533. Praef. _Silv._ iv 'Maximum Vibium et dignitatis et eloquentiae nomine a nobis diligi satis eram testatus epistula quam ad illum de editione Thebaidos meae publicavi.' 534. Witness poems such as the Villa Surrentina Pollii. _Silv._ ii. 2. 3, 1. 535. _Silv._ iii. 5. 13. 536. Praef. _Silv._ iii. and iii. 5. He was married soon after beginning the _Thebais_, i.e. about 82 A.D. (cp. _S._ iii. 5. 35). Claudia had a daughter by her first husband, iii. 5. 52-4. 537. v. 5. 72-5. 538. iii. 5. 13, iv. 4. 69, v. 2. 158. It is worth noting how late in life all his best work was done, i.e. 80-95 A.D. 539. The well-known passage of Juvenal, vii. 86 ('cum fregit subsellia versu, esurit, intactam Paridi nisi vendit Agaven'), as has been pointed out, is only Juvenal's exaggerated way of saying that the _Thebais_ brought Statius no material gain. The family was not, however, rolling in wealth; cp. v. 3. 116 sqq. 540. His friendships do not throw much light on his life, though they show that he moved in high circles. Rutilius Gallicus (i. 4) had had a distinguished career and rose to be _praefectus urbis_; Claudius Etruscus (i. 5), originally a slave from Smyrna, had risen to the imperial post _a rationibus_; Abascantus (v. 1) held the office known as _ab epistulis_; Plotius Grypus (iv. 9) came of senatorial family; Crispinus (v. 2) was the son of Vettius Bolanus, Governor of Britain and afterwards of Asia; Vibius Maximus (iv. 7) became praefect of Egypt under Trajan; Polla Argentaria (ii. 7) was the widow of Lucan; Arruntius Stella (i. 2) was a poet, and rose to the consulship. Most of these persons must have been possessed of strong literary tastes. Some are mentioned by Martial, e.g. Stella, Claudius Etruscus, Polla Argentaria. Atedius Melior and Novius Vindex were also friends of the two poets. Both must have moved in the same circles, yet neither ever mentions the other. They were probably jealous of one another and on bad terms. 541. e.g. ii. 2. Cp. also i. 3. 64-89. 542. Dante regards him also as a Christian. This compliment was paid by the Middle Ages to not a few of the great classical authors. It was not even a fatal obstacle to have lived before the birth of Christ. Cicero, for instance, was believed to have been a Christian. The description of the Altar of Mercy at Athens (_Th._ xii. 493) has been regarded as a special reason for the Christianizing of Statius: cp. Verrall, _Oxford and Cambridge Review_, No. 1; Arturo Graf, _Roma nella memoria del medio evo_, vol. ii, ch. 17. 543. This statement does not, however, apply to the _Silvae_. 544. Ov. _Am_. i. 15. 14. 545. Merivale, _Rom. Emp_. viii. 80, 1. 546. Merivale, _Rom. Emp_. viii. 80, 1.