Statius

Dante mentions Statius for the first time in the De Vulgari (II 6 7), in the list of “poets who respect the rules” put forward as a model also for vernacular lyric poets. He describes Statius on several occasions as a man with deep knowledge of the human soul, particularly in the fourth treatise of the Convivio, but gives him a special role in the Commedia, which contains frequent verbal calques and allusions relating to characters and episodes in the Achilleid and the Thebaid. In the Commedia, Dante’s use of the Thebaid is functional to his depiction of the violence of sinners in their raging and relentless pursuit of evil. He attributes great importance to the blasphemous Capaneus, and includes in the Malebolge the soothsayers Amphiarus, Manto and Tiresias. He also recalls Jocasta, Eteocles and Polynices, and Tydeus, who gnawed Menalippus’ head, provides a fitting comparison for the famous episode of Count Ugolino who in anger did the same to Archbishop Ruggieri’s skull. But the greatest homage Dante pays to Statius is by including him as a character in the Commedia. From canto XXI to canto XXXII in Purgatorio, Statius accompanies Dante and Virgil, and is thus present more than any other character in the Commedia after Virgil and Beatrice. To justify Statius’ presence in Purgatorio, Dante obviously has to present him as a Christian. This issue has intrigued commentators considerably, above all in their search for possible sources of Dante’s information, but to date no reliable evidence has been found. It may be that Dante, who calls Statius the tolosano although it is known that he was from Naples, mistook him for someone else, possibly Statius Ursulus, the rhetorician of Toulouse mentioned by Saint Jerome. Nonetheless, the role played by Statius in the Commedia as a follower of Virgil and a Christian establishes a bond of continuity between the two cultures, pagan and Christian.