Thebais

Statius, P. Papinius (Publius Papinius)

Statius, P. Papinius. Statius, Volumes 1-2. Mozley, John Henry, editor. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

  1. fovisti gremio et traiectum vulnere plantas
  2. firmasti, si stagna peti Cirrhaea bicorni
  3. interfusa iugo, possem cum degere falso
  4. contentus Polybo, trifidaeque in Phocidos arto
  5. longaevum implicui regem secuique frementis
    6. [*](morte P: nocte ω. that he was guilty of parricide and incest. Statius has in mind the Virgilian "nox atra caput circumvolat" Aen. vi.866 (cf, also Hor. S. ii. 1. 58), but here it is the "saeva dies " that hovers round. but to beat on the earth was a recognized way of summoning infernal deities. )
    v.1.p.346
  6. ora senis, dum quaero patrem, si Sphingos iniquae
  7. callidus ambages te praemonstrante resolvi,
  8. si dulces furias et lamentabile matris
  9. conubium gavisus ini noctemque nefandam
  10. saepe tuli natosque tibi, seis ipsa, paravi,
  11. mox avidus poenae digitis eaedentibus ultro
  12. incubui miseraque oculos in matre reliqui:
  13. exaudi, si digna precor quaeque ipsa furenti
  14. subiceres. orbum visu regnisque carentem [*]()
  15. non regere aut dictis maerentem flectere adorti,
  16. quos genui quocumque toro; quin ecce superbi
  17. —pro dolor!—et nostro iamdudum in funere reges
  18. insultant tenebris gemitusque odere paternos,
  19. hisne etiam funestus ego? et videt ista deorum
  20. ignavus genitor? tu saltem debita vindex