the brothers Eteocles
and Polynices, and the subsequent history of Thebes to the death of
Creon. The dedication is to Domitian. For the popularity of the
_Thebais_ cf. Juv. _Sat._ 7, 82,

'Curritur ad vocem iucundam et carmen amicae
Thebaidos, laetam cum fecit Statius urbem
promisitque diem. Tanta dulcedine captos
afficit ille animos tantaque libidine volgi
auditur; sed, cum fregit subsellia versu,
esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven.'

2. The _Achilleis_, also dedicated to Domitian, is an incomplete epic,
consisting of one Book and part of a second. It was later than the
Thebaid, for Statius was working at it in A.D. 95: _Silv._ iv. 4, 93,

'Nunc vacuos crines alio subit infula nexu:
Troia quidem magnusque mihi temptatur Achilles.'

The poem was intended to cover the whole career of Achilles, including
his retreat in Scyros before the Trojan War, and his exploits after
the death of Hector, which did not enter into the plan of the _Iliad_:
cf. l. 3,

'Quamquam acta viri multum inclita cantu
Maeonio, sed plura vacant: nos ire per omnem
(sic amor est) heroa velis.'

3. The _Silvae_, which represent the poet in his less serious mood,
are occasional poems on miscellaneous subjects, published in five
separate Books. Cf. 1, praef. 'Diu multumque dubitavi ... an hos
libellos, ... cum singuli de sinu meo prodierint, congregates ipse
dimitterem.' Many of them were thrown off in haste at the command of
the Emperor or the request of friends: cf. such expressions as 'stili
facilitas' (ii. praef.), 'libellorum temeritas,' 'hanc audaciam stili
nostri' (iii. praef.). Of the poems in Book i. he says, 'nullum ex
illis biduo longius tractum, quaedam et in singulis diebus effusa' (i.
praef.). Each of the Books is introduced by a prose preface.

None of the _Silvae_ appeared before A.D. 92; for Rutilius Gallicus,
for whom i. 4 was written, died in that year, and the poem was not
published till after his death (i. praef.). Book v. was probably a
posthumous work: there is no proper preface, and the third and fifth
poems are incomplete.

Hexameter verse is employed for all the _Silvae_ except six. Of these,
four are in hendecasyllabics, one in the Alcaic and one in the Sapphic
stanza.

4. The only other poem of which there is distinct evidence is the
pantomime _Agave_, written not later than A.D. 84, the year in which
the player Paris was put to death (Juv. _Sat._ 7, 86, quoted above).

MA