Part 44 (2/2)

564. viii. 751. Tydeus bites the severed head of Melanippus to the brain, thereby losing the gift of immortality that Pallas was hastening to bring him. The incident is revolting, but Statius has merely followed the old legend recorded by Aesch. _Sept._ 587; Soph. _Fr._ 731; Eurip.

_Fr._ 357.

565. Cp. in this context Atalanta's beautiful lament on his departure for the war, iv. 318.

566. Every book, however, abounds in echoes of Vergil, both in matter and diction; e.g. _Aen._ vii. 475, Allecto precipitates the war by making Ascanius kill a tame stag. _Theb._ vii. 562, an Erinnys brings about the war by causing the death of two pet tigers sacred to Bacchus.

_Aen._ xi. 591, Diana orders one of her nymphs to kill the slayer of Camilla. _Theb._ ix. 665, she tells Apollo that the slayer of Parthenopaeus shall perish by her arrows, for which see _Th._ ix. 875.

Cp. also _Th._ ii. 205; _Aen._ iv. 173, 189; _Th._ ii. 162; _Aen._ xi.

581. The pa.s.sage previously referred to concerning the exploits of Dymas and Hopleus is especially noteworthy as openly challenging comparison with Vergil; cp. x. 445. For verbal imitations cp. _Aen._ v. 726, 7; _Th._ ii. 115; _Aen._ i. 106; _Th._ v. 366; _Aen._ vii. 397; _Th._ iv.

379, &c. It is no defence to urge that the ancients held different views on plagiarism, that Vergil and Ovid pilfered from their predecessors.

For _they_ made their appropriations their own, and set the stamp of their genius upon what they borrowed. And, further, the process of borrowing cannot continue indefinitely. The c.u.mulative effect of progressive plagiarism is distressing. For Statius' imitation of other Latin poets, notably Lucan, Seneca, and Ovid, see Legras, op. cit., i.

2. Such imitations, though not very rare, are of comparatively small importance.

567. ix. 315 sqq.

568. Statius is imitating early Greek epic. That might excuse him if these similes possessed either truth or beauty.

569. See p.123, note.

570. i. 841-85 gives a good idea of the _Achilleis_ at its best. The pa.s.sage describes the unmasking of the disguised Achilles.

571. Quint, x. 3. 17.

572. _Silv._ i. 1. 6; iii. 4; iv. 1. 2, 3.

573. ii. 1. 6; iii. 3.

574. v. 1. 3, 5.

575. iii. 5; iv. 4. 5, 7; v. 2.

576. i. 4.

577. iii. 2.

578. i. 3. 5; ii. 2; iii. 1.

579. i. 2.

580. ii. 7.

581. iv. 6.

582. ii. 4. 5.

583. v. 4.

584. Cp. also the extravagant dedication of the _Thebais_.

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