While Statius' decision to treat events in landlocked Thebes offered limited opportunity to integrate into his poem a maritime episode, which had become a staple epic ingredient by the first century a.d., the Thebaid is dotted with references to the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece, including a narrative flashback of the crew's time at Lemnos (Theb. 5.335–498).Footnote ¹ Following in a long tradition of cross-contamination between Argonautic and Theban literary texts (as shown by, for example, the Apollonian Argonautica's use of Antimachus' Thebaid),Footnote ² Statius' poem also evokes works of literature which narrate the legend, notably the Argonauticas of Apollonius RhodiusFootnote ³ and Valerius Flaccus.Footnote ⁴ A lack of scholarly focus on this latter area has generally led to a piecemeal scrutiny of individual allusive passages rather than a systematic treatment. However, Stover's recent paper paves the way for a more productive approach through its contention that the Thebaid makes widespread use of the mythic subject matter: ‘It … appears that Statius frequently appropriates the Argonautic tradition and that he does so largely to present the Argives as quasi Argonauts. This suggests that their adventure to conquer Thebes is analogous to the Argonauts’ voyage to Colchis.'Footnote ⁵

This paper builds upon these remarks and the suggestion made by one of Stover's refereesFootnote ⁶ that the Theban expedition ‘becomes the Argonautica’. It argues that the Thebaid makes careful and deliberate use of the Argonauts' outward voyage in the depiction of the Argive expedition. It also makes the case for the Thebaid's coherent and sustained engagement with the Flavian as well as the Hellenistic Argonautica, working from the assumption that Valerius' text up to (at the leastFootnote ⁷) the depiction of the arrival of the Argonauts at Colchis (Val. Fl. 5.177) was accessible to Statius, perhaps through publication of individual books,Footnote ⁸ as he was completing the story of the origins of the conflict and the arrival of the army in Boeotian territory.Footnote ⁹ Not only does the patterning of the expedition after the Argonauts' trip act in tandem with the nautical images which dot the workFootnote ¹⁰ to provide a metanarrative substitute for the absent voyage but, more importantly, it enables Statius to comment on the expedition and to reinforce positive and negative character traits.

Parallelism between the journeys of the two poems is prepared for by Polynices' trek to Argos in Thebaid 1. Once he has decided to go there from Boeotia, the prince spends his first night traversing the route in fear (Theb. 1.336–79), just as Jason's crew spent the first night of their journey in terror (Val. Fl. 2.34–47). The description of Polynices' travels draws on Valerius' evocation of the Argonauts' alarm through a simile in which a lone man crosses land by night: ac uelut ignota captus regione uiarum | noctiuagum qui carpit iter non aure quiescit, | non oculis, noctisque metus niger auget utrimque | campus et occurrens umbris maioribus arbor, | haud aliter trepidare uiri (Val. Fl. 2.43–7).Footnote ¹¹ Thus Polynices' aural senses are alert (Theb. 1.366: aure pauens, ‘listening in terror’),Footnote ¹² just like those of the traveller at Val. Fl. 2.44 (qui … non aure quiescit, ‘who does not rest his ears’), and he advances on the journey (Theb. 1.369: haurit iter, ‘devours the path’) like the wayfarer at Val. Fl. 2.44 (carpit iter, ‘presses on the path’) although, again like the Valerian traveller (Val. Fl. 2.43 ignota … regione uiarum, ‘unknown part of the way’), he is unsure of his path (Theb. 1.368: incertus uiae, ‘uncertain of his way’).Footnote ¹³

Moreover, Statius continues to respond to the Valerian passage by using a simile to illustrate Polynices' plight, although here the situation of the Argonautica image, in which sailors were compared to a man journeying by foot, is reversed, for the land traveller Polynices is likened to a sailor at sea:

As PoortvlietFootnote ¹⁵ has observed, deprensus at Theb. 1.370 picks up captus at Val. Fl. 2.43. Furthermore, the Statian sailor's lack of the Wain or moon to guide his way (Theb. 1.371–2) stands in contrast to the availability of such light to the Argonauts, as revealed by Tiphys' references to the moon (Val. Fl. 2.56) and Boötes (Val. Fl. 2.68), the constellation conventionally linked with the Wain.

Such engagement prepares us for subsequent parallelism between the journeys of the two poems. For, although the Argives do not follow in the actual tracks of Argonauts in their march from the Peloponnese to Thebes, their expedition is mapped onto that famous sea voyage through means of allusion. In doubt as to whether he should march on the city, Adrastus sends Melampus and Amphiaraus to divine the future (Theb. 3.449–647). Fucecchi and Stover have demonstrated how the vatic activity of these seers looks to the pre-departure prophecies of Mopsus and Idmon at Val. Fl. 1.205–39.Footnote ¹⁶ By asserting himself as a rival to his fellow seer Mopsus at Theb. 3.520–1, Amphiaraus adopts an Idmon-like role.Footnote ¹⁷ Amphiaraus further recalls the Valerian Idmon by going on the expedition even though his prophetic ability has shown him that he is marching to his death (Theb. 3.546–7: cf. Val. Fl. 1.238–9).

This Valerian passage is, in fact, only one of several preparatory scenes from the same book which are evoked in the preliminaries to the Argives' departure. The first part of Thebaid 4 is taken up with the depiction of the Argives' leave-taking, which looks to the descriptions at Val. Fl. 1.315–49 and 1.494–7 of the Argonauts' farewells before the catalogue and at its end.Footnote ¹⁸ The subsequent catalogue (Theb. 4.32–344) then engages with Valerius' list of the Argonauts at Val. Fl. 1.350–497. There are echoes in the individual entries: so, for instance, the olive-wreathed helmet of Amphiaraus, which bears a white headband in its scarlet crest (Theb. 4.217–18) recalls the headband-bearing, laurel-topped helmet of Mopsus, the seer whose sacerdotal white robes are paired with scarlet buskins (Val. Fl. 1.384–6).Footnote ¹⁹ Moreover, Statius' decision to end his roster with the disruption of Atalanta and Parthenopaeus' embrace (Theb. 4.343–4) through the harsh sound of a trumpet (Theb. 4.342–3) responds to Valerius' use of a mournful trumpet blast to break up embraces (Val. Fl. 1.350–1) at the start of his list.Footnote ²⁰

Further links between the catalogues are forged in the portrayal of Parthenopaeus (Theb. 4.246–344).Footnote ²¹ Structural correspondences encourage us to see Acastus, whom a pendant passage to the main body of the roster depicts arriving as the final crew member (1.484–97), as a model for the last prince in the list, whose encounter with his mother forms an appendix to the catalogue's main part (Theb. 4.309–44).Footnote ²² Ties between the two characters are strengthened by the fact that both youths slip away from their parents without their knowledge,Footnote ²³ and by verbal echoes. For Statius draws on Valerius' comparison of Jason to a mounted hunter quickly fleeing the forest with snatched tiger-cubs (Val. Fl. 1.489–93) in his description of Atalanta's remoteness from her son (Theb. 4.248–50) and also the simile which compares her, as she swiftly leaves the woods after her son, to a tigress in pursuit of her stolen cubs, adding emphasis upon the tigress's loss to convey Atalanta's grief and including the detail of her hunt to mirror the fact that she is able to follow her son.Footnote ²⁴

After the Argive catalogue, the focus switches to preparations at Thebes, with a necromancy at Theb. 4.406–645 which continues Book 4's engagement with the first book of the Argonautica in its adoption of detail from the chthonic rituals at Val. Fl. 1.730–826.Footnote ²⁵ The scene then moves to Nemea, where the army become delayed by a number of events, including Hypsipyle's Lemnian tale detailing the women's slaughter of the island's menfolk and the Argonauts' visitation (Theb. 5.49–498). As has been well documented,Footnote ²⁶ this narrative looks to Valerius Flaccus' account of the Lemnian tragedy and the Argonauts' amorous dalliance during their stay (Val. Fl. 2.78–431). Nemea, in fact, becomes a kind of ‘alter-Lemnos’. For not only is it the place where the massacre is verbally re-enacted, but it similarly acts as a locus of delay, where the Argives are entranced by (the words of) a Lemnian female, and as the site of nefarious death (for, as Hypsipyle recalls how her countrywomen slaughtered their families, she neglects to watch over her foster-son, who is killed by a snake).Footnote ²⁷

There is then further engagement with Valerius' account of the Argonauts' journey in the boxing match between Capaneus and Pollux's pupil Alcidamas at Theb. 6.729–825, which, as Hershkowitz and Lovatt have shown, draws on the fight of Amycus and Pollux at Bebrycia (Val. Fl. 4.199–343).Footnote ²⁸ The hubristic giant Amycus, who likes to ‘wet his weapons in the wretched brains’ (misero lauet arma cerebro, Val. Fl. 4.153) of his victims and who is bested by Pollux, is one of the models for the giant-like Capaneus. His scorned opponent Alcidamas proves a skilful fighter and the two must be separated lest Capaneus ends up mixing his bones and brains (Theb. 6.811–12: non prius, effracto quam misceat ossa cerebro, | absistet, ‘he will not stop before he mixes bones with shattered brain’).

Piecing together recognized echoes clearly shows the way in which Books 3 to 6 of the Thebaid rework material from Valerius Flaccus Books 1 to 4, and such engagement may continue after the crew's arrival at Colchis in Book 5 in, for example, the Perses–Aeëtes war of Book 6, which shares intriguing parallels with the Thebaid's fraternal strife.Footnote ²⁹ The resulting effect is to figure the Argive expedition as a quasi-Argonautic mission, a land version of this voyage of heroes.

Allusions to the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius similarly serve to create this effect. In depicting the events leading up to the army's departure, Statius draws on the preliminary scenes involving the Apollonian, as well as the Valerian, Argonauts. Thus, before being rebuked by the hubristic Idas-like Capaneus in a dispute (Theb. 3.598–647) which reworks the strife between Idmon and Idas at Ap. Rhod. 1.440–94,Footnote ³⁰ Amphiaraus foresees his death in the manner of the Apollonian Idmon.Footnote ³¹ The Argive expedition itself also looks to Apollonius' narrative of the Argonauts' adventures. This engagement is not only apparent where it might be expected, in Hypsipyle's narrative of the Lemnian massacre and stay of the Argonauts, which couples allusion to Valerius Flaccus' version of events at Lemnos with reference to Apollonius' account (Ap. Rhod. 1.609–913).Footnote ³² It is also evident in another episode from Apollonius' epic, the journey of the Argonauts through Libya.

As the Argonauts come within sight of the Peloponnese, they are hit by a squall and blown off course (Ap. Rhod. 4.1231–33). They are driven for nine days and nights (Ap. Rhod. 4.1234–5) before becoming stranded in the shallows of the Syrtis, where they fall into despair (Ap. Rhod. 4.1234–1304). However, the guardians of Libya appear to Jason in the scorching heat of noon (Ap. Rhod. 4.1312–13) and, by interpreting their advice, the heroes manage to avoid an inglorious death in the desert. Setting off inland, they valiantly carry their ship for twelve days and nights through the sandy wastes (Ap. Rhod. 4.1384–6) until they come upon the waters of Lake Triton. At this point they are in need of a spring to quench their parching thirst (Ap. Rhod. 4.1393–5) and Orpheus prays to the Hesperides for water (Ap. Rhod. 4.1415–18), addressing them alternatively as heavenly deities, subterranean goddesses, or solitary nymphs (Ap. Rhod. 4.1411–14) and promising them gifts and honours upon their homecoming (Ap. Rhod. 4.1418–21). In return, Aegle points out a spring (Ap. Rhod. 4.1450–1) which Hercules had created. The thirsty Argonauts eagerly swarm around it (Ap. Rhod. 4.1452–6) and then one of them, while his lips are still wet, comments on how their former comrade has saved them (Ap. Rhod. 1458–60). This relief, however, is soon followed by tragedy: not only does Canthus die at the hands of a shepherd but the seer Mopsus falls prey to a snake (Ap. Rhod. 4.1518–27), at around noon (Ap. Rhod. 4.1505), leaving the bereft Argonauts to march with their arms three times round his corpse (Ap. Rhod. 4.1535–6).

The experiences of the Argives in Books 4, 5, and 6 bear striking correspondences to these adventures of the Argonauts.Footnote ³³ Diverted from their path, they wander overland at the time of noon (Theb. 4.680–2) through the sweltering, drought-stricken region of Nemea, which is likened by the poet to ‘yellow Libya’ (flauam Libyen, Theb. 4.744). In their desperation for water, they search for a spring and, upon meeting Hypsipyle, Adrastus begs for help, opening his appeal by wondering if his encounter is with a goddess or nymph (Theb. 4.753–9) and promising gifts and honours should the army return home (Theb. 4.768–71). Like Aegle, Hypsipyle is able to reveal the presence of water (Theb. 4.782–809) and the troops rush to slake their thirst. While standing in the middle of the water (Theb. 4.831), one of the warriors then utters a speech in which he makes reference to Hercules' conquest of the Nemean lion (Theb. 4.832–5). However, as with the Argonauts, disaster swiftly follows: Opheltes, like Mopsus, is killed by a snake, and in the subsequent funeral rites his pyre is initially encircled three times (Theb. 6.217) to the accompaniment of clashing weapons (Theb. 6.217–19).Footnote ³⁴

The parallelism of the expeditions would have had particular appeal for the opportunity it allowed to highlight the virtues or vices of the Statian characters and the problematic nature of the military campaign. The Argonautic expedition is characterized with some ambivalence in the accounts of Apollonius Rhodius and, particularly, Valerius Flaccus.Footnote ³⁵ So, for example, the inaugural voyage of the Valerian crew is, on one level, portrayed in gigantomachic terms.Footnote ³⁶ And while the Argonauts can display valour, as shown by Pollux's defeat of Amycus or the Apollonian crew's harsh trek across Libya, they can also show signs of unheroic behaviour, as evident in Jason's vengeful luring away of Acastus (Val. Fl. 1.153–5)Footnote ³⁷ or the Valerian sailors' dismissal of the favourable sea breezes which would take them away from their self-indulgent lingering at Lemnos (Val. Fl. 2.369–73). Statius' protagonists can seem more or less heroic in comparison with their Apollonian and Valerian counterparts. The Argives' tarrying to hear Hypsipyle's story (Theb. 5.20–7) seems less indulgent than the Valerian Argonauts' delay at Lemnos, one of the models for the interlude. On the other hand, their sufferings seem slight in comparison to the Apollonian Argonauts' Libyan toils which the episode also evokes. Instead of carrying a ship overland for twelve days across sandy wastes, they endure a few hours in the sun without water.Footnote ³⁸ Moreover, they experience this discomfort after marching some 18 kilometres of their 120-kilometre journey to Thebes,Footnote ³⁹ whereas the Apollonian travellers are on the detour-ridden return part of their long journey from Thessaly to Colchis.

As well as setting the Argive army against the Apollonian and Valerian crew, Statius also evokes individual Argonautica figures in the service of specific characterizations. Negative traits may thereby be underlined. So, for instance, in the brutal boxing match where he nearly kills his fellow soldier (Theb. 6.811–12, 6.821–2), Capaneus recalls the monstrous Valerian Amycus, rather than the valiant Pollux: the parallels help highlight his nefarious tendencies and hubris, traits also suggested by his similarities to the Apollonian Idas.Footnote ⁴⁰ Conversely, positive characterizations may be reinforced by comparison or contrast with Argonautic figures. Thus, for example, Amphiaraus' bravery is conveyed by his Idmon-like decision to join an expedition from which he knows he will not return. And the nexus of connections created by parallels between Parthenopaeus and Acastus cast the Statian characters in a comparatively favourable light. The tigress simile, in which Atalanta takes on the role of bereaved parent implicitly assigned to Pelias, increases our compassion for her and highlights the tragic cost of the war. By contrast, our sympathy for Pelias as a bereft father is tempered by the knowledge that he has brought the situation upon himself by his treatment of Jason. Furthermore, Statius' epic contains no equivalent character to Jason, the figure pointed to in the reference to the cubs' abductor.Footnote ⁴¹ He vindictively co-opts Acastus, whereas love of glory alone spurs Parthenopaeus to join the campaign (Theb. 4.247).

For all the ambivalence surrounding aspects of the venture and its participants' behaviour, there is overwhelming Olympian backing for the Argonautic mission itself: dissent, such as that seen at Val. Fl. 1.503–29, is voiced by a minority. That the quest has visible divine support is seen in the Apollonian Idmon's joy at the propitious pyroscopy (Ap. Rhod. 1.436–8) and his comment that divinely ordained fate will ensure the return of his companions with the fleece, albeit after many trials (Ap. Rhod. 1.440–42), or in the Valerian Idmon's prophetic assertion at Val. Fl. 1. 234–6 of the ship's success in an expedition involving ‘toil’ (laboris, Val. Fl. 1.235). This is in marked contrast to the nefarious Argive–Theban conflict for, while the war is instigated by infernal and celestial powers, its combatants are repeatedly warned against participation through inauspicious omens such as those found in the haruspicy and augury of Thebaid 3 (3.456–8, 3.502–51).Footnote ⁴² The answer to Amphiaraus' question as to whether the war is sanctioned by gods (Theb. 3.491–6) is clearly no: in contrast to the Argonautic situation, revelations of coming ‘toil’ (laborem, Theb. 3.490) are accompanied by indications of unmitigated disaster.

The gods' support for the Argonauts' expedition is also revealed by Tiphys' assertion of divine aid at Val. Fl. 2.48–62, which includes reference to Pallas' help in astronomical navigation (Val. Fl. 2.49–50, 2.61–5).Footnote ⁴³ Although the Valerian simile conjures the blackness of the landscape, it is clear from references to stars and the moon (1.42, 1.56, 1.61–5) that the Argonauts do not encounter absolute darkness, in contrast to the experience of Polynices, who goes through nigra silentia (‘black silences’, Theb. 1.368) and is compared to a sailor without the aid of moon and starlight (Theb. 1.371–2). Whereas the divinely taught Tiphys is able to reassure the frightened Argonauts by explaining how the constellations can help, the prince is like a sailor rationis inops (Theb. 1.373, ‘devoid of sense’). Lacking human and divine guidance,Footnote ⁴⁴ the prince only finds comfort (and, it transpires, human help with his flawed mission), in the bright lights of Argos (Theb. 1.380–3).

As well as proving superior in its show of Olympian backing, the Argonaut mission trumps the expedition against Thebes in the fact that it fulfils its goal of returning with the fleece, whereas the Argive warriors fail to take Thebes as they hoped. The fact that there is no explicit allusion to any adventures from the Argonauts' return leg in the Thebaid is unsurprising, for the princes can only ape their predecessors' outward journey.Footnote ⁴⁵ Despite the hopes of a return voiced by characters such as Tydeus (Theb. 2.726–7) and the Argive women (Theb. 10.51–2), many of the soldiers and all but one of the princes die in the struggle; the rest endure a ‘shameful return’ (reditusque pudendos, Theb. 11.760). At Theb. 12.809: et mea iam longo meruit ratis aequore portum (‘and my ship has already earned her harbour after a long sea voyage’), the metaphor of a ship coming to harbour is used to illustrate the completion of the poem. While on one level the image can be seen as engaging with literary treatments of the Argonautic myth, as indicated by Pollmann's suggestion that it sets the finished journey of Thebaid, Statius' ‘poetic Argo’, against the probably incomplete Valerian Argonautica,Footnote ⁴⁶ we might also read the line as a pointed comment on the fact that none of the seven chieftains, apart from their fleeing leader, Adrastus, truly come home (see Theb. 6.945–6). The failure of the princes to complete the trip stands in contrast with both the poem, which has run its course, and the Argo ship, which has returned along with most of its crew.Footnote ⁴⁷

The expedition's lack of success is highlighted by engagement with the Hellenistic and Flavian Argonauticas. Not all Argonauts manage to return to their point of departure. In Valerius' epic four crew members (Idmon, Tiphys, Iphis, and Canthus) are lost on the outward journey through death, and two (Hercules and Hylas) through abandonment, while Butes jumps from the ship (Ap. Rhod. 4.912–19) and Mopsus perishes (Ap. Rhod. 4.1502–36) during Apollonius' homeward voyage. Attention is drawn to the death of the (ex-Argonaut) AmphiarausFootnote ⁴⁸ through parallelism with three Argonauts who fail to complete the trip: not only is he, as we have seen, modelled in his prophecy of demise and his catalogue entry on the Apollonian Idmon and the Valerian Mopsus, but he is associated with Tiphys in Book 8, through verbal allusions to Valerius FlaccusFootnote ⁴⁹ and through an explicit comparison to the dead helmsman (Theb. 8.212–14), as he is lamented by his fellow soldiers.Footnote ⁵⁰ Moreover, the ruin facing the Argive army as a whole is pointed up by comparison of Statius' pre-departure prophecy scene to its intertextual Apollonian counterpart. The striking difference is, as Stover observes, that Idmon's reference to his own death comes within a forecast of collective success, while the Statian seer prophesies ‘general death and destruction’.Footnote ⁵¹

In short, we can see how engagement with the epics of Apollonius Rhodius and Valerius Flaccus works alongside explicit references to the quest for the Golden Fleece to set up the Argive expedition as a quasi-Argonautic mission. By mapping the conduct of his characters onto that of the Argonauts, Statius can reinforce their positive and negative traits. He is also able to highlight the ill-fated nature of their task. The Argonauts become involved in another country's civil war in order to fulfil their quest, in contrast to Adrastus' army, for whom war against Polynices' brother is the goal. Instead of being reassured by divine approval, the Argives persevere with their nefarious mission in the face of Olympian warnings. And hence they fail to emulate the Argonauts' successful journey back, imitating, in the case of Amphiaraus, the fates of those few crew members who do not manage to return.