With the exception of a poem on the unscripted death of a lion in the Colosseum, Book II of Statius' Silvae is largely domestic in theme. It reflects the more private side of Roman culture, its pleasures, houses, gardens, friendships, and personal losses; it concludes with a provocative tribute to the poet Lucan. Despite its variety, the book is carefully constructed as a unit, and this edition, which is suitable for use with advanced students, puts the book into its context in the history of Greek and Roman poetry. The commentary takes into account the important work done on the text of the Silvae in the past two decades as well as the new perspectives brought to bear on Flavian culture by historians and archaeologists. It explores Statius' use of the short poem as a playful engagement with literary tradition that also reflects changing ideas of Roman cultural identity.

Includes Latin text of Silvae book II.

Publisher description

The five books of the Silvae bring together the occasional verses which Statius wrote in addition to his two epics. In these short descriptive poems Statius elaborates features taken from various genres into an original whole, in which description and eulogy play important roles. The main themes of the poems of his second book are consolation after bereavement and the contrast between nature and culture. The present work contains a general introduction, a text of Silvae II, a bibliography, and an index, together with a verse-by-verse commentary on the poems of this second book. This is the first commentary on a book of the Silvae since Vollmer's commentary on the whole of the Silvae of 1898. Emphasis is here placed on interpretation and moreover chiefly on the literary and stylistic aspects of the poems, which, compared with the epic poetry of Statius and his contemporaries, have hitherto received relatively little attention.

Statius' Silvae, written late in the reign of Domitian (AD 81–96), are a new kind of poetry that confronts the challenge of imperial majesty or private wealth by new poetic strategies and forms. As poems of praise, they delight in poetic excess whether they honour the emperor or the poet's friends. Yet extravagant speech is also capacious speech. It functions as a strategy for conveying the wealth and grandeur of villas, statues and precious works of art as well as the complex emotions aroused by the material and political culture of empire. The Silvae are the product of a divided, self-fashioning voice. Statius was born in Naples of non-aristocratic parents. His position as outsider to the culture he celebrates gives him a unique perspective on it. The Silvae are poems of anxiety as well as praise, expressive of the tensions within the later period of Domitian's reign.

Although writing in Latin, Statius (first-century AD) was, by origin and training, a Greek poet, and his collection of "occasional" poems, the Silvae, are a Roman extension of contemporary trends in Greek display poetry. No reading of the Silvae can be accurate without an understanding of this Graeco-Roman poetic milieu. This book therefore begins with a reconstruction of the professional background to the Silvae - the festival circuit, the conditions of work for writers, their opportunities for advancement in the Greek and Roman worlds - both in the Hellenistic period and in the first century A.D. In this setting, display oratory and poetry are shown to have developed in parallel and to have had a profound mutual influence. Further chapters consider Statius' performances as a Neapolitan poet at Rome, his portrayal of his own society and his friends, and his attitudes to his Latin predecessors. Literary patronage, both imperial and private, is a vital element in Statius' poetic career, and Hardie goes on to investigate the identity and social standing of the addressees of the Silvae . He also considers the career of the contemporary epigrammatist Martial in comparison to that of Statius. Many essential features of Flavian taste emerge from these studies. Large-scale interpretations of individual poems are offered throughout this volume, making many new suggestions about both points of detail and the overall significance of the major poems in the Silvae . Statius and the Silvae is an important contribution to the debate on the relationship between poetry and rhetoric, and to the understanding of how society and literature interconnected in the Flavian age.

A study of the phenomenon of literary patronage, both non-imperial and imperial, during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D.). This work centres on the Epigrams of Martial and the Silvae of Statius. The book deals not only with the relationships between poets and patrons, but also with the audiences and the functions of patron-oriented poetry. It includes discussions of such topics as "patronage" versus "friendship", the poetic "I", the role of poetry at symposia and festivals, dedication and publication, the influence of rhetoric on poetry, and the poetic representation of imperial power. The book should prove of interest not only to specialists in Roman poetry, but also to ancient historians and to students of literary patronage in other cultures. All Latin and Greek is translated.

The Roman poet P. Papinius Statius (ca. 45-96) is the author of two epics (the "Thebaid" and the unfinished "Achilleid") and a large corpus of occasional verse ("Silvae"). This poetry, long seen as derivative or decadent, is increasingly appreciated for the daring and originality of its responses both to the Greek and Latin literary tradition and to the contemporary Roman world. This volume offers the papers delivered at a symposium on Statius (Amsterdam 2005) by leading scholars in the field from Europe and North America. These papers demonstrate the fascination of Statius' poetry on account of the poet's vast knowledge of Greek and Latin tragedy, his rapid narrative, psychological acumen, brilliant eulogies, and pessimistic views on gods and men. The focus of the collection is on literary technique in the "Thebaid," on socio-historical aspects of the "Silvae," and on the reception of Statius in European literature and scholarship.