STATIUS IN THE SILVAE 153
ing his identity as a poet, here stressing, in the tradition of the so-
called recusatio, that he writes in a smaller genre than full epic enco-
mium.^29 But the implied comparison is not only with the production of
other poets praising Gallicus, but also with the poetry of Gallicus him-
self, which Statius characterises, in terms likewise deriving from the
recusatio, as grand and sublime (34–5), while his own is said to be
performed on a ‘slighter lyre’ (36 tenuiore lyra).^30 It seems quite pos-
sible that the poetic identity Statius shares with Gallicus is used to
gloss over a lack of true amicitia.
The epithalamium for Arruntius Stella
The poem on the wedding of the young senator and well-known love
poet Arruntius Stella with Violentilla, the woman he had sung in his
elegies (1.2), is in many ways similar to that on the recovery of Rutil-
ius Gallicus. It begins with a vision of a procession of gods (with
apostrophe), and then explains the situation: it is Stella’s wedding day.
The poet goes on to silence fama (28), here again in the sense of ru-
mour, and to pray to an inspiring deity, in this case the Muse Erato,
whose name fits her for the theme of love. A mythological story on
the causa (46) of the wedding follows, in which the praises of bride
and groom are uttered by mythological spokespersons, in this case
Venus and Amor; at the end Statius explains his own canendi / causa
(255–6), and concludes with good wishes. But differently from 1.4,
the poet here stages himself in a ceremonial role on the day itself,
giving information and issuing orders. He first comes forward when
he answers his own question for whom the gods are singing (16–7):
nosco diem causasque sacri: te concinit iste
(p ande fores), te, Stella, chorus
I learn the day and the reason for the ceremony. It is you, Stella, you
that choir (fling wide the gates!) is singing. (tr. SB)hundred bulls vs. incense). The passage also echoes other, less emphatically meta-
poetical material, mainly from Horace (see Henderson 1998a, 101 with 139, n. 224).
29 On recusatio in the Silvae see Nauta 2006, 34–7 (where 1.4 is not discussed).
30 See further below, 168. The comparison of Statius’ attachment to Gallicus to a
small cumba tied to a large ship in lines 120–2 (quoted by van Dam in this volume,
58) may also be read in this vein, as evoking the meta-poetical cumbae in such texts
as Prop. 3.3.22; Ov. Ars 3.26, Tr. 2.330 (and cf. Statius himself at 4.4.99–100).