Note 1368 — Chapter V · SILIUS ITALICUS

Cf. Iliad, XVI. 215: ἀσπὶς ἄρ’ ἀσπίδ’ ἔρειδε, κόρυς κόρυν, ἀνέρα δ’ ἀνήρ: Ennius, “premitur pede pes atque armis arma teruntur”; Furius Antias (c. 100 B.C.) ap. Macrob., Sat., VI. iii. 5: “pressatur pede pes, mucro mucrone, uiro uir”; Virg., Aen., X. 361: “haeret pede pes densusque uiro uir”; and Statius, perhaps reminded by Silius, takes over this conventional line, Theb., VIII. 399: “ense minax ensis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis.” The half-dozen lines in Silius (IX. 321 sqq.) make a good example of a mosaic of archaisms; Lucan is imitated in “nec ... artatis cecidisse licet”; the rare flictu is Pacuvian and Virgilian; fatiscit echoes Virgil; and the alliteration introduced is designedly quaint.