THE FOURTH AND FIFTH CENTURIES
Nonius, early in the fourth century—Macrobius, 410 (?) A.
D.—Martianus Capella, about 400 A. D.—Firmicus Maternus, 354
(?) A. D.—Marius Victorinus, about 350 A. D.—Ælius Donatus,
about 350 A. D.—Charisius, about 350 A. D.—Diomedes, about 350
A. D.—Priscian, about 500 A. D.—Servius, latter part of the
fourth century—Itineraries—_Notitia_, 354 A. D.—Peutinger
Tablet—Palladius, about 350 A. D.—Vegetius, about 400 A.
D.—Aurelius Victor, 360 A. D.—Eutropius, 365 A. D.—Festus, 369
A. D.—Julius Obsequens, about 360 A. D.—St. Jerome, 331-420
A. D.—Ammianus Marcellinus, about 330-400 A. D.—Sulpicius Severus,
early in the fifth century—Orosius, 417 A. D.—Gregorianus, about
300 A. D.—Hermogenianus, about 330 A. D.—_Codex Theodosianus_,
438 A. D.—The _Code_ of Justinian, 529 A. D.—The _Pandects_ and
_Institutes_, 533 A. D.—Symmachus, about 345-405 A. D.—Dictys
(L. Septimius), second half of the fourth century—Dares, fifth
century—Hilarius, about 315 to 367 A. D.—Ambrose, about
340-397 A. D.—Jerome, 331-420 A. D.—Augustine, 354-430 A.
D.—Optatianus, early in the fourth century—Juvencus, early in
the fourth century—Avienus, 370 A. D.—The _Querolus_, about
370 A. D.—Ausonius, about 310 to about 395 A. D.—Prudentius,
348 to about 410 A. D.—Claudian, 400 A. D.—Namatianus,
416 A. D.—Avianus, about 400 A. D.—Sedulius, about 450 A.
D.—Dracontius, end of the fifth century.
The prose writings of the fourth century are, with the exception of
theological treatises, almost all mere compilations or abbreviations of
earlier works. [Sidenote: Nonius. Macrobius. Martianus Capella.] In the
early years of the century Nonius Marcellus, a Peripatetic philosopher
of Thubursicum, in Numidia, wrote for his son a work in twenty books,
_De Compendiosa Doctrina_, in which he discusses many questions
pertaining for the most part to early Latin literature. This work is
modelled on the _Noctes Atticæ_ of Gellius, to which it is vastly
inferior. It is nevertheless of value as our only authority for the
titles of some lost works and even for extracts from them. For similar
reasons the _Saturnalia_, in seven books, by Ambrosius Theodosius
Macrobius, is of some importance. Macrobius, who was probably, like
Nonius, an African, appears to be identical with the Macrobius who was
proconsul of Africa in 410 A. D, The imaginary conversations of which
his _Saturnalia_ consists treat of Roman literature and antiquities,
especially of the poetry of Virgil. Like Gellius and Nonius, Macrobius
uses the works of earlier critics and commentators, and gives many
quotations from Greek and Roman authors. Macrobius also wrote a
commentary on Cicero’s _Dream of Scipio_, in which he quotes many
authors, especially Greeks, but displays little or no originality.
The encyclopædia, in nine books, written about the end of the fourth
century by a third African, Martianus Capella, is of less value than
the compilations of Nonius and Macrobius, though it, too, goes back to
good authorities, such as Varro.
[Sidenote: Philosophy. Grammar.] The chief seat of philosophy in the
fourth century was Athens, and philosophical writings were almost all
in Greek. For the most part they expounded the mystical doctrines of
Neoplatonism.[134] The grammarian Ælius Donatus, who flourished at
Rome about 350 A. D. and was one of the teachers of St. Jerome, wrote
commentaries on Terence and Virgil to which he prefixed the lives of
the two poets from the lost work of Suetonius. The work on Virgil is
lost, and the commentary on Terence contains in its present form many
later additions. The extant grammars (_Ars Grammatica_) of Charisius
and Diomedes, which have preserved much of the learning of earlier
grammarians, belong to a very slightly later time. The last and most
complete ancient grammar was written under the Emperor Anastasius
(491-518 A. D.) at Constantinople in the Latin language by Priscian,
from Cæsarea, in Mauretania. This work, in eighteen books, is entitled
_Institutiones Grammaticæ_, and contains a vast quantity of material
from the earlier literature. Much of the grammatical terminology,
even of the present time, is derived from Priscian. The important
commentary on Virgil by Servius was written in the latter part of the
fourth century, and is preserved in two forms, in one of which numerous
additions have been made to the original work.[135]
[Sidenote: History.] In 360 A. D., Aurelius Victor wrote a short
history of the emperors (_Cæsares_) from the time of Augustus to the
tenth consulship of Constantius and Julian, i. e., to the date of his
writing. He makes free use of Suetonius, and his style is sometimes
an imitation of that of Sallust. A second entirely distinct work
attributed to the same author is a brief epitome of the history of
the emperors to the death of Theodosius I (395 A. D.). Under Valens
(364-378 A. D.) Eutropius wrote a _Breviarium ab Urbe Condita_, a short
sketch of Roman history from the beginning to the year 365 A. D., which
is distinguished for its simple, easy style and pure Latinity, but has
no independent value as an historical work.[136]
Much more important is the _Chronicle_ of St. Jerome (331-420 A. D.),
a translation from the Greek of Eusebius with important additions.
The _Chronicle_ begins with the first year of Abraham (2016 B. C.).
From this point to the Trojan War, Jerome merely translates Eusebius,
from the Trojan War to 325 A. D. he translates Eusebius and adds much
information concerning Roman history and literature, and from 325 to
378 A. D. the work is entirely his own. His information concerning the
history of Roman literature is derived chiefly from Suetonius (_De
Viris Illustribus_) and is of the utmost importance, though the dates
given are sometimes wrong, which is not surprising when one remembers
the carelessness in respect to dates exhibited by Suetonius in his
extant _Lives of the Cæsars_. Jerome’s _Chronicle_ was continued in
the fifth century by Prosper of Aquitania to the year 455 A. D., and
further additions were made after that time. The _Chronicle_ is of
great importance to the historian, but is itself merely the dry bones
of history. The only real history that the last centuries of Roman
literature produced, the only serious and original historical work
after Tacitus, is that of Ammianus Marcellinus; for the summary of
universal history (_Chronicorum Libri II_) written by the Aquitanian
Sulpicius Severus in the early years of the fifth century, and the more
pretentious but no more original history of the world (_Historiarum
Adversus Paganos Libri VII_) by Orosius of Spain, compiled soon after
417 A. D., are even less important than the handbook of Eutropius.
[Sidenote: Ammianus Marcellinus.] Ammianus Marcellinus (about 330-400
A. D.) was a Greek of Antioch, who became a soldier in the Roman army,
served in Asia, in Gaul, and in the Persian campaign of the Emperor
Julian, and was at some time in Egypt, but finally settled at Rome,
where he wrote in Latin a continuation of Tacitus from Nerva to the
death of Valens (96-378 A. D.). The entire work consisted of thirty-one
books, thirteen of which are lost; but the extant books (XIV-XXXI),
treating of the time from 353 to 378 A. D., and dealing with events
in which the author took part, are especially valuable. Ammianus is
an honest soldier, who, to use his own expression, never knowingly
corrupts the truth by silence or falsehood, who has no liking and not
much understanding for court intrigues, but is intent upon giving his
readers a fair and unbiased account of events. His Latin is hard to
understand, partly because he writes it as a foreigner, but still more
because he wishes to write an ornate style and embellishes his work
with many references to the Roman classics, sometimes quoting their
exact words, oftener changing them a little, as if to show his perfect
familiarity with the earlier literature. The geographical digressions
introduced are not original descriptions of what Ammianus had himself
seen, but are taken from Greek or Latin books. Although himself a
pagan, Ammianus shows no hostility to Christianity, but his paganism
is not very serious. He seems to believe that not all men think alike,
and that on the whole it is well for each to believe as he can. His
pictures of the life of the times are admirable, and bring before us
in a clear light the corruption and degeneration of the age. Yet he
does not seem to feel righteous indignation nor to understand that the
greatness of the Roman empire is rapidly passing away. His history ends
with the disastrous defeat of the Romans by the Goths at Hadrianople
and the death of the Emperor Valens; but so accustomed was the world
to the power of the Roman empire that even this terrible reverse was
not recognized as portending the end of the ancient order of things.
For a little while Theodosius was able to maintain the integrity of
the empire, but the end was at hand. It is not unfitting that the
last Roman historian, himself a Greek by birth, ends his work at a
moment when more than ever before the Greek city of Constantinople was
becoming the refuge of what remained of the old Roman civilization.
[Sidenote: Law.] The study of law, which had for centuries been among
the most important pursuits of Roman thinkers, was not neglected in
the last centuries of Roman life. Under Diocletian (284-305 A. D.)
the imperial edicts were codified by Gregorianus, and in the reign of
Constantine (323-337 A. D.) Hermogenianus continued the codification
to his own time. In 438 A. D., under Theodosius II, the _Codex
Theodosianus_ was compiled by a commission of jurists, and in the reign
of Justinian a commission headed by the distinguished jurist, scholar,
and man of affairs Tribonian, gave to Roman law its final form in three
great works: the _Code_, published in 529 A. D., the _Pandects_ or
_Digests_, and the _Institutes_, published in 533 A. D., which have
served as the basis for all later jurisprudence.
[Sidenote: Oratory.] Oratory found its chief field of activity in the
Christian pulpit from the time of Constantine, but was not confined
to the exposition of Christian doctrine. The Gallic school of oratory
continued to flourish, and indeed Gaul was prominent in literature of
all kinds during the fourth and fifth centuries. Among other orators
the most important was Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, a Roman of noble
family and honorable character, whose life extended from about 345
to 405 A. D. His panegyrics on Valentinian I and Gratianus resemble
the other panegyrics of the period, and the fragmentary remains of
later speeches delivered in the senate show no greater ability. More
interesting are his letters, in which he appears as an imitator of the
younger Pliny, and his official reports as prefect of the city.
[Sidenote: Dictys and Dares.] A curious prose version of the story
of the Trojan War was written by Lucius Septimius, apparently in the
second half of the fourth century. This purports to a translation of
an ancient Greek manuscript in Phœnician letters found in the tomb
of a certain Dictys, in Crete. The story of the discovery of the
manuscript is undoubtedly an invention, but the Latin account may be a
translation of a lost Greek original. The style is artificial and full
of antiquated expressions. The author most persistently imitated is
Sallust. A somewhat similar little work belonging to the fifth century
pretends to be a translation by Cornelius Nepos of a Greek account of
the Trojan War given by a Phrygian Dares, who fought among the Trojans.
The style is dry and unattractive, but the little book was much read in
the Middle Ages. These two works serve to give us some idea of the kind
of literature which, alongside of the Greek novels, amused the leisure
hours of cultivated persons.
The contents of the works of the leaders of the church in the fourth
and fifth centuries can hardly be considered in a history of Roman
literature, but inasmuch as their writings show the continued influence
of classical Latin, their style and choice of words should be briefly
mentioned. [Sidenote: Hilarius.] The bitter controversy between the
Arians and the Athanasians produced in the fourth century a great
number of controversial writings, among which those of Hilarius (St.
Hilary), Bishop of Poitiers, are remarkable for depth of philosophical
thought and care in expression. Hilarius was born between 310 and
320 A. D., and was trained in the Gallic school of eloquence. After
his conversion to Christianity he soon became bishop of his native
Poitiers. His opposition to Arianism, which Constantius favored, led
to his banishment, but he was recalled after three years, in 358 A. D.
His death took place in 367 A. D. Besides his controversial writings
he was the author of commentaries on several books of the Old and New
Testaments, and perhaps also of hymns. His style shows in some passages
his early training in the school of wordy and ornate Gallic oratory,
but is chiefly distinguished for its vigor and passion. Hilarius
carried on the work of adapting Latin to the expression of Christian
abstract thought, which had been begun in Africa by Tertullian.
[Sidenote: Ambrosius.] Ambrosius (St. Ambrose), who lived from about
340 to 397 A. D., was probably born in Gaul, where his father was
prefect, but was of Roman, not Gallic blood. After a careful education
he became a barrister, and was soon raised to the consular rank and
made governor of the provinces of Liguria and Æmilia. Thus he came to
Milan, where he was chosen bishop in 374 A. D. He was a man of great
tact as well as firmness, who dared to exclude the Emperor Theodosius
from the church, until he had shown repentance for the massacre at
Thessalonica, and to refuse the request of the Empress Justina that one
of the churches at Milan be set aside for the Arians, but who succeeded
in avoiding any breach with the emperor in spite of his independence.
It was in great part due to St. Ambrose that Italy was kept from
adopting the Arian heresy. His writings comprise letters, dogmatic
treatises, practical treatises on the conduct of life, commentaries on
the Scriptures, funeral orations on Valentinian II and Theodosius, and
hymns. He is also the probable author of a translation of Josephus into
Latin. In his mystic, allegorical interpretations of Scripture St.
Ambrose follows the Jewish-Stoic philosopher Philo, who lived about the
time of Christ, and in his treatise _On Duties_ he imitates Cicero’s
work of the same title. His intimate acquaintance with other works of
the classical period is made evident both by the general quality of his
style, which is purer than that of most of his contemporaries, and by
many special references. His hymns have had great influence upon church
poetry and music.
[Sidenote: Jerome (Hieronymus).] St. Jerome (Hieronymus) was born about
331 A. D., at Stridon, a town on the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia,
studied at Rome under Donatus, then spent two years at Treves, was
afterwards at Aquileia for some time, then sailed to Syria. Here he was
ill for a time, and solaced himself by reading the classics, until he
was warned by a dream to give up profane literature. He retreated into
the wilderness of Chalcis, where he remained five years. In 362 A. D.
he returned Rome, where he had great influence for many years, but in
386 he retired to a monastery at Bethlehem. There he remained until
his death, in 420 A. D. As a controversial writer St. Jerome had great
influence in settling the doctrines of the Catholic church; he also
wrote commentaries on various books of the Bible, and numerous letters
dealing with religious questions. His translation of the Bible was a
masterly performance, and is the basis of the Latin Vulgate, still in
use in the Roman Catholic church. He compiled a brief work, _De Viris
Illustribus_, in which he gave sketches of the lives of Christian
writers, as Suetonius, in his work of the same title, had given the
lives of the old Roman authors. The sketches given by Jerome are,
however, much briefer than were those of Suetonius. The translation and
continuation of the _Chronicle_ of Eusebius has already been mentioned
(see page 262). St. Jerome is one of the ablest writers of the early
Christian church, and certainly the most learned Christian writer of
his time. His style is not exempt from the faults of exaggeration and
verbal quibbling common in the writings of the age, but possesses much
life and earnestness, and is free from the affectation of classicism,
though it shows the effect of his prolonged study of the classics.
[Sidenote: Augustine] St. Augustine (Aurelius Augustinus) was born in
354 A. D. at Tagaste, in Africa. His father was a pagan, his mother
a Christian, and in his early years Augustine himself accepted the
doctrine of Manicheeism, a sort of mystical materialism, which denied
all authority, and claimed to rest entirely upon reason. He was a
successful teacher of rhetoric in Africa, at Rome, and at Milan,
where he came under the influence of St. Ambrose and was converted.
In 388 A. D. he returned to Africa, became presbyter at Hippo in 392,
and bishop in 395 A. D. His death took place in 430 A. D. His nature
was many sided, and composed of apparently contradictory elements.
He was a mystic speculator, a sharp reasoner, at one time harsh and
uncompromising, at another full of tenderness, an original thinker yet
a believer in authority, dreamer, poet, philosopher, rhetorician, and
quibbler in one. His writings are in part speculations on theology, in
part ponderings on the soul, its nature and its relations to God, and
in part controversial treatises, sermons, commentaries, and letters.
The best known among them are the _Confessions_, in which Augustine
gives many details of his life, and records the doubts that perplexed
him, and the _City of God_ (_De Civitate Dei_), a work of his old
age, in which he contrasts the city (or better, the state) of this
world with the ideal city of God. This work was written in reply to
the pagans, who claimed that the sack of Rome by Alaric was due to
the neglect of the ancient worship. It consists of twenty-two books,
in the first ten of which the “vain opinions adverse to the Christian
religion” are refuted, while the twelve remaining are devoted to a
presentation of Christian truth, though each division contains many
digressions, and in each the part of the subject properly belonging
to the other is treated as occasion demands. In many parts of this
great work reference is made to Cicero’s _De Re Publica_ and other
philosophical writings, and Augustine’s dialogue _Contra Academicos_
is an evident imitation of Cicero’s _Academics_. Yet it can not be
said that Augustine’s style is modelled upon that of Cicero. It is
rather a style which had gradually developed among Christian writers,
in which the periodic structure of the Ciceronian age is abandoned for
the most part, many words unknown to strictly classical Latin have been
introduced, partly from the popular speech and partly by new formation
to express abstract ideas, not a few Biblical phrases are employed,
and some slight changes in syntax are noticeable. This is the Latin of
the church, which has remained nearly as St. Augustine left it, except
in so far as the strictly classical element grew less in the centuries
preceding the Renaissance. For St. Augustine the “state” of this world
still means the Roman empire, though the eternal city had been sacked
by the Goths, but the time seems to him not far distant when the state
of God shall rest in the “stability of its eternal seat.” So his
language is still Latin; but his thoughts and sentiments are Christian,
not Roman. The ancient world was still visible about him, but the life
of the Middle Ages had begun.
The fourth century produced a considerable number of poets who
possessed no mean skill in versification, but whose works have for the
most part disappeared. [Sidenote: Optatianus.] Optatianus (Publilius
Optatianus Porphyrius) composed a poem in praise of Constantine in
which he shows his ingenuity by writing lines that take the shape of
an altar or an organ, contriving to make fifteen successive hexameters
each one letter shorter than its predecessor, making nineteen stanzas
of four lines each from the same twenty words, and inventing the
most complicated and elaborate acrostics and the like. Such work is
not poetry, but it shows skill in the manipulation of words. It is
interesting to know that Constantine was so pleased that he recalled
the ingenious author from banishment. [Sidenote: Juvencus.] About the
same time Juvencus (Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus) made a version
of the Gospel story in hexameters after the manner of Virgil. He shows
intelligent appreciation of the dignity and beauty of his model, and
writes skillfully and easily. This Latin poem is the prototype of the
“Gospel Harmonies” of the Middle Ages. [Sidenote: Avienus.] Avienus
(Rufus Festus Avienus), of Vulsinii, in Etruria, was a descendant of
the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus (see page 177), and was twice
proconsul—in Africa in 366 and in Greece in 371 A. D. He translated
the _Phænomena_ of Aratus into Latin verse, and tried to improve upon
the translations by Cicero and Germanicus (see pages 70 and 173),
made a similar translation with variations from the _Periegesis_ of
Dionysius, described the coasts of the Black Sea, the Caspian, and the
Mediterranean in iambic trimeters, and made abridgments of Livy and
Virgil in the same metre. These last are lost, as is a large part of
the description of the coasts. Avienus was also the author of several
short poems. He has no little ability as a maker of verses, and has
the good taste to imitate Virgil, but exhibits no poetic originality.
His language is for the most part strictly classic. [Sidenote:
Querolus.] To about the same time as Avienus belongs also a curious
comedy entitled _Querolus_ (_The Discontented Man_), a free imitation
of the _Aulularia_ of Plautus, composed in a remarkable mixture of
prose and verse.
[Sidenote: Ausonius.] The only really interesting poet of the fourth
century is, however, Ausonius, whose life extends through nearly
the entire century. Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born at Bordigala
(Bordeaux) about 310 A. D. He became a teacher of rhetoric and oratory,
and was appointed tutor to Gratian, the son of the Emperor Valens.
When Gratian became emperor he rewarded his teacher with public
offices, and raised him in 379 A. D. to the consulate. After Gratian’s
death (383 A. D.) Ausonius retired from public life and devoted himself
to literary pursuits at his native Bordeaux until his death, which took
place not far from 395 A. D. Nearly all his extant writings belong to
this period. The only considerable specimen of his prose extant is the
oration in which he expressed his thanks to Gratian for the consulship.
In this the style, though somewhat flowery, is not without dignity,
and the vocabulary is pretty strictly classic. The extant poems are of
various kinds and in various metres. They include epigrams, idylls,
letters, a series of short poems called _Parentalia_, devoted to
the poet’s relatives, a _Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium_,
describing his colleagues at Bordeaux, verses on the Roman emperors,
on famous cities, and a variety of other subjects. Some of these show
cleverness in the use of language, but no higher quality. Such are the
letters written partly in Greek and partly in Latin, and the idylls so
composed that the last word of each line is a monosyllable; but among
the poems are some of considerable interest even though their poetic
qualities are not of the highest. So the _Parentalia_ and the verses on
the Bordeaux professors give the reader some insight into the life of
an important provincial city. It is interesting, too, to observe that
of the seventeen cities mentioned in the _List of Famous Cities_ five
are in Gaul. To be sure, Ausonius was himself a Gaul, and may have made
his native region unduly prominent, but other evidence, including the
remains of ancient buildings, supports his estimate of the importance
of the Gallic cities. His lines on Bordeaux, famous for its wine, its
culture, its fertile soil, great rivers, copious water supply, and fine
buildings, show his patriotism and his skill in descriptive writing.
The latter quality is conspicuous in the most famous of his idylls,
the one entitled _Mosella_, in which Ausonius describes the stream and
the valley of the Moselle, which he had visited on some business not
further specified. The vine-clad hills and grassy meadow lands, the
roofs of villas that stand upon the banks, the broad, clear river,
calm and placid as a lake, are all brought before our eyes with clear,
well-chosen words and a masterly lightness of touch. At the same time
the poet’s love of nature and her beauties is as plainly manifest
as in any poem of Wordsworth or Whittier. Unfortunately, Ausonius
proceeds to mention all the different kinds of fish in the Moselle,
and the remarkable productivity of the river does not add to the
attractiveness of the poem. Yet the poem is deservedly famous for its
beauty of expression and its enthusiastic love of nature. It is also
remarkably modern in its tone. Satyrs and Naiads are mentioned, but
only as a modern poet might mention them. Ausonius is a Christian, and
for him the pagan deities of the woods are only beings which he “might
imagine.” This poem shows as clearly as the _Pervigilium Veneris_,
though in a different way, that the spirit of the Middle Ages was awake.
Ausonius was a Christian, but his poems have no specifically Christian
contents. [Sidenote: Ausonius.] The most important specifically
Christian poet of the fourth century is Aurelius Prudentius Clemens,
who was born in Spain, at or near Saragossa, in 348 A. D., studied and
practised oratory, and held important offices. His life was apparently
passed for the most part in Spain, but at one time he held a position
at the imperial court of Theodosius. The date of his death is probably
about 410 A. D. Prudentius, like Ausonius, employs hexameters and
various other classic metres, in which he departs occasionally, but
not often, from the rules of quantitative verse. His poems, both epic
and lyric, are religious and inspired by earnest faith and genuine
enthusiasm. He excels in narrative and description, in wealth and
brilliancy of language, but lacks the virtue of simplicity. His poetry
was intended to appeal to educated readers, not to the people, and the
cultured classes of the time were only too thoroughly accustomed to an
artificial style. Yet, in spite of his faults of style, Prudentius is
the most important Christian poet of the fourth century, and among the
other poets of the time none equal him except Ausonius and Claudian.
[Sidenote: Claudian.] Claudius Claudianus, the last important Roman
poet, was, like Livius Andronicus, with whom Roman poetry began,
a Greek by birth. He was born in Asia Minor, but lived so long at
Alexandria that he called that centre of learning his fatherland
(_patria_). In 395 A. D. he went to Rome, where he was attached to the
court of Honorius, from whom he received the rank of patrician and
the honor of a statue in the Forum of Trajan. He remained at Rome,
or rather at Milan, until 404 A. D., but about that time returned to
Alexandria, and married a noble woman of the place, being aided in his
suit by Serena, niece and adopted daughter of the Emperor Theodosius
and wife of Stilicho. Claudian’s poems all appear to have been written
from 395 to 404 A. D., and throughout this period he is the faithful
follower and enthusiastic admirer of Stilicho, Whether Stilicho’s death
in 408 A. D. relegated Claudian to obscurity, or the poet himself
died at about the same time as his patron, can not now be determined.
Claudian’s works comprise epic poems on the important events of his
times, such as the Gothic war and the war against Gildo, mythological
epics, and shorter miscellaneous poems. Among the historical epics
are included poems in praise of Honorius and other patrons of the
poet, as well as metrical attacks upon Rufinus and Eutropius. The only
remains of his mythological epics are three books of a poem, on the
_Rape of Proserpine_, and somewhat more than one hundred lines of a
_Gigantomachia_. In these poems Claudian shows the mythological and
antiquarian learning which had for centuries been characteristic of the
Alexandrian school of poetry. That school was already old when it was
imitated by Catullus and his contemporaries in the early days of Roman
poetry, and now, when Roman literature was dying, Alexandria continued
to train learned poets. Had Claudian not gone to Italy, he would
doubtless have continued to write in his native Greek, and might, as a
Greek poet, have rivalled his contemporary Nonnus. In his historical
and miscellaneous poems also Claudian exhibits much Alexandrian
learning, and at the same time shows an intimate acquaintance with
the earlier Roman poets, which is somewhat surprising in one who was
educated in the Greek-speaking provinces of the east. It is equally
surprising that Claudian uses the Latin language with an ease and
grace not attained by any of his contemporaries. His verse is correct,
dignified, and harmonious, his diction pure and classical. In these
respects, as well as in wealth of imagery, brilliancy of narrative,
and skill in composition, he is unequalled by any Roman poet after
Statius. His historical poems must be used with caution by historians,
for, although facts are not invented, they are presented in a strong
light, or left in obscurity, according to the effect they might have
upon the reputation of the poet’s friends or enemies. In the exuberance
of his praise, Claudian equals the contemporary prose panegyrists, and
surpasses the early Alexandrian and most of the later Roman poets.
Among his miscellaneous poems none is so well known in modern times,
or so modern in tone, as the brief elegy of only twenty-two lines, on
an old man of Verona, who never left his suburb, who pressed his staff
upon the same sand in which he had crept, counted his years by the
changes of crops, not by consuls, and saw the trees grow old which he
had seen as little sprouts. The advantages of a quiet, humble life have
seldom been more charmingly set forth than in this poem.
With all his learning, skill, and genuine poetic inspiration,
Claudian is still the belated singer of a worn-out empire and a dying
civilization. Rome was no longer the mighty and unquestioned ruler
of the world. The poet whose chief task it was to sing the praises
of Stilicho, and spread the glory of his victories, must needs shut
his eyes, so far as possible, to the evident decay, but he could not
simulate utter blindness. In the beginning of his poem on the war with
Gildo, Claudian shows that the feebleness and old age of Rome were not
hidden from him. He describes the personified city, the goddess Roma,
as she approaches Olympus to beg for aid against Gildo, whose revolt,
involving the loss of the African grain supply, threatened to expose
the city to famine:
Her voice is weak, and slow her steps; her eyes
Deep sunk within; her cheeks are gone; her arms
Are shrivelled up with wasting leanness. On
Her feeble shoulders hardly can she bear
Her tarnished shield; she shows from loosened helm
Her hoary locks, and drags a rusty spear.[137]
Even the poet who sang of Rome’s victories could portray her in such
terms as these. Yet the tradition of Roman greatness still survived.
[Sidenote: Namatianus.] In the year 416, Rutilius Claudius Namatianus,
a Gaul who had risen to the position of _præfectus urbi_ at Rome, was
obliged to return to Gaul to attend to his property, which had been
laid waste by the Goths. The journey was the occasion of a poem in two
books, most of which is preserved. It is written in elegiacs, with
much still and feeling. Many episodes and descriptions are inserted
in the narrative, but no passage is so striking as that in which the
traveller, passing out from the Ostian gate, addresses the imperial
city:
Wide as the ambient ocean is thy sway,
And broad thy empire as the realms of day;
Still on thy bounds the sun’s great march attends,
With thee his course begins, with thee it ends.
Thy strong advance nor Afric’s burning sand,
Nor frozen horrors of the Pole withstand;
Thy valor, far as kindly Nature’s bound
Is fixed for man, its dauntless way has found.
All nations own in thee their common land,
And e’en the guilty bless thy conquering hand;
One right for weak, for strong, thy laws create,
And bind the wide world in a world-wide State.[138]
The history of Roman poetry is virtually at an end with Claudian.
Other poets there were, but none whose works are living and breathing
exponents of the ancient Roman life. [Sidenote: Avianus. Sedulius.
Dracontius.] About 400 A. D. Avianus published forty-two fables of Æsop
in elegiac verse; about the middle of the fifth century the presbyter
Sedulius wrote several religious poems, in which he shows acquaintance
not with Biblical literature alone, but also with the Latin classics;
and at the end of the century the African poet Blossius Æmilius
Dracontius wrote a didactic poem _On the Praise of God_, in three
books, a number of short epics, chiefly mythological, and several other
poems. Dracontius is not unskillful in his versification and his use
of language, and his poems prove that rhetorical training was still to
be found in Africa. Moreover, his knowledge of the Roman classics is
as evident as his knowledge of the Bible. But neither Dracontius nor
the other poets whose works are preserved to us from the fifth century
could do more than help to pass on to the Middle Ages something of the
ancient feeling for beauty of form in literature. And even that had
ceased to be understood by the people.