. 5. 24). 465. adsultans also of a wave dashing itself against a vast and immovable object at Sen. Dial. 5. 25. 3 'sic inritus ingenti scopulo fluctus adsultat' and V. Fl. 2. 504. 466. mole liquenti this striking phrase, with its paradoxical union of liquid and solid, is not original to Statius: cf. Lucr. 6. 405 'liquidam molem'. For moles of water, stressing weight and mass, cf. Virg. A. 1. 134, Luc. 5. 625 'maris moles', Sil. 3. 46, Tac. Ag. 10. 5 'profunda moles continui maris', Theb. 9. 226 above. 467. carpit common of natural forces (water, rust etc.) 'eroding' or 'eating away' physical objects (e.g. Ov. Fast. 4. 925, Luc. 9. 741) and hence metaphorically of love or anxiety 'consuming' a person (e.g. Virg. A. 4. 1 f. 'regina … / … caeco carpitur igni', Ov. Met. 3. 490). mordeo and rodo are used in a similar way, as at e.g. Lucr. 5. 256 'ripas radentia flumina rodunt', Hor. Carm. 1. 31. 7 f. 'non rura … / mordet aqua taciturnus amnis', Ov. Ars 1. 620 'pendens liquida ripa subestur aqua'. The ultimate model is Call. Ep. 44. 3 f. πολλάκι λήθει / τοῖχον ὑποτρώγων ἡσύχιος ποταμός‎. In all these examples, however, a slow and gradual process is being described, as at 7. 811 f. 'putre solum carpsitque terendo / unda latens', a passage otherwise parallel to this. Here the sense is unusually violent: Ismenos 'plucks' the trees on his banks.   putres a regular epithet for soil, attested as early as Liv. Andr. trag. 33 'arva … putria': cf. also Virg. G. 1. 215, 2. 204, Prop. 4. 3. 39, Theb. 4. 241, 6. 507, 7. 811, 8. 391. 468. annosas commonly used in poetry of trees, forests etc. of venerable antiquity: cf. Virg. A. 4. 441, 6. 282, 10. 766, Ov. Met. 8. 743, Luc. 9. 452, Theb. 1. 564, 3. 175, Juv. 11. 119:

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cf. also 411 above. Naturally, the word often implies decrepitude: e.g. Hor. S. 2. 3. 274 'cum balba feris annoso verba palato', Ov. Ars 1. 14 'annosum … senem'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 149 468 f. eiectaque fundo / saxa rotat cf. Sen. Phoen. 71 f. 'hic rapax torrens cadit / partesque lapsi montis exesas rotat'. The detail seems to have been borrowed from the simile of the irrigation channel at Il. 21. 257 ff., esp. 260 f. τοῦ μέν τε προρέοντος ὑπὸ ψηφῖδες ἅπασαι / ὀχλεῦνται‎. rotare is often used of brandishing weapons (cf. 198, 802): these rocks and trees are the river's arms against Hippomedon. For the wording cf. Silv. 4. 3. 79 f. 'qui terras rapere et rotare silvas / assueram' (Volturnus). 469. stat pugna impar the conflict between god and hero is impar because, as Achilles discovers, θεοὶ δέ τε φέρτεροι ἀνδρῶν‎ (Il. 21. 264). Here the fine oxymoron shows that Hippomedon achieves the seemingly impossible: contrast Achilles' enforced retreat at Il. 21. 241. stare is often found with this sense in the historians and Silver epic: cf. 677, Liv. 7. 7. 7 'primo stetit ambigua spe pugna', 27. 2. 6 'diu pugna neutro inclinata stetit', Luc. 3. 566. The phrase pugna impar is borrowed from Virg. A. 12. 216 (of the duel between Aeneas and Turnus). 470 ff. Unmoved by Ismenos' threats, Hippomedon stands his ground and even advances against the waves, which he parts (dispellit, 472: note the force of the prefix) with the aid of his shield. We recall the simile of 91 ff.: cf. esp. 93 stat cunctis inmota minis to 470 f. nec ullis / frangitur ille minis. This time he is a human rock resisting literal torrents of water. 470. dat terga sc. hosti. The phrase is common in epic and history: cf. e.g. Virg. A. 10. 646, 12. 645, Liv. 6. 24. 4, 7. 13. 4, Prop. 4. 2. 54 etc., and see Statius' elegant conceit at 677 f. 472. dispellit for the sense ('part') cf. 8. 469, and see Williams on Virg. A. 5. 838 f. 'Somnus … / äera dimovit tenebrosum et dispulit umbras'. 473 ff. To Hippomedon's surefootedness contrast the unsuccessful efforts of Achilles (Il. 21. 269 ff. ὁ δʼ ὑψόσε ποσσὶν ἐπήδα / θυμῷ ἀνιάζων. ποταμὸς δʼ ὑπὸ γούνατʼ ἐδάμνα / λάβρος ὕπαιθα ῥέων, κονίην δʼ ὑπέρεπτε ποδοῖιν‎) and of Scipio (Sil. 4. 655 f. 'ire vadis stabilemque vetat defigere gressum / subducta tellure deus'). There is perhaps something here of the Stoic sage's constantia: we remember Cato at the beginning of the civil war, 'inconcussa tenens dubio vestigia mundo' (Luc. 2. 248). 473. stat terra fugiente gradus 'he stands firm while the earth flees his footing': a conscious paradox, since normally the earth should stand still and the mortal should flee before the god. Hill rightly prefers stat (P) to stant (ω‎) on the grounds that it avoids an

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inelegant change of subject and suits the sentence structure better: he compares levat unda gradus (325).   poplite tenso surely borrowed from V. Fl. 1. 185 f. (Jason's men launching the Argo) 'puppem umeris subeunt et tento poplite proni / decurrunt intrantque fretum'. 475. subruta fallaci … limo i.e. 'qui creditos sibi gressus decipiebat et nutare faciebat' (Lactantius). subruta here retains the usual sense of the verb ('undermine': e.g. Lucr. 6. 545, Plin. Ep. 8. 17. 3 'Anio … subruit montes' etc.), but fallaci also brings out the common metaphorical meaning 'subvert' (i.e. by treachery): e.g. Hor. Carm. 3. 16. 14 f. 'subruit aemulos / reges muneribus', Liv. 41. 23. 8 'libertatem subrui et temptari patimur'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 150   servat vestigia recalling 111 f., and balanced by tandem vestigia flexit (485, of his retreat). For vestigia of one's footing or foothold cf. Caes. Gal. 4. 2. 3, Cic. Orat. 3. 33. Apul. Met. 6. 21, Gel. 2. 1. 2. 476 ff. To Scamander's complaints Achilles had replied courteously and respectfully that he would willingly comply did not a higher duty compel him to fight until he had slain Hector (Il. 21. 223 ff.): Hippomedon on the other hand utters gratuitous taunts (increpitans, 476: cf. 137 n.), accusing Ismenos of servility to an effeminate deity and thus belittling what is for the river-god a source of great pride (434 ff.). Klinnert, pp. 115 ff., rather oddly argues that Hippomedon does not realize that he is fighting a real god but sees only 'Hochwasser', and that his speech here is merely rhetorical. 477. ira 'martial spirit', the anger a warrior needs in battle since killing cannot be done in cold blood. For this sense cf. 706, 855 n., 1. 445, 4. 114, 229, 6. 230, 8. 125.   quove when joining two questions Latin prefers to attach -ve rather than -que to the second interrogative. See Austin on Virg. A. 2. 74 f. 478. imbelli … deo echoing Tydeus' taunts to the Thebans in the ambush: 2. 661 ff. 'non haec trieterica vobis / nox patrio de more venit, non orgia Cadmi / cernitis aut avidas Bacchum scelerare parentes. / nebridas et fragiles thyrsos portare putastis / imbellem ad sonitum manibusque incognita veris / foeda Celaenaea committere proelia buxo?'. Cf. V. Fl. 3. 230 ff. where Cyzicus rouses his men by taunting them with their womanly devotion to Cybele. For the traditional effeminacy of Dionysus, so hilariously exploited by Aristophanes in the opening scenes of the Frogs, see in general Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 553 ff. So too his priest Eunaeus has an 'imbellis Tyrio subtemine thorax' (7. 656): cf. also Ach. 1. 714 'imbelles thyrsos'. The skill in adapting material to purpose which the rhetorical education conferred can be seen at 7. 168 ff., where the unwarlike nature of his Theban devotees (cf.

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esp. 168 f. 'imbellis … / turba') is used by Bacchus as an argument for Jupiter's clemency. On the other hand, the god did not disgrace himself in the gigantomachy (Hor. Carm. 2. 19. 25 ff.) and his Eastern triumphs speak for themselves. The ambivalence is exploited by Statius in the simile of Bacchus arming himself at Ach. 1. 615 ff. See further 790 ff. n.   famulate though found as early as Catul. 64. 161 this verb remains rare in poetry, though Statius has no fewer than six examples in the Thebaid: cf. 794. The tone of the vocative of the past participle here and in experte (479) is mock-solemn. 478 ff. The only blood Ismenos has seen before is that spilled by the Maenads during their rites, either through self-mutilation or the killing of animals. Cf. 1. 329 'pingues Baccheo sanguine colles'. 479 f. Bacchica mugit / buxus the boxwood tibia of Bacchic rites had two pipes and was curved at the end (Virg. A. 11. 737 'curva … tibia Bacchi', Theb. 6. 120 f.): see Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 533, Tarrant on Sen. Ag. 689, Smolenaars on Theb. 7. 170 f. For the common metonymy (buxus = tibia buxea) cf. Virg. A. 9. 619, Ov. Met. 4. 30, V. Fl. 1. 319, 2. 583, Sen. Ag. 689, Theb. 2. 77, 5. 94, 7. 171, 8. 222, Ach. 1. 827. Statius usually prefers the ........................................................................................................................... pg 151 form Baccheus, but for Bacchicus cf. Ach. 1. 678. mugire is regularly applied to the loud, deep noise made by certain brass or woodwind instruments: cf. Lucr. 4. 545 'cum tuba depresso graviter sub murmure mugit', Virg. A. 8. 526, Theb. 6. 120 f. 'cum signum luctus … grave mugit … / tibia'. 480. insanae maculant trieterida matres Håkanson, pp. 61 ff., explains that trieterida is an accusative of internal object and that maculant trieterida means 'infamously hold a feast every year' (= 'maculosam trieterida celebrant'). maculant implies the sexual depravity commonly believed to accompany Bacchic worship: cf. Tydeus' words, cit. supra on 478. A τριετηρίς‎ is properly any 'triennial' festival, but the word usually refers to that celebrating Bacchus' birth and transference to his father's thigh (Pind. N. 6. 40, Eur. Bac. 133, Cic. ND 3. 58, Virg. A. 4. 302 f., Theb. 2. 71 ff., 661 f. etc.). As Dilke explains, on Ach. 1. 595 f. 'alternam renovare piae trieterida matres / consuerant', the feast was held, not every third year, but in alternate years, the Greek system of reckoning being inclusive. Statius seems to be the first Roman epic poet to make extensive use of trieteris (cf. 4. 722, 7. 94), though it already appears at Sil. 4. 776. The adjective trietericus, on the other hand, goes back to Ov. Met. 6. 587: cf. V. Fl. 2. 259, 623, Theb. 2. 661. See further Pease on Virg. A. 4. 302. 481. ultro the OLD s.v. 3b sees the word as indicating reciprocal action here, as at Ov. Met. 3. 458 'cumque ego porrexi tibi bracchia, porrigis ultro' and V. Fl. 4. 38 f. 'talibus orantem dictis visuque fruentem / ille ultro petit'.

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482. turbidus see 420 n., and cf. Virg. A. 5. 696 'turbidus imber'. turbidus is frequently used of stormy seas (e.g. Hor. Carm. 1. 3. 19, Luc. 5. 567: cf. 843 turbidus Orion) and rivers in spate: cf. 2. 731, 4. 756 (= 4. 763 Hill), Silv. 4. 3. 76. Significantly it is also the first adjective describing Hippomedon: 1. 43 f. 'hostilem propellens caedibus amnem / turbidus Hippomedon'.   nube 'id est, natantis limi squalore sordentis. ad demonstrandam violentiam torrentis fluminis fundo limum excitum in superficie aquarum rotare poeta monstravit' (Lactantius). Moreover, as Hill observes, nube recalls the omen of Hippomedon's death at the augury of birds: 3. 544 'hic nimbo glomeratus obit'. 483. nec saevit dictis justice for Hippomedon's silent cruelty at 343. Ismenos' rage will be expressed through deeds, not words.   trunca … quercu some manuscripts read truncas … quercus and thus correct sed to in so as to avoid a double object with impulit (485). For the sense and construction, however, cf. Catul. 66. 53 'impellens nutantibus aera pennis', Tac. Ann. 14. 6 'non saxis impulsa navis'. 484. oppositi recalling 146: what neither Thebans nor catapults could have done then is now achieved by the god, and Hippomedon retreats. The word implies that he is like a natural obstacle in his solidity: cf. Cic. Off. 2. 14 'moles oppositas fluctibus', Juv. 10. 152 'opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque'. It also has a military flavour, being commonly used of stationing troops to face the enemy (Caes. Civ. 3. 75. 5, Virg. A. 10. 329, Tac. Ag. 37. 1). 485. adsurgens see 276 n., and cf. Virg. A. 9. 749 'sublatum alte consurgit in ensem', A. 12. 729. It is especially used, as here, of the final or 'death' blow. ........................................................................................................................... pg 152 485 ff. Note that Hippomedon's retreat is slow and dignified (lente, 486: Lactantius 'ut ostenderet viri fortis constantiam, dicit eum tarde cessisse vel numini'). Cf. Turnus' withdrawal through the Trojan camp at Virg. A. 9. 797 f. 'retro dubius vestigia Turnus / improperata refert', and see further Schetter, p. 40. Both Virgil and Statius may have in mind the retreat of Ajax at Il. 11. 544 ff.: cf. 488 n. 487. refert common of beating a retreat, but usually with e.g. pedes (Virg. A. 10. 794, Ov. Fast. 6. 334), vestigia (A. 9. 797 f.), gradus (Liv. 1. 14. 8) or gressus (Sen. Med. 848). The collocation with terga seems to stress the action. 488. As Hippomedon retreats, the cowardly Thebans, who had fled before him (222 ff.), now gather en masse to attack him when he is least able to resist. For their craven behaviour cf.

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181 ff., 526 ff. So the Trojans assail Ajax: Il. 11. 565 νύσσοντες ξυστοῖσι μέσον σάκος αἰὲν ἕποντο‎.   grandine ferri this striking metaphor is a development of such similes as Virg. A. 5. 458 ff. (Entellus in the boxing match) 'quam multa grandine nimbi / culminibus crepitant, sic densis ictibus heros / creber utraque manu pulsat versatque Dareta', 10. 803 ff., Theb. 1. 418 ff. 'crebros ictus ora et cava tempora circum / obnixi ingeminant, telorum aut grandinis instar / Rhipaeae'. The point lies in the unrelenting frequency of the blows ('densis ictibus', A. 5. 459; 'crebros ictus', Theb. 1. 418). Cf. also Theb. 6. 422 f., 8. 410, Silv. 1. 6. 23 f., Sil. 2. 38, 9. 578 f., 14. 430, and see further 120 n. 489. infestant see 116 infestante n. 489 f. gemino … / aggere again of a river-bank at Silv. 1. 3. 64: cf. also Theb. 5. 516 'geminae iacet aggere ripae'. 490 f. These lines represent a greatly expanded imitation of Achilles' attempt to hoist himself from Scamander with the aid of an elm-tree: Il. 21. 242 ff. ὁ δὲ πτελέην ἕλε χερσὶν / εὐφυέα μεγάλην. ἡ δʼ ἐκ ῥιζέων ἐριποῦσα / κρημνὸν ἅπαντα διῶσεν, ἐπέσχε δὲ καλὰ ῥέεθρα / ὄζοισιν πυκινοῖσι, γεφύρωσεν δέ μιν αὐτὸν / εἴσω πᾶσʼ ἐριποῦσʼ‎. For Statius' changes here, above all in the timing of the incident, see 446–539 n. In both passages the tree is of vast stature (ingenti, 494; μεγάλην‎), but is unable to bear the hero's weight and so is uprooted (496 ff.; Il. 21. 243), bringing down the bank and damning the stream (500 f.; Il. 21. 244 ff.). In Statius this is given greater emphasis (trahentem, 496; maiore … pondere victa, 497), and for a good reason: Hippomedon, unlike Achilles, is a giant. Here the bank and tree are also actually hurled down on top of the hero, thus trapping him (500 f. n.). See also G. Krumbholz, Glotta 34 (1955), 239 ff., for Statius' creation of a vivid pictorial ecphrasis of the tree: note for example how Homer's plain ἕλε χερσὶν‎ is colourfully expanded (unca / arripuit dextra, 495 f.) into a phrase with a vigorous verb and 'malende Attribut'. 492. stabat ecphraseis (set-piece descriptions) are more usually introduced by parts of esse (e.g. 2. 32, 707, 12. 481) but cf. stat (10. 84) and stabat (Ach. 1. 594).   producta the tree projecting from the bank out over the river here recalls in the higher genre the Hellenistic aition of Atedius Melior's tree in Statius' lighter poetry: cf. esp. Silv. 2. 3. 2 ff. 'quae robore ab imo / ........................................................................................................................... pg 153 incurvata vadis redit inde cacumine recto / ardua, ceu mediis iterum nascatur ab undis / atque habitet vitreum tacitis radicibus amnem'.

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  crepidine for crepidine see Dilke on Ach. 1. 448, Summers on Sen. Ep. 57. 4. Originally κρηπίς‎ was used of a stone ledge or pedestal, especially a statue-base (e.g. Silv. 1. 1. 58). Herodotus uses it of a stone wall banking up a river or lake (1. 185, 2. 170: cf. Curt. 5. 1. 28), and in Roman authors it designates variously a stone 'quay' (Virg. A. 10. 653, Juv. 5. 8) or the edges of e.g. roads or causeways (Petr. 9. 1). A natural development from its application to man-made objects is its common meaning of 'ledge of rock' or 'precipice', as at e.g. Sen. Ep. 57. 4, V. Fl. 4. 44, Theb. 2. 504, Ach. 1. 448. Statius uses it of a river-bank again at Silv. 1. 3. 43 f. 'graminea suscepta crepidine fumant / balnea'. Since the word is associated with stone, gramineae is rather pointed. 493. undarum ac terrae dubio for this striking use of dubius as a substantive Statius is surely indebted to Luc. 9. 303 f. 'Syrtes vel, primam mundo natura figuram / cum daret, in dubio pelagi terraeque reliquit'. Cf. also Ov. Am. 2. 13. 2 'in dubio vitae', Theb. 12. 560 'dubio caelique Erebique sub axe', and see TLL 5. 1. 2120, 70. H. Richards (CQ 11 (1905), 102) wanted to read an here, but note the use of -que in the examples quoted above, and see Housman on Man. 2. 231. 494. ingentique vadum possederat umbra similar phrases include Virg. G. 2. 19 'sub ingenti matris se subicit umbra', G. 2. 297, 489, A. 10. 541 'ingentique umbra tegit', Theb. 5. 51 f. 'ingenti tellurem proximus umbra / vestit Athos', 10. 872. Shadows are naturally insubstantial, so calling them 'mighty' or 'vast' is pointed. For possideo of completely filling a space with one's bulk see Bömer on Ov. Met. 4. 689 f., and cf. also Lucr. 1. 389 f., Mart. 6. 76. 6 'famulum victrix possidet umbra nemus'. 495 f. unca / … dextra for this expressive phrase see 490 f. n. The hero half-clenches his hands and, using his nails, tries to claw his way out of the river: cf. esp. Virg. A. 6. 360 (Palinurus attempts to scrabble out of the sea on to the rocky coast) 'prensantemque uncis manibus capita aspera montis', Theb. 2. 556 f. 'abscisis infringens cautibus uncas / exuperat iuga dira manus'. For the collocation cf. also Virg. G. 2. 365 f., V. Fl. 7. 312, Sil. 14. 322, Theb. 1. 427, 610, Silv. 2. 6. 78 f. 497. A somewhat obscurely expressed line, but the main point seems to be a contrast between the tree's fragile hold on the bank at one end and Hippomedon's vast bulk dragging it down at the other (i.e. super—the upper branches, hanging over the river). Understand quam stabat as quam quo stabat pondere (i.e. the weight of the roots and earth holding the tree down). 498 f. Hill rightly punctuates with a comma after dimissa: the tree is released from the bank where its roots 'bite' the soil, and then falls on the hero ('sensus est, arbor, ima parte soluta, superne cadit'). For the manuscript confusion between dimissa and demissa cf. 237 n., and see further G. Krumbholz, Glotta 34 (1955), 243. For stagna cf. 214 n.: note

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the careful balance with arentem … humum (499). Amar–Lemaire take mordebat to mean 'leviter adstringebat', but the verb is more usually connected with ........................................................................................................................... pg 154 the tight grip of e.g. a fibula (Virg. A. 12. 247, Ov. Met. 8. 318, Theb. 7. 659 etc.): the tree grips the bank for all it is worth. 500. iniecit also with the dative at 806 f., 11. 203 'conreptumque iniecit equo'. 500 f. Most scholars have found the passurum of the manuscripts difficult to accept, and various conjectures have been offered: perhaps the most convincing of these is passa virum, which Barth claimed to have found 'in optimo libro'. The manuscript reading, however, is satisfactorily defended by Håkanson (pp. 62 f.), who points out that nec ultra passa virum would merely repeat the sense of nec pertulit illa trahentem (496) and would be quite inappropriate here since the tree has already fallen (498). Good sense, on the other hand, can be had from passurum if we understand it as an absolute usage (cf. Eng. 'cope'), and Håkanson, following Gronovius, quotes Sen. Thy. 470 'immane regnum est posse sine regno pati' (i.e. 'manage, get along without'). Add also Luc. 9. 262 'nescis sine rege pati'. Moreover, Statius has ultra with pati also at 2. 451 and 11. 269 ff., and with perferre at 3. 291. Lastly, as Klotz (RhM NF 51 (1896), 34) points out, passurum is totally fitting to the situation: this is Hippomedon's 'letzte, höchste Noth'.   The reading ponte has also fallen under suspicion, but is guaranteed by the obvious imitation of Il. 21. 245 γεφύρωσεν δέ μιν αὐτὸν‎. For the sense of vallavit cf. Silv. 5. 1. 155 f. 'miseram circum undique leti / vallavere plagae'. In the Homeric scene μιν αὐτον‎ refers, not to Achilles, but to Scamander, and the bridge thus created allows the hero to escape from the river on to the plain (Il. 21. 246 ff.). Legras, pp. 259 ff., accuses Statius of inept imitation, but in fact Homer's picture has been adapted to give a fine paradox. The tree's fall makes a bridge over the Ismenos, but since it falls on top of the hero (500), it represents for him not a means of flight but rather a trap, hence the striking oxymoron vallavit ponte. 502. huc undae coeunt Lactantius explains 'in locum stantis arboris unda successit' and compares Luc. 3. 363. Understand huc rather as the barrier across the river: the waters rush towards it (note the military flavour of coeunt—they come together 'for the kill') but can go no further, and a turmoil of whirlpools results. 502 f. ineluctabile caeno / verticibusque cavis cf. 5. 45 'obtenta comis et ineluctabilis umbra' and see 390 n. Note the fine graphic detail of cavis, well evoking the sinking centres of the whirlpools: cf. 277 nodato gurgite n. 503. sidit crescitque barathrum the idea of an abyss 'falling' is perfectly natural, but that it should be said to 'rise' is a pleasing paradox and well conveys the picture of the heaving

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water. sidit is preferable to sedit because a present tense is needed to balance crescit. For barathrum of whirlpools cf. Catul. 68. 108, Virg. A. 3. 421. 504. Perhaps inspired by Il. 21. 268 f. μιν μέγα κῦμα διιπετέος ποταμοῖο / πλάζʼ ὥμους καθύπερθεν‎. Like barathrum, vorago may be used of gaping chasms on either land (e.g. Liv. 7. 6. 1 f., Calp. Ecl. 7. 70 'rupta voragine terrae') or water (e.g. Catul. 17. 11, Virg. A. 6. 296, Liv. 22. 2. 5 'per praealtas fluvii ac profundas voragines', Silv. 1. 1. 66 f. 'sacrata vorago / famosique lacus'). The word is used here because the water is about to 'swallow' (vorare) Hippomedon. ........................................................................................................................... pg 155 505. victus suprema fateri apparently a single phrase, with fateri dependent on victus (= coactus). Though this extraordinary use of vinco is easily understood, parallels seem to be lacking. 506 ff. Hippomedon's words here are a compression of those of Achilles at Il. 21. 273 ff. Both warriors ask for a reprieve from an ignoble and unheroic death by drowning. As Achilles explicitly states (Il. 21. 279 f. ὥς μʼ ὄφελʼ Ἕκτωρ κτεῖναι, ὅς ἐνθάδε γʼ ἔτραφʼ ἄριστος· / τῶ κʼ ἀγαθὸς μὲν ἔπεφνʼ, ἀγαθὸν δέ κεν ἐξενάριξε‎) and Hippomedon implies (509 f. adeone occumbere ferro / non merui?), a hero should die in battle by the hand of a worthy opponent. Compare also the rather effective patriotic adaptation of Silius: 4. 670 ff. 'di patrii, quorum auspiciis stat Dardana Roma, / taline me leto tanta inter proelia nuper / servastis? fortine animam hanc exscindere dextra / indignum est visum? redde o me, nate, periclis, / redde hosti! liceat bellanti accersere mortem, / quam patriae fratrique probem.' The tone and use of the rhetorical questions in this speech seem to have influenced Statius: to 'animam hanc' (4. 672) cf. 507, though the phrase comes originally from Virg. A. 1. 98, cit. infra on 509 f. 506. fluvione (pudet!) cf. 491 nec magnae copia mortis and 506 ff. n., quoting Il. 21. 279 f. Similarly Odysseus, faced with a shipwreck, contrasts his woeful fate with that of the heroes who fell before Troy, earning both glory and burial: see Od. 5. 299 ff. esp. 5. 311 f. τῷ κʼ ἔλαχον κτερέων, καί μευ κλέος ἦγον Ἀχαιοί. / νῦν δέ με λευγαλέῳ θανάτῳ εἵμαρτο ἁλῶναι‎, and cf. Virgil's imitation of the passage at A. 1. 92 ff., and also V. Fl. 1. 633 ff., Sil. 17. 559 ff. See also 297 ff. n. Lucan's Caesar, however, is so remote in his magnificent madness that he scorns death by drowning and declares that he needs no tomb (5. 668 ff.). K. Smolak (WS NF 9 (1975), 148 ff.) argues that fluvio here is Statius' translation of λευγαλέῳ‎ at Il. 21. 281 (= Od. 5. 312) and that, like learned scholiasts, he took the Greek word to mean 'wet', 'by water'.   Mars inclute echoed by Juno when she takes his case before Jupiter (511 sator inclute divum). Page 115 of 195

507. segnes … lacus i.e. of the underworld. There is an ironic contrast with the torrent which Ismenos' torpentes … lacus (452) have become. 508 f. Statius is imitating Il. 21. 282 f. ἐρχθέντʼ ἐν μεγάλῳ ποταμῷ, ὡς παῖδα συφορβόν, / ὅν ῥά τʼ ἔναυλος ἀποέρσῃ χειμῶνι περῶντα‎. Note how he has increased the emotion by turning the simile into an indignant question and by adding the subjective epithet iniquis. For other similes in the Thebaid from pastoral life cf. 3. 45 ff., 7. 393 ff., 8. 228 ff., 9. 189 ff. 509. interceptus corresponding to Homer's περῶντα‎ (Il. 21. 283, 'attempting to cross'). Its sense here is common in military contexts: e.g. Caes. Gal. 5. 40. 1 'obsessis omnibus viis missi intercipiuntur', Tac. Ann. 2. 78 'vexillum tironum in Syriam euntium intercipit'. 509 f. Hippomedon echoes the words of Aeneas in a similar situation: Virg. A. 1. 97 f. 'mene Iliacis occumbere campis / non potuisse tuaque animam hanc effundere dextra'. 510 ff. Hippomedon's prayer is answered not by Mars but by Juno, who appeals to Jupiter and reminds him of his promise that the Argives will be buried by Theseus. In Homer too the hero's prayer to Zeus is not answered ........................................................................................................................... pg 156 directly, and Hera intervenes, persuading Hephaestus to scorch Scamander (Il. 21. 324 ff.). There Hera's motive is fear at Scamander's and Simois' redoubled efforts, but Statius' Juno acts out of pity (510 precibus commota): so too Venus saves Scipio out of compassion (Sil. 4. 675 f. 'percita dictis / ingemuit'). 511 f. quonam … / … quonam usque a prayer formula of the greatest antiquity: cf. Ps. 13: 1 'How long wilt thou forget me, o Lord, for ever: how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?', and see T. Jacobsen, The Treasure of Darkness (New York, 1976), p. 102, for Mesopotamian parallels. Cf. also Venus' reproach to Jupiter: Virg. A. 1. 241 'quem das finem, rex magne, laborum?', but contrast Jupiter's complaint 'quonam usque nocentum / exigar in poenas?' (1. 215 f.).   sator … divum a traditional epic phrase, going back to Homer's πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε‎ (Il. 1. 544, 5. 246 etc.): cf. Enn. Ann. 203 Skutsch 'divom pater atque hominum rex', Virg. A. 1. 254 'hominum sator atque deorum', Theb. 9. 835 f. divum / … pater. The 'syncopated' genitive plural (4 n.) enhances the solemn and archaic tone. 513. rapto … augure for Amphiaraus' descent, still living, into the underworld see 22 ff. n. His skill in augury is most clearly seen in the Thebaid at 3. 460 ff. In historical times he had an oracle of his own in the temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes, to which Croesus sent presents still visible in Herodotus' day (1. 46 ff.). See further Farnell, pp. 58 ff., and cf. 644 ff. n.

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  tacuerunt … Delphi a mark of Apollo's respect and grief: cf. 657 f. n. Apollo lives up to the pietas expected from him by the Argive soldiery: 8. 195 f. 'aeternus Phoebo dolor et nova clades / semper eris mutisque diu plorabere Delphis'. The theme is adapted by Prudentius to Christian theology at Apoth. 435 ff. 'ex quo mortalem praestrinxit Spiritus alvum / … / … atque hominem de virginitate creavit, / Delphica damnatis tacuerunt sortibus antra', etc., Milton, On the Morning of Christ's Nativity, 173 ff. 'The oracles are dumb, / No voice or hideous hum / Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving. / Apollo from his shrine / Can no more divine, / With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving'. See further H. W. Parke and D. E. W. Wormell, The Delphic Oracle (Oxford, 1956), i. 287 ff. 514 f. Juno's patronage of Hippomedon, as she makes clear, derives from his being an Argive. Her own association with Argos in literature goes back to Homer (Il. 4. 51 f.): cf. her plea to Jupiter to spare Argos (1. 248 ff., esp. 260–2). Hippomedon lived in a fortress at nearby Lerna (hence Argolici … lares: cf. Eur. Phoen. 126 Λερναῖα δʼ οἰκεῖ νάμαθʼ Ἱππομέδων‎). Its foundations were reputedly still visible in Pausanias' day (2. 36. 8). 514. origŏ for the shortening of final ο‎ see 437 n., and cf. leo (739), harundo (745, 772), and nemo (782). 516 f. Juno appears to assume that Hippomedon's corpse will be washed out to sea (pelagi) where it will, ironically, suffer the fate he himself inflicted upon the Thebans: see 300 n. 517 f. Håkanson (p. 63) defends the manuscript reading busta against Klotz and Garrod's iusta (for MS confusion of these words see Hill on 6. 169, ........................................................................................................................... pg 157 Housman on Luc. 9. 67) by comparing Silv. 5. 1. 218 and, especially, Silv. 3. 2. 142 'devictis dederim quae busta Pelasgis', also referring to the incidents of Thebaid 12. The tense of dabas perhaps implies a long-standing promise of Jupiter's—nowhere else disclosed to us— that the fallen Argives would be buried. Juno is sceptical (for the tone of certe cf. 98 scilicet n.), but he recognizes the justice of her request (aequas / … preces, 519 f., to which cf. 831 f.). 518. ubi i.e. 'what has become of?'. See OLD s.v. 2, and cf. 12. 562, Tac. Ann. 2. 2 'mox subiit pudor degeneravisse Parthos … ubi illam gloriam trucidantium Crassum?', 3. 5, 15. 62.   Cecropiae i.e. Athenian, after Cecrops, first king of Athens. The Athenians are already Κεκροπίδαι‎ at Herod. 8. 44 (cf. Ar. Eq. 1055, Call. fr. 260. 20 Pf., Suppl. Hell. 288. 20), and Athens is Κεκροπία‎ at e.g. Eur. Suppl. 658, El. 1289: cf. also Κεκροπίηθεν‎ at Call. Hymn 3. 227, Ap. Rh. 1. 95. The adjective appears at e.g. Eur. Ion 936, Hipp. 34. It seems rather learned and Hellenistic in tone, and is first attested in Latin in Catullus' scholarly epyllion

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(64. 79, 83, 172), but is common thereafter (e.g. Virg. G. 4. 270, Prop. 2. 33. 29, Ov. Met. 11. 93, Sen. Phaed. 2: cf. 'Cecropidae' at Theb. 12. 570, Ach. 1. 203. 520. leviter gods do difficult tasks quickly and easily: see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 12. 31, West on Hes. Op. 5. The calming of turbulent waters is a regular manifestation of divine power: cf. Od. 10. 21 f., Moschus 2. 115, Virg. A. 1. 142 f., St Matthew 8: 26 f.   moenia Cadmi cf. 11. 40, 12. 115 f., 635, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3. 387. 521. sederunt picked up by resedit in the simile (523). The verb is common enough of 'abating' or 'subsiding' (e.g. Lucr. 5. 474, Sen. Nat. 6. 20. 3), and Statius uses it both of natural features (e.g. 1. 330 'molle sedens in plana Cithaeron') and metaphorically of tempestuous emotions (10. 823 f. 'sedit rabidi feritasque famesque / oris'.   nutu the nod of command or total power is clearly a literary device borrowed from life, as can be seen from e.g. Cic. Tusc. 5. 61 'tum ad mensam … pueros … iussit consistere eosque nutum illius intuentis diligenter ministrare', Hor. Ep. 2. 2. 6. It naturally came to symbolize the minimal expression of great power (e.g. Ov. Pont. 1. 2. 91 'noluit, ut poterat, minimo me perdere nutu', Suet. Cal. 32. 3) and thus total power in general (e.g. Cic. Q. Rosc. 94 'si fas est respirare … contra nutum dicionemque Naevi', Phil. 10. 19, Virg. A. 7. 592, [Sen.] Oct. 843, V. Fl. 7. 499, Sil. 2. 53, 14. 668 f.). It is, of course, especially associated with Jupiter, the repository of all power: cf. V. Fl. 1. 85 f., 507, 3. 251 f., Sil. 12. 722 f., and also Silv. 3. 3. 138 'illum et qui nutu superas nunc temperat arces' (of Vespasian, implying his power is as great as Jupiter's). The god's nod here also implies assent to Juno's request: cf. Il. 1. 528, Od. 16. 164, Virg. A. 9. 105 f., 10. 114 f. 523 ff. As the waters subside, Hippomedon's vast bulk appears above them like scopuli when a stormy sea subsides: cf. 91, where he was compared to a rupes. This short simile is the companion piece to 459 ff.: cf. especially the deliberate repetition of tempestas (460, 524) and nautis (461, 524). Note how the sibilants dominating the simile seem to suggest the hissing of the ........................................................................................................................... pg 158 retreating water, and how surgunt (524) and descendunt (525) give a fine formal and visual balance. 523. elata for the idea of 'raising' here—helped by alte—cf. Luc. 6. 474 'Nilum non extulit aestas', Sil. 8. 647, Theb. 2. 134 f. 'elata cubilibus … / … Aurora', Quint. Decl. 388 'elato … mari'. 526. quid ripas tenuisse iuvat? he reaches the bank (for the sense of tenuisse cf. Virg. A. 5. 159, Ov. Met. 6. 638, Tac. Ag. 38. 4), but finds no safety there, being overwhelmed

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by the Thebans' vastly superior numbers. Such a death is distinctly un-Homeric, but can be paralleled by the death of Paulus at Cannae: Sil. 10. 301 ff. 'Sidoniumque ducem circumspectabat, in illa / exoptans animum certantem ponere dextra. / sed vicere virum coeuntibus undique telis / et Nomas et Garamas et Celtae et Maurus et Astur'. 526 f. nimbo / telorum cf. 120, 488 nn., 5. 385 f. 'ferrea nimbis / certat hiemps'. 527. Phoenissa i.e. 'Theban': cf. 2. 614, 3. 189. 528. omnisque patet leto a literary descendant of such phrases as Virg. A. 11. 644 'tantus in arma patet', Liv. 42. 65. 8 'patebant iaculis sagittisque', Sen. Ep. 104. 10 'magis autem periculis patemus aversi'.   vulnera manant echoing Sil. 1. 563 'mananti … vulnere'. It is more usually the liquid that is said to stream, but cf. 415. Statius most commonly applies the verb to blood (e.g. 11. 539 f. 'fratris uterque furens cupit adfectatque cruorem / et nescit manare suum') and tears (e.g. Silv. 2. 1. 231, Theb. 4. 27), another indication of his preoccupation with horror and pathos. 529. stupuit stupeo of liquids becoming sluggish or being staunched appears to be a Silver usage: cf. Sen. HF 763 'stupent ubi undae, segne torpescit fretum', Plin. Nat. 14. 132, Mart. 9. 99. 10.   aere nudo cf. 12. 19, Silv. 3. 2. 70. The implication of nudo is 'offering no protection': cf. also 'nudo sub axe' (Virg. A. 2. 512, Theb. 3. 112, 11. 663) and 'nudis sub astris' (V. Fl. 2. 171). See further 298 n. 531. Take incerti with undarum e frigore: the cold has so numbed the hero's legs that he can barely stay upright. labat recalls labantem (487) and points to the inability of Juno's intervention to change anything other than the scene of Hippomedon's death. 532 ff. The comparison of heroes falling in death to felled trees is a commonplace of epic: cf. e.g. Il. 4. 482 ff., 5. 559 f., 13. 178 ff., 389 ff., (= 16. 482 ff.), 14. 414 ff., 17. 53 ff., Ap. Rh. 3. 1374 ff., 14. 1682 ff., Virg. A. 2. 626 ff., V. Fl. 3. 163 ff. In 'high' poetry cf. also Catul. 64. 105 ff., Hor. Carm. 4. 6. 9 ff. Statius' primary model here, however, is Virg. A. 5. 447 ff. (a defeated boxer) 'ipse gravis graviterque ad terram pondere vasto / concidit, ut quondam cava concidit aut Erymantho / aut Ida in magna radicibus eruta pinus'. With this he has conflated an Ovidian simile, thus extending the range of his own: see 535 f. n. and the good discussion at von Moisy, pp. 58 ff. Great care has been taken to link narrative and simile: note the repetition of procumbit (532 n.), and that the tree, like Hippomedon, is of gigantic stature (534 n.), that nutantem (535) recalls labant ........................................................................................................................... pg 159

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(531) as Boreae furiis (533) echoes undarum … frigore (531), and that the forest's fear of the falling tree (535 f.) implies similar terror on the part of the Thebans. 532. procumbit … procumbit using the verb in both simile and narrative effectively stresses the identity of situation. For such repetitions cf. 2. 473 ff., 6. 481 ff., 10. 572 ff., and see J. Perkins, TAPhA 104 (1974), 261 ff., esp. 270–3. Here Statius is directly imitating Virg. A. 5. 448, cit. supra on 532 ff. In both similes the verb used (procumbit, concidit) suggests the thud of the falling corpse. Statius possibly has in mind Virg. A. 5. 481 'procumbit humi bos'.   Getico … Haemo also at 1. 275. The Haemus range was in fact in the territory of the Triballi and Crobyzii, while the Getae lived further north: Getico, however, means little more than 'Thracian'. The Getae were the only Thracian tribe to resist Darius (according to Herod. 4. 93). The references to Haemus and the Boreae furiis (533) conjure up a picture of a remote, wild landscape. This geographical location seems part and parcel of the 'high-style' treatment: Catullus' tree is 'in summo … Tauro' (64. 105), and those of Virgil (A. 5. 448 f.) and Horace (Carm. 4. 6. 12) in the mountains near Troy. Poets naturally associate Haemus with Boreas: cf. Call. Hymn 3. 114, and possibly V. Fl. 2. 515 (MSS Hebri, Burman Haemi). 533. Boreae furiis recalling another imaginary tree in Virgil, which 'Alpini Boreae nunc hinc nunc flatibus illinc / eruere inter se certant' (A. 4. 442 ff.: there is a fuller imitation at Theb. 6. 854 ff.).   putri … robore also implying 'failing strength', a sense appropriate to Hippomedon too. 534. The tree, like the giant Hippomedon himself, is vast, so high that it is hyperbolically said to be caelo mixta comas and, in falling, to have set free a huge expanse of air. For similar uses of laxare cf. Sen. HF 80 'Siculi verticis laxa specum', Luc. 4. 115 f. 'concussaque tellus / laxet iter fluviis', Silv. 5. 1. 256 'lumine purpureo tristes laxare tenebras'. 535 f. Statius is imitating Ov. Met. 10. 372 ff. (Myrrha's wavering indecision) 'utque securi / saucia trabs ingens, ubi plaga novissima restat, / quo cadat, in dubio est, omnique a parte timetur'. His wording may also have been influenced by Sen. Thy. 696 ff. 'lucus tremescit, tota succusso solo / nutavit aula, dubia quo pondus daret / ac fluctuanti similis' or, more probably, by Virg. A. 2. 629 (Troy falls like a tree hewn down by farmers) 'tremefacta comam concusso vertice nutat'. For the idea of terror caused by uncertainty about where a vast body will land cf. 10. 930 f. (Capaneus falling from the battlements) 'cedunt acies, et terror utrimque, / quo ruat, ardenti feriat quas corpore turmas'. 535. tremescit see 221 n. and cf. Eur. Phoen. 1181 f. (the fall of Capaneus) ἐκτύπησε δὲ / χθών, ὥστε δεῖσαι πάντας‎.

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536. qua tellure cadat the use of the local ablative rather than in quam tellurem emphasizes not the motion of the fall but rather the resulting scene of destruction. See further R. D. Williams, CQ 45 (1951), 144, and cf. esp. 5. 387 f. 'spiculaque et multa crinitum missile flamma / nunc pelago, nunc puppe cadunt', Ach. 1. 43 f., Silv. 1. 2. 109 f., 5. 5. 69 f., Prop. 1. 17. 4.    ........................................................................................................................... pg 160 silvas the falling tree brings down whole woods with it: a striking hyperbole. More prosaically, silvae is sometimes used in poetry with the sense 'trees': see 590 n. 537 ff. The Thebans can hardly believe the formidable Hippomedon is really dead and approach his corpse with trepidation: cf. Ov. Met. 8. 423 f. (the end of the Calydonian boarhunt) 'neque adhuc contingere tutum / esse putant, sed tela tamen sua quisque cruentat', Theb. 1. 619 f. (after the killing of Apollo's fiend) 'stupet Inacha pubes, / magnaque post lacrimas etiamnum gaudia pallent'. 537. audacia a quality generally lacking in the Thebans, cowed as they are by Eteocles' tyranny and by the great stature of their terrifying opponents: see Aletes' speech at 3. 176 ff. and Mars' incredulous words at 7. 125. 539. astrictis … armis Mozley ('with drawn sword') took astrictis here to be equivalent to strictis, but the sense is 'tightly grasped': cf. Hor. Carm. 3. 8. 10 'corticem adstrictum pice', Ov. Fast. 4. 929 f. 'conatusque aliquis vagina ducere ferrum / adstrictum longa sentiat esse mora'. 540–569. Hypseus' boasting is unjustified—Hippomedon was basely slain—and we feel that in killing him and taunting him in his turn Capaneus restores justice. See further Klinnert, pp. 43 ff. Here the poet fulfils the prediction of 258 and prepares us for the major rôle Capaneus will play in the next book. 540. adiit Hypseus the word order and form of adiit were restored by Müller, pp. 10 f.: for the manuscript confusion see further Hill's apparatus. The scansion -iīt in the perfect, particularly common with compounds of eo, represents a survival in poetic language of the archaic quantity of the vowel: see Platnauer, pp. 60 f., and cf. periit (1. 247), rediit (5. 397, 6. 664, 8. 517), subiit (10. 25, 641) and abiit (11. 631).   capulumque in morte tenenti Hippomedon is a warrior to the last. capulum seems to have its literal sense with tenenti and to mean 'sword', by metonymy, with extrahit.

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541. torvos … vultus recalling torvum … cadaver (140): Hippomedon in his savagery is the true successor to Tydeus. Cf. also 'torvus adhuc' (11. 10) of the fallen Capaneus.   laxavit casside the splendid helmet of 4. 129 f., which was shorn of its triple plume by Lycus' spear at 107 ff. For the sense of laxavit and the construction with the ablative of separation cf. Sen. HO 787 f. 'pharetra gravis / laxavit umeros', Ach. 1. 874 f. 'iam pectus amictu / laxabat': contrast 879. 543. clamore superbit i.e. clamat superbe. The unusual construction draws attention to both the shout of pride and the triumph it indicates. superbio is a rather extravagant word, and very rare in poetry: only Statius uses it in epic (7 times), though it is found in Ovid (Ars 3. 103) and the more high-flown passages of Propertius (4. 1. 63, 4. 5. 22). It is somewhat commoner in Silver prose, e.g. Plin. Nat. 9. 122, Tac. Ann. 2. 36, Suet. Aug. 16. 4. 544 f. Compare Aeneas' words when Mezentius is mortally wounded: Virg. A. 10. 897 f. 'ubi nunc Mezentius acer et illa / effera vis animi?'. Here, however, the taunts merely serve to list Hippomedon's achievements. ........................................................................................................................... pg 161 545. debellator this majestic noun is very rare indeed: its only other appearance in classical poetry is Virg. A. 7. 651 'Lausus, equum domitor debellatorque ferarum'. Cf. also CIL 8. 2786: it reappears in Tertullian (e.g. Apol. 5) and is thereafter quite common in Christian prose writers. 546 ff. As Hippomedon avenged Tydeus, so he is now avenged by Capaneus. The three heroes—cannibal, god-fighting giant, and blasphemer—are in their prowess and inhuman characters rather alike: cf. 541 n. Aeschylus had portrayed Capaneus as a giant, even larger than Hippomedon (Sept. 423 ff.: cf. Theb. 10. 872, 930 f.). Statius' account of Capaneus' assault on the walls of Thebes, impious challenge to Zeus, and punishment by being blasted with lightning is, however, principally modelled on Euripides (Phoen. 1172 ff.: cf. also Aesch. Sept. 444 ff.). A more favourable estimate of his character is made by Adrastus at Eur. Suppl. 860 ff., where he is praised for his loyalty, honesty, courtesy, and self-restraint. In Statius too he is somewhat ambiguous, capable of gross impiety (3. 598 ff.; 9. 548 ff. n.) but also of noble courage and chivalry, as here or in defending Hypsipyle from Lycurgus' rage (5. 660 ff.). In his aristeia and death he scorns to use the deceit he associates with the gods (10. 258 f.), displaying a prowess which wins praise even from his immortal enemy (11. 10 f. 'memoranda … facta relinquens / gentibus atque ipsi non illaudata Tonanti', 11. 70 f.). In general, then, he is a magnificent character not unlike Milton's Satan or Baudelaire's Don Juan aux Enfers. See further Vessey, pp. 66, 157 f., 221 ff., 259 f., Williams on 10. 827 ff., ten Kate, pp. 105 ff., S. G. Farron, Stud. Ant. 1 (1979–80), 33 ff., and, especially, Klinnert, pp. 79–132. Statius' Capaneus clearly greatly impressed Dante, who places him with the Page 122 of 195

blasphemers in the seventh circle of Hell (Inf. 14. 43 ff.). There he remains eternally fixed in his impiety: 'Qual io fui vivo, tal son morto'. Cf. also Inf. 25. 14 f. 546. agnovit longe cf. Virg. A. 10. 843, Ov. Met. 10. 719, Theb. 6. 179; and also 'aspicit … longe' (Theb. 7. 723) and plain 'agnovit' (A. 10. 874, 11. 910). These are adaptations of Homer's use of ἐνόησε‎ (e.g. Il. 3. 30, 5. 590, 11. 284, 21. 49 etc.) of a hero 'recognizing' another on the battlefield and challenging him to fight.   pressitque dolorem imitating Virg. A. 1. 209 'premit altum corde dolorem'. For the sense of dolorem cf. 824 n. 547. magnanimus translating the Homeric μεγάθυμος‎ and first attested in extant Latin poetry at Catul. 66. 26: see Austin on Virg. A. 1. 260. Statius uses it quite freely of numerous warriors, e.g. Tydeus (6. 827, Ach. 1. 733), Lycurgus (5. 653), Menoeceus (8. 357, 10. 662), Theseus (12. 795), and Achilles (Ach. 1. 1). Most strikingly he also applies it to Domitian (12. 814), implying that the emperor is himself cast in the mould of the heroic age. See further Williams on 10. 399 f., Vessey, Latomus 29 (1970), 435 n. 1. 548 ff. Capaneus makes an impious prayer to the only god he acknowledges, his own right hand: for the parody of prayer formulae see 548 n. Though his impiety goes back at least to the tragedians (546 ff. n.), Statius has principally modelled him on Virgil's Mezentius, the contemptor divum (see 550 n.). As Mezentius expresses scorn at the possibility of divine retribution (A. 10. 743 f.) and open hostility to heaven (A. 10. 880), so Capaneus ........................................................................................................................... pg 162 wishes to destroy what is sacred to the gods (5. 565 ff.) and would prefer to fight them rather than their human representatives (7. 678 f.). This culminates in his fatal challenge to Bacchus, Hercules, and Jupiter at 10. 899 ff. His words here recall a speech of Mezentius: A. 10. 773 ff. 'dextra mihi deus et telum, quod missile libro, / nunc adsint'. For the idea cf. also Aesch. Sept. 529 f. (of Parthenopaeus) ὄμνυσι δʼ αἰχμὴν ἣν ἔχει μᾶλλον θεοῦ / σέβειν πεποιθὼς‎, Ap. Rh. 1. 467, Sil. 5. 118 ff., Theb. 3. 615 f. 'virtus mihi numen et ensis, / quem teneo!', 10. 485 f. Elsewhere Capaneus expresses a rationalistic atheism, affirming that 'primus in orbe deos fecit timor' (3. 661): cf. Critias F. 19. 11 ff. Snell. 548. ades o mihi a prayer formula: cf. Catul. 62. 5 'Hymen ades o Hymenaee', Virg. G. 1. 18, Hor. Epod. 5. 53, Ov. Met. 4. 31 etc. The blasphemy is continued by praesens, numen, voco, adoro, and the parodic anaphora (tu, te … te). 549. inevitabile found quite often in Silver prose, though rare in poetry: see Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 301, and cf. Sil. 14. 447. Though heavy and sonorous, words of this shape tend to dominate the hexameter and poets therefore use them sparingly: cf. 390 ineluctabilis n. For inevitabilis of missiles see Servius on Virg. A. 6. 445, Pseudacro on Hor. Carm. 1. 12. 24.

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550. voco for the shortening of the ο‎ see 437 n.   superum contemptor repeated from 3. 602 and recalling Virgil's phrase 'contemptor divum' (of Mezentius, A. 7. 648, 8. 7). Note, however, that Capaneus, much more selfconsciously impious, uses it of himself. For similar phrases cf. Ov. Met. 1. 160 f. 'illa propago / contemptrix superum', 3. 514 'contemptor superum Pentheus', 13. 761 (Polyphemus) 'magni cum dis contemptor Olympi'. 551. As he had prayed to himself, so he answers his own prayer. Ironically it was Hypseus, now slain, of whom the poet said 'numquam manus inrita voti' (7. 314). For voti … potentem cf. Ov. Fast. 3. 269, 5. 258, Met. 8. 80, 409, 745. It is essentially an Ovidian adaptation of the more prosaic compos voti (e.g. Tib. 1. 10. 23, Liv. 7. 40. 5, Suet. Aug. 28. 2). Cf. also Ov. Met. 4. 510 'iussi … potens', Ach. 1. 642 'vi potitur votis'. 552. tremibunda abies for tremibundus and other present participles in -bundus see Marouzeau, p. 117, and Bömer on Ov. Met. 3. 393 and 4. 133. Heavy and clumsy, they are usually pejorative in tone or associated with unpleasant actions. Most are very rare in poetry, though there are a few exceptions, e.g. furibundus, moribundus. tremibundus is found as early as Cic. Arat. 329 but is used sparingly thereafter (Virg. A. 10. 522 'tremibunda … hasta', Ov. Met. 4. 133, V. Fl. 4. 180, Calp. Ecl. 7. 73, Juv. 6. 525, Theb. 4. 441, 10. 715, Sil. 4. 537, 5. 628, 6. 251, 10. 118). Statius, however, has nothing so outlandish as the elder Cato's lurchinabundus and tuburchinabundus (cit. by Quintilian at Inst. 1. 6. 42): cf. R. Till, Die Sprache Catos (Philologus Supplementband 28, Heft 2, Leipzig, 1935), pp. 76 ff. For the rare metonymy of abies cf. Virg. A. 11. 667.   per governing both clipeum and aerea texta: cf. 746, 801 nn. 552 f. aerea texta / loricae i.e. chain-mail. The terga of the manuscripts can be supported by Virg. A. 10. 784 'per linea terga'. texta none the less seems preferable and Gronovius compares 5. 354 f. 'squalentia texta / ........................................................................................................................... pg 163 thoracum' and 3. 585 f. 'magnorumque aerea suta / thoracum': cf. also 4. 131 'ferrea suta', Virg. A. 10. 313 'perque aerea suta'. This is the chainmail which gave Hypseus protection over his breast, but none on his back where it was not necessary (7. 310 f.). Such breastplates, made of small plates of bronze or iron sewn together with wire, came into use in the Roman army at the end of the Republic and are here anachronistic: see F. H. Sandbach, PVS 5 (1965–6), 31 ff. 553 f. animam sub pectore magno / deprendit a splendid image: Hypseus' soul lurks hidden in the recesses of his mighty breast, but after its long journey (tandem) the spear finally catches it. magno is not otiose: Hypseus is, because of his physical stature and

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prowess (cf. 7. 309 f. 'celsos umbrantem hunc aspice late / Hypsea quadriiugos'), a fitting match for Hippomedon. deprendo is common of catching people 'red-handed', as at Cic. Brut. 241 'in facinore manifesto deprehensus'. 554 ff. This simile is the companion piece to 532 ff. The main point of the comparison is properly the loudness of the crash (haud alio … fragore, 554), but the emphasis is on Hypseus' vast bulk (celsa, 554; cf. 553 f. n.). His death deprives the Thebans of their champion and lays the city open: were Jupiter not against them, the Argives would take Thebes now. Brief comparable similes are found in Homer too e.g. Il. 4. 462 ἤριπε δʼ, ὡς ὅτε πύργος‎): cf. also Theb. 3. 14 f., 207, 355 f. (Tydeus) 'bello me, credite, bello, / ceu turrem validam aut artam compagibus urbem', 9. 145 ff. and, perhaps Statius' inspiration, V. Fl. 6. 383 ff. (Gesander falls) 'tunc ruit ut montis latus aut ut machina muri, / quae scopulis trabibusque diu confectaque flammis / procubuit tandem atque ingentem propulit urbem'. So too Milton's Satan 'above the rest / In shape and gesture proudly eminent / Stood like a Tow'r' (PL 1. 589 ff.). 554. ruit echoing Virg. A. 4. 668 ff. (Dido's death) 'tecta fremunt, resonat magnis plangoribus aether, / non aliter quam si immissis ruat hostibus omnis / Karthago aut antiqua Tyros'. 555. innumeros … ictus i.e. of a battering ram or siege-engine. The detail is in fact inappropriate to Hypseus, who was felled by a single blow. 556. effractam normally used of breaking open doors or gates (e.g. Pl. Mil. 1250, Liv. 24. 46. 7, Petr. 78. 7 etc.) but here dramatically transferred to the city itself. This line is imitated by Joseph of Exeter (c. 1180), Bellum Troianum 1. 458 'effractam facilem das hostibus urbem' (ed. A. K. Bate, Warminster, 1986).   aperit victoribus almost like a traitor. 557. super adsistens Homeric warriors frequently step on a fallen enemy's corpse in order to extract their spear, and the action is usually accompanied by a taunting speech (e.g. Il. 5. 620 f., 6. 65, 16. 503 f., 862 f.). The arrogance can become hubris: cf. esp. Virg. A. 10. 490, where super adsistens is used of Turnus standing over the body of Pallas, which he then vilifies with excessive pride. 557 ff. Capaneus says that he will not deny Hypseus the honorem mortis, i.e. the knowledge that he has fallen to a mighty opponent and need feel no shame at his defeat: indeed Hypseus will have more to boast about than many among the dead. This is an ingenious development of the topos of ........................................................................................................................... pg 164

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consoling a defeated enemy, for which cf. Virg. A. 10. 829 f. (Aeneas to Lausus) 'hoc tamen infelix miseram solabere mortem: / Aeneae magni dextra cadis', 11. 688 f. 'nomen tamen haud leve patrum / manibus hoc referes, telo cecidisse Camillae', Ov. Met. 2. 280 f., 5. 190 ff., 9. 5 ff., 10. 604, 12. 80 f. The ingenuity shown by Statius in 'improving' his models is surpassed in its turn by his admirer Claudian: see A. Cameron, in Latin Literature of the Fourth Century, ed. J. W. Binns (London, 1974), p. 150. 557. infitiamur the verb is found in e.g. Accius (trag. 191) and Plautus (Am. 779) and used by Cicero in both his letters (Att. 4. 3. 2) and his more polished works (Sest. 40), but avoided by Augustan poets who may have considered it archaic or colloquial. It is somewhat rehabilitated by Ovid (Am. 2. 17. 26, Ars 2. 414, Met. 11. 205) and has a small but assured place in Silver Latin, both prose (e.g. Tac. Ann. 3. 14. 1, Plin. Ep. 4. 9. 7) and verse (Theb. 1. 301, 2. 629, 7. 98, Mart. 9. 84. 7, 99. 3). 558. refer huc oculos cf. Ov. Met. 5. 190 ff. ' "adspice", ait, "Perseu, nostrae primordia gentis: / magna feres tacitas solacia mortis ad umbras, / a tanto cecidisse viro"'. 559. iactantior the positive is not found in poetry before the late imperial period. The comparative is also rare, but cf. Virg. A. 6. 815 'iactantior Ancus', Hor. S. 1. 3. 50, Silv. 4. 1. 6 f. 'septemgemino iactantior aethera pulset / Roma iugo'. It is decidedly precious in tone: cf. Ov. Met. 1. 322 f. 'non illo melior quisquam nec amantior aequi / vir fuit aut ilia metuentior ulla deorum'. 560 f. The armour Capaneus seizes here is partly Hippomedon's and partly Hypseus' (simul hostiles … tuasque / exuvias, 562 f.). It therefore seems best to understand ensem galeamque as referring to Hippomedon's sword and helmet, stripped from his body by Hypseus at 540 f. Hence the shield is 'his (i.e. Hypseus') own' and there is thus no need to change the ipsius of the manuscripts to Hypseos: see Imhof, p. 224 ('Marklands Emendation Hypseos ist für den aufmerksamen Leser überflüssig'), Håkanson, p. 63. Hill's assertion that 'ante Hippomedonta aliud nomen proprium desideratur' seems to me unsatisfactory. Cf. also Virg. A. 11. 193 ff. (a funeral) 'hic alii spolia accisis derepta Latinis / coniciunt igni … / … pars munera nota, / ipsorum clipeos et non felicia tela'. 561 ff. An ingenious passage: Capaneus uses Hippomedon's own weapons and those of his despoiler to make a temporary tomb for the hero. Statius is perhaps imitating Sil. 5. 659 ff., where Roman soldiers fighting over Flaminius' body form a tomb for him with their own corpses: see esp. 5. 665 f. 'sic densae caedis acervo, / ceu tumulo, texere virum' and cf. also 565 n. Klinnert (pp. 45 f.) rightly stresses that, since the burial has no religious significance for Capaneus, his intention must be to pay homage and honour to a great warrior and comrade-in-arms. Though we admire his pietas, we recognize the irony of iustos dum reddimus ignes (564): the corpses of both these heroes, like those of the other princes,

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must await Theseus' intervention before burial can be granted them. For the ritual address to the corpse see Mayer on Luc. 8. 759. 564. iustos … ignes i.e. a funeral pyre: cf. 103 n., 299, 519, 12. 779. For ........................................................................................................................... pg 165 iustus with the sense 'rightful' (i.e. what pietas requires) see TLL 7. 2. 722. 26 ff. Cf. 397 iusta n. 565. hoc … sepulchro compare the words of Dymas as he 'buries' Parthenopaeus' corpse with his own body: 10. 441 'hoc tamen interea mecum potiare sepulchro'.   ultor Capaneus as Hippomedon in his turn had seen himself as Tydeus' avenger. Capaneus' words echo and in a sense refute Hypseus' taunt at 544 f. 566 ff. Hypseus' death evens the score, and now the two sides are equally matched, Mars favouring neither. As they were alike in their achievements, so Hippomedon and Hypseus are alike in their fate: cf. 252 n., 672 ff. Statius has in mind Virg. A. 10. 755 ff. 'iam gravis aequabat luctus et mutua Mavors / funera; caedebant pariter pariterque ruebant / victores victique, neque his fuga nota neque illis', itself based on Il. 11. 70 ff. 566. anceps common enough, in poetry but more especially history, of battles where neither side has the upper hand: cf. Virg. A. 10. 359 'anceps pugna diu', Luc. 4. 770 f. 'nullo dubii discrimine Martis / ancipites steterunt casus', and esp. Liv. 21. 1. 2 'adeo varia fortuna belli ancepsque Mars fuit'. 567. nectebat vulnera Markland, on Silv. 5. 1. 18, wanted to emend vulnere to funere, and thought similar changes should be made here and at Luc. 4. 543. He compared V. Fl. 6. 427 f. 'talia … / funera miscebant campis', 6. 631 'immensaque funera miscet', and, most convincingly, the Virgilian model for this passage, A. 10. 755 f., cit. supra on 566 ff. This attractive suggestion may be right: see Hill on 3. 163 for the confusion of the two words in manuscripts. On the other hand, the metaphor is as fresh and original with vulnera as it would be with funera, while the collocation mutua vulnera is common in Ovid (Met. 3. 123, 7. 141, 14. 771, Tr. 2. 1. 319). It is perhaps best to retain the reading of the manuscripts. 568. non segnior for the sense cf. Virg. A. 9. 787, Theb. 2. 601 'non segnior ardet', 3. 17, 5. 117, 5. 99 f. 'illae non segnius omnes / erumpunt tectis', 9. 290, 10. 900.

570–907 PARTHENOPAEUS 570–601. Atalanta is terrified by a series of dreams of ill-omen portending death for her son and setting the tone for the whole tragedy of Parthenopaeus: the glimpse of fate given Page 127 of 195

here will be confirmed by Apollo (650 ff.). As, in her dreams, Atalanta sees the spoils she herself had dedicated to Diana mysteriously fall from the walls of the shrine (576 f.), so too her prayer to Diana, and all her devotion, will be fruitless. She sees herself expelled from Diana's grove and wandering among strange tombs (577 f.), a prediction of 12. 124 ff., 805, where she will be seen travelling to Thebes and burying her son at the mass funeral of the Argives. At 579–81 she sees his battle-trophies, companions, and steed return, but not the boy himself, a vision indicating both his glorious feats in battle and also his death. At 582 she sees her own ........................................................................................................................... pg 166 image burning: soon her son, her living likeness, will burn upon his pyre. The greatest space, however, is given to the most horrifying dream, in which a sacred oak which she had consecrated to Diana and adorned with the spoils of her hunting has been cut down by Bacchanals. This refers symbolically to her son, her cherished offering to the goddess (602– 36 n.), destroyed by Bacchus' servants, the Thebans. Moreover, Diana's chaste devotee is figuratively slain by the worshippers of madness and licentiousness.   Atalanta's loving protectiveness towards her son was amply demonstrated at 4. 246 ff. He had joined the army 'ignara matre' (246), but at the mustering she appeared in terror and distress, attempting to dissuade him. Then too she spoke of evil premonitions already received from Heaven: 4. 330 ff. 'sunt omina vera: / 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', to which cf. esp. 576 f., 581. Compare also Ach. 1. 129 ff., where Thetis pretends to have had terrible dreams portending evil for Achilles, which she must avert by sacrifice and by purifying him in the ocean.   Such symbolic dreams are a regular feature of tragic plots, and go back at least as far as Atossa's dream at Aesch. Pers. 176 ff.: cf. also Aesch. Cho. 523 ff., Sept. 710 f., Soph. El. 417 ff., Eur. IT 44 ff., Hec. 70 ff., [Sen.] Oct. 712 ff. etc. They remain part of the classical tradition in tragedy: a famous example is Racine, Athalie 485 ff. Similar dreams are found in Hellenistic poetry of various types (e.g. Ap. Rh. 3. 618 ff., Mosch. 2. 1 ff.) and also appear, if sparingly, in classical epic: see Od. 19. 509 ff., Enn. Ann. 34 ff. Skutsch, Virg. A. 4. 465 ff., Luc. 7. 6 ff., 8. 43 ff. They are commoner, however, in Flavian epic: cf. Theb. 2. 349 ff., 5. 620 f., 8. 622 ff., 10. 324 f., Sil. 8. 116 ff., 641, 17. 158 ff. Statius may have been particularly influenced by V. Fl. 5. 329 ff, where Medea, tormented by night-time visions foretelling her exile, rises at dawn to purify herself in a river, as Atalanta does here. Also similar in many respects, however, is Ov. Fast. 3. 27 ff., where Ilia dreams of two palm-trees, which represent her twin sons, Romulus and Remus: her uncle, king Amulius, attempts to cut them down and they are defended by a she-wolf and Mars' bird, the woodpecker. In his turn Statius was imitated in full by Claudian at Rapt. Pros. 3. 67 ff., where Ceres dreams that Pluto's servants cut down a laurel overshadowing her daughter's virgin bower. Examples of the use

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of the device in later epic include Ch. Rol. 717 ff., where a dream symbolically reveals to Charlemagne the treachery of Ganelon, Cid 404 ff., and Eve's dream at Milton, PL 5. 26 ff. See further F. Fürbringer, De Somniis in Romanorum Poetarum Carminibus Narratis (Jena, 1912), p. 47, C. H. Moore, HSCPh 32 (1921), 171, Morford, pp. 75 ff., H. J. Rose, Acta Classica i (1958), 80 ff., G. Devereux, Dreams in Greek Tragedy. An Ethno-Psycho-Analytical Study (Oxford, 1976). 570. interea often used in epic to mean little more than 'next' when introducing a new section of narrative (see Austin on Virg. A. 1. 470), but here it has its full force. Atalanta's dreams have been tormenting her for a long time (saepe, 576, 579, videbat, 580) but the previous night has brought praecipuos … metus (583) in the dream of the felled oak. Hence, while the ........................................................................................................................... pg 167 battle which will claim her son's life rages, Atalanta performs her useless rites and offers up her fruitless prayers.   figuris also of terrifying things seen in dreams at Lucr. 4. 38 f. 'terrificant atque in somnis, cum saepe figuras / contuimur miras simulacraque luce carentum'. For the sense 'ghosts' see also Virg. A. 10. 641, Plin. Ep. 7. 27. 3. 571. torva … mater there were two Atalantas. One is the daughter of Iasos of Arcadia, who married Milanion (schol. on Eur. Phoen. 152), but the more famous is the Boeotian Atalanta, the daughter of Schoeneus, who finally lost the foot-race and her virginity to Hippomedon (see esp. Ov. Met. 10. 560 ff.). Confusion in the poets is widespread: thus Propertius speaks of Milanion wooing the daughter of Iasos in Arcadia (1. 1. 9 ff.) but has the Boeotian Atalanta in mind when he comments 'ergo velocem potuit domuisse puellam' (1. 1. 15). So too Statius refers to the fleetness of foot of the Boeotians who dwell in 'Atalantaeam … / Schoenon' (7. 267 f.) but also, speaking of the Arcadian mother of Parthenopaeus, remarks 'nota parens cursu; quis Maenaliae Atalantes / nesciat egregium decus et vestigia cunctis / indeprensa procis?' (6. 563 ff.). For similar confusion in the mythographers cf. Apollod. 3. 9. 2, and see further RE 2. 1890 ff., Lactantius on 6. 563 ff., Moerner, pp. 12 ff., Legras, pp. 110 f. For the phrase torva … mater cf. 4. 249 (Atalanta) 'torva parens' and 381 n. torvus is a fitting epithet for a devotee of Diana, the diva ferox (637): cf. Sen. Phaed. 416, 798 (of Hippolytus), 685 f. 'torvae … / … matris' (of Hippolyta). Though not applied directly to Parthenopaeus, it is used of a lion to which he is compared (741). Cf. also 789 n.   sagittiferi he also has a sword (694) and spears (708), but the bow is his principal weapon (696, 744 ff.). It is also the weapon of the hunter, not the warrior.   Tegeatis ephebi a highly exotic way of saying 'the Arcadian youth'. Tegeatis appears only here in the Thebaid, but cf. Sil. 13. 329, and see Schamberger, pp. 258 f. Cf. also Page 129 of 195

'Tegeaea' (Ov. Met. 8. 317, of Atalanta) and 'iuvenis Tegeaeus' (Theb. 6. 632). Statius also has Tegeaticus twice in the Silvae (1. 2. 18, 5. 1. 102). ephebus is extremely rare in Latin epic, though cf. Luc. 3. 518, 6. 563, Theb. 1. 423, 4. 232, 6. 542. It is usually applied to Greek rather than Roman youths and often implies effeminacy: see E.J. Kenney, CR NS 3 (1953), 8. 572. Atalanta undoes her shoes and looses her hair because 'in sacris nihil solet esse praeligatum … solent et resolutoria sacrificia ab auspicibus fieri, et ad Iunonis Lucinae sacra non licet accedere, nisi solutis nodis' (Servius ad A. 4. 518). See Pease on Virg. A. 4. 509 'crinis effusa sacerdos' and 518 'unum exuta pedem', Frazer on Ov. Fast. 1. 629, and cf. also Hor. S. 1. 8. 24 'pedibus nudis, passoque capillo', Ov. Met. 7. 183, Sen. Med. 752 f. 'tibi more gentis vinculo solvens comam / secreta nudo nemora lustravi pede'.   ex more cf. Virg. A. 5. 245, 8. 186, Theb. 1. 541, 6. 215 etc. The explanation of Lactantius ('quo more solita erat cum procis suis cursu certare') is a fine example of romantic embroidery. 573 f. To avert the evil portended by the dreams and to purify herself, Atalanta rises before daylight in order to wash her hair three times in ........................................................................................................................... pg 168 flowing water (cf. 602 ff.). The same ritual is described at Pers. 2. 15 f. 'Tiberino in gurgite mergis / mane caput bis terque et noctem flumine purgas'. Cf. also Juv. 6. 622 ff., though there, as the scholiast tells us, the pollution has been incurred through illicit sexual intercourse. In epic cf. V. Fl. 5. 341 f. (Medea, after an evil dream) 'his turbata minis fluvios ripamque petebat / Phasidis', Sil. 8. 124 f. (Anna) 'sub lucem, ut visa secundent, / oro caelicolas ac vivo purgor in amni'. See in general R. Parker, Miasma: Pollution and Purification in Early Greek Religion (Oxford, 1983), p. 220. An evil dream may be washed away as here (cf. Ar. Ra. 1338 ff., Ap. Rh. 4. 670 f.), spat out (Aesch. Ag. 980), or banished by verbal repudiation (Eur. Hec. 72, 97), sacrifice ([Sen.] Oct. 712 ff.), or by telling it aloud to the open air, the sun, or a god (Soph. El. 424, Eur. IT 42 f., Prop. 2. 29, 23 ff.). It was also wise to consult interpreters about which god one should propitiate (Eur. Hec. 87 ff., Thphr. Char. 16. 11). At Ach. 1. 135 ff. Statius seems to modify tradition by envisaging the purification in water, not of the supposed dreamer, but of Achilles, whom the 'dream' threatens. 573. gelidas … Ladonis ad undas the Ladon, the modern Ruphiá, was a tributary of the Alpheios and, according to Pausanias (8. 20. 1), produced the best drinking-water in Greece. The river-god was the father of Daphne, and hence Ladon is associated with Apollo (4. 289 f., 837). Ovid (Met. 1. 702) says Pan caught Syrinx 'harenosi placidum Ladonis ad amnem': Bömer rightly remarks that the epithets there are purely conventional, since, as a mountainriver, Ladon was swift-flowing, as at Fast. 2. 274 'citis Ladon in mare currit aquis', 5. 89 Page 130 of 195

'Ladonque rapax'. See also Sen. Nat. 6. 25. 2. Its waters are gelidas because they come from the high Arcadian mountains whose coldness was proverbial (Virg. Ecl. 10. 15 'gelidi … saxa Lycaei', 56 f.). 574. vivente i.e. flowing water. See Austin on Virg. A. 2. 717 ff. 'tu, genitor, cape sacra manu patriosque penatis, / me bello e tanto digressum et caede recenti / attrectare nefas, donec me flumine vivo / abluero', Pease on A. 4. 635, Frazer on Ov. Fast. 2. 45, and cf. also Aesch. Pers. 201 f., Ar. Ra. 1338 ff., Sil. 8. 125 'vivo purgor in amni'. 575. attonitas more appropriate to Atalanta: for the striking transference cf. Plin. Pan. 38. 3 'nemo recentem et attonitam orbitatem ad computationem vocet'.   curarum pondere a remarkable development of the more common curae graves. 576 f. For the evil portent cf. 4. 332 f., cit. supra on 570–601 n., Luc. 1. 557 f. 'delapsaque templis / dona suis'.   quas ipsa dicarat, / exuvias the phrase, echoed at 586, emphasizes not Atalanta's devotion, but that these omens concern her closely. As πότνια θηρῶν‎ Diana was offered the spoils of the hunt either in gratitude for her aid or to avert her anger at the killing of the animals under her protection. In literature cf. e.g. Virg. Ecl. 7. 29 f. 'saetosi caput hoc apri tibi, Delia, parvus / et ramosa Micon vivacis cornua cervi', Ov. Ib. 503 f., Symm. Ep. 5. 68. 1, AP 6. 112 etc. See in general Bömer on Ov. Met. 12. 267, J. Aymard, Essai sur les chasses romaines des origines à la fin du siècle des ........................................................................................................................... pg 169 Antonins (Bibliothèque des Écoles Françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, no. 171, Paris, 1951), pp. 508 ff. 577. ignotis a pathetic detail: her son will die far from her, among strangers. The idea of a mother continually wandering by her son's tomb appealed to Statius' sentimental nature: cf. Ach. 1. 75 f. So too Catullus grieves that his brother lies buried at Troy, 'tam longe non inter nota sepulchra / nec prope cognatos compositum cineres' (68. 97 f.).   errare suggesting terror and confusion. The motif goes back at least to Ilia's dream: Enn. Ann. 39 f. Skutsch 'ita sola / Postilla, germana soror, errare videbar'. 578. extorrem 'extorris enim dicitur exsul quasi exterris, id est, extra terram' (Lactantius): cf. Servius' explanation of exul, on Virg. A. 3. 11, 'quasi trans solum missus, aut extra solum vagus'. Ancient poets love to display their doctrina in etymologies which can often be rather fanciful: see Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 3, 684, 8. 345 f. We tend to associate them with scholarly Hellenistic authors, but they have a long history in Greek poetry: see OCD s.v. (pp. 411 f.).

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They feature prominently in other literatures too, especially Celtic ones: see T. Kinsella, The Táin (Oxford, 1969), p. 250, for a long list of fantastic etymologies for place-names in the Táin Bó Cuailnge.   Dryadumque a plebe fugatam though not a Dryad herself, Atalanta by virtue of her devotion has been permitted to join Diana's companions. fugatam is emotional, not literal: she will not be driven from the forest but, seeing herself in exile, she finds it impossible to believe she could have left her beloved home of her own free will. The sense of persecution and isolation recalls Dido's nightmare: cf. Virg. A. 4. 466 ff. 'semper relinqui / sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur / ire viam et Tyrios deserta quaerere terra' and see Pease ad loc. For plebe cf. Silv. 3. 4. 29 (of Cupids) 'natorum de plebe', and see Ovid's division between 'patrician' and 'plebeian' gods at Met. 1. 171 ff. 580. notum cf. nota, 582. For the frequency of such apparently careless repetitions in Latin epic see Housman on Manil. 1. 261, and Mayer on Luc. 8. 574–5. 581. numquam implying that, in dream after dream, she anxiously searches for her son, but without success.   ex umeris fluxisse pharetras i.e. she lets them fall in shock: cf. 4. 311 f. 'elapsaque iuxta / tela', when she learns that Parthenopaeus has set out for war. For fluo of things falling slowly and imperceptibly cf. Cic. Phil. 12. 8 'fluent arma de manibus', Virg. A. 11. 828, Sen. Thy. 947 'vernae capiti fluxere rosae'. 582. Imhof (p. 224) thought she dreamed that the boy's shield was burning, since he was 'imbelli parma pictus Calydonia matris / proelia' (4. 267 f.). In fact, the dream foretells Parthenopaeus' funeral pyre, as Lactantius saw: 'portendebatur ei filium moriturum, qui est matris effigies'. For their close physical resemblance cf. 4. 336 f. 583. praecipuos … metus the epithet is emphatic: these former dreams were terrifying enough, but the dream of the tree surpasses them. For metus cf. 92 n. ........................................................................................................................... pg 170   sed enim an archaism revived by Virgil, according to Quintilian (Inst. 9. 3. 14). See Austin on Virg. A. 2. 164, Norden on A. 6. 28, and cf. Theb. 5. 699, Silv. 4. 8. 43. 583 f. illa … / nox i.e. the night before today's fatal battle. 584. erexit … matrem for the construction see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 35. 22 'nec comitem abnegat'. toto … pectore is a local ablative: contrast Ach. 1. 543 'tende animum vigilem fecundumque erige pectus'.

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585 ff. From all the trees in the wood Atalanta had selected one, presumably for its prominence and size and strength (nota, felici robore), and consecrated it to the goddess. It is an oak, more usually sacred to Jupiter, though for an apparent association of oaks with Hecate see Ap. Rh. 3. 1211 ff. At Hor. Carm. 3. 22. 5 the poet dedicates a pine-tree to Diana, and it is on a pine also that Propertius (2. 19. 19) and Ovid (Met. 12. 267) speak of the spoils of hunting being hung. Contrast Theb. 2. 707 ff., where Tydeus dedicates the spoils of the ambush to Minerva by hanging them on an oak. See further 589 ff. n. Tree-worship was, of course, an ancient and very widespread belief, especially prevalent in Germany (Tac. Ger. 9) and the Celtic West (e.g. Max. Tyr. 2. 8). In ancient Palestine the practice aroused the wrath of the prophet (Isaiah 1: 29 ff.), but the modern church has domesticated it through the the custom of decorating trees at Christmas. Atalanta's piety here is of a simple, rural kind: cf. esp. Plin. Nat. 12. 3 'priscoque ritu simplicia rura etiam nunc deo praecellentem arborem dicant nec magis auro fulgentia atque ebore simulacra quam lucos et in iis silentia ipsa adoramus'. 585. felici robore 'fructiferi roboris' (Lactantius). Both tree and boy are cut down while still strong and growing. 586. Triviae cf. 818, 863. For the three-fold nature of Luna–Diana–Hecate see Williams on 10. 366 f. and Pease on Virg. A. 4. 511 'tergeminam Hecaten, tria virginis ora Dianae'. The name Trivia is modelled on τριοδῖτις‎ and is clearly linked with the worship of Hecate at cross-roads: see Fordyce on Catul. 34. 15, Pease on Virg. A. 4. 609 'nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes'. It first appears in extant Latin at Enn. Scen. 121 Vahlen. Milton (PL 3. 730) speaks of the moon's 'countenance triform'.   desacraverat an extremely rare variant for consacraverat. Its only other appearances in Latin literature before the end of the empire are Plin Nat. 28. 112 (chamaeleon) 'per singula membra desacratum' (i.e. 'devoted to the treatment of certain diseases') and Vitr. 1. 1. 5 'oppido capto, viris interfectis, civitate desecrata' ('desecrated'). Compare Quint. Inst. 6. Pr. 10 'non enim flosculos … sed … certos ac deformatos fructus ostenderat' where deformatos has the similarly unexpected sense 'fully-formed'. 587 f. For the idea that prayer sanctifies a place or object cf. 12. 482 f. 'mitis posuit Clementia sedem, / et miseri fecere sacram', Mart. 8. 24. 5 f. 'qui fingit sacros auro vel marmore vultus, / non facit ille deos: qui rogat, ille facit'. 588. fessa reponere tela among the many epigrams on the subject of dedications to gods in the Epigrammata Dedicatoria of AP cf. esp. 6. 121 (Callimachus: a hunter dedicates his bow to Artemis); also 6. 9 (bows, quiver, and arrows dedicated to Apollo), 11, 12, 13, 16, 75. The consecra........................................................................................................................... pg 171 Page 133 of 195

tion of the tools of one's trade to the appropriate deity normally signifies retirement: in Roman poetry see Virg. A. 5. 484 (a boxer) 'hic victor caestus artemque repono' Hor. Ep. 1. 1. 4 f. 'Veianius armis / Herculis ad postem fixis latet abditus agro', Carm. 3. 26. 3 ff. (a fine burlesque of the motif). 589 ff. For the practice of hanging the spoils of hunting in a temple or on a tree dedicated to Diana see 194 f., 576 f.n., and see further W. H. D. Rouse, Greek Votive Offerings (Cambridge, 1902), pp. 39 f., Grimal, pp. 58 ff., F. Cairns, Philologus 126 (1982), 227 ff. The hanging of antlers on pine-trees especially seems a common topos: see AP 6. 110, Prop. 2. 19. 19 f., Ov. Met. 12. 226 f., Apul. Fl. 1. Cf. also Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3. 335 ff. for a description of a grove covered in the spoils taken by Jupiter from the giants. Call. fr. 96 Pf. tells the sobering tale of a hubristic hunter who, refusing to honour Artemis, hung on a poplar the head of a boar he had killed. When he fell asleep under the tree the trophy fell on him, with fatal results. 589. arma … curva suum i.e. boar-tusks, the weapons nature gave: see Lucr. 5. 1283 'arma antiqua manus ungues dentesque fuerunt' for the idea, and cf. Virg. A. 12. 6 (of a lion's claws), Ov. Met. 8. 370 (the Calydonian boar), Theb. 8. 125, Plin. Nat. 8. 7 (of an elephant's tusks).   vacuorum terga leonum i.e. flayed lions' skins. The sense of vacuus is 'with the interior removed': cf. Petr. 135. 8 v. 4, Theb. 7. 276 'galeae vacua ora leonum'. For similar phrases see also 1. 483 f. 'inanem / … leonem', 6. 722 'tigrin inanem', Ach. 1. 115 'inania terga ferarum'. 590. ingentes aequantia cornua silvas cf. Virg. Ecl. 7. 30 'ramosa … cornua cervi'. The idea of height is important, as well as that of the antlers being like branches: cf. Virg. A. 1. 189 f. (stags) 'capita alta ferentis / cornibus arboreis'. For silvas of trees cf. perhaps 605, Virg. G. 2. 26, Sen. Oed. 542 f. 'medio stat ingens arbor atque umbra gravi / silvas minores urguet', Theb. 1. 362 'bracchia silvarum', 6. 281. 591. ramis Barth's radiis looks like an unnecessary conjecture: ramis is a daring hyperbole, but hardly particularly so for Statius. 592. viridem … umbram a vivid collocation borrowed from Virg. Ecl. 9. 20: cf. also Ciris 4, Sil. 7. 167 f., Marvell, The Garden 6 f. 'Annihilating all that's made / To a green thought in a green shade'. A good contrast is being drawn between the tree's dark-green shade and the patches of brilliant light made by the sheen of steel (ferri nitor, i.e. the tela of 588).   impedit the verb is common of dark things obstructing light (e.g. Vitr. 6. 6. 6 'in urbe autem aut communium parietum altitudines aut angustiae loci impediundo faciunt obscuritates'), but, though rare, the reverse of this process can be paralleled by Luc. 4. 446

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f. 'quo tempore primas / impedit ad noctem iam lux extrema tenebras'. Alternatively we could treat this as an impressionistic description of the 'tangling' of light and shade. 593. hanc picking up quercus (586): the ecphrasis is ended, the account of the dream begins. 594. ferox the word suggests pride in her success in hunting the she-bear. See further 637 n., and cf. Catul. 64. 247, Liv. 1. 25. 11 'geminata victoria ferocem', Sen. HF 57 'rupto carcere umbrarum ferox'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 172   Erymanthidos ursae the Erímanthos range, rising to 2,224 m. and forming in ancient times the N.W. boundary of Arcadia with Achaea, was wild country (cf. 4. 298 'monstriferumque Erymanthon'). Atalanta's expeditions there perhaps invite comparison with Hercules' slaying of the terrible Erymanthian boar (cf. Silv. 4. 6. 101 f.). For the epithet cf. 4. 329 f. 'vix Dryadum thalamis Erymanthiadumque furori / Nympharum mature puer'. Cf. also Erymanthius of Parthenopaeus at 5. 665 and 'genetrix Erymanthia' of Atalanta herself at 12. 805; also Ap. Rh. 1. 127, V. Fl. 1. 374. 595 ff. The phrases multo … vulnere, deposuisse comam, sanguine, and expirare stress the identification of the tree with its dryad. Tree-nymphs were usually thought to have the same life-span as their dwellings: see Pind. fr. 168 Bowra ἰσοδένδρεου τέκμαρ αἰῶνος λαχοῖσαι‎, Call. Hymn 4. 82 ff., Ap. Rh. 2. 476 ff., Theb. 6. 113 (a tree felling) 'nec amplexae dimittunt robora Nymphae', Silv. 1. 3. 63 (to Manilius Vopiscus, who incorporated a tree into his new villa) 'non abruptos tibi debet Hamadryas annos'. The blood is the dryad's: cf. the tale of the godless Erysichthon, who cut down a grove belonging to Ceres, Call. Hymn 6. 24 ff. (with Hopkinson, esp. pp. 18 ff.) and Ov. Met. 8. 738 ff., esp. 758 ff. 'contremuit gemitumque dedit Deoia quercus: / et pariter frondes, pariter pallescere glandes / coepere, ac longi pallorem ducere rami. / cuius ut in trunco fecit manus impia vulnus, / … fluxit discusso cortice sanguis'. See also Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 771. For the impiety of desecrating a holy tree see Hollis on Ov. Met. 8. 741 f., and cf. Hor. Ep. 1. 6. 31 f. 'virtutem verba putas, et / lucum ligna', Luc. 3. 399 ff. For the evil portent of the blood cf. also Virg. A. 3. 19 ff., esp. 28 f. and Williams ad loc., Ov. Met. 9. 329 ff., Dante, Inf. 13. 31 ff., Frazer, ii. 18 ff. Ironically, Parthenopaeus will be slain by a man named Dryas. 596. deposuisse comam i.e. the Bacchants had stripped it of its leaves. comam is appropriate to both tree and nymph: similarly ramos may be intended to suggest her arms. For the phrasing cf. Petr. 104. 5, Ov. Ars 3. 38 'depositis silvas Phyllida flesse comis'.

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  rorantes sanguine ramos a grim, memorable phrase, recalling 3. 536 'rorantes sanguine ventos' of another horrific portent: cf. also 2. 673 f. 'crines ardentiaque ora cruentis / roribus … manant', 8. 7 f. 597. quaerenti i.e. Atalanta. Wording and situation both recall the nymph who informed Ismenos of Crenaeus' death. In both cases cruentus is used of the 'murderer' (417, 597). 598. Bacchus and his devotees are the enemies of Atalanta and her son because of their associations with Thebes and because they practise sexual indulgence while Diana's devotees are chaste: cf. 612 ff., esp. mihi non umquam thiasi, 628, and Parthenopaeus' scorn of Thebes' Bacchic rites at 792 ff. 599. inani these are 'dream' blows, not real ones. For inanis of things which are 'unreal', 'unsubstantial' and belong to dreams cf. Lucr. 4. 995 f. 'inania … / cervorum simulacra', Ov. Ep. 9. 39 'simulacraque inania somni', Met. 8. 824 ff. 'petit ille dapes sub imagine somni / oraque vana movet, dentemque in dente fatigat / exercetque cibo delusum guttur inani'. See further TLL 7. 1. 823. 24 ff. and cf. also falsos, 601 n., and 2. 126 ........................................................................................................................... pg 173 'vanum … cruorem', of the phantom blood spilt over the sleeping Eteocles by Laius' ghost, in a dream.   circumdat a remarkable poetic use of the verb: Atalanta is surrounded by the noise of her own breast-beating. The sense is perhaps helped by the meaning 'beset with grief' seen at e.g. CIL 10. 5665 'maestosq. gravi circumdare luctu'. 600. abrupere oculi noctem a very powerful phrase: the idea is of a screen of darkness being instantly shattered by the sudden opening of the eyes. abrumpere always implies suddenness (e.g. Virg. G. 3. 530, A. 4. 631, Luc. 6. 610 'medios herbis abrumpimus annos'): this is continued by exilit (601), which also recalls Ismenis' shock of grief in similar circumstances (353). 601. In a highly poetic and dramatic end to the passage Atalanta instinctively raises her hands to her eyes and is puzzled to find them dry, so vivid was her dream. For the sense of falsus cf. Prop. 1. 19. 9f. 'cupidus falsis attingere gaudia palmis / Thessalus antiquam venerat umbra domum', Ov. Met. 14. 358 f. 'effigiem nullo cum corpore falsi / fingit apri'. 602–636. Having purified herself, Atalanta proceeds to Diana's shrine and prays to the goddess, begging her to protect Parthenopaeus. As the last section ended with the mother's tears, so this ends with Diana's very statue weeping. This passage seems to have inspired Boccaccio (Teseide 7. 75 ff.) and, through him, Chaucer (Cant. Tales A. 2273 ff.) with their

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tale of Emilia: see B. A. Wise, The Influence of Statius upon Chaucer (Baltimore, 1911), pp. 99 ff.   Statius' account of Parthenopaeus' upbringing under Diana's protection is closely modelled on Virgil's description of the infancy of Camilla (A. 11. 532 ff.). In both cases a parent (Atalanta, Privernus) puts the child under Diana's guardianship (617 ff., A. 11. 557 ff.): perhaps 618 ff. imply the same for Parthenopaeus, though he is never said to be anything other than Diana's comes (10. 368). As Camilla was trained in the use of weapons as soon as she could walk (A. 11. 573 ff.), so Parthenopaeus as an infant immediately crawled towards his mother's weapons (619 ff.). Both children are taught to hunt, but will later, with fatal results, apply their skill in arms to warfare. Both will be equipped with Diana's own weapons (4. 258 f., 9. 728 ff.; A. 11. 536 'nostris nequiquam cingitur armis'), but for neither can Diana's favour offer safety from the death which fate demands. The goddess must be content with the punishment of the slayer: see 665 ff., 875 f. nn. 602. merso ter crine cf. 573 f. n. Persius, 2. 15 f., and Ovid, Fast. 4. 314 f., 'manibus puram fluminis hausit aquam, / ter caput inrorat, ter tollit in aethera palmas', refer in general terms to the cleansing of the head. That the hair, the seat of life (900 f. n.) is meant is also made explicit at Prop. 4. 4. 23 f. 'saepe illa immeritae causata est omina lunae, / et sibi tingendas dixit in amne comas' and Ov. Met. 7. 189 ff. 'ter se convertit, ter sumptis flumine crinem / inroravit aquis ternisque ululatibus ora / solvit'. 603. verba prayers which form part of the ritual. For verba of 'words of power' or 'spells' cf. Virg. G. 3. 283 'miscueruntque herbas et non innoxia verba', Hor. Ep. 1. 1. 34, Sen. Med. 737 f. 'addit venenis verba non illis ........................................................................................................................... pg 174 minus / metuenda'. Note the plural matrum: Atalanta is employing a standard apotropaic formula valid in all such situations. 604. armigerae Hill defends armatae (ω‎) by comparing 10. 282 'armataque Iuno', but this seems irrelevant, since there it is purely descriptive: Juno has donned armour to help the Argives but does not normally wear it. Statius, however, is surely thinking of a cult title, to which the more archaic armigerae is better suited. See also H. W. Garrod, JPh 29 (1904), 254, for a credible explanation of how the reading armatae may have arisen. It is more usually Minerva who is described as 'bearing armour' (Ov. Am. 2. 6. 35, Fast. 6. 421, Tr. 4. 10. 13, Met. 14. 475, Epic. Drus. 22; and see C. F. H. Bruchmann, Epitheta deorum quae apud poetas Graecos leguntur (Leipzig, 1893) s.v. Minerva) but the two goddesses have much in common: cf. 304 n., 1. 535 'Pallados armisonae pharetrataeque ora Dianae'. Elsewhere the huntress Diana is 'diva virago' (Sen. Phaed. 54), 'bellipotens' (Silv. 1. 4. 33 f.) and 'pharetrata' (Ov. Met. 3. 252, Sid. Carm. 7. 30).

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606. gavisa a good touch: Atalanta is relieved to see that her dream is not confirmed by fact—so far at least. 606 f. limine … / astitit our choice of reading (limine or limina) depends on whether we think of astitit as the perfect of asto, which takes the ablative (e.g. Virg. A. 1. 301 'Libyae citus astitit oris', A. 7. 181 'vestibulo astabant', A. 12. 92 f.) or of assisto, which may sometimes take the accusative (e.g. V. Fl. 5. 639 f. 'nec illas / adstiteris impune trabes', Apul. Apol. 99 'tribunal mecum adsistitis'). As Hill points out, limina can be defended by comparing V. Fl. 5. 639 f. but not Theb. 3. 299 'hos adsistere equos' (pace Klotz, ALL 15 (1907), 410) where the verb is transitive. Faced with a similar problem at Aetna 425, Goodyear corrected the reading partly because the accusative with assistere is so very rare. Further arguments relevant here are, first, that Statius may have in mind Ov. Met. 4. 486 'limine constiterat' and 9. 397 'limine constitit alto', and, more importantly, that Statius has astitit with the ablative in this very book, at 679 f. vertice … montis / astitit. 607. nequiquam even as Atalanta begins her eloquent and moving prayer we are told that it can achieve nothing. Statius may be recalling Virg. A. 11. 536, cit. supra on 602–636. 608 ff. With its honorific titles, recital of past services, and earnest request that the goddess avert the danger facing Parthenopaeus, Atalanta's prayer is highly traditional in its structure and motifs: see further M. Swoboda, Eos 68 (1980), 285 ff., esp. 296. It also forms a doublet of Parthenopaeus' prayer to Diana for victory in the foot-race (6. 633 ff.). Mother and son address Diana in similar terms (to 608 cf. 6. 633 'diva potens nemorum'), remind her of past devotion (to 608 ff. cf. 6. 633 f. where the boy says he has dedicated his hair to her), use the regular si formula (612 ff., 6. 635 f.), stress their devotion to hunting (616, 6. 635), and beg for an evil omen to be cancelled (626 f., 6. 636 f. 'ne, quaeso, sinas hoc omine Thebas / ire'). The difference is that Diana was able to answer the earlier prayer (6. 638 'auditum manifesta fides'), but now Fate prevents her from granting Atalanta's request. See further von Stosch, pp. 174 f. 608. virgo potens nemorum for similar phrases cf. 627 nemoralis Diana, 4. 746, 6. 633, Catul. 34. gf. 'montium domina ut fores / silvarumque ........................................................................................................................... pg 175 virentium', Hor. Carm. 3. 22. 1 'montium custos nemorumque virgo', Saec. 1 'Phoebe silvarumque potens Diana'; also Nemesianus, Ecl. 2. 56 'nemorum Silvane potens', Claud. Stil. 3. 255. For potens with the genitive (cf. μεδέων‎ with the genitive) as a way of identifying a god's provincia, especially in prayer, see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 3. 1 'diva potens Cypri', Bömer on Ov. Met. 9. 315 'diva potens uteri'. Two striking examples of the construction in Statius are Silv. 3. 4. 19 f. 'potenti / terrarum domino' (of Domitian) and Theb. 11. 57 'potens scelerum' (of Tisiphone).

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  non mollia signa continuing the idea of Diana the huntress as a kind of warrior: cf. militiam (609) and catervae (611). Statius is fond of using mollis to mean 'womanly' or 'unwarlike': cf. 435, 614, 8. 594, 10. 876, 12. 169 etc.; also Catul. 68. 70, Ov. Ars 1. 535, Sen. Phaed. 111. 609. frequento a rare usage, but cf. Apul. Met. 11. 21 'sollicitius sedulum colendi frequentabam ministerium'. 610. more nihil Graio highly emphatic: Atalanta rejoices to be less civilized than the wild Amazons or Colchians. 610 f. There is an echo here of Virg. A. 5. 730 'gens dura atque aspera cultu'. Lactantius glosses the aspera as 'ubi homines immolantur sacris', surely thinking of the infamous cult of Artemis in the Tauric Chersonese (Herod. 4. 103, Eur. IT 35 ff. etc.). It is hard, however, to stretch Colchis to mean by extension the Crimea, so Statius may be alluding to the tradition, prominent in Valerius Flaccus (5. 329 ff., 7. 179 ff., 364 ff., 520 f.) of a cult of Diana Hecate at Phasis in Colchis, over which Medea presided. It is true that aspera seems better suited to the people of the Chersonese, but Statius may be thinking of the savagery of Aeetes. 611. For the cadence of this line cf. Silv. 4. 8. 53 'Taygeta umbrosaeque magis coluere Therapnae'. 612 f. For the opposition of Diana's devotees to the shameless rites of Bacchus cf. 598 n. The thiasus is an orgiastic dance especially associated with Cybele and Bacchus. The word is twice used by Catullus (63. 28, 64. 252) of the revellers themselves, and is first applied to the actual event in extant Latin literature at Virg. Ecl. 5. 30 'thiasos inducere Bacchi': cf. also A. 7. 581, Ach. 1. 827. These rites were naturally connected with Thebes (11. 212 f. 'Sidonios … / … thiasos') and were popularly believed to degenerate into sexual licence (e.g. Eur. Bacch. 221 ff.). 613. temerata the older tradition, apparently dating back to the Cyclic Thebaid and followed by Antimachus (schol. on Eur. Phoen. 150 = Wyss, fr. 17) made Parthenopaeus the son of Talaus and Lysimache, and therefore Adrastus' brother (schol. on Soph. OC 1320, Apollod. 1. 103, Paus. 9. 18. 6). Statius adheres to the later tradition that his mother was Atalanta, but nowhere names his father (571 n., Legras, p. 110 n. 1). Some sources said the father was Mars, who took Atalanta by force (Apollod. 3. 109, Servius ad A. 6. 480): this would suit temerata, but if Statius were thinking of Mars surely he would never have depicted him sealing the boy's doom (821 ff.) without dwelling on the tragic circumstances. Others (Hellanicus, FGH 4 F 99) identified Milanion as the father, but it seems that we must rely mainly on the account given by Lactantius on 4. 309 ('Atalante, Iasi filia, fugiens concubitus, in venando Dianae comes facta, ........................................................................................................................... Page 139 of 195

pg 176 sed a Meleagro hoc insinuante compressa puerum edidit. cuius conceptum quia diu sub virginitate celaverat, Parthenopaeum vocavit') and Hyginus, Fab. 99 ('Atalante, Iasii filia, filium exposuit ex Meleagro natum, [Atalantes filio pastores nomen imposuerunt] Parthenopaeum, quoniam virginem simulans Atalante in monte Parthenio eum exposuerat'). Lactantius may be simply extrapolating from Statius' text, while Hyginus' version does not agree with 617 ff. Perhaps Statius is conflating the wooing of Atalanta by Milanion (571 n.) with the tale of the rape by Mars. 614 f. mollia … / pensa perhaps remembered from Virg. G. 4. 348 or Prop. 3. 11. 20: cf. also Ach. 1. 260 f. 'si Lydia dura / pensa manu mollesque tulit Tirynthius hastas'. Spinning and weaving as a symbol for a good wife's chastity and diligence is as old as Homer (Il. 22. 437 ff.: Andromache is weaving when Hector's death is announced) and is prominent in Rome, both in literature (e.g. Liv. 1. 57. 9, Virg. A. 9. 475 f.) and life, as epitaphs on Roman matronae show (e.g. CIL 1. 1007 'casta fuit, domum servavit, lanam fecit', 1. 1211, 16. 11602). The symbolism was not confined to Greece and Rome: cf. Proverbs 31: 10–13 'who can find a virtuous woman? … She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands'. 615. tetricis a problem word, of which Ernout can only say 'Adjectif expressif sans étymologie certaine. Rare et poétique', though he adds that it seems related to taeter and tristis. It first appears in extant epic at Virg. A. 7. 713: see Fordyce ad loc., and cf. Sil. 8. 417 for the word play. It is particularly applied to the hardy, rustic Sabines (e.g. Liv. 1. 18. 4, Ov. Am. 3. 8. 61). Cf. also Silv. 5. 3. 153 'tetricis Alcman cantatus Amyclis'. 616. Even though violated (sic quoque) Atalanta remained a virgin at heart. Her rejection of marriage and the spinning which symbolizes it in favour of hunting recalls Camilla (Virg. A. 7. 805 ff. 'non illa colo calathisve Minervae / femineas adsueta manus, sed proelia virgo / dura pati') and Asbyrte (Sil. 2. 68 ff. 'ignara viri vacuoque assueta cubili, / venatu et silvis primos dependerat annos; / non calathis mollita manus operatave fuso, / Dictynnam et saltus et anhelum impellere planta / cornipedem ac stravisse feras immitis amabat'). Compare also Nicaia at Nonnus 15. 170 ff. 617 f. The scholiast on Eur. Phoen. 153 claims Diana drove Atalanta away as a punishment for becoming a mother, but Statius departs from this tradition: Theb. 4. 256 ff. 'ipsam, Maenalia puerum cum vidit in umbra, / Dianam, tenero signantem gramina passu, / ignovisse ferunt comiti, Dictaeaque tela / ipsam et Amyclaeas umeris aptasse pharetras'. Such clemency contrasts with her treatment of Callisto in similar circumstances: Ov. Met. 2. 464 f. ' "i procul hinc" dixit "nec sacros pollue fontis!" / Cynthia deque suo iussit secedere coetu'. 618. trementem 'mox natum' (Lactantius). Page 140 of 195

619 ff. Parthenopaeus' precocious fascination with weapons surpasses even Camilla's, for she could at least walk when Privernus began to instruct her (Virg. A. 11. 573 ff.). For precocity as a topos of panegyric see Hollis on Ov. Ars 1. 185 f., who traces it back to Hellenistic court poetry: cf. also Sil. 3. 75 ff., and see also L. Bieler, ΘΕΙΟΣ ANHP‎. Das Bild des göttlichen Menschen in Spätantike und Frühchristentum (Vienna, 1935), i. 34 ff. The scene described here becomes a motif of late Imperial panegyrical poetry: cf. ........................................................................................................................... pg 177 Claud. III Cons. Hon. 22 ff. 'reptasti per scuta puer regumque recentes / exuviae tibi ludus erant' etc., Sid. Carm. 2. 134 f. 'at postquam primos infans exegerat annos, / reptabat super arma patris'. 619 f. nec degener ille / sanguinis a clever variation on the common idea that a son is a worthy scion of his father: cf. e.g. Virg. A. 2. 549, Ov. Pont. 3. 5. 7 'o iuvenis patrii non degener oris', Sil. 4. 515, Tac. Ann. 1. 40. Parthenopaeus stands in the same relationship to his manly mother as most sons do to their father: cf. trux Atalantiades (789 n.). 621. Though entirely omitted by P, the line seems genuine: the general picture is certainly one that would have appealed to Statius, and the apparent echo of tela puer at 892, arma puer rapui, argues for its authenticity. The asyndeton with the previous line is a little harsh but it is surely intended to set off tela against arcus: there is thus no need to emend as daringly as Markland suggests (telaque per lacrimas). Similarly, lacrimis … poposcit is hardly too bold an expression for Statius and is in any case made easily comprehensible by its being combined with et prima voce. Sandström, p. 56, did not 'condemn' this line as Hill claims, but reminded us that the protasis begun at 612 extends through a rather loose connection of thoughts as far as poposcit: hence we should punctuate with a comma. 624. Parthenopaeus confidently relies on the goddess to protect him in battle, but Atalanta instinctively realizes (heu) that his mistrust is misplaced. So too Crenaeus (323 ff.) wrongly thought himself immune under Ismenos' protection. 624 ff. Atalanta's moving plea here derives much of its pathos from her terrifying inability to see her son in her dream (579 ff.). After 625 some minor late manuscripts record the line si non victorem des victum cernere saltem or a variant. Unbearably bathetic, it is clearly spurious, as Bentley saw when he added it to his copy and commented 'versus nothus'. Hill plausibly suggests it may have arisen in Lactantius' note 'si victorem non possum, restitue, quaeso, diva, vel victum': see also Damsté, p. 93, Klotz ad loc. 624. da visere Statius is fond of da and the infinitive: cf. 7. 93 f., 11. 96, Ach. 1. 74; also V. Fl. 1. 604 f. 625. ampla i.e. 'maiora' (Lactantius).

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626. hic sudet tuaque arma ferat i.e. let him stay here in Arcadia and bear Diana's arms (that is, hunt) rather than Mars': tua is emphatic. For the metaphor in sudet cf. 98 sudor n., 833, 5. 189 (of a battle in Thrace) 'gelidove labor sudatus in Haemo'. The absolute use of sudo is a Silver phenomenon: cf. also Petr. 3. 1 'ipse in schola sudaverat', Quint. Inst. 8. 3. 14, Ach. 1. 17 f. 'trepidum patere hoc sudare parumper / pulvere', where see Dilke's note. See also Williams on Theb. 10. 526 f. 'ferrea sudant / claustra remoliri', where the use of sudare with the infinitive is a striking innovation.   preme for the extension of the original meaning cf. Cic. Brut. 332 'etsi cursum ingeni tui, Brute, premit haec importuna clades civitatis'. It seems to be a figurative development of the sense 'stop the movement of', seen at e.g. Virg. A. 6. 331 'constitit Anchisa satus et vestigia pressit'. 629 f. cur penitus for the agitated repetition and Atalanta's interrupting ........................................................................................................................... pg 178 her own speech by a passionate question cf. 622 f. hunc … / hunc. Lactantius explains the phrase as 'quare me vehementer huc trahit suspicio, ut putem orbitatem mihi significari arboris casu'. For the sense of penitus ('deep down in my heart') cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 21. 3 f. 'Latonamque supremo / dilectam penitus Iovi', Virg. A. 9. 141 f. 'penitus modo non genus omne perosos / femineum'. Compare also the use of ἔνδοθεν‎ in Greek (Pind. Pyth. 2. 74 θυμὸν τέρπεται ἔνδοθεν‎, Eur. Or. 1122 ἔνδοθεν κεχαρμένην‎). 630. magnoque interpretor omine quercum the sense intended is clear enough but given the presence of the intrusive -que and the extremely unusual use of the ablative perhaps the line is corrupt. If so, penitus, repeated from 629, is the word most likely to be an interpolation concealing another reading. 631. vera … praesagia echoed by Parthenopaeus in a passage revealing that he has known how much his heartlessness must have afflicted his mother (886 f.). 632. In asking pity for her son it is both natural and judicious for Atalanta to remind Diana of the sufferings her own mother Latona had undergone for her and Apollo. The dislocated word-order is regular in prayer formulae: see Wackernagel ii. 194, Pease on Virg. A. 4. 314 'per ego has lacrimas dextramque tuam te', and cf. also Eur. IA 1233 ff., Med. 324 μὴ, πρός σε γονάτων τῆς τε νεογάμου κόρης‎, Phoen. 923, Pl. Bac. 905 f., Ter. An. 289, Virg. A. 12. 56 f., Apul. Met. 6. 2 etc.   Dictynna an honorific title borrowed by Diana from the Cretan nymph Britomartis with whom she was often identified. Fleeing from Minos' embraces Britomartis leapt into the sea from what was later called Mt. Dictynnaeum, but escaped death when she was entangled in fishermen's nets (δίκτυα‎), and was then deified by Artemis: see Paus. 2. 20. 3, Call. Hymn 3.

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189 ff., esp. 204 f. The etymology understandably appealed to poets who prided themselves on their doctrina. Valerius Cato wrote a poem called the Dictynna by Cinna (fr. 14 Morel) but the Diana by Suetonius (Gram. 11), suggesting that it explained how Diana acquired the title. See also Lyne on Ciris 294 ff., Barret on Eur. Hipp. 145 ff., Bömer on Ov. Fast. 3. 81. For the application of the name to Diana cf. Eur. IT 126 f. ὦ παῖ τᾶς Λατοῦς, / Δίκτυννʼ οὐρεία‎, Ar. Ra. 1358 f., Tib. 1. 4. 25, Ov. Met. 2. 441, Fast. 6. 755, Ciris 245, Sil. 2. 71. 633. cunctis iustis would be absurd: Atalanta hardly 'deserves' to die and, though an 'illstarred' mother (infelicem uterum, 634), she is hardly an evil one. Compare the dramatic gesture of a rather less laudable mother, the younger Agrippina: Tac. Ann. 14. 8 'iam in mortem centurioni ferrum destringenti protendens uterum "ventrem feri" exclamavit'. 633 ff. For the thought cf. Evander's prayer as he bids farewell to Pallas: Virg. A. 8. 578 ff. 'sin aliquem infandum casum, Fortuna, minaris, / nunc, nunc o liceat crudelem abrumpere vitam, / dum curae ambiguae, dum spes incerta futuri, / dum te, care puer, mea sola et sera voluptas, / complexu teneo, gravior neu nuntius auris / vulneret'. 635 f. Take fletuque soluto with maduisse: no sooner had she finished her prayer than she saw that even Diana's statue was wet with tears, the mother's eloquent plea having literally 'drawn tears from a stone' (saxum, 636). That ........................................................................................................................... pg 179 divine images should sweat, run with blood, or weep is a regular portent of disaster, going back as far as Ap. Rh. 4. 1280 ff. but particularly common in the Roman poets: cf. Virg. G. 1. 480 'maestum inlacrimat templis ebur aeraque sudant', A. 2. 172 f., Tib. 2. 5. 77 'simulacra deum lacrimas fudisse tepentes', Ov. Met. 15. 792, Sen. Thy. 702, Luc. 1. 556 f., Theb. 4. 374, 7. 418 (an evil omen for the Argives) 'Perseos effigiem maestam', Sil. 1. 98, 8. 645 f. The portents are virtually interchangeable: see Pease on Cic. Div. 1. 98 'Cumis Apollo sudavit', and cf. Liv. 48. 13. 4 'Cumis in arce Apollo triduum ac tres noctes lacrimavit', of the same event. Belief in such portents is attacked by Lucretius at 3. 784 ff., esp. 786 'nec cruor in lignis neque saxis sucus inesse'. 636. saxum parallels for this metonymy appear to be lacking, but cf. Hor. Carm. 4. 8. 7 f. 'hic saxo, liquidis ille coloribus / sollers nunc hominem ponere, nunc deum'. Claudian is no doubt imitating Statius when he lists 'lapidum fletus' (Eutr. 2. 43) among the portents which accompany a eunuch's consulship. 637–669. While en route for Thebes Diana is intercepted by her brother Apollo, who reminds her that he had been unable to defend his own favourite Amphiaraus from death: now the Fates demand the life of Parthenopaeus too, and any resistance on her part is useless. She resolves to do what she can—that is, cover his last day in glory and punish his murderer. Much of this passage's tragic melancholy is derived from the echoes of Zeus' grief at the Page 143 of 195

fated death of Sarpedon, and his momentary resolve to defy Fate: see Il. 16. 431 ff., and cf. also Virg. A. 10. 464 ff. This episode also shows Statius' gift for fantasy and description at its best in the picture of the meeting of the divinities in heaven. 637. ferox cf. 594 (of Atalanta). The adjective implies an active propensity to violence or severity and is thus well-suited to this grim goddess who is so swift to kill in the defence of her own: cf. e.g. Catul. 64. 73 'ferox … Theseus', Liv. 38. 13. 11 'feroces ad bellandum habebat viros', Tac. Ann. 4. 21. 638. expositam both 'stretched out' (a rare usage, but cf. 5. 551 (a serpent) 'obliqua cervicem expostus in alvo') and 'left exposed to danger'. For the latter sense see Williams on 10. 269 'expositas turpi marcore'.   gelidas both literally, because the altar is made of marble, and metaphorically, because Atalanta's prayer must be rejected. For the idea cf. Pers. 1. 108 f. 'vide, sis, ne maiorum tibi forte / limina frigescant'.   verrentem crinibus as a sign of their distress suppliant women unbind their hair, which therefore 'sweeps' the surface of the altar or floor when they are prostrate: cf. Liv. 3. 7. 8 'matres, crinibus templa verrentes, veniam irarum caelestium finemque pesti exposcunt', 26. 9. 7, Apul. Met. 6. 2 'uberi fletu rigans deae vestigia humumque verrens crinibus suis … veniam postulabat', Claud. Carm. Min. 30. 223 f. For the male equivalent see Sil. 13. 310 f. 'nunc propexis in pectora barbis / verrere humum'. 639. Mt. Maenalos in Arcadia is so high (1981 m.) that the branches of the trees on its summit seem intertwined with the stars: the splendid hyperbole ........................................................................................................................... pg 180 recalls Aesch. PV 721 f. ἀστρογείτονας … / κορυφάς‎. See also Housman, Cl. P. 1, p. 349. Statius regularly calls mountains 'leafy': cf. the careless repetition of the idea at 643 f., and also 2. 500 'iuga frondea', 4. 158 'frondosa … ab Oeta', 7. 799 f., 8. 79 'frondenti … iungere Pelion Ossae'. 640 f. Before Hill all modern editors accepted Baehren's emendation saltu gressumque, a good example of the tendency of scholars to reduce Silver poetry to comfortable prose in total defiance of the manuscript tradition. As Hill explains, Diana takes a single step to the top of mighty Maenalos so that she can have a clear path for her leap to Thebes. For the great and easy steps of the gods cf. Poseidon's journey from Samothrace to Aegae: Il. 13. 20 f. τρὶς μὲν ὀρέξατʼ ἰών, τὸ δὲ τέτρατον ἵκετο τέκμωρ, / Αἰγάς‎. For destino of directing one's course cf. Petr. 114. 2 'nec quo destinaret cursum gubernator sciebat'.

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641. interior caeli … semita Statius may be thinking of Ov. Met. 1. 168 ff. 'est via sublimis, caelo manifesta sereno; / lactea nomen habet, candore notabilis ipso. / hac iter est superis ad magni tecta Tonantis': cf. also the 'recto … limite caeli' (2. 61) along which Somnus drives the horses of Night. This 'inner pathway' of Heaven is reserved for the gods (642 dis tantum), recalling Stoic views on the division of the heavens into areas reserved for divine or semi-divine beings: see Housman on Luc. 9. 4 ff. and cf. Silv. 2. 7. 107 ff., Tert. An. 54. In a passage which is perhaps inspired by Statius Prudentius describes St Agnes rising to Heaven by a 'tramite candido' from which, being 'ardua' (cf. 642), she sees the whole world (Peristephanon 14. 92 ff). Prudentius' main model here, however, is Luc. 9. 1 ff. Compare also Virg. A. 10. 3 f. (Jupiter) 'sideream in sedem, terras unde arduus omnis / … aspectat', Ov. Fast. 4. 565 ff.   lucet cf. 364 f. n., and 6. 388 'claraque per zephyros etiamnum semita lucet'. 642. dis tantum cf. Od. 13. 111 f. οὐδέ τι κείνῃ / ἄνδρες ἐσέρχονται, ἀλλʼ ἀθανάτων ὁδός ἐστιν‎ (of the two entrances to a cave in Phorcys' harbour in Ithaca, one is reserved for the gods).   iuxta take with cunctas … terras: Diana is up so high that she sees, paradoxically, the very ends of the earth as if they were drawn close together. For the general picture cf. e.g. Ap. Rh. 3. 164 ff., Cic. Rep. 6. 16, Theb. 2. 63 f. (Laius' ghost flying to Thebes) 'iamque ardua Cirrhae / pollutamque suo despectat Phocida busto'. 644. colla apparently the only place in classical Latin where colla has the sense of iuga, but cf. Isid. Etym. 14. 8. 19 'colles sunt praeminentiora iuga montium, quasi colla'. Compare the English col—'A marked depression in the summit-line of a mountain-chain, generally affording a pass from one slope to the other' (OED). 644 ff. Apollo's face is hidden in a cloud, his usual glory now dimmed in mourning. This is a mark of grief for his devoted seer Amphiaraus, whose fated demise through being engulfed by a chasm which opened in the earth (demersi) he was unable to prevent: cf. 22 ff. and 513 nn., and see further ten Kate, pp. 63 ff., Vessey, pp. 66, 153 ff., 212 ff., 258 ff. For the idea of the sun darkening in grief Statius is indebted to Virg. G. 1. 466 f. ........................................................................................................................... pg 181 and more particularly Ov. Met. 2. 329 ff. (Phoebus grieves for Phaethon) 'nam pater obductos luctu miserabilis aegro / condiderat vultus, et, si modo credimus, unum / isse diem sine sole ferunt', and 11. 570 ff. Apollo and Helios were already identified in Orphic doctrine: see Diggle on Eur. Phaethon 225 for its appearance in literature. There may have been a scholarly and literary controversy over the issue: see Pfeiffer on Call. fr. 302, Williams on Call. Hymn 2. 9. Roman poets largely take the identification for granted, and for Ovid Phaethon is both 'Sole satus' and 'Phoebo … parente superbum' (Met. 1. 751 f.). Page 145 of 195

646. maestus also used of Apollo grieving for Amphiaraus at 7. 693: cf. 'maerens' at 7. 789. His grief is paralleled by Diana's for Parthenopaeus: cf. 834 maestam … Letoida. 647 ff. A splendid fantasy: as the two gods meet in heaven, their 'stars', from earth, seem to mingle (sidere mixto) and, both flaring up (iubar arsit utrimque), cast a red light over the whole of that part of the sky (inrubuit caeli plaga): see Amar–Lemaire ad loc. This interpretation seems preferable to Lactantius' explanation that Statius is poetically explaining a lunar eclipse. Lines 648 f. are missing from P, but they are clearly genuine and combine a poetic imagination and talent for pictorial description rare in Roman poets other than Statius and Ovid. 647. inrubuit Statius is the only extant classical author to use the compound verb, which does not appear again until the late empire: cf. 6. 231, Silv. 5. 3. 32, Boeth. Cons. 2 carm. 3. 5 f. 'nemus … / vernis inrubuit rosis', Sid. Ep. 4. 23. 1 'confusus irrubuit' ('blushed'). 648. occursuque almost a scientific term for the conjunction of two heavenly bodies: cf. Sen. Dial. 6. 18. 2 'videbis nocturnam lunae successionem, a fraternis occursibus lene remissumque lumen mutuantem', Nat. 1. 17. 3 'duorum siderum occursum', Plin Nat. 7. 160. 649. For the gods' resounding quivers cf. Il. 1. 46 f., Virg. A. 9. 660 (Apollo's) 'Dardanidae pharetram … fuga sensere sonantem', Ov. Met. 8. 320 f. (Atalanta's) 'ex umero pendens resonabat eburnea laevo / telorum custos', and cf. 696 f. n. See also Pease on Virg. A. 4. 149. 651. Parthenopaeus' tragedy is that his courage outstrips his physical strength (4. 253 'nec desunt animi, veniat modo fortior aetas') and leads him to attempt things beyond his power. For his reckless audacia cf. 4. 260 'prosilit audaci Martis percussus amore', 6. 610, 9. 623, 718 ff. n., 729, 781, 810, 12. 126 f. (Atalanta) 'dolet haec queriturque labores / audacis pueri'. It is a regular characteristic of Heldenknaben, shared by Pallas (Virg. A. 8. 110), Eunaeus (7. 683) and Atys (8. 583). See further Clausen, pp. 84 f. 653 ff. Apollo, recalling his seer's piety and his own 'failure' to save him, reproaches himself bitterly. His self-accusations spring from his grief and guilty sense of helplessness, and are in fact illogical: as he, the god of prophecy, knows, Amphiaraus' life was demanded by Fate. The seer himself knew and willingly accepted this: his final speech (7. 779 ff.) contains not one word of reproach to the god, only desiring to submit to Fate and requesting that Apollo punish his treacherous wife and protect his son. ........................................................................................................................... pg 182 653. inritus for the sense 'unsuccessful' cf. e.g. Ov. Rem. 198, Tac. Ann. 15. 25 'inriti remittuntur, cum donis tamen', Theb. 11. 504 f. 'di, quos … non inritus … rogavit / Oedipodes'.

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654. cultoris a 'rare and grandiloquent' word (N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 1. 34. 1), though it becomes a little more common in the Silver period: Statius has it five times (cf. 7. 603, 8. 453) and Lucan six. Compare also Cic. Tusc. 1. 69, Virg. G. 2. 114, A. 11. 788.   frondesque sacras the laurel crown which marked him out as sacred to Apollo and thus seemed to reproach the god for failing in his duty to him. See Amphiaraus' pious request at his katabasis: 7. 784 f. 'accipe commissum capiti decus, accipe laurus / quas Erebo deferre nefas'. 655. in memet versos … vultus a guilty interpretation of the seer's last action: 7. 821 f. 'respexit … cadens caelum, campumque coire / ingemuit'. 656. terraeque abrupta coegi i.e. force back the sides of the chasm (7. 794 ff.) and so close it. The neuter of abruptus is often used of a precipitous drop, either in the singular (Virg. A. 12. 687, Theb. 10. 523, Silv. 3. 2. 69) or the plural (Luc. 10. 317, Theb. 3. 262, Plin. Nat. 6. 65, Tac. Ann. 2. 55). For cogo of 'narrowing' an area see Liv. 22. 15. 11 'saltum, qui … in artas coactus fauces imminet mari', Luc. 2. 613 f. 'se cogentis in artum Hesperiae'. Compare its being used to describe the 'forcing together' of the moon's horns (Prop. 3. 5. 27 f., Luc. 1. 537). 657. inmeritusque coli for Statius' fondness for the sonorous inmeritus see Heuvel on 1. 46. Though common enough with dignus (e.g. Catul. 68. 131, Virg. Ecl. 5. 54, Ov. Met. 8. 127 etc.), the infinitive is rare with indignus and inmeritus. Compare however Hor. Carm. 3. 2. 21 'immeritis mori'. 657 f. Apollo indicates Delphi (cf. 643 f.) where, to honour Amphiaraus, his oracle has fallen silent: see 513 n. Thus Thiodamus' prophecy is fulfilled: 8. 195 ff. 'aeternus Phoebo dolor et nova clades / semper eris mutisque diu plorabere Delphis. / hic Tenedon Chrysenque dies partuque ligatam / Delon et intonsi cludet penetralia Branchi, / nec Clarias hac luce fores Didymaeaque quisquam / limina nec Lyciam supplex consultor adibit'. This appears to be an aetiology for an annual day of mourning for Amphiaraus in historical times. 659 f. perge governs both peritura movere auxilia and maestos in vanum labores. peritura helps bring to mind Amphiaraus' words to Apollo: (7. 779 ff.) 'olim te, Cirrhaee pater, peritura sedentem / ad iuga … axe trementi / sensimus'. Mozley translates movere auxilia as 'summon aid', but it is her own aid that Diana is bringing: cf. 12. 183 'tunc movet arte dolum', where Argia 'brings to bear' her own guile. 661. A majestic, resonant line, which gains solemnity from its clear echoes of similar tragic situations in Homer and Virgil: cf. Il. 16. 441 (Hera, of Sarpedon) ἄνδρα θνητὸν ἐόντα, πάλαι πεπρωμένον αἴσῃ‎ and A. 10. 467 f. (Jupiter, of Pallas) 'stat sua cuique dies, breve et inreparabile tempus / omnibus est vitae'. See also 663 n.

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662. de dubiis for the traditional ambiguity of oracles see Barth ad loc.: perhaps the most famous case is the misleading prophecy given by Delphi to Croesus (Herod. 1. 53). For the replacement of de by nunc in the ω‎ tradition see H. W. Garrod, JPh 29 (1904), 254. ........................................................................................................................... pg 183 663. decus extremum i.e. a glorious aristeia before his death. When Apollo granted Amphiaraus the same favour the poet said (7. 692) 'famulo decus addit inane': the epithet lingers in our memory and colours our view of Diana's kindness here. Cf. also 726 extremo … morientis honori. Statius may have in mind Fides' promise to Hercules on the fate of the Saguntines: Sil. 2. 510 ff. 'quod solum nunc fata sinunt seriesque futuri, / extendam leti decus atque in saecula mittam / ipsaque laudatas ad manes prosequar umbras'.   certe Hill rightly says that it is not clear whether certe has arisen from Lactantius' paraphrase ('certe extremum decus et solatus mortis ei concedam, ne inultus occumbat') or whether the scholiast is preserving Statius' own words. Given that he preserves the others, however, it looks likely that certe is right too. Moreover, misero (ω‎) looks like a space-filler added by a copyist after certe had dropped out of the text. For certe Hill compares 11. 738 f. 664. duraeque modern editors before Hill print veraeque, taking it to mean 'predestined' (Mozley 'a solace for his death, if indeed it so must be'): but 'certainly verus is not capable of this sense' (Håkanson, p. 64). Shackleton Bailey, MH 40 (1983), 57 f., objects to durae, finding it 'tame', and suggests carae and the palaeographically more likely nostrae (rae). The latter is certainly attractive—the boy's death is very much her concern—but durae makes good and appropriate sense, and should be retained.   solacia morti cf. 1. 596, and see 17 n. It seems to be an Ovidian phrase (Met. 5. 73, 191): cf. also Luc. 8. 314. 665 ff. These lines are modelled on Diana's instructions to Opis on the avenging of Camilla: Virg. A. 11. 590 ff. 'haec cape et ultricem pharetra deprome sagittam: / hac, quicumque sacrum violarit vulnere corpus, / Tros Italusque, mihi pariter det sanguine poenas'. 666. insontis pueri cf. 443 n.   scelerarit … dextram cf. Virg. A. 3. 42 'parce pias scelerare manus'. scelero is first attested in extant Latin literature at Catul. 64. 404: though the past participle sceleratus is commonly used as an adjective, the verb is otherwise somewhat rare, but cf. 2. 663, 7. 212, 8. 761. 667. et nostris may her arrows too—i.e. like her brother's in, for example, the first book of the Iliad—be permitted their revenge.

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668 f. libandaque fratri / parcius ora tulit she offered him her cheek or lips to kiss, a variant on the phrase libare oscula, usually applied to a light, brushing kiss chastely given by one relative to another: eg. Virg. A. 1. 256 (Jupiter and Venus) 'oscula libavit natae', A. 12. 434 (Aeneas and Ascanius) 'summaque per galeam delibans oscula', Sil. 1. 104 (Hamilcar and Hannibal), and probably [Sen.] Oct. 731 (Poppaea and her husband Crispinus). The kisses of Diana and Apollo are perhaps proverbially chaste: see Ov. Am. 2. 5. 27 f. (oscula) 'qualia credibile est non Phoebo ferre Dianam, / sed Venerem Marti saepe tulisse suo'. Here Diana kisses Apollo parcius because she is in a hurry to be off (movet gressus, 668; velox, 679). 670–682. When Diana arrives on the battlefield the armies are locked in a ........................................................................................................................... pg 184 stalemate created by the deaths of their champions: this deadlock will be broken by the aristeia she grants Parthenopaeus. 670. ereptis much stronger than the English euphemism 'taken from us' (for which see 53, 673), and implying a sudden, often violent death: cf. esp. 8. 431 'erepto cunei ductore Menalca', of another leader fallen in battle. The verb is extremely common in literature, and also grave epitaphs, above all of children and those who die young, e.g. CIL 6. 2. 12652 R 'quodque mihi eripuit mors inmatura iuventae', 9. 3030 'veneno ereptus annorum trium', Cic. Am. 102, Virg. A. 2. 738, Tac. Ag. 44, Ann. 14. 63, Curt. 6. 10. 22 etc.   crudescit idea and wording recall Virg. A. 11. 833 'deiecta crudescit pugna Camilla'. For crudescere of battles cf. also A. 7. 788, Theb. 7. 624. 671. The desire for revenge, as elsewhere in the Thebaid, stimulates mutual revenge (fremit, 673; rabidis, 675), and here even overcomes their love of life (674–6). See also 1–31 n. 672 f. desolatumque magistro / agmen a ponderous, melancholy phrase imitating Virg. A. 11. 870 'disiectique duces desolatique manipli', of the confusion which followed the death of Camilla. Though magister is commonly used of an army commander (e.g. Virg. A. 9. 370, Liv. 22. 23. 2, Sil. 3. 173 etc.), the collocation with desolatum suggests the image of a helmsman abandoning ship. desolare is first found in extant Latin epic at Virg. A. 11. 367: it appears in a similar context at 10. 180 f. 'magnis loca desolata tuentur / regibus'. 674. praebent obnixi corpora ferro echoing Virg. A. 12. 540 f. 'dedit obvia ferro / pectora'. obnixi implies that, in their eagerness for revenge, they 'strain forwards' and willingly court death. For the topic of 'amor mortis' in Latin epic see Mayer on Luc. 8. 364, W. Rutz, Hermes 88 (1960), 462–75. It appears in the Thebaid again at 10. 677, 804, 12. 679.

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675. idem ardor see 25 n. 675 f. externum haurire cruorem / ac fudisse suum for externus with the sense of alienus, and for similar contrasts with suus, cf. V. Fl. 1. 63 'dabat externo (i.e. 'non suo', Housman, CR 14 (1900), 469) liventia mella veneno', V. Fl. 6. 407 ff. 'externaque fata petentes / Palladii rapuere metus, sic in sua versi / funera concurrunt', Silv. 1. 2. 100 f. 'suaque aut externa revolvit / vulnera'. It is hard to see what significance, if any, the change in tense (from haurire to fudisse) has. Statius' wording is similar to Sen. Ep. 57. 5 'fortes quidam et paratissimi fundere suum sanguinem alienum videre non possunt'. 677. stat cf. 469 n. 678. dant animas et terga negant another elegant antithesis continuing the spirit of 675 f., here enhanced by the chiasmus, terga negant is a clever adaptation of the more usual terga dant (see 470 n.). 679 f. vertice … / astitit cf. 606 f. n. Gods regularly take up positions on high mountains in order to survey the battles of men: Il. 8. 51 f., 397, 11. 183 f., Virg. A. 12. 134 ff., V. Fl. 7. 190 ff., Sil. 5. 206 f. etc. We recall too how Tisiphone 'stetit, abrupta qua plurimus arce Cithaeron / occurrit caelo' (1. 114 f.) as she came to bring disaster to Thebes, and also how ........................................................................................................................... pg 185 Apollo shot his plague-arrows down on the Argives while 'summa … biverticis umbra / Parnasi residens' (1. 628 f.). Similarly Diana is here a baleful divinity (infesta, 669) come to bring woe upon the Thebans. 679. Dircaei i.e. 'Theban'. Dirce was a spring near Thebes (Eur. Phoen. 102, Theb. 1. 38 etc.) named after the wife of Lycus. The sons of Antiope punished her for her maltreatment of their mother (Paus. 9. 25. 3). The spring is regularly associated with Cithaeron (4. 447, Silv. 2. 7. 18) and in fact had a source on the mountain (Roscher, i. 310). 680 ff. The hills and forest recognize the goddess and tremble, remembering a previous visit when she came, with Apollo, to avenge Niobe's insult to their mother Leto by massacring her seven sons and seven daughters. The legend first appears at Il. 24. 605 ff. and is told in full by Ovid at Met. 6. 146 ff.: at Theb. 3. 191 ff. the aged Aletes recalls the incident as the greatest disaster in the city's history before Tydeus' victory in the ambush. See further Barrett's remarks on the literary history of the legend at R. Carden, The Papyrus Fragments of Sophocles (Berlin, 1974), pp. 223 ff. 680. tremescit nature conventionally trembles in awe at the epiphany of a god: see F. Williams on Call. Hymn 2. 1, and cf. Ap. Rh. 2. 679 ff., Virg. A. 3. 90 ff., Psalms 68: 8, 114. 7 'O at the presence of the Lord, earth, tremble thou for fear' etc. The upper world trembles in

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dread at the ominous presence of Tisiphone at Ov. Met. 4. 486 f., Theb. 1. 98 f., while 'Hell trembled as he (sc. Death) strode' at Milton, PL 2. 676. 681. saevis … sagittis echoing 667 et nostris fas sit saevire sagittis: Diana will now grant her own prayer.   exerta i.e. with one breast—probably the right—bare, to make it easier to shoot. The practice is of course mainly associated with the Amazons: see Austin on Virg. A. 1. 492 f. (Penthesilea) 'aurea subnectens exsertae cingula mammae / bellatrix', and cf. A. 11. 648 f. 'Amazon / unum exserta latus', 11. 803 (Camilla) 'hasta sub exsertam … perlata papillam'. The participle can also stand alone with the sense 'stripped for battle' (e.g. Luc. 2. 543, Theb. 7. 609). 682. consumpserat not 'had slain' (Mozley), since Niobe was spared because her punishment was not death but to grieve for her children. Take the verb with fecundam: for all her fertility Niobe was 'reduced to nothing'. Cf. 6. 124 'geminis Niobe consumpta pharetris', and see also 60 n. 683–711. Though this is Parthenopaeus' first appearance in Book 9, the reader has met him before in the Argive catalogue (4. 246 ff.) and the funeral games of Archemorus (6. 550 ff.). The catalogue revealed him to be the fairest and best-loved of the princes, but characterized by a reckless daring and desire to prove himself in war, by extreme youth ill-suited to the battlefield (cf. 684 n.), and by a charming exuberance of spirits which leads, however, to a cruel disregard for his mother's fears. In the funeral games he was victor in the foot-race, his fleetness of foot being a characteristic inherited from his mother (6. 563 ff.) and shared with Virgil's Camilla (A. 7. 806 ff.). Running, though, is 'tenuissima virtus, / pacis opus', useful in games 'nec inutile bellis / subsidium, si dextra neget' (6. 551–3), but hardly an adequate substitute for true martial prowess, as is shown by the fate of Homer's Polydorus (Il. 20. 407 ff.). Moreover, Parthenopaeus loses the first ........................................................................................................................... pg 186 race through Idas' trickery, and only wins the re-run ordered by Adrastus with Diana's help: yet in the contest of war there can be no second attempt, and Diana cannot answer his prayer (608 ff., 863 nn.). See further D. Vessey, Latomus 29 (1970), 429 f.   The oldest tradition, found in Pausanias (9. 18. 6) and Apollodorus (1. 9. 13), and followed by Antimachus (schol. on Eur. Phoen. 150 and Aesch. Sept. 547 = Wyss 17), made him the son of Talaus and brother of Adrastus, hence an Argive and a mature warrior. The tragedians offer a different version, making him an Arcadian (Eur. Phoen. 1153, Soph. OC 1320): Aeschylus (Sept. 547 f.) and Euripides (Suppl. 890 f.) account for his presence in the Argive host by portraying him as a metic brought up in Argos. Statius goes further and has him brought up in Arcadia by his mother, far from the cities of men and in fatal ignorance of war. Page 151 of 195

  Euripides and Aeschylus portray him as a youth with his beard just growing (see 702 f. n.), perhaps inspired by his name ('maiden-face'). Aeschylus (Sept. 533) also explicitly calls him a 'man-boy' (ἀνδρόπαις ἀνήρ‎), but none the less insists that he is a fierce warrior (Sept. 536 f.). Statius develops this into a full-scale tragedy: it is the arrogance of his youth which causes his death. The emphasis is on the pathos of the destruction of his youth, innocence, and beauty: see 1. 44 f. 'ploranda … bella protervi / Arcados', 10. 357. This leads Legras (p. 218) to complain of 'mignardise excessive' and a lack of virility: on the other hand E. Eissfeldt, Philologus 63 (1904), 424, comments on the incomparable beauty of some of the Parthenopaeus scenes, and E. Turolla, Orpheus 3 (1956), 145, praises their frequent touches of profound humanity. Undoubtedly the fullest and most sensitive examination of Parthenopaeus is that of Schetter (pp. 43 ff.), who traces his relationship to the Virgilian Heldenknabe, while stressing that he fights, not for an objective goal like Pallas or Lausus, but out of the pure love of fighting (p. 47: cf. 4. 260 'audaci Martis percussus amore'). See further 571 and 613 nn. for the traditions concerning his parentage, 651 n. for his audacia, 699 ff. for his beauty, 841–876 n. for his death, H. Glaesener, Musée Belge 3 (1899), 106 f., Legras pp. 218 f., ten Kate, pp. 98 ff., Vessey, pp. 66, 201 f., 218 f., 298 ff.   The description of the finery in which Parthenopaeus and his horse are caparisoned complements that given in the Argive catalogue (4. 265–74, esp. 265 'igneus ante omnes auro micat, igneus ostro'). The splendour of his armour recalls Camilla (Virg. A. 7. 813 ff.) but, in structure and tone, more particularly Chloreus, the priest of Cybele whose splendid raiment attracts her attention (Virg. A. 11. 768 ff.; compare e.g. 685 f. and A. 11. 770 f. 'equum, quem pellis … / … tegebat'). Both Chloreus and Eunaeus, the priest of Bacchus modelled on him (7. 649 ff.), are none the less betrayed by their ostentation as effeminate and unwarlike. So too Parthenopaeus' purple and gold reveal how ill-prepared he is for battle (684, 685, 693 nn.). The idea goes back to Homer, for whom the wearing of finery is the mark of the fool or womanly warrior: e.g. Il. 2. 873 ff. (Nastes) ὃς καὶ χρυσὸν ἔχων πόλεμόνδʼ ἴεν ἠΰτε κούρη, / νήπιος, οὐδέ τί οἱ τό γ̓ ἐπήρκεσε λυγρὸν ὄλεθρον‎ etc. See also Griffin, pp. 3 f., esp. n. 8 'Such warriors exist only to be slain by proper ........................................................................................................................... pg 187 heroes', and cf. Tac. Ag. 32 (Calgacus) 'ne terreat vanus aspectus et auri fulgor atque argenti, quod neque tegit neque vulnerat'. 683. illum i.e. Parthenopaeus. In referring to a character not mentioned for some time, epic poets quite frequently use pronouns which may not be immediately clear to the reader: for a more striking example see 848 ff. n. See further G. Williams, pp. 244 f., for the explanation that changes in the tone of voice and delivery would have prevented ambiguity during recitations, and cf. 7. 468, 818, 11. 9. Abrupt changes of subject are similarly common: see Pease on Virg. A. 4. 532, Mayer on Luc. 8. 68.

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  acies inter for anastrophe of prepositions see 65 n. With inter it is mainly used with pronouns (e.g. 5. 667, 10. 347, Ach. 1. 319, Silv. 4. 6. 32), but for the use with substantives cf. Lucr. 4. 415 'lapides inter', Virg. A. 11. 692 'loricam galeamque inter', Ov. Tr. 1. 6. 33, Ach. 1. 825.   coepta the manuscript readings would leave iam caede superbum very weak, since the force of iam would be obscure and caede superbum would make unacceptable sense, as the boy's aristeia has not yet begun. Understand rather that, now that the battle has begun, he is proud to be there with the warriors. H. W. Garrod, JPh. 29 (1904), 254 f., offers a possible explanation of the origins of medias. 684. nescius armorum as its master is 'a rudis armorum' (4. 247). This is not the horse Parthenopaeus won in the foot-race (6. 644) but his old Arcadian hunting horse (venator … equus), itself dangerously unused to war. It will be hamstrung at 873 f. but, if Atalanta's dreams are true (580), will survive to grieve for its master. 685. raptabat the OLD s.v. 1 understands this to mean 'hurrying away', but surely the horse was darting eagerly about from one part of the field to another, bearing the boy—too weak to restrain it—along: cf. Lucr. 5. 397 f. 'Phaethonta rapax vis solis equorum / aethere raptavit toto'. The verb also implies speed: this is a horse 'trepidos suetum praevertere cervos' (4. 271). 685 f. discolor ambit / tigris i.e. a flayed tiger-skin, with the claws and possibly also the head intact: cf. V. Fl. 6. 704 f. 'per … multo maculatam murice tigrin / concita cuspis abit', Theb. 6. 722 'tigrin inanem'. This seems an extension of e.g. Virg. A. 10. 785 'intextum tauris ( = 'bulls' hides') opus': cf. Theb. 1. 484 'leonem' ('lion-skin'), 7. 310. The TLL 5. 1. 1336. 55, perhaps misled by 4. 327, wrongly believes that the epithet refers to the horse ('piebald'), but it qualifies tigris ('striped'). At 4. 272 the horse was 'velatum geminae deiectu lyncis'. Statius' lines here appear to have inspired Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 17 f. (Bacchus) 'quem Parthica velat / tigris et auratos in nodum colligit ungues'. 686. auratis adverberat unguibus armos an archaic, somewhat barbaric touch, no doubt borrowed from Virg. A. 8. 552 f. (a horse given to Aeneas by Evander's rustic people) 'quem fulva leonis / pellis obit totum praefulgens unguibus aureis'. Cf. also Eunaeus' 'aurata lynce pharetrae' (7. 661). The compound adverberat is found in classical Latin only here and at Sid. Carm. 11. 58: see Schamberger, pp. 297 ff. Other apparent ........................................................................................................................... pg 188 neologisms in ad- in Statius are aderrat (178), adnarrant (8. 619) and adstridentibus (11. 494).

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687 f. Editors formerly understood as a unit the two clauses joined by et (Mozley, 'his knotted mane in controlled luxuriance lies close against his neck'), but, as Hill says, this seems asperum. Punctuate rather with a comma after nodis and supply est with castigata: the mane has been groomed or cut back, revealing the bed of muscle on which the neck rests. For nodis Hill compares 1. 134 (a young bull) 'nodosos … in armos' and 6. 844 f. (Tydeus) 'nodisque lacerti / difficiles'. For castigo with the sense 'restrain' cf. Petr. 47. 7 'castigamus … risum', Plin. Nat. 18. 161, Theb. 6. 700. The context here recalls Ov. Am. 1. 5. 21 'castigato planus sub pectore venter' and Theb. 6. 871 f. 'riget arta cutis durisque laborum / castigata toris'. 688 f. Statius appears to be imitating Calp. Ecl. 6. 43 ff. (a stag) 'rutiloque monilia torque / extrema cervice natant, ubi pendulus apri / dens sedet et nivea distinguit pectora luna'. From this we may infer that the teeth here are boar's tusks (lunata being a transferred epithet), the spoils of the boy's hunting, and that sub pectore primo means the top of the breast where the neck and scapulae meet (cf. 'extrema cervice'). Ornamental collars are also worn by horses at Virg. A. 7. 278 and Claud. Carm. Min. 47. 9, and by a stag at Ov. Met. 10. 112 f. 690. bis Oebalio saturatam murice pallam echoing Ov. Met. 11. 166 'Tyrio saturata murice palla'. Double-dyed purple would naturally be extremely rich in colour and so implies great splendour: cf. Hor. Carm. 2. 16. 35 ff., Epod. 12. 21, Plin. Nat. 9. 135, 137. Spartan purple, from the coast near Gythium, was the best in Europe according to Pliny (Nat. 9. 127), and Pausanias (3. 21. 6) thought it second only to Tyrian produce: on the other hand Ovid (Rem. 707 f.) stresses its inferiority to the genuine article: 'confer Amyclaeis medicatum vellus aënis / murice cum Tyrio; turpius illud erit'. Cf. also Alcman 1. 64 f., Juv. 8. 101, Silv. 1. 2, and see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 2. 18. 7 f. The epithet Oebalius ('Spartan', from Oebalus, father of Tyndareus: see Paus. 3. 1. 3, 4. 2. 4, Hyg. Fab. 78. 1, 271. 1) is first attested in extant Latin literature at Virg. G. 4. 125. It is common in poetry afterwards, but nowhere more so than in Statius' learned poetry (seven times in the Thebaid). 691. lucentesque auro tunicas recalling the gold-embroidered tunic made for Lausus by his mother: Virg. A. 10. 818 'tunicam molli mater quam neverat auro'. Cf. also A. 10. 314 'tunicam squalentem auro'. 691 f. hoc neverat unum / mater opus that doomed or slain warriors wear garments made by their wives or mothers is a sentimental topos apparently introduced into Latin epic by Virgil: cf. A. 10. 817 f., V. Fl. 6. 223 ff., 709 f., Theb. 8. 564 ff., 11. 399 ff. The labours of the kinswomen pathetically testify to their love and pride in the menfolk cruelly taken from them by war. This pathos is greater in the cases of Lausus, Atys, and Parthenopaeus: their mothers make their clothes because they are too young to have wives. Statius' statement that this tunic is the only work of Atalanta's loom subtly enriches the motif still further: (Lactantius)

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'bene unum, quod nisi pietate victa filii numquam venatrix feminea opera contigisset' (cf. 614 f.). ........................................................................................................................... pg 189 693. clipeum no hero's shield, but a mere 'imbelli parma' depicting 'Calydonia matris / proelia' (4. 267 f.). This last detail is an adaptation of Eur. Phoen. 1107 ff. ἐπίσημʼ ἔχων οἰκεῖον ἐν μέσῳ σάκει, / ἑκηβόλοις τόξοισιν Ἀταλάντην κάπρον / χειρουμένην Ἀιτωλόν.‎ 694. ense gravis nimio the sword is ominously too heavy for a young boy used to the bow. There is an echo here of 4. 271 ff. 'cornipedem … / … arma / mirantem gravioris eri'.   iuvat the various emendations suggested by editors are inspired by the oddity of construction, but iuvat should in fact be taken with both fibula (695) and audire (696). As Hill remarks, if audire were independent it would be a historic infinitive cum sensu ieiuno ('and he could hear'). For both a verb and a noun being dependent on an impersonal verb cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 1. 3 ff. 'sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum / collegisse iuvat, metaque fervidis / evitata rotis', 4. 1. 29 ff., Juv. 11. 201 f.   tereti … morsu a bold oxymoron, and a striking way of describing a clasp. For morsus of hooks etc. cf. Virg. A. 1. 168 f. 'navis / … unco non alligat ancora morsu', Luc. 3. 699, Sil. 14. 327, and esp Calp. Ecl. 7. 81 'adunco fibula morsu'. Statius has in mind e.g. Ov. Met. 8. 318 'rasilis huic summam mordebat fibula vestem': cf. also Met. 14. 394, Claud. Eutr. 2. 184. 695. pendentis … cinctus genitive singular, dependent on fibula. pendentes would give a very clumsy clause devoid of a verb and hanging in mid-air, a 'dissolutionem intolerabilem' (Hill). 695 ff. Parthenopaeus' arms rattle noisily against his armour (latera aspera), delighting him (iuvat) because the noise makes him sound fierce: cf. 4. 268 'trux laeva sonat arcus', Virg. A. 9. 651 'saeva sonoribus arma'. 696 f. tremulum … pharetrae / murmur recalling the ominous noise of Apollo's armour at Il. 1. 46 f. ἔκλαγξαν δ' ἄρ' ὀϊστοὶ ἐπʼ ὤμων χωομένοιο, / αὐτοῦ κινηθέντος.‎ Cf. also Virg. A. 4. 149 'tela sonant umeris', Theb. 7. 661 (Eunaeus) 'pendentesque sonant aurata lynce pharetrae'. Parthenopaeus' quiver is luxuriously adorned with electrum and jasper (4. 269 f.): cf. his jewelled helmet (699). 697. a cono missas in terga catenas to protect the otherwise exposed neck, as Lactantius saw. The conus is the ridge at the top of the helmet to which the crest is attached (cf. Virg. A. 3. 468, Theb. 8. 402, Ach. 1. 437 etc.).

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698. hilaris Parthenopaeus' joy in being at last in battle with real warriors dominates the passage (cf. iuvat, 694). It brings him, however, disconcertingly close to those who delight in killing and sinful slaughter, such as Tydeus ('hilarem bello', 4. 113) and Eteocles ('ad lituos hilarem', 11. 325, as he prepares to fight his brother). 699. pictum gemmis galeae iubar cf. 696 f. n. So too Chloreus has an 'aurea … / cassida' (Virg. A. 11. 774 f.). 699 ff. Parthenopaeus removes his helmet, exposing to view his face and hair and thus revealing in all its glory his radiant beauty (see 700 ff. n.). Statius may have in mind Prop. 3. 11. 15 f. (Achilles, after killing Penthesilea) 'aurea cui postquam nudavit cassida frontem, / vicit victorem candida forma virum' (cf. Quintus Smyrnaeus 1. 657 ff.: possibly Quintus and ........................................................................................................................... pg 190 Propertius have a common source), but his primary source is undoubtedly Ovid, whose Scylla thinks Minos beautiful even when helmeted, but is driven almost mad with desire when the helmet is doffed: Met. 8. 32 ff. 'cum vero faciem dempto nudaverat aere / … / … / vix sua, vix sanae virgo Niseia compos / mentis erat'. The present passage was perhaps one of Statius' most popular pieces: Martial seems to be alluding to it at 9. 56. 7 f. 'non iaculo, non ense fuit laesusve sagitta / casside dum liber Parthenopaeus erat'. Statius himself surely intends us to recall it when he compares the charms of Flavius Ursus' favourite with the beauty of Parthenopaeus: (Silv. 2. 6. 38 ff.) 'non tibi femineum vultu decus oraque supra / mollis honos, qualis dubiae post crimina formae / de sexu transire iubent: torva atque virilis / gratia; nec petulans acies blandique severo / igne oculi, qualis bellans sine casside (see Håkanson, Silvae, pp. 74 ff.) visu / Parthenopaeus erat; simplexque honore decoro / crinis et obsessae nondum primoque micantes / flore genae'. The beauty of both young men is not that of a girl or a eunuch, but of a boy on the verge of manhood, combining softness and delicacy with the promise of virility and strength. The whole portrayal is permeated by erotic undertones which are merely heightened by his chastity (704 n.). This sensuality is most clearly seen in the disrobing scene at the foot-race (6. 561 ff.: see Schetter, pp. 52 ff.) but is also disturbingly present in the description of his death and the violation and destruction of his beauty (883 n.). 699 f. pugna / cassis anhela calet note the striking transference of anhela, properly appropriate to Parthenopaeus: cf. 8. 202 'quercus anhela', 12. 600 'viresque instaurat anhelas'. The genitive pugnae (P) is defended by Klotz, who compares Sil. 15. 718 'longique laboris anhelos'. The ablative, however, is much more natural: see Dilke on Ach. 1. 488. 700 ff. Parthenopaeus' beauty is described in terms appropriate to a star (exoritur, radiis, nitent), recalling 6. 580 ff. where he was compared to Hesperos: cf. esp. 'omnia clara nitent, sed clarior omnia supra / Hesperos exercet radios'. For Parthenopaeus' association with light

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see further von Stosch, p. 18, and cf. also Virg. A. 8. 589 ff., where Pallas is compared to Lucifer. 701. exoritur Garrod's conjecture vultus exseritur (comparing 10. 455, where P has exortos ensis for exertos ensis) would make an odd distinction between vertice and vultus, and is in any case unnecessary as exoritur is entirely appropriate to the imagery of a star.   trementes quivering with light: for the common manuscript confusion between tremo and fremo see Hill on 5. 78, and cf. 2. 509 'visu … trementi' ('frementi', P) and 11. 532 'igne tremunt oculi' ('fremunt', O). Cf. also trepidos … visus, 880. 702 f. Parthenopaeus grieves that his beard has not yet begun to grow: this is an 'improvement' on the tragedians, who assert that the down is just beginning to appear (Aesch. Sept. 534 στείχει δʼ ἴουλος ἄρτι διὰ παρηίδων‎, Eur. Phoen. 1160 f. ἄρτι δʼ οἰνωπὸν γένυν / καθῃμάτωσεν‎). The absence or very recent appearance of facial hair indicates youth turning to manhood and as such has a long history: e.g. Call. fr. 274 Pf., Hymn 5. 75 f., Pac. Inc. Fab. 34 Warmington, Lucr. 5. 889, Prop. 3. 7. 59, Ov. Met. 13. 753 f., ........................................................................................................................... pg 191 V. Fl. 7. 340, Sil. 16. 468, Ach. 1. 163, Mart. 2. 61. 1, 9. 36. 5. S. L. Tarán, JHS 105 (1985), 90 ff., shows how the topos is employed in erotic epigram to indicate the end of a boy's beauty. In epic it adds pathos to the death of Heldenknaben: compare e.g. Euryalus (Virg. A. 9. 181 'ora puer prima signans intonsa iuventa'), Clytius (A. 10. 324), Idas (Theb. 6. 586), Eunaeus (7. 655), and Butes (8. 486). For the same reason Statius uses the topos in his epicedia for slave-boys (Silv. 2. 1. 52 f., 6. 44 f., 5. 5. 18 ff.). An ingenious adaptation of the idea can be found at Silv. 3. 4. 65 f., where Asclepius is said to have castrated Earinus 'ne prima genas lanugo nitentes / carperet et pulchrae fuscaret gratia formae'. 703. mutatae rosea lanugine for idea and wording cf. Silv. 3. 3. 67 'vixdum ora nova mutante iuventa'. For the construction of muto with the ablative of the object lost and thus causing the change cf. 2. 671 f. 'clipeum … / mutatum spoliis', 7. 559 f. 'mutata … / agmina consiliis', and see Vollmer on Silv. 4. 8. 24 'domus … donis numquam mutata sacratis'. rosea is probably a transferred epithet properly belonging to malae: cf. 4. 336 where Atalanta begs her son to desist from war 'dum roseis venit umbra genis'. 704. nec formae sibi laude placet cf. 6. 574 f. 'ipse tamen formae laudem aspernatur et arcet / mirantes'. This chastity is borrowed from Euripides' Parthenopaeus who, for all his beauty, πολλοὺς δʼ ἐραστὰς κἀπὸ θηλειῶν ὅσας / ἔχων, ἐφρούρει μηδὲν ἐξαμαρτάνειν‎ (Suppl. 899 f.). The beautiful boy rejecting all his suitors also recalls Narcissus: see esp Ov. Met. 3. 352 ff. and von Stosch, p. 160.

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  multum adverbial multum with the sense 'very', perhaps originally a colloquial usage, is particularly common in Statius: cf. 780 and see Dilke on Ach. 1. 3. 705. minis 'threatening looks': see Van Dam on Silv. 2. 2. 148, and cf. Theb. 1. 188 'quas gerit ore minas'. 705 f. frontis servat honorem / ira decens so too, after he lost the footrace through Idas' treachery, Parthenopaeus wept and 'accessit lacrimarum gratia formae' (6. 623). For honos of beauty, grace, and radiance, see Virg. A. 1. 591 'laetos oculis adflarat honores'. ira decens recalls another striking oxymoron, Prop. 4. 8. 52 'furibunda decens'. 706. Thebana iuventus based on Ennius' hexameter ending 'Romana iuventus' (Ann. 499, 500, 563 Skutsch), which was so much part of the high style that we find it burlesqued by Horace (S. 2. 2. 52) and Ovid (Ars 1. 459). For other variants on the phrase in Statius cf. 6. 555, 7. 605, 8. 600, 10. 495. 707. The boy's attempts to look manly and fierce merely accentuate his youth: this brings their own sons to the Thebans' minds and so excites their sympathy, intenta perhaps implies that the tela are bows (cf. Enn. Scen. 31 Vahlen 'intendit … Apollo / arcum', Virg. A. 8. 704, Theb. 1. 658), but the poet is not specific. The sense of retorquent is not 'relax' (Mozley) but 'change the direction of': cf. 803, Virg. A. 12. 485 'aversos totiens currus Iuturna retorsit'. 708. saevas miserantibus ingerit hastas a pathetic development of Virgil's 'fugientibus ingerit hastas' (A. 9. 763, 12. 330); cf. also Sil. 2. 176, ........................................................................................................................... pg 192 7. 594. The oxymoron saevas miserantibus sums up the tone of the whole Parthenopaeus episode: cf. 715 f., and see Schetter, p. 44. 710. ipso sudore et pulvere gratum the idea appears again at Ach. 1. 159 ff. 'ille aderat multo sudore et pulvere maior, / et tamen arma inter festinatosque labores / dulcis adhuc visu: niveo natat ignis in ore / purpureus fulvoque nitet coma gratior auro', where see Dilke's note. Compare also Phaedra's delight in the masculine beauty of Hippolytus at Ov. Ep. 4. 71 ff. and Ovid's instructions to the would-be lover at Ars 1. 509 ff., with Hollis. The present passage is imitated by Claudian at III Cons. Hon. 37 'grato respersus pulvere belli'. For sweat in epic accounts of heroes' battles see Il. 16. 109 f., Enn. Ann. 396 Skutsch, Virg. A. 9. 812 etc. 711. tacito ducunt suspiria voto i.e. 'ut nubant ei aut vincat' (Lactantius). Theirs is thus a guilty and unpatriotic wish, hence tacito. Compare Catullus' description of Ariadne as Theseus went to face the Minotaur: 64. 103 f. 'non ingrata tamen frustra munuscula divis / promittens tacito succepit vota labello'. The context also recalls Scylla's desire for Minos (Ov.

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Met. 8. 1 ff.) or Medea watching Jason in battle from the walls of Colchis (V. Fl. 6. 657 ff.). Cf. also Hor. Carm. 3. 2. 8 f. We should not forget the erotic appeal of the killer, be he soldier or gladiator: see Juvenal's tirade against Eppia, who absconded with a gladiator (6. 102 ff., esp. 112 'ferrum est quod amant') and also K. Hopkins, Death and Renewal (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 20 ff., quoting a Pompeian graffito describing the gladiator Celadus as 'suspirium puellarum'. Above all, however, cf. Silv. 5. 2. 122 ff. (of Parthenopaeus) 'quem de turribus altis / Arcadas Ogygio versantem in pulvere metas / spectabant Tyriae non torvo lumine matres'. 712–735. Moved to tears, Diana silently reproaches the boy for his thoughtless cruelty to his mother, and replaces his arrows with her own divine ones. In her Hecate persona she also applies magic unguents and spells to protect him. 712 f. subit … / corda dolor subeo is often used of emotions, e.g. anger (Virg. A. 2. 575), hope (Ov. Tr. 2. 147), pity (Plin. Ep. 3. 7. 10). 713. genas violata 'profaned' because a goddess should not grieve for a mortal: contrast Artemis' refusal to weep for Hippolytus (Eur. Hipp. 1396 κατʼ ὄσσων δʼ οὐ θέμις βαλεῖν δάκρυ‎), a change which well illustrates how far Statius has moved in his sentimentality from the classical ideal. Cf. also 6. 384 (Apollo grieving for Amphiaraus) 'os fletu paene inviolabile tinctus'. Since Diana is a virgin, violata is rather a suggestive word to choose: for its being used of the 'sullying' of beauty see e.g. Virg. A. 12. 67 f. 'Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro / si quis ebur'. genas here may mean 'cheeks' or, as often, 'eyes' (see Skutsch on Enn. Ann. 546 'pandite … genas'): similarly doubtful cases are 7. 359, Silv. 2. 7. 133. Cf. also Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1. 192 f. 'praesaga mali violavit oborto / rore genas'. 714. dea fida so she remains though Parthenopaeus (907) will not believe it. Compare Juno's words at 516. Similarly Atalanta is fida to Diana (652). 714 f. leti … propinqui / effugium effugium is a rare word, perhaps introduced into poetry by Lucretius (1. 975, 3. 524, 5. 994): see Austin on ........................................................................................................................... pg 193 Virg. A. 2. 140. leti fuga (e.g. Hor. S. 2. 6. 95) would be more natural. propinquus is commonly used of imminent death: cf. Lucr. 6. 1218, Silv. 4. 7. 35 f., Sil. 2. 258. 715. haecne if he had to fight, why choose this sinful campaign of his own free will and with such alacrity (ultro properasti)? 715 f. saeve / ac miserande puer cf. 708 n. miserande puer is a Virgilian phrase, applied to other ill-fated youths, Marcellus (A. 6. 882), Lausus (10. 825), and Pallas (11. 42): cf. also V. Fl. 3. 116, 290, 8. 99. saeve continues the note of eroticism found in the previous lines:

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cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 19. 1 'mater saeva Cupidinum' (of Venus), Nemes. Ecl. 4. 44 'saeve puer', and esp. Reposianus, De Conc. Mart. et Ven. 52 and Claud. Carm. Min. 29. 51 where the phrase 'saeve puer' is used of Cupid. In such a context it may not be without significance that Parthenopaeus, like Cupid, fights with the bow: cf. 744 puer improbe n. 716. cruda heu festinaque virtus the confused word order and intrusive heu reflect Diana's agitation. Sense and wording are echoed in Chiron's anxieties about Achilles: Ach. 1. 147 f. 'nescio quid magnum … / vis festina parat tenuesque supervenit annos'. Cf. also Ach. 1. 276 f. 'cruda exordia magnae / indolis'. For crudus with the sense 'immature' see Smolenaars on 7. 298 f. 'crudum … maritis / ignibus' and cf. Cic. Sen. 71 'poma ex arboribus, cruda si sunt, vix evelluntur', Hor. Carm. 3. 11. 1f. 'nuptiarum expers et adhuc protervo / cruda marito'. 717. This line recalls 4. 247, where we were told that Parthenopaeus joined the host because 'tantum nova gloria suadet'. For the epic hero's desire for glory see Griffin, pp. 96 ff.   hortatrix the feminine form is extremely rare, but cf. Pac. trag. 195 'blandam hortatricem adiugat / voluptatem', Quint. Inst. 11. 3. 103 'hortatrix manus'. Only Statius seems ever to use it of a person: 5. 103 'hortatrix scelerum', of Polyxo.   gloria leti the resounding line-ending is also found in Lucan (4. 479, 5. 656) and Silius (6. 26). gloria is an internal motivating force, a 'thirst for fame': cf. Cic. Tusc. 1. 4 'omnes … incenduntur ad studia gloria', Virg. A. 5. 394, Sil. 6. 333 f. 718 ff. The same incident is mentioned by Atalanta in a similar suasoria: 4. 322 ff. 'nuper te pallida vidi, / dum premis obnixo venabula comminus apro, / poplite succiduo resupinum ac paene ruentem, / et ni curvato torsissem spicula cornu, / nunc ubi bella tibi?'. 718 f. Take angustum with tibi, and understand urguentibus annis as an ablative absolute. For angustus of things being 'too small' or offering little scope for achievement cf. Virg. G. 3. 290 'angustis hunc addere rebus honorem', Eleg. Maec. 118, Sen. Suas. 1. 3 'Alexander orbi magnus est, Alexandro orbis angustus est', Tac. Ann. 14. 33, Juv. 10. 169. Maenalius ('Arcadian'), first attested at Ov. Ars 2. 193, is very common in the Thebaid: cf. 809. 719. parve consciously pathetic: cf. 839.   antra ferarum cf. Virg. Ecl. 10. 52 'spelaea ferarum' and see 905 n. 721. procax Parthenopaeus is scolded as a 'pushing' child who wants more than is good for him.   arcum … implere i.e. pull back the string to its fullest extent. This ........................................................................................................................... Page 160 of 195

pg 194 looks like a rather daring extension of the common application of the verb to the completion of the moon's circle (e.g. Ov. Met. 2. 344 'luna quater iunctis implerat cornibus orbem', Plin. Nat. 2. 80), perhaps influenced by Sen. Nat. 1. 8. 1 (of the rainbow) 'quare arcus non implet orbem …?'. 722 f. ingentem plangit … / invidiam this very daring use of the internal accusative is discussed by Snijder on 3. 196 f. 'matres / invidiam planxere deis'. For the idea of the gods suffering or fearing the ill-will of mortals cf. Ov. Met. 4. 547 f. 'utque parum iustae nimiumque in paelice saevae / invidiam fecere deae', Luc. 2. 35 f. 'nullis defuit aris / invidiam factura parens', Sen. HO 1861 f. 'invidiam ut deis / lugendo facias', Silv. 3. 5. 41 f. 'superi … potentes / invidiam timuere tuam'. 723. surdasque fores so they seem to Atalanta, with whose feelings Diana sympathizes. The phrase rather incongruously recalls the complaints of the exclusus amator: cf. Ov. Am. 1. 6. 54 'surdas flamine tunde foris', 1. 8. 77 'surda sit oranti tua ianua', Prop. 1. 16. 26, Mart. 10. 14. 18. Compare, however, 12. 200 f. 'nec surda ferae pulsabimus urbis / limina'. See also 864 surdos n.   limina lassat i.e. with her unceasing prayers: cf. Hor. Carm. 1. 2. 26 f. 'prece qua fatigent / virgines sanctae minus audientem / carmina Vestam', Theb. 2. 244, 4. 633 f., Tac. Hist. 1. 29. 1 'ignarus interim Galba … fatigabat alieni iam imperii deos'. The examples quoted seem to imply that the gods cannot or will not answer such importunate prayers. Cf. also Milton PL 11. 309 f. 'I would not cease / To weary him with my assiduous cries'. 724. dulces lituos ululataque proelia gaudes one might understand audire, though this seems rather a harsh omission: it seems better to interpret this as another striking incidence of the internal accusative. Eager for battle, Parthenopaeus rejoices to hear the sounds other men dread, the howling of warriors (see 178 n.) and the trumpets' blast. The latter is normally harsh, not 'sweet': contrast Enn. Ann. 544 Skutsch 'lituus sonitus effudit acutos', Hor. Carm. 2. 1. 18 'litui strepunt'. For the past participle of an intransitive verb used with passive sense see Austin on Virg. A. 4. 609 'nocturnisque Hecate triviis ululata per urbes' and Heuvel on Theb. 1. 328 'Ogygiis ululata furoribus antra', ululatus is also similarly used at V. Fl. 4. 608, Theb. 3. 158, 10. 567. 725. miserae tantum moriture parenti the boy's callous joy (gaudes, felix) is sharply contrasted with the pain his death will bring his mother. H. W. Garrod (JPh 29 (1904), 255) explains periture (ω‎) as a conjecture designed to correct the error -um oriture: it may have originated in Lactantius' paraphrase 'matri tuae tantummodo peribis'. moriture, moreover, is guaranteed by the imitation of Aeneas' words to Lausus: Virg. A. 10. 811 f. 'quo moriture ruis, maioraque viribus audes? / fallit te incautum pietas tua'. The repetition of the verb in 726 would have troubled an ancient poet much less than a modern one. The interpretation Page 161 of 195

of tantum presents a graver problem. Lactantius comments 'matri tuae tantummodo peribis, cui soli morte tua ingeres luctum' but, as Håkanson (p. 84) saw, this is inaccurate because lamentation for the boy will in fact be universal (see 882, 12. 807 'Arcada, quem geminae pariter flevere cohortes'). Klotz ........................................................................................................................... pg 195 took tantum to mean 'matri solum, non coniugi', and Håkanson supported this by quoting 12. 331 f. None the less this is rather over-ingenious and not readily extracted from the context: the same is true of F. Ahl's fanciful explanation that Parthenopaeus is 'dead only to his poor mother' because 'for others his memory will be preserved in Statius' poetry' (ANRW 2. 32. 5, p. 2905). Surely preferable is the old interpretation favoured by Hill: only Atalanta is at present sorrowful because only she foresees her son's death (cf. 570 ff., 885 ff.). This interpretation is rejected by W. S. Watt (Eranos 85 (1987), 53), who suggests emending et to nec. 726 f. frustra … / adfuerit frustra may colour morientis but properly belongs to adfuerit. For the frequent use of the perfect subjunctive with perfective sense see S. A. Handford, The Latin Subjunctive (London, 1947), p. 50. The idea here is 'so that she should not (seem to) have been present but done nothing'. 727 f. venit in medios caligine fulva / saepta globos recalling the earlier intervention of Tisiphone (149), though Diana's purpose is to help rather than cause trouble. Some manuscripts offer furva: R. Mayer (CR 35 (1985), 291), arguing that clouds which conceal gods are usually dark, quotes Il. 17. 551 (Athena) πορφυρέῃ νεφέλῃ πυκάσασα‎ and Virg. A. 1. 411 'Venus obscuro gradientis aëre saepsit'. fulva, though, is surely preferable: cf. Lucr. 6. 461 'fulvae nubis caligine crassa' and more particularly Virg. A. 12. 792 (of Juno) 'fulva pugnas de nube tuentem'. Moreover, as Hill points out, furvus is an epithet normally associated with Hell (e.g. Hor. Carm. 2. 13. 21, Sen. HO 1964, Sil. 8. 119, Theb. 8. 10) and thus inappropriate to an Olympian goddess, while fulvus is commonly used of celestial deities (e.g. Virg. A. 12. 792, Theb. 10. 125). Perhaps we should imagine a cloud gleaming with her divine light: cf. in nube corusca (644, of Phoebus). For Statius' use of caligo in general see Dilke on Ach. 2. 149. 728 ff. Similarly Apollo gave Amphiaraus his own arrows to enable him to kill Lampus, the ravisher of his seer Manto (7. 758 f.). The motif is a very ancient one in epic, found also in Near Eastern literature (see Griffin, pp. 32 ff.), and receiving its most famous treatment in extant poetry in the accounts of the weapons given to Achilles (Il. 18. 478 ff.) and Aeneas (Virg. A. 8. 608 ff.). 729 f. caelestibus … / … telis cf. 738. We recall Aeneas 'sidereo flagrans clipeo et caelestibus armis' (Virg. A. 12. 167).

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730. goryton properly the bow-case (see Od. 21. 53 f. ἀπὸ πασσάλου αἴνυτο τόξον / αὐτῷ γωρυτῷ‎) but here, as often in Greek poetry, designating the quiver. This usage is first attested in Latin poetry at Virg. A. 10. 168 f. 'quis tela sagittae / gorytique leves umeris' and is standard thereafter. 731. decidit Hill suspects that decidit may have crept in from 756, but effugit is rendered similarly suspect by the echo at 770 f. nullum sine numine fugit / missile, effugio is used of arrows in flight at Virg. A. 9. 632 and of spears at Theb. 2. 543 and 9. 283: cf. effugium of a spear's flight at Lucr. 1. 983. None the less decidit gives greater point: no arrow 'falls to the ground' without first drawing blood. 731 ff. The protective power of ambrosia can be seen at Virg. G. 4. 415 f., where Cyrene smears it over Aristaeus before his encounter with Proteus. ........................................................................................................................... pg 196 In Homer it is used to anoint corpses and prevent them from suffering mutilation or corruption: the corpses of Sarpedon (Il. 16. 680), Patroclus (Il. 19. 38 f.), and Hector (Il. 23. 186 f.) are so treated, and the greatness of the privilege is surely indicated by the high status of these heroes. At Virg. A. 12. 418 f. Venus 'spargit … salubris / ambrosiae sucos' to heal Aeneas' wound. For the desire to preserve the corpse inviolate cf. 7. 695 ff. 'nec tarde fratri, Gradive, dedisti, / ne qua manus vatem, ne quid mortalia bello / laedere tela queant: sanctum et venerabile Diti / funus eat'. 732. temeretur a bold choice of word, easily defended by comparison to Silv. 2. 1. 155 ff. 'manesque subivit / integer et nullo temeratus corpora damno, / qualis erat'. For violetur (P) cf. Virg. A. 12. 797 'mortaline decuit violari vulnere divum?', in a similar context. 733 ff. Diana now takes on the character of the witch goddess Hecate and mutters spells over the boy, an eerie passage reflecting contemporary interest in magic: see A. Bourgèry, REL 6 (1928), 299 ff. Lines 734 f. are at first a rather confusing expansion of the scene: why are they such spells as she personally teaches the women of Colchis, and why does she reveal to them feras herbas? The phrase suggests poisons rather than protective drugs. Statius seems to have in mind Ap. Rh. 3. 844 ff., where Medea takes from her chest a magic drug which has the power to protect Jason from the fire-breathing bulls: this drug was nourished by the blood which dripped from Prometheus' liver, and had a root similar to newly-cut flesh, since, indeed, when it was cut Prometheus groaned in agony. Seneca perhaps alludes to the grisly legend at Med. 709 f., but Statius' wording and details are influenced by the imitation of Apollonius at V. Fl. 7. 356 ff. It is Valerius who adds the detail that Hecate herself showed Medea the plant (7. 366 'mox famulae monstrata seges': cf. 735, esp. monstrat), while Colchidas echoes V. Fl. 7. 369 and herbas V. Fl. 7. 363. Compare also Claud. Ruf. 1. 151 ff. All this takes place at night (nocte) as in Apollonius (3. 863) and

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Valerius (7. 366). The 'herbs' are thus feras because they have drunk blood like wild beasts. All in all, a tour de force of learned allusion. 733. cantus i.e. spells, as often: cf. e.g. Virg. A. 7. 757 'neque eum iuvere in vulnere cantus / somniferi', Tib. 1. 2. 45, Ov. Med. 39, Theb. 4. 504. 734 f. The topos of 'drugs such as Medea knew' smells of Hellenistic doctrina: cf. Euphorion, fr. 14 Collectanea Alexandrina, Tib. 2. 4. 55 f. 736–743. So far Parthenopaeus has fought with spears (708), but now he uses Diana's unfailing arrows, and so his aristeia begins in earnest (tunc vero). He is like a young lion over-confident in its growing strength and drunk with a sense of freedom. Yet all this is a kind of furor, dangerously overcoming his reason (nec se mente regit), so that he takes no thought for his own safety. 736. circumvolat igneus cf. Virg. A. 11. 746 'volat igneus aequore Tarchon', and see also 700 ff. n. The metaphor suggests perhaps a streak of lightning or perhaps a forest fire breaking out in several places at once. 737. mente for mens with the sense of prudentia or sapientia cf. Cic. Leg. 2. 90 'homines divina mente et consilio praeditos', Ov. Met. 7. 19 f. 'aliud … cupido, / mens aliud suadet'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 197 739 ff. A carefully elaborated simile well illustrating Parthenopaeus' situation. Like the boy the lion is young (parvo: cf. 719, 839) and dependent on its mother (739 f.), but, feeling the approach of new strength and maturity (740 f.), resents this affront to its masculine pride (indignatur ali, 742). The dominating sensations are freedom (liber, 743), but also danger since the lion is not yet fully-grown (cum primum crescere sensit, 740), and the simile ends ominously with its wandering away from the safety of the cave. mater (739) recalls matris (737), helping the identification of Atalanta with the lioness, while torvus associates the cub with both the boy and his mother (741: cf. 571 n.). Statius is principally indebted here to Virgil (see 742 f.n.), but we also recall Hor. Carm. 4. 4. 1 ff., where Drusus is compared to a young eagle. Statius in turn is closely imitated by Claudian at III Cons. Hon. 77 ff. This simile is also the doublet of an earlier one comparing the Heldenknabe Atys to a young Caspian lion: 8. 572 ff. 'sic Hyrcana leo Caspius umbra / nudus adhuc nulloque iubae flaventis honore / terribilis magnique etiamnum sanguinis insons, / haud procul a stabulis captat custode remoto / segne pecus teneraque famem consumit in agna'. This lion is able to kill only feeble prey ('segne pecus'), and that in the absence of the herdsman: its victories are thus illusory, and the simile ends ominously.

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739. Gaetula for the associations of lions with Africa see 15 f. n. The Gaetuli (Luc. 4. 678, Sil. 2. 64) were a wild people of the African interior: cf. Virg. A. 5. 351 'Gaetuli … leonis', Theb. 4. 494, Claud. III Cons. Hon. 81. 740 f. crescere … / colla iubis the growing mane makes the lion feel mature and frightening in appearance: it corresponds to the boy's desire for a beard (702 f.). So too he takes delight in his novos ungues as Parthenopaeus did in his weapons. 742. indignatur ali a concise and elegant construction: cf. 1. 720 'indignata sequi … cornua', 8. 123 'indignaturque moveri'. 742 f. There is a clear imitation here of Virgil's famous simile comparing Turnus to a horse rejoicing in its freedom: A. 11. 492 ff. 'qualis … fugit … / tandem liber equus, campoque potitur aperto' etc. tandem in both similes implies a long 'captivity': cf. also iamdudum (718). effusus describes a sudden release from being penned up, as at Virg. G. 1. 512 'carceribus sese effudere quadrigae'. 744–775. Even without help Parthenopaeus fought 'harundine certa' (8. 659 f.), but now, equipped with Diana's unfailing arrows (752 f., 763 f., 770 f.), he slaughters the Thebans mercilessly. The structure of his aristeia quite closely mirrors that of Camilla: see esp. 744, 746 f., 758, 769, 770 f. nn. The two passages are also remarkable for horrific bloodthirstiness: compare Eunaeus' bloody death (A. 11. 668 f.) and Virgil's pity for the luckless Ligus (A. 11. 718 ff.) to the terrible fates of Eurytion (749 ff: NB miser, 756) and Cydon (761 ff.). Also unsettling is Parthenopaeus' use of the unheroic, treacherous bow: cf. 7. 643, where he kills Itys 'insidiante sagitta', and see Diomedes' taunts to Paris at Il. 11. 385 ff. and R. O. A. M. Lyne, Further Voices in Virgil's Aeneid (Oxford, 1987), p. 202 n. 75. A Roman audience would also surely be disturbed by his reliance on the ignoble 'Parthian shot' ........................................................................................................................... pg 198 (775 n.) and use of poisoned arrows (748 n.). Compare the complaints of noblemen in the Renaissance that firearms, in allowing cowardly men of low birth to strike knights down from a safe distance, destroy honour and valour: E. F. Rice, The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460–1559 (New York, 1970), pp. 15 f., quoting Ariosto, Orlando Furioso 11. 26. 744. The question echoes Virgil's words to Camilla: A. 11. 664 f. 'quem telo primum, quem postremum, aspera virgo, / deicis? aut quot humi morientia corpora fundis?'. Both apostrophes are infused with the melancholy of their famous model: Il. 16. 692 f. ἔνθα τίνα πρῶτον, τίνα δʼ ὕστατον ἐξενάριξας, / Πατρόκλεις, ὅτε δή σε θεοὶ θάνατόνδε κάλεσσαν;‎   Parrhasio i.e. 'Arcadian'. Parrhasus, the birthplace of Callisto (hence 'Parrhasis' at e.g. Ov. Met. 2. 460, Theb. 7. 8) was a town in SW Arcadia. The area itself is called Parrhasia as early as Il. 2. 608. Parrhasius is first attested in Virgil (A. 8. 344, 11. 31).

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  puer improbe cf. 754, and 6. 804, where the phrase is used of Alcidamas. Its use here is a wry echo of Virgil's address to Cupid (Ecl. 8. 49: cf. 715 f. n.): Parthenopaeus' arrows kill. 745. Tanagraeum … Coroebum like his first victim, Parthenopaeus' slayer Dryas is a native of Tanagra (7. 254 f.). For Tanagraeum see 127 n.   turbavit harundo cf. Virg. A. 11. 796 'subita turbatam morte Camillam'. The metonymy harundo is common from Virgil (A. 4. 73, 7. 499) on: cf. 761, 772. 746 f. Statius is thinking of Camilla's killing of Butes: Virg. A. 11. 691 ff. 'Buten aversum cuspide fixit / loricam galeamque inter, qua colla sedentis / lucent'. Cf. also 8. 523 ff. where Tydeus, in his duel with Haemon, aims at the same weak spot. The ultimate model for all these passages is Achilles' wounding of Hector (Il. 22. 325 ff.). For similar lethal gaps in warriors' armour cf. also Sil. 1. 381 f., Theb. 11. 542 f. 746. in to be taken with both extremo galeae and primo … margine. Examples of a preposition standing between two nouns, both of which it governs, can be found in Homer (e.g. Il. 2. 91 νεῶν ἀπὸ καὶ κλισιάων‎, Od. 12. 27), but it is perhaps a literary feature particularly associated with Hellenistic poetry: see Clausen, p. 151 n. 3, Pfeiffer on Call. fr. 714. 3, Williams on Virg. A. 5. 663 'transtra per et remos' and on Theb. 10. 714 'Danaas acies mediosque per obvius enses'. The mannerism appears frequently in Statius: cf. 4. 607 f., 643, 5. 189, 8. 384, 9. 552, 801, Ach. 2. 105, Silv. 1. 2. 56, 5. 2. 132. See further F. Leo, Ausgewählte Kleine Schriften (ed. E. Fraenkel), (Rome, 1960), i. 117 f. 747. stat the image seems to be one of a wave poised and ready to break once Coroebus opens his mouth: as Barth explains, 'ob copiam non potest simul erumpere'. Damsté, p. 94, argues that stare could only be used of blood which has 'ceased to flow' (e.g. 5. 508, Ach. 2. 160) and thus conjectures efflat, used intransitively at 8. 168, 9. 265, 899, 10. 109. 748. sacri facies rubet igne veneni poisoned arrows are also used in this unholy war at 8. 418, but they are traditionally a barbarous weapon and do Parthenopaeus small credit. Ilus refused Odysseus a poison for his arrows (Od. 1. 259 ff.), and Roman poets associate the accursed practice ........................................................................................................................... pg 199 with orientals, especially the Parthians: see e.g. Virg. A. 12. 856 ff., Hor. Carm. 1. 22. 3 f., Luc. 1. 337, 3. 266 f., 4. 319 f., 8. 303 ff., and also RE 19. 1427 f., Pease on Cic. Div. 2. 135 and ND 2. 126. Poison is also seen as a kind of fire inflaming the blood at Luc. 9. 791 f. (a soldier bitten by a viper) 'illi rubor igneus ora / succendit' and Theb. 5. 521 'furit igne veneni'. The sense of sacri is 'accursed': see Williams on Virg. A. 3. 57 and Theb. 10. 804, and A. Klotz, ALL 15 (1908), 410, who compares V. Fl. 7. 165 'sacro, quo freta, veneno'.

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749 ff. Eurytion is struck first in one eye, then in the other: still stoutly seeking his opponent he stumbles over the corpse of Idas and, lying in agony, beseeches friend and foe alike to deliver him from his torment. All this is a grisly 'improvement' on the fate of Lucan's Scaeva: 6. 216 ff. (harundo) 'in caput atque oculi laevum descendit in orbem. / ille moras ferri nervorum et vincula rumpit / adfixam vellens oculo pendente sagittam / intrepidus, telumque suo cum lumine calcat'. Though he does not tread on his own eye, Eurytion loses two to Scaeva's one. The accent is on pity for the courageous victim (saevius, 749; miser, 756). This gruesome wound seems to symbolize the savagery of war for Statius: cf. 136 f. n., 12. 29 ff. That Eurytion in his blindness should trip over a corpse is possibly comic to modern taste, but Statius clearly intends serious pathos. Compare the blind Oedipus' address to himself at Sen. Oed. 1051 'siste, ne in matrem incidas'. 749. saevius sc. turbatus est (745). There is extra point in his fate if Statius expects us to recall another Eurytion, the brother of Pandarus who took part in the archery contest at Virg. A. 5. 495 ff. 750. callida continuing the insinuation of deceit ('insidiose facta', Lactantius). Alton's pallida (p. 184: cf. Luc. 4. 322 f. 'pallida … / … aconita') is over-ingenious and unnecessary.   acies rare of arrows, but cf. Virg. A. 11. 862, Apul. Met. 5. 23. 751. oculo plenam labente similar to, but grislier and more daring than Juv. 15. 58 'plenos oculorum sanguine pugnos'. labente perhaps heightens the horror of the picture by the perversion of its common associations with the gentle closing of the eyes in sleep or death, as at Prop. 1. 10. 7 'labentis premeret mihi somnus ocellos' and Virg. A. 11. 818 f. 'labuntur frigida leto / lumina' (OLD s.v. 7b). Here the sense is rather 'flowing', 'running' or 'melting' (Mozley): see OLD s.v. 3, quoting Ov. Met. 2. 656 'lacrimae … genis labuntur obortae'. 752 f. divum fortia quid non / tela queant see 180 n. for such general reflections. For quid non cf. 2. 186, 3. 180, 6. 653, 11. 83. A double monosyllable at the end of a hexameter is not exceptional in Latin poetry: see J. Hellegouarc'h, Le Monosyllabe dans l'hexamètre latin (Études et commentaires, 50; Paris, 1964), pp. 55 ff., S. E. Winbolt, Latin Hexameter Verse (London, 1903), pp. 140 ff. 754. explevit tenebras i.e. blinded him entirely. Sophocles (OT 419, 1273, 1314 f., 1326) and Euripides (Phoen. 377, 1534) describe Oedipus' blindness as 'darkness' (σκότος‎), while Seneca speaks of his nox (Oed. 973, 977, Phoen. 144) and tenebrae (Oed. 999, 1012, Phoen. 233). Statius also uses tenebrae of the blindness of both Oedipus (1. 49, 240, 10. 586, 11. 334, 697) and Tiresias (4. 407). We think too of the darkness that descends on dying ........................................................................................................................... pg 200

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warriors' eyes: see 40 n. and cf. Virg. A. 11. 823 f. 'nunc vulnus acerbum / conficit et tenebris nigrescunt omnia circum', Ov. Met. 12. 136. 755. fusum … Idan not Idas of Elis who competed in the foot-race (6. 553 ff.) but Idas of Onchestus, horrifically slain by Tydeus earlier on this same day (8. 466 ff.). The sense of fusum, as often, is 'slain, flung prostrate': cf. Virg. A. 11. 665 'quot humi morientia corpora fundis?' etc. 756. saevi miser Eurytion is the unfortunate victim of war's cruelty: for the effective juxtaposition cf. 708 n. 757. palpitat also used of death-spasms at e.g. Luc. 2. 181 f. 'exsectaque lingua / palpitat', Theb. 8. 439 f. 'iam palpitat arvis / Phaedimus', Prud. Peristephanon 14. 49. The Greek verb σπαίρω‎ is similarly used, as at e.g. Il. 13. 571, Ap. Rh. 4. 874. Both words are particularly applied to the struggles of fish out of water, e.g. Sen. Nat. 3. 18. 3: cf. also the use of πάλλομαι‎ (Herod. 1. 141, 9. 120). 758. addit Abantiadas i.e. to the number of the slain: cf. Virg. A. 11. 673 f. (Camilla) 'his addit Amastrum / Hippotaden'. The sons of Abas were briefly mentioned in the teichoscopia by Phorbas (7. 369 ff.). There they were described as 'in terga comantes': the detail of his long hair (insignem crinibus Argum) makes Argus at his death more than a mere name to us: cf. 304 Therona n. 759. male take with dilectum: sexual impropriety, recalling the sinners (e.g. Myrrha, Byblis) so popular with Hellenistic poets, is used as a means of giving colour to a list of characters slain by a hero at e.g. 7. 758 f., Sil. 15. 448 f. Statius, however, probably has in mind Virg. A. 10. 388 f., where Aeneas kills 'Rhoeti de gente vetusta / Anchemolum thalamos ausum incestare novercae'. 760. The line is clearly an interpolation: as Klotz saw, the pluperfect patefecerat is unacceptable, while it is highly unlikely that within the space of a few lines Argus and Lygdus (766) would be described as suffering the same wound. None the less, as Weber remarks, if this line is not genuine, then another of similar content must be presumed to have fallen out of the text: indeed, in order to balance the two and a half lines given to the account of Cydon's death it seems more likely that two lines have dropped out. They would have been introduced by illi, to match huic (761). For the stylized killing of two brothers by different wounds cf. Ov. Met. 5. 140 ff. 761 ff. These lines represent a gruesome development of a topos with a long history: cf. Il. 4. 502 f. ἡ δ' ἑτέροιο διὰ κροτάφοιο πέρησεν / αἰχμὴ‎; Virg. A. 9. 418 'it hasta Tago per tempus utrumque', Sil. 12. 413 f. Both κροτάφος‎ and tempus mean 'side of the (fore-)head' rather than simply the 'temple'.

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763 ff. This passage is characterized by an extreme stylization. First the three victims are identified by characteristics—beauty, holiness, youth—which should have won pity for them, not least from Parthenopaeus, whose qualities they reflect. Then, keeping the same order, the poet describes the different wounds they suffer and identifies their homelands. The mannerism is heightened by e.g. the anaphora of non (764 f.) and emotional apostrophe (767 ff.). Such stylization seems intended to dignify and render more pathetic the poem's gruesome tueries: cf. 7. 640 ff., 8. 445 ff. 'Iphin atrox Acamas, Argum ferus impulit Hypseus, / stravit Abanta Pheres, ........................................................................................................................... pg 201 diversaque vulnera flentes / Iphis eques, pedes Argus, Abas auriga iacebant', and see Schetter, pp. 111 ff. 764. infula a woollen headband on which ribands (vittae) were knotted at intervals, and the mark of a priest: see Austin on Virg. A. 2. 133. Despite some notable exceptions, such as Amphiaraus and Archbishop Turpin, priests in epic are traditionally pitifully unwarlike: cf. e.g. Virg. A. 10. 537 ff., Theb. 7. 649 ff., Ach. 1. 510 f. (Protesilaus to Calchas) 'arma horrenda tibi sacrosque remisimus enses, / numquam has imbelles galea violabere vittas'. At 3. 666 f. Capaneus accuses Amphiaraus of hiding behind his 'mollis infula'. Statius appears to be imitating Virg. A. 2. 429 f. 'nec te tua plurima, Panthu, / labentem pietas nec Apollinis infula texit'. The inability of pietas or other outstanding moral qualities to save men from death is a stock motif of laments: see N.–H. on Hor. Carm. 2. 14. 2 ff., and cf. Carm. 1. 24. 5 ff., 4. 7. 24.   Lygdum the association between white marble and the fair skin of pueri delicati can be seen in the giving of the name to a eunuch belonging to Drusus (Tac. Ann. 4. 10), to slave boys (Mart. 6. 45. 3, 11. 41. 7), and to an unfaithful boyfriend (Mart. 11. 73. 1, 12. 71). Cf. niveam (767), of Aeolus. 765. pubescentes … anni cf. 1. 21 f. 'defensa prius vix pubescentibus annis / bella Iovis', of Domitian's part as a youth in the fighting on the Capitol against the Vitellians in 69. For anni of 'youth' see OLD s.v. 6c, Mayer on Luc. 8. 496 'non impune tuos Magnus contempserit annos', and cf. e.g. Sen. Phaed. 443, Man. 5. 269, Theb. 9. 810.   Aeolon the most pitiful victim and the one most like his killer; hence his death receives at each stage as much space as the other two together and the most sophisticated treatment, i.e. the apostrophe of himself (767) and then of his homeland (769). Statius may have in mind Virg. A. 12. 542 ff. 'te quoque Laurentes viderunt, Aeole, campi / oppetere et late terram consternere tergo: / occidis, Argivae quem non potuere phalanges / sternere nec Priami regnorum eversor Achilles'. 766. figitur ora for the 'retained' accusative see 163 n. It is much rarer after present indicatives than after past participles, but see Dilke on Ach. 1. 179 and cf. Theb. 6. 576 Page 169 of 195

'pinguique cutem fuscatur olivo', 7. 127 f. 'varios … vultus / induitur'. ilia (P) is inadmissible: Lamus and Lydus could not die by such similar wounds in the same line.   inguina not protected by the lorica and thus vulnerable. Mezentius (Virg. A. 11. 785 f.) and Atys (Theb. 8. 585 f.) are fatally wounded in the same spot. 768 f. The pathetic repetition of the pronoun is characteristic of pastoral, but for its use in epic cf. Virg. A. 7. 759 f. 'te nemus Angitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda, / te liquidi flevere lacus', Theb. 7. 685 ff. 'marcida te fractis planxerunt Ismara thyrsis, / te Tmolus, te Nysa ferax Theseaque Naxos / et Thebana metu iuratus in orgia Ganges'. The 'death far from home' motif is discussed by Griffin at pp. 106 ff.: for its prominence in epitaphs see also Lattimore, pp. 199 ff. 768. candida because of its doves: cf. 291 n. 769. hunc … non excipietis the change of addressee focuses attention on the grief of the boy's kinsfolk. Similarly, to Camilla's killer Arruns Apollo ........................................................................................................................... pg 202 'reducem ut patria alta videret / non dedit' (Virg. A. 11. 797 f.). excipietis implies a sympathetic or even joyous welcome: cf. Cic. Att. 8. 15. 1 'redeuntem excipiam Caesarem', Liv. 27. 46. 5 'hospitaliter excipiuntur'.   Amyclae clearly wrong, since this Spartan town sent a contingent under Amphiaraus to fight with the Argives (4. 223), and Statius can hardly mean the Spartan colony of the same name in Italy (Virg. A. 10. 564). Some conjectures are frankly fantastic (Garrod hunc viridis convexa quieta Larymnae). The most reasonable attempt is Koestlin's Erythrae (Philologus 35 (1876), 532), a city mentioned in the Theban catalogue (7. 265). The literal sense of Erythrae ('red') would, moreover, make a neat point with candida and, more particularly, virides. Even this, however, is a long shot, and Hill is doubtless right to obelize. 770 f. The statement of 730 f. is thus proved. Cf. Camilla's prowess: Virg. A. 11. 676 f. 'quotque emissa manu contorsit spicula virgo, / tot Phrygii cecidere viri'. 770. numine preferable to vulnere (ω‎) as these arrows are imbued with divine power (cf. caelestibus, 729). 771. missile first attested in poetry as an adjective in Lucretius (5. 975), and as a noun in Virgil (A. 9. 520, 10. 716, 802): other examples in Statius are 4. 234, 5. 387, 7. 729, 10. 839, 12. 767, Ach. 1. 612.   nec requies dextrae cf. 10. 657 (of Menoeceus) 'non mens, non dextra quiescit'.

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773. derigit ictus for de-, dirigo of aiming weapons in a definite direction cf. e.g. Hor. Carm. 4. 9. 18, Virg. A. 10. 401, Luc. 9. 676, and for its poetic extension to 'wounds' and 'blows' see also Virg. A. 10. 140 'vulnera derigere', Theb. 8. 524 'derexit iactus', Tac. Ann. 2. 31 'duos ictus in viscera derexit'. The contrast here is between precisely aimed shots forwards and haphazard ones to left and right and to the back. Isidore (Diff. 1. 153) claims that derigo is right when the sense is 'straighten', dirigo when it is 'direct', though 'this is not always observed' (Dilke on Ach. 1. 632). Scribes, moreover, often confuse the two forms: see Hill on 5. 396. 774. latere alterno dubius i.e. shifting from side to side so that it is unclear from what angle he will shoot.   conamina 'attempted blows', as at 6. 791 'rapiunt conamina venti'. 775. As he flees, Parthenopaeus shoots blindly behind him: respicit arcu is, of course, deliberately paradoxical. This recalls the so-called 'Parthian shot', despised by the Romans as cowardly: cf. Virg. G. 3. 31 'fidentemque fuga Parthum versisque sagittis', Hor. Carm. 1. 19. 11 f. 'versis animosum equis / Parthum', 2. 13. 17 f., Sen. Oed. 118 f., Thy. 382 ff., Phaed. 816, Luc. 1. 230, 8. 378 ff., Milton, Elegia Septima 36 'qui post terga solet vincere Parthus eques', Shakespeare, Ant. 3. 11 'darting Parthia'. Hollis, on Ov. Ars 1. 209 f., explains that the manoeuvre was in fact 'traditionally Asian'. 776–807. The Thebans rally. Amphion bluntly tells Parthenopaeus to leave battle to his elders and return home: when the boy replies with spirit, Amphion angrily prepares to cut him down, but Diana intercedes.   Amphion uses both insults (786) and threats (786 f.), and is prepared to kill Parthenopaeus as he is later merciless to Hopleus and Dymas (10. ........................................................................................................................... pg 203 387 ff.). None the less he is no ogre: above all, he observes the heroic code and warns the boy off as Lausus was warned by Aeneas (Virg. A. 10. 810 ff.). We should think of him as a blunt-speaking soldier, rather acer (10. 387) as a warrior should be, but not lacking in either perspicacity or human feeling (780, 781 nn.). Amphion's courage and patriotism are praised by Phorbas at 7. 280 f. 777 f. Iovis de sanguine claro / Amphion he was the son of the elder Amphion, the son of Zeus and the bard whose music raised the walls of Thebes (1. 10, 2. 454 f., 4. 357 etc.). The usual tradition named his mother as Antiope, but Apollod. 3. 5. 6 tells us she was Niobe and that the younger Amphion and his sister Chloris alone survived the vengeance of Latona's children. Though a Theban, he commanded the men of Onchestus, who had no king

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of their own, and he could be recognized by the device of his father's lyre on his helmet (7. 277 ff.). 778 f. funera campis / … daret cf. Virg. A. 12. 383 'campis victor dat funera Turnus'. 779. moram lucrabere fati Amphion implies that if the boy stays on the battlefield it is only a matter of time before he is killed. Since he knows nothing of the boy's victories (778 f.), by lucrabere he must mean 'staying alive'. 780. multum meritos Poynton ('bring on thy parents, as they merit, woe') and Håkanson, p. 84, interpret this as meaning that Amphion thinks that Parthenopaeus' parents deserve the grief his death will bring them. Such a view is at odds with Amphion's bluff but essentially honest and noble character. The sense is rather 'highly deserving' (Mozley 'goodly parents'): Amphion is delivering a rough but deserved rebuke to the boy for his thoughtlessness. For this rare sense of meritus cf. Quint. Inst. 9. 2. 35 'Gallio, cui ego omnia meritissimo volo', CIL 12. 3387 'uxori meritissimae'. The plural parentes implies that Amphion does not know about Parthenopaeus' circumstances but simply assumes that his death will grieve both a mother and a father who deserve better treatment. 781. A correct judgement, and full of insight: cf. 651, 737 f. nn. Both tumor and audacia are here a rebuke. For tumor with this negative sense cf. e.g. Sen. Ben. 7. 26. 4 'adice aestimationem sui nimiam et tumorem', Luc. 10. 99 f. 'quantosne tumores / mente gerit famulus'. 782. congressus the context recalls Virg. A. 1. 475 'infelix puer atque impar congressus Achilli'. congressus properly designates the actual coming to blows, as can be clearly seen at e.g. Cic. Orat. 2. 317 'in ipso illo gladiatorio vitae certamine quo ferro decernitur tamen ante congressum multa fiunt'.   pugnam … minorem a mere skirmish, in contrast to the bellis which are the work of real warriors. 783. iram … infra 'non dignus ira hostis, contemptabilis' (Lactantius). Note how the anastrophe of the preposition (see 65 n.) is elegantly combined with displacement: cf. Virg. A. 5. 370 'solus qui Paridem solitus contendere contra'. 784 ff. Amphion's advice is that Parthenopaeus leave real war to the men, ........................................................................................................................... pg 204 precisely the kind of insult most likely to infuriate him. The formula i or i nunc expresses derision or remonstrance. As repete shows, i has lost its original force: cf. Juv. 10. 166 'i, demens, et saevas curre per Alpes'.

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785. ferus cf. Ov. Ep. 7. 160 'Mars ferus'. Amphion too is ferus (10. 449), and his words imply that the boy is out of place in such company. Parthenopaeus replies at 792.   desaevit not 'ceases to rage' but 'rages his fill': cf. Virg. A. 4. 52, 10. 569 'sic toto Aeneas desaevit in aequore victor', Theb. 12. 738. 786. proelia lude cf. Ov. Ars 3. 357 'non stulte latronum proelia ludat'.   quodsi found five times in Virgil, but only here in Statius, who perhaps thought it prosaic. 787. dabimus: leto moriere virorum Housman corrected the reading of the manuscripts to moriare, comparing Virg. A. 4. 683 f. and 6. 883 f. 'manibus date lilia plenis / purpureos spargam flores': cf. also A. 11. 797 f. Klotz comments 'inutiliter' and S. G. Owen is surely right to say (CR 19 (1905), 175) that Housman's conjecture 'though ingenious, is questionable, since ellipsis is so frequent in Latin'. Statius means: 'if a glorious death is what you want, I shall give you it: you will die like a warrior at the hands of a hero'. 788 f. Housman (Cl. P. 3, p. 1217) rightly punctuates with a semi-colon after Atalantiades. That he interrupts is an indication of the boy's fury. Housman compares 3. 42 ff. and 12. 609 f. 'necdum Atticus ire parabat / miles, et infelix expavit classica Dirce'. 789. trux Atalantiades Parthenopaeus has been brought up by a manly mother and is thus identified by a matronymic. Compare Ov. Tr. 4. 3. 8 'Iliades … Remus' and the clever description of Hippolytus as an 'Amazonio … viro' at Ov. Ep. 4. 2. Statius also has the adjective Atalantaeus: 4. 309, 7. 267: cf. Man. 179 (Housman Atalanteos).   ille quierat i.e. Amphion. For quiesco of ending a speech cf. Virg. A. 3. 718, 6. 102, 11. 300, Liv. 2. 57. 4, Silv. 1. 3. 34. 790 ff. Parthenopaeus scornfully contrasts the softness of the Thebans, the slaves of the effeminate Bacchus, with his own upbringing in Arcadia. Like Hippomedon's words at 476 ff. this speech is modelled on Numanus' exaltation of the hardy Italians over the degenerate oriental Trojans: Virg. A. 9. 602 ff. 'non hic Atridae nec fandi fictor Ulixes: / durum a stirpe genus natos ad flumina primum / deferimus saevoque gelu duramus et undis; / venatu invigilant pueri silvasque fatigant, / flectere ludus equos et spicula tendere cornu. / … vobis picta croco et fulgenti murice vestis, / desidiae cordi, iuvat indulgere choreis, / et tunicae manicas et habent redimicula mitrae. / o vere Phrygiae, neque enim Phryges, ite per alta / Dindyma, ubi adsuetis biforem dat tibia cantum. / tympana vos buxusque vocat Berecynthia Matris / Idaeae; sinite arma viris et cedite ferro'. For echoes of details of this speech see 795, 797 f., 800. Numanus' arrogance was punished instantly by Ascanias, but Parthenopaeus— perhaps more justified, as he was provoked—will be saved by Diana, for the time being. 791. puer refuting 780. Page 173 of 195

792. Arcadiae stirpem et fera semina gentis fera replies to ferus Mavors ........................................................................................................................... pg 205 (see 785 n.): if only 'fierce' men are worthy to keep company with Mars then he has a better claim to be here than the Thebans. The antiquity and wild, primitive lifestyle of the Arcadians—a race older than the moon—was proverbial: cf. Ov. Fast. 2. 289 ff., esp. 299 f. 'sub Iove durabant et corpora nuda gerebant / docta graves imbres et tolerare Notos', and Theb. 4. 275 ff. 'Arcades huic veteres, astris lunaque priores, / agmina fida datis, nemorum quos stirpe vigenti / fama satos', to which legend Statius may be alluding here. For semina with the sense 'offspring' cf. e.g. Virg. G. 2. 152, Ov. Met. 2. 629. 793. sub nocte silenti sub implies concealment or protection: see Austin on Virg. A. 4. 527 'somno positae sub nocte silenti'. The Bacchants are presumed to use night as a cover for their shameful practices: cf. 10. 202. silens is a regular poetic epithet for night: cf. Virg. A. 7. 102, Tib. 1. 5. 16, Ov. Ep. 6. 96, Met. 4. 84, Silv. 1. 1. 94, Sil. 17. 177. 794. Thyias the first of several words giving this line a sensuous Greek feel. Like Maenas (598 n.), Thyias may be applied to a devotee of any orgiastic cult but is particularly used of Bacchants: see Paus. 10. 32. 7. It first appears in extant Latin poetry at Catul. 64. 391 and remains rare thereafter, although cf. also Virg. A. 4. 302, Hor. Carm. 3. 15. 10, Theb. 5. 92, 12. 792.   Echionio … Lyaeo for Echionius see 203 n. Lyaeus is a cult-title of Bacchus, associated with his rôle as the liberator of man from pain and care (λύω‎): Timotheus refers similarly to Cybele as κακῶν λυαῖα‎ (Persae 121 W.–M.). It is first attested in Latin literature at Enn. Scen. 124. 795. deformes … mitras balanced by turpem hastam (796). The mitra was an oriental curved cap, tied with ribbons under the chin and possessing cheek-pieces: see Servius on Virg. A. 4. 216 f. It is 'unseemly' because it is effeminate and properly associated with prostitutes: cf. Numanus' words at Virg. A. 9. 616 (above, 790 ff. n.). For deformis with the sense 'shameful', 'degrading' cf. Petr. 7. 5, Quint. Inst. 2. 16. 7, Theb. 11. 80 'pretium deforme', Tac. Ann. 15. 16. 796. turpem … hastam not a real spear, but a thyrsus: for hasta with this sense cf. Virg. Ecl. 5. 31, A. 7. 396, Ach. 1. 261 with Dilke. Jortin (i. 186) corrected turpi to turpem: the epithet goes better with hastam, giving the desired balance with deformes mitras. 797 f. Parthenopaeus begins to describe his stern education, but cuts himself short (quid plura loquar?) and does not emulate Numanus' verbose boasting (A. 9. 603 ff., quoted above at 790 ff. n.). Compare also Camilla's upbringing in the forests: Virg. A. 11. 570 ff. 'hic natam in dumis interque horrentia lustra / armentalis equae mammis et lacte ferino / nutribat

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teneris immulgens ubera labris' etc. The topos is treated more fully by Statius in Achilles' account of his training by Chiron: see esp. Ach. 2. 117 f. 'saepe etiam primo fluvii torpore iubebat / ire supra glaciemque levi non frangere planta', and also 102 ff. 'mox ire per invia secum / lustra gradu maiore trahens visisque docebat / adridere feris'. Statius in his turn inspired Claud. III Cons. Hon. 39 ff. 797. protinus … reptare cf. 619 f. for this precocity.    ........................................................................................................................... pg 206 astrictos i.e. frozen with ice: cf. Ov. Tr. 2. 196, Pont. 3. 3. 26 'et coit adstrictis barbarus Hister aquis', Luc. 1. 17 f. 'bruma rigens … / astringit Scythico glacialem frigore pontum', 5. 436. 798. magnarum intrare ferarum the assonance and cadence recall Virgil's phrases 'magnorum ululare luporum' (A. 7. 18, where see Fordyce) and 'dirarum ab sede sororum' (A. 7. 324, 454). The effect is hard to define, but the jingle seems to enhance rather than reduce the horror. 799. mea here receives great emphasis both from the hyperbaton of mater and from the fact that normal Latin word order would be mater mea. 800. cava tympana a phrase borrowed from Ov. Met. 12. 481. Like cymbals, trumpets, and the tibia, these drums or tambourines were used in orgiastic rites to whip the revellers into a frenzy: cf. e.g. Catul. 64. 261 ff., Lucr. 2. 618 ff., Theb. 4. 668 f., Ach. 1. 849 f. They are thus generally associated with women and effeminates: cf. Ov. Met. 3. 537, Ach. 1. 654 f. For their connection with Bacchus' birthplace, Thebes, cf. also Ach. 1. 839 f. 'sic indignantem thyrsos acceptaque matris / tympana iam tristes spectabant Penthea Thebae'. 801. non tulit a standard epic phrase, usually accompanied by a direct object (e.g. Virg. A. 2. 407, 9. 622, 12. 371, Ov. Met. 1. 753, 12. 355, Ach. 2. 72, 76 etc.) but quite frequently, as here, standing alone: cf. Virg. A. 8. 256, Ov. Met. 8. 437, 12. 132, Theb. 1. 605. Cf. also Milton, PL 6. 111 'Abdiel that sight endur'd not'.   vultumque et in ora ora does not merely repeat the sense of vultum, but narrows the meaning from 'face' to '(very) mouth'. For a preposition placed between two nouns and governing both see 746 n. 802. telum inmane rotat cf. 8. 520, 9. 198, 12. 748, and cf. 468 f. n. Note the horror involved in hurling so awesome a weapon (inmane) at a mere boy.

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803. turbatus often used of startled horses: cf. Virg. A. 7. 767 (Hippolytus) 'turbatis distractus equis', 9. 124, Ov. Met. 15. 517, Tac. Ann. 15. 7. 804. avidam i.e. for blood. Personification of weapons is very common in heroic poetry or mock-heroic contexts. A fuller treatment can be seen at PI. Mil. 5 ff. 'nam ego hanc machaeram mihi consolari volo, / ne lamentetur neve animum despondeat, / quia se iam pridem feriatam gestitem, / quae misera gestit fartem facere ex hostibus'. It is found in other literatures too: cf. Roland's dying apostrophe to his brand Durendal, Ch. Rol. 2304 f. 'E! Durendal bone, si mare fustes! / Quant jo mei perd, de vos nen ai mais cure', 2316 f.   transmisit also used of making or letting something pass from one place to another at Silv. 1. 5. 28 'innumero pendens transmittitur arcu' (OLD s.v. 1). 806 f. se … / iecit a sudden, violent action: cf. Cic. Sest. 45, Virg. A. 8. 256 f. 'seque ipse per ignem / praecipiti iecit saltu'. 807. ante oculos omni stetit obvia vultu omni (ω‎) is preferable to omnes (P): oculos does not need an epithet, but vultu certainly does. Moreover, far from appearing 'to all eyes' Diana is obviously not seen even by Parthenopaeus who, not knowing that he owes her his life, accuses her of ingratitude at 907: indeed she merely wishes to warn Amphion off and thus need only ........................................................................................................................... pg 207 appear to him. Lactantius explains omni … vultu as 'nihil de vivo vultu mutavit in conspectu rectissimo'. Hill rejects this, assuming vultu is dative and referring to 811, where the goddess takes the form of Dorceus. This, however, ignores the force of tum: first she reveals herself to Amphion and then disguises herself as Dorceus. D. R. Shackleton Bailey (MH 40 (1983), 58) called Lactantius' explanation 'absurd' and translated 'she stood squarely (omni vultu = 'full-face') before his eyes, blocking his path'. Yet it was surely only by revealing herself to him entirely that Diana could frighten Amphion off. 808–820. Taking the shape of Dorceus, Diana tells the boy he has had enough victories and urges him to think of his mother and desist from battle. With childish enthusiasm and confidence he pleads to be allowed to stay, wringing both tears and smiles from the goddess. Statius is imitating Virgil's account of how Apollo, disguised as Butes, exhorted Ascanius to be content with the slaying of Numanus: cf. esp. A. 9. 653 ff. 'sit satis, Aenide, telis impune Numanum / oppetiisse tuis. primam hanc tibi magnus Apollo / concedit laurum et paribus non invidet armis; / cetera parce, puer, bello'. Apollo's success in restraining his young protégé contrasts with Diana's failure to save hers.

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808. haerebat i.e. at his side: cf. Cic. Cael. 67 'vigeant apud istam mulierem venustate … haereant, iaceant, deserviant', Catul. 21.6 'haerens ad latus', Theb. 5. 98 f. 'infelix comitatus eunti / haerebant nati'.   devinctus amore pudico echoing Virg. A. 8. 394 'aeterno … devinctus amore'. pudico is clearly pointed, drawing a contrast between Dorceus' love and that of, for example, the Sidonian nymphs (709 ff.). 809. Dorceus the name ('looker', 'bright-eyed') seems appropriate given his commission (809 f.). It is to him that Parthenopaeus will give his final message for his mother (885 ff.). No doubt he is an old family retainer, like Butes (Virg. A. 9. 647 ff.). 810. audaces … mandaverat annos there is perhaps word-play here: a paedagogus might more usually be entrusted with his charge's teneros annos but Parthenopaeus is no ordinary youth (cf. 651 n.). For anni with the sense 'youth' see 765 n. 811. huius … vultu dea dissimulata vultum (ω‎) is rightly rejected by Gronovius: 'dicimur dissimulare quid non praeferimus, quid cupimus celatum … Ergo Diana non potest dici dissimulata vultum Dorcei, quem adsumpserat et prae se ferebat'. For the normal use of dissimulare with the accusative see e.g. Ov. Ars 1. 690 'veste virum longe dissimulatus erat', Ep. 4. 56 'tauro dissimulante deum', Silv. 1. 2. 14 'dissimulata deam'. See Owen on Ov. Tr. 2. 437 f. for the resolution of a similar problem of interpretation. 812 f. satis … / … satis cf. Apollo's words to Ascanius at A. 9. 653 f., quoted above at 808– 820 n. 812. Ogygias cf. 841. Ogygus was the legendary king of the Ectenes, the original inhabitants of the site of Thebes (Paus. 9. 5. 1). The learned epithet is applied to the city by many Greek poets (e.g. Soph. OC 1770, ........................................................................................................................... pg 208 Eur. Phoen. 1113, Ap. Rh. 3. 1177) and appears in Latin literature as early as Accius (trag. 261): cf. also e.g. Ov. Ep. 10. 48, Sen. Oed. 589, V. Fl. 2. 623, 8. 446. Understandably no Roman poet uses it as often as Statius (26 times in the Thebaid). 813. miserae iam parce parenti for the theme cf. 737 f., 780. Diana's advice is egotistically rejected, but the boy will recall it in his acknowledgement of his cruelty at 893 nec tibi sollicitae saltem inter bella peperci. 814. parce deis, quicumque favent recalling Pallas' advice to Tydeus in a similar situation: 2. 687 ff. 'absentes cui dudum vincere Thebas / adnuimus, iam pone modum nimiumque secundis / parce deis'. As well as the sense 'do not ask the gods for more than

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they may grant', after 813 these words also seem to be a moving request that the boy spare her pain too. The phrasing and idea are of course paradoxical: we more usually ask the gods to spare us. 815. non plura petam a realistic touch: the child winningly begs the adult for one more favour.   fidissime the superlative is commonly used to commend servants or subordinates, e.g. the nurse Acaste (1. 530), or Phegeus (12. 596). Its more striking application to Polynices by Argia (12. 215) also deserves a mention. 816. tela meis … aemula telis i.e. bows and arrows (cf. captivis … pharetris, 819). Amphion, true son of luxurious Thebes, also presumably wears clothes and armour as splendid as Parthenopaeus' finery (similes cultus: cf. esp. 690 f., 694 f., 699). The boy's innocent emphasis on the supposed equality between himself and Amphion no doubt contributes to Diana's smile: she is well aware of the superior prowess of the mature hero from whom she has just saved him. For aemulus with the dative cf. e.g. Silv. 4. 4. 80 'aemula Trinacriis volvens incendia flammis', Tac. Ann. 13. 3. It can also be used with the genitive, as at e.g. Apul. Soc. 22 'villas aemulas urbium'. Note how the structure of the phrase recalls Luc. 8. 307 f. 'fatis nimis aemula nostris / fata'. 817. sonantia a fine detail. Statius' imagination is primarily pictorial, but for attention to sound cf. 414 f. 818 f. Parthenopaeus attempts to make up for ignoring good advice by offering to share the spoils with his mother and his divine patron. He displays here the same fatal weakness for splendid booty that destroyed Euryalus (Virg. A. 9. 359 ff.) and Camilla (A. 11. 768 ff.). 818. pendebitis see 194 f. and 589 f. nn. for the dedication of spoils to a god by hanging them up in a temple or grove. 819. limine Markland, on Silv. 4. 3. 137, suggested culmine, comparing 194 f. The sense, however, is not 'threshhold' but 'lintel', as at Vitr. 6. 8. 2 and Plin. Nat. 36. 96 'in limine ipso, quod foribus imponebat'. The custom of affixing spoils on the doorways of temples is seen several times in Virgil and Statius: cf. A. 3. 286 ff., 'clipeum, magni gestamen Abantis, / postibus adversis figo, et rem carmine signo: / AENEAS HAEC DE DANAIS VICTORIBUS ARMA', 5. 359, 7. 183 ff., Theb. 3. 580 ff., 10. 344 f.   captivis they are personified as prisoners of war. Cf. esp. Virg. A. 7. 184 'captivi pendent currus' and Silv. 1. 4. 32 f. 'accipit omni / exuvias ........................................................................................................................... pg 209

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Diana tholo captivaque tela'; also Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 193, Liv. 2. 48. 2, Theb. 7. 103. 820. mixto risit … fletu an echo of Homer's famous phrase δακρυόεν γελάσασα‎ (Il. 6. 484, of Andromache). Cf. also Call. fr. 298 Pf., Silv. 2. 1. 47 'mixtae risu lacrimae'. 821–840. Venus rouses her lover Mars against Diana by taunting him with the shame of standing idly by while she usurps his provincia of war. Mars drives Diana from the battlefield, leaving Parthenopaeus helpless as Dryas moves in for the kill. There are echoes here of Venus' seduction of Vulcan (see 822 n.), but, as Juhnke shows (pp. 140 f.), Statius has been mainly influenced by the brawling between the pro- and anti-Trojan factions on Olympus at Il. 21. 385 ff.: see further 830, 835 ff. nn. Compare also Theb. 3. 260 ff., where Venus attempts to persuade Mars to spare the Thebans war. He replies there that he is compelled to obey Jupiter's commands but 'quando haec mutare potestas / nulla datur—cum iam Tyriis sub moenibus ambae / bellabunt gentes, adero et socia arma iuvabo' (3. 311 ff.). That promise he now fulfils. 822. complexa recalling her seduction of Vulcan at Virg. A. 8. 370 ff.: cf. esp. 405 'optatos dedit amplexus'. Note that Venus saw Diana some time ago (iamdudum, 821) but restrained her irritation (824) until the right moment presented itself (tempestiva, 825), i.e. when she holds Mars in her arms and can bend him to her will. Statius may have in mind not only Virgil but also the numerous representations of Venus and Mars embracing in contemporary painting: see W. Helbig, Wandgemälde der von Vesuv verschütteten Städte Campanien (Leipzig, 1863), pp. 313 ff. 822 ff. Compare her words to Mars at 3. 269 ff. 'bella etiam in Thebas, socer o pulcherrime, bella / ipse paras ferroque tuos abolere nepotes? / nec genus Harmoniae nec te conubia caelo / festa nec hae quicquam lacrimae, furibunde, morantur?' Harmonia was the child of their illicit union, and her name symbolizes the tempering of the manly spirit by love. She married Cadmus (Apollod. 3. 4. 2), and so the Thebans are in a sense all her descendants: cf. Pind. Pyth. 11. 7 παῖδες ̔Αρμονίας‎. Vulcan, jealous of his wife's infidelity, fashioned for Harmonia an ill-omened necklace steeped in deadly poisons (2. 269 ff., 4. 192 ff.). 823. commemorat for the sense ('reminds of') cf. Cic. Att. 5. 21. 13 'commemorat quid olim mali C. Iulius fecerit', Ov. Met. 12. 161 f. 'pericula saepe / commemorare iuvat'.   viro i.e. 'lover', as at e.g. Prop. 2. 6. 6 'Phryne tam multis facta beata viris', Ov. Ars 3. 278. 824. pressum tacito sub corde dolorem a reminiscence of Virg. A. 1. 20 'premit altum corde dolorem': cf. also 546. The sense of dolorem is not 'grief' (sic Mozley) but rather 'resentment', 'indignation', this being the emotion which characterizes Venus' whole speech (protervam, audax, en etiam). Cf. Pl. As. 831, Virg. A. 8. 500 f. 'quos iustus in hostem / fert dolor' (of the Etruscans' resentment of Mezentius), Theb. 10. 907, Tac. Ann. 2. 71.

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825. tempestiva the word is also applied to a person at Tac. Dial. 14. 1 ' "num parum tempestivus" inquit "interveni"'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 210 825 f. protervam / virginitate paradoxically Diana is so proud of her manly Amazon-like chastity that she shamelessly flaunts herself among men (826), intruding upon their work, war. Cf. improba, 836. 826 f. mediam se ferre virorum / coetibus both Virgil and Statius frequently use medius predicatively of persons: cf. A. 2. 508, 5. 76, 10. 56, 379, Theb. 1. 84, 4. 683, Ach. 1. 884. se ferre implies a proud and majestic bearing: cf. Enn. Ann. 517 f. Skutsch (a horse) 'fert sese campi per caerula laetaque prata / celso pectore', Virg. A. 1. 503, 2. 454 f., 5. 289 f. 827. Martia i.e. tua, and hence provocative. The phrase ad Martia signa (e.g. Mart. 11. 3. 3) means 'on military service'. 828. temperet 'disponat aut ordinet' (Lactantius). Precise parallels are lacking, but tempero is commonly used with the sense 'control', 'guide', as at e.g. Ov. Met. 13. 366 'ratem qui temperat', Sil. 6. 361 'voce alternos nautarum temperet ictus'. 829. viros Venus is indignant that the virgin goddess controls the fate of heroes. 829 f. Scathing lines: if war, in both its good and bad aspects (virtus, furor), has been given to Diana as her provincia, nothing remains for Mars but to take up her old duties, the less manly pursuits of hunting. Venus contentiously portrays these as the unchallenging slaughter of timid deer: in point of fact Diana's devotees hunt boars, lions, and bears (589 f.). For the warrior's disdain of easy game cf. Ach. 2. 121 ff. 'numquam ille imbelles Ossaea per avia dammas / sectari aut timidas passus me cuspide lyncas'. The potentially disastrous results of gods usurping each other's provinciae are exploited for comic effect by Ovid at Am. 1. 1. 5 ff. 830. agrestes … figere dammas the wording echoes Virg. G. 1. 308, but the principal model is Hera's sneer to Artemis: Il. 21. 485 f. ἤτοι βέλτερόν ἐστι κατʼ οὔρεα θῆρας ἐναίρειν / ἀγροτέρας τʼ ἐλάφους ἤ κρείσσοσιν ἶφι μάχεσθαι‎. 831. iustis the poet vindicates Venus' complaints. Cf. Jupiter's disapproval at 839 f.: Diana is trespassing on Mars' territory and resisting fate. Compare also Juno's aequas preces at 519 f. 832. Bellipotens attested as early as Ennius (Ann. 198 Skutsch) and regularly associated with Mars: cf. Virg. A. 11. 8, Theb. 3. 292, 577, 8. 384, Ach. 1. 443, Silv. 1. 4. 34, 5. 2. 179. It is applied to Minerva at 2. 716. Compare armipotens, used of Minerva (Acc. trag. 251, Virg. A. 2. 425) and Mars (Lucr. 1. 33, Virg. A. 9. 717, Ov. Fast. 2. 481, Theb. 3. 344), and Page 180 of 195

ignipotens, of Vulcan (Virg. A. 8. 414, 423 etc.). For such compounds generally see Skutsch on Enn. Ann. 198. 832 f. Mars' retinue has a long poetic history, extending back to Il. 4. 439 ff., where it includes Terror, Rout, and his sister Discord (Δειμός, Φόβος, Ἔρις‎). Compare Virgil's treatment of the theme at A. 9. 717 ff. and 12. 335 ff., where Ira is also mentioned. Statius has two such passages, 3. 424 ff., where 'comunt Furor Iraque cristas' while Pavor and Fama also belong to the company, and 7. 47 ff., where the guards around Mars' Thracian palace include Impetus, Nefas, Irae, Metus, Discordia, Minae, Virtus, Furor, and Mors. For personification and allegory in Statius generally see 32 n. ........................................................................................................................... pg 211 832. vagum per inane the epithet ('shifting') seems to imply a moving of the air caused by the blowing of winds and breezes, inane means the 'empty' space of air between heaven and earth: cf. Ov. Met. 6. 230 'audito sonitu per inane pharetrae', Man. 1. 33 'per inane suis parentia finibus astra'. 833. sudant ad bella the sense of ad is 'for', 'with a view to'. See OLD s.v. 42 (a subsection of 'G. Function, purpose, result'), quoting Ter. Ph. 533 'qui prior ad dandumst', Prop. 4. 2. 29 'sobrius ad lites', Ov. Pont. 3. 4. 32 'rudis audita miles ad arma tuba'. For the metaphor in sudant see 98 sudor, 626 nn. 834. maestam … Letoida for maestam see 646 n. For the somewhat rare form Letoida cf. Alexander Aetolus, fr. 4. 8 Collectanea Alexandrina Λητωΐδος ἀκλέα ἔργα‎, Ov. Met. 7. 384, Ep. 20. 153. Statius twice (1. 663, 695) applies it to Apollo. 835 ff. Mars' speech rebuking Diana for impudence and threatening dire punishment if she does not leave the battlefield is a shortened and more polite adaptation of Hera's furious invective against Artemis at Il. 21. 479 ff. Compare especially 835 f. with Il. 21. 483 f. ἐπεὶ σὲ λέοντα γυναιξὶ / Ζεὺς θῆκεν, καὶ ἔδωκε κατακτάμεν ἣν κʼ ἐθέλῃσθα‎, and 836 f. with Il. 21. 487 f. εἰ δʼ ἐθέλεις πολέμοιο δαήμεναι, ὄφρʼ ἐΰ εἰδῇς / ὄσσον φερτέρη εἴμʼ, ὅτι μοι μένος ἀντιφερίζεις‎. Hera ended by giving Artemis a good drubbing which reduced her to tears (Il. 21. 489 ff.), but Statius takes pains to see that his gods preserve a Roman decorum, and so Diana makes a dignified exit, not retreating through fear but through pudor. 835. non haec … proelia but rather the warfare of hunting. For the metaphor cf. 604, 608 f., 626. 836. armiferum … campum in the context one is instinctively reminded of the Spartae, the warriors who sprang fully armed from the Theban plain when Cadmus sowed the dragon's teeth (Ov. Met. 3. 101 ff.).

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837. huic aequam nosces nec Pallada dextrae a threat of violence: not even the wargoddess Pallas is a match for Mars. This is ironic in the context of imitation of Homer, since in that brawl Athena sent Ares sprawling with a stone and then taunted him (Il. 21. 410 f.). Cf. also Il. 5. 846 ff., where her help permits Diomedes to wound Ares, and V. Fl. 5. 618 ff., where only Jupiter's intervention prevents them from coming to blows after an acrimonious exchange. 839. plenae tibi, parve, colus i.e. the distaffs on which the Parcae have spun the thread of his life. For the idea cf. 6. 379 f. 'huius / extrema iam fila colu'. colus may be used almost to mean 'fate' as at e.g. CIL 11. 1209 'erubuit nostras Atropos ipsa colus': cf. also Sen. HO 1179 ff., V. Fl. 6. 644 f. 839 f. Iovis … severi / vultus his stern looks demand submission to his will, which is fate itself (1. 212 f.). Parthenopaeus' death is ordained (661) and forms part of the divine plan to cleanse the sins of Argos (1. 224 ff.). 840. evicta also of the overpowering effect of emotions at e.g. Virg. A. 4. 474 'evicta dolore', Liv. 9. 6. 5 'evicit miseratio'. The compound is first attested in Virgil (A. 2. 497, 630, 4. 548) and is much used by Seneca in his tragedies and by Tacitus. Its only other appearance in Statius is at 7. 558. ........................................................................................................................... pg 212 841–876. Mars chooses as the instrument of Parthenopaeus' destruction Dryas, a grandson of Orion and hence hereditary enemy of Diana and her devotees (842 n.). He easily slaughters the boy, but then is also himself mysteriously killed. Though Dryas is driven on by Mars (842) and is in a sense the tool of fate and Jupiter's will (858 n.), his action is not thereby excused. His family feud with Diana leads him to disregard the heroic code: he is a terrifying giant (horrendum, 842; saevi … mole Dryantis, 861) who, without giving warning (contrast Amphion at 779 ff.), brutally cuts down a mere boy. This is no fair fight, but rather nothing short of murder.   Other sources variously name as Parthenopaeus' killer Amphidocus (Apollod. 3. 6. 8), Asphodicus (Paus. 9. 18. 6), and Periclymenus (Aristodemus, FGH 3 B 383, fr. 6). The only previous full account of his death is given by Euripides, who describes (Phoen. 1153 ff.) how, while assaulting the Neïstian gate, he was struck on the head by a piece of battlementcoping thrown by Periclymenus. So unheroic a tale no doubt offended Statius' sense of the dignity of epic and afforded him little opportunity for pathos: the name Dryas and the dramatic tale of personal vendetta represent a judicious innovation. 842. Dryanta grandson of Orion and leader of the archers of Tanagra (7. 254 ff.). His hatred for Diana and her friends is due to his grandfather's having been slain by the goddess, as

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a punishment either for his presumptuous liaison with Eos (Od. 5. 121 ff.) or for attempting to rape either Artemis or her companion Otis (Servius on A. 1. 535, Hor. Carm. 3. 4. 70 ff., Apollod. 1. 4. 5 with Frazer). He was born at Hyria near Tanagra, and Pausanias (9. 20. 3) saw his tomb in the latter city. He was a giant (Ov. Fast. 5. 537 'creverat immensum') as, it seems, is his grandson (to horrendum cf. 861, 8. 355 'celsum … Dryanta'). Phorbas had prayed that Dryas would be spared his grandfather's fate (7. 257 f.) but see 875 f. n. Statius' interest in the legend will have been aroused or encouraged by its prominence in learned Hellenistic poetry, e.g. Aratus 634 ff., Call. Hymn 3. 264 f.   sanguinis auctor a common epic phrase: see Fordyce on Virg. A. 7. 49, Heuvel on Theb. 1. 224. Similarly common is generis auctor (e.g. Virg. A. 4. 365, Ov. Met. 4. 640): other variants are found with e.g. originis (Ov. Fast. 2. 399), stirpis (Tac. Ann. 12. 58) and gentis (Suet. Cl. 35. 3), while auctor is also used elliptically by itself (e.g. Virg. A. 3. 503, Ov. Met. 6. 172, V. Fl. 5. 477, Theb. 2. 436). 843. turbidus 'quia stella eius tempestatem movet, sive fortis vel incontinens, quippe qui nimio amore Dianae flagravit' (Lactantius). Cf. 461 n.: the gods took pity on Orion and turned him into the constellation of Scorpio (Serv. on A. 1. 535, Ov. Fast. 5. 539 ff., Luc. 9. 836). 844. patrium. hic the manuscripts read primum, while P offers hinc for hic. The sense is clear enough, but the grammatical structure with primum would be incomprehensible. Barth thus suggested primus hic and Kohlmann primum hinc: Hill, however, rightly points out that hinc has arisen from inde. Amar-Lemaire solved the problem by reading patrium, though they thought the ellipse rather harsh. Alton (p. 184) compares V. Fl. 2. 156 f. ........................................................................................................................... pg 213 'adde cruentis / quod patrium saevire Dahis' and explains that IUM was misread as PRIM. 844 f. turbatos arripit ense / Arcadas recalling Virg. A. 9. 13 'turbata arripe castra', where see Williams's note. 845. exarmat ducem metaphorically, by massacring his allies. 846. Take populus … habitator together. Cyllene, birthplace of Mercury (hence 'Cyllenius' at 1. 293, 2. 89 etc.) is perhaps Arcadia's most famous mountain as Tegea is its most ancient and formerly most powerful city. They are coupled together to represent the Arcadians who follow Parthenopaeus at 4. 287 f. For the epic, Ionian form Tegea see Smolenaars on 7. 5. The city is 'shady' because of its trees: cf. Pac. trag. 56. habitator is found in Latin epic only in Lucan (1. 27, 6. 341) and Statius (3. 604, 4. 150). 847. Aepytiique duces as Barth saw, duces is suspicious ('mendosa vocabula, quippe nec ad rem faciens') because it interrupts the series of general terms designating whole

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troops of men (populus … habitator, phalanges). Hence he suggested truces, though surely e.g. Aepytiaeque acies would be better. duces has crept in from 845. Aepytius is attested in Latin poetry only here and at 4. 296. Pausanias nowhere mentions a town called Aepytos in Arcadia, but Statius may have invented the place on account of a confused memory of Aepytos, son of Cresphontes of Messenia, whom king Cypselus of Arcadia brought up and restored to his throne.   Telphusiacaeque much mangled by the scribes but restored by Kohlmann: Gronovius' Thelphusaeaeque is equally possible. See also Schamberger, p. 255. Thelphusa stood on the banks of the Ladon (573 n.) and was the birthplace of Adrastus' horse Arion (Paus. 8. 25. 9, quoting five lines of Antimachus' Thebaid: see fr. 32. 3 Wyss ʼΑρίονα Θελπουσαῖον‎). The epithet is also found, in various forms, in Callimachus (fr. 652, with Pfeiffer) and Lycophron (Alexandra 1040), and is used here with ostentatious doctrina. 848 ff. Alton, p. 184, thought these lines 'a feeble repetition of the following passage' and suggested that they were 'a very early interpolation'. Mozley found them difficult too: his translation assumes that ipsum refers to Parthenopaeus, that Dryas is the subject of fidit and servat, but that the remainder of 849–51 describe Parthenopaeus. In fact there is no reason why a change of subject would be any the less abrupt at 849 than at 848, while it is surely Parthenopaeus who, as before, is over-confident and, though weary from his victories (744 ff.: lassa, fessus), foolishly does not husband his strength. Cf. also 683 illum n. Parthenopaeus, then, is the subject from 848 on, and these lines make perfect sense. They also give the additional information that, despite his weariness, the boy remains sure of himself (until 853 ff.) and that he has premonitions of death which he chooses to ignore. 848. fidit prosternere for fido with the infinitive, of having confidence in one's ability to do something, cf. 11. 59 f. 'nec se tanta in certamina fidit / sufficere'. See also Williams on Virg. A. 5. 69 'crudo fidit ('dares') pugnam committere caestu'. 850. mutabat i.e. 'changing the position of' his squadrons, moving them ........................................................................................................................... pg 214 about the field to face the new challenge from Dryas. For the sense cf. Hor. Carm. 3. 6. 41 f. 'sol ubi montium / mutaret umbras', Prop. 2. 15. 9 'vario amplexu mutamus bracchia'. 851. nigrae praecedunt nubila mortis in a sense nigrae is transferred from nubila but death is naturally often said to be 'black': cf. e.g. Pind. Pyth. 11. 56 f., Eur. Tro. 1315 f. μέλας γὰρ ὄσσε κατεκάλυψε / θάνατος‎, Tib. 1. 3. 4 f. 'abstineas avidas Mors modo nigra manus. / abstineas, Mors atra, precor', 1. 10. 33, Hor. Carm. 1. 28. 13, Sen. Oed. 164, Theb. 4. 528. See also 40 n. The clouds seem to pass before his eyes (praecedunt), obscuring his vision.

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852. miser first used of Parthenopaeus here (cf. 871), and hence ominously preparing his death.   raros because Dryas' troops have killed so many, or possibly because, with his sight failing, he could only see (videbat) a few close to him. The word also stresses his isolation: there is no one close at hand to protect him from Dryas. 853. abscedere used in similarly metaphorical ways at e.g. Pl. Mer. 140 'aegritudo abscesserit', Ter. Hec. 781 'haec ira abscedet', Tac. Hist. 4. 76 'ubi metus abscesserit'. 853 f. sentit, / sentit the change of tense in P is surely nothing more than a slip of the pen and would be intolerable: cf. R. Mayer, CR 35 (1985), 290. 854. exhaustas the verb is used of emptying a quiver in extant Latin poetry only here and at Ov. Met. 1. 443 'exhausta paene pharetra'. Statius is very free in his use of exhaurio: see Williams on 10. 294 f. 'inanes / exhaurire minas'. 855. We recall Turnus: Virg. A. 12. 616 'iam minus atque minus successu laetus equorum'.   fert arma Alton, p. 184, thought this difficult and suggested fert ira ('martial spirit'), comparing 'sic ira ferebat' (1. 428, 7. 399, of battle spirit spurring men on and sustaining their desire to fight). This, however, would introduce an extremely violent change of subject. fert must mean much the same as ferre potest or sustinet: the boy, as the Delphin editor says, 'languidius gerit' his weapons, and though he does not drop them until struck (871) he does let them droop. Parallels for this sense of fert are lacking, but surely it is brought out well enough by iam minus atque minus. It also suits the context (853, 855 f. puerque videtur / et sibi) far better. 856. et sibi the enjambement stresses the shock of realization: even he now acknowledges his immaturity and weakness. Compare Turnus before the duel with Aeneas, with his 'pubentes … genae et iuvenali in corpore pallor' (Virg. A. 12. 221). 856 f. Take metuendus and torva clipei … luce closely together, and for the scene described cf. 802 f. The brightness of Dryas' armour aroused Phorbas' comment: 7. 255 f. 'nivea arma tridentem / atque auro rude fulmen habent'. Perhaps the fulmen marks him out as the instrument of Jupiter: cf. 858 n. The very vivid obarsit, found only here in extant Latin, looks like a neologism formed on the model of inardesco. 858 ff. In his terror the boy is like a swan, swimming on the Strymon, which suddenly sees an eagle above it. Parthenopaeus' panic can be inferred from ........................................................................................................................... pg 215

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the phrase describing how the swan cupit hiscere ripam Strymonos. Possibly 860 also implies that he shrinks back in terror when he sees the giant towering above him. See further von Moisy, pp. 65 ff., who stresses how Statius concentrates on the emotions of a single terrifying moment. Warriors attacking inferior opponents are compared to birds of prey almost as much as to lions or wolves. Cf. esp. Il. 15. 690 ff. (Hector attacking the ships) ἀλλʼ ὥς τʼ ὀρνίθων πετεηνῶν αἰετὸς αἴθων / ἔθνος ἐφορμᾶται ποταμὸν πάρα βοσκομενάων, / χηνῶν ἤ γεράνων ἤ κύκνων‎, Theb. 3. 524 ff., 8. 674 ff. (Tydeus falls on Eteocles) 'nec segnius ardens / occurrit, niveo quam flammiger ales olori / inminet et magna trepidum circumligat umbra'. 858. feri vectorem fulminis cf. 3. 506 f. 'fulminis ardens / vector'. The eagle's association with the king of the gods is an old one: see D. W. Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds (London, 1936), pp. 3 f., and Austin on Virg. A. 1. 394 'Iovis ales': cf. also Pind. Pyth. 1. 7 Διὸς αἰετός‎. It was his messenger, and also his armour-bearer: cf. Hor. Carm. 4. 4. 1 'ministrum fulminis alitem', Virg. A. 5. 255, 9. 564, Theb. 3. 531 f. That Dryas is compared to the eagle perhaps implies that he is fulfilling Jupiter's will: cf. 856 f. n. 858 f. albus / … olor cf. Virg. A. 11. 580, Ov. Ep. 7. 2 for the same phrase, and also Sen. Ag. 678, Sil. 13. 15 f. etc. for the whiteness of swans. It implies beauty (cf. niveam … frontem, 767) and so helps the identification of the swan with Parthenopaeus. olor is the native Latin word, found in poetry as early as Lucil. 268. J. André, Les Noms D'Oiseaux en Latin (Études et Commentaires 66) (Paris, 1967), p. 65, points out that the Greek cycnus is found in Lucretius (3. 7, 4. 181) and Cicero (Tusc. 1. 73), and concludes that olor had been totally supplanted by the end of the first century. It seems, however, to have regained favour with Flavian poets, for whom it perhaps had an archaic tone. Statius has olor seven times, but cycnus only three, while Silius never uses cycnus but has the native word three times. 859. cupit hiscere ripam 'ut se submergat et fugiat aquilam' (Lactantius): cf. hiscere campos, 22, of another, real portent. 860. Strymonos see 437 n. The Strymon is more often associated with cranes (e.g. Virg. G. 1. 120 'Strymoniae … grues', A. 10. 265, Shelley Hellas 480 'cranes upon the cloudless Thracian wind') though cf. Theb. 7. 287 'renidentem deducunt Strymona cygni'.   trepidas in pectora contrahit alas an instinctive protective gesture. To trepidas alas cf. 3. 428 (of Fama, in agitation rather than fear) 'trepidas … plumas'. 862. A fearful trembling, foreboding death, replaces Parthenopaeus' martial spirit. For nuntius of prodigies etc. foretelling disaster cf. [Tib.] 3. 4. 5 f. 'venturae nuntia sortis / … exta', Liv. 5. 50. 5, Tac. Ann. 15. 47 'prodigia imminentium malorum nuntia'. Statius may be thinking particularly of Ov. Met. 14. 726 'nec mei ventura est nuntia leti'.

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863. His prayer to Diana at the beginning of the re-run of the foot-race was heard (6. 638), but now she cannot answer and his prayer is in vain (frustra). 864. molitur implying great effort. For molior of wielding weapons cf. Virg. G. 1. 329, 4. 331, Ov. Fast. 3. 35, Sen. Ep. 90. 26 etc.    ........................................................................................................................... pg 216 surdos i.e. 'unresponsive'.   expedit meaning much the same as parat: cf. Caes. Civ. 2. 4. 5 'navis expediunt', Virg. A. 6. 218 f. 'pars calidos latices et aëna undantia flammis / expediunt'. 865. instat telis a slightly disturbing phrase. The TLL links it with Sil. 15. 720 'teloque instare sequaci' and Theb. 5. 385 'instamus iactu telorum', but those passages speak of a warrior pursuing another by hurling a succession of missiles at him, while Parthenopaeus never actually fires his arrow. The sense is perhaps similar to Virg. A. 1. 504 'instans operi' and Theb. 4. 328 'magnis conatibus instas': the boy is 'applying himself to his weapons urgently'.   dextramque obliquus in ulnam et utramque makes no sense: he could hardly lean in two directions at once. dextramque is the suggestion of Damsté (pp. 94 f.), who explains that an archer about to shoot holds the bow with the left arm fully extended, while bending the right at the elbow in order to draw back the string and arrow: he then leans slightly to the right in order to have a clear view of the target along the arrow. Phillimore's utramque obnixus is at first glance ingenious, but only the right arm is really 'straining' (cf. 771 ff.). 866. The ultimate source of this line is Il. 4. 123 (Pandarus draws his bow) νευρὴν μὲν μαζῷ πέλασεν, τόξῳ δέ σίδηρον‎, but Statius has particularly drawn on Virg. A. 11. 859 ff. (Camilla) 'cornuque infensa tetendit / et duxit longe, donec curvata coirent / inter se capita et manibus iam tangeret aequis, / laeva aciem ferri, dextra nervoque papillam'. Bows were thought to have been originally made from horn and the metonymy is common (e.g. Virg. Ecl. 10. 59, A. 7. 497, Theb. 4. 250, 9. 744, 870 etc.). The plural cornua properly means the 'tips' of the bow (Ov. Met. 2. 603 f. 'flexumque a cornibus arcum / tetendit', Sen. HF 992 'vastum coactis flexit arcum cornibus') but here, by extension, designates the whole bow as opposed to the string: cf. e.g. 4. 931. mucrone refers to the tip of the arrow, of course, and not of a spear, as TLL 8. 1556. 5 asserts. 867. turbine common in epic of the whirling motion of a missile in flight: cf. Virg. A. 11. 284, 12. 320, Luc. 3. 465, Sil. 2. 135, 6. 249, Theb. 6. 709 'vasto contorquet turbine' (cf. magno here, indicating the giant's strength), Ach. 2. 132.

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868 ff. Statius is recalling here the manner in which Zeus thwarted Teucer's attempt to shoot Hector (Il. 15. 461 ff.). 869. vincla clearly not the fastenings of the string to the tips—the spear could hardly sever both—but rather the sinews which 'bind' or 'chain' the string into a unity. Compare Ov. Pont. 1. 2. 19 f. 'intentus nervo levis arcus equino / vincula semper habens inresoluta manet'. 869 ff. For remittere see 84 n., and compare Ov. Ep. 19. 197 'stamina de digitis cecidere sopore remissis', and especially Theb. 5. 396 ff. 'manibusque horrore remissis / arma aliena cadunt'. For vana cf. Ov. Met. 8. 345 f. 'cuspis Echionio primum lacerto / vana fuit', Theb. 10. 396 'vanos alte levat eminus ictus'. The sense of supinato (870) is 'straightening out' (OLD s.v. 2b), a highly daring use of the verb: for similar audacity cf. 12. 243 f. ........................................................................................................................... pg 217 'iamque supinantur ('flatten out', 'sink back') fessis lateque fatiscunt / Penthei devexa iugi'. 871. Contrast 7. 819 (Amphiaraus descending to Hades) 'non arma manu, non frena remisit' (cf. 249 n.). The echo stresses the difference between the two: Parthenopaeus is not spared by Heaven and cannot match the mature warrior's prowess. 872. vulneris impatiens hardly 'reckless of the wound' (Mozley). The point is that he cannot endure the pain and so lets go of his reins and bow: compare Virg. A. 11. 639, where the same phrase is used of a horse rearing under the shock of a blow and throwing its rider.   tegmina R. D. Williams (CQ 45 (1951), 144) defends tegmine and stresses Statius' fondness for the vivid local ablative with cado (see 536 n.), comparing 11. 639 f. 'luctata est dextra, et prono vix pectore ferrum / intravit tandem' and V. Fl. 1. 590 'mediis intrarent montibus undae'. None the less it is extremely difficult to accept that Statius would use a local ablative and a plain accusative (facilemque cutem) with the same verb. 873. facilem 'mollem seu penetrabilem ut pueri scilicet' (Lactantius). This seems to be an extension of the use of facilis to mean 'yielding' or 'tractable', as at Lucr. 5. 1288, Tib. 1. 1. 39 f. 'fictilia … fecit agrestis / pocula, de facili composuitque luto'. 874. The cutting of the tendons at the back of the knee is a favourite wound in epic: cf. Il. 13. 212 ἦλθε κατʼ ἰγνύην βεβλημένος ὀξέï χαλκῷ‎, Hor. Carm. 3. 2. 16, Virg. A. 9. 762 f. 'succiso poplite Gygen / excipit', 10. 699 f., Ov. Met. 8. 363 f. 'trepidantem et terga parantem / vertere succiso liquerunt poplite nervi', all similarly in contexts involving panicstruck flight. Here, of course, it is the horse, not the hero, who is wounded in this way. 875 f. No sooner has he dealt Parthenopaeus the death-blow than Dryas himself mysteriously falls dead, slain by an unseen hand. The poet and the reader, remembering

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Diana's promise of vengeance (665 ff.), are none the less able to identify the killer, who, on her departure at 840, must have stayed within range. The execution of Dryas is modelled on that of Arruns, the slayer of Camilla, by Opis (Virg. A. 11. 590 ff., 836 ff.). Note that Statius emphasizes the mysteriousness of the event: Dryas is not even aware of a wound whereas Arruns at least heard Opis' arrow speeding towards him (A. 11. 863 f.). For the stealth with which Diana's arrows kill cf. also V. Fl. 3. 321 f. 'Triviaeque potentis / occidit arcana genetrix absumpta sagitta'. 876. patebunt Hill defends patebant, quoting Lactantius: 'a Diana intelligitur Dryas occisus, ut ipsa superius' (i.e. 667). To say first that something is astonishing (mirum) and then that the person responsible and her reasons have been long evident is, however, rather inconsistent. Everything is seen from the point of view of Dryas, not of a privileged audience: though he does not yet know what has happened or why, olim—'one day' (perhaps in Hades?)—he will. Alternatively, perhaps one day Diana will reveal the portent's significance to mortals: cf. Barth 'olim, cum ipsa Diana confiteri voluerit'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 218 877–907. The dying boy is carried to a remote part of the field where he instructs Dorceus to keep the terrible news from Atalanta as long as possible. He acknowledges his cruelty to her, and unjustly accuses the goddess he believes has failed him. This is the emotional climax of the poem, and Statius spares no effort to move his audience. 877. infusus sociis because he cannot support himself. For this use of infusus cf. Virg. A. 8. 406 'coniugis infusa gremio', Ov. Ep. 2. 93 'colloque infusus amantis', Sen. Med. 946 f.   devia campi for the neuter plural as a substantive see Skutsch on Enn. Ann. 84 'infera noctis', Austin on Virg. A. 2. 332, Williams on Theb. 10. 230, K.–S. i. 230. It is something of a mannerism in Lucretius and is common in poetry thereafter: also in prose authors who affect a poetic style, especially Tacitus and Apuleius (e.g. Met. 1. 2 'ardua montium et lubrica vallium et roscida caespitum et glebosa camporum emersi'). Note that, as well as being metrically convenient, it stresses the adjective. Compare particularly Liv. 21. 33. 4 'invia ac devia adsueti decurrunt', [Tib.] 3. 9. 2 'umbrosi devia montis', Luc. 4. 161, V. Fl. 3. 49. 878. heu simplex aetas Amar–Lemaire compare Ov. Met. 5. 400 (of Proserpina) 'tantaque simplicitas puerilibus adfuit annis' but complain that such naïvety ill suits the killer of so many men. For Parthenopaeus, however, war is a game (e.g. hilaris, 698), and his precocity in battle does not affect his essential innocence (simplex = 'artless', 'not duplex').   iacentem implying death, but if Atalanta's dreams are all true, the horse will survive and return to Arcadia (580).

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879. laxata casside in order to allow him to breathe. Its removal gives us a last sad look at his now failing beauty (cf. 699 ff. n.).   vultus we might expect caput, but cf. 10. 153 'lassique cadunt in pectora vultus'. 880. aegra … expirat gratia a moving oxymoron. His beautiful eyes quivered with glorious light at 701 f., but now that animating glow is fading: the charm and grace are still there, but they are dying, 'breathing their last' (expirat).   visus as at 702 the sense is almost 'eyes': for an indisputable example see 6. 277 'inocciduis stellatum visibus Argum'. 881. Lactantius explains that 'morituris solent erigere capita comasque concutiendo sive vellendo, quasi revocent illis sensum'. Vessey, p. 219, argues that Idas' grabbing Parthenopaeus' hair (6. 615 ff.) was an omen of this. 882. ipsisque nefas lacrimabile Thebis and his enemies will indeed weep for him: cf. 12. 807 'Arcada, quem geminae pariter flevere cohortes'. The violation and destruction of the boy's beauty is a nefas because he is sacred to the goddess: cf. 347. 883. The vivid contrast of colours and the note of regret for lost beauty recall the death of Euryalus: cf. esp. Virg. A. 9. 432 ff. (ensis) 'transadigit costas et candida pectora rumpit. / volvitur Euryalus leto, pulchrosque per artus / it cruor'. Both passages are infused with a sensuality which most readers will find disturbing but which is far less rare in Roman literature than is ........................................................................................................................... pg 219 generally admitted. See J. Griffin, Latin Poets and Roman Life (London, 1985), pp. 106 f., for some very perceptive comments on Horace's 'Europa' ode (Carm. 3. 27) and Hardie, p. 182, for the presence of an 'erotic element' in the epicedia for pueri delicati in the Silvae.   purpureus niveo the colour contrast seems to have fascinated ancient poets, and Homer compares the staining of Menelaus' thighs with blood to a woman dyeing ivory scarlet (Il. 4. 141 f.). Latin poets, following Ennius' lead (Ann. 361, where see Skutsch), prefer to apply it to maidens' faces suffused with a crimson blush: see the list of examples given by Mulder on 2. 231, and cf. Virg. A. 12. 64 ff., Silv. 1. 2. 244 f. Statius also speaks in similar terms of the flush of robust health or exertion in an aristocratically pallid face; e.g. Silv. 2. 1. 41, Ach. 1. 161 f. 'niveo natat ignis in ore / purpureus'. purpureus is naturally a common epithet for freshly spilt blood; e.g. Il. 17. 360 f. αἵματι δὲ χθὼν / δεύετο πορφυρέῳ‎, Virg. A. 9. 349, Hor. Carm. 2. 12. 3, Ov. Tr. 4. 2. 6, Sen. Ag. 214, V. Fl. 3. 107, Sil. 4. 167. André, pp. 97 ff., asserts that purpureus means not merely 'crimson' but also 'bright'. This is refuted by R. J. Edgeworth, at Glotta 57 (1979), 281 ff.

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884. singultu … incidente convulsive choking as the boy fights for breath. Compare Virg. A. 9. 414 f. 'volvitur ille vomens calidum de pectore flumen / frigidus et longis singultibus ilia pulsat', Sen. Dial. 6. 11. 4, Luc. 8. 682 f., Theb. 2. 633, 3. 90. For incido of interrupting or breaking up a speech cf. Cic. RP 3. 3, de Orat. 3. 217. 885 ff. Contrast Camilla's last speech to her sister Acca at Virg. A. 11. 823 ff. 'hactenus, Acca soror, potui: nunc vulnus acerbum / conficit, et tenebris nigrescunt omnia circum. / effuge et haec Turno mandata novissima perfer: / succedat pugnae Troianosque arceat urbe. / iamque vale'. This is the brief, realistic last utterance of a committed and patriotic warrior concerned to the last to further her allies' cause. Parthenopaeus' speech is over five times as long and has more in common with the pathos and stylization of the death-aria of an operatic heroine. It is none the less brilliant for that: even Butler found little to censure in the 'beautiful speech' (p. 220). For the topos of the mandata morituri cf. Hor. Carm. 2. 20, Prop. 1. 21, 2. 13, and 4. 11, and see F. Cairns, Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry (Edinburgh, 1972), pp. 90 f. 885. labimur a reminiscence of Camilla's death: Virg. A. 11. 818 f. 'labitur exsanguis, labuntur frigida leto / lumina'. 886 f. Parthenopaeus' belief that his mother will have had a dream or premonition of his death is, as the reader knows, correct (see 570 ff.). His supposition may perhaps originate in a kind of telepathy, but no doubt he also recalls the portents she had before his departure and which she described to him at 4. 330 ff. Note how his words at 886 recall hers at 631. 887. nefas of a portent also at e.g. Ov. Fast. 2. 711, Luc. 1. 626, Theb. 6. 945. 888. arte pia a clever oxymoron. Deceit, though normally wicked, will here be pious because its aim is to spare a loved one pain.   trepidam suspende it is better that she should merely fear the worst than she should have sure knowledge of it. For similar uses of suspendo cf. Cic. Fam. 15. 1. 3, Liv. 8. 13. 17 'tot populos inter spem metumque suspensos', Theb. 3. 107, Ach. 2. 37 f. 'nimis o suspensa nimisque / mater'. ........................................................................................................................... pg 220 889 f. neve arma tenenti / veneris 'ne audita morte mea te aut se interficiat' (Lactantius). The dangers faced by the bearers of bad news are proverbial (Soph. Ant. 243), but it is his mother's suicide that he fears, as vive igitur (894) shows. 890 ff. Giving Dorceus a message for his mother allows Parthenopaeus to achieve what the physical circumstances prevent him from doing directly, that is asking his mother's

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forgiveness. The violence of Atalanta's grief, which he fears so much, is never described fully by Statius and must be imagined from her distress at 570 ff., from Ismenis' despair in similar circumstances (351 ff.), and from a few glimpses in Book 12, i.e. 12. 124 ff. 'postrema gementum / agmina Maenaliae ducit comes orba Dianae, / … dolet haec queriturque labores / audacis pueri', 805 'Arcada quo planctu genetrix Erymanthia clamet'. 891 f. The punctuation here is that of Gronovius, who follows Lactantius' explanation that Parthenopaeus acknowledges that he has wronged his mother by needlessly exposing himself to danger and so bringing her grief: 'resuscita igitur iram tuam, ut patientius doleas, et cogita deos maternae majestatis vindices teque adeo ipsam, licet invitam, et graviores, justas tamen, de me poenas expetivisse ob contumaciam et temeritatem. Hoc velut ultionis solatio luctum mitiga'. Hill's objection that this is 'absurdum … nam filium suum punire nec vult nec potest' ignores points made clear by Gronovius' paraphrase: whether she wants to or not, she ought to do so, and the punishment—death—has already been inflicted, so that Atalanta need merely accept it as her due, unwilling though she be (invita capesse). Gronovius' punctuation also gives 891 a pleasing pattern of three limbs of increasing length. 891. merui recalling the dying confessions of Turnus (Virg. A. 12. 931 'equidem merui nec deprecor') and Scylla (Ov. Met. 8. 127 'nam (fateor) merui'. 892. arma puer rapui note the effective juxtaposition of arma and puer, two things which would not normally go together. Silius may be recalling this line in his description of the Heldenknabe Podaetus: 14. 496 'arma puer niveis aptarat picta lacertis', for which see further p. xxxv. 893. He saw she was sollicita at 4. 309 ff., but in battle he was matris inmemor (737 f.). His words here (nec tibi … peperci) recall Diana's entreaty at 813, miserae iam parce parenti, and so reveal his consciousness of having rejected her plea unfeelingly.   saltem convincingly defended by Håkanson, p. 64. For nec saltem with the sense 'nor even' cf. 8. 113 'nec attonito saltem cinis ibo parenti', Silv. 4. 9. 14, 5. 2. 66 f. As Håkanson suggests, tandem has probably crept in from 890: cf. also 884. 894. vive igitur for the topos see Barth ad loc. Since it was all his fault (igitur) Atalanta should turn her back on him, feeling anger rather than sorrow. 895 ff. Even now, he imagines, she is anxiously on the look-out for his return. frustra is emphatically placed: all her efforts must go unrewarded. We recall Aegeus scanning the sea for Theseus' ship: Catul. 64. 241 ff. 'at pater, ut summa prospectum ex arce petebat, / anxia in assiduos absumens lumina ........................................................................................................................... pg 221

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fletus' etc. Compare also Hor. Carm. 4. 5. 14 ff. (mater) 'curvo nec faciem litore dimovet / sic desideriis icta fidelibus / quaerit patria Caesarem', and Luc. 8. 45 ff. (Cornelia on the cliffs of Lesbos, looking for Pompey's ship). 895. de colle Lycaei Mt. Lycaeus, on Arcadia's western boundary, is one of the region's highest peaks (1419 m.). Poets commonly mention it in the same breath as Maenalos: e.g. Theocr. 1. 123 f., Virg. Ecl. 10. 14 f., Theb. 7. 80. 896. per nubila longe take with both sonus and pulvis (897): Atalanta strains eyes and ears alike. 897. sublatus ab agmine pulvis campaigning takes place in summer, so armies on the march raise clouds of dust from the sun-baked roads. Compare 5. 9 f. (the Argives marching to Thebes) 'tellus iam pulvere primo / crescit', 12. 658 f. 898. frigidus et nuda iaceo tellure Parthenopaeus speaks almost as if he were already dead. For frigidus in such contexts cf. Eleg. Maec. 146 'frigidus et iamiam moriturus erat', Virg. A. 11. 818, Theb. 12. 29 'frigida … strages': compare also Virg. A. 6. 219 'corpusque lavant frigentis'. nuda means that he lies on bare and stony ground. Statius has in mind Ov. Ars 2. 238 'frigidus et nuda saepe iacebis humo': cf. also Virg. Ecl. 1. 14 f., Luc. 9. 882 f. 'summa ducis virtus, qui nuda fusus harena / excubat', Theb. 12. 328 f. (Argia to the unburied Polynices) 'proiectus caespite nudo / hoc patriae telluris habes'. 898 f. He laments that his mother is not present to perform the last rites for him: see 73 f. n. He refers in particular to the custom of kissing the dying person in order to capture his soul as it leaves the body in his last breath. For this see Toynbee, pp. 43 f., and both Austin and Pease on Virg. A. 4. 684 f. 'extremus si quis super halitus errat, / ore legam'. Among many possible examples cf. Cic. Ver. 5. 118, Prop. 2. 13. 29, Ov. Met. 7. 860 f., Theb. 12. 319 f., Silv. 2. 1. 150 f., 3. 3. 19 f., 5. 1. 195 f., and especially Cons. Liv. 95 f. 'at miseranda parens suprema neque oscula legit, / frigida nec fovit membra tremente sinu' and Tib. 1. 3. 5 f. 'non hic mihi mater, / quae legat in maestos ossa perusta sinus'. The custom leaves a relic in the ritual kiss of the orthodox funeral liturgy. 899. vultus efflantiaque ora see 801 n. For efflo used intransitively see 265 n., and cf. Cic. Div. 1. 106, Lucr. 6. 681, 699, Theb. 8. 168, 10. 109. 900 f. Parthenopaeus sends his mother a lock of hair to be cremated and to receive funeral rites in place of his body. Statius' model is Ap. Rh. 4. 26 ff., where Medea leaves her mother a lock of hair as a memorial of her maidenhood, now 'dead', in her stead (30 τόνδε τοι ἀντʼ ἐμέθεν ταναὸν πλόκον εἶμι λιποῦσα‎). Ancient societies closely associated hair with manliness and vigour, sometimes seeing it as the very seat of life, as the stories of Samson (Judges 16) and Nisus' purple lock (Ciris 120 ff., Ov. Met. 8. 8 ff.) show. Hence it could be used as a

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substitute for the sacrifice or dedication of a person: see e.g. Numbers 6: 18, Plut. Alex. 69. 3. Parthenopaeus may therefore see his death as a sacrifice atoning for his callousness to his mother. See further Austin and Pease on Virg. A. 4. 698. The boy's hair was dedicated to Diana (6. 633 f.). So too Lycurgus vowed his hair to Jupiter on the condition that his son Opheltes reach manhood: when the ........................................................................................................................... pg 222 child died as an infant he accused the god of perfidy, cut his hair, and threw it on the pyre (6. 193 ff.). Parthenopaeus' hair was perhaps vowed on similar terms: now that she has seemingly failed him he too feels free of the vow. There is extra pathos, too, if we recall that hair was commonly vowed for one's own or a loved one's return (e.g. Il. 23. 144 f., Catul. 66. 9 ff., V. Fl. 1. 378 f.). Note how the parenthesis increases the emotional tension. The technique is found in Virgil (see Austin on A. 6. 406) but is an especially Ovidian trick (e.g. Met. 1. 590 f., Ep. 11. 95). 902. A sentimental detail. For a mother's interest in these matters cf. Ov. Ep. 21. 88 'comuntur nostrae matre iubente comae'. Parthenopaeus here recalls such other engaging children as Eros (Ap. Rh. 3. 112 ff.) and Icarus (Ov. Met. 8. 195 ff.). 903–5. These lines are clearly sound. They contain the instructions on what Atalanta is to do with the hair (huic dabis exequias), while haec … arma (906) is surely drawing a distinction between his hunting weapons (904) and his battle ones (906 f.). 903. huic dabis exequias i.e. burn and bury it. This is similar to the tradition of burying a finger (os resectum) when cremating the corpse, in deference to the older custom of inhumation: the finger stood for the whole body (cf. toto … pro corpore, 901). See Toynbee, p. 49, and Cic. Leg. 2. 55. 904 f. The boy instructs his mother to prevent any one else from using his weapons or pack of hounds. His motives are understandable jealousy arising from affection (dilectos), and pride and concern lest lesser hunters (inexpertis) should misuse (hebetet) his weapons. These are the worries of a small boy: the pathos continues to the end. 904. hebetet i.e. through clumsiness. Compare Liv. 8. 10 'cum … hastas aut praefregissent aut hebetassent', [Sen.] Oct. 525 f. 905. antris 'rocky glens' or 'hollows': see Housman on Man. 5. 311, Dilke on Ach. 1. 599. 906. primis arma infelicia castris for the 'dative of disadvantage' with infelix cf. [Sen.] Oct. 645 'noverca coniunx mater infelix meis'. Compare also the 'non felicia tela' of the fallen Etruscans (Virg. A. 11. 196).

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907. crimen P has crinem, which in the context could only mean the lock of 901. That, however, is to be burnt, not dedicated to Diana. Moreover with vel we would have a non sequitur ('burn my weapons or hang up my lock of hair'). Lastly, although the boy's hair is vowed to the goddess (900 f. n.), he would hardly want to give her a mark of gratitude for her fidelity if he thought she had broken faith and was 'ungrateful' (ingratae). This last argument also invalidates munus (ω‎) which Imhof (p. 235) thought was a Christian interpolation, since no pagan hero would give an ungrateful god an offering. Hence he suggested crimen: the weapons hanging in her temple will be a continual reproach to Diana for her failure to save her companion. crimen is in fact found in the hand of a corrector in the eleventh century codex Bambergensis. Statius may have in mind Ov. Met. 8. 240 (Perdix) 'facta … nuper avis, longum tibi, Daedale, crimen.'

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online INDEX VERBORVM

Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

........................................................................................................................... pg 223 INDEX VERBORVM a 127–8 abruptus 112, 182 aderro 94 adgredior 105 admoneo 143 adsulto 148 adsurgo 151 adulor 121 adverbero 187 aemulus 208 agger 104 agnovit 161 alipes 99 alnus 117 altrix 125 amarus 130 amnis 108 amputo 110 anceps 165 angustus 193 anhelus 141 animosus 73, 147 annosus 148 annus 136, 201 Anthedonius 122 antrum 135, 212 Aonides 77 Aonius 57–8 apex 137–8 apto 73 arduus 75, 138 Page 1 of 9

armigerus 174 auctor 66, 112–13, 212 Bacchicus 150–1 balteus 105 Bellipotens 210 Cadmeius, -eus 60, 86 caedes = φόνος‎ 98 = αἵματα‎ 140–1 caerulus, -eus 92, 106, 133 caligo 141 candidus 57 captivus 208–9 carpo 148 castigo 188 cavus 145–6 Cecropius 157 ceu 67 clamo 141 collum 180 colus 211 comans 79 conamen 110, 202 consors laborum 74 consumo 69, 185 contemptor 117 continuo 114 continuus 141 corripio 99 crassus 108 crepido 153 cresco 147 crudesco 184 crudus 133 culpo 58 cultor 182 Danai 86 debellator 161 debello 96 defluus 121 degravo 111 demitto 105 deprendo 163

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derigesco 65 derigo 202 desacro 170 desertor 92 diadema 69, 92 Dictynna 178 dimitto 105 Dircaeus 185 discors 131 disiungo 139 dissimulo 207 doctus 120 Doricus 118 dotalis 139 dubius 153 duco sanguinem 143–4 ductor 113 Echionius 98 ........................................................................................................................... pg 224 efflo 109 effugium 192 effundo 94 egregius 67, 77 Elysius 89, 121 eo 97 ephebus 167 eripio 184 Erymanthis 172 evinco 211 excutio 146 exerto 137 exosus 72 expono 179 extantior 146 externus 184 extimesco 90 extorris 169 exul 68 exuo 73, 113 facilis 133, 217

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fama 65 fatigo 112 femina 81 feretrum 78 fero 214 feror 142 ferox 171, 179 ferus 90, 204 figura 167 fingo 89–90 flebilis 116 fluctivagus 117 flumina 145 fluo 169 formidatus 88 frequento 175 fuge (+ inf.) 86 fulmen 101, 113 fulvus 195 funus 133 furibundus 127 furor 61, 63, 97, 116, 123 gero 61 glaucus 126 gorytos 195 Gradivus 59 gurges 106, 111 gyrus 81 hortatrix 193 iactantior 164 ignis 78 ignotus 169 impedio 171 improbus 83 impulsus 133 inanis 97, 172–3, 211 incido 219 inclino 119 increpo 85–6 index 65 indignus 133

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indulgeo 120 induo 112 ineluctabilis 132–3, 154 inevitabilis 162 infesto 80–1 infitior 164 infrendo 144–5 infula 201 ingemino 127 inicio 154 iniecto 84–5 inmeritus 182 innumerus 71 innuptus 116 inrevocabilis 97 inritus 182 inrubeo 181 insons 143 instar 147 insto 216 intercipio 155 interea 166 intermitto 81 intorqueo 48 invidia 194 invidus 129 īs 82 Isthmiacus 134 iugalis 60 iusta 133 Labdacidae 101 lacesso 95 lacrimandus 78 lapso 91 lateo 112 Letois 211 longus 70 lucidus 123 luctor 109 Lyaeus 205 ........................................................................................................................... Page 5 of 9

magnanimus 161 mandata morituri 219 manes 77 mano 158 maximus 70 melius 132 meto 102 miserandus 193 missilis 202 mitra 205 moles 148 mollis 175 moribundus 126 mors 64 muto 108, 191, 213–14 Mycalesius 112 Mycenae 143 necto 165 nefandus 62 nequiquam … tamen (= μάτην ὅμως‎) 129 nidus 129 nocens 64 nodatus 111–12 nondum 134 nox 66 nudus 62–3, 67–8, 115–16, 158 nusquam 94, 100 nutus 157 o 62, 68 obstrepo 136 occultus 94 occursus 181 Oebalius 188 Oenides 66 offendo 129 Ogygius 207–8 olor 215 oppositus 151 orbus 129 palpito 200

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pg 225

Parrhasius 198 perdo 69 Pelasgus 61 penitus 177–8 porto 67 possideo 153 potens 174–5 potestas 82 praecerpo 96 praecipuus 140 premo 92, 161, 177 protervus 85 protinus 126–7 puer 110, 143, 193 purpureus 219 qualis in interjections 71 -que … et 139 quiesco 204 quippe 99 quodsi 204 rapto 91, 187 recenseo 89 refero 152 regina 132 remigium 107 remitto 89, 109, 216–17 repo 140 resupino 118 rigens 77 roro 172 saevus 188 saltem 133 salus 148 sator divum 156 scelero 183 sceptrum 69 scilicet 77 scrupeus 137 scrutor 106, 146 se agere 104 sed enim 170

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sedeo 125 Sidonius 87 solvo 98 sonipes 100 sortitus 68 spatior 100 spes 83–4 stagnum 100 sto: of blood 198 introducing an ecphrasis 152 of pugna 149 strideo 116 stupeo 104, 158 sublimis 118 subruo 149 subtexo 64 sudo 177, 211 ........................................................................................................................... pg 226 sudor 77–8 suggero 145 summoveo 130 supero 146 suspendo 219–20 Tanagraeus 83 Tegea 213 Tegeatis 167 Telphusiacus 213 temero 196 tempestivus 209 tenebrae 199 tergeo 72 tetricus 175 Teumesius 147–8 Thebes, genitive of Thebe 108 Thisbaeus 114 thorax 105 Thyias 205 thyrsos 141–2, 205 tibia 150–1 Tirynthius 140 tormenta 87 torvus 131, 160

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trano 118 transabeo 83 transfugio 117 transmitto 79, 105, 206 tremesco 101, 185 trepidus 65 trieteris 151 tumidus of emotion 73 of the sea, etc. 106, 120 tumor 203 turbidus 139, 151, 212 turbo 216 tympana 206 ultro 151 ululatus 94, 141 ulvus 138 umbra 153 unanimus 92 uncus 153 vacuus 67, 171 verba 173–4 vidi 91 vincla 105, 216 viridis 127 visus 218 vitreus 127 vivens 168

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Oxford Scholarly Editions Online INDEX RERVM ET NOMINVM Michael Dewar (ed.), Statius: Thebaid IX Published in print:

1991

Published online:

July 2015

........................................................................................................................... pg 227 INDEX RERVM ET NOMINVM ablative: local 159, 170, 217 of separation 160 with asto 174 with lateo 112 with muto 191 ab urbe condita construction 58 Achilleid xvii, xxxix, 192, 205 Achilles xxx, 67, 96–7, 102–3, 119, 123, 134–5, 140, 148–9, 152, 154–5, 198 accusative: cognate 59 of direct object after past participles with 'middle sense' 91–2 internal 194 of respect 90 'retained' 118, 201 Achelous 100 adjective, attributive 62 Adrastus xviii, xxi, 73, 175 adynaton 121 Aeneas xxiv, 97, 123, 155 Aeolos 201 Aeschylus 162, 186 Agave xvii Agenor 111 aition 152–3 Alcon 82 Alcuin xxxix Alcyone 128–9 ambiguity, see change of subject ambrosia 195–6 'amor mortis' 184 Amphiaraus xix, xx, xxii, 63, 156, 179, 180–1, 182, 201 Amphion xxi, 202–4 Amyclae 202 anaphora 69, 124, 200 anastrophe of prepositions 70, 187, 203 Antigone xxii Antimachus xxix, xxx, 103, 175, 186, 213 Antiope 139 Apollo 156, 179–83 Page 1 of 9

Apollonius Rhodius 196 apostrophe 59, 63, 126, 200, 201 Arcadia xxi, 167, 187, 204–5 Archemorus xix Argia xviii, xix, xxii Argipus 110 Argos xviii, xxii Arruntius Stella xvi art 123, 124 Asopus xix, 107–8, 135 Atalanta xxi, xxv, 165–79, 193, 197, 219–22 Atys xx, 125, 197, 201 Bacchants 151, 172, 205 Bacchus 139–40 effeminacy 150, 204 opponent of Diana 172, 175, 205 three-yearly festival 151 beardless boys 190–1 Bellona 115 bows 197–8 breastplates 162–3 Britomartis 178 bucolic motifs 125–6, 132, 201 bulls 73–5, 80–1, 124 burial: demanded by pietas 58, 89, 91, 115, 164–5 os resectum 222 rites 72, 221 see also corpse Callimachus xv, xxix, 88, 121, 134, 136, 171, 175 Camilla xxxi, 173, 183, 184, 198, 202, 205, 217, 219 cannibalism 57 Capaneus xix, xx, xxi, xxii, 159, 161, 201 Caphereus 117 catalogues of troops 145–6 Chanson de Roland 85–6, 103, 109 Chaucer xliv–xlv, 173 centaurs 101 change of subject 187 Cithaeron 145 Claudian xxxvii–xxxviii, 177, 197 Clementia, altar of xxii clouds: concealing gods 195 concealing warriors in battle 93 ........................................................................................................................... pg 228 clouds: of people 81 of weapons 81, 158 colour contrast 219 Page 2 of 9

compound epiphets 117, 142 conditional sentences 108 consolation of fallen enemy 163–4 Coroebus xviii corpse: consumed by beasts 63–4, 77, 115–16 mutilation 93–4 corslets, see thorax Crenaeus xx, xxiv, 118–19, 125 Creon 153 crests 79 Cretheus 117 Cydon 83 Dante xliii–xliv, 57 dative: of disadvantage 220 with aemulus 208 with formidatus 88 with inicio 154 De Bello Germanico xvii dedications: of hair 221–2 of spoils of war 208 of tools of one's trade 170–1 see also hunting Deipyle xviii, 72 Delphi 156, 182 Diana xxi, xxiv, xxvi, xxvii, 172, 173, 179–85, 207, 212, 222 see also Hecate dolphins 105–6, 122, 123 Domitian xv–xvi, xvii, xxxvii, xliii, 161 Dorceus xxi, xxvii, 207, 220 Doris 130 dreams, of ill-omen 166–7, 173–4 Dryads 169 Dryas xxi, 212–17 Dryden xlvii dubitatio 71 Dymas xxi eagle 214–15 ecphrasis xxxii, 123 elegiac diction 70, 194 ellipse of verbs of saying 78 Ennius 169, 191 epanalepsis 107, 120 epiphets of gods 174 Erginus 117 Eryx 83 Eteocles xviii, xix, xx, xxi, xxii, 57, 61–4, 67–8 etymologies 169 Euripides: on Capaneus 159 on Hippomedon 75–6, 156 on Parthenopaeus 186, 189, 191 Europa 123

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Eurytion 199–200 exempla 71 Faunus 120 finery, useless in battle 186–7, 188 Fulgentius (Pseudo-) xlii–xliii Furies: attributes 90 maidenhood 92 see also Tisiphone games: Alban xvi, xvii Augustalia xv Capitoline xvi genitive: archaic ('syncopated') plural 59, 156, 162 with potens 174–5 gestures: grief 127, 138 prayer 146, 179 Getae 159 glass 127 Glaucus 121–2 Gray xlviii Grecisms xxxiii, 83, 86, 90, 91–2, 126–7 Haemon xx Haemus 159 hair 221–2 halcyon, see Alcyone Halys 89–90 Harmonia 209 Hebrus 142 Hecate 175, 192 helmets 66, 79–80, 109, 189–90, 218 Hercules 139 Hippomedon xx, xxii–xxv, xxx, xxxi, 74–165 passim in Antimachus xxx aristeia (battle with Ismenos) xxxi, 74–5 ........................................................................................................................... pg 229 cruelty 119, 151 furor 97, 119 giant 75–6, 101 origins 75, 156 surpasses Achilles 102, 144, 152 Homer xv, xxix, xxx, 73, 74–5, 77, 78–9, 80, 84, 87, 93–4, 96–7, 102–6, 113, 116, 126, 127, 140, 144–5, 148–9, 152, 154–5, 163, 182, 198, 210, 211, 215 Hopleus xxi, 98–9 horror xxxiii, 84, 108–9, 109–10, 114, 129–30, 197–202 hubris 163, 171 hunting: Atalanta the huntress 168–9, 175–6 dedication of spoils 96, 168–9, 170, 171 Hydaspes 142–3 hyperbole xxxii, 66, 101–2, 107, 148, 160, 179–80 Hypseus xx, 107–8, 133, 160–5 Hypsipyle xix, 161 Idas: of Elis 82 of Onchestus 200 Inachos 143 Page 4 of 9

infinitive: freely used to indicate purpose 95 perfect for present with possum 111 with adgredior 105 with indignor 197 with indulgeo 120 with facilis 133 with fido 213 with fuge 86 with oro 132 with victus 155 Ino, see Leucothea interjections 14, 94, 117, 199 Irish versions of the Thebaid and Achilleid xxxix, 81–2 Ismenis xx, 126–34, esp. 126, 130–1 Ismenos xx, 96, 102–4, 134–58, esp. 134–5, 144 sentient waters 125, 136–9, 145 Jocasta xix, xxi Joseph of Exeter xxxix–xli, 163 Juno xxi, 155–6 Jupiter xviii, xix, xxi, xxiii, 63, 139, 157, 214 Ladon 168 Lausus xxiv, 67, 119, 164 Leonteus 84–5 Lerna 124–5 'lesser' gods 137 Leucothea 122, 133–4 Linus xviii lions 61–2, 197 Livy 103 Lucan xxix, xxxi, 87, 105, 109–10, 112, 114, 116, 145, 199 Lycaon 113, 116 Lycophron xv Lycurgus xix Lydgate xlv–xlvi Lygdus 201 Maenalos 179–80 Maeon xviii, 58, 78 Manlius Vopiscus xlvi 'mannerism' xxxi, xxxii manuscript tradition xxvii–viii, xxxix, xlvi Mars xix, xx, 72, 75, 209–12 retinue 210 Thracian origins 142–3 matronymic 304 Medea 196 Megaera xxi Melanippus xx, 57, 60 Melicertes, see Palaemon -men nouns ending in 110–11 Menoeceus xxi metaphor: financial 69 fire 196 military 76–7, 145, 175

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metonymy 149 metre xxxiv elision 69, 127 enjambement 214 four word hexameter 87–8, 96 monosyllabic line-endings 107 spondaic fifth feet 117 Mezentius 67, 76, 98, 99–100, 113, 160, 161–2, 201 Milanion 175 Milton xlvii, 138, 156 Mimas 113–14 ........................................................................................................................... pg 230 miraculous feats 106–7, 121, 157, 180 Muses, invocation of 118–19 names: giving substance to minor characters 79 puns 82, 113–14, 207 of rivers, applied to warriors 89–90 slave-boys 201 Napaeae 132 Naples xv, xvi neologism xxii–xxiii, 83, 112, 117, 134 Nereids 130, 134 neuter plural as substantive 218 Niobe 185, 203 nymphs, life-span of 131, 172 Odysseus 155 Oedipus xviii, xxi, 199 oracles, ambiguity of 182 Orion 212 os resectum 222 -osus, adjectives ending in 117 Ovid xxix, 94–5, 135, 159, 160, 162, 164, 180, 190 oxymoron 59, 86, 104, 189, 192, 219 Palaemon 122, 133–4 Palladio, Blosio xlvi Pallas 75, 211 Panemus 114 paradox xxxii, 131, 149, 153–4, 202, 210 parataxis 111 Paris xvii Parthenopaeus xxi–xxvi, xxx, xxxi, xxxiv–xxxvii, 162, 165–222 passim, esp. 185–6, 189–90 audacia 181 beauty 189–90 bloodthirstiness 197–8 identity of killer 212 parentage 175–6 pitied by all 218 precocity 176–7 simplex 218 sin xxiv–xxv upbringing 173, 205 'Parthian shot' 202–3 participles: future 71, 111, 132 past of clamo 141 perfect of deponent verbs with passive sense 79 present participles ending in -bundus 162 vocative of future 114–15 vocative of past 143, 150 with protinus 126–7

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pathetic fallacy 125–6 pathos xxiv, 72, 77, 99, 110–11, 130, 169, 186, 188, 191, 199, 200–1, 218–21 paths 129, 180 Paulinus of Nola xxxviii personification 65, 96 human emotions attributed to horses 99 of weapons 206 see also pathetic fallacy philosophy, popular 109 Pietas xxi pietas of brothers 111 Pleiads 147 Plotius Grypus xvi Pluto xx plural, poetic 60, 90 Podaetus xxxv poisoned arrows 198–9 Polla Argentaria xvi Pollius Felix xvi, xlvi Polynices xviii, xix, xx, xxi, 64–74 passim Pope xlvii–xlviii portents 178–9, 215, 219 see also dreams postponement, of relative pronouns, conjunctions, etc. 64, 75, 122–3 prayers: formulae 70, 156, 161–2 (parody), 174, 178 gestures 146, 179 importunate 194 precocity, topos of panegyric 175, 205 prepositions: standing between two nouns and governing both 162, 198, 206 see also anastrophe prosody: -iīt in perfect 160 Orion 147 shortened terminal o 60, 142, 156, 162 Sidonius 87 Prudentius xxxviii purple 188 Pyrgi tablet 57 quivers 181 ........................................................................................................................... pg 231 Racine xlvii rainbows 136 repetition: careless 169 deliberate 159 of pronoun (for pathos) 201 river-gods: brothers to each other 145 homes (caves) 135 horns 138–9 pater 135 rising above surface of water 137 staffs 137 supplies of water 135–6, 146 urns 137 see also Ismenos Roman de Thèbes xli Rotrou xlvii Rutilius Gallicus xvi Scamander 102, 144, 150 Semele 139–40 Page 7 of 9

sensualism xxxiv the boy 190 the destruction of beauty in death 218–19 the killer 192 sex: role reversal 81 shields: layers (orbes) 78–9 Parthenopaeus' 189 repelling water 148 thrown over shoulder in retreat 93 Sidonius Apollinaris xxxviii, 177 Silius Italicus xxi, xxv, 87, 98, 102, 109–10, 112, 148, 155, 158, 164, 175 Silvae xv–xvii, xliv, xlvi, 152–3 similes 60–1, 73–4, 95–6, 105–6, 121–2, 128, 133–4, 155, 157–8, 158–9, 163, 197, 214–15 negative 80, 142 snakes 92 Somnus xxi sound, details in ecphrasis, description, etc. 138, 181, 189, 208 spears 78 Spenser xlvi–xlvii star-like beauty 190 Statius: and Christian allegory xlii–xliv father xv, xvi and Juvenal xvii, xxxvii and Martial xxxv–xxxvii and Silius Italicus xxxi, xxxv the 'Tholosan' xliv n. wife xvi Stoicism 116, 144, 149, 180 storms 86–7, 147–8 Strymon 142, 214–15 subjunctive, perfect with ne 100 supine 60 synizesis 103 Tages 111 Táin Bó Cuailgne 85, 169 taunting, ritual 85–6, 114, 119 Telamon 71 Thebaid, plot of the xvii–xxii Thebaid, Cyclic xxx, xlii, 57 Thebes xviii, xix, xxiii, 185, 209 passim Theron 116–17 Theseus xviii, xxii, 71 Thiodamas xx tigers 61–2, 187 Tisiphone xviii, xx, xxi, xxiv, 87–93 passim, esp. 88–9 Todeskette 83, 107 -tor nouns ending in 92 transferred sense, xxxiii, 97, 101, 139, 168, 190, 214 tree-worship 170 Triton 121–2 Trivia 170 trumpets 194 Page 8 of 9

twins 114 Tydeus xviii, xx, xxii, 58, 65, 70, 150, 208 cannibalism 57 corpse mutilation 93–4 Ugolino xliv, 57 Valerius Faccus xxix, 95, 128, 149, 163, 196 Venus 209–10 Virgil xxix, xxx, xxxiv–xxxv, xliii, 67, 73–4, 76, 87, 95, 99–100, 101, 108, 126, 129, 152, 158– 9, 163, 164, 175, 178, 182, 183, 187, 197, 198, 201, 202, 204, 207, 209, 218 Virtus xxi Vitorius Marcellus xvi vocative: of future participles 114–15 of past participles 143, 150 ........................................................................................................................... pg 232 weaving: for doomed youthful warriors 188 symbol of chastity 176 weeping, gods 192 word order: confused by deep emotion 193 dislocated in prayer formulae 178 mannered 62, 68, 75, 85, 120–1 see also prepositions word-play 110–11, 113–14 wounds: eyes 85, 199 to fit the 'crime' 84 hands 85 mouth 84 not noticed by the hero in the heat of battle 98 through both temples 200 zeugma 94

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