the last of the Latin classic poets, flourished under Theodosius and his sons Arcadius and
Honorius. Our knowledge of his personal history is very limited. That he was a native of
Alexandria seems to be satisfactorily established from the direct testimony of Suidas,
corroborated by an allusion in Sidonius Epist.
9.13), and certain expressions in his own works (e. g. Epist. 5.3, 1.39,
56). It has been maintained by some that he was a Gaul, and by others that he was a Spaniard;
but neither of these positions is supported by even a shadow of evidence, while the opinion
advanced by Petrarch and Politian, that he was of Florentine extraction, arose from their
confounding the
CL. CLAUDIANI V. C. CL. CLAUDIANO V. C. TRIBUNO ET NOTARIO INTER CETERAS VIGENTES ARTES PRAEGLORIOSISSIMO POETARUM LICET AD MEMORIAM SEMPITERNAM CARMINA AB EODEM SCRIPTA SUFFICIANT ADTAMEN TESTIMONII GRATIA OB JUDICII SUI FIDEM D D. N N. ARCADIUS ET HONORIUS FILICISSIMI AC DOCTISSIMI IMPERATORES SENATU PETENTE STATUAM IN FORO DIVI TRAJANI ERIGI COLLOCARIQUE JUSSERUNT.
The close of Claudian's career is enveloped in the same obscurity as its commencement. The
last historical allusion in his writings is to the 6th consulship of Honorius, which belongs
to the year 404. That he may have been involved in the misfortunes of Stilicho, who was put to
death in 408, and may have retired to end his days in his native country, is a probable
conjecture, but nothing more. The idea that he at this time became exposed to the enmity of
the powerful and vindictive Hadrian, whom he had provoked by the insolence of wit, and who
with cruel vigilance had watched and seized the opportunity of revenge, has been adopted by
Gibbon with less than his usual caution. It rests upon two assumptions alike incapable of
proof--first, that by Pharius, whose indefatigable rapacity is contrasted
in an epigram (xxx.) with the lethargic indolence of Mallius, the poet meant to indicate the
praetorian prefect, who was a native of Egypt; and secondly, that the palinode which forms the
subject of one of his epistles refers to that effusion, and is addressed to the same
person.
The religion of Claudian, as well as that of Appuleius, Ausonius, and many of the later
Latin writers, has been a theme of frequent controversy. There is, however, little cause for
doubt. It is impossible to resist the explicit testimony of St. Augustin (de
Civ. Dei, 5.26), who declares that he was " a Christi nomine alienus," and of Orosius,
who designates him as " Poeta quidem eximius sed paganus pervicacissimus." The argument for
his Christianity derived from an ambiguous expression, interpreted as an admission of the
unity of God (III.
Cons. Honor. 96), is manifestly frivolous, and the Greek and Latin hymns
appended to most editions of his works are confessedly spurious. That his conscience may have
had all the pliancy of indifference on religious topics is probable enough, but we have
certainly nothing to adduce against the positive assertions of his Christian
contemporaries.
The works of Claudian now extant are the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18. A collection of short occasional
19. Lastly, we have a hundred and thirty-seven lines entitled
The measure employed in the greater number of these compositions is the heroic hexameter. The short prologues prefixed to many of the longer poems are in elegiacs, and so also are the last four epistles, the last two idylls, and most of the epigrams. The first of the Fescennines is a system of Alcaic hendecasyllabics; the second is in a stanza of five lines, of which the first three are iambic dimeters catalectic, the fourth is a pure choriambic dimeter, and the fifth a trochaic dimeter brachycatalectic; the third is a system of anapaestic dimeters acatalectic; and the fourth is a system of choriambic trimeters acatalectic.
It will be at once perceived that the first thirteen articles in the above catalogue, constituting a very large proportion of the whole works of Claudian, although some of them differ from the rest and from each other in form, belong essentially to one class of poems, being such as would be exacted from a laureate as the price of the patronage he enjoyed. The object in view is the same in all--all breathe the same spirit, all are declamations in verse devoted either professedly or virtually to the glorification of the emperor, his connexions and favourites, and to the degradation of their foes. We must also bear in mind, while we discuss the merits and defects of our author, and compare him with those who went before, that although Virgil and Horace were flatterers as well as he, yet their strains were addressed to very different ears. When they, after entering upon some theme apparently far removed from any courtly train of thought, by some seemingly natural although unexpected transition seemed as it were compelled to trace a resemblance between their royal benefactor and the gods and heroes of the olden time, they well knew that their skill would be appreciated by their cultivated hearers, and that the value of the compliment would be enhanced by the dexterous delicacy with which it was administered. But such refinements were by no means suited to the "purple-born" despots of the fifth century and their half-barbarous retainers. Their appetite for praise was craving and coarse. If the adulation was presented in sufficient quantity, they cared little for the manner in which it was seasoned, or the form under which it was served up. Hence there is no attempt at concealment; no veil is thought requisite to shroud the real nature and object of these panegyrics. All is broad, direct, and palpable. The subject is in each case boldly and fully proposed at the commencement, and followed out steadily to the end. The determination to praise everything and the fear lest something should be left unpraised, naturally lead to a systematic and formal division of the subject; and hence the career of each individual is commonly traced upwards from the cradle, and in the case of Stilicho separate sections are allotted to his warlike, his peaceful, and his magisterial virtues,--the poet warning his readers of the transition from one subdivision to another with the same care as when an accurate lecturer discriminates the several heads of his discourse. It can scarcely be argued, however, that the absence of all reserve rendered the task more easy. The ingenuity of the author is severely taxed by other considerations, with this disadvantage, that just in proportion as we might feel disposed to admire his skill in hiding the ugliness of his idol within the folds of the rich garment with which it is invested, so are we constrained to loathe his servile hypocrisy and laugh at his unblushing falsehood. It was indeed hard to be called upon to vaunt the glories of an empire which was crumbling away day by day from the grasp of its feeble rulers; it was harder still to be forced to prove a child of nine years old, at which age Honorius received the title of Augustus, to be a model of wisdom and kingly virtue, and to blazon the military exploits of a boy of twelve who had never seen an enemy except in chains; and hardest of all to be constrained to encircle with a halo of divine perfections a selfish Vandal like Stilicho. To talk of the historical value of such works as the
The simple fact that pieces composed under such circumstances, to serve such temporary and
unworthy purposes, have been read, studied, admired, and even held up as models, ever since
the revival of letters, is in itself no mean tribute to the powers of their author. Nor can
we hesitate to pronounce him a highly-gifted man. Deeply versed in all the learning of the
Egyptian schools, possessing a most extensive knowledge of the history of man and of the
physical world, of the legends of mythology, and of the moral and theological speculations of
the different philosophical sects, he had the power to light up this mass of learning by the
fire of a brilliant imagination, and to concentrate it upon the objects of his adulation as
it streamed forth in a flashing flood of rhetoric. The whole host of heaven and every nation
and region of the earth are called upon to aid in extolling his patron, the prince, and their
satellites; on the other hand, an infernal Pantheon of demons and furies with all the horrors
of Styx and Tartarus, are evoked as the allies and tormentors of a Rufinus, and all nature is
ransacked for foul and loathsome images to body forth the mental and corporeal deformity of
the eunuch consul. His diction is highly brilliant, although sometimes shining with the
glitter of tinsel ornaments; his similes and illustrations are elaborated with great skill,
but the marks of toil are frequently too visible. His versification is highly sonorous, but
is deficient in variety; the constant recurrence of the same cadences, although in themselves
melodious, palls upon the ear. His command of the language is perfect; and although the
minute critic may fancy that he detects some traces of the foreign extraction of the bard,
yet in point of style neither Lucan nor Statius need be ashamed to own him as their equal.
His powers appear to greatest advantage in description. His pictures often approach
perfection, combining the softness and rich glow of the Italian with the force and reality of
the Dutch school.
We have as yet said nothing of the Rape of Proserpine, from which we might expect to form the most favourable estimate of his genius, for here at least it had fair and free scope, untrammeled by the fetters which cramped its energies in panegyric. But, although these causes of embarrassment are removed, we do not find the result anticipated. If we become familiar with his other works in the first instance, we rise with a feeling of disappointment from the perusal of this. We find, it is true, the same animated descriptions and harmonious numbers; but there is a want of taste in the arrangement of the details, of sustained interest in the action, and of combination in the different members, which gives a fragmentary character to the whole, and causes it to be read with much greater pleasure in extracts than continuously. The subject, although grand in itself, is injudiciously handled; for, all the characters being gods, it is impossible to invest their proceedings with the interest which attaches to struggling and suffering humanity. The impression produced by the commencement is singularly unfortunate. The rage of the King of Shades that he alone of gods is a stranger to matrimonial bliss, his determination to war against heaven that he may avenge his wrongs, the mustering and marshalling of the Titans and all the monsters of the abyss for battle against Jupiter, are figured forth with great dignity and pomp; but when we find this terrific tempest at once quelled by the very simple and sensible suggestion of old Lachesis, that he might probably obtain a wife, if he chose to ask for one, the whole scene is converted into a burlesque, and the absurdity is if possible heightened by the blustering harangue of Pluto to the herald, Mercury. Throughout this poem, as well as in all the other works of Claudian, we lament the absence not only of true sublimity but of simple nature and of real feeling: our imagination is often excited, our intellect is often gratified; but our nobler energies are never awakened; no cord of tenderness is struck, no kindly sympathy is enlisted; our hearts are never softened.
Of the Idylls we need hardly say anything; little could be expected from the subjects: they may be regarded as clever essays in versification, and nothing more. The best is that in which the hot springs of Aponus are described. The Fescennine verses display considerable lightness and grace; the epigrams, with the exception of a very few which are neatly and pointedly expressed, are not worth reading.
The
We have a complete metrical translation of the whole works of