STONES IN THE FOREST 37
recovery from illness. I won’t say anything about it, for fear of seem-
ing to take advantage of the death of my witness to make something
up” (Silv. 1 praef. 27–8).
Gallicus was a very prominent senator who had risen under Domi-
tian to be praefectus urbi. Almost exactly halfway through his poem,
which occupies a total of 131 lines, Statius employs the mouthpiece of
Apollo to summarize Gallicus’ career, starting with his filiation and
origo, and then tracing his progress through the cursus honorum. This
résumé occupies 26 lines, but a single cameo will suffice to show that
Statius is elaborating upon an epigraphic model:
hunc Galatea uigens ausa est incessere bello
(me quoque!) per<que> nouem timuit Pamphylia messes
Pannoniusque ferox arcuque horrenda fugaci
Armenia et patiens Latii iam pontis Araxes.
quid geminos fasces magnaeque iterata reuoluam
iura Asiae? uelit illa quidem ter habere quaterque
hunc sibi, sed reuocant fasti maiorque curulis
nec permissa semel.
(Silv. 1.4.76–83)
Feisty Galatia dared to attack him in war (me too!) and through nine
ha rvests Pamphylia was afraid of him, and so was the fierce Pannonian
and Armenia, fearful for her fleeing bow, and the Araxes that now tol-
erates a Latin bridge. Why should I rehearse his double fasces and his
duplicate command over mighty Asia? Indeed, she would like to have
had him for a third and fourth term, but the fasti called him back again,
and a greater curule chair, allowed to him for a second time.Statius’ allusive account of these stages of Gallicus’ career appears to
imply that he served in the army in Galatia, Pamphylia, Pannonia, and
Armenia (77–80); was elected consul twice (geminos fasces, 80); ap-
pointed proconsul of Asia for two years (magnae ... iterata ... iura
Asiae, 80–1); and then recalled to Rome for his second consulship
(reuocant fasti maiorque curulis, 82).^42 Statius creates the impression
of chronological progression, even though not every step in Gallicus’
career may be represented. From a statue-base set up in his honour at
Ephesus, for instance, we know that he was probably legionary legate
42 For this reconstruction, see Eck 1985. Doubt as to whether Gallicus was actually
proconsul in Asia, or merely legate to the proconsul, is expressed by Nauta 2002a,
208–10. Statius’ epigraphic resonances, however, seem to me to depend upon the
impression of chronological order, rather than its exactitude, and so some uncertainty
in matters of detail is tolerable, not to say inevitable.