Silvae IV - Hardcover

Statius

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198140312 ISBN 13: 9780198140313

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1988

Synopsis

The fourth book of Statius' Silvae, containing a preface and nine poems, was published in AD 95 to celebrate various occasions ranging from the building of a road to the gift-giving festival of the Saturnalia. The book is of particular interest because it was published in defiance of criticism of the first three books, and also because it contains a cycle of three poems in honour of the emperor Domitian - a higher proportion than in any other book of the Silvae.

This edition contains the first commentary on Silvae IV since Vollmer's edition of 1898. The introduction discusses Statius' career, the chronology and arrangement of the poems in Book IV, the title Silvae, the nature of the collection, the authenticity of the tituli affixed to the individual poems, and the textual tradition. A new text with full apparatus criticus is supplied, as well as a prose translation. The commentary covers textual, linguistic, literary, and historical questions, and for each poem there is an introductory note dealing with the genre, the occasion, and the prosopography of the addressee (where applicable).

About this title

Review

'this is quite simply the best thing on the Silvae available and that it fills a great gap in our knowledge of this kind of poetry ... The text offered is a considerable improvement on its predecessors, the translation is clear, readable and, given the difficulties of Statius' allusive and inflated style, almost miraculously intelligible ... If learning and lightness of touch are among the most striking characteristics of the Silvae,they are also the hallmark of C.'s study.' M. J. Dewar, Christ Church, Oxford. Classical Review

'very welcome ... predictably bold' Greece & Rome, Vol.37, No.2, Oct '90

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0198140312
• ISBN 13: 9780198140313
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 280
• Editor: Coleman K. M.