STATIUS, DOMITIAN AND ACKNOWLEDGING PATERNITY 177
templated “from afar” (let me recall the similar attitude of Silius
Italicus, who bestows religious honours upon him, and draws near to
his tomb as if it were a temple)^7 means getting rid of him, removing
his unwelcome presence (he too is in a way a tyrant, from whom
Flavian epics seek to be emancipated) and preparing to take his place,
to substitute for him: in other words, it is a rite of succession. Not only
elsewhere in his works Statius appears to be less inclined to a show of
modesty, and ready to take up the challenge (such as Silv. 4.7.25–8
nostra / Thebais multa cruciata lima / temptat audaci fide Mantuanae
/ gaudia famae “my Thebaid, tortured by much filing, essays with
daring string the joys of Mantuan fame”)^8 ; but the “well-earned tribute
of honours” (meriti honores) which is predicted for the Thebaid in the
last line of the epilogue is – as Philip Hardie has shown^9 – of the kind
that is bestowed on a hero or a god.
It is fairly clear, then, that behind this hyperbolic homage lies a
shrewd form of self-promotion. However, as we were saying, the
highly restrained homage paid to Domitian is far from ritualistic (also
compared with other expressions of homage used by Statius, e.g. in
Theb. 1.17ff.). The statement that the emperor, the great Caesar,
“deigns to be acquainted with” the poet’s work actually turns out to
be, on the contrary, a ploy of self-commendation, to promote his own
work: in the sense that the poet turns the (professed) interest and ap-
proval from the emperor into an astute publicity blurb (“a book that
Domitian enjoyed”). It is thus the political authority that is forced to
pay homage to the literary authority, who depicts it in the act of show-
ing attention and appreciation for its production; whereas the latter
exploits a cunning strategy of nondum, in order to postpone sine die
the pledge to celebrate that political authority by which it claims to be
appreciated.^10
The professed appreciation on the part of the political authority is
reinforced by the boast of popular success, praesens Fama, which has
7 Cf. Plin. Ep. 3.7.8 Multum ubique librorum, multum statuarum, multum imagi-
num, quas non habebat modo, uerum etiam uenerabatur, Vergili ante omnes, cuius
natalem religiosius quam suum celebrabat, Neapoli maxime, ubi monimentum eius
adire ut templum solebat; but also Martial 11.48 and 50; Statius, Silv. 4.4.54–5; see in
general Bettini 1976–7.
8 To be seen also Silv. 5.3.233f.; cf., respectively, Hinds 1998, 93–4 and Gibson
2004, 150–1.
9 Hardie 1993, 110f.
10 Cf. Rosati 2002.