No More Learning

CLAUDIAN
Hinc honor Eutropio ; cumque omnibus unica virtus
esset in eunuchis thalamos servare pudicos,
solus adulteriis crevit. nec verbera tergo 100 cessavere tamen, quotiens decepta libido
irati caluisset eri, frustraque rogantem
iactantemque suos tot iam per lustra labores
dotalem genero nutritoremque puellae
tradidit. Eous rector consulque futurus 105 pectebat dominae crines et saepe lavanti
nudus in argento lympham gestabat alumnae.
et cum se rapido fessam proiecerat aestu,
patricius roseis pavonum ventilat alis.
Iamque aevo laxata cutis, sulcisque genarum 110 corruerat passa facies rugosior uva :
flava minus presso finduntur vomere rura,
nec vento sic vela tremunt. miserabile turpes exedere caput tineae ; deserta patebant
intervalla comae : qualis sitientibus arvis 115
arida ieiunae seges interlucet aristae
vel qualis gelidis pluma labente pruinis
arboris inmoritur trunco brumalis hirundo.
scilicet ut trabeis iniuria cresceret olim,
has in fronte notas, hoc dedecus addidit oris 120
luxuriae Fortuna suae : cum pallida nudis ossibus horrorem dominis praeberet imago decolor et macies occursu laederet omnes,
146
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
Hence sprang Eutropius' fame ; for, though a eunuch's one virtue be to guard the chastity of the marriage-chamber, here was one (and one only) who grew great through adulteries. But the lash fell as before on his back whenever his master's criminal passion was through him frustrated. Then
it was in vain that he prayed for forgiveness and reminded his lord of all those years of faithful service ; he would find himself handed over to a son-in-law as part of the bride's dowry. Thus he would become a lady's-maid, and so the future consul and governor of the East would comb his mistress' locks or stand naked holding a silver vessel of water wherein his charge could wash herself. And when overcome by the heat she threw herself upon her couch, there would stand this patrician fanning her with bright peacock feathers.
And now his skin had grown loose with age ; his face, more wrinkled than a raisin, had fallen in by reason of the lines in his cheeks. Less deep the furrows cloven in the cornfield by the plough, the folds wrought in the sails by the wind. Loathsome grubs ate away his head and bare patches appeared amid his hair. It was as though clumps of dry, barren corn dotted a sun-parched field, or as if a swallow were dying in winter sitting on a branch, moulting in the frosty weather. Truly, that the outrage to the consul's office might one day be the
Fortune added to her gift' of wealth this brand upon his brow, this deformity of face. When his pallor and fleshless bones had roused feelings of revulsion in his masters' hearts, and his foul complexion and lean body offended all who came
147
greater,
CLAUDIAN
aut pueris latura metus aut taedia mensis
aut crimen famulis aut procedentibus omen, 125 et nihil exhausto caperent in stipite lucri :
(sternere quippe toros vel caedere ligna culinae membra negant ; aurum, vestes, arcana tueri
mens infida vetat ; quis enim committere vellet lenoni thalamum ? ) : tandem ceu funus acerbum 130 infaustamque suis trusere penatibus umbram. contemptu iam liber erat : sic pastor obesum
lacte canem ferroque ligat pascitque revinctum,
dum validus servare gregem vigilique rapaces
latratu terrere lupos ; cum tardior idem 135 iam scabie laceras deiecit sordidus aures,
solvit et exuto lucratur vincula collo.
Est ubi despectus nimius iuvat. undique pulso per cunctas licuit fraudes impune vagari
et fatis aperire viam. pro quisquis Olympi 140 summa tenes, tanto libuit mortalia risu
vertere ? qui servi non est admissus in usum, suscipitur regnis, et quem privata ministrum dedignata domus, moderantem sustinet aula.
ut primum vetulam texere palatia vulpem, 145 quis non ingemuit ? quis non inrepere sacris obsequiis doluit totiens venale cadaver ?
ipsi quin etiam tali consorte fremebant
regales famuli, quibus est inlustrior ordo
servitii, sociumque diu sprevere superbi. 150
148
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
in contact with him, scaring children, disgusting those that sat at meat, disgracing his fellow-slaves, or terrifying as with an evil omen those that met him ; when his masters ceased to derive any advan tage from that withered trunk (for his wasted limbs refused even to make the beds or cut wood for the kitchen fire, while his faithless nature forbade their entrusting him with the charge of gold or vesture
entrust his marriage-chamber to a pander then at last they thrust him from their houses like a trouble some corpse or an ill-omened ghost. He was now free —for everyone despised him. So shepherd chains up a dog and fattens him with milk while yet his strength avails to guard the flock and, ever watchful, to scare away wolves with his barking.
But when later this same dog grows old and dirty and droops his mangy ears he looses him, and, taking off his collar, at least saves that.
Universal contempt sometimes a boon. Driven out by all, he could freely range amid every sort of crime, and open a way for destiny. Oh thou, whosoe'er thou art, that holdest sway in Olympus, was it thy humour to make such mockery of man kind He who was not suffered to perform the duties of a slave admitted to the administration of an empire him whom a private house scorned as a servant, palace tolerates as its lord. When
first the consular residence received this old vixen, who did not lament Who grieved not to see an oft- sold corpse worm itself into the sacred service of the emperor Nay, the very palace-servants, holding prouder rank in slavery, murmured at such colleague and long haughtily scorned his company.
149
or the secrets of the house —who could bring him to
a
a
? ),
?
a;
a
?
is
?
is
CLAUDIAN
Cernite, quem Latiis poscant adnectere fastis : cuius et eunuchos puduit ! sed vilior ante obscurae latuit pars ignotissima turbae,
donee Abundanti furiis —qui rebus Eois
exitium primumque sibi produxit—ab imis 155
evectus thalamis summos invasit honores.
quam bene dispositum terris, ut dignus iniqui
fructus consilii primis auctoribus instet.
sic multos fluvio vates arente per annos
hospite qui caeso monuit placare Tonantem, 160 inventas primus Busiridis imbuit aras
et cecidit saevi, quod dixerat, hostia sacri.
sic opifex tauri tormentorumque repertor, qui funesta novo fabricaverat aera dolori,
primus inexpertum Siculo cogente tyranno 165 sensit opus docuitque suum mugire iuvencum.
nullius Eutropius, quam qui se protulit, ante direptas possedit opes nullumque priorem
perculit exilio solumque hoc rite peregit, auctorem damnare suum.
Postquam obsitus aevo 170 semivir excelsam rerum sublatus in arcem,
quod nec vota pati nec fingere somnia possunt,
vidit sub pedibus leges subiectaque colla
nobilium tantumque sibi permittere fata,
qui nihil optasset plus libertate mereri, 175
1 By birth a Scythian. Entered the Roman army under Gratian and reached the position of magister utriusque militiae under Theodosius. Consul in 393 (Zosim. v. 10. 5)
150
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
See what manner of man they seek to connect with the annals of Rome : the very eunuchs were ashamed of him. At first of no account, he lay hid, the most unknown unit of an unregarded throng, till thanks
to the mad folly of Abundantius
ruin on the empire of the East and, ere that, upon
he was advanced from the most menial office to the highest honours. What a happy dis pensation of providence it is that in this world the results of ill counsel fall first upon its instigators ! Thus the seer who advised Busiris to placate the Thunderer's wrath, what time Nile's flood had long run dry, with a stranger's blood himself first stained that tyrant's altar with his own and fell a victim of the horrid sacrifice he had advised. Thus he who made the brazen bull and devised that new form of torture, casting the deadly bronze as an instrument of torment, was (at the bidding of the Sicilian tyrant) the first to make trial of the unhanselled
and to teach his own bull to roar. So with Eutropius : on no man's goods did he sooner seize than on those
of him by whom he had been raised to power ; none did he drive sooner into exile and thus, by the condemnation of his patron, was to thank for one righteous action.
When this half-man, worn out with age, had been raised to that pinnacle of glory for which he never would have dared to pray, of which never to dream ; when he had seen law at his feet, the heads of the nobility inclined before him, and fortune heap ing such gifts upon one whose only hope and prayer had been to gain his freedom, he straightway forgot
and banished three years later to Pityus, thanks to the machinations of Eutropius.
151
himself)
1
(who
brought
image,
CLAUDIAN
iamiam dissimulat dominos alteque tumescunt
serviles animi.
career et exulibus Meroe campique gemescunt Aethiopum ; poenis hominum plaga personat ardens ; Marmaricus claris violatur caedibus Hammon. 180
Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum : cuncta ferit dum cuncta timet, desaevit in omnes
ut se posse putent, nec belua taetrior ulla
quam servi rabies in libera terga furentis ;
agnoscit gemitus et poenae parcere nescit, 185 quam subiit, dominique memor, quem verberat, odit. adde, quod eunuchus nulla pietate movetur
nec generi natisve cavet. dementia cunctis
in similes, animosque ligant consortia damni ;
iste nec eunuchis placidus.
Sed peius in aurum 190 aestuat ; hoc uno fruitur succisa libido,
quid nervos secuisse iuvat ? vis nulla cruentam castrat avaritiam. parvis exercita furtis
quae vastare penum neglectaque sueverat arcae
claustra remoliri, nunc uberiore rapina 195
peccat in orbe manus. quidquid se Tigris ab Haemo
dividit, hoc certa proponit merce locandum
institor imperii, caupo famosus honorum.
hic Asiam villa pactus regit ; ille redemit
coniugis ornatu Syriam ; dolet ille paterna 200 Bithynos mutasse domo. subfixa patenti
vestibulo pretiis distinguit regula gentes : 152
procerum squalore repletus
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
his former masters, and his slave's mind swelled high within him. The prisons were filled with degraded nobles, Meroe and the plains of Ethiopia re-echoed to the weeping of exiles ; the desert rang with the punishment of men ; the temple of Jupiter Ammon in Africa was stained with gentle blood.
Nothing is so cruel as a man raised from lowly station to prosperity ; he strikes everything, for he fears everything ; he vents his rage on all, that all may deem he has the power. No beast so fearful as the rage of a slave let loose on free-born backs ; their groans are familiar to him, and he cannot be sparing of punishment that he himself has under gone ; remembering his own master he hates the man he lashes. Being a eunuch also he is moved by no natural affection and has no care for family or children. All are moved to pity by those whose circumstances are like their own ; similitude of ills is a close bond. Yet he is kind not even to eunuchs.
His passion for gold increases —the only passion his mutilated body can indulge. Of what use was
emasculation ? The knife is
reckless avarice. That hand so well practised in petty thefts, accustomed to rifle a cupboard or remove the bolt from the unwatched coffer, now finds richer spoils and the whole world to rob. All the country between the Tigris and Mount Haemus he exposes for sale at a fixed price, this huckster of empire, this infamous dealer in honours. This man governs Africa for the which his villa has paid. That man buys Syria with his wife's jewels. Another repents of having taken Bithynia in exchange for his paternal mansion. Fixed above the open doors of his hall is a list giving the provinces and their
153
powerless against
CLAUDIAN
tot Galatae, tot Pontus eat, tot Lydia nummis ;
si Lyciam tenuisse velis, tot millia ponas,
si Phrygas, adde ; parum ! propriae solacia sorti 205 communes vult esse notas et venditus ipse
vendere cuncta cupit. certantum saepe duorum diversum suspendit onus ; cum pondere iudex
vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lances.
Nop pudet heu, superi, populos venire sub hasta ? vendentis certe pudeat, quod iure sepultum 211 mancipium tot regna tenet, tot distrahit urbes. pollentem solio Croesum victoria Cyri
fregit, ut eunucho flueret Pactolus et Hermus ? Attalus heredem voluit te, Roma, relinqui, 215 restitit Antiochus praescripto margine Tauri, indomitos curru Servilius egit Isauros
et Pharos Augusto iacuit vel Creta Metello,
ne non Eutropio quaestus numerosior esset ?
in mercem veniunt Cilices, Iudaea, Sophene 220 Romanusque labor Pompeianique triumphi.
Quo struis hos auri cumulos ? quae pignora tantis
succedent opibus ? nubas ducasve licebit :
numquam mater eris, numquam pater ; hoc tibi ferrum,
hoc natura negat. te grandibus India gemmis, 225 te foliis Arabes ditent, te vellere Seres :
nullus inops adeo, nullum sic urget egestas,
ut velit Eutropii fortunam et membra pacisci.
Iamque oblita sui nec sobria divitiis mens
1 Attalus, King of Pergamum, left his kingdom by will to Rome, 133 B. C. It became the province of Asia. The terms mentioned here were imposed on Antiochus, King of Syria, in 189 B. C. P. Servilius crossed the Taurus and subdued the Isauri 78 b. c ; Crete was conquered by Q. Metellus between 68 and 66 b. c.
154
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
prices : so much for Galatia, for Pontus so much,
so much will buy one Lydia. Would you govern Lycia? Then lay down so many thousands. Phrygia ? A little more. He wishes everything to be marked with its price to console him for his own fortune and, himself so often sold, he wants to sell everything. When two are rivals he suspends in the balance their opposed payment ; along with the weight the judge inclines, and a province hangs wavering
in a pair of scales.
Ye gods, are ye not ashamed that whole peoples
are sold beneath the hammer ?
shame you of the seller, when a slave, a chattel the law counts dead, possesses so many kingdoms and retails so many cities. Did Gyrus' victory oust mighty Croesus from his throne that Pactolus and Hermus should roll their waves for a eunuch ? Did Attalus make you, Rome, his heir, was Antiochus confined within the appointed bounds of Taurus, did Servilius enjoy a triumph over the hitherto unconquered Isaurians, did Egypt fall before Augustus, and Crete before Metellus, to ensure Eutropius a sufficient income ? 1 Cilicia, Judaea,
At least let it
Sophene, all Rome's labours and Pompey's triumphs, are there to sell.
Why heap up these riches ? Hast thou children to succeed to them ? Marry or be married, thou canst never be a mother or a father : the former nature hath denied thee, the latter the surgeon's knife. India may enrich thee with enormous jewels, Arabia with her spices, China with her silks ; none so needy, none so poverty-stricken as to wish to have Eutropius' fortune and therewith Eutropius' body.
And now his mind, forgetful of its true nature and 155
CLAUDIAN
in miseras leges hominumque negotia ludit. 230 iudicat eunuchus ; quid iam de consule miror ?
prodigium, quodcumque gerit. quae pagina lites
sic actas meminit ? quibus umquam saecula terris eunuchi videre forum ? sed ne qua vacaret
pars ignominia neu quid restaret inausum, 235 arma etiam violare parat portentaque monstris aggerat et secum petulans amentia certat.
erubuit Mavors aversaque risit Enyo
dedecus Eoum, quotiens intenta sagittis
et pharetra fulgens anus exercetur Amazon 240 arbiter aut quotiens belli pacisque recurrit adloquiturque Getas. gaudet cum viderit hostis
et sentit iam deesse viros. incendia fumant,
muris nulla fides, squalent populatibus agri
et medio spes sola mari. trans Phasin aguntur 245 Cappadocum matres, stabulisque abducta paternis Caucasias captiva bibunt armenta pruinas
et Scythicis mutant Argaei pabula silvis.
extra Cimmerias, Taurorum claustra, paludes
flos Syriae servit. spoliis nec sufficit atrox 250 barbarus : in caedem vertunt fastidia praedae.
Ille tamen (quid enim servum mollemque pudebit ? aut quid in hoc poterit vultu flagrare ruboris ? )
pro victore redit : peditum vexilla sequuntur
et turmae similes eunuchorumque manipli, 255 Hellespontiacis legio dignissima signis.
obvius ire cliens defensoremque reversum
complecti. placet ipse sibi laxasque laborat
1 A mountain in Cappadocia.
2 Claudian is scarcely fair to Eutropius. The reference here is to the campaign of 398 in which Eutropius succeeded in driving the Huns back behind the Caucasus.
156
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
drunken with riches, makes sport of wretched law and the affairs of men. A eunuch is judge. Why now wonder that he is consul ? Whatever he does is a prodigy. Can the annals of the law show cases so mishandled ? What age or what country has ever witnessed a eunuch's jurisdiction ? That nought might remain undisgraced, nought un- attempted, he even makes him ready to outrage arms, heaps portent on portent and wanton folly seeks to outdo itself. Mars blushed, Bellona scoffed and turned her from the disgrace of the East whene'er with arrows strung and flashing quiver the aged Amazon practises battle or hurries back as arbiter of peace and war to hold parley with the Getae. Our enemies rejoiced at the sight and felt that at last we were lacking in men. Towns were set ablaze ; walls offered no security. The countryside was
and brought to ruin. Mid-ocean alone
ravaged gave hope.
Women of Cappadocia were driven into across the river Phasis ; stolen from the stalls of their homesteads, the captive herds drink
the snowy streams of Caucasus, and the flocks
exchange the pastures of Mount Argaeus 1 for the woods of Scythia. Beyond the Cimmerian marshes, defence of the Tauric tribes, the youth of Syria are slaves. Too vast for the fierce barbarians are the spoils ; glutted with booty they turn to slaughter.
Yet Eutropius (can a slave, an effeminate, feel shame ? Could a blush grace such a countenance
captivity
returns in triumph. There follow com panies of foot, squadrons like their general, maniples of eunuchs, an army worthy Priapus' standards. His creatures meet him and embrace their saviour on his return. 2 Great his self-esteem he struggles
157
Eutropius
is
;
? ),
CLAUDIAN
distendisse genas fictumque inflatus anhelat,
pulvere respersus tineas et solibus ora 260
pallidior, verbisque sonat plorabile quiddam
ultra nequitiam fractis et proelia narrat :
perque suam tremula testatur voce sororem, defecisse vagas ad publica commoda vires ;
cedere livori nec sustentare procellas 265
invidiae ; mergique fretis spumantibus orat. exoretque utinam ! dum talia fatur ineptus,
deterget lacrimas atque inter singula dicta
flebile suspirat : qualis venit arida socrus
longinquam visura nurum ; vix lassa resedit 270 et iam vina petit.
Quid te, turpissime, bellis inseris aut saevi pertemptas Pallada campi ?
tu potes alterius studiis haerere Minervae
et telas, non tela pati, tu stamina nosse,
tu segnes operum sollers urgere puellas 275 et niveam dominae pensis involvere lanam.
vel, si sacra placent, habeas pro Marte Cybeben ; rauca Celaenaeos ad tympana disce furores.
cymbala ferre licet pectusque inlidere pinu
inguinis et reliquum Phrygiis abscidere cultris. 280 arma relinque viris. geminam quid dividis aulam conarisque pios odiis committere fratres ?
te magis, ah demens, veterem si respicis artem, conciliare decet.
158
Gestis pro talibus annum
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
to swell out his pendulous cheeks and feigns a heavy
panting ; his lousy head dust-sprinkled and his face bleached whiter by the sun, he sobs out some pitiful complaint with voice more effeminate than effeminacy's self and tells of battles. In tremulous tones he calls his sister to witness that he has spent his strength for his country's need ; that he yields to envy and cannot stand up against the storms of jealousy and prays to be drowned in the foaming seas. Would God his prayer had been granted ! Thus speaking, he wipes away the silly tears, sighing and sobbing between each word ; like a withered old dame travelled far to visit her son's daughter- — scarce seated aweary and already she asks for wine.
Why busy thy foul self with wars ? Why attempt battle on the bloody field ? 'Tis to the arts of that other Minerva thou shouldst apply thyself. The distaff, not the dart should be thine ; thine to spin the thread, and, cunning craftsman that thou art, to urge on the spinning -maids when lazy ; thine to wind the snowy wool for thy mistress' weaving. Or, wouldst thou be a devotee, let Cybele, not Mars,
be the object of thy worship. Learn to imitate the
madness of the Corybantes to the accompaniment
of rolling drums. Thou
pierce thy breast with the sacred pine, and with Phrygian knife destroy what yet is left of thy virility. Leave arms to men. Why seek to divide the two empires and embroil loving brothers in strife ? Madman, remember thy former trade ;
'twere more fitting thou shouldst endeavour to reconcile them.
It is for deeds like this that Eutropius demands 159
mayest carry cymbals,
CLAUDIAN
flagitet Eutropius, ne quid non polluat unus, 285 dux acies, iudex praetoria, tempora consul !
Nil adeo foedum, quod non exacta vetustas ediderit longique labor commiserit aevi.
Oedipodes matrem, natam duxisse Thyestes
cantatur, peperit fratres Iocasta marito 290 et Pelopea sibi. Thebas ac funera Troiae
tristis Erechthei deplorat scaena theatri.
in volucrem Tereus, Cadmus se vertit in anguem. Scylla novos mirata canes. hunc arbore figit,
elevat hunc pluma, squamis hunc fabula vestit, 295 hunc solvit fluvio. numquam spado consul in orbe nec iudex ductorve fuit ! quodcumque virorum
est decus, eunuchi scelus est. exempla creantur quae socci superent risus luctusque cothurni.
velavit nudasque nates ac terga reliquit, 305 ludibrium mensis ; erecto pectore dives
ambulat et claro sese deformat amictu.
candida pollutos comitatur curia fasces,
forsitan et dominus. praebet miracula lictor 1 i. e. the Emperor.
160
Quam pulcher conspectus
exangues onerante toga cinctuque gravatus 301 indutoque senex obscaenior iret in auro :
humani qualis simulator simius oris,
quem puer adridens pretioso stamine Serum
erat, cum tenderet artus
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
this year of office, to ensure that by his efforts alone he leaves nothing not dishonoured, ruining the army as its general, the courts as their judge, the imperial fasti as a consul.
No portent so monstrous but time past has given it birth and the labour of bygone centuries produced it. Legend tells us that Oedipus married his mother
Jocasta bare brothers to her husband, Thyestes 's daughter gave birth to her own brother.
Athenian tragedy tells the sad
tale of Thebes and the baneful war of Troy. Tereus was changed into a bird, Cadmus into a snake ; Scylla looked in amaze on the dogs that girt her waist. Ancient story relates how one was transformed into a tree and thus attached to earth, how another grew wings and flew, how a third was clothed with scales and yet another melted into a river. But no country has ever had a eunuch for a consul or judge or general. What in a man is honourable is disgraceful in an emas culate. Here is an example to surpass all that is most
laughable in comedy, most lamentable in tragedy.
A pleasant sight in truth to see him strain his sapless limbs beneath the weight of the toga, borne down by the wearing of his consular dress ; the
gold of his raiment rendered his decrepitude even more hideous. 'Twas as though an ape, man's imitator, had been decked out in sport with precious silken garments by a boy who had left his back and quarters uncovered to amuse the guests at supper. Thus richly dressed he walks upright and seems the more loathsome by reason of his brilliant trappings. Dressed in white the senate, perhaps even his master,1 accompanies the dishonoured fasces. Be
and Thyestes his daughter ;
hold a portent VOL. i
!
A lictor more noble than the m 161
CLAUDIAN
consule nobilior libertatemque daturus, 310 quam necdum meruit. scandit sublime tribunal atque inter proprias laudes Aegyptia iactat
somnia prostratosque canit se vate tyrannos.
scilicet in dubio vindex Bellona pependit,
dum spado Tiresias enervatusque Melampus 315 reptat ab extremo referens oracula Nilo.
Obstrepuere avium voces, exhorruit annus
nomen, et insanum gemino proclamat ab ore eunuchumque vetat fastis accedere Ianus :
sumeret inlicitos etenim si femina fasces, 320 esset turpe minus. Medis levibusque Sabaeis imperat hie sexus, reginarumque sub armis
barbariae pars magna iacet : gens nulla probatur, eunuchi quae sceptra ferat. Tritonia, Phoebe, Terra, Ceres, Cybele, Iuno, Latona coluntur : 325 eunuchi quae templa dei, quas vidimus aras ?
inde sacerdotes ; haec intrat pectora Phoebus ; inde canunt Delphi ; Troianam sola Minervam
virginitas Vestalis adit flammasque tuetur :
hi nullas meriti vittas semperque profani. 330 nascitur ad fructum mulier prolemque futuram :
hoc genus inventum est ut serviat. Herculis arcu concidit Hippolyte ; Danai fugere bipennem, Penthesilea, tuam ; claras Carthaginis arces
creditur et centum portis Babylona superbam 335 femineus struxisse labor. quid nobile gessit
1 In 394 Arcadius had sent Eutropius to the Thebaid to consult a certain Christian prophet, John, upon the result of Eugenius' revolt (Sozom. vii. 22. 7, 8).
162
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
consul, and a man about to grant to others a liberty which he has not yet himself won. He mounts the lofty platform and amid a torrent of self-laudation boasts of a prophetic dream he had in Egypt 1 and of the defeat of tyrants which he foretold. No doubt the goddess of war stayed her avenging hand and waited till that emasculate Tiresias, that unmanned Melampus, could crawl back with oracles culled from farthest Nile.
Loud sang the prophetic birds in warning. The year shuddered at the thought of bearing Eutropius' name, and Janus proclaimed the madness of the choice from his two mouths, forbidding a eunuch to have access to his annals. Had a woman assumed the fasces, though this were illegal it were neverthe
less less disgraceful. Women bear sway among the Medes and swift Sabaeans ; half barbary is governed by martial queens. We know of no people who endure a eunuch's rule. Worship is paid to Pallas, Phoebe, Vesta, Ceres, Cybele, Juno, and Latona ; have we ever seen a temple built or altars raised to
a eunuch god ? From among women are priestesses chosen ; Phoebus enters into their hearts ; through their voices the Delphian oracle speaks ; none but the Vestal Virgins approach the shrine of Trojan Minerva and tend her flame : eunuchs have never deserved the fillet and are always unholy. A woman is born that she may bear children and perpetuate the human race ; the tribe of eunuchs was made for servitude. Hippolyte fell but by the arrow of Hercules ; the Greeks fled before Penthesilea's axe ; Carthage, far-famed citadel, proud Babylon with her hundred gates, are both said to have been built by a woman's hand. What noble deed did
163
CLAUDIAN
eunuchus ? quae bella tulit ? quas condidit urbes ? illas praeterea rerum natura creavit,
hos fecere manus : seu prima Semiramis astu Assyriis mentita virum, ne vocis acutae 340 mollities levesve genae se prodere possent,
hos sibi coniunxit similes ; seu Parthica ferro luxuries vetuit nasci lanuginis umbram
servatoque diu puerili flore coegit
arte retardatam Veneri servire iuventam. 345
Fama prius falso similis vanoque videri
ficta ioco ; levior volitare per oppida rumor
riderique nefas : veluti nigrantibus alis
audiretur olor, corvo certante ligustris.
atque aliquis gravior morum : " si talibus, inquit, 350 creditur et nimiis turgent mendacia monstris,
iam testudo volat, profert iam cornua vultur ;
prona petunt retro fluvii iuga ; Gadibus ortum Carmani texere diem ; iam frugibus aptum
aequor et adsuetum silvis delphina videbo ; 355 iam cochleis homines iunctos et quidquid inane nutrit Iudaicis quae pingitur India velis. "
" Subicit et mixtis salibus lascivior alter :
miraris ? nihil est, quod non in pectore magnum concipit Eutropius. semper nova, grandia semper
diligit et celeri degustat singula sensu. 361 nil timet a tergo ; vigilantibus undique curis
nocte dieque patet ; lenis facilisque moveri supplicibus mediaque tamen mollissimus ira
nil negat et sese vel non poscentibus offert ; 365 164
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
a eunuch ever do ? What wars did such an one fight, what cities did he found ? Moreover, nature created the former, the hand of man the latter, whether it was from fear of being betrayed by her shrill woman's voice and her hairless cheeks that clever Semiramis, to disguise her sex from the Assyrians, first surrounded herself with beings like her, or the Parthians employed the knife to stop the growth of the first down of manhood and forced their boys, kept boys by artifice, to serve their lusts by thus lengthening the years of youthful charm.
At first the rumour of Eutropius' consulship seemed false and invented as a jest. A vague story
spread from city to city ; the crime was laughed at as one would laugh to hear of a swan with black wings or a crow as white as privet. Thus spake
"If such
one of weighty character : things
are believed and swollen lies tell of unheard of monsters,
then the tortoise can fly, the vulture grow horns, rivers flow back and mount the hills whence they spring, the sun rise behind Gades and set amid the Carmanians of India ; I shall soon see ocean fit nursery for plants and the dolphin a denizen of the woods ; beings half-men, half-snails and all the vain imaginings of India depicted on Jewish curtains. "
Then another adds, jesting with a more wanton
" :
wit
that Eutropius does not conceive in his heart. He ever loves novelty, ever size, and is quick to taste
Dost thou wonder ?
Nothing great
is there
in turn. He fears no assault from the rear ; night and day he is ready with watchful care ; soft, easily moved by entreaty, and, even in the midst of his passion, tenderest of men, he never says ' no,' and is ever at the disposal even of
165
everything
CLAUDIAN
quod libet ingenio, subigit traditque fruendum ; quidquid amas, dabit illa manus ; communiter omni fungitur officio gaudetque potentia flecti.
hoc quoque conciliis peperit meritoque laborum, accipit et trabeas argutae praemia dextrae. " 370
Postquam vera fides facinus vulgavit Eoum
gentibus et Romae iam certius impulit aures,
" Eutropiumne etiam nostra dignabimur ira ? "
hic quoque Romani meruit pars esse doloris ?
sic effata rapit caeli per inania cursum 375
diva potens unoque Padum translapsa volatu castra sui rectoris adit. tum forte decorus
cum Stilichone gener pacem implorantibus ultro Germanis responsa dabat, legesque Caucis
arduus et flavis signabat iura Suebis. 380 his tribuit reges, his obside foedera sancit
indicto ; bellorum alios transcribit in usus, militet ut nostris detonsa Sygambria signis.
laeta subit Romam pietas et gaudia paene
moverunt lacrimas tantoque exultat alumno : 385 sic armenta suo iam defensante iuvenco
celsius adsurgunt erectae cornua matri,
sic iam terribilem stabulis dominumque ferarum crescere miratur genetrix Massyla leonem.
dimovit nebulam iuvenique adparuit ingens. 390 tum sic oras loqui :
1 With a play upon the sexual meaning of the word : indeed the whole passage, from 1. 358 is a mass of obscene innuendo.
2 i. e. the consulship. 166
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
those that solicit him not. Whatever the senses desire he cultivates and offers for another's enjoyment.
That hand will give whatever thou wouldest have . performs the functions of all alike ; his dignity loves to unbend. His meetings 1 and his deserving labours have won him this reward,2 and he receives the consul's robe in recompense for the work of his skilful hand. "
When the rumour concerning this disgrace of the eastern empire was known to be true and had impressed belief on Roman ears, Rome's goddess thus spake : " Is Eutropius worthy of mine ire ? Is such an one fit cause for Roman grief? " So saying the mighty goddess winged her way through the heavens and with one stroke of her pinions passed beyond the Po and approached the camp of her emperor. It happened that even then the august Honorius, assisted by his father-in-law Stilicho, was making answer to the Germans who had come of their own accord to sue for peace. From his lofty throne he was dictating laws to the Cauci and giving a constitution to the flaxen-haired Suebi. Over these he sets a king, with those he signs a treaty now that hostages have been demanded ; others he enters on the list as serviceable allies in war, so that in future the Sygambrians will cut off their flowing locks and serve beneath our banners. Joy and love so fill the goddess' heart that she well nigh weeps, so great is her happy pride in her illustrious foster-child. So when a heifer fights in defence of the herd his mother lifts her own horns more proudly ; so the African lioness gazes with admiration on her cub as he grows to be the terror of the farmsteads and the future king of beasts. Rome lays aside her veil of cloud and towers above the youthful warrior, then thus begins.
167
He
CLAUDIAN
" Quantum te principe possim, non longinqua docent, domito quod Saxone Tethys
mitior aut fracto secura Britannia Picto ;
ante pedes humili Franco tristique Suebo
perfruor et nostrum video, Germanice, Rhenum. 395 sed quid agam ? discors Oriens felicibus actis
invidet atque alio Phoebi de cardine surgunt
crimina, ne toto conspiret corpore regnum.
Gildonis taceo magna cum laude receptam
perfidiam et fretos Eoo robore Mauros. 400 quae suscepta fames, quantum discriminis urbi,
ni tua vel soceri numquam non provida virtus australem Arctois pensasset frugibus annum !
invectae Rhodani Tiberina per ostia classes Cinyphiisque ferax Araris successit aristis. 405 Teutonicus vomer Pyrenaeique iuvenci
sudavere mihi ; segetes mirantur Hiberas
horrea ; nec Libyae senserunt damna rebellis
iam transalpina contenti messe Quirites.
ille quidem solvit meritas (scit Tabraca) poenas, 410 ut pereat quicumque tuis conflixerit armis.
" Ecce repens isdem clades a partibus exit terrorisque minus, sed plus habitura pudoris Eutropius consul, pridem tolerare fatemur
hoc genus, Arsacio postquam se regia fastu 415
sustulit et nostros corrupit Parthia mores,
praefecti sed adhuc gemmis vestique dabantur custodes sacroque adhibere silentia somno ;
1 She calls him Germanicus because of his pacification of Germany ; see Introduction, p. x.
168
EUTROPIUS, I
" Examples near at hand testify to the extent of my power now thou art emperor. The Saxon is conquered and the seas safe ; the Picts have been defeated and Britain is secure. I love to see at my feet the humbled Franks and broken Suebi, and I behold the Rhine mine own, Germanicus. 1 Yet what am I to do ? The discordant East envies our prosperity, and beneath that other sky, lo ! wickedness flourishes to prevent our empire's breathing in harmony with one body. I make no mention of Gildo's treason, detected so gloriously
in spite of the power of the East on which the rebel Moor relied. For what extremes of famine did we not then look ? How dire a danger overhung our city, had not thy valour or the ever-provident diligence of thy father-in-law supplied corn from the north in place of
AGAINST
that from the south !
ships from the Rhine, and the Saone's fertile banks made good the lost harvests of Africa. For me the Germans ploughed and the Spaniards' oxen sweated ; my granaries marvel at Iberian corn, nor did my citizens, now satisfied with harvests from beyond the Alps, feel the defection of revolted Africa. Gildo, how ever, paid the penalty for his treason as Tabraca can witness. So perish all who take up arms against thee !
Up Tiber's estuary there sailed
" Lo ! on a sudden from that same clime comes another scourge, less terrible indeed but even more shameful, the consulship of Eutropius. I admit I have long learned to tolerate this unmanned tribe, ever since the court exalted itself with Arsacid
pomp and the example of Parthia corrupted our morals. But till now they were but set to guard jewels and raiment. and to secure silence for the imperial slumber. Never beyond the sleeping
169
CLAUDIAN
militia eunuchi numquam progressa cubili,
non vita spondente fidem, sed inertia tutum 420 mentis pignus erat. secreta monilia servent,
ornatus curent Tyrios : a fronte recedant
imperii. tenero tractari pectore nescit
publica maiestas. numquam vel in aequore puppim vidimus eunuchi clavo parere magistri. 425 nos adeo sperni faciles ? orbisque carina
vilior ? auroram sane, quae talia ferre
gaudet, et adsuetas sceptris muliebribus urbes possideant ; quid belliferam communibus urunt
Italiam maculis nocituraque probra severis 430 ammiscent populis ? peregrina piacula forti
pellantur longe Latio nec transeat Alpes
dedecus ; in solis, quibus extitit, haereat arvis. scribat Halys, scribat famae contemptor Orontes : per te perque tuos obtestor Roma triumphos, 435 nesciat hoc Thybris, numquam poscentibus olim
qui dare Dentatis annos Fabiisque solebat.
Martius eunuchi repetet suffragia campus ?
Aemilios inter servatoresque Camillos
Eutropius ? iam Chrysogonis tua, Brute, potestas 440 Narcissisque datur ? natos hoc dedere poenae profuit et misero civem praeponere patri ?
hoc mihi Ianiculo positis Etruria castris
quaesiit et tantum fluvio Porsenna remotus ?
hoc meruit vel ponte Codes vel Mucius igne ? 445 visceribus frustra castum Lucretia ferrum
1 Notorious freedmen and tools respectively of Sulla and the Emperor Claudius.
170
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
chamber did the eunuch's service pass ; not their lives gave guarantee of loyalty but their dull wits were a sure pledge. Let them guard hidden store of pearls and Tyrian-dyed vestments ; they must quit high offices of state. The majesty of Rome cannot devolve upon an effeminate. Never have we seen so much as a ship at sea obey the helm in the hands of a eunuch-captain. Are we then so
despicable ? Is the whole world of less account than a ship ? Let eunuchs govern the East by all means, for the East rejoices in such rulers, let them lord it over cities accustomed to a woman's sway : why disfigure warlike Italy with the general brand and defile her austere peoples with their deadly profligacy ? Drive this foreign pollution from out the boundaries of manly Latium ; suffer not this thing of shame to cross the Alps ; let it remain fixed in the country of its birth. Let the river
Halys or Orontes, careless of its reputation, add
such a name to its annals :
thy life and triumphs, let not Tiber suffer this disgrace—Tiber whose way was to give the consul ship to such men as Dentatus and Fabius though they asked not for it. Shall the Field of Mars witness the canvassing of an eunuch ? Is Eutropius to stand with Aemilii and Camilli, saviours of their country ? Is thy office, Brutus, now to be given to a Chryso- gonus or a Narcissus 1 ? Is this the reward for giving up thy sons to punishment and setting the citizen's duty before the father's grief ? Was it for this that
the Tuscans made their camp on the Janiculum and Porsenna was but the river's span from our gates ? For this that Horatius kept the bridge and Mucius braved the flames ? Was it all to no purpose that
171
I, Rome, thee beg
by
CLAUDIAN
mersit et attonitum tranavit Cloelia Thybrim ? Eutropio fasces adservabantur adempti
Tarquiniis ? quemcumque meae vexere curules, laxato veniat socium aversatus Averno. 450 impensi sacris Decii prorumpite bustis
Torquatique truces animosaque pauperis umbra Fabricii tuque o, si forte inferna piorum
iugera et Elysias scindis, Serrane, novales.
Poeno Scipiadae, Poeno praeclare Lutati, 455 Sicania Marcelle ferox, gens Claudia surgas 1
et Curii veteres ; et, qui sub iure negasti
vivere Caesareo, parvo procede sepulcro
Eutropium passure Cato ; remeate tenebris,
agmina Brutorum Corvinorumque catervae. 460 eunuchi vestros habitus, insignia sumunt
ambigui Romana mares ; rapuere tremendas
Hannibali Pyrrhoque togas ; flabella perosi adspirant trabeis ; iam non umbracula gestant
Latias ausi vibrare secures !
" Linquite femineas infelix turba latebras,
465
virginibus,
alter quos pepulit sexus nec suscipit alter,
execti Veneris stimulos et vulnere casti
(mixta duplex aetas ; inter puerumque senemque
nil medium) : falsi complete sedilia patres ; 470
ite novi proceres infecundoque senatu Eutropium stipate ducem ; celebrate tribunal pro thalamis, verso iam discite more curules, non matrum pilenta sequi.
172
1 uss. have surgat
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
chaste Lucretia plunged the dagger into her bosom and Cloelia swam the astonished Tiber ? Were the fasces reft from Tarquin to be given to Eutropius ? Let Hell ope her jaws and all who have sat in my curule chair come and turn their backs upon their colleague. Decii, self-sacrificed for your country's good, come forth from your graves ; and you, fierce Torquati ; and thou, too, great-hearted shade of poor Fabricius. Serranus, come thou hither, if now thou ploughest the acres of the holy dead and cleavest the fallow lands of Elysium. Come Scipios, Lutatius, famed for your victories over Carthage, Marcellus,- conqueror of Sicily, rise from the dead, thou Claudian race, you progeny of Curius. Cato, thou who wouldst not live beneath Caesar's rule, come thou forth from thy simple tomb and brave the
of Eutropius. Immortal bands of Bruti and Corvini, return to earth. Eunuchs don your robes of office, sexless beings assume the insignia of Rome. They have laid hands on the toga that inspired Hannibal and Pyrrhus with terror. They now despise the fan and aspire to the consul's cloak. No longer do they carry the maidenly parasol for they have dared to wield the axes of Latium.
sight
" Unhappy band, leave your womanly fastnesses, you whom the male sex has discarded and the female will not adopt. The knife has cut out the stings of love and by that wounding you are pure. A mixture are you of two ages —child and greybeard and nought between. Take your seats, fathers in name alone. Come new lords, come sterile senate, throng your leader Eutropius. Fill the judgement-seat, not the bedchamber. Change your habits and learn to follow the consul's chair, not the woman's litter.
173
CLAUDIAN
" Ne prisca revolvam
neu numerem, quantis iniuria mille per annos 475
sit retro ducibus, quanti foedabitur aevi
canities, unam subeant quot saecula culpam :
inter Arinthaei fastos et nomen erile
servus erit dominoque suos aequalis honores
inseret ! heu semper Ptolomaei noxia mundo 480 mancipia ! en alio laedor graviore Pothino
et patior maius Phario scelus. ille cruorem
consulis unius Pellaeis ensibus hausit ;
" Si nil privata movebunt,
at tu principibus, vestrae tu prospice causae 485
regalesque averte notas. hunc accipit unum
aula magistratum : vobis patribusque recurrit
hic alternus honos. in crimen euntibus annis
parce, quater consul ! contagia fascibus, oro, defendas ignava tuis neu tradita libris 490 omina vestitusque meos, quibus omne, quod ambit oceanus, domui, tanta caligine mergi
calcarique sinas. nam quae iam bella geramus mollibus auspiciis ? quae iam conubia prolem
vel frugem latura seges ? quid fertile terris, 495 quid plenum sterili possit sub consule nasci ?
eunuchi si iura dabunt legesque tenebunt,
ducant pensa viri mutatoque ordine rerum
vivat Amazonio confusa licentia ritu.
1 Arinthaeus had held the high position of magister peditum. He died in 379.
8 Pothinus, the creature of Ptolemy Dionysius, was instrumental in killing Pompey in Egypt in 48 B. C.
174
inquinat hic omnes.
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, I
" I would not cite examples from remote anti quity nor count the countless magistrates of past history whom he thus outrages. But think how the reverence due to all past ages will be impaired, on how many centuries one man's shame will set its mark. Amid the annals that record the name of Arinthaeus,1 his master, will be found the slave, and he will enter his own honours as equal to those of his owner. The slaves of Egypt's kings have ever been a curse to the world ; behold I suffer from a worse than Pothinus and bear a wrong more flagrant than that of which Egypt was once the scene. Pothinus' sword at Alexandria spilled the blood of a single consul ; 2 Eutropius brings dishonour on all.
" If the fate of subjects cannot move thee, yet have thou regard for princes, for your common cause, and remove this stain on royalty. The consul ship is the sole office the emperor deigns to accept ;
alternately
the honour passes to Court and Senate.
Thou who hast thyself been four times consul spare
succeeding consuls this infamy. I pray thee, protect
the fasces, so often thine, from the pollution of a eunuch's hand ; let not the omens handed down in our sacred books, let not those robes of mine where with I have subdued everything within Ocean's stream, be plunged in so great darkness and trodden under foot. What kind of wars can we wage now that a eunuch takes the auspices ? What marriage, what harvest will be fruitful ? What fertility, what abundance is possible beneath a consul stricken with
If eunuchs shall and give judgement
sterility ?
determine laws, then let men card wool and live like
the Amazons, confusion and licence the order of nature.
dispossessing 175
CLAUDIAN
Quid trahor ulterius ? Stilicho, quid vincere differs, dum certare pudet ? nescis quod turpior hostis 501 laetitia maiore cadit ?