BATTLE NARRATIVE IN STATIUS, THEBAID 91
of the Seven against Thebes: one thinks of the Seven on the Argive
side, and figures such as Eteocles, Creon, Menoeceus, Hypseus, and
Haemon on the Theban side. Yet the puzzle remains that, although
there are aristeiae attached to most of these characters, there are in fact
few scenes involving individual combat. It may be useful here to con-
sider how Lucan had already raised the issue of individual combat in
epic, precisely because his subject matter was a civil war involving
historical conflicts between substantial Roman armies.^16 Of course,
Lucan does include examples of individual combats, such as the
death-scene for Domitius Ahenobarbus at Pharsalus strongly modelled
on Hector’s dying moments in Iliad 22 (Luc. 7.599–616). However, in
the immediate sequel to Domitius’ Homeric demise, Lucan explicitly
declines to talk about individual deaths in the battle:^17
inpendisse pudet lacrimas in funere mundi
mortibus innumeris, ac singula fata sequentem
quaerere letiferum per cuius uiscera uolnus
exierit, quis fusa solo uitalia calcet,
ore quis aduerso demissum faucibus ensem
expulerit moriens anima, quis corruat ictus,
quis steterit dum membra cadunt, qui pectore tela
transmittant aut quos campis adfixerit hasta,
quis cruor emissis perruperit aera uenis
inque hostis cadat arma sui, quis pectora fratris
caedat et, ut notum possit spoliare cadauer,
abscisum longe mittat caput, ora parentis
quis laceret nimiaque probet spectantibus ira
quem iugulat non esse patrem. mors nulla querella
digna sua est, nullosque hominum lugere uacamus.
non istas habuit pugnae Pharsalia partes
quas aliae clades: illic per fata uirorum,
per populos hic Roma perit; quod militis illic,
mors hic gentis erat:
(Luc. 7.617–35)
It is shameful at the funeral of the world to expend tears on innumer-
able deaths, and searching after the deaths of individuals to ask through
whose vitals the death-dealing wound passed through, who trod on their
innards poured out on the ground, who as he died with hostile gaze
drove out with his breath the sword that had been driven through his
throat, who collapsed when he had been hit, who remained standing16 For a useful discussions of Statius and Lucan, see Micozzi 1999 and 2004.
17 On this passage, see e.g. Leigh 1997, 78; Radicke 2004, 420.