Text in Latin, commentary in English.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 509-528) and index.

Preliminary Material / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Introduction / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Conspectvs siglorvm / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- List of deviations from Marastoni’s edition / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Statius Meliori suo Salutem / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Praefatio / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Glaucias Atedii Melioris delicatus / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Villa Surrentina Pollii Felicis / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Arbor Atedii Melioris / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Psittacus Atedii Melioris / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Leo mansuetus / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Consolatio ad Flavium Ursum de amissione pueri delicati / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Genethliacon Lucani ad Pollam / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Speeches in the Silvae / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Bibliography / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam -- Index / P. Papinius Statius and Harm-Jan van Dam.

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The five books of the Silvae bring together the occasional verses which Statius wrote in addition to his two epics. In these short descriptive poems Statius elaborates features taken from various genres into an original whole, in which description and eulogy play important roles. The main themes of the poems of his second book are consolation after bereavement and the contrast between nature and culture. The present work contains a general introduction, a text of Silvae II, a bibliography, and an index, together with a verse-by-verse commentary on the poems of this second book. This is the first commentary on a book of the Silvae since Vollmer's commentary on the whole of the Silvae of 1898. Emphasis is here placed on interpretation and moreover chiefly on the literary and stylistic aspects of the poems, which, compared with the epic poetry of Statius and his contemporaries, have hitherto received relatively little attention.