196 LORENZO SANNA
Quantus equis quantusque uiris in puluere crasso
sudor! Io quanti crudele rubebitis amnes!
(Theb. 3.210–1)
What sweat in muddy dust for horses and for men! Ah, how high shall
rivers be cruelly reddened!^3belli sudore calens, clipeumque cruentis
roribus et scissi respersus puluere campi.
(Theb. 8.7–8)
warm with the sweat of war, his shield bespattered with bloody drops
and the dust of the torn plain.puluis sudorque cruorque per artus
mixtus adhuc
(Theb. 10.37–8)
dust, sweat and blood still mingled on their bodiesSweat and dust accompany the hero’s wartime sufferings, as in the
ca se of Turnus, who, weary, dirty and tired, later feels restored and
purified by the river’s water (Verg. A. 9.812–8),^4 or Tydeus on his
return from Thebes:^5
terribilis uisu: stant fulti puluere crines,
squalidus ex umeris cadit alta in uulnera sudor
insomnisque oculos rubor excitat, oraque retro
soluit anhela sitis; mens altum spirat honorem
conscia factorum
(Theb. 3.326–30)
fearsome he to behold. His hair stands up propped by dust, soiled sweat
pours from his shoulders into his deep wounds, redness inflames his
sleepless eyes, panting thirst sucks back his breath, but his spirit, con-
scious of his deeds, breathes high honour.3 These and other translations of Statius are taken from Shackleton Bailey 2003.
4 ...tum toto corpore sudor / liquitur et piceum (nec respirare potestas) /flumen
agit; fessos quatit aeger anhelitus artus. / Tum demum praeceps saltu sese omnibus
armis / in fluuium dedit: ille suo cum gurgite flauo / accepit uenientem ac mollibus
extulit undis / et laetum sociis abluta caede remisit 5.
Statius’ description may show some trace of the portrait of Pompey deformis
after the wounds sustained in battle (Luc. 8.56–7 deformem pallore ducem uultusque
prementem / canitiem atque atro squalentis puluere uestis; cf. Stat. Theb. 4.590 ...
saeuo puluere sordens / Oenomaus; 6.872–4 ...contra non integer ille / flatibus alter-
nis aegroque effetus hiatu / exuit ingestas fluuio sudoris harenas).