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Parenthetical remarks in the Silvae 295
the verse letter composed to Vitorius Marcellus (4.4), are natural hosts for
parenthetical remarks that might be less readily accommodated in some
of the more formal tributes to other patrons, even though Statius himself
in his prefaces stresses the extempore nature of the original compositions,
delivered viva voce on the occasions being celebrated.
The sense of immediate verbal delivery in the Silvae is heightened by the
use of mythological spokespersons, whom Statius introduces to enhance
the discourse with an atmosphere of charm or whimsy, and who are often
responsible for conveying extravagant compliments to the addressee that
might sound patently false if Statius were to voice them in propria persona
(K. Coleman 1999). Being quoted in oratio recta, such speeches might
be expected to accommodate colloquialism, depending upon the register
being adopted and the relative status of spokesperson and addressee, and to
contribute thereby to the characterisation; yet, parentheses occur in slightly
fewer than half the speeches in the Silvae. 7 This distribution suggests that
they are used for artistic purposes, to characterise the speech of chosen
individuals, rather than as a standard ingredient of the spoken register,
thereby guaranteeing that their contribution to the characterisation will be
all the more subtle and striking.
It is not, however, always obvious what constitutes a parenthesis, especially
in a text as corrupt as the Silvae. If it is an utterance syntactically
independent of its surroundings, then a parenthesis may either be a phrase
or clause inserted within a sentence; or it may be an independent sentence,
or series of sentences, interrupting the sequence of thought within a larger
narrative. 8 Even when the text is not in dispute, it is frequently difficult to
decide whether or not a particular subordinate clause or independent sentence
constitutes a parenthesis; and since systems of punctuation that make
the interpretation clear are a modern invention, an inventory of instances
inevitably involves value-judgements. Parenthetical insertions sometimes
confused scribes, so that a corruption may hide an original parenthesis; 9
7 Parentheses occur in the speeches of Eros to Venus (1.2.65–102),VenustoEros(1.2.106–39), Venus to
Violentilla (1.2.162–93), Apollo to Asclepius (1.4.61–105), Calliope to Lucan (2.7.41–104), Volturnus
to Domitian (4.3.72–94), the Sibyl’s prophecy (4.3.124–63), and the Scotsman to Crispinus (5.2.144–
9). They are absent from the speeches of Curtius to Domitian (1.1.74–83), Diana to her nymphs
(2.3.24–6), Pan to Melior’s tree (2.3.43–52), Hercules to Pollius (3.1.91–116 and 166–83), Claudius
Etruscus to his father (3.3.182–204), Venus to Earinus (3.4.32–45), Eros to Earinus (3.4.95–7), Earinus
to Asclepius (3.4.100–5), Janus to Domitian (4.1.17–43), Priscilla to Abascantus (5.1.177–93).
8 The flexibility of Latin word order accommodates parentheses that frequently cannot be rendered
parenthetically in English translation.
9 Goodyear 1982: 11 = K. Coleman et al. 1992: 221 (on Justin 17.3.6).