Kenney_and_Clausen B.M.W.(eds.) - Get a Free Blog

STATIUS
a propempticon, since it wishes the tresses a safe voyage over the sea to Pergamum,
just as in 4 Maecius is the recipient of greetings for his journey to the orient. The book,
therefore, is neatly disposed round the central pivot of the consolation
The scheme requires no summary.
In the longest book (4), the first three poems are all concerned with honouring
the Emperor. It has also a high proportion of non-hexameter poems: 3, 5,
7 and 9. 4 and 5, addressed to Vitorius Marcellus and Septimius Severus, make
up a fitting pair, for the preface informs us that the two men were friends.
7 and 8 are joined by the fact that both were occasioned by the birth of a child.
The schema may be presented in this way:
C
i- 1 Laudatio on Domitian's Seventeenth Consulship
- L- 2 Eucharisticon to Domitian
1—I— 3 Via Domitiana (hendecasyllables)
4 Epistle to Vitorius Marcellus
5 Ode for Septimius Severus (alcaics)
6 Novius Vindex's statue of Hercules: ecphrasis
[ 7 Ode for Vibius Maximus (sapphics)
8 Gratulatio for Julius Menecrates
L- 9 Jesting hendecasyllables for Plotius Grypus
This is the most complex structure of all. 1 and 2 occupy a special position as
tributes to Domitian. Thereafter, hexameter poems alternate with those in
other metres.
More might be said. These schemata are only outlines. The total structure
of each book is enhanced by numerous and complex responsions within the
poems: in theme and imagery, in mood, tone and tempo. Such analyses are
evidence of the diligence with which Statius approached each detail of his
literary work. But bad poems even well arranged would remain bad: what
virtues stand out in the Silvae to commend them to us?
Statius has been arraigned for frigidity and obscurity, for an excessive use
of mythology, for inventive aridity. Subjective criticisms cannot always be
answered objectively. Romantic preconceptions about art in part account for
Statius' fall from esteem. Insights must be sought from a different vantage
point. An appreciation of craftsmanship may provide the foundation for
a broader awareness of the beauty and subtlety of his best work.
There is no better proof of technical expertise than the epithalamium (1.2).
The genre had been long established. A glance at Catullus' epithalamia (61, 62)
is instructive. The neoteric poet, while making broad concessions to Roman
rite and custom, in form and structure followed Hellenic precedents. Not so
1 Vessey (1973) *9-
567
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