INTRODUCTION
Claudius Claudianus may be called the last poet of classical Rome.
He was born about the year 370 A.D. and died within a decade of the
sack of the city by Alaric in 410. The thirty to forty odd years which
comprised his life were some of the most momentous in the history of
Rome. Valentinian and Valens were emperors respectively of the West and
the East when he was born, and while the former was engaged in constant
warfare with the northern tribes of Alamanni, Quadi and Sarmatians,
whose advances the skill of his general, Theodosius, had managed to
check, the latter was being reserved for unsuccessful battle with an
enemy still more deadly.
It is about the year 370 that we begin to hear of the Huns. The first
people to fall a victim to their eastward aggression were the Alans,
next came the Ostrogoths, whose king, Hermanric, was driven to suicide;
and by 375 the Visigoths were threatened with a similar fate. Hemmed
in by the advancing flood of Huns and the stationary power of Rome
this people, after a vain attempt to ally itself with the latter, was
forced into arms against her. An indecisive battle with the generals of
Valens (377) was followed by a crushing Roman defeat in the succeeding
year (August 9, 378) at Adrianople, where Valens himself, but recently
returned from his Persian war, lost his life.
Gratian and his half-brother, Valentinian II., who had become Augusti
upon the death of their father, Valentinian I., in 375, would have had
little power of themselves to withstand the victorious Goths and Rome
might well have fallen thirty years before she did, had it not been for
the force of character and the military skill of that same Theodosius
whose successes against the Alamanni have already been mentioned.
Theodosius was summoned from his retirement in Spain and made Augustus
(January 19, 379). During the next three years he succeeded, with the
help of the Frankish generals, Bauto and Arbogast, in gradually driving
the Goths northward, and so relieved the barbarian pressure on the
Eastern Empire and its capital. In 381 Athanaric, the Gothic king,
sued in person for peace at Constantinople and there did homage to the
emperor. In the following year the Visigoths became allies of Rome and,
for a time at least, the danger was averted.
Meanwhile the West was faring not much better. Gratian, after an uneasy
reign, was murdered in 383 by the British pretender, Magnus Maximus.
From 383 to 387 Maximus was joint ruler of the West with Valentinian
II., whom he had left in command of Italy rather from motives of policy
than of clemency; but in the latter year he threw off the mask and,
crossing the Alps, descended upon his colleague whose court was at
Milan. Valentinian fled to Thessalonica and there threw himself on the
mercy of Theodosius. Once more that general was to save the situation.
Maximus was defeated by him at Aquileia and put to death, while
Arbogast recovered Gaul by means of an almost bloodless campaign (388).
The next scene in the drama is the murder at Vienne on May 15, 392,
of the feeble Valentinian at the instigation of Arbogast. Arbogast’s
triumph was, however, short-lived. Not daring himself, a Frank, to
assume the purple he invested therewith his secretary, the Roman
Eugenius, intending to govern the West with Eugenius as a mere
figure-head. Once more, and now for the last time, Theodosius saved
the cause of legitimacy by defeating Eugenius at the battle of the
Frigidus[1] in September 394. Eugenius was executed but Arbogast made
good his escape, only to fall a few weeks later by his own hand.
Theodosius himself died on January 17, 395, leaving his two sons,
Arcadius and Honorius, emperors of the East and West respectively.
Arcadius was but a tool in the hands of his praetorian prefect,
Rufinus, whose character is drawn with such venomous ferocity in
Claudian’s two poems. Almost equally powerful and scarcely less
corrupt seems to have been that other victim of Claudian’s splenetic
verses, the eunuch chamberlain Eutropius, who became consul in the
year 399. Both these men suffered a violent end: Eutropius, in spite
of the pleadings of S. John Chrysostom, was put to death by Gainas,
the commander of the Gothic troops in the East; Rufinus was torn to
pieces in the presence of Arcadius himself by his Eastern troops.[2]
The instigator of this just murder was Claudian’s hero, Stilicho the
Vandal.
Stilicho, who had been one of Theodosius’ generals, had been put in
command of the troops sent to oppose Alaric, the Visigoth, when the
latter had broken away from his allegiance to Rome and was spreading
devastation throughout Thrace, Macedonia and Thessaly. He was
successful in his campaign, but, upon his marching south into Greece,
in order to rid that country also of its Gothic invaders, he was
forbidden by Rufinus to advance any farther. There can be little doubt
that the murder of Rufinus was Stilicho’s answer.
In spite of a subsequent victory over Alaric near Elis in the year
397, Stilicho’s success can have been but a partial one, for we find
the Visigoth general occupying the post of Master of the Soldiery in
Illyricum, the withholding of which office had been the main cause
of his defection. Possibly, too, the revolt of Gildo in Africa had
something to do with the unsatisfactory termination of the Visigothic
war. It is interesting to observe the dependence of Italy on African
corn, a dependence of which in the first century of the Christian era
Vespasian, and right at the end of the second the pretender Pescennius
Niger, threatened to make use. If we can credit the details of
Claudian’s poem on the war (No. xv.), Rome was very shortly reduced to
a state of semi-starvation by Gildo’s holding up of the corn fleet,
and, but for Stilicho’s prompt action in sending Gildo’s own brother,
Mascezel, to put down the rebellion, the situation might have become
even more critical. The poet, it may be remarked, was in an awkward
position with regard to the war for, though the real credit of victory
was clearly due to Mascezel (_cf._ xv. 380 _et sqq._), he nevertheless
wished to attribute it to his hero Stilicho, and, as Stilicho had
Mascezel executed[3] later in that same year (Gildo had been defeated
at Tabraca July 31, 398), he prudently did not write, or perhaps
suppressed, Book II.
Stilicho, who had married Serena, niece and adoptive daughter of
Theodosius, still further secured his position by giving his daughter,
Maria, in marriage to the young Emperor Honorius in the year 398.
This “father-in-law and son-in-law of an emperor,” as Claudian is
never wearied of calling him, did the country of his adoption a signal
service by the defeat at Pollentia on Easter Day (April 6), 402, of
Alaric, who, for reasons of which we really know nothing, had again
proved unfaithful to Rome and had invaded and laid waste Italy in the
winter of 401-402.
The battle of Pollentia was the last important event in Claudian’s
lifetime. He seems to have died in 404, four years before the murder
of Stilicho by the jealous Honorius and six before the sack of Rome by
Alaric--a disaster which Stilicho[4] alone, perhaps, might have averted.
* * * * *
So much for the historical background of the life of the poet. Of the
details of his career we are not well informed. Something, indeed, we
can gather from the pages of the poet himself, though it is not much,
but besides this we have to guide us only Hesychius of Miletus’ short
article in Suidas’ lexicon, a brief mention in the Chronicle of 395,
and (a curious survival) the inscription[5] under the statue which,
as he himself tells us,[6] emperor and senate had made in his honour
and set up in the Forum of Trajan. We are ignorant even of the date of
his birth and can only conjecture that it was about the year 370. Of
the place of his birth we are equally uninformed by contemporary and
credible testimony, but there can be little doubt that he came from
Egypt,[7] probably from Alexandria itself. We have, for what it is
worth, the word of Suidas and the lines of Sidonius Apollinaris,[8]
which clearly refer to Claudian and which give Canopus as the place of
his birth. (Canopus is almost certainly to be taken as synonymous with
Egypt.) But besides these two statements we have only to look at his
interest in things Egyptian, _e.g._ his poems on the Nile, the Phoenix,
etc., at such passages as his account of the rites at Memphis,[9] at
such phrases as “nostro cognite Nilo,”[10] to see that the poet is an
Egyptian himself. It is probable that, whether or not he spent all his
early life in Egypt, Claudian did not visit Rome until 394. We know
from his own statement[11] that his first essays in literature were all
of them written in Greek and that it was not until the year 395 that he
started to write Latin. It is not unlikely, therefore, that his change
of country and of literary language were more or less contemporaneous,
and it is highly probable that he was in Rome before January 3, 395,
on which day his friends the Anicii (Probinus and Olybrius) entered
upon their consulship. Speaking, moreover, of Stilicho’s consulship
in 400 Claudian mentions a five years’ _absence_.[12] Not long after
January 3, 395, Claudian seems to have betaken himself to the court
at Milan, and it is from there that he sends letters to Probinus and
Olybrius.[13] Here the poet seems to have stayed for five years,
and here he seems to have won for himself a position of some
importance. As we see from the inscription quoted above, he became _vir
clarissimus_, _tribunus et notarius_, and, as he does not continue
further along the road of honours (does not, for instance, become a
_vir spectabilis_) we must suppose that he served in some capacity on
Stilicho’s private staff. No doubt he became a sort of poet laureate.
It is probable that the “De raptu” was written during the first two
years of his sojourn at the court of Milan. The poem is dedicated, or
addressed, to Florentinus,[14] who was _praefectus urbi_ from August
395 to the end of 397 when he fell into disgrace with Stilicho. It is
to this circumstance that we are to attribute the unfinished state of
Claudian’s poem.
The Emperor Honorius became consul for the third time on January 3,
396, and on this occasion Claudian read his Panegyric in the emperor’s
presence.[15]
Some five weeks before this event another of greater importance had
occurred in the East. This was the murder of Rufinus, the praetorian
prefect, amid the circumstances that have been related above. The date
of the composition of Claudian’s two poems “In Rufinum” is certainly
to be placed within the years 395-397, and the mention of a “tenuem
moram”[16] makes it probable that Book II. was written considerably
later than Book I.; the references, moreover, in the Preface to Book
II. to a victory of Stilicho clearly point to that general’s defeat of
the Goths near Elis in 397.
To the year 398 belong the Panegyric on the fourth consulship of
Honorius and the poems celebrating the marriage of the emperor to
Stilicho’s daughter, Maria. We have already seen that the Gildo episode
and Claudian’s poem on that subject are to be attributed to this same
year.
The consuls for the year 399 were both, in different ways, considered
worthy of the poet’s pen. Perhaps the most savage of all his poems was
directed against Eutropius, the eunuch chamberlain, whose claim to the
consulship the West never recognized,[17] while a Panegyric on Flavius
Manlius Theodorus made amends for an abusive epigram which the usually
more politic Claudian had previously levelled at him.[18]
At the end of 399, or possibly at the beginning of 400, Claudian
returned to Rome[19] where, probably in February,[20] he recited his
poem on the consulship of Stilicho; and we have no reason for supposing
that the poet left the capital from this time on until his departure
for his ill-starred journey four years later. In the year 402,[21] as
has already been mentioned, Stilicho defeated Alaric at Pollentia, and
Claudian recited his poem on the Gothic war sometime during the summer
of the same year. The scene of the recitation seems to have been the
Bibliotheca Templi Apollinis.[22] It was in this year, too, that the
poet reached the summit of his greatness in the dedication of the
statue which, as we have seen, was accorded to him by the wishes of the
emperor and at the demand of the senate.
The last of Claudian’s datable public poems is that on the sixth
consulship of Honorius. It was composed probably towards the end of
403 and recited in Rome on (or after) the occasion of the emperor’s
triumphant entry into the city. The emperor had just returned after
inflicting a defeat on the Goths at Verona in the summer of 403. It is
reasonable to suppose that this triumphant entry (to which the poem
refers in some detail, ll. 331-639) took place on the day on which the
emperor assumed the consular office, viz. January 3, 404.
In the year 404 Claudian seems to have married some protégée of
Serena’s. Of the two poems addressed to her the “Laus Serenae” is
clearly the earlier, and we may take the other, the “Epistola ad
Serenam,” to be the last poem Claudian ever wrote. It is a poem which
seems to have been written on his honeymoon, during the course of which
he died.[23]
* * * * *
It is not easy to arrive at any just estimate of Claudian as a writer,
partly because of an inevitable tendency to confuse relative with
absolute standards, and partly (and it is saying much the same thing
in other words) because it is so hard to separate Claudian the poet
from Claudian the manipulator of the Latin language. If we compare his
latinity with that of his contemporaries (with the possible exception
of Rutilius) or with that of such a poet as Sidonius Apollinaris,
who came not much more than half a century after him, it is hard to
withhold our admiration from a writer who could, at least as far as his
language is concerned, challenge comparison with poets such as Valerius
Flaccus, Silius Italicus, and Statius--poets who flourished about
three centuries before him.[24] I doubt whether, subject matter set
aside, Claudian might not deceive the very elect into thinking him a
contemporary of Statius, with whose _Silvae_ his own shorter poems have
much in common.
Even as a poet Claudian is not always despicable. His descriptions
are often clever, _e.g._ the Aponus, and many passages in the “De
raptu.”[25] His treatment of somewhat commonplace and often threadbare
themes is not seldom successful--for example, the poem on the Phoenix
and a four-line description of the horses of the dawn in the Panegyric
on Honorius’ fourth consulship[26]--and he has a happy knack of
phrase-making which often relieves a tedious page:
ille vel aerata Danaën in turre latentem
eliceret[27]
he says of the pander Eutropius.
But perhaps Claudian’s forte is invective. The panegyrics (with the
doubtful exception of that on Manlius, which is certainly brighter
than the others) are uniformly dull, but the poems on Rufinus and
Eutropius are, though doubtless in the worst of taste, at least in
parts amusing.
Claudian’s faults are easy to find. He mistook memory for inspiration
and so is often wordy and tedious, as for instance in his three poems
on Stilicho’s consulship.[28] Worse than this he is frequently obscure
and involved--witness his seven poems on the drop of water contained
within the rock crystal.[29] The besetting sin, too, of almost all
post-Virgilian Roman poets, I mean a “conceited” frigidity, is one
into which he is particularly liable to fall. Examples are almost too
numerous to cite but the following are typical: “nusquam totiensque
sepultus”[30] of the body of Rufinus, torn limb from limb by the
infuriated soldiery; “caudamque in puppe retorquens Ad proram iacet
usque leo”[31] of one of the animals brought from Africa for the games
at Stilicho’s triumph; “saevusque Damastor, Ad depellendos iaculum cum
quaereret hostes, Germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver”[32] of the
giant Pallas turned to stone by the Gorgon’s head on Minerva’s shield.
Consider, too, the remarkable statement that Stilicho, in swimming
the Addua, showed greater bravery than Horatius Cocles because, while
the latter swam away from Lars Porsenna, the former “dabat … Geticis
pectora bellis.”[33]
Two of the poems are interesting as touching upon Christianity (Carm.
min. corp. xxxii. “De salvatore,” and l. “In Iacobum”). The second of
these two poems can scarcely be held to be serious, and although the
first is unobjectionable it cannot be said to stamp its author as a
sincere Christian. Orosius[34] and S. Augustine[35] both declare him to
have been a heathen, but it is probable that, like his master Stilicho,
Claudian rendered the new and orthodox religion at least lip-service.
* * * * *
It seems likely that after the death of Claudian (404) and that of
his hero, Stilicho, the political poems (with the exception of the
Panegyric on Probinus and Olybrius,[36] which did not concern Stilicho)
were collected and published separately. The “Carmina minora” may have
been published about the same time. The subsequent conflation of these
two portions came to be known as “Claudianus maior,” the “De raptu”
being “Claudianus minor.”
* * * * *
The MSS. of Claudian’s poems fall into two main classes:
(1) Those which Birt refers to as the _Codices maiores_ and which
contain the bulk of the poems but seldom the “De raptu.”
(2) Those which Birt calls the _Codices minores_ and which contain
(generally exclusively) the “De raptu.”
Class (1) may be again divided into (_a_) MSS. proper; (_b_) excerpts.
I give Birt’s abbreviations.
(_a_) The most important are:
R = Cod. Veronensis 163. 9th century.
Contains only the “Carmina minora.”
G = Cod. Sangallensis S n. 429. 9th century.
Contains only the (Latin) “Gigantomachia.”
G (_sic_) = Cod. Reginensis 123. 11th century.
Contains only “De Nilo.”
V = Cod. Vaticanus 2809. 12th century.
P = Cod. Parisinus lat. 18,552. 12th or 13th century.
Contains all the “Carmina maiora” except
(as usual) the “De raptu” and
“Pan. Prob. et Olyb.” No “minora.”
C = Cod. Bruxellensis 5380-4. (?) 12th-13th
century.
Π = Cod. Parisinus lat. 8082. 13th century.
This is Heinsius’ “Regius.” The MS. once
belonged to Petrarch and still bears his name.
B = Cod. Neapolitanus Borbonicus 1111 E 47.
13th century.
A = Cod. Ambrosianus S 66. 15th century.
Contains all the “maiora” except the
“De raptu” and “Pan. Prob. et Olyb.”
J = Cod. Cantabrigiensis coll. Trinitatis
0.3.22. 13th century.
Besides these are many inferior MSS. referred to collectively by Birt
as ς.
(_b_) Consists of:
E = Excerpta Florentina. 15th century.
_e_ = Excerpta Gyraldina. 16th century.
Each of them resembles the other closely and both come from a common
parent.
Under (_b_) may further be mentioned the Basel edition of Isengrin
(1534), which preserves an independent tradition.
Birt postulates an archetype (Ω), dating between 6th and 9th centuries,
and two main “streams,” _x_ and _y_; _y_ being again subdivided into
_w_ and _z_.
The following is the family “tree.” Letters enclosed in brackets refer
to non-existent MSS.
(Ω)
|
|
-------------------------------------
| |
| |
(_x_) (_y_)
: |
: |
: -------------------------------
: | |
: | |
: (_w_) (_z_)
: | |
: | |
----------- ------------------ ------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | |
G V P = P (_a_) Π = Π C (?) R
| |
| |
--------------- ------------
| | | |
| | | |
A B (_e_) E
Of class (2) may be mentioned:
S = Cod. Parisinus lat. 15,005. 13th or 14th
century.
C = Cod. Cantabrigiensis coll. corp. Christi
228. 13th century.
D = Cod. Musei Britannici 6042. 13th
century.
W = Cod. Antverpiensis iii. 59. 12th or 13th
century.
F = Cod. Florentinus bibl. St. Crucis. 12th
century.
A, B = Codd. Oxonienses Bodleiani. (?) 13th
century.
V = Cod. Antverpiensis N. 71. 14th century.
It is to be observed that in Birt’s edition, and in any other that
accepts his “sigla,” A B C and V stand for different MSS. according to
whether they refer, or do not refer, to the “De raptu.”
Some MSS. contain scholia but none of these go back before the 12th or
even the 13th century.
The chief editions of Claudian are as follows:
Ed. princeps:
Celsanus, Vicenza, 1482.
Ugolentus, Parma, 1500.
Parrhasius, Milan, 1500.
Camers, Vienna, 1510.
Aldine ed. (Asulanus), 1523.
Isengrin ed. (Michael Bentinus), Basel, 1534.[37]
Claverius, Paris, 1602.
Like Bentinus, Claverius used certain MSS. (in his case those of the
library of Cuiacius) unknown to us.[38]
Plantin ed. (Scaliger), 1603.
Elzevir ed. (Heinsius), Leyden, 1650.
Amsterdam, 1665.
Barth, Hanau, 1612.
Frankfort, 1650.
Delphin ed. (Pyrrho), Paris, 1677.
Burmann, Amsterdam, 1760.
König, Göttingen, 1808.
These last three have good explanatory notes.
The first critical edition is that of L. Jeep (Leipzig, 1876-79).
In 1892 Birt published what must be considered as the standard edition
of Claudian--vol. x. in the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_ series.
Birt was the first to put the text of Claudian on a firm footing, and
it is his edition that I have followed, appending critical notes only
where I differ from him.[39]
The latest edition of Claudian is that of Koch (Teubner, Leipzig,
1893). Koch was long associated with Birt in his researches
into textual questions connected with Claudian, and his text is
substantially the same as that of Birt.
So far as I know, there is no English prose translation of Claudian
already in the field, though various of his poems, notably the “De
raptu,” have found many verse translators, and in 1817 his complete
works were put into English verse by A. Hawkins. An Italian version
was published by Domenico Grillo in Venice in 1716, a German one
by Wedekind in Darmstadt in 1868, and there exist two French prose
translations, one by MM. Delatour and Geruzez (éd. Nisard, Paris, 1850)
and one by M. Héguin de Guerle (Garnier frères, Collection Panckoucke,
Paris, 1865).
Of Claudiana may be mentioned Vogt, _De Claudiani carminum quae
Stilichonem praedicant fide historica_ (1863); Ney, _Vindictae
Claudianeae_ (1865); T. Hodgkin’s _Claudian, the last of the Roman
Poets_ (1875); E. Arens’ _Quaestiones Claudianae_ (1894); two studies
by A. Parravicini, (1) _Studio di retorica sulle opere di Claudio
Claudiano_ (1905), and (2) _I Panegirici di Claudiano_ (1909); J. H.
E. Crees’ _Claudian as an Historical Authority_ (Cambridge Historical
Essays, No. 17, 1908); Professor Postgate’s article on the editions of
Birt and Koch in the _Class. Rev._ (vol. ix. pp. 162 _et sqq._), and
the same scholar’s Emendations in the _Class. Quarterly_ of 1910 (pp.
257 _et sqq._). Reference may also be made to Professor Bury’s appendix
to vol. iii. of his edition of Gibbon (1897, under “Claudian”) and to
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xxx. _The Encomiums of
Claudius Claudianus_. Vollmer’s article in Pauly-Wissowa’s Lexicon is a
mine of information, but for completeness Birt’s introduction (over 200
pp. long) stands alone.
The curious may find an interesting light thrown on Claudian and his
circle by Sudermann’s play, _Die Lobgesänge des Claudian_ (Berlin,
1914).
* * * * *
All Claudian’s genuine works are translated in the present volumes
with the exception of the two-line fragment “De Lanario” (Birt, c.m.c.
lii [lxxxviii.]). The appendix “vel spuria vel suspecta continens” has
been rejected both by Birt and Koch, and I have in this followed their
example. The eight Greek poems attributed to Claudian are at least of
doubtful authenticity, though Birt certainly makes out a good case for
the “Gigantomachia” (a fragment of 77 lines). The remainder consists
of short epigrams, two on the well-worn theme of the water enclosed in
the crystal and two Christian ones. These last are almost certainly not
the work of Claudius Claudianus but of Claudianus Mamertus, presbyter
of Vienne _circ._ 474 A.D. We know from Sidonius (_Ep._ iv. 3. 8)
that this Claudian was a writer of sacred poetry both in Greek and
Latin--indeed the famous “Pange lingua” is attributed to him.
* * * * *
A word should perhaps be said as to the numbering of the poems.
It is much to be regretted that Birt did not cut adrift from Gesner’s
system, or at least that he only did so in the “Carmina minora.” The
resultant discrepancy in his (and Koch’s) edition between the order of
the poems and their numbering is undoubtedly a nuisance, but I have not
felt justified, in so slight a work as the present one, in departing
from the now traditional arrangement.
I wish, in conclusion, to express my thanks to my colleagues, Mr. R.
L. A. Du Pontet and Mr. E. H. Blakeney: to the first for valuable
suggestions on several obscure points, and to the second for help in
reading the proofs.
MAURICE PLATNAUER.
WINCHESTER, _September 1921_.
[1] _Cf._ vii. 99 _et sqq._
[2] v. 348 _et sqq._ S. Jerome (_Ep._ lx.) refers to his death and
tells how his head was carried on a pike to Constantinople.
[3] Or at least connived at his death; see Zosimus v. 11. 5.
[4] For an adverse (and probably unfair) view of Stilicho see Jerome,
_Ep._ cxxiii. § 17.
[5] _C.I.L._ vi. 1710 (=Dessau 2949). Now in the Naples Museum.
[Cl.] Claudiani v.c. | [Cla]udio Claudiano v.c., tri|[bu]no et
notario, inter ceteras | [de]centes artes prae[g]loriosissimo
| [po]etarum, licet ad memoriam sem|piternam carmina ab eodem
| scripta sufficiant, adtamen | testimonii gratia ob iudicii
sui | [f]idem, dd. nn. Arcadius et Honorius | [fe-]licissimi et
doctissimi | imperatores senatu petente | statuam in foro divi
Traiani | erigi collocarique iusserunt.
Εἰν ἑνὶ Βιργιλίοιο νόον | καί Μοῦσαν Ὁμήρου |
Κλαυδιανὸν Ῥώμη καὶ | βασιλῆς ἔθεσαν.
v.c. = vir clarissimus, _i.e._ (roughly) The Rt. Hon. dd. nn. =
domini nostri. The inscription may be translated:--To Claudius
Claudianus v.c., son of Claudius Claudianus v.c., tribune and
notary (_i.e._ Permanent Secretary), master of the ennobling arts
but above all a poet and most famous of poets, though his own poems
are enough to ensure his immortality, yet, in thankful memory of
his discretion and loyalty, their serene and learned majesties, the
Emperors Arcadius and Honorius have, at the instance of the senate,
bidden this statue to be raised and set up in the Forum of the
Emperor Trajan of blessed memory.
Rome and her kings--to one who has combined
A Homer’s music with a Vergil’s mind.
[6] xxv. 7.
[7] John Lydus (_De magistr._ i. 47) writes οὖτος ὁ Παφλαγών, but
this, as Birt has shown, is merely an abusive appellation.
[8] Sid. Ap. _Carm._ ix. 274.
[9] viii. 570 _et sqq._
[10] Carm. min. corp. xix. 3: _cf._ also Carm. min. corp. xxii. 20.
[11] Carm. min. corp. xli. 13.
[12] xxiii. 23.
[13] Carm. min. corp. xl. and xli.; see ref. to Via Flaminia in xl. 8.
[14] Praef. ii. 50.
[15] vi. 17.
[16] iv. 15.
[17] _Cf._ xxii. 291 _et sqq._
[18] Carm. min. xxi.
[19] xxiii. 23.
[20] So Birt, _Praef._ p. xlii. note 1.
[21] It should perhaps be mentioned that this date is disputed: see
Crees, _Claudian as an Historical Authority_, pp. 175 _et sqq._
[22] xxv. 4 “Pythia … domus.”
[23] This suggestion is Vollmer’s: see his article on Claudian in
Pauly-Wissowa, III. ii. p. 2655.
[24] Still more striking is the comparison of Claudian’s latinity
with that of his contemporary, the authoress of the frankly
colloquial _Peregrinatio ad loca sancta_ (see Grandgent, _Vulgar
Latin_, p. 5: Wölfflin, “Über die Latinität der P. ad l. sancta,”
in _Archiv für lat. Lexikographie_, iv. 259).
[25] It is not impossible that this poem is a translation or at
least an adaptation of a Greek (Alexandrine) original. So Förster,
_Der Raub und die Rückkehr der Persephone_, Stuttgart, 1874.
[26] viii. 561-4 (dawns seem to suit him: _cf._ i. 1-6).
[27] xviii. 82, 83.
[28] Honourable exception should be made of xxi. 291 _et sqq._--one
of the best and most sincere things Claudian ever wrote.
[29] It is worth observing that not infrequently Claudian is making
“tentamina,” or writing alternative lines: _e.g._ Carm. min. corp.
vii. 1 and 2, and almost certainly the four lines of id. vi. v. is
quite likely “a trial” for some such passage as xv. 523.
[30] v. 453.
[31] xxiv. 357-8.
[32] Carm. min. corp. liii. 101-3.
[33] xxviii. 490.
[34] vii. 35 “Paganus pervicacissimus.”
[35] _Civ. dei_, v. 26 “a Christi numine alienus.”
[36] This poem does not seem to have been associated with the
others till the 12th century.
[37] See section on MSS.
[38] Koch, _De codicibus Cuiacianis quibus in edendo Claudiano
Claverius usus est_, Marburg, 1889.
[39] I should like if possible to anticipate criticism by frankly
stating that the text of this edition makes no claims to being
based on scientific principles. I have followed Birt not because
I think him invariably right but because his is at present the
standard text. Where I differ from him (and this is but in a few
places) I do so not because I prefer the authority of another
MS. or because I am convinced of the rightness of a conjecture,
but because Birt’s conservatism commits him (in my opinion) to
untranslatable readings, in which cases my choice of a variant is
arbitrary. Of the principle of _difficilior lectio_ I pragmatically
take no account.
* * * * *
Page 1
CLAUDIAN
* * * * *
Page 2
CLAUDII CLAUDIANI CARMINA
PANEGYRICUS DICTUS PROBINO ET OLYBRIO CONSULIBUS
I
Sol, qui flammigeris mundum complexus habenis
volvis inexhausto redeuntia saecula motu,
sparge diem meliore coma crinemque repexi
blandius elato surgant temone iugales
efflantes roseum frenis spumantibus ignem.
iam nova germanis vestigia torqueat annus
consulibus, laetique petant exordia menses.
Scis genus Auchenium, nec te latuere potentes
Anniadae; nam saepe soles ductoribus illis
instaurare vias et cursibus addere nomen. 10
his neque per dubium pendet Fortuna favorem
nec novit mutare vices, sed fixus in omnes
cognatos procedit honos. quemcumque require
hac de stirpe virum: certum est de consule nasci.
* * * * *
Page 3
PANEGYRIC ON THE CONSULS PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
I
Sun, that encirclest the world with reins of flame and rollest in
ceaseless motion the revolving centuries, scatter thy light with
kindlier beams and let thy coursers, their manes combed and they
breathing forth a rosy flame from their foaming bits, climb the heavens
more jocund in their loftier drawn chariot. Now let the year bend
its new steps for the consul brothers and the glad months take their
beginning.
Thou wottest of the Auchenian[40] race nor are the powerful Anniadae
unknown to thee, for thou oft hast started thy yearly journey with
them as consuls and hast given their name to thy revolution. For them
Fortune neither hangs on uncertain favour nor changes, but honours,
firmly fixed, pass to all their kin. Select what man thou wilt from
their family, ’tis certain he is a consul’s son. Their ancestors are
[40] Probinus and Olybrius, the consuls for 395 (they were
brothers), both belonged to the Anician gens, of which Auchenius
became an alternative gentile name, Anicius becoming, in these
cases, the _praenomen_. Many members of this family had been, and
were to be, consuls: _e.g._ Anicius Auchenius Bassus in A.D. 408.
The Annian gens was related by intermarriage to the Anician: _e.g._
Annius Bassus (cos. 331) who married the daughter of Annius Anicius
Iulianus (cos. 322).
* * * * *
Page 4
per fasces numerantur avi semperque renata 15
nobilitate virent, et prolem fata sequuntur
continuum simili servantia lege tenorem.
nec quisquam procerum temptat, licet aere vetusto
floreat et claro cingatur Roma senatu,
se iactare parem; sed, prima sede relicta 20
Aucheniis, de iure licet certare secundo:
haud secus ac tacitam Luna regnante per Arcton
sidereae cedunt acies, cum fratre retuso
aemulus adversis flagraverit ignibus orbis;
tunc iubar Arcturi languet, tunc fulva Leonis 25
ira perit, Plaustro iam rara intermicat Arctos
indignata tegi, iam caligantibus armis
debilis Orion dextram miratur inertem.
Quem prius adgrediar? veteris quis facta Probini
nesciat aut nimias laudes ignoret Olybri? 30
Vivit adhuc completque vagis sermonibus aures
gloria fusa Probi, quam non ventura silebunt
lustra nec ignota rapiet sub nube vetustas.
ilium fama vehit trans aequora transque remotas
Tethyos ambages Atlanteosque recessus. 35
audiit et gelido si quem Maeotia pascit
sub Iove vel calido si quis coniunctus in axe
nascentem te, Nile, bibit. virtutibus ille
Fortunam domuit numquamque levantibus alte
intumuit rebus; sed mens circumflua luxu 40
noverat intactum vitio servare rigorem.
hic non divitias nigrantibus abdidit antris
nec tenebris damnavit opes; sed largior imbre
sueverat innumeras hominum ditare catervas.
* * * * *
Page 5
counted by the fasces (for each has held them), the same recurring
honours crown them, and a like destiny awaits their children in
unbroken succession. No noble, though he boast of the brazen statues of
his ancestors, though Rome be thronged with senators, no noble, I say,
dare boast himself their equal. Give the first place to the Auchenii
and let who will contest the second. It is as when the moon queens it
in the calm northern sky and her orb gleams with brightness equal to
that of her brother whose light she reflects; for then the starry hosts
give place, Arcturus’ beam grows dim and tawny Leo loses his angry
glint, far-spaced shine the Bear’s stars in the Wain, wroth at their
eclipse, Orion’s shafts grow dark as he looks in feeble amaze at his
strengthless arm.
Which shall I speak of first? Who has not heard of the deeds of
Probinus of ancient lineage, who knows not the endless praise of
Olybrius?
The far-flung fame of Probus[41] and his sire lives yet and fills all
ears with widespread discourse: the years to come shall not silence
it nor time o’ercloud or put an end to it. His great name carries him
beyond the seas, beyond Ocean’s distant windings and Atlas’ mountain
caverns. If any live beneath the frozen sky by Maeotis’ banks, or any,
near neighbours of the torrid zone, drink Nile’s stripling stream,
they, too, have heard. Fortune yielded to his virtues, but never
was he puffed up with success that engenders pride. Though his life
was surrounded with luxury he knew how to preserve his uprightness
uncorrupted. He did not hide his wealth in dark cellars nor condemn
his riches to the nether gloom, but in showers more abundant than rain
would ever enrich countless numbers of
[41] Probus was born about 332 and died about 390. He was (among
many other things) proconsul of Africa and praefectus of Illyricum.
* * * * *
Page 6
quippe velut denso currentia munera nimbo 45
cernere semper erat, populis undare penates,
adsiduos intrare inopes, remeare beatos.
praeceps illa manus fluvios superabat Hiberos
aurea dona vomens (sic vix[42] tellure revulsa
sollicitis fodiens miratur collibus aurum), 50
quantum stagna Tagi rudibus stillantia venis
effluxere decus, quanto pretiosa metalli
Hermi ripa micat, quantas per Lydia culta
despumat rutilas dives Pactolus harenas.
Non, mihi centenis pateant si vocibus ora 55
multifidusque ruat centum per pectora Phoebus,
acta Probi narrare queam, quot in ordine gentes
rexerit, ad summi quotiens fastigia iuris
venerit, Italiae late cum frena teneret
Illyricosque sinus et quos arat Africa campos. 60
sed nati vicere patrem solique merentur
victores audire Probi. non contigit illi
talis honor, prima cum parte viresceret aevi,
nec consul cum fratre fuit. vos nulla fatigat
cura diu maiora petens, non anxia mentem 65
spes agit et longo tendit praecordia voto:
coepistis quo finis erat. primordia vestra
vix pauci meruere senes, metasque tenetis
ante genas dulces quam flos iuvenilis inumbret
oraque ridenti lanugine vestiat aetas. 70
tu, precor, ignarum doceas, Parnasia, vatem,
quis deus ambobus tanti sit muneris auctor.
Postquam fulmineis impellens viribus hostem
belliger Augustus trepidas laxaverat Alpes,
[42] MSS. _si quis_; Birt suggests _sic vix_; possibly _ecquis_
should be read. Postgate (C. Q. iv. p. 258) _quae vix … miretur …
Astur_.
* * * * *
Page 7
men. The thick cloud of his generosity was ever big with gifts, full
and overflowing with clients was his mansion, and thereinto there
poured a stream of paupers to issue forth again rich men. His prodigal
hand outdid Spain’s rivers in scattering gifts of gold (scarce so much
precious metal dazzles the gaze of the miner delving in the vexed
bowels of the earth), exceeding all the gold dust carried down by
Tagus’ water trickling from unsmelted lodes, the glittering ore that
enriches Hermus’ banks, the golden sand that rich Pactolus in flood
deposits over the plains of Lydia.
Could my words issue from a hundred mouths, could Phoebus’ manifold
inspiration breathe through a hundred breasts, even so I could not tell
of Probus’ deeds, of all the people his ordered governance ruled, of
the many times he rose to the highest honours, when he held the reins
of broad-acred Italy, the Illyrian coast, and Africa’s lands. But
his sons o’ershadowed their sire and they alone deserve to be called
Probus’ vanquishers. No such honour befell Probus in his youth: he was
never consul with his brother. You ambition, ever o’ervaulting itself,
pricks not; no anxious hopes afflict your minds or keep your hearts
in long suspense. You have begun where most end: but few seniors have
attained to your earliest office. You have finished your race e’er the
full flower of youth has crowned your gentle cheeks or adolescence
clothed your faces with its pleasant down. Do thou, my Muse, tell their
ignorant poet what god it was granted such a boon to the twain.
When the warlike emperor had with the thunderbolt of his might put his
enemy to flight and freed
* * * * *
Page 8
Roma Probo cupiens dignas persolvere grates 75
sedula pro natis dominum flexura rogando
ire parat. famuli currum iunxere volantem
Impetus horribilisque Metus, qui semper agentes
proelia cum fremitu Romam comitantur anhelo,
sive petat Parthos seu cuspide turbet Hydaspen. 80
hic ligat axe rotas; hic sub iuga ferrea nectit
cornipedes rigidisque docet servire lupatis.
ipsa, triumphatis qua possidet aethera regnis,
adsilit innuptae ritus imitata Minervae.
nam neque caesariem crinali stringere cultu 85
colla nec ornatu patitur mollire retorto;
dextrum nuda latus, niveos exerta lacertos,
audacem retegit mammam, laxumque coercens
mordet gemma sinum; nodus, qui sublevat ensem,
album puniceo pectus discriminat ostro. 90
miscetur decori virtus pulcherque severo
armatur terrore pudor, galeaeque minaci
flava cruentarum praetenditur umbra iubarum,
et formidato clipeus Titana lacessit
lumine quem tota variarat Mulciber arte. 95
hic patrius Mavortis amor fetusque notantur
Romulei; pius amnis inest et belua nutrix;
electro Tiberis, pueri formantur in auro;
fingunt aera lupam; Mavors adamante coruscat.
Iam simul emissis rapido velocior Euro 100
fertur equis; strident Zephyri cursuque rotarum
saucia dividuis clarescunt nubila sulcis.
nec traxere moras, sed lapsu protinus uno,
* * * * *
Page 9
the Alps from fear, Rome, anxious worthily to thank her Probus,
hastened to beg the Emperor’s favour for that hero’s sons. Her slaves,
Shock and horrid Fear, yoked her winged chariot; ’tis they who ever
attend Rome with loud-voiced roar, setting wars afoot, whether she
battle against the Parthians or vex Hydaspes’ stream with her spear.
The one fastens the wheels to the hubs, the other drives the horses
beneath the iron yoke and makes them obey the stubborn bit. Rome
herself in the guise of the virgin goddess Minerva soars aloft on the
road by which she takes possession of the sky after triumphing over the
realms of earth. She will not have her hair bound with a comb nor her
neck made effeminate with a twisted necklace. Her right side is bare;
her snowy shoulder exposed; her brooch fastens her flowing garments
but loosely and boldly shows her breast: the belt that supports her
sword throws a strip of scarlet across her fair skin. She looks as good
as she is fair, chaste beauty armed with awe; her threatening helm of
blood-red plumes casts a dark shadow and her shield challenges the sun
in its fearful brilliance, that shield which Vulcan forged with all
the subtlety of his skill. In it are depicted the children Romulus and
Remus, and their loving father Mars, Tiber’s reverent stream, and the
wolf that was their nurse; Tiber is embossed in electrum, the children
in pure gold, brazen is the wolf, and Mars fashioned of flashing steel.
And now Rome, loosing both her steeds together, flies swifter than the
fleet east wind; the Zephyrs shrill and the clouds, cleft with the
track of the wheels, glow in separate furrows. What matchless speed!
One pinion’s stroke and they reach their
* * * * *
Page 10
quem poscunt, tetigere locum: qua fine sub imo
angustant aditum curvis anfractibus Alpes 105
claustraque congestis scopulis durissima tendunt,
non alia reseranda manu, sed pervia tantum
Augusto geminisque fidem mentita tyrannis.
semirutae turres avulsaque moenia fumant;
crescunt in cumulum strages vallemque profundam
aequavere iugis; stagnant inmersa cruore 111
corpora; turbantur permixto funere manes.
Haud procul exhausto laetus certamine victor
caespite gramineo consederat arbore fultus
adclines umeros; domimim gavisa coronat 115
terra suum, surguntque toris maioribus herbae.
sudor adhuc per membra calet creberque recurrit
halitus et placidi radiant in casside vultus:
qualis letifera populatus caede Gelonos
procubat horrendus Getico Gradivus in arvo; 120
exuvias Bellona levat, Bellona tepentes
pulvere solvit equos, inmensaque cornus in hastam
porrigitur tremulisque ferit splendoribus Hebrum.
Ut stetit ante ducem discussas Roma per auras,
conscia ter sonuit rupes et inhorruit atrum 125
maiestate nemus. prior hic: “o numen amicum”
dux ait “et legum genetrix longeque regendo
circumfusa polo consors ac dicta Tonantis,
dic agedum, quae causa viae? cur deseris arces
Ausonias caelumque tuum? dic, maxima rerum! 130
* * * * *
Page 11
goal: it is there where in their furthermost parts the Alps narrow
their approaches into tortuous valleys and extend their adamantine bars
of piled-up rocks. No other hand could unlock that gate, as, to their
cost, those two tyrants[43] found; to the Emperor only they offer a
way. The smoke of towers o’erthrown and of ruined fortresses ascends
to heaven. Slaughtered men are piled up on a heap and bring the lowest
valley equal with the hills; corpses welter in their blood; the very
shades are confounded with the inrush of the slain.
Close at hand the victor, Theodosius, happy that his warfare is
accomplished, sits upon the green sward, his shoulders leaning against
a tree. Triumphant earth crowned her lord and flowers sprang up from
prouder banks. The sweat is still warm upon his body, his breath comes
panting, but calm shines his countenance beneath his helmet. Such is
Mars, when with deadly slaughter he has devastated the Geloni and
thereafter rests, a dread figure, in the Getic plain, while Bellona,
goddess of war, lightens him of his armour and unyokes his dust-stained
coursers; an outstretched spear, a huge cornel trunk, arms his hand and
flashes its tremulous splendour over Hebrus’ stream.
When Rome had ended her airy journey and now stood before her lord,
thrice thundered the conscious rocks and the black wood shuddered in
awe. First to speak was the hero: “Goddess and friend, mother of laws,
thou whose empire is conterminous with heaven, thou that art called the
consort of the Thunderer, say what hath caused thy coming: why leavest
thou the towns of Italy and thy native clime? Say, queen of the world.
Were it thy
[43] Maximus and Eugenius. See Introduction, p. ix.
* * * * *
Page 12
non ego vel Libycos cessem tolerare labores
Sarmaticosve pati medio sub frigore Cauros,
si tu, Roma, velis; pro te quascumque per oras
ibimus et nulla sub tempestate timentes
solstitio Meroën, bruma temptabimus Histrum.” 135
Tum regina refert: “non me latet, inclite rector,
quod tua pro Latio victricia castra laborant
nec quod servitium rursus Furiaeque rebelles
edomitae paribus sub te cecidere triumphis.
sed precor hoc donum cum libertate recenti 140
adicias, si vera manet reverentia nostri.
sunt mihi pubentes alto de semine fratres,
pignora cara Probi, festa quos luce creatos
ipsa meo fovi gremio. cunabula parvis
ipsa dedi, cum matris onus Lucina beatum 145
solveret et magnos proferrent sidera partus.
his ego nec Decios pulchros fortesve Metellos
praetulerim, non, qui Poenum domuere ferocem,
Scipiadas Gallisque genus fatale Camillos.
Pieriis pollent studiis multoque redundant 150
eloquio; nec desidiis dapibusve paratis
indulgere iuvat nec tanta licentia vitae
adripit aut mores aetas lasciva relaxat:
sed gravibus curis animum sortita senilem
ignea longaevo frenatur corde iuventus. 155
illis, quam propriam ducunt ab origine, sortem
oramus praebere velis annique futurum
devoveas venientis iter. non improba posco,
non insueta dabis: domus haec de more requirit.
adnue: sic nobis Scythicus famuletur Araxes, 160
* * * * *
Page 13
wish I would not shrink from toiling neath a Libyan sun nor from the
cold winds of a Russian midwinter. At thy behest I will traverse all
lands and fearing no season of the year will hazard Meroë in summer and
the Danube in winter.”
Then the Queen answered: “Full well know I, far-famed ruler, that thy
victorious armies toil for Italy, and that once again servitude and
furious rebels have given way before thee, overthrown in one and the
same battle. Yet I pray thee add to our late won liberty this further
boon, if in very truth thou still reverest me. There are among my
citizens two young brothers of noble lineage, the dearly loved sons of
Probus, born on a festal day and reared in my own bosom. ’Twas I gave
the little ones their cradles when the goddess of childbirth freed
their mother’s womb from its blessed burden and heaven brought to light
her glorious offspring. To these I would not prefer the noble Decii
nor the brave Metelli, no, nor the Scipios who overcame the warlike
Carthaginians nor the Camilli, that family fraught with ruin for the
Gauls. The Muses have endowed them with full measure of their skill;
their eloquence knows no bounds. Theirs not to wanton in sloth and
banquets spread; unbridled pleasure tempts them not, nor can the lure
of youth undermine their characters. Gaining from weighty cares an old
man’s mind, their fiery youth is bridled by a greybeard’s wisdom. That
fortune to which their birth entitles them I beg thee assure them and
appoint for them the path of the coming year. ’Tis no unreasonable
request and will be no unheard-of boon. Their birth demands it should
be so. Grant it; so may Scythian Araxes be our vassal
* * * * *
Page 14
sic Rhenus per utrumque latus, Medisque subactis
nostra Semiramiae timeant insignia turres;
sic fluat attonitus Romana per oppida Ganges.”
Ductor ad haec: “optata iubes ultroque volentem,
diva, rogas; non haec precibus temptanda fuissent.
usque adeone meam condunt oblivia mentem, 166
ut pigeat meminisse Probi, quo vindice totam
vidimus Hesperiam fessasque resurgere gentes?
ante dabunt hiemes Nilum, per flumina dammae
errabunt glacieque niger damnabitur Indus, 170
ante Thyesteis iterum conterrita mensis
intercisa dies refugos vertetur in ortus,
quam Probus a nostro possit discedere sensu.”
Dixerat et velox iam nuntius advolat urbem.
extemplo strepuere chori collesque canoris 175
plausibus impulsi septena voce resultant.
laetatur veneranda parens et pollice docto
iam parat auratas trabeas cinctusque micantes
stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
frondea lanigerae carpentes vellera silvae, 180
et longum tenues tractus producit in aurum
filaque concreto cogit squalere metallo:
qualis purpureas praebebat candida vestes
numinibus Latona suis, cum sacra redirent
ad loca nutricis iam non errantia Deli, 185
illa feros saltus et desolata relinquens
Maenala lassato certis venatibus arcu,
Phoebus adhuc nigris rorantia tela venenis
extincto Pythone gerens; tunc insula notos
* * * * *
Page 15
and Rhine’s either bank; so may the Mede be o’erthrown and the towers
that Semiramis built yield to our standards, while amazèd Ganges flows
between Roman cities.”
To this the king: “Goddess, thou biddest me do what I would fain do
and askest a boon that I wish to grant: thy entreaties were not needed
for this. Does forgetfulness so wholly cloud my mind that I will not
remember Probus, beneath whose leadership I have seen all Italy and her
war-weary peoples come again to prosperity? Winter shall cause Nile’s
rising, hinds shall make rivers their element, dark-flowing Indus shall
be ice-bound, terror-stricken once again by the banquet of Thyestes the
sun shall stay his course and fly for refuge back into the east, all
this ere Probus can fade from my memory.”
He spake, and now the speedy messenger hies him to Rome. Straightway
the choirs chant and the seven hills re-echo their tuneful applause.
Joy is in the heart of that aged mother whose skilled fingers now make
ready gold-embroidered vestment and garments agleam with the thread
which the Seres comb out from their delicate plants, gathering the
leafy fleece of the wool-bearing trees. These long threads she draws
out to an equal length with the threads of gold and by intertwining
them makes one golden cord; as fair Latona gave scarlet garments to her
divine offspring when they returned to the now firm-fixèd shrine of
Delos their foster-island, Diana leaving the forest glades and bleak
Maenalus, her unerring bow wearied with much hunting, and Phoebus
bearing the sword still dripping with black venom from the slaughtered
Python. Then their dear island laved the feet of its acknowledged
* * * * *
Page 16
lambit amica pedes ridetque Aegaeus alumnis 190
lenior et blando testatur gaudia fluctu.
Sic Proba praecipuo natos exornat amictu:
quae decorat mundum, cuius Romana potestas
fetibus augetur. credas ex aethere lapsam
stare Pudicitiam vel sacro ture vocatam 195
Iunonem Inachiis oculos advertere templis.
talem nulla refert antiquis pagina libris
nec Latiae cecinere tubae nec Graeca vetustas.
coniuge digna Probo; nam tantum coetibus extat
femineis, quantum supereminet ille maritos. 200
ceu sibi certantes, sexus quid possit uterque,
hunc legere torum. taceat Nereida nuptam
Pelion. o duplici fecundam consule matrem
felicemque uterum, qui nomina parturit annis!
Ut sceptrum gessere manu membrisque rigentes
aptavere togas, signum dat summus hiulca 200
nube Pater gratamque facem per inane rotantes
prospera vibrati tonuerunt omina nimbi.
accepit sonitus curvis Tiberinus in antris
ima valle sedens. adrectis auribus haesit, 210
unde repentinus populi fragor. ilicet herbis
pallentes thalamos et structa cubilia musco
deserit ac Nymphis urnam commendat erilem.
illi glauca nitent hirsuto lumina vultu
caeruleis infecta notis, reddentia patrem 215
Oceanum; crispo densantur gramine colla;
vertice luxuriat toto crinalis harundo,
* * * * *
Page 17
deities, the Aegean smiled more gently on its nurslings, the Aegean
whose soft ripples bore witness to its joy.
So Proba[44] adorns her children with vestment rare, Proba, the world’s
glory, by whose increase the power of Rome, too, is increased. You
would have thought her Modesty’s self fallen from heaven or Juno,
summoned by sacred incense, turning her eyes on the shrines of Argos.
No page in ancient story tells of such a mother, no Latin Muse nor old
Grecian tale. Worthy is she of Probus for a husband, for he surpassed
all husbands as she all wives. ’Twas as though in rivalry either sex
had done its uttermost and so brought about this marriage. Let Pelion
vaunt no more that Nereid bride.[45] Happy thou that art the mother of
consuls twain, blessed thy womb whose offspring have given the year
their name for its own.
So soon as their hands held the sceptres and the jewel-studded togas
had enfolded their limbs the almighty Sire vouchsafes a sign with riven
cloud and the shaken heavens, projecting a welcoming flash through the
void, thundered with prosperous omen. Father Tiber, seated in that
low valley, heard the sound in his labyrinthine cave. He stays with
ears pricked up wondering whence this sudden popular clamour comes.
Straightway he leaves his couch of green leaves, his mossy bed, and
entrusts his urn to his attendant nymphs. Grey eyes flecked with blue
shine out from his shaggy countenance, recalling his father Oceanus;
thick curlèd grasses cover his neck and lush sedge crowns his head.
[44] Anicia Faltonia Proba. She was still alive in 410 and
according to Procopius (_Bell. Vand._ i. 2) opened the gates of
Rome to Alaric.
[45] Thetis, daughter of Nereus, was married to Peleus on Mount
Pelion in Thessaly.
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quam neque fas Zephyris frangi nec sole perustam
aestivo candore mori; sed vivida frondet
aequaevum complexa caput. taurina levantur 220
cornua temporibus raucos sudantia rivos;
distillant per pectus aquae; frons hispida manat
imbribus; in liquidos fontes se barba repectit.
palla graves umeros velat, quam neverat uxor
Ilia percurrens vitreas sub gurgite telas. 225
Est in Romuleo procumbens insula Thybri
qua medius geminas interfluit alveus urbes
discretas subeunte freto, pariterque minantes
ardua turrigerae surgunt in culmina ripae.
hic stetit et subitum prospexit ab aggere votum: 230
unanimos[46] fratres iuncto stipante senatu
ire forum strictasque procul radiare secures
atque uno biiuges tolli de limine fasces.
obstupuit visu suspensaque gaudia vocem
oppressam tenuere diu; mox incohat ore: 235
“Respice, si tales iactas aluisse fluentis,
Eurota Spartane, tuis. quid protulit aequum
falsus olor, valido quamvis decernere caestu
noverit et ratibus saevas arcere procellas?
en nova Ledaeis suboles fulgentior astris, 240
ecce mei cives, quorum iam Signifer optat
adventum stellisque parat convexa futuris.
iam per noctivagos dominetur Olybrius axes
pro Polluce rubens, pro Castore flamma Probini.
[46] Birt, following MSS., _unanimes_; Koch _unanimos_.
* * * * *
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This the Zephyrs may not break nor the summer sun scorch to withering;
it lives and burgeons around those brows immortal as itself. From
his temples sprout horns like those of a bull; from these pour
babbling streamlets; water drips upon his breast, showers pour down
his hair-crowned forehead, flowing rivers from his parted beard.
There clothes his massy shoulders a cloak woven by his wife Ilia, who
threaded the crystalline loom beneath the flood.
There lies in Roman Tiber’s stream an island where the central flood
washes as ’twere two cities parted by the sundering waters: with equal
threatening height the tower-clad banks rise in lofty buildings. Here
stood Tiber and from this eminence beheld his prayer of a sudden
fulfilled, saw the twin-souled brothers enter the Forum amid the press
of thronging senators, the bared axes gleam afar and both sets of
fasces brought forth from one threshold. He stood amazed at the sight
and for a long time incredulous joy held his voice in check. Yet soon
he thus began:
“Behold, Eurotas, river of Sparta, boastest thou that thy streams have
ever nurtured such as these? Did that false swan[47] beget a child to
rival them, though ’tis true his sons could fight with the heavy glove
and save ships from cruel tempests? Behold new offspring outshining
the stars to which Leda gave birth, men of my city for whose coming
the Zodiac is now awatch, making ready his hollow tract of sky for a
constellation that is to be. Henceforth let Olybrius rule the nightly
sky, shedding his ruddy light where Pollux once shone, and where
glinted Castor’s fires there let glitter Probinus’
[47] Jupiter, who courted Leda in the form of a swan, becoming by
her the father of Helen, Clytemnestra, Castor and Pollux. These
latter two were the patrons of the ring--hence “decernere caestu”
(l. 238); and of sailors--hence “arcere procellas” (l. 239).
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ipsi vela regent, ipsis donantibus auras 245
navita tranquillo moderabitur aequore pinum.
nunc pateras libare deis, nunc solvere multo
nectare corda libet. niveos iam pandite coetus,
Naides, et totum violis praetexite fontem;
mella ferant silvae; iam profluat ebrius amnis 250
mutatis in vina vadis; iam sponte per agros
sudent inriguae spirantia balsama venae!
currat, qui sociae roget in convivia mensae
indigenas Fluvios, Italis quicumque suberrant
montibus Alpinasque bibunt de more pruinas: 255
Vulturnusque rapax et Nar vitiatus odoro
sulphure tardatusque suis erroribus Ufens
et Phaëthonteae perpessus damna ruinae
Eridanus flavaeque terens querceta Maricae
Liris et Oebaliae qui temperat arva Galaesus. 260
semper honoratus nostris celebrabitur undis
iste dies, semper dapibus recoletur opimis.”
Sic ait et Nymphae patris praecepta secutae
tecta parant epulis ostroque infecta corusco
umida gemmiferis inluxit regia mensis. 265
O bene signatum fraterno nomine tempus!
o consanguineis felix auctoribus annus,
incipe quadrifidum Phoebi torquere laborem.
prima tibi procedat hiems non frigore torpens,
non canas vestita nives, non aspera ventis, 270
sed tepido calefacta Noto; ver inde serenum
protinus et liquidi clementior aura Favoni
pratis te croceis pingat; te messibus aestas
* * * * *
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flame. These shall direct men’s sails and vouchsafe those breezes
whereby the sailor shall guide his bark o’er the calm ocean. Let us now
pour libation to the new gods and ease our hearts with copious draughts
of nectar. Naiads, now spread your snowy bands, wreath every spring
with violets. Let the woods bring forth honey and the drunken river
roll, its waters changed to wine; let the watering streams that vein
the fields give off the scent of balsam spice. Let one run and invite
to the feast and banquet-board all the rivers of our land, even all
that wander beneath the mountains of Italy and drink as their portion
the Alpine snows, swift Vulturnus and Nar infected with ill-smelling
sulphur, Ufens whose meanderings delay his course and Eridanus into
whose waters Phaëthon fell headlong; Liris who laves Marica’s golden
oak groves and Galaesus who tempers the fields of Sparta’s colony
Tarentum. This day shall always be held in honour and observed by our
rivers and its anniversary ever celebrated with rich feastings.”
So spake he, and the Nymphs, obeying their sire’s behest, made ready
the rooms for the banquet, and the watery palace, ablaze with gleaming
purple, shone with jewelled tables.
O happy months to bear these brothers’ name! O year blessed to own such
a pair as overlords, begin thou to turn the laborious wheel of Phoebus’
four-fold circle. First let thy winter pursue its course, sans numbing
cold, not clothed in white snow nor torn by rough blasts, but warmed
with the south wind’s breath: next, be thy spring calm from the outset
and let the limpid west wind’s gentler breeze flood thy meads with
yellow flowers.
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induat autumnusque madentibus ambiat uvis.
omni nobilior lustro, tibi gloria soli 275
contigit exactum numquam memorata per aevum,
germanos habuisse duces; te cuncta loquetur
tellus; te variis scribent in floribus Horae
longaque perpetui ducent in saecula fasti.
* * * * *
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May summer crown thee with harvest and autumn store thee with luscious
grapes. An honour that no age has ever yet known, a privilege never yet
heard of in times gone by, this has been thine and thine alone--to have
had brothers as thy consuls. The whole world shall tell of thee, the
Hours shall inscribe thy name in various flowers, and age-long annals
hand thy fame down through the long centuries.
* * * * *
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IN RUFINUM LIBER PRIMUS
INCIPIT PRAEFATIO
(II.)
Phoebeo domitus Python cum decidit arcu
membraque Cirrhaeo fudit anhela iugo,
qui spiris tegeret montes, hauriret hiatu
flumina, sanguineis tangeret astra iubis:
iam liber Parnasus erat nexuque soluto 5
coeperat erecta surgere fronde nemus
concussaeque diu spatiosis tractibus orni
securas ventis explicuere comas
et qui vipereo spumavit saepe veneno
Cephisos nitidis purior ibat aquis. 10
omnis “io Paean” regio sonat; omnia Phoebum
rura canunt; tripodas plenior aura rotat,
auditoque procul Musarum carmine dulci
ad Themidis coëunt antra severa dei.
Nunc alio domini telis Pythone perempto 15
convenit ad nostram sacra caterva lyram,
qui stabilem servans Augustis fratribus orbem
iustitia pacem, viribus arma regit.
* * * * *
Page 25
THE FIRST BOOK AGAINST RUFINUS
PREFACE
(II.)
When Python had fallen, laid low by the arrow of Phoebus, his dying
limbs outspread o’er Cirrha’s heights--Python, whose coils covered
whole mountains, whose maw swallowed rivers and whose bloody crest
touched the stars--then Parnassus was free and the woods, their
serpent fetters shaken off, began to grow tall with lofty trees. The
mountain-ashes, long shaken by the dragon’s sinuous coils, spread their
leaves securely to the breeze, and Cephisus, who had so often foamed
with his poisonous venom, now flowed a purer stream with limpid wave.
The whole country echoed with the cry, “hail, Healer”: every land sang
Phoebus’ praise. A fuller wind shakes the tripod, and the gods, hearing
the Muses’ sweet song from afar off, gather in the dread caverns of
Themis.
A blessed band comes together to hear my song, now that a second Python
has been slain by the weapons of that master of ours who made the rule
of the brother Emperors hold the world steady, observing justice in
peace and showing vigour in war.
* * * * *
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LIBER I
(III.)
Saepe mihi dubiam traxit sententia mentem,
curarent superi terras an nullus inesset
rector et incerto fluerent mortalia casu.
nam cum dispositi quaesissem foedera mundi
praescriptosque mari fines annisque meatus 5
et lucis noctisque vices: tunc omnia rebar
consilio firmata dei, qui lege moveri
sidera, qui fruges diverso tempore nasci,
qui variam Phoeben alieno iusserit igni
compleri Solemque suo, porrexerit undis 10
litora, tellurem medio libraverit axe.
sed cum res hominum tanta caligine volvi
adspicerem laetosque diu florere nocentes
vexarique pios, rursus labefacta cadebat
relligio causaeque viam non sponte sequebar 15
alterius, vacuo quae currere semina motu
adfirmat magnumque novas per inane figuras
fortuna non arte regi, quae numina sensu
ambiguo vel nulla putat vel nescia nostri.
* * * * *
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