~ f 
So4 
gil as his guide, though he modestly de- 
precates any presumptuous comparison 
with his great model. His veneration 
for Virgil is conspicuous in many of his 
poems, and he was accustomed to cele- 
brate his birth-day with great solemnity, 
frequently visiting his tomb, and never 
mentioning his name but with the greatest 
respect. We have no account of the 
time, nor of the manner of his death ; 
it probably occurred in the time of Tra- 
jan, and at Naples, to which he had re- 
tired in his old age. 
The less compositions of Statius are 
not the least valuable part of this writer’s 
works. The style is generally elegant and 
easy, the sentiments ‘natural and pleasing, 
and free from common-place descriptions 
and allusions. The poem on the reco- 
very of Rutilius Gallicus from a dange- 
rous illness; the Epithalamium of Stella 
and V iolantilla; the Poem on the occa- 
sion of his friend Celer’s voyage, are un- 
commonly interesting and pleasing. His 
complaint to the God of Sleep, that he 
had forsaken him, is in a igh degree 
moving, at the same tine easy, just, and 
natural. 
Crimine quo merui, juvenis 
divum, 
Quove errore miser, donis ut solus egerem, 
Somne, tuis? tacet omne pecus, 
que fete que ; 
Et simulant fessos curvata cacemina somnos. 
Nec trucibus fluviis idem senus, occidit horror 
/Equoris, et terris maria acciinata quiesc 
es acidissim 
*Alnecres 
vVo.ucres 
unt. 
The stylé of his Odes is in general 
poetical, and the descriptions natural, but 
they want that life and uncommon ‘pro- 
pricty of expression, so observable in 
those of Horace. , But we now proceed 
to tiie Thebais. 
Before we examine the Poem, it may 
be proper to remind the reader of the 
time when the event occurred, which was 
about 1251 years B.C. and 42 before 
the destruction of Troy. 
that erent.1s briefly JEcipus, w liose 
story and misfortunes are s fs) a know nr, 
left the kingdom of Thebes to Eteoc: es 
and Polyoi ices, his incestuous offspring, 
by his mother Jocasia, with this cua 
tion, that they should govern alternately 
every other year. W hen it came to the 
turn of Polynices to resign the crown, he 
retired to his 
Argos. He there meets with Tydeus, 
son of Cineus, but not knowing him, 
seve quarrel and fight in the King’s pa- 
Adrastus, coming out upon the 
alarm, separates the combatants, and 
discovering who they are, gives them ins 
this. 
ys 
lage. 
Lycauni of Ancient Literature.—The Thebais. 
The history of 
friend Adrastus, king of 
[Nov. Is 
two daughters in marriage. Adrastus 
promises to restore both to their king- 
dom, aud Tydeus his assistance to set- 
tle Polynices on the Theban throne, of 
which Eteocles now deprives him, .and 
resolves to retain it wholly to himself. 
Upon this, Tydeus undertakes an em- 
bassy to Thebes, but his proposals are 
rejected with scorn. Having received 
ib just provocation, war is declared 
against Eteocles, and an army being 
raised, ae against Thebes, under 
the conduct of seven generals, who are 
all slain in the war, except Adrastus.. 
The two brothers kill one another in sin- 
gle combat.—/Acdipus is banished —Jo- 
casta puts an end to her existence, and 
Creon usurps the throne. 
From this statement it is evident, that 
the subject selected by the poet is nota 
happy one. In fact, ‘what interest can 
be excited for two ‘ruffians, cursed by 
their parent, and fulfilling by thei own 
crimes, and the slaughter ‘of each other, 
the malediction they have so richly 
merited? Statius had adhered too closely 
to history, to render his poem either in- 
teresting or pleasing. He has not availed 
himself ef those nec ee helps, which 
fiction alone can furnish ee: the formation 
of a just and regular plan. By those 
more rigid erities, who consider nd poem 
as tr aly J Epic that is not formed in the 
model of the Thad or Aineid, so defec- 
tire a fable will be viewed in no other 
pene than as an important historical 
event, poeticalls ly - related, ,But as the 
Piles of the epopma are by no means 
clearly laid down, and depend more on 
the opinion every individual critic, 
than on ries of civen and fixed 
principles ; and as the Thebais possesses 
some of its properties, though deficient 
in many, we must be content to adinit it 
into that deseription of poetry to which 
it bears the nearest resemblance. By 
many, it has been considered as having 
a furer claim than any other to that 
rank, after Liomer and Virgil. Its moral, 
if it Agi g any at all, shews the fatal 
effects of civil broils, and inculeates the 
necessity of a sole and absolute govern- 
ment. It seems to be included in these 
lines: 
any 
Regendi 
Sezvus amor, ruptweque vices, juris quesecundi 
Ambitus impatiens, et summo dulcius unum 
Stare loco, sociis que comes Discordia regnis. 
Lib. I. 
Or as it is more briefly and strikingly 
expressea by Homer, 
Qin ayasev rorumorpavin, bio Korpavdg Boo. 
IA; @s 
Under 
— 
