Silvae IV

The fourth book of Statius' Silvae, containing a preface and nine poems, was published in AD 95 to celebrate various occasions ranging from the building of a road to the gift-giving festival of the Saturnalia. The book is of particular interest because it was published in defiance of criticism of the first three books, and also because it contains a cycle of three poems in honour of the emperor Domitian - a higher proportion than in any other book of the Silvae.This edition contains the first commentary on Silvae IV since Vollmer's edition of 1898. The introduction discusses Statius' career, the chronology and arrangement of the poems in Book IV, the title Silvae, the nature of the collection, the authenticity of the tituli affixed to the individual poems, and the textual tradition. A new text with full apparatus criticus is supplied, as well as a prose translation. The commentary covers textual, linguistic, literary, and historical questions, and foreach poem there is an introductory note dealing with the genre, the occasion, and the prosopography of the addressee (where applicable).