WANDERING WOODS AGAIN: FROM POLIZIANO TO
GROTIUS
Harm-Jan van DamWoods will keep moving. Several years ago I discussed early com-
mentaries on the Silvae and some other aspects of the reception of the
Silvae in the Netherlands around 1600.^1 The present paper is meant to
be a counterpart and addition to that article, in two senses: whereas the
former focused on commentaries and manuscripts, the emphasis here
is more literary, on matters of genre and imitation rather than on phi-
lology—although philological issues will also be addressed. Secondly,
in the latter part of this paper I shall concentrate on one Dutch scholar
and poet, Hugo Grotius. My proposition is that in the seventeenth
century in Leiden university circles Statius’ Silvae gained a new im-
portance, as a combined model for imitation and a text to be emended,
which can be compared to its status in the Italian Renaissance, and
that Grotius was the principal character in this respect, comparable to
Poliziano.
It is well known that the leading part in the opening performance of
Statius and his Silvae was played by Angelo Poliziano. His extensive
scholarly work on Statius and the Silvae, his literary criticism, and his
own Latin poetry had a decisive influence on the reception of Statius.^2
Besides, Poliziano is largely responsible for what, in the eyes of the
sixteenth century and later, defined a silva, even if these definitions
diverged. Standing on the shoulders of his enemy Domizio Calderini,
1 See van Dam 1996a.
2 Philological work: textual notes of 1480–1 in the margin of his private copy of
the Silvae, the exemplar Corsinianum, see the introductions to most editions and
commentaries, notably Courtney’s OCT and Reeve 1977; his unpublished commen-
tary on the Silvae written after 1480, see Cesarini Martinelli 1978; and letters such as
that to Beroaldo of April 1494 (see below). Literary criticism: his 1480 Oratio super
Fabio Quintiliano et Statii Sylvis (Garin 1952, 870–84); his two Miscellanea, I pub-
lished in 1489 (Katayama 1982, but this very rare book is not in any Dutch library,
and apparently in few other libraries), and II (Branca & Pastore Stocchi 1972). Liter-
ary works: his poetry in general, and in particular, of course, his Silvae, see Galand-
Hallyn 1987, Bausi 1995 and Fantazzi 2004.