INTO THE WOODS: 
NARRATIVE STUDIES IN THE THEBAID OF STATIUS 
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO BOOKS IV-VI 
Joanne Brown 
Emmanuel College, Cambridge 
Faculty of Classics 
Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 
"' in the University of Cambridge 
May 1994 
ABSTRACT 
Chapter one discusses the poetics of the silvan setting of the central Nemean 
episode, and argues that the Silvae add more to an appreciation of the 
Thebaid than has so far been appreciated. Chapter two traces the influence of 
the opening of Callimachus' Aetia III over the episode: the Victoria Berenices' 
aetiology of Herakles and Molorchus reconfigures our notions of the heroic, 
attributing new value to the small and insignificant. Chapter three explores 
the importance of Bacchus' epiphany in books IV-VI and discusses the impact 
of Euripides' Hypsipyle. The tragic, plangent women's voices which dominate 
the episode echo and amplify the voice of lamentation often heard in the 
Silvae. Chapter four contrasts the impotence of Eurydice's grief with the 
Dionysiac power of Hypsipyle's narrative of Lemnos. Chapter five argues, 
through study of Pindar's first Nemean Ode and Thebaid IV-VI among other 
texts, that Statius consistently measures baby Opheltes against the 
paradigmatic Hercules, contrasting the glorious beginnings of Hercules' life 
with the abortive story of the baby whose death provides the aetiology for the 
huge games of book VI. Chapter six shows again how Statius weaves a 
Callimachean "focus on the small shape" into heroic narrative through the 
story of another tiny death, to illustrate how the epic appropriates the smaller 
and subsumes it into the greater; the Seven against Thebes persist in 
interpreting events in Nemea in terms of Hercules' victorious encounter with 
the Lion. In chapter seven, I return again to Hercules and to the Silvae in 
discussing the memorialisation of Opheltes. Comparison of Silvae III 1 's · 
aetiology of the temple of Hercules at Surrentum to the epic narrative of the 
commemorative temple and games sheds light on Statius' construction of an 
'interwoven' poetic, and further suggests how to read the Nemean episode 
within the wider epic. 
This dissertatipn of approximately eighty thousand words is the result of my 
own work and contains nothing that is the outcome of work done in 
collaboration with others. 
CONTENTS 
Acknowledgments i 
Preface ii 
1. CHAPTER ONE: INTER SILVAS ERRANTES 
The poetics of the silvan topography of Thebaid IV-VI 1 
2. CHAPTER TWO: CONSCIA LAUD IS HERCULEAE DUMET A 
Thebaid IV-VI and Aetia III 30 
3. CHAPTER THREE: SIC EUHIUS IPSE PARARAT 
Thebaid IV-VI and Euripides' Hypsipyle 57 
4. CHAPTER FOUR: PULCHRO IN MAERORE 
Hypsipyle as story-teller in Thebaid IV-VI 94 
5. CHAPTER FIVE: LACRIMABILE NOMEN ARCHEMORUS 
The babe in the woods 129 
6. CHAPTER SIX: UNUS INTERTEXTUS 
Linus and Opheltes/ Archemorus 161 
7. CHAPT:t;:R SEVEN: DAT GEMITUM TELLUS 
Silvae III 1 and Thebaid IV-VI 188 
Select Bibliography 221 
·.~. 
1 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
My work was funded initially by the Department of Education for 
Northern Ireland and then by a grant from the Graduate Studies Fund of 
the Faculty of Classics. 
I have looked forward very much to the opportunity of thanking 
those who have contributed personally to the completion of this 
dissertation through encouragement and practical help. I hope my 
inadequate acknowledgments here convey something of the sincerity of 
my appreciation. 
To my parents, love and gratitude. 
I am very grateful to those members past and present of Eden Chapel, 
Cambridge, who have supported me in so many ways throughout my 
studies. Without naming names, I thank all those who were at precisely 
the right place at the right time, especially in the last throes of writing up; I 
sincerely thank also those whose generous offers of help pride forbade me 
to accept. Proverbs XI 25 describes such. 
The fellowship of the Graduate Common Room at the Faculty has 
greatly contributed to my studies in a number of ways. Thanks to all those 
who have encouraged, advised and shared their specialist knowledge. I 
have likewise valued the support and help of friends at Emmanuel 
College. In particular, I thank all those who have imparted their wisdom 
on the mysteries of word-processing. 
As a Latinist, I benefited greatly from the comments of Professor Eric 
Handley, Dr James Diggle and Dr Neil Hopkinson on sections of my work. 
Dr Stephen Oakley read large portions of earlier drafts; I am grateful not 
only for this but for his generosity and concern as my undergraduate 
Director of Studies. 
It is a real pleasure to thank my research supervisor, Dr John 
Henderson, who, more than anyone, listened with patience to my (almost) 
endless lamentations over this dissertation. It would not have been 
written without his guidance and constant encouragement: truly, he 
showed me the woods when I could only see trees. If any victory ode is 
now due, it is due to him. 
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to two people without 
whom this work would never have been possible. Patricia Woods and 
John Wilson first taught me to read and love Latin. It is to them, with 
respect and affection, that I dedicate this thesis. 
,... 
•. ..,, 
Joanne Brown 
Emmanuel College 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
My work was funded initially by the Department of Education for 
Northern Ireland and then by a grant from the Graduate Studies Fund of 
the Faculty of Classics. 
I have looked forward very much to the opportunity ?f thanki~g 
those who have contributed personally to the completion of this 
dissertation through encouragement and practical help. I hope my 
inadequate acknowledgments here convey something of the sincerity of 
my appreciation. 
To my parents, love and gratitude. 
I am very grateful to those members past and present of Eden Chapel, 
Cambridge, who have supported me in so many ways throughout my 
studies. Without naming names, I thank all those who were at precisely 
the right place at the right time, especially in the last throes of writing up; I 
sincerely thank also those whose generous offers of help pride forbade me 
to accept. Proverbs XI 25 describes such. 
The fellowship of the Graduate Common Room at the Faculty has 
greatly contributed to my studies in a number of ways. Thanks to all those 
who have encouraged, advised and shared their specialist knowledge. I 
have likewise valued the support and help of friends at Emmanuel 
College. In particular, I thank all those who have imparted their wisdom 
on the mysteries of word-processing. 
As a Latinist, I benefited greatly from the comments of Professor Eric 
Handley, Dr James Diggle and Dr Neil Hopkinson on sections of my work. 
Dr Stephen Oakley read large portions of earlier drafts; I am grateful not 
only for this but for his generosity and concern as my undergraduate Director of Studies. 
It is a real pleasure to thank my research supervisor, Dr John 
Henderson, who, more than anyone, listened with patience to my (almost) 
endless lamentations over this dissertation. It would not have been 
written without his guidance and constant encouragement: truly, he 
showed me the woods when I could only see trees. If any victory ode is 
now due, it is due to him. 
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to two people without 
whom this work would never have been possible. Patricia Woods and 
John Wilson first taught me to read and love Latin. It is to them, with 
respect and affection, that I dedicate this thesis. 
.. ,. Joanne Brown 
Emmanuel College 
11 
PREFACE 
It is gradually becoming unnecessary to apologise for writing on 
Statius. For years Vessey's book was the only book-length English-
language study of the Thebaid. The last few years, however, have 
witnessed the publication of several original and sympathetic treatments 
of this "gorgeous" epic which have brought it to new prominence.I I 
name here only those which I have found most helpful and stimulating. 
Ahl argues vigorously for an engaged, 'politicised' reading of the poem, as 
if it actually 'said' something about the Flavian world in which it was 
composed. Feeney discusses the originality and power of Statius' 
treatment of the classical pantheon in such a way as to demand the 
reader's reassessment of the poem as a triumph of innovation. Hardie has 
shown how Statius the epigonos follows after the Aeneid, and how the 
language of unity and division shapes post-Virgilian epic, not least the 
Thebaid . Dominik diagnoses corruption, spiritual and political, 
throughout the world of the epic. Henderson probes Statian hyperbole in 
his poetry of hatred, unius ingens / bellum uteri. No-one can doubt, after 
all, that civil war is a theme for our times, pugna est de paupere regno ... 
Other studies on the epic, including one on Hypsipyle as narrator, are on 
their way. I do not, therefore, offer an introductory chapter outlining the 
poem's critical history. Nor do I defend my choice of topic. The woods of 
Thebaid IV-VI resonate with many voices in an episode of unparalleled 
complexity and fascination. I have attempted, in the space available to me, 
to trace a number of these voices, but I have by no means explored Nemea 
to its limits. quid longa malis exordia necto? ... Let us enter, sine mora, into 
the woods. 
lTo borrow the epithet applied by Feeney (1991). 
'I've just had a really wonderful idea,' said Digory. 'What are all the 
other pools?' 
'How do you mean?' 
'Why, if we can get back to our own world by jumping into this pool, 
mightn't we get somewhere else by jumping into one of the others? 
Supposing there was a world at the bottom of every pool!' 
'But I thought we were already in your Uncle Andrew's Other World or 
Other Place or whatever he called it. Didn't you say - ' 
'Oh bother Uncle Andrew,' interrupted Digory. 'I don't believe he knows 
anything about it. He never had the pluck to come here himself. He only 
talked of one Other World. But suppose there were dozens?' 
'You mean, this wood might be only one of them?' 
'No, I don't believe this wood is a world at all. I think it's just a sort of in-
between place.' 
Polly looked puzzled. 'Don't you see?' said Digory. 'No, do listen. Think 
of our tunnel under the slates at home. It isn't a room in any of the houses. 
But once you're in the tunnel you can go along it and come out into any of the 
houses in the row. Mightn't this wood be the same? - a place that isn't in any 
of the worlds, but once you've found that place you can get into them all.' 
'Well, even if you can - 'began Polly, but Digory went on as if he hadn't 
heard her. 
'And of course that explains everything,' he said. 'That's why it is so 
quiet and sleepy here. Nothing ever happens here. Like at hoine. It's in the 
houses that people talk, and do things, and have meals. Nothing ever goes on 
in the in-between places, behind the walls and above the ceilings and under 
the floor, or in our own tunnel. But when you come out of our tunnel you 
may find yourself in any house. I think we can get of this place into jolly well 
Anywhere! We don't need to jump back into the same pool we came up by. 
Or not just yet.' 
'The Wood between the Worlds,' said Polly dreamily. 'It sounds rather 
nice.' 
'Come on,' said Digory. 'Which pool shall we try?' 
CS Lewis (1955) The Magician's Nephew 
.. ,. 
1 
CHAPTER ONE: 
INTER SILVAS ERRANTES 
The poetics of the silvan topography of Thebaid IV-VI 
1.1 Travelling the notum iter ad Thebas 
The road to Thebes (the notum iter ad Thebas I 101) was an 
exceptionally well-travelled one, from the epic period, when Thebes and 
Troy were the twin cities of Greek heroic poetry, onwards until Statius' 
day. Although the archaic Thebais, like the city itself, no longer exists, 
stories of Thebes survive in many genres, especially in epinician and 
tragedy, and in many variant forms. "L'une des caracteristiques des 
legendes thebaines est !'absence d'une tradition fixe; il en resulta des 
variantes importantes d'une version a l 'autre qui laisserent a 
!'imagination des poetes une assez grande liberte ... On voit done, dans ces 
conditions, qu'il n'est guere possible de 'resumer la legende' ... "1 
Nevertheless, scholars have often attempted to recover a definitive 
version of the Theban story. Research has largely been directed towards 
the earliest period, in the quest for knowledge about the cyclic Thebais, 
which Pausanias notes was attributed to Homer, and which he ranks 
immediately after the Iliad and Odyssey.2 The paucity of literary remains 
from the archaic period effectively frustrates this search. Only two lines of 
the Oedipodeia survive; these do not so much as mention the hero.3 
Homer's treatment of Oedipus is fascinating but problematic.4 The crucial 
passages are Odyssey XI 271-80 and Iliad XXIII 679: these present a heroic 
figure, albeit a parricide, who rules on at Thebes following his incestuous 
but childless marriage, dies in battle and is buried with funeral games. 
Pausanias adds the information that the Oedipodeia narrated a re-
marriage to Eu~yganeia, by whom Oedipus had four children.s 
The slightly more numerous fragments attributed to the Thebais 
contain apparent discrepancies; it is impossible to judge with certainty 
whether these represent one or two poems. 6 Both of the longer fragments 
lLesueur (1990) xiii-iv 
2Pausanias IX 9 5. On the persistent tradition of Homeric authorship (spearheaded by 
Callinus of Ephesus) see Davies (1989) eh 4. For an encyclopedia of Theban myth see Robert 
(1967) vol III p876ff. 
3For the epic fra~ents generally see Davies (1988) p20-7; I use his annotation. 
4See Baldry (1956l_p24-9; Edmunds (1981); March (1987) p121-4. 
Spausanias IX 5 lOf. The incestuous marriage seems to be a universal feature; see Howe 
(1962) p126 n3, Griffin (1977), Nagy (1979) §14 nl, Mastronarde (1994) p21 for Homeric (ie 
Panhellenic) 'censorship' of the bizarre. 
6See Huxley (1969) p41-6; Mastronarde (1994) p17 n2. 
2 
(F2, F3) mention Oedipus' fatal curses on his sons; it cannot even be 
determined whether Oedipus is blind, as in all three tragedians.7 The 
Works and Days mentions the two great wars of the Age of Heroes; the 
first is fought in Thebes, 161-3. The pairing with Troy suggests that this 
war is indeed the one fought by the members of the great expedition.8 
Neither Homer at Iliad IV 370-409 nor Hesiod mentions a fratricidal 
element to the conflict.9 Homer's narrative is Agamemnon's history 
lesson for Tydeus' son Diomedes;lO it may well represent a pro-Argive 
version of the Theban and Epigoni myths.11 
Iliad IV names three of the "lords" of the expedition; XXIII 346f 
glances at Adrastus' escape from catastrophe on the wonder-horse Arion. 
Odyssey XI 327, XV 244ff also mention Amphiaraus' participation in the 
war .12 Repeated references to Thebes' seven gates hint that an epic 
tradition of Seven Against Thebes already existed; however, it is difficult 
to ascertain how the number of warriors should be reckoned. Pindar draws 
very freely on his native mythic traditions. Olympians VI 15-7 suggests 
that seven was a significant number in the cyclic epic tradition; however, 
the addition of Adrastus and Amphiaraus to the seven dead makes nine.13 
The loss of the cyclic epics and much archaic and fifth-century choral 
lyric makes it difficult to assess the impact of the tragedians on certain 
elements of the myth. The lyric Lille Stesichorus must also. be regarded 
with caution. It may well have offered an account of Oedipus' curse and 
his sons' subsequent quarrel which anticipated Aeschylus' Seven Against 
Thebes~ However, it is unclear whether the ma yuvci (232) who seemingly 
holds sway in the city is indeed the incestuous wife and mother of 
7see Mastronarde (1994) p22f on the cursing and blindness, which appear in various forms in 
all three tragedi;ms. 
8West (1966) ad toe; March (1987) p134. For the view that this is the battle in which 
Oedipus fell, see Bremer (1987) p129 after Robert (1967). 
9Their silence may be variously explained. The Iliad may reflect Homeric distaste for 
bizarre family stories, as noted above. The Works and Days sets out the conflict (real or 
fictional) between two Boeotian farmer brothers over their patrimony: this story may 
parallel the old Theban myth too closely for comfort. Munding (1959) p12ff postulates an 
eristic relationship between the Works and Days and the Iliad: Erbstreit between brothers 
is inherently unheroic and anti-Homeric. Caldwell (1987) perceives the Oedipus complex 
as a fundamental structuring principle of the Theogony. 
IOsee Henderson (1991) p33. 
11Cf" Apyos dEL8E 6Ea rro>..u8tljlwv lv6Ev dvaKTES, Thebais Fl. 
12Shapiro (1994) p90ff argues from iconographical sources that the 'Setting-Out of 
Amphiaraus' was'i a major part of the Theban story. 
13 A scholion claims that Pindar's story correlates with the Thebais, suggesting that the 
epic narrated the disastrous defeat. The cyclic Epigonoi apparently takes up the story from 
· here; Homer's Theban reprise in Iliad IV is predicated on his audience's awareness of the 
aftermath of the first expedition. See Burkert (1981) and March (1987) p123f. 
3 
Oedipus' children, as in all tragedies after the Seven Against Thebes, or 
whether Oedipus is dead, exiled or in seclusion.14 The length and scope of 
the poem are also uncertain; possibly it covered the duel and its 
afterma th.15 
The curses, Oedipus' blindness and the fates of Oedipus and Jocasta 
are variously treated by the tragedians. Jocasta's remarkable prologue to 
the Phoenician Women seems to be a deliberate attempt by Euripides to fix 
a canonical version of the myth.16 In the absence of more information 
from Stesichorus, it seems that the survival of the incestuous pair to 
witness their sons' deaths may be Euripides' most striking innovation. 
However, the tragedy is full of new and re-modelled features of 
considerable importance for Statius.17 Euripides provides the scheme of 
alternate rule over Thebes;18 Polynices (an unusually sympathetic 
creation) enters the city under truce to attempt reconciliation; Menoeceus 
appears for the first time, bridging the gap between the distant past and the 
dramatic present by his Opfertod.19 Perhaps most importantly for Statius, 
the brothers' duel becomes the focus of attention, in answer to Aeschylus' 
sevenfold combat at the gates. 
Very little remains of Antimachus' massive and learned fourth-
century epic Thebais, which presumably represented the first synoptic 
treatment of the post-tragedic myths of Thebes. If we may extrapolate from 
Callimachus' judgment on the Lyde (fr 398 Pf), this poem was probably 
also weighty; Catullus awards Antimachus the epithet tumidus, XCVb 10. 
Fragments tell us that his Thebais began with a classicising invocation of 
the Muses, as does Statius' poem; soon afterwards, Tydeus is introduced. 
Eventually, the Argive expedition reaches Thebes, where, presumably, the 
narrative follows its established course.20 Some Hellenistic poets also 
140n this poem see Parsons (1977b); West (1978); Gostoli (1978); Thalmann (1982); Segal 
(1985); Bremer (1987); March (1987); Burnett (1988). 
lSsee Page (1973) p147 on the length of the Geryoneis; Parsons (1977b) pl9; West (1978) 
filff; March (1987) p127ff. . 6Mastronarde's 1994 edition of this tragedy appeared too late to be properly taken into 
account here. See intro. p18-30 for discussion of Euripides' use of and departure from 
previous treatments of Theban myth in tragedy; I cannot consider this substantial subject 
here. 
. 17Vessey (1973) p69 and passim discusses Statius' use of Euripides in terms of plot. Various 
aspects of tragic influence over the Thebaid are discussed in chapters three and four. 
l8See Mastronar~e (1994) p26f; the brothers' conflict could easily have arisen without a 
curse or any agreeplent concerning the succession. 
19See Williams (i972) on Thebaid X 612 and passim. 
2Dfor the fragments see Wyss (1936) and Lloyd-Jones/Parsons (1983) frs 52-61. Vessey 
(1970a) and (1973) p69 and passim doubts, with Wyss, that Statius "used" Antimachus at 
· all. There is "no need" of him for Vessey's post-Virgilian poet. Also Venini (1972). 
4 
found Thebes congenial subject-matter.21 Ponticus gave the theme its first 
Roman treatment in the early years of Octavian's reign, even before Virgil 
composed his Aeneid.22 
At the end of the first century AD, Statius, son of a scholar-poet from 
Italy's most Hellenised region, was especially well placed to draw on both 
Greek and Roman literary tradition for his epic.23 He was also able to take 
a synoptic view of the many treatments of Theban myth, in order to make 
his own selection of material for the Thebaid. The epic's closing lines nee 
tu divinam Aeneida tempta, / sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora, 
XII 816f, have undoubtedly shaped critical perception. It has been assumed 
that conceptually, thematically and structurally, Statius aspires to imitate 
Virgil's epic; other models have consequently been somewhat neglected. 
The following study examines Statius' longest, most unexpected diversion 
along the notum iter ad Thebas. It argues that the central Nemean episode 
displays to the full his interweaving of the many generically varied 
threads which make up the fabric of Thebes. In this respect, the Thebaid 
follows more closely after the Aeneid than may be supposed, as Virgil 
showed most fully how epic can incorporate and dominate other genres.24 
1.2 unde morae? delay as a structuring principle in the Thebaid 
The Thebaid locates itself at the least desirable period in Thebes' 
history, in the middle of three generations of disaster.25 The catastrophic 
past of Laius, Oedipus and Jocasta anticipates the sevenfold combat and 
fratricidal duel; the Epigoni are still to come.26 The poem's opening lines 
promise fraternas acies alternaque regna profanis / decertata odiis 
sontesque evolvere Thebas, I lf. These words place the epic firmly in the 
tradition of h~roic epic, whose initial lines guarantee ever increasing 
horror: µ11vLv ... 'AxL>..11os, arma virumque, bella plus quam civilia, fraternas 
acies. 
Without apology then, Statius' epic seemingly promises another 
journey along a well-known road. However, the resulting narrative 
21ziegler (1966) p19-22. 
22Propertius I 7,~ the allusions to a Roman predecessor are particularly intriguing; see 
Henderson (1991~.,p41 and notes. 
23Hardie (1983) eh 1 describes Statius' extraordinarily rich Graeco-Rornan heritage. 
24Conte (1986) shows how this is done. 
· 
25Hardie (1993a) p14 
26 Alluded to at II 304ff, IV 190ff. 
apparently adopts a strange route to its professed destination.27 Indeed, it 
reaches that destination prematurely, in book XI, whereas the Aeneid 
keeps its culminating duel until its final book. To 'match' Virgil's tally of 
twelve books, Statius must perforce deal with the conflict's aftermath. As 
recently ago as 1980 one critic judged that the poem "lacks overall 
structure, with a plot leading forcefully to a climax".28 Moreover, the 
poem offers many distractions away from the duel, whereas ideally, 
another critic suggests, "to give unity to this story, all our attention must 
be concentrated on Thebes. "29 On such readings, narrative success is 
guaranteed by a teleological, unitarian structure, in which the epic builds 
to the final conflict that decisively (re-)establishes order.30 Spatial unity is 
also desirable: movement should be directed towards the goal of the arena 
of combat; Thebaid XII, however, situates the action in Athens, rather than 
Thebes. 
A unitarian approach does no justice to Statius' subject-matter.31 In 
contrast to Virgil's monistic arma virumque, the Thebaid's opening words 
immediately proclaim its dualism, fraternas acies.32 The telos of the 
Aeneid is Aeneas' foundation of the new Roman order (dum conderet 
urbem, I 5) through the violent sacrifice of Rome's enemies, represented 
finally by Turnus.33 However, it has been demonstrated that dualism is 
also latent in the Aeneid. Aeneas and Turnus hide Romulus and Remus; 
fratricide "is inscribed in the essence of the city from the date of its 
foundation. "34 Lucan's civil war epic explores the themes of fratricide, 
doubling and sacrifice.35 Statius too probes Rome's fratricidal obsession by 
27vessey (1973) includes an appendix on the Thebaid's structure, a subject "fraught with 
difficulties" p317. Jbe poem cannot be analysed in patterns of 6+6, or of 4+4+4; nevertheless 
critics have attempted such analyses: see Venini (1961) p64 and Kytzler (1955) p7If. 
28Qgilvie (1980) p233f; cf Williams G (1978) p252. 
29Butler (1909) p209 
30see eg Bowra (1948). For a discussion of the history of this approach to epic, see Feeney 
(1986a); also Draper (1990); for annotated bibliography see Siencewitz (1991). 
31See Galinsky (1989) p77: "The Thebaid is about a fragmented, disturbed world, which 
calls for narrative discontinuity." Chapters three and four discuss how Statius structures 
his epic not around heroic virtus and pietas, but around Thebes' . grief and pain, a 
f:redominantly female response to the fracture of order by civil conflict. 2Hardie (1990b) discusses Flavian epic's movement "from the one to the many". 33For the connec~ion between violence, sacrifice and the establishment of order see Hardie 
(1990b) and (1993,b) p57-71, after the structural models of Girard (1972). More discussion is 
found in Hardie h993a) chs 2-3. 
34Hardie (1993br'p57; see Ogilvie (1965) p32 and Cornell (1975) plff on the incompatibility 
of the foundation-myths of Aeneas and the twins. 
35Masters (1992) studies Lucan's narratological response to civil war. 
6 
returning to the ancient myths of Thebes;36 he exceeds Lucan by narrating 
the mutual destruction of his enemy-brothers, thereby doubling the 
impact of the archetypal Roman impiety. Moreover, this study illustrates 
how recursion to past horrors actually structures the Thebaid. 
Statius' poem correspondingly plays with the language of singles and 
doubles.37 He prays that the horror of double fratricide may remain 
forever unique, omnibus in terris scelus hoe omnique sub aevo I viderit 
una dies, monstrumque infame futuris I excidat, et soli memorent haec 
proelia reges, XI 577-9. Pietas' frustrated intervention at XI 470ff is the last 
of many attempts to delay the final catastrophe. Retardation/mora is 
indeed so prevalent in the epic that it deserves recognition as a vital 
structural motif. 38 
It has been observed that the Thebaid is constructed episodically.39 
This feature is traced to the first-century practice of recitatio of individual 
episodes, in which, it is suggested, poetic unity is sacrificed to the demands 
of performance.40 Again, it is explained by some as the Flavian doctus 
poeta's self-indulgence in the obscure and ornamental.41 Some elements 
which could be grouped under mora are stock epic topoi, such as the storm 
in I, the catalogues in IV, and Antigone's teichoscopy in VIJ.42 However, it 
36Hardie (1983) p62 traces this to the Neapolitan Statius' Hellenophilia; Ahl (1986) 
p2814 perceives veiled reference to Flavian power struggles under the pretext of the 
rediscovery of Rome's cultural heritage, cf Henderson (1991). See also Ahl (1984a): 
Augustan poets retreat into the safety of Greek myth for their Roman analogies; also 
Galinsky (1989) esp p78. For the contrary view, that the Thebaid has little relevance to 
Roman politics, see Vessey (1973) p63f and (1982) p572, with Williams G (1978) p291f: "the 
vices of the age fed and multiplied on the fantasies of Greek mythology and on the 
varieties of the divine machinery ... To say that these epics were pure escapism should not 
be to condemn them, for there was much to escape from, and there was need for innocent 
entertainment. But much of this writing reads like something designed to meet a consumer 
need rather than something that burned a hole in the poet's mind ... " but fraternas acies 
alternaque regna profanis I decertata odiis sontesque evolvere Thebas, / Pierius menti calor 
incidit... Thebaid I 1-3. 
37Hardie (1993b) p64ff. , 
38See Kytzler (1955) p77; Schetter (1960) p70f, Vessey (1973) p165-7, and now especially 
Feeney (1991) p339f. . 
39For unitarian criticism of the Thebaid's episodic structure see eg. Legras (1905) p152, 277; 
Butler (1909) p207ff; Dimsdale (1915) p458f; Mendell (1967) p124-6; Ogilvie (1980) p233f. 
For closer analysis see Schetter (1960) p80-95; Venini (1961); Vessey (1973) p55f, 317ff; 
Williams G (1978) p250-2; Burck (1979) p311-26; Kytzler (1986) p2914-6. 40See Mendell (1967) p12-4; Vessey (1973) p55 and n2; Williams G (1978) p303-6; Hardie 
(1983) passim. SUitius refers to the practice at Silvae V 2 160ff. 
41 Duff (1927) p388 remarks "it is fair to remember the almost overpowering literary legacy 
which [Statius] inherited". 
· 
42Juhnke (1972) p315-70 cites the Homeric parallels in book-by-book order. 
7 
can be shown that the work's episodic nature actually contributes to its 
economy, once the importance of the mora theme is perceived.43 
The double fratricide not only represents the culmination of Theban 
scelus, but spells the end of narrative possibilities for the house of 
Oedipus: thus, retardation and divagation are actually essential for the 
poem's survival. Too little remains of Antimachus' fourth-century epic 
Thebais to enable comparison between his and Statius' compositional 
techniques;44 however, it seems that Statius found in Antimachus a 
precedent for extraordinary divagation as a structuring principle. 
Antimachus' Argives apparently arrive at Thebes only after twenty-four 
books; by the fifth book, which contains the narrative of a feast given by 
Adrastus, the Argives have not yet set off.45 
Furthermore, Statius' technique "represents a bloated and highly self-
conscious adaptation of Vergil's delaying tactics in the last three books of 
the Aeneid, and of Lucan's in the first seven books of the Bellum 
Civile."46 As a poet of civil war, Lucan is particularly relevant: he "loathes 
the progress of his story of Caesarian triumph" and thus "refuses to 
narrate" Caesar's crimes; rather he "loves mora, delay, obstruction, 
diversion" in all its forms.47 Narratival divagation is perhaps the most 
potent means of resistance to Caesar's hateful triumph still available to 
Lucan.48 Following his predecessor's example, Statius postpones the 
unavoidable horror of fraternas acies by employing several strategies of 
delay, temporal, physical and narratival.49 
43Williams G (1978) p252 comments "It is clear that Statius, just as deliberately as Lucan, 
destroyed the natural unity [sic] of linear narrative, but was equally careful to construct 
other means of unifying the work ... " However, he does not expand. 
44wyss (1936) provides fragments and discussion; see also Vessey (1970a). 
45Wyss (1936) v cites Porphyrio on Horace Ep. ad Pisones 146: "Antimachus fuit cyclicus 
poeta. hie adgressus est materiam, quam sic extendit, ut viginti quattuor volumina 
implevit, antequam septem duces usque ad Thebas perduceret." Vessey (1970a) accounts for 
this retardation by reconstructing Antimachus' plot: the feast occurred not at Argos, but (as 
in Statius) at Nemea in connection with the commemoration of Opheltes, which 
apparently did form part of Antimachus' story; p136 "If the Argives had not even 
commenced their journey by book 5 of Antimachus, it is not easy to see what was contained in 
books 1-4." 
46Feeney (1991) p339, who cites bibliography for Virgil and Lucan; Hutchinson (1993) p177 
notes that mora is now perceived as a "standard aspect of epic narrative". 47Henderson (19~8) p133f; he compares the Iliad's strategy of delaying Achilles' return to 
battle. Also Grimal (1980) which I have not seen. 48We may compa're Virgil: the duel which is to determine Rome's future is postponed until 
the end of the Aeneid; the poem's last line postpones the vision of Aeneas invictus 
indefinitely. 
49Feeney (1991) p339: see XI 80, 169, 201, 268, 347, 447f. 
8 
Action itself becomes an opportunity for retardation of the inevitable. 
Without the scheme of alternate rule which sends Polynices into exile, the 
brothers would have killed each other instantly, haec mora pugnae I sola 
(I 142f). The fight between Polynices and Tydeus almost brings the story to 
a premature end: better if it had, comments the poet, meliusque hostilibus 
armis / lugendus fratri, iuvenis Thebane, iaceres (I 429f). The belligerent 
Tydeus perceives his embassy as an unwelcome delay of the inevitable, sed 
moror (II 467). In contrast, Jocasta endeavours permanently to postpone 
her sons' conflict (VII 474ff).SO "In book XI, the final duel itself is 
approached through one obstacle after another, as if the poet can hardly 
bring himself to narrate it. " soa 
Mora also manifests itself in fear and doubt leading to hesitation; 
mitis Adrastus embodies these characteristics. He is persuaded to battle by 
Argia after only three books and three years of delay. Ironically his well-
intentioned actions in books I and II actually facilitate the coming 
slaughter, which he views after all as a great heroic enterprise, neu sint 
dispendia iustae / dura morae: magnos cunctamur, nata, paratus (III 
718f).51 
The immortals generally oppose any delay to Thebes' and Argos' 
destruction. The Fury responds to Oedipus' prayer igne Iovis lapsisque 
citatior astris (I 92); Mercury obeys Jupiter's command instantly, nee mora 
(I 310). After the mission's abortive start, Jupiter summons Mars to incite 
the cunctantes to war (III 233, also VII Hf). The final duel is precipitated by 
Tisiphone who warns Megaera neu mitis Adrastus / praevaleat plebesque, 
cave, Lernaea moretur (XI llOf).52 Exceptions are Venus (III 263ff) and 
Bacchus in IV and VII: Bacchus' instigation of mora in Nemea is a 
principal subject for my study. 
1.3 Mora at N emea 
The example of delay which (until recently) gave most offence is the 
lengthy central episode at Nemea.53 Attention ,is specifically drawn to 
50Euripides first presented the device of alternate rule and portrayed Jocasta's 
intervention; it may well be that he derived his scheme from Stesichorus, who in the Lille 
papyrus and the Eriphyle presents powerful, autonomous women whose actions profoundly 
affect their families. Chapters three and four in particular examine woman's power in the 
Nemean episode. 50a Feeney (1991) p339 ' 51Vessey (1973) p94f notes the parallel with Virgil's Latinus. - -520n the relative r.'peed of the Olympian and Underworld powers in wreaking destruction, 
see Ahl (1986) p2~$1-50 and Dominik (1994a) eh 1. 
S3 Among the offended are: Legras (1905) p152; Butler (1909) p210ff; Dimsdale (1915) p460; 
Moore (1921) p171; Duff (1927) p384; Ogilvie (1980) p233f. 
9 
mora in the episode, unde morae IV 650; nectam fraude moras 677, atque 
utinam plures innectere pergas, / Phoebe, moras V 743f. Again, it appears 
in various guises, the first of which is topographical. Physical barriers to 
heroic endeavour take several forms, such as Troy's walls, the Scamander 
and Calypso's island; Aeneas faces many obstructions natural and man-
made en route for Rome; Lucan's Caesar repeatedly transgresses huge 
natural boundaries thrown up in his path as if to delay his impious 
journey. In Thebaid IV-VI, topography itself originates delay, detaining the 
Argives in Nemea's woods after barely one book of action to face their 
greatest physical obstacle en route for Thebes.S4 Until now, the silvan 
setting of books IV-VI has received only brief comment.SS 
Nemea is truly merely "woods"; the OGD glosses the proper name as 
a "wooded region", not as a city.S6 Statius offers no explanation for the 
Seven's journey into Nemea, beyond that the region contributes troops to 
the Argive army, IV 159. The choice of route takes the army no more than 
a little out of its way;S7 however, it takes them, significantly, into a space 
which is neither Argos nor Thebes. Delay begins once the army enters the 
woods, just as Bacchus enforces the search for water, in itself an epic 
commonplace.SB The woods themselves disorient, divert and scatter the 
troops precisely as they anticipate involvement in battle, Thebaid IV 646-
51: 
interea gelidam Nemeen et conscia laudis 
Herculeae dumeta vaga legione tenebant 
Inachidae; iam Sidonias avertere praedas, 
sternere~ ferre domos ardent instantque. quis iras 
flexerit, unde morae, medius quis euntibus error, 
Phoebe, doce: .. 
The warriors encounter Hypsipyle inter silvas / errantes (746£). Moreover 
they come upon her suddenly, subitam 741: this suggests dense growth 
impeding vision as well as movement. The route to Langia's waters is a 
roundabout one, illi per dumos et opaca virentibus umbris / devia; pars 
S4For woods as physical impediments to military progress cf nemorumque moras, Silvae V 2 
44; Domitian's removal of the foedum nernus et putres harenas also ends the mora enforced 
b5i the old Appian way, IV 3 20ff, 111, 126. . 
S Vessey (1973) p165 comments: "Statius endows Nemea with a symbolic stature; it is the 
central point both in the epic and in the history of the men engaged in the war." 
S6Pace Vessey (1~73) p190; see Miller (1990) p8-12. Euripides' Hypsipyle also remarks on 
the loneliness o(Nemea. nemus (which OLD gives as cognate with vlµos) generally 
describes a wood, forest or plantation. The term may describe a consecrated wood, eg the 
grove of Diana Nemorensis at Aricia. It may again be as non-specific as 'bushy foliage'. 57 Ahl (1986) p2887 
· S8see Hutchinson (1993) p177; cf Apollonius' Argonautica I (Hylas). 
10 
cingunt,- pars arta plebe sequuntur / praecelerantque ducem 797-800. 
Errores took Odysseus and Aeneas over land and sea; the Thebaid localises 
error and mora within a tiny space. 
Once the troops have been refreshed, Hypsipyle is anxious not to 
delay their onward march with her story, but Adrastus assures her that her 
tale will occupy the time spent in re-forming the scattered columns, dum 
primi longe damus agmina vulgi / - nee facilis Nemea latas evolvere 
viris, / quippe obtenta comis et ineluctabilis umbra - V 43-5. Progress 
towards Thebes is rapid once Nemea is left behind, nihil flagrantibus 
obstat: I praecipitant redimuntque moras VII 138f. 
The Nemean digression occupies almost three books, of which the 
narration of the Argives' physical negotiation of the woods represents 
only a small portion. The description medius error (IV 650) could equally 
be applied to the text, as the narrative suffers the same disorientation as 
the Argive army; the episode has in the past been treated as a 'mistake in 
the middle'. Attempts to defend its place in the epic have concentrated on 
Hypsipyle's problematic Lemnian narrative, which is almost coterminous 
with the troops' stay in the woods and occupies nearly all of book V. 
Superficial criticism found in it sentimental decoration designed to 
indulge Flavian taste. Closer analysis sought to relate the episode to the 
wider epic: the narrative, it is argued, is "no mere ornament. It is an epic 
within an epic, illustrating by parallel, antithesis and symbol, the 
dominating themes of the whole [ie the conflict of Juror and pietas]."59 A 
more 'political' version of the moral/psychological approach perceives the 
episode's importance to lie in its sympathetic portrayal of innocent 
suffering before battle is joined; criticism of the episode as digressive is 
inappropriate, because "the war is itself a most unnecessary digression."60 
From another perspective, the Nemean episode is clearly 
distinguished . trom the rest of the epic, and attempts to integrate it by 
positing the epic's psychological unity are redundant.61 Indeed, the 
pressure to make the episode further the purposes of the main narrative 
should be resisted: Hypsipyle's narrative of far distant times and places is 
after all given a "highly artificial setting" which calls attention to its 
distinctiveness.62 The woman must be freed from her ancillary status to 
59Vessey (1973) p170; see also Krumbholz (1955) p125ff on Statius' "Neigung zum 
Psychologisieren''; Kytzler (1955) p200f; Schetter (1960) p5f, 89f; Gossage (1972) p199f; 
Burck (1979) p317: 
60 Ahl (1986) p2887 , 
61Heath (1989) p69f n36; also Hutchinson (1993) p177ff. 
62Hutchinson (1993) p178 . 
11 
speak her own story. Chapters three and four in particular examine the 
consequences of the intrusion of women's voices for the epic narrative. 
Hypsipyle's Lemnian narrative cannot be fully appreciated without 
reference to the framing story of Opheltes/ Archemorus within the woods, 
and vice versa.63 The silvan setting· for an inset narrative suggests a 
reading of the episode which rethinks the two main approaches 
(integrating and separatist) noted above. The Nemean episode is 
undoubtedly a digressive pause hedged about by topographical markers of 
difference. However, the episode does not merely encompass description 
empty of action; its own internal narratives relate symbolically to the 
whole (but as I show below, not quite as has been suggested). As such, it 
responds to analysis as ecphrasis; Statius strongly suggests this to the 
reader by setting the episode inter silvas.64 
1.4 Lucus/locus: woods and ecphrasis 
Beyond the aesthetic pleasure that topographical description affords 
the reader via enargeia, it comes to offer a metaphorical framework for the 
interpretation of human experience.65 Landscape in the Iliad is largely 
latent, forming a background to the narrative; its location is imost 
..l 
exclusively the battle-plains outside Troy. Within the continuous 
narrative action, the Odyssey focuses on certain topographical features, 
such as the cave of the Nymphs and the olive tree in book XIII; their 
implicit significance is "only understood within a context of motifs that 
has gained its symbolic value through recurrence."66 Virgil develops the 
symbolic potential of Homer's landscape by lingering on description to 
create a mood.67 Woods feature prominently in the Aeneid. Carthage's 
63The otherwise .most helpful study of book V by Nugent (1994) unfortunately neglects 
r,recisely this area. 
4Fowler (1991) discusses the challenge of relating 'description' to 'narration' in a survey of 
several approaches to ecphrasis. He observes that the desire to integrate ecphrasis into 
narrative (or indeed to separate it) is often implicitly motivated by ideology: "To relate 
description in this way to narration is to accept its poor relation status but to give it a 
limited form of social mobility: the more radical move is to free description from the chains 
of slavery and to give it true autonomy" p27. The topos of ecphrasis is taken up below and 
related to the Silvae. 
65Space permits only brief remarks. On the rhetoric of landscape, especially Virgilian 
landscape, see Heinze (1915) p350ff, 396ff, Poschl (1977) p172ff, Leach (1988) eh 1. 
66Leach (1988) p33f 
67For the development from "latent space" in Homer to "visible space" in Virgil see 
Andersson (1976}'chs 1-2. Heinze (1915) p350f is dissatisfied with insufficient 'background 
information' in the Aeneid's landscape, which he traces to Virgil's imitation of Homer. 
However, he praises Virgil's restraint in contrast with later poets who bring the action of 
their poems to a halt through topothesia, p396f. 
wooded bay is explicitly an eerie backdrop for the coming drama, tum 
silvis scaena coruscis / desuper, horrentique atrum nemus imminet 
umbra, I 164f. Aeneas finds his Golden Bough in a silvam immensam, the 
entrance to the Underworld, VI 186ff; in VIII he journeys up river through 
virgin forest to Pallanteum to learn .of Hercules and the foundation of 
Rome. Nisus and Euryalus die trapped in the woods, silva fu.it late dumis 
atque ilice nigra I horrida, ... IX 381ff, 391. 
The Aeneid made it possible for the single words nemus, silva, lucus 
to carry powerful associations: "After Virgil no Latin poet could be 
unaware of the possibilities of using the physical setting to evoke an 
atmosphere which might itself symbolically reflect major themes in the 
work. "68 The Metamorphoses is particularly conspicuous for the 
"recurrence of an almost stereotypic sylvan scenery".69 The very absence of 
descriptive variation throughout the fifteen books suggests that the woods 
have symbolic significance beyond aesthetics. Woods so dominate the 
Ovidian landscape that on entering Nemea, the reader of the Thebaid is 
arguably obliged to recall the topography of Statius' Augustan predecessor; 
the woodland setting for Bacchus' advent in Metamorphoses III and IV 
proves especially relevant. 
So far I have not discriminated between the three chief Latin terms 
for forest, ie lucus, nemus, silva. To a degree the terms can be used 
interchangeably without confusion of the symbol. However, the words are 
not altogether synonymous, and the choice of one word over another may 
have significance. Servius includes a careful note on Aeneid I 310: "lucus 
est arborum multitudo cum religione, nemus composita multitudo 
arborum, silva diffusa et inculta". This neat discrimination 
oversimplifies: there is both more common ground between the three 
terms and a wider range of meanings than he indicates. 
The lucus-, or 'sacred grove', of the Metamorphoses is often the 
setting for ecphrastic episodes. One classic formula for beginning a 
topographical ecphrasis is est locus; eg Metamorphoses II 195, IV 773, VIII 
788 and XV 332. Ovidian paronomasia on locus and lucus (and also on 
lacu s) is evident in the ecphrastic description of Enna in V 385ff and 
elsewhere; thus the poet advertises the deliberately literary construction of 
68Segal (1969) p4;. 69Segal (1969) p4. J.here are too many examples of woodland scenes in the poem to cite them 
all: see eg I 568ff, II 417ff, III passim, VII 74ff, VIII 743ff, and concordance entries under 
NEMUS, LUCUS, SILVA. 
13 
his landscape.70 These examples suggest an intimate connection between 
the forest and the literary device of ecphrasis. The term lucus is used of the 
Nemean woods several times: see IV 682, 764 and VI 96. This and the 
example of Ovid make it possible and even likely that Statius is also 
engaging in wordplay when he sets books IV-VI in the woods, in order to 
recreate an Ovidian ambience for his narrative. 
1.5 The silva capax aevi: Nemea and Thebes 
Statius spends little time on the topography of Nemea itself beyond 
conveying ideas of its dense opacity, until the wood is actually felled for 
Opheltes' pyre, VI 84ff.71 However, immediately preceding the digression 
into Nemea is an extended description of a Theban wood in which 
Eteocles takes the auspices for the war, IV 419-24:72 
silva capax aevi validaque incurva senecta, 
aeternum intonsae frontis, stat pervia nullis 
solibus; haud illam brumae minuere, Notusve 
ius habet aut Getica Boreas impactus ab Ursa. 
subter operta quies, vacuusque silentia servat 
horror et exclusae pallet male lucis imago. 
This forest excludes the sun's light, giving it a gloomy, even sinister 
aspect; cf per dumos et opaca virentibus umbris / devia, IV 804,f.73 
Beyond this horrid wood lie the fields sown by Cadmus (cf I 7f), 
where ghostly terrigenae re-enact their combat, IV 434ff. Clearly this 
passage owes much to Ovid's description of the Theban lair of the Martius 
anguis in Metamorphoses III 28-31: 
silva vetus stabat nulla violata securi 
et specus in medio virgis ac vimine densus, 
efficiens humilem lapidum compagibus arcum, 
uberibus fecundus aquis .... 
70Hinds (1987) p39ff and notes; see also TLL and Ahl (1985) under LUCUS. It might not then 
be too fanciful to perceive the same wordplay in the Aeneid: ,compare lucus ... fuit I 441 and 
IX 86, est ... lucus VIII 597; est locus occurs in the Aeneid at I 159, 530, III 163, IV 481 and VII 
563 (of a wooded valley). 71This passage is considered in chapter se~en. 72Vessey (1973) p253 offers characteristic comment: Statius's description of the Theban 
wood "exceeds in complexity" all literary predecessors; "As an example of Statian 
mannerism it could hardly be bettered ... [the wood is] ideal for Stygian rites". He cites 
~frallels with A~n~i~ VI. . . . 
~ee OLD: lucus1 ongmally conveyed the idea of a forest cleanng, the word bemg cognate 
with lux, luceo. Also Ahl (1985) ad lac. Segal (1969) p17 and passim notes the gloominess of 
Ovid's forests. The·correlation of landscape and mindscape through motifs such as darkness 
and enclosure in Senecan tragedy is discussed by Segal (1986a). Moreland (1974-5) discusses 
the theme of darkness in Thebaid I as the dominant symbol of death, chaos and conflict. 
14 
The ban Actaeon encounters Diana per nemus ignotum non cert is passibus 
errans in the wooded valley of Gargaphie, Metamorphoses III 155ff. Statius 
works echoes of this passage into Thebaid IV: 431ff describes Diana 
relaxing at noon after the hunt, precisely the mise-en-scene for Ovid's fatal 
encounter. Pathless and devoid of spatial markers, the forest is a 
topographical version of the labyrinth which dooms those caught inside to 
directionless wandering; even time loses its meaning in the silvan 
gloom.74 The "submerged and enclosed quality" of Ovid's glens heightens 
the sense of the "vulnerability of the human victim within"; indeed, the 
forest threatens the individual's very identity.75 Chapter four discusses the 
multiple threats posed to the Seven by their supernatural, Dionysiac 
encounter with a mysterious female inter silvas, and especially by her 
narrative of Lemnian violence. 
The extended description of the wood at IV 419ff is remarkable in an 
epic which expends relatively little effort on describing the arenas of 
combat.76 Given the epic's theme as announced at I lf, fraternas acies 
alternaque regna profanis / decertata odiis sontesque evolvere Thebas, this 
might appear singular. From Homer and Hesiod onwards, Thebes' fame 
rests as much on her walls and gates as on her rulers.77 Statius includes 
their miraculous construction among the subjects he could but will not 
narrate, quo carmine muris / iusserit Amphion Tyrios accedere montes I 
9f; the next event not to be narrated is Bacchus' advent, unde graves irae 
74 For discussion of this figure in literature, see deforest Lord (1977). The forest-labyrinth 
analogy also occurs in Catullus LXIV 105ff: the Minotaur is like an oak or a pinetree 
uprooted and left sprawling by Theseus. Aeneas needs supernatural aid to negotiate the 
S~gian forest of Aeneid VI; Nisus and Euryalus die trapped in the woods, Aeneid IX. 7 Segal (1969) p17- and n40. Compare the description of the natural 'circus' for the funeral 
games of Thebaid VI 255-8: collibus incurvis viridique obsessa corona / vallis in amplexu 
nemorum sedet; hispida circum / slant iuga, et obiectus geminis umbonibus agger / campum 
exire vetat ... 76Williams G (1978) p251 notes this passage in a list of Statius' ecphrases in the Thebaid. 
The House of Mars and Cave of Sleep also occupy considerable narrative space but are 
superfluous to the martial action per se. 
77In Iliad IV 378 Agamemnon remembers the expedition lf-pa TTpos Tdxrn efi~TJS'; at 406f 
Capaneus' son Sthenelus refers to Thebes' seven-gated foundation, stronger even than Troy's 
walls, taken by the Epigoni, ,iµ1:'i:s Kal efi~TJS ~Bos 1:~>.0µ1:v €TTTaTT1JA0Lo. The Odyssey 
gives great importance to the seven-gated wall built by Amphion and Zethus, XI 263. 
Hesiod locates one of the two great arenas of heroic battle at seven-gated Thebes, Works 
and Days 162, ucft,. €TTTUTTUA4) efi~lJ. The city's sevenfold defences are fundamental to the 
very plot of Ae~~hylus' Seven Against Thebes: see 165, 294 Els ETTTUTELXELS' l~66ovs; 
references are also frequent in Sophocles' Antigone and Euripides' Suppliant Women, 
.Phoenician Women and the Bacchae. Cf Propertius, saxa Cithaeronis Thebas agitata per 
artem III 2 5; Metamorphoses III describes Thebes (that is, her walls) as 'standing' 131, 549. 
15 
cognata in moenia Baccho, 1 J.78 The reader might expect a climactic set-
piece battle narrative, seven pairs of warriors fighting at seven gates. 
Statius fully develops those epic topoi which feature walls, such as 
Antigone's teichoscopy (VII 243ff), various attacks on the gates (eg X 489ff), 
Menoeceus' devotio (X 756ff) and Capaneus' aristeia (X 837ff).79 However, 
he has practically dismantled the defensive furniture which has hitherto 
given the city identity and structure, in order to focus on the Euripidean 
fratricidal duel. At Thebaid VIII 353-7 "a trace of the old Septem schema" 
appears in the naming of the gates and their defenders.BO However, the 
most significant topographical challenge to the Seven, occupying the 
central books of the epic, is not the city walls, but the Nemean woodland.81 
Nemea and Thebes share certain symbolic qualities. Oedipus dwells 
in a self-imposed darkness extending over palace and city, while 
unwelcome daylight hovers over his mind like a Fury, I 46-52: 
impia iam merita scrutatus lumina dextra 
merserat aetema damnatum nocte pudorem 
Oedipodes longaque animam sub morte82 tenebat 
ill um indulgentem tenebris imaeque recessu 
sedis inaspectos caelo radiisque penates 
servantem tamen adsiduis circumvolat alis 
saeva dies animi, scelerumque in pectore Dirae. 
The claustrophobic gloom of the palace, which Oedipus haunts, ghost-like, 
identifies it with the very opposite of the locus amoenus, the Underworld, 
the goal of Oedipus' prayers; the Fury abides inamoenum Cocyton iuxta, I 
89ff.83 Thebes' walls trap Oedipus inside, symbolising his inability to 
escape the curse of his patricidal, incestuous past. This curse inexorably 
draws Polynices back to Thebes; in book IV Oedipus' son finds himself 
78These critical episodes in Thebes' history are of course "no,t not" to be narrated: for what 
the Thebaid is "not not about" see Henderson (1991) p30ff. On Statius' constant allusion to 
the Theban past see Davffi' (1993). 
79see Juhnke (1972) p116Tf on the teichoscopy. 
80see Henderson (1991) p50 and nl13. 
810ne of Thebes' gates is the Hypsistas, VII 356: chapter four shows how Statius 
substitutes Hypsipyle as the 'lofty gate' through which the Seven must pass. 82The variant manuscript readings P morte, w nocte inscribe (as it were) their symbolic 
equivalence. Mozley (1928) ad loc notes Statius' inversion of nox atra caput circumvolat, 
Aeneid VI 866. t 
83See also Feeney (1991) p347: "As the Fury appears and the cohesion of the universe 
buckles, we are in the world so unforgettably created by Senecan tragedy, a world where 
·evil comprehensively deranges the natural order." 
wandering inside the dark, labyrinthine Nemean woods. My study 
discusses throughout the Theban symbolism of this space.84 
1.6 ex longo recalet furor: Bacchus in Nemea 
The presence of Bacchus further strengthens the associations between 
Nemea and Thebes,85 underscoring both the episode's place in the epic 
and its uniqueness.86 Statius debates whether the story unde graves irae 
cognata in moenia Baccho (I 11) is a suitable point de depart for his 
narrative. Throughout the epic, Jupiter's union with Semele provides 
motivation for Bacchus' interventions on Thebes' behalf, and for the 
Argive women's prayers to the hostile Juno for aid.87 
Since Odysseus' men encountered Circe in Odyssey X, the forest has 
been a locus of divine epiphany. Ovid's poem is particularly full of 
encounters with superhuman powers; the Theban landscape of books III-
IV provides backdrops of uninhabited, untamed woodland for the stories 
of Cadmus (III 28ff), Actaeon (175ff), Echo and Narcissus (370, 411f), arid 
Pentheus (708ff), among others.88 These books in particular play on the 
84See Zeitlin (1982) and (1990) for important studies of Theban discourse in Attic tragedy, 
which builds on the myths of Oedipus and the Spartoids to construct Thebes as the "city of 
eternal return" which reduces normative genealogical patterns and individual identity to 
the curse of "no difference". For a psycho-analytically oriented discussion of woods as 
symbol in the worlds of the Gilgamesh and Graeco-Roman epic which makes similar 
observations, see Harrison (1992) eh 1. He argues that the primal forest has always held an 
ambivalent fascination for man. Although it is "the precondition or matrix of civilisation", i.t is intrinsically hostile to its institutions: "Folding time within its promiscuous matrix, 
the forests would have promptly disoriented the line of genealogical succession" p6. In 
order to establish the patriarchal family as the triumphant model of human society, man 
must avoid - or clear - the forest, which becomes the universal mother with whom all her 
sons commit incest, destroying generational sequence. So constructed, the woods are the 
enemy of history as linear temporal progress and of familial order. In tracing these themes 
through myth and folktale Harrison draws on Rank (1952) and Campbell (1968). 85Constraints of space prevent discussion of the Thebaid's theology; Feeney (1991) and 
Dominik (1994a) provide full studies. Feeney (1991) p364ff, 374f argues that its gods are 
reduced to either "ineffectual adornment or allegorical affect". He develops the argument 
of Schetter (1960) p26f that the gods are reduced to the status of scenery, and only appear as 
ancillaries to their mortal favourites. Dominik (1994) argues that the gods are all too 
active in abusing their power to cause human misery. Unfortunately, neither critic offers 
detailed discussion of Bacchus' entry into Thebaid IV. I suggest that it challenges both a 
reductive view of the gods as ineffectual (since Bacchus' actions have consequences for all 
those in Nemea), and a uniformly negative view of them (Bacchus brings death for 
Oiheltes but reunion for Hypsipyle and her children). · 8 Zeitlin (1990) p135ff and (1993) p150-2 notes the parallel in the Theban tragedies 
between the arrivals of Dionysus and of Oedipus in Thebes: both are at home and not at 
home there, both unacknowledged offspring of the royal house come to claim their 
inheritance. r· 
87See Thebaid IL,71ff, IV 564, 234, IX 790ff, X 67ff, 887££. For discussion of the parallels 
between Theban past and present see Davis (1993) . 
. 
88See Segal (1969) p42ff and Hardie (1990a) p224f. 
,--
17 
opposition of city and countryside constructed by Attic tragedy, particularly 
the Bacchae. Following after Virgil in Aeneid I-IV, Ovid appropriates and 
mediates the tragic models in ways which are especially significant for 
Thebaid IV-VJ.89 Metamorphoses IV opens with Bacchus' arrival in 
Thebes; it cannot be coincidental that the god appears also in Thebaid IV. 
Euripides' Dionysus attracts Thebes' women into his own territory 
outside the city boundaries, the wilderness around Cithaeron.90 The 
Bacchae's symbolic pattern of movement appears again in both the 
Metamorphoses and the Thebaid. In Metamorphoses IV the daughters of 
Minyas are punished for rejecting Bacchus' godhead: an entropic, 
Dionysiac growth envelops them. Statius' god acts rather to draw away 
from Thebes those who oppose him by attacking his mother city. As in the 
Bacchae, the enemy is waylaid in the forest regions; the tragic model adds 
an extra, sinister shade to gelidam Nemeen. 
The god asserts control over his enemies through metamorphosis. 
His Theban victims are either utterly destroyed (like Pentheus) or forfeit 
their human identity for that of beasts (Cadmus and Harmonia); the 
Dionysiac sparagmos is an extreme example of enforced loss of identity 
through metamorphosis. Bacchus' interventions in Nemea recall the 
metamorphic god of the Bacchae and the Metamorphoses. Statius hints as 
much by evoking the mise-en-scene of an Ovidian epiphany: even the 
time of day is characteristic, IV 680-2:91 
tempus erat, medii cum solem in culmina mundi 
tollit anhela dies, ubi tardus hiantibus arvis 
stat vapor atque omnes admittunt aethera luci. 
The Bacchae most fully displays Dionysus' awesome power to 
overwhelm with natural abundance;92 as the locus of an alternative 
society, the woods embrace contradictions, offering both Golden Age bliss 
(875f) and demonic violence.93 The god appears to act atypically in Nemea, 
sending drought rather than flood, Thebaid IV 652ff. This action is 
89Hardie (1990a) p224 n7 
9
°Full discussion of the contrasting urban and wilderness topographies is found in Segal 
(1982): se~ under 'landscape', 'forest', 'mountain'. 91Papangelis (1989) discusses the parallel erotic setting of Amores I 5. 92The sh~ltering woods (865-760) eventually close around Pentheus (1048); the god's 
presence is attended by verdant growth and miraculous liquid flows (704-11, 873ff, 1051ff). 
See Segal (1982) p107f; more detail in Dodds (1960) on Bacchae 704-11 and Usener (1902) 
~177ff. { 
3Parry (1964) discusses Ovid's exploitation of the Arcadian landscape of the Eclogues as a 
backdrop for stories of violence and cruelty. 
17 
opposition of city and countryside constructed by Attic tragedy, particularly 
the Bacchae. Following after Virgil in Aeneid I-IV, Ovid appropriates and 
mediates the tragic models in ways which are especially significant for 
Thebaid IV-VJ.89 Metamorphoses IV opens with Bacchus' arrival in 
Thebes; it cannot be coincidental that the god appears also in Thebaid IV. 
Euripides' Dionysus attracts Thebes' women into his own territory 
outside the city boundaries, the wilderness around Cithaeron.90 The 
Bacchae's symbolic pattern of movement appears again in both the 
Metamorphoses and the Thebaid. In Metamorphoses IV the daughters of 
Minyas are punished for rejecting Bacchus' godhead: an entropic, 
Dionysiac growth envelops them. Statius' god acts rather to draw away 
from Thebes those who oppose him by attacking his mother city. As in the 
Bacchae, the enemy is waylaid in the forest regions; the tragic model adds 
an extra, sinister shade to gelidam Nemeen. 
The god asserts control over his enemies through metamorphosis. 
His Theban victims are either utterly destroyed (like Pentheus) or forfeit 
their human identity for that of beasts (Cadmus and Harmonia); the 
Dionysiac sparagmos is an extreme example of enforced loss of identity 
through metamorphosis. Bacchus' interventions in Nemea recall the 
metamorphic god of the Bacchae and the Metamorphoses. Statius hints as 
much by evoking the mise-en-scene of an Ovidian epiphany: even the 
time of day is characteristic, IV 680-2:91 
tempus erat, medii cum solem in culmina mundi 
tollit anhela dies, ubi tardus hiantibus arvis 
stat vapor atque omnes admittunt aethera luci. 
The Bacchae most fully displays Dionysus' awesome power to 
overwhelm with natural abundance;92 as the locus of an alternative 
society, the woods embrace contradictions, offering both Golden Age bliss 
(875f) and demonic violence.93 The god appears to act atypically in Nemea, 
sending drought rather than flood, Thebaid IV 652ff. This action is 
89Hardie (1990a) p224 n7 
90full discussion of the contrasting urban and wilderness topographies is found in Segal 
(1982): se~ under 'landscape', 'forest', 'mountain'. 91 Papangelis (1989) discusses the parallel erotic setting of Amores I 5. 92The sh~ltering woods (865-760) eventually close around Pentheus (1048); the god's 
presence is attended by verdant growth and miraculous liquid flows (704-11, 873ff, 105lff). 
See Segal (1982) pl07f; more detail in Dodds (1960) on Bacchae 704-11 and Usener (1902) 
~177ff. {'· 
3Parry (1964) discusses Ovid's exploitation of the Arcadian landscape of the Eclogues as a 
backdrop for stories of violence and cruelty. 
especialiy striking since Statius gives the god his cult name Liber, which 
suggests both liberality and liberation, the power to free the individual and 
the group both from care and from restraint, with potentially dangerous 
consequences.94 Moreover, the god is, as frequently, marcidus, IV 652: 
"Drunkenness personified"95 acts to dry up liquid flow. In Nemea, the 
Liberator traps his enemy in the forest and then seeks to destroy them 
through lack of abundance rather than by drowning them in superfluity.96 
1.7 Apollo, Bacchus and the Langia 
Water is "an ancient symbol of life"; clearly, the warriors' thirst 
foreshadows their deaths in battle later in the epic.97 However, much 
more can be said about the symbolic import of the shrinking of Nemea's 
rivers. Although the drought itself may well have formed part of the cyclic 
Thebais and Antimachus' epic, Bacchus' involvement in it is apparently 
an innovation by Statius, and therefore deserves closer analysis.98 
Bacchus is joined in Nemea by his half-brother Apollo; divine 
brothers working together provide a foil to the enMity of Polynices and 
Eteocles. Statius invokes Apollo in the lines which begin the digression, 
IV 649-53:99 
... quisiras 
flexerit, unde morae, medius quis euntibus error, 
Phoebe, doce: nos rara manent exordia famae. 
marcidus edomito bellum referebat ab Haemo 
Liber; ... 
The poet appeals to the most familiar god of song to teach him the 
answers to the complex puzzle that is Nemea: why the digression 
occurred, and what happened there. Phoebus appears later in his canonical 
role as authoritative singer-teacher, serenely singing heroic deeds, 
including his · own and his brothers', to the appreciative Muses while 
94on association of the name with AvuLOS" in Roman cult see Bruhl (1953) p22f, p133ff. Cf 
'Eleuthereus', the Attic cult title for the god of the theatre. 
95Lewis (1936) p52 
. 96Chapters three to five discuss Dionysiac manifestations in Nemea in the figures of 
H1'psipyle, Eurydice and Opheltes. 9 Vessey (1973) . p170; see Segal (1969) p23ff for the symbolism of water in the 
Metamorphoses . . ~. 98See Nemean Ot:ies hypotheses 2, 4; Thebais Fl; Antimachus fr 30, 31 Wyss, with Vessey 
(1970b) p48 and n4'9, 50 and Lesueur (1990) n59. 990n epic invocations at key moments, see Juhnke (1972) p96f after Knauer (1964). 
19 
mock battle rages on earth, VI 355ff.1DO Immediately after the invocation, 
Bacchus arrives to instigate delay. The sun-god participates in his brother's 
Nemean strategies, drying up the waters and scorching the land, adiuvat 
ipse / Phoebus adhuc summo ... limite IV 689ff. 
The Thebaid makes use of rivers as poetic symbols from its very 
beginning. As Pol ynices makes the journey towards Argos which sets the 
narrative in motion, the epic set-piece storm causes every river he 
encounters to flood, setting up morae to his fateful journey.IOI The 
Bellum Civile begins with Caesar en route for Rome at the crossing of the 
Rubicon, swollen as if to stress the enormity of Caesar's transgression. By 
fording these rivers Polynices copies Caesar's civil-war outrage, although 
his journey takes him away from Thebes. As the story of fraternas acies 
begins, Statius' poetic flow is likewise in full spate, I 355-69:102 
iam Nemea, iam Taenariis contermina lucis 
Arcadiae capita alta madent; ruit agmine magno 
Inachus et gelidas surgens Erasinus in undas. 
pulverulenta prius calcataque flumina nullae 
aggeribus tenuere morae, stagnoque refusa est 
funditus et veteri spumavit Lema veneno. 
frangitur omne nemus, rapiunt antiqua procellae 
bracchia silvarum, nullisque aspecta per aevum 
solibus umbrosi patuere aestiva Lycaei. 
ille tamen, modo saxa iugis fugientia ruptis 
miratus, modo nubigenas e montibus amnes 
aure pavens passimque insano turbine raptas 
pastorum pecorumque domos, non segnius amens 
incertusque viae per nigra silentia vastum 
haurit iter; pulsat metus undique et undique frater. 
The epic flood is destructive and relentless, sweeping aside the morae of 
natural boundaries; it especially affects the woods, including Nemea, 
frangitur omne nemus, rapiunt antiqua procellae / bracchia silvarum. 
Chapter seven notes that the Seven's destruction of the 'Arcadian' 
Nemean wood ·resembles just such an epic storm. 
The Sicoris is another river in spate crossed by the super-confident 
Caesar's troops in tiny boats. This tumescence, jt has been argued, also 
lOOpeeney (1991) p372ff comments that apart from Jupiter, who becomes an "exaggeration of 
his epic self", the other Olympians "will inevitably strike any reader as canonical in their 
attributes and characteristics, yet their behaviour is in fact extremely circumscribed"; 
decus inane (VII 926), Statius' gloss on Phoebus' adornment of his doomed vates, perhaps 
sums up the god's role in events. On the Thebaid's image of the sun-god in eclipse, actually 
and metaphorically, see Feeney (1991) p373. -101Moreland (197J-5) p25f identifies the storm with Eteocles' hostility; see also Galinsky 
(1989) on this inriovative "integration of character and storm" p82, where the tempest is 
risrchologically rather than supernaturally instigated . 
. 0 See Henderson (1991) p44-6. 
20 
figures the epic hugeness of Lucan's artistic enterprise.103 Callimachus 
developed a complex poetic symbolism of water, which finds it own 
source in Hesiod's dream in the proem to the Works and Days of the 
Muses' dance around the fountains of Helicon. The swollen river is a 
Callimachean figure for the swollen· epic song, which ought not to be 
attempted by the little boat, that is, the poet committed to AETTT6T11s.104 
The liquid symbol of Callimachean poetics is the pure and holy 
spring. Apollo himself rejects the poetics of the Euphrates for that of the 
sacral fountain, Hymn to Apollo 108-12:105 
• , Aaauplou lTOTaµofo µiyas p6cs. a)JJ1 TO. lTOAAO. 
MµaTa 'YflS Kal lTOAAOV hp' u8aTL avpq>cTOV EAKEL. 
LlT)OL 8' OUK O.lTO TTaVTQS u8wp <f>opfouaL µEALO'O'aL, 
a.AA' fyns Ka8ap11 TE Kal ci.xpa.aVToS ci.vipTTEL 
TTl8aKoS t~ le-pfis 6)J:yr1 >..L~a.s liKpov awTov." 
Statius employs this Callimachean imagery frequently in the Silvae, eg I 2 
3ff, procul ecce canoro / demigrant Helicone deae quatiuntque novena I 
lampade sollemnem thalamis coeuntibus ignem / et de Pieriis vocalem 
fontibus undam. I 4 describes Rutilius as the fountain of inspiration, 
largos potius mihi gurges in haustus, / qui rapitur de Jonte tuo 27f. The 
celebration of Lucan's birthday calls for an inspirational flood, docti largius 
evagentur amnes, II 7 12. The figure of the pure stream appears in Silvae 
IV 7 11f, nunc maior sitis et bibendus / castior amnis to describe Statius' 
'conversion' from epic to lyric.106 Silvae I 2 257ff, tecum similes 
iunctaeque Camenae, / Stella, mihi, multumque pares bacchamur ad aras 
I et sociam doctis haurimus ab amnibus undam, links the rivers of 
inspiration with Bacchic intoxication. 
Horatian lyric celebrates Bacchus' powers of poetic inspiration, Odes II 
19 and III 25; this is a favourite topic of Augustan poets.107 Callimachus 
also associated -Bacchus with Apollo and the Muses, (eg fr 191 7f Pf).108 
Horace hymns the god for his miraculous blessings of wine, milk and 
103See Masters (1992) pl-3 (Rubicon), 65ff (Sicoris). 104For full discussion of water's symbolic value for and after Callimachus see Wimmel (1960) p222ff. Statius himself uses the image of the perilous voyage across a vast body of 
water to describe his (completed) creative journey with his epic, et mea iam longo meruit 
ratis aequore portum, Thebaid XII 809. 
IOSsee Williams F (1978) ad loc for further discussion. 106Note the paradox, also apparent in Thebaid IV: a greater thirst for a purer stream. 107See Nisbet/Huflbard (1978) on Odes II 19. Hardie (1983) p156 discusses Statius' multiple imitation of Augustan generic models; Thomas (1983) p103 notes that "Statius is unusual, tossibly even unique, in standing with the Augustans in his appreciation of Callimachus." 08See Knox (1985) on the complexities of Callimchus' relations with Bacchus. 
21 
honey and also of song.109 Bacchus is also a figure of terror, a dulce 
periculum, Odes III 25 18: "in Dionysiac worship pleasure and pain were 
inextricably mixed".110 The poet is a bacchant in the grip of Dionysiac 
frenzy, Euhoe, parce Liber, / parce gravi metuende thyrso! II 19 7f; the 
Dionysiac paradox parce Liber becomes crucial to a study of Thebaid IV-VI. 
For the poet, Bacchus is both instigator and instructor in. an altogether new 
experience: in Odes III 25 the silvan landscape into which the maenad 
wanders is the unexplored terrain of the new lyric: "The unoccupied grove 
at which the entranced poet gazes in wonder ... is the locus of a new strain 
of exalted song exemplified by the carmen itself".111 
Mora arrives in IV through drought rather than flood. Bacchus 
shrinks the flow of all the rivers of the region and a tenuior situs (Q: 
otherwise illis tenuis percurrere visus / ora situs) spreads over them, IV 
698; he preserves only one secreta sub umbra IV 724. Epic's flow is reduced, 
and inspiration derives from a single, secret fount; we are now, as it were, 
inter Silvas. To continue their mission, the Seven need water from 
whatever source and the smallest, humblest spring becomes the most 
important. Adrastus implores Hypsipyle's help, however limited, IV 764-
6: 
'da fessis in rebus opem, seu turbidus amnis, 
seu tibi foeda palus; nihil hac in sorte pudendum, 
nil humile est; .. .' 
To allegorise, the epic depends for its continuity for fresh inspiration from 
an unexpected source. The little river Langia is promised huge, epic 
renown from events to come, manet ingens gloria nympham, / dum 
tristem Hypsipylen ducibus sudatus Achaeis / ludus et atra sacrum recolit 
trieteris Ophelten, 727-9.112 
The first epithet qualifying Nemea is gelidam, IV 646. The wood 
offers protection from the ravages of midday heat and drought (IV 680ff) 
and cools the Argive ardour for battle in this episode of mora (cf ardent, 
649),113 but also casts a mysterious chill over the scene, recalling Eteocles' 
ghastly lucus. Gelidus is particularly fluid in its range of meanings. It is a 
109See Davis (1991) p108ff on the self-reflexive quality of Horace's thanksgiving in song for the gift of song; cf Silvae I 2 257ff etc. 
llONisbet/Hubbat"d (1978) ad loc 
111 Davis (1991) pl i3 
112ingens and parvus are key terms in the episode; every occurrence proves significant. 113vessey (1973) p165 
22 
standard Ovidian epithet for forests, eg nemus gelidum (Metamorphoses 
II 455), and frequently describes fountains and rivers. 
The positive attributes of gelidus may be set against its more sinister 
associations with the chill of sterility, fear and death; Orpheus mourns 
Eurydice alone by the frozen Strymon gelidis sub antris, Georgics IV 509.114 
The doomed warrior's blood becomes gelidus and ceases to flow, eg 
Aeneid XII 905; the limbs chill and stiffen in death, eg Metamorphoses VI 
249; and by extension death itself becomes cold, gelidae mortis imago, 
Amores II 9 41. A famous occurrence in Horace conveys both refreshment 
and horror: the fans Bandusiae splendidior vitro will stain its gelidos 
rivos (6f) red with the blood of a kid sacrificed before it can try out its 
horns, Odes III 13 1-8. 
gelidam Nemeen hints at much more than "coolness", "quiet" and 
"repose" for the Seven.115 The ardent Argive armies enter the cool glen, 
parched by a supernatural drought; the river of refreshment flows into a 
river of tears for the death of an infant. Apollo's and Bacchus' 
metamorphic presence heralds the disruption of epic flow; chapter two 
shows how, in Callimachean style, other stories emerge from within the 
woods to challenge the dominant heroic narrative. This idea of creativity 
and transformation inter silvas connects with the symbolic properties of 
woods as the source and raw material of song. 
1.8 tandem inter silvas:Thebaid IV-VI and the Silvae 
The Nemean woods are frequently referred to as silvae.116 The phrase 
tandem inter silvas is heavily loaded, as Silvae is also the title of Statius' 
five books of occasional poems. silva is perhaps the vaguest and most 
flexible of the three commonest terms for 'wood'.117 It can also be used 
metaphorically, of, for example, a forest of spears, as in Thebaid V 533. 
Scholarship is most familiar with its metaphorical use to mean 'material, 
114My study shows that Orpheus maerens appears in several guises in the Nemean episode. 
nsvessey (1973) p165, 169. 
116silvae: N 747, 832, V 10, VI 91, 113, 155. 
1171t denotes "an area of woodland, forest; wood" and often in the plural "wooded parts or 
regions" (OLD); then, a plantation or grove. It may mean merely 'brushwood, scrub, 
uncultivated land, ... a tangle or thicket (of particular plants); a thicket-like growth". 
Servius' gloss on Aeneid I 310 may be taken with a pinch of salt: for Vitruvius silva suggests 
a formal, artfully arranged garden (VI 5 2), and in Geor!PCS N 329 it suggests an orchard . In 
poetry it can den9:te trees and bushes and their branches and foliage: Catullus IV 11 comata 
silva and Statius Silvae III 3 98 and Thebaid I 362 suggest that silva can mean a single tree. 
These examples demonstrate that there is no single translation of silva or silvae even when 
speaking of physical trees: in particular the word silva neither indicates the number of 
trees, nor how they are grouped, nor what kind of growth they are. 
23 
subject-matter', transferred from the literal sense 'wood', as in the Greek 
uX.TJ.118 Nothing more specific than a mass of material of any kind may be 
meant, but often silva is the raw materia of a literary work.119 This sense is 
employed by Quintilian to denote the raw material of rhetoric, work 
characterised by speed and spontaneity, which may be taken up later by the 
orator and revised, Inst. Or. X 3 17. 
Altogether, the term silva may describe variously that which is 
natural, unforced, unchecked, abundant, unordered, rough, unpolished, 
diffuse, miscellaneous, fast-growing. Multiplicity of meaning is enshrined 
in its very forms: the singular form may have a plural meaning ('trees'), 
and the plural form a singular meaning ('forest'). It is therefore far from 
easy to determine what Statius meant by the term as a title for his 
collections. It appears in Statius' prose preface to his third book, securus 
itaque tertius hie Silvarum nostrarum liber ad te mittitur. Mozley 
translates "And so it is without fear that I send you [Pollius] this third 
book of my Impromptu verses". This tendentious translation highlights 
the problems posed by the word. Does it refer to generic variation, or to 
speed of composition, or to poetic technique? Does Statius call each poem 
a silva, or each book? Or, is silvae a collective noun with no conceptual 
singular referring to each book, Silvae I, Silvae II etc?120 
Statius leaves the questions unresolved by any hint in the prefaces, 
although he always refers to his poetry by the plural term, keeping the 
singular for literal use.121 Indeed, the term's ambiguity becomes an asset. 
Statius describes the contents of his first collection as libellos.122 He goes 
on to list its contents in all their variety; it seems however that he also 
wants to emphasise his speed of composition, nullum enim ex illis biduo 
longius tractum, quaedam et in singulis diebus effusa; quam timeo, ne 
verum istuc versus quoque ipsi de se probent. The prefaces to II and III 
claim the same rapidity and display the same variety of content; book IV's 
preface (in which the title Silvae appears again), indicates no departure 
118These are OLD definitions Sa and b. 
119See Cicero Orat. 12, Inv. I 34. 
120for full discussion see Newmyer (1979) intro.; Bright (1980) eh 3; Hardie (1983) eh 6; Coleman (1988) intro. iii. 
121Statius was no_t the only poet to adopt silvae as a title. See Bright (1980) p40f: Pliny 
refers to three collections with titles drawn from the natural world: KT]p(ov, ra, >.ELµwv Natural Histor{pr24. Although Statius does not use the term in Silvae II 7, Lucan 
apparently comp61sed ten books of miscellaneous verse entitled Silvae. This suggests that Statius' choice honoured his literary predecessor: see Ahl (1976) p336-43 and Hardie (1983) 
f60. 
22cf Catullus I 1: Statius uses libelli to denote individual poems see Book I preface. 
24 
from earlier form. The reader is wise to question the sincerity of Statius' 
professions of anxiety concerning speed and improvisation.123 Likewise 
caution must be exercised in interpreting the Silvae as works of "charm 
and artlessness".124 
Many of the trees which appear at Thebaid VI 98ff feature in Eclogue 
VII 61-8; Thebaid I 355ff associates the Nemean woods with Arcadia. 
Virgil's Eclogues abound in silvae: indeed, Statius' title may directly recall 
his predecessor.125 Aesthetically, the Arcadian trees are among the most 
remarkable features of the "spiritual landscape";126 in their beauty and 
variety they exercise an affective power in sympathy with the poet-
herdsmen who, in Callimachean style, transform their silvan 
surroundings through art, by carving their lovesongs on the treebark.127 
Virgil develops the pathetic fallacy to the extent that the woods function 
actively in the poems, echoing the Arcadians' voices, until they "seem to 
be not merely the place where music is played, but its source".128 The 
muses have their home there, I lf, VI lf; silvae and song cannot be 
separated. The Thebaid also associates the forest with the muses' song: 
before narrating the catalogue of the troops, Statius invokes the epic muse 
as queen of the musical forest, o nemoris regina sonori, / Calliope Thebaid 
IV 34f.129 
Calliope, mother of Orpheus and epic muse, is also named at Eclogue 
IV 57 in a passage which is more closely discussed in chapter five.130 Her 
appearance is surprising since the woods are often identified with that 
which is humilis, sordidus, and rusticus; Corydon proclaims their value 
in the face of others' contempt nobis placeant ante omnia silvae, II 60-2. 
Virgil himself calls his poetry silvae to denote that which is characterised 
123See Newmyer. (1979) p8 and Newlands (1991) p438: "We are meant to be surprised by 
roems that far surpass his modest claims." 
24Hardie (1983) p60; chapter seven discusses the Callimachean sophistication of Silvae 
III 1 in particular. 
l25Newlands (1991) p452; Bright (1980) p37-9 feels that "it was difficult for Statius to use 
the bucolic tradition directly because the Silvae are mostly on real people and places, 
irreconcilable with Arcadia." 
126The term derives from Snell (1953). 
127Eg V 13f; cf Aetia II (Acontius and Cydippe). 
128see Bright (1980) p37 and eg Eclogues I 4f, tu, Tityre, lentus in umbra I formosam resonare 
doces Amaryllida silvas. 
l29compare also the lucos vocales Boeotaque tempe Silvae V 3 209, into which Statius 
enters as a fledgling poet. Manilius Vopiscus' villa, set amid the woods, provides suitable 
surroundings for Its owner's indulgence in Pindaric lyric, heroic poetry, epistles and satire, I 
3 99££. ,., 
l30see also Silvae III 1 49-51: veneranda Calliope is invoked to narrate the aetiology of 
Pollius' temple of Hercules. Calliope 'speaks' the genethliacon for her foster-son Lucan, 
also discussed in chapter five. 
25 
as lowly and unsophisticated but whose intrinsic worth he vigorously 
defends. Compare nihil hac in sorte pudendum, / nil humile est, Thebaid 
IV 764f. The woods may after all be worthy of consuls, IV 3.131 Corydon 
boasts that habitarunt di quoque silvas II 60; even the epic hero Paris lived 
in the woods as a shepherd, as did Pallas before she founded Athens.132 
Eclogue VI's complex, programmatic recusatio establishes the 
significance of song set inter silvas, 1-5: 
Prima Syracosio dignata est ludere versu 
nostra nee erubuit silvas habitare Thalea. 
cum canerem reges et proelia, Cynthius aurem 
vellit et admonuit: 'pastorem, Tityre, pinguis 
pascere oportet ovis, deductum dicere carmen.' 
Syracosio versu identifies Virgil (at least in his early poetic 'games') with 
Theocritus; in turn Virgil identifies the subject-matter of Theocritean 
bucolic as silvae. The presiding Muse is Thalea, the Muse of comedy and 
lighter poetry, rather than Calliope. Such poetry is opposed to reges et 
proelia, identifiable as the stuff of traditional Homeric epic, rejected by 
Callimachus in the proem to Aetia I.133 Virgil therefore seems to align his 
poetry with the multiple forces opposing heroic epic, suggesting that reges 
et proelia are incompatible with the woods. 
Eclogue VI shows Apollo and Bacchus operating together to shape a 
new kind of song. The proem makes it plain that this song is under 
Apollo's control, 3-5; the cave setting and the drunken, garlanded Silenus 
(13ff) hint at Dionysus' presence. The inset song is inspired, then, by 
Dionysus, but also belongs to Apollo, omnia quae Phoebo quondam 
meditante beatus I audiit Eurotas iussitque ediscere Iauros / ille canit, 
82ff .134 Again the gods' power manifests itself in metamorphosis. The 
archetypal singer Orpheus' power to transform a landscape is legendary, 
but Silenus' sorig surpasses even his ability, 27-30: 
tum vero in numerum Faunosque ferasque videres 
ludere, tum rigidas motare cacumina quercus; 
nee tantum Phoebo gaudet Parnasia rupes, 
l 31 Bright (1980) p37 
. 
132on the connection between woods and foundational acts, see chapter two on Aetia III, 
and chapter seven on Silvae III 1. 
133Halperin (1983) p255f discusses the subtleties of the Eclogue VI recusatio. See also p214 
for Manilius' asse~sment of Theocritus in Astronomica II 39-42. In a review of the didactic 
tradition, Maniliils remarks on the Sicilian nee silvis silvestre canit: the silvan language 
probably echoes v'irgil. The cosmology of Silenus places Eclogue VI within the didactic 
tradition also. 
134Note also the riverside setting. 
nee tantum Rhodope miratur et Ismaros Orphea. 
This silvan song is a miniature carmen perpetuum of metamorphosis and 
aetiology, culminating in praise of the neoteric Gallus, 64££.135 The first 
growth on the newly created earth of which Silenus sings is woodland, 
incipiant silvae cum primum surgere, 39. In an infinite aetiological 
regression, Gallus is to sing of the Grynei nemoris origo, 72; ne quis sit 
lucus quo se plus iactet Apollo, 73: woods within woods. 
As in Callimachus and the Roman neoterics, Phoebus and Bacchus 
are frequently coupled together in the Silvae as twin sources of poetic 
inspiration; often Mercury, inventor of the lyre, makes a third.136 Their 
presence in Nemea's poetic wood binds the epic to Statius' supposedly 
minor works. Statius frequently presents himself in the Silvae as the 
professional poet relaxing from his epic labours with 'lighter' verse: "The 
Silvae, as Statius' comparison of them to the Culex and Batrachomachia is 
meant to suggest [preface to book I], are to be thought of as the minor 
poetry of an epic poet with a claim to classic status. "137 Compare also forte 
remittentem curas, Phoeboque levatum / pectora, IV 6 lf. The Silvae are, 
Statius claims, spontaneous, even hasty compositions; the Thebaid, by 
contrast, is bissenos multum vigilata per annos, Thebaid XII 811, although 
the same inspirational calor fires both undertakings, Silvae I preface, 
Thebaid I 3.138 At Silvae I 5 8f, Statius describes his occasional poetry as an 
interruption to his epic composition, paulum arma nocentia, Thebae, / 
ponite: dilecto volo lascivire sodali.139 Here again silvae and mora are 
closely associated. 
Statius' self-portrait encourages his reader to search in the Silvae for 
the weightier poet of the Thebaid; the impersonal epic voice 
correspondingly discourages comparison with the poetic persona behind 
the Silvae. Mos_t of the shorter poems were apparently composed in the 
latter stages of the epic's completion.140 The chronological overlap 
135This passage is discussed further in chapter six; see Ross ,(1975) eh 2 for the search for Gallus. 
136See eg I 2 17f, 219ff; I 4 19ff; I 5 lff; II 7 6~8. 
137Hardie (1983) pl38; see eh 9. 138Significantly, the image assimilates the Thebaid into the tradition of highly-polished neoteric epyllia. Henderson (1991) p38 and n46 compares Cinna fr 11 lf, haec ... multum invigilata .. . / carmina, Lyne (1978) p120f on Ciris 46. 139In Silvae IV 7 Statius complains to Vibius Maximus that without his presence, epic composition slows< to a halt: tardius sueto venit ipse Thymbrae / rector et primis meus ecce metis / haeret Achilles, 22-4. 
140For a chronology see Newmyer (1984) intro.; van Dam (1984) intro.; Bright (1980) n31; Hardie (1983) p13f and eh 5. More is said on this subject in chapter seven. 
27 
suggests a neglected possibility, that the Silvae might equally have 
exercised creative influence upon the epic.141 At the very least, references 
to the Thebaid in the Silvae, and the heavily advertised· introduction to 
the Nemean episode suggest the deliberate creation of an interwoven 
poetic.142 
The nature of the Silvae makes them unique.143 While the Thebaid 
ostensibly sets out to narrate heroic fraternas acies, the Silvae, as their title 
suggests, are hybrid. No single poetic influence dominates: Statius the 
Neapolitan Hellenophile displays his rich heritage, including Homer, 
Hesiod, the lyric poets and the Alexandrians as well as the Roman 
authors, among whom Virgil and Lucan are distinguished.144 Moreover, 
one book may contain works in several genres, some experimental, 
written for very different occasions.145 It is unsurprising to discover in 
Statius, as in Horace, a "Kreuzung der Gattungen".146 The following 
chapters trace the influence of many non-epic genres and modes on 
Thebaid IV-VI; the voice of lamentation, often heard in the Silvae, is 
heard again in the Nemean woods. 
I noted above the ecphrastic character of topographical description in 
connection with Thebaid IV-VI. The epic shares with the Silvae a 
predilection for ecphrastic description, which constitutes nearly one-third 
of the contents of the Silvae.147 Ecphrasis has never been confined to any 
particular genre,148 but the description of remarkable objects and features 
is an integral part of epic, going back to Homer's Shield of Achilles and the 
141Neglected at least by Bright (1980) p14 and n31, more concerned with discussing the 
etc's dominant influence on the Silvae. See however Newman (1986) p232ff. 1 2See chapter seven's close study of Silvae III 1. 
143Bright (1980) p3ff; Hardie (1983) p74, 152ff. 
144See V 3 148ff. 
l45Bright (1980) p8ff notes epithalamion, epicedion and consolatio, propempticon, and gratulatoria among others; epigram and elegy make an important contribution, although Statius avoids both epigrammatic and elegiac form, usually favouring the epic hexameter. The lyric IV 7 invokes Pindar's help, tuque, regnator lyricae cohortis, / da novi paulum 
mihi iura plectri, I si tuas cantu Latia sacravi, / Pindare, Thebas 5ff. 146The phrase belongs to Kroll (1924) eh 9. Galinsky (1989} p71ff discusses this trait in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The silver epic is characterised by this interweaving of many 
modes; Galinsky shows that this features is "not aberrant from Augustan practice" as might be supposed. Conte (1986) shows that fnclusivity is a vital element in Virgil's epic technique. 
· 147Friedlander (1912) provides the fullest treatment of ecphrasis; see also Thomas (1983) for Virgilian ecphrasis. Fowler (1991) (which gives extensive bibliography) dicusses the politics of interpreting literary ecphrases; see also Leach (1988). Specifically on Statius see Friedlander (1912);;esp p60-9; Cancik (1965) p34-7, 59-61 and passim; Newmyer (1979) p38-40, p98ff; Bright (f 980) p12ff and notes; Hardie (1983) p128ff. Bright (1980) p14 notes Statius' remarkable use of ecphrasis in the Thebaid: see Vessey (1970b). 148Friedlander (1912) p83f: ecphrasis belongs in fable, narrative, encomium, komos etc. 
(pseudo-)Hesiodic Shield of Herakles. Jason's cloak reworks the theme for 
a Hellenistic readership; Virgil puts the topos to panegyric use in the 
description of Aeneas' shield.149 
Here we can make a further connection with the Nemean digression 
and its characteristic feature mora. In the Silvae ecphrastic description 
frequently occasions digression and delay; Statius' description of Pollius' 
villa is associated with his morae there, II 2 13. Digression is, as chapter 
two shows, an important ingredient in epyllia; the digressive central panel 
of Catullus LXIV is an ecphrastic description of a tapestry.150 Often the 
ecphrasis involves an aetiological excursus on the history of the thing. 
described: examples are Silvae II 3 (Atedius Melior's marvellous tree), III 1 
(the temple of Hercules) and IV 6 (the statuette of Hercules Epitrapezios). 
Aetiology also accompanies the epithal_amion for Stella and Violentilla (I 2 
46ff), the soteria for Rutilius Gallus (I 4 67ff), and the propemptica for 
Maecius Celer (III 2 61ff) and Earinus' locks (III 4 21ff).151 At the heart of 
the Nemean episode (and therefore of the poem) are two significant 
ecphrases, one of a tapestry, one of a temple; Hypsipyle's Lemnian 
narration is itself a form of narrative ecphrasis. 
The prominence of aetiology proclaims Statius' adherence to the 
aims of Callimachus in his Aetia and Hymns.152 I show above that the 
Nemean digression also advertises a Callimachean poetics; Statius' 
invocation of Apollo at Thebaid IV 649-51 draws attention to the 
aetiological aspect of his request for aid: quis iras / flexerit, unde morae, 
medius quis euntibus error, / Phoebe, doce: nos rara manent exordia 
famae. The preparations for the rituals of book VI occasion more editorial 
aetiology in the more unusual context of lamentation: the Nemean games 
complete the tally of the four great Panhellenic games, all of which 
commemorate death, Graium ex more decus ... et nunc ... VI 5-18. Thebaid 
IV-VI delays the narrative of the heroic expedition against Thebes to 
present the aetiology of the N emean games as commemoration of the 
lacrimabile nomen of a child. The army inte_rpret the child's name 
symbolically as the Beginner of their Doom in the battle to come; 
l49 Descriptions of artefacts and settings are important ingredients in Hellenistic poetry 
from the epigram to the epyllion; it was also a topic in the syllabus of the rhetorical 
schools. Friedlander (1912) disagrees with Vollmer (1898) that Statius' skill in ecphrastic 
description was d·eveloped in the schools; it seems unnecessary to deny the influence of a 
rhetorical education. Hardie (1983) p119ff provides fuller study. 
lSOsee Konstan (1993)and Laird (1993) on this poem. 
lSlon Statius' fondness for aetiology see Newmyer (1979) p59f on the epyllion and passim. 
152See Williams F (1978) on Hymn to Apollo 55ff; and chapter two. 
'Archemorus' sums up the significance of the Nemean episode, 
encompassing both aetiology and delay, apxTJ (beginning)/ mora (delay).153 
Such interest in origins and beginnings in the The baid is not 
confined to the Nemean episode: the Thebaid is in effect aetiological epic. 
In his invocation of the Muses in book I, Statius asks not where his 
Theban tale of fraternas acies will end, as this much is perhaps obvious, 
but the more difficult question unde iubetis ire, deae? I 3f. The proem 
scans the longa retro series (I 7) of Theban myth in search of a point de 
depart: he could sing the gentis ... primordia dirae (4), Europa, Cadmus, the 
Spartoi, Amphion and Zethus, Semele, Bacchus and Pentheus, Ino and 
Palaemon. These are ostensibly rejected: atque adeo nunc gemitus et 
prospera Cadmi I praeteriisse sinam: limes mihi carminis esto I 
Oedipodae confusa domus ... 15-7.154 However, the cyclical history of 
Thebes confounds the quest for primordia, beginning and ending as it does 
in fratricide. 155 Nor can the Theban past be escaped so easily as 15f 
suggests: constantly the epic traces present disaster back into the city's 
history. As Oedipus (the first voice to be heard in the epic) also discovered, 
the search for 'origins brings pain. Basic to the Thebaid's story is the 
sufferings of its mothers and children: the following chapters show that 
the digressive story of Archemorus the primordia belli (VI 171) 
temporarily privileges the lamentabile carmen of these sufferings over 
heroic virtus. The following chapter shows how virtus is displaced, and 
gloria reconfigured. 
153observe the bilingual word-play, of which Feeney (1991) p339 notes one element. 
Chapter five relates the significance of the child's name to Pindar's first Nemean. a 
celebration of glorious beginnings. 
154See Kytzler (1960) on praeteritio in the proem. 
lSSsee Ahl (1986) p2902ff; Henderson (1991) esp p34f. 
29 
'Archemorus' sums up the significance of the Nemean episode, 
encompassing both aetiology and delay, <ipx11 (beginning)/mora (delay).153 
Such interest in origins and beginnings in the Thebaid is not 
confined to the Nemean episode: the Thebaid is in effect aetiological epic. 
In his invocation of the Muses in book I, Statius asks not where his 
Theban tale of fraternas acies will end, as this much is perhaps obvious, 
but the more difficult question unde iubetis ire, deae? I 3f. The proem 
scans the longa retro series (I 7) of Theban myth in search of a point de 
depart: he could sing the gentis .. . primordia dirae (4), Europa, Cadmus, the 
Spartoi, Amphion and Zethus, Semele, Bacchus and Pentheus, Ino and 
Palaemon. These are ostensibly rejected: atque adeo nunc gemitus et 
prospera Cadmi / praeteriisse sinam: limes mihi carminis esto I 
Oedipodae confusa domus ... 15-7)54 However, the cyclical history of 
Thebes confounds the quest for primordia, beginning and ending as it does 
in fratricide.155 Nor can the Theban past be escaped so easily as 15f 
suggests: constantly the epic traces present disaster back into the city's 
history. As Oedipus (the first voice to be heard in the epic) also discovered, 
the search for 'origins brings pain. Basic to the Thebaid's story is the 
sufferings of its mothers and children: the following chapters show that 
the digressive story of Archemorus the primordia belli (VI 171) 
temporarily privileges the lamentabile carmen of these sufferings over 
heroic virtus. The following chapter shows how virtus is displaced, and 
gloria reconfigured. 
1530bserve the oilingual word-play, of which Feeney (1991) p339 notes one element. 
Chapter five relciles the significance of the child's name to Pindar' s first N emean, a 
celebration of glorious beginnings. 
154See Kytzler (1960) on praeteritio in the proem. 
155See Ahl (1986) p2902ff; Henderson (1991) esp p34f. 
CHAPTER 1WO: 
CONSCIA LAUDIS HERCULEAE DUMETA 
Thebaid IV-VI and Aetia III 
30 
2.1 aurea nunc, olim silvestribus horrida dumis: Rome, Thebes and Nernea 
Aeneas' journey upriver to Pallanteum, the site of the future 
cosmopolis, takes him through the virgin Latin forest. These 
anthropomorphised forests wonder at the pinewood ship that enters this 
previously inviolate space, Aeneid VIII 91-3: 
labitur uncta vadis abies; rnirantur et undae, 
rniratur nemus insuetum fulgentia longe 
scuta virum fluvio pictasque innare carinas. 
The strangeness of Aeneas' ship well illustrates the disjunction between 
the heroic and Arcadian worlds that meet in Aeneid VIII, Virgil's book of 
foundations; successful epic enterprise entails suffering for the inhabitants 
of Latium.1 
Chapter one noted that the Nemean forest has an affinity with 
Virgil's Arcadia; like Ovid in the Metamorphoses, Statius re-creates a 
Virgilian landscape as the backdrop for a story of suffering through 
violence. This chapter discusses how Statius builds on Nemea's 
association with the silvan, even pastoral landscape of Aeneid VIII 
through the symbolic figure of Hercules, and how, via Ovid's 
Metamorphoses, the woods become a sphere in which conventional 
heroism faces challenge from an unexpected source. I show that the so-
called Victoria Berenices which opens Callimachus' third book of Aetia, 
underpins Thebaid IV-VI, as indeed it does Aeneid VIII and, arguably, 
Metamorphoses III-IV.2 
Aeneid VIII provides the paradigm of a successful act of foundation 
in the forest.3 Aeneas hears from Evander how the migrant hero Hercules 
1Boyle (1986) p167 and n78 discusses Aeneas' violence against the silvan landscape; see also Thomas (1988a). . 
2r am grateful to Dr Neil Hopkinson for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of this 
chap ter. 
· 3Livy AUC I and Aeneid VIII describe the world capital's silvan origins. At Aeneid VIII 314ff, Evander tells Aeneas that the indigenous Latins were born from the trees. The very 
name Latium conceals the meaning latebra: the woods which offered sanctuary to Saturn 
and to Evander an~ his Arcadian exiles now offer a refuge to Aeneas. The names of Aeneas' descendants perp~tuate their silvan origins: Anchises prophesies that Lavinia's son will be 
called Silvius, because he will be born in the forests of Alba Longa, VI 763ff. One future 
ruler will be called Silvius Aeneas; AUC I 3 7 tells us that all the early Roman kings bore 
31 
encounters and removes the monster Cacus. As a result, the Aventine, a 
wilderness of thickets and place of violent death, is transformed by the 
foundation of the Forum Boarium, the sacred place of gathering and 
sacrifice. The deed is celebrated by the institution of the Ara Maxima and 
the feast of Hercules, in which Aeneas and Evander participate as proto-
Romans. Virgil binds past to present with a vision of the contemporary 
city: hinc ad Tarpeiam sedem et Capitolia ducit I aurea nunc, olim 
silvestribus horrida dumis, VIII 347f. 
Virgil's aetiology of the world's capital is reworked in 
Metamorphoses III, where Ovid narrates the story of Cadmus and the 
serpent, "a ktisis that goes wrong".4 Greek names obtrude into Virgil's 
narrative of Rome; in turn, much that is essentially Roman can be 
observed in Ovid's (and Statius') treatment of Greek Thebes.5 Cadmus 
attempts the supreme act of civilisation, the foundation of a city. In 
Aeneid VIII culture triumphs over nature; in Ovid's "anti-Aeneid" 
entropic natural forces, symbolised first by the serpent in the woods, 
continually threaten and eventually overcome the powers of civilisation, 
until Thebes becomes "a by-word for the great city annihilated".6 Cadmus' 
career from exile to ktistic ruler back to bestial exile parallels that of 
Oedipus/ Ovid's imposition of a tragic Oedipal pattern on his Cadmean 
narrative forges a link between the two Theban heroes. This resonates 
gloomily through the Nemean woods, which, as chapter one showed, 
carry Theban associations.8 
Thefigure of Hercules KTLO"TTJS directly links Aeneid VIII and Thebaid 
IV-VI.9 Nemea's woods are also the locus of foundational acts. 
Appropriately enough in this epic of Oedipal twins, the Nemean games 
the name Silvius. Romulus later founded an asylum in the clearings around Alba for the indigenous, anonymous forest-dwellers who came to be Rome's first citizens. 4Hardie (1990a) p224: this episode is, he claims, the first "anti-Aeneid". Rome and Thebes are linked in many ways: Mars and Venus are the divine parents of both; both are founded in fratricide; the Arcadian myth of birth from the trees has its Theban counterpart in the story of Spartoid autochthony. 5Serres (1991) p9f. Thomas (1982) p97 and n17 notes that Hercules plays an important role in the migration of Greek culture into Italy. 
6Hardie (1990a) p225 
7Hardie (1990a) p224 
8The numerous verbal and thematic associations between Metamorphoses III-IV and Thebaid IV-V are qiscussed further in chapter five. 9Siblings are omnipresent in the episode, as in the epic: chapter one noted the fraternal co-
operation of Bacchus and Apollo; now Hercules makes three. Throughout the episode, Statius plays on the absence of the obvious heroic model (Hercules) and the unrecognised presence of Bacchus. 
32 
possess not one but two aetiologies.10 Both myths are ancient and of 
obscure origin; neither can be proved significantly older than the other; at 
some stage they become inter-dependent. One myth, Hercules' triumph 
over the Nemean lion, celebrates _ the huge and heroic; the other 
commemorates Opheltes/ Archemorus, the tiny infant victim of the 
serpent. 
Hercules' role in the Thebaid has received little attention; even less 
has been paid to the connection between the hero and N emea. This 
chapter will show that before the digression in book IV, Statius contrives 
to associate the Nemean woods with Hercules' heroic accomplishments, 
specifically the killing of the Nemean _Lion. He thus prepares the reader 
for an aetiological excursus apres Aeneid VIII on Hercules' foundation of 
the Nemean Games to be celebrated by the heroic Seven; chapter one 
discussed the epic's fascination for aetiology. However, the silvan setting 
of the digression and certain verbal clues point the reader to Aetia III, in 
which Herakles' Nemean achievement is comically undercut by the story 
of Molorchus and the mice. Also latent in the Victoria Berenices' 
narrative of Hercules' foundation of the games is the alternative aetiology 
of Opheltes/ Archemorus. Through advertisement of the Callimachean 
poetics of IV-VI, Statius emphasises the disjunction between the Seven's 
self-presentation as 'followers after Hercules' and their interpretation of 
events in Nemea in these terms, and the alternative perspective of those 
on the margins of heroic narrative. He invites a re-evaluation of the 
notion of heroism, as the giant Hercules is sidelined for stories of women 
and babies. 
2.2 Herculaeum paeana canunt: Hercules and the foundation of cities 
For Pindar; Herakles is the favourite paradigm of magnificence, the 
fipws Ocos (eg N emeans III 22).11 His progression from the mortal status 
which he holds in Homer to divinity is uniq1:1e: Herakles alone can 
traverse the boundaries between mortal and divine spheres to bring 
assistance to his proteges. His ambiguous status "on the margins between 
human and divine, [o·ccupying] the no-man's-land that is . also no-god's-
land,. .. [as] a marginal, transitional, or better, interstitial figure" has been 
10See RE 'Nemea·~""which also puzzles over the relation between the two myths; primary 
~ources for the aetiologies are considered below. 
11 Also Isthmians III/IV 71b ff, fr 169 lff; see Kirkwood (1982) p347f. 
' 1 
33 
amply discussed.12 His literary identity is also composite, as no single work 
of Greek literature gives him authoritative definition; moreover he is able 
to roam freely across the borders of literary genre.13 
Herakles' role develops through time, making the hero uniquely 
adaptable as a symbol, and therefore uniquely problematic. In earliest 
myth he is a slayer of dangerous beasts, especially the serpent and lion; his 
giant club and animal-skin clothing symbolise his own ferocity.14 
Gradually he is incorporated into the heroic epic tradition and 
accomplishes appropriately heroic tasks.15 The Hesiodic f3(11 'HpaKXda, 
supremely demonstrated by the encounter with the Nemean Lion, was 
proverbial.16 Herakles is also the loyal friend and omnipresent helper. In 
his role as d.>..ce(KaKos the god-man comes into his own in the Roman 
tradition, where he is reincarnated as Hercules Invictus, whose efforts on 
behalf of mankind won him his divine status.17 For the Stoics, Hercules 
comes to represent the perfect combination of strength and wisdom; by the 
time of Senecan drama, the god has left behind much of the violent 
barbarism of the archaic hero.18 
Herakles/Hercules is paradoxically both a barbarian (dTioXts) capable of 
extreme violence, and a founding father. The ambiguity of his character is 
suited to the ambiguity of the regions he inhabits: the wild, dangerous 
forest is also the essential locus of foundation. In Aeneid VIII, Evander 
narrates his version of Hercules' paradigmatic ktistic act, his victory over 
Cacus.19 In the narration of Evander the Good (proto-Roman) Man, 
Hercules the maximus ultor (VIII 201) justly removes the monstrum 
Cacus who occupies the cave on the Aventine, in punishment for theft of 
Hercules' rightful property. The wilderness is transformed into the forum, 
the place where the future citizens of Rome gather to celebrate; all trace of 
12Beye (1982) p53ff; Galinsky (1972); Silk (1985) p6; Burkert (1985) p208ff; Feeney (1986b); Hardie (1993a) p66f 
13Burkert (1985) p208 
14See Brommer (1986) for comparative study of literary and artistic representations of Herakles, esp. p7-11 on the Nemean Lion. · 15See the pseudo-Hesiodic Scutum: on the shield are representations of fighting boars and lions, and the battle of the Lapiths, Argonauts and Centaurs, 168ff. 
16Hesiod Theogony 332; also Scutum. 
17Galinsky (1972) p126; further discussion in chapter seven. 18Seneca de benef. I 13: Hercules is malorum hostis, bonorum vindex, terrarum marisque pacator. Contrast Galinsky (1972) p3f, lOff on the archaic Herakles. The figure of Hercules 
pacatus mitisque (Silvae III 1 39) expresses the ideals of Flavian ruler-cult, cf Silvae I 1 
and Scott (1936) sv 'Hercules'. 
19on this episode see Hardie (1986) pllOff. 
34 
Cacus and his violent death are blotted out by the sacrifice to Hercules at 
the Ara Maxima, the Greatest of Altars.20 
This triumphant version of events interprets the conflict as "a 
struggle between the representative of Olympian order ... and the wholly 
wicked Cacus; this simple dualism is reflected in the speaking names 
Evander and Cacus, with their punning Greek etymologies. "21 On this 
reading, Hercules' defeat of the monster becomes fratricidal murder, 
sanitised and sanctified by Evander's altar; the obvious and ominous 
Roman parallel is Romulus' killing of Remus, anticipated within the 
Aeneid itself by Aeneas' killing of his 'double' Turnus.22 Thus Hercules 
represents the actions of brute force legitimised in history by those who 
benefit from it.23 
The fratricidal beginnings of Thebes are a recurring theme in Statius' 
epic. Thebes and the Thebaid begin with Cadmus and the Spartoids, and 
end with the fraternas acies of Polynices and Eteocles. Ovid's 
Metamorphoses III presents the story of Thebes' disastrous foundation; the 
narrative has been shown to be composed with constant reference to 
Aeneid VIII's aetiology of Rome, as Ovid reworks Aeneas' journey to the 
site of Rome and Hercules' victory over Cacus.24 In exploring the dark 
underside of Rome's foundation myth, Ovid indissolubly binds the 
narratives of the origins of Rome and Thebes. 
Ovid's story of "a ktisis that goes wrong" is set against a · backdrop of 
uninhabited, untamed woods, silva vetus stabat nulla violata securi, 
Metamorphoses III 28; compare the Arcadian thickets of Aeneid VIII. I 
noted above that Cadmus' career from exile to ktistic hero and dynastic 
ruler back to bestial exile parallels Oedipus' story.25 Initially, Cadmus 
successfully follows after Hercules (so to speak) when he enters the 
Theban woods and kills the Martius anguis. Eventually however, the 
entropic natural forces which have continually threatened Cadmus' 
nascent civilisation overcome it, and Thebes becomes "a byword for the 
great city annihilated".26 
20see Girard (1977): from his readings of Greek tragedy, Girard argues broadly that 
"violence inevitably effaces the differences between antagonists" p47, and that sacrifice as 
"beneficial violence" conceals and controls violence, p37. For application of his models to Virgilian and early imperial epic, see Hardie (1993a&b). 
21 Hardie (1986) pl lOff; see also Feeney (1991) p158ff. 
22see Serres (1991):ch 1; also Hardie (1993a) p66ff and (1993b) esp p59. 
23Chapter seven e~plores the legitimation of violence by the Seven in Nemea. 24Hardie (1990a) k224ff 
25Hardie (1990a) j,224 
26Hardie (1990a) p227, 225 
35 
Af Pallanteum, Aeneas encounters Hercules at one remove, in 
Evander's aetiology of the Ara Maxima: through hearing the laudes 
Herculeas (287f) Aeneas learns of the glories ahead of him. The woods into 
which the Seven wander are conscia laudis Herculeae dumeta, Thebaid IV 
646f. They are famous precisely for Hercules' civilising transformation of 
the wilderness in killing the Lion; dumeta and dumos (IV 804) recall the 
dumis on the site of the future Capitol in Aeneid VIII 347f, linking the two 
Herculean triumphs. 
Statius appears then to be setting the scene for a similar ecphrastic 
aetiology appropriate to the location and to the situation of the Seven,27 
offering them an opportunity to emulate the hero en route for Thebes.28 
The reference to Hercules' glorious deed in Nemea appears to anticipate a 
story of heroic achievement which offers good auspices to the Seven, 
especially as up to the beginning of the digression, as we shall see, Statius 
contrives to associate Nemea exclusively with Hercules' triumph over the 
Lion and the resulting games, and to associate the Seven with the hero. 
2.3 Hercules in the Thebaid 
Critical studies of the Thebaid neglect Hercules, perhaps because he 
occupies an anomalous position in the epic.29 Firstly, he presents a 
considerable difficulty to those in the epic who seek to identify with him 
and claim his protection. Apparently deliberately, without attempting to 
resolve any resulting contradiction, Statius assigns the hero two cities of 
origin, Argos and Thebes, precisely the two poles of conflict in the epic. 
Juno, the tutelary goddess of Argos and enemy of Thebes, remembers with 
animosity the circumstances of Hercules' birth in Thebes as a reason for 
her hatred of that city, X 76ff. He is also claimed by Argos, I 384ff, and by 
neighbouring Tiryns, IV 146ff. 
Furthermore, the hero is simply absent from the mortal plane of 
action. Apart from his abortive intervention on behalf of Haemon (VIII 
457ff), he appears only twice, and that at one remove from the human 
scene. The catalogue of allies lists the forces from Tiryns near Argos, who 
have been stirred into military activity by the hero, suus excit in arma / 
27vessey (1973) plOlff following many others connects the aetiology of Linus and Coroebus in Thebaid I to Virgil's aetiology of Hercules and Cacus; none that I know connects Aeneid VIII with Thebaid IV 646££. 28Vessey (1973) p165: he does not expand on what it means to seek the laus Herculea. 29schetter (1960) omits consideration of Hercules in his discussion of the gods (p26ff) and heroism (p37ff); Bu.rck (1979) also neglects him in his bi-partite discussion of 'gods' and 
'men' p336f; see Feeney (1991) p358 for brief comment on Hercules' ambiguity. 
I 
I 
I 
I' 
36 
antiquam Tiryntha deus, IV 146f, whether this is to be interpreted as a 
literal call to arms or a reference to the inspirational power of his heroic 
achievements, which they celebrate in a paean. 30 A vision of the divinised 
hero follows, IV 157f: 
Herculeum paean.a canunt, vastataque monstris 
omnia; frondosa longum deus audit ab Oeta. 
The description fits with the idealised portrayal of the Stoic hero: "This 
reference to Hercules is emblematic: for a time we are given a vision of the 
glory that pertains to heroic strength dedicated to the cause of peace. "31 
The passage is also remarkable for the emphasis on the spatial distance of 
the apotheosised hero: Hercules the omnipresent helper is specifically 
located at the distant site of his apotheosis. Compare XI 45ff: trux maeret ab 
astris / Amphitryoniades Nemeaea in sanguine terga / et similes ramos 
similesque videre pharetras. 
Many of Hercules' twelve labours are given honourable mention in 
the epic.32 Often, as at I 384f hinc Herculaeo signata vapore / Lernaei 
stagna atra vadi Statius simply assumes the reader's familiarity with the 
common currency of heroic narrative and offers no explanation. Always 
the emphasis is on the god's superlative ability to overcome evil: 
vastataque monstris omnia (IV 157f) is Statius' reworking of the Greek 
title ci.X.ceLKciKos. As Polynices makes his journey from Thebes through the 
storm, he passes some of the wild regions associated with Hercules' labores (eg Nemea I 355, Lerna 360); on nearing the lights of Argos, he 
passes the reassuring landmarks which testify to the hero's power. 
The labor to which more references are made than any other in the 
Thebaid is the first and perhaps definitive exploit, the killing of the 
N emean Lion. 33 N emea and Cleonae are so frequently named as the 
location of the deed before the digression in book IV that by the time the 
Argives enter Nemea, the association between the woods, the Lion and 
30Noted by Smyth (1900) xxxviff in remarks on the paean, which is particularly connected with Apollo, cf auctor Paean, Thebaid I 636, in a passage discussed further in chapter six; Campbell (1983) p180-3 notes that Pindar composed paeans for his favourite hero, cf Olympians II lff. 31Vessey (1973) p199f: he cites Seneca de benef. I 13, and contrasts his virtus, a "purifying, constructive and moral force", with the "immoral lust for glory" of the Seven. 32See eg IV 297ff, qi:16, 825ff, VI 53lff, 893, VIII 95ff, IX 341, X 646ff, XI 45ff. 33Brommer (1986) .p7 notes that the killing of the Lion is "certainly the most frequently represented of all the deeds; it is indeed the most frequently represented theme in all of Greek art." 
111 
:I 
I 
I I 
37 
Herculei is firmly established.34 The story of the Lion seems perfect for the 
epic context: the heroic model offers an optimistic forecast for the coming 
war against Thebes and provides a heroic aetiology for the games which 
are an intrinsic epic motif.35 
No epic account of the story remains, but Hesiod and the lyric poets 
ensure the myth's survival. Theogony 327-32 refers to it first, and gives 
the lion's pedigree. In Boeotian Hesiod's version of its genealogy, the beast 
is the offspring of monstrous parents (Orthos and Chimaera or Echidna) 
and the sibling of the The ban Sphinx. 36 Hesiod also explains its presence 
on earth: Hera sent it to ravage the area around Nemea, a.XM. i 'is i&iµacmE' 
~(,is 'HpaKX,id,is 332. Bacchylides claims that this was Herakles' first 
exploit, o8L µi,Xo8atKTaV / 8pbJ;E'V a AE'UKWAE'VOS' / "Hpa 1TEpLKAE'L TWV a.E8AWV / 
,rpwTov 'HpaKXEt ~apu<f>Soyyov XlovTa Epinicians VIII 6f. The second 
antistrophe of Epinicians XII describes the feat in more detail and in this 
context mentions the Nemean games.37 The subject is particularly 
appropriate for celebrating the victory of Pytheas of Aegina in the 
pancration, as Herakles is described as wrestling the otherwise 
invulnerable beast, cf Thebaid I 485-7, IV 833-5. After Bacchylides allusions 
to the myth are frequent and consistent in detail.38 The killing of the Lion 
was also the most popular subject for visual representation in ancient 
art.39 
Several of the Seven are compared to or associated with Hercules 
throughout the epic. Polynices appears at Adrastus' court dressed in a 
lionskin illius in speciem, quern per Teumesia tempe I Amphitryoniades fractum iuvenalibus annis / ante Cleonaei vestitus proelia monstri (I 485-
7). Of all the Seven, however, Tydeus is most closely compared to the 
hero. He is Polynices' defender, his true brother, III 380 etc; exclusively 
among the Seven he is called invictus following his extraordinary aristeia (vis invicta viri III 62). He receives the Herculean epithet magnanimus on 
participating in the wrestling contest: in fact, he was the hero's pupil in 
34See I 485-7, IV 157-64, 646f, 833-5, VI 368f. 35Compare the epic singer Apollo's Olympian view of Nemea, haud procul Herculeam Nemeen clamore reductus / aspicit, atque illic ingens certaminis instar / quadriiugi, Thebaid VI 368-70. The significance of this perspective will soon become apparent. 36Note a further connection between the stories of Nemea and Thebes. · 37Herakles' foundation of the games is also related by Nemeans hypothesis 1, Probus on Georgics III 19, and~ Thebaid IV 160. Chapter five discusses Pindar's first Nemean, which gives another Hera_klean deed first place; it is argued there that the story of the Lion is latent in the myth qf Hera's snakes. 
38See RE under 'NJmea'. 39See Brommer (1986) p7ff, Vollkommer (1988) pl-5; Herakles is consistently represented as strangling the creature. 
38 
this sport, VI 830ff.40 Although others of the Seven aspire to 
immortality,41 Tydeus alone is offered the opportunity of truly following 
in Hercules' footsteps through apotheosis, but forfeits his patron Pallas' 
gift by his hideous anthropophagy (VIII 758ff). Brute strength, another 
defining characteristic of an earlier, more disturbing Hercules, is enjoyed 
by Hippomedon (described at IV 128ff immediately before the vision of the 
apotheosised hero) and Capaneus, who brings Melanippus' body to Tydeus 
qualis ab Arcadia rediit Tirynthius antro / captivumque suem 
clamantibus intulit Argis, VIII 749f. 
Hercules is the prime example of accomplishment through ceaseless 
endeavour;42 in the battle for Thebes, he mourns the Tirynthians' 
inability to repeat his achievements, XI 45ff. In the sense that they 
resemble him in bulk and power, the huge Argive heroes follow after 
Hercules, claiming his prerogatives, functions and powers for themselves. 
Two major epics portray a Herakles/Hercules who is distant or even 
absent from the epic action, but constantly sought by other lesser 
characters. In the Argonautica of Apollonius, Herakles disappears early 
from view and is finally physically far distant from his fellow 
Argonauts.43 In the Aeneid, the hero is "a figure to be spoken of, and 
followed after, but not encountered."44 In entering the Nemean woodland 
the Seven come as close to Hercules as they can, given the hero's 
estrangement from the epic's human sphere of action. It is precisely in 
these woodlands that the tables are (temporarily) turned. 
2.4 sacra Cleonaei vineta Molorchi 
When Nemea's troops are listed in the Catalogue of Argive forces, a 
further layer of mythic detail is added to the story of Hercules and the 
Lion, IV 157-64:45 
Herculeum paeana canunt, vastataque monstris 
omnia; frondosa longum deus audit ab Oeta. 
dat Nemea comites, et quas in proelia vires 
sacra Cleonaei cogunt vineta Molorchi. 
gloria nota casae, foribus simulata salignis 
40see Vessey (1970e) p435. 
· 41Noted by Hardie (1993a) p69, who describes post-Virgilian epic as 'Herculean'. 42Beye (1982) p54: Herakles constantly competes through labor: "more than simply getting a job done, Herakle~ is out to prove himself." Even the huge epic patronymic often used by Statius bespeaks th~. hero's sheer weight. 
43Beye (1982) p53ff; ·cf Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica. 44Feeney (1986) p51' 
45Cf I 487 Cleonaei monstri. 
hospitis arma dei, parvoque ostenditur arvo, 
robur ubi et laxos qua reclinaverit artus 
ilice, qua cubiti sedeant vestigia terra. 
39 
The allusive gloria nota casae again suggests the prelude to aetiology on 
the familiar theme of theoxenia. The name of Molorchus, however, is less 
well known. Its occurrence here provides a further connection between 
the Thebaid and the Silvae. Molorchus is mentioned twice there, at III 1 
29ff and IV 6 SOff; both references are to his humble entertainment of 
Hercules. 46 Apart from some other relatively late sources, there is only 
one significant Roman reference to his story.47 
I noted above the association in Bacchylides XII between Herakles' 
victory over the Nemean Lion and the victorious athlete. It is in the 
context of athletic victory that we find another reference to Molorchus, the 
first in Latin literature, in Georgics III 19f: 
cuncta mihi Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi 
cursibus et crudo decemet Graecia caestu. 
The presence of Molorchus in this passage was clearly sufficiently obscure 
for later readers to require a gloss. The scholiasts inform us that the lucos ... 
Molorchi refer periphrastically to the Nemean games, the most minor of 
the four great Panhellenic games.48 Servius glosses the lines:49 
'Lucosque Molorchi': id est silvam Nemeam, in qua celebratur agon in honorem Archemori. 
Molorchus autem pastor fuit, qui Herculem venientem ad occidendum Nemeaeum leonem 
suscepit hospitio. et aliter: Alpheus fluvius Elidis. eos autem ludos accipimus per 
Alpheum, qui Olympiad dicuntur; per lucos Molorchi eos, qui Nemea, ubi Molorchus rex 
Herculem ad Nemeum leonem tendentem recepit hospitio. 
He cites only one version of the games' foundation, in honorem 
Archemori, but makes the association between Molorchus and Hercules 
explicit. 
Probus first connects the name of Molorchus with the works of 
Callimachus: 
46See chapters five and seven. 
47Martial similarly mentions Molorchus on two occasions, IV 64 29f, IX 43 13f; see also 
Apollodorus Library II 5 1. Pseudo-Tibullus IV 1 12f in praise of Messalla also mentions 
Molorchus, contrasting the might of the guest with his host's humble circumstances. For full 
details see Parsons (1977a) p2, 43f. 
48Nemea's status derives from its relative newness as a historical festival: it was first 
held in the 51st or: 52nd Olympiad, and is almost always listed last of the four festivals in 
the ancient inscriptional sources. See RE under 'Nemea'. However, although the baby, its 
prestige was still -such as to attract top-class athletes: see Harris (1964) sv 'Nemea' and 
Miller (1990) intro. · 
49Cf Mythogr. Vat. I 52. 
'Lucos Molorchi' Nemeam <licit. Molorchus fuit Herculis hospes, apud quern is diversatus 
est, cum proficisceretur ad leonem Nemeum necandum. Qui cum immolaturus esset unicum arietem, quern habebat, ut Herculem liberalius acciperet, impetravit ab eo Hercules ut eum servaret, immolaturus vel victori tamquam Deo vel victo et *interfecto leone cum solutus esset* (cod. interfecto Manibus. Interfecto autem leone cum sopitus esset) vel odio lunonis, ne ei caelestes honores contingerent, vel fatigatus, experrectus mira damnum celeritate correxit, sumptaque apiacea corona, qua omantur qui Nemea vincunt < ... > supervenit itaque et Molorcho paranti sacrificium Manibus, ubi et aries immolatus est. Inde Nemea instituta sunt: postea Archemori Manibus sunt renovata a septem viris, qui Thebas petebant. Sed Molorchi mentio est apud Callimachum in Al Tlwv libris. 
It seems that Virgil is the first after Callimachus to take up the story of 
Molorchus. Probus' mention of Callimachus' Aetia is most helpful: since 
the recovery of the so-called Victoria Berenices fragments and subsequent 
realignment of portions of the Aetia, much more can be said about 
Molorchus, and much more understood about his significance in Thebaid 
Iv.so 
2.5 Phoebe, doce: nos rara manent exordia f amae 
So far then, Nemea has been associated with Hercules' achievement, 
the foundation of the Nemean games, and with Molorchus, who in 
Callimachus' Aetia provided humble hospitality for the hero en route to 
his combat with the Lion. Further traces of Callimachus may be perceived 
in Statius' appeal to Apollo for aid in the narration of the story to follow, 
quis iras / flexerit, unde morae, medius quis euntibus error, / Phoebe, 
doce: nos rara manent exordia famae, IV 649-51. 
The image of Phoebus as the supreme poetic authority and teacher is 
most fully expressed in Callimachus' Hymn and in the Aetia proem. The 
god is himself a plentiful theme for song, Euuµvos Hymn 31; his skill is 
unsurpassed, TEXVlJ 8' aµq>LX.aq>TJS' ou TLS' T6aov oaaov 'ATT6AAWv, 42, and he 
is the inventor of the paean. Moreover, Callimachus claims to know the 
god's mind on the nature of poetic excellence. As chapter one noted, 
Apollo hates a great flood, but loves the pure -stream, as at 105-9.51 
Callimachus' teacher is also Virgil's; chapter one showed that Eclogues VI 
is particularly pertinent to the Nemean episode.52 The shrinking of the 
SOGenerally on Ca}limachus and his impact see Bulloch (1982) p54lff, Clausen (1964), Wimmel (1960). Ori the impact of the Victoria Berenices see Thomas (1983b). 51 For a d iscussion "'of the poetics of this passage which is pertinent to the epic/ epyllion controversy see Williams F (1978) ad lac. 
S2on Apollo in Callimachus see Wimmel (1960) p59ff; see p132ff for Eclogues VI. 
41 
epic rivers into one tiny, secret spring is as much the work of a 
Callimachean Apollo as of Bacchus. 
There is further significance for Thebaid IV in another role assigned 
to Apollo in Callimachus' Hymn. Phoebus is also the founder of cities, 55-
7: 
<l>ot~ 8' EO"TT6µEVOL tr6At.as 8LEµETp11aaVTO 
avepwnoL · <1>o1~as yap a.Et noMEaaL </>LA,,sc1 KTL(oµlvua', a-uTbs 8E 8EµElALa <l>o1~oS u<f>a.lvEL. 
There follows the aetiology of Phoebus' foundation of Delos and its 
horned altar, 58ff. Statius has already alluded in book IV to the story of 
Hercules' stay with Molorchus in Cleonae, associated with the foundation 
of the Nemean games. 
The figure employed by Callimachus to describe Apollo's ktistic 
activities at Hymn 57 also proves important for the Nemean episode. 
gloria nota casae (IV 161) prepares the reader for aetiological digression on 
a famous theoxenic theme, modelled on the Hercules narrative of Aeneid 
VIII. The anticipation of such a narrative colours interpretation of the 
lines which introduce the episode, IV 649ff, quis iras / fiexerit, unde 
morae, medius quis euntibus error, / Phoebe, doce: nos rara manent 
exordia famae. The last phrase is particularly problematic. It has 
commonly been taken to mean that the story to be told is obscure rather 
than glorious. Mozley53 translates "to us but scant beginnings of the tale 
remain", which is puzzling, as it suggests that the story is known even to 
the poet only from poor fragments. Melville54 offers a similar, perhaps 
more prosaic version, "to us are left / Only a few beginnings of the tale". 
This is ambiguous: is what remains a few words from its beginning, or a 
few versions of the beginning? LesueurSS renders the phrase rather freely 
"la renommee nous laisse rarement des temoignages anciens": in fact this 
idea is self-contradictory. None of the above translations accurately reflects 
the image employed by Statius at IV 651. It proves to be very familiar to a 
context of story-telling and specifically to Alexandrian poetics. 
The term exordium is perhaps best known in its derivative sense of 
'beginning, first part', especially in a rhetorical context, in which it comes 
to mean 'prologue•.56 Translators of the Thebaid have largely chosen this 
subordinate meaning; in doing so, they forfeit appreciation of an 
53Mozley (1928) f: 
54Melville (1992) ,.., 
55Lesueur (1990) 
56See OLD 'exordium' 4 and Cicero Inv. I 20, Quintilian Inst. IV 1 1. 
42 
important image. Primarily the word denotes "the warp set up before the 
web is started" (OLD); metaphorically, events 'woven' by fate, and also 
literary work.57 The verb exordior has the primary meaning "to lay the 
warp of, lay out the strands of", and then "to begin". Statius' use of the 
term demands closer study because{ especially from Hellenistic times 
onwards, weaving has been an important figure for poetic creativity.58 
Perhaps the metaphor originated in the mechanical similarity of the 
loom and the lyre; there seems also to have been a linguistic association in 
the Greek mind between uµvos and u<f>alvnv. Pindar uses an explicit image 
of poet-as-weaver in Nemeans IV 44: tfu<t>mvE, y:X.uKE'ia, Kal T68' auTlKa, 
4>6pµt y~; at 94 he compares the bard to an athlete who must wrestle with 
speech while he weaves his words, pT]µaTa TTAEKWV. The image appears 
again at Olympians VI 86f, av8pciow atxµaTa'icrt TTAEKwv / TTotMKov uµvov. 59 
The adjective AETTT6S" is used of garments from Homer onwards to 
convey the idea of finespun, delicate quality.60 The fragmentary remains of 
the Victoria Berenices seem to contain praise of the weaving skills of the 
women of Colchis and the Nile region: the words KatpwTovs61 TE ... 
Ko:X.xrncs ii Nd:X.w[t... AETTTaMous l~vaav... can be distinguished. The 
suggestion has been made that this refers to a tapestry or peplos 
commemorating Berenice's chariot victory: this seems possible given that 
Callimachus shared the Hellenistic fascination for elaborately woven 
objects.62 The reference to skilful work in the Victoria Berenices may 
suggest that the whole epyllion took the form of an artistic ecphrasis of a 
garment woven in celebration of Berenice's victory.63 
Clearly there is metaphorical potential for the poet in this image of a 
painstakingly creative labour of love, and Callimachus also chooses to 
describe his work in terms borrowed from weaving. The words which 
express praise of the women's weaving in Aetia III are applied by the poet 
57QLD cites Quintilian Inst. V 10 71 (which unites the literal and metaphorical usages) 
and Thebaid I 503, III 636, Silvae IV 4 87, V 3 234. This last is a comment by Statius on his 
father's influence over his own oeuvre: te nostro magistro / Thebais urgebat priscorum 
exordia vatum. , 
SBsee Lyne (1978) on Ciris 2lff. 
S9see Steiner (1986) p54ff; Stern (1970) p339 relates this to the system of imagery of Olympians VI. 
. 
60Cf eg Odyssey VII 96f, VIII 280 (of Hephaestus' net). . 61 A hapax legomenon meaning 'well-woven', suggests Thomas (1983b) p107. 
62Apparently the poet also wrote about the most famous peplos of the ancient world, that 
of Athena, exhibited at the Panathenaic festival. Fr 66 Pf (also from Aetia III) speaks of 
the prefatory rites lo be observed by the young women who weave the robe of Hera at the Argive Heraeum. See Lyne (1978) p108ff on Calvus' ecphrasis. 
63Thomas (1983b)'.'p107f. Chapter six discusses the impact of another intricately woven 
objet d'art, the Linus tapestry in Thebaid VI, which derives from Aetia I. 
to his own style.64 His Muse is to be kept AE1TTaAET}V (Aetia I 24); he is the 
weaver of delicate work, KaTa AE1TT6v (Aetia I 11).65 Phoebus 'weaves' the 
foundations of cities (Hymn 55ff), and Callimachus narrates the 
foundation of cities. Thus the poet plays on the similarity between loom 
and lyre.66 
I established above that exordium is first and foremost a weaving 
term. In this connection, the meaning of rara as it occurs at Thebaid IV 651 
deserves more attention than it has received from translators, who 
privilege the sense of scarcity and rarity. A primary meaning of rarus 
when applied to natural materials is "of loose structure, loose-knit, 
porous"; used of artefacts, "having an open texture, loosely-woven' (OLD). 
In Ovid Amores I 5 13 it describes Corinna's garment, nee multum rara 
nocebat. The suggestion there is that the threads of the tunic are so fine as 
to be diaphanous: rara here might convey the sense of AE1TT6s. Extended 
usages convey ideas of wide spacing, as in the retia rara of Aeneid IV 131; it 
also denotes the sparse, infrequent, rare or unusual. Translators of the 
Thebaid emphasise the last group of meanings, which is unhelpful for the 
reader's appreciation of the textile imagery of rara exordia, and neglects the 
Callimachean allusion. After examination of the nature of the Victoria 
Berenices, its importance for Thebaid IV-VI can be appreciated. 
2.6 The Victoria Berenices 
Parsons' publication of the texts of the Victoria Berenices fragments 
with commentary is basic to my discussion. It establishes that Callimachus 
begins the third of the four books of the Aetia with the epinician for 
Queen Berenice his patron. In this location, the Victoria Berenices 
balances the narration of the mythical victory of Euthycles at Olympia67 
and the Coma Berenices on the catasterism of the royal lock of hair, which 
concludes the final book.68 Parsons conjectures that the Victoria Berenices 
was an epinician ode of some two hundred lines of proem, mythological 
digression and epilogue. 69 
64Thomas (1983b) p 108 · 65Wimmel (1960) p68 notes the figure and cites frs 520, 532 Pf which. compare song to 
weaving. 
66Williams (1978) ad loc rejects the argument of Wimmel (1960) p67ff that vcpa(ve:L is used 
symbolically of literary composition in Hymn 57; granted, the figure is particularly 
af,propriate to the: creation of the Delian altar. 
6 Parsons (1977a) p49 
68For the most re'cent discussion on the position of the Victoria Bercnices in the wider 
context of the debate on the structure of the Aetia, see Hollis (1986) and Livrea (1989). 69Parsons (1977a) p42 
44 
Further work resulted in the incorporation into the fragments of 
another passage (fr 177 Pf, the so-called Muscipula) describing the 
annoyance of an unknown person at the invasion of his home by mice; a 
proper name gives the location of the incident as Cleonae. The integrated 
text reveals the unknown man to be Molorchus, Herakles' humble host.70 
Work on the newly realigned · texts tended to confirm this 
reconstruction.71 POxy 2463, apparently the remnants of a commentary on 
the Aetia, helps to reconstruct the missing portions of the conversation 
between Herakles and Molorchus (fr 256), confirming the place of this 
episode in the Victoria Berenices and finally establishing the latter's 
relationship to the Aetia. 72 
At first sight, the integration of the domestic comedy of Molorchus 
and the mice into the heroic narrative of Herakles and the Nemea Lion 
seems an absurdity. Probus makes no mention of the story, perhaps from 
embarrassment, perhaps (although improbably) from ignorance of it; had 
he done so, the Muscipula fragment might have been placed sooner. 
Everything about the poem is wrong: "The new Callimachus ... is an 
epinician ode, carefully composed in the wrong metre (elegiacs) and the 
wrong dialect (Ionic), with its heroic foundation myth - Herakles and the 
Nemean lion - deheroicised into rustic chic".73 Molorchus' mousetraps 
appear to be another such 'mistake'. Moreover, the aetiology is apparently 
Callimachus' own invention: the poet's creation of a 'new' version of a 
heroic tale suggests very deliberate and self-conscious composition in 
which the burlesque elements cannot be accidentaI.74 
By placing the Victoria Berenices at the beginning of book III as a 
'new start', Callimachus the encomiast relocates his source of inspiration: 
the Muses of the proem to book I give ground in the second half of the 
Aetia to Berenice. The opening lines echo Pindaric epinician, proclaiming 
the victrix' divine descent:75 
70see Livrea (1979). 
7lsee Livrea et al (1980). 
72uvrea (1989) 
73Parsons (1981) p7f 
74Parsons (1977a) p43f: "So far as our evidence goes, Callimachus invented (or discovered) 
Molorchus; his was the first and only full-scale treatment. In principle, then, all later 
mentions look back to Callimachus. The Roman poets and Nonnus ... expect us to recall [this] 
poem, when they parade Molorchus briefly as the exemplar of hospitable poetry." On the 
theme of humble hospitality, of course, Callimachus could look back to Eumaeus in Odyssey 
XIV. 
75on the Victoria j3erenices' relation to Pindaric epinician, see Parsor\5{1977b) p45, Corbato 
in Livrea et al (1980) p242f, Rosenmeyer (1982) p56f, Newman (1985). Parsons (1981) p7 
calls this poem 't:allimachus' "homage to Pindar" . For Pindaric identification of the 
44 
Furt her work resulted in the incorporation into the fragments of 
another passage (fr 177 Pf, the so-called Muscipula) describing the 
annoyance of an unknown person at the invasion of his home by mice; a 
proper name gives the location of the incident as Cleonae. The integrated 
text reveals the unknown man to be Molorchus, Herakles' humble host.70 
Work on the newly realigned texts tended to confirm this 
reconstruction.71 POxy 2463, apparently the remnants of a commentary on 
the Aetia, helps to reconstruct the missing portions of the conversation 
between Herakles and Molorchus (fr 256), confirming the place of this 
episode in the Victoria Berenices and finally establishing the latter's 
relationship to the Aetia.72 
At first sight, the integration of the domestic comedy of Molorchus 
and the mice into the heroic narrative of Herakles and the Nemea Lion 
seems an absurdity. Probus makes no mention of the story, perhaps from 
embarrassment, perhaps (although improbably) from ignorance of it; had 
he done so, the Muscipula fragment might have been placed sooner. 
Everything about the poem is wrong: "The new Callimachus ... is an 
epinician ode, carefully composed in the wrong metre (elegiacs) and the 
wrong dialect (Ionic), with its heroic foundation myth - Herakles and the 
Nemean lion - deheroicised into rustic chic".73 Molorchus' mousetraps 
appear to be another such 'mistake'. Moreover, the aetiology is apparently 
Callimachus' own invention: the poet's creation of a 'new' version of a 
heroic tale suggests very deliberate and self-conscious composition in 
which the burlesque elements cannot be accidentaI.74 
By placing the Victoria Berenices at the beginning of book III as a 
'new start', Callimachus the encomiast relocates his source of inspiration: 
the Muses of the proem to book I give ground in the second half of the 
Aetia to Berenice. The opening lines echo Pindaric epinician, proclaiming 
the victrix' divine descent:75 
70see Livrea (1979). 
71See Livrea et al (1980). 
72uvrea (1989) 
73Parsons (1981) p7f 
74Parsons (1977a) p43f: "So far as our evidence goes, Callimachus invented (or discovered) 
Molorchus; his was the first and only full-scale treatment. In principle, then, all later 
mentions look back to Callimachus. The Roman poets and Nonnus ... expect us to recall [this] 
poem, when they parade Molorchus briefly as the exemplar of hospitable poetry." On the 
theme of humble hospitality, of course, Callimachus could look back to Eumaeus in Odyssey XIV. 
7Son the Victoria ~erenices' relation to Pindaric epinician, see Par-jo~(1977b) p45, Corbato in Livrea et al (1980) p242f, Rosenmeyer (1982) p56f, Newman (1985). Parsons (1981) p7 
calls this poem Cq.llimachus' "homage to Pindar". For Pindaric identification of the 
45 
ZT]vt TE Kalt NEµE'T)L TL xaptowv l8vov oq>ElA.ul,] 
vuµ<f>a., Ka[aL )'VT}}rwv LEpov atµa 8EWV, 
However, the epinician that follows in shot through with ambiguity. It 
has been suggested that the poem's · apparent contradictions have their 
creative origins in the nature of the event which it celebrates.76 Queen 
Berenice is set apart by virtue of her status and her athletic triumphs, and 
also by her gender: a woman victor is an anomaly. Moreover, the Nemean 
games were the smallest and least prestigious of the circuit. If it is granted 
that a primary concern of the epinician poet is the praise of the victor, the 
difficulties for Callimachus of such an agenda might produce the manifold 
poetic contradictions of the Victoria Berenices.77 
A link between the Victoria Berenices and the Thebaid is supplied 
early. Instead of Herakles, the first name to be mentioned is Opheltes, 
ou[vEK'] 'O<pf>,Tou (fr 254 7), recalling the alternative foundation myth.78 
Tantalisingly, the portion of the text which makes the transition from one 
aetiology to another is lost; it appears that it occurred at this point.79 More 
will be said below concerning Opheltes' appearance; here it suffices to 
observe that the inter-relation of aetiologies is established from the start as 
an important element in the poem. 
If we cautiously reconstruct the missing portions from Probus, the 
narrative outlines Herakles' quasi-epic 'Setting Out" on his quest,80 and 
halt at Molorchus' farm near Cleonae. This is an area of overgrown, 
untamed woodland, 8pETicivou aTidu]Sla Tlpxv[E]q. (fr 257 25), cf lucosque 
Molorchi, Georgics III 19, gelidam Nemeen et conscia I laudis Herculeae 
dumeta, Thebaid IV 646f. Closer verbal parallel is provided at VI 90f, 
veteres incaedua ferro / silva comas; the felled trees become flammis 
alimenta supremis, cf (in an entirely different context) Tiupt 8[EiTivov (fr 257 
23).81 
successful athlete with victor and hero, see Crotty (1982) p59f, 74£ and eh 3; Steiner (1986) 
chlO. 
76This is the thesis of Rosenmeyer (1982). 
77Thus Bundy (1986) p3 and passim. The queen wins glory through her name Berenice, 'the 
Bringer-back of Victory'. 
· 
78Toe scholiast (fr 255 7) gives his alternative name Archemorus. See eg Pindar Nemeans 
VIII Slb, X 28, Bacchylides VIII lOff and Euripides' Hypsipyle fr 60 99ff. 
79Parsons (1977a) :p42: 
80Cf the 'SettingJ)ut of Amphiaraus' as a subject for cyclic epic: see Davies (1989) and 
Shapiro (1994) p90. 
Blsee Colace (1982) on Statius' reworking of these phrases, which is discussed further 
below and in chapter seven. We may also note that Ovid's third book of Metamorphoses, 
46 
M_olorchus and Herakles engage in conversation; to gratify 
Molorchus' curiosity, the hero relates the story of the Argive origin of his 
'father' Amphitryon and his migration to Boeotia, and the origin of his 
huge bow.82 In turn, Herakles presumably asks the reason behind the 
farm's neglected and decayed condition. This prompts another aetiology 
from Molorchus, the story of the Lion. The formalities of xenia follow, as 
the hero is served a meal prepared by an unknown female, who also 
apportions food for a mysterious child. 83 
At this point the mice make their entrance, at least audibly.84 The 
creatures interrupt the rites of hospitality but allow Molorchus to 
entertain his guest in mock-heroic style with the story of his encounter 
with the animal enemy and his plans for their downfall (the mousetrap); 
this seemingly forms yet another inset aetiological excursus. It is not clear 
how the next portion (fr 260f) links in with this; it seems that Molorchus 
and Herakles resume their conversation, as there is reference to Iphikles, 
Herakles' brother. 85 
It is here that the text breaks off into frustula minora (in Pfeiffer's 
phrase). Probus' testimony suggests that Herakles sets off to kill the Lion 
after arranging that Molorchus' (last?) ram should be kept for a celebratory 
feast on his victorious return, or offered to the hero's shade. Herakles 
accomplishes his task (with Athene's help), sleeps (in the grass?), wakes 
and returns to Molorchus' farm apparently wearing a parsley wreath. If 
indeed Callimachus "in his usual manner" expends far more time and 
effort in narrating the story of Molorchus, the missing portion of text is 
not considerable.86 
When the text resumes, Molorchus and Herakles are in conversation 
over a feast: Molorchus has duly slaughtered his ram. Herakles relates 
Athene's words to him and promises that future contestants in the 
which narrates the_ tragic beginnings of Thebes, is set in a silva vetus ... nulla violata securi, III 28. 
82Parsons (1977a) plS suggests the bow; Livrea (1989) p145 suggests Amphitryon. Callimachus perhaps includes here an appropriately scaled-down version of the supremely heroic Shield of Achilles or the pseudo-Hesiodic Shield of Herakles. 
83Scholars provide an aetiology of these figures: a wife or servant, a child who may or may 
not fall victim to the Lion. Rosenmeyer (1991) p408f suggests that the Victoria Berenices is 
a comedy of inadequate hospitality for the proverbially gluttonous Herakles. 
84For discussion of the placing of frs 256-9, see Livrea (1989) contra Hollis (1986). 85Could there be yet another story here, that of the babies Herakles and Iphikles and the 
two serpents? This Pindaric aetiology, which naturally glorifies the infant Herakles, is discussed more fully in chapter five. 
86rarsons (1977a(p42: "Molorchus was a picturesque novelty, the lion a banal though inevitable part of 'the plot: it would be characteristic of Callimachus to treat Molorchus at 
a rustic amble, and .then give the lion short shrift." 
47 
Nemean games will re-enact his struggle with the Lion and be crowned 
with the humble parsley.87 Content with the victory celebrations, Herakles 
returns to Argos after spending the night as Molorchus' guest. He sends 
his host a mule, presumably to replace one that had fallen victim to the 
Lion. Fragments suggest that an aetiological summary, to the effect that 
the (Nemean athletic) rituals have never ceased, forms a conclusion. 
2.7 Callirnachean poetics in the Victoria Berenices 
The poet's practice in the Victoria Berenices, this "most Callimachean 
of poems"88 is in keeping with his rejection of grand epic form as 
announced in the proem to Aetia I. Although the term 'Alexandrian' 
suggests Callimachus, Theocritus and so on, it seems that traditional-style 
epic on kings and heroes still made up the bulk of the poetry of the age.89 
The military and other achievements of Hellenistic rulers were frequently 
the subject of panegyric bio-epic (cf the #30.aLA[TJWV... 'fipw]as of Aetia I 4f) 
which fused history and mythology to identify the ruler with the divine 
and heroic figures of Hellenic myth. The antagonistic opening lines of the 
Aetia establish Callimachus' polar opposition to the poetry of kings and 
battles in such a way as to suggest even political opposition to the cult of 
the great.90 
The Telchines accuse Callimachus of failure to write lv anaµa 
BlTJVEKES' (Aetia I 3).91 This phrase may not be interpreted to mean that all 
Callimachus' works were short in length, despite his own claim ETTOS' 8' 
ETTL TVT6ov E[A(aaw / 1ra1s lh]E (I Sf). AETTTC>S embraces the idea of delicacy, 
terseness and variety in style. The Hecale epyllion has been judged to be 
"hardly shorter than 1000 lines, and perhaps appreciably longer";92 the 
Aetia ran to several thousand lines in all.93 The hexameter Hecale has 
been discussed in terms of Hellenistic epyllion;94 the Victoria Berenices 
presents a similar narrative structure, but is more resistant to generic 
classification, comprising as it does one short self-contained unit in 
87 Cf the identical promise of Bacchylides XII. 
88Parsons (1981) p7 
89See Ziegler (1966) p43-52; also Bing (1988) p50ff. 
90see Goldhill (1991) p321ff; Klein (1974) traces an analogy with the philosophical and 
political endeavours of the Cynics in establishing patterns for action contrary to those 
frevailing. 
lFor discussion of this phrase see Hunter (1993) appendix. 
92Hollis (1990) p2'4; see also Williams (1978) on Hymn to Apollo 105ff. 
93Parsons (1977ahp48f; see also Bornmann in Livrea et al (1980) p246ff. 
94o n this sub-genre in Greek and Latin literature, see Lyne (1978) p25, Hollis (1 990) p23-6 
·and Konstan (1993) on Catullus LXIV. 
48 
epiniciafi mode within a longer poem, written in elegiacs, the 'wrong' 
metre both for epinician and epic/ epyllion.95 
Nevertheless the Victoria Berenices displays many characteristics also 
shared by Hellenistic epyllion. In this genre, digression occurs frequently 
as a narrative device, often in a formal inset story.96 Such an ecphrasis, 
often on an unusual or unexpected element of the main myth, might then 
become the focus of attention as the principal, perhaps more familiar, tale 
receives only selective, elliptical treatment. The poet is therefore free to 
create a highly individual work, arising out of but in opposition to 
conventional heroic epos. I note above that Callimachus apparently goes 
to the length of inventing his digression, the highly novel, mock-heroic 
story of Molorchus and the mice.97 
Thus the epyllion may share the agenda of the aetiological poem, 
which pursued "the most oblique treatment of subject matter possible".98 
Aetiology marginalises the kings and battles of Hellenistic panegyric bio-
epic. The virtue of a subject-matter lies precisely in its obscurity, and the 
criteria of conventional heroic epic is rejected for the sophistication of 
(Hesiodic) didactic. Callimachean aetiology is not concerned with the 
familiar and near at hand, but with smaller, lesser known figures on the 
margins of the Hellenistic world, geographic or mythic. Just as the Hecale 
focuses on the old woman's cottage rather than on the famous bull, the 
Victoria Berenices compacts the encounter with the Nemean lion into a 
relatively small space and concentrates on events in Molorchus' tiny farm. 
Callimachus interrupts the traditional heroic aetiology with his own 
domestic "heroic mockery". The subject is not "How to kill Lions" but 
"How to catch Mice". 
Callimachus may in fact be using an even more intricate device. The 
Victoria Berenices begins and ends with references to the 'alternative' 
aetiology of the Nemean games, that is, the funeral rituals of 
Opheltes/ Archemorus. These have been taken to refer to the re-
9Ssee Hollis (1990) p23 n2: "Some scholars even apply t}:le term 'epyllion' to elegiac 
poems!" Corbato in Livrea et al (1980) p242 argues that the characteristically epinician gnome of Pindar and Bacchylides is sidelined along with the theme of arete in favour of 
aetiology and courtly encomium. See also Rosenmeyer (1991a) p403. 
96See Lyne (1978) p32ff. 
97Rosenmeyer (1982) and (1991a) draws attention to the mock-heroic in the Molorchus 
narrative: the onset of the mice and Molorchus' reaction, for example, are described in epic 
terminology. 
98:Klein (1974) p222. I do not attempt here to define the function(s) of aetiology; helpful for 
my purposes is tlte model offered by Bing (1988) p50ff, that aetiology represents the deracinated Alexaadrian Greek's attempt to reach back into the heroic Hellenic past. See Goldhill (1991) p32lff for discussion and bibliography. 
49 
foundation of the games in honour of the baby; on this reading, 
Callimachus privileges Herakles as founder after his victory over the 
Lion. 99 Little comment has been passed on the question of the inter-
relation of the two aetiologies, and the view outlined above may well be 
suspect. 
I noted above the similarity in pattern and motif between the closing 
portion of the Victoria Berenices and Bacchylides XII; this similarity would 
seem to anchor Herakles in the position of primary founder. However, 
Bacchylides gives no details in the extant text of Herakles actually 
founding the games. Indeed, Epinicians VIII claims that the Seven against 
Thebes held the earliest games in memory of [Opheltes]/ Archemorus, 
KEt[8L cpoLlVLKciam8ES' iiµteEOL / TTPWTLO"TOV 'Apydwv KpL TOL / a8A.T}O"QV ETT' 
'ApxEµ6p4>, TOV cav8o8Ep1<TJS' / TTEcpv' ciwTEUOVTa 8pciKWV UTTEPOTTAOS', / aaµa 
µtX.X.ovTOS' cp6vou, 10ff. 
Callimachus shows particular interest in the funerary character of the 
Panhellenic games, which he calls Tacp(wv uaVT}yvpLwv (fr 384 30 Pf);lOO 
indeed the games are consistently associated with their morbid 
aetiologies.101 The myth of Archemorus may play a more important role 
in the Victoria Berenices than has been recognised. The rare adjective 
uoMaKapSµos ('far-springing', 'far-bounding') is used of Nemea at fr 258 27 
[uoX.u]aKapSµos K(VTJO"LS' µ'QJ?a. In Homer it appears in the context of burial 
and gathering (Iliad II 814); the Callimachean scholiast (258) claims that 
Nemea received the epithet 8La. Tov ciywva. The phrase is puzzling: "If 
Kallimakhos refers here to the Nemean games ... it is a curious proleptic 
use of the adjective, since Nemea has no games until Herakles founds 
them at the end of the poem".102 The possibility remains that Callimachus 
delib~rately uses the Homeric word to suggest funerary commemoration 
and so the Archemorus aetiology.103 The mention of the month is also 
99Parsons (1977a) p42; this also appears to be Probus' understanding, but we may question the depth of his knowledge of Aetia III. 100Pfeiffer (1949) places this fragment immediately after 383 Pf, part of the Victoria Berenices: fr 384 30 belongs to another epinician for Sosibios. , 101See eg fr 91 Pf on Melicertes and the Isthmian games; also ~ Isthmians hypotheses 3, 4 
and Pausanias I 44 7f for Palaemon/Melicertes, who appears early in the Thebaid (I 130 in his mother's arms. Newlands (1991) p442 notes that the morbid association of Melicertes 
with child sacrifice seems to have been of particular interest to Hellenistic poets: Lycophron Alexandra 229 calls the child-hero ~pEq>OKTOvos. See Brelich (1958) p94ff for the cultic associations of "fanciulli uccisi" with athletics festivals. 102Rosenmeyer (1982) p24 103Dr Hopkinson feels that this must remain speculative. ~ Iliad II 814 glosses the term: no>..uoKcip8µoLO no>.uKLVTJTou, rnxElas, fad To noUa e-vEpyE'i:v aun'iv e-v TQ no>..EµQ. OKap8µos yap T) ~ v no8wv K( VT}OLS, MvpLva Bt ' Aµa(6vos lSvoµa. Watson (1991) p170 
notes Callimachus' "roundabout allusion" to the foundation legends of the Nemean and 
50 
puzzling unless Callimachus intends a reference to games already founded 
in honour of Archemorus. 
This puzzling line can be explained as part of Molorchus' account for 
the overgrown condition of the woodland around his farm. The games 
instituted in honour of Archemorus cannot be celebrated, nor can foliage 
be gathered to decorate the tomb, because the Lion is terrorising the area. 
Perhaps the Homeric adjective suggests the well-kept burial-mound of the 
Iliad in contrast with Archemorus' neglected tomb. Herakles' arrival and 
stay with Molorchus facilitate the restoration of the games: hence the 
reassurance of fr 265 21 vv]v 6' fff [a.}ydaTELTJ]V ou6aµa ,ravaoµlVTJv. 104 Very 
possibly the poem features the transformation of the landscape around 
Cleonae, as Herakles enables Molorchus to cut down the thickets to gather 
firewood, cultivate his land and celebrate the games once again. 
On this reconstruction, the comic tale of Herakles, Molorchus and the 
mice is framed by the altogether gloomier story of Archemorus, and 
Herakles is re-founder rather than first founder.ms The story of the great 
hero is subordinated first to the story of the tiny child, then to the story of 
the tiny mice. Molorchus personifies the complexity of Callimachus' 
interweaving of great and small which contributes much of the humour 
of the Victoria Berenices. At the sound of the mice's approach, his fear is 
described in epic terms as that of a deer hearing an approaching lion-cub, fr 
259 9ff b 8' eh' EKAUEV TJx[fiv, / ws cm6T' OKvh:)pi)s 'lax' e-,r' ovs e-Mcpou / 
aK]vµvos .. . ; he curses them as god-sent destroyers, like the Lion itself. He is 
temporarily as much a victim of the mice as he is of the Lion. As Herakles 
is (at length) to the Lion, so is Molorchus (at length) to the mice, as the 
human characters reduce the animal enemy back to size. Callimachus 
exploits the contrast between Molorchus' victory through trickery and 
Herakles' victory through brawn.106 
2.8 Molorchus in Roman poetry 
The Victoria Berenices, positioned strategically at the beginning of 
Aetia Ill, apparently heralds a new artistic start for Callimachus. It can be 
Isthmian games; fr 384 23-6 mentions the 'woman of Myrina', that is, Hypsipyle of Myrina 
on Lemnos, a city named after Thoas' wife. The coincidence of names is striking. 104See Bornmann (1980) p250f for this theory in Livrea (1980) et al. 105This might suggest a pun on Opheltes' name in the epinician's opening line, Zw( TE Kat NEµET)L TL xap(oufv lBvov 6cpdAW. Chapter five discusses a likely precedent for this type 
of wordplay in Pindar's first Nemean. 
106The verbal assimilation of Opheltes to the killer snake, the Nemean lion and Hercules is noted in chapter five. 
51 
argued that naming Molorchus is in itself enough to announce a poetic 
change of direction. The proem to Georgics III provides a Roman, 
Augustan parallel, 19f: 
cuncta mihi Alpheum linquens lucosque Molorchi 
cursibus et crudo decemet Graecia caestu. 
The opening lines of Georgics III constitute the poet's programmatic 
statement of his poetic affiliations.107 The poet rejects various hackneyed 
themes; however in contrast to the recusatio of Eclogues VI, these themes 
are Alexandrian and neoteric, and some are specifically Callimachean, III 
3-8: 
cetera, quae vacuas tenuissent carmine mentes, 
omnia iam vulgata: quis aut Eurysthea durum 
aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras? 
cui non dictus Hylas puer et Latonia Delos 
Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis ebumo, 
. ? acer eqms .... 
Thanks to the growth of a native Roman poetic of creative imitation, the 
once avant-garde has become a cliche.108 
Despite the valedictory, even dismissive omnia iam vulgata (4), 
Virgil invokes Apollo as memorande... pastor ab Amphryso, lf: cf 
Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo 47-9; at 36 he calls the god Cynthius, a 
distinctively Callimachean epithet. The opening lines of the poem become 
not a rejection of Callimachus tout court, but a rejection of derivative 
themes. Callimachean imagery, specifically the grove of Molorchus, 
conveys Virgil's desire to accomplish something new, 8f: 
... temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim 
tollere humo victorique virum volitare per ora 
He conflates two familiar Alexandrian images, the new, untrodden path 
and the rough, steep path that leads to victory.109 
Virgil has already inserted the idea of a~hletic triumph in the 
mention of umero ... Pelops insignis eburno, / acer equis 7f; these lines 
mark the transition to epinician.110 The poet's path is also a racecourse; 
107Toomas (1983b) p92ff; (1988b) ad lac. 108Thomas (1988b) ad lac discusses possible Roman versions of the myths mentioned. 109This image for originality is doubly derivative: cf Ennius Epigrams 18 V volito vivus per 
ora virum. See Wiriunel (1960) p103ff for more discussion. We may note that in Thebaid IV-VI, Statius leads th~ Seven off the notum iter ad Thebas into the trackless woods. l lOThomas (1988b) ad lac 
52 
Virgil develops the idea until at 17f the course envisaged is the triumphal 
route of the victorious athlete's homecoming, combining the imagery 
both of Greek athletics and Roman triumph. The figure of the chariot of 
song is familiar in Pindar.111 The link between Virgil and the classical 
epinician of Pindar is Callimachus. It is now established that Aetia III 
begins with the epinician for Berenice which narrates Molorchus' story. 
Virgil's distinctively Callimachean periphrasis for the Nemean games 
lucos .. Molorchi (19) brings the Victoria Berenices to the fore, associating 
the grove with poetic innovation.112 
Just as Berenice 'brings victory back' to Cyrene, the native city she 
shares with Callimachus, Virgil brings victory back home to his region of 
Italy. His victory in his native games (12ff) surpasses the glory of the 
Panhellenic festivals; whatever Virgil anticipates his new work will be, it 
will surpass even the novelty of Callimachus' epinician-cum-epyllion. 
"[A]ll Greece will come to the banks of the Mincius and compete for him 
in a new Italian setting, as he supervises the games as victor ... all of 
Greece, and all of Rome for that matter, has been conflated, corrected or 
renovated by [Virgil's] complex process of reference"113 in which lucosque 
Molorchi is a significant element. 
In fact three major Augustan poets open their third books with 
reference to Callimachus and to a woodland setting. Propertius' third book 
of elegies opens with a quasi-prayer for admission into the grove which is 
the special sphere of Alexandrian song, III 1 lf: 
Callimachi manes et Coi sacra Philitae, 
in vestrum, quaeso, me sinite ire nemus. 
The elegist's many allusive references to Georgics III have not gone 
unappreciated .114 Virgil rides alone in the victor's chariot of song; 
Propertius has company, 9ff: 
quo me Fama levat terra sublimis, et a me 
nata coronatis Musa triumphat equis, 
et mecum in curru parvi vectantur Amores, 
scriptorumque meas turba secuta rotas. 
11 lSee Olympians VI 22ff, IX 81ff; Pythians X 65; Nemeans I 7; Isthmians II lf, V 38, VIII 61 and Steiner (1986) eh 7. 
112For discussion of what the future work envisaged in Georgics III may be, contrast Thomas (1983b) plOl and 11$3 and (1988b) ad loc with Boyle (1986) p47. 113Toomas (1986) R198 
114See eg Wimmel (1960) p214ff and Thomas (1983b) pl02f. 
I I 
I 
I,: 
I I 
53 
The poem's opening couplet makes it plain that Propertius seeks to 
establish his fame not only through connection with Virgil's third 
Georgie, but also with Callimachus; after all, Propertius the elegist portrays 
himself as the Roman Callimachus. The epinician imagery, silvan setting 
and above all the position of this elegy suggest that the Victoria Berenices 
is an important model for Propertius too. 
Chapter one illustrated that woods are for Ovid the place of divine 
epiphany. They are also the sphere of song, more specifically the location 
for a debate about generic choice. Elegy and Tragedy, the numina who 
inhabit Ovid's wood, make rival bids for the poet's talents in Amores III 1 
lf:115 
stat vetus et multos incaedua silva per annos; 
credibile est illi numen inesse loco. 
In this connection, I noted above the difficulty of assigning a genre to 
Callimachus' poem. The Victoria Berenices may be read as a poetic 
manifesto which deliberately juxtaposes heroic and non-heroic criteria 
and refuses generic categorisation. The proem to Georgics III may be called 
an "anti-recusatio";116 Ovid rejects the call of the greater opus (tragedy) 
ending his poem by postponing his tragedic endeavours in favour of elegy 
(the metre of Callimachus), dum vacat (70). 
2.9 nectam fraude moras: the Victoria Berenices and Thebaid IV-VI 
"Statius is unusual, possibly even unique, in standing with the 
Augustans in his appreciation of Callimachus".117 Apollo's didactic 
presence has already been shown to link the two poets, suggesting that the 
Roman epic poet is, in books IV-VI at least, expressing his sympathies with 
Callimachean poetics. In so doing, of course, he is also associating himself 
with his Roman epic predecessor Virgil for whom Callimachus was so 
important; this represents a more unexpected example of the Thebaid 
following after the Aeneid. 
The mention of Molorchus' humble dwelling in connection with 
Hercules immediately recalls Aeneid VIII.118 Both Statius and Virgil 
115To Ovid's ancient, untamed forest cf Aetia III fr 257 25; above I compared Metamorphoses III 28. 
116Thomas (1988b) :ad loc. 
117Thomas (1983b) :p103 
118See Colace (1984): Metamorphoses VIII's theoxenic aetiology of Philemon and Baucis is 
also part of this tradition and at least heavily influenced by Aetia III. 
54 
emphasise the discrepancy between the enormity of the guest and the 
lowliness of the home. Compare Aeneid VIII 362-7: 
ut ventum ad sedes, 'haec' inquit 'limina victor 
Alcides subiit, haec illum regia cepit. 
aude, hospes, contemnere opes et te quoque dignum 
finge deo, rebusque veni non asper egenis.' 
dixit, et angusti subter fastigia tecti 
ingentem Aenean duxit... 
The significance of the Victoria Berenices for Statius is even more 
apparent than in the case of the Aeneid. Callimachus' poem shares with 
Thebaid IV-VI a complex aetiology of the Nemean games, including the 
story of Opheltes. On Bornmann's reading, Callimachus offers an 
integrated, coherent tale which orders the story of Herakles and 
Molorchus in relation to that of Opheltes, establishing a clear chronology 
of events, but deliberately fracturing his heroic narrative with the 
aetiology of the mousetraps. Statius declines to reconcile the rival 
aetiologies, but creates anticipation for a Herculean excursus only to 
frustrate it. The hero simply disappears to make way for the story (or 
rather, stories) of Opheltes and Hypsipyle. In this respect, however, 
Callimachus' influence is clear in the 'magnification' of the tiny and 
domestic at the expense of the huge and heroic. Multiplication of inset 
narratives is recognisable in both the Victoria Berenices and the Thebaid; 
Molorchus' woods enclose not one, but many stories. 
However, Molorchus does not feature again in the Thebaid narrative 
either. The answer to Statius' question unde morae could have been the 
aetiology of Hercules' encounter with the Nemean Lion, and his stay with 
Molorchus, told to the Seven by another party or by Molorchus himself, 
following the model of Aeneid VIII. But "Statius does not mention the 
story that Hercules had also instituted games at Nemea."119 I suggest that 
Statius' allusive technique in the Nemean episode makes more creative 
use of the Alexandrian text than duplication of the Callimachean storyline 
would have achieved; of key importance is the intervention of Bacchus. 
2.10 nectam fraude moras: story substitution in Nemea 
The Callimachean weaving image in nos rara manent exordia famae 
(IV 651) anticipates Bacchus' words at 677 nectam fraude moras, shortly 
before the gocf acts to transform the Nemean landscape. Chapter one 
~-,: 
119Vessey (1973) pl91 nl 
55 
established that Bacchus is associated with metamorphosis, mythic and 
poetic. Now Statius uses precisely the same imagery to describe Bacchus' 
actions: with Apollo, he weaves the narrative of IV-VI. As with nos rara 
manent exordia famae, the phrase nectam fraude moras requires closer 
examination. 
The primary sense of nectere is "to make by plaiting or interweaving, 
weave" (OLD).120 This literal sense of intertwining is present in books IV-
VI: Bacchus involves the troops in the ineluctabilis umbra of the woods 
(V 45).121 The verb occurs in a figurative sense in Statius' description of 
the Parcae's spinning, Silvae I 4 123, where it decribes their weaving of the 
fabric of time; chapter one noted that the Nemean episode represents a 
considerable temporal delay to the course of the expedition. The verb is 
also used of causal and serial connection;122 its occurrence at the beginning 
of the N emean digression offers a significant analogy for its integration 
into the framing epic. 
Further figurative usages are important for the Thebaid: OLD (9) 
gives "to contrive, prepare (trap, ambush, trick etc)" delays, disputes and so 
on. The phrase dolum/dolos nectere occurs twice in Livy;123 curiously one 
application of the idiom describes the unknown royal twins Romulus and 
Remus' cunning attack on Numitor.124 The phrase seems to translate the 
Greek idiom 86Aovs v<J>a(vnv, found in eg Iliad VI 187 (in the story of 
Proetus and Bellerophon).125 nectere itself is morally neutral, but when 
coupled with fraus, an unambivalently negative word, it conveys the 
deliberately deceptive nature of Bacchus' action.126 
120Used with eg retia, corona, catenae, eg Horace Odes I 29 5, I 38 2 
121 The verb and its compounds occur often in the Thebaid; apart from literal usages, it also 
expresses the grappling of warriors in close combat and the grisly intertwining of brothers in death: see I 511, II 99, 738, III 149, XI 528. 
1220LD cites Cicero Luc. 21; Lucretius DRN V 1202; Propertius 1II 5 12. 123AUC I 5 6, XXVII 28 4f. The phrase is found elsewhere only in Senecan tragedy and Silius' Punica. In Seneca's Phoenissae 119 it is applied to the riddling Sphinx; although the verbal parallel with Statius is slight, the association with Thebes in both instances is interesting. , 
· 124The parallel offers a picture of brothers working to a common end, although the story of Romulus and Remus ends in fratricide. These Roman brothers find negative counterparts in Polynices and Tydeµs, and positive ones in Apollo, Bacchus and indeed Hercules. 125See Ogilvie (19~5) ad loc. 
1260ne of the sin~ punished in Virgil's Tartarus is fraus innexa clienti, Aeneid VI 609: Austin (1955) notes that Virgil introduced innectere into poetry and cites Lucan BC N 448 fr.audes innectere and Manilius Astronomica II 487, 500, fraudem nectere. 
56 
The- combination nectam fraude moras is unique.127 However, Virgil 
provides a vital parallel, causasque innecte morandi, Aeneid IV 50; Dido is 
the principal force for delay in the Aeneid's book of errores. Chapter four 
discusses the points of contact between Hypsipyle and Dido; it may be 
noted here that Hypsipyle herself employs the appropriately female 
language of weaving to describe her own narrative, cf V 36. 
necte moras appears also at Thebaid III 495, in Amphiaraus' augural 
prayer to Jupiter for success or delay in the coming war, si prohibes, hie 
necte moras dextrisque profundum / alitibus praetexe diem: the prayer is 
answered, as it were, by Bacchus in IV.128 Adrastus acknowledges that as 
god of prophecy, Apollo is also capable of weaving tortuous replies, nexis 
ambagibus I 495. In IV, Bacchus weaves in the element of fraus. 
In connection with the aborted story of Molorchus, however, we 
recall the god's metamorphic power over narrative itself, discussed in 
chapter one.129 In Eclogue VI, Silenus' Dionysiac contribution in song is 
part of the "symbolism of integration" in a poem which displays a novel 
"tendency to combine features from more than one source into a single 
figure or unity." I note above that the Victoria Berenices cannot be 
conveniently assigned a generic category; the following chapters examine 
the Nemean episode's resistance to generic classification. Like the Silvae, 
it incorporates many voices. One powerful voice is discussed in chapter 
three. 
Callimachus diverts his epinician away from the classic, Pindaric 
myth of heroic achievement with a 'fraudulent' aetiology of Molorchus 
and his mice: fraudulent, that is, because he apparently invents it for the 
occasion. Bacchus is the agent of narratival fraud in the Thebaid, swapping 
the story of Hercules and the Lion for those of Opheltes and Hypsipyle. 
Fraud is intrinsic to the god's action in that he never manifests himself in 
his divinity; rat~er, as we shall see, he appears in the figures of Hypsipyle, 
Eurydice and Opheltes. The following chapters examine how the Seven 
fail to recognise Bacchus in Nemea, but persist instead in following after 
his brother Hercules in their interpretation of events, with important 
consequences for the world of Nemea and our reading of the epic. 
127 After Statius, the phrase nectere moram/s appears relatively often and passes into idiom. Tacitus adopts the phrase: see Histories III 52 4f, IV 68 16f, Annales XII 14 2ff. Servius makes frequent use of it in his commentary on Aeneid IV. 
128feeney (1991) p341 
l29Stewart (1964) pl80 discusses Silenus' role in Eclogue VI, which chapter one suggested is highly relevant to Thebaid IV-VI. 
111 
CHAPTER THREE: 
SIC EUHIUS IPSE PARARAT 
Thebaid IV-VI and Euripides' Hypsipyle 
3.1 ex longo recalet furor: Bacchus as prologue 
57 
Chapter one observed that above all others Bacchus is the god of 
epiphany.I His triumphant advent in Thebaid IV crowns the 
accumulation of Dionysiac imagery in the epic, a significant element in 
which is the figure of the maenad. The region around Cithaeron is 
associated from the first with Bacchanalia, Ogygiis ululata furoribus antra / deserit et pingues Baccheo sanguine colles, I 328f. First warning of the 
coming war is given by the correpta ... / silvestris regina chori (IV 378f) 
who in a hymn to the omnipotens Nysaee pater compares the anticipated 
conflict to a Bacchanalia, alium, tibi, Bacche, furorem / iuravi IV 396f. 
The god's epiphany is described at length in the preface to his speech, 
which lends itself to formal analysis as a dramatic prologue. Statius has his 
precedent for epic's inclusion of a quasi-tragic prologue to an episode of 
narratival mora: Virgil characterises the bay of Carthage as a tragic stage, 
tum silvis scaena coruscis / desuper ... Aeneid I 162ff. The silvan setting for 
the divine intervention in Thebaid IV also recalls Virgil's symbolic 
topography, which sets the scene for the 'digressive' and tragic story of 
Dido.2 As has often been observed, formal and verbal clues point to the 
influence of Attic drama over Aeneid 1-IV.3 Chapter one discusses the 
symbolic importance of the Theban landscape of Metamorphoses III-IV, 
another text underpinned by tragic models, especially Euripides' Bacchae.4 
Metamorphoses IV commences with an extended description of 
Bacchus' triumphal procession towards Thebes. Statius produces his own 
version of the god's arrival which strengthens the association with tragedy 
already established by Ovid. Bacchus is characterised first as marcidus (652); 
this has been glossed allegorically as "merely Drunkenness personified".s 
However, Statius' description of the procession. emphasises violence, 
lBurkert (1985) p162 
2See Conte (1986) p35 for allusion via poetic setting. 3This has been amply discussed. Compare eg Venus' coturnus (I 337); her partisan agenda for intervention (I 228ff); her scene-setting speech, (I 335ff: cf Hippolytus); it is possible to trace a formal five-act structure in Aeneid I-IV. See eg Quinn (1963) p29-58 and (1968) f323ff; Muecke (198~); Moles (1984). 
Hardie (1990a) p2i4 5Lewis (1936) p52; Vessey (1973) p168 awards the description "mannered" and cites as a parallel Ovid's Meta1norphoses IV 24ff, without commenting further on the significance of the model. 
I, I 
58 
-rather than the joys of inebriation. marcidus does not introduce a comic 
cliche of divine over-indulgence; rather, the god is weary after waging war 
on the Thracians (ironically, the belligerent people of Mars) to enforce his 
worship upon them.6 The god's most familiar companion is the drunken 
Silenus, but in the Thebaid Bacchus keeps more unusual and unattractive 
(more Theban) company, 661-3: nee comitatus iners: sunt illic Ira Furorque 
/ et Metus et Virtus et numquam sobrius Ardor / succiduique gradus et 
castra simillima regi.7 Ardor is drunk with battle; succiduus may also 
describe the staggering of a falling warrior. The Thebaid narrates the 
consequences of unrestrained anger of which Tydeus (immodicum irae, I 
41) is perhaps the chief example. 
The god is given his cult name Liber, 653, which often suggests his 
function as liberator from care; the martial context of the passage also 
suggests the dangerous, destructive freedom from restraint in battle. 8 
Moreover, 'Liber' has further connections with tragedy; the god was 
celebrated by his cult title of' EAcu9lpws the 'Deliverer' at the beginning of 
his festival, of which drama formed a major part. Dionysus' influence 
may be perceived to extend over tragic plot and structure even when he 
does not appear as a protagonist or ex machina.9 The story of the 
mysterious xenos who proves to be no stranger but native-born provides a 
Theban "master plot" which may implicitly or explicitly shape tragedies 
on Theban themes. ID 
The Bacchae dramatises precisely this story of the stranger-god's 
return. Bacchus' holy war against the Thracians recalls his quasi-military 
action in that play: the scenario at Thebaid IV 652ff may be compared with 
Bacchae 13-22, in which the god describes his triumphant progress towards 
Thebes.11 The god describes Pentheus' resistance as a pointless theomachy, 
6The thiasos-leader celebrates Bacchus' triumphs there: 'pampineumque iubes nemus inreptare Lycurgo ', IV 386, cf Metamorphoses IV 22. The last three elements in this phrase 
appear with great significance in the Nemean episode; at the very least, the appearance of 
another Lycurgus is striking. 7Dominik (1994a) takes up Vessey's observation in his study of the use and abuse of 
supernatural power in the epic. Gods in general, Bacchus in particular, are responsible for 
suffering in Nemea, "a further act of divine cruelty" p62. 8Cf Metamorphoses IV 1 lff: the god's many names, including Uber, bespeak his multiple 
identity. See Bomer (1976) ad lac; also Bruh! (1953) for Uber Pater. 
9see Zeitlin (1993) p177f for tragedy's 'hidden Dionysus'. 10See Zeitlin (1990) and now (1993): she notes parallels between the stories of Oedipus, 
Pentheus and Dionysus. From another perspective, Hardie (1990a) p224 has already drawn 
attention to the sirpilarities between these stories in his study of Metamorphoses III-IV. 11See Dodds (1960) ad lac. Vemant (1990) p390 notes Dionysus' relentless assertion of his 
parousia over the dty. In Statius' Flavian epic, Bacchus' authority is circumscribed by that 
of the supreme ruler; see Scott (1936) for Domitian's (self-)identification with Jupiter. 
I 
I 
59 
45, cf Thebaid IV 670ff. The Bacchae's opening soliloquy asserts the god's 
claim over Thebes and explains his design for revenge upon those who 
slight him. Uniquely in Euripidean drama, the god who speaks the 
prologue actually involves himself in the plot. The god therefore 
functions as a symbol of the tragic process and, on the level of plot, as 
protagonist, a created part of that process.12 Bacchus' prologue-like speech 
strongly suggests that generically, the narrative will be re-directed towards 
tragedy. The tragic model complicates a simplistic reading of the Thebaid's 
gods as allegories of their moral qualities: Bacchus' purposes, effected 
through a mortal woman, profoundly affect events. 
The tragic model reminds the reader that, as a child of Thebes the god 
is strongly partisan. His actions are motivated with reference to himself 
and his family: he interprets the expedition against the city as above all 
else a dishonour to his birthplace, 670-6: 
.. .'me globus iste meamque exscindere gentem 
apparat; ex Iongo recalet furor; hoe mihi saevum 
Argos et indomitae bellum ciet ira novercae. 
usque adeone parum cineri data mater iniquo 
natalesque rogi quaeque ipse micantia sensi 
fulgura? reliquias etiam fusaeque sepulcrum 
paelicis et residem ferro petit impia Theben.' 
There are close parallels with Bacchae 1-9: 
"HKW .6.tos TTULS TI)V8E Sr)~atwv x86va 
.6.t6vuaos, ov TLKTEL TTo8' ii Ka.8µou K6pi, 
hEµEAll AOXEU8c1a' aaTpaTT11<J)6pep TTupt · 
µop<J)riv 8' aµct!Jsas EK 8c0u ~poTi,atav 
TTa.pnµt .6.tpKT]s va.µaT'' I aµi,vou 8' OOwp. 
opw SE µi,Tpos µVllµa Tfis KEpauvtas 
T68° EY'YUS o'lKwv Kat 86µwv EpEt ma 
Tu<J)6µEva .6.tou TTupos ETL Cwaav <J)Mya, 
aea.vaTOV "Hpas µi,TEp' Els EµT}V u~pLV. 
Both prologues -present the dramatic motif of Dionysus' concern for his 
mother's honour, despite the antagonism of the 'bad mother' figure 
Hera.13 The theme of maternal sufferings proves to be a vital link between 
Theban tragedy and Statius' epic, especially the Ne:inean episode. 
In the Bacchae, the god announces his plan to enter Thebes 
unrecognised and in human form, until his deity and his relation to the 
Cadmeans are manifest.14 Statius' god also engages to act by stealth, fraude. 
12Segal (1982) eh 7~nd (1985a) p162. 
13zeitlin (1993) p176 and n55 notes the importance of this neglected tragic motif. 
14on Dionysus as tfi:e god of the mask, see Vernant (1990) p381ff. 
60 
The reader learns at the outset that Bacchus engineers Hypsipyle's 
discovery, sic Euhius ipse pararat, IV 747. However the same strategies 
leave others unable to recognise the god at work. Bacchus is further 
implicated in events in Nemea by his relationship to Hypsipyle, but the 
secret of her caelestis origo (IV 776) is not revealed until V 265ff, and then 
only partially. When, after Opheltes' death, Hypsipyle recovers her own 
twins, authorial comment gives the credit to Bacchus as gentis conditor, V 
710ff. Even then, the Argives fail to recognise the god, and remain 
unaware that he has contrived the retardation. Amphiaraus appeals rather 
to Phoebus to protract the war indefinitely, atque utinam pluris innectere 
pergas, I Phoebe, moras, V 743f. 
As a deity who visits earth in mortal form, Bacchus reverses the 
journey of his half-brother Hercules, who though a mortal attains 
godhead through his heroic achievements. ls Apart from a brief spell in 
disguise as a woman (the Omphale episode, cf X 646ff), the hero's actions 
are throroughly, extravagantly overt and unambiguously masculine, and 
his apotheosis spectacular.16 Hercules is the deity most obviously 
associated with Nemea; his achievement provides an appropriate 
paradigm for the Seven as they enter the conscia laudis Herculeae dumeta 
(IV 646f). Yet the previous chapter shows that he relocates from the earthly 
to the Olympian plane. Bacchus' descent to earth is "the founding myth of 
the theatre itself";17 he is omnipresent in Nemea, but personally hidden, 
as are his unwelcome companions. However, just as the tragic (and 
Ovidian) god, a markedly feminised figure with long hair and flowing 
robes, is invariably accompanied by his thiasos of women, Nemea also 
provides the god with a maenadic chorus.18 Bacchus' granddaughter 
appears to the Seven in substitution for the god. Eurydice too joins the 
god's company in her orgy of lamentation. Furthermore, the god appears 
where least expected, in baby Opheltes himself. 
Hypsipyle's manifestation is described as subitam (747), sudden and 
unexpected. Certainly the introduction of Hypsipyle and Opheltes 
complicates an already complicated storyline further. For readers alert to 
Bacchus' presence, however, this turn in events is less surprising. sic 
Euhius pararat provides the clue. As god of Attic drama, Dionysus is 
lSHence the pair: form another set of Theban brother-doubles; for a psycho-analytical 
study of the doubre in literature see Rogers (1970). 
16 Again see Beye . (1982) p53ff. 
17zeitlin (1990) p136 
18For the androgynous god, see Segal (1982) passim, Vemant (1990) p398ff. 
61 
indeed the agent responsible for introducing Hypsipyle to the Seven; in 
the Nemean woods, several previously separate stories become entangled. 
3.2 et vestras famulam transmittit in oras: Hypsipyle and Thebes19 
Like Apollo, Bacchus and Hercules, Hypsipyle is not limited to epic, 
or even to one myth cycle. She is best known from the Argo cycle.2° The 
Iliad refers briefly to the Argonauts' sojourn on Lemnos and the birth to 
Jason and Hypsipyle of Euneus, "he of the good ship", VII 468f, XXIII 747 
(in a context of athletics); however, it remains silent on the circumstances 
of his birth. The first mention of "the most famous myth of a female 
uprising"21 is in Pindar's longest inset mythic narrative, his treatment of 
the Argo story in Pythians IV 247ff: EV T0 '0KEavo0 TTEAO.'YEO'O'L µ( yEv TT6VTq> T0 
Epu8p4> / Aaµvtav T' E8vEL yvvmKwv av8pocp6vwv·.22 Choephoroi 631f, KaKwv 8E 
TTpEa~EUETm TO Ariµvtov / X.6yq:, testifies to the horror of this myth for a 
patriarchal society; in Thebaid V Hypsipyle narrates the destruction that 
results "as gender-assignments go topsy-turvy".23 
Early versions of the massacre do not mention Hypsipyle's 
disobedience to the women's criminal code. Moreover, Herodotus claims 
that all the Lemnian men, presumably including king Thoas, were killed 
in the "Lemnian evil", VI 138.24 Olympians IV 27 names Hypsipyle among 
the Lemnian women in the context of the Argo story (indeed, in the 
context of athletics) without further allusion to its events, although the 
mention of her name in isolation suggests her prominence. Statius also 
reveals to the reader his character's mythical past, reddit demisso Lemnia 
vultu, IV 775, but Hypsipyle's name is concealed from the Argives until 
she has provided water for the troops. 
Lemnos provided ample material for Attic dramatists. h Argonautica 
I 769ff tells us that Aeschylus' Hypsipyle dramatised the arrival of the 
Argonauts and . their encounters with the Lemnian women.25 Clearly 
Hypsipyle is central to the action, whether for her relations with Jason or 
191 am grateful to Dr James Diggle for his expert comments· on my interpretation of the 
Hypsipyle. 
20see RE under 'Hypsipyle' and 'Thoas'. 
21Burkert (1983) p190ff discusses the myth in full. 
. 
22Segal (1986b) provides full analysis of Pythians IV. Parsons (1977a) p45 notes the 
similarity of its contruction to that of the Victoria Berenices: Pindar's significance for the Thebaid is considered in this connection in chapter five. 
23Henderson (1991):p56 
24Apollodorus I 9 17, III 6 4 and the Nemeans hypotheses exonerate Hypsipyle; I return to 
this question in chapter four. 
25Radt TrGF III p352 
61 
indeed the agent responsible for introducing Hypsipyle to the Seven; in 
the Nemean woods, several previously separate stories become entangled. 
3.2 et vestras famulam transmittit in oras: Hypsipyle and Thebes19 
Like Apollo, Bacchus and Hercul~s, Hypsipyle is not limited to epic, 
or even to one myth cycle. She is best known from the Argo cycle.20 The 
Iliad refers briefly to the Argonauts' sojourn on Lemnos and the birth to 
Jason and Hypsipyle of Euneus, "he of the good ship", VII 468f, XXIII 747 
(in a context of athletics); however, it remains silent on the circumstances 
of his birth. The first mention of "the most famous myth of a female 
uprising"21 is in Pindar's longest inset mythic narrative, his treatment of 
the Argo story in Pythians IV 247ff: EV T0 '0Kcavou rrc>..ciyECJCJL µ( ycv rr6VTq> T0 
e-pu8pQ / AaµvLuv T' E8vn yvvmKwv a.v8pcxf>6vwv·.22 Choephoroi 631£, KaKwv 8e: 
rrpEa~EUETm To A11µvLOv / >..6yq> testifies to the horror of this myth for a 
patriarchal society; in Thebaid V Hypsipyle narrates the destruction that 
results "as gender-assignments go topsy-turvy".23 
Early versions of the massacre do not mention Hypsipyle's 
disobedience to the women's criminal code. Moreover, Herodotus claims 
that all the Lemnian men, presumably including king Thoas, were killed 
in the "Lemnian evil", VI 138.24 Olympians IV 27 names Hypsipyle among 
the Lemnian women in the context of the Argo story (indeed, in the 
context of athletics) without further allusion to its events, although the 
mention of her name in isolation suggests her prominence. Statius also 
reveals to the reader his character's mythical past, reddit demisso Lemnia 
vultu, IV 775, but Hypsipyle's name is concealed from the Argives until 
she has provided water for the troops. 
Lemnos provided ample material for Attic dramatists. h Argonautica 
I 769ff tells us that Aeschylus' Hypsipyle dramatised the arrival of the 
Argonauts and_ their encounters with the Lemnian women.25 Clearly 
Hypsipyle is central to the action,. whether for her relations with Jason or 
191 am grateful to Dr James Diggle for his expert comments on my interpretation of the 
Hypsipyle. 
20see RE under 'Hypsipyle' and 'Thoas'. . 
21 Burkert (1983) p l 90ff discusses the myth in full. 
22Segal (1986b) provides full analysis of Pythians IV. Parsons (1977a) p45 notes the 
similarity of its contruction to that of the Victoria Berenices; Pindar's significance for the 
Thebaid is considered in this connection in chapter five. 
23Henderson (1991) p56 
24Apollodorus I 9;17, III 6 4 and the Nemeans hypotheses exonerate Hypsipyle; I return to 
this question in chapter four. 
25Radt TrGF III p352 
I 
62 
her salvation of her father; the mise-en-scene presupposes the massacre of 
the menfolk. The same scholion attributes a similar subject to Sophocles' 
Lemnian Women.26 Hypsipyle's Lemnian narration in book V rehearses a 
theme as familar as the notum iter ad Thebas (I 101).27 
Too little evidence remains to establish whether Hypsipyle is already 
part of the Argive-Thebanstory in the cyclic epics. Thebais Fl names 
TTOAv8(1Jnov Argos, hinting at the early presence of the drought motif, in 
which a character might perform a task comparable to Hypsipyle's in 
Statius' Thebaid.28 The Iliad mentions that the expedition against Thebes 
began (or continued) despite trapa(aw OllµaTa from Zeus (IV 381). This may 
allude to the drought, but is more easily connected to the story of the 
ominous death of a child. Nemea is closely associated with Zeus, and 
Lycurgus in some versions of the story is Zeus' priest. By the time of 
Bacchylides, the baby is known as Archemorus, "Beginning of Doom". 
Possibly then the child's death also formed part of the cyclic epic story; as 
with the drought motif, nothing implicates Hypsipyle's involvement.29 
Aeschylus wrote a N emea of which nothing exists;30 N emeans 
hypothesis 3 informs us that, while received wisdom maintains that the 
Nemean games were dedicated to one Opheltes son of Euphetes and 
Creusa, in fact "according to Aeschylus" they were founded in honour of 
Archemorus, son of Nemea.31 The two names suggest two babies rather 
than one baby with alternative names. 'Nemea' has been interpreted as 
the name of the region and its eponymous nymph, who seems to have 
been important in representations of the story of Herakles and the 
Nemean Lion.32 Possibly the female voice which 'speaks' Bacchylides XII 
is the nymph herself.33 We may compare the nymph's high profile in 
Thebaid IV, manet ingens gloria nympham 728; silvarum, Nemea, longe 
regina virentum 832. Bacchylides VIII narrates the death of an 
Archemorus in whose honour the games are founded, but mentions no 
mother, let alone -a Hypsipyle figure. 
26Radt TrGF IV p336f 
27vessey (1986) p2988f 
. 
28See Legras (1905) p71, Vessey (1970c) p48 and n49. 
29See Aelion (1983) p187f; the fragments reveal nothing of any help. 30Radt TrGF III p261f 
31 Radt TrGF III p262. . 
32A gem from the late classical period (BM 524) portrays a female figure, presumably the 
nymph Nemea, handing a jar of water to the victorious Herakles: see Vollkommer (1988) fi:fc 9 (44). .. 
3 See Jebb (1905) ad lac. 
I 
I 1 
63 
Schotarly opinion differs as to the scope of the trilogy to which 
Aeschylus' N emea belonged. One view favours a Lemnian trilogy 
constituted of a Men of Lemnos, Hypsipyle and N emea: the first would 
narrate the massacre, the second the Argonauts' arrival, and the third 
might link an exiled Hypsipyle with the story of 'Opheltes' and the Seven 
in Nemea.34 However it would seem more probable that the third play of 
this putative Lemnian trilogy would reunite Hypsipyle with her twins, 
with or without involvement of a nursling and a serpent, perhaps at the 
Nemean games. Alternatively the Nemea may be part of a Theban trilogy 
with which Hypsipyle has nothing to do. The play may take its name from 
the resident nymph, the mother of the baby who dies from a snakebite. 
This death would be an ominous beginning to the expedition; a further 
link with the Theban story is the serpent from whose teeth the citizens of 
Thebes sprang.35 
In the second century AD Pausanias found a ruined temple of Zeus at 
Nemea, surrounded by a grove of cypress, the tree of mourning. He 
mentions a baby Opheltes, son of Lycurgus, killed by a snake when his 
nurse put him down in the grass. The Argives have the right to sacrifice to 
Zeus at Nemea, and to appoint the priest; the spring is named after 
Adrastus, perhaps because he discovered it. Pausanias also mentions one 
Nemea, daughter of Asopus, after whom the region is named. Hypsipyle's 
name does not appear; the account (II 15 2) appears to have a strongly 
Argive bias, despite the child's name.36 
Hypsipyle's presence in Aeschylus is not ruled out by the inferences 
we can make from the above sources, but bare knowledge that Aeschylus 
wrote a N emea is patently of little use in determining the point at which 
Hypsipyle first enters the story of the Seven. If anything, the evidence 
reinforces the unlikelihood of a plot which integrates the several strands 
mentioned above, Argo-Theban, Lemnian and Nemean. Such a 
combination mtist appear improbable, artificial and unpromising. 
The difficulty of combining all these elements is illustrated by 
mythographical and scholiastic references to the story of Hypsipyle in 
Nemea, which reflect different perspectives on events. Broadly these fall 
into three groups, the first interested in the baby's death as the aetiology 
for the foundation of the Nemean games by the Seven against Thebes; the 
34Aelion (1983) pl88 
35Mette (1963) p38fsuggests a second Aeschylean Theban trilogy. 
36chapter six discuises Pausanias' Argive epic bias. 
I 
I 
64 
second interested in the Nemean family drama; the third interested in 
Hypsipyle's reunion with her children.37 
Apollodorus III 6 4, ~ Clement of Alexandria's Protrepticus II 34, 
Hyginus 74 and N emeans hypotheses 3 and 4 narrate Hypsipyle's 
involvement in Opheltes' death as given in the Thebaid, but do not 
mention the recovery of her sons or of the reaction of Opheltes' parents 
and Hypsipyle's subsequent peril. Hyginus notes an obscure oracle "ne in 
terra puerum deponeret, antequam posset ambulare ... ": he explains 
"[Hypsipyle] timens puerum in terram deponere ... apium altissimum erat 
ad fontem, in quo puerum deposuit". Hence the parsley crown for the 
victors in the N emean games. These sources focus on the foundation of 
the Nemean games and give the baby his alternative name Archemorus; 
the Greek sources mention Amphiaraus' prophecies concerning the 
expedition. This suggests a primary interest in events from the perspective 
of the Seven against Thebes narrative.38 
Nemean Odes hypothesis 2 gives details of Hypsipyle's Lemnian 
history and relation to Lycurgus' household; after mentioning the child's 
death and the institution of funerary games, it introduces by name 
Hypsipyle's two sons by Jason, come to search for their mother, who has 
been imprisoned by Eurydice; Amphiaraus then reveals Hypsipyle's 
identity to her sons, who intervene to save her. These events are set in the 
context of the expedition of the Seven, but pay more attenHon to the 
family stories. 
Anth. Pal. III 10, Hyginus 273, and ~ Thebaid IV 740L (=747K)39 are 
chiefly interested in Hypsipyle's reunion with her sons, and their 
performance in the funeral games. The first source makes no mention of 
the Argive element but connects Thoas and Euneus to Bacchus. Hyginus 
includes details of the youths' athletic victories in the context of famous 
mythical games. The Vatican scholion merely refers to "Graeci"; a 
reference to the expedition against Thebes appears to be a textual 
reconstruction. 
Variations in the visual representations of the ,baby's death in Nemea 
tend to confirm the existence of at least two versions of the story, even 
after the close of the classical period;40 A fourth century crater shows three 
heroes (including Capaneus) attacking the snake while another man 
37Most sources are helpfully collected by Bond (1963) in appendix V. 
38See Aelion (1983)i'pl89. 
39=Mythogr. Vat. H,.141; cf also Lactantius Placidus ad lac. 
40see the Encyclopedia dell' arte antica and LIMC under 'Archemoros'. 
11 
I 
65 
(Amphiar.aus?) stands by with left hand raised; two female figures are also 
present, one of whom is the nymph Nemea; another scene portrays 
Archemorus' bier. A Hadrianic relief shows Hypsipyle and two armed 
youths (surely her sons) confronting a snake which is gripping a baby in its 
coils. 41 
Given these variations, it is probable that Euripides' treatment of the 
Nemean story in the Hypsipyle is original to Attic drama, that is, he is the 
first to weld together in dramatic form the stories of Hypsipyle, her 
nursling and the Argives in Nemea.42 For this reason, the play is of the 
greatest significance for Statius. The quasi-prologue of IV 652ff carries 
strong associations with Euripidean drama; it now appears that the basic 
story of Thebaid IV-VI must be traced to Euripides also. Moreover, an 
awareness of Euripides' importance for books IV-VI adds to appreciation 
of thematic patterns in the wider narrative. 
3.3 The Hypsipyle in relation to Euripides' The ban trilogy 
Before publication of the Hypsipyle fragments, scholarship had 
largely concerned itself with using the Thebaid to reassemble the lost 
tragedy, without considering the nature of the relationship between the 
two texts. Publication actually revealed notable differences in terms of plot 
detail between them.43 It is unwise to reconstruct gaps in the tragedy from 
Statius' plot; it is equally unsatisfactory to assert, on the basis of plot 
differences, that Statius neither knew or "used" the drama.44 This chapter 
and the next demonstrate Statius' close verbal allusion to the Hypsipyle. 
However, it can also be shown that the structure, motifs and focus of the 
41Apulian volute crater, Ruvo, in Neapolitan Museo Nazionale inv. 81394; Hadrianic 
relief from Palazzo Spada, Rome; five representations are collected by Cockle (1987) p166f 
and plates. 
42Aelion (1983) p191 after Webster (1967) p211. 
43 Arico (1961) discusses the history of attempts to reconstruct the Hypsipyle from the Thebaid and offers an essay "sulla tecnica epica di Stazio, sul suo comportamento nei 
riguardi delle fonti, sulle ragioni dei suoi mutamenti, sul suo modo di imitazione", p57. His 
conclusions anticipate those of the next decade or more: Statius' borrowings are active, not passive, in the tradition of variatio; the heroine's pathetic story appeals to baroque 
sensibilities. Arico looks to the iconographical rather than the literary tradition for the 
sources of Statius' plot. His most interesting point, that Statius marginalises the tragic friest Amphiaraus for the epic king AdrastU:s, is considered further below. 4See the post-Bond Vessey (1970c) p48-51 for a view more sceptical · than Arico's on Statius' use of drama: p48 "In the first instance, it is clear enough that the use which an 
epic writer could make of a tragedy is limited; whereas the action of the Hypsipyle had of 
necessity to take place outside the palace of Lycurgus, Statius was able to use a broader 
canvas and to plac~.the venue for his narrative wherever he pleased." Also Vessey (1973) p195 nl: "Even if th~ drama was used by Statius, it can add little to our understanding and 
appreciation of Thebaid IV-VI." 
I 
I I 
I I 
66 
Hypsipx;le and of the trilogy to which it belongs exert considerable 
influence not only over books IV-VI, but over the whole epic.45 
Opinion differs as to the internal order of the trilogy to which the 
Hypsipyle belongs. Discussion turns on the interpretation of a scholiastic 
note: L Frogs 53 complains about Dionysus' claim to have recently read 
Euripides' Andromeda. This play, the scholiast notes, was produced seven 
years before the Frogs (ie in 412 BC): why has Dionysus not named one of 
the newer successes, such as the Hypsipyle, Phoenician Women, 
Antiope?46 The grouping together of these three plays suggests that they 
were a formal trilogy; metrical patterns suggest a composition date 
between 412 and 407 BC.47 
It appears certain that events in Thebes are the main focus of the 
trilogy. Nemea is a stopping-off point, and the Hypsipyle's action 
anticipatory: it offers "an ill-omened preluue to the expedition".48 The 
Hypsipyle locates tiny Nemea at the centre of the world; in relation to the 
trilogy, it gives place to Thebes. As with the drama, so with the epic: 
context is all-important. The epic moves from Thebes to Argos and back to 
Thebes via Nemea: it seems that events there are doomed always to be 
subordinate to the main story of Thebes.49 
Difficulties arise immediately in the interpretation of the Hypsipyle, 
as the speaker of the prologue cannot be absolutely identified, but most 
indications favour Hypsipyle herself.SO The prologue (fr 752 N) describes 
Dionysus, whose influence over the play is pervasive; indeed,· it arguably 
shapes the whole trilogy.51 Although a third-person reference to the god 
rules out the possibility that he speaks the prologue as in the Bacchae, he 
appears at the conclusion ex machina. Probably Hypsipyle traces her 
45My discussion of the Hypsipyle is founded on two editions, Bond's (1963) and Cockle's (1987), which is largely based on Bond's. 46See Zeitlin (1993~ p172f and Bond (1963) p144, who prefer the order given by the 
scholion; Zeitlin p172 n50 appears to misinterpret Webster (1967) p205ff who prefers the 
sequence Antiope-Hypsipyle-Phoenician Women. not Hypsipyle-Antiope-Phoenician Women. Zeitlin's essay appeared when my research was substantially complete; it was 
encouraging to find that my thoughts on the tragedy's contents are broadly in line with hers, but my discussion shows that I prefer Webster's sequence. 
47Thus Cockle (1987) p40, after Cropp/Fick (1985); Dr Diggle also directs me to Mastronarde (1988) pl5. Zeitlin (1993) p172 n49 notes that a suspect passage in Phoenician Women hypothesis claims that that play was produced with the Oenomaus and Chrysippus. 
48Webster (1967) p215 
49Cf Vessey (1970c) p48f 
SOsee Bond (1963) aiJ loc. On Euripides' use of prologues to prophesy events in the plot see Hamilton (1978). {' 
51zeitlin (1993) p173 
, 1 
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rl! :' 
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67 
genealog¥ back to Dionysus and shares her Lemnian history and her 
subsequent involvement with baby Opheltes (fr 61 & 82). If so, it seems 
that the drama seeks immediately to advertise its novel fusion of the 
Lemnian and Nemean myths. The twins' arrival signifies the importance 
for the ensuing drama of the Lemnian past, the theme of Hypsipyle's lyric 
dialogue with the chorus. Amphiaraus' entrance compounds the 
complexity by introducing the third, Theban, plot element. As Hypsipyle 
rehearses her past, Amphiaraus supplies details of the expedition; 
Hypsipyle provides water for the sacrifice which is necessary for the 
expedition to continue. 
The central action is Opheltes' death and the consequent danger to 
Hypsipyle; her rescue weaves together all three storylines.52 This is classic 
late Euripidean romance, offering the twin motifs of "catastrophe 
survived"53 and "lost one safely found", with the conclusive promise of a 
happy family future.54 The foundation of the games in compensation for 
the devastation of the royal household concludes the action and Nemea's 
significance in the trilogy. In contrast, the Theban plotline finds no 
resolution. Indeed the baby's change of name to Archemorus, 'Beginner of 
Doom', prophesies the disaster to come. The prophet links the Hypsipyle 
to the later Phoenician Women: "Amphiaraus is a tragic figure as he 
moves forward unperturbed to foreseen disaster and death; with his 
prophetic knowledge he sees the death of the baby not as the result of his 
own or Hypsipyle's negligence but as part of the fabric of events called the 
Seven against Thebes. His part in this play is out of scale since it is 
Hypsipyle's play, but as preparation for the Phoenissae it is fully 
justified. "55 
3.4 Naming the mother: from the Seven Against Thebes to the Phoenician 
Women 
The mother-and-child reunion is a favourite Euripidean plot.56 All 
three plays in Euripides' Theban trilogy have as a major theme the 
relation of a pair of sons to their mother (Amphion-Zethus-Antiope, 
52For fuller summaries of the praxis see the introductions to Bond (1963) and Cockle (1987), 
with Webster (1967) p211ff and Zeitlin (1993) p173 (which arranges events in thematic 
order). 
53See Burnett (1971). 
54Zeitlin (1993) p175, also of the Antiope. Possibly the Hypsipyle foretold the Euneidae's 
role as official musicians for the city of Athens: see Bond (1963) p20, Zeitlin (1993) p178f. 55Webster (1967) H214f: Amphiaraus is "the just man compelled to take a wrong course of 
action". 
S6see Burnett (1971\ eh l; Zeitlin (1993) p175. 
I 
111 
68 
Euneus-'Ihoas-Hypsipyle, Eteocles-Polynices-Jocasta). The Hypsipyle also 
presents a more unusual nexus of relationships: one baby and two 
mother-figures. Dionysus' importance in the trilogy suggests that this 
story may be patterned after the myth of the god's 'double' birth: he was 
born once to Semele, once from Zeus' thigh after Hera's hostility 
destroyed his natural mother.57 I argue below that this myth, to which 
Ovid alludes at Metamorphoses III 317, IV llf satumque iterum solumque 
bimatrem proves important for the Thebaid also.SS 
The Antiope's plot narrates the very foundations of Thebes, varying 
the Hypsipyle's theme by making the unknown mother seek hospitality 
from her sons, who in turn rescue her from Lycus and Dirce. Like the 
Hypsipyle, however, the Antiope celebrates the harmonious co-operation 
of twins. Like Thoas and Euneus respectively, Zethus is a soldier and 
Amphion a musician. Although strongly contrasting in lifestyle, these 
sons rescue their mother and. become the founders of Thebes.59 Little can 
be known about Antiope herself, or of Dirce the "bad mother" figure, but 
the Hypsipyle's structure suggests that the opposition of two mothers is 
also important for the dramatic tension of the Antiope . Significantly, 
maenads form its chorus; it is suggested that Dirce, who is leading a 
thiasos when she attempts to kill Antiope, is "a preliminary sketch for 
Agave in the Bacchae".60 The Bacchanal as the 'bad mother' is a theme 
which this and the next chapter will explore further. Dirce's name appears 
at Thebaid XII 789ff in the context of Bacchanalia: ecce per adversas Dircaei 
verticis umbras / femineus quatit astra fragor, matresque Pelasgae / 
decurrunt ... 
Whatever their position in the trilogy, the Antiope and Hypsipyle 
prepare the ground for "Euripides' Theban extravaganza".61 Viewed in the 
light of two pairs of different but complementary and co-operative twins, 
Polynices and Eteocles' conflict results from their very fungibility.62 The 
Phoenician Women treats the whole story of the emnity between the sons 
of Oedipus and the expedition of the Seven, but marginalises Aeschylus' 
showpiece combat at the gates to emphasise the war's effect on the family, 
S7see Nauck TrGF 21, BLµchwp Bp6µLOs. 
58see Bomer (1976) ad loc for more sources including Orphic hymns. S9webster (1967) p210f 
60Webster (1967) p~lO; the Hypsipyle's chorus appear to be made up of women of Nemea. 61zeitlin (1993) pl~2 
62see Zeitlin (1982) on the Seven Against Thebes. 
I 
11 
I 
I 
I 
I 
69 
particul<!_rly the tragic outcome of maternal devotion.63 The emotional 
focus is Jocasta, an anti-type of Antiope: despite her efforts, she cannot 
effect rescue for her sons, whose mutual slaughter in turn brings disaster 
to their surviving family. 
The prominence given to Jocasta and other Theban mothers testifies 
to Euripides' deliberate engagement with Aeschylus, who provides the 
first extant tragic version of the myth in which Laius' wife, Oedipus' 
mother, Oedipus' wife and the mother of Oedipus' children are plainly 
one and the same woman. The Seven Against Thebes never names 
Oedipus' incestuous queen, although it alludes to her wretchedness after 
her sons' slaughter, 926-31. 
The Theban queen has several names and several stories, variously 
transmitted in Homer, Hesiod, the epic cycle and Stesichorean lyric.64 It 
has been suggested that these variations arise from a "lack of any profound 
interest" in her history.65 Aeschylus' silence argues quite the opposite, that 
the royal mother's identity is a matter for profound anxiety. By refusing to 
speak his mother's name, Eteocles reduces her to a silent, passive role 
such as he would have all Thebes' women play.66 
The fragmentary lyric Stesichorus reveals a Theban queen acting in a 
far from passive manner.67 After some scraps which allude to the quarrel 
between Oedipus' sons, the first readable portion consists of a speech by a 
8'i:q. yuva.. The situation presupposes the catastrophic revelation of 
Oedipus' identity, but the text cannot be made to reveal where he is or 
whether he is still alive. Ironically, the noble lady also remains 
anonymous throughout the extant fragments. Plainly she is the mother of 
Polynices and Eteocles; her highly anomalous position suggests that she is 
Oedipus' incestuous wife, and that she occupies the th'one not because 
.A 
63on the relation of these two Theban tragedies, see Webster (1967) p218f, and now 
Mastronarde (1994) intro. On the tragedy's focus on the family, see Podlecki (1962), Rawson (1970) and Arthur (1977). , 
64Bremer (1987) p165 collects the notorious variations on the Jocasta theme and attempts to 
reconcile them; see also March (1987) p121ff and Davies (1989) on the Thebais. The cyclic 
epic fragments reveal nothing of any queen; Odyssey XI 271ff provides a glimpse of a 
wretched but vengeful woman. , 
65Brernrner (1989) p51; "changing women's names was one of the poetic means of giving a 
story a new look" ... 
66See Zeitlin (1982) esp p31; cf Vian (1963) eh 8 on Jocasta. 
67My thanks to Pi:ofessor Eric Handley for his helpful comments on my reading of this 
poem. The text ohhe Lille papyrus is available in Parsons (1977b) and Bremer (1987). Stesichorus' authorship is now generally accepted: see West (1978b). 
I' 
I, 
70 
Oedipus -is dead, but because he is in seclusion inside the palace (as in 
Euripides).68 
Whoever she is, this queen uses her power to affect the post-
catastrophic situation. Rejecting Teiresias' prophecy of doom, but troubled 
by the prospect of familial and civic chaos because of her sons' emnity, she 
adopts the role of executive and mediatrix.69 One son, chosen by lot, shall 
rule alone; the other son shall leave the city with a proportion of the royal 
wealth.70 Her solution divorces the essential trappings of power from 
royal status, leaving both sons dissatisfied. Narrative fragments show that 
Polynices departs with goods which may well include Harmonia's 
necklace. 71 
Early critical opinion suggested that the full poem must have 
narrated the Oedipal catastrophe with Polynices' attack on Thebes, and 
perhaps even the second expedition.72 Metrical differences make it 
unlikely that it belongs to the Eriphyle, although the story of Eriphyle's 
treachery and the Epigoni expedition fits in with Teiresias' prophecy and 
Polynices' departure with, probably, Harmonia's necklace.73 
This must remain speculative. It seems safer to consider the content 
of the extant text, which reveals an extraordinary interest in the queen's 
personality, crediting her with heroic and proto-tragic qualities. She 
displays awareness of the fate of a city left without strong rule; her words 
auT(Ka µOL 8avchou TE"'Aos aTuy(;po[1o] ytJ![OL TO (213) explicitly associate her 
with Homeric heroes who prefer to take any risk before suffering 
dishonour.74 Thebes' venerable seer has outlined a grim either/or 
scenario; instead of deferring to his wisdom, the queen rejects his words 
68see Gostoli (1978) p25 and Burnett (1988) p121-5: Burnett's interpretation accounts for the 
poem's significance for a Sicilian audience. Contrast Bremer (1987) p165ff; March (1987) 
p126ff; Parsons (1977b) remains agnostic. March argues that Oedipus is dead and that the 
queen is his innocent second wife; Euripides' plot, then, is a dramatic innovation which 
would have been impossibly anachronistic in Stesichorus' time, p128-30. However, 
attempts by March and others (eg Robert) to establish one coherent, authoritative version 
of events from scanty evidence are misguided: see Mastronarde (1994) p17f. Moreover, 
Stesichorus was known as a highly innovative poet: see PMG 193 16, [ovhws 811 
EK[a)Lvo,rol T)UE T[asl lnop[llas .. 
69see Vian (1963) p188ff for Jocasta's unique status: she is twice queen and the transmitter 
of power. Vian's postulation of a matrilinear succession at Thebes is perhaps a classic case 
of seeking "the other" at Thebes. 
. 70For the lot device and its importance for Aeschylus, see Thalmann (1982). 
71March (1987) p131-3 and Burnett (1988) p128f note this link between the themes of the 
Jocasta poem and the Eriphyle. 
72west (1978b) p3, 
73March (1987) p132. All Stesichorus' other known works are associated with cyclic epics: 
see Segal (1985b) pl91f. On the Geryoneis' length see Page (1973) p147. 
74See Vagnone (1982) p35ff and Haslam (1978) p47 for Homeric parallels. 
ii/ 
11 
71 
and offeFs a third way, a AUTTJpLov, 226. This word belongs to the vocabulary 
of drama rather than epic, and usually connotes rituals of expiation: "Her 
phrase... is almost oxymoronic, since it announces an escape from the 
inescapable ... ".75 Thus the queen's attempted manipulation of fate 
anticipates tragedy; furthermore, a large portion of the extant text actually 
consists of speech. The poem's language, moreover, is not informational 
as in epic narrative, nor especially decorative; rather, it presents a 
psychological portrait of a strong female character. 
No scholiast on Phoenician Women mentions Stesichorus' poem 
among Euripides' sources. However, the scenario of the Phoenician 
Women corresponds to one interpretation of the situation at Thebes in 
the lyric, in which both parents survive the discovery of their incest to see 
their sons quarrel and fight. We may also note the similarity in the poets' 
priorities. Stesichorus "shows us a precedent for Iocasta's active, mediating 
role between the brothers";76 in the Phoenician Women Euripides 
develops the lyric poet's emphasis on the love of a mother for her sons to 
its fullest extent to conclude his 'mothers-and-sons' trilogy. 
"Startlingly"77 the prologue, which rehearses the entire disastrous 
history of the Theban royal house, is spoken by Jocasta herself, breaking 
Aeschylus' silence and effectively establishing the canonical version of the 
Oedipus myth. In fact, the speech makes much of naming the names of all 
those concerned in the story, beginning with Cadmus and Harmonia, 7. 
The retrospective narration of Thebes' past is a conspicuous element in 
the tragedy, formally linking it to the An tiope via references to its 
foundation myths.78 Mothers, human and divine, are given special 
prominence. Dirce, for example, appears seven times in the Phoenician 
Women as a familiar The ban landmark, having given her name to the 
spring of Ares, home of the chthonic serpent. Antiope's sons Amphion 
and Zethus are recalled as a "wholly joyous and positive picture" of the 
city's beginnings;79 their story brings the fratricide of Jocasta's sons into 
relief. 
3.5 series orbarum excisa domorum: the chain of Harrnonia 
75Burnett (1988) p118f; see notes for tragic parallels. 
76zeitlin (1993) p175 
77webster (1967) p215. 
78See Podlecki (1962) p356, 372f and Arthur (1977); this factor supports the sequence Antiope-Hypsipy;le-Phoenician Women. Rawson (1970) p114 shows how the speech is 
constructed to ma~ clear the kinship ties of those named. 
79 Arthur (1977) p177 
11 , 
iii 
72 
The_aetiologically oriented proem to the Thebaid rehearses many of 
the names and histories of Jocasta's extraordinary prologue. Amphion's 
creative powers are mentioned early in the praeteritio (9f) as a happier 
interlude in the gemitus et prospera Cadmi (15).BO Like Euripides' trilogy, 
the Thebaid names many of the mother-figures who wove the fabric of 
Thebes' history.BI In the aftermath of Tydeus' slaughter in book II, the sole 
survivor is greeted at the gates of Thebes by the mothers of Tydeus' 
victims, a series orbarum excisa domorum, III 74, pathetic in their very 
anonymity. The description recalls Statius' summing up of the history of 
Thebes as a longa retro series, I 7. The concern with origins which occupies 
the poet at the beginning of his poem (unde iubetis / ire, deae? I 3f) is the 
narratological equivalent of Oedipus's attempt to learn his history 
through learning his parentage. Virtually all the disasters in the longa 
retro series begin, like Oedipus', with the sufferings of mothers. 
One such is Harmonia, Cadmus' wife and co-founder of Thebes.82 
Her necklace, which passes through the hands of each royal Theban 
woman, symbolises Theban history as family curse; it originates in 
Vulcan's desire to punish the adultery of Harmonia's parents Venus and 
Mars, II 269ff. Like the longa retro series of Theban myth, Harmonia's 
chain, a longa series (II 267) narrates the disasters that in the past befell the 
wives and mothers of Thebes, now involve Argia, and will involve 
Eriphyle.83 Statius cannot possibly narrate the whole story, II 289-305:84 
prima fides operi, Cadmum comitata iacentem 
Harmonia versis in sibila <lira querellis 
Illyricos longo sulcavit pectore campos. 
improba mox Semele vix dona nocentia collo 
induit, et fallax intravit limina Iuno. 
teque etiam, infelix, perhibent, locasta, decorum 
possedisse nefas; vultus hac laude colebas, 
heu quibus, heu placitura toris! post longior ordo. 
tune donis Argia nitet vilisque sororis 
omatus sacro praeculta supervenit auro. 
viderat hoe ·coniunx perituri vatis et aras 
80The Silvae frequently invoke Amphion as an archetypal artist, cf especially III 1 16, 115. 81for the figure, and full discussion, see Davi, (1993). , 82For Harmonia see Vian (1963) p141ff; Wes1 (1966) on Theogony 933ff, 975f; Hutchinson (1985) on Seven Against Thebes 135-42. 83Davi (1993) p6. Cf IV 190ff; see Vessey (1973) p139 for the view that Statius curtails 
this story because "women are generally portrayed in the Thebaid in a favourable and 
sympathetic light: it may be that Statius simply did not wish to introduce at length an 
evil woman into his epic in which the female sex plays a normally uplifting role." Rather, 
its curtailment anti~ipates the epic's closing lines: Statius cannot narrate the vast numbers 
of dead and bereav~d left at Argos and Thebes. 
84Cf Metamorphdses IV 563ff and Bomer (1976) ad loc on the luctu serieque malorum of 
Cadmus and Harmonia, 564. 
r' 
72 
The- aetiologically oriented proem to the Thebaid rehearses many of 
the names and histories of Jocasta's extraordinary prologue. Amphion's 
creative powers are mentioned early in the praeteritio (9f) as a happier 
interlude in the gemitus et prospera Cadmi (15).80 Like Euripides' trilogy, 
the Thebaid names many of the mother-figures who wove the fabric of 
Thebes' history.81 In the aftermath of Tydeus' slaughter in book II, the sole 
survivor is greeted at the gates of Thebes by the mothers of Tydeus' 
victims, a series orbarum excisa domorum, III 74, pathetic in their very 
anonymity. The description recalls Statius' summing up of the history of 
Thebes as a longa retro series, I 7. The concern with origins which occupies 
the poet at the beginning of his poem (unde iubetis / ire, deae? I 3f) is the 
narratological equivalent of Oedipus's attempt to learn his history 
through learning his parentage. Virtually all the disasters in the longa 
retro series begin, like Oedipus', with the sufferings of mothers. 
One such is Harmonia, Cadmus' wife and co-founder of Thebes.82 
Her necklace, which passes through the hands of each royal Theban 
woman, symbolises Theban history as family curse; it originates in 
Vulcan's desire to punish the adultery of Harmonia's parents Venus and 
Mars, II 269ff. Like the longa retro series of Theban myth, Harmonia's 
chain, a longa series (II 267) narrates the disasters that in the past befell the 
wives and mothers of Thebes, now involve Argia, and will involve 
Eriphyle.83 Statius cannot possibly narrate the whole story, II 289-305:84 
prima fides operi, Cadmum comitata iacentem 
Harmonia versis in sibila dira querellis 
Illyricos longo sulcavit pectore campos. 
improba mox Semele vix dona nocentia collo 
induit, et fallax intravit limina Iuno. 
teque etiam, infelix, perhibent, locasta, decorum 
possedisse nefas; vultus hac laude colebas, 
heu quibus, heu placitura toris! post longior ordo. 
tune donis Argia nitet vilisque sororis 
omatus sacro praeculta supervenit auro. 
viderat hoe coniunx perituri vatis et aras 
80The Silvae frequently invoke Amphion as an archetypal artist, cf especially III 1 16, 115. 81for the figure, and full discussion, see Davi, (1993). 
82for Harmonia see Vian (1963) p141ff; Wes1 (1966) on Theogony 933ff, 975f; Hutchinson (1985) on Seven Against Thebes 135-42. 83Davit (1993) p6. Cf IV 190ff; see Vessey (1973) p139 for the view that Statius curtails this sttry because "women are generally portrayed in the Thebaid in a favourable and 
sympathetic light: it may be that Statius simply did not wish to introduce at length an evil woman into his epic in which the female sex plays a normally uplifting role." Rather, its curtailment anticipates the epic's closing lines: Statius cannot narrate the vast numbers of dead and bereaved left at Argos and Thebes. 
84cf Metamorpho'Ses IV 563ff and Bomer (1976) ad loc on the luctu serieque malorum of Cadmus and Harmonia, 564. 
j I 
I I 
ante omnis epulasque trucem secreta coquebat 
inv idiam, saevis detur si quando potiri 
cultibus, heu nihil auguriis adiuta propinquis. 
quos optat gemitus, quantas cupit impia clades! 
digna quidem, sed quid miseri decepta mariti 
arma, quid insontes nati meruere furores? 
73 
Female desire for the dirum monile (266) causes trouble between sister 
and sister, wife and husband, and mother and son. The treacherous 
Eriphyle portrays female complicity in war, countering any 
straightforward construction of woman as war's victim. But the fullest 
antidote to the fiction of female innocence is the portrayal of the Lemnian 
women in book V; driven by furor, they themselves slaughter their own 
husbands and children.SS 
3.6 verum terror inest lacrimis: Niobe and Ide 
Eriphyle and the Lemnian women are figures of terror in their 
treacherous violence. The Thebaid also repeatedly portrays the terrible 
aspect of women in the extremes of passivity, when weeping for their 
children.86 Faced with Tydeus' massacre of Thebes' children, Aletes, 
himself a relic of past Theban disasters, looks back into their history in 
search of the paradigm of maternal grief.87 Agave is evoked, then rejected 
for Niobe, wife of Amphion the founder of Thebes, for whom 
motherhood was the source of her greatest joy and pain, III 188-200:88 
' ... nee tempore clarius illo 
Phoenissae sonuere domus, cum lassa furorem 
vicit et ad comitum lacrimas expavit Agave. 
una dies similis fato specieque malorum 
aequa fuit, qua magniloquos luit impia flatus 
Tantalis, innumeris cum circumfusa ruinis 
corpora tot raperet terra, tot quaereret ignes. 
talis erat vulgi status, et sic urbe relicta 
primaevique senes et longo examine matres 
invidiam planxere deis miseroque tumultu 
bina per ingentes stipabant funera portas. 
meque ipsum memini - necdum apta laboribus aetas -
BSsee Ahl (1986) p2886 on the collective capability for violence of those usually dispossessed of power. The hardly "uplifting" theme of the Lemnian women's Dionysiac 
orgy of killing is discussed in chapter four. · 
86on the consequences for the innocent of the abuse of power, see Dominik(1994a) eh 3. 87Cf also Thebaid I 4ff and 180ff (the anonymous critic). Vessey (1973) p127 nl calls the 
chosen exempla "quite predictable": this is surely the point. Moreover to call Aletes 
"garrulous" undere~timates the ancient, communal pain which he represents. 88For Niobe as th~ quintessential mater dolorosa see Holst-Warhaft p107 on Iliad XXIII 
and my commentfbelow. Alexiou (1974), Loraux (1990) and Holst-Warhaft (1992) provide discussions of the tneme. 
74 
fleJ?se tamen gemituque meos aequasse parentes.' 
The numeric variation which binds together Euripides' mothers-and-
sons trilogy also informs the Thebaid, alerting the reader to the 
importance of the mater dolorosa theme. An early example is Ide, a Niobe 
reincarnate.89 She does not figure elsewhere in the poem, and all that is 
known of her is her name; even her sons the Thespiadae are not 
individually named. Her identity derives wholly from her role as magna 
parens iuvenum, gemini nunc funeris, III 134. 
Her appearance causes more terror than pity, 135-9: 
squalentem sublata comam liventiaque ora 
ungue premens - nee iam infelix miserandaque, verum 
terror inest lacrimis -, per et arma et corpora passim 
canitiem impexam dira tellure volutans 
quaerit inops natos omnique in corpore plangit. 
So horrible is her appearance that she is compared to a Thessalian witch 
engaged in necromantic ritual, 140ff.90 We can compare Jocasta, another 
magna parens iuvenum, in her search in the Argive camp for her still-
living son, ecce truces oculos sordentibus obsita canis / exangues Iocasta 
genas et bracchia planctu / nigra ferens ... Eumenidum velut 
antiquissima,91 ... magna cum maiestate malorum VII 474ff; she wails like 
a aged Bacchanal, tremulis ululatibus 482.92 
The description of the dead Thespiadae unmistakably anticipates the 
end of the fraternas acies; III 147-9:93 
illi in secessu pariter sub rupe iacebant 
felices, quos una dies, manus abstulit una, 
pervia vulneribus media trabe pectora nexi. 
89Compare III 154-_6 and 191-8: the language of lamentation recurs again and again. Ide 
reckoned Ogygias titulis anteire parentes, 156. 90vessey (1973) p125 calls the simile "unexpected", and adds "the details given about the 
witch have to be related to Ide 'ironically', that is, inversely - we are to infer that there 
are times when human grief cannot be adequately portrayed within the conventional 
resources of language and metaphor." However, the Thessalian witch as an image of terror is not so outlandish, recalling the Colchian infanticide Medea. 
9l Again the image of the terror and power of wretched old age derives from Attic tragedy; Vessey (1973) p125 traces the comparison to "the same spirit" that inspired the Ide simile. 92vn 474ff reworks Phoenician Women 357ff (where Polynices comes to Jocasta, addressing her emotively as µ'fiTcp, µfjTcp) to emphasise the parallels with Ide's search for her twins: here (as in Stesichorus) the mother takes the initiative. 93See Snijder (196~J p96; Vessey (1973) p126 comments: "Statius depicts the resting place of the twins in line\ of stately simplicity ... Once again, death is seen as a blessing." Cf Henderson (1991) p48f and n103. 
1 1 
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Ide praises their fraternal devotion, which separation of their bodies 
would only violate, 165-8: 
'quin ego non dextras miseris complexibus ausim 
dividere et tanti consortia rumpere leti: 
ite diu fratres indiscretique supremis 
ignibus et caros urna confundite manes!' 
The spectacle at XI 572f is identical, but there the fraternal embrace speaks 
hatred; XII 431f decisively inverts book III's image of togetherness-in-
death.94 After Ide's representative lamentation follows a catalogue of 
mourners: wives mourn husbands, mothers sons, children fathers, and 
sisters brothers.95 
Ide and her dead twins obviously foreshadow Jocasta and her sons in 
an epic full of bereaved mothers. The Nemean episode offers another 
variation on the theme which can be directly related to Euripides' 
trilogy.96 The Hypsipyle's complex symmetry anticipates the Phoenician 
Women's tragedy of one mother's loss of two sons. As in the Antiope, one 
mother recovers the twin sons she believed lost; against the happy ending 
of the reunion romance must be set the loss of one baby to two women 
who stood in maternal relation to him. This more unusual, and more 
Dionysiac, nexus of relationships manifests itself in the epic in Hypsipyle 
and Eurydice and their twin laments, V 608ff and VI 138ff. The unique 
characterisation and discourse of Hypsipyle are more fully considered in 
the following chapter; chapter five studies the relationship between 
Bacchus and Opheltes. Eurydice laments loudest and longest in the epic; 
her baby son acquires archetypal significance as Archemorus, the 
primordia belli VI 171. Her lamentation at the heart of the epic offers a 
unique perspective on the terror and power of maternal suffering in the 
Thebaid. 
3.7 ne fletu violate sacrum, ne plangi.te divos: Lycurgus and the Seven 
94Vessey (1973) p127. 
955ee Krumbholz (1955) p247-55 on Statius' use of individual scenes and figures to create a 
~ervasive atmosphere; III 133££ is discussed on p250. 
6Hardie (1993b) p65f notes examples of further number patterns linking the Hypsipyle 
episode to the Aeneid. The serpent that kills Opheltes, for example, recreates the two 
serpents which kill Laocoon and his two sons. Opheltes is a substitute for Hypsipyle's lost twins; we may compare the bereaved Andromache's reaction to the sight of Ascanius. Opheltes/ Archemorus as an only son with two names must recall Ascanius/Iulus; the second 
name of each signifying their (very different) destinies. The reappearance of Hypsipyle's twins is double compensation for her lost nursling; for the army, however, one child's death is a gloomy prognGstic for the ensuing fraternal conflict, as were the deaths of Laocoon's sons. 
76 
The Hypsipyle culminates in the confrontation between Eurydice and 
Hypsipyle, in which the distraught mother seeks her revenge upon the 
equally distressed nurse. Here the Hypsipyle offers an intriguing parallel 
with the Phoenician Women: both plays present women who take action 
independently of their men in the face of family crisis.97 Oedipus is, 
perhaps, secluded within the palace; Lycurgus is mysteriously absent.98 
This circumstance affords the bereaved mother the authority to determine 
Hypsipyle's future: Eurydice desires Hypsipyle's death in recompense for 
the loss of her baby. 
The drama affords a tense scene in which Eurydice elicits the facts of 
her baby's fate first from the chorus and then from Hypsipyle,99 followed 
by a climactic debate between the bereaved mother and Amphiaraus, the 
nurse's advocate.100 Unfortunately, very little of the scene remains extant 
until frs 22+60. Eurydice asserts that the nurse was bribed to kill Lycurgus' 
heir; possibly she refuses to speak to her directly. Hypsipyle takes the 
opportunity to vindicate herself, speaking courageously of her role in 
events and her present plight. 
Hypsipyle grounds her .appeal to Amphiaraus on his involvement in 
events and his role as mantic priest of Apollo. Amphiaraus persuades 
Eurydice to look at the nurse: deeds, not appearance, should form the 
criteria of judgment. The wisest of seers makes a defence speech (fr 60 87ff) 
which includes an extended philosophical consolation; ironically, 
Amphiaraus knows his own death is not far away. With reference to the 
expedition against Thebes, he re-names Opheltes, the child of blessing, 
Archemorus, 'Beginner of Doom'; funeral games are promised which will 
perpetuate his memory. Whether or not Eurydice herself decides to 
pardon Hypsipyle, the choral hymn to Dionysus (the rescuer?) and 
Hypsipyle's joyful exclamations on recovering her children (fr 64) indicate 
that she is no longer in danger. 
If indeed Euripides ignores Lycurgus in his version of the Nemean 
story, Statius' introduction of the bereaved father becomes significant. 
Lycurgus' priesthood is given great prominence (sacrifici Lycurgi V 638): 
he has just returned from sacrifice to an angry thunder-god with the 
97 Again this suggests the relevance of Stesichorus' Eri phyle and the 'Jocasta' poem as 
models. 
98See Vessey (1970c) p49; Cockle (1987) pl 41 contends that Lycurgus' appearance is "almost 
certainly necessary j.or the action of the play", but concedes the absence of evidence. 99see Cockle (1987) on frs 34+35. 
lOOfr 63: there is so~e uncertainty about the exact moment when rescue becomes assured. 
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fearful pr~hecy 'prima, Lycurge, dabis Dircaeo ftmera bello' 647, to find it 
already fulfilled; such is the fides superum, 650.1°1 The Argive army 
accompanies the child's corpse back to the palace where they meet 
Eurydice and her women mourners, V 650ff. Statius replaces the dramatic 
debate between mother and nurse with the confrontation of epic warriors. 
Lycurgus threatens Hypsipyle with all the fury of an epic warrior in 
combat, at non magnanimo pietas ignava Lycurgo, 653. Euripides' 
Amphiaraus interposes with persuasive wisdom; Statius interposes the 
physical presence of Tydeus, 661-4: 
... ibat letumque inferre parabat 
ense furens rapto; venienti Oeneius heros 
impiger obiecta proturbat pectora parma, 
ac simul infrendens: 'siste hunc, vesane, furorem, 
. . I' qmsqms es .... 
The juxtaposition of violent action and the call to restraint gains in irony 
from the identity of the speaker, the killer of fifty in book II's monomachy, 
Furor personified.102 Tydeus is joined by Capaneus, Hippomedon and 
Parthenopaeus, and for a moment war appears imminent as Lycurgus 
stands dazzled by the light of drawn swords, 666.103 
The pacific interventions of Adrastus and Amphiaraus (667ff) briefly 
recall the drama, but Tydeus overrules with a new martial rhetoric, 67lff. 
Hypsipyle is above revenge for an inconsequential death, quanti pro funeris ultor (674), as saviour of the Argive army; only Lycurgus' 
cowardice prizes peace above the glory of this great enterprise. In the 
atmosphere of the Thebaid, peace is an unacceptable anomaly: Lycurgus 
clearly anticipates war with the Argives;l04 Fama almost causes bloodshed 
in the palace. As in the drama, the Nemean party retreats from revenge; 
however, it is the retreat of a smaller force before a greater. Hypsipyle is 
rescued because those who defend her are stronger than those who want 
to punish her.105 _ 
101The Thebaid's theology is the subject of Dominik (1994a). The Nemean 'digression', so 
conspicuously introduced as the work of god, offers a special insight here. fides superum is heavily ironic: the Thebaid's gods are scrupulously faithful in fulfilling their curses upon their vales (Adrastus, Amphiaraus, and now Lycurgus). Note the re-occurrence of Dirce. 102Lycurgus' and Tydeus' gestures are more aggressive than Vessey (1973) p190 suggests: 
"Lycurgus' first response is to attempt to exact vengeance on Hypsipyle, but the Argive trinces protect her from harm." 
03Contrast Hypsipyle fr 60 22-4, in which Amphiaraus invites Eurydice to assess 
~sipyle's countenance. 
1 4Amphiaraus claim~ this would be civil war, unus avum sanguis, 670; it would then be of 
a piece with the co:nung war against Thebes. 
105 Ahl (1986) p2887f' 
1, ' 
78 
Hypsipyle's reunion with her sons, which concludes the drama, 
occurs at Thebaid V 710ff. Again this event is ascribed to Bacchus (as in the 
drama) and Statius supplies the detail also found in Euripides that the 
youths had sought hospitality in Lycurgus' household.106 Amphiaraus 
concludes book V with his interpretation of events in anticipation of the 
rites of book VI. Broadly then, the Hypsipyle's praxis is covered by the end 
of V, but without the confrontation which dominates the drama. 
Statius' postponement of this scene is doubly significant. The weight 
of the storyline has been shifted onto the scene between the warriors, 
where physical force has become the determinant of action. Before the 
bereaved mother ever appears, it has been decided that Hypsipyle is not to 
suffer punishment for Opheltes' death, and the catastrophe has already 
received definitive interpretation from Amphiaraus. The baby's mother is 
thus precluded from exercising her judgment on events. 
Thus the episode captures the essence of heroic epic: women give up 
their children to serve the cause of war. In Aeneid VII Amata, out of 
antagonism to the Trojan cause, appeals to "her own recognized sphere of 
values", her ius maternum, 402; this 'right' is denied by more powerful 
ideological forces.107 After Virgil, Statius employs narrative structure to 
highlight the unbridgeable gap between the opposing points of view 
which provide the tragic dialectic of the Hypsipyle. Eurydice's carefully 
framed, highly dramatic speech uttered only 'after the event' actually 
expresses the abrogation of her ius maternum. The point is forcefully 
made at the conclusion of book V by Amphiaraus' authoritative words, 
'ne fletu violate sacrum, ne plangite divos: / nam deus iste, deus, Pyliae 
nee fata senectae / maluerit, Phrygiis aut degere longius annis.' V 750-2. 
The book's last line imposes an emphatic closure, finierat, caeloque cavam 
nox induit umbram, 753. The break between books effectively turns the 
mother's appearance into an afterthought, despite its power as a rhetorical 
tour-de-force. As in the drama, but via a different route, the grieving 
mother (and father) must relinquish control over Opheltes' final end. 
106see Bond (1963) on fr Ii 8: the coincidence is classic Euripidean romance. 107Conte (1986) p158; p157ff discusses Virgilian narratival polycentricity and how, as here, individual "points of view" seek to dominate all others, to order events by their own light. Reconciliation and accommodation between the various views is made impossible: 
"[A] painful gap keeps them apart, preventing substantial contact and excluding mutual penetration" p157. Conte argues that although this conflict is vital for tragedy's dynamic, Virgil's technique denies dialectic and therefore any possibility of resolution. See also p158f n14, which dfaws attention to Heinze (1915) p31ff and la Penna (1966) on the tragico-dramatic aspect oHhe Aeneid. Poschl (1977) p128f sees the Latin war as particularly tragic because it is a civilwar. 
79 
3.8 asperior contra planctusque egressa viriles: the gendering of grief 
The business of Opheltes' funeral in book VI opens with a tableau of 
the bereaved parents, beginning again with Lycurgus. His grief manifests 
itself in physical degradation: royal insignia are exchanged for ash, and the 
hair left unkempt, sedet ipse exutus honoro I vittarum nexu genitor 
squalentiaque ora / sparsus et incultam ferali pulvere barbam 30-2. He 
thus resembles the grieving Iliadic hero, notably Priam: o 8' iv µlcr<JOLO'L 
yEpau'>s I ivTvTTa.s iv x>..a(VJJ KEKaX.uµµlvos· dµcpl 8e: TTOAATJ / K6TTpos ETJV 
KEq>aX.iJ TE Kal auxlvL TOLO 'YEPOVTOS", / TTJV pa KUALv86µEV0S" KaTaµ11craTO 
XEpcrlv EijcrL Iliad XXIV 163-5. Lycurgus' final appearance and only speech of 
lamentation is also modelled on a Homeric passage, VI 193-201: 
at genitor sceptrique decus cultusque Tonantis 
inicit ipse rogis, tergoque et pectore fusam 
caesariem ferro minuit sectisque iacentis 
obnubit tenuia ora comis, ac talia fletu 
verba pio miscens: 'alio tibi, perfide, pacto, 
luppiter hunc crinem voti reus ante dicaram, 
si pariter viridis nati libare dedisses 
ad tua templa genas, sed non ratus ore sacerdos, 
damnataeque preces; ferat haec, quae dignior, umbra!' 
This recalls Achilles' lament for Patroclus, Iliad XXIII 138ff: both mourners 
reproach the gods to whom they had piously dedicated their hair; both 
now devote it to worthier recipients.108 Spontaneous weeping is an 
appropriate sign of mourning for warriors, who are equally if not more 
lachrymose than women.109 However, weeping, although pleasurable, is 
dangerously morbid and emasculating for the warrior, and ought properly 
only to last for a limited period, after which life should return to a more 
normal pattern.HO As Achilles tells Priam, even Niobe, that paradigm of 
bereavement, left off weeping for her children to eat and drink. After a 
time, weeping is cold comfort, OU ycip TLS" TTpfieLS" lTEAETaL KpUEpOLO y6oLO, 
Iliad XXIV 524.111 
108The force of these Homeric evocations is discussed in chapter seven. 109Monsacre (1984) p182f discusses male gestures of grieving in Homer; also Holst-Warhaft (1992) p107: at the core of the heroes' virility are elements drawn from traditional femininity. 
llOsee Monsacre (1984) p166ff and Holst-Warhaft (1992) p107, 113f. The paradoxically pleasurable aspect of mourning and the dangers of excess are discussed further in the next 
chapter with refer~ce to Hypsipyle. 
111 Niobe's ghost is, invoked again at Thebaid VI 122-5. Eurydice mourns her only child, Niobe mourned twelve: quantification of grief is meaningless. 
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Stat~us' inclusion of Lycurgus suggests that he provides a foil for 
Eurydice. The epic Eurydice's extravagant grief contrasts with the relative 
coherence and articulacy of the tragic mother, as far as the fragments show. 
Her manifestation of grief far surpasses that of her husband, who actually 
attempts to restrain her, 33-7: 
asperior contra planctusque egressa viriles 
exemplo famulas premit hortaturque volentes 
orba parens, lacerasque super prorumpere nati 
reliquias ardet totiensque avolsa refertur. 
arcet et ipse pater. 
These lines portray maternal grief as a terrible, irrational violence; here, as 
on Lernnos, gender expectations are reversed and women overpower their 
rnen.112 
Since Horner, death, like birth, has been recognised to be a peculiarly 
female sphere. Whereas Priarn achieves a measure of understanding with 
Achilles, Hecuba never approaches her son's killer for reconciliation. The 
Iliad's final books focus on the most potent embodiments of grief in a 
heroic culture, the widow and mother, in whose charge are the rituals of 
death.113 Classical Athenian tragedy reflects the severe curtailment of 
women's control over these rituals, as eulogy in the public funeral oration became the approved means of honouring the war-dead.114 The 
dramatisation of societal and individual reaction to death allowed 
lamentation a form of freedom, but far from offering alternative models 
of social institutions, tragedy typically reinforced the perception that 
women must be deprived of their power over this sphere.115 
The Seven Against Thebes tightly controls women's opportunities to 
raise their voices in mourning: Eteocles forbids the Theban maidens to 
anticipate the city's fall by premature lamentation, as Andrornache had 
freely done in Iliad VI. Creon's refusal of burial rites, which concludes the 
Seven Against _ Thebes and on which the Phoenician Women is 
112Note the ironic force of mollior turba as a description of Hypsipyle's companions, VI 131f. 
113See Holst-Warhaft (1992) eh 4 for Homeric patterns of mourning. 114See Holst-Warhaft (1992) eh 5; the classic study of the funeral speech is Loraux (1986). 115Holst-Warhaft (1992) eh 5 esp p128; p130f discusses the Persians' depiction of the power of lamentation to affect action (by raising Darius). See Plato Republic 605cff and Gorgias Helen 9: Plato comrllents that the state of grief described by Homer is appropriate only for women in real life; m~n ought to show resilience. 
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predicate_d, may actually represent tragedy's innovative response to 
contemporary curtailment of female public mourning.116 
The Phoenician Women complements the dialectic of Sophocles' Antigone, which was for Euripides' audience "part of the story";11 7 Sophocles dramatises the heroine's lament as grief's challenge to civic 
order. This theme is itself anticipated in a variant form in the Hypsipyle, 
when, after a scene of debate in which the bereaved mother voices her grievance, Amphiaraus' persuasive power finally denies Eurydice ('far-
reaching justice') the maternal right she claims to lament and avenge her 
child. Many of the features which make female lamentation so 
threatening to a masculine ideology are also manifest in Statius' narrative. 
3.9 Maenads of the dead 
Book VI opens with the eerie sound of keening women, 28-30: 
iam plangore viae, gemitu iam regia mugit flebilis, acceptos longe nemora avia frangunt 
multiplicantque sonos. 
Note the ugly variation on Virgil's resonant Arcadian woods, Eclogue I 5; frangunt recalls the storm's destruction at Thebaid I 361, frangitur omne 
nemus. The sounds redouble when the bier is carried in, 37-43: 
... mox ut maerentia dignis 
vultibus Inachii penetrarunt limina reges, 
ceu nova tune clades et primo saucius infans 
vulnere letalisve inrumperet atria serpens, 
sic alium ex alio quamquam lassata fragorem pectora congeminant, integratoque resultant 
accensae clamore fores; ... 
The Latin terms for lamentation planctus, gemitus, clamor, fletus/flebilis 
and ululatus suggest incoherence and inarticulacy; in particular, gemitus 
and ululatus are used of animal utterances. ululatus expresses the pain of 
childbirth, which the bereaved Ide laments that she ever experienced, at quanto melius dextraque in sorte iugatae, / quis steriles thalami nulloque 
ululata dolore I respexit iucina domum! III 157-9. It is also the term used by Livy to describe the alien, dangerous noises of Dionysiac cult newly 
arrived in Rome.118 
116Qn the vexed ques!ion of the play's ending see eg Taplin (1977) p176ff; Thalmann (1978) f 137-41. 
17Webster (1967) p2f7 
118See eg AUC XXXIX'lO 
82 
Trag~dy, too, often compares mourning women to those possessed by 
Dionysus and therefore beyond rational controI.119 The Bacchae 
establishes the maenad as the paradigm of female danger; Pentheus 
experiences the punishment for male intrusion into the female sphere of 
Dionysiac worship. Dionysus also reigns in the theatre; by analogy the 
female mourners who outrage Athenian law are the true devotees of the 
god. Evadne rushes from her home to join Capaneus on his pyre like a 
bacchanal, lK~aKxe-uaaµEfva (Suppliant Women 1000-03). Dionysus 
dominates the trilogy of which the Hypsipyle is part; following the 
catastrophe in the focal Phoenician Women, Antigone enters with her 
brothers' corpses like a 'maenad of the dead' al8oµlva cf>lpoµm ~a.Kxa 
ve-Kvwv, 1489. Her long polymetric lament (1485ff) searches for the perfect 
mode of expression for her unique pain, wondering who deserves to be 
mourned first.120 
The Aeneid also employs the powerful symbolism of Bacchic 
worship to describe female emotional excess which manifests itself in 
opposition to the dominant heroic ideology. In mourning, as in Bacchic 
worship, individuality is submerged in the group; the · divinely-sent 
impulse to fire the ships seizes the war-weary Trojan women while they 
sit apart from the men, lamenting Anchises. Confronted by Ascanius, who 
recalls them to their mission (vestras spes uritis, Aeneid V 672), they 
behave like Agave faced with her son's severed head, 676-9:121 
ast illae di versa metu per litora passim 
diffugiunt, silvasque et sicubi concava furtim 
saxa petunt; piget incepti lucisque, suosque 
mutatae agnoscunt excussaque pectore Iuno est. 
On learning of Dido's death, Carthage erupts into Bacchanalia, 
Aeneid IV 665-8:122 
... it damor ad alta 
atria: concussam bacchatur Fama per urbem. 
lamentis gemituque et femineo ululatu 
119Holst-Warhaft (1992) eh 4 esp p157-60; Burkert (1985) p163 n14 notes that 'Bacchus' 
may be a Semitic loan-word meaning 'wailing' and compares contemporary Near Eastern 
female cults. See also Padel (1993): women are innately susceptible to possession by 
daemons. A forthcoming study by Foley, which I have not seen, examines the politics of 
lamentation as Dionysiac possession in three tragedies, including the Seven Against 
Thebes. 
120Cf the repetitive unde of the Thebaid: where does Thebes' pain begin, who feels most 
pain? · 
21We may note tha"t the shame-faced quasi-maenads head for the silvas. 
122cf IV 300-3: the ctty reacts as one to the rumour of Aeneas' departure, like a Bacchanal. 
Ill 
83 
tecta ~fremunt, resonat magnis plangoribus aether ... 
Relevant again is Amata, VII 400ff, who calls on the matres Latinae to join 
her in Bacchic worship inter silvas in defence of ius maternum. The 
silvan setting and the maternal identity of Dionysus' worshippers make 
the analogy with Thebaid IV-VI's mourning women doubly apt. The 
collocation femineo ululatu (IV 667) appears again at IX 477, describing the 
grief of an individual (indeed, unique) woman, Euryalus' mother. This 
lonely Bacchanal proves an important model for Eurydice, who begins her 
speech planctuque et longis praefata ululatibus, 137. 
Dionysiac possession manifests itself in terrifying violence. Whereas 
the male mourner replaces outward symbols of honour with badges of 
grief, women turn sorrow into self-inflicted physical pain, stripping, 
tearing, beating and cutting the body:123 sic alium ex alio quamquam 
lassata fragorem / pectora congeminanf VI 41f; Hypsipyle's arms are 
livida, 133, neque enim illa comas nee pectora / servat 178; Eurydice speaks 
nudo de pectore 136. The frightening sights and sounds of female grief 
keep death immediate and real; repeated advertisement of the fact of loss 
calls for revenge.124 Such is the effect of the anonymous Nemeans' 
lamentation upon the Argives, sensere Pelasgi / invidiam et lacrimis 
excusant crimen obortis 43f. Finally, Eurydice exchanges wailing and 
gesture for coherent speech, which might be thought to represent the most 
potent threat of all. However, examination reveals that her rhetorically 
powerful lament actually voices her impotence in the face of loss. 
3.10 nondum orsis modus et lamenta redibant: the rhetoric of consolation 
The circumscription of Eurydice's power to lament is most fully 
symbolised by the prohibitive presence of the Argive troops around the 
pyre which they build for Opheltes, VI 202-5: 
iam face subiecta primis in frondibus ignis 
exclamat, labor insanos arcere parentes. 
stant iussi Danaum atque obtentis eminus armis 
prospectu visus interclusere nefasto. 
The threat posed by the bereaved when allowed too close to their dead 
informs Euripides' Suppliant Women. Adopting the Argives' perspective 
on the Theban war, it offers a dialectical engagement of (male) intellect 
123Murnaghan (1987fp30: hair and clothing are somehow extrinsic to the person. 
124Holst-Warhaft (19'92) p3ff and passim 
84 
with (fem~le) emotion over the proper treatment of the dead.125 Theseus 
as spokesman for the polis addresses not the grieving Argive women, but 
their leader Adrastus, imposing his political rationale upon a situation of 
extreme emotional need: young men must learn from eulogy to emulate 
the glorious dead. 
Book V concludes with Amphiaraus' prophecy of immortal glory for 
the baby. At Thebaid VI 45ff, Adrastus attempts to prevent lamentation by 
comforting the grieving parents first with philosophy, then with the hope 
of other offspring, 47-50: 
nunc fata recensens, 
resque hominum duras et inexorabile pensum, 
nunc aliam prolem mansuraque numine dextro 
pignora. nondum orsis modus et lamenta redibant. 
This is the rhetorically 'correct' masculine reaction to grief. We may 
compare Achilles' words to Priam: even Niobe returned at length to 
normal behaviour. 
In the Hypsipyle Amphiaraus' philosophical consolations (fr 60 89ff) 
gain legitimacy and ironic power from the audience's knowledge that the 
seer is also doomed soon to die. The speech won approval from pseudo-
Plutarch Moralia llOf-11 la, in the so-called 'Letter to Apollonius', which 
presents itself as a consolatory epistle. This work actually catalogues at 
length literary exempla of lamentation from Homer the master onwards, 
and consolatory thoughts of the poets, these being mostly of a 
philosophical flavour. In the author's opinion, some poets positively 
incite emotional excess through deliberate working-up of pathos. Women 
are much more prone than men to extravagant lamentation: do those 
who mourn mourn the dead, or selfishly mourn their own loss, he 
wonders. Cicero Tusculans III 23ff similarly reproves self-abandon: zn 
luctu, silentium is the ideal.126 
Eurydice's speech is the most developed of many outbursts of 
maternal grief in the Thebaid. The lament was of course a favourite 
exercise of the rhetoricians, indeed, an essential part of their repertoire.127 
Menander Rhetor discusses three types of speech, the monodia, epitaphios 
logos and the consolatio, Rhet. Graec. III 41 3f, 419ff. Homer is the 
125Burian (1985) p129-55 
126For discussion of this lengthy topic see Kassel (1958); cf Nisbet/Hubbard (1970) on 
Horace Odes I 24. Pl~tarch Solon 21 also approvingly records Solon's proscription of public lamentation. '· · 
127Hardie (1983) p103ff and notes 
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acknowled._ged master: Niobe mourning her dead children was a model 
theme for elaboration by the student.128 Woman's sorrow for her children 
becomes a resource to be exploited by the rhetorician and literary artist. 
Apparently for the purposes of a lawsuit, Pseudo-Quintilian 
Declamations X portrays the peculiarly powerful sorrow of bereaved 
parents, who have seen all their hopes disappear.129 Although distasteful 
rivalry in grief between husband and wife must be avoided, he asserts that 
it is surely a mother's duty to weep for her child. Eurydice's speech spares 
the reader nothing, displaying many of the features mentioned in pseudo-
Quintilian's description of the mourning mother, such as the desire to 
embrace the dead, the self-mutilation, the lament that the breasts supplied 
nourishment in vain.130 
The treatment of the theme of lamentation, especially that of parents, 
is one in which Statius is particularly expert. The Silvae's epicedia, which 
dominate the collection, are characterised by the language of hyperbole. 
Virgil's pathetic image of pueri innuptaeque puellae, / impositique rogis 
iuvenes ante ora parentum (Aeneid VI 307f) sets a standard for suffering 
which is invariably matched and sometimes surpassed by Statius' 
subjects.131 Atedius Melior, for example, surpasses even parental grief in 
mourning his foster-son and favourite Glaucias, II 1 173ff. Claudius 
Etruscus' sorrow for his aged father demonstrates remarkable pietas, 
comparable to grief over a wife or child, III 3 8ff, 176ff; cf also V 1 218, 
where Priscilla's death equals that of young sons in the sorrow caused her 
husband. 
The law of diminished return constantly threatens Statius; the 
hyperbolical language of grief is easily cheapened. Each epicedion's subject 
(including himself in book V) becomes, temporarily, the archetype of 
mourning; each funeral becomes the ne plus ultra, marked by the same 
heaping up of the symbols of lamentation. II 1, for example, closely 
128Quintilian III 6 49 recommmends practice in it for poets and historians. See Hardie (1983) pl03ff for discussion of the different tradition of the indigenous Roman laudatio funebris; the consolatory verse epistle was also a recognised. rhetorical exercise. Prose 
treatments include the Consolatio ad Marciam. pseudo-Plutarch Ad Apollonium. and Plutarch's Consolatio ad Uxorem. a more personal, emotional work. 129See Sussmann (1987) p125ff: the bereaved mother is greatly comforted by visions of her 
son; her experiences disturb her husband, who consults a sorcerer to have the ghost 
exorcised. Upset by the cessation of the visions, she sues her husband for cruelty. 130Pseudo-Quintilian also suggests that the husband's role is to remain a strong and silent 
minister of comfort; loud mourning is characteristic of women. For a satirical portrait of 
excessive female grief, see the second-century Lucian's IlEpl IIlv6ovs esp 12ff. 131Virgil's image mciy be more subversive of the conventional rhetoric of grief than first 
appears: this is discussed further in chapter seven in the context of baby Opheltes' funeral. 
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parallels _the epic: Glaucias is carried out on a puerile feretrum, 20, cf 
Thebaid VI 55, his pyre piled high with incense; cf anni stantes in limine 
vitae 38 and Thebaid V 535; sidereique orbes etc 42ff and Thebaid IV 793ff, 
V 613ff; no snake would harm Glaucias, 48f. The association with Opheltes 
is even more explicit: the foster-parent is left bereft of comfort, 56ff, amissi 
puerum solacia Bla?si, 200; finally, the overt comparison, talis in 
Isthmiacos prolatus ab aequore portus / naufragus imposita iacuit sub 
matre Palaemon; / sic et in anguiferae ludentem gramine Lernae I 
rescissum squamis avidus bibit ignis Ophelten, 179-82. Both in the Thebaid 
and the Silvae, the search for the archetype of grief is consistently 
undermined; both Polynices and Statius' father deserved funerals greater 
even than Opheltes'. 
The philosophically more correct (because more rational, and more 
masculine) consolatio which Menander considers essential to the rhetoric 
of lamentation features in Statius' Silvae also, eg II 6 pone, precor, questus; 
alium tibi Fata Phileton, / forsan et ipse dabit ... , II 6 103f; compare Thebaid 
VI 50.132 However, "[i]t is worth noting that the three occasions [in the 
Silvae] on which Statius uses the 'primitive' threnodic summons to 
mourn [notably V 3, 5] are all poems mourning a personal loss which 
proceed not to formal consolation ... , but merely to dignified acceptance of 
the loss (cucpT)µta); the consolatory poems contain encouragement to the 
bereaved to mourn, but no formal summons to lamentation."133 Chapters 
four and six consider further Statius' artistic response to his own 
bereavement: in rejecting consolatio, Statius aligns himself on the side of 
the female in the rhetorically-constructed masculine-feminine opposition. 
Adrastus' unsolicited, unheeded speech draws attention to the 
poverty of consolatio in the face of anguish. It serves no purpose but to 
enrage the listeners further. The tragic Adrastus' "frigid eulogies"134 for an 
unrecognisably tame Seven against Thebes in the Suppliant Women 
contrast starkly with the wild lamentations of the Argive women. Even 
the return of their men's corpses (the ciyaAµa cpov(ov of their mothers, 371) 
fail to produce calm; cf Thebaid VI 37ff. The wome~ reduce their assigned 
roles in the life of the city to nothing by doubting the value of producing 
children at all (786-93). This is also the essence of Eurydice's lament, and 
we may compare III 157ff (Ide). Euripides' tragedy actually exceeds 
Athenian law when Theseus forbids the women to approach their dead 
132Surely an echo of Eclogues II 73 (another Alexis) undermines the assurance here. 133Hardie (1983) p105 
134Burian (1985) p14'6 
87 
for fear of provoking more grief (944ff). Lamentation becomes a purely 
private, individual and barren affair as the state takes control over its 
rituals.135 
3.11 quidni ego? Eurydice's lament 
As ·~rms-and-the-man" in the flesh, Andromache perpetually either 
anticipates or bewails her husband's fate. Mourning is her whole destiny: 
the moment of anagnorisis when she hears of Hector's death renders her a 
"more truly tragic" figure than the other women of the Iliad.136 Certain 
phrases elevate Andromache to the status of warrior: for example, on 
hearing of the disaster, she falls like a soldier in battle.137 In the Iliad at 
least, far from manifesting an all-consuming helplessness, the vehemence 
of female grief endows the bereaved with the attributes of the warrior. 
Through public lamentation, woman attains a measure of heroic status.138 
The sound and fury of Eurydice's speech suggest at first that she is 
similarly endowed with autonomous, heroic power: "Versibus qui 
sequuntur, poeta nobis ad oculos demonstrat quid furens genetrix 
possit. "139 The speech is prefaced by several quasi-dramatic features. In 
anticipation of the queen's 'entrance', the baby's bier is brought out amid 
fero clamore by chosen youths, and all involved take their places around 
it. Her arrival is then announced by, as it were, a stage direction, u t 
primum egressa penates 135, by the typically tragic gesture of the bared 
breast, 136, and finally by prefatory wailings, longis praefata ulu"latibus, 137 
and the deliberate infit.140 This careful scene-setting in anticipation of 
speech is anomalous in the Thebaid. 
Eurydice's first outburst expresses the peculiar grief of those 
unexpectedly bereaved: 'non hoe, Argolidum eoetu cireumdata matrum I 
speravi te, nate, sequi, nee talia demens / fingebam votis annorum 
135Burian (1985) p152; Holst-Warhaft (1992) p169. However, Theseus cannot prevent the 
E~igoni from seeking vengeance, or !phis and Evadne from seeking to join their dead. 
1 6segal (1971) p33 
137segal (1971) p43. Cf Redfield (1975) p120: "A woman cannot be a hero, but she can be the 
mother of heroes. Her participation in combat in therefore vicarious. When the warrior 
'has killed his man in battle, his mother would joy in her heart', Iliad VI 481 "(Hector's 
wish for himself and Hecuba). 
138see Monsacre (1984) p181ff, Holst-Warhaft (1992) p108ff. I briefly consider 
Andromache in Greek and Roman tragedy in chapter four. 
139fortgens (1934) on 125ff. 
l40See Murnagharf (1987) for the power of the body's rhetoric of lamentation, and 
Euripides' special irt1erest in the pathology of grief, p35. 
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elementum- tuorum / nil saevum reputans .. .' 138-40)41 Certain elements 
make Opheltes' death particularly painful for his mother. He is, she 
claims, the first victim of the slaughter to come, fallen even before battle 
has been joined, 'primitias egomet lacrimarum et caedis acerbae I ante 
tubas ferrumque tuli ... ' 146f. primitias lacrimarum et caedis acerbae 
translates Archemorus, cf per ego haec primordia belli, / cui peperi 171f: 
Eurydice herself construes her loss in aetiological terms.142 Whereas the 
Seven interpret the child's fate with regard to their own destiny ('heu 
nostri signatus nomine fati,' V 738), Eurydice focuses on the tears shed by 
the bereaved. 
The Thebaid presents many archetypes and paradigms of maternal 
grief, the search for which reaches almost infinitely far back into the 
Theban past; many variations on Eurydice's lament appear throughout 
the poem.143 Like Eurydice, Menoeceus' mother laments the mors 
immatura of her puer inclyte (X 793ff).144 Both victims are unique: 
Opheltes dies because destiny has marked him out as Archemorus; 
Menoeceus dies as the generis novissimus viperei, X 613f)45 Menoeceus' 
mother in particular recalls another nameless grieving woman, the 
mother of Euryalus, "the only mortal mother who figures in [Virgil's] 
long epic of father and sons", Aeneid IX 473ff.146 These women have no 
identity outside motherhood, and have spent their lives in nurturing 
their children only to see them die, Aeneid IX 481ff; Thebaid X 796f. 
Consistently, women's lamentation in Homer focuses not on the 
dead warrior's glory, but on personal loss and peril. Thetis laments her 
141Fortgens (1934) ad loc compares Aeneid XI 152, 'non haec, o Palla, dederas promissa 
parenti' (Evander). He notes also that speravi is often equivalent to exspectavi, cf Aeneid 
IV 419. 
142vessey (1973) p195 nl 
143constraints of space make it impossible to discuss these fully. Note for example how 
Statius denies Atalanta the opportunity to grieve over Parthenopaeus: her dying boy 
concludes book IX w:ith his own lament; Dymas is strangely maternalised in his desire to 
recover Parthenopaeus' body, X 414ff, 423ff; finally, as in the Phoenician Women. Oedipus 
rather than Jocasta utters a lament over the bodies of his sons in a display of tarda pietas, XI 605. 
144Vessey (1973) p123f: he notes that "Needless to say, she has ,no prototype in Euripides." 
In the Phoenician Women. Menoeceus was reared by Jocasta herself. For more detailed 
analysis see Williams (1972) ad loc. Sophocles' Antigone 1303 calls this figure Eurydice. 
Possibly Statius withholds the name to avoid confusion; possibly he deliberately intends 
the association with Opheltes' mother. 
. 
145Hardie (1993b) p64 notes Menoeceus' uniqueness in this epic of Oedipal twins. 
146As noted by Williams (1972), who also compares Dido, and Hecuba in Metamorphoses 
XIII 494ff. Cf Lee (1~79) pl13: "[Euryalus' mother] is given an effective scene, based on but hardly equaling that.given Andromache in the Iliad." Cf Highet (1972) p153-5: her lament is "far less restrained and closer to insanity than its chief extant model, the lament of Andromache." On wo.men's relative silence in the Aeneid see Lee (1979) p113ff. 
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bereaved sondition before Achilles' death, Iliad XVIII 52-64. Formulaic 
phrasing links the laments of Andromache, Hecuba and Helen.147 Each 
woman focuses on her own suffering: premature widowhood, the fate of 
her child and the threat of enslavement;148 loss of a favourite son; loss of a 
friend and protector. When Hector dies, the city dies with him, but the 
women mourn his loss to them personally; the classical funeral oration 
overturns this rhetoric to glorify the warrior who falls in defence of the 
city.149 
Euryalus' and Menoeceus' mothers reverse the pattern of the 
epitaphios logos, the laudatio funebris and the consolatio by rebuking 
their sons for abandoning them (crudelis, Aeneid IX 483; saeve, Thebaid X 
802) in an inversion of the heroic perspective on death.150 Euryalus' 
mother asks the Rutulians to kill her out of pietas, Aeneid IX 493f:151 
ironically, her anger is displaced away from her son's killer onto her son 
and herself. The supremely Roman, heroic and masculine virtue is 
translated by this grieving woman as 'pity' .1s2 This special sense of pietas 
is crucial for Statius' portrayal of the suppliant women of book XII, where 
the word beomes almost synonymous with dementia, the virtue of which 
the bereaved have most need.153 
The infant Opheltes takes the trope of mors immatura to an extreme, 
cf 'his in finibus aevi,' 141, (also prima ad limina vitae, V 535). Eurydice's 
words at 146-8 must be read "ironice":154 her son has fallen like a soldier as 
the first victim in a war with which his family had nothing to· do, and in 
which he was too young to participate anyway. Eurydice reserves her 
fiercest irony for herself and Hypsipyle, 146-59: 
' .... dum deside cura 
credo sinus fidos altricis et ubera mando. 
quidni ego? narrabat servatum fraude parentem 
insontesque manus. en! quam ferale putemus 
abiurasse sacrum et Lemni gentilibus unam 
immunem foriis! haec illa - et creditis ausae! -
haec pietate potens. solis abiecit in arvis 
147Segal (1971) p35: Iliad XXIV 722f, 746f, 760f, 776. . 
148See Redfield (1975) p120 for the implications of this fate; it becomes Hypsipyle's fate 
too, as chapter four will show. 
149Cf the public laudatio funebris, Hardie (1983) p104. 
150Lee (1979) p114: the greatest problem of Virgil's women is their lack of a "sense of 
mission". 
151Cf Eurydice's rush towards the pyre, Thebaid VI 35f. 
152Again see Lee (1_979) p114: extraordinarily, he calls this "the most - I think the only -
~roblematic use of p,.ietas in the poem." 
53See Burgess (1971) and (1972) for discussion. 
154fortgens (1934) a"'tt loc. 
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non regem dominumve, alienos impia partus, 
hoe fantum, silvaeque infamis tramite liquit, 
quern non anguis atrox (quid enim hac opus, ei mihi, leti 
mole fuit?) tantum caeli violentior aura 
impulsae Noto frondes cassusque valeret 
exanimare timor .. .' 
90 
Eurydice's hoe tantum (155) recalls Tydeus' quanti pro funeris ultor, V 674, 
with a new bitterness, "magna cum acerbitate".155 Tydeus suggests that the 
sacrifice of the army's saviour is too high a price for the death of a baby. 
Eurydice ironically turns his words around: the wickedness of Hypsipyle's 
action is intensified by the vulnerability of her tiny infant victim. 
Eurydice displays the same belligerence as Lycurgus and the Seven. 
Much of the lament is taken up with the rhetoric of revenge in the 
confused search for a guilty party.156 First, Eurydice complains that the 
gods have declared war on her family, eui superum nostro eommittere 
sanguine pugnas / dulce? quis hoe armis vovit seelus? 143f; cf fixum matri 
immotumque manebat / hae altriee nefas, 160f.157 However, Eurydice's 
assignation of blame is far from clear-cut. Although she vindicates the 
Seven by accepting the disaster as predetermined,158 she does not absolve 
its agent: the unnamed Lemnian nurse becomes the focus for vengeful 
anger. Hypsipyle is attacked for deceit and cruelty, the defining 
characteristics of the Lemnian women, 149ff.159 Eurydice suggests that the 
nurse devised the unnecessarily cruel circumstances of the baby's death, 
155-7; yet the anguis atrox in the sinister wood is precisely the sign that the 
baby's fate has been determined by higher powers. 
fraus is a key concept in reading the Nemean episode, and it appears 
twice in this passage. Once it appears in Eurydice's attack on Hypsipyle, 
'narrabat servatum fraude parentem / insontesque manus,' 149f. The 
l55fortgens (1934) ad loc. The speech is full of the language of 'quantification', considered 
further in chapter seven. 
156compare Pluto's ·reaction to Amphiaraus' incursion into his kingdom, VIII 34ff; he 
assumes his brother Jupiter is making war. Holst-Warhaft (1992) eh 1 notes the twin 
dangers lamentation poses to civic ideology. It can incite vendetta beyond state or familial 
control; also, because it focuses on the demoralising pain of loss, it threatens the state's 
ability to recruit the troops needed for battle. 
157For crx1:T>.Laaµ6s against the gods see also Menander. dulce is a problematic word in the 
episode, describing a baby's tears, the pleasures of nostalgic narration, and the sight of a 
warrior host. 
158Hypsipyle holds them partly to blame, et tacite maerentibus imput~t undas, V 637. 
Had there been no expedition, there would have been no need for water, cf Ahl (1986) 
f.2887; also VI 43f. . 
59Thus Bacchus' granddaughter is identified with and embodies the schemes of the 
hidden god. For Rofuan suspicions that nurses held morally pernicious power over their 
charges see Aulus G~llius XII 1 17ff and Quintilian I 1 4f. 
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complex <:._oncluding simile implicitly compares Opheltes to a primo 
fraudatum lacte iuvencum, 186. Thus Hypsipyle's Lemnian deeds (or 
tales) and the loss of Opheltes are associated with Bacchus' activities in 
Nemea, nectam fraude moras, IV 677, of which Eurydice knows nothing. 
Most bitter to Eurydice's mind is the realisation that Hypsipyle has 
usurped her position as mother to Opheltes, 161-7;160 her anger is caused 
by jealousy as much as the pain of loss. Eurydice denies Hypsipyle the right 
to participate in her grief, socium indignata dolorem, 179.161 Her vengeful 
desire that others should feel the same pain as herself connects her with 
several other figures in the epic. Having associated her child's death with 
the war against Thebes ('at tua nondum, / Cadme, domus, nullus Tyrio 
grege plangitur in/ans,' 144£), she asks the Seven 'sic aequa gemant mihi 
funera matres / Ogygiae,' 172f.162 Eurydice seeks to displace her pain onto 
other mothers: the wish betrays woman's complicity in war's 
suffering. We may compare the complaint of Menoeceus' mother, X 795-
801: 
'quod molita nefas, cui tantum invisa deorum? 
non ego monstrifero coitu revoluta novavi 
pignora, nee nato peperi funesta nepotes. 
quid refert? potitur natis Iocasta ducesque 
regnantesque vidit: nos saeva piacula hello 
demus, ut alterni - placet hoe tibi, fulminis auctor -
Oedipodionii mutent diademata fratres!' 
There is an obvious suggestion of the fratricidal brothers in ·Eurydice's 
words at VI 174-6: 'reddite, nee vero crudelem avidamque vocate / 
sanguinis: occumbam pariter, dum vulnere iusto / exsaturata oculos, 
unum impellamur in ignem '.163 Moreover, the sight of two women 
contending over the right to mourn the dead anticipates the rivalry of 
Argia and Antigone in XII: both women would gladly die to obtain their 
160cf X 805-9: Menoeceus' devotio proves that he has nothing of his mother in him, de 
matre nihil. VI 161ff and Hypsipyle's role in Opheltes' fate , are considered further in 
chapter four. Bradley (1986) discusses the social position of wet-nurses in Roman families; 
often an alien-born slave of inferior status, the nutrix indeed performed the role of mother, 
and "symbolic comforter figure ... telling stories to her offspring, rocking the cradle and 
singing the child to sleep" towards her charge, p220ff; see Plutarch de lib. educ. V. 
161 For lamentation as a defining and exclusive ritual see Alexiou (1974) part 1 eh 1. 
162See Vessey (1973) p195 nl. Note again the recurrence of the significant name Ogygi.ae. 163Cf Tydeus' demand to Eteocles, 'reddes', ingeminat, 'reddes,' II 452f, Polynices' prayer at 
XI 506-8 'piabo manus et eodem pectora ferro / rescindam, dum me moriens hie sceptra 
tenentem I linquat et rhunc secum portet minor umbra dolorem '; the warring brothers cannot 
even share a pyre, XJ.;I 429ff. 
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desires. P~ynices and Eteocles fight over nuda potestas, I 150; finally, their 
women fight over bare corpses . 
. Unavenged, Eurydice finds the huge funeral merely inania iusta, 
168f. The concluding simile is a pathetic picture of isolation and 
powerlessness, 185-92: 
sic ait abruptisque itnrnutuit ore querellis: 
non secus ac primo fraudatum lacte iuvencum, 
cui trepidae vires et solus ab ubere sanguis, 
seu fera seu duras avexit pastor ad aras; 
nunc vallem spoliata parens, nunc flumina questu, 
nunc armenta movet vacuosque interrogat agros; 
tune piget ire domum, maestoque novissima campo 
exit et oppositas impasta avertitur herbas. 
The extended simile from the animal world has a long history in epic; this 
example also recalls women like lo and Europa, two of the Thebaid's 
paradigms of suffering.164 
The different responses to Opheltes' death in Thebaid V-VI evoke 
and interpret the pattern of the wider Theban narrative. Creon's denial of 
burial to the Argive dead and to Polynices as Thebes' chief enemy prompts 
the concluding actions of the epic, which combines tragedy's Argive and 
Theban perspectives. It is in book VI rather than book XII that Statius 
invites comparison with Theseus' commands in the Suppliant Women 
942££. Book XII narrates the supplication of Theseus at Athens by 
mourning women en masse, and the nocturnal aristeia of Antigone and 
Argia, " 'Andromache' and 'Juturna', joined in Humanity's 
Sisterhood. "165 More than that, in these two women motherhood, 
sisterhood and wifehood meet in all their Theban confusion. Their co-
operative action challenges the rationale of male authority which claims 
that distinctions may be drawn between the dead. More than that, it 
disregards the division of humanity into friend and foe as Argive and 
Theban women come together to mourn. 
Statius confesses his inability to cope with the spectacle of 
indiscriminate lamentation and thereby to 'close' his story, XII 797-807:166 
164Europa, Thebaid I 5 etc; lo, VI 276f.; see Davis (1993). Chapter four discusses further the 
~uasi-metamorphosis of the bereaved into animals. 
65Henderson (1991) p55f 
· 166Henderson (1991) p61: "Our sockets sense the gap between human experience and cultural 
practice in the poem's final paralipsis of (infinite) grief: the entire text, twelve 
accomplished books; has not not voiced the grief it must gesture to defer, it offers itself up 
as the strangled 'mutation' of what beggars description, it is the flip-side of Arma 
virumque, the Valorrsation of Valour, located as its blinding other, 'The Body in Pain'." 
11 
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-· non ego, centena si quis mea pectora laxet 
voce deus, tot busta simul vulgique ducumque, 
tot pariter gemitus dignis conatibus aequem: 
turbine quo sese caris impleverit audax 
ignibus Evadne fulmenque in pectore magno 
quaesierit; quo more iacens super oscula saevi 
corporis infelix excuset Tydea coniunx; 
ut saevos narret vigiles Argia sorori; 
Arcada quo planctu genetrix Erymanthia clamet, 
Arcada, consumpto servantem sanguine vultus, 
Arcada, quern geminae pariter flevere cohortes. 
93 
Note the piling-up in the last lines of terms for female familial relations, 
coniunx, sorori, genetrix, precisely those which become utterly confused in 
Thebes. Balancing these three relational terms is the plangent triple 
anaphora Arcada .. Arcada ... Arcada. These triples exceed and so break the 
curse of the Theban double; they also testify to the poet's inability to find 
adequate words of closure for his epic of loss and failure.167 
In book VI Eurydice bathetically ceases her solo aristeia of 
lamentation without gaining her object of revenge; book XII suggests that 
woman gains power over man only through combined action. In contrast, 
Statius portrays the Seven as individual embodiments of virtus; rarely are 
they conceived as an anonymous fighting machine, and when they fail, 
they fail singly and spectacularly. In chapter four I examine the 
contrastingly powerful discourse of another solitary (but spectacular) 
woman, Eurydice's rival, Hypsipyle. The Thebaid's women apparently 
find co-operation a good deal easier than its men - for good or ill.168 
Hypsipyle's Lemnian tale offers an antitype both to the epic's tableaux of 
one woman alone and impotent in grief, and to the power of anonymous 
women co-operating in suffering, a horror-story of named and nameless 
women banded together not to lament, but to kill. 
The last phrase is the title of Scarry (1985), who examines war's penetrative effect on the human body. 
167Newman (1986) p234 argues that Statius exceeds even Virgil in denying the value of 
war; p236f "The The_baid is, in the last analysis, what Bowra said of the Aeneid. an epic 
about failure writtert from the point of view of the failed." 168 Ahl (1986) p2890"' 
I, 
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CHAPTER FOUR: 
PULCHRO IN MAERORE 
Hypsipyle as story-teller in Thebaid V 
4.1 Diva potens nemorum: the forest as female space 
94 
Thebaid IV 746-52 reworks the· substance of the prologue to the 
Hypsipyle, over which Dionysus exerts a powerful influence: in several 
ways the trilogy to which it belongs anticipates the Bacchae. Fragments 
indicate that at its commencement, Hypsipyle explains her identity, and 
history, and her relationship to the baby she cradles. She also explains her 
kinship with the god who leads the dance on Parnassus, fr 752 N. Her 
Lemnian origins, and her identity as Dionysus' granddaughter make her a 
doubly alien and dangerous figure in Nemea; her speech fulfils by proxy 
the function of the divine rhesis often favoured by Euripides. This chapter 
examines the Dionysiac element in Statius' portrayal of Hypsipyle. 
Significantly, her initial appearance is reduced from narrative 
monologue to silent tableau, 739ff: 
tandem inter silvas - sic Euhius ipse pararat -
errantes subitam pulchro in maerore tuentur 
Hypsipylen; illi quamvis et ad ubera Ophetes 
non suus, Inaehii proles infausta Lyeurgi, 
dependet - negleeta eomam nee dives amietu -
regales tamen ore notae, nee mersus aeerbis 
exstat honos ... 
No explanation of her mysterious presence or miserable countenance is 
given; even her name is unknown to the Seven until V 39; she is 
identified only by her beauty, her sadness and the ubera that nurse the 
child. Likewise, the child's identity is shared with the reader but withheld 
from the strangers. The omniscient epic narrator has already contracted to 
narrate the baby's fate by imparting his nomen-omen Archemorus and 
giving him the epithet sacrum, IV 718ff. However, the essential facts of 
Hypsipyle's identity, that she is both a woman of Lemnos and a 
granddaughter of Bacchus their enemy, are withheld from the Seven. In 
turn, they cannot identify her: the error of identification and 
interpretation made by Adrastus (cf IV 650 for their spatial error) thereby 
gains a measure of quasi-tragic irony. This chapter explores the difficulties 
Statius imposes on any straightforward identification of Hypsipyle and any 
definitive interpretation of her discourse. In keeping with the Dionysiac 
.. ..,. 
ii 
I 
i I 
I I 
11 
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spirit oi metamorphosis and multiplicity, many genres and modes combine in the composition of her character. 
The Seven seek only one interpretation of the sight before them, that is, one which will serve their heroic purposes. The stupefactus Adrastus is quick to assess the spectacle, and act upon his conclusions, 753-60: 
'Diva potens nemorum (nam te vultusque pudorque mortali de stirpe negant) [quae laeta sub isto igne poll non quaeris aquas,] succurre propinquis gentibus; Arquitenens seu te Latonia casto de grege transmisit thalamis, seu lapsis ab astris non humilis fecundat amor (neque enim ipse deorum arbiter Argolidum thalamis novus), aspice maesta agmina .. .' 
He assumes that the female being before him belongs in the environment in which she is presently found, and connects her in a maternal relation to the child she is nursing. Moreover, if not Diana herself, she must be a follower of that goddess; in any case, she appears able to meet the army's pressing need for water.I 
Artemis/Diana, the goddess predominantly associated with wild spaces and the forest, is the female 'double' of Dionysus/Bacchus.2 In the Thebaid, Diana 'appears' (at one remove) shortly before the Nemean digression, in the sinister grove in which Eteocles holds his necromantic rituals, IV 425-33: 
nee caret umbra deo: nemori Latonia cultrix 
additur; hanc piceae cedrique et robore in omni effictam sanctis occultat silva tenebris. huius inaspectae luco stridere sagittae 
nocturnique canum gemitus, ubi limina patrui 
effugit inque novae melior redit ora Dianae; aut ubi fessa iugis, dulcisque altissima somnos lux movet, hie late iaculis circum undique fixis effusam pharetra cervice, excepta quiescit. 
This passage ties together several of the many aspects of the goddess; it reveals that the silvan shadows around her (428) can be both sacred and sinister. 
1Chapters two and three noted the prominence of the nymph Nemea; the British Museum gem 524 shows Nemea offering Hercules a jar of water following his conquest of the Lion. I suggest that this pictµre precisely expresses the Seven's idealised, heroicised reading of the situation in Nemeyi. 
2see Burkert (1985) p222f; from the Homeric hymns onwards, the two deities share the woods as their dwelliii:g. 
96 
She __ is guardian and protectress of the woods, cultrix 425.3 Her 
protective role extends to women in childbirth in her manifestation as 
Lucina, who brings the infant into the lux of day, while as Diana 
nemorensis she inhabits the dark, mysterious lucus.4 Although as Diana 
the goddess is perpetually a virgin, she is also identified with the Great 
Mother, who embodies an all-embracing, even voracious maternality.5 
This double identity finds correlation in the goddess' habitation: the 
woods are 'virgin forest' beyond human penetration, and also enclosed, 
protective, and womb-like.6 
Paradoxically, Diana is also a goddess of death. Thebaid IV 425ff 
describes her hunting, and the nocturnique canum gemitus evokes her 
infernal incarnation as Hecate, 428f. Thus the protective goddess may also 
act cruelly. nemori Latonia cultrix IV 425 closely echoes Aeneid IX 405: 
Nisus, trapped in the woods, prays to the astrorum decus et nemorum 
Latonia custos, but fails to save himself and Euryalus: in fact, the 
moonlight betrays them, 373f. They trespass upon Diana's physical and 
temporal spheres, and are ruthlessly punished.7 
The paradigmatic myth of Diana's potential for cruelty is the story of 
Theban Actaeon. Found in Callimachus' Hymns III and V, Ovid's 
treatment of it in Metamorphoses III trades on the associations between 
woods and metamorphosis. Actaeon's tragedy is also alluded to at Thebaid 
III 201ff, in association with the fate of Niobe's children and of Dirce, 
whose importance to Euripides' trilogy was noted in chapter three. Dirce 
appears among a list of rivers at Metamorphoses II 239. This is her only 
appearance in Ovid and her first in Latin literature, although the adjective 
Dircaeus is virtually a synonym for 'Theban';8 the story of her mutation is 
not part of Ovid's narrative.9 Statius recalls and supplements Ovid's poem 
(with material from a tragic source?) by alluding to her metamorphosis 
into a lake; again the other allusions to Niobe and Dirce bring to the fore 
the tragic mater ·dolorosa theme. 
3Cf Horace Odes III 22 1 montium custos nemorumque virgo, and the more sinister epiphanies of Aeneid IX. 
. 4See OLD and Ahl (1985) under LUC- for examples from the Metamorphoses. 5Cf Catullus LXIII 9, 12: the mater Cybele inhabits the alta nemora of Ida; Aeneid IX 77££ celebrates the redemptive aspect of her cult. 
6See Segal (1969) and Harrison (1992) eh 1. 7 Cf Aeneid VII 475££: the killing of Silvia's pet stag in the woods initiates war; this echoes Artemis' vengeance for Agamemnon's transgression before the Trojan war. 8Bomer (1969) ad loc compares Amphion Dircaeus in Actaeo Aracyntho Eclo&ue II 24. 9The broad outline 1s given by Hyginus 8 with the Antiope fr 48: Lycus must throw his wife's ashes into 1*es' spring; it will then be named after her and water the plains. It proves significant fot Hypsipyle that Dirce the maenad-mother becomes a source of water. 
97 
The_beginning of the Ovidian Actaeon narrative is echoed in Thebaid 
IV 431-3. Catastrophe befalls Actaeon when per nemus ignotum non certis 
passibus errans he sees Diana resting from the hunt at noon, Metamorphoses III 155ff.10 When the Seven wander into the Nemean 
woods, Adrastus explicitly compares Hypsipyle to Diana. The echoes of 
Theban myth give this unexpected encounter with the woman in the 
woods an edge of danger. 
Moreover, Hypsipyle is beautiful. The forest has always been the 
locus of erotic encounter since Odysseus' stay with Calypso, Odyssey V 63ff 
and his meeting with Circe, X 145-50; the beautiful Circe is a particularly 
threatening incarnation of erotic and metamorphic power combined. Circe 
and Calypso both become forces for delaying Odysseus from his legitimate 
nostos, as their erotic and/ or metamorphic attractions keep the hero 
within their own sphere of influence. Through Ovid's reworking of the 
Circe episode in Metamorphoses XIV 254ff, Hypsipyle may be even more 
closely connected with the theme of mora. Ovid's Circe delays her visitors 
for a year, while her maid sings an inset, 'digressive' song, 353ff. 
When Hermes visits Calypso in Odyssey V, he finds her on her 
remote island in her cave surrounded by a wood, triply secluded from the 
world of men. Euripides' Hypsipyle is another island-dwelling woman, fr I 
ii 26 ciyxLa.AoLo A11µvou. The adjective suggests a place on or near the coast, 
as in Iliad II 640 and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo 32. Sophocles' Ajax 134f 
couples the epithet with ciµ<f>(puTos, 'sea-girt', as used at Odyssey I 50 of 
Calypso's island.11 Statius' Hypsipyle describes Lemnos' remoteness, 
Aegaeo premitur circumflua Nereo / Lemnos, V 49f: circumflua 
corresponds to ciµ<f>(puTos .12 In all these passages, the epithets create a sense 
of the remote and strange. We may compare the sense of alienation and 
fear expressed by Simonides' Danae, cast adrift with Perseus on the stormy 
sea in pitch darkness, civcµ6s Tt [µw] TTvtwv I KLVT)Oc1crd TE >..(µva 8dµan, 
PMG fr 543 3f; the sea is an aµETpov KaK6v 22.13 Hypsipyle is doubly alien to 
the Thebaid landscape, a woman of Lemnos adrift in a forest. 
4.2 One into two into one: Hypsipyle, Camilla and Atalanta 
1Dfor the association of Actaeon and his cousin Pentheus in their fates, see Segal (1969) p18, 44ff after Parry (1964) p272ff; also Harrison (1992) p23ff. Both are punished by divine agents for seeing what they should not; their metamorphoses literally dissolve their human identities. 
11See Jebb (1869) on Ajax 134f. 
12.contrast Adrastu/ hopeful succurre propinquis / gentibus, N 756f. 13This fragment is di&:ussed further below. 
98 
The~ land surrounded by sea appropriately symbolises the dangers of 
encounter with the female; Lemnos is an extreme case of absolute female 
power and absolute male helplessness. The Bacchae creates a Theban 
analogue in the wooded wilderness of Cithaeron.14 Pentheus imagines 
that this region offers erotic licence to women who have abandoned the 
restraints of marriages and children; however, the maenads are also 
uncannily maternal figures, suckling the wild creatures.IS The Theban 
women abandon their own families to take up and suckle the wild 
creatures; separated from her own family, Hypsipyle is now rearing 
another's child. Chapter one noted the association between Dionysus and 
liquid abundance. In both drama and epic Hypsipyle leads the thirsty 
troops to water; furthermore, in Statius she actually embodies this 
miraculous abundance. Although her sons are grown up, she is still able 
to provide milk for Opheltes, et ubera parvo / iam materna dabam, cui 
nunc venit inritus orbae / lactis et infelix in vulnera Iiquitur imber, 
Thebaid V 617-9, cf Hypsipyle fr I ii 5. Hypsipyle and Opheltes' two-in-
aneness carry further Dionysiac overtones. Bacchus is never alone; his 
followers identify with him to the extent that they bear his name. 
Hypsipyle is the god's granddaughter; chapter five shows how closely 
Opheltes is connected imagistically to the god, who from Homer onwards 
is associated with his maenad-nurses, Iliad VI 13Qff.16 
The Metamorphoses builds on the Bacchae's symbolism: the sphere 
of the inviolable Virgin Goddess is also the location of erotic encounter. 
Many episodes in the Metamorphoses narrate the triumph of violence 
over a fragile innocence; inevitably out of this sexual violence children are 
born.17 Thus the forest embraces virginity, eroticism and motherhood, 
three defining aspects of the female. The Roman symbol of these 
contradictory attributes is Rhea Silvia, vestal virgin, victim of Mars and 
mother of Romulus and Remus.18 Hypsipyle is presented in similar guise: 
sad victim of violence, beautiful forest-nymph and 'mother' of Opheltes. 
Thebaid IV describes another wretched silvan virgin-mother figure, 
Atalanta, mother of Parthenopaeus. Virgil's Cami~la doubles into Statius' 
14See Segal (1982) passim. 
15 See Segal (1982) p59f. 
. 16See Burkert (1985) p162ff. 
17see Parry (1964) p274f; Segal (1969) p8f; Hinds (1987). Also Papanghelis (1989) on the 
erotic silvan twilight of Amores I 5, where the identification of hunter and prey is less certain. · 
18See Serres (1991) p 65f: "Before the founder, his mother" another victim of Rome buried in the "black box" of snence in the histories of Rome's foundation. 
I, 
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mother-~nd-son pair. Camilla and Atalanta are both votaries of Diana 
dwelling in the woods, Aeneid XI 357££, 652, Thebaid IV 309££. Camilla 
escapes marriage and its occupations for the male pursuit of proelia dura 
as a bellatrix (Aeneid VII 805f). Atalanta is famous for her participation in 
the Calydonia proelia, Thebaid IV 267f); in IV 250 she 'pacifies' the woods 
with her bow. Her involuntary culpa (IX 617), inviso quamvis temerata 
cubili (Thebaid IX 613), brought forth Parthenopaeus. Even so, she rejects 
the teretes thyrsos and mollia pensa of wives (IX 614f, cf Aeneid VII 805f) 
and continues to inhabit the woods as a devotee of the goddess. 
Camilla is miraculously fleet-footed, Aeneid VII 807££. Atalanta's 
speed carries her through the Arcadian woods at the news that her son is joining the expedition, IV 311££ (cf Metamorphoses X 560££). 
Parthenopaeus also recalls Camilla, not least in speed; both attract great 
attention for beauty, Aeneid VII 812, Thebaid IV 251. As his name suggests, 
the androgynous Parthenopaeus exhibits the erotic appeal of a young girl; 
his luxuriant hair causes his defeat in the foot-race, VI 607££.19 Such is his 
beauty that Diana actually forgives his mother the 'crime' of his 
conception, IV 258f. 
Statius expands one Virgilian anomaly, a virgin warrior, into a 
unique pair. Atalanta's destiny is inextricably bound up with her son's. He 
bears a representation of her heroic exploit on his shield (IV 267f); she in 
turn makes of him her raison d'etre, 318ff, refusing to release him from 
her pio complexu, 343 to go to war. For her, pietas is redefined as her amor 
maternus: once Parthenopaeus parts from her, she is both mother and no 
mother; on receiving the omens of his death, she prays for a fatal blow to 
her own infelicem uterum, IX 634. Chapter five discusses Opheltes' beauty, 
which closely connects him to Parthenopaeus. The hint of Atalanta in 
Hypsipyle's appearance offers another gloomy prognostication of 
Opheltes' death, which robs the nurse of her defining function. 
4.3 'sed quid ego haec, fessosque optatis demoror undis? 
The hints of divine enchantment in Hypsipyle's appearance prepare 
the reader to recognise perhaps the most literary obvious model, herself a 
collage of many genres, Virgil's Dido.20 Adrastus' comparison of 
Hypsipyle to Diana resonates with Virgilian allusions. The Seven find 
19Schetter (1960) p52-4; Vessey (1973) p201. Parthenopaeus' cloak (Thebaid IV 265, VI 570) 
also recalls Carnill'a, Aeneid VII 814ff. 
20Gotting (1969) p'2ff; Vessey (1973) p169ff 
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Hypsipyte inter silvas errantes (IV 746f); cf Aeneas' introduction of 
himself and his men to Venus in Aeneid I 332f, 'ignari hominum 
locorumque / erramus, vento hue vastis et fluctibus acti. '21 Venus appears 
to the Trojans in the guise of the virgin goddess, virginis os habitumque 
gerens et virginis arma / Spartanae, Aeneid I 315f, cf 327.22 Aeneas at first 
identifies her as Diana, an Phoebi soror? an Nympharum sanguinis una? 
I 326-9. 
When Dido first appears to the Trojans, a complex simile compares 
her to Diana, this time leading the dance but still carrying her quiver, 
Aeneid I 494-504: 
haec dum Dardanio Aeneae miranda videntur, 
dum stupet obtutuque haeret defoms in uno, 
regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido, 
incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva. 
qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi 
exercet Diana choros, quam mille secutae 
hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades; illa pharetram 
fert umero gradiensque deas supereminet omnis 
(Latonae taciturn pertemptant gaudia pectus): 
talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat 
per medios instans operi regnisque futuris. 
Aeneas' reaction to the sight of Dido may be compared to Adrastus' on 
seeing Hypsipyle, stupefactus Thebaid IV 752. The straightforward 
identification of Adrastus with Aeneas and Hypsipyle with Dido is 
complicated by the recollection that in Aeneid I the astonishment of 
meeting is mutual: obstipuit primo aspectu Sidonia Dido, I casu deinde 
viri tanto, Aeneid I 613f. Hypsipyle also exhibits regales notae and honos, 
751f; she still boasts of her royal background, nobis regnum tamen et pater 
ingens 780. When she leads to Seven to water she walks as their dux: pars 
cingunt, pars arta plebe sequuntur / praecelerantque ducem. medium 
subit ilia per agmen / non humili festina modo 805-7. The lines recall 
Dido's anomalous status as a female leader among men, Aeneid I 497, 
503f; the same features mark the description of Diana's follower Camilla, 
Volscorum acie comitante XI 498. Statius offers another version of 'Arms 
and the Woman': Hypsipyle's arms bear not arma, but a baby.23 
Odysseus' supplication of Nausicaa in Odyssey VI provides the model 
for the meetings of both Venus and Dido with Aeneas: the association of 
21Gotting (1969) p53 . 
22Note the rewritin~ of arma virumque. 
23This play on weirds forms the title and shapes the contents of Cooper/ Auslander 
Munich/Squier (198~), a collection of essays on woman and war. 
11 
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Dido an9.- Nausicaa is made explicit by Virgil's reworking of the Artemis 
simile of Odyssey VI 102-9.24 Statius' encounter with Hypsipyle combines 
allusions to all these epic scenes.25 Virgil's hero makes his appeal for help 
assured of his innocence in suffering and the moral validity of his cause, 
Aeneid I 330-4: 
sis felix nostrumque leves, quaecumque, laborem 
et quo sub caelo tandem, quibus orbis in oris 
iactemur doceas: ignari hominumque locorumque 
erramus vento hue vastis et fluctibus acti. 
multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra.' 
He is pius Aeneas (I 378); to Dido, he calls himself Troius Aeneas, Libycis 
ereptus ab undis (I 596). Adrastus casts himself as an Aeneas and the 
unknown Hypsipyle as an amalgam of Venus and Dido, Thebaid IV 759-
67: 
... nos ferro meritas exscindere Thebas 
mens tulit, imbelli sed nunc sitis aspera fato 
submittitque animos et inertia robora carpit. 
da fessis in rebus opem, seu turbidus amnis, 
seu tibi foeda palus; nihil hac in sorte pudendum, 
nil humile est; tu nunc ventis pluvioque rogaris 
pro love, tu refugas vires et pectora bellis 
exanimata reple ... 
Odysseus' comparison of Nausicaa to Artemis is carefully contrived to win 
her goodwill through flattery. Aeneas promises the unknown Venus 
multa tibi ante aras nostra cadet hostia dextra, Aeneid I 334; he also prays 
blessings on Dido, I 607-10. Adrastus likewise promises blessings and 
rewards to Hypsipyle, Thebaid IV 767-71: 
' ... sic hoe tibi sidere dextro 
crescat onus. tantum reduces det flectere gressus 
luppiter, o quanta belli donabere praeda! 
Dircaeos tibi, diva, greges numerumque rependam 
sanguinis, etmagna lucus signabitur ara.' 
The parallels with earlier epic reveal the assumptions underlying 
Adrastus' words, that the Argive war is a justifiable and heroic enterprise, 
and that it is woman's role to minister to the warrior.26 Accustomed to 
24on Dido's generically composite identity see Cairns (1989) eh 6. 25Gotting (1969) p52-5 notes the parallels with Nausicaa and compares Odyssey VI 122-4: Odysseus wonders whether the shrieks he hears are those of nymphs. 26see Henderson (f991) pSO: "for Adrastan Argos, this is a Just War. An obligation to a guest-friend, with "(;od on our Side. And international Law ... ". The deception and 
102 
servitud~, Hypsipyle abandons the opportunity to relate her wretched tale 
to serve the turn of the warriors by bringing them water, 'sed quid ego 
haec? fessosque optatis demoror undis?' 781; her domestic chores are also 
set aside, ne tarda Pelasgis / dux foret, 785f. Here the Virgilian model adds 
ominous undertones: Dido's reception of the Trojans leads not to 
gratitude and celebration but to personal and civic catastrophe.27 
4.4;quid longa malis exordia necto? weaving the web of song 
The mother-and-child pairing is a self-evidently creative bond. 
Chapter three suggested that in epic narrative women attain a measure of 
heroic status through motherhood; correspondingly, the child guarantees 
the continuation of the line, genealogical and narratival. A woman and 
baby make an obvious, self-sufficient and mutually dependent pair, two in 
one. The lament is the familiar literary result when this bond is broken by 
death. Thebaid IV 746ff presents a paradoxical tableau of a grieving woman 
with a baby which invites interpretation by the Seven and the reader. 
When Adrastus first sees Hypsipyle, not being privy to the knowledge that 
Opheltes is non suus, I 749, he assumes that they are mother and son, that 
one story only is presented here. Hypsipyle's story, so constructed by 
Adrastus, is similar to Atalanta's; it accounts for the child but does not 
account for the contradictory elements in her appearance, and it especially 
ignores the wretchedness of her condition. 
After the Argives have been refreshed with water, Adrastus asks 
Hypsipyle for the refreshment of her story, to which she has already 
alluded, IV 776-80: 
'diva quidem vobis, etsi caelestis origo est, 
unde ego? mortales utinam haud transgressa fuissem 
luctibus! altricem mandati cernitis orbam 
pignoris; at nostris an quis sinus uberaque ulla, 
scit deus, et nobis regnum tamen et pater ingens - .. .' 
So far, Statius has presented an enigmatic, even self-contradictory tableau 
of misery. Now, the wretched woman speaks for herself, and at length: her 
song keeps an army spell-bound inter silvas. 
There are many models for woman's dangerously seductive song. 
When Hermes arrives at the beautiful Calypso's cave where she has held 
dissimulation which marks Odysseus is entirely absent from Adrastus; this chapter debates whether it is present with Hypsipyle. 
27 Cf V 637, VI 43£ Note ara magna (671): again, the significant absent model for the encounter is Hercules. 
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Odysseus!. he finds her singing. Circe likewise is heard before she is seen: it 
is her lovely voice, which cannot be identified as mortal or divine (X 255) 
which attracts Odysseus' men. Supremely dangerous among female 
singers are the Sirens, who lure men onto the rocks with promises of the 
whole story of Troy and of events to come.28 
Complementing woman's song is the quintessentially female activity 
of weaving; the woven web is used first in Homer as an analogy for 
song.29 Calypso weaves; Circe is also discovered singing at her loom in 
Odyssey X 221ff: her work is dazzlingly complex and beautiful, as befits a 
daughter of the Sun with the power of metamorphosis. Virgil's Circe also 
sits up late arguto tenuis percurrens pectine telas, Aeneid VII 14.30 Singing 
whiles away the winter night for the woman at the loom, longum cantu 
solatur laborem I arguto coniunx percurrit pectine telas Georgics I 293f. In 
Metamorphoses IV, within the narrative of Bacchus, the daughter of 
Minyas 'spins the yarn' of Pyramus and Thisbe while weaving a series of 
pictures. Moreover, the work may in itself possess narrative potential, by 
ecphrastically depicting a story. Woman's song and woman's work make a 
powerful combination: "She speaks, yet she also has mastery over 
wordless narrative, composed of woven pictures. It is therefore hard to 
deprive woman of her voice - though gods, men, and even goddesses try 
hard to do so." This transformation of domestic chores into narrative 
gives woman a . unique and independent creative voice.31 
The Hypsipyle lays great stress upon the Dionysiac power of music, 
first identified with Hypsipyle his granddaughter. Several Euripidean 
dramas give the rhesis to a divinity; the Hypsipyle opens with Hypsipyle's 
joyful description of the divine head of her family leading his thiasos in 
the forests of Parnassus. Euripides' Hypsipyle is also a singer. Like 
Homer's goddesses, she used to sing at her loom on Lemnos, fr I ii 9ff.32 
Now, she performs her songs as lullabies for the baby; lamentation for 
Lemnos and the-Argo is her favourite theme. Her nostalgic song of the 
Argo gives prominence to Orpheus, the archetypal singer whose Asiatic 
dirge kept the rowers in time, fr I iii 8ff. The fin~l interchange between 
28on the Sirens see Pucci (1979) and (1987) p60, 209-13. Their island appears as a flowery 
meadow. 
29Snyder (1981) 
30for argutum as a quality of sound see Fordyce (1961) on Catullus LXVIII 72; pecten is also 
a plectrum. 
31see Snyder (198Up196, Ahl (1985) p224ff. Now also Segal (1994); the theme is pursued further in chapter sfx. 
32see Bond (1963) on I ii 9ff on the metaphoric use of KpEKELV. 
I 
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mother ap.d sons reveals that after Jason died Orpheus took the twins to 
Thrace and trained Euneus to play the Asiatic cithara and Thoas to fight, fr 
64 98-102. This Dionysiac celebration of music unites the whole trilogy: the 
Antiope provides another set of twins, one trained in music, one in war; 
fraternal strife in the Phoenician Women perverts Dionysus' harmonious 
rites into the bloodthirsty, cacophanous 'joyless dance' of Ares.33 
In the Thebaid also, Hypsipyle's discourse carries strong associations 
with Bacchus. In chapter two I noted the description of the Nemean woods 
themselves as densely 'woven' and the use of weaving imagery to 
introduce the episode. Hypsipyle employs the same imagery of her speech 
as the god uses to announce his delaying strategy nectam fraude moras IV 
677. She employs the figure of weaving to describe her own speech, and to 
suggest its power, quid longa malis exordia necto? / et vos arma vacant 
magnique in corde paratus Thebaid V 36f: her words can hold up a whole 
army. 34 Her speech therefore displays two of the three elements of 
Bacchus' manifesto, nectam moras; I show below that the third and most 
problematic element, fraus is arguably present in her fabula Lemni. 
4.5 pulchro in maerore: on the interpretation of fragments 
fi In many respects Statius' narrative bears a striking resemblance to an 
equally puzzling lyric passage of Simonides. The so-called Danae fragment 
(PMG 543) contains a description of Danae with her baby Perseus inside the 
}..cipva~, and part at least of the mother's lament and prayer for their 
condition.35 The scrap is preserved not primarily for its literary qualities, 
but for its stylistic and metrical peculiarities. As with the Lille Stesichorus, 
the incompleteness of the passage, which captures an unusual and 
relatively minor moment in the story, is its strongest attraction, and 
presents its greatest danger. The reader possessing only this fragment of 
the poem is drawn to complete the story and assign it a generic 
framework, in order to simplify interpretation. Were the full story of 
Danae's and Perseus' fate available, the reader would approach this 
episode in the security of foreknowledge that all will be well; as it is, 
nothing is certain. Once again, even the woman's name does not appear; 
the learned reader supplies the name Danae. 
33See the second stasimon and Arthur (1977); for Zeitlin (1993) p177-9, Dionysus' (musical) 
fower animates and structures the trilogy. 
4Bacchus' .ac.-t,ofl has dire consequences for Minyas' unbelieving daughters, 
Metamorphoses IV389ff. 
35for a text, commentary and bibliography see Rosenmeyer (1991b): I use her translations. 
Ii 
I 
105 
App~aring suddenly inter silvas, Hypsipyle is another pathetic, yet 
tantalising fragment requiring interpretation. Nameless as Simonides' 
'Danae' and Stesichorus' 'Jocasta' as far as the Seven are concerned, her 
identification is secondary to her function as the bringer of water, and 
Adrastus' attempt at identifying this human vestige is based on false 
assumptions about her relation to the child and to her environment. 
Danae is doubly cast adrift, lost in the alien and dangerous environment 
of the stormy sea, and separated from the remainder of her lyric text. 
Hypsipyle too is a victim of rupture on both levels. Once queen on 
Lemnos, she has been spatially and socially displaced into slavery in 
Nemea; moreover, as the previous chapter demonstrated, her story 
belongs to a different mythic cycle. Now Hypsipyle forces her Lemnian tale 
into the Theban epic.36 
Danae is more fortunate than Hypsipyle: she at least has kept her 
baby. The vignette of a mother and baby in peril has obvious sentimental 
appeal: "the first Madonna-painting in Greek literature"37 has been 
admired for its apparent artlessness and psychological realism.38 However, 
the poems' craft may thereby go unappreciated, just as Danae reduces the 
"curiously designed ark" to a "joyless brass-bound box",39 cf AcipvaKL lv 
8m8aAEQ. 1f and lv ci.TEPTTEL 8oupaTL xaAKEoy6µq>4> 8f. On one reading the 
fragment "primarily concerns language, both its power and its weakness. 
The poet sings here about Danae singing about not being listened to. The 
text crackles with the constant tension of attempts at communication and 
the apparent futility of human speech or understanding. Messages are sent 
out into the void, and the intended audience never responds, in word or 
action, within the confines of the fragment."40 
Chapter three discussed the distinctively female characteristics of the 
lament and the various strategies, political and textual, employed to 
silence its disturbing sound. The lullaby is another form of song 
particularly associated with woman and her relation to children. Its aim is 
peculiar, in that a successful lullaby deliberately loses its listener's 
36Williams G (1978) p198: "It was not easy to accommodate the digression, and Statius had to use force." Not so much force, as fraus, perhaps. 37frankel (1975) p315 
38Bowra (1961) p338f 
39Qn the epic connotations of MpvaKL lv BmBa>.lq see Rosemeyer (1991b) p15f: a Mpva~ may be (like the fra6ment itself) "many things at once", eg a funeral chest, a vessel for exposing children, and Deucalion's ark. 
40Rosenmeyer (1991b) pll 
\I 
If 
I 
106 
attention:_its goal is a self-cancelling silence. In any case, the infant listener 
is incapable of a comprehending, coherent response.41 
Danae's lullaby incorporates elements of lament and prayer. The 
sleeping infant never responds, nor does the fragmentary text anticipate 
any help from Zeus, whose title "father" is doubly ironic. Danae's words 
are merely 'overheard' by the reader. Offsetting the misery of her subject-
matter, however, is the pathetic appeal of the Madonna and child tableau. 
The gloomy scenario is shot through with flashes of colour: the child's 
beautiful face shines in the darkness, wrapped in a purple blanket, 13f.42 
Hypsipyle appears, like Danae, pulchro in maerore. Thebaid IV-V 
offer another lament-cum-lullaby once heard only by a baby, then heard 
almost accidentally by the Argive army. Hypsipyle's Lemnian narrative is, 
as befits its frame, exceptionally complex, and also highly self-conscious. 
Just as Danae's unhappiness brings pleasure through Simonides' art, 
Hypsipyle's Lemnian horror-story offers recreation and refreshment to the 
Seven, and to herself: she is her own most faithful audience. However, 
her fabula Lemni also brings death to the baby whom it once soothed to 
sleep. 
4.6 dulce loqui miseris veteresque reducere questus 
Chapter three argued that the Hypsipyle allows its women characters 
limited vocal participation in a dialectic which Statius' epic denies. In the 
drama, Hypsipyle's voice is chiefly employed in venting her nostalgic 
misery: her thoughts constantly return to the past. In the rhesis she traces 
her origins back to Dionysus (lff), cf epic Hypsipyle's claim to a caelestis 
origo Thebaid IV 776. She is full of endless words (9) about the bitterness of 
exile and slavery; compare her complaint to Adrastus, 'mortales utinam 
haud transgressa fuissem / luctibus! altricem mandati cernitis orbam / 
pignoris .. .', IV 777-9, V 38f.43 Throughout the drama she tells and retells 
the Argo storY: She rejects the chorus' attempts to describe the 
approaching Argive army, fr I ii, preferring the story of the arrival of the 
41 The Latin in fans precisely suggests 'not speaking', "unable to participate in verbal exchange"; Rosenmeyer (1991b) p12; the term is applied to Opheltes at Thebaid VI 39. 420n Simonides' pathos see Rosenmeyer (1991b) pS; she notes Catullus XXXVIII 7f paulum quid lubet allocutionis I maestius lacrimis Simonideis, and Horace Odes II 1 37f sed ne relictis, Musa procax iocis I Ceae retractes munera neniae, and the praise of Quintilian X 1 64 for Simonides' in commovenda miseratione virtus. Simonides was doubtless part of Statius' Greek heritaj;e also. 43Zeitlin (1993) p176 and n56 compares the Antiope, in which the heroine is made miserable by her cruei mistress. 
jl 
I 
I 
107 
Argonau~ on Lemnos, fr I iii 1-14. Someone else may accompany the 
Argives with shouts of joy; the return of the ship would be a more 
welcome sight, 14ff. Later, Hypsipyle has a chance to tell her tale to 
Amphiaraus, after he shares the story of the expedition against Thebes, fr 
4.44 The Nemean episode itself is Statius' most obvious example of stories 
within stories. 
The chorus' attempts at consolation through mythological exempla 
are 'corrected' by Hypsipyle's own ironic interpretation of a happy ending: 
Procris died at her husband's hands, but at least she had someone to 
lament her. Hypsipyle herself has no-one to perform the ritual y6os in 
memory of her n6vous fr I iv.45 The Homeric term suggests that she 
regards her sufferings as worthy of an epic hero, and worthy of epic 
commemoration: she favours a µ01.os from a lyric muse, to the 
accompaniment of Calliope. The name recalls Orpheus, Calliope's son and 
musician-sailor on the Argo, whom Hypsipyle has already mentioned in 
her description of the ship's arrival, in which he sings a mournful song, 
liitos l."A£yos, fr I iii 9, possibly to the lyre; the E>,Eyos was by Euripides' time 
a lament for the dead.46 Hypsipyle apparently cannot escape the song of 
mourning, which Orpheus embodies. 
In the rhesis Hypsipyle places her hope of salvation and freedom in 
the baby she is nursing. Her relation to Opheltes is intimate (she has been 
his wet-nurse, fr I ii 5, 60 12) and very affectionate: Euripides apparently 
creates an unprecedented picture of domestic sentimentality, with 
Hypispyle cradling the child and soothing him with a rattle, d.OupµaTa, fr Ii 
2. 47 He is her surrogate son; his death simultaneously recalls, amplifies 
and compensates for the loss of her sons, ov in' lµa1crtv ciyKa.AatS / TTA'flV 
ou TEKoucra Ta.AA.a -y' ws lµov TEKvov I crTEpyoucr' Eq>Epf3ov, W<PfAT]µ' lµol µlya 
fr 60 lOff. 
The baby fulfils another function for the exiled slave: he is an 
audience for her -songs. Fr I ii appears to be a monody interspersed with 
addresses to the child, whose beauty is part of the subject-matter. Hypsipyle 
44To these tragic stories-within-stories we may compare the elegiac Callimachus' Victoria Beren ices. 
45Cf Antigone's rejection of different types of lamentation as inadequate for her sufferings, Phoenician Women 1498ff: Bond (1963) argues ad loc that the contrast Hypsipyle draws is between woes shared through lamentation and woes left unlamented. 46Page (1936) p209, in a discussion of elegy; the mournfulness cannot be related to the later Eurydice story. Orpheus is involved in the Argo saga from the sixth century onwards; see Pr,1hians IV 176. See lhe full study by Guthrie (1935) esp eh 3. 4 This provokes thei"distaste of Morel (1964) p234: "An solchen Hausrat auf der attischen Schaubiihne kann ich nicht glauben." 
11 
11 
I 1 
I 
11 
I I 
I 
'I' 
I 
11 
I 
108 
remembers the gracious care she enjoyed as Lemnos' queen, and the songs 
she sang there at the loom; however, the Muse no longer wants her to 
KpEKELV 1rapaµu8La AiJµvLa 9. More fittingly, the nurse now employs her 
voice in singing to amuse, soothe, or lull the child to sleep. 
In the Thebaid, the relation of nurse to baby is also close. Her breasts 
nourish the child, IV 748, V 617ff, VI 148; in turn, he clings to her when 
she makes to leave him on the ground, and must be soothed with the 
sight of flowers, IV 786-9; even then, he cries for his caram nutricem, 795f. 
Hypsipyle's reaction to the discovery of his body recalls his beauty 
(compare the remarks in the drama) and her maternal care, and the 
reciprocal benefits for tale-teller and listener of the Lemnian lullabies she 
sang, V 605-16: 
ut laceros artus gremio miseranda recepit 
intexitque comis, tandem laxata dolori 
vox invenit iter, gemitusque in verba soluti; 
'o mihi desertae natorum dulcis imago, 
Archemore, o rerum et patriae solamen ademptae 
servitiique decus, qui te, mea gaudia, sontes 
exstinxere dei, modo quern digressa reliqui 
lascivum et prono vexantem gramina cursu? 
heu ubi siderei vultus? ubi verba ligatis 
imperfecta sonis risusque et murmura soli 
intellecta mihi? quotiens tibi Lemnon et Argo 
sueta loqui et longa somnum suadere querela! 
Hypsipyle is obsessed by events on Lemnos, which she cannot escape; nor, 
apparently, would she if she could. The constant theme of her lullabies for 
baby Opheltes is the tale of woe which she describes to the Seven as 
immania vulnera, V 29; it is this tale which she proposes to tell to the 
army.48 Yet by her own admission, the iteration of painful matter is 
therapeutic, sic equidem luctus solabar, 617. The lullaby and lament may 
therefore be aimed at more than one listener, even when there is 
apparently no a~dience at all. She reflects on her past circumstances in 
order to create more sympathy for her present condition and so increase 
her grief: lamentation is cumulative.49 
48for the image of wounding, cf eg Silvae V 130. . 
49see Pucci (1980) p21ff; cf the nurse's sympathetic lament for Medea as remedial song, and 
Hecuba's indulgence in ever-increasing depths of grief, Trojan Women 472f. Walsh (1984) 
p6ff and Pucci (1987) p195ff discuss Penelope's negative reaction to Phemius' heroic song of 
the Trojan war in Odyssey I. Penelope seeks a song that will soothe (80,:yew) without 
grieving; Telemaclius dismisses her, significantly, to her loom. The same Penelope is 
conscious at XVIII 21'2 of the power of her song to beguile the suitors. 
109 
Stati,!lS introduces Hypsipyle's gruesome Lemnian tale with the 
gnome dulce loqui miseris veteresque reducere questus, V 48. Hypsipyle's 
pleasure in her narration of pain recalls the paradox of her initial 
appearance pulchro in maerore. Mozley's translation 'beauteous in her 
grief' draws attention to its difficulties:50 Statius suggests that her beauty 
actually derives from her miserable state. This paradox exposes the tension 
between lamentation as therapeutic relief and as syndromic self-infliction 
of pain.SI 
The poetry of lamentation evolved, it seems, in Hellenistic times out 
of the older traditions of Homeric dirge and later choral threnody such as 
that of Pindar and Simonides. The last chapter noted that as a masculine 
rhetoric took control over lamentation, uncontrolled indulgence in 
sorrow came to be regarded as a dangerous, female characteristic. For 
certain poets, the expression of grief, which implicitly allies the artist with 
woman, can bring its own morbid pleasures both to singer and audience. 
Catullus desires the power to induce sympathetic tears which Simonides' 
dirges induced in the wiHing reader, paulum quid lubet allocutionis / 
maestius lacrimis Simonideis, XXXVIII 7f. The paradoxical power of tears 
to refresh is the subject of a complex passage in Catullus' recollection of 
his lamentation for his brother, LXVIII 53-62:52 
cum tantum arderem quantum Trinacria rupes 
lymphaque in Oetaeis Malia Thermopylis, 
maesta neque assiduo tabescere lumina fletu 
cessarent tristique imbre madere genae. 
qualis in aerii perlucens vertice montis 
rivus muscoso prosilit e lapide, 
qui cum de prona praeceps est valle volutus, 
per medium densi transit iter populi, 
duke viatori lasso in sudore levamen, 
cum gravis exustos aestus hiulcat agros ... 
SOvessey (1973) p177 offers only superficial comment: "She stands closest to Jocasta, a majestic and sad figure; ... " 51Again see Pucci (1980) p25ff; he argues that Euripides debases a Homeric and Pindaric tradition of poetry-as-truth in order to claim that it is more important for a myth to be beautiful than to be true. In the Medea, Euripides employs imagery from medicine: the discourse of (self-)consolation becomes a drug; although therapeutic, it may become addictive, offering an alternative reality. Myths invoked are only truly wise if they offer help to grieving people (Herakles 1341-6). Pucci (1980) and (1987) p192ff traces Euripides' argument back to Hesiod: it is the metier of the Muses to soothe away pain, Theogony 98-103. See Bergren (1981) and Pucci (1987) p195 on Helen's 'good drug' and therapeutic song; like the Muses, her purposes is to soothe without pain. 52See Fordyce (196ft ad loc for attempts to force a single coherent meaning out of this passage. '" 
110 
The river of tears metamorphoses into a source of refreshment and 
pleasure for the traveller: the image has several points of contact with 
Thebaid IV-V. 
The tension between the desire to weep and the need to set grief aside 
informs many of the poems in the Silvae, in which, as chapter three 
noted, the epicedion has a unique prominence.53 Silvae II 6 begins by 
encouraging Ursus to lament without restraint, lf, 12-5:54 
saeve nimis, lacrimis quisquis discrimina ponis 
lugendique modos ... 
... ne comprime fletus, 
ne pudeat; rumpat frenos dolor iste diesque, 
si tarn dura placent - hominem gemis - ei mihi! subdo 
ipse faces ... 
The poem ends, however, with the call to put away sorrow: pone, precor, 
questus 103; another Philetas will be found to console Ursus. Silvae II 1 14-
6 similarly grants Melior licence to mourn his foster-son only until 
satiated with grief, nemo vetat: satiare malis aegrumque dolorem / 
libertate doma. iam flendi expleta voluptas / iamque preces fessus non 
indignaris amicas? Likewise Abascantus is urged at length to put away 
immodicos fletus, V 1 247, and return to the normal constraints of life 
consoled by the knowledge that the dead have received their due.SS 
Silvae III 3 describes Claudius Etruscus' pious excesses of grief for his 
father in language which the previous chapter showed to characterise the 
female and Dionysiac, heu quantis lassantem brachia vidi / planctibus et 
prono fusum super oscula vultu! ... 176f This identification of the voice of 
lamentation with the female comes closer to home in book V. Statius 
himself testifies from experience to the sacred pleasures of the carmen 
lamentabile, his offering to his father's shade, Silvae V 3 1, 44. On the 
other hand, also from experience, Statius knows that mourning to excess 
for one's lost chi_ldren is a form of madness, tanta mihi feritas, tanta est 
insania luctus ... Silvae V 5 23. 
4.7 heu ubi siderei vultus? Hypsipyle and Andrornache 
53Bright (1980) p9; also Hardie (1983) pl03ff. Flavian humanitas acknowledged the pleasure in weeping (dolendi voluptas) on the shoulder of a sympathetic friend: see Pliny 
~· VIII 16 5 and Hardie (1983) p182. 
. 5 The rejection of limits imposed on mourning is discussed by Nisbet/Hubbard (1970) on Horace Odes I 24. In Odes II 9 Horace exhorts his fellow-poet to abandon the seductive 
~leasures of elegy's flebiles modi for panegyric lyric; see Davis (1991) pSOff. 5The consolatio is aii essential element in Menander Rhetor's prescription for treatment of the subject, Rhet. Ghee. III 421 lOff; see Hardie (1983) p104f on the development of this element. Chapters six and seven discuss the timeliness of lamentation. 
111 
As the previous chapter remarked, the Thebaid makes this Dionysiac 
extravagance of sorrow the particular province of the female. Virgil too 
probes the nature of the obsessive misery of grief and nostalgia in the 
episode at Buthrotum, where Aeneas encounters Andromache, another 
displaced person who returns to epic via Euripidean tragedy.56 This relic of 
Troy's collapse narrates a story of passive acceptance of hardship within 
Aeneas' story of active endurance.57 Although one of the few survivors, 
like Aeneas in the storm (I 92ff) she counts happy those who have died at 
Troy, especially Polyxena, who is felix because iussa mori, 321, 323. Unlike 
Aeneas who faces her, however, she has no vision of a future different 
from the past. 
Aeneas appropriately calls her Hectoris Andromache, Aeneid III 319: 
she will always be Rector's wife and Astyanax' mother. Her remaining life 
is dedicated to re-creation of the Trojan past in sacramental acts of 
lamentation, 301-5: 
sollemnis cum forte dapes et tristia dona 
ante urbem in luco falsi Simoentis ad undam 
libabat cineri Andromache manisque vocabat 
Hectoreum ad tumulum, viridi quern caespite inanem 
et gerninas, causam lacrirnis, sacraverat aras. 
Time and life at Buthrotum are frozen by the survivors' reconstruction of 
a substitute Troy; even names are replicated, 349ff.58 Andromache's 
repetition, that is the 'seeking again', of her sorrow becomes a new source 
of grief: the empty tomb and altars are themselves the causes of tears.59 
Andromache's question to Aeneas concerning Ascanius reveals the 
extent of her obsession with recreation of the past, ecqua tamen puero est 
amissae cura parentis? I ecquid in antiquam virtutem animosque virilis I 
et pater Aeneas et avunculus excitat Hector? 341-3. She adopts the role of 
surrogate mother towards Ascanius, clothing him with the work of her 
56for Statius of course, Seneca's Troades is also available. Constraints of space make it impossible to discuss Andromache's many incarnations fully; I privilege Virgil because of the inset narrative and the context of error and mora. Burnett (1971) groups Euripides' Andromache among the dramas of 'catastrophe survived'. 57See Grimm (1967); Quinn (1968) p128ff; West (1983); also Boyle (1986) p115. Note again the error and mora involved in Aeneas' encounter: only in a digression will the epic hero encounter this woman's discourse. 
SBon the sterility of regressive repetition and its consequences for epic narrative see Hardie (1993) p14f: his remarks are applicable to the Hypsipyle episode. 59Boyle (1986) p115: ""What is suggested potently and unambiguously is the hollowness of life, .. no transfiguratfon, just living death." On the drawn-out pathos of tumulum .. . inanem (304) see Quinn (196~ p129. 
112 
own hanjs, 482ff: cape dona extrema tuorum, / o mihi sola mei super 
Astyanactis imago. I sic oculos, sic ille manus, sic ora ferebat; I et nunc 
aequali tecum pubesceret aevo. Virgil offers no description of 
Andromache's appearance. Her function as mourner has taken over: she 
has reduced herself to lamentation personified, pure reaction.6° Only 
plangent sounds remain, lacrimis 305, amens 307, lacrimasque effudit et 
omnem I implevit clamore locum 312f, furenti 313, talia fundebat 
lacrimans longosque ciebat I incassum fletus 344f. 
The Trojan cloak which she gives to Ascanius is a wordless narrative 
testifying to the longevity of her love for Hector as well as for his 
nephew.61 Chapter three discussed Homeric Andromache's lament for 
Hector; in the Aeneid also he absorbs her lamentation. The very 
significance of her name, from which she cannot escape, re-iterates both 
Hector's story and the consequences of his loss, "Arms-and-the-Man". Her 
brief narration of her fate . since Troy's fall is a woman's message for 
Aeneas, temporarily delayed at Buthrotum early on in his mission, about 
the destruction wrought by the combination of arma virumque. It is a 
concise history of woman's experience of war: loss of husband, loss of 
child, displacement and serial enslavement, 325ff.62 
Hypsipyle is another such relic of past catastrophe, having escaped 
from the horrors of Lemnos only to face slavery in Nemea. Her strange 
appearance preserves the insignia of her regal past, neglecta comam nee 
dives amictu I regales tamen ore notae nee mersus acerbis / exstat honos, 
Thebaid IV 750-2, but she has been reduced to the ubera materna V 617f 
which nourish Opheltes. Her speech likewise has been reduced to lullaby 
and lament; she soothes the child to sleep with the story of Lemnos and 
the Argo, unable to escape from her grief.63 However, her song of 
lamentation is paradoxically her greatest asset for survival. 
4.8 f abula Lemni: Hypsipyle as narrator 
60see Quinn (1968) p131 
61For the relation of weaving and lamentation see chapter six. West (1983) p259ff shows how Andromache's narration within a narration anticipates Dido's tragedy. 
62Redfield (1975) pl20ff; compare also her lament for Troy and her own losses in Euripides' Andromache. 
631 have been able to read a new interpretation of Hypsipyle's narration by Georgia Nugent 
which will appear in.print after my submission. Nugent's reading complements my own but 
does not discuss tht silvan and Theban framing of the episode; my discussion also notes 
extra-Virgilian infh:rences. 
I 
111 
I 
I 
II 1 
113 
RetrQspectively, Opheltes' parents claim that Hypsipyle's fabula 
Lemni (V 658: cf ,rapaµu0La A11µvLa Hypsipyle fr I ii 9) has always presented 
a threat to the family.64 An exclusive cognitive bond existed between 
nurse and child: Hypsipyle claims that she alone was able to communicate 
with Opheltes and comprehend his incipient speech, ubi verba ligatis I 
imperfecta sonis risusque et murmura soli / intellecta mihi? ... V 613-5.65 
Eurydice admits this was a maternal privilege she never shared, VI 161ff: 
' ... atquin et blandus ad illam, 
nate, magis solam nosse atque audire vocantem, 
ignarusque mei: nulla ex te gaudia matri. 
illa tuos questus lacrimososque impia risus 
audiit et vocis decerpsit murmura primae. 
illa tibi genetrix semper dum vita manebat, 
nuncego .. .' 
The Lemnian alien has exercised control over the baby in the vital area of 
language. Eurydice suspects that the nurse has thus usurped her maternal 
relationship to Opheltes by forging an exclusive, unbreakable bond of 
communication. 
Moreover, Hypsipyle's communication is completely concerned with 
the horrors of the Lemnian past. Eurydice complains that narrabat 
servatum fraude parentem / insontesque manus, VI 149f: the imperfect 
tense suggests Hypsipyle's constant iteration of a story highly unsuitable 
for lullabies. In his anger Lycurgus threatens to silence her querelae 
permanently: 'faxo omnis fabula Lemni / et pater et tumidae generis 
mendacia sacri / exciderint' V 658. She herself connects her Lemnian 
narrative with the baby's death, V 626-8: 
'dum patrios casus famaeque exorsa retracto 
ambitiosa meae (pietas haec magna fidesque!), 
exsolvi tibi, Lemne, nefas .. .' 
These lines have .been interpreted to mean that Hypsipyle feels that her 
role in events on Lemnos was somehow after all culpable, and that 
Opheltes' death is divine punishment.66 This is Eurydice's judgment, VI 
149-53: 
64Nugent (1994) p7 
· 
65o n these lines see Fortgens (1934) ad loc. On the nurse's role in the cognitive development of children (for good or ill) see Bradley (1986) and Dixon (1990). Primary sources are Quintilian I 1 5, who advises against employing foreign nurses, as their speech and morals may corrupt, ante om_nia ne sit vitiosus sermo nutricibus, and Soranus, Gyn. I 19f, translated in Lefkowitz/Fant (1982). 66Vessey (1973) p189 points up the confusion: "When Hypsipyle saved her father, even though her action was prompted by pietas, she had slighted the will of Venus and cheated 
'qu@ni ego? narrabat servatum fraude parentem 
insontesque manus. en! quam ferale putemus 
abiurasse sacrum et Lemni gentilibus unam 
inmunem furiis, haec illa - et creditis ausae! -
haec pietate potens .. .' 
114 
Certainly Hypsipyle's fabula Lemni presents a puzzle to the would-be 
interpreter. Her nostalgic lullabies seemingly have no audience but the 
uncomprehending baby, but clearly his parents have also heard her 
laments many times. Now she is invited to attain the privileged status of 
narrator to the powerful. Baby, parents and army are captive audiences, as 
if Bacchus had granted his granddaughter the power of binding in song. 
The self-reflexivity of her discourse (cf V 615) suggests an obsession with 
her self-image as narrator of her own story. Examination of her Lemnian 
tale indicates that she has good reason to police her narration. 
When Adrastus contracts on behalf of the Seven to listen to 
Hypsipyle's story (V 20ff), the female refugee acquires the same position as 
Aeneas before Dido.67 The textual echoes of Aeneid I have already been 
noted; allusions to the Dido episode are all the more remarkable because 
Thebaid IV-V inverts the more obvious analogical pairing of Aeneas-
Adrastus and Dido-Hypsipyle. Woman becomes the narrator, man the 
audience.68 
The request for a story from Hypsipyle and the formal beginning of 
her narrative (cf exordia, V 36) clearly recall the Aeneid.69 She introduces 
herself as one whom memory has made famous, Thebaid V 34-9: 
· ' ... illa ego nam, pudeat ne forte benignae 
the goddess of one of the victims demanded by her wrath. The death of Opheltes, caused, 
so Hypsipyle asserts, by a failure of pietas, makes recompense for her earlier act. It is only 
· by this failure in her duty, which led to the infant's demise, that Hypsipyle can redeem 
herself and, for a brief moment, align herself in some sense with the Lemnian women whose juror she had so nobly rejected"; and yet p190 "In the hour that seems darkest, Hypsipyle is 
restored to her offspring. Her pietas is at last rewarded ... ". It is impossible to unpick the 
moral fabric of the interwoven Lemnian and Nemean tales. 
67see Legras (1905) p61-70; Gotting (1969) pSSff; Vessey (1973) notes that Hypsipyle's 
narration contains "several echoes from the beginning of Aeneid II" p171 and "inevitably 
calls to mind the even longer tale that Aeneas tells at Carthage" p176. 
68see Gotting (1969) p57f for this "Rollentausch". Also Juhnke (1972) p98: "bei Statius steht 
gleichsam die Pyramide auf der Spitze". Dominik (1994b) p163 notes that "after Aeneas' 
speech to Dido in the Aeneid, Hypsipyle's narrative is the longest in Roman epic.'' The 
other major narrative speech in the epic is Adrastus' aetiology of Linus and Coroebus, 
which is the subject of chapter six. Stewart (1993) p98ff discusses the 'tall tale' in world literature. It is mostly a male genre, associated with those who work at some distance from home in a solitary occupation, "far from the domestic and domesticated modes of 
sensibility." i' 
69Nugent (1994) p2ff 
hospitis, ilia, duces, raptu quae sola parentum 
occului ... 
hoe memorasse sat est: claro generata Thoante 
servitium Hypsipyle vestri fero capta Lycurgi.' 
115 
To this may be compared Aeneas' self-introduction to Venus, sum pius 
Aeneas Aeneid I 378 and to Dido, coram, quem quaeritis, adsum, I Troius 
Aeneas, I 595f. For Dido, the mention of Aeneas' name is enough to 
ensure her interest in his story, 'quis te, nate dea, per tanta pericula casus / 
insequitur?' Aeneid I 615f. An urgent request follows, 'immo age' 753. 
However, Hypsipyle is evidently not known to the Seven; she is pressed 
for information by Adrastus, having aroused the curiosity of the army for 
her noble appearance, Thebaid V 23-7: 
'die age, quando tuis alacres absistimus undis, 
quae domus aut tellus, animarn quibus hauseris astris? 
die, quis et ille pater? neque enim tibi nurnina longe, 
transierit fortuna licet, maiorque per ora 
sanguis, et adflicto spirat reverentia vultu.' 
Curiosity is heightened, and the request for a story is couched in the same 
phraseology as Aeneid II, Thebaid V 40-3:70, 
advertere animos, maiorque et honora videri 
parque operi tanto; cunctis tune noscere casus 
ortus amor, pater ante alios hortatur Adrastus: 
'irnrno age .. .' 
This echoes the line in which Aeneas accedes with apparent reluctance to 
Dido's request, si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros Aeneid II 10. 
Despite that fact that she has constantly shared her story with Opheltes and 
his parents, Hypsipyle professes the same anxiety as Aeneas about 
narrating it once more: compare 'infandum, regina, iubes renovare 
dolorem' Aeneid II 3 and 'immania vulnera, rector, / integrare iubes' 
Thebaid V 29f. T<? renew grief unspeakable appears impossible; ominously, 
Hypsipyle likens the narration of the Lemnian massacre to the literal 
reopening of huge, ancient wounds.71 
70Note throughout how Hypsipyle is increasingly 'magnified' by her narration, until she 
attains a recognisably masculine, heroic, even Herculean status: she is, after all, promised 
sacrificial worship at a magna ara, IV 771. The amor noscendi which envelops her listeners is simultaneously Virgilian, Oedipal, and Lemnian; on the Dionysiac 'knowing' of the 
Bacchanal, see Vernant (1990) p400. 
71 For these verbal parallels see also Nugent (1994) p2f. Ironically, the narration of these immania vulnera will end in Opheltes' physical metamorphosis into 'wound': totumque in 
vulnere corpus, V 598'. 
1 I 
I 
I I 
116 
Virg~'s Andromache displays signs of grief before accounting for her 
sufferings, deiecit vultum et demissa voce locuta est, Aeneid III 320. In her 
first reply to Ilioneus, Dido speaks breviter... vultum demissa, I 561, 
apparently from shame for the inhospitable treatment extended to the 
Trojans by her people. Hypsipyle's speech is prefaced by gestures of sorrow: 
the downcast face, demisso vultu IV 768; sighs, ingemit V 28; tears, fletu 
modesto, and hesitation paulum cunctata. These may be interpreted as 
(characteristically female) manifestations of grief and shame for the story 
of female criminality about to be told.72 
However, an alternative interpretation may be placed upon her 
bashful glance which provides another model for Statius' scene. In 
Apollonius' Argonautica, the Argo's arrival presents to the Lemnian 
women both the threat of discovery and the opportunity to re-establish 
normal family life on the island.73 Hypsipyle, her own actions as yet 
undiscovered, must persuade the Argonauts to delay on Lemnos. Her 
appearance is that of a modest maiden, and she claims to speak frankly, 
VT")µEpTES Argonautica I 797, but her words are calculated to deceive, 790-2: 
.. ·TI 8' EYKAl.8ov 000"€ ~Xofua 
,rap8EVLKCJS Epu8r]vE 1Tap11t8as· lµ,ra BE T6v YE 
al8oµtvri µu8otcrt 1TpOOEVVE1TEV al µu>J.oLcrtv· 
Hypsipyle's gesture, which has strong erotic overtones, in turn recalls 
Helen's seduction of Paris at Iliad III 427ff; her role further suggests both 
Calypso and Nausicaa, two " 'classic' erotic paradigms".74 The whole 
episode anticipates the longer narrative of Medea, niece to the enchantress 
Circe; both stories concern female crime dµ<f>' EUVJlL (1 618).75 The reason 
for the absence of men on Lemnos which Hypsipyle presents is untrue; 
despite her promise, she conceals the whole wickedness (or misery), 
KaK6TT1Ta ... ,raaav 796. However, it convinces the Argonauts to stay, to the 
annoyance of none other than Herakles, the supreme achiever, who 
opposes any delay to their heroic mission, I 861ff. 
72see Gotting (1969) n95, who compares Odysseus' tears at Demodocus' song of Troy, 
Odyssey VIII 83ff, and Aeneas' tears at the Trojan scenes on Juno's temple, Aeneid I 460££. 
73For discussion of the Lemnian episode in Apollonius, see Hunter (1993) eh 3. 
74Hunter (1993) p46· 
7Ssee Hunter (1993fp47ff. For the relation between Hypsipyle and Circe in Apollonius see 
Knight (1990) p89-9S. 
117 
4.9 hoe memorasse sat est: Thoas and Oedipus 
The downcast glance in the Thebaid hints then at more than 
modesty. In fact, it strengthens the suggestion of eroticism in Hypsipyle's 
appearance and address to Adrastus. Moreover, it suggests an element of fraus in the narrative to come. Eurydice blames her own gullibility in 
believing · her nurse's professions of innocence, quidni ego? narrabat 
servatum fraude parentum / insontesque manus, VI 149f. I note above 
that fraus is a defining element associated with Dionysiac manipulations 
in the Nemean episode. As for Eurydice's retrospective evaluation of 
Hypsipyle's story, "[her] formulation may set us to speculating about the 
possibility that (conceptually, if not grammatically) fraude might modify 
narrabat rather than servatum: that Hypsipyle' deception might lie in the 
narration rather than the preservation of her father."76 Therefore, 
Hypsipyle cannot in fact avoid the accusation of fraus: either she lied to 
the women of Lemnos to the effect that she killed her father, or she lied 
first to the Nemeans and now to the Seven to the effect that she saved 
him. 
Eurydice implies that Hypsipyle's innocent reputation was a 
condition for her employment in Nemea; like Odysseus, her fame 
depends on her actions on Lemnos, and her survival depends on her 
manipulation of language in Nemea. Had there been no massacre, 
Lemnos would remain in obscurity, and Hypsipyle would remain the 
king's daughter, anonymous and impotent. Instead, because of her claim 
to have saved her father by sending him into exile, Hypsipyle ensures a 
lasting fame for herself as her father's daughter, queen in his stead, and 
uniquely righteous Lemnian woman.77 She has presented a version of 
events of which de facto she alone guarantees the authenticity.78 As her 
status on Lemno~ depended on her dealings with her father, so her status 
in Nemea depends on her control over the story of her father, over "the 
76Nugent (1994) p7 
, 77The removal of Thoas amounts to murder in that it silences him; we may compare the position of the queen in the Lille Stesichorus (see previous chapter), whose anomalous power depends on the seclusion of her son-husband. The fragmentary remains of the Hypsipyle indicate no such problem: Bond (1963) concludes that fr 64 103ff suggests that Thoas was restored to rule on Lemnos, contra ancient accounts included in RE entry under 
'Hypsipyle'. 
78Nugent (1994) p6. See also Stewart (1993) p98: " 'The one that got away' is all the more credible because we have only the narrator as witness, yet all the more incredible because it is beyond the range\,£ the audience's experience. Thus the narrator plays upon his own credibility in a patte1'n of understatement and overstatement." 
I I 
I 
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Name oj the Father".79 Thus, in reply to Adrastus' request for 
identification, she names the father before naming herself, ho c 
memorasse sat est: claro generata Thoante / servitium Hypsipyle, V 38f.BO 
The relation between Thoas and Hypsipyle has defining value in her 
narrative, as suggested straight away by her first, enigmatic reference to the 
Lemnian past et nob is regnum ta men et pater ingens, IV 780f. Herein lies a 
paradox, compounded by the absence of a verb: she could not have both a 
great father and a kingdom. This is the first hint that all was not in order 
on Lemnos regarding genealogical succession and the transmission of 
power. Adrastus has heard another such story at the beginning of the epic: 
Polynices' self-identification simultaneously tells nothing and tells 
everything, I 679-82: 
'sed si praecipitant miserum cognoscere curae, 
Cadmus origo patrum, tellus Mavortia Thebe, 
est genetrix Iocasta mihi.' ... 
The name of the mother is the clue to catastrophe; what is missing is 
precisely the name of the pater ingens Oedipus, which would also tell the 
story of fraternal strife over the regnum of Thebes. In a speech marked by 
verbal parallels with V 23ff, Adrastus reveals his inability to identify 
correctly the one before him, I 682-92: 
... tum motus Adrastus 
hospitiis - agnovit enim - 'quid nota recondis? 
scimus' ait, 'nee sic aversum fama Mycenis 
volvit iter. regnum et furias oculosque pudentes 
novit et Arctois si quis de solibus horret 
quique bibit Gangen aut nigrum occasibus intrat 
Oceanum, et si quos incerto litore Syrtes 
destituunt. ne perge queri casusque priorum 
adnumerare tibi: nostro quoque sanguine multum 
erravit pietas, nee culpa nepotibus obstat. 
tu modo dissimilis rebus mereare secundis 
excusare tu.os .. .' 
Despite his deployment of the Oedipal language of recognition and 
knowledge (agnovit, scimus, novit), Adrastus fails t9 grasp the significance 
of the name of the mother: in the generational chaos and familial 
79Lacan's phrase, employed by Nugent (1994) p5. 
80Note also the sttitegic position of servitium, which seeks sympathy for her condition, before her own narri.~. 
\ 
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dysfunct!on that is Thebes, escape from past culpa is impossible and the 
sons of incest can never be dissimilis . 81 
Hypsipyle's anxious preoccupation with her father manifests itself in 
the contortion of her speech, which goes · far to obscure the truth of his 
fate . 82 She describes her narrative as immania vulnera, and sums up the 
story of Lemnos as Furias et Lemnon et artis / arma inserta toris 
debellatosque pudendo I ense mares, V 30-2. Her language stresses the 
sexual element in the slaughter; Juror (33) often characterises erotic 
passions, and the massacre took place at night.83 Her outburst o nox! / o 
pater! (33f) further associates her father with the deranged eroticism of the 
Lemnian women, making hers a distinctly Theban narrative.84 
Matters are complicated by Hypsipyle's shifting from the inclusive, 
perhaps culpable first-person plural to the innocent onlooker's third-
person plural in her account of the massacre. This syntactic variation 
derives from "a desire to position herself in a particular way vis-a-vis the 
narrative actions she relates."85 We may compare the primary model of 
Aeneas' Trojan narrative to Dido in Aeneid II-III.86 On one reading of 
these books, Aeneas, who has seen himself portrayed principibus 
permixtum... Achivis (I 488), is forced to pre-empt any accusation of 
treachery by re-telling his story in such a way as to exonerate himself. This 
may involve him distancing himself physically from the action until he 
becomes a mere spectator; Aeneas explains his wearing Greek armour as a 
strategy of disguise, IT 387ff. As with Hypsipyle's narrative,· disguise is 
inevitably employed on one level or another.87 This may explain why, 
alone in the Thebaid, the Lemnian narrative presents the gods in their 
81Nugent (1994) pl notes the parallel with Hypsipyle's words but does not discuss the problem of Polynices' self-introduction: "in his desire to repress the name of the father, 
Polynices remarkably identifies himself by his mother's name alone. His auditors, of 
course, can readily supply the rest of his genealogy ... " 
82see Nugent (1994) p8. 
83Lack of space prevents full discussion of the verbal links between the Theban and 
Lemnian narrative: see Gotting (1969) p63ff; Vessey (1973) p170ff; Henderson (1991) p56f 
and now Nugent (1994). The fusion of sex and violence in the episode is best exemplified by Gorge's slaughter of her husband, V 207ff, on which see Nugent (1994) p16f. This adults-
only narrative has been baby Opheltes' lullaby. Erren (1970) discusses the pleasurable 
element (cf Hysipyle's dulce) in the narration of horror. 
84See eg Vessey (1973) p170ff and Nugent .(1994) for verbal links between eg Polyxo and Oedipus. 
85Nugent (1994) p13 
86As does Nugent (1994) p13f, without adducing the specific example of Aeneas' disguise. 
Ahl (1989) p13 comments "Heroism in the Odyssey is to some degree determined by one's 
ability to seize and exploit the narrative initiative". Aeneas behaves like an Odysseus in Aeneid II: virtus is 8isguised by dolus, dolus masquerades as virtus . 
87on Aeneas' revisionist approach to his own history, see Ahl (1989) p24-30. 
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traditional, three dimensional, pro-active role as predeterminants of 
men's affairs. Hypsipyle assigns ultimate responsibility for the massacre to 
Venus' hatred, although the women's hearts were guilty, dis visum 
turbare domos, nee pectora culpa / nostra vacant, V 57f.88 
From the first, Hypsipyle separates herself from the other women, 
illae, on the grounds of her virginal innocence, nam me tune libera curis / 
virginitas annique tegunt, 81f, although she concedes that she was a silent 
participant in the congress which decided on the massacre, 101f. She casts 
herself in the role of onlooker in order to claim "the authority of autopsy 
and the innocence of non-participation."89 Until Thoas' disappearance, 
verbs used of Hypsipyle are largely either passive or deponent, except 
when they describe the action of looking on. I noted above that Hypsipyle 
controls the linguistic experience of her charge. After remaining oddly 
silent throughout the massacre, she gives a confused account of events to 
her father, trepido scelus ordine pando, / quis dolor, unde animi ... 244f; 
again the lack of order may reflect the absence of truth. In contrast, her 
lengthy narration to the Seven flows freely from long rehearsal. 
Hypsipyle attaches great importance to her marital status on Lemnos: 
an innocent maiden, she was betrothed to a man of whom she was afraid, 
timebam 222; she explicitly attributes his murder, which after the Lemnian 
women's 'law' should have fallen to her, to another woman, 224. Her 
concern is for her father, and her behaviour is telling, 236-41: 
ut vero Alcirneden etiamnum in murmure truncos 
ferre patris vultus et egentem sanguinis ensem 
conspexi, riguere comae atque in viscera saevus 
horror iit: meus ille Thoas, mea dira videri 
dextra mihi! extemplo thalamis turbata paternis 
inferor ... 
Nowhere in the narrative is there mention of a royal mother-figure; 
chapter four traced the significance of a similar absence in Theban lyric 
and tragedy. The possessive meus has erotic associations; out of control 
like a victim of Amor, Hypsipyle is passively carried into her father's 
bedchamber, the sphere which properly belongs to his wife, her mother, 
88See Schetter (1960) p27, Vessey (1970c) p44-8, Feeney (1991) p375f for discussion and 
comparison with the conventional narrative of Valerius; Feeney suggests that Statius is 
"deliberately isolating his one example of more traditional narrative within a parenthesis, marking Hypsipyle as the old-fashioned narrator, so as to allow his overall 
originality to stand·out in more relief" and thereby marking Valerius as an "old-fashioned narrator" . <-· 
89Nugent (1994) p14f 
1111 
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replicatin__g the scene in which Lemnos' wives kill their husbands in bed.90 
What follows is left vague and implicit, as the narrator herself admits, 
trepido scelus ordine pando 244; the confusion is appropriate in a story of 
familial and sexual violence with incestuous undertones. 
Hypsipyle now introduces Bacchus, who conveniently appears, as it 
were, ex machina. She alone recognises her grandfather, adgnovi, 268. 
However, it is not surprising to read the language of Dionysiac orgy in the 
narrative of the Lemnian massacre; cf Polyxo's apearance insano veluti 
Teumesia thyias relictis / rapta deo 92ff; 190ff. Following (she claims) 
Bacchus' instructions, tu lato patrem committe profundo 283, Hypsipyle 
now further confuses the already complex relationship with Thoas by 
acting the part of mother to child with respect to her father by exposing 
him on the sea curvo robore clausum 287. The parallels with Danae are 
obvious;91 the action also suggests Jocasta's exposure of Oedipus (on a 
god's instructions), and anticipates Hypsipyle's exposure of Opheltes. 
The scene also broadly suggests the classic Dionysiac pattern of 
expulsion and return so often found in Theban texts.92 Thoas does in fact 
return in at least two senses. Fama whispers that he is alive and living on 
Chios, 486ff; the father also lives again in the name of one of Hypsipyle's 
sons by Jason. Hypsipyle's choice of name creates a generational loop by 
identifying her father and son. Her other son's name, Euneus, is more 
closely associated with Jason and the Argo. Hypsipyle's union with Jason 
is emphatically portrayed as rape, V 453-65:93 
forsitan et nostrae fatum excusabile culpae 
noscere cura, duces. cineres furiasque meorum 
testor: ut extemas non sponte aut crimine taedas 
attigerim - scit cura deum - etsi blandus Iason 
virginibus dare vincla novis; sua iura cruentum 
Phasin habent; alios, Colchi, generatis amores ... 
nee non ipsa tamen thalami monimenta coacti 
enitor geminos, duroque sub hospite mater 
nomen avi r~novo, ... 
9
°For the use of the passive, compare the attempts of Myrrha to justify her incestuous desires towards Cinyras in Metamorphoses X, quo mente feror? 320, fortunaque loci laedor! -quid in ista revolvor? 335. She also plays with the double sense of the possessive, nunc, quia iam meus est, non est meus, 339. To mea dira, Thebaid V 239 cf the commencement of Myrrha's tale at Metamorphoses X 300 dira canam. 
91Also noted by Nugent (1994) p18 
92zeitlin (1993) plSOf. 
93Her (self-authenticated) claim puts her in the same condition as Linus' unnamed mother (I 5780 and Atalanta (IX 5700. 
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This furt.!:ter sets her apart from the other Lemnian women, who willingly 
cohabit with the Argonauts. More interestingly, it represents a departure 
from other versions of the myth, notably those of Apollonius and 
Valerius, in which desire is mutual.94 Her words at V 472-4 o utinam iam 
tune mea litora rectis / praetervectus aquis, cui non sua pignora cordi, / 
non promissa fides, inevitably recall Virgil's Dido, Catullus' Ariadne, and 
most obviously Ovid's Heroides VI, suggesting betrayal by an elegiac lover. 
This challenges Hypsipyle's pose as rape victim.95 
The mention of Colchis is particularly significant as it inevitably 
recalls Apollonius' Argonautica, which forges several textual links 
between Hypsipyle and Medea. In the Argonautica, the queen welcomes 
Jason into her kingdom and bed; furthermore she anticipates the arrival of 
a child with acquiescence, even pleasure, I 897-9. The principal literary 
mediator between Apollonius and Statius is Virgil's Dido, who commits a 
culpa by welcoming Aeneas as a hospes (a word which gains a bitterly 
ironic sense at IV 323), but is abandoned before she can become the happy 
mother of a parvulus Aeneas, 328f.96 Jason is also called a hospes, Thebaid 
V 464, but Hypsipyle rejects exogamous marriage; she is "at least in some 
symbolic sense wedded to the absent/ dead father /king",97 and hence any 
other marital relationship is against her will. 
Hypsipyle's pose of extreme passivity may not survive examination. 
After Thoas disappears from Lemnos, she becomes as ferociously active as 
any Lemnian woman. To deceive the other women, she builds a funeral 
pyre for her father in the innermost part of the palace, on which she places 
his regalia, V 313££.98 The unmistakable allusion is to the pyre built by 
Dido, intended first to deceive Anna, Aeneid IV 494££, 645££: consigned to 
the pyre are the tokens of Dido's erotic relationship with Aeneas. To kill 
herself Dido symbolically uses Aeneas' sword, which her servants 
discover bloodstained, 664f. Hypsipyle stands beside the fake pyre ense 
cruentato, Thebaid V 317; apart from the significant allusion to Dido, the 
94For discussion of the differences between Apollonius, Valerius and Statius (which omit or 
undervalue Statius' crucial change from mutual passion to rape) see Legras (1905) p61ff and 
Vessey (1970c) p44-8. 
95Nugent (1994) p24f 
96Dido's desire to replicate the name of the father through the ~on hints at her 
maternality, which both her abortive unions deny her. Nugent (1994) p23f also notes the 
multiple allusions to Aeneid IV in this passage. 
97Nugent (1994) p24 . 
98This is the most intimate and secluded region of the palace, analogous to the 
bedchamber; not ohly is it the space in which Dido erects her pyre, Aeneid IV 504, it is also 
the miserable refuge of the incestuous Oedipus, Thebaid I 49f. 
123 
mysterio~s sword fits ill with her claim to innocence of bloodshed.99 
Moreover, Hypsipyle fraudulently laments her father's death, fraudemque 
et inania busta / plango metu 317. The self-reference is bound to call into 
further question the truthfulness of her lamentable tale to the Seven. 
4.10 Through the 'lofty gate': Hypsipyle and the Seven 
Apuleius' anonymous old woman in Metamorphoses IV provides a 
later model for woman's story as a mechanism for delay and 
distraction.JOO Crone, mother and tutelary goddess combined, she protects 
and nurtures the robber band, but unknown to young Charite, her story 
has hostile intent. Apuleius' inwoven story highlights the complexity of 
the relation of internal to external narrative and the dangerous potential 
of women as story-tellers. The work's structure suggests Statian influence: 
the old woman's tale is at the centre of the Metamorphoses, and also ends 
a diptych. 
Apuleius' story-teller and listener are more alike than first appears. 
They exchange stories in the supposed intimacy and privacy of female tete-
a-tete, but forget the metamorphose~ Lucius, the fictional male narrator 
and eavesdropper; the woman's story of Cupid and Psyche has much to 
teach the man-turned-ass about the relation between male and female, 
body and soul. Moreover, the crone herself was once what Charite is now, 
and through her story embraces the perspectives of youth and age: her tale 
elaborates on the young woman's own unhappy story of lost love. 
However, the happy ending is a treacherous lie, calculated to deceive 
Charite into remaining with her captors: "the more delightful and 
distracting the tale is in itself the more horrible is the treacherous fact that 
it is being told."101 Like a lullaby, and like the Sirens' song, the tale is told 
to soothe and dull the senses. 
Hypsipyle's _tale ends abruptly, without evaluative comment from its 
audience of warriors, V 499. The only possible appreciative comment 
comes from Tydeus, defending her from Lycurgus' attack, cui regnum 
genitorque Thoas et lucidus Euhan / stirpis avus, · V 675f: he mentions 
only her heroic credentials, without interpreting her story. 
99Nugent (1994) p24 
lOOon this episode's importance for understanding the Metamorphoses' narratological technique, see Winkler (1985) p50ff. 
101winkler (1985) p56 
124 
The poet offers no editorial appreciation of her story either, leaving 
the reader to interpret the significance of this huge excursus from the clues 
supplied by its frame. Homer's Sirens promise tales of all that the Argives 
and Trojans suffered on Troy's plains in the will of the gods, and 
foreknowledge of all that will happen on the fruitful earth, Odyssey XII 
189-91.102 With her sorrowful and alluring glance the silvan siren offers a 
tale of the Lemnian past which anticipates Theban slaughter by turning 
the tables: "Hypsipyle's tale - wholesale massacre on Lemnos - has 
ecstatically subtended the import of [the] warfare to come, both by its 
shortfall: wives hugging their men onto their blades in bed, not scenes of 
virtus; and also by its extravagance: the dire stake here is the base of 
Human Society. Images of total crisis - modulator of Thebes 'and Argos' -
as gender-assignments go topsy-turvy so that we 'brothers' can feel 
apostate chaos in our political order, victims all, for once, of Power."103 
Lemnos, like Thebes, is a showcase of intra-familial turmoil, offering 
numerous permutations on the theme of fraternas acies.104 The inversion 
of normative power structures extends to the control over narrative: "It is 
as if Virgil's Andromache were to step out of her narrated inclusion 
within Aeneas' perspective and take over the telling of Aeneid II-III for a 
Troades-style narrative. "105 
The immediate consequence of Hypsipyle's new-found power is the 
death of her charge while she consoles herself in singing Lemnos, V 499ff. 
Hypsipyle now becomes the unwilling audience to the baby's inarticulate 
wails, which are all too soon interpreted. Her impotence in the discovery 
of the catastrophe has the quality of nightmare, audiit Hypsipyle, facilemque negantia cursum / exanimis genua aegra rapit 544f.106 
Hypsipyle's first outpourings of grief for Opheltes recall both the tragic and 
Virgilian Andromache, V 608-10:107 
102See Pucci (1987) -p210: the Sirens offer "rational reassurance that [their song] offers knowledge (or truth) and produces pleasure". The Odyssey does not attempt to establish the truth or falsehood of their song; the Thebaid actually allows the reader to hear H~sipyle's song and evaluate its message for the Seven. , 10 Henderson (1991) p56; for power as the Thebaid's dominant theme, see Ahl (1986) p2803. 104Henderson (1991) p23f; Nugent (1994) p17. 
lOSHenderson (1993) p23 
· 
106Henderson (1993) p23 notes the Theban qualities of these lines. 107Euripides' Hypsipyle envies the happiness of the woman who bore the two young strangers, fr I 1 5. This line apparently interrupts her speech to them: perhaps she recalls her lost sons who would be the same age. Her cry of grief for her lost children lw 1ra18', ws cbr6U.uµm icaicws (fr 60 14) is balanced by Eurydice's exclamation cTi mu 112: who can evaluate the pain oftfouble bereavement against the loss of an only child? Cf o dulce pignus (of Astyanax), Seneca's Troades 766. 
'o mihi desertae natorum dulcis imago, 
Arcnemore, o rerum et patriae solamen ademptae 
servitiique decus .. .' 
125 
After Opheltes' death, her mother's milk is doubly redundant, cui nunc 
venit inritus orbae / lactis et infelix in vulnera liquitur imber, 618f. 
Hypsipyle's case is even more desperate than Andromache's, who is aware 
of the passage of time in which Ascanius has grown up. While she had 
Opheltes, Hypsipyle's lost babies remained babies. Ironically, it is his death 
which breaks the spell and facilitates the reunion with her adult sons. 
The vision of Hypsipyle falling on the child's body reworks the 
images of Lemnian slaughter of children by mothers and anticipates 
Eurydice's frantic rush towards Opheltes' pyre. An extended simile 
follows, V 599-604: 
' ac velut aligerae sedem fetusque ·parentis 
cum piger umbrosa populatus in Hice serpens, 
illa redit querulaeque domus mirata quietem 
iam stupet impendens advectosque horrida maesto 
excutit ore cibos, cum solus in arbore paret 
sanguis et errantes per capta cubilia plumae. 
The elements correspond remarkably to the actual details of the scene: a 
piger serpent (cf 549) kills Opheltes in the woods, leaving his body to be 
discovered by the one who nourishes him. Moreover, it recalls Orpheus 
mourning Eurydice, Georgics IV 511-5: 
qualis populea maerens philomela sub umbra 
amissos queritur fetus, quos durus arator 
observans nido implumis detraxit; at illa 
flet ri.octem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 
integrat, et maestis late loca questibus implet. 
Orpheus also appears in Hypsipyle's Lemnian narrative at Thebaid V 435, 
durae similem nihil Orphea Thracae; there is further bizarre recollection 
of Orpheus in the severed head of Alcimede's father, still murmuring in 
death (V 236-8), cf Metamorphoses XI 50-3.108 The scene inevitably recalls 
the Dionysiac sparagmos suffered by Orpheus at the ·hands of the Thracian 
maenads. There is an extraordinary echo of Metamorphoses XI 53 
respondent flebile ripae in the sounds of lamentation for Opheltes, 
Thebaid VI 14, responsant flebile Thebae. 
108Nugent (1994) p9'lf provides an intriguing interpretation of Thrace's significance in Hypsipyle's narrativ-e. 
126 
Virgil's Orpheus, although a lover, is strangely maternalised.109 He 
mourns for Eurydice as a mother mourns for a child, gelidis sub antris 
(509), beside the frozen Strymon; like the supreme elegiac poet of the Argo, 
Hypsipyle mourns her loss beside the Langia in gelidam Nemeen.110 
Behind Virgil's Orpheus lies another Thracian paradigm of maternal grief, 
the brutal story of Philomela and Procne. Ovid's complex, gruesome 
version of the story of Tereus follows that of the Niobids, Metamorphoses 
VI; it offers another exemplum of familial impietas, immortalised in the 
songs of the bird-sisters.111 The myth of Tereus also features in Hypsipyle's 
narrative. Polyxo encourages the Lemnian women to imitate Procne as an 
exemplum of woman's revenge on man, ecce animos doceat Rhodopeia 
coniunx / ulta manu thalamos pariterque epulata marito, V 122f; again 
the Thracian context links Orpheus and the men of Lemnos, whose 
sojourn on Thrace prompted their massacre. 
Elsewhere the aspect stressed is not Procne's revenge but the 
miserabile carmen of the sisters, to which Statius compares the multitude 
of grieving Argive women come to Athens as suppliants, XII 478-80: 
... Geticae non plura queruntur 
hospitibus tectis trunco sermone volucres, 
cum duplices thalamos et iniquum Terea clamant. 
Individuality and even human personality are submerged; the 
truncation of women's lamenting voices is discussed in chapter three. We 
may compare the description of the women as migrating cranes at XII 515-
8.112 This association of lamentation and birdsong is also found in tragedy, 
and further linked to Dionysiac worship: the maenad of the dead 
Antigone compares herself to a bird in her grief, Phoenician Women 1515-
22. Evadne, also described as a Bacchanal, compares her lamentation over 
Capaneus' corpse to that of a bird, opvLs ns wad Kmravlws UTTEp TTupas 
8vaTTJVOV atwp11µa Koucf>((w, mhe-p, Suppliant Women 1046f. Thus 
109Virgil thereby adds a highly pathetic touch to his conflation of two Homeric passages. Odyssey XVI 216-8 compares Odysseus and Telemachus in the.first emotions of reunion to bereaved birds of prey robbed of their fledglings. At XIX 518-23 Penelope compares herself to the nightingale singing her beautiful lament for Itylus. See Thomas (1988a) on Georgics IV 51 lff. 
110As it were, Orpheus in silvis, Eclogues VIII 56. 
. 111See Bomer (1976) ad loc; flet modo (Procne at 665) recalls Niobe at 310. For discussion of the myth see Burkert (1983) p179ff. 
112See Ahl (1986) p2892ff: an earlier image (V llff) describes the Argives, their thirst quenched, preparin~ to leave Nemea like cranes leaving the winter warmth of Egypt for Thracian chill; cf the· portent of seven eagles (a fortior cohors) bearing down on the swans that represent Thebes, III 530ff. 
I 
127 
Hypsipyle~s individual grief anticipates the scenes of mass lamentation 
which Statius confesses he is unable to narrate, non ego, centena si quis 
mea pectora laxet / voce deus, tot busta simul vulgique ducumque, I tot 
pariter gemitus dignis conatibus aequem XII 797-99. 
And yet of all Roman poets, Statius surely possesses the most skill in 
the lamentabile carmen. The epic Hypsipyle, sitting like Philomela (the 
'lover of song') inter silvas singing her alluring but dangerous song, may 
be compared to the poet himself.113 Lack of space prevents full 
consideration of Statius' personification of the Thebaid as a female figure 
(XII 812), later taken up and mocked by Juvenal in VII 82f, carmen amicae 
Thebaidos. The wanton Thebaid keeps the Romans spell-bound with her 
(paradoxically) iucundum song of horror in a distant place and time; we 
may compare Hypsipyle's seductive misery. 
Among the figures representing the poetry of mourning in the Sil vae 
are the nightingale, the swan and the bird-like Sirens. These Statius 
transcends in the search for the non plus ultra of lamentation for his own 
father, V 3 80-5:114 
non ego, quas fati certus sibi morte canora 
inferias praemittit olor nee rupe quod atra 
Tyrrhenae volucres nautis praedulce minantur, 
in patrios adhibebo rogos; non murmure trunco 
quod gemit et durae queritur Philomela sorori: 
nota nimis vati... 
Finally, the parallel with his heroine narrator becomes painfully clear in 
the lament for his young foster-son, which concludes the posthumously 
published Silvae V: "While Statius, like Hypsipyle, told epic tales, his boy 
died. And Statius' lament is, like his last epic, the Achilleid, 
unfinished. "115 Hypsipyle's narrative of bloodshed is interrupted by the 
baby's wails; for the interruption of heroic song by death compare Silvae II 
7: dum pugnas canis arduaque voce / das solacia grandibus sepulcris, 102f. 
The following chapter complicates matters further by noting parallels 
between Lucan and Opheltes. 
113See Henderson (1991) p38 and Nugent (1994) p27ff, with the remarks of Braund (1988) sv 
'Statius'. Nugent traces the image of Thebaid XII 816f back to Virgil's Creusa and suggests 
reconfigurating the relationship of Virgil and Statius, traditionally master and pupil, as 
husband and wife. Note however that the Aeneis is also feminine; appropriately in this 
Oedipal epic of fraternas acies, the two poems could be configured as rival sisters, even as 
Antigone and Argia. . 114The self-reflexive and inter-textual qualities of these lines are startling. Statius and 
the Sirens share a Greek home on the shores of Surrentum, Silvae II 2 lf, III 1 64. 115 Ahl (1986) p2905.,, 
128 
In Silvae V 5 Statius surrenders to the Sirens' song: o nimium felix, 
nimium crudelis et expers / imperii, Fortuna, tui, qui dicere legem I 
fletibus aut fines audet censere dolendi! 59-61. The song breaks off before 
consolation is found: the final lines could almost belong to Hypsipyle, 79-
87: 116 
nonne gemarn te, care puer? quo sospite natos 
non cupii, primo genitum quern protinus ortu 
implicuit fixitque mihi, cui verba sonosque 
monstravi questusque et vulnera caeca resolvi, 
reptantemque solo demissus ad oscula nostra 
erexi, blandoque sinu iam iamque ... *** 
exsopire genas dulcesque accersere somnos. 
cui nomen vox prima meum ludusque tenello 
risus, et a nostro veniebant gaudia vultu ... 
116The editor adds frutrum textus mutilatus sit an carmen imperfectum reliquerit poeta 
incertum". '" 
CHAPTER FIVE: 
LACRIMABILE NOMEN ARCHEMORUS 
The babe in the woods 
5.1 puer in gremio vernae telluris 
129 
Chapter four was principally concerned with the Lemnian narration 
of Hypsipyle which is interrupted by her charge's wails. This chapter 
discusses the abortive story of the baby whose death provides the aetiology 
for the huge games of book VI. He is first named in the description of the 
drought's effects on Nemea, IV 723-9: 
una ta.men tacitas sed iu~numinis undas 
haec quoque secreta nutrit Langia sub umbra. 
nondum illi raptus dederat lacrimabile nomen 
Archemorus, nee fama deae; tamen avia servat 
et nemus et fluvium; manet ingens gloria nympham, 
cum tristem Hypsipylen ducibus sudatus Achaeis. 
ludus et atra sacrum recolet trieteris Ophelten. 
Several words hint that a story is soon to be told: nondum, tamen, manet. 
ingens gloria (727) comes to Nemea not through an encounter with 
Hercules but through a lacrimabile nomen (725). The child whose death 
foretells the disaster of Thebes is here given his posthumous name by a 
kind of hysteron-proteron. His special status is signified by sacer, the first 
epithet applied to him before his brief story ever commences, cf Inachii 
proles infausta Lycurgi 749. However, the ambiguous term sacer 
('sacred/ accursed') precisely locates the difficulty in its interpretation.1 
The baby's association with the foundation of the Nemean games 
directs the reader back towards epinician and Hercules, whose exploits 
provide the alternative aetiology for the festival. A study of N emeans I 
argues that the poet deliberately conceals the darker story of 
Opheltes/ Archemorus behind the novel and optimistic myth of the infant 
Herakles' encounter with Hera's serpents. Statius in turn implicitly 
patterns his narrative of Opheltes after that of the paradigmatic hero in 
order to emphasise the disparity between the tw9. After focusing our 
attention on the small and weak, he presents its destruction by the huge 
and powerful, in an episode which has symbolic significance for our . 
interpretation of the epic. 
1See OLD for the primary meaning 'consecrated to a deity, sacred, hallowed ... of 
sacrificial victims'; slicer covers a range of further meanings from 'forfeit' and 'destestable' 
to 'sacrosanct' and 'inviolate'. 
130 
Statiut epic begins by narrating the breakdown of parent-child 
relations in its most extreme form, in father Oedipus' curse on his sons, I 
56ff. The previous two chapters have shown that the epic also gives great 
prominence to the outworkings of the curse of Thebes upon the mother-
and-child relationship, brought into high relief in IV-VI.2 Statius 
highlights this inversion of epic perspective through an extended 
description of baby Opheltes which is conspicuous in this gory epic for its 
affective, even sentimental qualities.3 
The portrait of the baby lying in the grass is rich in the pathos of 
helpless innocence and in the sensuality of the lush natural surroundings, 
IV 793-800:4 
at puer in gremio vernae telluris et alto 
gramine nunc faciles stemit procursibus herbas 
in vultum nitens, caram modo lactis egeno 
nutricem clangore dens iterumque renidens 
et teneris meditans verba inluctantia labris 
miratur nemorum strepitus aut obvia carpit 
aut patulo trahit ore diem nemorique malorum 
inscius et vitae multum securus inerrat. 
A second description shortly before the account of the child's death 
doubles the pathetic effect, V 502-4: 
ille graves oculos languentiaque ora comanti 
mergit humo, fessusque diu puerilibus actis 
labitur in somnos, prensa manus haeret in herba. 
Euripides' Hypsipyle appears to comment on the beauty of the child's eyes, 
avyav Hypsipyle fr I ii 5; perhaps the light is reflected in them ws ev61TTpou 
(4).5 Fr 32, probably spoken by Hypsipyle, describes how the child was 
carried sleeping to the spring and set down; fr 754 N describes the child in 
the meadow: Els / Tov >..nµwva Ka8taas l8pETTEv, / ETEpov e:cf>' ETlp41 
alp6µEvoS / ayprnµ' civelwv ~8oµlv~ l/Jvxq. / TO VTJTTLOV UTTATJO'TOV lxwv;6 the 
striking parallel suggests that Statius paid close attention to the drama 
when composing this episode. 
2See Henderson (1991) p54-6. 
3Hutchinson (1993) p177: "The space, pathos and tenderness which the poet devotes to the 
little child make his the outstanding death in the first half; it makes a forceful contrast to 
the deaths in war, and suits the opposition of the two halves." 
4Butler (1909) grants p222 that the picture is "pretty enough"; "it is ... rather in smaller and 
more minute pictures that Statius as a rule excels." 
55ee Bond (1963) ad lac. 
6Bond (1963) ad loc c6inpares Euripides' "grand periphrasis for a baby picking flowers" to 
these Statian passage"!,. 
131 
OpheJtes stares in child-like wonder (miratur, 798) at his strange 
surroundings/ he is ignorant of their dangers (inscius, multum securus, 
793). The dulces lacrimas and infantile sounds and gestures of Opheltes 
have great sentimental appeal:8 "Statius' lines on the infant must be one 
of the most effective descriptions of an innocent child in ancient 
literature. "9 Ancient Greek and Roman literature devotes relatively little 
space to the description of children, epic least of all; in Homer, children are 
proverbial for folly, being the most vulnerable of all non-combatants.to 
The portraits of Opheltes recall several of these. 
Statius makes much of the baby's dependence on Hypsipyle's milk, 
Thebaid caram ... nutricem, IV 788f, et ubera parvo / iam materna dabam, 
cui nunc venit inritus orbae / lactis et infelix in vulnera liquitur imber, V 
617-9 also VI 148. It seems highly likely that the famous Simonidean 
pathos influenced Statius here. A lyric fragment (PMG fr 553), possibly 
from a dirge, apparently refers to the weeping of the Argive warriors over 
Opheltes: (EupL8(Kas) locrTe-cpcivou / yAuKe-tav l-BciKpucrav / tJsvxav a,ro,rvloVTa 
yaA.a.BT}vov TEKos.11 Like his Perseus, Simonides' Opheltes is not yet weaned 
from the breast: in both passages this seems to express the baby's utter 
dependence on another person for his care. Both infant boys gain extra 
appeal from their perilous situation: compare Opheltes' vulnerability in 
the alien forest. After he is attacked by the serpent, Opheltes breathes out 
his 'sweet life', yAuKdav tJsvxav. To Statius' Hypsipyle the baby's life also 
offered sweet (dulcis, cf yAuKdav) remembrance of her lost babies~ V 608.12 
7Note the reworking of miratur nemus insuetum fulgentia longe / scuta virorum ... Aeneid VIII 92f: whereas Virgil's Arcadian forest endures violation by the armoured strangers, Opheltes comes to grief in the strange Nemean forest, again through armoured strangers. inerrat piquantly echoes the Seven's error. 
Bsee Vessey (1973) p28ff on Earinus' tresses, Silvae III 4 26ff: the beautiful infant egregiae raeclarum sidere formae (26) is compared to Opheltes, p33. Vessey (1973) p169; see also Butler (1909) p222. Vessey (1973) p188 suggests "It is not improbable that Statius was thinking of the infant son of Domitian who was deified after his premature and unexpected death." See Scott (1936) p74f and now D'Ambra (1993) p9, 42 and fig. 28: a Flavian denarius commemorating the pietas Augusti portrays the child's apotheosis. Cf Silvae I 1 97, Martial IV 3, Silius Punica III 629. Despite our lack of knowledge concerning chronology, it seems improbable to me that Statius is not thinking also of his foster-son. 
lOsee Wiedemann (1989) eh 1 esp p19f. For further bibliography on the trope of the child, see Poschl (1964) under Kind(-er), p502ff. On the Alexandrians' fondness for descriptions of children (especially the infantile Eros), see Ziegler (1966) p38ff. For discussion of Roman attitudes to children see Weidemann (1989) eh l; Dixon (1990) and (1992): generally the child only possessed worth as a potential adult. Statius' treatment of Opheltes will reflect this. 
11Qn these lines and their relation to Simonides' style see Segal (1985b) p224. 12on affective terms Applied to children see Neraudau (1984) p56ff, Dixon (1990) p lllff: cf Lucretius DRN III 895'f. 
132 
Sta!_ius' description of Opheltes, like Simonides' of Perseus, 
emphasises the child's luminescent beauty;13 after his death, Hypsipyle 
laments the destruction of the child's siderei vultus, V 613.14 This star-like 
beauty immediately suggests another tragic baby with two names, whom 
we see first in his nurse's, then in his father's arms, Iliad VI 399-40; the 
intimacy and security of this scene intensifies the pathos of the child's 
eventual fate. Andromache laments in Iliad XXIV that the guardian of 
Troy's vfima TEKva is gone; perhaps now her son will perish at the hands 
of a Greek bent on revenge against Rector's family, 734-8. By Aeneid III, 
via the Iliupersis and classical tragedy, Astyanax' fate is part of Troy's 
lamentabile carmen; Andromache recalls the oculos, manus and ora of 
her dead child in Ascanius, the sola ... Astyanactis imago 489. We may 
compare the description of Opheltes when first set down by Hypsipyle in 
IV; later, as death approaches, Statius focuses on the sleepy eyes and face of 
the baby, whose hand tightly clutches the grass, Thebaid V 502-4: 
ille graves oculos languentiaque ora comanti 
mergit humo, fessusque diu puerilibus actis 
labitur in somnos, prensa manus haeret in herba. 
The baby's outstretched arms and open-mouthed wonder strongly 
suggest an earlier Roman lyric model, Catullus' description of the son and 
heir as yet unborn to Manlius Torquatus and Iunia, LXI 209-13: 
Torquatus volo parvulus 
matris e gremio suae 
porrigens teneras manus 
duke rideat ad patrem 
semihiante labello. 
Opheltes is no longer in the bosom of his substitute mother (cf Thebaid IV 
741) but in gremio vernae telluris (786); cf the mention of manus (504), 
dulces lacrimas (781f), renidens (789), patulo... ore (792). Again the 
difference of situation between the epithalamion and the epic is heavily 
underscored. Catullus creates a picture of domestic intimacy and 
completeness, in which a Roman Penelope (219-23) cradles her child.15 In 
contrast Opheltes expresses anxiety at being left alone in the woods, 780. 
13nitens (IV 788) refers to the infant's prone position, but also suggests .the homonym 
derived from niteo, 'shining'. 
14Cf Thebaid I 577 (Linus). 
15See Wiedemann (1989) p25; Bradley (1986), Rawson (1986) and Dixon (1990) and (1991) 
suggest that this is an atypical picture of Roman family life. Distance and discipline 
characterised Roman1iimor maternus, while emotional nurture was provided by the nurse, 
often a lowly alien. ·-. 
133 
Virgil) only use of a diminutive adjective appears in the 'anti-epic' 
Aeneid book IV: Dido expresses her wish for a substitute Aeneas, a 
suboles, or parvulus Aeneas, 327-9.16 Beside the reference to Catullus, 
Dido's words also rework Andromache's address to Ascanius, her 
substitute Astyanax, III 489-91. Chapter four noted Aeneid III's importance 
as a model for Statius' Hypsipyle: Opheltes is a substitute for the lost Thoas 
and Euneus, desertae natorum dulcis imago, Thebaid V 608. The 
suggestions of Aeneid IV are implicit rather than explicit, but add further 
associations from the most elegiac episode of Virgil's epic to Statius' 
portrayal of the doomed Opheltes. 
The Wunderkind 's birth in Virgil's Eclogue IV is heralded by 
unprecedented fecundity in the natural world, 18-25: 
at tibi prima, puer, nullo munuscula cultu 
errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus 
mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho. 
ipsae lacte domum referent distenta capellae 
ubera, nee magnos metuent armenta leones; 
ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores. 
occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni 
occidet; Assyrium vulgo nascetur amomum. 
The child's birth signifies the beginning of a glorious new era, the 
restoration of Saturnia regna. Statius' depiction of Opheltes bears clear 
traces of the influence of Eclogues IV.17 The baby is compared to infant 
gods (cf cara deum suboles Eclogue IV 49) and lies among heaps of flowers . 
Opheltes renidens (796) recalls the Wunderkind's smile of recognition for 
his mother, Eclogue IV 60-3:18 
incipe, parve puer, risu cognoscere matrem 
(matri longa decem tulerunt fastidia menses) 
incipe, parve puer: qui non risere parenti, 
nee deus hunc mensa, dea nee dignata cubili est. 
Statius specifically compares Opheltes to the infant Olympians 
themselves, 789-92 and 801-3: 
... qualis Berecyntia mater, 
dum parvum circa iubet exsultare Tonantem 
Curetas trepidos; illi certantia plaudunt 
l6 Williams (1967) p30 discusses how Virgil "takes us abruptly from the grand style of 
high epic into the intimate family atmosphere of Catullus"; cf Austin (1955) ad loc. For 
inclusion of 'anti-epic' Catullan voices, such as the elegiac Ariadne, in the Aeneid, see 
Conte (1986) passim. · 
17vessey (1973) pI05f he links Opheltes and Linus. 
18Among others Austin (1955) ad loc compares Catullus LXI 209-13. 
orgia, sed magnis resonat vagitibus Ide. 
sic tener Odrysia Mavors nive, sic puer ales 
vertice Maenalio, talis per litora reptans 
improbus Ortygiae latus inclinabat Apollo. 
134 
There is paradoxical piquancy in Statius' comparison of baby Opheltes' 
appearance to the infancies of the great Olympian gods, whose adult 
powers of destruction are fully manifest in the Thebaid. The dulces 
lacrimas of Opheltes are amplified in epic style until they echo the 
wailings (vagitibus 792) of the infant Jupiter (ironically called Tonantem). 
The stories of the births of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Apollo belong 
not to the Roman but to the Greek tradition. Hesiod's Theogony mentions 
Zeus' birth, but the story is more fully narrated by Callimachus' Hymn to 
Zeus I lOff, which includes the Corybantes, Ide, the Curetes and the noise 
accompanying Zeus' birth. Yet again, however, Dionysus intrudes into 
Statius' text. The story of his birth shares many details with that of Zeus 
his father;19 the separation from Semele is a key element in the myth. In 
the Phoenician Women, the chorus celebrates the protection offered by the 
verdant earth of Thebes to the baby Dionysus, 651-4.20 The Homeric Hymn 
to Dionysus describes the infant god's nurture by the nymphs. There is an 
odd suggestion of Semele's fate in the description of Hypsipyle's discovery 
of Opheltes' corpse: she falls on it terraeque inlisa nocenti / fulminis in 
morem V 592f. Ovid's Metamorphoses IV celebrates Bacchus by the name 
of Bromius the 'Thunderer' 11, cf Phoenician Women 649; Dionysus is 
also eternally a child, Fasti III 772-4, tibi enim inconsumpta iuventa est, / 
tu puer aeternus, ... Metamorphoses IV 17f. 
The stories of the births of Hermes and Apollo are also narrated in 
the Homeric Hymns. These proemia to epic performances invoke the 
gods' beneficent influence over the narration. As in the story of the infant 
Zeus, the gods' births are attended by remarkable events. The newborn 
Hermes matures miraculously into a singer who invents the lyre; he is 
also an audacious thief. Infancy is no guarantee of innocence: the god 
himself protests that he is no TEKvov v~mov 163f.21 The god's cunning sits 
oddly with Opheltes' innocence.22 
19Burkert (1985) p120, 173. 
20see Arthur (1977) p176ff; Pindar Olympians VI is cited as a parallel. 
21See Campbell (1983) p148-50; no distinction is made between the infant and adult god's 
capabilities in the Hymns. 
22However, Maenalui is also the homeland of the Arcadian Parthenopaeus, IV 256, 285 etc. 
This is an explicit association between Opheltes and the 'maiden-faced' warrior; although 
the epithet 'Arcadicin' is never explicitly applied to Opheltes, the silvan setting, his 
11 
135 
Calli:rp.achus' Hymn to Apollo praises that god as a.El vlos 36. 
Curiously the epithet improbus, which typically characterises the infantile 
Cupid23 but also describes the mischievous quality associated with 
Mercury, is transferred from the puer ales to Apollo. The Homeric Hymn 
to Delian Apollo describes the god's birth in a >..nµwvL µa>..aKQ 118; compare 
Opheltes' woodland cradle (Thebaid IV 792ff; cf Hypsipyle fr 754 N). 
Callimachus' Hymn to Delos describes how the island welcomes the 
infant god, taking him up from the earth which received him when his 
mother gave birth to him, 263££. The god's birth is consistently associated 
with floral abundance. 
The more obvious point of comparison with Opheltes is made by 
reptans. Curiously, the term assimilates Apollo, Opheltes and the killer 
snake, cf Nemees reptatus ager V 581 and hie reptat flebilis infans VI 245. 
Apollo is also closely linked with serpents, being the killer of the 
terrigenam Pythona, I 563. Compare also Silvae V 5 83, of Statius own 
foster-son. Even more significantly, Opheltes is verbally connected to the 
Hercules, the Nemean lion, the Lemnian children, the Argives and 
several of the gods including Bacchus through the term alumnus, 'foster-
son', which precisely describes his relation to his nurse.24 We might have 
anticipated finding the term in II 7 also, of Calliope and Lucan. Instead of 
simplifying a reading of the episode (as the Seven attempt to do), this 
identification actually multiplies possible interpretations. 
If improbus is an unusual epithet for Apollo, the equally elegiac tener 
has extraordinary force when applied to the war god, who in the 
Phoenician Women is Dionysus' opposite. Mentioned at Theogony 921ff, 
Ares' birth is not prominent in myth, although the god is consistently 
associated with Thrace (as at Odyssey VIII 361), cf Odrysia nive. It seems 
then that this image of a youthful and tender Mars is an original 
conception, and that its jarring effect is intentionaI.25 Frequently in the 
Silvae, as in the Homeric Hymns, Apollo, Bacchus and Mercury form an 
innocence and mors immatura combine to link him strongly to the warrior, who is also called 
a :fruer: cf heu simplex aetas! [of Parthenopaeus] IX 878. 
2 Especially in an elegiac context: cf Aeneid IV 412. For Eros see Neraudau (1984) III eh 5; 
Ziegler (1966) p38ff notes that the child-god was a Hellenistic favourite. . 
24see IV 148, 638, 787, V 54, 462, 501, VI 15, VII 667, XI 45 and compare Silvae II 1 1 and V 3 
106 (Statius pere the alumnus of Parthenope/Naples). 25Chapter seven discusses the aborted martial potential of the prematurely dead 
Opheltes, symbolised by the tiny weapons prepared for him, VI 74ff. Note Bacchae 302: 
Dionysus has some sl'lare in the province of Ares. Burkert (1985) p169f notes Ares' role in the 
foundation of Thebes;" 
136 
inspiration~! trinity, eg I 2 17f etc, I 4 19ff, 5 lff, II 7 6-8. In composing his 
martial epic, Statius draws additional inspiration from the infant Mars. 
Even at the moment of separation the foster-mother and child are 
compared to a real mother-and-child pair. The general mise-en-scene in 
book IV is strongly reminiscent of Demeter's loss of Persephone, narrated 
first in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (4ff), and later by Ovid in 
Metamorphoses V 385ff.26 The forest meadow has always symbolised both 
innocence and danger: Persephone is carried off to Hades while she picks 
flowers; Hypsipyle soothes the baby with floribus adgestis (788), and at the 
moment of death his hand is clutching the grass, V 504.27 
5.2 ipsa ego te exposui fatis: the myth of the birth of the hero 
Chapter four noted that woman and child are frequently bonded 
together, physically and in narrative. The bond between Hypsipyle and 
Opheltes is closer still, as both are, as it were, incarnations of Bacchus.28 
Adrastus catalyses the fatal severance of this bond when he presses 
Hypsipyle into the service of the Argive army. The narratival dichotomy 
occurs through physical separation, as the nurse sets down the resisting 
child, 785-9: 
... simul haerentem, ne tarda Pelasgis 
dux foret, a! miserum vicino caespite alumnum -
sic Parcae voluere - locat ponique negantis 
floribus adgestis et amico murmure dukes 
solatur lacrimas ... 
In her first outburst of grief, Hypipyle acknowledges the effect of her 
action, 'ipsa ego te - quid enim timeam moritura fateri? - / exposui fatis' V 
623f. 
Despite widely differing orientations, comparative studies in the 
patterning of Indo-European myth agree that virtually all Wunderkind 
stories stress the- miraculous quality of the child's early life. Almost 
invariably the birth involves extraordinary suffering for the mother who 
is separated from her child, often in a variation on t~e theme of exposure, 
perhaps because the infant poses a threat to an older ruler.29 The child 
26See Burkert (1985) p159ff for the parallels with Dionysus. . 
27See Hinds (1987); in the Hymn Demeter searches for Persephone like a bird seeking its 
ioung, 43; cf Thebaid V 599ff. 
8For the metamorphic merging of god and votary, to the extent that both bear the same 
name see Burkert (1985) p161f. 
· 
29Chapter six compires the stories of Linus and Opheltes in the Thebaid. Linus' mother bears her child after"'another riverside rape by Apollo. On this theme, and with specific 
137 
faces imm!nent danger, often from a deadly creature, which is narrowly 
averted through his own remarkable abilities or through another's aid. 
This early trial anticipates the dangers through which the adult hero will 
pass, and guarantees future fame.30 Paradoxically then, the theme of infant 
exposure provides a narratologically successful start to the hero's life: 
survival and triumph prove the child's heroic potential. 
Chapter three, which · discussed Thebaid IV-VI in the light of Attic 
drama, demonstrated that the suffering mother theme is basic to Theban 
myth, and that it plays a major part in structuring Statius' epic. The 
exposure theme is equally germane to Theban myth: at least two 
foundation stories originate in the exposure and rescue of babies. These 
form the basis for Euripides' Theban mothers-and-sons trilogy. The twins 
Amphion and Zethus provide a positive model of catastrophe survived; 
the Phoenician Women is predicated on Oedipus' story. The infant 
Oedipus' survival eventually brings disaster, but generates much heroic 
action in the process, as narrated by Jocasta herself in her prologue. 
The Hypsipyle continues the theme with the story of one child's 
exposure in the Nemean meadowland. The change from twins to a single 
child is not the only variation. In the basic pattern, the mother's exposure 
of the infant in the wilderness often leads to his nurture by an indigenous 
foster-mother, perhaps an animal: one maternal figure may be nurturing, 
one hostile. Opheltes is actually exposed by his nurse, who combines 
elements of the good and bad mother figure.31 
5.3 dpxa(oL A6yOL: Pindar's N emeans I 
The Nemean catastrophe inverts the ideal heroic pattern of exposure, 
threat and eventual triumph which can be observed in the informing 
myths of two epinician odes by Pindar, both of which have strong Theban 
connections. Olympians VI's setting compares to the Nemean woodland 
meadow in which-both Euripides and Statius locate Opheltes. Reluctantly 
references to Oedipus, see Edmunds (1985) eh 1, esp p22ff on, prophecy as a motive for 
exposure, and p26ff on feral nursing. Bremmer/Horsfall (1987) p26ff give important Roman parallels and further bibliography; also Grant (1967) p86f, apropos of Pindar. For Evadne, 
as for many mythical mothers, the birth results from seduction by Apollo beside the Alpheus, and takes place in secret; discovery provokes the anger of her male guardian. Unwelcome separation follows immediately upon the birth of her son as she places him down on the ground to return home, Tov µ€v KVL(oµlva / AELTTE xaµa( Olympians VI 44f. 
30Two classic studies have been made of this mythic pattern: from a Freudian perspective, 
Rank (1952); from a Jungian perspective, Campbell (1968); see also Butler (1979). 31 I note elsewhere tRat Bacchus has a 'good' mother in Semele (and Zeus/Jupiter) and a 
'bad' mother in Hera/funo, who is likewise inimical to Hercules. 
138 
Evadne hifies Iamos in the 'limitless thicket' where he is 'drenched' in the 
lush yellow and crimson of flowers, Olympians VI 53-56. N emeans I 
involves no exposure in the wilderness, as the setting is altogether more 
domestic;32 there is a 'good' and a 'bad' mother in Alkmena and Hera 
respectively. Of the two, Nemeans I is of special relevance to Thebaid IV-
VI because it features the myth of the infant Herakles and the snakes sent 
by Hera. 
In the classical period of the Panhellenic games, the heroic code of 
values was easily transferred to the athletic victor, and indeed to the 
epinician poet; the same terminology (eg dywv, dc8>..ov) describes the 
struggle of all three categories of performer.33 In turn, the Hellenophile 
Statius draws on the classical epinician for his epic narrative of the 
Nemean games; after all, Statius and his father competed on the festival 
circuit, including Nemea.34 Statius shares Theban themes with Boeotian 
Pindar: tuque, regnator lyricae cohortis, / da novi paulum mihi iura 
plectri, / si tuas can tu Latio sacravi, / Pindare, Thebas, Sil v ae IV 7 5-8. 
Thebaid IV 725ff introduces the language of epinician into the epic: manet 
ingens gloria Nympham, cum tristem Hypsipylen ducibus sudatus 
Achaeis / ludus et atra sacrum recolet trieteris Ophelten; chapter two 
discussed the influence of Callimachus' "homage to Pindar".35 
Thebes' mythic tradition has much to offer its native poet. Pindar 
uses more material from the Theban epic cycle than from any other except 
that of Herakles.36 Olympians VI 12-7 contains Adrastus' speech over the 
funeral pyres, in which he laments the fate of Amphiaraus. It might be 
expected that the story of the Nemean games' foundation should feature 
prominently in the Nemeans. Both the available aetiologies involve 
encounters with fabulous creatures, one killing, one killed. Moreover, one 
32However, it does not approach the Hellenistic domesticity of Theocritus XXIV, in which 
the babies are rocke<:l to sleep in a shield. See Calame (1990) on Pythians IV: wooded 
f:laces, the locus of foundation, symbolise human fecundity. 3See Crotty (1982) passim and Steiner (1986) eh 10. On Pindar's relation to epic generally 
including 'Homer' and Panhellenic epic, see Nagy (1990). 
34See eg Silvae V 3 141ff and Hardie (1983) esp. chs 1, 6; specifically on Pindar's 
importance, p29, 31f, 142. See Bro'zek (1965) who notes Lactantius' claim that Thebaid I 
173f derives from a (lost) Pindaric hymn and argues for Pindar's more widespread influence 
over the Thebaid. even suggesting that Pindar may have provided the original impulse 
towards a Theban epic. Bro'zek argues (remarkably) that Statius' aetiological narrative of 
the Nemean games owes as much to the Nemeans as to Aeneid V. 
3Son the relation of the two poets, see eg Newman (1985). 
36Eg Pythians III (Cadmus and Harmonia); Pythians VIII (Amphiaraus in the 
Underworld, prophecy of the Epigoni); Olympians II (Oedipus, omitting the incest motif); 
Nemeans IX (the 1expedition, with Adrastus' reconciliation with Amphiaraus and 
Eriphyle's treacheryt 'On Pindar and the Theban cycle see Stoneman (1981). 
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139 
involves tb,e heroes of the expedition against Thebes, one the archetypal 
Theban hero. 
Pindar obliquely alludes to the story of the Seven's involvement in 
the festival at Nemeans VIII 50f and also at X 28: the athlete takes part lv 
'A6pacrTdl\) v6µl\).37 These references have been taken to indicate that the 
story of the games' foundation goes back to the cyclic Thebais; when the 
Panhellenic Nemean games were founded in the sixth century, the 
celebrants looked to the ancient epic to provide prestigious authority for 
the 'history' of their origins.38 Three hypotheses to the Nemeans connect 
the story of baby Opheltes/ Archemorus and the Seven to the foundation 
of the games; Pindar gives the glory to Adrastus. 
The myth of Opheltes/ Archemorus and the Seven is presented by 
Pindar's contemporary Bacchylides in Epinician VIII 10-15: 
KE1[8L cpoLlvLKO.O'TTL&S T)µlernL 
,rpwncrTov 'Apydwv KpL Tot 
liS>.TJcrav l,r'' Apxcµ6p4>, Tov ~av8o6EpKrJs 
,rlcpv' <iwTEUOVTa Bpa.Kwv v,rlpolTAOS 
craµa µlXAoVTos cp6vou. 
T - \. ' W µmpa lTOI\UKpaTES" ..• 
Bacchylides tells the pathetic story with considerable economy. The 
sleeping baby is especially vulnerable, cf Thebaid V 502-4.39 The serpent is 
described by the single term ~av8o6EpKT)S; to this may be compared the livida fax oculis of Statius' serpent, V 508, and [y]9pywm1 AEucrcrw[v Hyps.ipyle fr 18 
3. Bacchylides also relates the death of the child (to whom he gives only 
his nomen-omen) to the disaster awaiting the heroes and to the games' 
initiation: these events are all the work of all-powerful Fate. Interestingly, 
this epinician combines the myth of Opheltes with the myth of Herakles 
and the Nemean Lion: the lush region of Nemea is also the home of the 
lion lTEpLKAEL Twv alSAWv I ,rpwTov' HpaKAEL 8f. Epinician XII also appears to 
connect the gamef foundation with Herakles' achievement. It seems that 
as in Aetia III, the twin aetiologies cannot easily be kept apart. 
37Cf Bacchylides VIII lOf. Farnell (1932) p241 asserts that Pindar shows "no interest in the early archaeology of the Nemean festival"; ''Although he narrates the expedition of the Seven at some length in the ninth Nemean, he never mentions Archemoros or the Nemean 
~ames in connection with it." 
Bstoneman (1981) p52f, following Wilamowitz and Robert. 
39Jebb (1905) notes that the verb awTe-vnv is glossed by Hesychius as cinav8((rn8m, which 
might indicate the m~aning 'while picking flowers', and cites the parallel of Hypsipyle fr 754 N he-pov e:qi hlpiv alp6µe-vos dype-vµ' av8lwv. Statius combines the two ideas at V 502-4: Opheltes playif'among the flowers until he falls asleep. 
140 
DespiJe the apparently obvious applicability of the myth of 
Opheltes/ Archemorus, Pindar never explicitly narrates it.40 Especially 
prominent in the Nemeans is his supreme hero Herakles,41 the i\pws 0c6s 
who features more often than any other individual in his works.42 The 
triumph over the Nemean Lion, the first and greatest of his Labours,43 
might be considered the obvious example of the hero's victory through 
,rcS vos, and therefore a most suitable aetiological exemplum for the 
victorious athlete, as in Bacchylides XII, where wrestling skill links athlete 
to hero. However, although Pindar refers to Nemea as the Lion's territory, 
~oTa.va MovTos Nemeans VI 43, he does not specifically associate Herakles' 
triumph with the games' foundation, preferring the version which credits 
the Seven with the act. 44 
Nonetheless, Pindar displays a characteristically Theban concern with 
beginnings in connection with Herakles. N emeans I refers early on to an 
act of foundation, cipxat 8t ~E~ATJVTm 0cwv / KElvou auv civ8pos 8mµovlms 
cipETa'i:s, Bf. Beyond the primary reference to the foundation of Aetna, and 
the metaphorical allusion to the foundations of song in the deeds of the 
gods, there may be a reference to the great hero's role in founding or re-
founding the Nemean games. Nemeans I introduces the hero after a 
gnomic pronouncement on the universality of human sufferings, and 
also of hope, KOLVal yap lpxovT' [X.,r(8Es / 1TOAVTT6vwv dv8pwv 33f. This 
suggests that Herakles will be presented in his familiar aspect as the 
paradigm of suffering transcended. However, the myth which informs 
this epinician is not the classic story of the hero and the Lion, but a tale of 
the infant hero's struggle with the serpents sent by Hera. 
40cf Farnell (1930-2) p241: Pindar takes "no interest in the early archaeology of the Nemean festival" . My ~tudy of Nemeans I takes a different view, that the Theban Pindar is in fact most interested in beginnings. 
41See Nemeans I, III, IV, VII, X, XL 420n the importance of Herakles for Pindar, see Galinsky (1972) eh 2 and Silk (1985) p7. Theban Pindar defends his city's claim to be the hero's birthplace, despite the rival claims of Argos and Tiryns. 43Pindar makes considerable mention of the Labours, of which he refers to five by name: the cattle of Geryon, the horses of Diomede, the Cernytian Hind, Cerberus and above all, the Nemean Lion. Other aspects of the hero's life include the prophecies concerning his death, apotheosis and marriage to Hebe. Besides his appearances in the Nemeans as noted above, he is especially prominent in the Olympians. 44However, for Herakles as founder of games, see Olympians II 2, III 1 lff, VI 68, X 43ff, and Nemeans X 32£, XI 2t The 'twin' story of Herakles' foundation of the Nemean games is alluded to in the firsf"hypothesis to the Odes: Tov aywva Twv NEµlwv TLVES" µEv vcf>' 
' HpaKAEO'lJS" TE6cfo6a( qi'acnv hrl T(j ToD >..fovTOS" <ivmpfon . 
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The myth's relevance to Chromius of Aetna has puzzled critics.45 Chromius as a 1roM1rovos O.VllP might expect an exemplum from the hero's 
maturity. It seems instead that Pindar presents the Theban hero par 
excellence in a novel and strange aspect precisely to celebrate the new. This 
suggestion is strengthened by another reference to d PXTJ: the poet 
announces that he will tell an d.pxatos · >..6yos 34. Although elsewhere 
Pindar claims authoritative status for his epinician by appealing to ancient 
tradition,46 there are grounds for interpreting d.pxatos Myos in Nemeans I 
as 'a logos of beginnings•.47 The myth of the infant Herakles and the 
serpents may actually have been the poet's own invention: "there is every 
reason for supposing that this remarkable story of the amazing infant had 
never before been recorded, at least in high poetry, before."48 There are 
visual representations of the scene which can be dated no earlier than 480BC; Pindar's poetic version, which can be tentatively dated to 476BC, is 
clearly influential on later artists.49 The story has been traced to "genuine Theban folklore";SO possibly an early Boeotian epic told the tale.SI 
These theories are impossible to prove, but we may note the 
similarity of the story to the 'exposure-threat-triumph' pattern described 
above. It bears comparison with the Opheltes myth in so many respects 
that, in the light of the ode's references to beginnings, one suspects deliberate Pindaric substitution of one myth for another.52 Possibly the 
choice to narrate an infant exploit of Herakles actually hints at the nomen-
omen of the child for whom Adrastus and the Seven founded the games, 
'Apxlµopos / Archemorus. The poet combines the two rival aetiologies for 
the Nemean games, the myth of the baby and the serpent and the myth of 
4Ssee Rose (1974) for one interpretation of its relevance. 46Eg Nemeans VIII 49-51: the song of praise is even more ancient than the expedition a~ainst Thebes, which provided the poet of praise with so much material. 4 See Kirkwood (1982) p245; also Rose (1974) p175: the first Nemean presents "a fusion of the circumstances of t_he individual victor with the panhellenic mythic vision of the aristocratic principle". 
48See Farnell (1932) p243ff. The parallel with Aetia III is striking: could it be that Callimachus derived his idea for marking a new poetic beginning from Nemeans I? 49For the dating of Nemeans I see Rosenmeyer (1969) p243f and Kirkwood (1982) p245 and notes on 19-22. 
50Grant (1967) p15 
Slfarnell (1932) p247 notes that Peisandros of Rhodes, who composed an early Herakleis, a~parently makes no mention of the event: the Lion is Herakles' first victim. · 5 Cf Olympians I, in which the poet explicitly rejects an unpleasant aetion of Pelops' ivory shoulder, substituting another; the poet cannot avoid acknowledging the co-existence of the alternatives, whse traditional authority he recognises, because narration of the latter myth necessitates some>e-telling of the former: see Nagy (1990) eh 4. If indeed the myth of Nemeans I is a Pindatic invention, the substitution is more daring, and perhaps for that reason less explicit. '"' 
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the hero aJld the lion, to produce a new, redemptive paradigm of heroic 
achievement.S3 
It may also be noted here that N emeans I has a hidden relevance to 
the story of Oedipus' sons, as it features a number of doubles. Herakles is 
himself one of a pair, but Iphicles plays only a minor part in the myth. 
Pindar focuses on Herakles' birth, as if Iphicles were an afterthought, 
8t8uµu.> avv Kaat 'YVTJTCJ.> 36. Hera sends the snakes a,re-px0e-'taa 8uµ4> ( 40) 
because of Zeus' adultery which resulted in Herakles' birth;S4 Iphicles is an 
irrelevance.SS Herakles therefore faces a double peril: with his two hands 
one baby throttles two snakes.56 The two babies are therefore sharply 
differentiated; there is no possibility of a power struggle between these 
two. The near-contemporary Seven Against Thebes in contrast exploits the 
disastrous identity and fungibility of Polynices and Eteocles; compare also 
Euripides' trilogy. 
5.4 non sine dis animosus inf ans: babies and poets 
The description of Herakles' birth and infancy in Nemeans I 
emphasises the marvellous as well as the pathetic. The child emerges 
from the darkness of his mother's womb into the daylight, CJ1TAa.yxvwv u,ro 
µaTlpos- air I TLKa 0aT)TC1V ES a'lyMv 1TaLs ~LOS / wfilva <f>e-vywv 35f. We may 
compare the marvellous birth of another Pindaric hero, Iamos: ~A0e-v 8' 
imo O'lTAO.'YXVWV im' wfilv6s T0 EpaTo.s"Iaµos- / ES <f>a.os- aUTLKa, Olympians VI 
43f.S7 Iamos has in a sense a double birth: he is born once, secretly, from 
Evadne's womb, then a second time from the concealment of the 
'boundless thicket' (see 36, 40, 45, 54). Opheltes' experience in the woods is 
a second emergence into life. 
This creational motif has symbolic significance for the hero: the 
emergence into the light of life "parallels a movement from formless and 
nameless obscurity to the radiance of great achievement: kingship, 
monuments of song, heroic fame".ss The tiny newborn child has huge 
potential, not least as a subject for heroic poetry and the ingens gloria that 
S3This is the thesis of Williams (1976), of which I have read only an abstract; it is broadly supported by Kirkwood (1982). 
· 
S4Cf Hera's sending of the Nemean Lion, the first of the adult Herakles' victims. SSTheocritus' Iphicles screams in terror and kicks off his blanket on seeing the serpents, XXN 23ff; Herakles behaves as he does in Pindar's ode. S6Newman/Newman (1984) p76 point out the discrepancy in size between Herakles and his achievement. 
S7see Segal (1974) p314. 
SBsegal (1986) p96 ,., 
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brings.59 the growth towards heroic maturity is expressed in Olympians 
VI in the imagery of upward movement, away from the earth; we may 
compare Herakles' upwards striving towards Olympia and marriage to 
Hebe, Nemeans I 71ff. 
In Iamos' case, the imagery of ascent has special metaphorical 
significance. Olympians VI commences with Adrastus' lament for 
Amphiaraus, swallowed up by the earth, 13f; Amphiaraus' prophetic 
ability derives from his contact with xewv. Iamos, as a son of Apollo, 
himself possesses prophetic powers; he was nurtured by snakes, chthonic 
beings with mantic associations. The child moves in the opposite direction 
to Amphiaraus, receiving his powers imalepws (61) from his Olympian 
father.60 Besides the familiar analogy of prophet and poet, the ode applies 
to Iamos imagery which Pindar uses elsewhere to describe his craft. "Both 
are oriented toward xewv, both have the hint of regeneration which is 
implicit in the plant metaphor [54ff], and both have the power to transmit 
immortality: Iamos to his descendants ... [51], Pindar to his subject. Like 
l6n>..oKov Evadne (50), the hymn is 'plaited' as if it were a garland of 
flowers, n>..lKwv noLK(X.wv vµvov (86f). As Iamos receives his name from 
the flowers in which he was exposed, Pindar traces his lineage to Euav811s 
METwna (84). Not to be dismissed within this pattern is what at first 
appears to be merely an 'ornamental' epithet of the Muses: µE>..lq>8oyyoL (21). As the bee (47) suggests the chthonian aspect of Iamos' prophecy, so 
here honey hints at the fact that Pindar's poetry is associated not only with 
prophecy, but also with the powers of earth."61 The ode is, like Iamos, an 
d.v8os (105, the final word of the ode); like him too it is ci8civaTov. 
The bee often appears in narratives of child exposure, protecting, 
nurturing, and imparting blessings; the theriomorphic serpents of 
Olympians VI feed their protege with 'blameless poison' of bees.62 Pindar 
is himself said to have acquired his poetic gifts through being fed by bees 
in his infancy.63 The same claim is made for Stesichorus, Aeschylus and 
59Wiedemann (1989) p51: "In myth, child god and adult god are not two chronologically sequent stages." 
· 60Iamos is associated with Herakles and the Olympian games: when the great hero arrived to participate in the games, he ordered Iamos to establish an oracle, 103ff. 61stern (1970) p338; he provides full discussion. 
62Thus the baby's na°!e celebrates poison as well as flowers: see Stern (1970) p334. Grant (1967) p24-8 discusses.the theriomorphic motif. 63Pausanias IX 23 2; Stern (1970) p338 notes that bees also ministered to chthonic deities, including Demeter, Pefl,ephone and Dionysus. 
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Plato.64 A variation on the theme of the poet's charmed infancy is found 
in Horace's 'autobiography' of a Wunderkind, Odes III 4 9-20: 
me fabulosae Vulture in Apulo 
nutricis extra limen Apuliae 
ludo fatigatumque somno 
fronde nova puerum palumbes 
texere, mirum quod foret omnibus 
quicumque celsae nidum Acheroniae 
saltusque Bantinos et arvum 
pingue tenent humilis Forenti, 
ut tuto ab atris corpore viperis 
dormirem et ursis, ut premerer sacra 
lauroque collataque myrto 
non sine dis animosus infans. 
Despite his isolation in the wild rural landscape, the infant poet is 
sacrosanct, preserved in Horace's case to compose elevated praise poetry (the 'Roman Odes').65 Statius includes a similar picture of another poetic 
wonder-child, the infant Lucan, Silvae II 7 36-47: 
natum protinus atque humum per ipsam 
primo murmure duke vagientem 
blando Calliope sinu recepit. 
tum primum posito remissa luctu 
longos Orpheos exuit dolores 
et dixit: 'puer o dicate Musis, 
longaevos cito transiture vates, 
non tu flumina nee greges ferarum 
nee plectro Geticas movebis ornos, 
sed septem iuga Martiumque Thybrim 
et doctos equites et eloquente 
cantu purpureum trahes senatum .. .' 
The genethliacon also has a silvan setting, docti largius evagentur amnes, 
/ et plus Aoniae virete silvae, I et, si qua patet aut diem recepit, I sertis 
mollibus expleatu~ umbra, 12-5. The scene in Thebaid IV-V is strikingly 
similar to the two lyric poems. Hypsipyle is verbally assimilated to 
Calliope, mother of Orpheus: compare tuque o nemoris regina sonori, / y Calliope, Thebaid Itl 34f and Adrastus' address to Hypsipyle IV 753 'diva 
potens nemorum '. Calliope is consoled for Orpheus' loss by her 'foster-
child' Lucan.66 Horace's homeland itself is his nutrix (10); cf the Langia, 
64See Grant (1967) p28 and Lefkowitz (1981) sv 'birthplaces', 'divine intervention', 
'family/genealogy', 'poetas hero'. 
6Ssee Davis (1991) p1Q2f; on Horace's landscape see Thomas (1982). 66To complicate matters further, Silvae V 3 lSff imagines Calliope mourning for Statius pere as she did for Orpheus. 
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Thebaid IY 716f.67 Like both lyric babies, Opheltes is placed on the ground, 
making infantile sounds (Thebaid IV 788f, 797, V 613-5); like baby Horace ludo fatigatum (11), Opheltes falls asleep, fessusque diu puerilibus actis, V 503. 
5. 5 nemoris sacer horror Achaei: the serpent as symbol 
As a future poet with a charmed life, non sine dis (20), Horace is 
specifically protected while asleep from harmful snakes (17f); we may 
compare Eclogue IV, where the marvellous child's birth heralds the death 
of all poisonous serpents ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula /lores, / 
occidet et serpens, et fallax herba veneni / occidet, Eclogue IV 23-5.68 Iamos 
the future prophet is actually protected by two serpents; Herakles faces two 
malignant snakes in his cradle and conquers. 
Hera's monsters effectively guarantee Herakles' future fame; ironically his name speaks both the power and the impotence of his greatest enemy. Iamos' name also preserves the memory of his 
miraculous infancy. His name partly derives from the brilliant flowers 
which first cradled him, 'lwv eavSatO'L Kal ,raµ,ropqrupOLO'L Cl.KTLO'L ~c~pcyµevas a~pcw I crwµa Olympians VI 55f. It has, however, a further source in the 
marvels which follow his birth: the harmless serpents sent by the will of 
the gods feed the child with 'blameless poison', a.µe-µ<f,e-1 lQ µe-X.Lcrcrav 46f. Statius gives his child his nomen-omen Archemorus b~fore the 
commencement of the story and thereby forewarns the reader of the 
outcome of his encounter with the snake, the nemoris sacer horror Achaei, Thebaid V 505. 
Opheltes and the serpent share the epithet sacer: The term has a wide 
range of meanings from 'holy' to 'accursed'. Mozley translates as 
'accursed', complementing horror; however, the pairs of snakes in 
N emeans I and Olympians VI illustrate the ambiguity of this animal as a literary motif. The visibly dangerous snakes of N emeans I belong to a 
strong mythical tradition of animal enemies.69 More perhaps than any 
67 cf haee quoque seereta nutrit Langia sub umbra, Thebaid IV 716; the verb assimilates the river to Hypsipyle, herself a source of abundance. Ovid's Theban serpent's cave is uberibus feeundus aquis, Metamorphoses III 31. 
· 68Cf Georgics II 151-4: Virgil's idealised Italy is free from dangerous beasts, plants and especially snakes, at rabidae tigres absunt et saeva leonum / semina, nee miseros fallunt aeonita legentis, I nee _rapit immensos orbis per humum neque tanto / squameus in spiram tractu se eolligit anguis;~cf Horace's version of this Golden Age miracle, Epode XVI 52. 691 disagree with RosJnmeyer (1969) p242f, that the snakes are nursery-rhyme bogeys: "We must rid ourselves of F'razerian preconceptions concerning the awesomeness of snakes. Here 
146 
other witµ creature, the snake is credited with qualities of cunning and 
malevolence associated with sinister chthonic powers: Apollo's victory 
over Python at Delphi is a paradigmatic act of heroism, duly celebrated in 
the foundation of the Pythian games.70 
The snake's chthonic associations appear to derive from its ability to 
rejuvenate itself annually, and from its preference for concealment.71 Even at what appears to be the furthest remove from the heroic world, in Virgil's Arcadia, the snake in the grass threatens danger to the shepherd: qui legitis fiores et humi nascentia fraga, / frigidus, o pueri (fugite hinc), latet anguis in herba, Eclogue III 93f. The snake is also associated with 
treachery: it often attacks when its victim is asleep, and often prefers defenceless children and infants: this offers a further connection between Nemeans I and Thebaid V.72 
In describing the snakes in Nemeans I, Pindar avoids melodramatic 
terms for colour and dimension, such as those which describe the serpent 
that killed Bacchylides' Opheltes, ~av0o8Ep1CTJS, untpon>..os Epinicians VIII 12f.73 Pindar focuses instead on the double terror of the pair of snakes, and 
their sinister movement, Te-Kvotow wKdas yva.0ous ciµcpLEAL~acr0m µEµawTES 42f. Theocritus embellishes Pindar's description by adding details of colour 
and shape: Tnµos d.p' alva lTE"AWpa 8uw no>..uµ11xavos "Hpa, I KVavlms 
cpptaaoVTas imo CJlTELpaLCJL 8pa.KOVTas, Idylls XXIV 13f. 
The only epithet awarded to the theriomorphic animal-guardian 
serpents of Olympians VI is y>..auKwlTES 45.74 The snake can thus be both a 
menace and a tutelary presence, being often found guarding sacred groves 
and springs.75 The Nemean serpent also has a tutelary function, Thebaid V 511-3: 
they are the villains, plain and simple." Rosenmeyer's interpretation of the ode stresses its sunnier, even humorous aspect: see esp p246. 
70see Fontenrose (19~9); Segal (1982) p129ff relates the motif to the Dionysiac, chthonic imagery of the Bacchae and Phoenician Women. Given the prominence of the motif of the serpent at Ares' spring, ie the Dirce~ we may assume that the snake also featured in the imagic system of the Antiope: thus, the snake motif binds the trilogy together. 71These are the two major features of Virgil's depiction of snakes. For a seminal study of Virgil's use of serpent imagery as a "dominant, obsessive metaphor" in Aeneid II and elsewhere which lays the foundations for Boyle (1986) (sv 'serpent imagery'), see Knox (1950); see also Briggs (1980) p61-8. 
72Theocritus Idylls XXIV plays up this theme. 73Jn this respect we may compare Homer. Iliad III 33-7 and XXII 93-7 compares the terror inspired by war to that inspired by an encounter with a snake; however, the anthropocentric Iliad focuses on human emotional response, not on the appearance of the snake. 
· 
74The epithet might r"ecall the tutelary powers of the Homeric -yXavKwms 'A~vri -7Ssee Vian (1963) chs '"3, 4. 
I, 
I: 
I rl 
11 
I 
I 
... Inachii sanctum dixere Tonanti 
agricolae, cui cura loci et silvestribus aris 
pauper honos; ... 
147 
The drying-up of its native spring prompts the creature's rage. Wounded, 
it creeps away to die at Jupiter's shrine, lamented by the nymphs and 
fauns, 579-82. 76 
5.6 The terrigena serpens of Nemea and Thebes 
The snake that kills Opheltes is described at length, V 505££.77 Clearly 
it is inspired by Ovid's description of the serpent in Metamorphoses III 
31ff, which in turn owes much to Virgil's twin serpents in Aeneid II 
203££.78 Criticism of the passage has dwelt on derivation, exaggeration and 
fantasy: "The Ovidian serpent was developed with mannered detail, but 
Statius has pressed to further extremes in elaborating its enormous size 
and terrifying appearance. This aspect of his mannered art is familiar, but 
it would be wrong to attribute this instance solely to a desire for perverse 
originality. The whole Nemean episode has elements of fantasy and 
unreality, and the world into which the Argives have strayed is one totally 
separated from their own. The serpent is a suitable denizen of this 
fabulous world, where temporarily the Argive army finds an escape from 
the nightmarish realities that exist outside it. .. 79 
Certain! y the description of the snake in book V is unique in its detail 
and length. However, the serpent figure, far from representing escape 
from the world outside Nemea, inextricably binds the episode to the rest of 
the Thebaid. Serpents are hardly alien to the epic's landscape, as they are 
intrinsic to the story of Thebes from its mythical beginnings in Cadmus' 
battle with the serpent at the spring of Ares.BO The story of this encounter 
76The pastoral, patheti~ quality of these lines is noted by Taisne (1972) p358 and discussed in chapter seven; cf the wounded snake at Georgics III 416ff, and the application of the same image to Sergestus' crippled ship ( in a context of games), Aeneid V 273ff. Note the humble altar at which it is worshipped. 
77Generally on serpents in Statius see Taisne (1972). 78Mozley (1933) p34f; Arico (1963); Vessey (1973) p187, who notes the appearance of another monstrous serpent in Silius' Punica VI 151ff; Newman (1975) p86ff; Ahl (1986) 
~2846 n40; Henderson (1991) n149. 
· 9The extraordinary evaluation of Vessey (1973) p187; Bardon (1962) p743 describes the epic's world as a "monde des brutalites inou'ies, monde de l'effroi et de l'outrance, monde qui ignore l'equilibre et le repos ... ". See also the sympathetic reading of Hutchinson (1993) Kil2lff. 
· 0see Fontenrose (195~) p306ff for a discussion of the myth in terms of basic patterns of hero-narrative which ' connects Cadmus to Herakles and Perseus. Vian (1963) chs 4, 7 develops Fontenrose's llieas. 
148 
and the ensuing battle with the Spartoi is referred to at Thebaid I 7 as the first link in the longa retro series of Theban myth.BI Ovid's treatment of 
the myth at Metamorphoses III 1-130 is therefore basic to Statius, whose re-
working of it is peculiarly appropriate. 
Certain features shared by the two serpents derive from a common 
currency of the fabulous; nevertheless Statius undoubtedly intends the 
reader to recall Ovid's Martius anguis. Both serpents are colossal, Metamorphoses III 41ff, Thebaid V 507, 513ff. Moreover, both have fiery 
eyes: igne micant oculi, Metamorphoses III 33, livida fax oculis, Thebaid V 508. Both are brightly coloured, and venomous, corpus tumet omne 
venenis, Metamorphoses III 33, tumidi stat in ore veneni / spuma virens, Thebaid V 508f. Both utter threatening hisses from triple tongues: tres 
vibrant linguae, triplici stant ordine dentes, Metamorphoses III 34, ter lingua vibrat, terna agmina adunci / dentis, Thebaid V 509f; their breath is 
noxious, Metamorphoses 11149, Thebaid V 527f.82 
Statius makes his debt to Ovid most transparent by employing the 
same astronomical simile: compare quantus ab Arctois discriminat aethera plaustris I Anguis et usque Notos alienumque exit in orbem, Thebaid V 529f and tantoque est corpore, quanto, / si totum spectes, geminas qui 
separat Arctos, Metamorphoses III 44f. Statius has actually conflated three 
serpentine constellations, Draco, Hydra and Serpens.83 The following lines 
compare the Nemean serpent to no less a beast than the Python, quantus 
et ille sacri spiris intorta movebat / cornua Parnassi, donec tibi, Delie, fixus I vexit harundineam centeno volnere silvam 531-3. This reference to the 
archetypal snake of Greek myth, whose conquest heralded the foundation 
of the Delphic games (cf Thebaid VI Sf) is one of the several points of 
contact between the narratives of Opheltes and Linus (I 557): in book I, 
Bloavii (1993) p5: "The name of Cadmus is invoked some thirty-three times in the poem, while idjectival forms of his name are frequently equivalent to 'Theban'. 82ovid's and Virgil's triple-tongued beasts amplify the horror of Virgil's serpents. The most developed treatment of the snake motif in the Aeneid is the Laocoon episode. These omens of the Atreids' return are, appropriately, gemini angues/dracones, II 203f, 225. Boyle (1986) p106 n41 notes "Indeed because of the occurrence of the adjective geminus in connection with the serpents at Aeneid II 203, 225, VII 450, VIII 289, 697, with the Atridae at Aeneid II 415, .500, VIII 130, and with the Dirae at Aeneid XII 845, it might not be too fanciful to ascribe sinister overtones to the adjective in some of the other contexts in which it occurs ... " It is surely justifiable to perceive sinister overtones in Statius' use of the language of twinning and kinshipJn connection with snakes. Henderson (1991) n149 notes that Megaera, having caused the bla.odshed geminae ... gentis, calls up her consanguineos angues to prompt the anguish of the firial duel (Thebaid XI 57, 61 ). 83See Mozley's note tOhis 1932 translation and (1933) p34; also Hutchinson (1993) p123 n24. 
149 
Apollo's tape of Linus' mother immediately follows the god's victory at 
Delphi, I 562-9: 
postquam caerulei sinuosa volumina monstri, 
terrigenam Pythona deus septem orbibus atris 
amplexum Delphos squamisque annosa terentem 
robora, Castaliis dum fontibus ore trisulco 
fusus hiat nigro sitiens alimenta veneno, · 
perculit, absumptis numerosa in vulnera telis, 
Cirrhaeique dedit centum per iugera campi 
vix tandem explicitum ... 
The confusion and hyperbole in V 505ff are therefore intentional, 
combining the immensity and horror of all the Nemean serpent's 
(Theban and non-Theban) predecessors. 
For the chorus of Theban women in the Phoenician Women, Thebes' 
foundation story weaves together past and present sufferings.84 The 
Martius anguis might be called the symbol of Thebes' original sin.SS The 
dragon's teeth provide the new city with its first body of citizens, but these 
end their lives in mutual slaughter; this pattern is replicated in the 
mutual slaughter of Polynices and Eteocles.86 In the Thebaid, the 
terrigenae continually re-enact their consanguineas acies (cf XI 61) in the 
Stygian forests around Cithaeron, IV 434-41: 
extra immane patens tellus Mavortia campi, 
fetus ager Cadmo. durus qui vomere primo 
post consanguineas acies sulcosque nocentes 
ausus humum versare et mollia sanguine prata 
eruit; ingentes infelix terra tumultus 
lucis adhuc medio solaque in nocte per umbras 
exspirat, nigri cum vana in proelia surgunt 
terrigenae; ... 
This ghostly scene anticipates the duel in book XL The epithet terrigenae 
applied to the Spartoids recalls Metamorphoses III 118 and links them to 
the Nemean serpent, which is also terrigena (V 506). 
Cadmus and Harmonia themselves end their lives in exile, 
transformed into serpents.87 The principal literary source for this story is 
84Arthur (1977) p163ff, esp p167-9, p171f. 
85Newman (1986) p235 
86Henderson (1991) p34f. 
87See Bacchae 1330-9 and Dodds (1960) ad loc. The snake motif appears to be very ancient in the Theban tradition: see Vian (1963) p76ff. As for Cadmus and Harmonia's translation to Elysium, Dodds copunents "This is the only part of the prophecy which Pindar knows (or 
as a good Theban, chooses to mention), Olympians II 78. It must originally have been an 
alternative, not additional, to the snake story." Pythians III refers to it, 86ff; it portrays 
'I 
i 1 
1111 
11 
150 
Ovid's Metamorphoses III 99ff and IV 563ff; this episode closes Ovid's 
treatment of Thebes, which thus begins and ends with snakes, like 
Euripides' trilogy.88 I noted in chapter three the serpentine involvement 
of Theban past and present, as exemplified by the longa series of 
Harmonia's necklace (II 267);89 the metamorphosis of Cadmus and 
Harmonia is the first story associated with the fatal necklace, II 289-91: 
prima £ides operi, Cadmum comitata iacentem 
Harmonia versis in sibila <lira querellis 
Illyricos longo sulcavit pectore campos.90 
Thebes is founded, then, under the evil omen of the snake, even to 
the point where the founders are themselves metamorphosed into snakes. 
The end of the Earthborn's story also involves serpents: angry over the 
death of his creature, Mars demands the sacrifice of Menoeceus, last of the 
Spartoids, in return for Thebes' salvation, cf Phoenician Women 931-41.91 
A serpentine flame prophesies the god's demand, Martius inferias et saeva 
efflagitat anguis I sacra: cadat generis quicumque novissimus exstat I 
viperei, datur hoe tantum victoria pacto, X 612-4.92 The flame which 
destines Menoeceus for destruction recalls the snake-like flame which 
consecrates Ascanius, Rome's first founder (Aeneid II 682).93 Statius' 
transforms an optimistic prophecy into one of pessimism. 
The motif of the serpent as omen of doom is also familiar from 
Aeneid II: famously, Laocoon's two sons are killed by twin snakes in a 
perversion of sacrificial ritual. Virgil's narrative creates a complex system 
of imagery linking the serpent and the flame: the prodigy of the sea-
monsters presages the destruction about to descend on Troy.94 Laocoon 
Cadmus and Harmonia as (temporarily) the happiest of mortals in their marriage, until in time Cadmus 'lost his share of bliss', through the tragedies which befell his daughters. 88Bomer (1976) ad loc discusses Ovid's development of the myth. 
89Cf luctu serieque malprum / victus, Metamorphoses IV 564f: see Hardie (1990) p224. On prodigy scenes see Schetter (1960) p96-101: for the necklace see p97; also Vessey (1973) 
~138f, who suggests Statius is describing a Hellenistic artefact. 
Ofor the very specific geographical reference and other verbal parallels cf Metamorphoses IV 568. 
, 91See Segal (1982) p129 on the Bacchae: Pentheus' father is Echion, the masculine form of the serpentine monster Echidna; Echion is associated with chaos and violence, cf Fontenrose (1959) p3llf, 316; the earthborn snake, with whom Pentheus is identified (537-44), is also the enemy of Dionysus, p129. 
92for Martius anguis see Metamorphoses III 32. 
93Hardie (1993b) p64f: the Nemean serpent is "an avatar of the serpents that killed Laocoon and his chil<:1,ren". He notes several examples of Statian number play based on patterns in the Aeneid: For harmless snakes associated with optimistic prophecy, compare Aeneid V 84ff; O'Hata (1990) p54ff. 
94Knox (1950) p382ff " 
I, 
'111 
151 
and his sQ_ns fall to the snakes as the first victims in the Greek victory; in 
turn, the first Greek to fall to a Trojan defender reacts like a man 
confronted by an angry snake.95 Opheltes' renaming makes him the first 
sacrifice of the Theban war.96 
5.7 prima ad limina vitae: Herakles and .Archemorus 
The most obvious difference between the narratives of Herakles and 
Archemorus is that one child triumphs, and one is destroyed. Herakles' 
infant conquest replaces "death with promise and defeat with victory".97 
The dazzling vision of the apotheosised hero in Pindar gives way to the 
darkening skies of Thebaid V 753, caeloque cavam nox induit umbram. 
The contrast between the children is evident: one child is active and in 
control, one completely, pathetically passive. 
Pindar's Herakles displays the remarkable physical attributes of a 
potential hero: although only just born, he is able to hold up his head 
unaided, o 8' 6p9ov µEv a.vTnvev Ka.pa Nemeans I 43, "the last impossibility 
for a new-born babe".98 He also shows an instinctive readiness for combat; 
when the snakes attack, he is sufficiently co-ordinated to grab one serpent 
in each fist, 8Lcrcra1crL 80L01JS' avxtvwv µa.ptJ;ms cicpuKTOLS' xe-pcrlv E<llS' Oc/>LaS' 
44f .99 If Pindar emphasises the hero's instinctive awareness of his 
strength, Statius presents a baby who is both helpless and unaware of the 
imminent danger from serpents: miratur nemorum s_trepitus ... 
nemorique malorum / inscius et vitae multum securus inerrat, Thebaid 
IV 798ff. 
Herakles' engagement with the serpents is his first heroic combat, 
,rnpnTo 8E ,rpGhov µcixas 43; again this suggests the foundational aspect of 
Herakles' deed, which signifies his future greatness as an a.AE~LKaKOS' (cf 
62£).100 Instead of crushing the twins, the serpents are themselves 
95Knox (1950) p391 notes striking verbal parallels in these two narratives. 96Hardie (1993b) p64: Menoeceus is singled out by his uniqueness from the many undifferentiated pairs in Statius' Theban narrative. He is novissimus (X 613), the last of the line. We may also compare Opheltes, poignantly his parents' only child. 97Williams (1976) cited in Kirkwood (1982) p246. 
9Bsee Farnell (1933) ad loc. Theocritus apparently makes Heracliscus and his brother ten 
months old; Pherecydes (FGrHist I 3 79 fr 69) makes them a year old, Apollodorus II 4 8 eight months; see Gow (1952) ad loc. These later versions diminish the wonder of the event without adding to its credibility: see Rosenmeyer (1969) p242. 99Rosenmeyer (1969) p243 "Other heroes are content to kill one serpent, and only after the 
most taxing struggle. Heracliscus kills two of them, without even trying, as if the feat demanded no greater effort than sucking his thumb." 
lOOCf Aeneid VIII 28i::9: the narrative of Hercules and Cacus is followed by an aetiological description of the Satii. The infant triumph is the first of the laudes Herculeas et facta to 
111 
111 
II 
II I 
152 
strangled 'eY the infant hero, using his favourite method of dispatch which 
he later employs against the otherwise invulnerable Nemean Lion.101 
Herakles' victory also anticipates his triumph over the (snake-limbed) 
giants, for which he will be admitted to the company of the gods.102 His 
glorious future is foretold by Teiresias, summoned by Amphitryon in 
response to the serpent prodigy. 
Here we may compare the Thebaid. The serpent comes across 
Opheltes as he lies sleeping face down in the grass. It is clear from the 
outset that, unlike Herakles, the helpless Opheltes could never match the 
power of this immense serpent which the very wood cannot 
accommodate, miserae nunc robora silvae / atterit et vastas tenuat 
complexibus ornos, V 514f. When stretching across the river, its huge bulk 
swells the flow, squamisque incisus adaestuat amnis 517; its size can only 
be conveyed in cosmic terminology, 529ff. 
Whereas the precocious Herakles crushes two serpents with his fist, 
Opheltes' fists hold nothing but flowers (V 504), and the single, huge, 
serpent crushes him beyond recognition, non ora loco, non pectora 
restant, I rapta cutis, tenuia ossa patent nexusque madentes I sanguinis 
imbre novi, totumque in vulnere corpus V 596-8. This last phrase 
totumque in vulnere corpus verbally reduces 'child' to 'wound', 
expressing the baby's total vulnerability.103 The topos of mors immatura 
typically calls forth "high epic pathos".104 Very often the young warrior's 
death is compared to the plucking or destruction of a flower, arid may be 
overlaid with erotic associations; even in death, the victim remains 
beautiful.105 The living child is associated with flowers; moreover, the 
term which describes his death, destrictus, refers in classical Latin to the 
be celebrated, ut pri~a novercae / monstra manu geminosque premens eliserit anguis. Cf Thebaid IV 646f: conscia laudis / Herculeae dumeta. 101See discussion in chapter two; cf rabidi dum colla comantia monstri / [fr}angeret et tumidus animam angustaret in artus, Thebaid IV 834f. There is certainly a parallel with the description of the hero's combat with Cacus in Aeneid VIII (259-61); however we may also note a slight verbal reminiscence of the curious Pindaric phrase ciyxoµevOLs 8e- xp6vas 1/Juxas aTTETTVEUaEv µE>Jwv ci</>chwv 46f, on which see Segal (1974) p29ff. 102Newman/Newman (1984) p68 n36, 37. Farnell (1921) p171 and (1932) p250 suggests that this story derives from Hesiod. 
. 103Hutchinson (1993) p122f; cf totum est pro vulnere corpus, Bellum Civile IX 814 . 104In the phrase of Fowler (1987). 
lOSFowler (1987) discusses the history of the famous poppy image of Iliad VIII 306-8 and its metamorphosis through Aeneid IX 435-7 (Euryalus), XI 68-71 (Pallas), and the overlap between the languagf of death and defloration. See also Johnson (1976) p59ff on Virgil's 
"dissolving pathos". '"' 
153 
action of stripping leaves. It is also used of unsheathing swords, adding the 
suggestion of death by the sword.106 
The description of the actual moment of death forces the contrast in 
size between killer and victim, 534-40:107 
quis tibi, parve, deus tarn magni pondera fati 
sorte dedit? tune hoe vix prima ad limina vitae 
hoste iaces? an ut inde sacer per saecula Grais 
gentibus et tanto dignus morerere sepulcro? 
occidis extremae destrictus verbere caudae 
ignaro serpente puer, fugit ilicet artus 
somnus, et in solam patuerunt lumina mortem. 
Amphiaraus' allegorical interpretation of events relates the omen to the 
course of the war; it is scarcely extending the allegory to suggest that the 
serpent is a figure for the war itself. 
It is a conspicuous irony that the serpent which kills Opheltes does so 
(in Statius' version of events) quite accidentally, occidis extremae 
destrictus verbere caudae / ignaro serpente puer, Thebaid V 538f.108 The 
baby's death is not, as Herakles' was to be, the result of divine hostility, but 
rather is incidental to Bacchus' scheme of mora. Snakes reappear as a 
motif in the epic's theme of suffering innocence: following the duel, the 
Thebans are compared to doves, the birds of innocence and peace, terrified 
by a monstrous snake, XII lSff.109 The serpent therefore effectively 
symbolises the war itself, which destroys the innocent with the guilty. no 
5.8 The serpent and the Seven 
The comparison of warrior to snake begins with Homer's depiction of 
Achilles waiting for his victim Hector in Iliad XXII 93-7. Virgil develops 
his descriptions of dangerous snakes in the Georgics to a greater degree in 
the Aeneid. By applying human characteristics to serpents, Virgil enables 
the application '?f serpentine qualities to man. His "blurring of the 
distinction between man and animal raises the significance of the symbol 
106The verb also suggests casual, unintentional action, such as grazing the surface (OLD). 107Hutchinson (1993) p178 notes the juxtaposition serpente puer: "The very pathos of the death springs from Opheltes' littleness. We are shown here the boldness of Statius' range." 108Contrast ~ Clement of Alexandria Protr; II 34 6p<iKwv 6t lv ToaovTC\> 1T€pL nrnwv T4i 
1rm6tci> dv€1A€v auT6; Nemeans hypoth. 4, l:>cf>Lv 6t Tijs xnas l~E>..66vTa · KaTa. TTJV Tijs 
'11pL 1TUAT}S' dnova(av 1T€pL1T>..aKfjvm TQ 1rm6t Kal Ta'i:s andpms dnoTETaµlvov d1ro1rv1~m To ~plcf>os; also Hyginus LXXIV quae cum aquam eis tradit, draco fontis custos ftuerum exedit.We cannot ascertain what happened in the Hypsipyle. 09cf V 599ff, which compares Hypsipyle to a mother bird bereft of her nestlings by a piger 
serpens. { 
110 Cf Ahl (1986) p2886-8. 
11 
I 
154 
to an absJract level not found in earlier authors".111 Ovid blurs the 
distinction even further, actually metamorphosing man and woman into 
snakes. I noted above that the myth of Cadmus and Harmonia is present 
and potent in the Thebaid. Statius' deployment of serpentine imagery in 
describing belligerent warriors is therefore both unsurprising and 
peculiarly apt. When he confronts Tydeus, Eteocles is compared to a 
venomous serpent, II 410-4. Curiously, the snake's anger is provoked both 
by injury from a stone, and by thirst. This description closely parallels that 
of the Nemean serpent, V 520-7: 
saevior anfractu laterum sinuosa retorquens 
terga solo siccique nocens furit igne veneni. 
stagna per arentesque lacus fontesque repressos 
volvitur et vacuis fluviorum in vallibus errat, 
incensusque siti112 liquidum nunc aera lambit 
ore supinato, nunc arva gementia radens 
pronus adhaeret humo, si quid viridantia sudent 
gramina; ... 
In the catalogue of the Argive troops, Tydeus is likened to a snake lurking 
in the grass, its skin newly cast, IV 95-100:113 
... ceu lubricus alta 
anguis humo verni blanda ad spiramina solis 
erigitur liber senio et squalentibus annis 
exutus laetisque minax interviret herbis: 
a miser! agrestum si quis per gramen hianti 
obvius et primo fraudaverit ora veneno. 
After Menoeceus' devotio, Eteocles confronts Creon like a snake provoked 
by a shepherd, XI 310-4: 
ictus ut incerto pastoris vulnere serpens 
erigitur gyro longumque e corpore toto 
virus in ora legit; paulum si devius hostis 
torsit iter, cecidere minae tumefactaque frustra 
calla sedent, i~asque sui bibit ipse veneni. 
The simile is reversed again in the description of the Nemean snake, 
which itself becomes an epic warrior, a hostis, V 549. Its teeth are arrayed 
in agmina, 509; its crest is implicitly compared to a warrior's helmet, 
auratae crudelis gloria fronti / prominet, 510f. In its anger it displays the 
111Briggs (1980) p68 
112K gives incertus sui, which seems unlikely. 113Mozley (1933) p33:compares Virgil's Aeneid II 471-5, which describes Pyrrhus' attack on Priam's palace. Aene'id II 379-82 describes Androgeos' similar reaction on realising that he has stumbled into a Trojan detachment. 
155 
same fury_ that characterises Tydeus in book II, saevior (520), furit (521), 
incensus (524), torvus (557). 
The serpent at the spring of Ares is both malevolent enemy and 
pacific guardian. This ambiguity makes Cadmus' conquest of it both an 
archetypal heroic founding act and a violation of the spring's sanctity.114 
The chorus of the Phoenician Women contrast Thebes with Delphi, where 
Apollo slew the Python and finally subordinated the dark chthonic powers 
which opposed his rule. The tragedy also explains the aetiology of Dirce's 
spring and the sacred cave where the serpent lived. According to 
Euripides, this creature was the offspring of Ares, lv8a cp6vws rjv 8pciKwv 
"Aprns wµ6cppwv Phoenician Women 657f. As Harmonia was the daughter 
of Ares, the combat with the serpent possesses an element of fratricide;115 
the city of fratricide is founded in Cadmus' sacrifice of his double.116 
Statius' development of the serpent motif allows him to represent 
the snake and the Seven as verbal equivalents; the Argive champions 
thus form a much more appropriate challenge to the beast than baby 
Opheltes could. The incidental but fatal contact of serpent and baby yields 
to a fully developed heroic combat narrated in terminology of epic 
dimensions, 556ff. Significantly, Hippomedon's attack replicates the 
language of Cadmus' encounter, 558-61: 
... rapit ingenti conamine sax.um, 
quo discretus ager, vacuasque impellit in auras 
arduus Hippomedon, quo turbine bellica quondam 
librati saliunt portarum in claustra molares. 
Compare Metamorphoses III 59-62: 
... dextraque molarem 
sustulit et magnum magno conarnine misit. 
illius impulsu cum turribus ardua celsis 
moenia motu forent; 
Cadmus acts to revenge the deaths of others; both gestures are compared to 
the storming of cities, and both are unsuccessful. Where Hippomedon 
fails, Capaneus succeeds: to him, the serpent represents the pure challenge 
of brute strength. On the one hand, he is impiously eager to destroy even a 
deis concessa voluptas (568); on the other, he would willingly identify 
himself with the Olympian powers should opportunity for Gigantomachy 
arise,' .. . si consertum super haec mihi membra Giganta / subveheres' 569f. 
114Vian (1963) p123 e(c; Arthur (1977) p17If for Phoenician Women. 115See Arthur (1977) 'p167f. 
116See Guepin (1968) p 209. 
I I 
156 
Nemeans _I 62ff attributes the slaying of monsters and anticipated battle 
with the Giants to Herakles; the snakes have 'unspeakable limbs', µe->.lwv 
acpchwv 47. Opheltes, patterned upon the archetypal wonder-child, reverses 
Herakles' victory by falling victim to the serpent, leaving the impious 
Capaneus to follow in the hero's footsteps in grand epic style. The Pindaric 
model invites the reader to measure Opheltes against Hercules; now 
Capaneus pointedly appropriates the heroic role of dAEeLKaKOS. His 
behaviour, however, is more akin to the ultimately disastrous action of 
Cadmus.117 
5.9 Ecce fides superum:The reversal of prophecy 
In both Nemeans I and Olympians VI the Wunderkind's birth and its 
consequences bring both joy and pain, of which the mother's physical 
birthpangs are only a part. In Nemeans I, Herakles' parents rush to rescue 
their children from peril: Alkmene rushes d1TE1TAOS from the bed in which 
she has only just given birth to the twins, with the intention of averting 
the u~ptv Kvw8a.AWv (50). Hypsipyle, rather than Eurydice, is the first on the 
scene in the epic, terrified by the child's cry which prophesies his doom, 
iam certa malorum / mentis ab augurio V 545f. 
Eurydice comes to meet Hypsipyle femineos coetus plangentiaque 
agmina ducens, 652; cf the dlcription of Alkmene's household, EK 8' dp' ;. 
Q.TAflTOV 8tos- I 1TAfle€ yuva1Kas, ocrm TUXOV I AAKµ11vas 0.Pll'YOlO'al MXEl 48f. le:'. 
Aimene. is swiftly followed by her husband, 51-3: 
Taxu 8E Ka8µdwv ayot xak 
K€0lS O'UV OlTAOlS E8paµov a8p6m, 
EV XEPL 8' 'Aµcpt Tpvwv KOAEOU 
yvµvov Ttva.aawv [cpaayavov] 
'lKET0, <'>edms avlmcrt TUlTELS. 
In N emeans I it is chiefly Amphitryon who experiences the 
confusion of joy and sorrow: first he responds to the news that his sons are 
in deadly danger, then learns of their preservation, then he must grasp the 
truth that one child, Herakles, is not in fact his son after all, but the ,raTs 
.6.t6s. His emotions at this point are understandably mixed, 55-9)18 
EO'Ta 8E 8aµ~t 8ucrcp6pep 
11 7Vessey (1973) p188 notes that "The killing of the serpent is an act of blasphemy ... On 
the surface, the action of Capaneus appears Herculean, for he rids the world of a monster -
but it brings him no laus." 
118See the commenis of Newman/Newman (1984) p60ff: 6ciµ~os typically describes 
reaction to religious ~piphany. 
11 
156 
N emeans 1 62ff attributes the slaying of monsters and anticipated battle 
with the Giants to Herakles; the snakes have 'unspeakable limbs', µe-Alwv 
ci</>a.Twv 47. Opheltes, patterned upon the archetypal wonder-child, reverses 
Herakles' victory by falling victim to the serpent, leaving the impious 
Capaneus to follow in the hero's footsteps in grand epic style. The Pindaric 
model invites the re~der to measure Opheltes against Hercules; now 
Capaneus pointedly appropriates the heroic role of dAE~(KaKos. His 
behaviour, however, is more akin to the ultimately disastrous action of 
Cadmus.117 
5.9 Ecce fides superum:The reversal of prophecy 
In both Nemeans I and Olympians VI the Wunderkind's birth and its 
consequences bring both joy and pain, of which the mother's physical 
birthpangs are only a part. In Nemeans I, Herakles' parents rush to rescue 
their children from peril: Alkmene rushes a.1TETTAOS from the bed in which 
she has only just given birth to the twins, with the intention of averting 
the u~pLV Kvw8a.A.Wv (50). Hypsipyle, rather than Eurydice, is the first on the 
scene in the epic, terrified by the child's cry which prophesies his doom, 
iam certa malorum / mentis ab augurio V 545f. 
Eurydice comes to meet Hypsipyle femineos coetus plangentiaque 
agmina ducens, 652; cf the d&ription of Alkmene.'s household, EK 8' d.p' ;. 
a.TXa.Tov 8e-oS / nM~E 'Yuva1Kas, oam Tvxov' AAKµiJvas cipiJ'Yotam Atxn 48f. K. 
Aimene. is swiftly followed by her husband, 51-3: 
TUXU SE Ka8µdwv Cl.'YOL xak 
KE"OLS avv OlTAOLS l8paµov ci8p6ot, 
EV XEPL 8' 'Aµ</>t Tpvwv KOAEOU 
'YVµVOV TlVCl.O'O'WV [</>a.O''YUVOV] 
'lKET0, ~elms civtmat Tunds. 
In N emeans I it is chiefly Amphitryon who experiences the 
confusion of joy and sorrow: first he responds to the news that his sons are 
in deadly danger, then learns of their preservation, then he must grasp the 
truth that one child, Herakles, is not in fact his son after all, but the nats 
Llt6s. His emotions at this point are understandably mixed, 55-9.118 
117vessey (1973) p188 notes that "The killing of the serpent is an act of blasphemy ... On 
the surface, the action of Capaneus appears Herculean, for he rids the world of a monster -but it brings him no laus." 
118See the comments of Newman/Newman (1984) p60ff: 8aµ~os typically describes 
reaction to religious e'}:>iphany. 
TEpTTV4) TE µnx0ds. Et8c yap EKV6µLOV 
Af)µci TE Kat 8waµLV 
vtou· muJ. 'Y'YAWO'O'OV Bi ot a.ScivaTOL 
ayyi>.wv pfiow etcrav. 
157 
This remarkable event forces the separation between the child and his 
putative father. Statius' Lycurgus, king of the Nemeans, arrives on the 
scene ense furens rapto V 661, accompanied by his troops. Lycurgus has 
been misled by rumour as to the Seven's intent (681f), but the prophetic 
message received concerning his son is all too accurate, 'prima, Lycurge, 
dabis Dircaeo funera bello' (V 647). He comes not to rescue but to avenge, 
653ff. 
Amphitryon's complex emotional reaction finds a parallel in the 
Thebaid in Eurydice's experience of her loss. Pindar's ode establishes the 
validity of the paternal claims of a pair of fathers; Statius is concerned with 
a more unusual rivalry between two maternal figures. With an irony 
missing in Pindar, Eurydice realises that Hypsipyle, rather than herself, 
has been the true mother of the child throughout his brief life. Hypsipyle 
enjoyed a more complete relationship with Opheltes, whereas the only 
maternal emotions which Eurydice will experience are those of 
bereavement, Thebaid VI 161-7. 
Amphiaraus offers a hopeful interpretation of the serpent's fatal 
epiphany: Opheltes, or Archemorus, is now to be considered a god, V 741ff: 
' ... mansuris donandus honoribus infans. 
et meruit; det pulchra suis libamina virtus 
manibus, ... 
at vos magnorum transgressi fata parentum 
felices, longum quibus hinc per saecula nomen, 
dum Lernaea palus et dum pater Inachus ibit, 
dum Nemea tremulas campis iaculabitur umbras, 
ne fletu violate sacrum, ne plangite divos: 
nam deus iste, deus, Pyliae nee fata senectae 
maluerit, Phrygiis aut degere longius annis.' 
Note that the guarantors of the child's immortality are Hercules' 
achievements: Amphiaraus persists in associating Opheltes with the 
monster-slayer, and thereby fails to perceive the presence of the hero's 
brother. Pindar's audience knows that the vision of the future which 
Teiresias predicts for Herakles reflects (albeit selectively) the body of myth 
about him.119 Xp6vos, which squeezed the life from the serpents (46f), will 
119Farnell (1932) p25p: there is "no reference in this prophecy to the poisoned shirt or the 
agony of the pyre.'' 'Although it is possible that Pindar knew nothing of these, it seems 
more probable that h1s silence is deliberate. 
'II 
I 
II 
111 
158 
eventually_ bring apotheosis:120 "The hero has been caught at either end of 
a time-scale, newly born, and passing into a divine eternity."12l These 
words could also be applied to Opheltes/ Archemorus, whose birth and 
assumed apotheosis are chronologically barely separated. The baby dies 
prima ad limina vitae, V 535; the metaphor is suggestive in the light of the 
symbolic importance of the threshold in Pindar's poem.122 
The epinician myth tinges its religious solemnity with ludic elements 
(eg the summary dispatch of the snakes, and the ever-youthful Herakles' 
marriage to Youth herself, 71).123 Thebaid IV-VI is painted in altogether 
gloomier colours. Amphiaraus acknowledges the baleful significance of 
the name Archemorus: whereas Herakles, even at the very beginnings of 
his life, is an ci.AE~LKaKos,124 Opheltes is from infancy a Beginning of Doom. 
Neither poem settles the problem of the gods' role in human suffering; 
rather, both prophets praise them for their beneficence, even though Hera 
deliberately contrived Herakles' destruction,125 and Bacchus' actions cause 
Opheltes' death. 
5.10 parvus videri sentirique ingens: Opheltes, Hercules and the epic 
The narrative of Opheltes is verbally connected with Statius' 
description of the Hercules statuette of Novius Vindex, Silvae IV 6. 
Entranced by the piece, the poet acclaims it as divine, deus ille, deus 36: cf 
Amphiaraus' declaration 'deus iste, deus' Thebaid V 751.126 Its beauty lies 
in its tiny size, 35-46: 
tantus honos operi finisque inclusa per artos 
maiestas! deus ille, deus! seseque videndum 
indulsit, Lysippe, tibi parvusque videri 
sentirique ingens? et cum mirabilis intra 
120This is the explanation of Segal (1974) of the puzzling lines a:yxoµlvos Bt xp6vos I 
usvxas O:lTElTVEVUEV µe-Mwv a:q,<hwv. 
121Newman/Newma_n (1984) p71f: this is the key to understanding the relevance of the 
myth. Chromius is a mature, successful man, but he must build further on the foundations he has already laid before he can aspire to the peak of glory: in this way, he will follow Herakles, who laid successful foundations for heroic deeds from his cradle onwards. 122Thus he is linked to the children of Lemnos, trepidas in limine vitae / singultant 
animas, V 260f. For the threshold's significance from Homer onwards see Newman/Newman (1984) p63ff. Compare Silvae II 1 38 (of Glaucias' immature death). A 
more redemptive image of the threshold appears at Silvae III 1, discussed in chapter 
seven. 
123See Rosenmeyer (1969) p243-5; contrast Rose (1974) p159 n39. 
124Buuovs µtv ev xlpucv KTavwv, I Buuovs BE n6vTcv efjpas aC8po8LKas· Nemeans I 62f: 
cf vastataque monstris / omnia Thebaid IV 157f. 
125Newman/Newm~n (1984) p76: Hera's action lies at the very heart of Pindar's poem. 126see Coleman (1988) on Silvae IV 6 36: "geminatio suits religious language, for instance at 
epiphanies". Coleman compares Eclogue V 64, deus ille, deus, but not Thebaid V 751. 
11
1 
stet ~ensura pedem, tamen exclamare Iibebit, 
si visus per membra feres: 'hoe pectore pressus 
vastator Nemees, haec exitiale ferebant 
robur et Argoos frangebant brachia remos!' 
*ac spatium* ... 
... tarn magna brevi mendacia formae! 
quis modus in dextra, quanta experientia docti 
artificis, curis pariter gestamina mensae . 
fingere et ingentes animo versare colossos! 
159 
There are striking reminiscences of the Pindaric ode here, as well as of the 
epic and Callimachean hero. The statuette is modelled on a colossal 
original; Statius marvels at the craftsman's ability to confine the power 
that killed the Nemean lion in such a tiny form. 
Statius portrays himself as an epic poet relaxing at dinner, Phoeboque 
levatum / pectora (lf), that is, not composing (epic) poetry. However, 
Silvae IV 6 has much to say about the creative process and the potential of 
the small form vis-a-vis the larger. What the skilful sculptor has done for 
the great hero, Statius does in his poem, rehearsing several of the defining 
adventures of Hercules' life within the confines of his (relatively) tiny 
poem.127 An important clue to the reader to reconsider the dimensions of 
heroic narrative is the mention of the parci domus admirata Molorchi (51) 
among the significant episodes in Hercules' life; chapter two considered 
the Victoria Berenices' significance for the Nemean episode.128 
In Thebaid IV-V Statius also invites us to "focus upon the small 
shape", to appreciate the affective power of a tiny being in the middle of a 
heroic narrative.129 Herakles' infant triumph demonstrates his potential 
for heroic endeavour, while Opheltes' death leaves the impression of 
potential denied by greater, more brutal forces. The theme of mors 
immatura is also important in Statius' discussion of poetic creativity. We 
may compare Calliope's ill-omened lament in Silvae II 7 for baby Lucan, 
whose premature death will preclude his poetic creativity, o saevae 
nimium gravesque · Parcae! I o numquam data longa fata summis! 89f. We 
may see in the narrative of Opheltes an allusion to epic's power to 
subsume and dominate all other modes and voice~, represented by the 
serpent's killing of the baby and the appropriation of the heroic combative 
role by the Seven. The tiny baby of Silvae II 7 grows up to be an ephebic 
127Coleman (1988) ad loc does not go as far as I do in extending an analogy to Statius' own 
artistic self-percept~on. On the Silvae's epic qualities, especially their use of 
mythological charact~rs, see Szelest (1972), Bright (1980) p16-8. 
128Note that HerculJs sits castae genius tutelaque mensae, 32. 
129Rosenmeyer (1969f'p240. 
160 
poet who s;omposes the (unfinished) Bellum Civile, destined, perhaps, to 
surpass the Aeneid, II 7 79f,130 besides other 'lower' forms of poetry. His 
:heroic song is abruptly terminated by the might of the tyrant, Silvae II 7 
100-4: 
'sic et tu - rabidi nefas tyranni -
iussus praecipitem subire Lethen, 
dum pugnas canis arduaqlie voce 
das solacia grandibus sepulcris, 
- o dirum scelus! o scelus! - tacebis.' 
N emea achieves her ingens gloria (IV 728) at the price of the baby's 
life. The longa series of Harmonia's necklace figures the whole history of 
Theban familial catastrophe; in the same way the huge coils of the 
Nemean snake figure the immense scope of Statius' Theban epic. Its 
description features the Theban language of the double: at full stretch, the 
creature's length straddles the twin banks of the river, saepe super fluvios 
geminae iacet aggere ripae / continuus V 516f.131 Even the beast's 
movement bears comparison to the epic's cyclical progress, tractuque 
soluto / immanem sese vehit ac post terga relinquit, 506f. Its condition is 
essentially that of the Argive army detained in Nemea: the woods are too 
small to contain it, especially in its raging thirst. Likewise the epic itself is 
confined and retarded in the Nemean woods. Blocking its progress is the 
brief story of the tiny baby; the epic monster's brutish carelessness silences 
his emerging voice.132 The following chapters discuss further how this is 
achieved. 
130contrast Thebaid XII 816f. 
131Hutchinson (1993)p122; cf Georgics II 153f. 
132Henderson (199\) n153: "Infanticide, 'the killing of children', always spells, or 
threatens to spell, ti\e suicide of narration, 'the killing of story-telling'. See also Simon (1987) p152-75. ..., 
I I 
I 
I 
11 I 
CHAPTER SIX: 
LINUS INTERTEXTUS 
Linus and Opheltes/ Archemorus 
6.1 Weaving and grieving: the voice of the shuttlel 
161 
Chapters three and four discussed the obtrusion of the distinctively 
female voice of lamentation into the predominantly masculine heroic song. 
So far only vocal, verbal lament has been considered; this chapter examines 
the rhetoric of a non-verbal, iconic manifestation of grief, the tapestry which 
mysteriously appears on Opheltes' pyre, VI 62-66: 
summa crepant auro, Tyrioque attollitur ostro 
molle supercilium, teretes hoe undique gemmae 
inradiant, medio Linus intertextus acantho 
letiferique canes: opus admirabile semper 
oderat atque oculos flectebat ab omine mater. 
It seems otiose to ask what Eurydice sees to cause her repeatedly (flectebat) to 
avert her face from the pyre: dwarfed by its hyper-epic vastness is the tiny 
body of her son.2 However, the solution is perhaps not so obvious; after all, 
Eurydice's reaction differs from her earlier desire to throw herself onto the 
pyre to join the baby, lacerasque super prorumpere nati / reliquias ardet 
totiensque avolsa refertur, VI 35f. 
What (paradoxically) attracts her hatred is a work of art, an opus 
admirabile. It is at first unclear to what molle supercilium (63) refers: there is 
no word for, for example, 'tapestry', 'pall' or 'cloak'. Supercilium is itself an 
unusual term, whose meanings range from 'eyebrow' to 'cornice'.3 Ths 
suggests that the object forms the topmost layer of the construction, its 
"crown". intertextus suggests that it is a piece of woven work,4 although even 
this is not sufficient for identification. Tyrian purple, softness of texture 
(molle), gem settings and the acanthus border help to confirm the picture of a 
piece of rich tapestry. The novelty of supercilium, chosen in place of more 
explicit and usual terms, draws and directs the reader's attention towards the 
objet d'art. 
11 take this phrase from Joplin (1991). . 
2The description of the pyre is considered in chapter seven. . 30LD: it also denotes the brow of a hill or ridge, or, in architecture, a projecting moulding; as a 
trope, it suggests haughtiness. 4For the term cf Aeneid VIII 167, describing a cloak shot through with gold; also Metamorphoses VI 12"7f, in the narrative of Pallas and Arachne, ultima pars telae tenui 
circumdata limbo / neiilibus [lores hederis habet intertextos; cf Quintilian VIII 5 28 for 
metaphorical usage. '"' 
162 
Chapter _one briefly considered the importance of ecphrasis both in the 
Silvae and the Thebaid. The specific example of the woven object as subject of 
ecphrasis has as its most famous ancestor the extended description of Jason's 
cloak, Argonautica I 721ff: the ecphrasis of the cloak Jason wears to visit 
Hypsipyle rewrites for an erotic context an Iliadic Arming of the Hero and an 
Odyssean description forming part of the hero's reunion dialogue with 
Penelope.s Whereas Homer's ecphrasis of the shield inscribes figures of 
adm!ring women, Apollonius presents these outside the ecphrasis, in the 
framng narrative. This remodelling tactic "serves to break down the apparent ). 
boundaries between ekphrasis and frame by denying discreteness to the 
description".6 The reader expects to be able to perceive an internal order in 
the figures described and a meaningful relationship between them and the 
surrounding narrative. Fragments of the Victoria Berenices refer to the 
weaving skills of the women of Colchis and the Nile region: the words 
KmpwTous TE ... KoXxL8cs i\ NdAW[L ... AEnTa>J-ous l~uaav ... can be distinguished 
(257 13ff), prompting the suggestion that the ensuing epyllion is the subject of 
a tapestry.7 Whatever the work may be, it attracts the poet's praise: "The 
poetic ecphrasis, from Homer to Statius, and particularly from the Hellenistic 
period on, required two related features: first the claim, almost as a piece of 
advertisement, that the object in question is of outstanding artistry, and then 
the subsequent awe or amazement it evokes from those who are involved 
with it in the narrative. In each case, the object thus functions as a 0auµa, and 
it is usually specified as such."8 
Statius' miniature ecphrasis of the beautiful tapestry occupies a mere 
five lines. Just as Hypsipyle's internal Lemnian narrative breaks off without 
response from characters or author, the Linus tapestry invites further 
comment but receives none. The reader must provide the interpretation 
which relates the ecphrasis to its epic context. It obviously attracts Eurydice's 
interpretative attention also; however, far from venerating the object, she 
"abominates it to aversion."9 Even if she succeeds in averting her gaze, she 
cannot escape the reaction of violent hatred, semper / oderat (65f). Just like 
Jason's sun-bright cloak which dazzles those who loo~ at it (Argonautica I 
725f), the Linus tapestry, an opus admirabile, both attracts and repels.10 It is 
5Hunter (1993) p52-9; chapter four noted that the encounter is also important for Statius' 
f,ortrayal of Hypsipyle. 
Hunter (1993) pSS 
7See the discussion in chapter two; cf also Lyne (1978) p108ff on Ciris 2lff. 
8Thomas (1983b) p109 · 
9Henderson (1991) n153 ,> 
IOsee Goldhill (1991) p3TO on the poetics of this passage. 
163 
not absolutE!ly stated when and by whom the tapestry was woven.11 H 
Eurydice indeed wove the tapestry, her loathing is even more singular: even 
the creator abhors her own beautiful work, because of its ominous 
significance (omine, 66, cf 6auµa). 
From Homer onwards weaving has been the special province of 
women.12 As chapter four noted, the loom allows woman a freedom within 
the domestic sphere to narrate and describe, and also to act, independently of 
man.13 Weaving and singing occupy the solitary night-hours, distracting and 
consoling, Georgics I 293f, cf Hypsipyle fr I ii 5. The association between 
woven work and death develops throughout the Aeneid. The cloak given to 
Dido by Aeneas (I 647ff) recalls the divine gift of a cloak for the Hellenistic 
lover-hero Jason. It bears a concealed warning of the dangers of inconcessos hymenaeos; Dido's acceptance of the gift and her liaison with Aeneas will 
cause her own death. The cloak placed by Aeneas over Pallas' corpse is one of 
two woven by Dido herself laeta laborum as a gift for her lover, XI 72ff. The 
cloak's significance lies not so much in its pattern per se as in the identity of 
its creator, and the irony of the use to which it is put. Aeneas has been in a 
measure responsible for the deaths of both Dido and Pallas; he covers the body of the one with the other's gift. Euryalus' mother weaves to divert her 
mind from her sorrow, but her laboriously crafted gift will not cover her 
son's corpse, veste tegens tibi quam noctes festina diesque I urgebam, et tela 
curas solabar anilis, Aeneid IX 488f. 
The Metamorphoses offers two significant instances of woven work 
which provokes anger in the (female) spectator. Pallas is infuriated by 
Arachne's depiction of the gods, VI 1-145: non illud Pallas, non illud carpere 
Livor / possit · opus, 129f. The final couplet describing Arachne's hubristic 
opus offers a rare verbal parallel with Thebaid VI: ultima pars telae tenui 
circumdata limbo I nexilibus flores hederis habet intertextos. Pallas' anger 
transforms Arachne into a spider: "She is condemned to the monotony of 
weaving without narrative, of creating texture without artistic statement. 
The brilliant work which she composed, and which brought her to such a 
nvessey (1973) p193 assumes Eurydice's manufacture and implies that it post-dates Opheltes' death. Cf VI 79-81 (of Eurydice), quas non in nomen credula vestes / urgebat studio cultusque insignis regni / purpureos sceptrumque minus? 12Ahl (1985) p224ff; Seg~l (1994) p264ff; Clare (1991) discusses weaving as a mechanism for marking female territory~within the Homeric oikos. 130n the narrative pow~r of weaving against the more static potential of metal- and stone-work see Ahl (1985) p224~ 
164 
doom, is alrJ?ady annihilated. She is silenced even though she was never 
speaking. "14 
The same book narrates the horrible tale of Tereus and his sister-
victims, VI 424-674. Philomela's speech is silenced in the most brutal way by 
her brother-in-law's violence; she finds an alternative means of discourse 
through the loom.15 She turns her terrible experience (still manifest in the 
physical marks of violence) into an objet d'art, purpureasque notas filis 
intexuit albis / indicium sceleris, 577f;16 the tapestry 'speaks' the crime to her 
sister, evolvit vestes saevi matrona tyranni / fortunaeque suae carmen 
miserabile legit , 581f. Procne's reaction is a strange silence, et (mirum 
potuisse!) silet: dolor ora repressit, 583; this refraining from speech betokens 
not acquiescence but desire for revenge upon Tereus, which eventually 
manifests itself in child-murder and its terrible consequences, 639ff.17 
Chapters three and four discussed the silencing of the mother's lament 
for her child. Grief and anger are written on the bodies of the Nemean 
women mourners, and heard in their inarticulate cries, VI 41-3, 133f, 136f, 
178, cf Metamorphoses VI 669f. Chapter four showed that Statius employs the 
Tereus myth as a paradigm of female revenge. The textile aspect of 
Hypsipyle's narration has also received comment; at the heart of the funeral 
narrative is a literal example of weaving. Artefact and spectator communicate 
with one another: the tapestry simultaneously bespeaks maternal grief and 
becomes an ominous icon upon which Eurydice's emotions are focused. 
Indeed, Linus' reappearance in the narrative of Opheltes' funeral also 
deserves the reader's close inspection. 
6.2 Linus intertextus 
After the Nemean digression, Adrastus' aetiological narrative and the 
accompanying prayer and ritual in Thebaid I 557ff have provoked the most 
negative criticism directed against the Thebaid, until recently at least. Attacks 
have been two-pronged. The myth, it is frequently alleged, is merely an 
example of tedious doctrina, and moreover it is forcibly inserted into the epic 
narrative as one of its "episodes tres inutiles", an unsatisfactory tribute to the 
Hercules-Cacus narrative in Aeneid VIII, which damages the poem's unity. 
"Quel rapport y a-t-il entre le devouement de Corebe et la lutte d'Argos et de 
14Ahl (1985) p228 
15See Ahl (1984b) p182ff (especially on the politics of Philomela's "silent rebellion") and 
(1985) p228-30; Segal ({994) p266ff. 
16see Segal (1994) p266. 
17segal (1994) p265 . .., 
I 
'I 
I 
[i 
I, 
I I 
I 
165 
Thebes, et poyrquoi Adraste le raconte-t-il sinon parce qu' Evandre a raconte 
dans l'Eneide le combat d'Hercule et de Cacus? Voila, avec le manque 
d'unite, le defaut essentiel de la composition dans la Theba1de. "18 In turn, the 
re-appearance of Linus on the tapestry coverlet for Opheltes' pyre has 
attracted little comment. 
Linus' reappearance is indeed the Thebaid's most conspicuous example 
of Statian self-reference: the epithet in tertextus calls attention to the 
deliberate re-situation and re-interpretation of an otherwise apparently 
discrete narrative. The aetiology narrated in Thebaid I is apparently devoid of 
significance per se for a Roman and Flavian readership, in contrast to the 
story of Hercules' foundation of the Ara Maxima.19 Within the economy of 
the epic, however, and in the light of chapters one to five, it may now be seen 
that the stories of Linus and Opheltes have much in common. Chapter two 
noted that from its first unde (I 3) the Thebaid is marked by an Oedipal 
regressive search for origins and archetypes. The Nemean episode is the most 
formal and elaborate instantiation of this aetiological obsession, and actually 
holds up the narrative while it unfolds itself.20 Thebaid IV clearly invokes 
the Herculean ambience of Aeneid VIII; the Nemean dumeta are conscia 
laudis Herculeae, like the thickets occupying the site of the future Rome. The 
importance of Evander's narrative for Thebaid I is beyond question;21 it 
provides a connection between the Argive aetiology of Linus and the 
Argives' experiences in Nemea. 
To a degree, Adrastus' story of Linus, which also considerably delays the 
martial narrative, suggests what the story of Opheltes' death will become 
given the perspective of time and distance. There are many parallels between 
the stories of Linus and Opheltes, even exact verbal repetition at some points. 
Two babies die in the wilds through bestial violence, bringing suffering to 
their mothers and heralding the deaths of many others. Closer examination 
18Legras (1905) p152, cf p36f; see also Butler (1909) p220f; Arico (1960) notes Statius' propensity 
for inserting "episodi scarsamente legati all' argumento del poema", a practice "tutt' altro che 
insignificante", p277. 
19For discussion of aetiology with further bibliography, see Goldhill (1991) p321-33. 
Unhelpful for Thebaid I 557ff is the thesis of Bing (1988) p71, that aetiology bridges the gap 
between [Argo-Theban] past and [Roman] present, nor that of Zanker (1987) pl13, 123, that 
aetiology confers credibility on poetic subject-matter. More helpful is Klein (1974) p230, 
explored with reference to Callimachus in chapter two: aetiology is "an interrogation and 
refutation of the concept of epic within the epic itself." . 2
°For aetiology as mora see chapter one. Cf nee facilis Nemee latas evolvere vires V 44 and fraternas acies alternaque regna profanis / decertata odiis sontesque evolvere Thebas, / Pierius 
menti calor incidit, I 1-3. For 'unrolling' a (woven) narrative cf Metamorphoses VI 581 (Procne 
and Philomela). · 
21 See Legras (1905) p36f; Schetter (1960) p82ff; Vessey (1970d), (1973) plOlff; Burck (1979) p309f. ..., 
I I 
I, II 
I 
166 
of the framing of the Linus episode, strategically positioned in the first book 
of the epic, suggests that it conceals a message about heroic values and the 
suffering of innocents from which both narrator and hearers fail to profit. 
Once again, Statius invites us to focus on the small shape. 
6.3 animos advertite, pandam: Adrastus and Evander 
Mitis Adrastus is characterised as an elderly, pacific king and priest of 
divine descent, ruling wisely over a peaceful city, I 390-2: 
Rex ibi tranquille, medio de limite vitae 
in senium vergens, populos Adrastus habebat, 
dives avis et utroque Iovem de sanguine ducens. 
It is recognised that Statius substantially models Adrastus on Virgil's Latinus: 
cf rex arva Latinus et urbes / iam senior longa placidas in pace regebat. I hunc 
Fauno et nympha genitum Laurente Marica / accipimus; Fauno Picus pater, 
isque parentem / te, Saturne, refert, tu sanguinis auctor, Aeneid VII 45-9.22 
Chapter one noted that Thebes is associated with darkness physical and 
moral, I 46-52; to Polynices journeying through the murky night, Argos 
appears as a beacon of light, donec ab lnachiis victa caligine tectis I emicuit 
lucem devexa in moenia fundens / Larisaeus apex, 380-2. In contrast to 
Oedipus, Adrastus parades his family's perfection; his obedient virgin 
daughters make the ideal brides for the strangers whose quarrel he resolves, 
529-39.23 
There is another obvious Virgilian model, the figure · of Evander the 
"Good Man", in Aeneid VIII, the book of foundations. Adrastus is a figure of 
pietas who offers hospitality to strangers; as priest and prophet of Apollo 
(392ff) he delights, like Evander, in celebrating civic religious ritual, 524-6, 
552-6:24 
.. .laetatur Adrastus 
obsequio fervere domum. iamque ipse superbis 
fulgebat stratis solioque effultus ebumo. 
22Legras (1905) p220; Vessey (1973) p94f; Burck (1979) p331. For Vessey (1973) p98 and Burck (1979) p331, he is also a Stoic sapiens; his only fault is being too prosperous. We may also note the conspicuous absence of an Amata figure, indeed of any queen. In this light of this chapter's discussion, this identification of Adrastus can only darken the mood of the poem: Statius' king 
embodies the failure of wise, pacific rule in the same cosmos as Oedipus and the Seven. 23for rather more sinister versions of Adrastus, in which he was driven from his throne in Sicyon, quarrelled with Amphiaraus his rival, and reconciled himself by bestowing the treacherous Eriphyle upqn the prophet, see Robert (1967) p91lff on the epic cycle, Pindar's Nemeans IX and hypothe'ses and Stoneman (1981) p44-52. 
24Vessey (1970d) p322: Adrastus is "the truly pious man". 
I 
I 
hanc undante mero fundens vocat ordine cunctos 
caelicola;, Phoebum ante alios, Phoebum omnis ad aram 
laude ciet comitum famulumque evincta pudica 
fronde manus, cui festa dies largoque refecti 
ture vaporatis lucent altaribus ignes. 
167 
The festivals for which Evander and Adrastus provide aetiologies 
celebrate the removal of evil through the intervention of a hero-figure and 
seek the goodwill of a god towards their cities. Both aetiologies are introduced 
in a highly formal manner;25 Adrastus' prefatory words clearly recall 
Evander, cf Aeneid VIII 184-9 and Thebaid I 557-61: 
postquam exempta fames et amor compressus edendi, 
rex Euandrus ait: 'non haec sollemnia nobis, 
has ex more dapes, hanc tanti numinis aram 
vana superstitio veterumque ignara deorum 
imposuit: saevis, hospes Troiane, periclis 
servati facimus meritosque novamus honores.' 
'Forsitan, o iuvenes, quae sint ea sacra quibusque 
praecipuum causis Phoebi obtestemur honorem,' 
rex ait, 'exquirant animi. non inscia suasit 
religio, magnis exercita cladibus olim 
plebs Argiva litant; animos advertite, pandam.' 
The aetiology of the Ara Maxima possesses authority by virtue of its 
narrator's status as priestly king. As king of Argos, Adrastus is guardian and 
guarantor of his city's code of values. Moreover, Statius makes much of 
Adrastus' supposed relationship with Apollo, the object of his special 
worship and the dedicatee of the festival, Phoebum ante alios, Phoebum 
omnis ad aram / laude ciet comitum, 553f. Adrastus claims an authority over 
the story of this ritual's origins, animos advertite, pandam, 561.26 This 
suggests a role analogous to that of the epic poet himself, who is keeper, 
defender and transmitter of the values which epic celebrates, and (according 
to the fiction) dependent on the inspiration of the god and his Muses.27 
Compare the invocation at IV 649-51, 
... quis iras 
flexerit, unde morae, medius quis euntibus error, 
Phoebe, doce: nos rara manent exordia famae. 
25Cf Nugent (1994) p2ff after Walsh (1984) p3-36 on ritualised introductions to narrative. 26For this quasi-sacral formula in an aetiological context cf adverte, Aeneid VIII 50 (the Tiber to Aeneas). 
27The allegorical relation?hip between poetry and prophecy is inscribed in the term vates. See O'Hara (1990) p176ff on ,.Virgil as poet-prophet of the Aeneid: p184 "of the poet himself we 
could almost say, as Virgil said of Aeneas, spem vultu simulat, premit altum corde dolorem.'' It 
emerges that we could almost say this of Adrastus also. 
168 
Apollo appea.rs as the sublime and omniscient singer at VI 355ff, interea 
cantu Musarum nobile mulcens / concilium citharaeque manus insertus 
Apollo; his epic song encompasses cosmogony, gigantomachy, and his own 
heroic achievements, including his victory over Python (suique I anguis 
opus, 358f) which preceded the encounter narrated at I 562ff. To Adrastus he 
is auctor Apollo, 399, the supreme authority for his story. 
Apollo's revelations are, however, only partial; he forbids Adrastus to 
know the whole truth concerning his future sons-in-law: 395-9: 
cui Phoebus generos - monstrum exitiabile dictu! 
mox adaperta fides - fato ducente canebat 
saetigerumque suem et fulvum ad ventare leonem. 
id volvens non ipse pater, non docte futuri 
Amphiarae vides, etenim vetat auctor Apollo. 
This is not the only instance in which Adrastus' understanding proves 
limited; cf also sensit manifesto numine ductos / adfore, quos nexis 
ambagibus augur Apollo I portendi generos, vultu fallente ferarum, I 
ediderat, 494-7.28 Although descended from Jupiter on both parents' side, 
Adrastus is apparently unaware that the god intends Argos' destruction as 
well as that of Thebes, I 224ff.29 Evander knows to whom he tells the story of 
Hercules and Cacus, but Adrastus shares with his two guests the story of 
Linus and Coroebus without yet knowing their identities or the implications 
his hospitality will have for Argos and his family. Aetiology may be "an 
attempt to control the otherness of the past with the apparatus of 
contemporary knowledge":30 on these terms, Adrastus' control of Argos' 
mythical past is precarious. Indeed, at Thebes and Argos, aetiology arguably 
controls its interpreters. 
28Note the imagery of weaving in nexis ambagibus, which chapter two noted is associated in 
Thebaid IV-VI with fraus. On prophecies and portents in the Thebaid see Schetter (1960) p96-
101, who suggests that these link I-III with IV; prophecies relating to Argos are more negative, 
as she is the aggressor, p98. The Thebaid is full of incomplete and riddling prophecies, and 
prophets who meet with disbelief, misinterpretation or actual destruction: Apollo guards 
neither his art nor his artists very well. See Feeney (1991) p371f, Dominik (1994a) p70: Apollo 
shamelessly admits in respect of Amphiaraus' catabasis saevus ego immeritusque coli, IX 657. 
Newman (1986) p243 perceives a "gradual failing and fading of the vatic ideal" of prophetic 
authority in the Thebaid, but does not relate this passage to his discussion. One wonders 
whether such an ideal was ever thought realisable even in the Augustan period. 
29Jupiter calls Argos and Thebes geminas domos, 224: one city involves (cf evolvere I 2) the 
other in its doom, but Adrastus fails to recognise the kinship. The cyclic Thebais begins, after 
all, at Argos. Henderson (1991) p33: "this narrative, was and is it nightmare of Argos even before it is the unnameable passion of Thebes?"; see also nlO: alternation between Thebes and 
Argos weaves text of boo,ks I-IV", with Vessey (1973) pl36. 30Goldhill (1991) p321f, giscussing Alexandrian poetry; cf however, the thesis of Serres (1991), 
discussed in chapter two: that Aeneid VIII narrates Roman history's precarious control over its 
. . ~-ownongms. 
169 
-6.4 auctor Apollo 
The excursus is commonly labelled "the myth of Linus and Coroebus", 
but the story begins and ends with Apollo, in whose honour the festival is 
held, concluding with Adrastus' Sminthiac . hymn to Father Phoebus, 696££.31 
The aetiology opens with an extended description of the dead Python, 
Apollo's victim, 562-71. We may compare the introduction of Hercules in 
Aeneid VIII, nam maximus ultor / tergemini nece Geryonae spoliisque 
superbus / Alcides aderat... 201-3: the hero receives worship for his huge 
achievement. The Virgilian model leads us to anticipate that Apollo 
a.>..E~(KaKos will be the hero of Adrastus' narrative too; moreover, the killing 
of the Python led to the foundation of the Delphic games, an appropriate 
subject for celebration (as in, for example, Pindaric epinician).32 However, 
monster-slaying has been shown in chapters two and five to be an 
ambivalent action; Apollo himself seeks expiation for the deed, nova ... 
piacula caedis, 569. 
It is while seeking expiation that Apollo violates (or seduces) Crotopus' 
daughter: Adrastus himself comments felix, si Delia numquam I furta nee 
occultum Phoebo sociasset amorem 573f, then suggests that the encounter 
was rape, passa deum, 575.33 Statius' narrative is even more of a problem for 
those who would argue that the gods must finally display morality and 
justice.34 The god first steals Crotopus' daughter's virginity (furta, 574), then 
conceals his paternity of Linus and fails to protect his mother; even Adrastus 
has a word of reproof for this, sero memor thalami maestae solacia morti, 
596. The solace which the god devises (for his own injury) is another 
monstrum which attacks the young of the community, 601-4: 
haec tum dira lues noctumo squalida passu 
31See Vessey (1973) plOl;_Dominik (1992); for the rhetorical tradition see Menander Rhetor III 437 5ff. 
32Cf proxima vipereo celebratur libera nexu / Phocis, Apollineae helium puerile pharetrae, VI 8f. Opheltes swaps his breviora tela (VI 74) for a puerile feretrum (VI 55). 33The ambiguity of Hypsipyle's attitude to her union with Jason is noted in chapter four. The 
rejection of a child born on the riverbanks to a mortal woman and a god is familiar in Theban 
myth, unde graves irae cognata in moenia Baccho ... I 11. How would Adrastus have labelled the deed, had it been his daughter? · 34Lewis (1957) offers a severe critique of Statius' gods: the first-century poet ."already knew that the Olympians were really devils" p136. See also Gossage (1972) n40, who then strangely 
claims that the episode "shows how Statius relates even digressions from the main story to the 
underlying theme of human wickedness and the virtus and pietas by which that wickedness 
might be overcome"; Vesiey (1973) p105 puzzles briefly over Apollo's punishment of Coroebus' pietas. Ahl (1986) p2850ff matches Lewis' severity. Full treatment is given by Dominik (1994a) p63-70. " 
I I 
inlabi thalamis, animasque a stirpe recentes 
abripere altricum gremiis morsuque cruento 
evesci et multum patrio pinguescere luctu. 
170 
We may note that this remodels Hera's visitation of the serpents on the 
infant Herakles; ominously, Apollo now takes Hera's role. The monster's 
destruction by the Herculean Coroebus only provokes Apollo to send plague 
on the city, which has an even more destructive effect, 627-33: 
saevior in miseros fatis ultricis ademptae 
Delius insurgit, summaque biverticis umbra 
Pamassi residens arcu crudelis iniquo 
pestifera arma iacit, camposque et celsa Cyclopum 
tecta superiecto nebularum incendit amictu. 
labuntur dukes animae, Mors fila Sororum 
ense metit captamque tenens fert manibus urbem. 
This Apollo appears more like one of the monsters he himself would 
destroy.35 Besides evoking Hercules, Apollo's deed anticipates the destruction 
wrought against the dulces animae of Lemnos, V 258££. 
Adrastus rescues the devalued notion of heroism by holding up not 
Apollo but a mortal as the new champion of heroic virtue.36 Coroebus 
becomes the d.>,e-~(KaKos, gathering together a band of young warriors for an 
epic adventure, 605-8: 
haud tulit armorum praestans animique Coroebus 
seque ultro lectis iuvenum, qui robore primi 
famam posthabita faciles extendere vita, 
obtulit. 
The task is completed in heroic style to great joy (612ff). The vengeful god is 
unequivocally condemned for cruelty: saevior in miseros fatis ultricis 
ademptae I Delius insurgit ... arcu crudelis iniquo / pestifera arma iacit, 627-
30. When Apollo (ironically called auctor Paean, the 'healer', 636) demands 
Coroebus' sacrifice, he answers willingly and unafraid, earning Adrastus' 
praise, 638-10: 
fortunate animi longumque in saecula digne 
promeriture diem! non tu pia degener arma 
occulis aut certae trepidas occurrere morti. 
35 Apollo's prophecy con~erning Adrastus' future sons-in-law is also a monstrum exitiabile dictu, I 395. , . 
36 Ahl (1986) p2855 goes so far as to call Adrastus a "disciple of Coroebus". 
'I I 
,I I 
I 
f 
11 ·1 
171 
Coroebus acknowl~dges his responsibility for the monster's death and offers 
himself not as a suppliant, but as a representative sacrifice.37 Every indication 
suggests his imminent doom, but astonishingly, Apollo repents, ardentem 
tenuit reverentia caedis / Letoiden, tristemque viro submissus honorem I 
largitur vitae, 662-4. Thus the seemingly endless chain of violence is broken, 
nostro mala nubila caelo I diffugiunt, 664f.38 
Adrastus has no doubt why Apollo spared Coroebus: sors aequa 
merentes / respicit, 661f.39 In Adrastus' universe the deserving experience 
clementia:40 Coroebus ci>..c~(KaKos offers Argos a model of heroic behaviour 
and self-sacrifice for the city, and this secures his salvation.41 However, the 
impossibility of making a simple moral diagnosis prompts another reading of 
events: "Coroebus leaves the temple exoratus, not having appeased the god, 
but having been himself appeased, having accepted, from his superior 
position, the submissive god's tender of tristis vita. Of course if Apollo were 
to be a devil in the strict Christian definition he could not have felt 
reverentia (though he might have been stupefactus). But the unambiguous 
inferiority of Olympian to mortal has been proclaimed."42 Yet the aetiology 
opens with a vision of the victorious Apollo seeking expiation for the 
Python. 
The aetiology and the first book end with a hymn to Apollo, suggesting 
that Adrastus still maintains confidence in the god's sufficiency as hero and 
auctor. The myth and hymn express contradictory messages, being both 
celebratory and apotropaeic.43 Whereas the proto-Roman festival of the Ara 
Maxima celebrates rescue and foundation, the Argives sacrifice in order to 
37 Ahl (1986) p2854 
38The image suggests that V 753 may be interpreted symbolically as an inversion of Adrastus' 
o~timistic conclusion. 
3 Nor has Vessey (1973) p106: "Coroebus is an embodiment, or figura, of pietas." Ahl (1986) 
p2885 comments "[Adrastus] has presumably inferred that when Apollo spared Coroebus, he 
was acknowledging the corr~ctness of Coroebus' arguments, indicating that the gods had 
learned a lesson from human heroic courage, virtus, and from human dedication to family and 
city, pietas." 
40contrast Burck (1979) p342: "wo pietas in der Thebais begegnet, ist sie also zur Ohnmacht 
verurteilt; sit stiftet nirgends eine Lebenshilfe." . 
4tvessey (1973) p105: "it is in his willingness to die that his true greatness is revealed." Also 
Kytzler (1986) p2920: exemplary heroism excels not through martial glory, but through 
"Hingabefahigkeit fiir die leidenden Mitmenschen." amor mortis runs through the Thebaid, in 
the warrior's death wish, the pathological suffering of the bereaved, and the . would-be 
redemptive sacrifice; see Rutz (1960) for a study of the theme in Lucan. 
42Lewis (1957) p139; he seeks to show how Statius anticipated mediaeval Christian allegory. 
Note that Apollo is the object, reverentia the subject: it 'checks' the god. 
43The consciously rhetorical features of this prayer set it off further from the gloomy narrative 
that it follows; see Dominik (1992) p67ff for the relevance of Menander Rhetor's formulae. The 
prayer's syncretism fits ill with Adrastus' supposed Stoicism. 
172 
avoid re-occu:gence of Apollo's terrible anger. Adrastus claims that no inscia 
religio motivated the offering, 559f. His words have an underlying ironic 
significance: "his own ignorance is revealed through his singular lack of 
appreciation of Apollo's destructive role in the affairs of Argos and his 
misplaced trust in this deity. This revelation of character is obviously the 
most importance function of this prayer. 1•44 The address to Phoebe parens 
(696) carries special irony after the story of Apollo's disastrous fathering of 
Linus. At the close of Thebaid I, the pious Adrastus reveals auctor Apollo, 
the healer and slayer of monsters, father of poets and prophets, to be an 
inadequate model of epic heroism and an incomplete source of knowledge. 
After Apollo's devaluation, Adrastus' glorification of Coroebus invites 
his listeners to interpret his tale as a model of human heroic endeavour: the 
virtus and pietas of young warriors rescue the city. Here we recall Evander's 
invitation to Aeneas to emulate Hercules. However, Adrastus fails truly to 
recognise the person before him in the role of Aeneas to his Evander. Many 
elements in the tale correlate unhappily with the story of Thebes: the birth of 
a child which brings misery instead of joy; a father's curse on his offspring; 
the "unsuccessful" exposure of the child; the adoption by shepherds; the 
ravaging of a city' children first by a divinely sent monster (with Sphinx-like 
virginis ora / pectoraque, 598f) and then by a plague; a fatal encounter at a 
crossroads and the destruction of two children (609). Adrastus has 
unwittingly rehearsed to the unknown Polynices a version of the story of his 
own father . There is special irony in his invitation to Polynices to introduce 
himself immediately after the story, I 673-84: 
deiecit maestos extemplo Ismenius heros 
in terram vultus, taciteque ad Tydea laesum 
obliquare oculos; tu m longa silentia movit: 
'non super hos divum tibi sum quaerendus honores, 
unde genus, quae terra rnihi, quis defluat ordo 
sanguinis antiqui: piget inter sacra fateri. 
sed si praecipitant rniserum cognoscere curae, 
Cadmus origo patium, tellus Mavortia Thebe, 
est genetrix Iocasta rnihi.' tum motus Adrastus 
hospitiis - agnovit enim:- 'quid nota recondis? 
scimus' ait, 'nee sic aversum fama Mycenis 
volvit iter .. .' 
Polynices identifies himself by precisely those criteria which make him such 
an evil portent in Argos. By naming Jocasta as his unhappy mother he 
44Dominik (1992) p75, .£.ontra Schetter (1960) p84, for whom the prayer is "pures Brokat"; 
Vessey (1973) p104 notes'the irony of non inscia religio: Adrastus believes he is acting according 
to Apollo's will. ..., 
I 
I I 
173 
actually conceals rather than reveals his identity: Adrastus' confidence in his 
power to recognise is misplaced. Furthermore~ Adrastus errs in his optimistic 
assertion that the power of evil need not outlast a generation, 688-90: 
ne perge queri casusque priorum 
adnumerare tibi: nostro quoque sanguine multum 
erravit pietas, nee culpa nepotibus obstat. 
Two ironies are operating here. The following eleven books amply 
demonstrate that Theban culpa is radical, hereditary and beyond redemption; 
furthermore, Argos' doom has already been pronounced along with her twin 
city Thebes, I 224ff. 
To Polynices, the story of Coroebus offers encouragement to join forces 
with other young warriors and wage war against Thebes. However, exiled 
and doomed by his parricidal, incestuous father to kill his brother for power 
on his native soil, Polynices is not the stuff of which Adrastus' epic heroes 
are made.45 Earlier I suggested .that the ri.arratological function of the king is 
analogous to that of the epic poet, Apollo's disciple. Polynices' and Tydeus' 
arrival on Adrastus' threshold is an evil omen for the epic, which its 
guardian fails to interpret correctly.46 He interrupts the fight which would 
have aborted the eventual fratricidal struggle, prompting authorial 
comment, 428-31: 
forsan et accinctos lateri - sic .ira ferebat -
nudassent enses, meliusque hostilibus armis 
lugendus fratri, iuvenis Thebane, iaceres, 
ni rex ... 
The ni rex is most important: with every intention of creating an epic of 
blood-brotherhood (cf the optimistic forsan, 472) like Coroebus and his band, 
Adrastus initiates an epic of fratricide which by its very nature can have no 
heroes.47 He has the chance to stop the war, but persists in a vision of 
heroism which the poet shows to be a delusion. Later Adrastus will take up 
4Ssee Vessey (1973) p105. 
46Chapter four noted the symbolic value of the threshold in Herakles' and Opheltes' stories; 
Adrastus' threshold is a potential Rubicon, on which see Masters (1992) eh L Bonds (1985) 
discusses the structural symbolism of the conflicts involving Polynices in I and XII. 
47schetter (1960) (unwittingly?) measures the difference between Virgil's and Statius' epics, 
p83 nlO: better that Polynjces and Tydeus should have avoided conflict by arriving during the 
festival as in Aeneid ~III. "Da aber Statius offenbar an diesem durch die Tradition 
vorgegebenen Zug festh~lten wollte, blieb ihm keine andere Wahl, als das Gotterfest 
nachtriiglich anzufiigen." '" 
I I 
I 
174 
Polynices' cause in the belief that sors aequa merentes respicit,48 and will 
meet with disaster: "Adrastus seems not to perceive the irony of his own 
narrative."49 
6.6 From Coroebus to Linus 
Adrastus' aetiology centres around the bravery of Coroebus in slaying 
Apollo's monster.so We may compare the version of the myth which 
Pausanias knows as the Argolid epic version, I 43 7f:51 
"EcrTL 8€ ME'yapEUUL Kal Kopo(~ou TO.cf>oS· Ta 8€ ES aVTOV ElTTJ KOLVa oµws 
ovTa TOLS • Apydwv EVTavea 8ri>..wcrw. E1Tl Kpon'.mou >..lyoucrLV EV "Apyn 
~acrLAEUOVToS \llaµa.0T)v TTJV KpoTWTTOU TEKELV naWa E~ 'An6AAWVoS, Exoµevriv 8€ lcrxupws TOU 1TaTpos 8dµaTL TOV 1TaL8a EK6ELVaL' Kal TOV µEv 8wcf>0cLpoucrLV Em TUX6VTES EK TT)S notµvris KUVES TT)S KpoTwnou, 'An6>..>..wv BE' ApydOLs ES TTJV 
n6ALV nlµnn IIOLvfiv. TaUTT)V TOUS 1Ta18as a.no TWV µT)TEpwV cpaatv apna.(ELV, ES o K6poL~oS ES xa.pLv' ApydOLS cf>oVEUfl TTJV ITOLVTJV. cf>ovcucras BE - OU yap O.Vlfl crcpas 8rnTlpa ElTL lTEcroucra v6cros AOLµw8ris - K6poL~OS EKWV ,i>..0cv ES acAcf>ous iJcpl~wv 8(Kas T~ 0E~ TOU cf>6vou TT)S ITOLVTJS, ES µEv 811 TO" Apyos a.vaaTplcf>nv ouK da K6poL~ov ii IIu0(a, Tp( no8a 8E a.pa.µEvov cf>lpnv EKEAEUEV EK TOD lcpou, Kal tvea av EK1TE01J ol cf>lpoVTL o TpllTOUS, EVTauea' An6AAWVoS olKo8oµficrm vaov Kal avTov ollCT)craL. 
However, another source can be found for the story in Aetia I, of which 
only fragments remain. Conon offers a summary of the myth which is 
understood by Pfeiffer to approximate to Callimachus' version.52 In this 
account, Linus the son of Apollo was reared by a shepherd, to whom he was 
given by his mother Psamathe. When he was torn to pieces by the dogs, the 
secret of his birth became known to Crotopus, who condemned his daughter 
to death. In anger at his belovedsdeath, Apollo sent a plague upon Argos. 
When the Argives consulted the Delphic oracle they were told that they must 
propitiate Psamathe and Linus, so they honoured them by sending women 
and maidens to lament Linus. Mingling lamentations with prayers, they 
bewailed the fate of Psamathe and Linus and themselves, out of which 
threnodic song arose the Linus-song. They named a month 'Lamb-month' 
(Arneios), because Linus had been reared with the lambs, and held a sacrifice 
48see Henderson (1991) pSO. Compare Statius' authorial comment on Hopleus and Dymas, invida fata piis et fors ingentibus ausis / rara comes X 384f, which gives the lie to Adrastus' philosophy of war. 
· 
49 Ahl (1986) p2858 
· 50See Dominik (1994a) p65 for analysis of the anular structure of the episode: compare Nemeans I (in which Hera is central) and contrast the Victoria Berenices. 
51Cf Pausanias II 19 8. 
52Conon XlX (26 FGrHist) 19 vol I p195f). See Pfeiffer (1949) on Aetia I frs 26-31: he compares Thebaid I 602f with fr 26, 580ff with 27 and 605ff with 29. On Conon's collection of obscure 
aetiologies see Henrichs ll 989) p244ff. 
175 
and a Lamb-festiyal, on which day they killed any dogs they found. As the 
plague did not cease, Crotopus (nb not Coroebus) left Argos in obedience to a 
further oracle and founded a new city in the Megarid.53 
The two versions are not incompatible, but are oriented in very different 
directions; Statius' narrative reflects a tension between these two influences. 
Although some lines describe Linus and his · pathetic fate, Adrastus' tale 
concentrates upon gods, monsters and warriors.54 It is significant that critics 
of the episode must supply the name of Linus' mother (Psamathe) from 
other sources, because it is not found in Statius' text; Pausanias fails to supply 
the name of the baby. In the light of chapter two's discussion of the Victoria 
Berenices, it is unsurprising to find that Callimachus focuses not on grand 
epic heroics, but on the mother and child. A pastoral couplet (fr 27 Pf) creates 
a sentimental picture of Linus reared among the lambs:55 
lipvEs TOL, qD,E KoupE, O'UVTJALKES', lipvEs ETa1poL 
EO'KOV, EVLau9µot 8' auALa Kat ~OTO.Val. 
At this point we may compare the description of Thebaid I 578-86: 
ac poenae metuens - neque enim ille coactis 
donasset thalamis veniam pater - avia rura 
eligit ac natum saepta inter ovilia furtim 
montivago pecoris custodi mandat alendum. 
non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti 
gramineos dedit herba toros et vimine querno 
texta domus; clausa arbutei sub cortice libri 
membra tepent, suadetque leves cava fistula somnos, 
et pecori commune solum. 
Many details dovetail with Conon's summary of the story. The close verbal 
links suggest that Statius intends to bring the Callimachean poem to mind. 
Closer study of Linus' appearance in the Aetia and in the Greek and Roman 
tradition enriches (and complicates) a reading of Thebaid I and VI. 
6.7 'Singing the fair Linus' in the Greek literary tradition 
53vessey (1973) p101 traces Statius' "fundamental outline" of the story to Callimachus 
without mentioning Pausanias' account; see also Arico (1960). We may note that in both poets 
the Linus myth occurs in book one; the Callimachean context has been lost. . 
54Dominik (1994a) offers no comment on this. Although the monster's name Poine is missing 
from Statius' version, Linus' mother hands him over to a shepherd poenae metuens 578; 
perhaps this hints at the Poine to come. See Vessey (1973) p104. Note also that Statius 
deliberately brings god and h,ero into contact without the Pythia's mediation, emphasising the 
extraordinary nature of Apollo's repentance. 
55Note also that his mother is' a vuµcpa, fr 26 5. 
176 
In Thebaid VI Linus's story is reduced to a name in a miniature 
ecphrasis of a work of art, Linus intertextus. The search for Linus' literary 
origins leads to Homer and completes a loop: the first mention of Linus 
occurs precisely in the Iliadic description of the Shield of Achilles, perhaps 
the supreme epic ecphrasis. It bears the image of a boy "singing the fair 
Linus" to the accompaniment of the lyre, that is, either "singing of fair 
Linus" or "singing the fair Linus-song", Iliad XVIII 569-72: 
To1ow 8' iv µe-aaoto'L trq:cs cp6pµL'yyL AL yd 11 
i.µe-p6Ev KL6apL(E, Awov 8' imo KaAOV d.n8E 
AElTTaAEU <t>wvfl . TOL BE pr]O'O'OVTES aµapTft 
µoX.rru T0 luyµ4'> TE lTOO'L O'KalpoVTES ElTOVTO. 
This first ambiguous reference actually obscures understanding. As it appears 
within a context of harvest, it hints at a background in vegetation-hero cult.56 
i Iliad XVIII 569 cites another apparently equally ancient reference to Linus. 
Diogenes Laertius VIII 1 25 quotes a fragment . attributed to Hesiod, the last 
line of which was (it seems) completed by Clement of Alexandria Strom. I 
121. This passage suggests that Linus' mother .was Urania the Muse, giving 
Linus a strong link with the gifts of song and wisdom, which all later artists 
would celebrate: 
Oupavt11 8' lip' ETLKTE Atvov lTOAtTJlpaTOV ui.6v, 
OV 811, OOOL ~poTOl ELO'LV am8ol Kal KL6apLO'Tal, 
traVTES µEv 6p11vo00Lv iv ElXcm(vms TE xopo1s TE, 
a.px6µEvoL 8E Atvov Kat ATJYOVTES Ka>.louaLv 
traVTol 11s ao4>t 11s & 8a11K6Ta. 
This describes a culture-hero, the inventor of the art of song according to 
other poets at least. Apollo, jealous of the great skill of this Linus, killed him 
and thereby caused deep sorrow among the Muses. The same scholia include 
an anonymous lyric fragment:57 
w AlvE lTnO'L 6rn1aL n TLµEVE, aot yap l8wKaV 
a.6avaTOL lTpWT4) µe-X.as a.v6pWlTOLO'LV CI.ELO'aL 
iv tro8t 8ECL TEp4'> · Mooom 8e- aE 6prjvrnv airral 
µup6µEvm µoX.rruaLV, ElTEL hltrES 11Mou auyas. 
56Farnell (1921) p24 offers three interpretations of Homer's Linus: personal "projection" of 
"wailful song"; youthful yegetation-hero who dies and is mourned; "culture-hero specialized to the art of song". ,. 
57see also Farnell (1921) f,25. 
Ii'' I 
177 
So far a cQnnection may be made between a Linus figure and the art of 
song and also with lamentation.SB Herodotus II 79 explicitly describes the 
Linus-song as a song of lamentation for the dead youth. He claims moreover 
that the song is shared by the Greeks and Egyptians; the latter people call the 
youth Maneros. This Maneros was apparently the only son of Egypt's first 
king, whose premature death was lamented in a dirge, Kal dm8riv TE" Tm'.rn1v 
1rpWTTJV Kal µouvriv crq>(crL ye-vlcr8m. This then suggests that the Linus-song was 
indeed dirge-like in nature and that the figure of Linus had a recognisable 
counterpart in the ritualistic lamentation of a non-Hellenic culture. 
The Argolid provided the most detailed myths about the Linus born to 
Apollo and Psamathe; Pausanias gives a version of the story of Psamathe's 
child which emphasises Coroebus' glorious deeds, I 43 7. At II 19 8 he names 
this child as Linus, but distinguishes him from a Theban Linus, a poet whose 
revered bones were buried in Boeotia. At IX 29 6ff he gives a version of this 
' Linus' story which complements the Hesiodic (or pseudo-Hesiodic) lines 
quoted above: Linus was . son of Urania and one Amphimaros son of 
Poseidon, and was the most gifted and glorious musician of his own or any 
earlier age. But Apollo murdered him for daring to challenge and indeed 
rival him in singing. Pausanias has read Herodotus' account: grief at Linus' 
death penetrated to every barbarous people, so that even the Egyptians have a 
Linus-song, though in their own language they' call the song Maneros. He 
I 
also cites the Homeric passage. He adds that Linus was the subject of ancient 
Athenian dirges, in which he was called Oitolinus, 'Dirge-Linus'; Sappho 
adopted the name from Pamphos' hymns and sang about Adonis and 
Oitolinos together. Linus became to a degree identified with Adonis, and 
received the honour of ritual lamentation, especially in Argos; in Thebes, the 
hero was honoured as a singer, again in ritual song. 
The search for an original, distinct Linus seems doomed to fail. By the 
time of the lyricists, discrete mythical traditions were already becoming 
confused; the adoption of the Linus-motif by artists from various 
backgrounds working in various modes seems to argue for a certain 
universality of significance, The common themes a:re links with song, 
Apollo, early death and lamentation, for which Linus became a projection. 
However this came to be, the refrain ai'.N.vos survives as an exclamation of 
general lamentation (never in another context) in all three extant Greek 
SS~ Iliad XVIII 569ff offeri yet another reason for Apollo's hostility towards Linus: the latter 
introduced lyre-strings oi catgut to replace those of linen. This scholiastic note suggests the 
Hellenistic fascination for"aetiology. 
178 
tragedians, eg .Aeschylus Agamemnon 121 etc; Sophocles Ajax 627; Euripides 
Helen 172. 
Perhaps it was Linus' flexible identity and his double origins in both 
Argos and Thebes which led to the appearance in the Hellenistic period of a 
Linus who was Herakles' teacher. Most famously this Linus features in 
Theocritus, Idyll XXIV 105f: 
ypa.µµaTa µEv Tov na18a ylpwv Atvos E~E8t8a~ev, 
ulos 'An6AAWVOS µEAE8WVEUS d.ypunvos llPWS, 
Now it seems that while Linus is indeed the son of Apollo, he is an old 
man, and Herakles' guardian and tutor.59 The story is told elsewhere that 
Herakles killed his tutor in a temper after some musical correction;60 in 
Theocritus Linus (a hero, indeed) teaches Herakles his letters. This portrayal 
of Linus has the piquancy of novelty: "This ... is an odd role for Linus: he has, 
in fact, become an Alexandrian singer, literate and learned. The epithet 
d. ypunvos indicates the . laboured polish demanded of the new poets of 
Alexandria, a title of distinction. µEAE8wvEvs, 'guardian', remains unexplained 
in this context: perhaps it contains a pun on µl ).os, referring to the usual 
tradition where Linus is indeed a musician; if so, it would be a characteristic 
Alexandrian touch. "61 To settle the difficulty of the disparate versions of the 
myth, Pausanias postulates two Linus-figures, one the son of Amphimaros, 
one the son of Ismenios, Herakles' teacher, IX 29 6. This does nothing to 
elucidate the mystery of the identity of the Argive Linus, whose myth is too 
self-consistent and bizarrely original to be explained away as a confused 
variation. 
6.8 divino carmine pastor: Callimachus and the Roman neoterics 
The newly sophisticated literary Linus in Theocritus apparently conflicts 
with Callimachus' portrayal in Aetia I. Little of his text remains, but Linus 
emerges as a significant figure in the works of the Roman neoteric poets in 
contexts which strongly suggest Callimachus' influence. 
Central to Eclogue VI, at the heart of Silenus' song, is Gallus' ritual 
initation as a supreme poet, 64-73: 
tum canit errantem Permessi ad flumina Gallum 
59Gow (1952) ad loc notes that the association of Amphitryon with Argos (104) is significant, 
as the Idyll's setting is The.bes, "or at any rate not Argos". 
60See eg. Apollodorus II 4. 9, Aelian III 32; Gow (1952) ad loc notes that this scene appears on fifth-century Attic vases. ,. 
61Ross (1975) p22 "' 
Aonas in wontis ut duxerit una sororum, 
utque viro Phoebi chorus adsurrexerit omnis; 
ut Linus haec illi divino carmine pastor 
floribus atque apio crinis ornatus amaro 
dixerit: 'hos tibi dant calamos, en accipe, Musae, 
Ascraeo quos ante seni, quibus ille solebat 
cantando rigidas deducere montibus ornos. 
his tibi Grynei nemoris dicatur origo, 
ne quis sit lucus quo se plus iactet Apollo.' 
179 
These programmatic lines provide important clues in the search for 
information about Gallus' lost oeuvre.62 Linus is given a prominent role, 
and a previously unknown identity as a pastor. Earlier commentators have 
provided little explanation of this, and the idea has been traced no further 
than Virgil's imagination, in keeping with his practice of portraying 
Arcadia's shepherds as singers and vice versa: "There seems no evidence that 
Linus was supposed ever to have been a shepherd, but it was natural for a 
pastoral poet to conceive of him as such. "63 Above it was shown that while 
Linus was a 'folk' figure, he was actually never conceived as a shepherd.64 In 
Eclogue IV he appears as a mythical singer, the son of Apollo and inheritor of 
his gifts, but there is no mention of him as a shepherd, 55-7: 
non me carminibus vincet nee Thracius Orpheus, 
nee Linus, huic mater quamvis atque huic pater adsit, 
Orphei Calliopea, Lino formosus Apollo. 
This passage restores Linus' relationship with pater Apollo; Linus, along 
with Orpheus, becomes the representative, guardian and mediator of a poetic 
tradition with Apollo as founder-father, which Eclogue VI extends through 
Virgil to Gallus.65 
Given the context of Eclogue VI, it seems highly probable that the 
characterisation of Linus as shepherd could have been found in the elusive 
Gallus. Linus presents Gallus with the pipes of Hesiod, who is (apparently) 
credited with the powers of Orpheus, cantando deducere ornos (71). Chapter 
one noted the consistent association of woods with song in the Eclogues; 
Virgil associates Linus' epiphany with an aetiological work by Gallus on the 
Gryneian grove, site of an oracular cult of Apollo.66 
62See Ross (1975) eh 2. 
63Conington (1898) ad loc. Servius too is puzzled: "quaeritur cur pastor dixit: nisi forte, quod se 
poeta sub pastoris persona inducit." One might suggest that while it may be natural to conceive 
of shepherds as singers, it is less natural to imagine singers as shepherds. 
64See also Ross (1975) p22f · 
65Ross (1975) p27 ,. 
66See Coleman (1977) ad foe on this grove as a locus amoenus in Servius and Pausanias I 21 7. On 
the identification of any sU:ch work with Gallus see Ross (1975) p3lff. 
180 
In any C'1~e, Linus the divino carmine pastor who passes on Hesiod's 
pipes and invites Gallus to compose aetiology strongly suggests a 
Callimachean model; after all, Eclogue VI begins with Virgil's reworking of 
the programmatic proem to Aetia I. In the absence of Callimachus' text, 
Conon's summary suggests that the aetiology of Argive Linus probably 
explained the origin of the dirge, the derivation of the name and nature of 
the festival and the name of the month in which it was held. The remaining 
couplet (fr 27 Pf) features an emotive anaphora and a bucolic diaeresis: 
lipves Tot, cp(M Koupc, auvfiALKES, a.pvEs ETatpot 
EO'KOV, EVLau8µol 8' auALa Kal ~OTO.Val. 
It seems likely that Callimachus uses these stylistic tricks to highlight the 
pastoral and elegiac quality of the story of Linus among the lambs.67 It has 
been suggested that Callimachus developed Linus' pastoral character at some 
length and, "with characteristic wit, gave the young Linus a new literary 
character, that of shepherd. "68 On this reading, Linus must survive beyond 
infancy, which is a possible interpretation of Conon's summary.69 
Wunderkinder may be born singers; it is perhaps less likely that they are born 
shepherds. 
In a programmatic poem, the elegist Propertius also presents Linus as a 
doctus poeta, II 13 3-8: 
hie [Amor] me tarn gracilis vetuit contemnere Musas, 
iussit et Ascraeum sic habitare nemus, 
non ut Pieriae quercus mea verba sequantur, 
aut passim Ismaria ducere valle feras, 
sed magis ut nostro stupefiat Cynthia versu: 
tune ego sim Inachio notior arte Lino. 
The Ascraean (Hesiodic, and by extension Callimachean) grove is populated 
by the same figures as Eclogue VI, but Linus is given an Argive home, a detail 
not found in Virgil. Tradition supplies the association of an infant Linus 
with Argos; here however, the Inachian Linus is described as a doctus poeta. 
Possibly Propertius derived this straight from Callimachus; possibly his and 
Virgil's depictions of Linus derive from an intermediary Roman version, 
that of Gallus, which developed the Callimachean infant Dirge-Linus into a 
67Ross (1975) p22f; Pfeiffer (1949) comments ad loc "in anaphora post diaeresin bucolicam 
'pastorale' quidam inest" and compares Theocritus I 64 etc. 
68Ross (1975) p23f · 
69see Thebaid I 602ff andiPfeiffer (1949) on fr 26; Conan comments Kal o 8e-~ciµe-vQS" trOLµrw ws 
t8LOv a.ve-Tpe-<f>e- without specifying the child's age at death. 
I I 
181 
shepherd-poet_figure.70 The Propertian passage, part of a neoteric recusatio, 
notably associates Linus with the Callimachean elegiac tradition inherited by 
the Roman poet. Elegy (the metre of lamentation) and epic are formally 
opposed, and Linus, the subject of Callimachus' aetiological lament, 
represents the former. 71 
In the threefold term divino carmine pastor Virgil interweaves several 
strands of Linus' mytho-poetk identity: divine Wunderkind (cf IV 55-7), 
singer and subject of the dirge-song, and now shepherd-teacher of songs. A 
puzzling detail of Linus' appearance confirms the association with dirge: he 
is apio crinis ornatus amaro, 68. It has been claimed that the parsley crown 
"need not be a symbol of mourning, and there is no particular reason to see 
in Virgil's Linus the inventor of the dirge which then becomes real elegy."72 
Servius however felt that it deserved a comment, and his note provides a 
specific connection between the stories of Linus and Opheltes/ Archemorus. 
He concurs that Linus is "Apollinis filius" as in IV 56; as for the wreath, 
"apud antiquos in agone erat species coronae de apio, et volunt quidam hoe 
coronae genus ad indicium mortis electum; sed in Nemeaeo agone, qui in 
honorem Archemori institutus est. aut quod humilis herba immaturum de 
Archemoro luctum ostendat; aut quod supra hanc herbam reptans a serpente 
extinctus sit. sane in eo agone speciatim apio coronantur poetae."73 
Premature death consistently features in the versions of the Linus myth. 
Callimachus describes nurses relieved of their burdens by Apollo's 
vengeance, fr 26 14f.74 This element and the very specific parsley crown 
implicitly associate Linus and Opheltes/ Archemorus.75 The crown features in 
the Hypsipyle (fr 60 103) and again, if scholiasts may be trusted, in the Victoria 
Berenices (267 A). The Thebaid makes no specific mention of it, although 
Statius alludes to its origin in describing the grassy meadow in which 
Hypsipyle leaves the baby, IV 786ff.76 Through Linus, the humble parsley 
70Ross (1975) p35f: in the absence of evidence I am unwilling to assert an opinion. 
7lstewart (1959) p193 suggests that Linus "is able to represent the earlier and simpler form of 
elegy, that which was later combined with a Hesiodic tradition to produce, in Hellenistic 
times, the kind of poem which Gallus is now urged to produce." We may note the association of 
Linus with Orpheus in Eclogue IV. 
72Ross (1975) p21 nl 
73The Thilo/Hagen text appears to make little sense; the collocation reptans a serpente 
emphasises the curious doubling of beast and baby. 74Pfeiffer (1949) ad lac compares Thebaid I 602£; we may also compare Hypsipyle and 
Olheltes. 
7 The plant was also adopted as a crown for the Isthmian games because of its mournful 
connection with Palaemon; moreover it was used as an adornment for tombs. See Servius ad lac. 76This omission is consid~red further in chapter seven. gramen features often in mentions of 
Nemea in Statius: cf Silvaell 1 181£, V 3 142. 
182 
crown which laments and commemorates a baby's death becomes a badge of 
honour adorning the Roman pastoral poet, redeeming the sterility of Linus' 
early death through the power of poetry. Virgil's Linus wears the garland 
which commemorates Opheltes' death; Statius' Opheltes wears the tapestry 
which commemorates Linus among the dogs. Archemorus is linked with 
Linus, athletics with poetry, dirge with pastoral, lamentation with 
celebration. 
The parsley crown, part of the textile imagery of Eclogue VI and Thebaid 
VI, provides a further link between Virgil's Linus and 
Opheltes/ Archemorus. Although the Eclogues do not feature ecphrases of 
woven garments as such, they present the woven garland of flowers culled 
from the landscape and transformed into intricate artefacts as a figure for the 
poet's craft.77 The wreath may express devotion (II 45ff), celebrate birth (IV 17-
9), symbolise Dionysiac intoxication (VI 16), honour a victory (VIII 12f) or 
express lamentation (VI 68). Chapter two discussed the Alexandrian 
fascination with weaving and its ecphrastic and metaphoric use in Aetia III.78 
Callimachus refers to the Linus-myth as a story woven by rhapsodes, Kal Tov 
l-nl pa~841 µu0ov u<f>mv6µEvov, fr 26 5. Statius binds together Callimachean and 
Virgilian imagery when he portrays Linus on a tapestry, intertextus. The 
story of Philomela and Procne provides a model for weaving as woman's 
response to grief and horror when words fail. On the tapestry covering 
Opheltes' body is the (silent) Song of Mourning himself. 
6.9 heu ubi siderei vultus? Linus and Opheltes 
In the light of the above discussion, we may conclude that the heroic 
orientation of the Linus-Coroebus aetiology in Thebaid I competes with the 
pastoral-elegiac influence of Callimachus, mediated by Virgil. Apollo's 
paternity frequently entails the transmission of poetic gifts;79 moreover the 
episode is given an Arcadian setting, 579-86:80 
... aviarura 
elegit ac natum saepta inter ovilia furtim 
77See Halperin (1983) p161ff. Goldhill (1991) p243 discusses the ecphrastic cup of Theocritus Idyll I, which pictures a child weaving a garland as "an image of poetics in weaving"; see p234ff on Daphnis, a figure analogous to Linus, and Tityrus' lament for him: dirge is at the heart of pastoral. 
· 78compare the Adonis tapestries in Theocritus Idylls XV 78ff, which attract the admiration of Gorgo and Praxinoa for their lifelike qualities; so skilfully woven are they that they appear to show movemen~. Like Linus, Adonis is a cult-figure associated with the countryside who dies young and is lam§.nted in song. 
79Cf Iamos in Olympians VI. 
80Note the verbal and imagistic associations with the Eclogues in these lines. 
mornivago pecoris custodi mandat alendum. 
non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti 
gramineos dedit herba toros et vimine querno 
texta domus; clausa arbutei sub cortice libri 
membra tepent, suadetque leves cava fistula somnos, 
et pecori commune solum ... 
The baby is actually soothed to sleep by pastoral song, 585. 
183 
The superimposition of the Linus tapestry on top of Opheltes' pyre 
invites the reader to try the match between the two stories. When the 
passages describing the babies' exposures are placed side by side, it becomes 
clear that the settings are virtually identical. Apollo's rape of Linus' mother 
occurs Nemeaei ad fluminis undam I 575, presumably the Langia near which 
Hypsipyle leaves Opheltes, IV 724.81 Linus is taken by his royal mother to a 
foster-parent in the wilderness, avia rura, I 579; queen Eurydice entrusts 
Opheltes to Hypsipyle's care, and the Seven find them inter silvas IV 746.82 
The beauty of the two baby boys is emphasised in both narratives: they are 
beautiful as stars, sidereus: the epithet is exclusive to them in the epic.83 Extra 
pathos is generated by Statius' direct address to both, cf puer, I 582, parve, V 
534.84 Both babies conspicuously fail to live up to the achievements of 
Nemean Hercules. 
Further verbal parallels connect the narratives, I 582-90, IV 786-800 and 
V 502-4: 
non tibi digna, puer, generis cunabula tanti 
gramineos dedit herba toros et vimine querno 
texta domus; clausa arbutei sub cortice libri 
membra tepent, suadetque leves cava fistula somnos 
et pecori commune solum. sed fata nee ilium 
concessere larem; viridi nam caespite terrae 
8l5ee Hakanson (1973) plO on I 575: the reference to a Nemean river "occurs nowhere else in 
Latin literature" and Hakanson concludes with Heuvel (1932) ad loc that the river is unknown; 
I 355ff indicates that Statius thought the Argive Inachus rose at Nemea. Note the Propertian 
description of Inachio ... Lino~ _II 13 8. The preceding discussion noted the tradition which 
associated a Linus with Thebes; as in the case of Hercules, Nemea seems to provide a neutral 
filound between Argos and Thebes, the two poles of conflict in the Thebaid. 
2Again Argos and Thebes meet by the Nemean riverside. Dominik (1994a) p66 n93 dismisses 
as "improbable" the suggestion of Ves~y (1973) p104f that Linus' exposure is intended to recall 
that of Oedipus: "In his case, it was.lis survival, not his death, that eventually produced a 
tragic consequence. It would have been far better if Oedipus had met with the same end as 
Linus, but the will of heaven cannot be over-ridden by the scheming of men ... " Compare 
however Thebaid I 579-81 with Oedipus Tyrannus 1124ff: furtim / montivago pecoris custodi 
mandat alendum equally describes Oedipus. Moreover, the monster (601ff) closely resembles 
the Theban Sphinx, described at II 509ff. At 609f it also recalls the twin snakes of Aeneid II. 
Chapter five noted the link w_ith the Nemean snake. 
83Cf Astyanax, Iliad VI 401; s~e the discussion in chapter five. 
84Aetia I fr 27 Pf displays a 1imilar emphasis on Linus' appeal; Ziegler (1966) p38f discusses 
this feature of Alexandrian li1erature. 
I, 
proiectu-m temere et patulo caelum ore trahentem 
dira canum rabies, morsu depasta cruento, 
dissicit. .... 
...miserum vicino caespite alumnum -
sic Parcae volvere - locat ponique negantis 
floribus adgestis ... 
at puer in gremio vemae telluris et alto 
gramine nunc faciles sternit procursibus herbas 
in vultum nitens, ... 
miratur nemorum strepitus aut obvia carpit 
aut patulo trahit ore diem nemorique malorum 
inscius et vitae multum securus inerrat. 
ille graves oculos languentiaque ora comanti 
mergit humo, fessusque diu puerilibus actis 
labitur in somnos, prensa manus haeret in herba. 
184 
Cf also fata I 586, tarn magna pondera fati V 534. The killer dogs are a dira 
rabies (I 589); the serpent a sacer horror nemoris Achaei (V 505). The actual 
agents of death act without particular malevolence, almost incidentally; the 
crucial acts are the exposures, one necessitated by the fear of a father's anger, 
one by the desire to accommodate an army. Linus' story warns how Opheltes' 
story will end. 
6.10 opus admirabile semper oderat: Linus and the Silvae 
Chapter five argued that Opheltes' premature death abruptly breaks off a 
potential narrative of heroic, Herculean achievement. Moreover, the 
language of IV-V suggests the protected infancy of the creative artist, only to 
end with the silencing of Opheltes' incipient speech. The fusion of Linus' 
story with Opheltes' strengthens this suggestion: Linus does not survive long 
enough to become the divino carmine pastor of Virgil's Eclogues. However, 
the narrative of Linus in book I goes further, silencing those who would 
lament him. If Conon's summary can be trusted, Callimachus' aetiology 
focuses on the origin of the festival and dirges which propitiate and 
commemorate Linus and Psamathe his mother.85 However, Adrastus' 
narrative has no place for women's lamentation, apart from the frantic 
wailings of Linus' anonymous mother. Her only autonomous action, a grief-
stricken acknowledgment of motherhood, condemns her, I 590-5: 
... hie vero attonitas ut nuntius aures 
85Pausanias testifies at . I 43 8 to seeing an engraving of elegiac verses commemorating Psamathe and Coroebu~. on the hero's memorial at Megara; Coroebus' killing of Poine is 
commemorated in sculptiire. Levi (1979) p121 notes a "jejune and anonymous" elegy on the subject in Anth. Pal. VII 154. ·.-.. 
matris a£lit, pulsi ex animo genitorque pudorque 
et metus: ipsa ultro saevis plangoribus amens 
tecta replet, vacuumque ferens velamine pectus 
occurrit confessa patri; nee motus et atro 
imperat - infandum - cupientem occumbere leto. 
185 
Chapter three noted that bereavement brings to Eurydice an experience of 
maternal feeling which only deepens her suffering; like the unnamed, 
silenced Psamathe (if not to the same degree), her power to lament is 
effectively circumscribed. The mothers who in Callimachus' elegy mourn 
their children in the lament for Linus (fr 26 15) become in Adrastus' version 
mere powerless spectators to Coroebus' aristeia, exspectant matres, 656.86 
The aetiology of Linus and Coroebus, as interpreted by Adrastus, teaches 
the power of Apollo and the value of heroic self-sacrifice for the city. The 
Argive king does not relate his sentimental picture of the infant in the grass 
to the heroic action of Coroebus, who avenges not the deaths of Linus and 
Psamathe but of the Argives killed by Poine. In contrast, the Linus tapestry, 
described in the context of women's lamentation (VI 37ff), memorialises the 
tiny baby killed by beasts; it is Eurydice's wordless Linus-song, now sung over 
her own child.87 Although Eurydice is unaware of the correlations between 
Linus' tragedy and that of Thebes, the ancient Argive myth offers a type of 
her own family's suffering: what Eurydice sees is Linus among the dogs, a 
baby dead by violence. She claims for her own son the doubtful honour of 
primordia belli (VI 171); yet Argive Linus was there first. 
The tapestry pall is beautiful, woven in luxurious fabric (molle) in the 
most exquisite dye, Tyrio ... ostro; it gleams with gemstones and gold.88 The 
macabre tableau is surrounded by a border of acanthus: medio Linus 
intertextus acantho / letiferique canes 1 64f.89 The word-order of this phrase 
creates at first a pastoral image akin to the Callimachean picture of Linus 
among the lambs; the image is then brutally destroyed by the letiferique 
canes. 
861n my judgment the Callimachean parallel makes the choice· of matres over any other textual variant compelling: see Hakanson (1973) pll. 
87one wonders whether the Hypsipyle also featured the ancient cry of woe ai'.)J.vos. BBsee Hunter (1993) p52ff for a similar description of Jason's cloak. 89The flower is a familiar Alexandrian decorative motif, cf Theocritus' carved cup at Idylls I 55, and Eclogues III 45, IV 20. See Gow (1952) ad loc on this form of decoration. Mynors (1990) on Georgics II 119 cites Vitruvius IV 1 9 which offers an explanation of the origin of the acanthus 
motif on Corinthian capjtals: curiously enough, it is linked to the death of a young girl. It is 
suggested that Hellenistic artists were especially attracted by the combination of delicacy and 
robustness of the planf: a botanical analogue to textile ~rnTOTT]S", perhaps. Compare also Aeneid I 649: the cloak Aeneas gives to Dido is circumtextum croceo velamen acantho, also 711 . 
I 
II , 
1/1 
111, 
I 
I 
186 
To look ~t this artefact as a grieving mother is a bewildering experience. 
It teaches Eurydice of the violent death of another child, another's child, and 
thus appropriates the grief of others and transforms it into art, to be publicly 
displayed: emotional and aesthetic responses inevitably clash. Here we may 
compare Statius' and his readers' experiences of the poems of lamentation 
and consolation in the Silvae. The epicedia prompt the greatest self-conscious 
anxiety of all Statius' compositions, according to his own prefaces. 
Chapter four discussed the paradoxical pleasures and perils of the 
miserabile carmen. Like the Linus tapestry, Statius' songs of mourning hold a 
peculiar attraction, turning hateful death into a source of beauty through 
poetry, yet should he err in presenting his gift to the bereaved, he risks 
provoking fresh sorrow and even offence: the image used is that of re-
opening wounds, as in the preface to II, huius amissi recens vulnus, and V 1 
30, nunc etiam ad planctus refugit iam plana cicatrix, cf Thebaid V 29. Chapter 
three noted that women's grief often becomes, literally, an open wound. 
The opening lines of II 6 hint at Statius' difficulties: 
saeve nimis, lacrimis quisquis discrimina ponis 
lugendique rnodos. 
The play on modos (cf flebiles modos, Horace Odes II 9 9, of elegy itself) 
highlights the paradox of grief poetry: Statius sets artistic limits on the 
uncontrollable, doing precisely what he says must not be done. The 
opportunities to give pleasure and sorrow are multiplied many times by the 
collection and publication of the individual works.90 This process divorces 
the poem from its private context and makes it into public property, to be 
appreciated primarily for its aesthetic qualities. This may have quite an 
impact on the way the poem is read: consider Statius' breathtaking remark in 
the preface to book I on his soterion for Rutilius Gallicus: sequitur libellus 
Rutilio Gallico convalescenti dedicatus, de quo nihil dico, ne videar defuncti 
testis occasione men-tiri. The dilemma is particularly acute in the case of 
epicedia. 
The posthumously published book V turns the tables on Statius by 
making public two poems which present the poet at 'the mercy of his own 
grief for his father and foster-son; there can be no editorial, controlling 
preface for the whole book, as there are for the others.91 The lamentabile 
90The difficult question of publication is addressed again in chapter seven: see van Darn (1984) 
fff, who suggests that tpe books I-IV represent deluxe collections sent to patrons and friends. 
Ion Statius' 'personality' in the Silvae see Hardie (1983) eh 9. Vessey (1973) p49 is 
disappointed in the orphaned Statius' song of grief: "The poem itself is an exhibition piece in 
187 
carmen (V 3 1) is Statius' patrimony and his filial sacrifice, a gift of ill-omen 
(2f) like Opheltes' tapestry; indeed, he wishes to make sacrifices that 
transcend the offerings for (among others) Opheltes, illic et Siculi superassem 
dona sepulcri I et Nemees lucum et Pelopis solemnia trunci, Slf. 
Although the lament for his father is the longest of the Silvae, Statius 
takes no pleasure in the exercise of his craft, tuus ut mihi vultibus ignis I 
inrubuit cineremque oculis umentibus hausi, / vilis honos studiis, 31-3. We 
may compare his lament for his young foster-son, iuvat heu, iuvat 
inlaudabile carmen I fundere et incompte miserum nudare dolorem, V 5 33f. 
These last paradoxical phrases may stand alongside the many problematic 
juxtapositions in the Nemean episode: ingens lacrimis honor and miseranda 
voluptas, pulchro in maerore. The episode shows us the poet of the Silvae 
exploring this paradox. Eurydice's reaction is perhaps what this ever anxious 
poet most fears, both in others and in himself, opus admirabile semper I 
oderat atque oculos flectebat .ab amine mater, Thebaid VI 65f. 
This chapter has examined the gap between two 'readings' of a story of 
infant death, one heroic, one more · elegiac. Adrastus' heroic aetiology of 
Linus and Coroebus attempts to determine the city's future by controlling its 
past. Eurydice's weaving memorialises a tiny victim. The following, 
concluding chapter discusses the memorialisation of events in Nemea as 
heroic aetiology in the making. Eurydice has perhaps already perceived in the 
tapestry omen what will become of her baby's death. 
the gallery of mannerism. That it sets out to express a real and natural grief is hardly to be 
contradicted, but there is in the work nothing natural, nothing that is not obfuscated by the 
extremism of language and thought. The mannered style has left no room for immediacy: even 
personal bereavement ~as to be encased in literarisms which have largely lost their vitality." 
V 5 receives only a footnote on p44. I suggest that the literarisms of Statius' laments are the 
acanthus-blooms with 'which he frames his hateful subject; what manner of lament would 
have been a more fitting sepulchre for Statius' scholar-poet father? 
I 
I 
CHAPTER SEVEN: 
DAT GEMITUM TELLUS 
Silvae III 1 and Thebaid IV-VI 
7.1 tandem inter silvas: Statius' interwoven poetics 
188 
In discussing the poetics of the · Nemean episode's silvan setting, 
chapter one suggested that Statius' Silvae add more to appreciation of the 
Thebaid than has generally been observed. Chapter two traced the 
influence of Callimachus' Aetia III over the episode: the Victoria 
Berenices' aetiology of Herakles and Molorchus reconfigures the heroic 
and attributes new worth to the small and insignificant. Chapters three 
and four suggested that the tragic, plangent women's voices which occupy 
much of the episode are an epic amplification of the rhetoric of 
lamentation which dominates the Silvae. Chapter five suggested that 
Statius implicitly measures baby Opheltes against Hercules, contrasting the 
latter's fulfilment of heroic potential with Opheltes' premature 
destruction; chapter six shows again how Statius weaves a Callimachean 
"focus on the small shape" into a traditional heroic narrative, to illustrate 
how the epic appropriates the smaller and subsumes it into the greater. 
Chapter seven returns again to Hercules and to the Silvae in discussing 
the funeral celebrations for Opheltes in book VI. 
Silvae III 1, perhaps more than any other of the shorter poems apart 
from IV 6 (discussed briefly in chapter five), conspicuously shares several 
themes with Thebaid IV-VI: a Callimachean ambience featuring explicit 
reference to the Molorchus story; that particularly epic feature, the 
extended simile; the figure of Hercules; the transformation of landscape 
and the building of a commemorative temple. Yet despite these common 
features, the mood of the two texts could hardly be more different. In the 
light of chapter two, it becomes apparent that Statius' positioning of this 
poem at the opening of his third book invites the reader to consider it as a 
guide to his perception of the direction his poetry (and politics) were 
taking as his career and Domitian's reign progresse<:J..1 
For good or ill, "Almost all the evidence we possess for Statius' career 
is derived from his own poetry."2 Superficially considered, the traditional 
lNewlands (1991) provides an important study of this question. On her reading, the 
construction of the shrine at Surrentum offers the poet a symbol through which to describe his creative relations to Callimachus and Virgil; moreover the figure of Hercules and use of 
myth highlight the· difference between the epic poet's task and that of the poet of the Silva e. r 
2Hardie (1983) p13f~"' 63ff; van Dam (1984) p3ff; Coleman (1988) intro. 
'1 
I 
I 
Ill 
189 
chronology: for the publication of the Thebaid and Silvae supports the idea 
that Statius finished with his magnum opus before moving on to his 
more lightweight Zibelli. We have his own testimony that the Thebaid 
took him twelve years to complete, Thebaid XII 811-3. There is some 
evidence that the whole epic was published in 92; the proem to the 
Thebaid suggests that the whole epic was published before January 93, 
when the Sarmatians were defeated, because it mentions only the first two 
victories on the Danube. The preface to Silvae book I mentions Gallicus' 
death, which can be dated to late 91; this suggests that the Silvae began to 
be published in collected form after the Thebaid. The preface to book four 
replies to unfavourable critical reception of the first three, suggesting that 
these belong together in Statius' thinking; it also refers to Statius' practice 
of including an address to Domitian at the beginning of his works, which 
books II and III do not have, reor equidem aliter quam invocato numine 
maximi imperatoris nullum opusculum meum coepisse. Book III refers to 
the conclusion of the Dalmatian war in late 92 (III 3 170f), so it would seem 
that the first three books were published after January 93, and therefore 
following the Thebaid. 3 
The internal chronology of the individual Silvae is more difficult to 
determine, as is the chronological overlap between the epic and the 
shorter poems. The preface to book I refers to a completed epic, quid enim 
[oportet me huius] quoque auctoritate editionis onerari, qui adhuc pro 
Thebaide mea, quamvis me reliquerit, timeo?, and must therefore have 
been written after the propempticon to Marcius Celer, III 2 142f, ast 
ego devictis dederim quae busta Pelasgis / quaeve laboratas claudat mihi 
pagina Thebas. The Thebaid was not finished when Statius wrote Silvae I 
5 for Claudius Etruscus, (paulum arma nocentia, Thebae, ponite ... 8ff); I 4 
refers to the Saecular Games held nuper (96), that is in 88AD. IV 7 21ff 
refers to the poet's difficulties in finishing the Achilleid while he is 
composing his occasional pieces. Evidently, Statius' poetic career was not 
organised into time-spans devotedly exclusively to epic composition and 
to the Silvae.4 Indeed, it seems likely that these self-~onscious references to 
3Silvae IV can be dated by Domitian's seventeenth consulship (95AD), which the first 
poem celebrates; Marcellus, its dedicatee, was praetor in 95. The earliest references to the 
Achilleid in the Silvae occur at IV 4 93f and IV 7 23. Book V was assembled posthumously; 
the poem for Statius pere can be assigned to 90AD thanks to details of Statius fils' 
competition victories. 
4summers (1920) p1_18 maintains that in general the Silvae contain nothing to justify 
opinion that any of)hem were composed before 89. This view has not been seriously 
challenged; see also Hardie (1983) p64 and n49 and the cautious introduction of van Dam (1984) p3ff. ,., 
190 
his artistis double life serve not only to document his career but to 
construct a poetic: epic and Silvae are intricately interwoven and 
inseparable.s 
Silvae III 1 cannot be dated as accurately as might be wished to 
illustrate contemporaneous creative overlap with the epic. We can arrive 
at a terminus post quern through Silvae II 2, which commemorated an 
occasion in 90AD when Statius crossed to Pollius' villa at Surrentum after 
his victory in the Neapolitan games, Il 2 6. II 2 makes no mention of the 
temple, which suggests that it did not yet exist.6 Statius tells us that the 
rebuilding took a year, summer to summer, Ill 1 135f; if books I-III were to 
be published in 93, there is only a brief time (91-2AD) available for the 
temple to be built and Statius' poem to be written. This admits relatively 
little grounds for belief that Silvae Ill 1 and Thebaid VI's description of the 
temple for Opheltes were composed at the same period, as by 91-2 the epic 
was largely ready for publication as a complete opus.7 Nevertheless a close 
reading of Silvae Ill 1 throws Statius' treatment of Opheltes' funeral into 
relief; in sharp contrast to the joyous celebration which the re-building of 
Hercules' shrine engenders, the massive re-working of the heroic funeral 
and the transformation of the Nemean landscape figure the definitive 
appropriation of Opheltes' tragic story by the forces of epic. 
7.2 The Ara Maxima and the pauperis arva Molorchi 
Silvae III 1 is given a distinctly private, Greek setting. The occasion is 
the thirteenth of August, the eve of the civic festival of Hercules Invictus 
ad Circum Maximum, which celebrated the institution of the Ara 
Maxima, but Statius refers to it as the Ides of Hecate, the date of the 
private, domestic celebration of Diana in Aventino (55ff).8 Statius has 
voluntarily withdrawn from Rome into the otium of his native, Greek-
S1t will be clear that I do not share the impression given by Newlands (1991) that for 
Statius, epic and Silvae belong to separate creative and chronological compartments of Statius' oeuvre. 
6See also d'Arms (1970) p220-2. My research has yielded no construction date for the 
temple. 
7Not much is known about Statius' manner of composition of the Thebaid. Juvenal VII 82-7 indicates that Statius gave popular recitations of portions of his epic, not necessarily from 
a completed opus; it is uncertain whether these were offered in the order in which the poem 
now appears, and Statius might well have been working on any section of the poem at any 
time up to final publ_ication. See Williams G (1978) p250ff, 303-6 on the impact of recitation 
culture on composition: the Thebaid's episodic structure, of which unitarian critics have 
complained, may reflect the cultural demand for 'serialisation'. 
85ee Scullard (198Hp171ff for the details of these festivals. 
191 
speaking region and the company of Pollius.9 Artistically, his devotion 
with Pollio to Callimachean Pieridum flores intactaque carmina (67) 
suggests distance from the "typically epic concerns of reges et proelia";10 
however we may compare the proem to the Thebaid, in which Statius 
distances himself from celebration of Domitian's achievements in favour 
of a Greek theme.11 
The Callimachean aetiological theme of Silvae III 1 also suggests the 
Thebaid, whose aetiological drive has been discussed in earlier chapters.12 
It has been argued that in III 1 Statius shakes off the gloom of the epic to 
celebrate Hercules' temple: "His aetiological interests are deliberately 
circumscribed, for he has no desire to delve into the past to uncover 
ancient horrors, a task he himself undertook in the Thebaid."13 However, 
the shorter poem deliberately invokes the Callimachean aetiology which 
introduces the ancient horrors narrated in Thebaid IV-VI. 
From its first line, Silvae III 1 associates itself with the Thebaid 
through the theme of Herculean theoxenia via the Victoria Berenices, the 
subject of chapter two. Statius' poem, significantly placed at the 
commencement of his third book, contains one of the rare references in 
Latin literature to the story of Molorchus, in a list of places linked with 
Hercules' exploits, 29-33: 
non te Lema nocens nee pauperis arva Molorchi 
nee formidatus Nemees ager antraque poscunt 
Thracia nee Pharii polluta altaria regis, 
sed felix simplexque domus fraudumque malarum 
inscia et hospitibus superis dignissima sedes. 
In phraseology and position III I 29 recalls the Virgilian lucosque Molorchi 
of Georgics III 19.14 Compare Thebaid IV 159-64: 
dat Nemea comites, et quas in proelia vires 
sacra Cleonaei cogunt vineta Molorchi. 
gloria nota casae, foribus simulata salignis 
hospitis arma dei, parvoque ostenditur arvo, 
95ee Nisbet (1978) on Pollius' Epicurean citap~la. 
lONewlands (1991) p440 
11Domitian's literary tastes and expectations are discussed by Coleman (1986). 
12Before the narration of the origins of the new temple, Pollius himself proffers 
explanation for the former shrine's decay, causas designat desidis anni, 2. causas translates 
Callimachus' al T(a. 
13Newlands (1991) p442; cf p445 "Myth is no longer, as it was in Statius' Thebaid, or indeed 
Vergil's Aeneid, a yehicle for dealing with deep and universal issues. Its role instead is 
safe and unthreateni,ng within a poem that has removed itself from dangerous matters of 
p,olitical concern." J 
4Newlands (1991) p445 
robur ubi et laxos qua reclinaverit artus 
ilice, qua cubiti sedeant vestigia terra. 
192 
Chapter two shows that both passages refer more or less obliquely to 
Hercules' heroic exploits in Nemea and the comically meagre hospitality 
offered by Molorchus, victim of both lion and mice.IS 
In Aetia III, Herakles' destruction of the lion results in the restoration 
of Molorchus' land and the (re-)foundation of the Nemean games; Statius 
now translates the situation to Surrentum, with a twist. Pollius, a "latter-
day Molorchus",16 had been neglecting Hercules' shrine, leaving the god 
as ille reclusi / liminis et parvae custos inglorius arae, Bf.1 7 The former 
temple thus resembled the humble cottage in which Callimachus' 
Molorchus received the hero, stabat dicta sacri tenuis casa nomine templi 
I et magnum Alciden humili lare parva premebat, 82f. Compare gloria 
nota casae, Thebaid IV 161; Molorchus wins glory even though his 
dwelling is mean.18 A summer downpour offers Pollius the chance to win 
gloria for himself and Hercules; thus he combines aspects of Molorchus' 
role as the humble host before the new temple is built, and of Hercules 
himself, restoring neglected ritual, intermissa tibi renovat, Tirynthie, sacra 
I Pollius et causas designat desidis anni, lf .19 
Chapter two argued that the Thebaid creates anticipation for an 
aetiological digression on laudes Herculeae by consistently associating 
Nemea with Hercules and the Lion. Although IV 159ff and 646ff appear to 
confirm these expectations, the succeeding narrative actually calls 
attention to the absence of the saviour-hero from the epic. In 
Callimachean fashion, Statius replaces the story of Hercules and the 
Nemean Lion with a tale which brings ingens gloria to Nemea (IV 727), 
but from an unexpected source, cum tristem Hypsipylen ducibus sudatus 
lSRosenmeyer (1991a) interprets the Victoria Berenices as a comedy of failed theoxenia. 
We may compare the narrative of Philemon and Baucis in Metamorphoses VIII. 
16Newlands (1991) p445 
17The phrase parvae arae is a comic scaling-down of Ara Maxima, the altar with which 
Roman Hercules is especially associated. Its institution is narrated in Aeneid VIII, a text 
which owes much to the Victoria Berenices as demonstrated by George (1974); see the 
discussion in chapter two. 
l8cf Evander's hut,_Aeneid VIII 366,455 (angusta, not augusta); we may guess that casa 
translates a Callimac;;hean term from Aetia III. 
19Note also the hypbthesis of Bornmann (1980) p248ff that Molorchus was himself able to 
restore the neglected'' rites of Opheltes/ Archemorus after Herakles removed the lion. 
111111 I 
193 
Achaeis / [udus et atra sacrum recolet trieteris Ophelten, 728f. In contrast, 
Silvae III 1 appears full of the hero's benign and active presence.20 
7.3 parvae custos inglorius arae: Hercules and Opheltes 
Hercules, who features in both epic and shorter poems, challenges 
straightforward opposition of the two types of poetry practised by Statius;21 
moreover, he himself embodies ambiguity and multiplicity. He appears in 
a particularly peaceable light in Silvae III 1; strikingly (in the light of 
chapter two's discussion), he is given an exclusively Greek identity.22 
Statius emphatically makes the point that Pollius' household was 
celebrating the festival of Diana, rather than that of Hercules Invictus.23 
Towards the end of the poem the god is invited to honour the new 
Surrentine games invicta manu, 155, but this represents virtually the only 
allusion to Roman religious ritual. In the philhellenic ambience of 
Surrentum, as in the Thebaid, only people and places associated with the 
hero's Greek origins, labours and destiny are mentioned.24 This 
exclusivity is of a piece with the poem's geographical location in the most 
Hellenised region of Italy, where Statius himself had his home; again it 
20Man and god are imagined to enjoy a close relationship, 89ff, 166ff. Pollius' pious action 
wins the god's blessings on his household; compare Herakles' enrichment of Molorchus in 
the Victoria Berenices. 
21such as Newlands (1991) p441 tends to suggest. On the epic qualities of the Silvae see 
Bright (1980) p16f and notes: "it is with epic that the closest affinities of the Silvae may 
be recognized, and no feature of these poems reflects that link more clearly than the 
extensive use of mythological characters ... he constantly introduces suprahuman figures, 
from the great Olympians to the merest water spirits. In all there are more than 250 such 
figures in the Silvae - an astonishing number in an epic, and staggering in a corpus of this 
size." See Szelest (1972) for full treatment of this subject. 
22Newlands (1991) p443f discusses this subject. 
23Galinsky (1972) eh 6 discusses the god's adoption into Roman civic ritual. 
24Eg Argos, Hera's snakes, Oeta, Hebe, Lema, Nemea, Diomede's Thracian horses, Busiris, 
Auge, Thespis etc. When Virgil lists the themes that are to be rejected as poetic material in 
the proem to Georgics III, he includes several of Hercules' deeds: quis aut Eurysthea durum / 
aut inlaudati nescit Busiridis aras? / cui non dictus Hylas puer ... 4-6. Thomas (1988) ad loc 
notes that these are all Alexandrian favourites, and that the first two at least are 
specifically Callimachean and belong to the Aetia. He suggests that Virgil hereby rejects 
Alexandrian subject-matter while accepting Callimachean. stylistic criteria. Virgil's 
programmatic figure in this poem, the resident 'deity' of his poetic temple, will be 
Octavian, superceding Hercules. Interestingly, both Virgil and Statius mention the bizarre 
and gruesome Callimachean tale of Busiris, king of Egypt, who sacrificed his own seer but 
was removed by the hero (Aetia II fr 44-7 Pf, with Lloyd-Jones/Parsons (1983) 2520. For 
Newlands (1991) p445, Statius' "emphatic" placement of this name at the end of his list 
"again suggests Statius' avoidance of the darker themes which interested Callimachus". 
Whether this is so, or whether the name precisely hints at more unpleasant myths 
associated with Her~ules, may be disputed. I think of the significance of the theme of the 
vates sacrificed by his god in the Thebaid: the Latin linguistic identity of prophet and poet 
makes this theme a gloomy one for the poet. · 
I I 
194 
brings to mind the Greek world of his epic, and the epinicians of Pindar in 
which Herakles is pre-eminent. 
Moreover, some of the exploits of Hercules listed in Silvae III 1 are 
distinctly amorous and ludic rather than martial: Statius hints at the 
hospitality offered by Auge and the daughters of Thespius, 40ff. The god is 
invited to dwell not in Argos or even on Olympia, or at the sites of his 
famous, now completed labours (29ff) but in the temple built by a man of 
peace, felix simplexque domus fraudumque malarum I inscia et 
hospitibus superis dignissima sedes 32f,25 not in his incarnation as 
bloodsoaked warrior equipped with club and bow, but as the amorous and 
sporting god, reclining on the dining couch, 34-40:26 
pone truces arcus agmenque immite pharetrae 
et regum multo perfusum sanguine robur, 
instratumque umeris dimitte rigentibus hostem: 
hie tibi Sidonio celsum pulvinar acantho 
texitur et signis crescit torus asper ebumis. 
pacatus mitisque veni nee turbidus ira 
nee famulare timens, ... 
Anger is banished and Hercules is invoked as "a peaceful, domesticated 
god for a peaceful poem".27 The emphasis is on worship, hospitality, 
banqueting and entertainment: even these will be bloodless, taking the 
form of athletics: hie tibi festa / gymnas, et insontes iuvenum sine 
caestibus irae / annua veloci peragunt certamina lustro, 43ff. 
Apparently without irony, Statius welcomes Hercules info the felix, 
simplexque domus fraudumque malarum / inscia et hospitibus superis 
dignissima sedes of Pollius; chapter two showed that Hercules is far from 
simplex and inscius fraudum himself.28 The mention of Molorchus and 
Nemea (29, 182) reminds the reader that the god accommodated by 
Molorchus' humble hospitality stopped there en route to his ordeal with 
the Nemean lion, demonstrating how difficult it is to define and confine 
25on the obvious play on Pollius Felix' name, see Nisbet (1978) pl and passim, and below. 
26Hercules' description as pacatus mitisque (39) recalls the language of Flavian ruler-cult, 
on which see Scott (1936) sv 'Hercules'; cf iuvat ora tueri / mixta notis belli placidamque 
gerentia pacem, Silvae I I 15. It further suggests mitis Adrastus presiding over the feast at 
Thebaid I 523ff. Compare also the attitude of the Hercules Epitrapezios of IV 6, 
humorously imagined as presiding over Novius Vindex' frugal dining-table, castae genius 
tutelaque mensae 32. 
. 27Newlands (1991) p444; it is another matter to suggest that Hercules is "specifically 
dissociated from the warlike themes of epic poetry." Statius has carefully mentioned many 
of the hero's heroic ~chievements which were doubtless celebrated in the cyclic Heracleia, 
on which see Huxley.(1969) and Davies (1989). 
28The Dionysiac Nemean episode is characterised by fraus; malarum inscia verbally 
recalls Opheltes himself, Thebaid IV 799ff. 
195 
this god either as to genre or as to character; all the allusions to past heroic 
deeds only bring the complexity of the god's identity more forcefully to 
mind. Indeed, the poem lays great stress on the great hero's bulk, literal 
and symbolic; the miserable old shrine cannot contain such a huge figure, 
82-5: 
stabat dicta sacri tenuis casa nornine templi 
et magnum Alciden hurnili lare parva premebat, 
fluctivagos nautas scrutatoresque profundi 
vix operire capax ... 
The rebuilt temple offers worthier accommodation, 3-7: 
quod coleris maiore tholo, nee litora pauper 
nuda tenes tectumque vagis habitabile nautis, 
sed nitidos postes Graisque effulta metallis 
culrnina, ceu taedis iterum lustratus honesti 
ignis ab Oetaea conscenderis aethera flarnrna. 
The trope of magnum in parvo may be applied to the poem itself.29 
Although the setting of III 1 indeed appears "divorced from the typically 
epic concerns of reges et proelia", the story of the origins of the new 
temple resonates with echoes of Virgilian epic.30 The storm which 
disrupts Pollius' happy party blows straight from the Aeneid, 71-7:31 
delituit caelum et subitis lux candida cessit 
nubibus ac tenuis graviore Favonius austro 
irnrnaduit; qualem Libyae Saturnia nimbum 
attulit, Iliaco dum dives Elissa marito 
donatur testesque ululant per devia nymphae. 
diffugimus, festasque dapes redimitaque vina 
abripiunt famuli; 
Compare Aeneid IV 160-70: 
interea rnagno rnisceri murrnure caelurn 
incipit, insequitur cornrnixta grandine nimbus, 
et Tyrii cornifes passim et Troiana iuventus 
Dardaniusque nepos Veneris diversa per agros 
tecta metu petiere; ruunt de montibus arnnes. 
speluncam Dido dux et Troianus eandem 
deveniunt. prirna et Tellus et pronuba Iuno 
29for the fascination of the miniature see Stewart (1993) eh 2. 
30The villa stands on the notas Sirenum nomine rupes, 64. Sirens link the poem and the 
landscape with the Odyssey and Aeneid. The spurious etymology of Surrentum (from Sirenum) reinforces the association between Pollius' villa and music-making. Whereas the 
Sirens enticed sailo~s towards certain death, the resplendent new temple attract passing 
voyagers to stop and.worship. 
31curiously ululant' per devia nymphae combines three important elements in the Nemean 
episode also, but in a very different context. 
dant sign.!Im; fulsere ignes et conscius aether 
conubiis summoque ulularunt vertice Nymphae. 
ille dies primus leti primusque malorum 
causa fuit; ... 
196 
Statius varies the theoxenia theme by contaminating elements from 
Aeneid IV and the Herakles-Molorchus story from the Victoria Berenices. 
The host is wealthy and generous, but the hospitality is humble; the 
catalyst is a storm (downgraded to a summer shower32) rather than a wild 
beast; and the unplanned stay results in an act of creation rather than 
destruction. The encounter with a genial Hercules is comically public, as 
the host and hostess's party all squeeze inside the humble shack, 85ff, in 
contrast to the covert, sombre encounter of Dido and Aeneas in the cave.33 
Aeneid IV 170 traces the causa of Dido's tragedy, instigated by Juno; 
through "ludic manipulation of epic and myth"34 Statius applies the 
simile to introduce the causae of Pollius' decision to honour Hercules, 
Juno's great enemy (cf 104f).35 "From the start of his 'epic' narrative, then, 
Statius hints that his · grand style seeks to celebrate creation, not 
destruction, peace not war". 36 The forces which wreak such havoc in 
Carthage are apparently no longer a threat in Surrentum; the audacious 
echo suggests Statius' artistic self-confidence vis-a-vis his great poetic 
predecessor. "By echoing the Aeneid Statius humorously shows that 
whereas Vergil rejected minor poetry for epic, he can nonetheless 
incorporate the Aeneid into the confines of his small poem."37 
32Pollius' villa is of course so well positioned as to be immune from real storms; he enjoys 
mira quies, Silvae II 2 26ff. 
33The search for shelter from a storm prompts the ill-omened meeting of Polynices and 
Tydeus at Adrastus' threshold, Thebaid I. Silvae III 1 transforms the threshold into the 
locus of encounter with the genial Hercules, 164. Indeed the preface to book III calls this a 
truly liminal, ingressional poem, nam primum limen eius Hercules Surrentinus aperit ... Yet 
here again in the image of new beginnings there is an echo of the gloomy epic: Opheltes 
dies prima ad limina vitae, Thebaid V 535. Cf Glaucias, Silvae II 1 38. 
34Newlands (1991) p447_ 
35The concept of 'heroic mockery', discussed by deforest Lord (1977), has been applied in 
chapter two to Callimachus' treatment of the grandiose theme of Hercules and the Nemean 
Lion. The raison d'etre of Statius' excursion is very different from Dido's; however, Statius 
subtly recalls the atmosphere of Aeneid IV by timing the storm at noonday, when the hunt 
rests: ipsa coronat / emeritos Diana canes et spicula terget / et tutas sinit ire feras ... 57-9. 
Noon proves the time for divine epiphany of Hercules' 'other', his half-brother Bacchus, in 
Thebaid IV 680ff; cf also Diana, IV 425ff. 
36Newlands (1991) p447 . 
37Newlands (1991) p446: what price Statius' "anxiety of influence", to use the phrase of 
Bloom (1973)? The presence of Hercules in differing manifestations in both the Aeneid and 
Silvae III 1 suggest that the relation between the two poems is more complicated than the 
idea of 'incorporation' spggests. Hercules is the most flexible of friends, but one not easily 
boxed in, having a darker, dangerous side. Statius' inclusion of the Aeneid risks adding 
hints of gloomier, more destructive themes to his sunny poem. 
I I 
197 
At this point we may compare the epic narrative of Opheltes' funeral, 
VI 25ff. Although the baby died prima ad limina vitae (V 535), the ritual 
transforms him into a massive figure, VI 67-71: 
anna etiam et veterum exuvias circumdat avorum 
gloria mixta malis adflictaeque ambitus aulae, 
ceu grande exsequiis onus atque immensa ferantur 
membra rogo, sed cassa tamen sterilisque dolentes 
fama iuvat, parvique augescunt funere manes. 
The tiny baby is dwarfed by the absurdly disproportionate ceremonial, 
Statius' reworking of Iliad XXIII-IV and Aeneid V in honour of a child 
dead through mischance.38 The enormity of the preparations enhances the 
prestige of the participants, offering the joy peculiar to lamentation: gloria 
mixta malis, fama, ingens lacrimis honor et miseranda voluptas, 67ff. 
However, the delicate coverlet picturing baby Linus drives home the 
contrast between the small victi.m and the huge warrior-hero he should 
have lived to become, who is perhaps the true focus of grief. The fama of 
an infant death is barren and empty in comparison, 70. 
A fascinating second-century Roman child's sarcophagus "shows 
several scenes in a continuous biographical narrative of a child's life from 
birth to death and apotheosis. Noteworthy here is the representation of 
the child as a bearded adult in a scene of prothesis (the laying out of the 
corpse), the penultimate vignette of the series. However, in the final 
scene, that of apotheosis, the child is portrayed as physically being a child 
again. The presentation of the child on this sarcophagus as an adult in one 
proleptic moment of time in a temporal sequence is a graphic way of 
stating what the child would have become if he had lived - in short, his 
unrealized potential. "39 
Reflecting on his son's death, Quintilian expresses a similar 
sentiment, Inst. Or. VI Pr. 10-3. Compare also the famous lament for 
Marcellus, heu miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, / tu Marcellus 
eris, Aeneid VI 882f. The most intriguing thing here is that Virgil has 
38Henderson (1991) p54: "The proportions become ludicrous and the mechanics gross". 
Schetter (1960) p56ff acutely observes the "Tendenz zum Antirealistischen und Imaginaren" 
within Sta:tius' poetic economy of size; see p60 on Opheltes' funeral. Vessey (1973) is not 
concerned with analysing this "harmless piece of aetiology", p192: "The account of the funeral need not be subjected to close analysis"; at p191 he notes the absurdity but neglects its point: "The funeral of Archemorus offered another opportunity for direct aemulatio: .. Statius here has co~posed a mannered version of an epic theme, sometimes strained and 
exaggerated, but self-consistent and original'', p193 On the anachronistic and Romanised 
elements of this funliral, see Sandbach (1965) p34f. 
39See Holliday (1993) p275f for discussion and an illustration. 
198 
'shrunk' ¥arcellus, an adolescent warrior deserving of civic recognition, 
back into the (previously inglorious) status of child, as if to centre on the 
pathos of the sheer fact of death itself.40 Parthenopaeus is likewise 
'shrunk' back into childhood: see Thebaid IX 877ff, X 423ff.41 
The frustration of parental hopes for a glorious maturity is amply 
illustrated by the gifts devoted to the flames, 73-81: 
muneraque in cineres annis graviora feruntur -
namque illi et pharetras brevioraque tela dicarat 
festinus voti pater insontesque sagittas; 
iam tune et nota stabuli de gente probatos 
in nomen pascebat equos - cinctusque sonantes 
armaque maiores exspectatura lacertos. 
spes avidae! quas non in nomen credula vestes 
urgebat studio cultusque insignia regni 
purpureos sceptrumque minus? 
This funeral, indeed a greater one, ought to have been the lot of Polynices, 
had he only died gloriously in the chariot-race: te Thebe fraterque palam, 
te plangeret Argos, / te Nemea, tibi Lerna comas Larissaque supplex / 
poneret, Archemori maior colerere sepulcro, VI 515-7.42 The sheer scale of 
the funeral and the promised apotheosis of Opheltes (V 750ff) suggest no 
less a model than Hercules' cremation and assumption on Oeta, referred 
to at IV 158 and at Silvae III 1 6f in the context of the dedication of Pollius' 
new temple. In Silvae III 1 and IV 6, Statius boasts of the potential of his 
shorter poem to embrace the epic greatness of Hercules. Ironically, the 
Thebaid seems unable to accommodate a tiny baby; its warriors seem 
themselves unable to resist the opportunity to turn an infant's funeral 
into full-scale, Herculean epic display. 
7.4 veteres, iam fracta cacumina, f agos: the transformation of landscape 
40farron (1993), who argues that this intent characterises Virgil's epic throughout, 
ar peared too late for me to take it into account. 
4 The death of children was apparently not considered so great.a loss to the Roman family. 
Lattimore (1962) records some tender funerary inscriptions for children; see eh 10 and §75. 
However, Seneca Jm. 99 claims that the loss of a child is not so severe as the loss of a friend; Cicero's Tusc. I 93f suggests children should not be mourned at all; see also Plutarch Consolatio ad Uxorem. See Hopkins (1983) p225, Neraudau (1984) eh 5, Wiedemann (1989) 
f:39ff, Dixon (1992) plOO. 
2Ironically, the Seven will be deprived of their dues until their women band together to defy Creon. The fra~ricides' real cremation is a poor imitation of Opheltes', XII 420££; the 
mass funerals of th~ Argive and Theban dead are altogether beyond Statius' powers of 
narration, XII 797ff. Note that the emotive triple anaphora breaks the spell of the Oedipal double, and' compare the similar effect of XII 805-7, Arcada, ... Arcada, ... Arcada. 
1 j 
11 
I 
I 
199 
Comparis.9n of the descriptions of landscape transformation in Silvae 
III 1 and Thebaid VI also proves instructive. Tree-felling for the pyre of the 
dead warrior is a well-established epic topos which has received ample 
treatment.43 Statius offers a variation on the theme: the Seven enter the 
woods to gather material not for the baby's pyre, but cumulare pyram, 
quae crimina caesi / anguis et infausti cremet atra piacula belli, 86f. 44 The 
passage has been described as an exercise in "mannered aggrandisement", 
characterised by "fantastic ornamentation".45 More harshly, it has been 
dismissed as "decorative and devoid of fresh inspiration", even 
nonsensical, representing the non plus ultra of epic's change and decline 
into mannerism: "[Statius'] treatment may be regarded logically as 
standing at an extreme."46 
Statius decribes the felling of the wood, a montis opus (86), at 
considerable length and in the vocabulary appropriate to a Herculean 
labour, 88-107: 
his labor accisam Nemeen umbrosaque tempe 
praecipitare solo lucosque ostendere Phoebo. 
stemitur extemplo veteres incaedua ferro 
silva comas, largae qua non opulentior umbrae 
Argolicos inter saltusque educta Lycaeos 
extulerat super astra caput: stat sacra senectae 
numine, nee solos hominum transgressa vetemo 
fertur avos, Nymphas etiam mutasse superstes 
Faunorumque greges. aderat miserabile luco 
excidium: fugere ferae, nidosque tepentes 
absiliunt - metus urget - aves; cadit ardua fagus, 
Chaoniumque nemus brumaeque inlaesa cupressus, 
procumbunt piceae, flammis alimenta supremis, 
ornique iliceaeque trabes metuendaque suco 
taxus et infandos belli potura cruores 
fraxinus atque situ non expugnabile robur. 
43See Williams (1968) p263ff and Thomas (1988a). 
44compare Apollo's search for piacula caedis, I 569, and the disastrous chain of events 
which this initiated. Cf al~o Lucan's variation on the theme, in which Caesar chops down 
trees to make a barricade at Brundisium, Bell um Civile II 670f; on Lucan's desecration of the 
Massilian grove, which forms an important model for Statius' episode, see Masters (1992) 
p25ff. Lucan's episode is itself modelled on Erysichthon's impious felling of Ceres' tree in 
Metamorphoses VIII. The heap of wood "becomes one of a succession of ersatz funeral 
celebrations which anticipate the grand funeral Pompey will never have ... " p26. 
4Svessey (1973) p193; objections to the episode are "a matter of subjective taste" based on a 
lack of appreciation of the bizarre beauties of Rococo mannerism, p194. 
46Williams (1968) p266f; he concedes an aim towards a "decorative richness of .effect", but 
denies any significance to the episode beyond the aesthetic. The crucial models for Thebaid 
VI 90-107 are Iliad XXIII 114ff, the hallmarks of which Williams perceives to be "speed 
and simplicity"; Ennius' _ Annales fr 10 187-91 (Vahlen) ("sonority and complication"), 
Aeneid VI 179ff (characte.rised by emotion); and Punica X 527-34 ("an expansion of Virgil's 
passage"). Williams does"not consider Bellum Civile III 440ff, apparently because it does 
not describe funeral preparations. 
hinc audax11bies et odoro vulnere pinus 
scinditur, adclinant intonsa cacurnina terrae 
alnus arnica fretis nee inhospita vitibus ulmus. 
dat gernitum tellus ... 
200 
The critical reception this passage has received well exemplifies the 
misreading of the Thebaid as Statius' humple but unworthy version of 
Virgil's Aeneid. "This composition is decorative and devoid of fresh 
inspiration: the mind's eye is firmly closed. Nothing can be left unsaid, 
and, once said, it can be said again with more detail or carried to a still 
further degree of nonsense. Virgil's antiquam [Aeneid VI 179] has been 
expanded to veteres incaedua ferro / silva comas; but since this had 
introduced the mention of foliage it can be expanded for another couple of 
lines and Virgil's 'tall' now takes the tops of trees above the stars. But 
antiquam is not yet fully explored, so the wood is made to outlast not only 
generations of men but even of the immortal Nymphs and Fauns. Pathos 
now takes over, and Virgil's stabula alta ferarum [ibid] is fully explored: 
birds leap from their beds (like human beings but how unlike Virgil), the 
beds are warm, and, lest the reader mistake the birds' motive, he is told -
metus urget .. "47 
The passage is in fact a guide to Statius' artistic purposes in the 
N emean episode: "the easiest and most blatant way of demonstrating 
poetic style is to manipulate a poetic commonplace in an individual 
way". 48 Firstly, veteres incaedua ferro / silva comas is no mere verbal 
multiplication of a felicitous Virgilian epithet. This phrase and at least one 
other in the passage may be traced back to the Victoria Berenices. The 
overgrown bushes on Molorchus' land are BpEmivou a.TTEu0la TEPXVEa (fr 257 
25), as he is too timid to venture out to find more TTupl BEtTTvov (fr 257 23). 
The Nemean woods have never experienced the axe, but are now to 
become flammis alimenta supremis, 100. Tiny details from Molorchus' 
everyday domestic life are inserted into a grand epic moment; an act of 
restoration becomes an act of destruction.49 
47wmiams (1968) p267 
48Masters (1992) p26 on Lucan's manipulation of the same topos. 
49See Colace (1982), who also traces the influence of the Victoria Berenices in 
Metamorphoses VIII 611ff (the theoxenia of Philemon and Baucis), which immediately 
precedes the story of Erysichthon. Silvae III 1 narrates a successful Herculean theoxenia, 
while Thebaid IV-VI emphasises the discrepancy between the Seven's apparent interpretation of events as an encounter with Hercules (despite the hero's absence) and the 
pathos of such a tiny, in~iderttal death as Opheltes' . Cf also nescia falcis / silva comas 
tollit fructum exspirat in umbras, Silvae V 2 69f on the over-luxuriant 'bloom of youth' of Crispinus. See Henderson' (1991) p54: the "knowing reader chuckles to see such a self-
consciously out-of-place rep ly to ludibund Callimachus, the Nemean Games originated, 
201 
The .operation is likened to heroic warfare, indeed to the relentless 
endeavour of Herculean combat, 114-7: 
ut cum possessas avidis victoribus arces 
dux raptare dedit, vix signa audita, nee urbem 
invenias; ducunt stemuntque abiguntque feruntque 
immodici, minor ille fragor, quo bella gerebant. 
The devastation caused by the armies surpasses anything natural · forces 
could have achieved, non sic eversa feruntur / Ismara, cum fracto Boreas 
caput extulit antro, non grassante noto citius nocturna peregit / flamma 
nemus, 107-10. This negative comparison reverses the pattern of simile 
more usually found in epic, where for example the havoc wrought by a 
warrior on the battle-field is hyperbolically compared to that of a raging 
lion, a river in spate, a storm or a forest fire.SO Symbols of strength and 
vulnerability, trees offer an analogy to the fallen warrior, eg Iliad IV 482ff, 
V 560, XIII 178ff, or even to the sacked city, Aeneid II 631.51 Here the power 
of nature shrinks beside the power of a human army. This replicates the 
thirsty troops' assault on the Langia, IV 816-30:52 
incubuere vadis passim discrimine nullo 
turba simul primique, nequit secernere mixtos 
aequa sitis, frenata suis in curribus intrant 
armenta, et pleni dominis armisque feruntur 
quadripedes; hos turba rapax, hos lubrica fallunt 
saxa, nee implicitos fluvio reverentia reges 
proterere aut mersisse vado clamantis amid 
ora. fremunt undae, longusque a fontibus amnis 
diripitur, modo lene virens et gurgite puro 
perspicuus nunc sordet aquis egestus ab imis 
alveus; inde tori riparum et proruta turbant 
gramina; iam crassus caenoque et pulvere sordens, 
quamquam expleta sitis, bibitur tamen. agmina hello 
courtesy of Euripidean Romance, at the baby's incineration, not in Theban Hercules' immortalizing Labol.!r of virtus, his strong-arm strangling of the Nemean lion". I hope I will be forgiven for not chuckling. 
50for fuller study see Briggs (1980) p81ff and conclusion. Latinus is battered by cries for war 
like a rock by stormy waves, Aeneid at II 306 the battle for Troy is described as a fire; at II 416ff the soldiers are like battling winds; VI 586-90; at X 405~11 Pallas in battle is like a 
storm; at X 603ff Aeneas is like a whirlwind and torrent; at XII 523ff Aeneas and Turnus are 
like raging torrents. 
Slsee Nisbet (1987): "Trees are like people. They have a head (vertex), a trunk (truncus), 
arms (bracchia). They stand tall like a soldier, or look as slender as a bridegroom (Sappho 115 LP). Their life moves in human rhythms, which in their case may be repeated: sap rises 
and falls, hair (coma) luxuriates, withers, drops off ... " He compares Catullus LXIV 105ff, 
Valerius Argonau~tica III 163ff. See also Nisbet (1983) p239 for the theme of silvae laborantes in Horac~ Odes I 9. For the Aeneid's comparison of dead virgins to plucked flowers etc see Fowier (1987). 
52Note the serpentine imagery of 820ff: lubrica, fallunt , implicitos, virens. 
j 
I 
I 11 11 
11 
decertare putes iustumque in gurgite Martem 
perfurere aut captam tolli victoribus urbem. 
------- -----, 
202 
Even the quenching of thirst metamorphoses into the sack of a city. 
Chapter one discussed the Callimachean poetics of the Dionysiac drought 
visited upon Nemea; the army, thirsty for epic bloodshed, churns up the 
clear stream, transforming it again into the muddy effulgence rejected by 
Apollo, Callimachus Hymn to Apollo 108ff.53 
Cool Nemea is laid open to Phoebus' rays; the silvan setting for the 
narrative of Opheltes and Hypsipyle is levelled to the ground, 88. The 
ecphrastic description of the ancient wood, missing so far from the 
narrative, finally appears just as it meets miserabile excidium (96f). The 
force and purpose of Statius' generation of pathos have been greatly 
underestimated. The description resonates with echoes of Virgil's Arcadia. 
The ardua fagus (98) "beyond all others perhaps, the tree of the Eclogues"54 
and also the tree of elegy, is the first to fall to the axes of the Seven.SS Even 
Statius' obscure periphrasis for the oak, Chaonium nemus (99),56 recalls 
the lament in Eclogue IX 7-13 for the impotence of pastoral song in the face 
of physically stronger forces: sed carmina tantum / nostra valent, Lycida, 
tela inter Martia quantum / Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas.57 
So ancient are the Nemean trees that they could have been the haunts of 
Arcadian Pan himself, 91ff, and of the Nymphs and Fauns who people the 
Eclogues, 95f. 
Whereas in Silvae III 1 the Nymphs and divinities in the bay of 
Naples are drawn in joy and wonder to witness man's achievements 
(144ff), the rampaging army drives the Arcadian folk who inhabited 
Nemea into unhappy exile, 110-3: 
.. linquunt flentes dilecta locorum 
otia canes Pales Silvanusque arbiter umbrae 
semideumque pecus, migrantibus adgemit illis 
silva, nee ainplexae dimittunt robora Nymphae. 
53see Henderson (1991) p54 on the epic's thirst for amplification. 
54Ross (1975) p72 
SSC£ Propertius I 18 19ff: after Callimachus' Acontius (Aetia II fr 72f Pf), and after Gallus 
himself in Eclogue X 52-4, the poet carves 'Cynthia' on the bark of the beechtree and the 
Arcadia pinus amica deo. See Ross (1975) p71ff on the inter-relations of Callimachus, 
Virgil, Propertius and the elusive Gallus. 
56Williams (1968) p267 appreciates the doctrina: "because the Chaones inhabited Epirus 
and in Epirus at Do~ona there was a famous oracle of Zeus with oaks whose leaves declared 
~rophecies." , 
7see Coleman (1977) ad lac and Boyle (1986) who adopts the Chaonian dove as a figure for 
Virgil the pastoral, "didactic and epic poet. 
203 
The birds drtven from their nests no longer appear so ridiculous in the 
light of the Eclogues. Moreover, chapters three and four illustrate that the 
Thebaid frequently associates its human victims with displaced birds; 
Hypsipyle is herself a mother-bird, Opheltes her nestling V 599ff. The 
earth herse1f58 groans (107) under the relentless force of destruction, 
ducunt sternuntque abiguntque feruntque (116).59 Statius has transformed 
an epic topos par excellence into a figure for the ultimate triumph of 
martial violence over Arcadian life and song. 60 
7.5 nee mora: the transformation of landscape in Silvae III 1 
Silvae III 1 offers a more optimistic perspective on the taming and 
transformation of landscape; culture (symbolised by Hercules and his 
human ally Pollius) triumphs over nature as the wilderness yields to the 
power of civilisation.61 Pollius Felix' villa (II 2) and the temple of Hercules 
at Surrentum offer the most developed treatments of architecture in the 
Silvae.62 Although Statius' architectural ecphrases are remarkable for 
their level of technical detail,63 he actually neglects accurate description in 
favour of personal, mythological and aetiological digression;64 II 2 offers 
archaeologists no help in reconstructing the scanty ruins of the villa at 
Surrentum.65 III 1 likewise describes less the appearance of the temple 
than the circumstances in which it came to be, 117ff. More important than 
the details of its finished appearance is the effect of its construction on the 
landscape, its speedy completion, its size and its function. 
58The anthropomorphism is justified in the light of alnus amica fretis nee inhospita vitibus 
ulmus, 106; the elm and the vine so often symbolise happy human marriage. 
59Cf the description of the army entering Nemea: iam Sidonias avertere praedas, / 
sternere, ferre domos ardent instantque, IV 648f. 
60compare the destruction wrought on Nemea and Arcadia by the huge storm of I 355ff: 
these epic tempests, literal or metaphorical, are no friends to the woods. 
61The description of buildings and constructions (which goes back to Alcinous' palace in 
Odyssey VII 81ff) was already established in Roman literature before the Silvae: van Dam 
(1984) p187ff on Silvae Ii 2 lists many examples, including (from epic) Virgil Aeneid I 446-
93, VI 548-58, VII 17off; Ovid Metamorphoses II 1-18, VIII 689ff, XI 592-615; Lucan Bellum 
Civile X 11 lff; Valerius Flaccus Argonautica V 410ff. The Thebaid has several passages of 
architectural description, notably the House of Mars (VII 40ff), and the cave of Sleep (X 
84ff). Martial (N 64, VI 42) describes the baths of Claudius Etruscus which are the subject 
of Silvae I 5. In prose, the theme appears in Seneca's Epistles 55, 86; Pavlovskis (1973) 
p25ff discusses Pliny's contribution. See Coleman (1988) on Silvae IV 2 18ff (the Domus 
Domitiana). 
621 2 describes Violentilla's house, I 3 Manilius Vopiscus' house, I 5 Claud.ius Etruscus' 
baths, IV 3 the Via Domitiana. 
63See Coleman (1988) on N 3 40ff. 
64The complaint of Sherwin-White (1966) p186f. 
6Ssee van Dam (1984') p188; chapter one discussed the significance of the motif of 
divagation and digression in the epic. 
I 
I 
204 
The _celebration of man's ability to transform landscape is more or 
less alien to the rhetoric of Republican and Augustan writers.66 Statius 
"may well have been the first to devote whole poems to the praise of 
technological progress, as well as the delights of a life spent in a setting not 
natural but improved by man's skill";67 luxury and refinement were no 
longer the enemy in the new Imperial golden age.68 Although natural 
beauty is a desideratum in a building's location, nature itself is 
"something savage to be tamed".69 In this respect Flavian man is highly 
successful, conquering even time and seasons: Violentilla's house, 
situated in the shade of ancient trees, is cool in the dog-days, warm at 
midwinter, I 2 154£. Statius' patrons enjoyed an ambivalent relationship 
with nature: "their estates have been developed in such ways that their 
dwellers do not rightly know where nature ends and art begins, and 
consequently can enjoy the illusion of holding nature in a kind of magical 
grasp, completely at their command."70 Silvae IV 3 exemplifies Flavian 
pleasure in man's engineering ability: "The greater portion of the poem 
expresses joy at man's successful effort at levelling mountains, cutting 
down forests, building a firm surface across soft and shifting sands."71 The 
Sibyl herself comes out to greet the newly-built road: as resident of Cumae 
and Apollo's prophetess, she is doubly qualified to appreciate Domitian's 
road and Statius' song. Often in the Silvae, Statius contrives to redeem the 
relationship of man and nature, making the two co-operate in harmony: 
the Vulturnus actually rejoices to be confined by the bridge· serving the 
Via Domitiana, 67ff; similarly the Anio is happy to flow through the Aqua 
Marcia, I 5 25f. 
Silvae III 1 celebrates the co-operation not only of man and nature, 
but of man and god. The hero's role in the poem has been reduced to 
"divine machinery"72 in a more literal sense than usual; "man is abetted 
by Hercules, whose temple he is building, but the divine hero's 
66Pavlovskis (1973) p8ff and Newmyer (1984) discuss the Flavian imperial craze for 
building. 
67Pavlovskis (1973) pl , 
68However, Pavlovskis (1973) p4 n6 notes with reference to the Augustan Georgics III: 
"Virgil cares not to observe the literary convention which condemned man's architectural 
accomplishments as unnatural and sinful". Cf also the luxuriance of the golden age of 
Eclogue IV, p3 nlO. 
69van Dam (1984) p188 
70Pavlovskis (1973) pS 
71Pavlovskis (197~) p20; see p2 on Statius' "great optimism" and "genuine joy in man's 
subjugation of nat¥,re". On tree-felling, n59 remarks that the topos is applied differently to 
the epic, but fails to comment further. 
72Summers (1920) p123 ii 
1:1 
Ii 
205 
participation is a mythological embellishment not indispensable to the 
poem. "73 The allusions to the Victoria Berenices evoke a Hercules who is 
much more than heavy lifting gear. The construction of Pollius' temple 
wins the hero's approval for the way in which the former wilderness has 
been tamed, 166-70: 
'macte animis opibusque meos imitate labores, 
qui rigidas rupes infecundaeque pudenda 
naturae deserta domas et vertis in usum 
lustra habitata feris foedeque latentia profers 
numina ... ' 
Hercules KT(crnis praises Pollius for replicating his own endeavours against 
wild beasts, recalling the hero of the Victoria Berenices.74 Statius' Hercules 
identifies with Flavian (and Pollian) aesthetic ideals; his presence also 
invokes the spirit of the Callimachean poem. 
However, much of the imagery for construction in III 1 is drawn from 
epic, notably Aeneid VIII. The description of the building process recalls 
the crafting of the arms for Aeneas by Vulcan. Hercules as pater ipse loci 
(125) participates in the work, just as Vulcan, pater Lemnius (Aeneid VIII 
454), supervises the manufacture of Aeneas' armour. In both texts, the 
craftsmen undergo great physical strain, labor (an appropriately Herculean 
term), Silvae III 1 123, Aeneid VIII 444, to which we may compare Thebaid 
VI 88; they also transform shapeless natural materials, Silvae III 1 120-4, 
Aeneid VIII 445-53. The noise of the work reverberates around the bay of 
Naples, echoing the sound of the Cyclops, but more joyfully than in the 
Aeneid, when the earth under Etna groans in pain, quam subter specus et 
Cyclopum exesa caminis / antra Aetnaea tonant, validique incudibus ictus 
/ auditi referunt gemitus, (418f), gemit impositis incudibus antrum (451); 
cf dat gemitum tellus, Thebaid VI 107, when Nemea loses her ancient 
trees. Pollius' land rings musically, although the volume of sound is 
actually greater; 128-32: 
... ditesque Caprae viridesque resultant 
Taurubulae, et terris ingens redit aequoris echo. 
non tarn grande sonat motis incudibus Aetne, 
cum Brontes Steropesque ferit, nee maior ab antris 
Lemniacis fragor est... 
73Pavlovskis (1973)_p12 n34; contrast Newlands (1991) p444f. 
74Newmyer (1984) pS and Nisbet (1978) show how, in the conventions of Flavian ecphrasis, 
the aesthetic qualities of a particular building reflect the personal virtues of the builder or 
~..,_ 
owner. 
206 
Virgil's anthropomorphic image of bodily pain modulates into the sound 
of the lyre.75 
Architecture is specifically adopted by poets as a metaphor for poetic 
craft. Pindar describes his epinician for Hagesias as a splendid building, 
xpucrlas UlTOO"Ta.cravTES E'UTELXEL npo8upep ea>..ciµou / Klovas ws C>TE 8aTJTOV 
µEt yapov I nd.~oµEv Olympians VI 1-3. Callimachus appears to have 
developed the idea in the Aetia (fr 118 Pf): he describes two temples, one 
well-built and one not, in order to contrast the carefully and carelessly 
constructed poem. 76 Georgics III presents a metaphorical temple, a vision 
of the Roman, historical, panegyric epic to come.77 Statius' temple is both 
actual and metaphorical; like Virgil's, his temple is in his native land to 
which he metaphorically brings his artistic victory "back home", and their 
constructions are similarly associated with the foundation of games 
superior to any instituted previously.78 
Leaving behind the more straightforward images of architecture, both 
poets prophesy that gifts will be brought in sacrifice at the inauguration of 
the new building (Georgics III 21f, Silvae III 1 163f). Virgil the victor takes 
the untrodden path to fame, temptanda via est, qua me quoque possim I 
tollere humo victorque virum volitare per ora (Bf); Statius and Pollius are 
celebrating novosque / Pieridum [lores intactaque carmina discens (66f) 
when the storm of inspiration strikes. The Callimachean tenor of this 
figurative language is already familiar from chapter two.79 Georgics III 
7Ssee the concordance for several examples of sonare used by Statius to describe the sound of 
the lyre. Silvae III 1 comically imagines Hercules himself accompanying Calliope in 
singing the song of the temple, socius tibi grande sonabit / Alcides tensoque modos 
imitabitur arcu, 50f. Compare Thebaid VI 355ff in which Apollo serenely, soothingly sings 
the epic achievements of his brothers, while viewing a Nemea famed for Hercules' 
achievements and the four-horsed chariot. 
76Thomas (1983b) p96-9; Newlands (1991) p449. 
77Thomas (1983b) plOl; Newlands (1991) p449; see Boyle (1986) p47 for insistence that the 
e~ic envisaged in Georgics III is precisely not the Aeneid. 
7 Here the Victoria Berenices is the crucial model: Callimachus celebrates his royal 
patron Berenice, the 'bringer-back of victory'. In referring to the groves of Molorchus, Virgil 
thus celebrates the wealth of Greek literature available for redeployment in his Roman 
poem. See Thomas (1986) esp. p176; however, Statius' art of allusion deserves greater 
a~preciation than it has hitherto received. , 
7 Thomas (1983) p105 doubts Statius' debt to Georgics III: "in spite of the numerous points of 
contact between the passages of Virgil and Statius, there is no suggestion of any direct 
Virgilian influence on Silvae III l." Newlands (1991) p441 argues however that "In Silvae 
III 1 Statius uses the proem to Georgics III as a frame of reference through which he can justify his move in the opposite direction from Vergil." The adoption of one's poetic 
predecessor's manifesto in order to measure distance from that predecessor has been argued 
to be Virgil's tactic _in this very passage by Thomas (1988b). I want to modify the thesis of 
Newlands (1991) ~41 etc, that Statius is "reversing the path followed by Vergil by now 
experimenting with the short, Callimachean-style poem"; rather, III 1 shows how he 
moves creatively belween epic and shorter works. 
I 
111 
207 
ends witJ:t the nightmare of rampant, incurable plague: nature out of 
control, a potent symbol of "nullified, unrewarded labor";BO "whereas 
Vergil portrays the ultimate failure of human beings to control nature, 
Statius' Silvae III 1 is above all a celebration of human beings' triumph 
over a wayward or malignant nature through architecture or poetry. Just 
as Pollius - with the help of Hercules - ·tamed the woods on his estate and 
created a beautiful landscape and temple, so ... Statius brilliantly used self-
conscious, densely illusive literary artistry to tame and transform his 
silvae - the raw material of his poetry - into carefully crafted poems."81 
Given the association between architecture and song, and the very 
presence of Orpheus and Amphion (16f, 115f), one might read the poem as 
Statius' celebration of the inspirational powers of a subject like Hercules 
and the hospitality of a liberal host.82 The myth of Thebes offers a 
redemptive image of the union of musical and architectural craft in the 
figure of Amphion, whose song builds the city's walls by drawing down 
Cithaeron's rocks, like Orpheus himself.83 Statius wonders whether these 
two archetypal artists have been at work in Surrentum: Tyrione haec 
moenia plectra / an Getica venere lyra? (16f).84 The sad songs with which 
Orpheus is associated in the epic give way here to a celebration of 
achievement which recalls Amphion's role in the Antiope and in the 
proem to the Thebaid; the miserabile excidium of Nemea is set against 
what might be called a Flavian epinician of building. 
7.6 o velox pietas: Statius' two temples 
Silvae III 1 140ff points to the happy aetiology of the temple and 
games as the reason for rejoicing, in contrast to the morbid aetiologies of 
the Isthmian and Nemean games: nil his triste locis; cedat lacrimabilis 
Isthmos,BSJ cedat atrox Nemee: litat hie felicior infans. This deliberate 
contrast woulcl seem inevitably to refer the reader to Thebaid IV-VI. 
80Boyle (1986) p63 
81Newlands (1991) p452 , 
82for a description of the lifestyle of the studiosi at Naples see d'Arms (1970) p142ff. 
83Cf Propertius III 2 3-6, where their kinetic and creative powers are similarly described: 
Orphea delinisse /eras et concita dicunt / flumina Threicia sustinuisse lyra; I saxa 
Cithaeronis Thebas agitata per artem / sponte sua in muri membra coiisse ferunt. The 
horrors of Thebes and Orpheus' fate darken the image of artistic achievement. 
84Cf Thebaid I 9££: Amphion's story is one of the many Statius 'passes over'; chapter three 
shows how Thebes' musical birth is implicitly part of the epic narrative. 
85The rites for Me}icertes/Palaemon are also called nigra superstitio at Thebaid VI 11. See 
Brelich (1958) p94ff for the cults of "fanciulli uccisi" and funeral games; also Burkert (1983) 
p137, 208. " 
208 
Statius dq_es not describe the actual process of building the temple for 
Opheltes; the significant action of man upon nature is the felling of 
Nemea's woods. The language of heroic endeavour used in Silvae ill 1 to 
describe the construction of Hercules' temple also serves for the 
extinguishing of Opheltes' funeral fires, producing finally and bathetically 
a heap of ash, Thebaid VI 234-7:86 
finis erat, lassusque putres iam Mulciber ibat 
in cineres; instant flammis multoque soporant 
imbre rogum, posito donec cum sole labores 
exhausti; seris vix cessit cura tenebris. 
The temple may be connected with Hercules' shrine through the 
"amazing speed" with which both edifices appear:87 compare Silvae III 1 
12-9 and Thebaid VI 238-48: 
o velox pietas! steriles hie nuper harenas 
ad sparsum pelago montis latus hirtaque dumis 
saxa nee ulla pati faciles vestigia terras 
cernere erat. quaenam subito fortuna rigentes 
ditavit scopulos? Tyrione haec moenia plectra 
an Getica venere lyra? stupet ipse labores 
annus et angusti bis seno limite menses 
longaevum mirantur opus ... 
roscida iam novies caelo dimiserat astra 
Lucifer et totidem Lunae praevenerat ignes 
mutato noctumus equo, nee conscia fallit 
sidera et altemo deprenditur unus in ortu; 
mirum, opus adcelerasse manus: stat saxea moles, 
templum ingens cineri, ... 
The swiftness of the construction of Hercules' temple correlates with 
the swiftness with which Statius claims III 1 in particular and the Silvae in 
general came to be composed.88 Book I's preface describes a spontaneous, 
joyous outflow of poetry, qui mihi subito calore et quadam festinandi 
voluptate fluxeru,:zt. Their gratia celeritatis is their chief (if not only) claim 
to merit; nullum enim ex illis biduo longius tractum, quaedam et in 
singulis diebus effusa; quam timeo, ne verum istuc quoque ipsi de se 
probent /89 Book III's preface claims that these works too were subito natos. 
86Mulciber and labor appear also in Silvae III 1 123, 133. 
87Newlands (1991) p449 on Silvae III 1. 
88on Statius' composition in general see Gossage (1972) p207f; Newmyer (1979) p3ff; Bright (1980) p31-3; van Dam (1984) p3ff; Vessey (1986) p2761; Coleman (1988) xxvi. On 
~ublication see Hardie (1983) p65. 
9See Newmyer (19?9) p8; van Dam (1984) p4f and n43-4 disbelieves Statius' professions of 
anxiety. The poet "does not in earnest disparage his own work": this represents only 
conventional artistic"'modesty, bound up with his epic poet's awareness of the more trivial 
Ii 
209 
III 1 waJ written on the spot: nam primum limen eius Hercules 
Surrentinus aperit, quern in litore tuo consecratum, statim ut videram, 
his versibus adoravi. One of the meanings of silva, discussed in chapter 
one, is relevant here; among other qualities, it suggests speedy 
improvisation. 90 
Statius' testimony is frequently taken at face value: "The Silvae and 
the Thebaid ... stand at the opposite end of the spectrum. The epic was 
honed and perfected, the result of years of labour [labor?]; the Silvae were 
the product of celeritas, of subitus calor."91 Silvae I's preface does not draw 
attention to the twelve years devoted to his epic (cf Thebaid XII 811), but 
deliberate contrast is implicit. However, closer examination of Statius' 
references to his own oeuvre suggests that the opposition is deliberately 
constructed. The Silvae which are so speedily born are largely composed in 
hexameter, the metre of epic;92 the calor which characterises the 
composition of the Silvae also fires the epic, Pierius menti calor incidit, 
Thebaid I 3. It is the Thebaid which is bissenos multum vigilata per annos, 
Thebaid XII 811. 
In Silvae III 1, Statius positively celebrates speed, both of construction 
and of composition: nee mora (117) characterises both artisan and poet.93 
Speed of construction certainly did not mean shoddy workmanship in the 
case of Hercules' temple: the work rose so quickly because the god himself 
condescended to help. We may compare the poem which begins the 
Silvae. Pietas inspires the craftsmen who work on Domitian's equestrian 
statue, which also rises without delay, indeed with incredible speed, I 1 61-
3: 
nee longae traxere rnorae. iuvat ipsa labores 
forrna dei praesens operique intenta iuventus 
rniratur plus posse rnanus ... 
nature of these occasional verses. He describes Statius' manner of composition as "fluent" 
rather than speedy: for me the distinction is not sufficiently apparent. 
90see Newmyer (1979) p3-9; van Darn (1984) p4 envisages the resulting published 
collections as deluxe editions of the first drafts, sent to patrons and friends. Hardie (1983) 
p65, 182 argues that Statius "could not write manifesto poems to introduce a collection 
which had been written for individual delivery." van Dam's idea helps here; see also 
Newlands (1991) p450 n41: Pollius the neoteric poet (d III 1 660 would be delighted by such 
a gift. 
91vessey (1986) p2761 
92vessey (1986) p2762 
93on the 'speedy' qualities of the verse in III 1, see Newlands (1991) p450. Elsewhere too, 
speed seems to be a marvel and virtue in itself: IV 3 celebrates the end of mora for the 
traveller by the ne"w via Dornitiana; IV 7 asks for the speedy return from Dalrnatia of 
Vibius Maxirnus. '" 
210 
The colossal statue was finished in haste because of the craftsmen's 
affection for their imperial master: no accusation of poor quality could 
possibly be levelled against the artisans in this case. Indeed slow work, 
mora, would argue a deficiency in pietas. 
For the poet, the corresponding speed. in composition is motivated by 
an equal pietas which must reveal itself promptly in order to show itself 
genuine. Statius' poetic tribute to Domitian's statue is the work of a single 
day (preface, book I). III 1 is presented by the poet as a timely sacrificial 
offering, an appropriate response to happy circumstances.94 His delicate 
sense of decorum prompts concern for timeliness especially when writing 
for the bereaved, as the preface to book II shows, nee nunc earn apud te 
iacto, qui nosti, sed et ceteris indico, ne quis asperiore lima carmen 
examinet et a confuso scriptum et dolent datum, cum paene supervacua 
sint tarda solacia. 
The Argive army's preparations for Opheltes' funeral, particularly 
the cutting-down of the woods, are characterised by great speed. 
Descriptive terms used are instat, Thebaid VI 84, praecipitare (89), 
extemplo (90); the inverted simile of the destructive tempest has been 
discussed above. The temple is quite literally a nine-days'-wonder, 237ff, 
springing up in the other-worldly landscape of Nemea far faster even than 
the temple of Hercules at Surrentum: mirum, opus adcelerasse manus, 
242.95 Despite the deceptive neutrality and objectivity cultivated by the 
epic authorial voice, this passage offers comment on the nature of Statius' 
work in the Silvae and in this portion of the epic. 
This temple may be viewed 'straight' as a memorial built for the dead 
child at marvellous speed by (presumably) the Seven, to whom such tasks 
present an opportunity for heroic display, as in the killing of the snake and 
the funeral celebrations. Chapters two and five discussed the ways in 
which Statius presents the Seven as Hercules manques, seeking 
unsuccessfully to win the laudes Herculeae in the peculiarly Herculean 
environment of Nemea. Memorialising the dead is a primary act of 
pietas,96 one which pius Hercules himself performed 'by competing in the 
Olympic games, Thebaid VI 5-7. The rituals for Opheltes are celebrated 
most promptly, and no ingredient of a heroic funeral is missing; like 
94Newlands (1991) p4~1 · 
9Ssee1Sandbach (19651p34; Vessey (1973) p194 comments "such miracles happen only in 
Nemea ... ", but similarithings occur at Surrentum, cf artifices mirantur opus, Silvae III 1 135. 
96Cf Silvae III 3 1 '" 
/ 
211 
Aeneas in Aeneid V, a primary model for this episode, the Argives meet 
the demands of pietas in full.97 
There is however another element to the haste to memorialise the 
baby. Chapter one showed that for the troops en route for battle in Thebes, 
Nemea represents only diversion and delay, mora. The encounter in 
Nemea calls a halt to their epic plunder and ravage, iam Sidonias avertere 
praedas, / sternere, ferre domos ardent instantque IV 648f; as an error right 
in the middle of their journey, it disrupts their quest. The delay in Nemea 
angers Jupiter himself, VII lff: he determines the return to battle, just as 
Bacchus initiated the diversion. 
Once Hypsipyle leads the troops to water, they are eager (alacres, V 23) 
to be on their way once more; only the dense woods which impede re-
formation of the columns afford Hypsipyle the time to entertain the 
troops by telling her story (43-5). When Opheltes dies, Amphiaraus, with 
his partial knowledge of what is to come, interprets the event by re-
naming him Archemorus (739): the name commemorates his double 
significance for the Argives, 'beginning' and 'delay'. Amphiaraus wishes 
that more such delays might be found to stop the war: atque utinam plures 
innectere pergas, / Phoebe, moras, semperque novis bellare vetemur I 
casibus, et semper Thebe funesta recedas! V 743ff. The pacific vates "prays 
for lots of lovely Nemean poetry from Statius".98 Once out of the woods, 
delay is put behind, ferus omni in pectore saevit / mortis amor caedisque, 
nihil flagrantibus obstat: I praecipitant redimuntque moras, VII 137-9; the 
narrative likewise returns to the martial theme of Thebes.99 The building 
of the temple in nine days is of a piece with the warriors' onward drive to 
Thebes and battle. Once it is completed, the games which anticipate the 
coming war may begin; mora will end and normal service will be 
resumed. The dousing of the flames (finis erat, VI 234) and the 
construction of the temple in a sense terminate the story of the death of 
Opheltes/ Archemorus, except insofar as the event marks the first 
shedding of blood in the Theban war. 
7.7 rerumque effictus ordo docet casus 
97Sandbach (1965) p35 discusses the peculiarly Roman and contemporary nature of the funeral rites for Opheltes, including the temple, parade of ancestors and games. On the 
absurd extravagance of the spectacle, "there can be no doubt that is is deliberate, and it 
would hardly be rash to suppose that he was deliberately following Virgil's example, 
when he remembered it" Also Henderson (1991) n143. 
98Henderson (1991)p141 
99 All through the '~pisode wordplay on mora/mors/amor seems highly probable. See Ahl (1985) for examples"in Ovid. 
212 
The temple for Opheltes is huge, a saxea moles like the Domitian's 
equestrian statue, Silvae I 1 1. From Vespasian's reign onwards, Flavian 
imperial cult placed great emphasis on grandeur and size, and the concept 
that bigger is better is reflected in the aesthetics of the period.loo As a 
statement of imperial Flavian ideals and values the huge amphitheatre of 
Titus provides the clearest public demonstration of imperial control over 
nature and, by extension, over the populace.101 Crucial to the Emperor's 
personal authority is his 'weight', vix sola sufficiunt insessaque pondere 
tanto / subter anhelat humus; nee ferro aut aere, laborat I sub genio, 
teneat quamvis aeterna crepido / quae superingesti portaret culmina 
mantis / caeliferique attrita genu durasset Atlantis, I 56-60.102 The epic 
temple's size is appropriate to its larger-than-life builders, but out of all 
proportion to the being it commemorates. Indeed it becomes apparent that 
the temple is a monument to the Seven, which asserts their control over 
interpretation of events in Nemea. 
The construction imposes a formal closure on the episode, cf finis 
erat, 234. The temple friezes set forth the story of Hypsipyle, the serpent 
and the child. The narrative becomes quite literally set in stone, 242-8: 
mirum, opus adcelerasse manus: stat saxea moles, 
templum ingens cineri, rerumque effietus in illa 
ordo docet casus: fessis hie flumina monstrat 
Hypsipyle Danais, hie reptat flebilis infans, 
hie iacet, extremum tumuli circum asperat orbem 
squameus; exspectes morientis ab ore cruenta 
sibila, marmorea sic volvitur anguis in hasta. 
Chapter six discussed the retelling of Linus' story and its imposition via 
the tapestry, an opus admirabile, on the narrative of Opheltes' funeral. 
Now the Nemean story itself becomes an objet d'art to be wondered at. 
The tapestry is, as . the last chapter observed, an object of great beauty and 
horror, whose complex message invites and frustrates interpretation. In 
contrast, the temple reliefs (which are described in the same terms, mirum 
lOOsee Scott (1936) and Newmyer (1984): the figure of the Emperor himself was the key to 
the aesthetics of the period. 
101Newmyer (1984) pl-5 
1D2As Newmyer (1984) p5 notes, the locus classicus for the heavy emperor is.Lucan's Nero, 
Bellum Civile I 53-7. The Atlas image is redundant here: Nero sits astride the world and 
destroys cosmic equilibrium with a wobble. vix appears in Silvae I 1 and III 1 and in 
Thebaid VI: the earth. can scarcely bear the burden of the statue; scarcely has the second 
summer come arounp. before Pollius' temple is finished; the Argive allies can scarcely 
extinguish the pyre before nightfall. The impression given in each case is of limits barely 
met, chaos just beyoncf'reach. 
213 
opus) order, simplify and interpret the story of Opheltes, its didactic 
purpose quite explicitly stated, rerumque effietus in illa I ordo doeet 
easus.103 
The idea that works of art and specifically architecture can have a 
didactic aim is familiar from Virgil. The poetic temple of Georgics III is 
decorated with images of the power of Rome and Octavian. These 
ecphrases celebrate empire and victory "in imagistic, grandiloquent, 
honorific language";104 the poem itself expresses a confidence in the 
power of song itself to commemorate and instruct. Caesar's name will be 
famous throughout the ages as the poet tells others of his achievements, 
Georgics III 46f. The confidence of the Georgics' vision contrasts with the 
images of futility and impotence figured on the temples in the Aeneid (ie 
Juno's temple in book I, the doors of Daedalus in VI): these are pieturae 
inanes. Aeneas nourishes his grief on these images: animum pietura 
paseit inani, I 464. The phrase speaks the failure of art in the Aeneid to 
compensate for suffering and to teach positive values, in keeping with the 
poem's world-view: "Scene after scene of the Aeneid is carefully 
structured to ensure that the emphasis falls unequivocally upon 
individual tragedy and that the inadequacy of the compensation which 
fame offers to the individual is clearly revealed."105 
These thoughts are pertinent to the interpretation of the temple 
scenes in Thebaid VI. Pollius' temple, comically and in keeping with 
Flavian concepts of magnificence, imitates and transcends the 
Callimachean model of hospitality in welcoming a beneficent hero into a 
suitable home. However, the huge epic temple for the tiny baby is empty, a 
templum ingens cineri VI 243. The reliefs freeze-frame the two crucial 
moments in his existence.106 His life and the events of his death, brief 
enough in actuality, are reduced to six pathetic words, hie reptat flebilis 
infans, / hie iaeet. More spectacular moments are provided by the 
103van Dam (1984) discusses the symbolic significance of Roman construction in the rhetoric of domination: "the most utilitarian constructions are considered as the expression of Roman imperial concepts,... Roman architecture wants to dominate.. . Roman buildings are 
'diaphanous', and point to something beyond their mere appearance" p191. 104Boyle (1986) p43: see eh 3 in general. 
105Boyle (1986) p113; he modifies the nihilistic argument of Johnson (1976) p105, that 
animum pictura pascit inani "reveals not only the confusions of Aeneas but also the confusions and, indeed, the essential fraudulence of art and of the realities that art mirrors ... In part Vergil reminds us that art is an illusion, that his poem is illusion, but, since this scene ... is concerned with art that imitates history, we are also being reminded that history, the thing imp.:ated, is as illusory as the art that imitates it: image of an image." 
106Vessey (1986) p2761 defines the Silvae as transience made permanent. 
~-- ------ ---------------
214 
monster . .• The relief preserves an image of the beast as ugly, malevolent 
and threatening, a pest deservedly removed: even in marble, the threat is 
still present to terrify, extremum tumuli circum asperat orbem / 
squameus; exspectes morientis ab ore cruenta / sibila, marmorea sic 
volvitur anguis in hasta, 246f.107 Instead of Opheltes' fate, the effictus ordo 
stresses the monster-slaying heroics of ·the Seven. It begins and ends with 
the Argives: Hypsipyle shows them water, and the serpent writhes on 
Capaneus' spear. Thus the temple reliefs teach the interpretation of the 
events in Nemea from the perspective of the Argive army, ordering them 
into a story of revenge justly taken. It is ironic that while Pollius' seaside 
temple and Statius' impromptu poem can accommodate the mighty 
Hercules, the epic temple barely finds room for a baby's story.108 
7.~ hie litat felicior infans: the celebration of games 
The final point of comparison between Silvae III 1 and Thebaid IV-VI 
which I consider here is the celebration of games. Reference to the 
foundation of the Nemean games in the epic is made as early as IV 727ff, 
before the child's appearance. At the point of his death, Statius 
apostrophises the child, an. ut inde sacer per saecula Grais / gentibus et 
tanto dignus morerere sepulcro? V 535f. Indeed, the games for Opheltes 
are heroic aetiology in the making; this is clearly signposted in the 
opening lines of VI, Graium ex more decus ... (Sff), where the Nemean 
games complete the Panhellenic circuit)09 
In the best Hellenic tradition, Pollius' temple will be inaugurated 
with bloodless sacrifice (that is, Statius' poemllO) and athletic contests in 
honour of Hercules, hie tibi festa / gymnas, et insontes iuvenum sine 
1071t is an indication of the moral complexity of this episode that the terrifying monster is 
itself mourned by the Arcadian inhabitants of the wood, ilium et cognatae stagna 
indignantia Lernae, I floribus et vernis adsuetae spargere nymphae, / et Nemees reptatus 
ager, lucosque per omnis I silvicolae fracta gemuistis harundine, Fauni, V 579-82. On the 
pastoral qualities of these lines see Taisne (1972) p358; the monster is at once assimilated to 
Virgil's Daphnis, whose death spelt the end of pastoral song (cf fracta harundine) and to 
O&heltes, hie reptat flebilis infans. · 
1 For epic as the all-inclusive, totalising genre which seeks to incorporate and dominate 
all other genres, see Fowler (1982) eh 12 and Conte (1986) passim esp eh 5, "Genre and its 
Boundaries". 
l09Cf VI 122-5, Pelopem monstrasse ferebant / exsequiale sacrum carmenque minoribus 
umbris I utile, q~o geminis Niobe consumpta pharetris / squalida bissenas Sipylon 
deduxerat urnas. ' 
noon Statius perdmd fils · participation in festivals see Hardie (1983) p6f, 46ff, 58f, 62f. 
215 
caestibus .irae / annua veloci peragunt certamina lustro, 43-5, cf 139f, 151ff, 
in which the god himself is invited to participate, 154f. 
Statius calls attention to the difference between his Surrentine and 
Nemean temples: nil his triste locis; cedat lacrimabilis Isthmos, / cedat 
atrox Nemee: litat hie felicior infans, 142f. The thought is perhaps more 
obscure than it first seems: who is the fortunate child, and who are those 
less fortunate? litare denotes sacrifice which obtains favourable omens: a 
good candidate then for the felicior infans is the grandson of Julius 
Menecrates Pollius' son-in-law and recipient of Silvae IV 8, who has been 
installed, apparently in early childhood, as priest of Hercules. This child is 
likened to the hero himself at the age when he performed his first, now 
very familiar feat of strength against the snakes sent by Hera, 46-8: 
hie templis inscriptus avo gaudente sacerdos 
parvus adhuc similisque tui, cum prima novercae 
monstra manu premeres atque exanimata doleres. 
This comparison associates the little priest with the baby Hercules. As the 
celebrant at the auspicious festival at Surrentum, held in honour of the 
hero-god whose triumphs began as a child, young Julius will be more 
blessed than Opheltes who died in atrox Nemea, or indeed than 
Palaemon/Melicertes whose death caused the initiation of the Isthmian 
games.111 Several children then are involved: Hercules is a positive 
model, Opheltes and Palaemon negative ones for little Julh.is to follow 
after. This strengthens my hypothesis set out in chapter five that Statius' 
narrative of Opheltes deliberately invokes suggestions of the story of baby 
Hercules and the serpents (as in N emeans I), setting Opheltes' tragedy 
against Hercules' ludic performance. 
The epithet felix is significant in this context, as the brief phrase asks 
in part what it is to be felix, which is a question central to this poem and to 
II 2. The prima:ry meaning conveys the idea of bearing fruit;112 Statius' 
story of Opheltes emphasises sterility, the arrest in maturity, the 
termination of a family line and a story line at once, cf sed cassa tamen 
sterilisque dolentes / fama iuvat, VI 70f. The transferred meaning of felix, 
'propitious, auspicious, of good omen', is the very opposite of what 
Opheltes eventually signifies for the Argive army and Nemea: 'heu nostri 
111 Palaemon make~ an early entry into the Thebaid: see I 12-4, where, as so often in the 
epic, the emphasis .i.s on the suffering of mothers with and for their children. Compare the Dionysiac narrativJ of Palaemon in Metamorphoses N 412ff. 
112See the OLD, jelicitas, felix . 
Ii 
216 
signatus n_omine fati, / Archemorus', V 738-9. The secondary, common 
meaning of felix is 'lucky, fortunate, happy'. Statius plays on the name of 
his host and patron, Pollius Felix, to ask in this poem and II 2 (on Pollius' 
Surrentine villa itself) what true felicitas is.113 Pollius is associated with 
comfort, liberality, divine favour and domestic happiness; he enjoys this 
Epicurean dTapaeca by the sea, where even the waves are quiet. His 
freedom from care is largely assured by immense wealth, which he uses in 
hospitality and patronage of the arts: felicitas ideally manifests itself in 
altruism. 
Amphiaraus, in the same speech which interprets the child's death as 
an omen of doom for the Argive cause, offers an optimistic interpretation 
of the child's personal destiny, Thebaid V 746-53:114 
'at vos magnorum transgressi fata parentum 
felices, longurn quibus hinc per saecula nomen, 
dum Lernaea palus et dum pater Inachus ibit, 
dum Nemea tremulas carnp~s iaculabitur umbras, 
ne fletu violate sacrum, ne plangite divos: 
nam deus iste, deus, Pyliae nee fata senectae 
maluerit, Phrygiis aut degere longius annis.' 
finierat, caeloque cavam nox induit umbram. 
Silvae III 1, by contrast, seems to demand a negative reading of Opheltes' 
death in atrox Nemea and gives the games founded there morbid, gloomy 
associations.115 The felicior model for the institution of games is to be 
found in Silvae III 1 in the triumphs of Hercules (here predominantly a 
figure of culture) over the extremes of nature (serpents, the lion etc), the 
v~ry hero who is conspicuously absent from the Thebaid. This model is 
invoked at VI 368-70 in connection with four-horse chariot-racing. Epic 
Apollo's vision of Nemea commemorates not Opheltes, but Hercules and 
the Lion: haud procul Herculeam Nemeen clamore reductus I aspicit 
atque illic ingens certaminis instar / quadriiugi. 
The games; -like the temple, memorialise the Jama of the Seven and 
anticipate the bloodshed to come, VI 1-4:116 
113See II 2 23, 107, 122; Pollius is especially blessed in his wife, who allows no infelix area 
to hoard their wealth away from use, 151. 
114Toe darkening of the sky (753) following Arnphiaraus' optimistic words is indicative of 
his prophetic failure. . 
1 lScf Callimachus' preoccupation with the more bizarre and grim details of the great 
fames' origins, hinted at in the Victoria Beren ices: see frs 91, 98, 667 Pf. 
16Lack of space pr_events full consideration of the games of book VI. On funeral games 
generally see Roh4.~ (1894) p141f; Farnell (1921) p35ff; Gardiner (1930); Meuli (1941); 
Roller (1981) and (1987). Primary sources for the origins of games include Pausanias II 1 3, V 
17 5ff (Cypselus' chest), X 7 2ff; Hyginus 273; hypotheses to Pindar's Odes; see also 
nuntia multivago Danaas perlabitur urbes 
Fama gradu, sancire novo sollemnia busto 
Inachidas ludumque super, quo Martia bellis 
praesudare paret seseque accendere virtus. 
217 
They afford an opportunity for both heroic and poetic display: the sight of 
the eximii regum (15) and · the .sound of their ingentia nomina (16f) 
gathering for combat prompt an extended comparison to the epic 
endeavour of a great voyage, 19-24:117 
ceu primum ausurae trans alta ignota biremes, 
seu Tyrrhenam hiemem, seu stagna Aegaea lacessant, 
tranquillo prius arma lacu clavumque levesque 
explorant remos atque ipsa pericula discunt; 
at cum experta cohors, tune pontum inrumpere fretae 
longius ereptasque oculis non quaerere terras. 
The prospect of battle is never far distant even in Nemea.118 The cavalry 
exercises of the seven squadrons around Opheltes' pyre form an essential 
part of the ritual, VI 213-9. These recall the Argonauts' circuits around the 
pyre of Cyzicus, whom they killed by accident, Apollonius Argonautica I 
1053ff. The model suggests an acknowledgment of responsibility by the 
Argives for Opheltes' death. His funeral games are propaedeutic, quite 
simply a dress rehearsal for the approaching war, a showcase of virtus 
giving a bizarre pleasure to the spectator, 249-64:119 
iamque avidum pugnas visendi vulgus inermes 
famam vocat; cunctis arvis ac moenibus adsunt 
Apollodorus III 6 4ff on the Nemean games. On the connection between bloodsports and 
expiation of the dead, see Meuli (1941), Burkert (1985) eh 6 and Poliakoff (1987) esp. 
appendix; on games as initiatory ritual see Nagy (1986). The ludic impulse generally is 
discussed by Huizinga (1955) and deforest Lord (1977). Scanlon (1984) provides full 
bibliography on specific literary representations of games up to the early 1980s. For 
Thebaid VI see Willis (1941) p407f; Kytzler (1968); von Stosch (1968) (which I have not 
seen); Vessey (1970e) and (1973) p209ff; Juhnke (1972) p108-13, 229-67. The famous Arion 
features prominently in Antimachus; see Wyss (1936). 117Much could be said about this simile: the image of the voyage covertly acknowledges 
the naval race which features in Aeneid V but which cannot be worked into Statius' land-
locked epic; it also describes the ever-increasing hubris of the Seven by alluding to Roman 
literature's conventional figure for reckless daring; thirdly, it recalls the voyage of the 
Argonauts and its consequences in book V. The voyage is a recurring symbol in the Thebaid 
which deserves a separate study. 
ll81t is not difficult to see why the disputed lines 227-33, which describe the beginning of 
battle, found their way into ~he text at this point. 
119Vessey (1973) p229; Put.9am (1965) eh 5 interprets Virgil's games as a lesson in the 
necessity of sacrifice and su'ffering; the games permit a non-lethal sacrifice but anticipate 
the sacrifices of books VII-XII. 
exciti; illi ~tiam, quis belli incognitus horror, 
quos effeta domi, quos prima reliquerat aetas, 
conveniunt: ... 
... illic conferti iam sole rubentibus arvis, 
bellatrix sedere cohors; ibi corpore mixto 
metiri numerum vultusque habitusque suorum 
duke viris, tantique iuvat fiducia belli. 
218 
The occasion prompts a magnanimum series antiqua parentum (268ff),120 
prominently featuring Hercules as the killer of the lion, prim us 
anhelantem duro Tirynthius angens / pectoris attritu sua frangit in ossa 
leonem, 270f; the species horrenda Coroebi also reappears, 286.121 The 
procession is in keeping with the massive dimensions of the episode; 
ingens is its most characteristic epithet. 
Little separates athletic contest and martial combat. Participation in 
the boxing match is encouraged because it comes closest to actual battle, 
nunc opus est animis: infestos tollite caestus I comminus; haec bellis et 
ferro proxima virtus, VI 729f; the footrace is an agile studium et 
tenuissima virtus, / pacis opus, cum sacra vocant, nee inutile bellis / 
subsidium, si dextra neget, 551-3. Adrastus forbids swordfight, because war 
has not yet begun, manet ingens copia leti, / o iuvenes! servate animos 
avidumque furorem / sanguinis adversi 914-6: should Polynices die now, 
his brother's prayers will have been answered already. The confusion of 
battle and sport begins in book I, where Polynices' fight with Tydeus is 
compared to a boxing match at the Olympian games, 421-7; instead of 
raising the lament, mothers eagerly await news of victory, 424.122 
This is, after all, the final role of Hypsipyle, whose sons win glory in 
the chariot-race, 340ff.123 The mysterious, maenadic narrator of book V 
becomes a spectator of male endeavour as Euripidean romance returns her 
sons.124 "The endless chain of substitution is broken by the restoration of 
the original term in the series, and with this Hypsipyle steps out of the 
epic, 'happy ever after'."125 Bacchus, as it were, concedes Nemea to the 
laudes Herculeae; the lady vanishes. 
The last of several closural moments occurs briefly in book VII, when 
Adrastus addresses Archemorus' ashes, 90-104: 
120This too offers a heroic challenge to the series of bereaved Theban mothers, III 74; the 
word has been shown to be significant in Ovid's and Statius' Theban narratives. 
121See Vessey (1973) p21 l. 
122Bonds (1985) discusses _the symbolism of this fight within the epic's structure. 
123See Vessey (1973) p21ifor this ideal pair, the antitypes of Polynices and Eteocles. 
124Henderson (1991) p54 · 
125Hardie (1993b) p65 . .., 
finierat pugnas honor exsequialis inermes, 
necdum aberant coetus, cunctisque silentibus heros 
vina solo fundens cinerem placabat Adrastus 
Archemori: 'da, parve, tuum trieteride multa 
instaurare diem, nee saucius Arcadas aras 
malit adire Pelops Eleaque pulset eburna 
templa manu, nee Castaliis altaribus anguis, 
nee sua pinigero magis adnatet umbra Lechaeo. 
nos te lugenti, puer, infitiamur Averno, 
maestaque perpetuis sollemnia iungimus astris, 
nunc festina cohors. at si Boeotia ferro 
vertere tecta dabis, magnis tune dignior aris, 
tune deus, Inachias nee tantum culta per urbes 
numina, captivis etiam iurabere Thebis.' 
dux ea pro cunctis, eadem sibi quisque vovebat. 
219 
Similar promises were made to Hypsipyle in return for her service to the 
army, IV 765ff. Adrastus hopes that the Nemean games will surpass in 
glory all the other great games of Greece. We may compare Silvae ill 1 140-
3: the Herculean games at Surrentum surpass all other festivals in the joy 
they occasion, if not in their size. The rhetoric of magnificence continues: 
even greater celebrations are anticipated in return for success in war, when 
Archemorus will be worshipped in Thebes also. We may compare the 
equally ironic vision of the future offered to Argia by Polynices, fors aderit 
lux ilia tibi, qua moenia cernes / coniugis et geminas ibis regina per urbes, 
II 361f. Their hope for success in the war to which they now hasten, a 
festina cohors (100), will never be fulfilled. Indeed, the Seven barely 
receive due burial themselves, and the painful 'glory' of the epic's final 
episode is displaced onto the bereaved. 
The temple friezes which magnify the Seven's heroic achievement 
contain an ominous, Theban message which, characteristically, they fail to 
interpret. Chapter three shows how the flebilis infans of Arcadian Nemea 
who signifies for them the Beginner of Doom becomes the archetype of all 
the victims of the Tneban war; the epic ends with the triple lament 
Arcada... Arcada... Arcada ... for the youngest and most beautiful of the 
Seven, the Arcadian boy Parthenopaeus the Maiden-face9-, XII 805ff.126 In 
chapter five we see how the snake which kills baby Opheltes is a type of 
"the snakes that make Thebes 'Thebes' "_127 The image of the snake 
writhing on the spear (VI 248) completes Statius' aetiological circuit, his 
126See Ahl (1986) p2905 on the identification of Parthenopaeus and Opheltes and the 
pathos of their deaths. The name recalls also Statius' native Parthenope, Naples herself, 
who looks on benignly ati"the celebrations of Silvae III 1 151f (and who in V 3 laments 
Statius' father, 104ff). '" 
127Henderson (1991) n149 
220 
longa retro series (I 7), by invoking Cadmus' fatal founding act and all the 
fraternas acies to which it led and will lead again. 
221 
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ADDENDA 
To Select Bibliography add: 
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Harrison, RP. (1992) ... Forests: the Shadow of Civilization, Univ. Chicago 
Press 
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