Subject
In a passage from Silvae II.2, the poet Flavius Statius refers to the Appian Way by a particularly appropriate metaphor: not simply as a road, but as the “queen of highways” (verse 12). This is one of the best known ‘labels’ for the ancient road, which, built in 312 BC by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus, initially connected Rome to Capua but was later extended as far as Brindisi.
Statius Silvae II.2.11-12: “I had been eager to turn my steps to where the Via Appia, queen of highways, carries travellers along the long familiar track towards Rome…” (from the translation by Kline).
Placement
Universiteit Gent Universiteitsbibliotheek
Credits
Google Books, Universiteit Gent Universiteitsbibliotheek
References
J.A. Amar – N.E. Lemaire, Libri quinque Silvarum P. Papinii Statii, Volumen primum, Parigi 1825.
E. Courtney, P. Papini Stati Silvae, Oxford 1990.
D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Statius. Silvae, Cambridge, Mass. – London 2003.
A. Traglia – G. Aricò (a cura di), Opere di Publio Papinio Stazio, Torino 1980.
F. Vollmer, Publius Papinius Statius. Silvarum libri, Leipzig 1898.
