Thebaid: A Song of Thebes

This paperback edition of A.D. Melville's translation of the "Thebaid" is a worthwhile addition to the Oxford University Press' "World's Classics" series (now appearing as "Oxford World's Classics"). The Roman poet Statius has suffered in modern estimation for not being Virgil, and classical, or Ovid, and romantic. In addition, his story overlapped with a version by Aeschylus ("The Seven Against Thebes") and Sophocles' three surviving Theban plays, so in the Greeks versus Romans playoffs, the Latin poet was pitted against two geniuses in a different genre. To the Middle Ages, though, Statius was one of the great poets, with adaptations and sequels in vernacular languages. Readers may be familiar with, for example, Chaucer's "Knight's Tale," which assumes the Theban war as a background event. There have been only a handful of translations into modern English, however, and only the uninspiring English in the Loeb Classical Library bilingual version has been very readily available. (I tend to be a little wary of Melville's dismissals of the competition in his other translations, but once having forced myself through part of the 1928 Loeb edition then available, I have to agree in this case.) [It should be added that a NEW Loeb edition of Statius, edited and translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey, is now available, and is NOT included in this observation. Paolo Asso has treated this two-volume publication (which includes the fragment of an Achilles epic) in the on-line "Bryn Mawr Classical Review" -- which, as of November 8, 2004, has just issued a "correct version of BMCR 2004.11.02, Loeb Statius. Thebaid," replacing an accidental repeat of his review of Bailey's edition of Statius' lyrics, the "Silvae". Asso -- to whom I am indebted for the elegant descripton of Statius as writing Greek poetry in Latin -- has serious concerns with Bailey's treatment of the Latin text. But he finds the translation, taken with its annotations, readable.] From his early ("Allegory of Love") to his latest ("Discarded Image") medieval studies, C.S. Lewis was a great champion of Statius, pointing out how congenial and helpful his materialist (astrological) and allegorical (psychological) treatment of the pagan gods was to medieval Christian readers and writers. His approach suggested that "un-classical" aspects of the poem should be seen as something new and different, not a failure to be Homeric or Virgilian. Melville's translation seems to have stimulated a similar appreciation in "The Encyclopedia of Fantasy" (Clute and Grant), which gives Statius an article in which he is treated as one of the precursors of modern fantasy. Statius presents the Theban War more as a catalogue of horrors than an heroic romp, and if treated as modern fantasy the epic would mainly fall on the "Dark Fantasy" side. Moorcock's Elric would be more at home in Statius' version of Greece before the Trojan War than would Tolkien's Aragorn -- although some of the characters in "The Silmarilli

What can you say, it's a pretty good poem. Of course, there are those people out there who say either you like Statius or you don't. Frankly, I like Statius. This is a very good book to start out with if you're thinking about reading Statius. Personally, I think everyone should be more familiar with him.

This is the best, most moving poem I've ever read. Forget all that you've heard about Statius. I know some people say he's dull, but obviously those people have never read Statius. He's an absolute hoot and a gas to read. I laughed, I cried throughout the poem. Of course, it helps if you know Etruscan, which I am deeply familiar with.