STATIUS.
(1) LIFE.
P. Papinius Statius was born at Naples (Silv. i. 2, 260, ‘mea Parthenope’), probably about A.D. 60, for he speaks of himself as on the threshold of life at the time of his father’s death, about A.D. 80 (‘limine primo fatorum,’ Silv. v. 3, 72). The apparent discrepancy in Silv. iv. 4, 69 (written A.D. 94-5), ‘Nos facta aliena canendo vergimur in senium,’ may be explained by observing that ‘senium’ is very often used for premature age induced by study (cf. ‘insenuit,’ Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 82).
The father of Statius came of a distinguished but not wealthy family: Silv. v. 3, 116,
‘Non tibi deformes obscuri sanguinis ortus
nec sine luce genus, quamquam fortuna parentum
artior expensis.’
He taught first at Naples (ibid. l. 146) and then at Rome (l. 176); and died at the age of sixty-five (l. 252) soon after the eruption of Vesuvius, which he had intended to make the subject of a poem (l. 205). It was from his learned father (‘genitor perdocte,’ l. 3) that Statius derived his first impulse towards poetry, and to his training he acknowledges deep obligations (ll. 209-214).
Statius won two prizes for poetry, at the Augustalia in Naples and at Alba; but was unsuccessful at the Capitoline competition, probably in A.D. 94 (ibid. 225-232). In that year he seems to have removed from Rome to Naples, and spent there the remainder of his days: Silv. iii. 5, 12,
‘Anne quod Euboicos fessus remeare penates
auguror et patria senium componere terra?’
The date of his death is unknown. The latest event mentioned in his poems is the seventeenth consulship of Domitian, A.D. 95 (Silv. iv. 1).
Statius was married to a widow named Claudia (Silv. iii. 5, 51 sqq.), but had no children (v. 5, 79).
He enjoyed the favour of Domitian (‘indulgentissimus imperator,’ Silv. i. praef.) who granted him a supply of water for his country house at Alba, and occasionally invited him to his table: Silv. iii. 1, 61,
‘Ast ego, Dardaniae quamvis sub collibus Albae
rus proprium magnique ducis mihi munere currens
unda domi curas mulcere aestusque levare
sufficerent.’
Silv. iv. praef., ‘Sacratissimis eius epulis honoratus.’
He more than once promises to write an epic on Domitian’s career (e.g. Theb. i. 32). The emperor’s freedman Earinus (Silv. iii. 4) was one of Statius’ patrons.
His regard for the poet Lucan produced Silv. ii. 7, which is a poem on Lucan’s birthday, addressed to his widow (see [p. 267]). But his chief admiration was reserved for the memory of Virgil: Naples and Alba were endeared to him by their associations with the ‘great master’ and the story of Aeneas: Silv. iv. 4, 53,
‘Tenues ignavo pollice chordas
pulso, Maroneique sedens in margine templi
sumo animum et magni tumulis adcanto magistri.’
For Alba cf. Silv. v. 3, 37. The Thebais must recognize its inferiority to the Aeneid: Theb. xii. 816,
‘Vive, precor; nec tu divinam Aeneida tempta,
sed longe sequere et vestigia semper adora.’
(2) WORKS.
1. The Thebais, an epic poem in twelve Books, occupied Statius for twelve years: xii. 811,
‘O mihi bis senos multum vigilata per annos
Thebai.’
Cf. Silv. iv. 7, 26,
‘Thebais multa cruciata lima.’
The twelve years were probably 79-91 or 80-92 A.D. Silv. i. praef. (written 91 or 92), ‘Adhuc pro Thebaide mea, quamvis me reliquerit, timeo.’ The publication apparently did not take place till A.D. 95 (cf. Silv. iv. 4, 87 sqq. written in that year).
The subject of the poem is the strife between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and the subsequent history of Thebes to the death of Creon. The dedication is to Domitian. For the popularity of the Thebais cf. Juv. Sat. 7, 82,
‘Curritur ad vocem iucundam et carmen amicae
Thebaidos, laetam cum fecit Statius urbem
promisitque diem. Tanta dulcedine captos
afficit ille animos tantaque libidine volgi
auditur; sed, cum fregit subsellia versu,
esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven.’
2. The Achilleis, also dedicated to Domitian, is an incomplete epic, consisting of one Book and part of a second. It was later than the Thebaid, for Statius was working at it in A.D. 95: Silv. iv. 4, 93,
‘Nunc vacuos crines alio subit infula nexu:
Troia quidem magnusque mihi temptatur Achilles.’
The poem was intended to cover the whole career of Achilles, including his retreat in Scyros before the Trojan War, and his exploits after the death of Hector, which did not enter into the plan of the Iliad: cf. l. 3,
‘Quamquam acta viri multum inclita cantu
Maeonio, sed plura vacant: nos ire per omnem
(sic amor est) heroa velis.’
3. The Silvae, which represent the poet in his less serious mood, are occasional poems on miscellaneous subjects, published in five separate Books. Cf. 1, praef. ‘Diu multumque dubitavi ... an hos libellos, ... cum singuli de sinu meo prodierint, congregates ipse dimitterem.’ Many of them were thrown off in haste at the command of the Emperor or the request of friends: cf. such expressions as ‘stili facilitas’ (ii. praef.), ‘libellorum temeritas,’ ‘hanc audaciam stili nostri’ (iii. praef.). Of the poems in Book i. he says, ‘nullum ex illis biduo longius tractum, quaedam et in singulis diebus effusa’ (i. praef.). Each of the Books is introduced by a prose preface.
None of the Silvae appeared before A.D. 92; for Rutilius Gallicus, for whom i. 4 was written, died in that year, and the poem was not published till after his death (i. praef.). Book v. was probably a posthumous work: there is no proper preface, and the third and fifth poems are incomplete.
Hexameter verse is employed for all the Silvae except six. Of these, four are in hendecasyllabics, one in the Alcaic and one in the Sapphic stanza.
4. The only other poem of which there is distinct evidence is the pantomime Agave, written not later than A.D. 84, the year in which the player Paris was put to death (Juv. Sat. 7, 86, quoted above).
MARTIAL.[90]
(1) LIFE.
M. Valerius Martialis (Coquus is added in the old glossaries) was born at Bilbilis in Hispania Tarraconensis on 1st March in one of the years A.D. 38-41. His tenth Book, written A.D. 95-8, contains a poem (x. 24) written on his fifty-seventh birthday. Cf. ll. 4-5,
‘quinquagesima liba septimamque
vestris addimus hanc focis acerram’;
ix. 52, 3,
‘ut nostras amo Martias Kalendas’;
x. 103, 1,
‘Municipes, Augusta mihi quos Bilbilis acri
monte creat, rapidis quem Salo cingit aquis.’
His parents’ names are given, v. 34, 1, ‘Fronto pater, genetrix Flaccilla.’ Martial went through the usual education at Bilbilis or at a neighbouring town; ix. 73, 7,
‘At me litterulas stulti docuere parentes:
quid cum grammaticis rhetoribusque mihi?’
Martial went to Rome A.D. 64, for in A.D. 98, when he left Rome, he gives the length of his stay as thirty-four years; x. 103, 7,
‘Quattuor accessit tricesima messibus aestas,
ut sine me Cereri rustica liba datis,
moenia dum colimus dominae pulcherrima Romae.’
At Rome Martial became the client of the house of the Senecas, and was on intimate terms with L. Calpurnius Piso, Memmius Gemellus, and Vibius Crispus; xii. 36, 8,
‘Pisones Senecasque Memmiosque
et Crispos mihi redde sed priores.’
The failure of Piso’s conspiracy in A.D. 65 and the consequent downfall of the Senecas must have affected Martial’s position. In A.D. 96 Martial addresses as his patroness Argentaria Polla, Lucan’s widow, the only surviving member of the family; x. 64, 1,
‘Contigeris regina meos si Polla libellos,’ etc.
From her he may have got the small vineyard near Nomentum which he possessed by A.D. 84 (xiii. 42 and 119).
Little is known of Martial’s life before the reign of Domitian. He may have practised at the bar; cf. ii. 30, 5,
‘Is mihi “dives eris, si causas egeris” inquit’;
and Quintilian appears to have advised this course (ii. 90). He probably lived as a client of great houses to which he was recommended by his early-developed poetical talents. Cf. i. 113, 1,
‘Quaecumque lusi iuvenis et puer quondam.’
In A.D. 80 he commemorated the opening by Titus of the Flavian Amphitheatre by a collection of poems sent to the emperor. Cf. Spectac. 32,
‘Da veniam subitis: non displicuisse meretur,
festinat, Caesar, qui placuisse tibi.’
Martial received the ‘ius trium liberorum’ from two of the emperors. This probably means that Titus bestowed it and Domitian ratified it. Cf. ix. 97, 5,
‘tribuit quod Caesar uterque
ius mihi natorum.’
Martial became a titular tribune, and consequently an eques, an honour probably given him by Titus; iii. 95, 9
‘vidit me Roma tribunum’;
v. 13, 1,
‘Sum, fateor, semperque fui, Callistrate, pauper,
sed non obscurus nec male notus eques.’
Martial is unsparing in his flattery of Domitian and his freedmen. Cf. ix. 79, iv. 45, of Parthenius, the emperor’s chamberlain; vii. 99, viii. 48, of Crispinus, the emperor’s favourite. In A.D. 86 we find his poems eagerly read by the emperor. Cf. iv. 27,
‘Saepe meos laudare soles, Auguste, libellos.’
He obtained citizen rights for several applicants; cf. ix. 95. 11,
‘Quot mihi Caesareo facti sunt munere cives’;
and was occasionally invited to the emperor’s table; cf. ix. 91. Domitian, however, refused to assist him pecuniarily (vi. 10). A description of Martial’s life as a client of great houses is found, e.g., in v. 20. Among the friends of high rank whom Martial made after A.D. 86 were the poet Silius Italicus (iv. 14), the future emperor Nerva (v. 28), the author S. Iulius Frontinus (x. 58), the younger Pliny (x. 19). Martial also mentions Quintilian (ii. 90) and other literary men from Spain, and Juvenal (vii. 24, etc.). Statius he never mentions, and was probably at enmity with him; cf. his sneers at mythological epics (x. 4, etc.), which hint indirectly at the Thebais. Martial also attacks his critics (i. 3; xi. 20, etc.), plagiarists (e.g. xi. 94), and those who wrote scurrilous verses in his name (e.g. x. 3).
Martial received rewards in return for his poetry, and often begs for gifts, and complains of his poverty and the unproductiveness of his estate at Nomentum (xii. 57); v. 36,
‘Laudatus nostro quidam, Faustina, libello
dissimulat, quasi nil debeat: imposuit’;
vii. 16,
‘Aera domi non sunt, superest hoc, Regule, solum,
ut tua vendamus munera: numquid emis?’
From 86 to 90 A.D. Martial lived in lodgings on the Quirinal, three stairs up; i. 117, 6,
‘Longum est, si velit ad Pirum venire, et scalis habito tribus, sed altis.’
Later he had a house of his own (ix. 18, 2, etc.), and mentions his slaves (i. 101; v. 34, etc.). That he was still poor in A.D. 98 is evident from Pliny, Ep. iii. 21, 2, ‘Prosecutus eram viatico secedentem: dederam hoc amicitiae, dederam etiam versiculis quos de me composuit.’
Martial was evidently never married (ii. 92). In A.D. 98 he left Rome and went to Spain, where he had liberal friends, as Terentius Priscus (xii. 4), and Marcella (xii. 21), who gave him an estate, described in xii. 18. From xii. praef. we see his longing for Rome:
‘In hac provinciali solitudine ... bibliothecas, theatra, convictus ... desideramus quasi destituti. Accedit his municipalium robigo dentium et iudici loco livor,’ etc.
Martial died, at latest, about A.D. 104, being from 63 to 66 years old.
Pliny Ep. iii. 21 (written not after A.D. 104), ‘Audio Valerium Martialem decessisse et moleste fero.’
Martial does not disguise the bad points of his character. Cf. his flattery of Domitian, and his continual begging (passim), his cynical reasons for giving panegyrics (v. 36, quoted above); the number of indecent poems he wrote, for which he apologizes (e.g. i. praef.). Among his good points are his ‘candor,’ mentioned by Pliny, Ep. iii. 21; his love of unadorned nature, e.g. iii. 58; his love for his friends, e.g. i. 15.
(2) WORKS.
Publication of the Poems.—Liber Spectaculorum was published A.D. 80, on the opening of Titus’ Amphitheatre. The Xenia and Apophoreta were two collections of inscriptions for presents at the Saturnalia in December 84 or 85 A.D. The numbering of these as Books xiii. and xiv. has no ancient authority. Martial furnished the other Books with numbers (cf. ii. 92, 1, ‘primus liber’). Books i., ii., appeared together A.D. 86. Then came Books iii.-xi. at intervals of about a year to December, 96 A.D. Martial prepared a selection from Books x. and xi. for Nerva’s use (no longer extant). This was presented along with xii. 5,
‘Longior undecimi nobis decimique libelli
artatus labor est, et breve rasit opus.
Plura legant vacui, quibus otia tuta dedisti;
haec lege tu Caesar; forsan et illa leges.’
Book xii. appeared at the beginning of A.D. 102. and shortly afterwards in an enlarged edition. An edition of all the Books probably did not appear till after Martial’s death.
For Martial’s immediate popularity, cf. vi. 61,
‘Laudat, amat, cantat nostros mea Roma libellos,
meque sinus omnis, me manus omnis habet’;
xi. 3, 3,
‘Sed meus in Geticis ad Martia signa pruinis
a rigido teritur centurione liber,
dicitur et nostros cantare Britannia versus.’
Pliny Ep. iii. 21 (written just after Martial’s death), ‘Erat homo ingeniosus acutus acer, et qui plurimum in scribendo et salis haberet et fellis nec candoris minus.’
Martial’s Models.—His manner is very original, but some of his motives are taken from Greek epigrammatists, especially from Lucillius, who flourished under Nero. Thus iv. 53 = Lucill. 30; v. 53 = L. 93; xii. 23 = L. 34. Many of his pieces are doubtless improvisations, and consequently contain careless expressions and errors as to facts. Thus, vii. 61, 2,
‘Inque suo nullum limine limen erat’;
x. 2, 1,
‘Festinata prior decimi mihi cura libelli
elapsum manibus nunc revocavit opus’;
x. 93, 5,
‘Ut rosa delectat, metitur quae pollice primo’
(= the rose which has not yet been plucked).
In iv. 55, 3, Arpi is given as Cicero’s birthplace; in v. 30, 2, etc., Calabria instead of Apulia is given as Horace’s native district. Catullus is Martial’s chief model for hendecasyllabics and choliambics. He mentions no other poet so often. Cf. x. 103, 5,
‘Nec sua plus debet tenui Verona Catullo
meque velit dici non minus illa suum.’
Ovid, of whom he has more than two hundred reminiscences, is Martial’s chief pattern for elegiacs. After these Martial’s chief model is Virgil, chiefly the Priapea; then Horace to a less extent; Propertius; and Tibullus. Domitius Marsus, Gaetulicus, Calvus, etc., are mentioned frequently, and doubtless imitated.
For Martial’s conception of himself as a painter of manners, cf. viii. 3, 19 (ad Musam),
‘At tu Romano lepidos sale tinge libellos:
adgnoscat mores vita legatque suos.
Angusta cantare licet videaris avena,
dum tua multorum vincat avena tubas.’
x. 4, 7,
‘Quid te vana iuvant miserae ludibria chartae?
hoc lege, quod possit dicere vita “Meum est.”
Non hic Centauros, non Gorgonas, Harpyiasque
invenies: hominem pagina nostra sapit.’
Martial satirizes people under manufactured or arbitrarily chosen names.
Cf. i. praef., ‘Spero me secutum in libellis meis tale temperamentum, ut de illis queri non possit, quisquis de se bene senserit, cum salva infimarum quoque personarum reverentia ludant.’
Some are tell-tale names, as Vetustilla, ‘an old woman,’ iii. 93; Dento, ‘a gourmand,’ v. 45; Eulogus, ‘a herald,’ vi. 8; but the same names, e.g. Zoilus, are often used to denote different types.
The chief forms of verse used are the elegiac distich (most frequent), scazons, and hendecasyllabics. In vi. 65 he apologizes for using the pure hexameter, which is found only four times. Other metres are extremely rare.