Statius’ eulogies of Domitian push the use of hyperbole to the point of paradox. In the Thebaid’s proem, Thebes, a sublime subject rejected in Augustan recusationes, appears a minor choice (satis) compared to an imperial epic, while a teenager Domitian is credited with nothing less than a Gigantomachy (bella Iovis). In the poem’s envoi, the emperor’s immortality is tacitly matched by the divine honors awaiting the poet after death, a motif also implicit in the closure of Silvae 1.1 and 1.6; in the Achilleid’s proem, Domitian’s susceptibility seems implied in the poet’s care not to overshadow the merits of the poet-prince, proclaimed superior even to Homer. At the end of Silvae 4.1, the discussed rex magne equates the seventeen-times-consul with the ‘great king’ of the universe. The paradoxical final image of Silvae 1.1 is a reverse apotheosis: in an intermedial dialogue, Statius imprints on the imperial iconography the unmistakable sign of his style.
A Style for the Emperor. Statius’ Poetic Monuments for Domitian
Federica Bessone
In corso di stampa
Abstract
Statius’ eulogies of Domitian push the use of hyperbole to the point of paradox. In the Thebaid’s proem, Thebes, a sublime subject rejected in Augustan recusationes, appears a minor choice (satis) compared to an imperial epic, while a teenager Domitian is credited with nothing less than a Gigantomachy (bella Iovis). In the poem’s envoi, the emperor’s immortality is tacitly matched by the divine honors awaiting the poet after death, a motif also implicit in the closure of Silvae 1.1 and 1.6; in the Achilleid’s proem, Domitian’s susceptibility seems implied in the poet’s care not to overshadow the merits of the poet-prince, proclaimed superior even to Homer. At the end of Silvae 4.1, the discussed rex magne equates the seventeen-times-consul with the ‘great king’ of the universe. The paradoxical final image of Silvae 1.1 is a reverse apotheosis: in an intermedial dialogue, Statius imprints on the imperial iconography the unmistakable sign of his style.
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