JUPITER IN THEBAID 1 AGAIN 133
actum (1.222 “nothing was achieved”) that Jupiter saw Phaëthon and
the drowned people as sinners whose punishment had had no effect.
My following argument is based on that proposition, but if you prefer,
the alternative solution can easily be appropriately adapted.^2
atque adeo tuleram falso rectore solutos Solis equos, caelumque
rotis errantibus uri, et Phaëthontea mundum squalere fauilla
(1.219–21 “I had indeed suffered the loosing of Sun’s horses under a
false driver, and the burning of the sky as the wheels strayed, and the
world caked with Phaëthon’s ashes.”). This event cannot be repre-
sented as Jupiter’s unsuccessful attempt at punishment. Sol was an
over indulgent father, Phaëthon was a silly boy, though, admittedly,
he had caused great destruction. Jupiter’s role was to strike the boy
with his thunderbolt, not to punish him or anyone else but to save the
world from the destruction caused by Phaëthon’s incompetence. For
us certainly, for Statius most probably, the truly memorable treatment
of Phaëthon’s story is to be found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (2.1–
339), a most delightful and humorous approach but one which con-
tains no hint that Jupiter’s intervention is intended to be punitive.
nil actum (1.222 “nothing was achieved”): indeed so, but perhaps
Jupiter’s second claim will be more persuasive: neque tu ualida quod
cuspide late ire per inlicitum pelago, germane, dedisti (1.222–3
“nor because you, my brother, with your strong spear allowed the sea
to go widely through forbidden territory.”). Neptune’s permitting the
sea to cover the earth, a place normally inlicitum to him, significantly
also occurs in Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1.260–347), although there
Jupiter initiates the flood, Neptune merely assists and there the pun-
ishment is provoked by genuine human evil, the career of Lycaon.
Also, in the Metamorphoses, the flood did have at least a temporary
beneficial effect with the saving of Deucalion and Pyrrha. And so,
after an introduction which led the reader to expect a ringing denun-
ciation of Oedipus’ sons in response to Oedipus’ complaints we hear
this petulant diatribe about the failure of previous punishments to im-
prove mankind and no mention yet of Oedipus or his sons. But per-
haps we should not be surprised. How did Jupiter know about Oedi-
pus’ story? Oedipus himself had made no attempt to invoke Jupiter
but had gone straight to Tisiphone, presumably because he believed
her to be more powerful. The nearest he gets to invoking Jupiter is his
2 For Phaethon in the proem to Theb. 1 cf. Rosati in this volume, 184–93.