1-24: The ai1tion of the Nemean games. Following the death of Opheltes,
competitors are invited to games at Nemea. These Nemean games are placed within a mythical narrative and their position within the Panhellenic games is established. Verses 1-4 are specific to the occasionand 4-24 are a general account of the origins of Panhellenic games. See Cowan (2003) for origins in Flavian epic.
The call to celebrate the funeral rites of Opheltes with games is made in a traditional manner. It may be assumed from reading the beginning of Thebaid 6 that this funeral will be pious and dignified and these games will be noble. However, as the narrative progresses, these assumptions are dismantled. The funeral turns into a display of excess for a child who could never be considered a full person. See Laes (2011:1-40) and Introduction 5 and 8 for Roman attitudes towards children. The games
themselves will thus concern characters and behaviours contrary to expected moral and physical paradigms.
Hdt.5.22 shows that the proclamation of games, especially for the major festivals at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia, marked a period of truce. Each proclamation would have been sent out in a way similar to that described here. Thuc.8.9-10, Dem. De Fals.Leg.335, and Paus.5.4.5-6 provide accounts of such proclamations. Statius’ narrative thus parallels historical reality. Miller (2004:113-9) discusses preparations for such festivals. He includes details of a marble stele from Nemea, Archaeological
Museum of Nemea, inv.no.185, which shows qew/rodokoi being sent, by geographical regions, to announce the games and the truce.
The introductory verses to Thebaid 6 echo the beginning of the Odyssey. There are distinct verbal parallels: multivago partly corresponds to ma/la polla\and partly to
to pla/gxqh, Od.1.1-2. urbes matches a1stea, at Od.1.3, and perlabitur matches the
travels of Odysseus.+ The way in which the reader only encounters Odysseus by way of rumour at the beginning of the Odyssey is matched in Statius by rumours of a new set of games at Nemea. The idea of an opening which describes a long journey and uses language which recalls the Odyssey is found elsewhere at Hebrews 1.1.
Not part of the narrative of the epic, Theb.6.5-18 is, rather, an account of the origin of the games at Nemea and the other Panhellenic games at Olympia, Isthmia, and Delphi. It is aetiological in the manner of Callimachus. The fragments from the Aitia detailing the celebration of Berenice’s victory at Nemea and including the stories of both Heracles and the Nemean lion and the death of Opheltes constitute a significant intertext. See Parsons (1977:1-50). Theb.6.90n and 100n will consider verbal echoes of these Callimachean fragments. Such explanatory passages are to be found
elsewhere in Statius. Thus, at Theb.4.145-64, the contingent from Tiryns is
described amidst discussion about the origins of Tiryns itself. When Statius places the games at Nemea within the context of the other Panhellenic games and their mythical origins, he assumes reader-knowledge of those myths.
The introductory passage of Thebaid 6 has an aetiological structure and content, which tends towards a comparison with Callimachus, yet it also has details which point towards a tragic background. Euripides’ Hypsipyle.frag.757.134-41
(Sommerstein), has key words of comparison: kleino_j, a0gw=na, stefa/noj,
zhlwto_j, mnhsqh/setai, Neme/aj kat’ a1lsoj and shows how these can be mixed.
Statius’ introductory passage as a whole therefore has resonances of the Odyssey, epinician poetry, tragedy and Hellenistic aetiology.
1-2. Nuntia…/ Fama: nuntia: nuntius: OLD 1: bringing word, with the idea of “messenger” inherent. Messengers should deliver “word-perfect” the messages entrusted to them. However, because this messenger/message is in apposition to Fama – Rumour – at Theb.6.2, veracity is compromised. Statius also links the two concepts at Silv.5.2.171: Fama velocior intrat/ nuntius atque tuos implet, Crispine, penates, even though the nuntius here is an imperial messenger. This pairing also occurs at Od.24.413-6: o1ssa d’ a1r’ a1ggeloj, which is similar to Il.2.93-4. Elsewhere, as at Hes.Op.761-4, V.A.9.474, Ov.Met.1.270 and Chariton Callirhoe 1.5, Nuntia or its Greek equivalent, stand in apposition to Fama and seem to echo the original Homeric ideas. In Homer the noun 1Ossa, functions in the same way as Fama, as at Il.2.93 and Od.1.282. Fama is personified elaborately at V.A.4.173-97.
Likewise, Fama is personified here; it moves and has an effect. Mulder (1954:157), on Theb.2.205, explains the personification of Fama. A further incidence is Theb. 3.426, along with associated personifications Furor, Ira and Pavor. Later in the introduction to Thebaid 6, Nox and Somnus will be personified. At Theb.3.426, Fama is part of a group of personifications such as Panic and Madness; here, Fama is ostensibly a message about a death in a noble family and an invitation to games. Another variant on this personification is found at Silv.5.1.106, where Fama implies fame, a concept closer to the Greek kle/oj, for Domitian, under his adopted name,
Germanicus.
The negative aspect of Fama is hinted at through the accompanying perlabitur: she glides or slithers like a snake. V.G.1.244 makes a connection between sliding and snakes: maximus hic flexu sinuoso elabituranguis. Fama glides in, initiating a new stage in the Thebaid from which the real conflict will emerge. The games she speaks of will be martial-style contests prefiguring the war. Statius thereby sets the scene for an inauspicious funeral and games which will, in turn, foreshadow disaster on a greater scale at Thebes. Fama is used negatively at Val.Flac.2.116 to denote the rumour that the Lemnian men are bringing their mistresses back to the island. Hardie (2012:99-100 and 313-4) discusses Fama and Lovatt (2005:4-8) “Concepts of games”.
In the Odyssey, Iliad, and Aeneid the first words are programmatic. The same is true of the introductory sentences in many books of the Aeneid. That is to say, the
leitmotif for the book grows from the opening words or sentences.
Such words as “arma virumque” (A.1.1), “infandum…dolorem” (A.2. 3),
“postquam… diversa exsilia” (A.3. 1-2), “at regina” (A.4.1), “interea” (A.5.1), and “Euboicis Cumarum…oris” (A.6.2) become leitmotifs. Statius has amongst his programmatic openings “Fraternas acies” (Theb.1.1), “Interea” (Theb.2.1) where several threads of narrative are unfolded, “Atnon” (Theb.3.1) where those threads are extended; “Tertius…Phoebus”, (Theb.4.1-2) where ideas of time and delay emerge; and “Pulsa sitis fluvio”, (Theb.5.1), where drought causes the expedition to encounter Hypsipyle, indirectly cause the death of Opheltes and long for the
campaign. Similarly, at Theb.6.1-2, Nuntia and Fama are programmatic. Rumour and the announcement of contests/war, found in the first sentence, are key themes for Thebaid 6. Statius’ funeral and games are described in both epic and epinician ways. So F/f-ama of the events is described and sent abroad, not only by the actual events but by the poem. Heyworth (1993:85-96), and Gibson (2006:183-4)
examining Silv.5.2.1, discuss first words in poetic collections. Hardie (2012) discusses F/fama in ancient literature and its subsequent manifestations.
Bacchylides 9, containing the earliest extant account of Opheltes, the games and his
h3rw=ion, opens with do/can. Fama is one Latin equivalent of do/ca. Connections
between Bacchylides’ account and that of Statius which will be mentioned ad loc. The glory of the games – the Fama/do/ca - provides the spur for victory, rather than the prize, a mere crown of leaves. Solon explains this peculiarly Greek motivation to Anacharsis at Lucian Anarch.10.
Fama, like kle/oj in Homer, is a means of expressing the purpose of poetry in general: it allows the actions of heroes in general, to be recorded. Fama, that is the poetry of Statius, calls the heroes to the games, and calls for their great deeds to be recorded. Nagy (1999:94-117) assesses poetry as a manifestation of kle/oj. The aetiological “introduction” to Thebaid 6 has an epinician quality. nuntia, Fama, decus, and virtus all have their Pindaric and Bacchylidean equivalents. Brozek (1965) argues that, through Pindaric language, Statius fashions the opening lines to Thebaid 6 into the first epinician poem of the Nemean Games.
However the dead Ophelteshas no personal Fama at all. Given a hero’s funeral, he has never been heroic, has never spoken and has not done anything of note. He is not even named by anyone in Statius’ entire description of the cremation. Devoid of fame/fama, the reader may wonder why he is there at all. Nevertheless, the name Opheltes is associated with the foundation of games at Nemea. This seems to be his only claim to “fame”.
1-2. multivago…/…gradu: multivagus connotes “wide ranging”. Compound adjectives are more common in Greek than Latin, and very common in epinician poetry. As in Greek literature, two-component adjectives are deemed to express more elevated emotions, whilst adjectives of three components or more are considered comic. Smyth (1920:252-4) and Maehler (2004:18-25) discuss compound adjectives. Here, the adjective is, contextually, epinician but with Odyssean elements. Examining the incidence of compound adjectives, Palmer (1954:101-3) and CH (2011:175, and 187) posit that most are used to create Latin equivalents of Greek adjectives.
multivagus is not found before Sen.Her.F.533, where it describes Scythian nomads: intravit Scythiae multivagas domos. It occurs only once elsewhere in Statius, at Theb.1.499. Its compound form is similar to velivolus at Enn.Ann.388 (Skutsch), which is the earliest use extant Latin epic. Greek compound adjectives are usually rendered into Latin periphrastically but Statius, like Virgil, uses such compounds often: montivagus at Theb.1.581; noctivagus at Theb.3.420, 10.158 and 12.132; and fluctivagus at Theb.1.271 and 9.30. They occur in Virgil, at A.1.450 and 10.84, and in Lucretius, at1.404, 2.597 and 2.1081. Sen.Oed.254, Herc.F.533 and Phaed.784,
seem closer to the spirit. These Senecan passages have a eulogistic or laudatory tone: the compound adjective reinforces the praise. multivago describes the stages of Rumour. The adjective could, though, be a transferred epithet as, by sense, it belongs to Fama. By grammatically connecting it to gradu, Statius is reinforcing the idea of Fama’s wide-ranging travels. Other instances where steps are given attributes, rather than the person performing them, are: Val.Flac.1.183: gressus avidos and 7.110: ardentes…gressus, and Sil.Ital.10.299: gressum exultantem.
At V.A.4.189, Fama is described by the phrase: multiplice... sermone. By contrast, Stat.Theb.6.1 sees Fama gliding into cities by many, multi- wandering, -vago, ways. The re-working of Virgil makes different “accounts” into different “voyages”.
gradu: gradus: OLD 6: stages, as at Ov.Met.2.354, where per gradus describes the stages of the metamorphosis. Here, Rumour/Fame advances in wide-ranging stages. If the Odyssean connection is maintained, there is similar progress by Odysseus to Ithaca. Ov.Tr.3.12.44: et fieri famae parsque gradusque potest, uses gradus in a similar way to describe the progress of Fama. This meaning of gradu overcomes the logical inconsistency that Fama should “glide” with a “step”, and connects with the idea of delay. There may be here some memory of the debate about motion as
described in the paradoxes of Zeno of Elea. Lee (1967:42-107) collects passages about motion and place, and discusses “gradualist motion”.
1. Danaas…urbes: Danaus: descendent of Danaus. At V.A.3.602, and elsewhere, the word connotes merely the adjective “Greek”. But in the context of the Thebaid the allusion could be more specific. The way in which Danaus, a refugee, wrests
control of Argos from Gelanor parallels the dynastic disharmony of the epic. The former’s invitation to the fifty sons of Aegyptus to attend games was to cause further family/dynastic tension. The family relationships of Danaus are established by Pherecydes of Athens, FGrH3.frag.21. Aeschylus’ Suppliants tells the story of their reception at Argos.
urbes: cities. The noun, and its cognates, is found throughout the Thebaid and has anachronistic associations. It is more applicable to a Roman reality than to any mythic narrative. The Greek equivalent, po/lij, has completely different
associations. There is no exact Homeric equivalent for urbs.When two po/leij are mentioned in the description of the shield of Achilles at Il.18.490-540, the Archaic Greek reality of smallish autonomous towns is described rather than an urbs of size, form, monument and governance. Arguably, urbes is the near-equivalent of
ptoli/eqron, and a1stea, at Od.1.2 and 3. Yet Stat.Theb.1.37 has: egestas alternis
mortibus urbes,which establishes the fate of cities as the theme. urbs itself is often used of Rome, as the ultimate city. Quint.Inst.6.3.103, and 8.2.8 describe this usage. Introduction 8 and 11 argue that the narrative continuously, though covertly, alludes to Rome.
1. perlabitur: perlabor: OLD 1b: glides through. Similar phrasing is found at V.A. 7.646: ad nos vix tenuis famae perlabitur aura…. per- reinforces the ease with which Rumour slips into cities, even though they are protected by walls and military might. The Greek “equivalent”, prose/rpw, as at Soph.Aj.227: fobou=mai to_
2. sancire: sancio: OLD 2: sanction, as at Theb.5.104-6, in a speech to prepare the women of Lemnos to kill their menfolk. Thus a key word is now repeated in a very different context. The games at Nemea, like the crimes on Lemnos, are sanctioned; but equally, both are undermined. How could the crime on Lemnos be sanctioned? How could games heralding such carnage be sanctioned? The cognate sanctus adds connotations of “making holy”. Maltby (1991:542), citing [Servius] on V.A.12.200, suggests that sanctus be connected with blood, sanguis, of the sacrifice, a meaning which links to the death of Opheltes.
2. sollemnia: OLD 2: religious rites. At Theb.7.99, this phrasing will describe these rites: maestaque perpetuis sollemniaiungimus astris. Evander stresses the formality of sollemnia at V.A.8.165: non haec sollemnia nobis...vana superstitio. Maltby (1991:573), quoting Fest.298: quod omnibus annis praestare debet, connects sollemnia with annis.Inherent in its meaning is the regularity of such festivals. sollemnia will be used again at Theb.12.80 to describe the rites for those slain in the Theban war. The noun may have been chosen because it sounds like Lemnias – Lemnian-woman, the name given to Hypsipyle, at Theb.5.29, and 500.
Representations of the stephanic and traditional games, whether funereal or purely athletic, always have a strong ritual content. Even the earliest example, in Iliad 23, details wine libations, Il.23.218-21 and offerings of comestibles for the living and the dead, Il.23.170-7. In a similar way, the ritual and religious underpinning of the funeral and of the games for Opheltes will be prominant throughout.
2. novo…busto: novus: OLD 5: “fresh”. This corresponds with the archaeology of the site. Using the terms “Circular Structure B” and “Nu Structure”, Miller
(1990:154-7) describes the sanctuary and the development of the shrine to Opheltes. His full archaeological record is not yet published. The narrative confirms this sequence. The shrine to Opheltes post-dates the temple to Zeus mentioned at Theb.5.576-7: ferens in opaca refugit / templa dei”. Morgan (1990:212-23) demonstrates that the temple of Zeus predates the h3rwi=on of Opheltes.
Paus.2.15.3 describes the shrine and the rites and, at Silv.5.3.51-2, Statius mentions his father’s success in the poetry competition at Nemea. Though Statius’ funeral and games owe more to epic tradition and the Roman experience of games than to the reality of Nemea, clearly Statius injects elements of historical knowledge into his primarily-fictional landscape.
busto: [Servius], on V.A.11.185, says that a bustum is both where the deceased is cremated and where the bones are buried next to the pyre. Elsewhere, the word is less specific: not only a funeral pyre, as at V.A.11.201 and Lucr.3.906, but also the location for an altar or monument, as at V.A.12.863. Maltby (1991:88) connects bustum with urere. The funeral games are a transitory celebration; the bustum becomes a permanent memorial.
This is the first in a series of closely-related, though distinct, funerary terms. [Servius] gives taxonomy of such terms at V.A.3.22. He argues that the name for a funeral pyre changes according to its state: nam et terrae congestio super ossa “tumulus” dicitur. sane apparatus mortuuorum “funus” dici solet, exstructi lignorum “rogus”, subiectio ignis “pyra”, crematio cadaveris “bustum”, locus
“ustrina”, operis exstructio “sepulcrum”, inscriptum nomen memoriaque "monumentum”.
These terms occur in Thebaid 6:
Tumulus: 246, 925
Rogus: 169, 194, 216, 236
Pyra: 86
Bustum: 2
Ustrina: not found, but described at Theb.6.204-6
Sepulchrum: 515, 517, 821; also at Theb.7.19
Monumentum: the wordis not used but the building, described at Theb. 6.242-8, is called a templum at Theb.6.243.
Such precise description and usage reflects the elaborate nature of the funeral. Use of such Roman terms aligns the narrative with a Roman reality and, implicitly, comments on Roman social mores.
3. Inachidas: A patronymic, as is signified by the termination -ides. The Inachus is an Argive river. Statius, at Theb.2.245, 4.648 and 5.737, uses this term for the Argives. A patronymic name-word has formal and heroic connections. Palmer (1954:10-3) demonstrates that such usage goes back as far as Andronicus in Latin, though the Greek form occurs at Eur.IA.1086. There Inachius is considered the founder of the Argives, also at Eur.IA.1086. The designation is used at the beginning of hexameters at Theb.6.133, 428, and 651.
3. ludumque super: Statius calls the funeral games ludus: OLD 3: a set or festival of public games, rather than ludi. See also Theb.4.729. The normal terms are ludi/
a0gwn=ej/certamina. The ludi circenses are, necessarily, different from the funeral
games of Iliad 23, in terms of both events and purpose. This semantic ambiguity is also present when the performances of tragedy/comedy/mime are described as ludi scaenici, at Aug.De civ.D.1.32. The use of ludus, then, is associated with elite and popular entertainments, and funeral games.
By contrast, entries for the singular, ludus, at OLD 1, 2, 4, and 5, suggest leisure or amusement.Statius thus comments on these games. They should not be considered serious. Use of the singular for plural suggests that Statius is presenting the games as entertainment. Long.Sub.24 argues that the use of the singular makes for a sense of solidity bodily force: swmatoeide/steron. From their origins, there has always been a pleasure element in sporting contests. However Statius’ games, are taken seriously by the contestants and there is little laughter. Likewise, Il.23.774-79, where Aias slips, is designed to provoke humour but otherwise there is little in the funeral games of Patroclus. At Od.18.37, the fight between Irus, and Odysseus is described by the suitors as terpwlh/, a word which is, according to LSJ, the poetic equivalent of
te/ryij but here, too, there is little humour. These accounts contrast with that of
Xenophon in his Anabasis. Xen.Anab.4.8.25-8 describes how the games held at the end of the journey across the Persian Empire provoke: pollh_ kraugh_ kai_ ge/lwj