108 BRUCE GIBSON
Similarly, we find Statius offering his own response to the conven-
tional epic divisions of time into days and night, with two occasions
where day and night seem to merge; this might be felt to be something
different from the straightforward segmentation of epic, and thus more
in keeping with an evocation of at least a hint of historical warfare.
And so, while it is true that much of the combat in the poem is in
keeping with the traditions of epic, the poem also contains elements
which confer on Statius’ narrative the grandeur of war in histo-
riographical treatments.
War is, of course, a competitive business, but so are accounts of
war, a point made as early as the Iliad when Sthenelus reacts with
irritation to Agamemnon’s story of how Tydeus fought against the
fifty Thebans:^50
“Ἀτρεΐδη μὴ ψεύδε’ ἐπιστάμενος σάφα εἰπεῖν·
ἡμ εῖς τοι πατέρων μέγ’ ἀμείνονες εὐχόμεθ’ εἶναι·
ἡμεῖς καὶ Θήβης ἕδος εἵλομεν ἑπταπύλοιο
παυρότερον λαὸν ἀγαγόνθ’ ὑπὸ τεῖχος ἄρειον,
πειθόμενοι τεράεσσι θεῶν καὶ Ζηνὸς ἀρωγῇ·
κεῖνοι δὲ σφετέρῃσιν ἀτασθαλίῃσιν ὄλοντο·
τὼ μή μοι πατέρας ποθ’ ὁμοίῃ ἔνθεο τιμῇ.”
(Iliad 4.404–10)
“Son of Atreus, do not say things that are false when you know what is
true. We claim we are better than our fathers. For we took the seat of
seven-gated Thebes, both of us leading a smaller host against the mar-
tial wall, trusting in the portents of the gods and the help of Zeus. But
they were destroyed by their own wickedness: therefore do not hold our
fathers in the same honour.”Sthenelus subverts the usual tradition of respect for the achievements
of the past by remarking that his generation were in fact better than
the men who had fought and lost against Thebes. It would be no sur-
prise if the epic presentation of war was not competitive also,^51 as it
certainly is amongst historiographers. Epic poets such as Statius have
to consider and respond to the tradition that precedes them, and the
amplification of combat through some of the similes and the inclusion
of elements from more recent historical warfare are just two elements
50 On Tydeus in Homer and Statius, see e.g. Vessey 1973, 141–7; Lovatt 2005,
19 4–7.
51 For Statius’ Thebaid as a competitive retelling of the Theban story, see Gibson
2004, 156.