STONES IN THE FOREST 41
inscribed text into speech, when he employs another of his divine
spokesmen to compliment Domitian on bridging the R. Volturnus,
previously turbidus and minax, “turbulent and threatening” (76), and
making it flow in a proper channel at last:
Vulturnus leuat ora maximoque
pontis Caesarei reclinis arcu
raucis talia faucibus redundat:
“camporum bone conditor meorum,
qui me, uallibus auiis refusum
et ripas habitare nescientem,
recti legibus aluei ligasti.
et nunc ille ego turbidus minaxque,
uix passus dubias prius carinas,
iam pontem fero peruiusque calcor;
...
sed grates ago seruitusque tanti est
quod sub te duce, te iubente, cessi,
quod tu MAXIMVS ARBITER meaeque
VICTOR PERPETVVS legere ripae.”
(Silv. 4.3.69–78, 81–4)
Volturnus raises his face and, leaning on the enormous arch of Caesar’s
bridge, pours out this speech from his hoarse throat: “Gracious organ-
izer of my fields who, while I flooded my pathless valleys in ignorance
of how to live within banks, bound me with the laws of a strict channel,
look at me, once turbulent and threatening, scarcely tolerating hesitant
craft: now I carry a bridge and am trampled by those who cross over ...
But I owe you thanks and my servitude is worthwhile because under
your guidance and at your command I have yielded, and your name will
be read as MIGHTY CONTROLLER and EVERLASTING
CONQUEROR of my bank.^49This speech is delivered by the rivergod Volturnus himself, leaning
ag ainst an arch of the new bridge and employing prayer-formulae very
similar to those employed by Hercules when he addresses Pollius
Felix on the threshold of his temple. In the case of the rivergod we
encounter one of Statius’ rare allusions to writing and, specifically, to
an inscription, when Volturnus tells Domitian how the emperor will
be rendered on the bridge, as maximus arbiter and uictor perpetuus of
the riverbank, although the ambiguity of the verb is masterful: he will
49 Trans. Coleman 1988 (with the addition of upper-case to signal the epigraphic
quotation).