Conclusion

Abstract This concluding section draws together some of the threads of the foregoing investigation. It contains a brief discussion of how Silius, Statius, and Claudian engage with Valerius’ text in unique ways, as well as the ways in which they share points of contact in their allusive interactions with the Argonautica. The author notes that Silius frames the Punica as the culmination of the historical process begun in Valerius’ Argonautica, presenting himself not as Valerius’ competitor, but as his continuator. The author then points out that in the Thebaid Statius’ approach to Valerius is subversive, a strategy he does not, however, repeat in the Achilleid, for which Valerius’ Argonautica emerges as a key ‘prequel’. Claudian tends to use allusion to the Argonautica for contrastive purposes. The chapter ends by noting that some key themes from Valerius’ epic appear to have been especially attractive to his successors, such as civil war, Gigantomachy, Troy, and familial dysfunction.