Scipio and the Ghost of Appius

Scipio and the Ghost of AppiusAuthor(s): Edward L. BassettSource: Classical Philology, Vol. 58, No. 2 (Apr., 1963), pp. 73-92Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/266615 .

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CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY

VOLUME LVIII, NUMBER 2

April 1963

SCIPIO AND THE GHOST OF APPIUS

EDWARD L. BASSETT

JN Silius Italicus' Punica 13. 468-87 Scipio Africanus describes the modes of disposing of the dead practic-

ed by various peoples. Many critics have considered the verses untimely and inappropriate; some have doubted their Silian authorship. The aim of this paper is to investigate the literary descent and philosophical connections of Scipio's disquisition; the evidence here adduced will show that the episode is not only relevant but typical of Silius' method of composition.'

Scipio, immediately after the recovery of Capua, has stopped at Pute- oli. Here he learns that his father and uncle have fallen in Spain. All but overwhelmed by this loss, he decides to evoke the spirits of his kinsmen and relieve his grief by holding converse with them; at the same time he will find out what the future.has in store. He proceeds to Cumae, where the Sibyl Autonoe tells him what ritual acts he must perform to call up the spirits of the dead. When he has made ready the necessary victims, she gives him in- structions for digging a trench and slaying them. She then utters incan- tations, the animals ar e killed, and spirits arise to drink the blood. The victims are slain on the edge of a trench as in the eleventh Ody88ey, not in a cave as in the sixth Aeneid. There is no

journey corresponding to that suggest- ed by "ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram..." Silius presents us with an evocation rather than a descent.2Autonoe instructs Scipio to cut to pieces any spirits that press forward to drink of the blood before the appear- ance of a second Sibyl who will proph- esy to him, then draws his attention to an unburied ghost that wishes to speak to him. This is Appius Claudius Pulcher, who had been mortally wounded at Capua; his literary prototypes are Elpenor in Odyssey 11 and Palinurus in Aeneid 6, also to a certain extent the Patroclus of Iliad 23.3 Scipio asks Ap- pius what brought about his death. In his answer Appius begs Scipio to see to his cremation at once; this Scipio promises to do and then begins a lecture on mortuary customs:

contra quae ductor: "fesso mihi proxima tandem

lux gratos Phaethontis equos avertit et atris aeternum demisit aquis. sed lenta meorum, dum vanos ritus cura et sollemnia vulgi exsequitur, cessat flammis imponere corpus, ut portet tumulis per longum membra

paternis. quod te per nostri Martis precor aemula

facta, arce quae putres artus medicamina servant, daque vago portas quamprimum Acherontis

adire." Tunc iuvenis: "gens o veteris pulcherrima

Clausi, [CLASSICAL PHILOLOGY, LVIII, April, 1963] 73



74 EDWARD L. BASSETT

haud ulla ante tuam, quamquam non parva fatigent,

curarum prior exstiterit. namque ista per oMrDes 468

discrimen servat populos variatquie iacentum exsequias tumuli et cinerum sententia discors. tellure-ut perhibent, is mos ant.iquus

Hibera exanima obseenus consumit corpora vultur. regia cum lucem posuerunt membra, proba-

tum est Hyrcanis adhibere canes. Aegyptia tellus claudit odorato post funus stantia saxo corpora et a mensis exsanguem haud separat

umbram. exhausto instituit Pontuis vacuiare cerebro ora viruin et longum medicata reponit in

aevum. quid, qui reclusa nudos Garamantes harena infodiunt ? quid, qui saevo sepelire profundo exaninlos mandant Libycis Nasamones in

oris ? at Celtae vacui capitis circumdare gaudent ossa, nefas, auro ac mensis ea pocula servant. Cecropidae ob patriam Mavortis sorte peremp-

tos decrevere simrul communibus urere flammis. at gente in Scythica suffixa cadavera truncis lenta dies sepelit, putri liquentia tabo"

[457-87].

These two parts of the Appius-Scipio dialogue complement each other.4 The second, however, constitutes a special problem since it has so often been de- nounced by the critics. Summers,5 for instance, refers to it as an attempt "to improve on Virgil's Aeneas and Pali- nurus episode" and "an inept, but learned, account of the various methods by which the nations dispose of the bodies of the dead." F. H. Bothe6 rele- gates the discourse to a footnote. Erne- sti7 is acid: "lam sequitur recensio va- riorum generum mortuos tractandi et sepeliendi, quae apud diversos populos obtineant. Hune locum omnem semper maxime absurdum iudicavi. Non potest ulla probabilis ratio inveniri, quare poeta haec Scipionem disputantem in- duxerit. Certe, si in solatium Appii dicta quis putaverit, ridiculus consolandi modus mihi videtur. Credo poetam,

cum vellet doctrinam expromere, et variandi ornatus artem ostentare, non sensisse, quam absurdum et contra dignitatem carminis epici id faceret. Eum omnem locum, si quem alium, ex carmine Siliano, ut absit, optaverim. Et quid istud namque [vs. 468] habet, ad quod referatur?" Ruperti concurs with Ernesti's strictures, adding: "To- tum hunc locum e Lucret. III, 883-906. expressum censet Lefeb.8 ego potius ex Cic. Tusc. Qu. I, 45."

The section of Lucretius' poem referred to by Lefebvre is 3. 870-93 in modern texts. The most relevant lines are 888-93: "nam si in morte malumst malis morsuque ferarum / tractari, non invenio qui non sit acerbum / ignibus impositum calidis torrescere flammis / aut in melle situm suffocari atque rigere / frigore, cum summo gelidi cubat aequore saxi, / urgerive superne obtri- tum pondere terrae."9

Like lines 890-93 of the Lucretian passage verses 468-87 of Punica 13 deal with ceremonious methods of disposal of the dead. Or, if some of the methods described by Silius do not seem exactly ceremonious, they are the standard practices for the peoples concerned. The shorter account in the De rerum natura differs from the Silian in not explicitly considering -the varied treatment given to corpses according to races or nations. Cicero, on the other hand, not only arranges his matter in section 108 of Tusculans 1 according to nations but categorizes it as "nationum varios errores.)"

There is some similarity between the remainder of Book 3 of Lucretius and the latter part of Silius' Book 13. Lu- cretius has a lengthy description of the punishments of the underworld, which he interprets allegorically: things that are said to exist in Acheron exist in our life. Legends like that of Sisyphus, as



SCIPIO AND THE GHOST OF APPius 75

well as "Cerberus et Furiae iam vero et lucis egestas, / Tartarus horriferos eruc- tans faucibus aestus," are symbols for what our conscience makes us fear while we are still alive (978-1023). This is followed by the reminder that all sorts of eminent people have departed from life: kings and rulers; "Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror"; the "repertores doctrinarum atque lepo- rum"; also the "Heliconiadum comites" and among them Homer (1024-38). All these Lucretian items reappear in Punica 13, scattered among many non- Lucretian details. One of the ten gates of the Silian underworld lets in those "qui laetas artes vitaeque colendae / invenere viam nec dedignanda parenti / carmina fuderunt Phoebo" (537-39). In the courtyard of Pluto's palace we find Cerberus (591; cf. 574). Kings, awaiting punishment, stand before Pluto; and Furies and all sorts of Penalties sur- round them: "circumerrant Furiae Poenarumque omnis imago" (604). One of the guilty rulers pushes a rock up a steep mountain (610). Much farther on in the description of the underworld we encounter the spirit of Homer (778- 97). The parallels are not conclusive, however. Most of the groups or individuals mentioned by Lucretius occur in other pre-Silian poets, notablyVirgil. The reference to Homer in Lucretius is brief; the section devoted to him in Silius is long and considerably later in the book. The Lucretian line describing Scipio could have interested Silius; in fact, he has "ubi nunc sunt fulmina gentis / Scipiadae ?" at 7. 106-7 and "Carthaginis horror" as the ending of 15. 340. But he need not have derived the expressions from Lucretius. As Bailey observes, they may go back to Ennius, Virgil has "duo fulmina belli, / Scipiadas" (Aen. 6. 842-43), and "Car- thaginis horror" is also Senecan.10

In diction there is little similarity between the dialogue in the Punica and Lucretius' verses 870-93. The closest correspondence is the Lucretian "corpore posto" (871) and "ignibus impositum calidis torrescere flammis" (890) and Silius' "cessat flammis imponere corpus" (461).11 But much of the ter- minology here is almost inevitable, given the theme of cremation; furthermore, Silius' words echo Lucan more than Lucretius (see below). The phrase- ological parallels between the lines in the Punica and other sections of the De rerum natura seem at first to provide some support for deriving the episode more from the Lucretian than from the Ciceronian account of burial rites. But the evidence suggests, as we shall see, that, in most of the correspondences, Silius has borrowed, not from Lucre- tius, but from various other poets (who may themselves have borrowed from Lucretius). For example, his "fesso mihi proxima tandem / lux gratos Phaethontis equos avertit et atris / aeternum demisit aquis" (457-59) may owe something to Lucretius' "avia cum Phaethonta rapax vis solis equorum / aethere raptavit toto ... magnanimum Phaethonta reepnti fulminis ictu / de- turbavit equis in terram, Solque ca- denti / obvius aeternam succepit lam- pada mundi" (5. 397-402). The two references to Phaethon and his father's horses are perhaps significant; but Virgil has the phrase Phaethontis equi, if Silius needed precedent for his, and the aeternam of Lucretius is not Virgil's adverbial aeternum (see below with n. 37). Silius' alliterative Acherontis adire (465) is comparable to Lucretius' "et metus ille foras praeceps Acheruntis agendus," "infernas animas Acherunte vagare," "ne forte animas Acherunte reamur / effugere," and "animas Ache- runtis in oras / ducere" (3. 37, 628, 4.




37-38, 6. 763-64), to say nothing of "at contra nusquam apparent Acheru- sia templa" (3. 25). But the inspiration for the Silian phrase cannot come en- tirely from Lucretius; alliteration involving a form of Acheron or Acheruns seems to have been traditional in Latin verse (see the examples from Virgil and Lucan in nn. 37 and 50), and the starting point for this may have been a poetic passage that is quoted by Cicero in Tusculans 1 (see below). Three words in Silius' "namque ista per omnes / discrimen servat populos variatque iacentum / exsequias tumuli et cinerum sententia discors" (468-70) have an almost exact counterpart in Lucretius' "omnes / foedere naturae certo dis- crimina servant" (5. 923-24). But the whole sentence has parallels in Virgil, Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, and Statius (see below with nn. 38 and 58).12 Silius' "Mavortis sorte peremptos" (484) may echo both "quo minus esse diu possimus forte perempti" and "et simul intereat nobiscum morte dirempta" (of the soul) from the De rerum natura (3. 1089, 1. 114; cf. also peremptum cited in n. 11); the similarity includes not only the participles but the assonance in Ma- vortis sorte-forte-morte as well. But Virgil has "Martis sorte peremptis" and "morte peremptum" (see n. 37),13 and Ovid presents two parallels (see below). Similarly, the Silian "putri liquentia tabo" (487) is to be compared with Lucretius' "sed tamen in parvo liquun- tur tempore tabe" (3. 553; cf. putescat cited in n. 11) but also with a locution from Ovid and, if the reading is right, one from Valerius Flaccus (see below with n. 58).14

Ruperti, as we noted above, would derive our Silian passage from Cicero Tusculans 1. 45. 108:

sed quid singulorum opiniones animadver- tam, nationum varios errores perspicere cum

liceat ? condiunt Aegyptii mortuos et eos servant domi; Persae etiam cera circumlitos condunt ut quam maxime permaneant diuturna corpora. Magorum mos est non humare corpora suorum, nisi a feris sint ante laniata. in Hyrcania plebs publicos alit canes, optimates domesticos. nobile autem genus canum illud scimus esse; sed pro sua quisque facultate parat a quibus lanietur, eamque optimam lli esse censent sepulturam. permulta alia colligit Chrysippus, ut est in omni historia curiosus; sed ita taetra sunt quaedam ut ea fugiat et reformidet oratio. totus igitur hic locus est contemnendus in nobis, non neglegendus in nostris, ita tamen ut mortuorum corpora nihil sentire vivi sentiamus. quantum autem consuetudini famaeque dandum sit, id curent vivi4 sed ita ut intel- legant nihil id ad mortuos pertinere.

Cicero's enumeration of, mortuary customs and that of Silius have been compared by Wezel (p. 59), who confronts "Aegyptia tellus ... haud separat umbram" with Cicero's "condiunt Aegyp- tii.. . servant domi," "regia cum lucem ... adhibere canes" with Cicero's "in Hyrcania... censent sepulturam," and "exhausto instituit... longum medicata reponit in aevum" with Cicero's "Persae etiam ... ut quam maxime permaneant diuturna corpora" (Wezel's italics). We- zel does not mention Lucretius 3. 890-93. In that passage no peoples are named, whereas Cicero names four; and two of these, Egyptians and Hyrcani- ans, are included in Silius' list of nine. Furthermore, Cicero tells us at the beginning of section 108 that he is turning from individuals to nations. Finally, only one of Lucretius' three types of formal corpse disposal, embalmment, has its counterpart in Scipio's digression; his other two, cremation and inhumation, do correspond, however, to the two mentioned by Appius. In thematic detail, therefore, Silius echoes Cicero more than he does Lucretius. The following verbal parallels not involving proper names may be noted: Cicero's "nationum varios (errores)," "servant



ScrpiO AND THE GHOST OF APPius 77

domi," and "consuetudini" and Silius' "(discrimen servat) populos variatque (... sententia)" (469), "servant" (483; cf. 464), and "mos antiquus" (471).15

Lucretius' lines on formal burial follow the statement of his opinion that men fear death because they are not convinced that there will be no sensation after death (870-89). Similarly, in the sections (104-7) just preceding the account of burial practices in Tusculans 1 Cicero emphasizes that a corpse is insensate and criticizes episodes in literature showing unawareness of this. In addition, as Lucretius is every- where concerned with releasing men from the fear of death and treats the folly of that fear in detail in 3. 830- 1094, so the whole argument of Book 1 of the Tusculan Disputations is De con- temnenda morte, as Cicero describes the book in De divinatione 2. 1. 2. Scipio's sermon in the Punica contains no pre- liminary remarks on the loss of sensation after death or about scorning death. On the other hand, we may easi- ly suppose a connection in Silius' mind between modes of burial and the con- cept of the insensate corpse that would form part of the raison d'etre of the Scipionic disquisition: Appius, referring to two methods of corpse disposal, states his preference for one of them to be used at once; Scipio promises to see to Appius' cremation but implies that whatever method is preferred has no significance for the lifeless body; in fact, it would not matter if the corpse were dealt with in any of the various ways not employed by Romans. Several points made by Cicero in the immediate context of section 108 and elsewhere in Tusculans 1 harmonize with this inter- pretation and illustrate further the genesis and appropriateness of Scipio's lecture.

In sections 102-4 Cicero records the

indifference expressed by four philosophers toward buriall6: When Theodorus of Cyrene was being threatened with the cross by Lysimachus, he said: "Theo- dori quidem nihil interest, humine an sublime putescat." In Cicero's version of Plato's Phaedo 115C-E Socrates de- clares: "verum tamen, Crito, si me adsequi potueris aut sicubi nanctus eris, ut tibi videbitur, sepelito." Diogenes the Cynic states his scorn of the birds and animals-vultures and dogs are probably meant-that may rend his unburied body: "proici se iussit in- humatum. tum amici: 'volucribusne et feris?' 'minime vero,' inquit, 'sed ba- cillum propter me, quo abigam, poni- tote.' 'qui poteris ?' illi, 'non enim senties.' 'quid igitur mihi ferarum laniatus oberit nihil sentienti?"' The analogies with the Silian passage are striking; compare the remark of Theo- dorus' with Silius' account of the Scythian practice (486-87) ending "putri liquentia tabo," and the "volucribusne et feris ?" and "ferarum laniatus" in the conversation between Diogenes and his friends with Silius' Iberian vultures and Hyrcanian dogs. The anec- dote about Diogenes is immediately followed in Cicero's text by one regarding Anaxagoras: "praeclare Anaxagoras, qui cum Lampsaci moreretur, quaeren- tibus amicis, velletne Clazomenas in patriam, si quid accidisset, auferri, 'nihil necesse est,' inquit, 'undique enim ad inferos tantundem viae est."' The situation parallels that in Silius: Ap- pius' friends are delaying until the corpse can be carried far off to the tomb of his ancestors, which is not the treatment Appius himself wants; the dying Anaxagoras is asked by his friends whether he wants his body sent back to his home in the event of death, and he replies that there is no need of that.




In sections 105-7 Cicero turns to the anxiety of epic and tragic characters over the fate of the corpse. An example is the unburied ghost of Deiphilus: "ecce alius exoritur e terra, qui ma- trem dormire non sinat," says Cicero and then quotes from the Iliona of Pacuvius: "mater, te appello, tiu, quae curam somno suspensam levas, / neque te mei miseret, s(urge et sepeli natum-. " Deiphilus is afraid he may be torn to pieces by wild beasts and birds: "prius quam ferae / volucresque-"; "neu re- liquias semiesas sireis denudatis ossibus / per terram sanie delibutas foede dive- xarier. "17 The Silian Appius cxpresses no such fear, but he and Deiphilus be- long to the same tradition of the ghost appealing for cremation or burial, a tradition going back to Patroclus and Elpenor. Three items in close sequence in the Tusculans-the dialogues culmi- nating in that between Anaxagoras and his friends, the appeal of the ghost Deiphilus, and the account of burial rites arranged according to nations- cogently illustrate Ciceronian influence on the passage in the Punica.

In Tusculans 1. 46. 110 there is a substantial list of famous Romans: "multo autem tardius fama deseret Curium Fabricium Calatinum, duo Sci- piones duo Africanos, Maximum Mar- cellum Paulum, Catonem Laeliurn, in- numerabiles alios." In the latter part of Punica 13 Silius refers to Curius (723) and relates in some detail (705-16) Scipio's encounter with the ghost of Paulus,18 who fell at Cannae. (The meet- ing between Scipio and his father and uncle had already been described at length [650-704].) Cicero's "duo Sci- piones duo Africanos" contains more of the cast of characters of the Punica than Lucretius' "Scipiadas, belli fulmen, Carthaginis horror" does; and Fabius Maximus and Marcellus, who

are linked with Paulus in Cicero's list, also have their place in Silius' poem.19

Why did Silius choose Appius Clau- dius Pulcher to hear Scipio's lecture? Who is he ? From the strictly historical point of view, clearly the Appius Clau- dius Pulcher (cf. the quasi pun pulcher- rina) who died from wounds about the time of the recovery of Capua. He is called Appius in verse 453 and within our passage (466) "gens o veteris pulcherrima Clausi" (the last word is Mar- sus' certain emendation); he is called Appius again in 17. 300 when Hannibal invokes his memory. He is "Ap. Clau- dius Pulcher Pat. (293) Cos. 212, Pr. 215."20 The name Appius Claudius Pulcher is also that of a good friend of Cicero's, "Ap. Claudius Pulcher Pat. (297) Cos. 54, Pr. 57,"21 and Silius has fused the two men. The later Appius is mentioned in Book 1 of the Tusculan Disputations in a passage (16. 36-37) where a ghost arises from Acheron and speaks (this in a quotation from a tragic poet) and where Cicero refers to the Homeric Nekyia, the necromancy practiced by his friend Appius, and Lake Avernus. This Appius Claudius Pulcher was Cicero's colleague in the college of augurs and the author of a work on the disciplina auquralis, "a decided reactionary in religious matters,"22 the elder brother of Clodius (which did not impede the friendship with Cicero), and probably the great- great-grandson of the Appius of the Punica.23 Silius often attributes to earlier figures the characteristics of their more famous descendants; an example of this is his portrait of the Brutus who is one of the leaders in the catalogue of troops in Book 8 (349-621 at 607-12). Thus Silius' Appius resembles Cicero's Appius and is an appropriate person to hear Scipio's lecture.



SCIPIO AND THE GHOST OF APpius 79

In Tusculans 1. 16. 36 Cicero de- clares that men have falsely deduced the idea of the life of departed souls in the underworld from the fact that the body is buried underground; the poets have added to the errors consequent on this opinion. In section 37 he illustrates his point: "frequens enim con- sessus theatri, in quo sunt mulierculae et pueri, movetur audiens tam grande carmen: 'a'dsum atque advenio Ache- runte vlx via alta atque airdua / per speluncas saixis structas a'speris, pen- dentibus, / maiximis, ubi rlgida constat crassa caligo inferum."' What is imag- ined as happening in the underworld, Cicero continues, cannot happen if there are no bodies; but the people are unable to conceive of the soul apart from body and form. "Inde Homeri tota v6xuoc , inde ea quae meus amicus Appius veXuo[vt?oc faciebat, inde in vicinia nostra Averni lacus, 'unde animae ex- citatntur obscura 'umbra aperto ex ostio / altae Acheruntis salso sanguine, mortuorum imaigines.' has tamen imagines loqui volunt, quod fieri nec sine lingua nec sine palato nec sine faucium, laterum, pulmonum vi et figura potest. nihil enim animo videre poterant, ad oculos omnia referebant."

Section 108 of Tusculans 1 and its context have exerted more influence on the Appius-Scipio dialogue than the verses in De rerum natura 3; sections 36-37 of Tusculans 1 were clearly in Silius' mind too. Not only are the verses quoted by Cicero full of alliteration, but there are two examples with forms of Acheruns; as we observed above, there are instances in Lucretius also to match Silius' Acherontis adire, but the starting point of what became a tradition seems to be these lines "from some unknown Latin tragic poet."24 The proximity to Lake Avernus mentioned by Cicero (i.e., the nearness of his

Cumaean villa to that site) corresponds to Silius' statement about the closeness of Puteoli to Avernus, which encour- aged Scipio to consult the spirits of his father and uncle: "hortatur vicina palus, ubi signat Averni / squalentem introitum stagnans Acherusius humor" (397-98). As the Appius Claudius Pul- cher of the time of the Civil War was interested in the afterlife and communed with the spirits of the departed, so his namesake of the time of the Second Punic War holds converse, as a ghost, with Scipio and is very much interested, we presume, in the information given by Scipio about the various ways of disposing of the dead.

Silius' fusion of two Ciceronian passages is in keeping with the verbal similarities between sections 36 and 108 of Tusculans 1 (forms of opinor, opi- nio, natio, error) and the thematic like- nesses and contrasts (e.g., con8ensu nationum omnium: nationum varios errores). More than this, the Appius- Scipio episode in the Punica, as we have seen, has its connection with the general theme of Book 1 of the Tusculan Dis- putations. The theme is a philosophical commonplace. Nevertheless, most scholars admit some Stoic influence on Tus- culans 1. One of the clearest examples of that influence is the account of burial practices, where the second founder of Stoicism is mentioned by name. Cicero's words "permulta alia colligit Chrysip- pus" imply that he has been following Chrysippus in what immediately pre- cedes.25 Arnold in his section "Burial a convention" (pp. 278-79) notes that for Zeno "it was equally right to throw the body to the fire, as the Indians, or to the vultures, as the Persians. Nor is there any need to condemn those nations amongst which the dead are eaten by their own relatives." He also observes: "The problem of the disposal




of the dead became a favourite subject of discussion in Stoic circles. Chrysippus wrote at length on the subject, com- paring the customs of various nations as well as the habits of animals, in order to ascertain the law of nature. He reaches the conclusion that dead bodies should be disposed of in the simplest possible way, not being regarded as of more importance than the hair or nail- parings from which we part in life." The topic is discussed by Seneca in Epistulae morales 92. 34-35, a passage to which Arnold refers and with wohich Silius was doubtless familiar.26

Silius was a Stoic and an admirer of Cicero. For both facts there is evidence within his poem as well as external evidence; see, for example, the enco- mium of the great orator in Book 8 (406-11), apropos of an ancestor of Cicero's in the forces setting out for Cannae.27 He would naturally, therefore, have drawn more on the account of burial rites found in Cicero and deriving from the Stoic Chrysippus than on the one given by the Epicurean Lu- cretius. Silius in his list has details which Cicero knew of through Chrysippus but refrained from mentioning (cf. Cicero's "ita taetra sunt quaedam ut ea fugiat et reformidet oratio" ).28 To sum up, Scipio's lecture owes more to section 108 of Tusculans 1 than to the passage in Lucretius' third book for the following reasons especially: Anaxa- goras in section 104 of Cicero's work corresponds to Silius' Appius, as does the ghost of Deiphilus in section 105; the lecture, as an answer to Appius' request, implies that method of burial is an indifferent matter, which is both a philosophical commonplace developed by Cicero in sections 102-4 and a Stoic theme; Cicero's list of mortuary practices is arranged according to nations; that list comes from a Stoic source.29

An earlier part of Tusculans 1 has also contributed to the Appius-Scipio dialogue; in particular, Cicero's reference to the augur Appius there accounts for Silius' choice of an Appius as au- ditor.

As the Appius-Scipio episode can be justified by comparison with Cicero, so it can be justified by comparison with Virgil and post-Virgilian Latin poets, to say nothing of Hellenistic poets. First, the didactic discourse, frequently of a scientific or quasi-scientific nature, is traditional in Latin epic poetry; the tradition owes a good deal to the influence of Lucretius on Virgil. Secondly, writers of the Silver Age were interested in questions of natural history and ethnology.30 Moreover, such a speech, though tending to have more of an independent status in the poetry of the Silver Age than in Virgil, often proves on close study to be more relevant to the theme of the poem iA, question than is commonly supposed. The disquisition of Acoreus in Lucan's Bellum civile (10. 194-331) is a case in point. Rebischke compares our Silian episode with this section of Lucan, "qui loco parum idoneo de Nili fontibus egit, ut doctrinam suam probaret. "31 Re- cently, however, Syndikus has empha- sized the unity of the scenes in Lucan's tenth book and pointed out the significance of the excursus on the sources of the Nile for the portrait of Caesar that Lucan is sketching.32 Furthermore, in the works of several poets from Vir- gil to Silius there are Stoic elements, often in speeches. Anchises' account of the transmigration of souls in Aeneid 6 (724-51) is the most obvious example, and also the most important for us since the speech is in the Virgilian Nekyia. Next in importance is the speech of the seer Mopsus in Valerius Flaccus (3. 377-416). Both Mopsus and Anchises



SCIPIO AND THE GHOST OF APpius 81

mention, for instance, the fiery origin of the soul, a tenet of the Stoics.33 We must see, then, what use Silius has made in the Appius-Scipio colloquy of the epic poets Virgil, Lucan, Valerius Flaccus, and Statius and of Ovid, five authors on whom he has drawn in vary- ing degrees throughout the rest of the Punica.34

The connection between our Silian passage and Anchises' discourse on metempsychosis inVirgil is one of theme and context rather than diction. But the slight verbal correspondence between the last line of Scipio's lecture, "lenta dies sepelit ... and Virgil's "donec longa dies..." (745) evokes very subtly Anchises' speech.35 Other parts of the Aeneid are more comparable to the Appius-Scipio dialogue with respect to diction or to diction combined with theme. We may compare Silius' "et a mensis exsanguem haud separat umbram" and "licet ingens ianitor antro/ aeternum latrans exsangues ter- reat umbras" (Aen. 6. 400-401). The adverbial aeternum of the Virgilian locus should be noted. Its occurrence here and at verse 617 of Aeneid 6, along with the twofold use in Aeneas' hail and farewell to Pallas (Aen. 11. 97-98: "salve aeternum mihi, maxime Palla, / aeternumque vale") and adjectival aeternum in reference to the place of burial of Misenus and Palinurus (Aen. 6. 235, 381), presumably recommended it to Silius at verse 459 (cf. p. 75 above). The Virgilian contexts are appropriate, the book of the underworld and the description of the funeral train of Pallas. In fact, the most important book of the Aeneid for us is the eleventh, where a predominant theme is that of deaths and funerals. Aeneas' lament over the body of Pallas, "nos iuvenem exanimum et nil iam caelestibus ullis / debentem vano maesti comitamur honore" (51-52),

is comparable to Appius' complaint about the idle rites his friends are interested in for him. Verses 182-212 of Aeneid 11 are especially noteworthy: The funeral rites for those fallen on the Trojan side and on the Latin are described, and pyres set up by Aeneas and Tarchon the Etruscan. Then each group brings its dead in accordance with its ancestral customs: "huc corpora quisque suorum / more tulere patrum" (185-86). This is behind Appius' "lenta meorum .. cura" and "ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis" and suggests the various types of disposal of the dead in Scipio's speech. In Virgil's account, after the rites on the Trojan side have been narrated, we read: "nec minus et miseri diversa in parte Latini / innumeras struxere pyras, et corpora partim / multa virum terrae infodiunt, avectaque partim / finitimos tollunt in agros urbique remittunt, / cetera con- fusaeque ingentem caedis acervum / nec numero nec honore cremant" (203-8). Again the general theme of the Silian dialogue comes to mind. Then, specifically, the contrasting idea of bodies buried on the spot and bodies sent elsewhere is to be compared to Appius' complaint (he wants cremation in situ while his friends are waiting to take his corpse to the ancestral tomb), and the wording terrae infodiunt to Silius' harena / infodiunt in Scipio's lecture (479-80). The situation soon changes in Aeneid 11; dissension pre- vails in the city of Latinus; much is said against Turnus, and much on his behalf: "multa simul contra variis sententia dictis / pro Turno" (222-23), which is the first of our new set of parallels to Silius' "variatque... sententia discors." Later in Aeneid 11 the exploits and death of Camilla are recounted. Diana knew that she could not save Camilla from dying on the




battlefield but gave her own bow and arrows to her nymph Opis, whom she ordered to go down from heaven and slay whoever should slay Camilla. At the end of her directions to Opis Diana says:."post ego nube cava miserandae corpus et arma / inspoliata feram tumulo patriaeque reponam" (593-94). The phraseology and situation are close to Silius' "cessat flammis imponere corpus, / ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis."

In the tenth Aeneid as Pallas sees his forces at one point giving way before the Latins, he cries out: "per vos et fortia facta, / per ducis Euandri nomen devictaque bella / spemque meam, patriae quae nunc subit aemula laudi, / fidite ne pedibus" (369-72). The ex- hortation has probably influenced Si- lius' choice of words, especially his aemula facta in Appius' speech (463). The probability is strengthened by the parallelism between Appius' earlier words and those of Pallas' father Evan- der in Aeneid 8. There Evander says to Aeneas in regard to the sacrifices made to Hercules: "non haec sollemnia nobis, / has ex more dapes, hanc tanti numinis aram / vana superstitio veterumque igna- ra deorum / imposuit: saevis, hospes Troiane, periclis / servati facimus meri- tosque novamus honores" (185-89); compare Silius' "dum vanos ritus cura et sollemnia vulgi / exsequitur, cessat flammis imponere corpus ... arce, quae putres artus medicamina servant" (460 -64). It should be noted that Evander is honoring Hercules, that Hercules was a hero of the Stoics and hence of Silius, and that Silius assigns Hercules a con- siderable role in the Punica.36 Further- more, in the description of the cave of Ca- cus a few verses farther on in Evander's speech, there occur words or phrases that Silius has applied to the practices expounded by Scipio; Silius' ora virum

(478) and "suffixa cadavera truncis ... putri liquentia tabo" (486-87) correspond to the Virgilian "foribusque af- fixa superbis / ora virum tristi pende- bant pallida tabo" (196-97). Stoic color is here apparent. Virgil's sollemnia (Aen. 8. 185) is a variation on the sol- lemnem ... honorem of Aeneid 8. 102, where the description of Evander's sacrifice to Hercules begins, just after the arrival of Aeneas at Pallanteum has been narrated. The substantive sollemnia occurs at two other places in the Aeneid, and each time is combined with a form or forms of tumulus; compare Silius' tumulis at 462. Each time we are also in a context similar to the themes of Appius and Scipio. In Book 5, on the funeral games in honor of An- chises, verse 605 reads: "dum variis tumulo referunt sollemnia ludis"; in Book 6 verse 380 refers to the tomb of Palinurus: "et statuent tumulum et tumulo, sollemnia mittent."37

Several connections between Ovid and Silius may be noted. Silius' "namque ista per omnes / discrimen servat populos variatque iacentum / exsequias ... sententia discors," which has now been compared to a number of passages, must be compared also to Ovid's "dissidet et variat sententia" (Met. 15. 648).38 The Ovidian context is the council of Greek elders at Epidau- rus; they wonder whether to give up Aesculapius to the envoys who, just before this, had been at Delphi to seek advice of Apollo because of a plague ravaging Rome. The visit to Delphi suggests Appius' consultation of the oracle in Lucan (see below). Silius' "claudit ... corpora et a mensis exsanguem haud separat umbram" is to be connected with Ovid's "errant exsangues sine corpore et ossibus um- brae" (Met. 4. 443). Silius seems to be echoing Ovidian diction here, for Ovid's




line is from the description in the Metamorphoses of the infernae sedes, which Silius himself describes a little later in Punica 13. He is also echoing Ovid's "exsanguis mores oderit umbra tuos," what Ovid presumably wrote at Ibis 142.39 Not only are the Silian and Ovidian contexts remarkably similar, but Ovid says that, even after his own death, he will continue to attack his unnamed foe, referred to as Ibis, and wreak vengeance on him. This will happen, whatever type of death Ovid encounters: "sive ego, quod nollem, longis consumptus ab annis, / sive manu facta morte solutus ero, / sive per immensas iactabor naufragus undas, / nostraque longinquus viscera piscis edet, / sive peregrinae carpent mea membra volucres, / sive mea tingent sanguine rostra lupi, / sive aliquis dig- natus erit supponere terrae / et dare plebeio corpus inane rogo, / quidquid ero, Stygiis erumpere nitar ab oris" (145-53). After this catalogue of sundry kinds of death, corresponding to Scipio's list of various ways to dispose of the dead in Silius, Ovid says that he will torment his foe both while the latter is alive and when he is dead; and his corpse will not receive the usual honors, it will be neither burned nor buried, but will be a prey to vultures, dogs, and wolves (15472). Vultures and dogs are mentioned in Scipio's discourse in Silius, and incineration and inhumation in Appius' request. Furthermore, all sorts of deaths, often involving burial, are described in the Ibis. In lines 311-16, for instance, there is reference to death on the funeral pyre, in sand, and in a pit of ashes. So much thematic similarity between Ovid's elegiac invective and the Punica indicates verbal imitation of the Ibis by Silius.

The diction and arrangement of Silius' "Mavortis sorte peremptos" re-

semble Ovid's "terrigenas populos ci- vili Marte peremptos" (Her. 6. 35) and "Odrysiis inopino Marte peremptis" (Pont. 1. 8. 15), but this is principally due to imitation of Virgil by both Ovid and Silius.40 The Silian "suffixa cadavera truncis," however, seems to stem directly from Ovid's "Astacidaeque modo defixa cadavera trunco" (Ibis 515).41

Silius' "lenta dies sepelit, putri liquentia tabo" parallels a description in the Metamorphoses: "anxia luce ge- mit lentaque miserrima tabe I liquitur" (2. 807-8). Ovidian imitation on Silius' part seems likely here: Aglauros, whom Ovid is describing, will soon be turned into a stone; we are involved with the death of a person in Ovid's context as we are with the disposal of persons who have died in Silius' narrative. Throughout the dialogue between Ap- pius and Scipio Silius' verses show the color Ovidianus which Bruere has noted in many episodes of the Punica.42

The influence of Lucan on Silius is abundantly evident in the Appius- Scipio episode. Not only is it Appius Claudius Pulcher (Cicero's friend) who consults the Pythian priestess Phe- monoe in the Bellum civile (5. 65-236), but the latter corresponds both to Au- tonoe and to the second Sibyl in the Punica. Phemonoe prophesies that Appius will not die on the battlefield but in Euboea (194-96), and the poet proclaims that Appius' tomb there will be celebrated (230-36); the complaint of Appius' ghost in Silius is now familiar: ". . .ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis." Further, like Silius, Lucan was a Stoic; and he answers the question of what god really exists at Delphi (86-93) in terms of the anima mundi (93-96).43 Finally, Silius' "ar- canum murmur anhelans" (428, of Autonoe) recalls Lucan's "anhelo clara




meatu / murmura" (191-92, of Phe- monoe).44

As a catabasis or an evocation has an apocalyptic function in a poem keeping the traditional epic machinery, so does the Delphic episode in the Bellum civile, and also Sextus Pompeius' consultation of the witch Erictho.45 The entire "Thessalian" section of Lucan's poem (6. 333-830) is here relevant. The central part of the episode is the witch's re- viving a recently slain warrior so that Sextus may learn about his destiny. Erictho promises the warrior that, if he tells the truth, she will cremate him in a tomb in such a way that no one else will ever practice necromancy on him: "tali tua membra sepulchro, / talibus exuram Stygio cum carmine silvis, / ut nullos cantata magos exau- diat umbra..." (765-70); Silius' Ap- pius states his preference for immediate cremation and that of his friends for entombing his body. Silius' phraseology "cessat flammis imponere corpus, / ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis" may echo Lucan's "funereas aris imponere flammas / gaudet et accenso rapuit quae tura sepulchro" (6. 525-26), where he is talking about Erictho's practices in general. The most significant connection between Lucan's Thessalian episode and the Appius-Sci- pio dialogue is the erudition displayed in each. Rebischke compared Scipio's disquisition to the account of the sources of the Nile in Lucan's tenth book. But comparison with the Thes- salian portion of the Bellum civile is more to the point since cadavers are a central theme in both passages. More- over, Acoreus' discourse differs from that of the Silian Appius in not being a catalogue. Lucan's verses on the Thessalian witches, however, contain several, for instance, the list of the items used by Erictho in her black

magic (670-84) and that of all the beings of the underworld whom she invokes (695-705).

Such a phrase as Silius' flammis imponere (461) is practically inevitable when cremation or burnt offerings are concerned; compare "pecudes imponere flammis" (Sil. 13. 493).46 But certain characteristics of Lucan's style increase the likelihood of Silius' having drawn on the Erictho episode and other passages of the Bellum civile in the Appius-Scipio dialogue. One of these characteristics, well illustrated by the Erictho scene, is a predilection for the macabre; another is the frequent use of certain words, for example, flamma. Accordingly, in Silius' verse 461 we have an echo also of Lucan's "meque ipsum memini caesi deformia fratris / ora rogo cupidum vetitisque imponere flammis / omnia Sullanae lustrasse cadavera pacis" (2. 169-71). The correspondence extends beyond flammis imponere: imponere flammis to the similarity of idea and situation in cessat flammis imponere: vetitis... flammis.

A common variant of flammis imponere is urere flammis. Among many occurrences in Latin hexameters are "decrevere simul communibus urere flammis" in Appius' lecture and "sterili- que nefandos / ex utero fetus infaustis urere flammis" from Lucan's description of the expiatory rites and sacrifice of the Etruscan soothsayer Arruns (BC 1. 584-638 at 590-91). The verbal correspondence, not particularly significant in itself, gains importance from the theme of the Lucanian passage: mantic rites and prophecies, which continue to the end of Bellum civile 1. Furthermore, the prophet immediately following Arruns in Lucan's narrative is Publius Nigidius Figulus, a contemporary of our later Appius Claudius




Pulcher and, like him, a superstitious traditionalist.47

Silius' "flammis imponere" and "decrevere simul communibus urere flammis" are also to be compared with Lucan 7. 803-5: "petimus non singula busta / discretosque rogos: unum da gentibus ignem, / non interpositis urantur corpora flammis." Again the verbal parallelism is accompanied by similarity of thought and setting. The idea expressed by Silius' communibus extends through Lucan's two lines and a half. The context of the verses, the account of the field of battle and of Caesar's denying burial to the Pompeian dead (7. 728-846), reveals both likeness of situation to the Silian episode and thoughts that must have appealed to a Stoic who had tried to do justice to Hannibal. As the ghost of Appius ap- pears to Scipio, so the ghosts of the Pompeians appear to Caesar and his troops in their dreams (760-86). Appius' complaint is reminiscent of Lucan's remark about Caesar, "invidet igne rogi miseris" (798). This is followed by the statement "non illum Poenus humator/ consulis et Libyca succensae lampade Cannae / compellunt hominum ritus ut servet in hoste, / sed meminit nondum satiata caedibus ira / cives esse suos" (799-803); Silius in Book 10 dwells on Hannibal's praise of the consul Paulus (518-23) and granting of an honorable burial to his corpse after Cannae (558 to 577).48 Shortly after the passage ending "urantur corpora flammis" Lucan, apostrophizing Caesar, makes a series of observations (809-24), some generally philosophical and some specifically Stoic, on burial, death, and the destruction of the universe by conflagration. Verses 809-10, "nil agis hac ira: tabesne cadavera solvat / an rogus, haud re- fert," suggest the opinions of the four philosophers given in Cicero's Tuscu-

lans 1. 43-and such Luctetian lines as 3. 871-72; they also suggest "Zeno's indifference to the treatment of the dead"49 and some of the diction in the Appius-Scipio dialogue (464: putres artus, 487: putri liquentia tabo). In the next section of Lucan's narrative (810 to 819) many of the philosophic and poetic commonplaces are matched in Silius' lines 523-30, from the speech of the second Sibyl; similarity of thought in the two passages, combined with verbal parallels, is a further illustration of Silius' indebtedness in his thirteenth book to Lucan.50

There is a connection between Scipio's lecture and the catalogue of troops that is a regular part of an epic poem: in each instance we have a roster of tribes or nations. The amount of detail given about the habits of the tribes listed varies from poet to poet. The catalogue of Perses' forces in the sixth book of the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus (42-170) is full of ethnographic lore. In particular, Valerius explains (122-28) how the Jazyges all die before they are very old: "expertes canentis Jazyges aevi. / namque ubi iam viresque aliae notusque refutat / arcus et inceptus iam lancea temnit erilis, / magnanimis mos ductus avis, haut segnia mortis / iura pati, dextra sed carae occumbere prolis / ense dato; rumpuntque moras natusque parensque, / ambo animis, ambo miseri tam fortibus actis." Though the disposal of the parents' bodies is not described, the passage shows that the Silian lines are partly a development of the traditional catalogue. Silius in two catalogues elsewhere in the Punica says about the Spanish very nearly what Valerius does about the lazyges.51 Certain phrases in and around the Valerian account suggest that Silius had it in mind here too; compare Valerius' "ab Hyrcanis...




antris" (79) and "ab Hyrcanis. . .lucis" (114), "turba canum" (107), "Hiberia" (120), "mos ductus avis" (125).

The third book of the Argonautica contains a whole set of parallels to the thirteenth book of the Punica. There is similarity in diction, in kinds of episodes, and in their arrangement. The first major episode of Argonautica 3 is the killing of King Cyzicus and many of his people by the Argonauts, whom they had received as friends at the end of Book 2 and entertained with a banquet. The slaughter is the revenge taken on Cyzicus by Cybele but is made to seem accidental: the pilot Tiphys falls asleep; the Argo is borne back in the night to the realm of Cyzicus; the people, driven mad by Pan, think the Pelasgians are attacking; a battle ensues. Toward the end of it Cyzicus himself is killed by Jason. Jupiter finally stops the fighting, and the dawn comes. A scene of lamentation follows, with emphasis on the grief of Jason and Cyzicus' widow Clite. Funeral rites are performed, but the Argonauts linger on. Their sorrow and feeling of guilt make them lose interest in the quest of the Golden Fleece. Jason appeals to Mopsus for an explanation of the state of mind of himself and his men. Mopsus explains that the anxiety of those who have killed unintentionally or by accident becomes lassitude and fearfulness and that propitiation must be made to the spirits of the dead. The appropriate rites are then carried out. Valerius' description of Pan (46-57) has its counterpart in an episode of Punica 13 where first the religio that comes over the Romans and prevents the pillaging and complete destruction of Capua is recounted (304-25) and then the god himself is described (326-47). The proximity of the episode to the Appius- Scipio dialogue is noteworthy. Silius'

portrayal of Pan illustrates both his own inventio and his imitation of Ovid, as Bruere has pointed out.52 Further- more, the Silian Pan, a restraining influence sent by Jupiter, differs from the Valerian Pan, who spreads terror and has been sent by Cybele. But it is likely that Valerius was Silius' precedent for introducing an account of Pan into an epic poem,53 and the likelihood is strengthened by the fact that the Pan scenes are adjacent to descriptions of banqueting equipment in both the Argonautica (2. 649-64) and the Punica (13. 351-60).54 Toward the end of the fighting in Valerius' third book-shortly before the slaying of Cyzicus and in between the two parts of an invocation to the Muses-the poet writes: "trepidam Phaethon adflavit ab alto / Tisiphonen graviorque locos iam luce propinqua / umbra premit" (213-15). The words are recalled by Silius in Appius' statement: "fesso mihi proxima tandem / lux gratos Phaethontis equos avertit. . ." Appius' complaint about the slowness of his friends and his request to be cremated at once suggest Jason's question in Valerius: "cur etiam flammas miseros- que moramur honores ?" (273).55 Not long after this the funeral ceremonies for Cyzicus and the other dead are narrated just as the exposition of funeral customs in Silius follows on Appius' plea for speed. But Scipio's sermon also corresponds to a later part of Argonau- tica 3, the speech of Mopsus on blood guiltiness. The combination of Homeric, Stoic, and Virgilian details in that discourse must have particularly com- mended it to Silius. The Stoic dogma of the fiery origin of the soul is expressed by "socius superi quondam ignis Olympi" (380), which recalls Anchises' "igneus est ollis vigor et caelestis origo / seminibus" in Aeneid 6 (730-31); the reference to "Cim-




merium domus" (399) suggests the Homeric Nekyia.56 We may note also that Jason's consulting Mopsus corresponds to Scipio's consultation of the first Sibyl in Silius and that the languor mentioned to Mopsus by Jason and then referred to in general terms by Mopsus has its counterpart in the languor that Scipio feels after hearing the bad news from Spain.

There is a striking similarity between Appius' speech in Silius and another passage of the Argonautica. In Book 5, as Jason enters the Phasis River, he sees the tomb of Phrixus and Helle's cenotaph and prays to their spirits: "per genus atque pares tecum mihi, Phrixe, labores / tu, precor, orsa regas meque his tuteris in oris / tot freta.. . passum. Phrixe, fave et patrias re- miniscere terras. / tu quoque nunc, tumulo nequiquam condita inani, / adnue diva maris numeroque accede tuorum" (194-99). The similarity is one of both theme and diction. Jason calls on the spirits of Helle and Phrixus for aid, as the spirit of Appius asks help of Scipio. Jason's words "per genus atque pares tecum mihi, Phrixe, labores / tu, precor" correspond to Appius' "quod te per nostri Martis precor aemula facta," and Jason's "patrias... terras" to Ap- pius' "tumulis ... paternis." Further- more, as an empty tomb has been erected in vain for Helle ("tumulo nequiquam condita inani"),57 so the friends of Appius are concerned with vain rites (embalmment to be followed by burial in a tomb). There is also similarity of phraseology between the beginning of Appius' speech: "fesso mihi proxima tandem / lux gratos Phaethon- tis equos avertit et atris / aeternum demisit aquis" and the lines a little before Jason's prayer where the sunset revealing their goal to the weary Ar- gonauts is described: "sol propius

flammabat aquas, extremaque fessis / coeperat optatos iam lux ostendere Colchos, / magnus ubi adversum spu- manti Phasis in aequor / ore ruit" (177-80). Again we have evidence58 for "Valerian influence on the Punica, which has often been doubted or denied.' 59

Numerous parallels in diction and thought indicate that Silius had Statius' Thebaid in mind in his Appius-Scipio dialogue.60 Early in the Thebaid (1. 33-40) Statius elaborates on his theme, which was briefly stated at the outset (1. 1-3). In the course of his elaboration he mentions "tumulis ... carentia re- gum / funera" (36-37) as one of his topics. This suggests not only Appius' plight in Silius but also the major theme of Thebaid 12: Are the bodies of the invaders from Argos to be buried or not? The burial has been forbidden by Creon (11. 662-64) but is finally accomplished through the intervention of Theseus. The action of Book 12 is briefly as follows: a royal funeral is given to Creon's son Menoeceus; the corpse of Polynices is sought by his wife Argia (the Argive women come to the scene of carnage) and his sister Antigone; the two devoted women, having met over the body in their search, make mutual lamentation; the flame separates as it rises from the pyre of Eteocles, which is now used for Polynices too; the Argive women beg for the merciful help of Theseus, who defeats Creon in battle. In the course of his lament over Menoeceus' body Creon says (80-81): "et nunc heu quae digna tibi sollemnia quasve / largiar exsequias ?"; compare Silius' "sollemnia vulgi exsequitur." Changing to a wrathful mood, Creon repeats with gruesome details his prohibition of burial for the Argives: ". . . longos utinam addere sensus / corporibus. . . fas, ip-




sumque feras, ipsum unca volucrum / ora sequi...suprema / ne quis ope et flammis ausit iuvisse Pelasgos..." (94 to 103); compare Silius' references to cremation, vultures, and dogs. Various goddesses sympathize with the Argive women and help them as they can. Iris; for instance, is charged by Juno with keeping the bodies of the unburied warriors in good condition until they are put on pyres: "nec non functa ducum refovendi corpora curam / Iris habet, putresque arcanis roribus artus / ambro- siaeque rigat sucis, ut longius obstent / exspectentque rogum et flammas non ante fatiscant" (137-40); compare Silius' remarks on Egyptian and Pontic practices.6' Before Argia and her compan- ions reach Thebes, they encounter a wounded Argive, Ornytus. In appear- ance he is almost a ghost: "squalidus ecce genas et inani vulnere pallens" (141). His advice to them is to return to Argos, since they will never move Creon to commute his decree, or to implore Cecropian aid in the person of Theseus. The women at first cannot decide what to do; "continuo discors vario sententia motu / scinditur," says Statius (173-74). Similar expressions, as we have seen, occur in several Latin authors; but the similarity between the ghostlike Ornytus and the ghost Appius and between Statius' Cecropiam (163) and Silius' Cecropidae (484) suggests that the Silian "variatque .. . sententia discors" owes something to Statius. The women's indecision is broken by Argia. She tells her band to go on to Athens for aid and proce.ds herself, despite Orny- tus' warning, to Thebes. She is accompanied by Menoetes while Juno escorts the others to the Athenian Altar of Mercy. Their arrival coincides with Theseus' return from his expedition against the Amazons. The widow of Capaneus addresses Theseus on behalf

of the Argive mourners. In lines 558-72 of her speech a number of details match details in the Appius-Scipio dialogue. Compare "quos vetat igne Creon Stygi- aeque a limine portae... submovet ac dubio caelique Erebique sub axe / detinet" (558-61) with Appius' situation and especially his request "daque vago portas quamprimum Acherontis adire." Compare "septima iam surgens trepidis Aurora iacentes / aversatur equis" (563-64) with Silius' "proxima tandem / lux gratos Phaethontis equos avertit." In Statius' "iam comminus ipsae / pabula dira ferae campumque odere volucres / spirantem tabo" (565 to 567) three nouns correspond to Silius' vultur, canes, and tabo; and "nuda ossa putremque... saniem" (568-69) equals Silius' nudos, ossa, and putri ... tabo. In "properate, verendi / Cecropidae; vos ista decet vindicta, priusquam / Emathii Thracesque dolent, quaeque exstat ubique / gens arsura rogis manes- que habitura supremos" (569-72) Sta- tius has the same Cecropidae as Silius; and the idea of his Emathians, Thra- cians, and every race that expects to have funeral rites is comparable to Silius' subject, the death customs of several races.

One episode of Thebaid 10 merits special attention, the self-immolation of Menoeceus (756-826). As he hurled himself from the ramparts, Pietas and Virtus bore his body lightly to earth, while his spirit had already ascended to the starry spheres. The corpse is carried inside the city, covered with garlands and flowers, and placed in the ancestral abode: ... . hi sertis, hi veris honore solutos / adcumulant artus patriaque in sede reponunt / corpus adoratum" (783-90). The words suggest Appius' "cura... cessat flammis imponere corpus, / ut portet tumulis per longum membra paternis" in Silius. But there




are various connecting strands here between Statius and Silius and within Statius' text. Menoeceus' body is placed "patria ... in sede" now, and his mother utters a long lament; in Book 12 the corpse is placed on a pyre, and the father's plaints are heard (cf. the lines quoted above). So Appius' friends, as we have seen, wish to take his corpse "tumulis...paternis" while he himself is eager for instant cremation. The prominence given to the account of Menoeceus' death and funeral rites by its patterning doubtless impressed it on Silius' memory. But as a Stoic for whom an incurable ailment became the rationalis e vita exce88u8, he was also drawn to the Stoic coloration and to the idea of Menoeceus' suicide.62

Books 4 and 8 of the Thebaid and Punica 13 all contain descriptions of the underworld. That of Thebaid 4 (406-645) presents many parallels to Siiius' Nekyia; in particular, it is an evocation. What is described in Thebaid 8 (1-126) is a descent; Amphiaraus, the augur, whose being swallowed up by a chasm in the earth is narrated in Book 7, goes down to the underworld. Mean- while, in the upper world, the Argives lament their fate and that of Amphia- raus and sing his praises (8. 174-207). "Talia fatidico peragunt sollemnia regi,/

ceu flammas ac dona rogo tristesque. rependant / exsequias mollique animam tellure reponant," says Statius (208-10) in words similar to Silius' "dum vanos ritus cura et sollemnia vulgi / exsequitur, cessat flammis imponere corpus" and his own "et nunc heu quae digna tibi sollemnia quasve / largiar exsequias ?" (quoted above from Creon's speech).63

Silius has drawn on Statius in his Appius-Scipio dialogue as he has on Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and Valerius Flac- cus. The episode is typical of Silius' manner in this respect and in his foreshadowing of a later Appius Clau- dius Pulcher in his portrayal of Scipio's contemporary of that name. Further- more, Scipio's lecture is in keeping with conventions of epic poetry (e.g., the catalogue), with tendencies of the epic of the Silver Age (e.g., the digression of a scientific or quasi-scientific nature), and with a special Stoic tradition (the question of mortuary customs). This tradition is illustrated by Cicero, whose account of burial rites Silius has followed rather than that of Lucretius. The Appius-Scipio episode is certainly a composition of Silius' and does not appear on investigation to be so out of place as Ernesti considered it. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

NOTES

1. The Text of the Pun. by L. Bauer (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1890-92) has been followed except in orthography and punctuation. References by verse without citation of the book will be to material within Pun. 13. 457-87; quotations without mention of either book or verse, esp. toward the end of the paper, will be from the same passage. The annotated ed. of the Pun. by G. A. Ruperti (2 vols.; Gottin- gen, 1795-98) will be cited as Ruperti. Similarly, Arnold will stand for E. V. Arnold, Roman Stoicism (Cambridge, 1911); Ettig for G. Ettig, "Acheruntica sive descensuum apud veteres enarratio," Leipz. Stud. zur class. Philol., XIII (1890-91), 249-410; Wezel for E. Wezel, De C. Si2ii Italici cum fontibus tum exemplis (Leipzig, 1873). Val. will mean Valerius Flaccus; other abbreviations used should be self-explanatory.

2. Cf. E. Norden's 4th ed. of Aen. 6 (Stuttgart, 1957), p. 200 with a. 2.

3. Cf. in Ettig, p. 378, n. 4, esp. the statement "Sunt autem in Appio etiam, quae ex Patroclo Homerico originem ducant: ut ille, obsecrat ut sepeliatur, quamquam sepulturi sunt propinqui (sed lenti nimis)" (the emphasis is Ettig's) and the derivation of Silius' vs. 465 from II. 23. 71.

4. The first part is concerned with Roman inhumation and cremation, the second with foreign practices. But the distinction should not be drawn too sharply: the Athe- nians of the second section, for instance, cremate; and it is helpful in the study of methods of disposing of the dead to compare classical peoples and others. For the customs of Greeks and Romans see in OCD H. 3. Rose's art. "Dead, Disposal of" and note particularly his flrst sentence: "Cre- mation and inhumation were the only native methods in the classical cultures, others being known (e.g. Hdt. 2. 86-8; Ap. Rhod. 3. 202-7 and Nymphodorus ap. scholiast, ibid.), but not normally practised." See also for the classical




world Mau's art. "Bestattung" in RE, III, 1 (1899), 331-59; for the Romans J. Kirchmann's De funeribus Romanorum (Luibeck, 1637), often referred to by Ruperti, and A. D. Nock, "Cremation and Burial in the Roman Empire," HThR, XXV (1932), 321-59; for peoples in general "Death and Disposal of the Dead" (by various hands) in J. Hastings (ed.), Enc. of Rel. and Eth., IV (New York-Edinburgh, 1912), 411-511 and E. Bendann, Death Customs: An Analyt- ical Study of Burial Rites (London-New York, 1930), chaps. iii (under Part One: "Similarities") and xv (under Part Two: "Differences").

5. W. C. Summers, The Silver Age of Latin Literature (London, 1920), p. 33.

6. In his translation of the Pun. (5 fascs.; Stuttgart, 1855-57).

7. J. C. G. Ernesti's ed. of the Pun. (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1791-92) ad vs. 467.

8. J.-B. Lefebvre de Villebrune in his ed. of the Pun. (Paris, 1781).

9. See the annotated edd. of Lucr., e.g., that by C. Bailey (3 vols., corrected reprint; Oxford, 1950), ad loc., for the Realien, the philosophical tradition, and reference to the passage in the Tusc.

10. Bailey, op. cit., on vs. 1034. 11. Some correspondences involving single words in the

two passages gain a little significance from their number and position; cf. Silius' putres and putri, verse final saxo, verse final peremptos, and urere with Lucretius' putescat,

-verse final saxi, verse final peremptum, and urive. 12. Perhaps the most elaborate congeries in prose of

forms from the roots sent- and vari- and with the prefix dis- is in Cic. ND 1. 1. 1-2. 5; cf., e.g., "tam variae sunt ... tamque discrepantes sententiae," "tanta sunt in varietate et dissensione ut eorum molestum sit dinumerare senten- tias," "quorum opiniones cum tam variae sint tamque inter se dissidentes." Sil. may have had the passage in mind; and the extreme redundancy of it, on which see the commentators, e.g., A. S. Pease in his ed. of ND 1 (Cam- bridge, Mass., 1955), may be the source of the redundancy in Silius' sentence.

13. Cf. in the app. of the edd. of Lucr. perempta con- jectured for dirempta at 1. 114 and morte and sorte for forte at 3. 1089. See also R. P. Hoogma, Der Einfluf Vergils auf die carmina Latina epigraphica (Amsterdam, 1959), p. 280 (ad Aen. 6. 163), nn. 17 and 18 for morte, sorte, forte, and other possibilities in inscrr.

14. There are some slight verbal correspondences between Sil. 13. 468-87 and Lucretius' plague scene (6. 1138-1286); they acquire a certain significance from the Lucretian theme of death and burial (note esp. 1278-79: "nec mos ille sepulturae remanebat in urbe/ quo prius hic populus semper consuerat humari") associated with that of disease: cf. Silius' "exanima ... corpora" (472) and "exanimos' (481) with Lucretius' "exanimis pueris super exanimata parentum/ corpora" (1256-57) and "corporibus ... exanimis" (1273), and Silius' "Aegyptia tellus" (474) and "Cecropidae" (484) with Lucretius' "Aegypti flnibus" (1141) and "finibus in Cecropis" (1139). But there is similar phraseology elsewhere in Lucr. and in poets intervening between him and Sil.; cf. below in this n.

The fol. minor correspondences should be added to those now listed between the Silian episode and Lucr. 3. 870-93 or 6. 1138-1286: 458-59 and Lucr. 3. 966: "nec quisquam in barathrum nec Tartara deditur atra" (not far from the section on burial rites); 464 and 487 and 3. 584-89; 472 and 481 and 1. 774, 3. 714, 6. 705 (forms of corpus exanimum); 473 and 2. 94 (verse final probatum est); 474 and 3. 750: "canis Hyrcano de semine."

15. Minor correspondences, almost inevitable because of the similarity of subject, are Cicero's sepulturam and Silius' sepelire (480), Cicero's "in Hyrcania ... canes" and Silius' "Hyrcanis adhibere canes" (474). Cf. Cicero's

condiunt (Aegyptii) with Schrader's conjecture condit odorato ... succo for Silius' vs. 475 (see n. 61 below).

16. A. Ernout and L. Robin in their LucrHece: "De rerum natura": Comnentaire exgggtique et critique, II (Paris, 1926), 136 (on Lucr. 3. 879ff.) note with examples and references in how many philosophical systems the theme "que le sort du corps est indifferent, des qu'il n'est plus uni a l'Ame" occurs.

17. For more details about the ghost of Deiphilus in Pacuvius and for the passage in Tusc. 1 see R. M. Hickman, Ghostly Etiquette on the Classical Stage (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1938; "Iowa Stud. in Class. Philol.," No. VII), pp. 78-84. S. B. Smith in the ed. of Lucr. by W. E. Leonard and himself (Madison, Wis., 1942) compares the thought of Lucr. 3. 880 to the lines from Pacuvius.

18. Editors of the Tusc. disagree as to which Paulus Cic. means, the consul of 216 B.C. or his son, the victor at Pydna in 168 B.C. But the arrangement of names favors the father; cf. 0. Heine and M. Pohlenz in their 5th ed. of Tusc. 1-2 (Leipzig, 1912) on "duo Scipiones...Paulum": "es folgen die beiden beruihmtesten Paare, dann 3 Manner des zweiten Punischen Krieges."

19. These correspondences, if not especially important in themselves (for many rosters of Roman worthies in Latin literature include some of the names in question), become significant when added to the other analogies that have now been cited. The names or figures from Greek legend and literature common to Tusc. 1. 41. 98 and 44. 105 and the latter part of Pun. 13 have a certain significance and would have more if they did not come so late, for the most part, in that book. Note Rhadamanthus, Homer, the Telamonian Ajax, and Ulysses in Cicero's sec. 98 (among the people whom it would be a pleasure to meet in the underworld, according to Socrates in Plato Apol. 41A-C) and Silius' vss. 543, 778-97, 801, and 803 respec- tively and Achilles and/or Hector in Cicero's sec. 105 and Silius' vss. 796-97, 800, and 803.

20. T. R. S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic, I (New York, 1951), 274 and passimn; see II (ibid., 1952), 547 (in "Index of Careers") for a fuller form of the name: "Ap. Claudius P. f. Ap. n. Pulcher (293)." The 293 means Claudius No. 293 of RE.

21. Broughton, op. cit., II, 255 and passim-at 11, 547 "Ap. Claudius Ap. f. Ap. n. Pulcher (297)." The 297 means Claudius No. 297 of RE.

22. A. S. Pease in his ed. of Cic. De div. 1 ("Univ. of Ill. Stud. in Lang. and Lit.," Vol. VI [1920]), p. 12 (Intro- duction).

23. The sequence of Claudii starting with the great- great-grandfather would be RE, Nos. 293, 300, 295, 296, 297. But note "wahrscheinlich Sohn von Nr. 295" (italics mine) in the biography of 296 and similar phraseology in that of 295. For various details about No. 297 see Pease, op. cit., pp. 12 and 133 (ad 1. 15. 28); K. Latte, Romische Religionsgeschichte (Munich, 1960), pp. 140 and 291; Hick- man, op. cit. (n. 17), p. 81; and the annotators of Cic. Tusc. 1 (cf. n. 24) ad 16. 37 in addition to Broughton and the art. in RE.

24. T. W. Dougan in his n. ad loc. in his ed. of Tusc. 1-2 (Cambridge, 1905). See that n. and those of other editors of Tusc. 1, e.g., A. Barigazzi (Turin, etc., 1956), Heine- Pohlenz (cf. n. 18), and F. E. Rockwood (with Somn. Scip.; Boston, etc., 1903) for various observations on the alliterative aspects of the five lines, for the question of authorship, and for textual problems. Though Greek shows less tendency than Latin to alliterate, the ultimate source of our particular alliteration may be the fragment of Sophocles quoted by Heine-Pohlenz following Ribbeck. Cf. Silius' "portas... Acherontis" also with the "ostio... Acheruntis" of Cicero's text and for the Homeric precedent see n. 3 above.

25. See for the whole question of the sources of Tusc. 1 the Introductions of the editors, esp. Dougan and Heine-




Pohlenz, and C. Thiaucourt, Essai sur les traites philosophiques de Cicgron et leurs 8ource8 grecques (Paris, 1885). Apropos of the details about burial rites Thiaucourt observes (p. 132): "On trouve en partie les memes exemples racontes presque dans les memes termes chez Sextus Em- piricus"; this fact has been used as an argument against Cicero's having taken his examples directly aom a work of Chrysippus (cf. Dougan, p. xxiv, and see Sext. Emp. 3. 24. 226-28).

26. Arnold's remarks on Chrysippus are followed by mention of Tusc. 1. 45. 108. See also Arnold's footnote references to SVF, Diog. Laert., etc. On a textual difflculty in the Senecan passage see W. H. Alexander, "Seneca's Epistulae morales: The Text Emended and Explained (LXVI-XCII)," CPCP, XII, No. 8 (1941), 162-63. Cf. Seneca's "ne quis insepultus esset, rerum natura prospexit: quem saevitia proiecerit, dies condet. diserte Maecenas ait: 'nec tumulum curo: sepelit natura relictos"' with Silius' "lenta dies sepelit" (487).

27. See also Schanz-Hosius, II4, 527 ("Silius und Cicero"). For Silius' Stoicism see, e.g., B. L. Bassett, "Regulus and the Serpent in the Punica," CP, L (1955), 1-20 at 1 with nn. 3-5 and, esp. for the external evidence, Schanz-Hosius, loc.cit. ("Silius und die stoische Phi- losophie").

28. Cf. Barigazzi, op. cit. (n. 24) on in omni historia in Cicero's text: "Nel 1. XIII della Punica di Silio Italico si trovano descritte parecchie di queste usanze, anche di quelle repugnanti che Cic. qui tralascia."

29. And perhaps ultimately from Hdt. 3. 38, on the an- tipathy of Greeks and Indian Callatiae to each other's mortuary customs. In any case, Herodotus' story forms a chapter in the history of the question of cpi6cm and v6w?oq, and the Stoics in their study of burial practices are trying to discover the law of nature. Nymphodorus may be another of Silius' sources, direct or indirect, for many details. For the Colchian custom, corresponding to that of the Scyth- ians in Sil., a scholiast on Ap. Rhod. 3. 202-7 refers to Nyinphodorus; see again the quotation from Rose's art. in n. 4 above and cf. Ruperti on Silius' vs. 486. See also the edd. of Ap. Rhod., e.g., that by G. W. Mooney (London, etc., 1912); Mooney ad 3. 202 compares, inter alia, lines 486-87 of Sil. For the title of the work in question by Nymphodorus (v6,uLoco3cp3opLx&),his identification as N. of Amphipolis, and other problems see the art. on N. No. 5 in RE, XVII, 2 (1937), 1623-25 by R. Laqueur. For more discussion of the Realien of Silius' excursus see Ruperti ad loc. and J. Nicol, The Historical and Geographical Sources Used by Silius Italicus (Oxford, 1936), pp. 14-16.

30. Cf. Ettig's statement in a gloss on the passage in Sil. (p. 379, n. 1 ): "Tales quaestiones sive ad naturam sive ad gentium mores sive ritus pertinentes aetati placuere" and the references there.

31. R. Rebischke, De Silii Italici orationibus (Danzig, 1913), p. 45, n. 1.

32. H. P. Syndikus, Lucans Gedicht vom Biirgerkrieg (Munich, 1958), pp. 68-71.

33. For the whole philosophical background of Aen. 6. 724-51 see Norden, op. cit. (n. 2), ad loc. and pp. 16ff.; see also Arnold, pp. 265-67, esp. for the doctrine of purgatory as Stoic.

34. Many Silian expressions in the present passage will seem to echo two or more of these authors at the same time. In general, in such cases, I shall not try to distinguish between direct and indirect borrowings, e.g., to show that Sil. had mainly a line of Lucan in mind and incidentally its Virgilian antecedent. Most of Silius' verses are "inextri- cably wreathed about with strands of earlier poets' thoughts and locutions," all of which must be noted for "full intel- lectual intercourse" with our author; for the quotations and the idea (not with specific reference to Sil.) see N. E. Col- linge, The Structure of Horace's Odes (London, 1961), p. 128, n. 2.

35. Cf. the Virgilian line in turn with Enn. Ann. 413V2: "postremo longinqua dies confecerit aetas."

36. Cf. Bassett, op. cit. (n. 27) at 1-4 and passim. 37. Cf. Silius' "sollemnia vulgi/exsequitur" (460-61)

also with Aen. 5. 51-54: "hunc ego Gaetulis agerem si Syrtibus exsul... annua vota tamen sollemnesque ordine pompas/ exsequerer strueremque suis altaria donis" (Aeneas is referring to the anniversary of Anchises' death). Cf. also 458 with Aen. 5. 105: Phaethontis equi and 1. 472: averti equos; 465 and 467 with Aen. 6. 533-34; 482-83 with Aen. 1. 593; 484 with Aen. 6. 163: morte peremptum, 660, 7. 182, 11. 110: Martis sorte peremptis; 485 with Georg. 1. 85: urere flammis and Aen. 2. 37: urere flammis; 486 with Georg. 3. 349. For alliteration involving a form of Acheron cf. 465 with Georg. 2. 492, Aen. 6. 295, 7. 91. The verb adeo seems almost to be a technical term for going to the underworld; cf. the adire of 465, therefore, with such Virgilian exx. as Culex 373, Aen. 6. 375 and 534.

38. Tr. 5. 5(6). 35-36: "ipsa sibi discors, tamquam mandetur ab illis,/ scinditur in partes atra favilla duas" is to be confronted more with Stat. Theb. 12. 173-74 (see p. 88).

39. Or, in other terms, Silius' phraseology recommends ex(s)anguis rather than exanimis umbra for the Ovidian verse. See the editors of the Ibis, e.g., F. W. Lenz (2d ed.; Turin, etc,, 1952) and A. La Penna (Florence, 1957) ad 142 for the text of the line (exanguis is found only in T) and for various arguments for rejecting exanimis. Exsan- guis(-es) umbra(e) goes back ultimately to Aen. 6. 401, cited in the sec. on Virgil above.

40. Cf. p. 76 above and nn. 13 and 37. For other, probably more fortuitous parallels between Sil. and Ovid, with or without Virgilian precedent, cf. Silius' vss. 480-81 with Met. 2. 267-68: "corpora phocarum summo resupina profundo/ exanimata natant" and with "Libycis... in oris" at F. 4. 379 and similar phrases at Met. 14. 77, F. 3. 631, RA 797, Tr. 1. 3. 19. Apropos of Silius' "longum ... in aevum," on which see the sec. on Lucan above, we should note how fond Ovid is of phrases with forms of longumn aevum; the actual Silian phrase occurs at AA 3. 657, MF 49, Pont. 4. 8. 7.

41. Or, granted the textual problems in the Ovidian line, Silius' phraseology serves to endorse trunco as against the s8anto at first favored by R. Ellis. La Penna, who reads trunco, sums the matter up neatly, op. cit., ad loc.: "Che anche la lezione sia giusta, pare confermato da Silio Italico XIII 486 suffixa cadavera truncis, che forse e reminiseenza di questo verso dell' Ibis (il confronto nello Ellis, JP 24, p. 185, che prima aveva letto ed interpretato diversamente: cfr. apparato)."

42. See R. T. Bruere, "Color Ovidianus in Silius Punica 1-7," Ovidiana: Recherches sur Ovide (Paris, 1958), 475-99, and "Color Ovidianus in Silius Punica 8-17," CP, LIV (1959), 228-45.

43. See Val. Max. 1. 8. 10 for Appius' consultation of the oracle; the annotators of Lucan for the Stoic aspects, inter alia, of 5. 65-236; chap. iv: "Les sources philosophiques" (pp. 165-216) of R. Pichon, Les sources de Lucain (Paris, 1912) for a study of the Delphic section and the episode of Erictho withiin the framework of Lucan's whole philosophical position.

44. Cf. the two passages, esp. the Lucanian, with Aen. 6. 48-49 and see Pichon, op. cit., p. 188 (on the effect of inspiration on a priestess) with n. 6 and p. 228 with nn. 7 and 8.

45. See Pichon, op. cit., pp. 186-200 (his analysis of Lucan's attitude to divination) for these two episodes and others (e.g., that of Cato and the oracle of Jupiter Ammon; cf. n. 50 below) studied together.

46. Cf. also "'ignibus impositum calidis torrescere flammis" in the Lucretian passage already referred to (3. 890); Georg. 4. 477: "impositique rogis iuvenes ante ora parentum"; Aen. 6. 246: "'ignibus imponit sacris, libamina




prima"; 253: "imponit taurorum viscera flammis"; and Val. 5. 29-31, cited in n. 58 below.

47. See Pease, op. cit. (n. 22), p. 12. 48. For more details about this and similar actions of

Hannibal, with references to Livy and Sil. 10, see 0. A. W. Dilke in his ed. of Lucan BC 7 (Cambridge, 1960), ad 799ff.

49. Arnold, p. 278; cf. p. 79 above. 50. Cf. esp. Silius' triad terrae-freta-igneus aer with

Lucan's igni8-terris-gurgite ponti and also with Luc. 1. 75-77, quoted by Dilke in his n. on 7. 134-37. See that n. and all the nn. on 7. 810-20 for several matters, including Stoic principles (e.g., floods or fire as destroyers of the universe, Stoic doctrine about the souls of the good and bad) and references to Lucr. and Seneca. Cf. Silius' "domus omnibus una" and "descendunt cuncta; capitque / campus iners, quantum. . . " with Lucan's "capit omnia tellus / quae genuit" and "natura receptat / cuncta," Silius' "mors communis agit" with Lucan's "communis mundo superest rogus."

The phrase longum... in aevum in Scipio's lecture may have been impressed upon Sil. by Lucan's "qui fortes animas belloque peremptos / laudibus in longum vates dimittitis aevum" (1. 447-48), "lucus erat longo numquam violatus ab aevo" (3. 399), and "de fama tam longi iudicet aevi" (9. 548). The conversation between Appius and Scipio is a prelude to the Sibyl's revelations (503-15). The first Lucanian quotation is the beginning of an account of the Druids, of whom Lucan says a little later in an apostrophe to them- "solis nosse deos et caeli numina vobis / aut solis nescire datum" (1. 452-53). The second locus introduces the description of their grove cut down by Caesar. In the third Labienus and others are urging Cato to test the oracle of Jupiter Ammon (which is in the land of the Garalnantes). Cf. Silius' vss. 479 and 481 with forms of Garamas, Libycus, and Nasamon in various lines of the African sections of the BC (the latter part of 4, most of 9), e.g., 4. 334: "nudi Garamantes," 611: "Libyeas...in oras," 679: "Maurus, inops Nasamon, mixti Garamante perusto," 9. 439-40: "Nasamon... nudus." Cf. 465 with BC 3. 16: "Acherontis adusti" and 475 with BC 4. 437-38: "cervos / claudat odoratae metuentes aera pinnae" (the verbal parallelism, though striking, must be fortuitous).

51. Pun. 1. 189-238 at 225-28 and 3. 222-405 at 328-31. The first passage is not a catalogue in the strictest sense; the Spanish of the second are more specifically Cantabrians; in both places the diction seems to owe something to Val. See P. Langen on the Valerian verses in his ed. of Val. (Berlin, 1897; "Berl. Stud. fuir class. Philol. u. Arch.," Vol. I) for the two Silian references, Hdt. 3. 99 ("fere idem narrat de gente Indorum"), and Prudent. c. Symm. 2. 294 (the manner of death is to be pushed off a bridge), inter alia. Note also that the statement of Pun. 13. 471-72 occurs already in more detail at Pun. 3. 340-43.

52. R. T. Bru6re, "Color Ovidianus in Silius Punica 8-17," CP, LIV (1959), 228-45 at 236-37.

53. The Valerian and Silian passages are confronted by Ruperti ad 13. 327-42 (with references to Homeric and Orphic hymns) and by Wezel, p. 97.

54. Val. describes an actual banquet; Sil., the booty taken by the Romans at Capua, including tables, cups, gold and silver plate, and slaves. Both descriptions draw on Virgil's account of the banquet that Dido offers the Trojans (Aen. 1. 697-756).

55. See Langen, op. cit. (n. 51), ad loc. for the problem of the position of the line in the text.

56. Mopsus' statement about Celaeneus: "ille volens Erebum terrasque retexit" (410) seems to imply a catabasis; Langen ad loc. explains: "terras retexit i.e. aperuit, ut ad inferos descendere possem." Langen on 378 says of the whole speech of Mopsus: "poeta imitatus videtur Verg. Aen. VI, 724 seqq., ubi Anchises apud inferos similia edocet fllium, tum Stoicorum de animis praecepta respexit, denique nonnulla ipse addidit, imprimis 384 seqq." and is imitated by L. Ruhl, "De mortuorum iudicio", RGVV, II (1903-5), 88.

57. As Langen observes ad loc., "nequiquam autem condita ideo Helle dicitur, quia dea immortalis facta tumulo omnino non indiget."

58. Add to this the fol. minor correspondences: Sil. 460-62 and Val. 5. 29-31: "vix membra rigentia tandem / imposuere rogo lacrimasque et munera flammis / vana ferunt," 460-63 and 2. 598-600, 462-63 and 1. 806-10 (Aeson's prayer that Pelias may neither fall in war nor be entombed but be torn to pieces by his daughters) and 5.244-45 (ofAeetes, who has just seen the spiritofPhrixus), 468 and 5. 533, 469-70 and 2. 216-17 and 3. 686: "dum vario nutat sententia motu," 482-83 and 1. 148, 483 and 2. 651-54, 487: "putri liquentia tabo" and 3. 150: "taboque liquentia terga." The liquentia of the last locus, J. B. Bury's conjecture (the MSS read labantia) in his ed. of Val. in CPL, Vol. II, Part III (London, 1900), gains support from the Silian phrase despite the difference in quantity (liquentia from liqueo or liquor).

59. E. L. Bassett, "Silius Punica 6. 1-53," CP, LIV (1959), 10-34 at 29.

60. Not to go into the whole problem of the relative chronology of the Pun. and the Thebaid, the researches of Wistrand and others make the theory that Sil. did not publish Pun. 13 before the last book of Statius' Thebaid had come out (ca. A.D. 92) a very credible one. See E. Wistrand, Die Chronologie der "Punica" des Siliu8 Italicus (G6teborg, 1956,) and my review of this in CP, LIII (1958), 272-74.

61. Note also Schrader's conjecture condit odorato... 8ucco at 475 and see Hermes, XXIII (1888), 216.

62. For Silius' suicide see Plin. Ep. 3. 7. 1-2; for the whole Stoic position in regard to death, E. Benz, Das Tode8problem in der 8toi8chen Philo8ophie (Stuttgart, 1929; "Tub. Beitr. zur Altertumsw.," Vol. VII). For the suicides in the Thebaid see the section "Freitod" (pp. 41-43) in W. Schetter, Unter8uchungen zur epi8chen Kunst des Statius (Wiesbaden, 1960; "Klass.-philolog. Stud.," Vol. XX). In addition to Menoeceus, Maeon and Dymas kill themselves (3. 53-113, 10. 405-47); note that the suicides of both Dymas and Menoeceus are described in Book 10. Schetter studies the three self-inflicted deaths in connection with Stoicism in pp. 41-43; in pp. 12-13 he analyzes Menoeceus' suicide from the point of view of furor.

63. Further correspondences between the Silian locus and Statius are the fol.: Sil. 458 and Theb. 4. 717 (of which the Statian authorship is doubtful) and 11. 450, 466 and Theb. 5. 447: "pulchraeque insignia gentis," 472 and Theb. 9. 158, 476 and Theb. 1. 308, 482-83 and Silv. 4. 6. 55-57, 484-85 and Theb. 9. 518. To these correspondences, where diction is more important, add for idea and situation: Sil. 459-65 and Theb. 3. 97-98: "vetat igne rapi, pacemque sepuleri / impius ignaris nequiquam manibus arcet" (the corpse is that of Maeon).



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Scipio and the Ghost of Appius