72 MICHAEL DEWAR
Probably dedicated early in A.D. 90 (though some put it later, in the
summer of that year, or even in A.D. 91), the great equestrian statue of
Domitian was formally a gift from the People and the Senate to the
Emperor (utere perpetuum populi magnique senatus/ munere, Silv.
1.1.99–100, as Statius tells the emperor, “Enjoy for all time the gift of
the people and the great Senate”). The statue seemingly celebrated
Domitian’s victories in Germany, and both the poem and the coin
agree in their evidence that the horse was depicted as riding down on
the head of a conquered barbarian:
... uacuae pro caespite terrae
aerea captiui crinem terit ungula Rheni.
(Silv. 1.1.50–1)
Instead of a clod of empty earth, his brazen hoof grinds down the hair
of the captive Rhine.This symbolic posture of imperial military domination is well attested
in both literature and art. What should attract our attention here, how-
ever, is the perhaps not easily predicted ideological interpretation of-
fered by Statius in his commentary on his own description. For in this
poem too we have once again the theme of war as the precursor of just
peace, since Domitian the conqueror is also Domitian the peace-
bringer:
hunc mitis commendat eques: iuuat ora tueri
mixta notis, bellum placidamque gerentia pacem.
(Silv. 1.1.15–6)
[in contrast with the baleful Trojan Horse] this one is commended by
his gentle rider: upon his face we delight to gaze, where marks are min-
gled; war it bears and gentle peace.What we have here is, yet again, the theme of Flavian peace, at first
alluded to delicately and in an understated fashion. Statius, however,
goes on to develop the theme further as the poem continues, making it
central to this poem and hence to the Silvae as a collection. Thus, only
a few lines later he draws a pointed contrast between Domitian and his
neighbour Caesar:
par operi sedes. hinc obuia limina pandit
qui fessus bellis adscitae munere prolis
primus iter nostris ostendit in aethera diuis,
discit et e uultu quantum tu mitior armis,
qui nec in externos facilis saeuire furores