Muse and Power in the Poetry of Statius

Abstract Lassata … totiens mihi numina, Musas: ‘the heavenly Muses, so often wearied by my prayer1—thus Statius (Silv. I. 5. 2) defines his relationship with the Muses. Compared with the practice of post-Ovidian poets, the particular emphasis Statius assigns to the Muses, and more generally to the theme of poetic inspiration, is striking. Perhaps this is less surprising in a ‘professional’ poet such as Statius, a poet, that is to say, who repeatedly inquires into his condition as a poet, and into the nature and the instruments of his work.