The Influence of Art on Description 
 in the Poetry 
 
 OF 
 
 P. Papinius Statius 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS SHEARER DUNCAN 
 
 DISSERTATION 
 
 SUBMITTED TO THE BOARD OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES OF 
 
 THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY IN CONFORMITY 
 
 WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE 
 
 OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 
 
 1913 
 
 BALTIMORE 
 
 J. H. FURST COMPANY 
 1914 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION - 5 
 
 CHAPTER I. General Examples from the Thebaid - 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. Some Passages cited by Legras - 74 
 
 CHAPTER III. Statius' Similes - - 81 
 
 CHAPTER IV. Examples from the Achilleid - - 89 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY - - 101 
 
 VITA 104 
 
INTKODUCTION 
 
 Much has been written on the relation of poetry to the plastic 
 arts. The text of the discussion has been stated usually in 
 the form in which it appears in the opening sentence of Lea- 
 sing' s Laocoon: ' Painting is poetry in silence, poetry is 
 painting in speech ' (Phillimore's translation). The various 
 critics have been concerned with showing the limitations of the 
 comparison, with emphasising the fact, in one way or another, 
 that the two arts have different spheres, and the canons of the 
 one cannot be strictly applied to the other. 
 
 The text goes back to Simonides of Ceos. So we are told in- 
 cidentally by Plutarch (Quaest. Conviv. 9, 15, 2 f . 748 A.): ical 
 0X009 e<?7 peraOtja-ew TO St/u-aWSetou cnrb Trjs %a)ypa<f>ia<; ITTI rrjv 
 TTOirjcnv yap elvai rrjv opfflcnv <rio)7ra)o-av, /cal (frOeyyo- 
 fflcriv 7rd\iv rrjv Trofya-iv. (Cf. Plut. de aud. poet. 17f., 
 and see also the introduction to the Laocoon, p. xvii). The 
 definition passed over into Hellenistic discussion on poetry and 
 was repeated often. Note, for example, the reference in the 
 Auct. ad Herenn. 4, 28, 39, where it is cited as a familiar 
 definition, being used by the orator as an example of the figure 
 ' commutatio ' ; ' item, poema loquens pictura, pictura taciturn 
 poema debet esse ' ; and Cicero, Tusc., 5, 114 ; ' Traditum est 
 etiam Homerum caecum fuisse: at eius picturam, non poesin 
 videmus': with Horace's well-known phrase (A. P. 361), 'ut 
 pictura poesis. (See Christ, GriechiscJie LiteraturgescJiichte, 
 i f p. 219.) A full treatment of the discussions on the subject- 
 is given by W. G. Howard, i Publications of the Modern Lan- 
 guage Association of America,' vol. 24 (1909), pp. 40-123. 
 
 Homer had inspired the sculptors. The story was told that 
 when Phidias was asked by his collaborator Panaenus in what 
 type he would embody his conception of Zeus, he quoted the 
 famous lines from Homer: 
 
 5 
 
The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 77 teal Kvaverj(nv 7r' bfypvai vevtre 
 afjifipdcricu &apa %alrai, eireppcbo-avro 
 
 afiavdroio, fJLeyav 8'e'XeXilez/ 
 
 Macrobius (Saturn. 5, 14) gives his version of the story : ' Phi- 
 dias, cum lovem Olympium fingeret, interrogatus de quo ex- 
 emplo divinam imitaretur effigiem, respondit archetypum lovis 
 in his se tribus Homeri versibus invenisse: nam de superciliis 
 et crinibus totum se lovis vultum collegisse.' (Cf. Val. Max., 
 3, 7. Strab., 8, 354). This relation of sculpture to poetry 
 is expressed thus by Spence (Polymetis, p. 3) : i When you look 
 on the old pictures or sculptures you look on the works of men 
 who thought much in the same train with the old poets ' : and 
 again (p. 45), i the stories told in marbles may sometimes help 
 one to find out the meaning of a passage in the ancient poets: 
 and the poetical stories may sometimes explain the old marbles.' 
 
 And not only was the parallel between poetry and sculpture 
 drawn early, but a kinship between the various arts was 
 affirmed. This is expressed by Cicero in the opening section 
 of the Pro Archia and taken by Spence as one of the mottoes 
 for his Polymetis: i omnes artes, quae ad humanitatem perti- 
 nent, habent quoddam commune vinculum, et quasi cognatione 
 quadam inter se continentur. 7 Again, Dry den, in his notes on 
 the De arte graphica of Du Fresnoy, apropos of this relation 
 says ; ' Painting and Poesy are two sisters which are so like 
 in all things that they mutually lend to each other both their 
 name and their office: one is called dumb poesy, and the other 
 a speaking picture ? : and he cites Tertullian (de Idolatria, 8 f . 
 110), translating as follows, i There is no art which is not 
 either the father (sic) or the near relation of another ? (nulla 
 ars non alterius artis aut mater aut propinqua est). The pas- 
 sage in Tertullian appears in a discussion of the idea that the 
 general principles of one art underlie another, that one art 
 engenders another. 
 
 But Lessing raises a protest against assuming too close a 
 connection between poetry and the plastic arts. He warns us 
 (Laocoon, pp. 85, 86) against the assumption that poets bor- 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 1 
 
 row every description from works of art. On this score he 
 finds great fault with Spence for proceeding on the hypothe- 
 sis that the poet imitated the painter in every case. i I lament/ 
 says he, ' that so useful a book as the Poly metis otherwise 
 would have been, should, through the tasteless whim of sub- 
 stituting for the natural fancy of the old poets one derived 
 from another art, have become so repulsive and so much more 
 injurious to classical authors than the watery commentaries of 
 the most insipid etymologist could ever have been.' Les- 
 sing's study, of course, was proceeding on the assumption that 
 the Laocoon was the work of a sculptor later than Vergil, and 
 that the poet was the source of inspiration for the artist : hence 
 his rather harsh criticism. In the light of subsequent dis- 
 covery his criticism does not seem to rest on so sure a founda- 
 tion. However, he continues (p. 94), ( Of the mutual resem- 
 blance which subsists between poetry and painting, Spence 
 has the most extraordinary notions. He thinks that both arts 
 in the opinion of the ancients were so closely bound together 
 that they went hand in hand, and the poet .never lost sight 
 of the painter nor the painter of the poet. 7 The truer theory, 
 in his judgment, was that poet and sculptor and painter drew 
 their themes from a common source, and presented them dif- 
 ferently, each according to the limitations of his art, and ac- 
 cording to the mind with which he saw the material. ' The 
 gods and spiritual beings/ he says, ' as represented by the 
 artist, are not entirely the same as those which the poet makes 
 use of. To the artist they are personified abstracta which 
 must always maintain the same characteristics if they are to be 
 recognized. To the poet, on the other hand, they are real 
 acting creatures which, in addition to their general character, 
 have other qualities and affections which, as circumstances 
 afford the opportunity, predominate.' The difference is ex- 
 pressed admirably by Boissier (Promenades Archeologiques: 
 'Pompei et Rome/ p. 353), ( Quand Horace dit que la poesie 
 est comme la peinture il n'entend pas exprimer une verite 
 absolue et qui ne souffre pas d'exception. II savait bien, ce fin 
 
8 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 critique, que, si leur but est semblable, elles suivent des routes 
 differentes pour y arriver. La peinture, qui travaille directe- 
 ment pour les yeux, est bien forcee de donner aux personnagea 
 de belles attitudes. Elle ne pent rien presenter an regard qui 
 le choque, car 1'image ne s'effac,ant pas, 1'impression durerait 
 et deviendrait plus facheuse par sa duree meme. Le poete au 
 contraire, qui s'addresse a P imagination et peint d'un trait, peut 
 se permettre des fantaisies qu'on ne pardonnerait pas au 
 peintre.' 
 
 If, however, the kinship between poetry and the plastic arts 
 was recognized early, the assertion of the difference between 
 them is also of early date. Lessing might have gone back to 
 Pindar for a text for his protest against the confusion of the 
 two. Pindar opens the fifth Nemean by asserting that he is no 
 sculptor, that the product and method of his art is far different : 
 and Mezger (after Schelling; see Mezger, Pindars Sieges- 
 lieder, p. 335) remarks on the appropriateness of the refer- 
 ence to statuary, inasmuch, as at the time when the ode was 
 written, sculpture flourished in Aegina. 1 
 
 The poet and the artist, then, must not be judged by the 
 same standard. The excellence of a poet is not to be judged 
 by his ability to draw pictures, or afford material for a pic- 
 ture. On this score, Lessing runs counter to Count Caylus 
 who makes this, as it were, the touch-stone of the poet : ' cette 
 reflexion m'avait conduit a penser que le calcul des differens 
 tableaux, qu'offrent les poemes, pouvait servir a comparer le 
 merite respectif des poemes et des poetes. Le nombre et le 
 genre des tableaux que presentent ces grands ouvrages aurai- 
 ent ete une espece de pierre de touche du merite de ces poemes 
 et du genie de leurs auteurs.' Much harm is done, in his 
 judgment, by the failure to observe the difference between the 
 function of poetry and that of plastic art. To this failure he 
 attributes the mania, in poetry, for descriptive painting, and 
 in painting, for allegory. 
 
 And this mania for descriptive painting in poetry was char- 
 
 1 This note was suggested by Professor Gildersleeve. See Find. N. 5, 1-3. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 9 
 
 acteristic of the Alexandrian age. In respect of this ' pic- 
 torial ' tendency in poetry, Lang (Introduction to the Transla- 
 tion of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus, p. 31 ff.) draws a com- 
 parison between the epic fragments of Theocritus and the 
 poems of Homer. This leads him to the observation that the 
 art of the Alexandrian age was elaborately pictorial. ( Poetry/ 
 he says, ' seems to have sought inspiration from painting, while 
 painting inclined to genre, to luxurious representations of the 
 amours of the gods or the adventures of heroes, with back- 
 grounds of natural landscape.' Standards of taste had changed. 
 The sculptors of the * severer ' style had been inspired by 
 Homer. The author cited continues : ' When a new order of 
 subject became fashionable, and when every rich Alexandrian 
 had pictures or frescoes on his walls, it appears that the painters 
 took the lead, that the initiative in art was theirs/ Evidence 
 of this is found in the fact that so many Pompeian wall- 
 paintings treat the subjects that are handled by the Koman 
 poets who presumably borrowed from the Alexandrians. 
 
 Yet in the treatment of a given subject it is difficult to say 
 which was the imitator, the painter or the poet. Boissier 
 (op. cit., p. 345), discusses the problem, relative to the Pom- 
 peian wall-paintings : ' Les tins et les autres (poet and painter) 
 aiment a exprimer les memes sentiments; ils cherchent les 
 memes qualites et n'evitent pas les memes defauts. Faut-il 
 en conclure que les peintres se sont inspires des poetes et 
 qu'ils ont pris dans leurs ouvrages le sujet de leurs tableaux? 
 . . . . il est aise de demontrer qu'ils sont demeures presque 
 entierement etrangers a la litter atiire de Rome. Doit-on 
 croire au contraire que ce sont les poetes qui ont imites lea 
 peintres ? Cette supposition ne serait pas beaucoup plus vrai- 
 semblable, et dans tous les cas il est inutile . . . s'ils se res- 
 semblent, c'est qu'ils puissaient a la meme source: peintres et 
 poetes travaillent sur les memes modeles, ils etaient les eleves 
 des maitres d'Alexandrie, et voila comment ils pouvaient ar- 
 river a se rencontre, meme sans se connaitre.' 
 
 The tendency, then, towards elaborate description among 
 
10 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Roman poets of the Augustan Age *was due to the influence of 
 the Alexandrian masters. In the time of the Empire it became 
 still more the fashion. Statius, imitating Vergil closely as he 
 did, and striving to outdo Ovid, carried to extreme this ten- 
 dency towards picture drawing. It is the object of this thesis, 
 however, to show that with him it took a turn that was quite 
 unique. 
 
 Critics have given Statius credit for very little originality, 
 at least in his Thebaid. His principal sources are given as 
 Homer (see Scbol. ad Theb. 3. 407: but Wilamowitz, Lese* 
 fruchte, Hermes 34, p. 602, thinks the scholium refers only 
 to this passage), and Antimachus (see Helm, De P. Pap. 
 Statii Thebaide, p. 6). Not even in the treatment of indi- 
 vidual incidents is he conceded any independence. For in- 
 stance, the embassy of Tydeus to Eteocles, king of Thebes, 
 treated in Theb. 2, 363 if., is compared with the version of 
 the same incident in Homer (II. 4, 370 if., id. 5, 300 if., id. 
 10, 285 if.). R. Werner (Zur Sage vom Zuge der Sieben 
 gegen Theben * Comment. Philol. fiir O. Ribbeck.' Leipzig, 
 1888, p. 514) notes the difference in the message that Tydeus 
 delivers and in the events that followed. Statius' version is 
 found in Diod. 4, 65. The source, argues Werner, is Anti- 
 machus, who followed another earlier version of the story. 
 Other scholars have attempted to show his indebtedness to 
 Euripides. E. Morner (De P. Pap. Statii Thebaide quaes- 
 tiones criticae., grammaticae., metricae, Konigsberg, 1890, i. n.) 
 claims that the poet owes something to the prologue of the 
 Phoenissae (op. cit. p. 2), but most to Antimachus (id. p. 6). 
 
 Eissf eldt ( Ueber Quellen und Vorbilder des P. Pap. Statius. 
 Progr. Helmstedt, 1900) relates the Thebaid of Statius to the 
 Cyclic Epic Thebais. The same writer, in ' Philologus,' 63, p. 
 421 if., attributes the poet's lack of originality to the fact that 
 under his father he studied the ancient poets almost exclus- 
 ively from the point of view of style. (Cf., too, Plessis, La 
 poesie latine, p. 598.) He waxes sarcastic in commenting on 
 the closing lines of the Thebaid, 'durabisne procul etc.' 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 11 
 
 'Zwolf Jahre,' lie exclaims, 'hat er daran gearbeitet! Wir 
 wollen ihm das gern glauben. Es muss eine gewaltige Arbeit 
 gewesen sein, alle die epischen Dichtungen der Vorganger dar- 
 aufhin durchzuarbeiten, was er wohl fiir seine Zwecke ver- 
 werten konnte, und wie mlihsam mag er gewesen sein, alles in 
 den Rahmen der Thebanischen Sage hinein zuzwangen, dass 
 ein leidlich abgerundetes Ganze herauskam! Und wie schwer 
 mag ihm manches Mai die Wahl geworden sein, welcher von 
 den ihm zu Gebote stehenden Perlen er den Vorzug geben 
 sollte. Es ist daher sehr begreinich, dass alles das maiiche 
 schlaflose Nacht gekostet hat.' The writer speaks as if he had 
 worked long on the poet and had his temper soured. In his 
 judgment, Statius was a mere slavish imitator, who did not 
 even trouble himself at times to vary his originals; and he 
 quotes the lines from Sophocles 7 Antigone (365 if.) merely to 
 observe that ' in the Thebaid the poet inclines to the bad for 
 the most part.' 
 
 Admitting, as we must, that in invention Statius showed 
 no originality that the subject of his Epic was worn thread- 
 bare, and that for the most part he chose the materials that 
 lay ready to his hand one may still attempt to show that in 
 method of treatment he added something that was quite his 
 own, something that after him became the fashion. And, as 
 noted above, it is in the direction of the tendency towards pic- 
 ture drawing that we must look for what we consider peculiar to 
 him. Like his predecessors he draws elaborate pictures, which 
 in themselves suggest the influence of the Alexandrians. But 
 as if this were not enough as if a description, with the object 
 in mind, were not sufficient he turns from the particular 
 thing he is describing and places before the reader a conven- 
 tional picture, which he seems to consider the embodiment of 
 the object before him: so that the reader turns from the poet's 
 description, not with the object before his eyes, but the picture 
 or statue which the poet has suggested. We are not concerned 
 here with those passages where, evidently, the poet was de- 
 scribing a well-known work of art (see Gaymann, Kunst- 
 
12 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 archdologiscJie Studien. Wiirzburg, 1898), but (with those 
 which can be traced to no definite painting or statue, but 
 inevitably suggest a work of art. 
 
 Somewhat the same phenomenon Lessing observes in Lucian. 
 He says : ' Lucian can give us no other idea of the beauty of 
 Panthea, than by referring us to the most beautiful female 
 statues of the ancient artists. But what is this but to confess 
 that language for this purpose is powerless; that poetry stam- 
 mers and eloquence is dumb unless art in some measure assist 
 them as an interpreter? 7 (See Lucian, Imagines, Vol. n, 
 p. 461 Eeitz.) He cites, further, as a parallel Scott's descrip- 
 tion of the Lady of the Lake at her first appearance (Canto I. 
 IT, 18). Of Scott's description he says that it happily blends 
 the ideas of the poet and sculptor. 
 
 With Statius, however, this tendency becomes a habit. Art 
 intrudes even where the poet's description would be more for- 
 cible if it were kept out. This raises a question which the 
 poet's biographers have not dealt with whether his interest in 
 the plastic arts was deeper than we have heretofore supposed, 
 or whether the phenomenon was merely the result of his mania 
 for exaggeration. For we are not prepared to attribute the 
 same tendency to the other poets of his age: an examination of 
 the Argonautica shows that while Valerius Flaccus draws pic- 
 tures as did Apollonius and Vergil he does not to any great 
 extent exhibit this tendency which we are ascribing to Statius. 
 One or two illustrations of this tendency, however, may be 
 discovered. 
 
 In the Silvae the poet does not show this tendency. The 
 nature of the poems, however, in a measure precludes it. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Siatius 13 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 GENEBAL EXAMPLES FROM THE THEBAID. 
 
 Theb. 1. 121. 
 
 The stylistic tendency that we are assigning to Statins is il- 
 lustrated by Theb. 1. 121: 
 
 
 ..-t <^w^-trv, psv"' i ^ 
 
 - 
 
 ipsa suum genetrix cnrvo delphine vagantem 
 abripuit frenis gremioque Palsemona pressit. 
 
 
 As it happens, the passage has a long tradition behind it, and 
 an opportunity is thus given to compare the original treatment 
 of the motif with that of Statius. 
 
 Commentators trace it back through Apollonius of Rhodes to 
 Euripides, though in this thesis the attempt is made to show 
 that Homer supplies the original motif. In a chorus of Euri- 
 pides' Troades (542 ff.) the poet makes the leaders of the chor- 
 us describe the events of the evening preceding the fall of Troy, 
 when the wooden horse had been brought within the wall to 
 propitiate, as they thought, the virgin Athena ; 
 
 1. 542. eV Se TTOVQ) real 
 
 1. 555. (froivia S'ava 
 
 /So a rcaTefye ITe/o 
 eSpas /Bpecfrrj Se <f)t,\i 
 
 a Trepl TrerrXot"? e/3a\\e pa 
 
 rpl 
 
 The poet here is concerned with creating an atmosphere for 
 the description of the horrors that attended the capture of the 
 city. Black night had fallen on a scene of brilliant merry-mak- 
 ing which Euripides describes with sure touch, so that one can 
 
14 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 feel the atmosphere of light-heartedness. The only suggestion 
 of anything sinister is in the descent of night, which covers all 
 with its black wings and even this is at first taken as a means 
 to heighten the splendor and festivities of the occasion. But 
 just when the situation is created a situation of abandoned 
 mirth and happiness a fierce shriek interrupts the merry- 
 making. With one stroke Euripides brings on the whole dread- 
 ful calamity. The horror of the cry strikes the hearts that were 
 but now so light and spells doom for all. 
 
 The shout was heard in all Pergamus' homes. Euripides 
 is here not concerned mainly with the extent of the sound, but 
 with its horror with the suggestion of calamity it conveyed. 
 Those who heard it even the children had an instinctive 
 foreboding that death was near. This is what the poet wishes 
 to impress on his hearers in order to prepare them for the tale 
 of butchery that was to follow. And in as much as in tragedy 
 emotional setting is all-important, to accomplish the /cdQaparis 
 of the soul of the hearer, it is the pathos of the situation in this 
 instance that appeals most to Euripides, and it is this he is 
 most anxious to present. Here, then, was real ground for fear, 
 in the fate of the house of Priam, in that of the little boy As- 
 tyanax particularly, and the poet prepares the hearer for the 
 imminent calamity by portraying the consternation of the mo- 
 ments before the sad tragedy began. Nothing could be more 
 natural than Euripides' treatment of this theme his picture of 
 the frightened children fleeing to their mothers, and clinging to 
 their skirts, doomed, no doubt, to be snatched away at once to a 
 violent death. A moment later Andromache enters riding in a 
 mule-car, and bearing in her arms the body of her murdered 
 son: and a dialogue follows between her and Hekabe, in which 
 the tale of their sorrows is told, the death of Hector and Asty- 
 anax, and the fall of their wretched city. 
 
 But it seems to me that we can trace further back the sug- 
 gestion of this motif at least. Forbiger (on Aen. 7. 518, et 
 trepidae matres pressere ad pectora natos) says that undoubt- 
 edly the lines in the Epit. Iliad. : 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 15 
 
 parvumque ad pectora natum 
 Astyanacta tenet . . . (vid. infra) 
 
 go back to Virgil : yet one naturally turns to the passage in the 
 Iliad which deals with the same incident. Here, one may ven- 
 ture to say, we find the original of this natural touch, though it 
 may not be easy to see that the whole conception originates with 
 Homer. An examination of the passage (II. 6. 4665.) will 
 bring out the points of resemblance: 
 
 eiTTcbv ov TratSo? ope^aro ( 
 S' 6 Trat? 7T/305 KoKirov ev^wvoio Ti6r)vr)<s 
 
 <f>i\ov 
 
 re l$e \d(f*ov i 
 Seivdv cbr' aKpordrrj^ xopvOos vevovra vorj(ra<j. 
 
 What could be more beautiful and pathetic than this scene? 
 Yet a discussion of the picture is scarcely in place here : we are 
 concerned more with its possible relation to the other passages 
 under consideration. True, in this incident the immediate 
 cause of the child's fear is not the same as in the Euripides 
 passage and the others that are to be cited. The little Astyanax 
 naturally cries aloud with fright at the strange gear upon his 
 father's head, and nothing could be more simple or more true to 
 life than the instinctive clinging of the child to his mother. 
 But with this observation Homer's picture is not .exhausted: 
 we feel the weight of the doom that is hanging over Priam's 
 house. The whole atmosphere is charged with fright and ter- 
 ror. Outside the city walls the fight rages, and the shouts and 
 clang of arms are carried up to the people. This forms the 
 background for the picture of natural affection drawn in Hom- 
 er's lines : and this scene, we venture to say, was present to the 
 mind of Euripides. As in the Euripides passage the pathos of 
 the situation is heightened by the fate of Astyanax. 
 
 Coming down to Theocritus we see the theme suggested again 
 in the account of the infant Heracles strangling the two ser- 
 pents sent upon him by Hera. The story is told in Idyll. 24, 
 11-60: 
 
16 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 1. 11. a/^o? 8e (TTpefarai, U><TOVV/CTLOV e? 8vaiv aptcros 
 /car' avrov, oB' anfyaivei peyav &/JLOV 
 
 1. 60. 'AX/c/if/ixz fj,ev eVetra trorl crfyerepov Bd\e KO\TTOV 
 
 In the Theocritus passage the situation is different, though it 
 contains quite similar elements. The story of Heracles and the 
 serpents is a familiar one. Pliny (RT. H. 35, 63) tells of a 
 painting on this subject by Zeuxis magnificus est et luppiter 
 eius in throno adstantihus deis et Hercules infans dracones 
 strangulans Alcmena matre cor am parente et Amphitryone. 
 Representations are seen also on the coins (1) of Thebes: (2) 
 of the alliance of Samos, Ephesus, Rhodes, Cnidus, etc. ; (3) of 
 Croton and the South Italian League (Vid. Daremberg et Sag- 
 lio s. v. Heracles). Another representation, perhaps the best 
 known, is a fresco of Pompeii. On the right is Zeus; behind 
 him is Alcmene, terror-stricken ; on the left stands a slave ; Her- 
 acles is a well-grown child and is represented not in his cradle 
 but as kneeling on one knee in the centre and strangling the 
 serpent (J. H. S. 16. p. 143 if.). Pausanias (1. 24. 2) speaks 
 of a statue representing this subject on the Acropolis at Athens. 
 Eor further illustrations see Roscher n. p. 2222. 
 
 The version of the story given in Theocritus is the same as 
 that in Pindar ISTem. 1.35-61, .except that Pindar has nothing to 
 do with this motif of the mother's alarm. The cause of Alc- 
 mene's alarm and the infant Iphicles' fright, is not a cry 
 though Iphicles had roused her from her bed with his crying. 
 As seen in the representations on the coins and in the fresco 
 her fear is not for Heracles, who seems to be performing his 
 task with the utmost capacity and composure, but for Iphicles. 
 Perhaps it was due as much to the general confusion of the 
 household as to the danger the young Heracles seemed to be in, 
 and Iphicles threatened with. At any rate, we have here the 
 elements of the tradition the cry and confusion (though in the 
 nature of the case it cannot be the same as in the Euripides 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 17 
 
 passage), and the mother in fear clasping her terror-stricken 
 child to her breast. 
 
 The feature of special interest, however, in both the Iliad 
 and the Theocritus passage, is not the cause of alarm but the 
 simple and natural treatment of this motif of motherly affection 
 and apprehension. Both passages serve the purpose of contrast- 
 ing the treatment given it by authors who were not so complete- 
 ly under the influence of rhetoric and art with that of later and 
 more conventional writers. 
 
 Going back we next trace this passage down from Euripides 
 to Apollonius of Ehodes (Arg. 4, 123 ff.). The Argonaut 
 heroes had landed Jason and Medea at a grassy spot near which 
 Phrixus had built an altar to Zeus when he came with the ram 
 of the golden fleece. Straightway the pair set out for the oak- 
 tree on which the golden fleece hung : 
 
 1. 123. Tft) Se 81* arpaTTiroLO fJLeO* lepov aXcro? I/COVTO 
 aTreipea-irjv &f?;/4ez/6>, y CTTL Kw 
 
 1. 127. aura/3 d avriicpv TrepifJLrj/cea reivero Seiprjv 
 
 poiStov o(f>LS 6<f)0a\iJioi(riv 
 ei &e 7re\a>piov .... 
 
 1. 136. Bef/JMTl 8' e%eypovTO Xe^auSe?, apcfrl 8e iraidiv 
 , oi re cr<f>iv VTT' ayKakiSecrariv tavov, 
 /3d\ov 
 
 Here the natural touch is as beautiful as in Euripides, but 
 the setting is not dramatic. 
 
 Immediately after the description of the hissing of the ser- 
 pent, Apollonius passes to a description of the relaxing of the 
 huge serpent's coils. ' As when above smouldering wood count- 
 less sooty eddies of smoke whirl and, one upon another, rise 
 ever upward from below, hovering aloft in wreathes: so then 
 that monster writhed his endless coils covered with dry scales/ 
 Then the poet tells how Medea called on Sleep to aid her in the 
 
 2 
 
18 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 subduing of the dragon and the protection of Jason: how she 
 called on Hecate to give fair issue to their venture; and how 
 the monster at once relaxed his huge coils under the goddess' 
 spell. 
 
 Apollonius has given to the motif a different setting from 
 that in which it appears in Euripides. With him it is more or 
 less artificial. In contrast with the situation in the Troades, 
 here there is no occasion for fear on the part of the mothers : no 
 harm can come to them or their new-born infants. The poet in 
 this situation is not preparing the hearer, as was Euripides, for 
 the recital of disaster that followed : as we have seen, he goes on 
 to describe the actions of the dragon in more minute details. 
 He is concerned with description chiefly. Into his description 
 three motifs enter: (1) to represent the far-reaching power of 
 the sound; (2) to show the danger (to Jason and Medea) in the 
 situation; (3) to give an idea of the awful nature of the sound. 
 The first leads him to geographical description, of which Apol- 
 lonius and the Alexandrians generally were fond: the last two 
 give occasion to describe the natural fear of the mother for her 
 babe, and her instinctive clutching of it to her breast. 
 
 Apollonius sets .the form in which the theme was imitated by 
 later authors, Virgil, Valerius Flaccus and Statius. With all 
 of them the first feature is made as important as the others. 
 Apollonius calculates the distance that the sound radiates, mak- 
 ing Colchis his centre. The sound waves extend to the R. Ti- 
 tanus on the north ; R. Lykus on the south and west ; the Phasis 
 to the south ; to Araxes on the south and east ; to the Caucasian 
 Sea at the far east. Here the poet bounds the sound area by 
 streams or bodies of water in every instance. 
 
 As in Euripides, the time is still night : rather the time when 
 night begins to pass into day (1. 109 ff.). 
 
 Jason's companions have landed him with Medea to secure 
 the fleece and to be off before Aeetes discovers with approaching 
 day that the theft has taken place. The time adds to the terror 
 of the situation: the mother, awakened from sleep by the wild 
 cry, is terrified all the more and instinctively clasps her child. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 19 
 
 While the deep pathos of the situation in the Euripides passage 
 is absent, still there is the same simple beauty in the Apollonius 
 passage. The poet here creates an artificial setting for the 
 motif, but the plain homely touch is preserved. 
 
 Before passing to Virgil's treatment of this bit of traditional 
 material, it will be instructive to turn to Kallimachus and see 
 how he has handled the motif. In the Hymn to Delos (1. 
 133 ff.) is a passage that deals with one side of it. Leto, pur- 
 sued by Hera, is prohibited from taking refuge in any land, be- 
 cause she had presumed to think that she would bear a son to 
 Zeus, who would be dearer to him than Ares (Hym. Del. 55- 
 58). The River Peneus, disregarding the anger of the goddess, 
 offers Leto shelter and rouses the anger of Ares : 
 
 a\\a ol 
 
 Ilayyaiov irpoOe\vpva Kapijara fjbe\\ev aeipas 
 fJL/3a\eeiv Sivrjcriv, cnrofcpirfyai Se peeQpa," 
 ir^rode 8' ecrfJLapdyrjcre /ecu aaTriSa Tityev a/cco/crj 
 Sovparos 
 
 Here the area and the frightful nature of the sound is given, 
 but not the natural touch. All Ares' outcry was for nothing. 
 Peneus went on his course undisturbed. The effect of the 
 sound is seen here only in Leto's anxiety for the safety of Pen- 
 eus, the friend who had been compassionate to her in her dis- 
 tress when all the world was refusing her an asylum. (Of. 
 ISTonn. Dion. 2, 38ff.). 
 
 Most commentators maintain that the passage in Virgil 
 (Aen. 7. 511 ff.) is modelled on the passage cited from Apol- 
 lonius. The Fury, Allecto, comes up from the Stygian regions 
 to inspire the Rutuli against the Trojans, and at the opportune 
 moment, when the Rutuli have gathered at Silvia's call for help 
 on the wounding of her pet stag, utters a frightful cry. On this 
 passage Wagner in his note says (comparing it with the pas- 
 sage in Apollonius) ; non tarn ornate sed meliore iudicio: nam 
 a Furia innatam buccinam tarn horrendum sonitum edidisse, 
 
20 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 probabilius est dictum quam draconis sibilum tarn longe esse 
 auditum : 
 
 1. 511. at saeva e speculis tempus dea nacta nocendi 
 ardua tecta petit stabuli, et de cnlmine summo 
 pastorale canit signum, cornuque recurvo 
 Tartarean! intendit vocem 
 
 1. 518. et trepidse matres pressere ad pectora natos. 
 
 But it seems rather that the Virgil passage is a combination 
 of the Apollonius passage, cited above, and another (Argon. 
 4, 640 ff.). The Argonauts are on the point of being carried 
 out to the Ocean by an off-shoot of the Rhodanus (vid. 11. 638- 
 9) when Hera, to warn them, ' sped forth from heaven and 
 shouted from the Hercynian rock: and one and all did quake 
 with fear at her shout, for terribly rumbled the wide firma- 
 ment.' 
 
 Like Apollonius Virgil had two objects in his description 
 to represent the frightful nature of the sound, and its extent. 
 Virgil's geography, however, is more local than that of Apol- 
 lonius, though, as the note (cited above) observes, the cry of 
 the Fury was more likely to be far-reaching than the hiss of the 
 dragon. But, generally speaking, Virgil's love of geographical 
 description springs from a different impulse than that of Apol- 
 lonius, who employs it for the sake of the opportunity it affords 
 for the display of learning. 
 
 In the Virgil passage the sound spreads from some high place 
 of outlook near the gates of Eome (vid. 11. 477, 511.) on which 
 the Fury had taken her stand. It extends to ' lacus Trivise ' 
 a ]ake near the precinct of Diana at Aricia, southeast of Rome: 
 northward to the R. Nar in Umbria: to the east to the Fontes 
 Velini, in the Sabine territory; the westerly direction would 
 carry Virgil to lands beyond Italy, and with these the poet was 
 not concerned. He is concerned primarily with the horror of 
 the sound, ' whereat the grove all shuddered instantly, and for- 
 est-depths re-echoed, and trembling mothers pressed to their 
 breasts their frightened children.' 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 21 
 
 The situation is to be compared with that in Euripides rath- 
 er than that in Apollonius. As a preparation for the battle that 
 is to follow the description is all the more striking, while, as we 
 noticed in the Apollonius episode, nothing follows that would 
 show there had been any cause for fear. That is to say, the 
 beauty of the natural touch in Virgil is heightened by the pic- 
 ture of strife and bloodshed that follows. 
 
 This passage was taken as a stock example of description in 
 the later rhetoricians. It was cited by Quintilian (Inst. Or at. 
 8, 3, TO) and lulius Victor (Ehet. Lat. Min. p. 437 n), a com- 
 mentary on Cicero Verr. 5, 86. Commenting on bald statement 
 as compared with detailed and vivid description, in which all 
 the various phases of a disaster are put before the mind's eye, 
 and on the essential features of a good description, Quintilian 
 says: consequemur autem, ut manifesta sint, si fuerint veri 
 similia: et licebit etiam falso effingere quidquid fieri solet. 
 continget eadem claritas etiam ex accidentibus : .... 
 
 trepidse matres pressere ad pectora natos. 
 
 And finally he says: naturam intueamur: hanc sequamur. 
 That is, if comparisons are used, they must be such as give no 
 violent shock to one's conception of what comes within the range 
 of experience. To the same effect writes lulius Victor, quoting 
 at length from Quintilian and employing the same examples. 
 
 But if Virgil improved on Apollonius in keeping his descrip- 
 tion within the bounds of greatest probability, one can hardly 
 say that he had himself to thank for the improvement. The 
 motif of the cry of the Fury he got from Homer (II. 2. 3-11). 
 So the note in the Heyne- Wagner edition. But as we have seen, 
 perhaps, here, too, the source is Apollonius. 
 
 Virgil had many imitators in this motif. Among others, 
 Emmensius cites (Virg. Elzv. ed.) a passage in the first book of 
 Lucan: c et pavidse natos pressere ad pectora matris.' This, 
 however, is so much like the Virgil line that it arouses suspic- 
 ion, and, in fact, no such line can be found in Lucan. It is, 
 however, found in the poem of Hosidius Geta ( ?), Anth. Lat. 
 i. 178, 384 (Burm.). 
 
22 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 This poem in the Anth. Lat. is a tragedy Medea. In the 
 passage cited the messenger enters and describes to Creon what 
 he has seen Medea doing: she has kindled the altars at night 
 and is burning on them cedar, squill, hellebore and sulphur, all 
 the while calling upon Hecate. Then she waits, while fire 
 flashes from her eyes. Soon great clouds obscure the sky, the 
 earth quakes, lightning flashes: then are heard strange voices 
 and loud wailing, the sound of tramping feet and snapping 
 scourges. Amid all this and the wild clamor of dogs, in the 
 black darkness of night Hecate approaches and at her ap- 
 proach " backward flows the stream in terror, and fearful moth- 
 ers press their children to their hearts." 
 
 The poem of Hosidius Geta is but an adaptation of Virgil's 
 Aeneid to a different theme (Vid. Teuffel 370. 5 Eng. Trans.). 
 Teuffel quotes Tertull. de praescript. haeret. 39 vides hodie 
 ex Virgilio fabulam in totum aliam componi, materia secun- 
 dum versus, versibus secundum materiam concinnatis, denique 
 Hosidius Geta Medeam Tragoediam ex Virgilio plenissime 
 exsuxit. It cannot be called an original work in any sense: 
 and its value in this connection lies in the fact that it repro- 
 duces closely the tradition of the Virgil passage. The cry of 
 the Fury, and all the weird noises that accompany her approach 
 are calculated to inspire terror. The episode fits into the Medea 
 story admirably ; and contrasted with Medea's unnatural action 
 in the slaying of her children, the pathos of the natural touch 
 (et pavidse matres pressere ad pectora natos) is greatly height- 
 ened. It will be noted that the only change from the Virgilian 
 line is the substitution of f pavidce ' for ' trepidce/ 
 
 As observed above, the commentators refer the passage in 
 the Epit. Iliad. (509) to the passage in Virgil cited (but see 
 the discussion in this paper on Iliad 6. 466 ff.) The incident 
 in the Epit. Iliad, is the meeting of Andromache and Hector : 
 
 " Meanwhile Ares with mighty strength slays Akamas : and 
 Menelaus takes captive great Adrastus." 
 
 Then follows the battle between the Danai and the Trojan 
 warriors. Hector, seeing that the gods have turned their faces 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 23 
 
 from the Trojans, bids the women go pray and sacrifice. Mean- 
 time Glaucus and Diomedes engage in noisy combat, and Jiien 
 exchange gifts and swear eternal friendship. 
 
 "And Hector's faithful wife Andromache seeks converse 
 with him, and holds the little Astyanax to her breast." 
 
 As in the Iliad the touch of natural affection is beautiful. 
 The noise of battle in the distance makes the mother apprehen- 
 sive of the fate that may befall her child, and with a mother's 
 instinct she grasps him and presses him to her breast. In the 
 Iliad, of which this is merely a summary, the cause of fear is 
 the same, but Andromache's conversation with Hector is drawn 
 out at greater length. The direct occasion of her grief is the 
 sad picture that Hector draws of what may be her lot when the 
 Achaeans capture the city (and this seems a certainty, since the 
 gods are fighting for the Greeks) when she is dragged away to 
 slavery, to weave at the bidding of some strange woman. But 
 as a background for the picture, in the far distance the battle 
 rages, and the noise of clashing shields is borne on the wind to 
 her ears. 
 
 One naturally looks for an imitation of Apollonius in Valer- 
 ius Flaccus, and at the same time has to reckon on the influence 
 of Virgil. The episode of the dragon comes up in Valerius 
 (Bk. 7.) The treatment is different from that of Apollonius, 
 for reasons that we shall see : 
 
 1. 516. accipe, perdomitis quae deinde pericula tauris 
 et quis in Aeolio maneat te vellere custos : 
 
 ' quis f ragor hie ? qusenam tantse, die virgo, ruinse ? 
 exclamat stricto Aesonides stans frigidus ense. 
 ilia trahit ridens tandemque ait angue represso. 
 
 Valerius has preserved few traces of the motif as it is seen 
 in Apollonius. There is still the hissing of the dragon, but it 
 almost seems as if Valerius were not taking that seriously, even 
 though he makes Medea warn Jason of the dangers that await 
 him by the oak tree on which the fleece hangs. That he is 
 
24 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 thinking of the Apollonius passage can be seen from lines 529, 
 530, when Jason takes fright at the awful sound of the hissing, 
 But he turns aside and represents Medea as almost indulging 
 in mirth at Jason's expense. 
 
 The chief reason, however, for the difference in treatment is 
 the fact that the poet had employed this motif in the episode of 
 the Lemnian women (Arg. 2. 196-203). Here he was influ- 
 enced by Virgil (Aen. 7. 518). From Virgil he borrowed the 
 cry of the Fury to replace the hissing of the dragon : 
 
 1. 200. inde novam pavidas vocem furibunda per auras 
 congeminat, qua pulsus Athos et pontus et ingens 
 Thraca pavet, pariterque toris exhorruit omnis 
 mater et adstricto riguerunt ubere nati. 
 
 The motive for the introduction of the description is the same 
 here as in the Euripides passage to prepare the way for the de- 
 scription of the horrors that were to follow. On that night the 
 Lemniades unnaturally murdered their newly returned hus- 
 bands in their beds, all with the exception of Hypsipyle. But 
 there is a second motive. As in Apollonius, the poet is intent 
 on describing not only the horror but the extent of the sound 
 also. This gives him the opportunity for geographical descrip- 
 tion. The centre from which the sound radiates is Lemnos: 
 it extends to the Bistonian mere on the north and west: to the 
 Acroceraunian headland away to the far west : to Colchis at the 
 extreme east: southward its waves would spread in a direct 
 course down the Aegean Sea to Crete, though nothing is said of 
 this. Without discussing the reasons for the choice of these 
 particular places, beyond the fact that they represent great dis- 
 tance in each direction, one might suggest that the reference to 
 the Colchian deep may be intentional, owing to the part that 
 the Argonauts, whose destination was Colchis, played in the 
 story of the Lemnian women. 
 
 Valerius does not make so much of geographical description 
 as does Apollonius. He has a real tragedy to prepare for ;. Apol- 
 lonius has not, but has merely a sound to describe in its two as- 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 25 
 
 pects its immensity and extent, and its wild horror. In Va- 
 lerius the setting lends greater pathos. But in instituting a 
 comparison one must bear in mind what the latter poet owed to 
 Virgil. What is important to observe, however, is that with 
 Valerius Flaccus the beauty of the natural touch is still pre- 
 served : 
 
 pariterque toris exhorruit omnis 
 mater et adstricto riguerunt ubere nati, 
 
 and that it is adapted from Apollonius rather than Vergil, as 
 can be seen by a comparison of the last two lines of the Apol- 
 lonius passage : 
 
 eey/0oi>To Xe^ttft'Se?, a/JL^l Se Traiaiv 
 , OL re <T$LV VTT' aytcaXiSeao-Lv 'lavov. 
 
 A late imitation of the motif is seen in Ariosto (Orlando Fur. 
 27, stanza 100, 101). King Agramante listens to Sobrino's ad- 
 vice to refrain from strife with Marfisa, who had offered him 
 an affront by dragging away his squire and challenging any 
 knight to rescue him by deed of arms : 
 
 Stanza 101. 
 
 Tremo Parigi e turbidossi Senna 
 All' alta voce, a quello orribil grido. 
 Rimbombo il suon fin alia selva Ardenna 
 Si, che lasciar tutte le fiere il nido. 
 Udiron PAlpi e il monte di Gebenna 
 Di Blaia e d'Arli e di Roano il lido : 
 Rodano e Sonna udi, Garonna e il Reno: 
 Si strinsero le madri i figli al seno: 
 
 Here are all the elements of the traditional passage, following 
 the Homeric tradition in making the sound the cry of Discord 
 (see II. 11, 3-11). One detail is added: the beasts themselves 
 in the depths of the Ardenne forest flee with fright at the sound. 
 There is more geographical detail than in the traditional pas- 
 sage ; but the homely touch of natural affection is the same : 
 
26 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Si strinsero le madri i figli al seno. 
 
 A consideration of the passage in Statins (Theb. 1, 114 ff.) 
 in which this motif occurs, and an examination of his method 
 of treatment, will serve to illustrate the peculiar character of 
 his genius. Here the sound is the hissing of the snakes in the 
 hair of the Fury, Tisiphone, as she comes up from the lower 
 world to enflame the hearts of the brothers Eteocles and Poly- 
 nices. It looks like a combination of the Apollonius and Vergil 
 passages, though no doubt Vergil was followed mainly. There 
 is the same element of improbability as was noted by the com- 
 mentator on the Apollonius passage, namely, that the hissing 
 of the snakes in the locks of the Fury could be heard at such 
 great distance or inspire such great terror. But this element 
 of the supernatural appealed to Statius as it did to the 
 Alexandrians : 
 
 1. 114. ut stetit abrupta qua plurimus arce Cithaeron 
 occurrit caelo, fera sibila crine virenti 
 congeminat, signum terris. . . . 
 
 1. 121. ipsa suum genetrix curvo delphine vagantem 
 abripuit frenis gremioque Palaemona pressit. 
 
 The setting is much the same as in Euripides and Vergil. 
 The horrible sound, with the fear that it inspires, is a prelim- 
 inary to the unnatural struggle of the two brothers. The poet's 
 purpose again is to create an atmosphere in the reader's mind 
 for the recital of the horrors of war that is to follow. To give 
 an adequate impression of the sound he describes it from two 
 points of view its extent and its horror. 
 
 The Fury stands on Cithaeron, on the southern border of 
 Boeotia, and the sound waves radiate from that point. The 
 poet first makes the general statement that all the shore of the 
 Achaean sea and the kingdoms of Pelops re-echo it. On the 
 north and west, it strikes Parnassus, in Phocis, and Oeta in 
 Aetolia; on the south, it strikes the Isthmus and the Eurotas 
 in Laconia. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 27 
 
 But at present we are concerned principally with his treat- 
 ment of the simple natural touch that we observed in the pass- 
 ages already treated. With him Vergil's line ' et trepicbe - 
 matres pressere ad pectora natos ' becomes : 
 
 ipsa suuni genetrix curvo delphine vagantem 
 abripuit frenis gremioque Palaemona pressit. 
 
 The mother and child still survive, but they have become 
 mythological persons. ' Leucothoe and Palaemon are the 
 mother and child par excellence of antiquity/ as is evidenced 
 by the many references to them in Latin literature. 1 
 
 But there is no longer free scope for the imagination : the god- 
 dess and her child are there as if painted in a picture. Real 
 beauty there is indeed in the picture the little Palaemon is 
 seen riding about on the back of his dolphin guiding him by the 
 reins. As he is playing about in this fashion the hissing of 
 the snakes on the Fury's head is heard, and the mother, still 
 human enough for a mother's love, grasps her child up and 
 presses him to her heart. The picture is charming still, but its 
 former simple beauty is vanished, and in its place we have two 
 pictures, such as might have come from a coin or painting or 
 statue. Such representations we have: a Corinthian coin 
 showing Palaemon on his dolphin, another showing Leucothoe 
 with the young Palaemon in her arms ready to cast him into 
 the sea, and the dolphin there waiting to receive him. (vid. 
 Daremberg et Saglio, s. v. ' Melicertes.') 
 
 Evidently this passage was a subject of discussion among 
 later rhetoricians, as we have seen the Vergil passage was (Aen. 
 7. 518). Lactantius discusses it at some length, seemingly, as 
 Dr. 3L F. Smith suggests, in reply to adverse criticism. What 
 this criticism may have been, or to what extent the passage was 
 discussed, we have been unable to trace. On the words 
 
 1 Verg. Aen. 5, 823; Georg. 1, 437; Ov. M. 4, 542; Cic. N. D. 3, 15, 59; 
 Claudian. 10, 154-156 (Epithal. Honor.). Cf. Apul. Met. 4, 31; Stat. Theb. 
 9, 330. 
 
28 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 ' ipsa suum genetrix, etc.' Lactantius says Leucothoen dicit: 
 et bene ipsain eligit hoc loco ponere quia iam malum didicerat 
 furiarum, et iocunde dictum pressit. et a Thebanis numin- 
 ibus non recessit quae, veluti praescia, magis metuunt patriae 
 quam furiarum sonitus perhorrescunt ; et mire dicendo 
 ' pressit ' affectionem maternam explicuit. 
 
 Lactantius is arguing for the appropriateness of the picture. 
 Three points he finds in its favour first, that Leucothoe had 
 already experienced the horrors that the Fury could bring 
 about : again, that Leucothoe and Palaemon were the protecting 
 deities of Thebes, and as such were more fearful for the land 
 of Thebes than for themselves; and again, that the picture 
 admirably represents motherly love. In Statius' picture, how- 
 ever, Palaemon is but a child still, driving his dolphin with 
 reins of roses (Claudian, 1. c.) and Leucothoe is the typical 
 mother. We must see then that in Statius we have an entirely 
 different version of the traditional motif: all the elements are 
 still present, but present in a form greatly influenced by 
 plastic art. 
 
 Theb. 1. 197. The ' Concilium Deorum.' 
 
 In Statius' handling of a theme that is common in epic 
 poetry namely, the ' concilium deorum ' can be seen his 
 stylistic tendency. By adopting such a theme, following the 
 traditional treatment and expanding it, a poet has an oppor- 
 tunity for the grouping of figures and for picture drawing. 
 This opportunity Statius availed himself of to the full. The 
 value of this example, again, lies in the fact that it has behind 
 it a long epic tradition, and a comparison can easily be drawn 
 between the treatment of it in earlier poets and that given by 
 our poet, and at the same time an opportunity is given of 
 showing how Statius set the fashion, and how, after him, the 
 treatment of such themes became more and more conventional. 
 
 From Homer down the ' concilium deorum ' was very com- 
 mon epic material. In Latin literature it appears early. 
 Conington (on Aen. 10, 1 ff.) notes " a line of Naevius (Osann 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 29 
 
 conj. ' Laevius ') i Panditur interea domus altitonantis Olympi.' 
 This is quoted by Apuleius (de orthographia 15)." Baehrens, 
 however (Poet. Lat. Min. vol. 6) cites this passage neither with- 
 the fragments of ISTaevius nor with Laevius. Hence any con- 
 jecture as to the treatment of the motif in this early poet (who- 
 ever he was) is useless. 
 
 It appears next in Ennius. Fragments 53, 54, 55, Ann. i 
 (Miill.) refer to a ' concilium deorum.' Frag. 53, 
 
 considunt tectis bipatentibus, 
 
 which Servius (on Aen. 10, 5) says Vergil gets from Ennius, 
 refers to a description of the building in which the ' concilium ' 
 was held. Frag. 54, 
 
 unus erit, quern tu tolles in caerula caeli 
 templa, 
 
 is Jupiter's promise to Mars, as we see from Ovid (Fast. 2, 
 363). In another place (Met. 14, 812) Ovid tells us that this 
 promise was made to Mars at a council of the gods. Frag. 55, 
 
 O genitor noster Saturnie, maxime divum, 
 
 is likely Mars' address to Jupiter. 
 
 Lucilius also employed this material (vid. Lucilii Carmina, 
 ed. Marx) : Frag. 1, 
 
 aetheris et terrae genitabile quaerere tempus, 
 
 Frag. 2, 
 
 irritata canes quam homo quam planius dicit, 
 
 Frag. 4, 
 
 consilium summis hominum de rebus habebant. 
 
 Between the last two fragments a part is lost in which a council 
 of the gods is called ; and they begin to deliberate on the death 
 of one Lupus, a wicked judge, and to declare their opinions. 
 
 Frag. 9, 
 
 O curas hominum ! quantum est in rebus inane ! 
 
30 The Influence of Art ' on Description 
 
 may refer to the reflections of one of the gods. So too Frag. 
 18, 
 
 haec ubi dicta, dedit pausam ore loquendi, 
 
 refers to the close of Jupiter's speech, and Frag. 19, 
 
 ttt 
 
 nemo sit nostrum quin aut pater optimus divum 
 aut Neptunus pater, Liber Saturnus pater, Mars 
 lanus, Quirinus pater siet ac dicatur ad unum. 
 
 This last fragment is cited in Lactantius (Inst. 4, 3, 12), where 
 he says, i quod Lucilius in deorum concilio inridet.' 
 
 Dealing with fragments only, we cannot form any sure con- 
 clusion as to Lucilius' treatment. It is likely, however, that 
 he followed the Homeric tradition and described it in the 
 simple manner characteristic of the Homeric epic and the early 
 Roman epic. 
 
 Seneca scoffs at the idea of gods being called to council with 
 Jupiter ' advocates ad suum concilium a love deos quasi in 
 ipso parum consilii sit imperitum est ' (N. Q. 2, 42, 1) but he 
 himself in the Apocolocyntosis (De Morte Claudii ss. 7, 8, 9 n.) 
 introduces the device. On the arrival of Claudius in heaven 
 the gods are called in council to determine what shall be done 
 with the strange arrival. Diespiter speaks first, then the 
 deified Augustus; and so on down the list. 
 
 In the first book of the Thebaid (1. 197) Statius describes 
 a i concilium deorum.' Jove has called the gods from the 
 various regions of earth and heaven to deliberate on the punish- 
 ment of the hostile cities Argos and Thebes (geminas punire 
 domos 1. 224). The poet describes the council in his usual 
 rhetorical manner, dwelling at length on the artistic features 
 of the spacious halls in which they assemble, and introducing 
 deities that are new to the tradition : 
 
 At Jovis imperils rapidi super atria caeli 
 lectus concilio divum convenerat ordo 
 interiore polo, spatiis hinc omnia iuxta 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 31 
 
 primaeque occiduaeque domus et fusa sub omni 
 terra atque unda die; mediis sese ardims infert 
 ipse dels, placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu 
 stellantique locat solio; nee protinus ausi 
 caelicolae, veniam donee pater ipse sedendi 
 tranquilla iubet esse manu, mox turba vagorum 
 semideum et summis cognati nubibus Amnes 
 aurea tecta replent. mixta convexa deorum 
 maiestate tremunt, radiunt maiore sereno 
 culmina et arcano florentes lumine postes. 
 postquam iussa quies siluitque exterritus orbis 
 incipit ex alto (grave et immutabile sanctis 
 pondus adest verbis, et vocem Fata sequuntur). 
 
 With this compare VergiPs treatment of the motif. In the 
 tenth book of the Aeneid (1. 1 ff.) Jupiter calls a council of 
 the gods and goddesses to urge those who are interested in the 
 Trojans and Itali to unanimity in regard to the issue of the 
 war. Vergil's treatment of the theme is comparatively simple : 
 
 panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi, 
 conciliumque vocat divum pater atque hominum rex 
 sideream in sedem: terras unde arduus omnes, 
 castraque Dardanidum aspectat, populosque Latinos, 
 considunt tectis bipatentibus. incipit ipse. 
 
 As in other descriptions of the home of the gods the place of 
 assembly is represented as a temple, in this case, commanding 
 a view of all lands, the camp of the Dardanidae and the 
 peoples of Latium. The description is simple. The council 
 is held in a starry dwelling i sedes siderea ? whose structure 
 is that of a Greek temple, amphiprostyle (tectis bipatentibus) 1 
 At Jupiter's summons all the gods appear, file into the building 
 and take their seats ready for the discussion. Nothing is said 
 
 1 Some interpreters of Virgil maintain, however, that this means ' with 
 doors opening back both ways.' See Conington's note, which refers to 
 Vitruvius, m, 1, 10 (in, 2, 8). 
 
32 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 as to the order in which they sit down. From the apparent 
 calm and order of the situation one would judge that they 
 were accustomed to such councils, and each knew his place. 
 Very similar in this respect is the description (A en. 6, 433) 
 of the council in the lower world held by Minos to enquire 
 into the records of the souls that have come within his juris- 
 diction, and to assign penalties to them: 
 
 ille silentum 
 
 conciliumque vocat vitasque et crimina discit. 
 proxima deinde tenent maesti loca, qui sibi letum 
 insontes peperere manu, lucemque perosi 
 proicere animas: quam vellent aethere in alto 
 nunc et pauperiem et duros perferre labores! 
 
 One naturally turns to Homer for the sources of the Vergil 
 passage. In the fourth book of the Iliad (1. 1 ff.) the theme 
 appears. Zeus and Hera are holding a heated debate before 
 the assembled gods over the Trojans and Achaeans: 
 
 ol Se debt Trap Zrjm /caOtj/Jievoi rjyopdwvTO 
 Xpv&eq) ev SaTreSft), fjiera &e crfyicri, Trdrma "H/8?; 
 vefcrap eayvo%dei, rol 8e %pvo-eoL<; SeTrdea-o'iv 
 
 , Tpcocov 7rd\w el&opdcovres. 
 
 Here the assembly takes the form of a feast. As befitted 
 a. feast of the gods it was marked by splendor. The floor of 
 Olympus' home was of gold: Hebe poured nectar for the as- 
 sembled throng : and they .pledged each other in cups of gold. 
 But these details are given in a very few words. Homer does 
 not dwell on detail with elaborate description. These are 
 *' lines, 7 says Lessing (Laocoon, p. 138, Phillimore's Trans.) 
 " in which lies the material for a picture, but which are no 
 picture in themselves.' And in his criticism of them he con- 
 tinues : t An Apollonius, or even a yet inferior poet, could 
 not have written more poorly: and here Homer remains far 
 below the painter. 7 The same absence of elaborate description 
 is to be noted in the account of the assembly in Iliad 8. 1 ff. : 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 
 
 J H<w<? fjiev KpoKOTreTrXos ItciSvaro Trao-av eV alav, 
 Zeu? Se 0ewv ayopvjv TroirjcraTO TepTTL/cepavvos 
 
 a/cporrrj 
 
 avrbs Se aft ayopeve, 6eol ' VTTO Trdvres a/covov. 
 
 Zeus here convenes the gods ' on the uppermost peak of 
 myriad-crested Olympus.' That is as far as the description 
 goes, beyond the detail that Eos ' in her mantle of saffron was 
 flooding the world with her glory.' A reference to this setting, 
 and to lupiter's speech following, is seen in Valerius Flaccus 
 (Arg. 2, 82-86) : 
 
 tempore quo primum fremitus insurgere opertos 
 caelicolum et regni sensit novitate tumentes 
 luppiter aetheriae nee stare silentia pacis 
 lunonem volucri primam suspendit Olympo 
 horrendum chaos ostendens poenasque barathri. 
 
 Valerius, after the rhetorical manner, gives a detailed state- 
 ment of the threats made by Zeus in the Iliad (8, 1 ff.) ? in case 
 any of the gods should venture to match himself against him. 
 This rhetorical expansion of the theme is part of the same 
 tendency as is seen in Statius. 
 
 Somewhat more detailed is the description of the ' concilium ? 
 in Iliad 20, 4. The unusual features have indeed given rise to 
 discussion, and some commentators have been inclined to look 
 upon the passage as spurious on their account. 6 The scholia 
 assign various reasons,' says Leaf, ' for the absence of Okeanus, 
 but Heyne justly remarks that this is less strange than the pres- 
 ence of Nymphs and Rivers in a council of the gods. He thinks 
 that Y-9 may have been interpolated to account for the presence 
 of the River Skamandros in the Theomachy as one of the gods. 
 It has been suggested that as Hestia, the personification of the 
 fixed dwelling, alone stays away from the solemn procession of 
 the gods in the Phcedrus (247 A) so Okeanus is absent, because 
 he is the bond that holds the world together.' 
 
 Here the council meets on the ' crest of ribbed Olympus,' 
 
34 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 summoned by Themis. All the gods are present : the Nymphs 
 and the Rivers, all except Okeamis. They sit down in the col- 
 onnades that stretch along after one another, built for Zeus by 
 Hephaestus. Poseidon is the spokesman. These are the special 
 features of the description. It will be seen that here there is 
 considerably more detail given than in the other passages. It 
 does seem strange that Rivers and Nymphs should appear: 
 hence some have considered the passage spurious, added by a 
 much later hand. But even admitting its genuineness, one can 
 see that there is not the same love for description of the artistic 
 as in the Statius passage : and here one feels that the divinity of 
 the Nymphs and Rivers is more or less indistinct and shadowy. 
 With the Homer passage already cited compare Od. 5, 1 ff. 
 the description of an assembly at which Athena pleads the cause 
 of Odysseus, who is detained on Calypso's island. Here, too, 
 there is an avoidance of detailed description : 
 
 'Ho>9 8' e/e Xe^ecov Trap' ayavov 
 wpvvf)' LV* aOavdroun <>oo>9 <f>epoi rjbe 
 ol Se 6eoi Oco/cdvSe KaOtf^avov, ev S' apa 
 Zeu? wlnftpefierr)?, 011 re /cpaTos ecrrl 
 
 With the Roman poets the tendency is toward minuteness of 
 description, as in Ovid (Met. 1, 167 ff.) I n tins passage Jove 
 calls a council of the gods to put a stop to the bloody struggle of 
 the Gigantes, fearing that there should be no remnant of the 
 race left upon the earth : 
 
 Ingentes animo et dignas Jove concipit iras 
 conciliumque vocat. tenuit nulla mora vocatos. 
 est via sublimis, caBlo manifesta sereno; 
 lactea nomen habet, candore notabilis ipso. 
 hac iter est superis ad magni tecta Tonantis 
 regalemque domum. dextra Isevaque deorum 
 atria nobilium valvis celebrantur apertis; 
 plebs habitat diversa locis ; a f ronte potentes 
 cselicolse clarique suos posuere Penates. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius 8tatius 35 
 
 hie locus est quern, si verbis audacia detur, 
 baud timeam magni dixisse Palatia cseli. 
 ergo ubi marmoreo superi sedere recessu. 
 celsior ipse loco sceptroque innixus eburno 
 terrificam capitis concussit terque quaterque 
 csesariem, cum qua terrain mare sidera movit. 
 
 Ovid's description of tbe place of assembly is very much in 
 terms of the Palatia, the house of Augustus on the Palatine: 
 with an apology for his boldness he suggests that he would call 
 it the Palatia of great heaven. He describes it in detail. The 
 gods come up by the 'milky way ' to the home of the great 
 thunderer, where the assembly takes place. To the right and 
 left of the inner mansion occupied by Jove are the halls of the 
 noble gods who crowd in the open doors : the common gods have 
 their abodes apart from these. In front of Jove's palace the 
 powerful among the inhabitants of heaven have reared their 
 abode. The summoned gods sit down within a marble retreat 
 and Jove, who seems to have restrained his anger as long as he 
 can, shakes his great locks in token of his wrath and proceeds to 
 the discussion. He is described as towering above all the others 
 and leaning on an ivory sceptre. 
 
 The purpose of Ovid's description seems to be, not to dwell 
 on the splendor of the royal abode, but to fix it before the mind 
 of the reader in the most vivid manner. It is in keeping with 
 his incomparable genius for story-telling that with a few strokes 
 he places before one the whole scene in a form that is thoroughly 
 familiar. Beyond this his description does not go: it is sub- 
 sidiary to his narrative merely, and he gives enough for his 
 purpose. 
 
 With Statins the case is different. He cannot resist the 
 instinct to describe in detail all the splendor of the palace in 
 which the assembly convenes. The reflexion from vaulted ceil- 
 ing, the brilliancy of golden doors, with the majesty of assem- 
 bled gods, are dwelt on at length. In Theb. 1, 197, as noted 
 
36 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 above, the i concilium deorum ' is held for the purpose of delib- 
 erating on the fate of Argos and Thebes. Jove is in sore 
 straits what course to pursue in as much as he is interested in 
 both cities as their founder. In answer to his summons the gods 
 assemble : 
 
 at lovis imperiis rapidi super atria casli 
 lectus concilio divum convener at or do 
 interiore polo 
 
 Statius places the assembly in the centre of heaven (interiore 
 polo see Lactant. on 1. 199.) : East and West of this point lie 
 the homes of all the other gods. He describes Jove's appear- 
 ance as he entered the assembly, and gives his position among 
 the gods the great god sits down on his starry throne. Next 
 he enumerates some of the gods as they file in to their places in 
 the assembly-hall: not only are the regular gods present, but a 
 crowd of demi-gods, Winds and Streams. Then he passes to 
 the description of the dwellings of the gods, which are of gold : 
 their ceilings reflect the glare and majesty of the gods: the roof 
 and doors also shine with their radiance. 
 
 Statius' description is not without its beauty. The passage, 
 studied closely in point of versification and sentence structure 
 the balancing of substantive and epithet, subject and verb 
 is perfect. In content, too, it is beautiful Jove's appearance, 
 ( placido quatiens tamen omnia vultu ? ; the starry throne ; the 
 Streams i near kin to the highest clouds/ and the Winds ' that 
 suppress their murmurs from fear ' : then the golden dwellings 
 which reflect the radiance of the gods. It is, however, the 
 beauty of magnificence, not of simplicity, the beauty of an elab- 
 orately finished building in which every detail is added that 
 will give the effect of splendor. 
 
 In his introduction of Streams and Rivers into the ' concil- 
 ium 7 he has authority, as we have seen, in Homer's Rivers and 
 Nymphs. The ' Winds ' are mentioned first by him, and there 
 is no representation of them in art as taking their place in the 
 councils of the gods: though representations of them as gods 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 37 
 
 were common. But in Statins they get more attention. They 
 are described more minutely, and their divinity is less shadowy 
 than in the other passages. One cannot say, however, that Sta- 
 tins has set his description into the form of a picture any more 
 than previous poets did. From the nature of the subject a pic- 
 ture is always easily suggested; in Homer where the gods are 
 reclining at a feast, and Ovid where they meet in a spacious 
 dwelling of marble. What he has done is to introduce more of 
 art than any of the others; io conventionalise the motif, and 
 make it an occasion for elaborate description. He stops to im- 
 press on us the effects of ceiling and roof of gold shining pil- 
 lars and reflected radiance of the gods. One feels that with him 
 the description is what is of prime importance, whereas in pre- 
 vious poets it was merely a setting for the narrative. 
 
 And Statins set the fashion for succeeding poets. What they 
 did with this bit of epic material can be seen from passages in 
 Sidonius Apollinaris and Claudianus. The passion for detailed 
 analysis and description is indulged to a still greater degree: 
 indeed, the incident is taken as the occasion for the introduction 
 of all the poet's learning concerning the gods, their habits and 
 attributes. It will suffice to cite the passages with very little 
 comment, to show what has taken place. Sidonius introduces 
 the motif in his Panegyricus Avit. Aug. 1. 20 if. : 
 
 iamque ut conveniant superi, Tegeaticus ales 
 mine plantis, nunc fronte volat: vix contigit arva: 
 et toto descendit avo. mare, terra vel aer 
 indigenas misere deos. germane Tonantis 
 prime venis, viridi qui Dorida findere curru 
 suetus in attonita spargis cito terga serenum: 
 umentes Nymphas Forcus comitatur ibique 
 glaucus, Glauce, venis, vatum et certissime Proteu, 
 certus eras, longo veniunt post ordine divi: 
 pampineus Liber, Mars trux, Tirynthius hirtus 
 nuda Venus, fecunda Ceres, pharetrata Diana, 
 luno gravis, prudens Pallas, turrita Cybele, 
 
38 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Saturmis profugus, vaga Cynthia, Phoebus ephebus 
 Pan pavidus, Fauni rigidi, Satyri petulantes. 
 convenere etiam caelum virtute tenentes : 
 Castor equo, Pollux csestu, turn Perseus harpe, 
 fulmine Vulcanus, Tiphys rate, gente Quirinus. 
 quis canat hie aulam cseli, rutilantia cuius 
 ipsa pavimentum sunt sidera ? iam pater aureo 
 tranquillus sese solio locat, inde priores 
 consedere dei (fluviis quoque contigit illo, 
 sed senibus, residere loco, tibi, maxime fluctu 
 Eridane et flavis in pocula fracte Sygambris, 
 Rhene tumens, Scythiseque vagis equitate catervis 
 Hister et ignotum plus notus, Mle, per ortum). 
 
 In this description Mercury, as is natural, is the herald who 
 summons the gods to council. Not any one is left out who by 
 any possible means can prove his claim to deity. As they come 
 up the poet addresses each one and describes him, giving at 
 least the conventional attributes by which he is known. Even 
 in his description of Mercury the poet has to show that he was 
 acquainted with representations of the god in which he 
 appeared, now with wings on his head, now with wings on his 
 feet. But to cite the passage is sufficient. 
 
 Less artificial but with the same tendency is the description 
 of the ' concilium' in Claudianus, De Rapt. Pros. Ill (36), 
 1 ff. Jove has here called a council of the gods to revive agri- 
 culture and to put an end to the life of idleness that has fol- 
 lowed the loss of Proserpina : 
 
 luppiter interea cinctam Thaumantida nimbis 
 ire iubet totoque deos arcessere mundo. 
 ilia colorato Zephyros inlapsa volatu 
 numina conclamat pelagi Nymphasque morantes 
 increpat et Fluvios umentibus evocat antris. 
 ancipites trepidique ruunt, quse causa quietos 
 excierit, tanto quse res agitanda tumultu. 
 ut patuit stellata domus, considere iussi, 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 39 
 
 nee eonfusus honor: cselestibus ordine sedes 
 prima datur : tractum procer.es tenuere secundum 
 sequorei, placidus Kerens reverendaque Phorci 
 canities: Glaucum series extrema biformem 
 accipit et certo mansurum Protea vultu. 
 nee non et senibus Fluviis concessa sedendi 
 1 gloria : plebeio stat cetera more iuventus. 
 mille Amnes. liquidis incumbunt patribus udse 
 Naides et taciti mirantur sidera Fauni. 
 
 In Claudianus as well as Sidonius the description is tho- 
 roughly conventionalised. All the various deities are called up 
 for the purpose of making a picture. They are arranged and 
 grouped almost, as it were, for the photographer, the gods sit- 
 ting in the order of rank: nymphs reclined on their father's 
 laps and lesser gods standing as common folk should. In the 
 description all the poet attempts to add is a conventional detail 
 which the others may have omitted. 1 
 
 Theb. 3. 409. 
 
 To create a setting for the description of a night of unrest 
 for King Adrastus a night in which the war-god, attended 
 
 1 Further references to the ' concilium deorum ' are Valerius Flac- 
 cus (1, 210 ff.) and Statius (Ach. 2, 56 ff.). In the Valerius passage the 
 seagods gather to resent the violence being done them by the launching 
 of a ship; but after each god speaks his mind they determine to receive 
 the ship upon their waters: 
 
 heu quemnam aspicio! nostris modo concitus ausis 
 aequoreos vocat ecce deos Neptunus et ingens 
 concilium, fremere et legem defendere cuncti 
 hortantur. 
 
 And Stat. Ach. 2. 56. Here the gods have assembled to see the issue of the 
 contest for the prize of beauty among the goddesses; 
 
 atque adeo lis ilia tuis exorta sub antris 
 concilio superum. 
 
 Cf. Silv. in, 2, 4. 
 
40 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 by his horrible retinue, Euror, Ira, Pavor, and preceded by 
 ever-wakeful Fama, goes forth to breathe his spirit into the 
 hearts of the Argives, Statius describes Sol as he sinks to his 
 ocean-bed after his long day's toil (TJieb. 3. 409). About him 
 crowd the Nereids and the Horae, his female squires, so to 
 speak, to release his worn-out steeds from the car, and lead 
 them away to their pasture. The fancy is beautiful, not ori- 
 ginal with Statius by any means, though not borrowed wholly. 
 An examination will serve to show Statius' stylistic tendency : 
 
 Solverat Hesperii devexo margine ponti 
 nagrantis Sol pronus equos rutilamque lavabat 
 Oceani sub fonte comam, cui turba profundi 
 Nereos et rapidis accurrunt passibus Horae, 
 frenaque et auratae textum sublime coronae 
 deripiunt, laxant calidis umentia loris 
 pectora; pars meritos vertunt ad molle iugalis 
 gramen et erecto currum temone supinant. 
 
 As early as Homer the Horae were represented as attendants 
 on some god or other. Their function was not always con- 
 ceived of as the same, as will be seen from the following 
 citations from Homer ; and sometimes other gods performed for 
 their superiors such a service as they here perform for Sol. 
 If a source need be found for Statius, probably it is the pas- 
 sage in the eighth book of the Iliad where the Horae attend 
 Hera on her return to Olympus from the Trojan plain, and 
 put away her steeds: 
 
 0)9 apa <f)0)vri(Tao-a TTCL\IV rpeire fJL(0 
 rfjcnv &' r fl/ocu /JLCV \va~av 
 Kal TOW fjiev KareSr)crav err' 
 api^ara S' eic\ivav TT/SO? kv& 
 
 (II. 8, 432.) 
 
 In like manner Zeus was attended by Poseidon on his return 
 to Olympus from Ida: 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 41 
 
 Zeu? e TraTTjp "ISrjOev evrpo^ov ap^a /cal ITTTTOVS 
 
 Ov\vjJL'7rov8e Siw/ce, OeS)v S' ef faero 
 
 TW Se /cal iTrTrovs pev \vae /cXuro? 
 
 ap/mara J a/ju /8&>/itot<7t riOei, Kara \lra Trerdcraas 
 
 (Id. 438.) 
 
 And so too Iris tends Aphrodite's steeds (II. 5, 365). 
 
 Ovid in his version of the duties of the Horae adds nothing 
 new except that they lead forth the steeds from their stalls in 
 the morning, hitch them to Titan's car and prepare them for 
 the day's journey. On that memorable day when PhaethoE 
 essayed to drive Sol's steeds, the Horae brought them forth at 
 Sol's command, and made them ready for the youth: 
 
 dumque ea magnanimus Phaethon miratur opusque 
 perspicit, ecce vigil rutilo patefecit ab ortu 
 purpureas Aurora fores et plena rosarum 
 atria, diffugiunt stellae, quarum agmina cogit 
 Lucifer, et caeli statione novissimus exit. 
 quern petere ut terras mundumque rubescere' vidit 
 cornuaque extremae velut evanescere lunae, 
 iungere equos Titan velocibus imperat Horis, 
 iussa deae celeres peragunt, ignemque vomentes 
 ambrosiae suco saturos praesepibus altis 
 quadrupedes ducunt adduntque sonantia frena. 
 
 Met. 2, 111. 
 
 Before proceeding to the comparison of Statius' version it 
 will be interesting to see how Nonnus, the fifth century poet, 
 has maintained the tradition of the Ovid passage. Here the 
 Horae perform the same office for Sol, bringing the steeds out 
 from their stall at dawn to yoke them for Phaethon. As in 
 Ovid their service is merely mentioned. In contrast with the 
 Statius passage no time is spent by the poet in lingering over 
 the details of their work : 
 
 <f>ae#oz>T09 eirecnripL^e /caprjva* 
 , ea> <5e /M 
 
42 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 eTrrardvovs aKrlvas eVl ir\oicdpoicriv 
 
 /cvtc\<*)cra<; <TTe<t>av7)$bv eV II- w \evtcd8a 
 
 /cat fJLiv ave^Kaivtixrev ew irvpoevn 
 
 Kal TrdSa (f)OLVicro-ovTi Sieo-tyrj/ccoo-e T 
 
 TTcu&l 8e Sfypov eScofce /cat 77(077? cnro 
 
 ITTTTOVS 'HeXtoio TrvptoSeas rjyayov *lpai, 
 
 Kal 6pacrvs et<? ,wyov rf\.6ev 'Etwcr^opo?, a/Acfrl Se 
 
 LTTTTIOV av^eva 8ov\ov eTre/cXrjio-o-e \e7rd8vy. 
 
 (Nonn. Dion. 38, 291 ff.) 
 
 As hinted above Statins lingers over his description of the 
 Horae, and this produces a peculiar effect. Besides the Hoa-ae, 
 Nereids too come up to render their services to Sol. These 
 goddesses divide themselves into groups, one group busying it- 
 self with the removal of the steeds' harness and adornment, 
 another spreading out food for them, another still, taking the 
 car aside and laying it back with pole erect. This grouping 
 suggests a painting. The ancient commentators noted this. 
 Lactantius (on 1. 410) says ' accurrunt Horae 7 quasi Solis 
 Horae sint comites. praeterea descriptionis istius consideranda 
 pictura, quemadmodum diversae diversis fung&ntur officiis. 
 This effect he has secured, not intentionally but inevitably, 
 by his expansion of the traditional passage. To Homer's group 
 of attendants he has added the Nereids, he has separated the 
 Horae into a greater number of groups, has dwelt more on the 
 trappings of the horses to give occasion for more work about 
 them and, hence, for more groups of figures. 
 
 This characteristic of the poet and his age is seen in his 
 Propempticon to M. Maecius Celer on the eve of his departure 
 for Syria (Silvae 3, 2). The poet addresses a prayer to the 
 Nereids (1. 13 ff.) beseeching them for safe conduct for his 
 friend, and the description of the escort he entreats is elabor- 
 ated at great length and in minute detail. An examination of 
 this poem and the discussion of its relation to the canon laid 
 down for the Propempticon of an earlier time will serve to 
 illustrate the subject under consideration in this thesis: 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 43 
 
 v. 25. hums utrumque latus molli praecingite gyro, 
 partitae vices vos stuppea tendite mail 
 vincula, vos summis adnectite sipara veils, 
 vos Zephyris aperite sinus: pars transtra reponat, 
 pars demittat aquis curvae moderamina puppis; 
 sint quibus exploret * primas gravis artemo barcas * 
 
 etc. 
 
 \ 7 ollmer has an interesting note os. this poem. Of it he re- 
 marks ' Zwar ist uns auch von einem Romer vor Statius kein 
 durchgefiihrtes Propempticon erhalten ' and he cites the various 
 poems that can in a loose way be subsumed under this name. 
 He notes, however, that Statius followed Horace (Od. 1, 3) in 
 this poem, and Dr. Shorey in his edition of Horace cites Silvae 
 3, 2 as ' a diffuse imitation ' of the former. Dr. Shorey also 
 without hesitation calls Horace's poem a Propempticon. (Of. 
 Kiessling, Horace, 1. c.) And Vollmer really qualifies his 
 own statement when he suggests that the difference between 
 Horace's treatment of such a poem, and that of Statius gives 
 an insight into the difference in the natures of the two poets 
 and in the genius of their times. He observes the influence 
 of poetry in determining rhetorical standards, and on the other 
 hand the canons laid down by rhetoric as to what such and 
 such a poetic form should contain, citing Menander, the rheto- 
 rician of the third or fourth century, for the standard by which 
 the writer of a Propempticon should shape his work. He says 
 Statius hat dabei nicht nur seine dichterischen Vorganger 
 (hier besonders Horaz Car. 1. 3) verwertet, sondern fusst 
 deutlich auf den natiirlich mit Benutzung der Dichter ge- 
 schaffenen rhetorischen Vorschriften der Schule, die uns Me- 
 nander (Rh. Gr. ed. Sp. 3, 399) wenigstens andeutend kennen 
 lehrt : eav Se Sia 6a\aTTij<; avdyrjrcu, e/cei crou i^vr^jir] Oa\arri(ov 
 , Alywrtov T[pcDTe(t)s,'Av6r)Soviov TXavtcov, N?;/oeW, 
 teal arvvOedvrfov rfj vrjt', fcal crvvrjSofJievodv &e\<f)iv(ov 
 re cifjua /cal KIJTWV r&v [lev (TCUVOVTCOV, rcov Se vTrofavydvrcov cos 
 avrov rrjv vavv TrpoTrefJLTrovros v] 8e vavs OeiTO) Oeois 
 avBpa (frepovaa, ea)? av Trpoa-aydyrjs avrbv rot? \i/J,ea-i, 
 
44 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 TO> \dyq>, Karaa-rpe^rei^ Se els ev^rjv TOV \d<yov alrwv 
 T&V 6eS)v TO, KaXkLcrra. 
 
 And the note continues 'Es 1st wohl sicher, dass ein voll- 
 standiger Schulschema auch schon zu Horaz' Zeiten bestanden 
 hat ; so gewahrt der Vergleich beider Gedichte einen bezeichnen- 
 den Einblick in die Verschiedenheit der Natur beider wie ihrer 
 Zeit. Horaz schlagt den Ton des Schema mm an und lasst 
 dann von eiiiem Gedanken, der ihn besonders ergreift, fort- 
 reissen, so dass er den Anfang gar nicht wieder aufnimmt: 
 Statins fiihrt nicht ohne Kunst und Selbstandigkeit in einzelnen 
 gewissenhaft den vorgeschriebenen Plan aus.' And for this 
 difference which the two poets show in their treatment of this 
 poetic form, Vollmer cites the fact that Horace's poem is ad- 
 dressed to the poet Vergil, whereas Statins' Propempticon is ad- 
 dressed to a high official of his time whose standard of taste 
 was fixed by the canons of the School. Evidently he is assum- 
 ing that this canon existed before Statins' time, though there 
 is nothing to show it. Indeed, the point to be made from the 
 comparison with Horace's Propempticon is that since his time 
 the treatment of such a theme as was handled in this poem 
 became more and more artificial, and Menander the Rhetori- 
 cian has merely formulated the rules which had come to be 
 recognised by the rhetoricians from such tendencies in the 
 poets as we see in Statins. At the outset Vollmer himself 
 recognises the influence that poetic standards exerted on 
 Rhetoric. 
 
 The difference then between Horace's and Statius' handling 
 of the Propempticon indicates the difference in the genius of 
 the poets and of the age in which they worked: Statius' mul- 
 tiplication of details, his introduction of numerous attendant 
 deities, separated into groups each having its own function to 
 perform: his picture-drawing with reference to all the super- 
 natural beings introduced, for instance, his description of Glau- 
 cus, Triton, Nereus, and Palaemon (the ever-recurring Palae- 
 mon), all these give to his treatment the effect of a fresco in 
 which goddesses, Nereids and demi-gods are grouped. Even 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius 45 
 
 the rhetorician would say that the poet's love for plastic art 
 had carried him beyond the artificial canon of the school, if 
 we are to assume that his work was constructed according to 
 their methods. 
 
 A picture somewhat similar to that observed in Silv. 3, 2, 
 25 ff. is given in Ach. 1, 52 ff. The poet is describing Neptune 
 as he comes up from a feast of good cheer with Oceanus, his 
 face suffused with joy from the nectar of the sea. Again the 
 description takes a form such as might easily have appeared on 
 a fresco. The god glides through the water, driving his team 
 of seals, and about him as he goes play the dolphins whom 
 Dionysus had once transformed from human shape, monsters 
 large as great crags, and the Tritons who carry his arms and 
 blow their horns : 
 
 Oceano veniebat ab hospite, mensis 
 laetus et aequoreo diffusus nectare vultus, 
 unde hiemes ventique silent cantuque quieto 
 armigeri Tritones eunt scopulosaque cete . 
 Tyrrhenique greges circumque infraque rotantur 
 rege salutato; placidis ipse arduus undis 
 eminet, et triplici telo iubet ire iugales: 
 illi spumiferos glomerant a pectore eursus, 
 pone natant delentque pedum vestigia cauda. 
 
 The picture has become thoroughly conventional. Whether 
 any painting with such grouping as this actually existed or not 
 cannot be stated positively, but the effect of a painting is 
 given : and enough examples have been cited to show the inter- 
 working of art upon poetry, and poetry upon art. 
 
 Theb. 5. 664. 
 
 In the fifth book of the Tliebaid is a passage which illustrates 
 the sculpture effect given by some of Statins' descriptions. It 
 concerns the death of the boy Opheltes, and the events that 
 grew out of it. Hypsipyle had been entrusted by Lycurgus with 
 
46 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 the care of his infant son Opheltes. In her absence from him 
 the child had been attacked by a serpent and slain. His cries 
 had attracted the careless nurse and the whole Argive army, but 
 their arrival was too late to be of any avail. l^ews of the child's 
 death reached the ears of Lycurgus, and he, distraught and 
 frenzied, sought out Hypsipyle to put her to death. But Tydeus 
 and others of the Argive warriors intervened to defend the 
 woman and check the fury of the maddened father. The pic- 
 ture that Statius draws of the warriors stepping forward to 
 defend the woman is suggestive, as some scholars have noted, of 
 the group of Harmodius and Aristogeiton by Kritios and 
 Nesiotes : 
 
 acerque reducto 
 adfuit Hippomedon rectoque Erymanthius ense. 
 
 Gaymann (Kunstarch'dologische Studien, pp. 27-28) con- 
 jectures that the poet had in mind the above-mentioned group. 
 He says Eher diirfte man eine derartige Nachbildung vermu- 
 ten in einer anderen Stelle der Thebais wo es heisst (and he 
 cites the passage in question). Diese eigenartige Stellung der 
 beiden Helden stimmt unverkennbar iiberein mit jener der 
 Tyrannenmorder des Kritios und Nesiotes. Die erhaltenen 
 Kopien dieser Gruppe beweisen uns dass letztere in Rom be- 
 kannt war; Statius erwahnt nun freilich die beiden Kiinstler 
 nirgends ; aber wenn er auch die Kiinstler nicht kannte, so 1st es 
 doch moglich, dass er dieses Werk sah und in Erinnerung 
 daran die genannten \ 7 erse dichtete. 
 
 Legras (Etude sur la Thebaide de Stace, pp. 269, 270) cites 
 this passage from Gaymann's dissertation, and is inclined to 
 agree with Gaymann indeed, there is no proof for or against. 
 He says: Ainsi peut-etre connaissait-il le groupe des tyranni- 
 cides, comme le conjecture Gaymann: en tout cas il reproduit 
 bien les gestes, mais il les attribue a Hippomedon et a Parthen- 
 opee s'elancant centre le dragon qui a tue Opheltes. And fur- 
 ther, he goes on to say and his remark here is in line with the 
 thesis we are trying to establish il est remarquable qu'ici le 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 47 
 
 poete ne pretend pas deer ire une ceuvre d'art, il raconte un com- 
 bat. But Legras does not connect this with the phenomenon he 
 noticed (op. cit. pp. 263, 264) viz., that the style of Statius is 
 i naturellement plastique,' and that his descriptions often give 
 the effect of a statue or fresco. Statius may or may not have 
 had this particular group in mind, but certainly the effect of a 
 sculpture group is given, and as Legras notes as in fact, other 
 examples deduced in this thesis show the phenomenon 
 appears when it is unexpected. 
 
 With the attitudes of the warriors represented in this 
 description compare the representation of Harmodius and 
 Aristogeiton on a Panathenaic vase a fragment of an oenochoe 
 in the Boston Museum. The foremost of the two is a youthful 
 warrior with right hand upraised prepared to strike (rectoque 
 . . . ense) : behind him is the older man, a bearded warrior with 
 his cloak thrown over his left arm for a shield, and right arm 
 drawn back holding a sword (ense reducto) in the attitude of 
 thrusting. 
 
 Theb. T. 2. 
 
 A familiar motif of Epic also is that which is echoed in 
 Tennyson's Princess,, 5, 134: ' the lifting of whose eyelash is 
 my lord,' and Spenser's Mutability, 6, 22 : 
 
 ' His black eye-brows whose doomful dreaded beck 
 Is wont to wield the world unto his vow,' 
 
 or the speech of Jupiter in Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Car- 
 thage, Act. i, sc. 1: 
 
 ' By Saturn's soul and this earth-threatening hair 
 That, shaken thrice, makes nature's buildings quake.' 
 
 Statius employs it at the opening of the seventh book of the 
 Thebaid. Jove is out of patience with the slowness of the Ar- 
 gives and Thebans about coming to conflict, and as a sign of 
 
48 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 his disapproval shakes his great locks at whose movement earth, 
 heaven and sea tremble. 
 
 Again Statins is indebted to Vergil, who in turn draws from 
 Homer as his source. But the motif is common; and hence 
 will be traced in a few of the most familiar authors, and their 
 treatment will be taken as a basis for the comparison of Statius' 
 adaptation of it. In the Aeneid there are two passages, prac- 
 tically the same (Aen. 10, 113 ff. and Aen. 9, 104 ff.). The 
 former relates to the ' concilium deorum.' Juno pleads for 
 Jove's aid to the Itali in their struggle with the Teucri, and the 
 king of heaven, in answer, gives his word that he will favour 
 neither side in the contest: 
 
 Stygii per numina fratris, 
 per pice torrentes atraque voragine ripas 
 annuit, et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. 
 
 In the second passage Cybele, the mother of the gods, is 
 interceding with her son Jove in behalf of the Trojan ships 
 which were made by Aeneas from the trees of the forest given 
 him by her. She is asking for them freedom from the ordinary 
 fate of ships destruction by wind and tide: and Jove while 
 not being able to grant them immortality effects a compromise 
 with his mother: 
 
 Dixerat : idque ratum Stygii per numina fratris, 
 per pice torrentes atraque voragine ripas 
 annuit, et totum nutu tremefecit Olympum. 
 
 This is the version in its traditional simple form. In this form 
 it appears in Iliad 1, 526 if. : 
 
 77 KOI Kvaverjcriv e?r' ofypixri vevcre "Kpovtov 
 & dpa yaiTai eTreppcoaavro 
 ddavdroio 
 
 It will be noted that in this original version of the passage 
 the commotion is caused by the movement of Zeus' eye-brows: 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 49 
 
 in later versions the movement is more violent, e. g., annuit, 
 caput concussit, etc. It was from this original passage that 
 
 Pheidias was inspired to make his famous statue of Zeus 
 
 as Dio Chrysostom, a contemporary of Statius, observes (12, 
 383 H.) oaa earlv e-Trl 7?}? a^ak^aTa (statues that ancestors 
 of the Greeks dedicated) /cd\\to-Toi> /cal 0eo<pi\eo-TaTov, TT/OO? rrjv 
 TToirjcriv, o>9 fyacriv, <&l$(ov r jrapal^d\\0fjievov ) TOV 
 o\iy<o vevfiaTi T&V 6(f)pvcov TOV (rvfATravra "OXu/iTrov, 
 0)9 e/celvos fjidXiaTa evapycos /cal TreTroiOdra)*; ev rot? eirecriv eiprjtcev 
 (Of. Val. Max. 3, 7). A second feature is that the area affec- 
 ted by the motion is confined to Olympus : this in later versions 
 is extended to include heaven, earth, the sea, and the stars. 
 
 Catullus' version is given in 64, 202 ff. The occasion is 
 the prayer of Ariadne to Zeus on her desertion by Theseus : 
 
 Has postquam maesto profudit pectore voces 
 supplicium saevis exposcens anxia factis, 
 annuit invicto caelestum numine rector, 
 quo motu tellus atque horrida contremuere 
 aequora concussitque micantia sidera muiidus. 
 
 Here Jove's nod causes an upheaval on the land, the wild 
 sea, and among the flickering stars. The area affected extends 
 beyond Olympus: and this is the usual version in later poets. 
 This, however, is the only new feature introduced. 
 
 Horace merely refers to the tradition, in Od. 3, 1, 7-8 : but 
 by this time the reference is thoroughly familiar : 
 
 Regum timendorum in proprios greges, 
 reges in ipsos imperiumst lovis, 
 clari Giganteo triumpho 
 cuncta supercilio moventis. 
 
 Ovid's treatment of the motif is seen in Met. 1, 180 ff. The 
 gods are seated in council to discuss the fate of the Gigantes; 
 and Jove by way of expressing his anger, and as a prelude to 
 his address, shakes his fear-inspiring locks: 
 
50 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 celsior ipse loco sceptroque innixus eburno 
 terrificam capitis concussit terque quaterque 
 caesariem, cum qua terrain mare sidera movit. 
 
 Here is a new situation. Jove is angry. In the Homer pas- 
 sage Zeus only moves his eye-brows to give assent, and all Olym- 
 pus trembles. Here the motion is much more violent, and it is 
 quite natural that the area affected by it should be much more 
 extensive, especially as the motion is repeated ' terque qua- 
 terque.' 
 
 Eeferences to Jove's nod occur also in later poets. In a 
 chorus of the Agamemnon of Seneca (1. 400) it appears. The 
 chorus of maidens of Mycenae addressing Zeus entreat him 
 as follows: 
 
 tuque ante omnes, pater ac rector 
 
 fulmine pollens, 
 cuius nutu simul extremi 
 tremuere poll. 
 
 This is practically the Homeric version. Again in Claudian, 
 De raptu Pros. 3, 65 : 
 
 Dixit et horrendo concussit sidera motu. 
 
 Jupiter has just finished his address to the assembled gods, 
 in which he laid down his program for the world. He had 
 become impatient with the luxury and ease of the time of 
 Saturn ; and now wished to impose upon the nations the neces- 
 sity of toil in order that by their struggle with hardship their 
 high possibilities might appear. In this, as usual, Claudian 
 follows Vergil closely. 
 
 What is probably a development of the same idea appears in 
 Quintus Smyrnaeus (12, 196 ff.). No mention is made of 
 Zeus' nod, but at his coming to Olympus a great upheaval is 
 started. A connecting link between this passage and the later 
 versions of the Homer passage is the fact that he is represented 
 as angry ( %o\ou/-tez/o<? ) : and while the details are different, 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 51 
 
 and the upheaval is much more violent, it is evident that the 
 poet has the same tradition in mind : 
 
 i/cero S J Ov\v/Ji7roi,o piov aeya GVV 8 ? erivafev 
 
 rjepa iraaav vjrepQe ^o\ou/-iez/o? a\\o0e 
 
 jSpovral ofjLws arepoTrya-i nerf etcrvTrov K Be icepavvol 
 
 efe^eWro Trorl ^dova Kaiero S' arjp 
 aOavdroicri & VTTO <f>pevas e/jLtreae Sel/Jia - 
 
 S' erpefjie <yvla /cal aQavdroov Trep edvr&v. 
 
 As the gods come down from Olympus and take part in the 
 battle of the Greeks and Trojans, some on one side and some 
 on the other, Zeus goes up to the wide heaven borne on the 
 winds, Eurus Boreas, Zephyrus and Notus, and at his coming 
 all heaven and earth tremble. 
 
 Assuming that the cause of the upheaval here is the same as 
 in earlier poets, we may note the additions that are made to the 
 conception. Thunder rolls and lightning flashes. The commo- 
 tion strikes terror into the hearts of the immortals. But this 
 feature we see too in Ovid (Met. 14, 816). Jove has been ad- 
 dressing Mars and at the close of the speech nods to give weight 
 to his words: 
 
 Adnuit omnipotens, et nubibus aera caecis 
 occuluit tonitruque et fulgure terruit orbem. 
 
 Having traced the motif from Homer down, and noted the 
 accretions it has taken on with various authors, it remains for 
 us to see what Statius has added, that is peculiarly character- 
 istic of his manner. To be sure not much that is original 
 can be claimed for his treatment (" Stace a peu d'invention J71 ). 
 But one stroke is made which indicates sufficiently the bent of 
 the poet's genius: 
 
 Atque ea cunctantis Tyrii primordia belli 
 luppiter baud aequo respexit corde Pelasgos, 
 
 a Legras: Etude sur la Thebai'de de Stace, p. 253. 
 
52 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 concussitque caput, motu quo celsa laborant 
 sidera proclainatque adici cervicibus Atlas. 
 
 The note of the Lemaire ed. of Vergil (on Aen. 10, 115) 
 says iam compara tumorem Statii vn Tlieb. 3, 4. de love in- 
 dignante. From this and other notes of the earlier scholiasts 
 it is evident that very early comparisons were made between 
 Statins and Vergil in which the former suffered greatly: and 
 some modern commentators see in Statins' tendency to exagger- 
 ation and the seeking of strange effects in description only a 
 determination to rival and surpass Ovid. 
 
 In his treatment of this motif the details of the earlier ver- 
 sion are present, but to further amplify the conception the 
 poet represents Atlas as crying out with the weight that has been 
 added to his shoulders by the commotion in heaven. And this 
 idea of the weight of the gods as pressing heavily on Atlas is 
 not new in itself: several references are found to it, mostly 
 however in Ovid and Statius. Vid. Theb. 5, 429 ; Silv. 1, 1, 
 56; Ov. Met. 9, 273. 
 
 But in this connection it is new. Two tendencies on the 
 part of the poet can be seen in this (1) his aptitude for en- 
 larging on material that he finds in other poets, material which 
 is usually the common stock of epic poetry, (2) the peculiar 
 nature of his faculty for description, which places before the 
 mind's eye, as if in a picture or work of sculpture, the object 
 or scene under consideration. 1 Statius seizes a striking mo- 
 ment in the scene and fixes it before one, thus giving one, as 
 it were, a photographic view. This is what he has done in 
 the present instance: Atlas is caught crying out, just as the 
 heavens seem to be slipping from his shoulders ; and we get 
 the picture of the upturned face remonstrating against the 
 added weight. 
 
 4 See Legras, op. cit., p. 273. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius 53 
 
 Theb. 8. 429. 
 
 In the description of the battle that rages outside the gates 
 of Thebes (Theb. 8, 428 ff.) occurs a passage which is interest- 
 ing in this connection. Menalcas, a leader in the Argive army, 
 is slain. Statius gives a description of his valiant conduct a 
 picture that is exaggerated and rhetorical. At the close are 
 two beautiful lines that recount the images that pass before 
 the eyes of the warrior in his last moments: 
 
 dilecta genis morientis oberrant 
 Taygeta et pugnae laudataque pectora matri. 
 
 These lines, according to the Lemaire ed. of Vergil and all 
 the later commentators, are an imitation of A en. 10, 782. The 
 Lemaire note is ' quidquid enim in vita carissimum habuimus, 
 redire nobis solet in mentem quum morimur.' It will be in- 
 structive to examine the Vergil passage, and see what Statius 
 owes to it as well as what he has added that is characteristic 
 of his own genius : 
 
 ilia volans clipeo est excussa proculque 
 egregium Antoren latus inter et ilia ngit, 
 Herculis Antoren comitem, qui missus ab Argis 
 haeserat Euandro, atque Itala consederat urbe. 
 sternitur infelix alieno vulnere, caelumque 
 aspicit, et dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos. 
 
 After Turnus, through Juno's device, is forced to voyage to 
 Ardea, Mezentius assumes command of the forces of the Rutuli, 
 and slaughters many of the Teucri. Antores falls from a shaft 
 hurled by the hand of Mezentius. The passage cited is a des- 
 cription of the manner of his death. 
 
 Here then is seen the original of the beautiful touch in 
 Statius. In Vergil's description the dying warrior looks up 
 to heaven as if loth to leave the light; and then before his 
 mind passes his beloved Argos the home of his childhood. 
 But this passage was discussed by ancient commentators, and 
 
54 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 its meaning does not seem to have been unanimously agreed 
 upon. A discussion of it will bear directly on our subject. 
 
 Servius' note on line 781, ' caelumque aspicit, 7 is as follows: 
 ' ut (4, 691) alto quaesivit caelo lucem item (10, 899) hausit 
 caelum mentemque recepit : naturaliter enim morientes cupiunt 
 satiari extremo lucis aspectu/ But Wagner expresses a doubt 
 as to Servius' interpretation in ' Naturaliter enim .... as- 
 pectu.' He continues ' ego nescio an ob ea, quae subiiciuntur 
 a poeta, illud " caelumque adspicit " rectius it a accipias ut 
 Antores caeli fatorumque crudelitatem tacite incusare signi- 
 ficetur; Eel. 5, 23, atque deos atque astra vocat crudelia mater.' 
 In line with this latter interpretation Forbiger adds ' Constat 
 enim quam miserum veteribus visum sit in aliena terra mori.' 
 And one might add that force is given to Wagner's suggestion 
 by the picture of his native Argos that immediately comes up 
 before the mind of the dying man : though Servius' explanation 
 is less subtle and hence under the circumstances to be preferred ; 
 and is besides paralleled in the passages cited. 
 
 The parallels suggested by Servius are A en. 4, 691, on the 
 death of Dido: and Aen. 10, 899, on the death of Mezentius. 
 
 As further illustrations of the phenomenon Cerda, the com- 
 mentator on Vergil, cites Ennius Ann. (18, 15 M.) ' Semi- 
 animesque micant oculi, lucemque requirunt ? and Euripides 
 Heracles (563) : 
 
 ov ptyeQ* AiSov rdaBe 7re/3/3oXa9 KO/JLTJ^ 
 /ecu (&>? avaj3\eecr6e TOV Karco CTKOTOV. 
 
 But we are concerned more especially with the other part 
 of the description (dulces moriens reminiscitur Argos) in mak- 
 ing a comparison with the Statins passage. Here Servius' 
 note is ' inter physica signa moriturorum ,etiam hoc legitur, 
 patriae aspectum desiderare perituros, ut (4, 468) et Tyrios 
 deserta quaerere. an ex facti poenitentia? qui ad patriam re- 
 dire contempserat.' I do not agree with Servius as to the 
 cause. The note in the Lemaire ed. (vid. sup.) is more to 
 the point. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 55 
 
 Compare with this the Statins passage mentioned above: 
 
 Principium pugnae turmas Asopius Hypseus 
 Oebalias (namque hae magnum et gentile tumentes 
 Euboicum duris rumpunt umbonibus agmen) 
 reppulit erepto cimei due-tore Menalca. 
 hie et mente Lacon, crudi torrentis alumnus 
 (nee turpavit avos) hastam ultra pectus euntem, 
 ne pudor in tergo, per et ossa et viscera retro 
 extrahit atque hosti dextra labente remittit 
 sanenrineam: dilecta genis morientis oberrant 
 
 O O 
 
 Taygeta et pugnae laudataque pectora matri. 
 
 The reading ' pectora' in 1. 437 is difficult: and until one 
 is acquainted with Statins' style he would be inclined to say 
 that it is too obscure. On account of this difficulty the text 
 seems to have been tampered with. The Oxford text gives 
 * pectora ' which I follow : the others give ' verbera.' Lactan- 
 tius followed this latter, and explained the reading thus : * lau- 
 dataque verbera matri/ Taurica quam Orestes de Scythia trans- 
 tulit: consueverat enim humano cruore placari. cuius cum 
 simulacrum in Laconiam delatum fuisset, ne quod piaculum 
 nasceretur intermissione solemnis saqfrificii neve crudelitati 
 Graeciae populus oboediret, inventum est ut inter se impuberes 
 pueri de sustinendis verberibus contenderent ac se in hanc pa- 
 tientiam provocarent, et super aram Dianae impositi flagellis 
 verberabantur tarn diu, donee ex humano corpore sanguis flu- 
 eret, qui instar esset sacrificii. hi autem pueri appellabantur 
 ftco/Aovi/cai,. So mucli for the explanation of the reading and 
 the account of the ceremony. 
 
 But why adopt the reading i pectora ' ? In accordance with 
 his view of the MSS., Garrod follows P. He says 'suspicor 
 igitur nos in ea recensione quam P offert Sevrepas fypovriSas 
 Statii habere: quas ille fortasse vivus non divulgavit sed in 
 avroypdcfrois reliquit ' (Praefatio to the Oxford edition, p. 4). 
 
 Without discussing this theory of the MS. and the relation 
 of P to the others one may say that, when the reference in the 
 
56 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 passage is understood, ' laudataque pectora matri ' seems a bet- 
 ter reading than ' laudataque verbera matri.' It is more in 
 keeping with the context, i ne pudor in tergo ' etc, : Statins 
 dwells particularly on the discipline in endurance that the 
 Spartan youths submitted to and which became second nature 
 to them. The reading i verbera ' probably crept in as an expla- 
 nation of ' pectora. 7 
 
 Hence Vergil's description of the image that comes up before 
 the dying man is much more simple than that in the Statins 
 passage. In the former, it is the thought of home and lone- 
 liness only a universal feeling : in Statius, however, associated 
 with the thought of home is all that home suggests the contests 
 by the Eurotas that hardened the spirit of the youthful Spartan 
 (see Lactantius, note on 1. 432) and the rites of Diana per- 
 formed in the presence of parents, and intended as a demon- 
 stration of physical courage. These details Statius cannot leave 
 out. His excessive love for description and the picturesque 
 makes him analyse the images that pass before the dying war- 
 rior's eyes and there they are presented to us as if on canvas. 
 To Vergil the pathos of the situation appealed: Statius saw 
 in it also an opportunity for picture drawing. 
 
 Theb. 8. 745. 
 
 An intensely dramatic description of the death of Tydeus is 
 given in the eighth book of the Thebaid. Tydeus falls mor- 
 tally wounded by a shaft from the hand of Melanippus: and 
 as he falls he summons his failing strength and with a last 
 effort hurls a javelin at Melanippus. The weapon hits the 
 mark. As a last request the dying Tydeus craves the body 
 of the man who has caused his death that he may sate his 
 hunger for revenge by a last look upon it. Capaneus volunteers 
 to gratify his wish : 
 
 moti omnes, sed primus abit primusque repertum 
 Astaciden medio Capaneus e pulvere tollit 
 spirantem laevaque super cervice reportat, 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 57 
 
 terga cruentantem concuss! vulneris unda: 
 qualis ab Arcadio rediit Tirynthius antro 
 captivumque suem clamantibus intulit Argis. 
 
 A vivid and gruesome picture, surpassed in gruesomeness 
 only by the succeeding description of Tydeus' conduct, is given 
 of Capaneus returning to Tydeus with his enemy's body. As 
 he bears on his left shoulder the body of Melanippus still show- 
 ing signs of life, the blood from the wound gushes forth and 
 pours down his back. Without pursuing the description fur- 
 ther, the poet turns and gives as a comparison the picture of 
 Heracles returning to Argos with the lifeless body of the Ery- 
 manthian boar thrown over his shoulder. At once one is re- 
 minded of the numerous representations of that scene. Even 
 the horror of the situation does not prevent Statius from re- 
 producing pictures in fact the description of Capaneus carry- 
 ing the body serves only as a suggestion for the conventional 
 motif that was represented on so many paintings and vases. 
 Again the poet leaves the reader with the impression of a 
 familiar picture, and not with that of his own description. 
 
 Theb. 9, 319. 
 
 In Book 9 there is a delightful picture of the Theban youth 
 Crenaeus in his native element, the river Ismenus. Crenaeus 
 was the son of the nymph Ismenis and Faunus, and the grand- 
 son of the river Ismenus. Craving a conflict with the Argive 
 warrior Hippomedon the lad seeks his native element in which 
 to encounter him, and in which he believes himself immortal. 
 The description runs as follows : 
 
 Gaudebat Fauno nymphaque Ismenide natus 
 maternis bellare tener Crenaeus in undis, 
 Crenaeus, cui prima dies in gurgite fido 
 et natale vadum et virides cunabula ripae. 
 ergo ratus nihil Elysias ibi posse sorores 
 laetus adulantem nunc hoc nunc margine ab illo 
 
58 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 transit avum, levat unda gradus, seu defluus ille, 
 sive obliquus eat; nee cum subit obvius, ullas 
 stagna dedere moras pariterque revertitur amnis. 
 non Anthedonii tegit hospitis inguina pontus 
 blandior, aestivo nee se magis aequore Triton 
 exserit, aut carae festinus ad oscula matris 
 cum remeat tardumque ferit delphina Palaemon. 
 arma decent umeros, clipeusque insignis et auro 
 lucidus Aoniae caelatur origine gentis. 
 
 The original of this conception of Crenaeus, entrusting him- 
 self to the stream in time of danger was undoubtedly Vergil 
 (Aen. 9. 815). Turnus after his fight with the followers of 
 Ascanius before the Trojan encampment leaps into the Tiber 
 to remove the marks of the long-continued encounter. Vergil 
 thus describes him : 
 
 Turn demum praeceps saltu s,ese omnibus armis 
 in fluvium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite fiavo 
 accepit venientem ac mollibus extulit undis 
 et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit. 
 
 Statius' description opens with a picture of the boy as he was 
 wont to play in the stream and sleep on its banks (11. 321, 
 322). And now as Crenaeus plunges in to engage Hippomedon 
 in battle, the water plays about him, lapping his body lovingly 
 (note the strange use of ' adulantem ') and he is borne up by it, 
 whether he swims across current or goes down with the stream. 
 Indeed, if he turns to swim upstream, the river turns its course 
 and goes with him. The poet now introduces comparisons 
 first, with Glaucus, the fisherman who had been transformed 
 into a creature half man, half fish: next, with Triton, as he 
 rises from the summer sea: and then, with Palaemon, whose 
 native element too is the water ; who rides about on his dolphin, 
 coming to the shore repeatedly to receive his fond mother's 
 caresses, and whipping his slow-moving dolphin. 
 
 The poet thus has passed from the natural description of 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 59 
 
 the object before his eyes, and drawn a succession of conven- 
 tional pictures, all beautiful in themselves, but conventional and 
 stereotyped nevertheless. Immediately their types in art are 
 suggested particularly that of Palaemon and his mother, 
 which has been treated eleswhere in this thesis. Nothing, it 
 seems to me, could show more clearly the tendency of Statius 
 towards the ' plastic ' in his style. But he goes still further. 
 After giving this series of pictures to arrest the eye in successive 
 moments, he passes to a detailed description of Crenaeus as 
 he swam in the river, and makes of him a ' work of art/ noting 
 the fit of the armour on his shoulders, and recounting the scenes 
 embossed on his shield of gold. His treatment of these scenes 
 upon the shield does not concern us here: our task at present 
 is to show the influence of art on his description, particularly 
 where it may be unconscious in the poet: to show that the 
 ' plastic ? style was natural to him, and reflected a tendency 
 of the age in which he worked. 
 
 Theb. 9. 399. 
 
 The treatment of Ismenis sorrowing for the death of her 
 son Crenaeus affords another opportunity of observing the qual- 
 ity of the poet's genius. The youth trusting too much to the 
 power of the river-god, his grandsire, had drawn Hippomedon 
 to a conflict in the river, and had perished in spite of all the 
 god could do on his side. In words of bitter reproach against 
 her father Ismenis gives vent to her sorrow, that a mere mor- 
 tal should destroy the life of one who had a god and goddess 
 for his parents. Then she breaks out into wild lamentation, 
 beating her breast all the while; and the river nymphs re-echo 
 her wailing: 
 
 his miscet planctus multumque indigna cruentat 
 pectora, caeruleae referunt 1 amenta sorores : 
 qualiter Isthmiaco nondum Nereida portu 
 Leucothean planxisse ferunt, dum pectore anhelo 
 frigidus in matrem saevum mare respuit infans. 
 
60 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Several parallels to the lamentation of Ismenis suggest them- 
 selves, but the parallel that strikes one first, as he reads the 
 story of Crenaeus, is the story of Hylas, and Heracles' grief 
 for him, given in Ap. Rh. 1. 1205-1360, 1 Theocritus 13, Pro- 
 pertius 1, 20, and Valerius Maccus 3, 593 if. Another par- 
 allel is the Orpheus myth in Georg. 4, 453-527. These may 
 be made use of as a standard of comparison for Statius' treat- 
 ment of a story that presents possibilities of similar treatment. 
 
 What Statius has added may be seen best by putting beside 
 the passage cited the versions of the story as given by the 
 poets mentioned above. In the Theocritus version Heracles is 
 represented as starting out to search for the boy, thinking that 
 because he is tardy about returning to the ship some evil must 
 have befallen him. In a few words Theocritus tells of the 
 hero's grief and his attempts to find the missing boy : 
 
 T/>i<? fAev t "T\av avaev, ocrov ftapvs tfpvye \CUJJLOS 
 rpls & ap' 6 Trais vTrd/covaev apcua ' tvcero cjxova 
 Trapeaiv 8e fjud\a o-%$bv el'Sero 
 
 Here appears the motif of the answer to his cry, coming in 
 this case from the youth as he lay in the lap of the fountain 
 nymph at the bottom of the spring. In the later versions this 
 sorrowing cry is re-echoed by the river-banks or nymphs. 
 
 Compare with this a similar passage in Vergil (Georg. 4, 
 523), the Orpheus myth. Orpheus' body is dismembered by 
 the Thracian Bacchantes and his head is carried down the 
 Hebrus : 
 
 Turn quoque marmorea caput a cervice revulsum 
 gurgite quum medio portans Oeagrius Hebrus 
 volveret, ' Eurydicen 7 vox ipsa et frigida lingua, 
 ' ah miseram Eurydicen ! ' anima f ugiente vocabat ; 
 ' Eurydicen ' toto referebant flumine ripae. 
 
 a The version of Apollonius is slightly different from the later adapta- 
 tions. The more sentimental form of Theocritus and Propertius is 
 followed by Valerius Flaccus and Statius. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 61 
 
 Here the river-banks re-echo Orpheus' cry of grief. In the 
 Propertius passage Hercules replies to the frightened cry of 
 Hylas as he is snatched into the fountain's depths by the 
 nymphs : 
 
 prolapsum leviter facili traxere liquore: 
 turn sonitum rapto corpore fecit Hylas. 
 cui procul Alcides iterat responsa: sed illi 
 nomen ab extremis fontibus aura refert 
 
 (Prop. 1, 20, 47). 
 
 Valerius Flaccus following Apollonius of Rhodes gives a 
 somewhat lengthy account of the loss of Hylas and Hercules' 
 vain search for him. He picks up the motif of Vergil's i Or- 
 pheus ' passage, and represents the woods as answering his sor- 
 rowful lament. He goes further yet, and personifies the echo 
 (cert at imago) and makes it answer the hero from all directions 
 (vaga) : 
 
 volat ordine nullo 
 
 cuncta petens; nunc ad ripas deiectaque saxis 
 numina, nunc totas nemorum procurrit ad umbras, 
 rursus Hylan et rursus Hylan per longa reclamat 
 avia : responsant silvae et vaga certat imago. 
 
 (Arg. 3. 593). 
 
 Let us see then what our poet has done with a similar situ- 
 ation. After pouring out the anger of her soul against her 
 father Ismenus, the nymph Ismenis stands by the bank of the 
 stream wildly beating her breast and uttering loud lamentations 
 over the loss of her son. Her wailing is re-echoed by the 
 nymphs of the river. Thus far Statius keeps within the tra- 
 ditional manner of presenting this situation, and his treatment 
 is as natural as that of the others. But again his subject takes 
 a statue-form. Ismenis, as she stands on the bank of the 
 Ismenus, is like another, a traditional, grief-stricken mother, 
 sorrowing for her child. Hence his description changes over 
 to the conventional picture of Leucothoe as she stood by the Gulf 
 
62 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 of Corinth, in wild grief for her son whom she had thrown into 
 the sea. The touch of real feeling is gone, and the description 
 has become stereotyped. Our mind is taken from Ismenis and 
 our eye directed to a statue. 
 
 Theb. 9. 678. 
 
 A further illustration of this peculiarity of Statius' style 
 is seen in the incident recorded in Bk. 9, 678 if. The rival 
 Argive and Theban armies are drawn up in the plain before 
 Thebes. The leaders on both sides have been slain, but the 
 opposing armies are all the more thirsty for each other's blood. 
 At this point Diana appears, gliding down through the air, 
 and takes up her position on Mt. Cithaeron. At her approach 
 the hills recognize her and the woods tremble before her as one 
 whom they had occasion to fear of old : 
 
 cum lapsa per auras 
 vertice Dircaei velox Latonia rnontis 
 astitit ; agnoscunt colles notamque tremescit 
 silva deam, saevis ubi quondam exserta sagittis 
 fecundam lasso Nioben consumpserat arcu. 
 
 Two features of this description strike the student of Statius. 
 The first is the extension of the motif that is common enough 
 in Latin and Greek poetry, namely, that of the response in 
 inanimate nature to the feeling of the presence of a god, whether 
 this response is indicated by the emotion of fear or its opposite l 
 the emotion of awe or whatever it may be: the second is his 
 manner of dealing with the description of Diana, as she stands 
 on Mt. Cithaeron, surveying the field of battle. 
 
 The motif referred to may be illustrated by a passage from 
 Vergil (Aen. 6, 2565.). Here the approach of Hecate as she 
 comes up from the under world is signalised by a sympathetic 
 movement on the part of nature: 
 
 *Aen., 1, 155. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 63 
 
 ecce autem, primi sub lumina soils et ortus, 
 sub pedibus mugire solum, et iuga coepta mover! 
 silvarum, visaeque canes ululare per umbram, 
 adventante dea. 
 
 The early commentators on Vergil note that this representa- 
 tion of a commotion in nature at the advent of a god or demi- 
 god or fury was the product of the Alexandrian writers: and 
 the Elzv. ed. gives a note of Taubmann to A en. 3. 90: ( Haec 
 deum praesentem esse indicio erant: et turn vera reddebantur 
 oracula, sicut, eo absente, falsa.' And as an illustration, on 
 the negative side, the commentator cites Lucan Phars. 5, 152, 
 which refers to Phoebas, the priestess of Apollo: 
 
 non rupta trementi 
 
 verba sono nee vox antri complere capacis 
 sufficiens spatium nulloque horrore comarum 
 excussae laurus immotaque limina templi 
 securumque nemus veritam se credere Phoebo 
 prodiderant .... 
 
 This passage, says the commentator, has for its source Calli- 
 machus, Hymn to Apollo, 5. 1 ff. : 
 
 olov 6 TWTTo'XXwi/o? etretVaro Sdcfrvivos opTrrj^ 
 
 old 8' 6\OV TO /Ji\aOpOV 
 
 With the Vergil passage cited above compare also Eclogue 
 4, 50,51: 
 
 aspice convexo nutantem pondere mundum 
 terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum. 
 
 On this passage C. S. Jerram says ' All nature is moved and 
 trembles at the advent of the deity. Compare Ps. 68, 8 and 
 114. 7: also Aen. 3. 90, etc., where the temple and its environs 
 shake at Apollo's coming.' 
 
 With Jerram's note compare that of Deuticke referring: to 
 the same Eclogue (50. 51) <Wie A. 3, 90 und 6, 256 beim 
 
64 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Erscheinen einer Gottheit die Erde bebt, so lasst V. hier die 
 ganze Welt vor dem erwarteten Erstling erschauern. Ygl. Sib. 
 3, 675 : yala Se Trayyevereipa aakevaerai TJ/nao-i Keivot,<$ X 1 P^ ^ 7r> 
 aOavdroio .... /cat Tracra 6d\a(r<Ta $pi%ei VTT aOavdroio 
 TTpoaaiTTOV teal (j)d/3os earai.' 
 
 A better example, however, is furnished by Ap. Eh. (Arg. 
 3, 1212 if.) where Jason calls upon Hecate to come up from 
 Hades and attend his sacrifice. The goddess approaches, at- 
 tended by all the horrors that surround her in the world below, 
 and Apollonius thus describes her: 
 
 77 8' aiovcra 
 
 Ipols AloroviSao Treptf; $e fjuv eo-re<f)dv(t)VTo 
 eoi Spvivouri pera TrrdpBoio-i 
 8' aireipecnov Sat'Scov creXa? a/j,(j)l 8e 
 v\a/crj ^OoviOL KVV& e<f>0eyryovTO . 
 Triorea 5' er/oe/ie Trdvra Kara o"ri(3ov ' at 8' b\6\v%av 
 eXeiovdfJLOi, Troraft^t^e?, at Trepl 
 
 As the Eury passes over the earth all the meadows tremble 
 along her pathway (/cara crrtftov) and the nymphs of the streams 
 cry out. Compare Aen. 4, 490, where Anna is explaining to 
 Dido the portents by which she will recognise the approach of 
 the Eury : 
 
 mugire videbis 
 sub pedibus terram, et descendere montibus ornos. 
 
 Ovid (Met. 4, 486 ff.), describing Tisiphone as she comes 
 up from Hades to enflame Athamas, introduces the motif: 
 
 postes tremuisse feruntur 
 Aeolii, pallorque fores infecit Avernus 
 Solque locum fugit . . . 
 
 and Ruperti in a note on Sil. Ital. 2, 543 gives it as his opinion 
 that his poet must have had the Ovid passage in mind while 
 describing his Eury as she attacked Carthage : 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius 65 
 
 sic voce instinmlans dextra Dea concita saevam 
 Eumenida incussit muris, tremuitque repente 
 mons circum et gravior sonuit per litora fhictus. 
 
 However, it seems more natural when we consider the great 
 extent to which Silius was a borrower from Vergil, and note 
 the similarity in phrase, to say rather that he had in mind 
 Aen. 3, 90: 
 
 vix ea fatus eram: tremere omnia visa repente, 
 liminaque laurusque dei ; totusque moveri 
 mons circum, et mugire adytis cortina reclusis. 
 
 To be sure, the occasion is similar to that in the Ovid passage, 
 but the description is Vergilian. 
 
 Statius again (Tlfieb. 1, 88) has a passage that is parallel to 
 these, yet varied after his usual manner. Tisiphone comes up 
 from Tartarus on her fell mission to the brothers Eteocles and 
 Polynices : and as she approaches horror seizes upon nature : 
 
 sensit adesse dies, piceo nox obvia nimbo 
 lucentes turbavit equos: procul arduus Atlas 
 horruit et dubia caelum cervice remisit. 
 
 This then, I take it, is the origin of the motif in the Diana 
 passage (cited above). It came into Greek literature compara- 
 tively late, as we have seen. Of all the many visits that Iris 
 makes to earth in the Iliad, none are attended by any show of 
 fear or sympathy on the part of inanimate nature. Nor, 
 indeed, are any of the other gods greeted with these tokens of 
 fear. Sometimes the hills shake and the forests wave beneath 
 them, but it is from the motion of their feet as they pass over. 
 In Euripides (Here. Fur. 822 ff.) Lyssa is sent by Juno upon 
 Heracles, and a great commotion ensues upon her approach 
 but it is a commotion among the attendants. 
 
 Let us see then in what respect Statius alters this bit of tradi- 
 tional epic material. As Diana comes down through the air 
 and settles on Mt. Cithaeron, the hills recognize her and trem- 
 
66 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 ble, presumably from fear of what she may do. In the Apollo- 
 nius passage (cited above) the meadows and nymphs tremble 
 also, undoubtedly, there, because of the horrors by which the 
 Fury was accompanied. Here, however, Statius makes the 
 hills and woods remember the goddess and the cruel deeds she 
 had once performed on that very spot. This gives him his 
 opportunity to introduce an allusion to Niobe and the slaughter 
 of her children, and to draw a picture of the goddess as she 
 stood there on the mountain-top. 
 
 This device of endowing nature with more or less reasoning 
 power is new, and represents a peculiar characteristic of Sta- 
 tius. Much the same phenomenon is seen in Valerius Flaccus 
 (Arg. 3, 584). Here Hercules, realising that Hylas is lost, 
 starts up through the forests to search for him, and nature 
 catching the spirit of sorrow and anger in the hero, and feeling 
 somehow a share of guilt (conscia 1 ) for the loss of the boy, is 
 terrified as to what outrages he may commit: 
 
 pavet omnis conscia late 
 silva, pavent montes, luctu succensus acerbo 
 quid struat Alcides, tantaque quid apparet ira. 
 
 But it is the second feature of Statius' description that 
 claims particular attention: 
 
 saevis ubi quondam exserta sagittis 
 fecundam lasso Nioben consumpserat arcu. 
 
 The hills and woods tremble when they behold the goddess as 
 they once beheld her after she had wearied herself with the 
 slaughter of Niobe's children. It appears as if Statius had in 
 mind a passage of Ovid (Met. 6, 216) which describes Apollo 
 and Diana coming down to Citha3ron to avenge themselves on 
 
 1 Burmann favors this interpretation of ' conscia.' His note on ( conscia 
 silva ' is as follows ' Raptus scilicet Hylae. Male Pius, quasi refugium 
 se esse et auctorem tabanorum sciret, vel consciam, pallidam ab eventu 
 explicat. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 67 
 
 Niobe for her presumption. The phrase ' per aera lapsu ' 
 would suggest that at least: 
 
 dixit idem Phoebe, celerique per aera lapsu 
 contigerant tecti Cadmeida nubibus arcem. 
 
 At any rate Statins has reproduced, in the form of a statue as 
 it were, the image of Diana as she appeared to the hills and 
 woods when that memorable event took place. His description 
 seems to have passed naturally into the description of a draped 
 female statue, and the introduction of the allusion seems to 
 have been made for the sole purpose of giving this effect. De- 
 tails of pose and costume are given the bow hangs by her side, 
 wearied with slaughter, the robe is thrown back from the breast 
 (exserta), as it had been arranged to allow free use of the bow. 
 
 Theb. 10. 84. 
 
 In his description of the Palace of Sleep (Theb. 10. 84 ff.) 
 may be seen a further illustration of this tendency of Statius 
 to the i plastic ? in description. Ovid is for the most part 
 his source, though some features he gets from Vergil, and some 
 from Lucan, while he himself adds a few new details. A com- 
 parison with Ovid, how,ever, will show outstanding differences 
 of style. Of course, if the influence of art were apparent 
 anywhere in a poet's description it would be seen here, in the 
 manner in which he enters into details of architecture and con- 
 struction, in the tendency to overdo minute description of or- 
 nament, statuary, etc. 
 
 1. 84. Stat super occiduae nebulosa cubilia noctis 
 
 1. 106. hae species: ipse autem umentia subter 
 
 antra soporifero stipatos flore tapetas 
 incubat: exhalant vestes et corpore pigro 
 strata calent, supraque torum niger efflat anhelo 
 ore vapor ; manus haec f usos a tempore laevo 
 
68 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 sustentat crines, haec cornu oblita remisit. 
 adsunt innumero circum vaga Somnia vultu, 
 vera simul falsis permixtaque *flumina flammis* 
 noctis opaca colors, trabibusque aut postibus haerent, 
 aut tellure iacent. tennis qua circuit aulam 
 invalidusque nitor, primosque hortantia somnos 
 languida succiduis exspirant lumina flammis. 
 
 For the sake of brevity and that at the conclusion of the 
 treatment of this example results may be more easily sum- 
 marised, let us note the outstanding features in Statins' des- 
 cription. The palace of the god is situated above the cloudy 
 beds of western night (note that in the various authors different 
 places are assigned as the abode of sleep; for an explanation 
 of Lemnos as the home of sleep see Leaf's note on Iliad 14, 
 225). Here in a cave that extends far back beneath a moun- 
 tain the god has established his Penates. On the threshold of 
 the Palace, Quiet and Forgetfulness in statue-like form keep 
 watch in company with sleepy-faced Sloth: in the vestibule 
 sit Idleness and Silences with pinions pressed close to their 
 side: they drive the winds away, and keep them from stirring 
 the branches, and hush the note of birds. Around this palace, 
 though the waves beat against the shore, there is no sound from 
 the sea, no noise in the air. The river lies quiet within its 
 rocky bed. Black herds of cattle roam all about; and as they 
 lie down the grass beneath them withers. 
 
 Within the palace are numerous representations of Sleep in 
 relief work. 1 First, he is shown lying down with Pleasure by 
 his side in another quarter Toil reclines with him and in 
 another Bacchus or Love shares his couch or again his com- 
 panion is Death, his gloomy visage seen by no one. Farther 
 within the palace the god himself reclines on carpets steeped 
 in the juice of sleep-producing flowers. Warm steam rises 
 from his body, and black vapor issues from his puffing nostrils. 
 Over the left hand falls the hair that hangs from his left 
 
 1 See Spence, Polymetis, p. 265. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 69 
 
 temple from the right hand he has let slip his horn in forget- 
 fulness. All about him are wandering Dreams of diverse fea_- 
 tures. These lean up against the pillars or recline upon the 
 ground. A thin rare light pervades the place, a light whose 
 very dimness invites sleep. 
 
 As noted above Statius' description is modelled after that of 
 Ovid (Met. 11, 592 ff.) : 
 
 592 Est prope Cimmerios longo spelunca recessu, 
 mons cavus, ignavi domus et penetralia Somni, 
 quo numquam radiis oriens, mediusve, cadensve 
 Phoebus adire potest. . . . 
 
 610 at medio torus est ebeno sublimis in antro, 
 plumeus, atricolor, pullo velamine tectus, 
 quo cubat ipse deus membris languors solutis. 
 hunc circa passim varias imitantia formas 
 Somnia vana iacent totidem, quot messis aristas, 
 silva gerit frondes, eiectas litus harenas. 
 quo simul intravit manibusque obstantia virgo 
 Somnia dimovit, vestis fulgore reluxit 
 sacra domus, tardaque deus gravitate iacentes 
 vix oculos tollens iterumque iterumque relabens 
 summaque percutiens nutanti pectora mento 
 excussit tandem sibi se cubitoque levatus, 
 quid veniat (cognovit enim), scitatur. 
 
 In many of its features the description of the palace of Sleep 
 is original with Ovid, though the source of the fancy is Alex- 
 andrian. Here the locality is different from, that in which 
 Statius places it. The absence of noise is again a character- 
 istic the wakeful cock does not call up dawn with his crowing : 
 the howl of the dog and the cry of the goose are still. (In 
 contrast note that in Lucian's description, Ver. Hist. 2, 32, 
 40 ff., the cock is one of the deities worshipped in the realm of 
 Sleep : at one of the gates of the city is a temple to ' AXe/crpvcov) 
 And besides, no sound is heard from the animals, no noise from 
 trees rustling in the wind, no sound of human voice. From 
 
70 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 the foot of the rock rises the river Lethe, the whisper of whose 
 waters as they pass over the stones induces soft sleep. Before 
 the doors of the palace grow the poppy and numerous grasses 
 from whose juices Night distills sleeping-drugs, and scatters 
 them over the earth. No doors has the dwelling to rouse with 
 their creaking the sleeping god. 
 
 In the centre of the palace is a couch of soft feathers, with 
 black covering. On this the god reclines, his limbs relaxed 
 with weariness. About him lie dreams, that present various 
 shapes, as many in number as the sands of the sea, the ears of 
 the harvest, or the leaves of the wood. 
 
 The other passage to which Statius was indebted is Vergil, 
 A en. 6. 268 ff. a description of the palace of Dis : 
 
 1. 274. vestibulum ante ipsum primisque in faucibus Orel 
 Luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae, 
 pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus 
 et Metus, et malesuada Fames, ac turpis Egestas, 
 terribiles visu f ormae, Letumque Labosque ; 
 turn consanguineus Leti Sopor, et mala mentis 
 Gaudia, mortiferumque adverse in limine Bellum, 
 ferreique Eumenidum thalami et Discordia demens 
 vipereum crinem vittis innexa cruentis. 
 
 In medio ramos annosaque bracchia pandit 
 ulmus opaca, ingens, quam sedem Somnia vulgo 
 vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus haerent. 
 multaque praeterea variarum monstra ferarum. 
 Centauri in foribus stabulant, Scyllaeque biformes 
 et centumgeminus Briareus, ac belua Lernae 
 horrendum stridens, flammisque armata Chimaera, 
 Gorgones, Harpyiaeque, et forma Tricorporis umbrae. 
 
 The inhabitants of Dis are arranged into three groups in 
 Vergil's account. At the threshold at the front of the palace, 
 and grouped about it, Grief and Avenging Cares have their 
 beds. Here, too, are pale Disease, sad Old Age, Fear, Hunger, 
 Indigence, Death, Toil. At the threshold to the rear stand 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 71 
 
 Sleep, Death's kinsman, Evil Joys of the mind, fatal War, the 
 brazen chambers of the Avenging Sisters, mad Discord with 
 snake-locks. In the centre is a dark, shady elm with wide- 
 spreading branches the abode of Dreams. These lurk be- 
 neath all the leaves. Besides these groups, within the front 
 threshhold are stalled Centaurs, Scylla, Briareus, the Lernaean 
 Hydra, the Chimaera, Gorgons, Harpies and the triple-bodied 
 Geryon. 
 
 A brief comparison with Ovid's treatment of the motif will 
 bring out the peculiarities of Statius' style. The feature of 
 quietness that characterises the place Ovid expresses simply 
 no wakeful cock is there to summon Dawn with his crowing: 
 no sound from barking dogs or screeching geese: no noise from 
 animals that roam about, or from the trees amid whose branches 
 the wind passes: only the river Lethe with its whispering 
 waters lulls to sleep those who dwell there. 
 
 Statius' treatment is much more artificial. To express the 
 same feature of quietness he places at the entrance of the pal- 
 ace demi-gods who stand there like statues Quies, Oblivio, Ig- 
 navia, Otia, Silentia. The river Lethe lies still within its bed : 
 there is no sign of movement anywhere. And, not content 
 with making these beings statue-like, he goes on to place within 
 the palace numerous real figures of the Sleep-god, which Vulcan 
 had curiously wrought. Here is a group of Sleep and Pleasure 
 reclining: here Sleep and Toil sinking down with exhaustion: 
 in another place he occupies a couch with Bacchus, in another 
 with Love; or again with Death, farther within the palace. 
 So much for groups of ornamental sculpture. 
 
 In the description of the god himself characteristic differ- 
 ences are noted. Statius enters much more into detail and the 
 god as he describes him is much more statue-like. Ovid dis- 
 misses the god with one line Quo cubat ipse deus membris lan- 
 guore solutis : Statius dwells on the picture presented by the god 
 as he lay there the pose, arrangement of hair, position of 
 arms, etc., are given. The left hand supports the hair that 
 hangs from the left temple: his horn has fallen from his right 
 
72 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 hand and lies with it by his side unheeded. With his Dreams 
 too Statins gets an ornamental effect, representing them as 
 </ clinging to the beams or pillars or lying on the ground, while 
 Ovid pictures them only as lying on the ground. In this Sta- 
 tius is borrowing from Vergil (1. c.) who makes them cling to 
 the elm tree in the abode of Pluto. 
 
 With this comparison at hand one does not need to dogmatise 
 on his thesis; all that seems necessary is an examination of 
 the passages. But to strengthen the case a comparison with the 
 Vergil passage would not be superfluous indeed, might seem 
 necessary. Vergil in his description of the abode of Dis fills 
 the palace with demi-gods, or at least with beings not of human 
 mould. In his description these are given their conventional 
 epithets: in Statius the epithets define more closely and give 
 more the impression of a description of a statue. Note these in 
 Vergil ultrices Curae, pallentes Morbi, tristis Senectus, tur- 
 pis Egestas. True, Discordia is described as the conventional 
 fury with snake-locks. Compare in Statius, vigili torpeus 
 Ignavia vultu, pressis Silentia pinnis, in requiem vergens La- 
 bor, redimita Voluptas. And then there is nothing in the 
 Vergil passage that gives the statue-like pose of the sleeping god. 
 
 With the Statius passage under consideration compare the 
 description of the Abode of Mars (Theb. 7, 47 if.) : 
 
 1. 56. occultisque ensibus astant 
 Insidiae geminumque tenens Discordia ferrum. 
 immmeris strepit aula Minis, tristissima Virtus 
 stat medio, laetusque Furor vultuque cruento 
 Mors armata sedet 
 
 An effect somewhat similar to that produced by Statius' 
 description (loc. cit., 11. 106 ff.) is given by Vergil, Eclog. 6, 
 13 ff.: 
 
 Chromis et Mnasylos in antro 
 Silenum pueri somno videre iacentem, 
 inflatum hesterno venas, ut semper, laccho ; 
 serta procul, tantum capiti delapsa, iacebant 
 et gravis attrita pendebat cantharus ansa. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Siatius 73 
 
 Undoubtedly we have here a picture: Silenus is lying down, 
 bloated from his revels of the preceding day. At some little 
 distance from him lie the garlands that adorned him in his 
 revels ; and his hand still clutches the tankard with worn handle. 
 Perhaps Statius may have had this passage in mind: or some 
 picture that gave the suggestion. 
 
74 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 SOME PASSAGES CITED BY LEGEAS. 
 
 It would seem that Legras saw this characteristic of Statins' 
 style (see Legras, Etude sur la TJiebaide de Stace, 1905). But 
 he has barely touched on it indeed the example he cites would 
 scarcely convince one that he really saw the tendency fully. 
 Here is what he says ' Stace dans ses descriptions comme dans 
 ses episodes, etend ses modeles et montre avec plus de details 
 ce qu'ils ne font qu'indiquer ; cela lui est facile, car il a le style 
 naturellement plastique, et il rend aussi bien, semble-t-il, les 
 groupes vivants que les statues et les tableaux. On en a deja 
 donne la preuve en etudiant 1'attitude de ses lutteurs et ses 
 discoboles (p. 263, op. cit.) ; en voici un nouvel exemple, plus 
 decisif encore: 
 
 inter adhortaiites vix sponte incedit Adrastus, 
 contentus ferro cingi latus: arma manipli 
 pone ferunt, volucres portis auriga sub ipsis 
 comit equos, et iam inde iugo luctatur Arion. 
 
 (4, 40 ff.)- 
 
 Rien de mieux compose, ni de plus vivant, et pourtant la scene 
 ne peut guere avoir ete figuree par un artiste ; Stace a du s'in- 
 spirer, pour 1'essentiel, de ce qu'il a vu au cirque dans les cour- 
 ses des chars.' And further in a note he continues i Dans la 
 peinture meme des animaux, Stace a du se rappeler aussi, 
 comme tant de peintres de Pompei (cf. Helbig, Untersuch. lib. 
 d. Campan. Wandmaler. 1873, 92 sq.) les combats du cirque, 
 d' animaux contre belluaires, ou d' animaux contre animaux.' 
 
 Now, at the outset, one may remark that aside from this 
 Adrastus passage all those cited by Legras refer to forms of 
 athletes or to athletic contests. It would be difficult indeed 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 75 
 
 for a poet, describing a boxing match or wrestling bout or 
 chariot-race or foot-race, to prevent his description from drawing 
 forms of statues, so to speak, inasmuch as sculpture had for 
 its subjects the forms of athletes, or the representations of 
 certain moments in an athletic contest or display of skill. To 
 be convinced of this one need only examine the treatment of 
 similar themes in other poets, and note that they too seem to 
 place before one's eyes a sculpture or painting in their de- 
 scription of an athletic event. 
 
 But before passing to an examination of the other passages 
 suggested by Legras, a word about this description of Adrastus. 
 The occasion is the preparation for the departure of the Argive 
 army for Thebes. Adrastus has given his consent to the war 
 against Eteocles, and the hosts begin to assemble. The aged 
 king Adrastus, as he prepares to mount his chariot is attended 
 by his squires. Here can be seen grouping as in a fresco: but 
 the occasion is much like that of a chariot-race, and hence the 
 tendency towards the plastic is here not so remarkable. But 
 in his description of Sol as he sinks with his weary steeds be- 
 neath the western horizon (Theb. 3, 409), an occasion where 
 the familiar preparation for athletic contests s'hould not exert 
 any influence: but which in other respects is similar, Statins 
 has grouped his figures with even more detail. 
 
 Barth points out that the passage cited by Legras is taken 
 from Vergil (Aen. 12, 82 ff.). 
 
 Here Turnus prepares to go out and engage Aeneas in hand 
 to hand conflict, and about him his comrades throng to prepare 
 him for the encounter. The effect of a fresco is given here 
 just as much as in the Statius passage: on one side Turnus 
 arms himself on the other a group of squires prepare his 
 horses, some patting their flanks and others combing out their 
 manes. The only difference is that the groups are not so 
 numerous. 
 
 The Chariot-race. One of the other passages suggested by 
 Legras is the chariot-race, Theb. 6, 416 ff., where the vividness 
 of the description puts the scene before the reader's eyes as if 
 
76 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 it were being enacted in the circus. One cannot say that the 
 description is suggested by a work of art rather than by observa- 
 tion of the event in the circus, but whichever way we interpret 
 it, the same tendency is shown: 
 
 mine avidi prono iuga pectore tangunt 
 mine pugnante genu et pressis duplicantur habeiiis. 
 colla toris crinita tument, stantisque repectit 
 aura iubas, bibit albentis humus avida nimbos. 
 
 That Statius was indebted to Homer for such vividness of 
 description Legras does not admit. He says (p. 263) ' n'eut-il 
 pas eu Homere sous les yeux qu'ici il eut ete aussi energique 
 et aussi precis ' ; but as suggested above, the subject lends itself 
 to such treatment. Manilius (5, 71 ff.) has a similar passage. 
 He is describing the rising of the constellation Heniochus, the 
 Wagoner, and his swift flight across the sky; and Breiter in 
 his note draws attention to the fact that his description recalls 
 the tricks of the circus: 
 
 Hie dabit proprium studium caeloque retentas, 
 quas prius in terris agitator amaverat, artes: 
 stare levi curru moderantem quattuor ora 
 spumigeris frenata lupis et flectere equorum 
 praevalidas vires ac torto stringere gyro, 
 sed cum laxato fugerunt cardine claustra, 
 exagitare feros pronumque anteire volantis 
 vixque rotis levibus summum contingere campum 
 vincentem pedibus ventos. . . . 
 
 Statius' description is more powerful and vivid, but Manilius 
 has nevertheless all the details. Compare the passage cited by 
 Earth from Sidonius Apollinaris (see Earth's notes to Statius, 
 1. c.). The passage refers to the chariot-race in the games 
 held on Jan. 1 : 
 
 Instant verberibus simul regentes 
 iamque et pectora prona de covino 
 extensi rapiuntur, et iugales 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 77 
 
 trans armos feriunt, vacante tergo, 
 nee cernas cito, cernuos magistros 
 temones mage sufferant, an axes. 
 
 (Sid. Apoll. 23, 350). 
 
 As a proof that this vividness of description was not due to 
 borrowing from Homer, Legras cites Tlieb. 6, 590 where the 
 pose of the youthful athletes preparing for a start in a foot-race 
 is described. For this, he says, there is no Homeric back- 
 ground : 
 
 poplite nunc sidunt flexo, nunc lubrica forti 
 pectora conlidunt plausu, nunc ignea tollunt 
 crura, brevemque fugam necopino fine reponunt. 
 
 Statius 7 description of Phlegyas throwing the discus (Theb. 6, 
 678 ff.) is also taken as a proof that the poet was no mere imi- 
 tator of Homer. This is the passage which some interpreters 
 of Statius maintained owed its inspiration to Myron's ' Disko- 
 bolos ' (Vid. K. Fr. Hermann, Uber den Kunstsinn der Rome,*, 
 p. 30 ff.), but which Gaymann (Kunstarchdologisclie Studien, 
 p. 27) contends need not be referred to that work of art. Le- 
 gras agrees with the latter that the description is original with 
 Statius, that he is merely drawing a word picture of a scene 
 he had beheld often in the circus, ' Stace ne parait devoir qu 7 
 a lui-meme ces peintures, et elles sont vivantes. 7 
 
 But what is original with Statius is not so easy to deter- 
 mine. As Legras himself remarks he watches Ovid very 
 closely. Anyhow, even where he is not altogether original he 
 can be counted on for additional details. This has been seen 
 already and can be further illustrated by an examination of 
 his description of the wrestling bout between Tydeus and Agyl- 
 leus (Theb. 6, 835 n.) and a comparison of his treatment of the 
 themes with that of poets that preceded 'him : 
 
 levat ardua contra 
 
 membra Cleonaeae stirpis iactator Agylleus, 
 Herculea nee mole minor, sic grandibus alte 
 insurgens humeris hominem super improbus exit. 
 
78 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 The passage is too long to be cited in full, so I shall resort to 
 a summary to make the comparison with Ovid. 
 
 The motif goes back to Apollonius of Rhodes (2, 30 ff.) the 
 fight of Polydeukes and Amykos: with him, however, the de- 
 scription is not so detailed as in the later poets. (1) The 
 combatants strip for the contest: 
 
 ev6 y airo TvvSapiSrjs [lev ev&TiTrrov Oero 
 \eTna\eoVj TO pd ol TLS eov %zivr)iQV elvai 
 wTracre A.rj^md8a)v o 8' epepvrjv ^LTrrv^a XCOTTTJV 
 /cd/3/3a\e, rrjv <fropeecr/cev, bpiTpefyeos KOTLVOLO. 
 
 (2) The description of the fighters: here he does not go into 
 such detail as do Vergil and Ovid: there is not so much posing 
 as in the later accounts. (3) The picture of the bystanders 
 the sympathisers with each side. 
 
 The fight of Entellus and Dares in Aen. 5, 421 ff. is an 
 adaptation of this motif. The description is more elaborate 
 than in Apollonius. (1) The contestants strip and put on 
 the caestus: 
 
 haec fatus duplicem ex humeris reiecit amictum, 
 et magnos membrorum artus, magna ossa lacertosque 
 exuit, atque ingens media consistit harena. 
 turn satus Anchisa caestus pater extulit aequos 
 et paribus palmas amborum innexuit 'armis. 
 
 (2) They pose and get set for the attack: 
 
 constitit in digitos extemplo arrectus uterque, 
 bracchiaque ad superos interritus extulit auras. 
 
 (3) The combat they spar for openings in each other's de- 
 fense. (4) Near the fighters are the prizes a bull and a 
 wreath : 
 
 dixit et adversi contra stetit ora iuvenci 
 qui donum adstabat pugnae. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 79 
 
 The parallel passage in Ovid is the description given by the 
 river-god Achelous of the struggle in which Hercules van- 
 quished him (Met. 9, 31 ff.). The several steps in the de- 
 scription are as follows: the preparation stripping for the 
 bout (1. 32) : sprinkling of the opponents with sand (35, 36) : 
 sparring for holds (37-43) : the struggles (44, 45) : their 
 struggle compared to a fight between two bulls: a beautiful 
 heifer, the prize of victory stands by, and all the herd watch 
 the furious encounter (46-49) : struggling and breaking of 
 holds (51-53) : Hercules falls on Achelous (54-61) : the river- 
 god employs his arts of transformation, but is vanquished (62- 
 84) : picture of the vanquished god (84). 
 
 The resemblance of Statins' treatment to that of Ovid is 
 striking though with him details are dwelt on 'at much greater 
 length. The pose, and stripping for the contest (835): de- 
 scription of combatants (837-846) : preliminaries oiling their 
 bodies and sprinkling them with sand (847-850) : the start 
 playing for holds: Agylleus towering over Tydeus is compared 
 to a tree bent down to the ground (851-859) : trying for holds 
 and breaking them (860-3) : simile of the fight between two 
 bulls the white heifer, the cause of the dispute, stands by and 
 watches the combat : simile of the fighting boars : simile of the 
 bear (864-9): effect of the strain on the contestants: Tydeus 
 beneath his opponent : simile of the buried miner : Tydeus' hold : 
 he raises his opponent: throws him to earth and falls upon 
 him: picture of the vanquished hero: 
 
 tandem pectus humi pronumque extensus in alvum 
 sternitur, ac longo maestus post tempore surgit. 
 
 That the resemblance of Statins' description to that of Ovid 
 is not accidental, one is tempted to conclude. They come 
 especially near in their description of the actual struggle. 
 Ovid compares the fight to that of two bulls, with the beautiful 
 heifer, and the rest of the herd standing by: 
 
 non aliter vidi fortes concurrere tauros 
 cum pretium pugnae toto nitidissima saltu 
 
80 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 expetitur coniunx : spectant armenta paventque 
 nescia, quern maneat tanti victoria regni. 
 
 (1. 46 ff.) 
 
 Statins employs the same simile but gives more the effect of 
 a picture. The heifer in his description is white, and stands 
 by no mention being made of the rest of the herd. 1 And as 
 usual Statius is not content with what he borrows, but must 
 add details; following this picture with a series of others: 
 
 non sic ductores gemini gregis horrida tauri 
 bella movent; medio coniunx stat Candida prato 
 victorem expectans, rumpunt obnixa furentes 
 pectora, subdit amor stimulos ac vulnera sanat: 
 fulmineo sic dente sues, sic hispida turpes 
 proelia villosis ineunt complexibus ursi. 
 
 (Theb. 6, 864.) 
 
 However, Statius' description does not suffer in comparison 
 with that of Ovid. It is full of life and vigor. One sees the 
 wrestlers before him as if they were actually engaged in the 
 contest. This is what gives the effect of sculpture or paint- 
 ing. But, as we remarked above, themes like these are not 
 the best for the purposes of illustration, inasmuch as it is im- 
 possible for a poet in dealing with them to create any other 
 impression. 
 
 a Tliis feature also he has borrowed from Ovid (Am. 2, 12, 25) : 
 vidi ego pro nivea pugnantes coniuge tauros 
 spectatrix animos ipsa iuvenca debat. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 81 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SIMILES OF STATIUS. 
 Theb. 11, 530. 
 
 This stylistic tendency in Statins can be illustrated by an 
 examination of his similes, some of which he borrows from one 
 author, some from two or more, while some are original with 
 him. Scarcely ever does he reproduce a simile in the exact form 
 in which it appears in the author to whom he is indebted. He 
 takes sometimes an element from one author and another ele- 
 ment from another. Naturally then his similes are more elabo- 
 rate, and it is this fact at times that leads him off into picture 
 drawing. An illustration of this is seen in a simile in the 
 eleventh book of the Thebaid, where he compares the struggle 
 of the brothers Eteocles and Polynices to the fight of two wild 
 boars. The original of the simile is Euripides, Phoen. 1379 
 a description of the duel between Eteocles and Polynices : 
 
 rjl*av SpdfjLrjfjLa Sewov 
 
 tcaTTpot, 8' OTTO)? Otftyovres a<ypiav yevvv 
 
 Statius takes over the simile, and after the rhetorical manner 
 adds descriptive epithets. In the Euripides passage the boars 
 are represented as coming together ' whetting their cruel tusks 
 with foam scattered over their jaws.' With Statius, the con- 
 ventional epithet * fulmineos ' is used. Their bristles are said 
 to stand up on their backs, and fire to flash from their eyes ; 
 their 'jaws are called i lunata ' : 
 
 fulmineos veluti praeceps cum comminus egit 
 ira sues strictisque erexit tergora saetis: 
 igne tremunt oculi, lunataque dentibus uncis 
 ora sonant; spectat pugnas de rupe propinqua 
 venator pallens canibusque silentia suadet. 
 
 (TJieb. 11, 530.) 
 6 
 
82 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 But besides making his description more elaborate and rhe- 
 torical, Statins makes a more significant addition. To express 
 more vividly the horror inspired by the fighting of the wild 
 brutes he introduces the picture of a huntsman standing on a 
 crag above the valley where the fight takes place, with fright- 
 ened look watching the struggle, and trying to silence his dogs. 
 The simile has not lost anything in force, but its very pictur- 
 esqueness draws the mind away from the real object the fight 
 between the two brothers. It becomes a picture for its own 
 sake. 
 
 Theb. 8, 124. 
 
 Commentators have noted that Statius seeks to surpass Ovid 
 in description that he had his eye upon him constantly. One 
 simile that he has borrowed from Ovid comes from Theb. 8, 
 124 ff. The basis of comparison taken is the lion with its 
 prey. The source is Trist. 3, 5, 33: 
 
 corpora magnanimo satis est prostrasse leoni, 
 pugna suum finem, cum iacet hostis, habet. 
 
 This simple characterization Statius amplifies ; and at the end 
 of his version tacks on a picture in his usual manner : 
 
 ut leo, Massyli cum lux stetit obvia ferri 
 tune iras, tune arma citat ; si decidit hostis, 
 ire supra satis est vitamque relinquere victo. 
 
 In contrast with Ovid's i pugna suum finem habet ' note the 
 pose of the beast in the line of Statius ' ire supra satis est vitam- 
 que relinquere victo.' One sees the lion standing astride his 
 fallen foe. 
 
 Statius has developed the simile in different fashion in Theb. 
 7, 529 ff. Here there is not the same pose. The lion is rep- 
 resented as refusing to satisfy his hunger over his fallen prey : 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 83 
 
 quales ubi tela virosque 
 pectoris impulsu rapid! stravere leones, 
 protinus ira minor, gaudentque in corpore capto 
 securam differre f amem. 
 
 Compare also the adaptations of the simile in Claudianus 
 
 (C. M. 22, 27) : 
 
 emollit rabiem praedae mortisque facultas. 
 praetereunt subiecta ferae, torvique leones, 
 quae stravisse calent, ea mox prostrata relinquunt. 
 
 Here again the same details are given, but the effect of a pose 
 is wanting. In the passages to be compared Statins alone 
 secures this effect and we must assume that it is not without 
 significance. 
 
 For the details of the first part of the comparison no doubt 
 he drew on Vergil (Aen. 12, 6ff.) : 
 
 Poenorum qualis in arvis 
 saucius ille gravi venantum volnere pectus 
 turn demum movet arma leo gaudetque conaantis 
 excutiens cervice toros fixumque latronis 
 impavidus frangit telum et fremit ore cruento. 
 
 The same comparison is employed by Priscian (De laud-3 
 Anastas., 67 ff.). It is a simile on the manner in which Anas- 
 tasius subdued his enemies : the second part however is lacking : 
 
 ut leo, qui regnans silva dominatur in alta 
 per Libyae saltus, nisi nobilis ira lacessat, 
 non movet arma, suas stimulat nee verbere vires ; 
 at si commpveat clamor, si turba coronae, 
 infremit horrendum simul et distendit hiatus 
 sanguineis torquens ardentia lumina flammis 
 et ruit in medium, prosternens arma virosque. 
 
84 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Theb. 4, 363. 
 
 Sometimes however Statius merely changes a picture given 
 in the simile from which he draws. In that case, his picture 
 is more elaborate than that in the source-passage. A case in 
 point is the simile of the wolf in the fourth book a compari- 
 son that is drawn to describe the feeling and manner of the 
 Argive host as it gathered together and set out for Thebes. 
 The source is Vergil (Aen. 11, 809) a comparison of Arruns, 
 the slayer of Camilla, to a wolf that has committed some fearful 
 depredation on the sheepfold: 
 
 ac velut ille, priusquam tela inimica sequantur, 
 continue in montes sese avius abdidit altos, 
 occiso pastore, lupus, magnove iuvenco 
 conscius audacis facti, caudamque remulcens 
 subiecit pavitantem utero, silvasque petivit. 
 
 Here Vergil has picked up the phrase, i conscius audacis facti ? 
 and developed a life-like picture from it. Statius describes 
 this in almost the same phrase, but does not pursue the motif 
 and draw his most vivid picture from that side. Kather, he 
 expands the picture of the wolf as he leaves the fold, his hair 
 matted with blood, and stuck with bits of wool: 
 
 ille velut pecoris lupus expugnator opimi 
 pectora tabenti sanie gravis hirtaque saetis 
 ora cruentata deformis hiantia lana, 
 decedit stabulis hue illuc turbida versans 
 lumina, si duri comperta clade sequantur 
 pastores, magnique fugit non inscius ausi. 
 
 (Theb. 4, 363.) 
 
 To balance the picture in the last two lines of the Vergil 
 passage Statius has, ' decedit stabulis hue illuc turbida versans ' 
 not as striking a picture, to be sure. In addition he de- 
 scribes the appearance of the wolf as he leaves the fold with the 
 marks of carnage on him. Certainly he has outdone Vergil 
 in detailed picture-drawing. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 85 
 
 In strong contrast is the simplicity of the Homer passage 
 (II. 15, 586) which was the source of Vergil's comparison. 
 It describes Antilochus fleeing before Hector : 
 
 ? 07' ap* erpecre Orjpi Katcov pe^avn 
 09 re Kvva Kretvas rj {3ovfco\ov apfyi ftoecrariv 
 , irpiv Trep ofju\ov 
 
 Theb. 9, 242. 
 
 The expansion of the simile of the dolphin and the fish pro- 
 duces an effect like that of a picture such a picture as might 
 easily be represented on a vase or fresco. Statius again bor- 
 rows from Homer (II. 21, 22) : 
 
 VTTO 
 
 -i fjuv%ovs XtfteVo9 evoppov 
 <ydp re KareaOiet ov K \d/3rjcnv. 
 
 Here the details of the comparison are simple. The fish catch 
 sight of the dolphin, and in fear dive down to the bottom and 
 hide in the dark places there, underneath stones or in weeds 
 though this detail is supplied by Statius, Homer leaves that to 
 the reader to understand. Statius' description is more elabo- 
 rate, and runs off into a fancy that might easily have been 
 represented in plastic art: 
 
 qualis caeruleis tumido sub gurgite terror 
 piscibus, arcani quotiens devexa profundi 
 scrutantem delphina vident ; f ugit omnis in imos 
 turba lacus viridisque metu stipantur in algas: 
 nee prius emersi, quam summa per aequora flexus 
 emicet, et visis malit certare carinis. 
 
 The scene of dolphins playing about a ship was common. 
 See for instance the representation, on a cylix by Execias, of 
 Dionysus crossing the sea in his ship about which dolphins 
 play. (Furt. and Reich, i, PL 42.) Of. II. 27, where the 
 
86 Tine Influence of Art on Description 
 
 dolphins play about Neptune. Cf . too the picture in Moschus, 
 2, 125 if., of the dolphins playing about the bull as he passes 
 over the water with Europa on his back. 
 
 Occasionally Statius' adaptation of a simile is much more 
 beautiful than the original, as, for example, in his comparison 
 of the swell upon the sea after the fury of the wind has abated. 
 In this instance he draws from Lucan (Phars. 5, 217) : 
 
 sed ut tumidus Boreae post flamina pontus 
 rauca gemit, sic muta levant suspiria vatem, 
 
 and Seneca (Here. Fur. 1089) : 
 
 ut ingenti vexata noto 
 servat longos unda tumultus 
 et iam vento cessante tumet. 
 
 Compare with these the passage in Statius: 
 
 ut si quando ruit debellatasque relinquit 
 Eurus aquas, pax ipsa tumet pontumque iacentem 
 exanimis iam volvit hiems ! nondum arma carinis 
 omnia, nee toto respirant pectore nautae. 
 
 (Theb. 7, 86.) 
 
 The expression ' pax ipsa tumet ' is rhetorical but forceful 
 and vivid. Earth notes ' elegantissima haec sunt, et pretium 
 poetae manifestant ' and he cites a parallel from Claudian 
 (in Rufin. 1, 70 ff.). Compare too ' exanimis iam volvit 
 hiems. 7 Statius has undoubtedly surpassed his sources. But 
 again he has added something too much which is due to hia 
 love of picture-drawing in representing the tackle gone from 
 the ships, and the sailors still holding their breath from fear. 
 
 Claudianus (loc. cit.) has imitated this passage closely, but 
 here he has fallen short of Statius : 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 87 
 
 ceu murmurat alti 
 
 implacata quies pelagi, cum flainine fracto 
 durat adhuc saevitque tumor dubiumque per aestum 
 lassa recedentes fluitant vestigia venti. 
 
 Theb. 10, 646. 
 
 When the Thebans were being hard pressed by the besieging 
 Argive army, their leaders approached T.eiresias to enquire 
 from him what way their safety could be secured. He declared 
 to them that hard conditions were attached to their safety 
 that the Dragon of Mars demanded that the youngest scion 
 of the race sprung from him should be sacrificed for their 
 city: in no other way could Thebes be saved. This prophecy 
 was aimed at Menosceus. 
 
 Statius ;oes on to describe how Menoeceus was inspired to 
 sacrifice his life to save his city. The goddess Virtus comes 
 down from heaven and, assuming the likeness of the prophetess 
 Manto, approaches the youth to inspire him to give up his 
 life. The poet describes the various details of the goddess' 
 disguise, which was not perfect enough to hide the beauty and 
 dignity of the goddess beneath: 
 
 sed placuit mutare genas, fit provida Manto 
 (responsis ut plana fides) et fraude priores 
 exuitur vultus, abiit horrorque vigorque 
 ex oculis, paulum decoris permansit honosque 
 mollior, et posito vatum gestamina ferro 
 subdita; descendunt vestes, torvisque ligatur 
 vitta comis (nam laurus erat) ; tamen aspera produnt 
 ora deam nimiique gradus. 
 
 To give a picture of the goddess attempting to conceal her 
 divine form beneath human garb, Statius recalls the picture 
 of Herakles at the home of Omphale in Lydia, wearing the 
 dress of Omphale's maidens and engaging in women's tasks 
 and women's religious rites: 
 
88 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 sic Lydia coniunx 
 
 Amphitryoniaden exutum horrentia terga 
 perdere Sidonios umeris ridebat amictus 
 et turbare colos et tympana rumpere dextra. 
 
 (Theb. 10. 646.) 
 
 This comparison, original with Statins, is not a very happy 
 one. Earth notes this, commenting on the passage : ' parum 
 apposita comparatio meretriculae Heroem irridentis, ad Virtu- 
 tern Menceceo liberandam sanguine suo patriam persuasuram." 
 The introduction of this semi-comic allusion to Herakles 
 into a tragic situation is harsh: but that feature of the 
 description is not our chief concern here. The remainder of 
 Earth's note is more to our purpose " Omphalen dicit .... 
 Pictura huius fabellae longe elegantissima conspicitur in arce 
 Regia Torgensi ad Albim, Alberti Dureri famigeratissimi ar- 
 tificis manus." 
 
 The subject was a favorite one in E-oman wall painting, but 
 whether Statins is describing any definite work of art is un- 
 certain : indeed it is unlikely. But undoubtedly his description 
 is influenced by some such painting: and it is the influence of 
 plastic art that turns him from the description of the object 
 before him to picture-drawing, as in this illustration. 
 
 For representations of this theme see 0. Jahn, " Berichte d. 
 sachs. Gesells." 1855, p. 215 f. Taf. vi. and Helbig, Wand- 
 gemdlde nos. 1133 f. Perhaps the representation that comes 
 nearest to the description in this passage is Helbig no. 1136. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 89 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Achilleid. 
 Ach. 1, 159. 
 
 Achilleid 1, 159 is a clear illustration of this stylistic ten- 
 dency in the poet. It is a description of Achilles as he appeared 
 to Thetis when she visited him at his home with Cheiron on 
 Mt. Pelion. The hero has just returned from the hunt, and 
 the poet stops to describe his beauty as he approaches his 
 mother, dirty with the dust and sweat of the chase, yet beautiful 
 to look upon. The poet dwells upon the ruddy glow in the 
 youth's face, the beauty of his golden locks the light of youth 
 in his eye and the complete resemblance to his mother ; and as 
 he thinks of the two sides of the training given the hero by 
 Cheiron hunting and music he turns and places before the 
 reader the conventional hunter and musician Apollo: 
 
 ille aderat multo sudore et pulvere maior 
 et tamen arma inter festinatosque labores 
 dulcis adhuc visu: niveo natat ignis in ore 
 purpureus fulvoque nitet coma gratior auro 
 necdum prima nova lanugine vertitur aetas, 
 tranquillaeque faces oculis et plurima vultu 
 mater inest: qualis Lycia venator Apollo 
 cum redit et saevis permutat plectra pharetris. 
 
 This motif the comparison of a hero or heroine to a god 
 or goddess is common in epic poetry. The passage under con- 
 sideration is an imitation from Vergil, A en. 4, 143. So says 
 Lemaire in the note to the Statius passage. But Vergil in turn 
 was indebted to Apollonius of Rhodes (see Forbiger on A en. 
 4, 143 if.), who cites Henry for the comparison. Heyne's note 
 is i Aeneas comparatur cum Apolline festo die prodeunte ad 
 chores ducendos, ut supra 1, 489, Dido cum Diana etc. . . .' 
 
90 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Thus we see that Statins had a good deal of tradition for his 
 comparison, and an examination of his treatment of the motif 
 side by side with that of his predecessors and with that which 
 seemed later to be modelled upon him will serve to show what 
 was peculiar to him. 
 
 First, the Apollonius passage where Jason, setting forth 
 from the house after a farewell talk with his mother, is com- 
 pared with Apollo leaving his shrine and passing through his 
 native haunts, sacred Delos, or Klaros, or Pytho, or Lycia's 
 broad expanse, by Zanthus' streams : 
 
 r) Kal 6 IJLCV Trporepwae SO/ACM ef wpro 
 olo? 8' eK vrjolo OvwSeos elauv ' 
 AT)XOZ/ av 9 r)rya0er)V qe JL\dpov r) 6 ye 
 TJ AVKITJV eupelav eVl SaVtfoto poy<nv 
 roio? ava 7r\7)0vv SIJ/JLOV iciev .... 
 
 Here two motives are at work, desire for the mythological 
 allusion which with the Alexandrians had become conventional, 
 and love of geographical description as a display of erudition, 
 a characteristic which Apollonius, as we have seen, exhibits in 
 a remarkable degree. The poet makes much of the places that 
 the god frequents, carrying the reader with him from Delos 
 to Klaros, etc. In fact one forgets the comparison in the 
 names of places with their conventional epithets. 
 
 Naturally, Vergil has not taken the simile out of Apollonius 
 bodily, but has changed it and made several additions. He 
 compares Aeneas, as he prepares his men for the hunting ex- 
 cursion proposed by Queen Dido, to Apollo as he sets up the 
 dance on his maternal Delos : 
 
 ipse ante alios pulcherrimus omnes 
 infert se socium Aeneas, atque agmina iungit, 
 qualis ubi hibernam Lyciam Xanthique fluenta 
 deserit, ac Delum maternam invisit Apollo, 
 instauratque chores, mixtiqiie altaria circum 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 91 
 
 Cretesque Dryopesque f remunt pictique Agathyrsi : 
 ipse iugis Cynthi graditur, mollique fluentem 
 fronde premit crinem fingens, atque implicat auro ; 
 tela sonant umeris: hand illo segnior ibat 
 Aeneas; tantum egregio decus enitet ore. 
 
 (Aen. 4, 143 ff.) 
 
 Undoubtedly Apollonius was the source; for, while there is 
 divergence in treatment, in the development of the simile, for 
 instance, still there are striking resemblances in phraseology. 
 And even when an epithet is changed another is substituted to 
 preserve the balance in phraseology. Cf. ArJXo 
 Deluni maternam Av/cfyv evpelav : hibernam Lyciam Ed 
 porjaiv : Xanthi fluenta. 
 
 The variation in the epithets gives one the key to Vergil's 
 different treatment of the comparison. Apollonius, as we have 
 seen, was carried away by his love of geographical description: 
 Vergil too is not insensible of the effect to be gained by a good 
 use of geography. But he keeps closer to his comparison. 
 Apollonius had the picture of Apollo and Jason Vergil keeps 
 the setting and faithfully draws the comparison of Aeneas 
 among his men with Apollo among his devotees. These devo- 
 tees, says Vergil and here is an opportunity for more geo- 
 graphy assemble in Delos from Crete, Thessaly and Sarmatia, 
 and as they sing about his altars Apollo walks with stately 
 tread (graditur) among them. In like manner moves Aeneas 
 among his men. The extension of the cult of Apollo is what 
 Vergil has dwelt on, and hence the change in the epithets ap- 
 plied to Lycia and Delos : Lycia was the winter home of Apollo 
 and Delos his summer home. 
 
 With this passage is to be compared A en. 1, 498, a descrip- 
 tion of Queen Dido among her women. Here she is compared 
 to Diana in the midst of the dance on the banks of the Eurotas. 
 The motif is the same as in the passages cited above and has, 
 as its source, Od. 6, 102 a description of Nausicaa among 
 her maidens: 
 
92 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 oirj 8* "A/?Te/u? el<74 /car' ovpea lo^eaipa 
 7j Kara Trjvyerov Trepi/Atf/ceTov f) ^pvf 
 repTTo^evt] KairpoKTi /cal wiceirjS e\d<f>oi(n,v 
 TV] Be #' a/aa vvpfyai icovpai Ato? cuyid%Qio 
 aypovdfJLOL 7rai%ov<ri y'eyrjOe Be re <f>peva AT?TO> 
 Trao-dcov B' vjrep ij ye /cdprj e%et ^5e yLteVa)7ra, 
 peld r' apiryv(i)Trj TreXerat, Ka\al Be re Tracrai. 
 0)5 j] 7' a/JupiTrdXoicn fjiereTrpeTre irapdevos a 
 
 The Homeric simile follows the comparison closely. Nan- 
 sicaa among her maidens is compared with Artemis the huntress 
 as she pursues the wild boar or swift stag, followed by the 
 mountain nymphs. Artemis herself towers head and shoulders 
 above the nymphs Zeus' daughters, distinguished for beauty 
 amid a crowd of beauties. Such was ISFausicaa too among her 
 maidens. 
 
 So too Vergil, in his imitation of this passage, the comparison 
 of Dido among her women with Diana among the Oreads, draws 
 the comparison closely, and varies the treatment only by the 
 omission of the beautiful line, 
 
 peld T' apiryvcorrj TreXerat, /ca\al Be re ira 
 and by indicating her connection with the band in 
 
 ilia pharetram fert humero. 
 CLAen. 1.498: 
 
 regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido, 
 incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva. 
 Qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi 
 exercet Diana chores, quam mille secutae 
 hinc atque hinc glomerantur Oreades ; ilia pharetram 
 fert humero gradiensque deas supereminet omnes : 
 Latonae taciturn pertemptant gaudia pectus: 
 talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat 
 per medios. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius 93 
 
 But the purpose of the simile is different in the two poets. 
 This is indicated by the application of it in the last lines of 
 each passage. In Homer the beauty of Nausicaa is thrown 
 into strong relief: 
 
 in Vergil the joyousness of Dido is emphasised: 
 
 talis erat Dido, talem se laeta ferebat 
 per medios, 
 
 in order to bring out by contrast the tragedy of her subsequent 
 fate. The pathos of Dido's situation is never absent from 
 Vergil, hence the intrusion of the sentimental touch, which is 
 not found in the Homeric simile. 
 
 Further comparison of heroic women Helen and Penelope 
 to Artemis are to be seen in Od. 4, 122; 17, 37; 19, 54: but 
 enough of this traditional material has been dealt with to 
 enable one to set up a comparison with the Statius passage. 
 
 In all of the passages cited the god or goddess with whom the 
 hero or heroine is compared is described at length, whatever 
 the motive for the description may be whether it be to display 
 erudition or represent the pathos of a situation or extol the 
 beauty of a princess. The motif is traditional, but the treat- 
 ment is individual and full of freshness and life. But with 
 Statius it has become conventional. He does not stop to des- 
 cribe Apollo from the preceding description of Achilles the 
 typical Apollo is easily recognisable ; and so with the lines : 
 
 qualis Lycia venator Apollo 
 cum redit et saevis permutat plectra pharetris, 
 
 the statues of Apollo the hunter, on the one hand, and on the 
 other Apollo the musician stand before the reader. The poet's 
 shifting of the description from the god to Achilles has given 
 this effect an effect which seems to be inevitable with Statius 
 in much of his description. That is, his own description of 
 
94 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 the hero recalls to his mind the statues of Apollo, and for the 
 traditional description of the god in his native haunts he sub- 
 stitutes the statues. Kepresentations of the god as hunter and 
 musician were so familiar that it needed only a passing mention 
 of the type: hence Statius is content to give a stroke or two 
 where his predecessors amplified in detail. 
 
 With Statius the comparison had become conventional: after 
 him it became still more so. As an illustration of the esteem 
 in which Statius was held by later poets and the extent to 
 which he was nlade a model, it may be noted that after him 
 poets made every hero such as his Achilles and Apollo a man 
 of the sword as well as a master in the finer arts. An instance 
 in point is Ausonius, Epigramm. I. 4. (Schenk.), 26 (Peiper) 
 de Gratiano, when the Emperor is depicted as equally powerful 
 in the sterner craft of Mars and the gentler art of the Muses : 
 
 bellandi f andique potens Augustus honorem 
 bis meret ut geminet titulos, qui proelia Musis 
 temperat et Geticum moderatur Apolline Martem. 
 arma inter Chunosque truces furtoque nocentes 
 Sauromatas quantum cessat de tempore belli, 
 indulget Clariis tantum inter castra Camenis. 
 vix posuit volucres stridentia tela sagittas: 
 Musarum ad calamos fertur manus, otia nescit 
 et commutata meditatur arimdiiie carmen. 
 
 So too the description of the god in Calpurnius 7, 83 if. : 
 
 nisi me decepit visus, in uno 
 et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse notavi. 
 
 And Sidonius Apollin. Epist. 17. of book 4, paying a tribute 
 to Arbogastes, ' Par ducibus antiquis lingua manuque, sed 
 quorum dextra solebat non minus stilum tractare quam gla- 
 diurn.' 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statius 95 
 
 Ach. 1. 339. 
 
 The tendency that we noted in the Palaemon passage (Tlieb. 
 1, 121 ff.), the tendency that Statius manifests towards taking 
 a simple phenomenon and illustrating it by the conventional 
 type is the inevitable result of this element of the * plastic ' in 
 his description. Ach. 1, 339 is a good illustration. Here 
 Thetis, by means of her dolphin team, has conveyed Achilles 
 to the island of Scyros, to the court of Lycomedes, and on the 
 pretence that the youth is a maiden, got from the king his 
 permission to allow Achilles to live among his daughters that 
 no rumor of the movement of the Greeks against Troy may 
 reach his ears, and his innate warlike spirit may not be aroused. 
 Achilles at first strongly objects, declaring that he is in no way 
 fitted to play the role of a woman, but at the sight of the lovely 
 Deidamia he is won over. His mother at once proceeds to 
 show him how he can successfully imitate feminine ways: 
 
 blanda Thetis : ( sic ergo gradum, sic ora maimsqne 
 nate, feres comitesque modis imitabere fictis, 
 ne te suspectum molli non misceat aulae 
 rector et incepti pereant mendacia furti. 7 
 dicit et admoto non distat comere tactu. 
 sic ubi virgineis Hecate lassata Therapnis 
 ad patrem fratremque redit, comes haeret eunti 
 mater et ipsa umeros exsertaque bracchia velat ; 
 ipsa arcum pharetrasque locat vestemqne latentem 
 deducit sparsosque tumet componere crines. 
 
 Statius presents Thetis exhorting Achilles to be careful to 
 assume the gait, look and gesture of a young maiden, and all the 
 while arranging his dress and stroking his hair. The picture 
 calls up that of Hecate (Diana) returning from the hunt at- 
 tended by her mother and the poet passes from the descrip- 
 tion of the simple unconventional display of motherly affection 
 to that of the conventional mother and daughter Latona and 
 Diana. Diana returns from the hunt to Mt. Olympus to the 
 home of her father and brother and as she returns weary 
 
96 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 with the chase she is met and waited on by her mother. Latona 
 arranges her daughter's robe about her shoulders, covers the 
 arms that had been exposed in the hunt, arranges her dress 
 to make her presentable to the gods on Olympus and proudly 
 combs out her dishevelled locks. The picture of the two god- 
 desses is beautiful, but it is conventional. Not that Statius is 
 the first poet to follow this manner of description: but with 
 him it came to be a fixed tendency. 
 
 And for his picture of Latona and Hecate he seems to have 
 turned aside from the early tradition. At different times this 
 duty of attending Diana as she returned from the hunt was 
 assigned to different gods now to Apollo and again to Heracles. 
 Diana supported the gods on Olympus with the spoils of the 
 hunt ; hence the fact that she was attended so dutifully, on her 
 arrival home. Callimachus (Hymn to Artemis,, 141 ff.) as- 
 signs to Hermes the task of taking care of her weapons, and 
 to Apollo the unloading of the spoils : 
 
 OT ? e? Ato? olitov 
 
 ev0a roi avridcovres eVl 7rpoiJLo\ycn Se^ 
 
 O7r\a fiev 'E/o^etT;? a/caKria-ios, avrap 'A7ro'XXa>z/ 
 
 Orjpi'ov 6m 
 
 But Statius in order to secure the picture of the mother and 
 daughter to balance the description of Thetis and her supposed 
 daughter assigns this care to Latona. 
 
 Ach. 1, 482. 
 
 The same phenomenon is observed in the series of conven- 
 tional pictures drawn by the poet to illustrate how the Greeks, 
 assembled at Aulis, refused the claims of all the other heroes to 
 the captaincy of the host and demanded Achilles how the as- 
 piring leaders themselves drew back before him in acknowledg- 
 ment of his superior power. The Greek host is delayed at 
 Aulis by a calm. The pause in the expedition gives oppor- 
 tunity for the selection of a captain, and there is no lack of 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 97 
 
 heroes to assert their claims to the distinction. First are the 
 Atridae, the rightful leaders; for to them the quarrel belongs. 
 Diomedes and Sthenelus also press their claims, seeking to 
 emulate their father's glory. The youthful Antilochus, and 
 the crafty Ulysses contend for the highest honour. Yet all 
 fear to entrust the fortunes of the expedition to any of these, 
 and long for Achilles as the only one fit to match himself against 
 Hector and destined to be the destruction of Troy. To him 
 all the heroes yield the palm. 
 
 From this the poet passes to the description of the assembling 
 of the gods on the plains of Phlegra to do battle with the 
 Titans: and their deliberation over the choice of a leader. 
 First Mars rises and leaning on his Thracian spear submits 
 himself for approval: next Tritonia, with her dreaded aegis: 
 then Apollo, bending his massive bow. But all in fear refuse 
 these and look to Jove the wielder of the lightning shaft: 
 
 haec Graiae castris iterant traduntque cohortes. 
 cedit turba ducum vincique haud maesta fatetur. 
 sic cum pallentes Phlegraea in castra coirent 
 caelicolae iamque Odrysiam Gradivus in hastam 
 surgeret et Libycos Tritonia tolleret anguis, 
 ingentemque manu curvaret Delius arcum, 
 stabat anhela metu solum Natura Tonantem 
 respiciens : quando ille hiemes tonitrusque vocaret 
 nubibus, igniferamque ad fulmina posceret Aetnen. 
 
 The introduction of the mythological allusion and the charac- 
 terisation of each god as he rises to submit his claims to leader- 
 ship in the fight with the Titans gives the effect of a picture, 
 or rather a series of pictures, such for instance as the assembling 
 of the gods on Mt. Olympus, when each rises in turn to declare 
 his mind on some important issue. Again no definite picture 
 may have been in the mind of the poet, but such was the in- 
 fluence of plastic art on him that his descriptions naturally 
 took that turn. 
 
98. The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Adi. 1, 609. 
 
 Again in the description of Achilles, as he celebrated along 
 with the daughters of Lycomedes the rites of Dionysus, a 
 comparison is instituted between Achilles and the wine-god 
 himself : 
 
 ut vero e tereti demisit nebrida collo 
 errantisque sinus hedera collegit et alte 
 cinxit purpureis flaventia tempora vittis 
 vibravitque gravi redimitum missile dextra, 
 attonito stat turba metu sacrisque relictis 
 ilium ambire libet pronosque attollere vultus, 
 talis, ubi ad Thebas vultumque animumque remisit 
 Euhius et patrio satiavit pectora luxu, 
 serta comis mitramque levat thyrsumque virenteni 
 armat et hostilis invisit fortior Indos. 
 
 The allusion is to the celebration of the Trieterica rites 
 that were instituted in Boeotia and other parts of Greece as 
 well as Thrace in commemoration of the expedition of Dionysus 
 from Bosotia to India and his triumphal return thence after 
 a period of three years. To these rites women from all parts 
 of Greece assembled and worshipped the god with sacrifices and 
 hymns in orgiastic frenzy. The daughters of Lycomedes here 
 celebrate the rite and Achilles accompanies them to the revel. 
 
 Achilles becomes the center of attraction. Over his shoulders 
 is thrown a fawn skin, the flowing ends of which are caught 
 up with ribbons of ivy. On his head he wears purple fillets 
 and in his strong right arm he brandishes a spear. The poet 
 with this description prepares us for the picture. His comrades 
 in the orgies gaze upon Achilles in fear, believing they see the 
 god before them. To complete his description the poet gives 
 the picture of the real Dionysus in his two phases first, as 
 the god of the revel adorned with garlands and the mitra ; 
 second, the god when he has put these off and donned warlike 
 gear for an attack on the people of India. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 99 
 
 Here again the description has become conventionalised. The 
 reader leaves it, not with Achilles in mind but with represen- 
 tations of the god Dionysus, of which there were countless 
 numbers. 
 
 Ach. 1, 755. 
 
 The description of the banquet at the palace of Lycomedes 
 is worthy of notice. Ulysses and Diomedes, out on their mis- 
 sion of finding the lost Achilles and trying to induce him to 
 join the Greek host that was on its way to Ilium, were the 
 privileged guests at the festival. The poet describes how the 
 palace was all astir with expectation of the arrival of the dis- 
 tinguished Pelasgian guests, how Ulysses in his turn could 
 scarce suppress his joy at the prospect of detecting Achilles 
 and being able to persuade him to leave his life of simple enjoy- 
 ment, by the sight of warlike weapons. Then he turns to the 
 picture of the banquet that is spread the male guests reclining 
 and waiting for the appearance of Lycomedes' daughters. He 
 describes the situation as follows: 
 
 iamque atria fervent 
 
 regali strepitu et picto discumbitur ostro, 
 cum pater ire iubet natas comitesque pudicas 
 natarum. subeunt, quales Mseotide ripa, 
 cum Scythicas rapuere domos et capta Getarum 
 moenia, sepositis epulantur Amazones armis. 
 
 At the word from Lycomedes the daughters appear attended 
 by their maidens. One expects from the poet a description of 
 the beautiful women in the conventional fashion: instead he is 
 given a picture of the Amazons in their Thracian home, reclined 
 at the feast with arms laid aside after their ravages of the 
 surrounding country. This is so different from what one ex- 
 pects in such a situation that he is forced to conclude that Sta- 
 tius had before his mind some work of art and that his descrip- 
 tion of the daughters of Lycomedes turned to that. Especially 
 
100 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 does this seem the case, when one reflects that a description of 
 the women would have been better here. \ 7 ergil and'Apollo- 
 nius would have made this the occasion for elaborate descrip- 
 tion ; would have given the reader a powerful impression of the 
 beauty of the women: which would have produced the effect 
 of allowing Ulysses to scan them thoroughly in order to detect 
 Achilles. All that the poet secures here and all he leaves 
 with the reader is a picture of warlike women reclined at a 
 feast: while in reality, from the details previously given re- 
 garding them (vid. 11. 287-292), the only resemblance these 
 women bore to the Amazons was that they were women, and 
 about to sit down to a banquet, as the Amazons had been known 
 to do on some memorable occasion. What, for instance, had 
 the daughters of Lycomedes to do with arms ? The note in 
 the Lemaire edition of Statius sees that the comparison holds 
 in only a small detail. It says [subeunt quales] eo, inquit, 
 ordine se habebant puellae regiae in accubatione, quo Amazones 
 quum epulantur. Haec comparatio in hoc est ut puellaruin 
 discumbentium ostendat numerum et ordinem decorum. The 
 important point for us here is that Statius has done this by 
 means of a picture rather than by description. 
 
 With this may be compared the treatment of the same motif 
 in Claudianus (De Rapt. Pros. 2, 62). The latter, as Earth 
 observed, is an imitation of the Statius passage: 
 
 qualis Amazonidum peltis exsultat aduncis 1 
 pulchra cohors : quotiens Arcton populata virago 
 Hippolyte, niveas ducit post proelia turmas, 
 sen flavos stravere Getas, seu forte regentem 
 Thermodontiaca Tanaim fregere securi. 
 
 1 This is Koch's reading: Earth reads ' ademptis': Scaliger changed the 
 text completely and read: 
 
 positis agit agmina peltis 
 cum gelidam sociis Arcton populata virago. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papinius Statins 101 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Greek and Latin Authors : 
 
 Homer, Iliad. Walter Leaf. London, 1900. 
 Odyssey. Hay man. London, 1866. 
 Euripides, Phoenissae, Troades. Oxford Text. 
 Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. Oxford Text. 
 Apollonios de Rhodes : Traduction franpaise, H. de La Ville 
 de Mirmont. Paris, 1892. 
 
 Vergilii Opera, Elzv. ed., Vols. I-III. Amst., 1680. 
 Vergil, ed. Forbiger, Vols. I-III. Leipzig, 1872. 
 Vergil, ed. Conington, Vols. I-III (Revised ed.). London, 
 
 1898. 
 Vergilius, Hey ne- Wagner. London, 1830. . 
 
 Statins : 
 
 Thebaid and Achilleid. Oxford Text. 
 
 Silvae. Oxford Text. 
 
 P. Pap. Statii Silvarum libri erkl. von Fr. Vollmer, 1898. 
 
 Silvae. Teub. Text. Klotz, 1911. 
 
 P. Pap. Statins cum animadversionibus Gasp. Barthii (Tom. 
 
 III.), Cygneae, 1664. 
 
 P. Papinii Statii opera omnia, Diibner. Leipzig, 1837. 
 P. Papinii Statii opera omnia, Amar and Lemaire, vols. I 
 
 IV. Paris, 1825-1830. 
 Lactantii Placidi commentarii, ed. Jahnke. Teub., 1898. 
 
 Special Works: 
 
 Eissfeldt, E. Uber Quellen und Vorbilder des P. Papin. 
 
 Statius. Helmstedt, 1900. 
 Id. Philologus 63 (1904), p. 421 ff. 
 
102 The Influence of Art on Description 
 
 Gaymann, V. Kunstarchdologische Studien. Wiirzburg, 
 
 1898. 
 
 Helm, E. De P. Papinii Statii Thebaide. Berlin, 1892. 
 Legras, L. jfitude sur la Thebaide de Stace. Paris, 1905. 
 Morner, F. De P. Papinii Statii Thebaide quaestiones 
 
 criticae, grammaticae, rJietoricae. Konigsberg, 1890. 
 Werner, R. Zur Sage vom Zuge der Sieben gegen Theben, 
 
 ' Comment. Philol. fur O. Ribbeck.' Leipzig, 1888, 
 
 p. 514 ff. 
 Wilson, H. L. The metaphor in the Epic poems of P. Pap. 
 
 Statins. Baltimore, 1898. 
 
 General : 
 
 Aristotle, Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, ed. and trans, by 
 
 S. H. Butcher. 
 Boissier, A. Promenades Archeologiques : 'Rome et Pom- 
 
 peV p. 345 ff. 
 Christ, W. von. Griechische Literaturgeschichte (1911), I, 
 
 p. 219 ff. 
 
 Couat, Auguste. La poesie alexandrine sous les trois pre- 
 miers PtoUmees. Paris, 1882. 
 Dryden, John. A Parallel between poetry and painting : 
 
 Introduction to a translation of Du Fresnoy's De arte 
 
 graphica. 
 Notes on the De arte graphiea. Scott and Saintsbury, 
 
 1892, vol. 17. 
 Helbig, W. Wandgemdlde der von Vesuv verschutteten Stddte 
 
 Campaniens. Leipzig, 1868. 
 Howard, W. G. Ut pictura poesis : ' Publications, of the 
 
 Modern Language Association of America, 7 vol. 24, 
 
 No. 1 (March, 1909), pp. 40-123. 
 Lang, Andrew. Theocritus and his age : ' Introduction to 
 
 translation of Theocritus, Bion and Moschus/ London 
 
 and New York, 1892 (Golden Treasury Series). 
 Lessing, J. Laocoon. (Trans, by S. R. Phillimore). 
 Nisard, D. La poesie latine de la decadence, vol. I, p. 262 ff. 
 
 Paris, 1888. 
 
in the Poetry of P. Papiniiw Statins 103 
 
 Overbeck, J. A. Die antiken Schriftquellen zur Geschichte 
 der bildenden Ktinste bei den Griechen. Leipzig, 1868. 
 
 Plessis, F. La poesie latine, p. 596 ff. Paris, 1909. 
 
 Robert, Carl. Bild und Lied, ' Philologische Untersuch- 
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 Saintsbury, George. History of Criticism and Literary Taste 
 in Europe, vol. I, ' Epideictic.' 
 
 Ste. Beuve. fitude sur Virgile, p. 278 ff. Paris, 1891. 
 
 Spence, Rev. Joseph. Polymetis : An enquiry concerning 
 the agreement between the works of the Roman poets 
 and of the ancient artists ; being an attempt to illus- 
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 Schanz, Martin. Romische Literaturgeschichte, vol. Ill 
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 Wolff, Samuel Lee. Greek Romances in Elizabethan prose 
 fiction. Columbia University, 1912. 
 
VITA 
 
 Thomas Shearer Duncan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, April 
 28, 1882. His Public School education was received at Westport, 
 Ontario, Canada, and his High School training at Athens, Ontario, 
 Canada. In 1900 he entered Queen's University, Kingston, and 
 pursued the special course in Classics, graduating with the degree 
 of Master of Arts in 1905. From 1906 to 1910 he acted as 
 Tutor and Fellow in Latin, at the same time completing the 
 course in Honour English. In 1910 he entered the Johns Hop- 
 kins University to do graduate work in Classics, and chose as his 
 subjects Latin, Greek and Classical Archaeology. For the year 
 1911-12 he was Fellow in Latin; and for 1912-13 Edmund 
 Law Rogers Fellow in Classics. 
 
 Acknowledgments are due to Professor Kirby Flower Smith, 
 at whose suggestion this Thesis was undertaken, and by whom 
 much of the material of the first example was supplied ; and to 
 Professors Basil L. Gildersleeve, H. L. Wilson, D. M. Robinson, 
 W. P. Mustard and C. W. E. Miller for their help and courtesy 
 during the writer's course at the Johns Hopkins University. 
 
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