Afterword? Per Te Poeta Fui: Dante's Statius and the Re
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Afterword? Per te poeta fui: Dante’s Statius and the Re-Writing of Literary History It seems that our reading of identity in the Thebaid can only be suffused with a Hegelian sense of radical negativity. More than any other poem, this one achieves Barthes’ ‘death of the author’.1 In order for his poem to achieve a sense of self and be a part of the world, the poet must destroy himself. What that reading suggests is that the poet must take these sorts of radical and ultimately self-destructive steps in order to find a space for another epic poem in a literary landscape that is already remarkably crowded. Yet that reading eschews the overt sense of the The- baid’s final lines, that the poem should look back to one predecessor in particu- lar, the Aeneid, and regard it with a quasi-religious veneration. The epic ends with a built-in sense of its own belatedness. Statius’ radical poetic vision was not nec- essarily shared by his own successors, however, and in this final chapter, we will explore the possibility of revivifying the author alongside his text. Statius is a key figure for Dante Alighieri in his Commedia. Moreover, it is one contention of this chapter that Dante does not allude to Statius in a piecemeal fashion, but regards the Flavian poet as a consistently important touchstone for his vision of Purgatory.2 In many senses, Purgatorio XXI–XXX is a staged as a se- quel to the Thebaid.3 Dante performs the same creative act for Statius which Sta- tius performed for the Thebaid; he makes him a character within his own poem. We saw how Statius’ bringing Thebais to life created a sense of identity for the work quite separate from its author. In Dante’s Purgatorio, we see poet and poem re-united and re-born as ‘Statius’ is re-made as an inspirational figure of venera- tion in his own right. Dante is heavily invested in the poetics of the Thebaid and is, as we shall see, a close reader of the poem’s conclusion too. However, the poet of the Italian renaissance takes the challenge of literary belatedness head on and achieves what Statius in the Thebaid could not. To be sure, Dante has the twin advantages of Christianity and writing in the vernacular to set himself apart from an overwhelming classical tradition. Nonetheless, it is possible for the poet to find space in the tradition as well as his poem. 1 Barthes 1975, 27. 2 In this, I follow Wetherbee 2008, 159–202. On Statius and Dante, see Caviglia 1974; Dewar 1991, xliii–xliv; Parkes 2012, xxxvi; and Augoustakis 2016, lxvi–lxx. 3 Cf. Wetherbee 2008, 22; and Heslin 2015, 513–14. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110717990-005 Climbing the Mountain again: Statius in Purgatory . Climbing the Mountain again: Statius in Purgatory Towards the end of Dante’s ascent up the mountain of Purgatory, the protagonist and his guide Virgil enjoy an extended encounter with the spirit of another clas- sical epic poet, Statius. In Canto XX of Purgatorio, the protagonist-Dante and Vir- gil feel an earthquake, doubly terrifying in the normally immutable kingdom of Purgatory, after which they can hear the gloria in excelsis Deo being sung.4 At the beginning of Canto XXI, Dante and Virgil meet Statius for the first time and are informed that the earthquake is caused by the final purgation of Statius’ soul. Statius accompanies Dante and Virgil for the remainder of their ascent into the Garden of Eden (which in Dante’s topographical conception is the Earthly Para- dise at the summit of Mount Purgatory from which souls ascend to heaven). Sta- tius is, perhaps surprisingly for modern readers of classical literature, one of the most important characters in the Divine Comedy as a whole, a character whose role is only surpassed in scope by those of Virgil, Beatrice and Dante himself. It is that initial encounter between Dante and Statius which forms the basis of his re-examination of Statius’ identity, an encounter which will introduce Sta- tius as a character in Purgatorio, the importance of his poetry, especially the The- baid, for Dante and the complex relationships that Dante-poet sets up between himself and his two classical forebears. Dante explores the tensions between po- ets of different eras, between Latin and vernacular poetry, between pagan and Biblical inspiration and seeks to assert the dominance of both post-Augustan and post-Classical texts despite their following in the footsteps of famous predeces- sors such as Virgil. More importantly perhaps we would suggest that Dante en- gages in varied, detailed and complex readings of Statius’ Thebaid and that the Florentine poet invites us as readers of the Commedia to re-examine our interpre- tation of Statius’ identity, especially as it relates to Virgil. Dante’s Statius plays a complex role within the latter part of Purgatorio, but we will focus mainly on his initial arrival in Cantos XXI and XXII:5 Statius appears quietly behind Dante and Virgil at the beginning of the Canto (XXI.7–13) and asks how it is that they ascend the mountain so quickly (XXI.19–21). Virgil explains briefly and asks Statius about the earthquake which the travellers felt at the end of Canto XX (XXI.22–37). Statius explains that the mountain of Purgatory, which is normally unchangeable in any way, trembled to mark the purgation of Statius’ 4 On Statius’ appearance in the Commedia, see Lewis 1956; Barolini 1984, 256–68; Franke 1994; Martinez 1995; 1997; Butler 2003; Guy-Bray 2006, 3–27; Brownlee 2007; Wetherbee 2008; and Heslin 2015. More generally, see also Hollander 2001, 90–147, esp. 114–21 on Virgil. 5 For bibliography of studies of Cantos 20–22, see Martinez 1995, 170 n.16. Afterword? Per te poeta fui: Dante’s Statius and the Re-Writing of Literary History own soul. Statius then introduces himself (XXI.82–99) as a poet inspired by Virgil’s Aeneid in particular. Virgil hopes to avoid recognition, but Dante-protagonist in- advertently smiles, piquing Statius’ curiosity.6 Dante reveals the identity of Virgil and Statius attempts to embrace his feet. Virgil however refuses to accept the em- brace (XXI.130–2). It seems clear that the encounter constructively re-works Sta- tius’ own injunction to his poem not to follow the Aeneid too closely. Dante makes a crucial move in that appropriation, however, by shifting back to fictionalised versions of Statius and Virgil and not thinking about a relationship between po- ems. In Canto XXII, Statius explains how he came to be in Purgatory. Although an ostensibly pagan poet, he was secretly inspired by the opening lines of Virgil’s fourth Eclogue to become a Christian, but made a public show of paganism be- cause he feared the persecutions of Christians by the emperor Domitian (XXII.64– 99). Given the degree to which the language and imagery of Eclogue 4 informs the final lines of the Thebaid,7 it seems peculiarly appropriate that Dante chose that Virgilian poem as the motivation for his Statius’ Christianisation.8 After some dis- cussion of the fate of other classical poets, the three poets continue their ascent of the mountain, Virgil and Statius leading and talking amongst themselves and Dante following and listening. Statius remains with Dante for much of the re- mainder of the cantica and will provide an explanation of the soul in Canto XXV. First of all, however, let us examine the key moment of meeting between the Dante-protagonist, Virgil and Statius: La sete natural che mai non sazia se non con l’acqua onde la femminetta samaritana domandò la grazia, mi travagliava, e pungeami la fretta per la ‘mpacciata via dietro al mio duca, e condoleami a la giusta vendetta. Ed ecco, sì come ne scrive Luca che Cristo apparve a’ due ch’erano in via, già surto fuor de la sepulcral buca, ci apparve un’ombra, e dietro a noi venìa, dal piè guardando la turba che giace; 6 On this reaction as an indication of the limitations of Virgil’s knowledge, see Wetherbee 2008, 198. 7 See Gervais forthcoming. 8 The depiction of Statius as Christian is a Dantean innovation, see Kallendorf & Kallendorf 2002; Wetherbee 2008, 181–8. For Dante’s reasons for such a move as inspired by Statius’ theol- ogy, see Heslin 2015, 512–17. Climbing the Mountain again: Statius in Purgatory né ci addemmo di lei, sì parlò pria, dicendo: “O frati miei, Dio vi dea pace”.9 Purg. XXI.1–13 The natural thirst which is never quenched but with the water which the woman of Samaria bagged as a boon was tormenting me and our haste was urging me along the encumbered way behind my leader and I was grieving over the just vengeance; and lo, as Luke writes for us that Christ, new-risen from the sepulchral grave, appeared to the two who were in the way, a shade appeared to us, and he came behind us while we were watching the crowd that lay at our feet, and we were not aware of him until he first spoke and said: ‘O my broth- ers, God give you peace.’ As Statius approaches behind Virgil and Dante, following in their footsteps, Dante-poet appears to imitate the final lines of Statius’ Thebaid, where Statius depicted his own poem following in the footsteps of Virgil’s Aeneid: uiue precor, nec tu diuinam Aeneida tempta sed longe sequere et uestigia semper adora. mox, tibi si quis adhuc praetendit nubila liuor occidet et meriti post me referentur honores.