STATIUS, THEB. 1 .72: IS JOCASTA DEAD OR ALIVE? 233
calling on Laius, now long a corpse, remembering their love-making
long ago, which had brought him death, leaving her to bring forth a
progeny accursed by one that was his own; and she wept over the bed
where in double misery she had brought forth a husband by her hus-
band and children by her child. (tr. Lloyd-Jones)The pathos in Statius is further charged by verbal references to Dido’s
death, closely associating Jocasta’s suicide with that of the tragic
queen par excellence, who chooses to kill herself with Aeneas’ sword:
Theb. 11
635 penetralibus
635 extulerat notum ensem
640 uenas ... aniles
642 stridentem in pectore plagam
643 Ismene collapsa
643f. lacrimisque comisque/ sic-
cabat
A. 4
645 interiora domus ... limina
646 ensemque recludit and 648
notumque cubile
641 studio ... anili (of Barce)
689 stridit sub pectore uulnus,
664 conlapsam
687 siccabat ueste cruores and
649 lacrimisJocasta’s bitter thoughts of her life in two lines (637–8) summarize
her thoughts in OT 1245–50 and are a counterpart to Dido’s extensive
soliloquy in A. 4.651–62. This economy of words is typical of Statius’
style, as is the cruel substitution of in pectore for Virgil’s sub pectore
and the daring concetto plagam lacrimis siccabat (imitating A.
10.834) replacing siccabat ueste cruores.^21
oculos in matre reliqui (Theb. 1.72)After this analysis of the tradition of Jocasta’s death and of the varia-
tions in the circumstances, setting and timing of this dramatic episode
by Euripides, Seneca and Statius, I will now return to the problem of
alleged inconsistency in Theb. 1.72 mentioned above:
miseraque oculos in matre reliqui21 Statius’ transformation of the suicide of the young and beautiful queen Dido into
that of the aged queen Jocasta may have influenced Tacitus’ similar description of
Seneca’s suicide in Ann. 15.63: quoniam senile (aniles, 11.640) corpus et parco uictu
tenuatum lenta effugia sanguini praebebat ... uenas abrumpit (uenas perrumpit aniles/
uulnus, 11.640).