THE POET: LIFE AND TIMES

Valerius Flaccus (VF) is mentioned by name only once in ancient literature, in Quintilian's Institutio oratoria (10.1.90): multum in Valerio Flacco nuper amisimus – ‘We have recently suffered a great loss in Valerius Flaccus.’ Because this is part of a survey of epic poets, ‘Valerius Flaccus’ must refer to the poet whose name is given in the manuscript tradition of the epic Argonautica. The poet's death was apparently a ‘recent’ event (a flexible term) when Quintilian's Institutio oratoria was published, for which a date of around 95 ce (prior to the death of the emperor Domitian on 18 September 96 ce) is generally assumed. This gives a terminus ante quem for VF's death, complemented by a terminus post quem, since the last conclusively datable reference in the poem is to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 ce (4.507–9).

Further details about VF's life have to be inferred from the epic (his only known work) and its transmission. The manuscripts of the Argonautica give the poet's name as Gaius Valerius Flaccus; sometimes Setinus Balbus or Balbus Setinus is added, but the status of these additional items is uncertain. The epic's proem mentions a ‘a tripod sharing in the knowledge of the Cumaean prophetess’ in the poet's home (1.5–6): this remark, along with the poem's interest in religious rituals (3.362–458, 8.239–42), has led to the assumption that VF was a quindecimuir sacris faciundis, one of the priests in charge of the Sibylline books. However, the details given should not be taken too literally, and the persona adopted by the poet should not be confused with his biography: this presentation could have been chosen to highlight inspiration by Apollo.

From the notice in Quintilian and allusions to the emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian in the proem (1.5–21) it is clear that VF was active during the Flavian period (see Intro. 2.2). The Flavian age presents the unique situation within classical Roman literature that epics by three poets published in that time survive: VF's Argonautica, Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid, Silius Italicus’ Punica. VF's poem is thought to be the earliest, and no clear references to the other Flavian epics have been found in the text.