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FLAVIAN EPIC
the imagery in Statius' epic — as well as some of its most impressive incidents.
In Book i, Polynices flees from Boeotia to Argos. He travels at night, through
a storm of preternatural ferocity (1.336ft".). The elaboration of storm-scenes
was a well-tried ingredient of epic: Aeneid 1 and Lucan, Bellutn civile 5.5O4ff.
provided Statius with a spur to emulation. Though both these predecessors
may be justly said to have exploited the symbolic aspect of the storm-motif,
Statius pressed still further in his integration of cosmos and psyche. The
turmoil in the House of Cadmus, the madness of Polynices himself are mirrored
in the troubled fury of the heavens. Nocturnal shadow is the setting for a
journey which is to bring the corruption of Thebes to the still tranquil city of
Argos. Indeed the ancient contrast between light and darkness, equated with
life and death, good and evil, heaven and hell is to be cunningly developed
throughout the Thebaid. In Book 2, Tydeus, after the failure of his embassy at
Thebes, is ambushed at night by fifty Theban warriors sent by Eteocles to
intercept him (2.496ff.). Though he defeats them single-handed, Tydeus is
stimulated by this act of treachery to disseminate a gospel of war during the
remainder of his journey and at Argos itself (3.1—164). It is just before dawn
that King Adrastus of Argos, a man of peace enmeshed in the net of doom,
finally agrees to launch a military expedition against Thebes in support of his
son-in-law Polynices (3.684ff.). Shortly before the duel between the sons of
Oedipus, Jupiter plunges the earth in gloom (11.130—3): for, at that moment,
evil is triumphant. The fight, in which both brothers are killed, is watched by
souls risen from the Underworld (11.422—3). The antithesis of light and darkness
is a major facet in the symbolic pattern, repeated frequently but gaining,
by its simplicity, an increasing vigour and imaginative strength. Other recurrent
complexes may be viewed in similar terms: for example, the similes and
metaphors identifying men with wild beasts, nautical imagery, allusions to
storms and other violent natural phenomena, or — on a slightly different plane —
the parallels drawn between Hercules, a popular subject for Stoic allegoresis,
and the characters of the Theban story.
Dualism does not, however, underlie only the moral scheme of the Thebaid;
it has also a structural importance. It explains, in part, the tendency which
critics have traced for episodes to be doubled: such as the Council of the Gods
in Books 1 and 7, or Tiresias' two magical operations in 4 and 10. The twin
cities of Argos and Thebes, under their monarchs Adrastus and Eteocles, are
themselves spiritual antitheses and the counterbalancing of them is thoroughly
and pointedly specified. It may be seen expressed with especial clarity in the
equivalent episodes in Books 3 and 4: whereas Adrastus seeks guidance from
augury, bidding the pious priest Amphiaraus scan the supernal regions, Eteocles
compels the blind prophet Tiresias to summon the ghost of Laius from the
nether world by necromantic ritual. Thebes is truly a hell on earth. Its pervert-
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