Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/45

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SILVAE, I. i. 1–21

I. THE GREAT EQUESTRIAN STATUE OF THE EMPEROR DOMITIAN


This statue was dedicated to Domitian perhaps about A.D. 91 (i. 36); its appearance and position are described; it is hailed by Curtius; the poet declares it to be as immortal as Rome.


What mighty mass redoubled by the huge form surmounting it stands gathering to itself the Latian forum? Did it glide down, a completed work, from heaven? Was the effigy moulded in Sicilian furnaces, leaving Brontes and Steropes[1] weary? or have Palladian hands[2] sculptured thee for us, O Germanicus, in such guise as Rhine of late beheld thee reining thy steed, and the astounded Dacian’s arduous home[3]?

Come, now, let Fame of old time marvel at the age-long wonder of the Dardan horse, for whom Dindymon abased his sacred head and Ida was shorn of her leafy groves. This horse would Pergamum ne’er have held, though wide its walls were rent, nor could the mingled throng of lads and unwedded girls have drawn it, nor Aeneas himself nor mighty Hector! That one, besides, was harmful, and contained fierce Achaeans: this one is commended by his gentle rider. ’Tis a pleasure to behold that countenance whereon the marks of war are blended with the guise of tranquil peace. And think not that truth is here surpassed; equal beauty and splendour has he, and equal dignity. Not more loftily does the Bistonian[4] steed bear Mars when the fighting is done, exulting in the mighty weight, and swiftly flies by the river till he is all asteam and with his strong blowing stirs up the waves of Strymon.

  1. ↑ Two of the Cyclopes who laboured at the forges of Vulcan.
  2. ↑ i.e., of Pallas Athene, goddess of handicrafts.
  3. ↑ The reference is to Domitian’s campaigns against the Catti, a German tribe from the Taunus, who were threatening Mainz (A.D. 83–84); for this victory he received the title of “Germanicus”; also to the defeat of the Dacians in A.D. 89. “Arduous,” because their stronghold was in the mountains of Transylvania: hence “montem,” l. 80.
  4. ↑ i.e., Thracian.

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