Silvae

A Roman Art Lover (1868) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema showing the types of Roman art patrons who could have commissioned Statius' poetry[citation needed]

The Silvae is a collection of Latin occasional poetry in hexameters, hendecasyllables, and lyric meters by Publius Papinius Statius (c. 45 – c. 96 CE). There are 32 poems in the collection, divided into five books. Each book contains a prose preface which introduces and dedicates the book. The subjects of the poetry are varied and provide scholars with a wealth of information on Domitian's Rome and Statius' life.

The Silvae were rediscovered by Poggio Bracciolini in the Library of Reichenau Abbey around 1417, along with the Punica of Silius Italicus.[1]

  1. ^ Wasserstein, A. (1953). "The Manuscript Tradition of Statius' Silvae". The Classical Quarterly. 3 (1/2): 69–78. doi:10.1017/S0009838800002640. JSTOR 637165. S2CID 162714979.