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VALERIUS
feeble and attenuated: obscurity in Valerius usually arises from over-compression.
When he ventures into hyperbole, as in 479—80 and 490—2, the effect is
jarring and incongruous: indeed, Hesione's outburst on Hercules' massive
physique verges on the absurd. Hardly less banal is the strained remark about
her parents' suprema dona in 471—2. The adjective Laomedonteos in 474 is
portentous without purpose. The conceit in certantibus (476) is inapt; the phrase
cum stabulis (478) is pointless. The words amplexus inter planctusque parentum
(481) are stilted and trivial. The repetition sortes (482), sortita (483), sorte (486),
in conjunction with the elegant variation urna (484) produce drabness where
excitement and tension are needed. Monstrum ingens in 479 is extracted from
Aeneid 3.658, but the echo is frigid and unimpressive. Other objections might
be made: all in all, Valerius presents himself as a Virgil without ingenium, an
Ovid without ars.
It would be wrong to suggest that Valerius did not often rise to greater
heights than this. He is at his weakest in speeches. There are times when his
avoidance of 'rant' and 'bombast' —so often praised by his admirers — was
stylistically beneficial. An instance of this is the absence of grotesquerie from
the magical rites that precede the suicide of Aeson and Alcimede in Book 1
(73off.). There Valerius, unlike Statius in Book 4 of the Thebaid, repudiated
the extravagances of Seneca and Lucan (Oedipus 53off., Bell. Civ. 6.4i9ff.).
The resulting simplicity is refreshing and original. In the Lemnian episode
Valerius shows imaginative power and technical ingenuity; the parting of
Hypsipyle and Jason (2.400-24) gains in emotive strength from its succinctness.
There are elegant and moving lines in his account of the abduction of Hylas.
Often quoted for their musical poignancy are 3.596—7 — derived from Virgil,
Eel. 6.43—4:
rursus Hylan et rursus Hylan per longa reclamat
auia; responsant siluae et uaga certat imago.
Again and again he cries 'Hylas, Hylas' through the endless wastes; the woods reply
and straying echo vies with him.
The verses find a responsive parallel at 724—5, when the Argonauts are sailing
away from Phrygia without Hercules:
omnis adhuc uocat Alciden fugiente carina,
omnis Hylan, medio pereuntia nomina ponto.
Still each of them calls 'Alcides' as the vessel/lies away, each 'Hylas', but the names
fade away in mid-sea.
At the beginning of Book 4, Hercules, exhausted by searching, sees a vision of
Hylas by the pool; the boy's words are harmonious and pathetic (25—37). The
conclusion contrasts Hercules' triumphant destiny with the tender love that
he felt for Hylas:
585
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