The Argonautica (The Argonauts, a.d. 92/93), Valerius Flaccus's only known poem, is one of the last important epics of imperial Rome. It is one of three large-scale epics to have survived from the Flavian era (the other two are Statius's Thebaid and Silius's Punica) and perhaps the one most closely identified with the spirit and ideology of the Flavian dynasty. Valerius turns to myth rather than history for his subject, but a complex system of allusions to Roman history affords the epic a contemporary flavor and relevance. The Argonautica is an ambitious poem that reveals a genuine poetic talent, perhaps at a relatively early stage, a talent that was cut off by an untimely death.

Valerius is one of the most elusive literary figures of the imperial Roman period: virtually nothing certain is known about him. Uncertainty extends even to his full name and place of origin. That...