Who but he could have driven back the savage Visigoths to their wagons or overwhelmed in one huge
slaughter
the Bastarnae puffed up with the slaying of Promotus 1 ?
Claudian - 1922 - Loeb
Nay, thou punishest the very criminals without show of anger and checkest their evil-doing with unruffled calm.
Never dost thou gnash with thy teeth upon them nor shout orders for them to be chastised.
He is a savage who delights in punishment and seems to make the vengeance of the laws his own ; when his heart is inflamed with the poison of wrath he is goaded by fury and rushes on knowing nothing of the cause and eager only to do hurt. But he whom reason, not anger, animates is a peer of the gods, he who, weighing the guilt, can with delibera
tion balance the punishment. Let others boast them of their bloody swords and wish to be feared for their ferocity, while they fill their treasuries with the goods of the condemned. Gently flows the Nile, yet is it more beneficent than all rivers for all that no sound reveals its power. More swiftly the broad Danube glides between its quiet banks. Huge Ganges flows down to its mouths with gently moving
current. Let torrents roar horribly, threaten weary 355
anger
CLAUDIAN
pontibus et volvant spumoso vertice silvas :
pax maiora decet ; peragit tranquilla potestas,
quod violenta nequit, mandataque fortius urget 240 imperiosa quies.
Idem praedurus iniquas accepisse preces, rursus, quae digna petitu,
largior et facilis ; nec quae comitatur honores,
ausa tuam leviter temptare superbia mentem.
frons privata manet nec se meruisse fatetur, 245 quae crevisse putat ; rigidi sed plena pudoris
elucet gravitas fastu iucunda remoto.
quae non seditio, quae non insania vulgi
te viso lenita cadat ? quae dissona ritu
barbaries, medii quam non reverentia frangat ? 250 vel quis non sitiens sermonis mella politi
deserat Orpheos blanda testudine cantus ?
qualem te legimus teneri primordia mundi
scribentem aut partes animae, per singula talem cernimus et similes agnoscit pagina mores. 255
Nec dilata tuis Augusto iudice merces
officiis, illumque habitum, quo iungitur aulae
curia, qui socio proceres cum principe nectit,
quem quater ipse gerit, perfecto detulit anno deposuitque suas te succedente curules. 260 crescant virtutes fecundaque floreat aetas.
ingeniis patuit campus certusque merenti
stat favor : ornatur propriis industria donis.
surgite sopitae, quas obruit ambitus, artes.
nil licet invidiae, Stilicho dum prospicit orbi 265
1 i. e. Manlius modestly regards his honours as a natural growth, not as the reward of merit.
356
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
bridges, and sweep down forests in their foaming
whirl ; 'tis repose befits the greater ; quiet authority accomplishes what violence cannot, and that mandate compels more which comes from a commanding calm.
" Thou art as deaf to the prayers of injustice as thou art generous and attentive where the demand is just. Pride, that ever accompanies office, has not so much as dared to touch thy mind. Thy look is a private citizen's nor allows that it has deserved what it thinks to have but grown 1 ; but full of stately modesty shines forth a gravity that charms because
is banished. What sedition, what madness
of the crowd could see thee and not sink down
appeased ? What country so barbarous, so foreign
in its customs, as not to bow in reverence before
mediation ? Who that desires the honied
charm of polished eloquence would not desert the
lyre-accompanied song of tuneful Orpheus ? In
every activity we see thee as we see thee in thy
books, describing the creation of the newly-fashioned earth or the parts of the soul ; we recognize thy character in thy pages.
The Emperor has not been slow in rewarding thy merit. The robe that links Senate-house and palace, that unites nobles with their prince — the robe that he himself has four times worn, he hath at the year's end handed on to thee, and left his own curule chair that thou mightest follow him.
Grow, ye virtues ; be this an age of prosperity The path of glory lies open to the wise ; merit is sure of its reward ; industry dowered with the gifts it deserves. Arts, rise from the slumber into which depraved ambition had forced you ! Envy cannot hold up her head while Stilicho and his godlike
357
pride
thy
!
sidereusque gener.
CLAUDIAN
non hic violata curulis, turpia non Latios incestant nomina fastos ;
fortibus haec concessa viris solisque gerenda patribus et Romae numquam latura pudorem.
Nuntia votorum celeri iam Fama volatu 270 moverat Aonios audito consule lucos.
concinuit felix Helicon fluxitque Aganippe
largior et docti riserunt floribus amnes.
Uranie redimita comas, qua saepe magistra
Manlius igniferos radio descripserat axes, 275 sic alias hortata deas : " patimurne, sorores,
optato procul esse die nec limina nostri
consulis et semper dilectas visimus aedes ?
notior est Helicone1 domus. gestare curules
et fasces subiisse libet. miracula plebi 280 colligite et claris nomen celebrate theatris.
" Tu Iovis aequorei summersam fluctibus aulam oratum volucres, Erato, iam perge quadrigas,
a quibus haud umquam palmam rapturus Arion. inlustret circum sonipes, quicumque superbo 285 perstrepit hinnitu Baetin, qui splendida potat
stagna Tagi madidoque iubas adspergitur auro.
" Calliope, liquidas Alciden posce palaestras : cuncta Palaemoniis manus explorata coronis
adsit et Eleo pubes laudata Tonanti. 290
" Tu iuga Taygeti frondosaque Maenala, Clio, i Triviae supplex ; non aspernata rogantem amphitheatrali faveat Latonia pompae.
1 codd. have Stilichone ; Birt obelizes the line ; it is only found in V ; Helicone Qevartius.
1 Claudian is thinking of Eutropius, Manlius' eastern colleague.
358
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
son-in-law direct the state. Here is no pollution
of the consul's office, no shameful names
the Latin fasti ; here the consulship is an honour reserved for the brave, given only to senators,
never a source of scandal to Rome's city. 1
Now had Fame, announcing our good fortune, winged her way to Aonia whose groves she stirred
with the tidings of the new consul. Helicon raised a hymn of praise, Aganippe flowed with waters more abundant, the streams of song laughed with
flowers. Then Urania, her hair wreath-crowned,
Urania whose hand had oft directed Manlius' com
" Do thou, Erato, go visit the palace of Neptune beneath the sea and beg for four swift coursers such that even Arion could not snatch the prize from them. Let the Circus be graced by every steed to whose proud neighing Baetis re-echoes, who drinks of Tagus' shining pools and sprinkles his mane with its liquid gold.
" Calliope, ask thou of Alcides the oil of the
wrestling-ground. Let all the company proved in the games at Elis follow thee and the athletes who have won fame with Olympian Jove.
" Fly, Clio, to Taygetus' heights and leafy Maenalus and beg Diana not to spurn thy petition but help the amphitheatre's pomp. Let the goddess herself
disgrace
pass in marking out the starry spheres, thus addressed the other Muses : " Sisters, can we bear to be absent this longed-for day ? Shall we not visit our consul's door and the house we have always loved ? Better known to us is it than Helicon ; gladly we draw the curule chair and bear the fasces. Bring marvels for the people's delight and make known his name in the famed theatres.
359
CLAUDIAN
audaces legat ipsa viros, qui colla ferarum
arte ligent certoque premant venabula nisu. 295 ipsa truces fetus captivaque ducat ab antris
prodigia et caedis sitientem differat arcum. conveniant ursi, magna quos mole ruentes
torva Lycaoniis Helice miretur ab astris,
perfossique rudant populo pallente leones, 300 quales Mygdonio curru frenare Cybebe
optet et Herculei mallent fregisse lacerti.
obvia fulminei properent ad vulnera pardi
semine permixto geniti, cum forte leaenae
nobiliorem uterum viridis corrupit adulter ; 305
maculis patres referunt et robore matres. quidquid monstriferis nutrit Gaetulia campis,
Alpina quidquid tegitur nive, Gallica siquid
silva tenet, iaceat largo ditescat harena
sanguine consumant totos spectacula montes. 310
" Nec molles egeant nostra dulcedine ludi qui laetis risum salibus movisse facetus,
qui nutu manibusque loquax, cui tibia flatu,
cui plectro pulsanda chelys, qui pulpita socco personat aut alte graditur maiore cothurno, 315 et qui magna levi detrudens murmura tactu
innumeras voces segetis moderatus aenae
intonet erranti digito penitusque trabali
vecte laborantes in carmina concitet undas,
vel qui more avium sese iaculentur in auras 320
Helice = the Great Bear so does the phrase " Lycaon's stars," for Lycaon was the father of Callisto who was trans formed by the jealous Juno into a bear and as such trans lated by Jupiter to the sky. Claudian means that he wants the Great Bear to observe this assemblage of earthly bears.
The hydraulus or water organ was known in Cicero's day Tusc. iii. 8. 43). illustrated by a picce of sculpture in the Museum at Aries (see Grove, Diet. of Music, under " Organ ").
360
(
21
b,i
1
;
It
is ;
;
:
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
choose out brave hunters cunningly to lasso the necks
of wild animals and to drive home the
spear with unfailing stroke. With her own hand let her lead forth from their caverns fierce beasts and captive monsters, laying aside her bloodthirsty bow. Let bears be gathered together, whereat, as they charge with mighty bulk, Helice may gaze in wonder
from Lycaon's stars. 1 Let smitten lions roar till the people turn pale, lions such as Cybele would be fain to harness to her Mygdonian chariot or Hercules strangle in his mighty arms. May leopards, lightning-swift, hasten to meet the spear's wound, beasts that are born of an adulterous union what time the spotted sire did violence to the nobler lion's mate : of such beasts their markings recall the sire, their courage the dam. Whatsoever is nourished by the fields of Gaetulia rich in monsters, whatsoever lurks beneath Alpine snows or in Gallic woods, let it fall before the spear. Let large streams of blood enrich the arena and the spectacle leave whole mountains desolate.
hunting-
" Nor let gentler games lack the delights we bring : let the clown be there to move the people's laughter with his happy wit, the mime whose language is in his nod and in the movements of his hands, the musician whose breath rouses the flute and whose finger stirs the lyre, the slippered comedian to whose voice the theatre re-echoes, the tragedian towering on his loftier buskin ; him too whose light touch can elicit loud music from those pipes of bronze that sound a thousand diverse notes beneath his wander
ing fingers and who by means of a lever stirs to song the labouring water. 2 Let us see acrobats who hurl themselves through the air like birds and build
861
CLAUDIAN
corporaque aedificent celeri crescentia nexu, quorum compositam puer amentatus in arcem emicet et vinctu plantae vel cruribus haerens pendula librato figat vestigia saltu.
mobile ponderibus descendat pegma reductis 325
inque chori speciem spargentes ardua flammas scaena rotet varios et fingat Mulciber orbis
per tabulas impune vagus pictaeque citato
ludant igne trabes et non permissa morari
fida per innocuas errent incendia turres. 330 lascivi subito confligant aequore lembi
stagnaque remigibus spument inmissa canoris.
" Consul per populos idemque gravissimus auctor eloquii, duplici vita subnixus in aevum
procedat pariter libris fastisque legendus. 335 accipiat patris exemplum tribuatque nepoti
filius et coeptis ne desit fascibus heres.
decurrat trabeata domus tradatque secures
mutua posteritas servatoque ordine fati
Manlia continuo numeretur consule proles. " 340
1 We do not hear of Claudian's hopes coming true. This son was, however, proconsul of Africa (Augustine, Contra
Crescon. iii. 6-2).
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THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
pyramids that grow with swift entwining of their bodies, to the summit of which pyramid rushes a boy fastened by a thong, a boy who, attached there by the foot or leg, executes a step-dance suspended in the air. Let the counterweights be removed and the mobile crane descend, lowering on
to the lofty stage men who, wheeling chorus-wise, scatter flames ; let Vulcan forge balls of fire to roll innocuously across the boards, let the flames appear to play about the sham beams of the scenery and a tame conflagration, never allowed to rest, wander among the untouched towers. Let ships meet in mimic warfare on an improvised ocean and the flooded waters be lashed to foam by singing oarsmen.
" As consul at once and stateliest master, upborne by a twofold fame, let Manlius go forth among the peoples, read in his own books and in our calendars. May the sire's example be followed by the son 1 and handed on to a grandson, nor these first fasces ever lack succession. May his race pass on purple- clad, may the generations, each to each, hand on the axes, and obedient to the ordinance of fate, Manlius after Manlius add one more consul to the tale. "
36a
DE CONSULATU STILICHONIS LIBER I.
(XXI. )
Continuant superi pleno Romana favore
gaudia successusque novis successibus augent : conubii necdum festivos regia cantus
sopierat, cecinit fuso Gildone triumphos,
et calidis thalami successit laurea sertis, 5 sumeret ut pariter princeps nomenque mariti victorisque decus ; Libyae post proelia crimen concidit Eoum, rursusque Oriente subacto
consule defensae surgunt Stilichone secures.
ordine vota meant. equidem si carmen in unum 10
tantarum sperem cumulos advolvere rerum, promptius imponam glaciali Pelion Ossae.
si partem tacuisse velim, quodcumque relinquam maius erit. veteres actus primamque iuventam prosequar ? ad sese mentem praesentia ducunt. 15 narrem iustitiam ? resplendet gloria Martis.
armati referam vires ? plus egit inermis.
quod floret Latium, Latio quod reddita servit
Africa, vicinum quod nescit Hiberia Maurum,
364
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP BOOK I
(XXI)
Ceaseless are the blessings the gods shower with full bounty upon Rome, crowning success with new successes. Scarce had the happy songs of marriage ceased to echo in the palace when the defeat of Gildo brought material for a hymn of triumph. Hard upon the garlands of passionate love followed the crown of laurel, so that the emperor won alike the name of husband and the fame of conqueror.
After the war in Africa eastern sedition waned ; *. the Orient once more was laid low and, guarded . by the consul Stilicho, the axes rose in triumph.
greater.
Am I to tell of his justice ? His military outshines it. Shall I mention his prowess in war ? He has done more in peace. Shall I relate how Latium flourishes, how Africa has returned to her
allegiance
and service, how Spain knows no more 365
(a. d. 400)
In due order are vows fulfilled. Should I hope to roll into one poem all my lofty themes, more easily should I pile Pelion on frozen Ossa. Were I silent anent a part, what I leave unsung will prove the
Am I to recall his deeds of old and earliest manhood ? His present deeds lure away my mind.
glory
CLAUDIAN
tuta quod imbellem miratur Gallia Rhenum, 20 aut gelidam Thracen decertatosque labores
Hebro teste canam ? magnum mini panditur aequor ipsaque Pierios lassant proclivia currus
laudibus innumeris.
Etenim mortalibus ex quo tellus coepta coli, numquam sincera bonorum 25
sors ulli concessa viro. quem vultus honestat, dedecorant mores ; animus quem pulchrior ornat, corpus destituit. bellis insignior ille,
sed pacem foedat vitiis. hic publica felix,
sed privata minus, partitum ; singula quemque 30 nobilitant : hunc forma decens, hunc robur in armis, hunc rigor, hunc pietas, illum sollertia iuris,
hunc suboles castique tori, sparguntur in omnes,
in te mixta fluunt ; et quae divisa beatos
efficiunt, collecta tenes. 35
Ne facta revolvam militiamque patris, cuius producere famam,
si nihil egisset clarum nec fida Valenti
dextera duxisset rutilantes crinibus alas,
sufficeret natus Stilicho : mens ardua semper
a puero, tenerisque etiam fulgebat in annis 40 fortunae maioris honos. erectus et acer
nil breve moliri, nullis haerere potentum
liminibus fatisque loqui iam digna futuris.
iam tum conspicuus, iam tum venerabilis ibas spondebatque ducem celsi nitor igneus oris 45
1 We know really nothing of Stilicho's parentage save that the family was a Vandal one : Vandalorum genere editus, Oros. vii. 38.
366
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
the Moor as her neighbour, how Gaul has now nought to fear from a disarmed Germany ? Or shall I sing of wintry Thrace and those fierce struggles whereof Hebrus was witness ? Limitless is the expanse that opens before me and even on the slopes of Helicon this weight of praise retards my muse's chariot.
For truly since man inhabited this globe never has one mortal been granted all earth's blessings without alloy. This man's face is fair but his char acter is evil ; another has a beauteous soul but an ugly body. One is renowned in war but makes peace hideous with his vices. This man is happy in his public but unhappy in his private life. Each takes a part ; each owes his fame to some one gift, to bodily beauty, to martial prowess, to strength, to uprightness of life, to knowledge of law, to his offspring and a virtuous wife. To all men else blessings come scattered, to thee they flow com mingled, and gifts that separately make happy are all together thine.
I will not unfold the tale of thy sire's 1 warlike deeds. Had he done nothing of note, had he in loyalty to Valens never led to battle those yellow- haired companies, yet to be the father of Stilicho would have spread abroad his fame. Ever from thy cradle did thy soul aspire, and in the tender years of childhood shone forth the signs of loftier estate. Lofty in spirit and eager, nothing paltry didst thou essay ; never didst thou haunt any rich man's doorstep ; thy speech was such as to befit thy future dignities. A mark wert thou even then for all eyes, even then an object of reverence ; the fiery brightness of thy noble countenance, the very mould
367
CLAUDIAN
membrorumque modus, qualem nec carmina fingunt semideis. quacumque alte gradereris in urbe,
cedentes spatiis adsurgentesque videbas
quamvis miles adhuc. taciti suffragia vulgi
iam tibi detulerant, quidquid mox debuit aula. 50
Vix primaevus eras, pacis cum mitteris auctor Assyriae ; tanta foedus cum gente ferire
commissum iuveni. Tigrim transgressus et altum Euphraten Babylona petis. stupuere severi Parthorum proceres, et plebs pharetrata videndi 55 flagravit studio, defixaeque hospite pulchro
Persides arcanum suspiravere calorem.
turis odoratae cumulis et messe Sabaea pacem conciliant arae ; penetralibus ignem
sacratum rapuere adytis rituque iuvencos 60 Chaldaeo stravere magi, rex ipse micantem
inclinat dextra pateram secretaque Beli
et vaga testatur volventem sidera Mithram.
si quando sociis tecum venatibus ibant,
quis Stilichone prior ferro penetrare leones 65
comminus aut longe virgatas figere tigres ? flectenti faciles cessit tibi Medus habenas ; torquebas refugum Parthis mirantibus arcum.
Nubilis interea maturae virginis aetas
urgebat patrias suspenso principe curas, 70 quem simul imperioque ducem nataeque maritum prospiceret ; dubius toto quaerebat ab axe
dignum coniugio generum thalamisque Serenae.
1 By Assyria Claudian means Persia. He refers to the dispatch of Stilicho in 387 as ambassador to the court of Sapor III. (383-388) to arrange about the partition of Armenia.
368
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
of thy limbs, greater even than poets feign of demi-gods, marked thee out for a leader of men. Whithersoever thy proud form went in the city thou didst see men rise and give place to thee ; yet thou wast then but a soldier. The silent suffrage of the people had already offered thee all the honours the court was soon to owe.
Scarce hadst thou reached man's estate when thou wast sent to negotiate peace with Assyria1 ; to make a treaty with so great a people was the charge entrusted to thy youth. Crossing the Tigris and the deep Euphrates thou cam'st to Babylon. The grave lords of Parthia looked at thee in amaze and the quiver-bearing mob burned with desire to behold, while the daughters of Persia gazing on their beauteous guest sighed out their hidden love. The peace is sworn at altars sweet with the fragrance of incense and the harvests of Saba. Fire is brought forth from the innermost sanctuary and the Magi
sacrifice heifers according to the Chaldean ritual. The king himself dips the jewelled bowl of sacrifice and swears by the mysteries of Bel and by Mithras who guides the errant stars of heaven. Whenever they made thee sharer of their hunting, whose sword struck down the lion in close combat before that of Stilicho, whose arrow pierced the striped tiger afar before thine ? When thou didst guide the easy rein the Mede gave way to thee, and the Parthian marvelled at the bow thou didst discharge in flight.
Meanwhile a maiden of years full ripe for marriage troubled a father's heart, and the emperor doubted whom to select as her husband and as future ruler of the world ; right anxiously did he search east and west for a son-in-law worthy of being wedded
vol. i 2 b 36})
CLAUDIAN
iudicium virtutis erat ; per castra, per urbes,
per populos animi cunctantis libra cucurrit. 75 tu legeris tantosque viros, quos obtulit orbis,
intra consilium vincis sensumque legentis.
et gener Augustis olim socer ipse futurus
accedis. radiis auri Tyriaque superbit
maiestate torus ; comitata parentibus exit 80 purpureis virgo. stabat pater inde tropaeis
inclitus ; inde pium matris regina gerebat
obsequium gravibus subnectens flammea gemmis. tunc et Solis equos, tunc exultasse choreis
astra ferunt mellisque lacus et flumina lactis 85 erupisse solo, cum floribus aequora vernis
Bosphorus indueret roseisque evincta coronis certantes Asiae taedas Europa levaret.
Felix arbitrii princeps, qui congrua mundo
iudicat et primus censet, quod cernimus omnes. 90 talem quippe virum natis adiunxit et aulae,
cui neque luxuries bello nec blanda periclis
otia nec lucis fructus pretiosior umquam
laude fuit. quis enim Visos in plaustra feroces reppulit aut saeva Promoti caede tumentes 95 Basternas una potuit delere ruina ?
Pallantis iugulum Turno moriente piavit
Aeneas, tractusque rotis ultricibus Hector
irato vindicta fuit vel quaestus Achilli.
tu neque vesano raptas venalia curru 100 funera nec vanam corpus meditaris in unum
saevitiam ; turmas equitum peditumque catervas
1 Promotus, who had rescued Theodosius from an ambush in his war against the Visigoths in 390, lost his life in the same war the year after. Stilicho succeeded to his command.
370
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
to Serena. Merit alone had to decide ;
camps, through cities, through nations roamed his
poised and hesitating thoughts. But thou wast
chosen, thus in the opinion and judgement of him who selected thee surpassing all the candidates of the whole world and becoming a son-in-law in the imperial family where thou wast shortly to become a father-in-law. The marriage - bed was ablaze with flashing gold and regal purple. The maiden steps forth accompanied by her parents clad in scarlet. On one side stood her sire, famed for his triumphs, on the other was the queen, fulfilling a mother's loving office and ordering the bridal veil beneath a weight of jewels. Then, so men say, the horses of the sun and the stars of heaven danced for joy, pools of honey and rivers of milk welled forth from the earth. Bosporus decked his banks with vernal flowers, and Europe, entwined with rosy garlands, uplifted the torches in rivalry with Asia.
Happy our emperor in his choice ; he judges and the world agrees ; he is the first to value what we all see. Ay, for he has allied to his children and to his palace one who never preferred ease to war nor the pleasures of peace to danger, nor yet his life to his honour.
Who but he could have driven back the savage Visigoths to their wagons or overwhelmed in one huge slaughter the Bastarnae puffed up with the slaying of Promotus 1 ? Aeneas avenged the slaughter of Pallas with the death of Turnus, Hector, dragged behind the chariot-wheels, was to wrathful Achilles either revenge or gain ; thou dost not carry off in mad chariot dead bodies for ransom nor plot idle savagery against a single corpse ; thou slayest at thy friend's tomb whole
371
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CLAUDIAN
hostilesque globos tumulo prosternis amici ;
inferiis gens tota datur. nec Mulciber auctor mendacis clipei fabricataque vatibus arma 105 conatus iuvere tuos : tot barbara solus
milia iam pridem miseram vastantia Thracen
finibus exiguae vallis conclusa tenebas.
nec te terrisonus stridor venientis Alani
nec vaga Chunorum feritas, non falce Gelonus, 110 non arcu pepulere Getae, non Sarmata conto. extinctique forent penitus, ni more maligno
falleret Augustas occultus proditor aures obstrueretque moras strictumque reconderet ensem,
solveret obsessos, praeberet foedera captis. 115 Adsiduus castris aderat, rarissimus urbi,
si quando trepida princeps pietate vocaret ; vixque salutatis Laribus, vix coniuge visa,
deterso necdum repetebat sanguine campum.
nec stetit Eucherii dum carperet oscula saltern 120
per galeam. patris stimulos ignisque mariti
vicit cura ducis. quotiens sub pellibus egit Edonas hiemes et tardi flabra Bootae
sub divo Riphaea tulit ! cumque igne propinquo frigora vix ferrent alii, tunc iste rigentem 125 Danuvium calcabat eques nivibusque profundum scandebat cristatus Athon lateque corusco
curvatas glacie silvas umbone ruebat.
nunc prope Cimmerii tendebat litora Ponti, 372
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
squadrons of horse, companies of foot, and hordes of enemies. To his ghost a whole nation is offered up. Neither Vulcan's fabulous shield nor such armour as that of which poets sing the forging assisted thine efforts. Single-handed thou didst succeed in penning within the narrow confines of a single valley the vast army of barbarians that were long since ravaging the land of Thrace. For thee the fearful shriek of the onrushing Alan had no terrors nor the fierceness of the nomad Hun nor the scimitar of the Geloni, nor the Getae's bow or Sarmatian's club. These nations would have been destroyed root and branch had not a traitor by a perfidious trick abused the emperor's ear and caused him to withhold his hand ; hence the sheathing of the sword, the raising of the siege, and the granting of a treaty to the prisoners.
He was always with the army, seldom in Rome, and then only when the young emperor's anxious love summoned him thither. Scarce had he greeted the gods of his home, scarce seen his wife when, still stained with the blood of his enemies, he hastened back to the battle. He did not stay to catch at least a kiss from Eucherius through his vizor ; the anxieties of a general o'ercame a father's yearning and a husband's love. How often has he bivouacked
the Thracian winter and endured beneath the open sky the blasts that slow Bootes sends from mount Riphaeus. When others, huddled over the fire, could scarce brook the cold, he would ride his horse across the frozen Danube and climb Athos deep in snow, his helmet on his head, thrusting aside the frozen branches of the ice-laden trees with his far gleaming targe. Now he pitched his tent by the shores of Cimmerian Pontus, now
373
through
CLAUDIAN
nunc dabat hibernum Rhodope nimbosa cubile. 130 vos Haemi gelidae valles, quas saepe cruentis stragibus aequavit Stilicho, vos Thracia testor fiumina, quae largo mutastis sanguine fluctus ;
dicite, Bisaltae vel qui Pangaea iuvencis
scinditis, offenso quantae sub vomere putres 135 dissiliant glaebis galeae vel qualia rastris
ossa peremptorum resonent inmania regum.
Singula complecti cuperem ; sed densior instat gestorum series laudumque sequentibus undis obruimur. genitor caesi post bella tyranni 140 iam tibi commissis conscenderat aethera terris.
ancipites rerum ruituro culmine lapsus
aequali cervice subis : sic Hercule quondam sustentante polum melius librata pependit
machina nec dubiis titubavit Signifer astris 145 perpetuaque senex subductus mole parumper obstupuit proprii spectator ponderis Atlas.
Nulli barbariae motus ; nil turbida rupto
ordine temptavit novitas, tantoque remoto
principe mutatas orbis non sensit habenas. 150 nil inter geminas acies, ceu libera frenis,
ausa manus. certe nec tantis dissona linguis
turba nec armorum cultu diversior umquam
confluxit populus : totam pater undique secum moverat Auroram ; mixtis hic Colchus Hiberis, 155 hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine decorus
Armenius ; hic picta Saces fucataque Medus,
374
1 i. e. Eugenius.
2 i. e. of East and West.
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
misty Rhodope afforded him a winter's bed. I call you to witness, cold valleys of Haemus, that Stilicho has often filled with bloody slaughter ; and you, rivers of Thrace, your waters turned to blood ; say, ye Bisaltae, or you whose oxen plough Pangaeus' slopes, how many a rotting helm has not your share shattered neath the soil, how oft have not your mattocks rung against the giant bones of slaughtered kings.
overwhelmed by the pursuing flood of
deeds. When Theodosius had warred against, and slain, the tyrant 1 he ascended into heaven, leaving the governance of the world to thee. With a strength equal to his thou dost bear up the tottering structure of the empire that threatens each moment to collapse. Thus, when once Hercules upheld the world, the universal frame hung more surely poised, the Standard-bearer did not reel with tottering stars, and old Atlas, relieved for a moment of the eternal load, was confounded as he gazed upon his own burden.
was quiet, no revolution troubled the empire's peace and though so great a prince was dead the world knew not that the reins had passed into another's hands. No company in the two armies 2 dared aught as though set loose from control. Yet surely never had such diversities of language and arms met together to form one united people. Theodosius had unified the whole East beneath his rule. Here were mingled Colchian and Iberian, mitred Arab, beautifully coifed Armenian, painted Sacian and stained Mede, here the dusky Indian had
375
Fain would I embrace each separate one ; but thine exploits press on in too close array, and I am
glorious
Barbary
CLAUDIAN
hic gemmata niger tentoria fixerat Indus ;
hic Rhodani procera cohors, hic miles alumnus Oceani. ductor Stilicho tot gentibus unus, 160 quot vel progrediens vel conspicit occiduus sol.
in quo tam vario vocum generumque tumultu
tanta quies iurisque metus servator honesti
te moderante fuit, nullis ut vinea furtis
vel seges erepta fraudaret messe colonum, 165 ut nihil aut saevum rabies aut turpe libido
suaderet, placidi servirent legibus enses.
scilicet in vulgus manant exempla regentum,
utque ducum lituos, sic mores castra sequuntur.
Denique felices aquilas quocumque moveres, 170 arebant tantis epoti milibus amnes.
Illyricum peteres : campi montesque latebant. vexillum navale dares : sub puppibus ibat
Ionium,
Te memor Eurotas, te rustica Musa Lycaei,
te pastorali modulantur Maenala cantu
Partheniumque nemus, quod te pugnante resurgens aegra caput mediis erexit Graecia flammis.
plurima Parrhasius tunc inter corpora Ladon 185
1 ATI nullum ; other diss, nullis, which Birt prints. But deterrebat needs an object (as A and IT indicate). Possibly, then, nullas
376
nullas 1 succincta Ceraunia nimbis
nec iuga Leucatae feriens spumantia fluctu 175 deterrebat hiems. tu si glaciale iuberes
vestigare fretum, securo milite ducti
stagna reluctantes quaterent Satumia remi ;
si deserta Noti, fontem si quaerere Nili,
Aethiopum medios penetrassent vela vapores. 180
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
pitched his jewel-embroidered tent : here were the tall company of warriors from the Rhone and the warlike children of Ocean. Stilicho and Stilicho alone commanded all the nations looked on by the rising and the setting sun. Amid this company so diverse in blood and speech such peace reigned beneath thy rule, so did fear of justice secure right, that not a single vineyard was robbed, nor did a single field cheat the husbandman of its plundered crop ; rage incited to no violence, passion to no deeds of shame ; the peaceful sword was obedient
to law. Of a truth their leaders' pattern passes to' the crowd, and the soldier follows not only the standards but also the example of his general.
Whithersoever thou didst lead thy victorious eagles there rivers grew dry, drunk up by so many thousands of men. Didst thou march towards Illyria, plain and mountain were hidden ; didst thou give the signal to thy fleet, the Ionian main was lost beneath thy
Ceraunia, the storms that - dash the waves in foam on Leucas' promontory —these could not affright any. Shouldst thou bid them
explore some frozen sea, thy untroubled soldiers would shatter the congealed waters with counter vailing oar ; had they to seek the deserts of the south, to search out the sources of the Nile, their sails would penetrate into Ethiopia's midmost heat.
1 Thee mindful Eurotas, thee Lycaeus' rustic muse, thee Maenalus celebrates in pastoral song, and there with the woods of Parthenius, where, thanks to thy victorious arms, weary Greece has raised once more her head from amid the flames. Then did Ladon, river of Arcadia, stay his course amid the countless bodies,
377
ships. Cloud-girt
CLAUDIAN
haesit et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis tardior ad Siculos etiamnunc pergit amores.
Miramur rapidis hostem succumbere bellis,
cum solo terrore ruant ? non classica Francis intulimus : iacuere tamen. non Marte Suebos 190 contudimus, quis iura damus. quis credere possit ? ante tubam nobis audax Germania servit.
cedant, Druse, tui, cedant, Traiane, labores :
vestra manus dubio quidquid discrimine gessit, transcurrens egit Stilicho totidemque diebus 195
edomuit Rhenum, quot vos potuistis in annis ;
quem ferro, adloquiis ; quem vos cum milite, solus. impiger a primo descendens fluminis ortu
ad bifidos tractus et iuncta paludibus ora
fulmineum perstrinxit iter ; ducis impetus undas 200 vincebat celeres, et pax a fonte profecta
cum Rheni crescebat aquis. ingentia quondam nomina, crinigero flaventes vertice reges,
qui nec principibus donis precibusque vocati paruerant, iussi properant segnique verentur 20S offendisse mora ; transvecti lintribus amnem occursant ubicumque velit. nec fama fefellit iustitiae : videre pium, videre fidelem.
quem veniens timuit, rediens Germanus amavit.
illi terribiles, quibus otia vendere semper 210 mos erat et foeda requiem mercede pacisci,
natis obsidibus pacem tam supplice vultu
378
1 i. e. Arethusa.
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
and Alphaeus, choked with heaps of slaughtered Getae, won his way more slowly to his Sicilian love. 1 Do we wonder that the foe so swiftly yields in battle when they fall before the sole terror of his
name ? We did not declare war on the Franks ;
were overthrown. We did not crush in battle the Suebi on whom we now impose our laws. Who could believe it ? Fierce Germany was our slave or ever the trumpets rang out. Where are
yet they
All that your hands wrought after doubtful conflict that Stilicho did as he passed along, and o'ercame the Rhine in as many days as you could do in years ; you conquered with the sword, he with a word ; you with an army, he single-handed. . Descending from
the river's source to where it splits in twain and to the marshes that connect its mouths he flashed his
lightning way. The speed of the general outstripped the river's swift course, and Peace, starting with him from Rhine's source, grew as grew Rhine's waters. Chieftains whose names were once so well known, flaxen-haired warrior-kings whom neither gifts nor
now thy wars, Drusus, or thine, Trajan ?
could win over to obedience to Rome's emperors, hasten at his command and fear to offend by dull delay. Crossing the river in boats they meet him wheresoever he will. The fame of his
justice did not play them false : they found him merciful, they found him trustworthy. Him whom at his coming the German feared, at his departure he loved. Those dread tribes whose wont it was ever to set their price on peace and let us purchase repose by shameful tribute, offered their children
as hostages and begged for peace with such sup pliant looks that one would have thought them
379
prayers
CLAUDIAN
eaptivoque rogant, quam si post terga revincti Tarpeias pressis subeant cervicibus arces.
omne, quod Oceanum fontesque interiacet Histri, 215 unius incursu tremuit ; sine caede subactus
servitio Boreas exarmatique Triones.
Tempore tam parvo tot proelia sanguine nullo perficis et luna nuper nascente profectus
ante redis, quam tota fuit, Rhenumque minacem 220 cornibus infractis adeo mitescere
cogis,
ut Salius iam rura colat flexosque Sygambrus
in falcem curvet gladios, geminasque viator
cum videat ripas, quae sit Romana, requirat ;
ut iam trans fluvium non indignante Chauco 225 pascat Belga pecus, mediumque ingressa per Albim Gallica Francorum montes armenta pererrent ;
ut procul Hercyniae per vasta silentia silvae
venari tuto liceat, lucosque vetusta
religione truces et robur numinis instar 230 barbarici nostrae feriant impune bipennes.
Ultro quin etiam devota mente tuentur
victorique favent. quotiens sociare catervas
oravit iungique tuis A'lamannia signis !
nec doluit contempta tamen, spretoque recessit 235 auxilio laudata fides. provincia missos
expellet citius fasces quam Francia reges,
quos dederis. acie nec iam pulsare rebelles,
sed vinclis punire licet ; sub iudice nostro
regia Romanus disquirit crimina carcer : 240 380
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
captives, their hands bound behind their backs,
and they mounting the Tarpeian rock with the chains of slavery upon their necks. All those lands that lie between Ocean and the Danube trembled at the approach of one man. Boreas was brought into servitude without a blow ; the Great Bear was
disarmed.
In so short a time didst thou win so many battles
without loss of blood, and, setting out with the moon yet new, thou didst return or ever it was full ; so didst thou compel the threatening Rhine to learn gentleness with shattered horns, that the Salian now J tills his fields, the Sygambrian beats his straight iJ sword into a curved sickle, and the traveller, as he looks at the two banks, asks over which Rome rules. The Belgian, too, pastures his flock across the
river and the Chauci heed it not ; Gallic herds cross the middle Elbe and wander over the hills of the Franks. Safe it is to hunt amid the vast silence of the distant Hercynian forest, and in the woods that old-established superstition has rendered awful our axes fell the trees the barbarian once worshipped and nought is said.
Nay more, devoted to their conqueror this people offers its arms in his defence. How oft has Germany begged to add her troops to thine and to join her forces with those of Rome ! Nor yet was she angered
when her offer was rejected, for though her aid was refused her loyalty came off with praise. Provence will sooner drive out the governor thou sendest than will the land of the Franks expel the ruler thou hast given them. Not to rout rebels in the field but to punish them with chains is now the law ; under our judge a Roman prison holds inquest
381
CLAUDIAN
Marcomeres Sunnoque docet ; quorum alter Etruscum
pertulit exilium ; cum se promitteret alter
exulis ultorem, iacuit mucrone suorum :
res avidi concire novas odioque furentes
pacis et ingenio scelerumque cupidine fratres. 245
Post domitas Arctos alio prorupit ab axe
tempestas et, ne qua tuis intacta tropaeis
pars foret, Australis sonuit tuba. moverat omnes
Maurorum Gildo populos, quibus inminet Atlas
et quos interior nimio plaga sole relegat : 250
quos vagus umectat Cinyps et proximus hortis Hesperidum Triton et Gir notissimus amnis Aethiopum, simili mentitus gurgite Nilum ; venerat et parvis redimitus Nuba sagittis
et velox Garamas, nec quamvis tristibus Hammon 255 responsis alacrem potuit Nasamona morari.
stipantur Numidae campi, stant pulvere Syrtes Gaetulae, Poenus iaculis obtexitur aer.
hi virga moderantur equos ; his fulva leones velamenta dabant ignotarumque ferarum 260 exuviae, vastis Meroe quas nutrit harenis ; serpentum patulos gestant pro casside rictus ; pendent vipereae squamosa pelle pharetrae.
non sic intremuit Simois, cum montibus Idae
nigra coloratus produceret agmina Memnon, 265 non Ganges, cum tela procul vibrantibus Indis inmanis medium vectaret belua Porum.
1 Marcomeres and Sunno, brother chiefs of the Ripuarian Franks, had (? in connexion with Maximus' revolt) invaded Roman territory near Cologne in 388 and been defeated by Arbogast. Stilicho's successful campaign against them, of which we read here, is to be dated 395 (? March).
382
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
on the crimes of kings. Marcomeres and Sunno 1 give proof : the one underwent exile in Etruria, the other, proclaiming himself the exile's avenger, fell beneath the swords of his own soldiers. Both were eager to arouse rebellion, both hated peace —true brothers in character and in a common love of crime.
After the conquest of the north arose a fresh storm
in another quarter. The trumpets of war rang out in the south that there might be no part of the world untouched by thy victories. Gildo stirred up all the Moorish tribes living beneath mount Atlas and those whom the excessive heat of the sun cuts off from us in the interior of Africa, those too whom Cinyps' wandering stream waters, and Triton, neighbour of the garden of the Hesperides ; those who dwell beside the waters of Gir, most famous of the rivers of Ethiopia, that overflows his banks as it had been another Nile. There came at his summons the Nubian with his head-dress of short arrows, the fleet Garamantian, the Nasamonian whose impetuous ardour not even the sinister predictions of Ammon could restrain. The plain of Numidia was overrun, their dust covered the Gaetulian Syrtes ; the sky of Carthage was darkened with their arrows. Some, mounted, guide their horses with sticks, others are
clad in tawny lion-skins and pelts of the nameless animals that range the vast deserts of Meroe. Severed heads of serpents with gaping jaws serve them for helmets, the bright scaly skin of the viper fashions their quivers. Simois trembled not so violently when swart Memnon led his dusky troops o'er Ida's summit. Not so fearful was Ganges when Porus approached, mounted on his towering elephant and surrounded with his far-shooting Indian soldiery.
383
CLAUDIAN
Porus Alexandro, Memnon prostratus Achilli,
Gildo nempe tibi.
Nec solum fervidus Austrum, sed partes etiam Mavors agitabat Eoas. 270
quamvis obstreperet pietas, his ille regendae transtulerat nomen Libyae scelerique profano
fallax legitimam regni praetenderat umbram. surgebat geminum varia formidine bellum,
hoc armis, hoc triste dolis. hoc Africa saevis 275 cinxerat auxiliis, hoc coniuratus alebat
insidiis Oriens. illinc edicta meabant
corruptura duces ; hinc frugibus atra negatis
urgebat trepidamque fames obsederat urbem. exitiale palam Libycum ; civile pudoris 280 obtentu tacitum.
Tales utrimque procellae
cum fremerent lacerumque alternis ictibus anceps
imperium pulsaret hiems, nil fessa remisit
officii virtus contraque minantia fata
pervigil eventusque sibi latura secundos 285 maior in adversis micuit : velut arbiter alni,
nubilus Aegaeo quam turbine vexat Orion,
exiguo clavi flexu declinat aquarum
verbera, nunc recta, nunc obliquante carina
callidus, et pelagi caelique obnititur irae. 290
Quid primum,Stilicho,mirer? quod cautus ad omnes restiteris fraudes, ut te nec noxia furto
littera nec pretio manus inflammata lateret ?
quod nihil in tanto circum terrore locutus
indignum Latio ? responsa quod ardua semper 295 Eois dederis, quae mox effecta probasti—
1 Africa belonged to the West. Gildo, in the words of Zosimus (v. 11. 2), acpiar-qat rr\v x^Pav TSS 'OvupLov jSacriXeias
Kai rij 'Apicadlov irpotTrW-qGiv. 384
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
Yet Porus was defeated by Alexander, Memnon by . Achilles, and Gildo by thee.
It was not, however, only the South that fierce
Mars aroused but also the East.
cried out against it Gildo had transferred the nominal rule of Libya to the Eastern empire, cloaking his base treason under the name of legitimate govern ment. 1 Thus with diverse terror a twofold war arose ; here were arms, there were wiles. Africa supported the one with her savage tribes, the other the conspiring East nurtured with treachery. From Byzantium came edicts to subvert the loyalty of governors ; from Africa that refused her crops black famine pressed and had beleaguered trembling Rome.
Libya openly meditated our destruction ; over the civic strife shame had laid her veil of silence.
Though such storms raged on either hand, though the twofold tempest buffeted the torn empire on this side and on that, no whit did our consul's
to weariness, but ever watchful
courage yield
against threatening
perous issue, shone greater amid dangers : as the ship's pilot, tossed in mid Aegean by the storms of rainy Orion, eludes the waves' bufferings by the least turn of the tiller, skilfully guiding his vessel now on straight, now on slanting course, and struggles successfully against the conjoint fury of sea and sky.
At the
Though loyalty
doom and soon to win pros
At what, Stilicho, shall I first marvel ?
providence that resisted all intrigues, whereby no treacherous missive, no bribe-fraught hand escaped thy notice ? Or because that amid the general terror thou spakest no word unworthy of Latium ? Or because thou didst ever give haughty answer to the East and later made that answer
vou I 2 c 385
GLAUDIAN
securus, quamvis et opes et rura tenerent
insignesque umquam
domos ? levis haec iactura ; nec
publica privatae cesserunt commoda causae.
dividis ingentes curas teque omnibus unum 300 obicis, inveniens animo quae mente gerenda,
efficiens patranda manu, dictare paratus
quae scriptis peragenda forent. quae brachia centum, quis Briareus aliis numero crescente lacertis
tot simul obiectis posset confligere rebus : 305 evitare dolos ; veteres firmare cohortes,
explorare novas ; duplices disponere classes,
quae fruges aut bella ferant ; aulaeque tumultum
et Romae lenire famem ? quot nube soporis
inmunes oculi per tot discurrere partes, 310
tot loca sufficerent et tam longinqua tueri ? Argum fama canit centeno lumine cinctum corporis excubiis unam servasse iuvencam !
Unde tot adlatae segetes ? quae silva carinas texuit ? unde rudis tanto tirone iuventus 315 emicuit senioque iterum vernante resumpsit
Gallia bis fractas Alpino vulnere vires ?
non ego dilectu, Tyrii sed vomere Cadmi
tam subitas acies concepto dente draconis
exiluisse reor : Dircaeis qualis in arvis 320
messis cum proprio mox bellatura colono cognatos strinxit gladios, cum semine iacto terrigenae galea matrem nascente ferirent
1 In the wars against, respectively, Eugenius and the Goths.
386
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
good ? They held thy goods, thy lands, thy houses, yet wast thou unmoved. This thou didst account a
trifling loss nor ever preferred private to public interest. Thy mighty task thou dost parcel out, yet dost thou face it all alone, debating the problems that must needs be thought out, acting where deeds are called for, ever ready to dictate where aught is to be accomplished by writing. What hundred-handed monster, what Briareus, whose arms ever grew more numerous as they were lopped off, could cope with all these things at once ? To avoid the snares of treachery, to strengthen existing regiments and enroll new ones, to equip two fleets, one of corn-ships, one of men-of-war, to quell the tumult of the court and alleviate the hunger of the
Roman populace—what eyes, never visited by the veil of sleep, have had the strength to turn their gaze in so many directions and over so many lands or to pierce so far ? Fame tells how Argus girt with a hundred eyes could guard but one heifer with his body's watch.
Whence comes this mass of corn ? What forest
fashioned all those vessels ? Whence has
this untutored army with all its young recruits ? Whence has Gaul, its age once more at the spring,
won back the strength that Alpine blows twice shattered 1 ? Methinks 'tis no levy but the plough share of the Phoenician Cadmus that has raised up thus suddenly a host sprung from the sowing of the dragon's teeth ; 'tis like the crop that in the fields
of Thebes drew the sword of kin in threatened battle with its own sower when, the seed once sown, the earth-born giants clave the earth, their mother's
womb, with their springing helms and a harvest of vol. i 2 c 2 387
sprung
CLAUDIAN
armifer et viridi floreret milite sulcus.
hoc quoque non parva fas est cum laude relinqui, 325 quod non ante fretis exercitus adstitit ultor,
ordine quam prisco censeret bella senatus. neglectum Stilicho per tot iam saecula morem rettulit, ut ducibus mandarent proelia patres
decretoque togae felix legionibus iret 330 tessera. Romuleas leges rediisse fatemur,
cum procerum iussis famulantia cernimus arma.
Tyrrhenum poteras cunctis transmittere signis
et ratibus Syrtes, Libyam complere maniplis ; consilio stetit ira minor, ne territus ille 335
te duce suspecto Martis graviore paratu
aut in harenosos aestus zonamque rubentem
tenderet aut solis fugiens transiret in ortus missurusve sibi certae solacia mortis
oppida dirueret flammis. res mira relatu : 340 ne timeare times et, quem vindicta manebat, desperare vetas. quantum fiducia nobis
profuit ! hostilis salvae Carthaginis arces ;
inlaesis Tyrii gaudent cultoribus agri,
quos potuit vastare fuga. spe captus inani 345 nec se subripuit poenae nostrisque pepercit :
demens, qui numero tantum, non robore mensus Romanos rapidis ibat ceu protinus omnes
calcaturus equis et, quod iactare solebat,
solibus effetos mersurus pulvere Gallos. 350
388
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
young soldiery burgeoned along the armed furrows. This too must not be passed over without full meed of praise, that the avenging expedition did not embark until the senate had, in accordance with antique usage, declared war. Stilicho re-established this custom, neglected for so many ages, that the Fathers should give generals charge to fight, and by decree of the toga-clad Senate the battle-token
pass auspiciously among the legions. We acknow ledge that the laws of Romulus have now returned when we see arms obedient to our ministers.
Thou couldst have filled the Tyrrhene sea with all thy standards, the Syrtes with thy fleet and Libya with thy battalions, but wrath was stayed o'ercome by prudent fear lest Gildo, terrified at the thought that thou wast in arms against him and suspecting that thy forces were of overwhelming strength, might retire into the hot desert and the torrid zone, or travel east in flight or, to console him for the certainty of death, might destroy his cities with
fire. Marvellous it is to tell
being feared and forbade him to despair whom thy vengeance awaited. How greatly was his confidence our gain ! Safe are the towers of hostile Carthage, and the Phoenician fields rejoice in their unharmed husbandmen, fields he might have laid waste in his flight. Deluded by a vain hope he spared what was ours without escaping chastisement for himself. Madman, to measure Rome by the numbers instead of the valour of her soldiers ! He advanced as though he would ride them all down by means
of his fleet cavalry and, as he often boasted, would overwhelm in the dust the Gauls enervated by the sun's heat.
He is a savage who delights in punishment and seems to make the vengeance of the laws his own ; when his heart is inflamed with the poison of wrath he is goaded by fury and rushes on knowing nothing of the cause and eager only to do hurt. But he whom reason, not anger, animates is a peer of the gods, he who, weighing the guilt, can with delibera
tion balance the punishment. Let others boast them of their bloody swords and wish to be feared for their ferocity, while they fill their treasuries with the goods of the condemned. Gently flows the Nile, yet is it more beneficent than all rivers for all that no sound reveals its power. More swiftly the broad Danube glides between its quiet banks. Huge Ganges flows down to its mouths with gently moving
current. Let torrents roar horribly, threaten weary 355
anger
CLAUDIAN
pontibus et volvant spumoso vertice silvas :
pax maiora decet ; peragit tranquilla potestas,
quod violenta nequit, mandataque fortius urget 240 imperiosa quies.
Idem praedurus iniquas accepisse preces, rursus, quae digna petitu,
largior et facilis ; nec quae comitatur honores,
ausa tuam leviter temptare superbia mentem.
frons privata manet nec se meruisse fatetur, 245 quae crevisse putat ; rigidi sed plena pudoris
elucet gravitas fastu iucunda remoto.
quae non seditio, quae non insania vulgi
te viso lenita cadat ? quae dissona ritu
barbaries, medii quam non reverentia frangat ? 250 vel quis non sitiens sermonis mella politi
deserat Orpheos blanda testudine cantus ?
qualem te legimus teneri primordia mundi
scribentem aut partes animae, per singula talem cernimus et similes agnoscit pagina mores. 255
Nec dilata tuis Augusto iudice merces
officiis, illumque habitum, quo iungitur aulae
curia, qui socio proceres cum principe nectit,
quem quater ipse gerit, perfecto detulit anno deposuitque suas te succedente curules. 260 crescant virtutes fecundaque floreat aetas.
ingeniis patuit campus certusque merenti
stat favor : ornatur propriis industria donis.
surgite sopitae, quas obruit ambitus, artes.
nil licet invidiae, Stilicho dum prospicit orbi 265
1 i. e. Manlius modestly regards his honours as a natural growth, not as the reward of merit.
356
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
bridges, and sweep down forests in their foaming
whirl ; 'tis repose befits the greater ; quiet authority accomplishes what violence cannot, and that mandate compels more which comes from a commanding calm.
" Thou art as deaf to the prayers of injustice as thou art generous and attentive where the demand is just. Pride, that ever accompanies office, has not so much as dared to touch thy mind. Thy look is a private citizen's nor allows that it has deserved what it thinks to have but grown 1 ; but full of stately modesty shines forth a gravity that charms because
is banished. What sedition, what madness
of the crowd could see thee and not sink down
appeased ? What country so barbarous, so foreign
in its customs, as not to bow in reverence before
mediation ? Who that desires the honied
charm of polished eloquence would not desert the
lyre-accompanied song of tuneful Orpheus ? In
every activity we see thee as we see thee in thy
books, describing the creation of the newly-fashioned earth or the parts of the soul ; we recognize thy character in thy pages.
The Emperor has not been slow in rewarding thy merit. The robe that links Senate-house and palace, that unites nobles with their prince — the robe that he himself has four times worn, he hath at the year's end handed on to thee, and left his own curule chair that thou mightest follow him.
Grow, ye virtues ; be this an age of prosperity The path of glory lies open to the wise ; merit is sure of its reward ; industry dowered with the gifts it deserves. Arts, rise from the slumber into which depraved ambition had forced you ! Envy cannot hold up her head while Stilicho and his godlike
357
pride
thy
!
sidereusque gener.
CLAUDIAN
non hic violata curulis, turpia non Latios incestant nomina fastos ;
fortibus haec concessa viris solisque gerenda patribus et Romae numquam latura pudorem.
Nuntia votorum celeri iam Fama volatu 270 moverat Aonios audito consule lucos.
concinuit felix Helicon fluxitque Aganippe
largior et docti riserunt floribus amnes.
Uranie redimita comas, qua saepe magistra
Manlius igniferos radio descripserat axes, 275 sic alias hortata deas : " patimurne, sorores,
optato procul esse die nec limina nostri
consulis et semper dilectas visimus aedes ?
notior est Helicone1 domus. gestare curules
et fasces subiisse libet. miracula plebi 280 colligite et claris nomen celebrate theatris.
" Tu Iovis aequorei summersam fluctibus aulam oratum volucres, Erato, iam perge quadrigas,
a quibus haud umquam palmam rapturus Arion. inlustret circum sonipes, quicumque superbo 285 perstrepit hinnitu Baetin, qui splendida potat
stagna Tagi madidoque iubas adspergitur auro.
" Calliope, liquidas Alciden posce palaestras : cuncta Palaemoniis manus explorata coronis
adsit et Eleo pubes laudata Tonanti. 290
" Tu iuga Taygeti frondosaque Maenala, Clio, i Triviae supplex ; non aspernata rogantem amphitheatrali faveat Latonia pompae.
1 codd. have Stilichone ; Birt obelizes the line ; it is only found in V ; Helicone Qevartius.
1 Claudian is thinking of Eutropius, Manlius' eastern colleague.
358
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
son-in-law direct the state. Here is no pollution
of the consul's office, no shameful names
the Latin fasti ; here the consulship is an honour reserved for the brave, given only to senators,
never a source of scandal to Rome's city. 1
Now had Fame, announcing our good fortune, winged her way to Aonia whose groves she stirred
with the tidings of the new consul. Helicon raised a hymn of praise, Aganippe flowed with waters more abundant, the streams of song laughed with
flowers. Then Urania, her hair wreath-crowned,
Urania whose hand had oft directed Manlius' com
" Do thou, Erato, go visit the palace of Neptune beneath the sea and beg for four swift coursers such that even Arion could not snatch the prize from them. Let the Circus be graced by every steed to whose proud neighing Baetis re-echoes, who drinks of Tagus' shining pools and sprinkles his mane with its liquid gold.
" Calliope, ask thou of Alcides the oil of the
wrestling-ground. Let all the company proved in the games at Elis follow thee and the athletes who have won fame with Olympian Jove.
" Fly, Clio, to Taygetus' heights and leafy Maenalus and beg Diana not to spurn thy petition but help the amphitheatre's pomp. Let the goddess herself
disgrace
pass in marking out the starry spheres, thus addressed the other Muses : " Sisters, can we bear to be absent this longed-for day ? Shall we not visit our consul's door and the house we have always loved ? Better known to us is it than Helicon ; gladly we draw the curule chair and bear the fasces. Bring marvels for the people's delight and make known his name in the famed theatres.
359
CLAUDIAN
audaces legat ipsa viros, qui colla ferarum
arte ligent certoque premant venabula nisu. 295 ipsa truces fetus captivaque ducat ab antris
prodigia et caedis sitientem differat arcum. conveniant ursi, magna quos mole ruentes
torva Lycaoniis Helice miretur ab astris,
perfossique rudant populo pallente leones, 300 quales Mygdonio curru frenare Cybebe
optet et Herculei mallent fregisse lacerti.
obvia fulminei properent ad vulnera pardi
semine permixto geniti, cum forte leaenae
nobiliorem uterum viridis corrupit adulter ; 305
maculis patres referunt et robore matres. quidquid monstriferis nutrit Gaetulia campis,
Alpina quidquid tegitur nive, Gallica siquid
silva tenet, iaceat largo ditescat harena
sanguine consumant totos spectacula montes. 310
" Nec molles egeant nostra dulcedine ludi qui laetis risum salibus movisse facetus,
qui nutu manibusque loquax, cui tibia flatu,
cui plectro pulsanda chelys, qui pulpita socco personat aut alte graditur maiore cothurno, 315 et qui magna levi detrudens murmura tactu
innumeras voces segetis moderatus aenae
intonet erranti digito penitusque trabali
vecte laborantes in carmina concitet undas,
vel qui more avium sese iaculentur in auras 320
Helice = the Great Bear so does the phrase " Lycaon's stars," for Lycaon was the father of Callisto who was trans formed by the jealous Juno into a bear and as such trans lated by Jupiter to the sky. Claudian means that he wants the Great Bear to observe this assemblage of earthly bears.
The hydraulus or water organ was known in Cicero's day Tusc. iii. 8. 43). illustrated by a picce of sculpture in the Museum at Aries (see Grove, Diet. of Music, under " Organ ").
360
(
21
b,i
1
;
It
is ;
;
:
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
choose out brave hunters cunningly to lasso the necks
of wild animals and to drive home the
spear with unfailing stroke. With her own hand let her lead forth from their caverns fierce beasts and captive monsters, laying aside her bloodthirsty bow. Let bears be gathered together, whereat, as they charge with mighty bulk, Helice may gaze in wonder
from Lycaon's stars. 1 Let smitten lions roar till the people turn pale, lions such as Cybele would be fain to harness to her Mygdonian chariot or Hercules strangle in his mighty arms. May leopards, lightning-swift, hasten to meet the spear's wound, beasts that are born of an adulterous union what time the spotted sire did violence to the nobler lion's mate : of such beasts their markings recall the sire, their courage the dam. Whatsoever is nourished by the fields of Gaetulia rich in monsters, whatsoever lurks beneath Alpine snows or in Gallic woods, let it fall before the spear. Let large streams of blood enrich the arena and the spectacle leave whole mountains desolate.
hunting-
" Nor let gentler games lack the delights we bring : let the clown be there to move the people's laughter with his happy wit, the mime whose language is in his nod and in the movements of his hands, the musician whose breath rouses the flute and whose finger stirs the lyre, the slippered comedian to whose voice the theatre re-echoes, the tragedian towering on his loftier buskin ; him too whose light touch can elicit loud music from those pipes of bronze that sound a thousand diverse notes beneath his wander
ing fingers and who by means of a lever stirs to song the labouring water. 2 Let us see acrobats who hurl themselves through the air like birds and build
861
CLAUDIAN
corporaque aedificent celeri crescentia nexu, quorum compositam puer amentatus in arcem emicet et vinctu plantae vel cruribus haerens pendula librato figat vestigia saltu.
mobile ponderibus descendat pegma reductis 325
inque chori speciem spargentes ardua flammas scaena rotet varios et fingat Mulciber orbis
per tabulas impune vagus pictaeque citato
ludant igne trabes et non permissa morari
fida per innocuas errent incendia turres. 330 lascivi subito confligant aequore lembi
stagnaque remigibus spument inmissa canoris.
" Consul per populos idemque gravissimus auctor eloquii, duplici vita subnixus in aevum
procedat pariter libris fastisque legendus. 335 accipiat patris exemplum tribuatque nepoti
filius et coeptis ne desit fascibus heres.
decurrat trabeata domus tradatque secures
mutua posteritas servatoque ordine fati
Manlia continuo numeretur consule proles. " 340
1 We do not hear of Claudian's hopes coming true. This son was, however, proconsul of Africa (Augustine, Contra
Crescon. iii. 6-2).
362
THE CONSULSHIP OF MANLIUS
pyramids that grow with swift entwining of their bodies, to the summit of which pyramid rushes a boy fastened by a thong, a boy who, attached there by the foot or leg, executes a step-dance suspended in the air. Let the counterweights be removed and the mobile crane descend, lowering on
to the lofty stage men who, wheeling chorus-wise, scatter flames ; let Vulcan forge balls of fire to roll innocuously across the boards, let the flames appear to play about the sham beams of the scenery and a tame conflagration, never allowed to rest, wander among the untouched towers. Let ships meet in mimic warfare on an improvised ocean and the flooded waters be lashed to foam by singing oarsmen.
" As consul at once and stateliest master, upborne by a twofold fame, let Manlius go forth among the peoples, read in his own books and in our calendars. May the sire's example be followed by the son 1 and handed on to a grandson, nor these first fasces ever lack succession. May his race pass on purple- clad, may the generations, each to each, hand on the axes, and obedient to the ordinance of fate, Manlius after Manlius add one more consul to the tale. "
36a
DE CONSULATU STILICHONIS LIBER I.
(XXI. )
Continuant superi pleno Romana favore
gaudia successusque novis successibus augent : conubii necdum festivos regia cantus
sopierat, cecinit fuso Gildone triumphos,
et calidis thalami successit laurea sertis, 5 sumeret ut pariter princeps nomenque mariti victorisque decus ; Libyae post proelia crimen concidit Eoum, rursusque Oriente subacto
consule defensae surgunt Stilichone secures.
ordine vota meant. equidem si carmen in unum 10
tantarum sperem cumulos advolvere rerum, promptius imponam glaciali Pelion Ossae.
si partem tacuisse velim, quodcumque relinquam maius erit. veteres actus primamque iuventam prosequar ? ad sese mentem praesentia ducunt. 15 narrem iustitiam ? resplendet gloria Martis.
armati referam vires ? plus egit inermis.
quod floret Latium, Latio quod reddita servit
Africa, vicinum quod nescit Hiberia Maurum,
364
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP BOOK I
(XXI)
Ceaseless are the blessings the gods shower with full bounty upon Rome, crowning success with new successes. Scarce had the happy songs of marriage ceased to echo in the palace when the defeat of Gildo brought material for a hymn of triumph. Hard upon the garlands of passionate love followed the crown of laurel, so that the emperor won alike the name of husband and the fame of conqueror.
After the war in Africa eastern sedition waned ; *. the Orient once more was laid low and, guarded . by the consul Stilicho, the axes rose in triumph.
greater.
Am I to tell of his justice ? His military outshines it. Shall I mention his prowess in war ? He has done more in peace. Shall I relate how Latium flourishes, how Africa has returned to her
allegiance
and service, how Spain knows no more 365
(a. d. 400)
In due order are vows fulfilled. Should I hope to roll into one poem all my lofty themes, more easily should I pile Pelion on frozen Ossa. Were I silent anent a part, what I leave unsung will prove the
Am I to recall his deeds of old and earliest manhood ? His present deeds lure away my mind.
glory
CLAUDIAN
tuta quod imbellem miratur Gallia Rhenum, 20 aut gelidam Thracen decertatosque labores
Hebro teste canam ? magnum mini panditur aequor ipsaque Pierios lassant proclivia currus
laudibus innumeris.
Etenim mortalibus ex quo tellus coepta coli, numquam sincera bonorum 25
sors ulli concessa viro. quem vultus honestat, dedecorant mores ; animus quem pulchrior ornat, corpus destituit. bellis insignior ille,
sed pacem foedat vitiis. hic publica felix,
sed privata minus, partitum ; singula quemque 30 nobilitant : hunc forma decens, hunc robur in armis, hunc rigor, hunc pietas, illum sollertia iuris,
hunc suboles castique tori, sparguntur in omnes,
in te mixta fluunt ; et quae divisa beatos
efficiunt, collecta tenes. 35
Ne facta revolvam militiamque patris, cuius producere famam,
si nihil egisset clarum nec fida Valenti
dextera duxisset rutilantes crinibus alas,
sufficeret natus Stilicho : mens ardua semper
a puero, tenerisque etiam fulgebat in annis 40 fortunae maioris honos. erectus et acer
nil breve moliri, nullis haerere potentum
liminibus fatisque loqui iam digna futuris.
iam tum conspicuus, iam tum venerabilis ibas spondebatque ducem celsi nitor igneus oris 45
1 We know really nothing of Stilicho's parentage save that the family was a Vandal one : Vandalorum genere editus, Oros. vii. 38.
366
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
the Moor as her neighbour, how Gaul has now nought to fear from a disarmed Germany ? Or shall I sing of wintry Thrace and those fierce struggles whereof Hebrus was witness ? Limitless is the expanse that opens before me and even on the slopes of Helicon this weight of praise retards my muse's chariot.
For truly since man inhabited this globe never has one mortal been granted all earth's blessings without alloy. This man's face is fair but his char acter is evil ; another has a beauteous soul but an ugly body. One is renowned in war but makes peace hideous with his vices. This man is happy in his public but unhappy in his private life. Each takes a part ; each owes his fame to some one gift, to bodily beauty, to martial prowess, to strength, to uprightness of life, to knowledge of law, to his offspring and a virtuous wife. To all men else blessings come scattered, to thee they flow com mingled, and gifts that separately make happy are all together thine.
I will not unfold the tale of thy sire's 1 warlike deeds. Had he done nothing of note, had he in loyalty to Valens never led to battle those yellow- haired companies, yet to be the father of Stilicho would have spread abroad his fame. Ever from thy cradle did thy soul aspire, and in the tender years of childhood shone forth the signs of loftier estate. Lofty in spirit and eager, nothing paltry didst thou essay ; never didst thou haunt any rich man's doorstep ; thy speech was such as to befit thy future dignities. A mark wert thou even then for all eyes, even then an object of reverence ; the fiery brightness of thy noble countenance, the very mould
367
CLAUDIAN
membrorumque modus, qualem nec carmina fingunt semideis. quacumque alte gradereris in urbe,
cedentes spatiis adsurgentesque videbas
quamvis miles adhuc. taciti suffragia vulgi
iam tibi detulerant, quidquid mox debuit aula. 50
Vix primaevus eras, pacis cum mitteris auctor Assyriae ; tanta foedus cum gente ferire
commissum iuveni. Tigrim transgressus et altum Euphraten Babylona petis. stupuere severi Parthorum proceres, et plebs pharetrata videndi 55 flagravit studio, defixaeque hospite pulchro
Persides arcanum suspiravere calorem.
turis odoratae cumulis et messe Sabaea pacem conciliant arae ; penetralibus ignem
sacratum rapuere adytis rituque iuvencos 60 Chaldaeo stravere magi, rex ipse micantem
inclinat dextra pateram secretaque Beli
et vaga testatur volventem sidera Mithram.
si quando sociis tecum venatibus ibant,
quis Stilichone prior ferro penetrare leones 65
comminus aut longe virgatas figere tigres ? flectenti faciles cessit tibi Medus habenas ; torquebas refugum Parthis mirantibus arcum.
Nubilis interea maturae virginis aetas
urgebat patrias suspenso principe curas, 70 quem simul imperioque ducem nataeque maritum prospiceret ; dubius toto quaerebat ab axe
dignum coniugio generum thalamisque Serenae.
1 By Assyria Claudian means Persia. He refers to the dispatch of Stilicho in 387 as ambassador to the court of Sapor III. (383-388) to arrange about the partition of Armenia.
368
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
of thy limbs, greater even than poets feign of demi-gods, marked thee out for a leader of men. Whithersoever thy proud form went in the city thou didst see men rise and give place to thee ; yet thou wast then but a soldier. The silent suffrage of the people had already offered thee all the honours the court was soon to owe.
Scarce hadst thou reached man's estate when thou wast sent to negotiate peace with Assyria1 ; to make a treaty with so great a people was the charge entrusted to thy youth. Crossing the Tigris and the deep Euphrates thou cam'st to Babylon. The grave lords of Parthia looked at thee in amaze and the quiver-bearing mob burned with desire to behold, while the daughters of Persia gazing on their beauteous guest sighed out their hidden love. The peace is sworn at altars sweet with the fragrance of incense and the harvests of Saba. Fire is brought forth from the innermost sanctuary and the Magi
sacrifice heifers according to the Chaldean ritual. The king himself dips the jewelled bowl of sacrifice and swears by the mysteries of Bel and by Mithras who guides the errant stars of heaven. Whenever they made thee sharer of their hunting, whose sword struck down the lion in close combat before that of Stilicho, whose arrow pierced the striped tiger afar before thine ? When thou didst guide the easy rein the Mede gave way to thee, and the Parthian marvelled at the bow thou didst discharge in flight.
Meanwhile a maiden of years full ripe for marriage troubled a father's heart, and the emperor doubted whom to select as her husband and as future ruler of the world ; right anxiously did he search east and west for a son-in-law worthy of being wedded
vol. i 2 b 36})
CLAUDIAN
iudicium virtutis erat ; per castra, per urbes,
per populos animi cunctantis libra cucurrit. 75 tu legeris tantosque viros, quos obtulit orbis,
intra consilium vincis sensumque legentis.
et gener Augustis olim socer ipse futurus
accedis. radiis auri Tyriaque superbit
maiestate torus ; comitata parentibus exit 80 purpureis virgo. stabat pater inde tropaeis
inclitus ; inde pium matris regina gerebat
obsequium gravibus subnectens flammea gemmis. tunc et Solis equos, tunc exultasse choreis
astra ferunt mellisque lacus et flumina lactis 85 erupisse solo, cum floribus aequora vernis
Bosphorus indueret roseisque evincta coronis certantes Asiae taedas Europa levaret.
Felix arbitrii princeps, qui congrua mundo
iudicat et primus censet, quod cernimus omnes. 90 talem quippe virum natis adiunxit et aulae,
cui neque luxuries bello nec blanda periclis
otia nec lucis fructus pretiosior umquam
laude fuit. quis enim Visos in plaustra feroces reppulit aut saeva Promoti caede tumentes 95 Basternas una potuit delere ruina ?
Pallantis iugulum Turno moriente piavit
Aeneas, tractusque rotis ultricibus Hector
irato vindicta fuit vel quaestus Achilli.
tu neque vesano raptas venalia curru 100 funera nec vanam corpus meditaris in unum
saevitiam ; turmas equitum peditumque catervas
1 Promotus, who had rescued Theodosius from an ambush in his war against the Visigoths in 390, lost his life in the same war the year after. Stilicho succeeded to his command.
370
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
to Serena. Merit alone had to decide ;
camps, through cities, through nations roamed his
poised and hesitating thoughts. But thou wast
chosen, thus in the opinion and judgement of him who selected thee surpassing all the candidates of the whole world and becoming a son-in-law in the imperial family where thou wast shortly to become a father-in-law. The marriage - bed was ablaze with flashing gold and regal purple. The maiden steps forth accompanied by her parents clad in scarlet. On one side stood her sire, famed for his triumphs, on the other was the queen, fulfilling a mother's loving office and ordering the bridal veil beneath a weight of jewels. Then, so men say, the horses of the sun and the stars of heaven danced for joy, pools of honey and rivers of milk welled forth from the earth. Bosporus decked his banks with vernal flowers, and Europe, entwined with rosy garlands, uplifted the torches in rivalry with Asia.
Happy our emperor in his choice ; he judges and the world agrees ; he is the first to value what we all see. Ay, for he has allied to his children and to his palace one who never preferred ease to war nor the pleasures of peace to danger, nor yet his life to his honour.
Who but he could have driven back the savage Visigoths to their wagons or overwhelmed in one huge slaughter the Bastarnae puffed up with the slaying of Promotus 1 ? Aeneas avenged the slaughter of Pallas with the death of Turnus, Hector, dragged behind the chariot-wheels, was to wrathful Achilles either revenge or gain ; thou dost not carry off in mad chariot dead bodies for ransom nor plot idle savagery against a single corpse ; thou slayest at thy friend's tomb whole
371
through
CLAUDIAN
hostilesque globos tumulo prosternis amici ;
inferiis gens tota datur. nec Mulciber auctor mendacis clipei fabricataque vatibus arma 105 conatus iuvere tuos : tot barbara solus
milia iam pridem miseram vastantia Thracen
finibus exiguae vallis conclusa tenebas.
nec te terrisonus stridor venientis Alani
nec vaga Chunorum feritas, non falce Gelonus, 110 non arcu pepulere Getae, non Sarmata conto. extinctique forent penitus, ni more maligno
falleret Augustas occultus proditor aures obstrueretque moras strictumque reconderet ensem,
solveret obsessos, praeberet foedera captis. 115 Adsiduus castris aderat, rarissimus urbi,
si quando trepida princeps pietate vocaret ; vixque salutatis Laribus, vix coniuge visa,
deterso necdum repetebat sanguine campum.
nec stetit Eucherii dum carperet oscula saltern 120
per galeam. patris stimulos ignisque mariti
vicit cura ducis. quotiens sub pellibus egit Edonas hiemes et tardi flabra Bootae
sub divo Riphaea tulit ! cumque igne propinquo frigora vix ferrent alii, tunc iste rigentem 125 Danuvium calcabat eques nivibusque profundum scandebat cristatus Athon lateque corusco
curvatas glacie silvas umbone ruebat.
nunc prope Cimmerii tendebat litora Ponti, 372
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
squadrons of horse, companies of foot, and hordes of enemies. To his ghost a whole nation is offered up. Neither Vulcan's fabulous shield nor such armour as that of which poets sing the forging assisted thine efforts. Single-handed thou didst succeed in penning within the narrow confines of a single valley the vast army of barbarians that were long since ravaging the land of Thrace. For thee the fearful shriek of the onrushing Alan had no terrors nor the fierceness of the nomad Hun nor the scimitar of the Geloni, nor the Getae's bow or Sarmatian's club. These nations would have been destroyed root and branch had not a traitor by a perfidious trick abused the emperor's ear and caused him to withhold his hand ; hence the sheathing of the sword, the raising of the siege, and the granting of a treaty to the prisoners.
He was always with the army, seldom in Rome, and then only when the young emperor's anxious love summoned him thither. Scarce had he greeted the gods of his home, scarce seen his wife when, still stained with the blood of his enemies, he hastened back to the battle. He did not stay to catch at least a kiss from Eucherius through his vizor ; the anxieties of a general o'ercame a father's yearning and a husband's love. How often has he bivouacked
the Thracian winter and endured beneath the open sky the blasts that slow Bootes sends from mount Riphaeus. When others, huddled over the fire, could scarce brook the cold, he would ride his horse across the frozen Danube and climb Athos deep in snow, his helmet on his head, thrusting aside the frozen branches of the ice-laden trees with his far gleaming targe. Now he pitched his tent by the shores of Cimmerian Pontus, now
373
through
CLAUDIAN
nunc dabat hibernum Rhodope nimbosa cubile. 130 vos Haemi gelidae valles, quas saepe cruentis stragibus aequavit Stilicho, vos Thracia testor fiumina, quae largo mutastis sanguine fluctus ;
dicite, Bisaltae vel qui Pangaea iuvencis
scinditis, offenso quantae sub vomere putres 135 dissiliant glaebis galeae vel qualia rastris
ossa peremptorum resonent inmania regum.
Singula complecti cuperem ; sed densior instat gestorum series laudumque sequentibus undis obruimur. genitor caesi post bella tyranni 140 iam tibi commissis conscenderat aethera terris.
ancipites rerum ruituro culmine lapsus
aequali cervice subis : sic Hercule quondam sustentante polum melius librata pependit
machina nec dubiis titubavit Signifer astris 145 perpetuaque senex subductus mole parumper obstupuit proprii spectator ponderis Atlas.
Nulli barbariae motus ; nil turbida rupto
ordine temptavit novitas, tantoque remoto
principe mutatas orbis non sensit habenas. 150 nil inter geminas acies, ceu libera frenis,
ausa manus. certe nec tantis dissona linguis
turba nec armorum cultu diversior umquam
confluxit populus : totam pater undique secum moverat Auroram ; mixtis hic Colchus Hiberis, 155 hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine decorus
Armenius ; hic picta Saces fucataque Medus,
374
1 i. e. Eugenius.
2 i. e. of East and West.
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
misty Rhodope afforded him a winter's bed. I call you to witness, cold valleys of Haemus, that Stilicho has often filled with bloody slaughter ; and you, rivers of Thrace, your waters turned to blood ; say, ye Bisaltae, or you whose oxen plough Pangaeus' slopes, how many a rotting helm has not your share shattered neath the soil, how oft have not your mattocks rung against the giant bones of slaughtered kings.
overwhelmed by the pursuing flood of
deeds. When Theodosius had warred against, and slain, the tyrant 1 he ascended into heaven, leaving the governance of the world to thee. With a strength equal to his thou dost bear up the tottering structure of the empire that threatens each moment to collapse. Thus, when once Hercules upheld the world, the universal frame hung more surely poised, the Standard-bearer did not reel with tottering stars, and old Atlas, relieved for a moment of the eternal load, was confounded as he gazed upon his own burden.
was quiet, no revolution troubled the empire's peace and though so great a prince was dead the world knew not that the reins had passed into another's hands. No company in the two armies 2 dared aught as though set loose from control. Yet surely never had such diversities of language and arms met together to form one united people. Theodosius had unified the whole East beneath his rule. Here were mingled Colchian and Iberian, mitred Arab, beautifully coifed Armenian, painted Sacian and stained Mede, here the dusky Indian had
375
Fain would I embrace each separate one ; but thine exploits press on in too close array, and I am
glorious
Barbary
CLAUDIAN
hic gemmata niger tentoria fixerat Indus ;
hic Rhodani procera cohors, hic miles alumnus Oceani. ductor Stilicho tot gentibus unus, 160 quot vel progrediens vel conspicit occiduus sol.
in quo tam vario vocum generumque tumultu
tanta quies iurisque metus servator honesti
te moderante fuit, nullis ut vinea furtis
vel seges erepta fraudaret messe colonum, 165 ut nihil aut saevum rabies aut turpe libido
suaderet, placidi servirent legibus enses.
scilicet in vulgus manant exempla regentum,
utque ducum lituos, sic mores castra sequuntur.
Denique felices aquilas quocumque moveres, 170 arebant tantis epoti milibus amnes.
Illyricum peteres : campi montesque latebant. vexillum navale dares : sub puppibus ibat
Ionium,
Te memor Eurotas, te rustica Musa Lycaei,
te pastorali modulantur Maenala cantu
Partheniumque nemus, quod te pugnante resurgens aegra caput mediis erexit Graecia flammis.
plurima Parrhasius tunc inter corpora Ladon 185
1 ATI nullum ; other diss, nullis, which Birt prints. But deterrebat needs an object (as A and IT indicate). Possibly, then, nullas
376
nullas 1 succincta Ceraunia nimbis
nec iuga Leucatae feriens spumantia fluctu 175 deterrebat hiems. tu si glaciale iuberes
vestigare fretum, securo milite ducti
stagna reluctantes quaterent Satumia remi ;
si deserta Noti, fontem si quaerere Nili,
Aethiopum medios penetrassent vela vapores. 180
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
pitched his jewel-embroidered tent : here were the tall company of warriors from the Rhone and the warlike children of Ocean. Stilicho and Stilicho alone commanded all the nations looked on by the rising and the setting sun. Amid this company so diverse in blood and speech such peace reigned beneath thy rule, so did fear of justice secure right, that not a single vineyard was robbed, nor did a single field cheat the husbandman of its plundered crop ; rage incited to no violence, passion to no deeds of shame ; the peaceful sword was obedient
to law. Of a truth their leaders' pattern passes to' the crowd, and the soldier follows not only the standards but also the example of his general.
Whithersoever thou didst lead thy victorious eagles there rivers grew dry, drunk up by so many thousands of men. Didst thou march towards Illyria, plain and mountain were hidden ; didst thou give the signal to thy fleet, the Ionian main was lost beneath thy
Ceraunia, the storms that - dash the waves in foam on Leucas' promontory —these could not affright any. Shouldst thou bid them
explore some frozen sea, thy untroubled soldiers would shatter the congealed waters with counter vailing oar ; had they to seek the deserts of the south, to search out the sources of the Nile, their sails would penetrate into Ethiopia's midmost heat.
1 Thee mindful Eurotas, thee Lycaeus' rustic muse, thee Maenalus celebrates in pastoral song, and there with the woods of Parthenius, where, thanks to thy victorious arms, weary Greece has raised once more her head from amid the flames. Then did Ladon, river of Arcadia, stay his course amid the countless bodies,
377
ships. Cloud-girt
CLAUDIAN
haesit et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis tardior ad Siculos etiamnunc pergit amores.
Miramur rapidis hostem succumbere bellis,
cum solo terrore ruant ? non classica Francis intulimus : iacuere tamen. non Marte Suebos 190 contudimus, quis iura damus. quis credere possit ? ante tubam nobis audax Germania servit.
cedant, Druse, tui, cedant, Traiane, labores :
vestra manus dubio quidquid discrimine gessit, transcurrens egit Stilicho totidemque diebus 195
edomuit Rhenum, quot vos potuistis in annis ;
quem ferro, adloquiis ; quem vos cum milite, solus. impiger a primo descendens fluminis ortu
ad bifidos tractus et iuncta paludibus ora
fulmineum perstrinxit iter ; ducis impetus undas 200 vincebat celeres, et pax a fonte profecta
cum Rheni crescebat aquis. ingentia quondam nomina, crinigero flaventes vertice reges,
qui nec principibus donis precibusque vocati paruerant, iussi properant segnique verentur 20S offendisse mora ; transvecti lintribus amnem occursant ubicumque velit. nec fama fefellit iustitiae : videre pium, videre fidelem.
quem veniens timuit, rediens Germanus amavit.
illi terribiles, quibus otia vendere semper 210 mos erat et foeda requiem mercede pacisci,
natis obsidibus pacem tam supplice vultu
378
1 i. e. Arethusa.
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
and Alphaeus, choked with heaps of slaughtered Getae, won his way more slowly to his Sicilian love. 1 Do we wonder that the foe so swiftly yields in battle when they fall before the sole terror of his
name ? We did not declare war on the Franks ;
were overthrown. We did not crush in battle the Suebi on whom we now impose our laws. Who could believe it ? Fierce Germany was our slave or ever the trumpets rang out. Where are
yet they
All that your hands wrought after doubtful conflict that Stilicho did as he passed along, and o'ercame the Rhine in as many days as you could do in years ; you conquered with the sword, he with a word ; you with an army, he single-handed. . Descending from
the river's source to where it splits in twain and to the marshes that connect its mouths he flashed his
lightning way. The speed of the general outstripped the river's swift course, and Peace, starting with him from Rhine's source, grew as grew Rhine's waters. Chieftains whose names were once so well known, flaxen-haired warrior-kings whom neither gifts nor
now thy wars, Drusus, or thine, Trajan ?
could win over to obedience to Rome's emperors, hasten at his command and fear to offend by dull delay. Crossing the river in boats they meet him wheresoever he will. The fame of his
justice did not play them false : they found him merciful, they found him trustworthy. Him whom at his coming the German feared, at his departure he loved. Those dread tribes whose wont it was ever to set their price on peace and let us purchase repose by shameful tribute, offered their children
as hostages and begged for peace with such sup pliant looks that one would have thought them
379
prayers
CLAUDIAN
eaptivoque rogant, quam si post terga revincti Tarpeias pressis subeant cervicibus arces.
omne, quod Oceanum fontesque interiacet Histri, 215 unius incursu tremuit ; sine caede subactus
servitio Boreas exarmatique Triones.
Tempore tam parvo tot proelia sanguine nullo perficis et luna nuper nascente profectus
ante redis, quam tota fuit, Rhenumque minacem 220 cornibus infractis adeo mitescere
cogis,
ut Salius iam rura colat flexosque Sygambrus
in falcem curvet gladios, geminasque viator
cum videat ripas, quae sit Romana, requirat ;
ut iam trans fluvium non indignante Chauco 225 pascat Belga pecus, mediumque ingressa per Albim Gallica Francorum montes armenta pererrent ;
ut procul Hercyniae per vasta silentia silvae
venari tuto liceat, lucosque vetusta
religione truces et robur numinis instar 230 barbarici nostrae feriant impune bipennes.
Ultro quin etiam devota mente tuentur
victorique favent. quotiens sociare catervas
oravit iungique tuis A'lamannia signis !
nec doluit contempta tamen, spretoque recessit 235 auxilio laudata fides. provincia missos
expellet citius fasces quam Francia reges,
quos dederis. acie nec iam pulsare rebelles,
sed vinclis punire licet ; sub iudice nostro
regia Romanus disquirit crimina carcer : 240 380
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
captives, their hands bound behind their backs,
and they mounting the Tarpeian rock with the chains of slavery upon their necks. All those lands that lie between Ocean and the Danube trembled at the approach of one man. Boreas was brought into servitude without a blow ; the Great Bear was
disarmed.
In so short a time didst thou win so many battles
without loss of blood, and, setting out with the moon yet new, thou didst return or ever it was full ; so didst thou compel the threatening Rhine to learn gentleness with shattered horns, that the Salian now J tills his fields, the Sygambrian beats his straight iJ sword into a curved sickle, and the traveller, as he looks at the two banks, asks over which Rome rules. The Belgian, too, pastures his flock across the
river and the Chauci heed it not ; Gallic herds cross the middle Elbe and wander over the hills of the Franks. Safe it is to hunt amid the vast silence of the distant Hercynian forest, and in the woods that old-established superstition has rendered awful our axes fell the trees the barbarian once worshipped and nought is said.
Nay more, devoted to their conqueror this people offers its arms in his defence. How oft has Germany begged to add her troops to thine and to join her forces with those of Rome ! Nor yet was she angered
when her offer was rejected, for though her aid was refused her loyalty came off with praise. Provence will sooner drive out the governor thou sendest than will the land of the Franks expel the ruler thou hast given them. Not to rout rebels in the field but to punish them with chains is now the law ; under our judge a Roman prison holds inquest
381
CLAUDIAN
Marcomeres Sunnoque docet ; quorum alter Etruscum
pertulit exilium ; cum se promitteret alter
exulis ultorem, iacuit mucrone suorum :
res avidi concire novas odioque furentes
pacis et ingenio scelerumque cupidine fratres. 245
Post domitas Arctos alio prorupit ab axe
tempestas et, ne qua tuis intacta tropaeis
pars foret, Australis sonuit tuba. moverat omnes
Maurorum Gildo populos, quibus inminet Atlas
et quos interior nimio plaga sole relegat : 250
quos vagus umectat Cinyps et proximus hortis Hesperidum Triton et Gir notissimus amnis Aethiopum, simili mentitus gurgite Nilum ; venerat et parvis redimitus Nuba sagittis
et velox Garamas, nec quamvis tristibus Hammon 255 responsis alacrem potuit Nasamona morari.
stipantur Numidae campi, stant pulvere Syrtes Gaetulae, Poenus iaculis obtexitur aer.
hi virga moderantur equos ; his fulva leones velamenta dabant ignotarumque ferarum 260 exuviae, vastis Meroe quas nutrit harenis ; serpentum patulos gestant pro casside rictus ; pendent vipereae squamosa pelle pharetrae.
non sic intremuit Simois, cum montibus Idae
nigra coloratus produceret agmina Memnon, 265 non Ganges, cum tela procul vibrantibus Indis inmanis medium vectaret belua Porum.
1 Marcomeres and Sunno, brother chiefs of the Ripuarian Franks, had (? in connexion with Maximus' revolt) invaded Roman territory near Cologne in 388 and been defeated by Arbogast. Stilicho's successful campaign against them, of which we read here, is to be dated 395 (? March).
382
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
on the crimes of kings. Marcomeres and Sunno 1 give proof : the one underwent exile in Etruria, the other, proclaiming himself the exile's avenger, fell beneath the swords of his own soldiers. Both were eager to arouse rebellion, both hated peace —true brothers in character and in a common love of crime.
After the conquest of the north arose a fresh storm
in another quarter. The trumpets of war rang out in the south that there might be no part of the world untouched by thy victories. Gildo stirred up all the Moorish tribes living beneath mount Atlas and those whom the excessive heat of the sun cuts off from us in the interior of Africa, those too whom Cinyps' wandering stream waters, and Triton, neighbour of the garden of the Hesperides ; those who dwell beside the waters of Gir, most famous of the rivers of Ethiopia, that overflows his banks as it had been another Nile. There came at his summons the Nubian with his head-dress of short arrows, the fleet Garamantian, the Nasamonian whose impetuous ardour not even the sinister predictions of Ammon could restrain. The plain of Numidia was overrun, their dust covered the Gaetulian Syrtes ; the sky of Carthage was darkened with their arrows. Some, mounted, guide their horses with sticks, others are
clad in tawny lion-skins and pelts of the nameless animals that range the vast deserts of Meroe. Severed heads of serpents with gaping jaws serve them for helmets, the bright scaly skin of the viper fashions their quivers. Simois trembled not so violently when swart Memnon led his dusky troops o'er Ida's summit. Not so fearful was Ganges when Porus approached, mounted on his towering elephant and surrounded with his far-shooting Indian soldiery.
383
CLAUDIAN
Porus Alexandro, Memnon prostratus Achilli,
Gildo nempe tibi.
Nec solum fervidus Austrum, sed partes etiam Mavors agitabat Eoas. 270
quamvis obstreperet pietas, his ille regendae transtulerat nomen Libyae scelerique profano
fallax legitimam regni praetenderat umbram. surgebat geminum varia formidine bellum,
hoc armis, hoc triste dolis. hoc Africa saevis 275 cinxerat auxiliis, hoc coniuratus alebat
insidiis Oriens. illinc edicta meabant
corruptura duces ; hinc frugibus atra negatis
urgebat trepidamque fames obsederat urbem. exitiale palam Libycum ; civile pudoris 280 obtentu tacitum.
Tales utrimque procellae
cum fremerent lacerumque alternis ictibus anceps
imperium pulsaret hiems, nil fessa remisit
officii virtus contraque minantia fata
pervigil eventusque sibi latura secundos 285 maior in adversis micuit : velut arbiter alni,
nubilus Aegaeo quam turbine vexat Orion,
exiguo clavi flexu declinat aquarum
verbera, nunc recta, nunc obliquante carina
callidus, et pelagi caelique obnititur irae. 290
Quid primum,Stilicho,mirer? quod cautus ad omnes restiteris fraudes, ut te nec noxia furto
littera nec pretio manus inflammata lateret ?
quod nihil in tanto circum terrore locutus
indignum Latio ? responsa quod ardua semper 295 Eois dederis, quae mox effecta probasti—
1 Africa belonged to the West. Gildo, in the words of Zosimus (v. 11. 2), acpiar-qat rr\v x^Pav TSS 'OvupLov jSacriXeias
Kai rij 'Apicadlov irpotTrW-qGiv. 384
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
Yet Porus was defeated by Alexander, Memnon by . Achilles, and Gildo by thee.
It was not, however, only the South that fierce
Mars aroused but also the East.
cried out against it Gildo had transferred the nominal rule of Libya to the Eastern empire, cloaking his base treason under the name of legitimate govern ment. 1 Thus with diverse terror a twofold war arose ; here were arms, there were wiles. Africa supported the one with her savage tribes, the other the conspiring East nurtured with treachery. From Byzantium came edicts to subvert the loyalty of governors ; from Africa that refused her crops black famine pressed and had beleaguered trembling Rome.
Libya openly meditated our destruction ; over the civic strife shame had laid her veil of silence.
Though such storms raged on either hand, though the twofold tempest buffeted the torn empire on this side and on that, no whit did our consul's
to weariness, but ever watchful
courage yield
against threatening
perous issue, shone greater amid dangers : as the ship's pilot, tossed in mid Aegean by the storms of rainy Orion, eludes the waves' bufferings by the least turn of the tiller, skilfully guiding his vessel now on straight, now on slanting course, and struggles successfully against the conjoint fury of sea and sky.
At the
Though loyalty
doom and soon to win pros
At what, Stilicho, shall I first marvel ?
providence that resisted all intrigues, whereby no treacherous missive, no bribe-fraught hand escaped thy notice ? Or because that amid the general terror thou spakest no word unworthy of Latium ? Or because thou didst ever give haughty answer to the East and later made that answer
vou I 2 c 385
GLAUDIAN
securus, quamvis et opes et rura tenerent
insignesque umquam
domos ? levis haec iactura ; nec
publica privatae cesserunt commoda causae.
dividis ingentes curas teque omnibus unum 300 obicis, inveniens animo quae mente gerenda,
efficiens patranda manu, dictare paratus
quae scriptis peragenda forent. quae brachia centum, quis Briareus aliis numero crescente lacertis
tot simul obiectis posset confligere rebus : 305 evitare dolos ; veteres firmare cohortes,
explorare novas ; duplices disponere classes,
quae fruges aut bella ferant ; aulaeque tumultum
et Romae lenire famem ? quot nube soporis
inmunes oculi per tot discurrere partes, 310
tot loca sufficerent et tam longinqua tueri ? Argum fama canit centeno lumine cinctum corporis excubiis unam servasse iuvencam !
Unde tot adlatae segetes ? quae silva carinas texuit ? unde rudis tanto tirone iuventus 315 emicuit senioque iterum vernante resumpsit
Gallia bis fractas Alpino vulnere vires ?
non ego dilectu, Tyrii sed vomere Cadmi
tam subitas acies concepto dente draconis
exiluisse reor : Dircaeis qualis in arvis 320
messis cum proprio mox bellatura colono cognatos strinxit gladios, cum semine iacto terrigenae galea matrem nascente ferirent
1 In the wars against, respectively, Eugenius and the Goths.
386
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
good ? They held thy goods, thy lands, thy houses, yet wast thou unmoved. This thou didst account a
trifling loss nor ever preferred private to public interest. Thy mighty task thou dost parcel out, yet dost thou face it all alone, debating the problems that must needs be thought out, acting where deeds are called for, ever ready to dictate where aught is to be accomplished by writing. What hundred-handed monster, what Briareus, whose arms ever grew more numerous as they were lopped off, could cope with all these things at once ? To avoid the snares of treachery, to strengthen existing regiments and enroll new ones, to equip two fleets, one of corn-ships, one of men-of-war, to quell the tumult of the court and alleviate the hunger of the
Roman populace—what eyes, never visited by the veil of sleep, have had the strength to turn their gaze in so many directions and over so many lands or to pierce so far ? Fame tells how Argus girt with a hundred eyes could guard but one heifer with his body's watch.
Whence comes this mass of corn ? What forest
fashioned all those vessels ? Whence has
this untutored army with all its young recruits ? Whence has Gaul, its age once more at the spring,
won back the strength that Alpine blows twice shattered 1 ? Methinks 'tis no levy but the plough share of the Phoenician Cadmus that has raised up thus suddenly a host sprung from the sowing of the dragon's teeth ; 'tis like the crop that in the fields
of Thebes drew the sword of kin in threatened battle with its own sower when, the seed once sown, the earth-born giants clave the earth, their mother's
womb, with their springing helms and a harvest of vol. i 2 c 2 387
sprung
CLAUDIAN
armifer et viridi floreret milite sulcus.
hoc quoque non parva fas est cum laude relinqui, 325 quod non ante fretis exercitus adstitit ultor,
ordine quam prisco censeret bella senatus. neglectum Stilicho per tot iam saecula morem rettulit, ut ducibus mandarent proelia patres
decretoque togae felix legionibus iret 330 tessera. Romuleas leges rediisse fatemur,
cum procerum iussis famulantia cernimus arma.
Tyrrhenum poteras cunctis transmittere signis
et ratibus Syrtes, Libyam complere maniplis ; consilio stetit ira minor, ne territus ille 335
te duce suspecto Martis graviore paratu
aut in harenosos aestus zonamque rubentem
tenderet aut solis fugiens transiret in ortus missurusve sibi certae solacia mortis
oppida dirueret flammis. res mira relatu : 340 ne timeare times et, quem vindicta manebat, desperare vetas. quantum fiducia nobis
profuit ! hostilis salvae Carthaginis arces ;
inlaesis Tyrii gaudent cultoribus agri,
quos potuit vastare fuga. spe captus inani 345 nec se subripuit poenae nostrisque pepercit :
demens, qui numero tantum, non robore mensus Romanos rapidis ibat ceu protinus omnes
calcaturus equis et, quod iactare solebat,
solibus effetos mersurus pulvere Gallos. 350
388
ON STILICHO'S CONSULSHIP, I
young soldiery burgeoned along the armed furrows. This too must not be passed over without full meed of praise, that the avenging expedition did not embark until the senate had, in accordance with antique usage, declared war. Stilicho re-established this custom, neglected for so many ages, that the Fathers should give generals charge to fight, and by decree of the toga-clad Senate the battle-token
pass auspiciously among the legions. We acknow ledge that the laws of Romulus have now returned when we see arms obedient to our ministers.
Thou couldst have filled the Tyrrhene sea with all thy standards, the Syrtes with thy fleet and Libya with thy battalions, but wrath was stayed o'ercome by prudent fear lest Gildo, terrified at the thought that thou wast in arms against him and suspecting that thy forces were of overwhelming strength, might retire into the hot desert and the torrid zone, or travel east in flight or, to console him for the certainty of death, might destroy his cities with
fire. Marvellous it is to tell
being feared and forbade him to despair whom thy vengeance awaited. How greatly was his confidence our gain ! Safe are the towers of hostile Carthage, and the Phoenician fields rejoice in their unharmed husbandmen, fields he might have laid waste in his flight. Deluded by a vain hope he spared what was ours without escaping chastisement for himself. Madman, to measure Rome by the numbers instead of the valour of her soldiers ! He advanced as though he would ride them all down by means
of his fleet cavalry and, as he often boasted, would overwhelm in the dust the Gauls enervated by the sun's heat.
