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Statius on parade: performing Argive identity in Thebaid 6.268–95

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

Helen Lovatt
Helen Lovatt
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
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Extract

In book 6 of the Thebaid, Statius puts on a funeral for a baby prince (Opheltes) accidentally crushed by the flick of a giant serpent's tail, while his nurse is busy telling her life story to the leaders of the Argive army on their way to Thebes. The Argives hold full-scale funeral games, which represent an opportunity to play with epic predecessors and create a new world between Greece and Rome, epic and reality. At 268–95, nine days after Opheltes' funeral pyre has burnt out, after the crowd have arrived for the games and before the chariot race, Statius stages a procession. I give the full passage:

exin magnanimum series antiqua parentum

inuehitur, miris in uultum animata figuris.

primus anhelantem duro Tirynthius angens

pectoris attritu sua frangit in ossa leonem.

haud ilium impauidi quamuis et in aere suumque

Inachidae uidere decus. pater ordine iuncto

laeuus harundineae recubans super aggere ripae

cernitur emissaeque indulgens Inachus urnae.

Io post tergum, iam prona dolorque parentis,

spectat inocciduis stellatum uisibus Argum.

ast illam melior Phariis erexerat aruis

Iuppiter atque hospes iam tunc Aurora colebat.

Tantalus inde parens, non qui fallentibus undis

inminet aut refugae sterilem rapit aera siluae,

sed pius et magni uehitur conuiua Tonantis.

parte alia uictor curru Neptunia tendit

lora Pelops, prensatque rotas auriga natantes

Myrtilos et uolucri iam iamque relinquitur axe.

et grauis Acrisius speciesque horrenda Coroebi

et Danae culpata sinus et in amne reperto

tristis Amymone, paruoque Alcmena superbit

Hercule tergemina crinem circumdata luna.

iungunt discordes inimica in foedera dextras

Belidae fratres, sed uultu mitior astat

Aegyptus; Danai manifestum agnoscere ficto

ore notas pacisque malae noctisque futurae.

mille dehinc species, tandem satiata uoluptas

praestantesque uiros uocat ad sua praemia uirtus.

(Thebaid 6.268-95)

Type
Research Article
Information
The Cambridge Classical Journal , Volume 53 , 2007 , pp. 72 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 2007

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