STATIUS IN THE SILVAE 165
information about the poet and his patria by way of conclusion to the
collection—the assumption is that Statius did not plan to continue the
Silvae beyond Book 3.^64 But unlike what one would expect of a
sphragis to the Silvae, there is no mention of the Silvae themselves, no
defiance of an envious reception or proud prediction of everlasting
success.^65 Moreover, the preface to Book 3 makes it difficult to read
the poem as a farewell to the Silvae, because there Statius declares
that “many” of the poems in the book came into being when he was a
guest of Pollius (3.ep.1–6), so that his retirement to that same Pollius
would seem to bode well for further production. So, rather than an-
nounce the end of the Silvae, the poem may announce the end of the
Roman Silvae, and publicise that Statius is no longer available for this
type of poetry at Rome, although he may be at the scenes of Roman
villeggiatura such as Baiae, Cumae, Misenum and Pollius’ Surrentum
(95–104).
But even though Statius does not speak of the Silvae, he does give
a survey of his poetic career, now for the first time adducing his vic-
tory in the Alban and defeat in the Capitoline Games, and, as he had
done before, presenting himself as the poet of the Thebaid (28–36).
Although his intended retirement is not explicitly motivated by a wish
to write in greater ease, the attention paid to his poetic career in com-
bination with the expression of a preference for the otia (85) of Naples
suggests the sphragis of the Georgics that Statius had earlier evoked
in 3.2.^66 But there is an important difference between that sp hragis
and his own: whereas Virgil in Naples had “flourished in the studies
of inglorious otium” audax ... iuuenta, “in the boldness of youth”,
Statius, although his poetry, too, is characterised by audacia
(3.ep.4),^67 has entered his senium, “old age” (13). He reinforces this by
64 See Hardie 1983, 182; Nauta 2002a, 195, 287; Henderson 2007, 261, 265. For
3.5 as the conclusion to Silvae 1–3 see Klodt 2005, 197–202, with references to ear-
lier literature.
65 Statius does employ both motifs at the end of the Thebaid (12.810–9). For liuor
and fame in the sphragis see e.g. McKeown on Ov. Am. 1.15.1–2. The closest analo-
gies to 3.5 as a sphragis are Ov. Tr. 5.14, likewise addressed to the poet’s wife, but
with the boast of having giving her undying fame in the Tristia themselves, and Mart.
10.103–4 (a few years later than Silv. 3.5), likewise in connection with retirement to
the patria, but again claiming fame won by the work itself.
66 See above, 156.
67 Also 1.ep.22 (likewise of fast composition). Other types of audacia: 1.ep. 19
(offering 1.1 to the emperor), 4.7.27 (of the Thebaid: challenging the Aeneid); cf.