STATIUS IN THE SILVAE 157
rives bringing precisely this appointment. This allows Statius to play
on the double meaning of uates as ‘poet’ and ‘seer’: prophesying a
splendid career for Crispinus, Statius writes: “the omens of uates [plu-
ral] are not in vain” (164–5), and when the messenger arrives he ex-
claims: “Surely I said: ‘The auguries of uates are not in vain’” (173–
4).^38 Again, Statius is first of all a poet, and it is as a poet that he will
miss Crispinus: when he will recite from the Achilleid (to which he
has now moved, after completing the Thebaid), he will not see
Crispinus in the audience (160–3). But he also states, more explicitly
than in 3.2, that he is too old to accompany his young friend (158–9),
and casts himself as admiring spectator of the latter’s equestrian exer-
cises (113–24). Appeal to autopsy is a standard panegyrical technique,
adding credibility,^39 but here it also serves to draw a picture of Statius
himself and to demonstrate that his relationship to his amicus (5) is
not merely patronage.
The consolations
Four poems (2.1, 2.6, 3.3 and 5.1) console the addressee on the loss of
a dear one; Statius himself calls these poems consolatio, solamen or
solacium, or describes their contents as solacia.^40 In addition, there are
two poems in which he attempts to console himself: 5.3, on the death
of his father, and 5.5 (unfinished or incompletely transmitted), on the
death of a beloved slave boy; these poems were included in the post-
humously published Book 5, but because we cannot be sure whether
Statius intended them as part of the Silvae, they will not be discussed
here.^41 Three further poems, all from Book 2, are also of a more or
less consolatory character. Silvae 2.5, on the death of a lion in the
amphitheatre, has already been discussed in the context of the imperial
poems.^42 Silvae 2.4 is a consolation on the death of a parrot, whereas
38 Statius’ dicebam here is similar to that of the Sibyl in Silv. 4.3.124, who is uates
sanctior in comparison to Statius (120).
39 Cf. Gibson 2006a, 232 ad l. 113.
40 Consolatio: 2.ep.20 (of 2.6); solamen: 2.1.1; solacium: 3.ep.15 (of 3.3); solacia:
2.ep.8 (of 2.1), 3.3.31, 5.1.3. Statius also uses the term epicedion (2.ep.8, of 2.1), and
this term occurs in the titles of 5.1, 5.3. and 5.5, but the publication of Book 5 being
posthumous (cf. n. 1), the authenticity of these titles is even more uncertain than that
of those in the other books (cf. n. 22).
41 Cf. above, 144.
42 Cf. above, 148. Note solacia (24).