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300 kathleen m. coleman
2.2 Exhortations
A ritual injunction to fling open the doors, Pande fores, opens Silv. 4.8,
celebrating the birth of a child to Julius Menecrates, son-in-law of Statius’
wealthy Neapolitan patron, Pollius Felix. But the same phrase occurs in
parenthesis in the epithalamium for L. Arruntius Stella and his bride,
Violentilla (1.2.16–17): nosco diem causasque sacri: te concinit iste | (pande
fores), te, Stella, chorus, ‘I learn the day and the reason for the ceremony. It
is you, Stella, you that choir (fling wide the gates!) is singing.’ Here the parenthetic
expression of the injunction conveys excitement and anticipation,
rather than a casual aside.
2.3 Expressions of credulity and sufficiency
Parenthetic expressions of credulity and sufficiency, or their opposites,
are a colloquial feature well attested in oratory to create suspense before a
particularly extravagant claim or striking revelation (Roschatt 1884: 232)and
widely exploited by Ovid as a vehicle for conveying subjective comment,
especially in the miraculous context of metamorphosis (Albrecht 1964:
74). Statius expresses breathless wonder at the tranquil passage of the
hitherto tempestuous river Anio, as it flows through Manilius Vopiscus’
estate (1.3.20–2):
ipse Anien (miranda fides!) infraque superque
saxeus, hic tumidam rabiem spumosaque ponit
murmura...
Anio himself (wondrous to tell!), full of rocks above and below, here rests his
swollen rage and foamy din . . .
In the epicedion for Claudius Etruscus on the death of his father, Statius
comments on the paradox that a son thinks his father’s life too short
(3.3.20–1):
...celeresgenitorisfiliusannos
(mira fides!) nigrasque putat properasse Sorores.
A son thinks his father’s years too swift (wonderful but true!), thinks the dark
Sisters went too fast!
Such expressions of credulity (or incredulity) can take the form of a parenthetical
question, ‘who would believe/doubt/deny?’, usually inserted before
the remarkable claim is made, to create suspense: cf. Ov. Met. 6.193–4
(Niobe) sum felix (quis enim neget hoc?) felixque manebo | (hoc quoque quis