Ricerc@Sapienza

The centrality of Bacchus’ role in Statius’ Thebaid is unprecedented in the epic tradition. Of Statius’ predecessors, only Ovid had accorded him a signif- icant on-stage role, while others, such as Virgil, made him important in indirect ways that are associated with the creative energies that drive the narrative. Sta- tius responds to his predecessors mainly by subverting the traditional Bacchic imaginary. The god emerges as largely ineffectual, neither a fully-fledged culture hero, nor a terrible punisher of hybris.

A false fright. An Emendation of Statius silv. 3 praef. l. 4 Court. · The present note argues that in Stat. silv. 3 praef. l. 4 Court. the text of the manuscripts, expaveris, is corrupt ; a new emendation is suggested.

In the prefaces to the individual books of the Silvae, Statius asks to be forgiven for the boldness of his compositions, which he claims to have been written in one go and very quickly. A comparison between these claims and rhetorical teaching, especially that of Quintilian, makes clear that the shortcomings for which Statius apologises should be identified with the arrangement of the topics rather than with the metrical and stylistic features of his verses.