DUST, WATER AND SWEAT: THE STATIAN PUER 207
... manus) and she certainly does not meet with any resistance (3.564
adiutae ... uires); the erotic tension is expressed by the description the
sensual physical materiality of Hylas’ sweaty chest and limbs (3.556–
7 utque artus et concita pectora sudor / diluerat)^35 and by the final
intimation of the weight of his body (3.564 prono nam pondere).
Thus, sweat and dust often serve to enrich (though with diverse
values and aims) the alluring features of the boy-heroes of the Flavian
epics.^36 And, like many elements of the canon of ephebic beauty, the
detail of the seductive presence of the ‘heroic’ puluis on the puer’s
tender face can be traced back to Ovid’s poetry. The charm of the
presence of dust on an ephebic face, in fact, is also mentioned by
Phaedra in Heroides 4 as a captivating element of Hippolytus’ forma
uirilis:
Candida uestis erat, praecincti flore capilli,
flaua uerecundus tinxerat ora rubor,
quemque uocant aliae uultum rigidumque trucemque,
pro rigido Phaedra iudice fortis erat.
Sint procul a nobis iuuenes ut femina compti:
fine coli modico forma uirilis amat.
Te tuus iste rigor positique sine arte capilli
et leuis egregio puluis in ore decet.
(Ov. Ep. 4.71–8)
Shining white was your raiment, bound round with flowers your locks,
the blush of modesty had tinged your sun-browned cheeks, and, what
others call a countenance hard and stern, in Phaedra’s eye was strong
instead of hard. Away from me with your young men arrayed like
women: beauty in a man would fain be striven for in a measure. That
hardness of feature suits you well, those locks that fall without art, and
the light dust upon your handsome face. (tr. Showerman-Goold 1977)35 It is possible to mention also the equally charming image of the anointed bodies
of some other splendid Statian ephebes, such as Idas and Parthenopaeus, before con-
fronting each other in the race (Theb. 6.575–87 ...tunc Palladios non inscius haustus /
incubuit pinguique cutem fuscatur oliuo. / Hoc Idas, hoc more Dymas aliique nites-
cunt. / Sic ubi tranquillo perlucent sidera ponto / uibraturque fretis caeli stellantis
imago, / omnia clara nitent, sed clarior omnia supra / Hesperus exercet radios, quan-
tusque per altum / aethera, caeruleis tantus monstratur in undis. / Proximus et forma
nec multum segnior Idas / cursibus atque aeuo iuxta prior; attamen illi / iam tenuem
pingues florem induxere palaestrae, / deserpitque genis nec se lanugo fatetur / inton-
sae sub nube comae). Cf. also Silv. 2.6.43–7.
36 Puluis and sweat are also to be found side by side in the image of Statius’ liter-
ary efforts, coated in dust and sweat, in the “field” of magnus Achilles in the
prooemium of the Achilleid (Ach. 1.17–8 da ueniam ac trepidum patere hoc sudare
parumper / puluere...); cf. Nauta 2006, 32–3.