Publius Papinius Statius Biography

Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!

Dictionary of Literary Biography on Publius Papinius Statius

In the twenty-first canto of the Purgatorio, Dante and his guide Virgil encounter the poet Statius, who introduces himself to the Florentine master (Purgatorio 21.91-93):

 
Stazio la gente ancor di là mi noma:
 
   cantai de Tebe, e poi del grande Achille,
 
   ma caddi in via con la seconda soma.

 
(Statius people yonder still call me:
 
   I sang of Thebes and then of great Achilles,
 
   but I fell on the way with the second burden.)

Shortly after, Statius acknowledges his reverence for Dante's companion and his own poetic mentor (Purg. 21.100-102):

 
E per esser vivuto di là quando
 
   visse Virgilio, assentirei un sole
 
   più che non deggio al mio uscir di bando.

 
(To have lived yonder when
 
   Virgil lived, I would consent to one more sun
 
   than I owe to my release from exile.)

In these few verses, Dante provides a summary of the literary career of Statius and incidentally foreshadows the modern scholarly judgment of Statius as a poet in the shadow of a far greater genius.

Read the rest of this Biography with our Publius Papinius Statius Access Pass.