Silvae

The Silvae is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose preface which introduces and dedicates the book. The subjects of the poetry are varied and provide scholars with a wealth of information on Domitian's Rome and Statius' life.

The Silvae were probably composed by Statius between 89-96 CE. The first three books seem to have been published together after 93 CE (a year after the publication of the Thebaid), and Book 4 was probably released in 95 CE. Book 5 is thought to have been released posthumously c. 96. Each book is datable by a comparison of the careers of the individual poems' addressees and references in other authors such as Martial. The title of the collection has caused some debate on the part of scholars, though it is assumed that it was taken from the lost Silvae of Lucan. In Latin, silva which in the nominative plural is Silvae, can mean both "forest" and "material."Silva was used to describe the draft of a poet's work which was composed impromptu in a moment of strong inspiration and which was then revised into a polished, metrical poem. This suggests that the Silvae are revised, impromptu pieces of occasional poetry which were composed in the space of a few days' time; Statius describes his method of composition in the preface to Book 1, saying mihi subito calore et quadam festinandi voluptate fluxerant cum singuli de sino meo prodiderint ([they] streamed from my pen in the heat of the moment, a sort of pleasurable haste, emerging from my bosom one by one). He goes on to say in the preface that none of them took more than two days to compose. Almost all the poems are dedicated individually to a patron and are accompanied by titles which are considered a later addition by editors.

As remarked above, the similarity in title suggests that Statius may have modeled his Silvae on a collection of Lucan's poetry, however the loss of that work makes comparisons difficult. There was a strong tradition of Latin panegyric poetry and prose which is mostly lost today, but can still be seen in works such as the Laus Pisonis and the Elegiae in Maecenatem. Catullus and his collection of polymetric poetry seems to be an important inspiration for Statius. Several of his poems employ Catullus' favorite meter, hendecasyllables and cover a diverse range of themes similar to the variety in Catullus' work, although Statius avoids the invective tone of Catullus except in jest at 4.9. Horace is also an important model, whose influence is particularly felt in Statius' lyric compositions (4.5,7) and in his epistle (4.4). The narrative style of Ovid can be detected in the story of Pan in 2.3. Virgilian references abound; many of Statius' exempla in the poems derive from characters in the Aeneid and most poems reference Virgil in some way. Finally, Lucan's poetry serves as an inspiration for 2.7. On the Greek side, we learn from the lament for his father 5.3 that Statius was familiar with the canonical nine lyric poets, Callimachus, and the Alexandrian Pleiad. Pindar is perhaps one of the most important influences for Statius; the panegyric nature of his poetry, his mythological examples, and his invocations all reference Pindaric convention (see also 4.7).

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