Andes Virgilii natale solum, a silua by the Italian humanist Petrus Marsus, was published in Mantua in
1480. The present paper investigates the role of that text as a turning point from Statius’ concept of the silua to the siluae by Politian; it also shows that the siluae were intended by Politian as an introduction to classical texts, exactly in the way of the first printed editions of classical texts, where these texts were accompanied by other poetic compositions, conceived as an introduction to the classical author.
