Elogio con variazione. Improvvisazione e tecnica compositiva nelle Silvae di Stazio

In the prefaces to the individual books of the Silvae, Statius asks to be forgiven for the boldness of his compositions, which he claims to have been written in one go and very quickly. A comparison between these claims and rhetorical teaching, especially that of Quintilian, makes clear that the shortcomings for which Statius apologises should be identified with the arrangement of the topics rather than with the metrical and stylistic features of his verses.