This Italian edition of the Thebaid, an epic poem by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius, was printed in Venice in 1570, and was part of George III's personal library at Cumberland Lodge.

The Thebaid is the only surviving Roman epic that can safely be said to have been published by its author as a complete work. It tells the story of the war between the sons of Oedipus over the kingship of Thebes. After Oedipus discovered he had married his mother, he blinded himself and cursed his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, to fight for the throne of Thebes. The sons agreed that they would share the throne, ruling for alternate years. However, once the first year had passed, Eteocles refused to abdicate, leading Polynices to enlist his father-in-law, the king of Argos, and five Argive commanders to try to take the city. Battles between the Argive commanders and their Theban counterparts took place at each of the seven gates of Thebes, eventually resulting in the deaths of both Eteocles and Polynices.

Statius' epic was popular in the middle ages and in the Renaissance, and influenced several authors including Giovanni Boccaccio, who borrowed heavily from the story while composing the Teseida (an epic poem describing the life and reign of the Greek hero Theseus), and Dante Alighieri, who included Statius as one of the characters in his Divine Comedy.