50 HARM-JAN VAN DAM
sional, encomiastic poems became more tenuous. As a result books
entitled Silvae from the early sixteenth century onwards may contain
almost any kind of poems, religious, didactic or patriotic.^20 On the
other hand, imitation of Statius’ Silvae regularly occurs within collec-
tions or books called not Silvae, but Farrago, Eclogae, Odae; and
even more in poetry named after the secondary genres most practiced
by Statius epithalamia, epicedia, genethliaca and similar titles refer-
ring to social occasions. In the use of these titles we see the the influ-
ence of Julius Caesar Scaliger’s Poetics, written in the late 1540’s.
Scaliger introduced a new element in the poetics of the silva by divid-
ing it into these subgenres; or rather he reintroduced ancient concepts,
for his discussion and classification of the small genres is entirely
based on the rhetorical prescriptions of “Menander”. In his discussion
of the Sylva, Scaliger, after subscribing to Quintilian’s view of silva,
states that panegyric is its essence, and goes on to give rules for epi-
thalamia, genethliaca, soteria, propemptica, epibateria and apobate-
ria.^21 Thus, in studying late-sixteenth and seventeenth century (poetics
of) silvae we have to take into account the different aspects implied in
Poliziano’s work as well as the views and classifications of Scaliger’s
Poetics, which are of a different order.
In the late fifteenth century Statius’ Silvae were “hot” in Italy.
Around 1600, the same was true for the Northern Netherlands: almost
every scholar in and around the new university in Leiden (founded
1575) was busy with the text of Statius, and also with writing occa-
sional poetry in his trail. What of poetic Silvae or imitation of Statius’
non-epic poetry by Dutch poets and critics between 1500 and 1575?
The two greatest Dutch men of Latin culture in this period were the
scholar Erasmus and the poet Janus Secundus, who both died in 1536.
Neither of those had much use for Statius and his Silvae: in Erasmus’
letters he is not mentioned, and Secundus leaves him aside. In Secun-
20 French examples of such collections have been noted by Perrine Galand-Hallyn,
e.g. 1998, 613–4. See also my article to appear in Verbaal, Maes and Papy (2008)
(eds.), Latinitas perennis II.
21 Scaliger Poetics 3. 95–126. For Scaliger’s use of the 1508 Aldina with the two
treatises ascribed there to Menander, see Deitz 1994, 40, on Menander Russell and
Wilson 1981 xi–xiii and xxii ff. In discussing sylva Scaliger does not mention Statius,
whom he discusses in 6.6 (Vogt-Spira and Deitz 2003, 282–91), see also 5.16. In 6.6
Scaliger criticizes those who prefer the Silvae to the epics (that is Poliziano and his
like): nugantur delectati calore illo vago, cuius impetu quasi per saltus omnia carpat
oratio (Vogt-Spira and Deitz 2003, 284; my underlining: HJvD).