Statius, Silvae 3.1 and 3.2: edited with a commentary

Thesis

This work is a commentary upon the first two poems of Statius’ third book of Silvae, viz. Hercules Surrentinus Pollii Felicis (3.1) and Propempticon Maecii Celeris (3.2). The text of each poem has been constituted anew, and a facing translation provided.

The commentary has essentially two objects: to ascertain, with the greatest possible precision, what the poet wrote and meant; and to place his work within a broader context. In this it extends the labours of recent commentators (Laguna [1992], Liberman [2010], Ganzenbacher [2018]), while also advancing criticism of the Silvae in new directions: more attention is given, e.g., to Statius’ engagement with Greek poetry (esp. Pindar, Apollonius, Callimachus, and the Hellenistic poets read by Nonnus), to his manipulation of narrative inconsistencies for literary effect, and to thematic continuities within and across the poems of Book 3. Particular regard is paid in the notes to matters of style, metre, and linguistic usage; and various poetic artifices are detected for the first time: word-plays, ‘proleptic’ allusions, creative re-imaginings of conventional topoi, etc. Archaeological and artistic evidence is brought in to illuminate both the historical context and particular literary devices, incl. word-choice and word-order.

The commentary on 3.1 is preceded by an examination of the topography of Pollius’ estate, of his motives for enlarging Hercules’ temple, of the date of Statius’ poem, and of the literary and epigraphic precedents on which it is modelled and from which it departs. That on 3.2 begins with a review of what is known respecting the life of its honorand, Maecius Celer, about whom some new deductions and conjectures are offered, and of the poet’s debt not only to the genre of the propempticon but also to Argonautic poetry.

As regards editing the text, a middle course is steered between the conservative principles of earlier editors and the freewheeling radicalism of more recent times. Some thirty new emendations are proposed, including four suspected interpolations, and a supplement to the repertory of Hall (2021) is appended.

Authors: Hardy, M

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-eoxyakdz8
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Flavian poetry; classical literature; textual criticism; critical edition; Latin; classics
• Subjects: Romans in literature; Classical literature; Latin language; Flavian family; Epic poetry, Latin