nec te tam prona monerem, si contra paterere viros : nunc alter in armis
sexus et eunuchis se defensoribus orbis
credidit ; hos aquilae Romanaque signa sequuntur.
sexus et eunuchis se defensoribus orbis
credidit ; hos aquilae Romanaque signa sequuntur.
Claudian - 1922 - Loeb
The world avenged by the banishment of a eunuch ?
Can any ocean wash away that stain ?
any age bring forgetfulness of so great a crime ?
Ere yet he had donned the consul's robe there came a rumbling from the bowels of the earth ; a hidden madness shook the subterranean caverns and buildings crashed one on another. Chalcedon, shaken to the foundations, tottered like a drunken man, and Bosporus, straying from his course, flooded the cities on his either bank. The shores of the strait came together and the sailors once more had to avoid the Clashing Rocks, torn from their foundation and errant. Surely such presages were sent by the
sister deities of Styx, rejoicing that under this consul at last all peoples were delivered into their hands. Soon arose divers forms of ruin : here the fire-god spread his flames ; there Nereus, god of the sea, brake his bounds. Here men's homes were burned, there flooded. Ye gods, what punishment do ye hold in store for the scoundrel whose rise to power was marked by such portents ? O'ercome us, Neptune, with thy trident and overwhelm our defiled soil along with all the guilt. One city we yield to the Furies, a scapegoat for the sins of the world.
Once the way was open for portents, prodigies of every sort hasted to disclose themselves. Rain of blood fell, children of weird form were born and
offspring discordant with their breed. Statues wept, not seldom the herds dared to speak, and wild beasts braved an entrance into the city. Then seers raved
187
CLAUDIAN
pectora terrifici stimulis ignescere Phoebi.
fac nullos cecinisse deos : adeone retusi quisquam cordis erit, dubitet qui partibus illis
adfore fatalem castrati consulis annum ?
sed quam caecus inest vitiis amor ! omne futurum 50
despicitur suadentque brevem praesentia fructum et ruit in vetitum damni secura libido,
dum mora supplicii lucro serumque quod instat creditur. haud equidem contra tot signa Camillo detulerim fasces, nedum (pro sexus ! ) inerti 55 mancipio, cui, cuncta licet responsa iuberent hortantesque licet sponderent prospera divi,
turpe fuit cessisse viros.
Exquirite retro crimina continui lectis annalibus aevi,
prisca recensitis evolvite saecula fastis : 60 quid senis infandi Capreae, quid scaena Neronis
tale ferunt ? spado Romuleo succinctus amictu
sedit in Augustis laribus.
vulgata patebat aula salutantum studiis ; hue plebe senatus
permixta trepidique duces omnisque potestas 65 confluit. advolvi genibus, contingere dextram ambitus et votum deformibus oscula rugis
figere. praesidium legum genitorque vocatur principis et famulum dignatur regia patrem. posteritas, admitte fidem : monumenta petuntur 70
dedecoris multisque gemunt incudibus aera formatura nefas. haec iudicis, illa togati,
1 Suetonius draws a lurid (and probably exaggerated) picture of the debaucherics of Tiberius' old age at Capri. The same author describes the " scaena Neronis. " The curious may find the account in Suet. Nero, xxix.
188
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
strangely and frenzied hearts were everywhere ablaze, stirred by the fires of the dread god Phoebus. Yet even had no god warned us, whose mind shall be so dull as to doubt that the year of an emasculate consul must be fatal to those lands ? Blind folly ever accompanies crime ; of the future no account is taken ; sufficient for the day is its short-lived pleasure ; heedless of loss passion plunges into for bidden joys, counting the postponement of punish ment a gain and believing distant the retribution that even now o'erhangs. In face of such portents I would not have entrusted Camillus' self with the fasces, let alone a sexless slave (oh ! the shame of it to yield to whom were, for men, a disgrace, even though every oracle decreed it, and the insis tent deities gave pledges of prosperity.
Look back in the annals of crime, read o'er all past history, unroll the volumes of Rome's story. What can the Capri of Tiberius' old age, what can Nero's theatre offer like to this A eunuch, clad in the cloak of Romulus, sat within the house of the emperors the staled palace lay open to the
of visitors hither hasten senators, mingling with the populace, anxious generals and magistrates of every degree all are fain to be the first to fall at his feet and to touch his hand the
prayer of all to set kisses on those hideous wrinkles.
He called defender of the laws, father of the
emperor, and the court deigns to acknowledge a slave as its overlord. Ye who come after, acknow ledge that true Men must needs erect monu ments to celebrate this infamy on many an anvil groans the bronze that is to take upon the form of this monster. Here gleams his statue as a judge,
189
eager throng
it
;
? 1
!
is
! ),
it
is ;
is
it
;
; ;
CLAUDIAN
haec nitet armati species ; numerosus ubique
fulget eques : praefert eunuchi curia vultus.
ac veluti caveant ne quo consistere virtus 75 possit pura loco, cunctas hoc ore laborant
incestare vias. maneant inmota precamur
certaque perpetui sint argumenta pudoris.
subter adulantes tituli nimiaeque leguntur
vel maribus laudes : claro quod nobilis ortu 80 (cum vivant domini quod maxima proelia solus impleat (et patitur miles quod tertius urbis conditor (hoc Byzas Constantinusque videbant
inter quae tumidus leno producere cenas
in lucem, foetere mero, dispergere plausum 85 empturas in vulgus opes, totosque theatris
indulgere dies, alieni prodigus auri.
at soror et, quid portentis creditur, uxor
mulcebat matres epulis et more pudicae
coniugis eunuchi celebrabat vota mariti. 90 hanc amat, hanc summa de re vel pace vel armis
consulit, huic curas et clausa palatia mandat
ceu stabulum vacuamque domum. sic magna tueri regna nihil, patiensque iugi deluditur orbis
Mitior alternum Zephyri iam bruma teporem 95 senserat et primi laxabant germina flores,
iamque iter in gremio pacis sollemne parabant
ad muros, Ancyra, tuos, auctore repertum
Eutropio, pelagi ne taedia longa subirent,
Mythical founder of Byzantium = Constantinople)
said to have been contemporaneous with the Argonauts
(Diod. iv. 49. 1).
i. e. to prevent his being bored with the vicw of the
Bosporus. 190
21
(
:
?
si
! ).
! ), ! ),
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
there as a consul, there as a warrior. On every side one sees that figure of his mounted on his horse ; before the very doors of the senate-house behold a eunuch's countenance. As though to rob virtue of any place where she might sojourn undefiled, men labour to befoul every street with this vile image. May they rest for ever undisturbed, indisputable
proofs of our eternal shame ; such is my prayer. Beneath the statues one reads flattering titles and praises too great even for men. Do they tell of his noble race and lineage while his owners are still alive ? What soldier brooks to read that
single- handed he, Eutropius, won great battles ? Are Byzas 1 and Constantine to be told that he is the
third founder of Rome ? Meanwhile the arrogant pander prolongs his revels till the dawn, stinking of wine and scattering money amid the crowd to
buy their applause. He spends whole days of amusement in the theatres, prodigal of another's money. But his sister and spouse such a prodigy can be conceived) wins the favour of Rome's matrons by entertainments, and, like a chaste wife, sings the
praises of her eunuch husband. 'Tis her he loves, her he consults on all matters of importance, be of peace or war, to her care he entrusts the keys of the palace, as one would of a stable or empty house. Is the guardianship of a mighty empire thus naught Is thus he makes a mockery of world's obedience
Winter, passing into spring, had now felt the returning warmth of Zephyrus' breezes and the earliest flowers had oped their buds when, in the
lap of peace, they were preparing the annual journey to thy walls, Ancyra. 'Twas Eutropius' device that weariness of the sea might not come upon him,
191
2
it
a
? ?
it
(if
CLAUDIAN
sed vaga lascivis flueret discursibus aestas : 100 unde tamen tanta sublimes mole redibant,
ceu vinctos traherent Medos Indumque bibissent. ecce autem flavis Gradivus ab usque Gelonis
arva cruentato repetebat Thracia curru :
subsidunt Pangaea rotis altaeque sonoro 105 stridunt axe nives. ut vertice constitit Haemi femineasque togas pressis conspexit habenis,
subrisit crudele pater cristisque micantem
quassavit galeam ; tunc implacabile numen
Bellonam adloquitur, quae sanguine sordida vestem Illyricis pingues pectebat stragibus hydros : 111
" Necdum mollitiae, necdum, germana, mederi possumus Eoae ? numquam corrupta rigescent
saecula ? Cappadocum tepidis Argaeus acervis aestuat ; infelix etiamnum pallet Orontes. 115 dum pereunt, meminere mali ; si corda parumper respirare sinas, nullo tot funera sensu
praetereunt : antiqua levis iactura cruoris !
" Adspicis obscaenum facinus ? quid crinibus ora protegis ? en quales sese diffudit in actus 120 parva quies, quantum nocuerunt otia ferri !
qui caruit bellis, eunucho traditur annus.
actum de trabeis esset, si partibus una
mens foret Hesperiis ; rueret derisa vetustas nullaque calcati starent vestigia iuris, 125 ni memor imperii Stilicho morumque priorum
turpe relegasset defenso Thybride nomen
192
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
but a roaming summer might slide away in pleasure journeys. But so magnificent was their return, you would have imagined they brought conquered Persia in their train and had drunk of the waters of Indus.
Look you ! Mars, returning from the distant lands of the yellow-haired Geloni, was re-seeking the lands of Thrace in his bloody chariot. Pangaeus subsided beneath his wheels, the mountain snows cried out under his sounding axle. Scarce had the father stayed on Haemus' summit and, reining in his coursers, looked upon the toga-clad woman, when he smiled a cruel smile and shook his gleaming crested helm ; then he addressed Bellona, implacable god dess, who, her raiment all stained with blood, was combing her snake-hair, fattened on the slaughter of Illyrians.
" Sister, shall we never succeed in curing the East of effeminacy ? Will this corrupt age never learn true manliness ? Argaeus yet reeks with those heaps of dead Cappadocians not yet cold ; Orontes is still pale from misery. But they only remember evil while they suffer it ; give them a moment's respite and all their slaughter fades from their minds unfelt ; little they reck of bloodshed that is past.
" Seest thou this foul deed ? Why veil thy face with thine hair ? See what crimes a short spell of peace has wrought ! what a curse has the sheathed
The year that has known no war has had a eunuch for its consul. The consulship would have been at an end had a like spirit animated Italy ; this age-long office had fallen amid mockery and
no traces been left of its trampled rights, had not Stilicho, heedful of the empire and of the character and morals of a past age, banished from Tiber's city
vol. i o 193
sword proved !
CLAUDIAN
intactamque novo servasset crimine Romam. ille dedit portum, quo se pulsata referret maiestas Latii deformataeque secures ;
ille dedit fastos, ad quos Oriente relicto confugeret sparsum maculis servilibus aevum.
130
" Quam similes haec aula viros ! ad moenia visus dirige : num saltem tacita formidine mussant ?
num damnant animo ? plaudentem cerne senatum 135 et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque Quirites.
o patribus plebes, o digni consule patres !
quid ? quod et armati cessant et nulla virilis
inter tot gladios sexum reminiscitur ira ?
hucine nostrorum cinctus abiere nepotum ? 140 sic Bruti despectus honos ?
" Ignosce parenti, Romule, quod serus temeratis fascibus ultor
advenio : iamiam largis haec gaudia faxo compensent lacrimis. quid dudum inflare moraris Tartaream, Bellona, tubam, quid stringere falcem, 145 qua populos a stirpe metis ? molire tumultus, excute delicias. Thracum Macetumque ruinae taedet et in gentes iterum saevire sepultas.
damna minus consueta move ; trans aequora saevas verte faces ; aliis exordia sume rapinis. 150 non tibi Riphaeis hostis quaerendus ab oris,
non per Caucasias accito turbine valles
est opus. Ostrogothis colitur mixtisque Gruthungis Phryx ager : hos parvae poterunt impellere causae 194
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
this shameful name and kept Rome unsullied by an unheard of crime. He has given us a harbour to which the exiled majesty of Latium and the dis graced fasces might retire ; he has given us annals wherein, abandoning the East, an age polluted with servile stains might find a refuge.
" How like to its lord the inhabitants of the palace ! Turn your eyes to the city walls. Surely they at least mutter disapprobation, though fear forbids them speak out ? Do they not condemn him in their hearts ? No : list the plaudits of the senate, of the lords of Byzantium, of the Grecian citizens of Rome. O people worthy of such a senate, senate
of such a consul !
bear arms and use them not, that manly indignation reminds not of their sex those many whose thighs bear a sword ! Has my descendants' robe of office sunk so low ? Is Brutus' renown thus brought to
scorn ?
" Romulus, forgive thy sire for coming so tardy
an avenger of those outraged fasces. Right soon will I make them pay for this joy with liberal tears. Why delayest thou, Bellona, to sound the trumpet of hell and to arm thyself with the scythe wherewith thou mowest the people to the ground ? Foment discord, banish pleasures. I am aweary of the devastation of Thrace and Macedon, of vengeance twice wreaked on races already buried. Arouse less accustomed destruction ; spread fire and sword
beyond the seas, make a beginning of new devasta tion. Seek not now thy foe on Riphaeus' heights : what boots it to rouse the storm of war amid Cau casia's ravines ? Ostrogoths and Gruthungi together inhabit the land of Phrygia ; 'twill need but a touch
195
worthy
To think that all these
CLAUDIAN
in scelus ; ad mores facilis natura reverti. 155 sic eat : in nostro quando iam milite robur
torpuit et molli didicit parere magistro,
vindicet Arctous violatas advena leges ;
barbara Romano succurrant arma pudori. "
Sic fatus clipeo, quantum vix ipse deorum 160
arbiter infesto cum percutit aegida nimbo, intonuit. responsat Athos Haemusque remugit ; ingeminat raucum Rhodope concussa fragorem. cornua cana gelu mirantibus extulit undis
Hebrus et exanguem glacie timor adligat Histrum. 165 tunc, adamante gravem nodisque rigentibus hastam, telum ingens nullique deo iaculabile, torsit.
fit late ruptis via nubibus ; illa per auras
tot freta, tot montes uno contenta volatu
transilit et Phrygiae mediis adfigitur arvis. 170 sensit humus ; gemuit Nysaeo palmite felix
Hermus et aurata Pactolus inhorruit urna totaque summissis fleverunt Dindyma silvis.
Nec dea praemissae stridorem segnius hastae consequitur, centumque vias meditata nocendi 175
tandem Tarbigilum (Geticae dux improbus alae 1
viso tum forte redibat Eutropio vacuus donis, feritasque dolore
creverat et, teneris etiam quae crimina suadet
1 alae Rubenus ; mss. (followed by Birt) have aulae
1 Alluding to the Roman custom of casting a spear as a sign of the declaration of war ; cf. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 207—
hie erat) adgreditur.
196
Hinc solet hasta manu belli praenuntia mitti In regem et gentes cum placet arma capi.
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
to precipitate them into revolt ; readily does nature return to her old ways. So be it. Since our soldiers' valour is numbed and they have learned to obey an unmanned master, let a stranger from the north avenge our outraged laws and barbarian arms bring relief to disgraced Rome. "
So spake he and thundered with his shield nigh as loud as the ruler of the gods when he shakes his aegis from out the lowering cloud. Athos replies, Haemus re-echoes ; again and again shaken Rhodope repeats the hoarse uproar. Hebrus raised from out the wondering waters his horns hoary with frost, and bloodless Ister froze in fear. Then the god cast his javelin,1 heavy with steel, and stiff with knotted
shaft, a mighty weapon such as none other god could wield. The clouds part before its onset and give it free passage ; through the air it speeds o'er seas and mountains by one mighty cast and comes to earth amid the plains of Phrygia. The ground felt the shock ; Hermus blessed with Dionysus' vines groaned thereat, Pactolus' golden urn shuddered, all Dindymus bent his forest fleece and wept.
Bellona, too, hastens forth with speed no less than that of Mars' whistling spear ; a hundred ways of hurt she pondered and at last approached Tarbigilus,2 fierce leader of the Getic squadron. It chanced he had but late returned with empty hands from a visit to Eutropius ; disappointment and indignation aggravated his ferocity, and poverty, that can incite
2 Tarbigilus seems to have belonged to the nation of the Gruthungi. The exact form of his name is a matter of uncertainty. The mss. vary : Zosimus (v. 13. 2) calls him TpiptytXdos. His revolt in Phrygia (cf. 11. 274, etc. ) took place in 399.
197
GLAUDIAN
ingeniis, Scythicum pectus flammabat egestas. 180 huic sese vultu simulatae coniugis offert
mentitoque ferox incedit barbara gressu,
carbaseos induta sinus : post terga reductas
uberibus propior mordebat fibula vestes,
inque orbem tereti mitra retinente capillum 185 strinxerat et virides flavescere iusserat angues.
advolat ac niveis reducem complectitur ulnis infunditque animo furiale per oscula virus.
principe quam largo veniat, quas inde reportet divitias, astu rabiem motura requirit. 190 ille iter ingratum, vanos deflere labores,
quos super eunuchi fastus, quae probra tulisset. continuo secat ungue genas et tempore pandit
adrepto gemitus :
" I nunc, devotus aratris
scinde solum positoque tuos mucrone sodales 195
ad rastros sudare doce. bene rura Gruthungus excolet et certo disponet sidere vites.
felices aliae, quas debellata maritis
oppida, quas magnis quaesitae viribus ornant exuviae, quibus Argivae pulchraeque ministrant 200 Thessalides, famulas et quae meruere Lacaenas.
me nimium timido, nimium iunxere remisso
fata viro, totum qui degener exuit Histrum,
qui refugit patriae ritus, quem detinet aequi
gloria concessoque cupit vixisse colonus 205 quam dominus rapto. quid pulchra vocabula pigris
198
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
the gentlest heart to crime, inflamed his savage breast. Taking upon her the similitude of his wife she comes to meet him ; proudly she steps forth like the barbarian queen, clothed in linen raiment. Close to her breast a brooch fastened her dress that trailed behind her ; she had bound her locks into a coil that a polished circlet Confined, and bidden her green snakes turn to gold. She hastens to greet him on his return and throws her snowy arms about his neck, instilling the poison of the furies into his soul by her kisses. Guilefully to stir his rage she asks if the great man has been generous to him ;
if he brings back rich presents. With tears he recounts his profitless journey, his useless toil, the pride and insults, moreover, which he had to bear at the eunuch's hands. At once she seized the favourable moment, and tearing her cheek with her nails, discloses her complaints.
" Go then, busy thyself with the plough, cleave the soil, bid thy followers lay aside their swords and sweat o'er the harrow. The Gruthungi will make
farmers and will plant their vines in due season. Happy those other women whose glory is seen in the towns their husbands have conquered, they whose adornment is the spoils so hardly won from an enemy, whose servants are fair captives of Argos or Thessaly, and who have won them slaves from Sparta. Fate has mated me with too timid, too indolent a husband, a degenerate who has forgotten the valour of Ister's tribes, who deserts his country's ways, whom a vain reputation
for justice attracts, while he longs to live as a hus bandman by favour rather than as a prince by plunder. Why give fair names to shameful weak
199
good
CLAUDIAN
praetentas vitiis ? probitatis inertia nomen,
iustitiae formido subit. tolerabis iniquam pauperiem, cum tela geras ? et flebis inultus,
cum pateant tantae nullis custodibus urbes ? 210
" Quippe metus poenae. pridem mos ille vigebat, ut meritos colerent impacatisque rebelles
urgerent odiis ; at nunc, qui foedera rumpit,
ditatur ; qui servat, eget. vastator Achivae
gentis et Epirum nuper populatus inultam 215 praesidet Illyrico ; iam, quos obsedit, amicos ingreditur muros illis responsa daturus,
quorum coniugibus potitur natosque peremit.
sic hostes punire solent, haec praemia solvunt
excidiis. cunctaris adhuc numerumque tuorum 220
respicis exiguamque manum ? tu rumpe quietem ; bella dabunt socios.
nec te tam prona monerem, si contra paterere viros : nunc alter in armis
sexus et eunuchis se defensoribus orbis
credidit ; hos aquilae Romanaque signa sequuntur. incipe barbaricae tandem te reddere vitae, 226 te quoque iam timeant admirenturque nocentem, quem sprevere pium. spoliis praedaque repletus cum libeat Romanus eris. "
Sic fata repente
in diram se vertit avem rostroque recurvo 230
turpis et infernis tenebris obscurior alas auspicium veteri sedit ferale sepulcro.
Ille, pavor postquam resoluto corde quievit
1 Alaric was made magister militum in Illyricum : see Introduction, p. x.
200
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
ness ? Cowardice is called loyalty ; fear, a sense of justice. Wilt thou submit to humiliating poverty
though thou bearest arms ? Wilt thou weep un
avenged, though so many cities open to thee their undefended gates ?
" Dost thou fear the consequences ? Rome's old way was to reward merit and vent on rebels a hate that knew no bound. Now he who breaks a treaty wins riches, while he who observes one lives in want. The ravager of Achaea and recent devastator of defenceless Epirus is lord of Illyria 1 ; he now enters as a friend within the walls to which he was laying siege, and administers justice to those whose wives
he has seduced and whose children he has murdered. Such is the punishment meted out to an enemy, such the vengeance exacted for wholesale slaughter —and dost thou still hesitate ? Hast thou regard to the small numbers of thy followers ? Nay, have done with peace : war will give thee allies. Nor would I urge thee so instantly hadst thou to face men. It is another sex that is in arms
against thee ; the world has entrusted itself to the pro
tection of eunuchs ; 'tis such leaders the eagles and standards of Rome follow. Time it is thou didst return to a barbarian life ; be thou in thy turn an object of terror, and let men marvel at thy crimes who despised thy virtues. Laden with booty and plunder thou shalt be a Roman when it pleases thee. "
So saying she suddenly changed into an ill-omened bird, a loathsome sight with its hooked beak and plumage blacker than Hell's darkness, and perched, a sinister augury, on an old tomb.
So soon as repose from terror came to his freed 201
CLAUDIAN
et rigidae sedere comae, non distulit atrox
iussa deae ; sociis, quae viderat, ordine pandit 235
Coniurat barbara pubes nacta ducem Latiisque palam descivit ab armis.
Pars Phrygiae, Scythicis quaecumque Trionibus alget
proxima, Bithynos, solem quae condit, Ionas,
quae levat, attingit Galatas. utrimque propinqui 240
finibus obliquis Lydi Pisidaeque feroces continuant australe latus. gens una fuere
tot quondam populi, priscum cognomen et unum appellata Phryges ; sed (quid non longa valebit permutare dies ? ) dicti post Maeona regem 245 Maeones. Aegaeos insedit Graecia portus ;
Thyni Thraces arant quae nunc Bithynia fertur ; nuper ab Oceano Gallorum exercitus ingens
illis ante vagus tandem regionibus haesit
gaesaque deposuit, Graio iam mitis amictu, 250 pro Rheno poturus Halyn. dat cuncta vetustas principium Phrygibus ; nec rex Aegyptius ultra restitit, humani postquam puer uberis expers
in Phrygiam primum laxavit murmura vocem.
Hic cecidit Libycis iactata paludibus olim 255
tibia, foedatam cum reddidit umbra Minervam, hic et Apollinea victus testudine pastor suspensa memores inlustrat pelle Celaenas.
1 The reference is to Herodotus ii. 2. Psammetichus, King of Egypt, wishing to find out which was the most ancient nation, had two children reared in complete silence. As the first word they uttered was " Becos," the Phrygian word for " bread," Phrygia was accorded the honour.
2 Minerva is said to have thrown her pipe into the river 202
inritatque sequi.
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
heart, and his stiffened hair sank down again, he made all haste to carry out the commands of the goddess. He told his followers all that he had seen and invited them to follow him. Rebellious Barbary had found a champion and openly threw off the
Latin yoke.
That part of Phrygia which lies towards the north
beneath the cold constellation of the Wain borders on Bithynia ; that towards the sunset on Ionia, and that towards the sunrise on Galatia. On two sides runs the transverse boundary of Lydia while the fierce Pisidians hem it in to the south. All these peoples once formed one nation and had one name : they were of old called the Phrygians, but (what changes does time not bring about ? ) after the reign of a king Maeon, were known as Maeones. Then the Greeks settled on the shores of the Aegean, and the Thyni from Thrace cultivated the region now called Bithynia. Not long since a vast army of Gauls, nomad hitherto, came at last to rest in the district ; these laid by their spears, clothed them in the civilized robe of Greece and drank no longer from Rhine's, but from Halys', waters. All antiquity gives priority to the Phrygian, even Egypt's king had perforce to recognize it when the babe, nourished at no human breast, first opened his lips to lisp the Phrygian tongue. 1
Here fell the pipe once hurled into the marshes of Lycia, what time the stream reflected Minerva's disfigured countenance. 2 Here, too, there perished, conquered by Apollo's lyre, the shepherd Marsyas whose flayed skin brought renown to the city of
when she observed in the reflection the facial contortions apparently necessary to play it ; cf. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 699.
203
CLAUDIAN
quattuor hinc magnis procedunt fontibus amnes auriferi ; nec miror aquas radiare metallo, 260 quae totiens lavere Midan. diversus ad Austrum cursus et Arctoum fluviis mare. Dindyma fundunt Sangarium, vitrei puro qui gurgite Galli
auctus Amazonii defertur ad ostia Ponti.
Icarium pelagus Mycalaeaque litora iuncti 265 Marsya Maeanderque petunt ; sed Marsya velox, dum suus est, flexuque carens iam flumine mixtus mollitur, Maeandre, tuo ; contraria passus,
quam Rhodano stimulatus Arar : quos inter aprica planities Cererique favet densisque ligatur 270 vitibus et glaucae fructus attollit olivae,
dives equis, felix pecori pretiosaque picto
marmore purpureis, caedit quod Synnada, venis.
Talem tum Phrygiam Geticis populatibus uri permisere dei. securas barbarus urbes 275 inrupit facilesque capi. spes nulla salutis,
nulla fugae : putribus iam propugnacula saxis
longo corruerant aevo pacisque senecta.
Interea gelidae secretis rupibus Idae
dum sedet et thiasos spectat de more Cybebe 280 Curetumque alacres ad tympana suscitat enses, aurea sanctarum decus inmortale comarum
defluxit capiti turris summoque volutus
vertice crinalis violatur pulvere murus.
obstipuere truces omen Corybantes et uno 285 fixa metu tacitas presserunt orgia buxos.
indoluit genetrix, tum sic commota profatur : 204
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
Celaenae. Hence flow four broad auriferous rivers. Small wonder that the waters in which King Midas bathed so often glitter with the rare metal. Two flow north, two southwards. Dindymus gives birth to the river Sangarius, which, swollen by the clear stream of the Gallus, hastens on to the Euxine, the sea of the Amazon. The conjoined streams of
is it to the corn, thick-set with vines and displaying the fruit of the grey-green olive ; rich, too, in horses, fertile in flocks, and wealthy with the purple-veined marble that Synnada quarries.
Such was Phrygia then when the gods allowed it to be ravaged by Getic brigands. The barbarian burst in upon those cities so peaceful, so easy of capture. There was no hope of safety, no chance of escape. Long and peaceful ages had made the crumbling stones of their battlements to fall.
Meanwhile Cybele was seated amid the hallowed rocks of cold Ida, watching, as is her wont, the dance, and inciting the joyous Curetes to brandish their swords at the sound of the drum, when, lo, the golden - turreted crown, the eternal glory of her blessed hair, fell from off her head and, rolling from her brow, the castellated diadem is profaned in the dust. The Corybantes stopped in amazement at this omen ; general alarm checked their orgies and silenced their pipes. The mother of the gods wept ; then spake thus in sorrow.
205
and Meander make for the Icarian main
Marsyas
and Mycale's strand. Marsyas flows fast and straight while his course is his own ; mingled with thy waters, Meander, he goes slowly—unlike the Saone whose waters are hastened by the Rhone's inflowing. Between these rivers is a sun-kissed plain ; kindly
CLAUDIAN
" Hoc mihi iam pridem Lachesis grandaeva canebat augurium : Phrygiae casus venisse supremos delapsus testatur apex. heu sanguine qualis 290 ibit Sangarius quantasque cadavera lenti
Maeandri passura moras ! inmobilis haeret terminus, haec dudum nato placuere Tonanti.
par et finitimis luctus, frustraque Lyaei
non defensuros implorat Lydia thyrsos. 295
iamque vale Phrygiae tellus perituraque flammis moenia, conspicuas quae nunc attollitis arces,
mox campi nudumque solum ! dilecta valete
flumina ! non vestris ultra bacchabor in antris
nec iuga sulcabit noster Berecynthia currus. " 300 dixit et ad tristes convertit tympana planctus. labentem patriam sacris ululatibus Attis
personat et torvi lacrimis maduere leones. Eutropius, nequeat quamvis metuenda taceri
clades et trepidus vulgaverit omnia rumor, 305 ignorare tamen fingit regnique ruinas
dissimulat : parvam latronum errare catervam,
ad sontes tormenta magis quam tela parari
nec duce frangendas iactat, sed iudice vires :
vasta velut Libyae venantum vocibus ales 310
cum premitur calidas cursu transmittit harenas
inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis
pulverulenta volat ; si iam vestigia retro clara sonent, oblita fugae stat lumine clauso
(ridendum ! ) revoluta caput creditque latere, 315 quem non ipsa videt. furtim tamen ardua mittit
206
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
" This is the portent that aged Lachesis foretold long years ago. My fallen crown assures me that Phrygia's final crisis is upon her. Alas for the blood that shall redden Sangarius' waves ; for all the
that shall retard Meander's slow stream. The hour is fixed irrevocably ; such, long since, was
son's, the Thunderer's, will. A like disaster awaits the neighbouring peoples ; in vain does Lydia invoke the thyrsus of Bacchus in her defence. Now fare thee well, land of Phrygia, farewell, walls doomed to the flames, walls that now rear aloft
proud towers but will soon be levelled with the ground and the bare earth. Farewell, dear rivers : never more shall I hold my inspired revels in your grottoes ; no more shall my chariot leave the traces of its wheels on Berecynthus' heights. " So spake she, and turned her drums to strains of mourning. Attis filled his devoted country with holy lamenta tions and Cybele's tawny lions burst into tears.
Eutropius, although this terrible revolt could not
be hid and although rumour had spread everywhere the dread news, none the less affects to ignore it and shuts his eyes to the empire's peril. 'Twas some poor troop of wandering brigands ; such wretches call for punishment not war ; a judge —so he brags —not a general should crush their strength. Even so the great Libyan bird, hard pressed by the cries of its pursuers, runs o'er the burning sands and flies through the dust, curving its wings like sails to catch the breeze ; but when it clearly hears the footsteps close behind it, it forgets its flight, standing with closed eyes and hiding its head, believing, poor fool, it cannot be seen by those whom itself cannot see. None the less Eutropius
207
corpses
my
CLAUDIAN
cum donis promissa novis, si forte rogatus
desinat. ille semel nota dulcedine praedae
se famulo servire negat, nec grata timentum
munera ; militiam nullam nec prima superbus 320 cingula dignari ; nam quis non consule tali
vilis honos ?
Postquam precibus mitescere nullis. non auro cessisse videt creberque recurrit
nuntius incassum nec spes iam foederis extat : tandem consilium belli confessus agendi 325 ad sua tecta vocat. iuvenes venere protervi lascivique senes, quibus est insignis edendi
gloria corruptasque dapes variasse decorum,
qui ventrem invitant pretio traduntque palato
sidereas Iunonis aves et si qua loquendi 330 gnara coloratis viridis defertur ab Indis,
quaesitos trans regna cibos, quorumque profundam ingluviem non Aegaeus, non alta Propontis,
non freta longinquis Maeotia piscibus explent
vestis odoratae studium ; laus maxima risum 335 per vanos movisse sales minimeque viriles
munditiae ; compti vultus ; onerique vel ipsa
serica. si Chunus feriat, si Sarmata portas,
solliciti scaenae ; Romam contemnere sueti
mirarique suas, quas Bosphorus obruat ! aedes ; 340 saltandi dociles aurigarumque periti.
Pars humili de plebe duces ; pars compede suras
1 Claudian uses the word cingulum (=a soldier's belt) as = military service — a not uncommon late use, cf. Serv. Am. viii. 724 and (frequently) cingi =to serve, in the Digests.
* i. e. the peacock. 208
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
sends towering promises with new gifts, if haply his foe may pause at his entreaty. But the bar barian, in whose heart was once waked the old love of plunder, refuses to submit to a slave ; for him the gifts of fear have no charm ; haughtily he disdains any rank,1 even the highest, for under such a consul what honour would not be disgrace ?
When Eutropius saw that no prayers could move him nor any gold win him over ; when messenger after messenger returned, his mission unfulfilled, and all hopes of an alliance were at an end, he at last recognized the necessity for war and summoned the council to his palace. Thither they came—wanton lads and debauched greybeards whose
greatest glory was gluttony, and whose pride it was to diver
sify the outraged banquet. Their hunger is only aroused by costly meats, and they tickle their palates with foods imported from overseas, the flesh of the
fowl of Juno,2 or of that coloured bird brought from farthest Ind that knows how to speak. Not the Aegean, not deep Propontis, not Maeotis' lake afar can sate their appetites with fish. Per fumed garments are their care, their pride to move foolish laughter with their silly jests. On their adornment and toilette they bestow a woman's care and find even the silk they wear too heavy a burden. Should the Hun, the Sarmatian, strike at the city's gates yet trouble they for nought but the theatre. Rome they despise and reserve their admiration for their own houses—may Bosporus' waters over
many-eyed
whelm them ! charioteers.
Skilful dancers they and clever
Some sprung from the dregs of the people are generals ; some magistrates —though their legs and
vol. i p
209
CLAUDIAN
cruraque signati nigro liventia ferro
iura regunt, facies quamvis inscripta repugnet
seque suo prodat titulo. sed prima potestas 345 Eutropium praefert Hosio subnixa secundo.
dulcior hie sane cunctis prudensque movendi
iuris et admoto qui temperet omnia fumo,
fervidus, accensam sed qui bene decoquat iram. considunt apices geiruni dicionis Eoae, 350 hie cocus, hie leno, defossi verbere terga,
servitio, non arte pares, hie saepius emptus,
after ad Hispanos nutritus verna penates.
Ergo ubi collecti proceres, qui rebus in artis consulerent tantisque darent solacia morbis, 355 obliti subito Phrygiae bellisque relictis
ad solitos coepere iocos et iurgia circi
tendere. nequiquam magna confligitur ira,
quis melius vibrata puer vertigine molli
membra rotet, verrat quis marmora crine supino ? 360 quis magis enodes laterum detorqueat arcus,1
quis voci digitos, oculos quis moribus aptet ?
hi tragicos meminere modos ; his fabula Tereus, his necdum commissa choro cantatur Agave.
Increpat Eutropius : non haec spectacula tempus poscere ; nunc alias armorum incumbere curas ; 366 se satis Armenio fessum pro limite cingi
1 Birt artus ; / return to the vulg. arcus
1 Hosius, by birth a Spaniard, had been a slave and a cook — whence these various double meanings. He rose to be magister officiorum at the court of Arcadius (circa 396-8).
210
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
ankles are still scarred and livid with their wearing of the fetters of servitude and though their branded foreheads deny their owners' right to office and disclose their true title. Among them Eutropius holds the first place ; Hosius, on whom he relies, comes next. He of a truth is more popular, a cunning artificer of justice who knows well how to steam his cases ; at times boiling with anger, yet well able to render down that anger when aroused. 1 These sit enthroned, joint rulers of the eastern empire, the one a cook the other a pander. The backs of both are scarred with the whip, each was a slave though of a different kind. The one had been bought and sold a hundred times, the other brought up a dependant in a Spanish household.
When, therefore, the chief men were gathered
for consultation in this strait and to
together
comfort the sickness of the state, forthwith
they forget Phrygia and, setting aside the question of war, start their accustomed fooling and engage in disputes
about the Circus. With heat as fierce as it is point
less they wrangle what boy can best whirl quivering limbs in an easy somersault or sweep the marble floor with his drooping locks ; who can most twist his flanks into a boneless arch ; who can best suit his gestures to his words and his eyes to his character. Some recite speeches from tragedy, others chant the play of Tereus, others again that of Agave, never before staged.
Eutropius chides them ; the present moment, says he, demands other spectacles than these ; it is war which now should claim all their care. For his part (for he is an old man and a weary) it is enough to defend the frontiers of Armenia ; single
211
CLAUDIAN
nec tantis unum subsistere posse periclis ; ignoscant senio, iuvenes ad proelia mittant : qualis pauperibus nutrix invisa puellis adsidet et tela communem quaerere victum rauca monet ; festis illae lusisse diebus orant et positis aequaevas visere pensis, irataeque operi iam lasso pollice fila
—
' ' 370
turbant et teneros detergent stamine fletus. 375
Emicat extemplo cunetis trepidantibus audax crassa mole Leo, quem vix Cyclopia solum
aequatura fames, quem non ieiuna Celaeno
vinceret ; hinc nomen fertur meruisse Leonis.
acer in absentes linguae iactator, abundans 380 corporis exiguusque animi, doctissimus artis quondam lanificae, moderator pectinis unci.
non alius lanam purgatis sordibus aeque
praebuerit calathis, similis nec pinguia quisquam vellera per tenues ferri producere rimas. 385 tunc Aiax erat Eutropii lateque fremebat,
non septem vasto quatiens umbone iuvencos,
sed, quam perpetuis dapibus pigroque sedili
inter anus interque colos oneraverat, alvum.
adsurgit tandem vocemque expromit anhelam : 390
novus hie torpor, socii ? quonam usque sedemus
femineis clausi thalamis patimurque periclum gliscere desidia ? graviorum turba malorum texitur, ignavis trahimus dum tempora votis.
me petit hie sudor. numquam mea dextera segnis
ad ferrum. faveat tantum Tritonia coeptis, 396
1 Gainas and Leo were sent by Eutropius to put down the revolt of Tarbigilus. Gainas, however, never left the Hellespont and Leo, advancing into Pamphylia, there met, and was defeated by, Tarbigilus (Zosim. v. 16. 5). We gather from Claudian that he had once been a weaver.
212
" Quis
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
handed he cannot cope with all these perils. They must pardon his age and send younger men to the
war :—
among a crowd of poor working-girls and bidding them in her raucous voice ply the loom and gain their livelihood, while they beg to be allowed the enjoyment of a holiday, to lay aside their tasks and visit their friends ; angered at her refusal and wearied of their work they crush the threads in their hands and wipe away their gentle tears with the
cloth.
Sudden from out that trembling throng upleaps
bold Leo 1 with his vast bulk, he whose single prowess Cyclopean hunger could scarce match, whom starving
Celaeno could not outvie. Tis to this fact that he
is said to have owed his name. Bold (when his
foe was absent), brave (as a speaker), great in bulk but small of heart, once a highly skilled spinner of thread and a cunning carder, none other could so well cleanse the dirt from out the fleece and fill the baskets, none other pull the thick wool over the iron teeth of the comb as could he. He was then Eutropius' Ajax and far and near he raged, shaking not a huge shield compact of seven layers of ox-hide, but that belly of his, laden with con tinuous feastings, as he sat lazily among old dames and distaffs. At length he arose and, panting, said, " What unwonted sluggishness is this, my friends ? How long must we sit closeted in the women's apartments and suffer our perils to increase by reason of our sloth ? Fate weaves for us a net work of ill while we waste our time in useless vows. This difficult task demands my action ; never was my hand slow to use iron. Let but Minerva favour
213
it is as though a hated forewoman were sitting
inceptum peragetur opus,
CLAUDIAN
iam cuncta furorem qui gravat, efficiam leviorem pondere lanae
Tarbigilum timidum, desertoresque Gruthungos
ut miseras populabor oves et pace relata 400 pristina restituam Phrygias ad stamina matres. "
His dictis iterum sedit ; fit plausus et ingens concilii clamor, qualis resonantibus olim
exoritur caveis, quotiens crinitus ephebus
aut rigidam Nioben aut flentem Troada fingit. 405 protinus excitis iter inremeabile signis
adripit infaustoque iubet bubone moveri
agmina Mygdonias mox impletura volucres. Pulcher et urbanae cupiens exercitus umbrae,
adsiduus ludis, avidus splendere lavacris 410 nec soles imbresve pati, multumque priori
dispar, sub clipeo Thracum qui ferre pruinas,
dum Stilicho regeret, nudoque hiemare sub axe sueverat et duris haurire bipennibus Hebrum.
cum duce mutatae vires. Byzantia robur 415 fregit luxuries Ancyranique triumphi.
non peditem praecedit eques ; non commoda castris eligitur regio ; vicibus custodia nullis
advigilat vallo ; non explorantur eundae
vitandaeque viae ; nullo se cornua flectunt 420 ordine : confusi passim per opaca vagantur
lustra, per ignotas angusto tramite valles.
1 Triumphi is ironical. Claudian refers to Eutropius' pleasure journey to Ancyra ; c/. ]. 98 of this poem.
214
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
mine attempts and the work begun will be the work
Now will I render proud Tarbigilus, whose madness has caused all this turmoil, of less
completed.
than a ball of wool, the Gruthungi I will drive before me like a flock of wretched sheep ; and when I have restored peace I will set the women of Phrygia once more beside their ancient spinning. "
So saying he sat down again. Great clamour and applause filled the council-chamber, applause such as rises from the rows of spectators in the theatre when some curled youth impersonates Niobe turned to stone, or Hecuba in tears. Straight way Leo unfolds his banners and starts on the journey whence there is to be no return. To the accompani ment of the screech-owl's ill-omened cry he bids march the host destined so soon to feed the vultures of Mygdonia.
'Tis a well-favoured army, enamoured of the city's shade, ever present at the games, anxious to shine in the baths, not to bear sun-scorch and rain, and oh ! how different to that former army who, 'neath the
weight
of Stilicho, endured under arms the frosts of Thrace and were wont to winter in the open air and break with their axes the frozen waters of Hebrus for a draught. Changed is the leader and changed their character. Byzantium's luxury and Ancyra's pomp 1 have destroyed their vigour. No longer does the cavalry ride ahead of the foot ; suitable ground is not chosen for camps ; no constant
leadership
of sentries safeguards the ramparts, no scouts are sent forward to discover which roads to take or which to avoid ; their evolutions are performed without drill or discipline, in confusion they stray hither and thither amid dark forests, along narrow
215
change
CLAUDIAN
sic vacui rectoris equi, sic orba magistro fertur in abruptum casu, non sidere, puppis ; sic ruit in rupes amisso pisce sodali
belua, sulcandas qui praevius edocet undas
425
inmensumque pecus parvae moderamine caudae temperat et tanto coniungit foedera monstro ;
illa natat rationis inops et caeca profundi ;
iam brevibus deprensa vadis ignara reverti 430 palpitat et vanos scopulis inlidit hiatus.
Tarbigilus simulare fugam flatusque Leonis
spe nutrire leves improvisusque repente,
dum gravibus marcent epulis hostique catenas
inter vina crepant, largo sopita Lyaeo 435 castra subit. pereunt alii, dum membra cubili
tarda levant ; alii leto iunxere soporem ;
ast alios vicina palus sine more ruentes
excipit et cumulis inmanibus aggerat undas.
ipse Leo damma cervoque fugacior ibat 440 sudanti tremebundus equo : qui pondere postquam decidit, implicitus limo cunctantia pronus
per vada reptabat. caeno subnixa tenaci
mergitur et pingui suspirat corpore moles
more suis, dapibus quae iam devota futuris 445 turpe gemit, quotiens Hosius mucrone corusco armatur cingitque sinus secumque volutat,
quas figat verubus partes, quae frusta calenti
1 The balaena or whale. According to ancient naturalists the balaena entered into an alliance with the musculus or sea-mouse which, in Pliny's words, "vada praenatans demonstrat oculorumque vice fungitur" (Pliny, H. N. ix.
186). 216
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
paths in unexplored valleys.
Ere yet he had donned the consul's robe there came a rumbling from the bowels of the earth ; a hidden madness shook the subterranean caverns and buildings crashed one on another. Chalcedon, shaken to the foundations, tottered like a drunken man, and Bosporus, straying from his course, flooded the cities on his either bank. The shores of the strait came together and the sailors once more had to avoid the Clashing Rocks, torn from their foundation and errant. Surely such presages were sent by the
sister deities of Styx, rejoicing that under this consul at last all peoples were delivered into their hands. Soon arose divers forms of ruin : here the fire-god spread his flames ; there Nereus, god of the sea, brake his bounds. Here men's homes were burned, there flooded. Ye gods, what punishment do ye hold in store for the scoundrel whose rise to power was marked by such portents ? O'ercome us, Neptune, with thy trident and overwhelm our defiled soil along with all the guilt. One city we yield to the Furies, a scapegoat for the sins of the world.
Once the way was open for portents, prodigies of every sort hasted to disclose themselves. Rain of blood fell, children of weird form were born and
offspring discordant with their breed. Statues wept, not seldom the herds dared to speak, and wild beasts braved an entrance into the city. Then seers raved
187
CLAUDIAN
pectora terrifici stimulis ignescere Phoebi.
fac nullos cecinisse deos : adeone retusi quisquam cordis erit, dubitet qui partibus illis
adfore fatalem castrati consulis annum ?
sed quam caecus inest vitiis amor ! omne futurum 50
despicitur suadentque brevem praesentia fructum et ruit in vetitum damni secura libido,
dum mora supplicii lucro serumque quod instat creditur. haud equidem contra tot signa Camillo detulerim fasces, nedum (pro sexus ! ) inerti 55 mancipio, cui, cuncta licet responsa iuberent hortantesque licet sponderent prospera divi,
turpe fuit cessisse viros.
Exquirite retro crimina continui lectis annalibus aevi,
prisca recensitis evolvite saecula fastis : 60 quid senis infandi Capreae, quid scaena Neronis
tale ferunt ? spado Romuleo succinctus amictu
sedit in Augustis laribus.
vulgata patebat aula salutantum studiis ; hue plebe senatus
permixta trepidique duces omnisque potestas 65 confluit. advolvi genibus, contingere dextram ambitus et votum deformibus oscula rugis
figere. praesidium legum genitorque vocatur principis et famulum dignatur regia patrem. posteritas, admitte fidem : monumenta petuntur 70
dedecoris multisque gemunt incudibus aera formatura nefas. haec iudicis, illa togati,
1 Suetonius draws a lurid (and probably exaggerated) picture of the debaucherics of Tiberius' old age at Capri. The same author describes the " scaena Neronis. " The curious may find the account in Suet. Nero, xxix.
188
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
strangely and frenzied hearts were everywhere ablaze, stirred by the fires of the dread god Phoebus. Yet even had no god warned us, whose mind shall be so dull as to doubt that the year of an emasculate consul must be fatal to those lands ? Blind folly ever accompanies crime ; of the future no account is taken ; sufficient for the day is its short-lived pleasure ; heedless of loss passion plunges into for bidden joys, counting the postponement of punish ment a gain and believing distant the retribution that even now o'erhangs. In face of such portents I would not have entrusted Camillus' self with the fasces, let alone a sexless slave (oh ! the shame of it to yield to whom were, for men, a disgrace, even though every oracle decreed it, and the insis tent deities gave pledges of prosperity.
Look back in the annals of crime, read o'er all past history, unroll the volumes of Rome's story. What can the Capri of Tiberius' old age, what can Nero's theatre offer like to this A eunuch, clad in the cloak of Romulus, sat within the house of the emperors the staled palace lay open to the
of visitors hither hasten senators, mingling with the populace, anxious generals and magistrates of every degree all are fain to be the first to fall at his feet and to touch his hand the
prayer of all to set kisses on those hideous wrinkles.
He called defender of the laws, father of the
emperor, and the court deigns to acknowledge a slave as its overlord. Ye who come after, acknow ledge that true Men must needs erect monu ments to celebrate this infamy on many an anvil groans the bronze that is to take upon the form of this monster. Here gleams his statue as a judge,
189
eager throng
it
;
? 1
!
is
! ),
it
is ;
is
it
;
; ;
CLAUDIAN
haec nitet armati species ; numerosus ubique
fulget eques : praefert eunuchi curia vultus.
ac veluti caveant ne quo consistere virtus 75 possit pura loco, cunctas hoc ore laborant
incestare vias. maneant inmota precamur
certaque perpetui sint argumenta pudoris.
subter adulantes tituli nimiaeque leguntur
vel maribus laudes : claro quod nobilis ortu 80 (cum vivant domini quod maxima proelia solus impleat (et patitur miles quod tertius urbis conditor (hoc Byzas Constantinusque videbant
inter quae tumidus leno producere cenas
in lucem, foetere mero, dispergere plausum 85 empturas in vulgus opes, totosque theatris
indulgere dies, alieni prodigus auri.
at soror et, quid portentis creditur, uxor
mulcebat matres epulis et more pudicae
coniugis eunuchi celebrabat vota mariti. 90 hanc amat, hanc summa de re vel pace vel armis
consulit, huic curas et clausa palatia mandat
ceu stabulum vacuamque domum. sic magna tueri regna nihil, patiensque iugi deluditur orbis
Mitior alternum Zephyri iam bruma teporem 95 senserat et primi laxabant germina flores,
iamque iter in gremio pacis sollemne parabant
ad muros, Ancyra, tuos, auctore repertum
Eutropio, pelagi ne taedia longa subirent,
Mythical founder of Byzantium = Constantinople)
said to have been contemporaneous with the Argonauts
(Diod. iv. 49. 1).
i. e. to prevent his being bored with the vicw of the
Bosporus. 190
21
(
:
?
si
! ).
! ), ! ),
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
there as a consul, there as a warrior. On every side one sees that figure of his mounted on his horse ; before the very doors of the senate-house behold a eunuch's countenance. As though to rob virtue of any place where she might sojourn undefiled, men labour to befoul every street with this vile image. May they rest for ever undisturbed, indisputable
proofs of our eternal shame ; such is my prayer. Beneath the statues one reads flattering titles and praises too great even for men. Do they tell of his noble race and lineage while his owners are still alive ? What soldier brooks to read that
single- handed he, Eutropius, won great battles ? Are Byzas 1 and Constantine to be told that he is the
third founder of Rome ? Meanwhile the arrogant pander prolongs his revels till the dawn, stinking of wine and scattering money amid the crowd to
buy their applause. He spends whole days of amusement in the theatres, prodigal of another's money. But his sister and spouse such a prodigy can be conceived) wins the favour of Rome's matrons by entertainments, and, like a chaste wife, sings the
praises of her eunuch husband. 'Tis her he loves, her he consults on all matters of importance, be of peace or war, to her care he entrusts the keys of the palace, as one would of a stable or empty house. Is the guardianship of a mighty empire thus naught Is thus he makes a mockery of world's obedience
Winter, passing into spring, had now felt the returning warmth of Zephyrus' breezes and the earliest flowers had oped their buds when, in the
lap of peace, they were preparing the annual journey to thy walls, Ancyra. 'Twas Eutropius' device that weariness of the sea might not come upon him,
191
2
it
a
? ?
it
(if
CLAUDIAN
sed vaga lascivis flueret discursibus aestas : 100 unde tamen tanta sublimes mole redibant,
ceu vinctos traherent Medos Indumque bibissent. ecce autem flavis Gradivus ab usque Gelonis
arva cruentato repetebat Thracia curru :
subsidunt Pangaea rotis altaeque sonoro 105 stridunt axe nives. ut vertice constitit Haemi femineasque togas pressis conspexit habenis,
subrisit crudele pater cristisque micantem
quassavit galeam ; tunc implacabile numen
Bellonam adloquitur, quae sanguine sordida vestem Illyricis pingues pectebat stragibus hydros : 111
" Necdum mollitiae, necdum, germana, mederi possumus Eoae ? numquam corrupta rigescent
saecula ? Cappadocum tepidis Argaeus acervis aestuat ; infelix etiamnum pallet Orontes. 115 dum pereunt, meminere mali ; si corda parumper respirare sinas, nullo tot funera sensu
praetereunt : antiqua levis iactura cruoris !
" Adspicis obscaenum facinus ? quid crinibus ora protegis ? en quales sese diffudit in actus 120 parva quies, quantum nocuerunt otia ferri !
qui caruit bellis, eunucho traditur annus.
actum de trabeis esset, si partibus una
mens foret Hesperiis ; rueret derisa vetustas nullaque calcati starent vestigia iuris, 125 ni memor imperii Stilicho morumque priorum
turpe relegasset defenso Thybride nomen
192
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
but a roaming summer might slide away in pleasure journeys. But so magnificent was their return, you would have imagined they brought conquered Persia in their train and had drunk of the waters of Indus.
Look you ! Mars, returning from the distant lands of the yellow-haired Geloni, was re-seeking the lands of Thrace in his bloody chariot. Pangaeus subsided beneath his wheels, the mountain snows cried out under his sounding axle. Scarce had the father stayed on Haemus' summit and, reining in his coursers, looked upon the toga-clad woman, when he smiled a cruel smile and shook his gleaming crested helm ; then he addressed Bellona, implacable god dess, who, her raiment all stained with blood, was combing her snake-hair, fattened on the slaughter of Illyrians.
" Sister, shall we never succeed in curing the East of effeminacy ? Will this corrupt age never learn true manliness ? Argaeus yet reeks with those heaps of dead Cappadocians not yet cold ; Orontes is still pale from misery. But they only remember evil while they suffer it ; give them a moment's respite and all their slaughter fades from their minds unfelt ; little they reck of bloodshed that is past.
" Seest thou this foul deed ? Why veil thy face with thine hair ? See what crimes a short spell of peace has wrought ! what a curse has the sheathed
The year that has known no war has had a eunuch for its consul. The consulship would have been at an end had a like spirit animated Italy ; this age-long office had fallen amid mockery and
no traces been left of its trampled rights, had not Stilicho, heedful of the empire and of the character and morals of a past age, banished from Tiber's city
vol. i o 193
sword proved !
CLAUDIAN
intactamque novo servasset crimine Romam. ille dedit portum, quo se pulsata referret maiestas Latii deformataeque secures ;
ille dedit fastos, ad quos Oriente relicto confugeret sparsum maculis servilibus aevum.
130
" Quam similes haec aula viros ! ad moenia visus dirige : num saltem tacita formidine mussant ?
num damnant animo ? plaudentem cerne senatum 135 et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque Quirites.
o patribus plebes, o digni consule patres !
quid ? quod et armati cessant et nulla virilis
inter tot gladios sexum reminiscitur ira ?
hucine nostrorum cinctus abiere nepotum ? 140 sic Bruti despectus honos ?
" Ignosce parenti, Romule, quod serus temeratis fascibus ultor
advenio : iamiam largis haec gaudia faxo compensent lacrimis. quid dudum inflare moraris Tartaream, Bellona, tubam, quid stringere falcem, 145 qua populos a stirpe metis ? molire tumultus, excute delicias. Thracum Macetumque ruinae taedet et in gentes iterum saevire sepultas.
damna minus consueta move ; trans aequora saevas verte faces ; aliis exordia sume rapinis. 150 non tibi Riphaeis hostis quaerendus ab oris,
non per Caucasias accito turbine valles
est opus. Ostrogothis colitur mixtisque Gruthungis Phryx ager : hos parvae poterunt impellere causae 194
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
this shameful name and kept Rome unsullied by an unheard of crime. He has given us a harbour to which the exiled majesty of Latium and the dis graced fasces might retire ; he has given us annals wherein, abandoning the East, an age polluted with servile stains might find a refuge.
" How like to its lord the inhabitants of the palace ! Turn your eyes to the city walls. Surely they at least mutter disapprobation, though fear forbids them speak out ? Do they not condemn him in their hearts ? No : list the plaudits of the senate, of the lords of Byzantium, of the Grecian citizens of Rome. O people worthy of such a senate, senate
of such a consul !
bear arms and use them not, that manly indignation reminds not of their sex those many whose thighs bear a sword ! Has my descendants' robe of office sunk so low ? Is Brutus' renown thus brought to
scorn ?
" Romulus, forgive thy sire for coming so tardy
an avenger of those outraged fasces. Right soon will I make them pay for this joy with liberal tears. Why delayest thou, Bellona, to sound the trumpet of hell and to arm thyself with the scythe wherewith thou mowest the people to the ground ? Foment discord, banish pleasures. I am aweary of the devastation of Thrace and Macedon, of vengeance twice wreaked on races already buried. Arouse less accustomed destruction ; spread fire and sword
beyond the seas, make a beginning of new devasta tion. Seek not now thy foe on Riphaeus' heights : what boots it to rouse the storm of war amid Cau casia's ravines ? Ostrogoths and Gruthungi together inhabit the land of Phrygia ; 'twill need but a touch
195
worthy
To think that all these
CLAUDIAN
in scelus ; ad mores facilis natura reverti. 155 sic eat : in nostro quando iam milite robur
torpuit et molli didicit parere magistro,
vindicet Arctous violatas advena leges ;
barbara Romano succurrant arma pudori. "
Sic fatus clipeo, quantum vix ipse deorum 160
arbiter infesto cum percutit aegida nimbo, intonuit. responsat Athos Haemusque remugit ; ingeminat raucum Rhodope concussa fragorem. cornua cana gelu mirantibus extulit undis
Hebrus et exanguem glacie timor adligat Histrum. 165 tunc, adamante gravem nodisque rigentibus hastam, telum ingens nullique deo iaculabile, torsit.
fit late ruptis via nubibus ; illa per auras
tot freta, tot montes uno contenta volatu
transilit et Phrygiae mediis adfigitur arvis. 170 sensit humus ; gemuit Nysaeo palmite felix
Hermus et aurata Pactolus inhorruit urna totaque summissis fleverunt Dindyma silvis.
Nec dea praemissae stridorem segnius hastae consequitur, centumque vias meditata nocendi 175
tandem Tarbigilum (Geticae dux improbus alae 1
viso tum forte redibat Eutropio vacuus donis, feritasque dolore
creverat et, teneris etiam quae crimina suadet
1 alae Rubenus ; mss. (followed by Birt) have aulae
1 Alluding to the Roman custom of casting a spear as a sign of the declaration of war ; cf. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 207—
hie erat) adgreditur.
196
Hinc solet hasta manu belli praenuntia mitti In regem et gentes cum placet arma capi.
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
to precipitate them into revolt ; readily does nature return to her old ways. So be it. Since our soldiers' valour is numbed and they have learned to obey an unmanned master, let a stranger from the north avenge our outraged laws and barbarian arms bring relief to disgraced Rome. "
So spake he and thundered with his shield nigh as loud as the ruler of the gods when he shakes his aegis from out the lowering cloud. Athos replies, Haemus re-echoes ; again and again shaken Rhodope repeats the hoarse uproar. Hebrus raised from out the wondering waters his horns hoary with frost, and bloodless Ister froze in fear. Then the god cast his javelin,1 heavy with steel, and stiff with knotted
shaft, a mighty weapon such as none other god could wield. The clouds part before its onset and give it free passage ; through the air it speeds o'er seas and mountains by one mighty cast and comes to earth amid the plains of Phrygia. The ground felt the shock ; Hermus blessed with Dionysus' vines groaned thereat, Pactolus' golden urn shuddered, all Dindymus bent his forest fleece and wept.
Bellona, too, hastens forth with speed no less than that of Mars' whistling spear ; a hundred ways of hurt she pondered and at last approached Tarbigilus,2 fierce leader of the Getic squadron. It chanced he had but late returned with empty hands from a visit to Eutropius ; disappointment and indignation aggravated his ferocity, and poverty, that can incite
2 Tarbigilus seems to have belonged to the nation of the Gruthungi. The exact form of his name is a matter of uncertainty. The mss. vary : Zosimus (v. 13. 2) calls him TpiptytXdos. His revolt in Phrygia (cf. 11. 274, etc. ) took place in 399.
197
GLAUDIAN
ingeniis, Scythicum pectus flammabat egestas. 180 huic sese vultu simulatae coniugis offert
mentitoque ferox incedit barbara gressu,
carbaseos induta sinus : post terga reductas
uberibus propior mordebat fibula vestes,
inque orbem tereti mitra retinente capillum 185 strinxerat et virides flavescere iusserat angues.
advolat ac niveis reducem complectitur ulnis infunditque animo furiale per oscula virus.
principe quam largo veniat, quas inde reportet divitias, astu rabiem motura requirit. 190 ille iter ingratum, vanos deflere labores,
quos super eunuchi fastus, quae probra tulisset. continuo secat ungue genas et tempore pandit
adrepto gemitus :
" I nunc, devotus aratris
scinde solum positoque tuos mucrone sodales 195
ad rastros sudare doce. bene rura Gruthungus excolet et certo disponet sidere vites.
felices aliae, quas debellata maritis
oppida, quas magnis quaesitae viribus ornant exuviae, quibus Argivae pulchraeque ministrant 200 Thessalides, famulas et quae meruere Lacaenas.
me nimium timido, nimium iunxere remisso
fata viro, totum qui degener exuit Histrum,
qui refugit patriae ritus, quem detinet aequi
gloria concessoque cupit vixisse colonus 205 quam dominus rapto. quid pulchra vocabula pigris
198
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
the gentlest heart to crime, inflamed his savage breast. Taking upon her the similitude of his wife she comes to meet him ; proudly she steps forth like the barbarian queen, clothed in linen raiment. Close to her breast a brooch fastened her dress that trailed behind her ; she had bound her locks into a coil that a polished circlet Confined, and bidden her green snakes turn to gold. She hastens to greet him on his return and throws her snowy arms about his neck, instilling the poison of the furies into his soul by her kisses. Guilefully to stir his rage she asks if the great man has been generous to him ;
if he brings back rich presents. With tears he recounts his profitless journey, his useless toil, the pride and insults, moreover, which he had to bear at the eunuch's hands. At once she seized the favourable moment, and tearing her cheek with her nails, discloses her complaints.
" Go then, busy thyself with the plough, cleave the soil, bid thy followers lay aside their swords and sweat o'er the harrow. The Gruthungi will make
farmers and will plant their vines in due season. Happy those other women whose glory is seen in the towns their husbands have conquered, they whose adornment is the spoils so hardly won from an enemy, whose servants are fair captives of Argos or Thessaly, and who have won them slaves from Sparta. Fate has mated me with too timid, too indolent a husband, a degenerate who has forgotten the valour of Ister's tribes, who deserts his country's ways, whom a vain reputation
for justice attracts, while he longs to live as a hus bandman by favour rather than as a prince by plunder. Why give fair names to shameful weak
199
good
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praetentas vitiis ? probitatis inertia nomen,
iustitiae formido subit. tolerabis iniquam pauperiem, cum tela geras ? et flebis inultus,
cum pateant tantae nullis custodibus urbes ? 210
" Quippe metus poenae. pridem mos ille vigebat, ut meritos colerent impacatisque rebelles
urgerent odiis ; at nunc, qui foedera rumpit,
ditatur ; qui servat, eget. vastator Achivae
gentis et Epirum nuper populatus inultam 215 praesidet Illyrico ; iam, quos obsedit, amicos ingreditur muros illis responsa daturus,
quorum coniugibus potitur natosque peremit.
sic hostes punire solent, haec praemia solvunt
excidiis. cunctaris adhuc numerumque tuorum 220
respicis exiguamque manum ? tu rumpe quietem ; bella dabunt socios.
nec te tam prona monerem, si contra paterere viros : nunc alter in armis
sexus et eunuchis se defensoribus orbis
credidit ; hos aquilae Romanaque signa sequuntur. incipe barbaricae tandem te reddere vitae, 226 te quoque iam timeant admirenturque nocentem, quem sprevere pium. spoliis praedaque repletus cum libeat Romanus eris. "
Sic fata repente
in diram se vertit avem rostroque recurvo 230
turpis et infernis tenebris obscurior alas auspicium veteri sedit ferale sepulcro.
Ille, pavor postquam resoluto corde quievit
1 Alaric was made magister militum in Illyricum : see Introduction, p. x.
200
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
ness ? Cowardice is called loyalty ; fear, a sense of justice. Wilt thou submit to humiliating poverty
though thou bearest arms ? Wilt thou weep un
avenged, though so many cities open to thee their undefended gates ?
" Dost thou fear the consequences ? Rome's old way was to reward merit and vent on rebels a hate that knew no bound. Now he who breaks a treaty wins riches, while he who observes one lives in want. The ravager of Achaea and recent devastator of defenceless Epirus is lord of Illyria 1 ; he now enters as a friend within the walls to which he was laying siege, and administers justice to those whose wives
he has seduced and whose children he has murdered. Such is the punishment meted out to an enemy, such the vengeance exacted for wholesale slaughter —and dost thou still hesitate ? Hast thou regard to the small numbers of thy followers ? Nay, have done with peace : war will give thee allies. Nor would I urge thee so instantly hadst thou to face men. It is another sex that is in arms
against thee ; the world has entrusted itself to the pro
tection of eunuchs ; 'tis such leaders the eagles and standards of Rome follow. Time it is thou didst return to a barbarian life ; be thou in thy turn an object of terror, and let men marvel at thy crimes who despised thy virtues. Laden with booty and plunder thou shalt be a Roman when it pleases thee. "
So saying she suddenly changed into an ill-omened bird, a loathsome sight with its hooked beak and plumage blacker than Hell's darkness, and perched, a sinister augury, on an old tomb.
So soon as repose from terror came to his freed 201
CLAUDIAN
et rigidae sedere comae, non distulit atrox
iussa deae ; sociis, quae viderat, ordine pandit 235
Coniurat barbara pubes nacta ducem Latiisque palam descivit ab armis.
Pars Phrygiae, Scythicis quaecumque Trionibus alget
proxima, Bithynos, solem quae condit, Ionas,
quae levat, attingit Galatas. utrimque propinqui 240
finibus obliquis Lydi Pisidaeque feroces continuant australe latus. gens una fuere
tot quondam populi, priscum cognomen et unum appellata Phryges ; sed (quid non longa valebit permutare dies ? ) dicti post Maeona regem 245 Maeones. Aegaeos insedit Graecia portus ;
Thyni Thraces arant quae nunc Bithynia fertur ; nuper ab Oceano Gallorum exercitus ingens
illis ante vagus tandem regionibus haesit
gaesaque deposuit, Graio iam mitis amictu, 250 pro Rheno poturus Halyn. dat cuncta vetustas principium Phrygibus ; nec rex Aegyptius ultra restitit, humani postquam puer uberis expers
in Phrygiam primum laxavit murmura vocem.
Hic cecidit Libycis iactata paludibus olim 255
tibia, foedatam cum reddidit umbra Minervam, hic et Apollinea victus testudine pastor suspensa memores inlustrat pelle Celaenas.
1 The reference is to Herodotus ii. 2. Psammetichus, King of Egypt, wishing to find out which was the most ancient nation, had two children reared in complete silence. As the first word they uttered was " Becos," the Phrygian word for " bread," Phrygia was accorded the honour.
2 Minerva is said to have thrown her pipe into the river 202
inritatque sequi.
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
heart, and his stiffened hair sank down again, he made all haste to carry out the commands of the goddess. He told his followers all that he had seen and invited them to follow him. Rebellious Barbary had found a champion and openly threw off the
Latin yoke.
That part of Phrygia which lies towards the north
beneath the cold constellation of the Wain borders on Bithynia ; that towards the sunset on Ionia, and that towards the sunrise on Galatia. On two sides runs the transverse boundary of Lydia while the fierce Pisidians hem it in to the south. All these peoples once formed one nation and had one name : they were of old called the Phrygians, but (what changes does time not bring about ? ) after the reign of a king Maeon, were known as Maeones. Then the Greeks settled on the shores of the Aegean, and the Thyni from Thrace cultivated the region now called Bithynia. Not long since a vast army of Gauls, nomad hitherto, came at last to rest in the district ; these laid by their spears, clothed them in the civilized robe of Greece and drank no longer from Rhine's, but from Halys', waters. All antiquity gives priority to the Phrygian, even Egypt's king had perforce to recognize it when the babe, nourished at no human breast, first opened his lips to lisp the Phrygian tongue. 1
Here fell the pipe once hurled into the marshes of Lycia, what time the stream reflected Minerva's disfigured countenance. 2 Here, too, there perished, conquered by Apollo's lyre, the shepherd Marsyas whose flayed skin brought renown to the city of
when she observed in the reflection the facial contortions apparently necessary to play it ; cf. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 699.
203
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quattuor hinc magnis procedunt fontibus amnes auriferi ; nec miror aquas radiare metallo, 260 quae totiens lavere Midan. diversus ad Austrum cursus et Arctoum fluviis mare. Dindyma fundunt Sangarium, vitrei puro qui gurgite Galli
auctus Amazonii defertur ad ostia Ponti.
Icarium pelagus Mycalaeaque litora iuncti 265 Marsya Maeanderque petunt ; sed Marsya velox, dum suus est, flexuque carens iam flumine mixtus mollitur, Maeandre, tuo ; contraria passus,
quam Rhodano stimulatus Arar : quos inter aprica planities Cererique favet densisque ligatur 270 vitibus et glaucae fructus attollit olivae,
dives equis, felix pecori pretiosaque picto
marmore purpureis, caedit quod Synnada, venis.
Talem tum Phrygiam Geticis populatibus uri permisere dei. securas barbarus urbes 275 inrupit facilesque capi. spes nulla salutis,
nulla fugae : putribus iam propugnacula saxis
longo corruerant aevo pacisque senecta.
Interea gelidae secretis rupibus Idae
dum sedet et thiasos spectat de more Cybebe 280 Curetumque alacres ad tympana suscitat enses, aurea sanctarum decus inmortale comarum
defluxit capiti turris summoque volutus
vertice crinalis violatur pulvere murus.
obstipuere truces omen Corybantes et uno 285 fixa metu tacitas presserunt orgia buxos.
indoluit genetrix, tum sic commota profatur : 204
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
Celaenae. Hence flow four broad auriferous rivers. Small wonder that the waters in which King Midas bathed so often glitter with the rare metal. Two flow north, two southwards. Dindymus gives birth to the river Sangarius, which, swollen by the clear stream of the Gallus, hastens on to the Euxine, the sea of the Amazon. The conjoined streams of
is it to the corn, thick-set with vines and displaying the fruit of the grey-green olive ; rich, too, in horses, fertile in flocks, and wealthy with the purple-veined marble that Synnada quarries.
Such was Phrygia then when the gods allowed it to be ravaged by Getic brigands. The barbarian burst in upon those cities so peaceful, so easy of capture. There was no hope of safety, no chance of escape. Long and peaceful ages had made the crumbling stones of their battlements to fall.
Meanwhile Cybele was seated amid the hallowed rocks of cold Ida, watching, as is her wont, the dance, and inciting the joyous Curetes to brandish their swords at the sound of the drum, when, lo, the golden - turreted crown, the eternal glory of her blessed hair, fell from off her head and, rolling from her brow, the castellated diadem is profaned in the dust. The Corybantes stopped in amazement at this omen ; general alarm checked their orgies and silenced their pipes. The mother of the gods wept ; then spake thus in sorrow.
205
and Meander make for the Icarian main
Marsyas
and Mycale's strand. Marsyas flows fast and straight while his course is his own ; mingled with thy waters, Meander, he goes slowly—unlike the Saone whose waters are hastened by the Rhone's inflowing. Between these rivers is a sun-kissed plain ; kindly
CLAUDIAN
" Hoc mihi iam pridem Lachesis grandaeva canebat augurium : Phrygiae casus venisse supremos delapsus testatur apex. heu sanguine qualis 290 ibit Sangarius quantasque cadavera lenti
Maeandri passura moras ! inmobilis haeret terminus, haec dudum nato placuere Tonanti.
par et finitimis luctus, frustraque Lyaei
non defensuros implorat Lydia thyrsos. 295
iamque vale Phrygiae tellus perituraque flammis moenia, conspicuas quae nunc attollitis arces,
mox campi nudumque solum ! dilecta valete
flumina ! non vestris ultra bacchabor in antris
nec iuga sulcabit noster Berecynthia currus. " 300 dixit et ad tristes convertit tympana planctus. labentem patriam sacris ululatibus Attis
personat et torvi lacrimis maduere leones. Eutropius, nequeat quamvis metuenda taceri
clades et trepidus vulgaverit omnia rumor, 305 ignorare tamen fingit regnique ruinas
dissimulat : parvam latronum errare catervam,
ad sontes tormenta magis quam tela parari
nec duce frangendas iactat, sed iudice vires :
vasta velut Libyae venantum vocibus ales 310
cum premitur calidas cursu transmittit harenas
inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis
pulverulenta volat ; si iam vestigia retro clara sonent, oblita fugae stat lumine clauso
(ridendum ! ) revoluta caput creditque latere, 315 quem non ipsa videt. furtim tamen ardua mittit
206
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
" This is the portent that aged Lachesis foretold long years ago. My fallen crown assures me that Phrygia's final crisis is upon her. Alas for the blood that shall redden Sangarius' waves ; for all the
that shall retard Meander's slow stream. The hour is fixed irrevocably ; such, long since, was
son's, the Thunderer's, will. A like disaster awaits the neighbouring peoples ; in vain does Lydia invoke the thyrsus of Bacchus in her defence. Now fare thee well, land of Phrygia, farewell, walls doomed to the flames, walls that now rear aloft
proud towers but will soon be levelled with the ground and the bare earth. Farewell, dear rivers : never more shall I hold my inspired revels in your grottoes ; no more shall my chariot leave the traces of its wheels on Berecynthus' heights. " So spake she, and turned her drums to strains of mourning. Attis filled his devoted country with holy lamenta tions and Cybele's tawny lions burst into tears.
Eutropius, although this terrible revolt could not
be hid and although rumour had spread everywhere the dread news, none the less affects to ignore it and shuts his eyes to the empire's peril. 'Twas some poor troop of wandering brigands ; such wretches call for punishment not war ; a judge —so he brags —not a general should crush their strength. Even so the great Libyan bird, hard pressed by the cries of its pursuers, runs o'er the burning sands and flies through the dust, curving its wings like sails to catch the breeze ; but when it clearly hears the footsteps close behind it, it forgets its flight, standing with closed eyes and hiding its head, believing, poor fool, it cannot be seen by those whom itself cannot see. None the less Eutropius
207
corpses
my
CLAUDIAN
cum donis promissa novis, si forte rogatus
desinat. ille semel nota dulcedine praedae
se famulo servire negat, nec grata timentum
munera ; militiam nullam nec prima superbus 320 cingula dignari ; nam quis non consule tali
vilis honos ?
Postquam precibus mitescere nullis. non auro cessisse videt creberque recurrit
nuntius incassum nec spes iam foederis extat : tandem consilium belli confessus agendi 325 ad sua tecta vocat. iuvenes venere protervi lascivique senes, quibus est insignis edendi
gloria corruptasque dapes variasse decorum,
qui ventrem invitant pretio traduntque palato
sidereas Iunonis aves et si qua loquendi 330 gnara coloratis viridis defertur ab Indis,
quaesitos trans regna cibos, quorumque profundam ingluviem non Aegaeus, non alta Propontis,
non freta longinquis Maeotia piscibus explent
vestis odoratae studium ; laus maxima risum 335 per vanos movisse sales minimeque viriles
munditiae ; compti vultus ; onerique vel ipsa
serica. si Chunus feriat, si Sarmata portas,
solliciti scaenae ; Romam contemnere sueti
mirarique suas, quas Bosphorus obruat ! aedes ; 340 saltandi dociles aurigarumque periti.
Pars humili de plebe duces ; pars compede suras
1 Claudian uses the word cingulum (=a soldier's belt) as = military service — a not uncommon late use, cf. Serv. Am. viii. 724 and (frequently) cingi =to serve, in the Digests.
* i. e. the peacock. 208
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
sends towering promises with new gifts, if haply his foe may pause at his entreaty. But the bar barian, in whose heart was once waked the old love of plunder, refuses to submit to a slave ; for him the gifts of fear have no charm ; haughtily he disdains any rank,1 even the highest, for under such a consul what honour would not be disgrace ?
When Eutropius saw that no prayers could move him nor any gold win him over ; when messenger after messenger returned, his mission unfulfilled, and all hopes of an alliance were at an end, he at last recognized the necessity for war and summoned the council to his palace. Thither they came—wanton lads and debauched greybeards whose
greatest glory was gluttony, and whose pride it was to diver
sify the outraged banquet. Their hunger is only aroused by costly meats, and they tickle their palates with foods imported from overseas, the flesh of the
fowl of Juno,2 or of that coloured bird brought from farthest Ind that knows how to speak. Not the Aegean, not deep Propontis, not Maeotis' lake afar can sate their appetites with fish. Per fumed garments are their care, their pride to move foolish laughter with their silly jests. On their adornment and toilette they bestow a woman's care and find even the silk they wear too heavy a burden. Should the Hun, the Sarmatian, strike at the city's gates yet trouble they for nought but the theatre. Rome they despise and reserve their admiration for their own houses—may Bosporus' waters over
many-eyed
whelm them ! charioteers.
Skilful dancers they and clever
Some sprung from the dregs of the people are generals ; some magistrates —though their legs and
vol. i p
209
CLAUDIAN
cruraque signati nigro liventia ferro
iura regunt, facies quamvis inscripta repugnet
seque suo prodat titulo. sed prima potestas 345 Eutropium praefert Hosio subnixa secundo.
dulcior hie sane cunctis prudensque movendi
iuris et admoto qui temperet omnia fumo,
fervidus, accensam sed qui bene decoquat iram. considunt apices geiruni dicionis Eoae, 350 hie cocus, hie leno, defossi verbere terga,
servitio, non arte pares, hie saepius emptus,
after ad Hispanos nutritus verna penates.
Ergo ubi collecti proceres, qui rebus in artis consulerent tantisque darent solacia morbis, 355 obliti subito Phrygiae bellisque relictis
ad solitos coepere iocos et iurgia circi
tendere. nequiquam magna confligitur ira,
quis melius vibrata puer vertigine molli
membra rotet, verrat quis marmora crine supino ? 360 quis magis enodes laterum detorqueat arcus,1
quis voci digitos, oculos quis moribus aptet ?
hi tragicos meminere modos ; his fabula Tereus, his necdum commissa choro cantatur Agave.
Increpat Eutropius : non haec spectacula tempus poscere ; nunc alias armorum incumbere curas ; 366 se satis Armenio fessum pro limite cingi
1 Birt artus ; / return to the vulg. arcus
1 Hosius, by birth a Spaniard, had been a slave and a cook — whence these various double meanings. He rose to be magister officiorum at the court of Arcadius (circa 396-8).
210
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
ankles are still scarred and livid with their wearing of the fetters of servitude and though their branded foreheads deny their owners' right to office and disclose their true title. Among them Eutropius holds the first place ; Hosius, on whom he relies, comes next. He of a truth is more popular, a cunning artificer of justice who knows well how to steam his cases ; at times boiling with anger, yet well able to render down that anger when aroused. 1 These sit enthroned, joint rulers of the eastern empire, the one a cook the other a pander. The backs of both are scarred with the whip, each was a slave though of a different kind. The one had been bought and sold a hundred times, the other brought up a dependant in a Spanish household.
When, therefore, the chief men were gathered
for consultation in this strait and to
together
comfort the sickness of the state, forthwith
they forget Phrygia and, setting aside the question of war, start their accustomed fooling and engage in disputes
about the Circus. With heat as fierce as it is point
less they wrangle what boy can best whirl quivering limbs in an easy somersault or sweep the marble floor with his drooping locks ; who can most twist his flanks into a boneless arch ; who can best suit his gestures to his words and his eyes to his character. Some recite speeches from tragedy, others chant the play of Tereus, others again that of Agave, never before staged.
Eutropius chides them ; the present moment, says he, demands other spectacles than these ; it is war which now should claim all their care. For his part (for he is an old man and a weary) it is enough to defend the frontiers of Armenia ; single
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CLAUDIAN
nec tantis unum subsistere posse periclis ; ignoscant senio, iuvenes ad proelia mittant : qualis pauperibus nutrix invisa puellis adsidet et tela communem quaerere victum rauca monet ; festis illae lusisse diebus orant et positis aequaevas visere pensis, irataeque operi iam lasso pollice fila
—
' ' 370
turbant et teneros detergent stamine fletus. 375
Emicat extemplo cunetis trepidantibus audax crassa mole Leo, quem vix Cyclopia solum
aequatura fames, quem non ieiuna Celaeno
vinceret ; hinc nomen fertur meruisse Leonis.
acer in absentes linguae iactator, abundans 380 corporis exiguusque animi, doctissimus artis quondam lanificae, moderator pectinis unci.
non alius lanam purgatis sordibus aeque
praebuerit calathis, similis nec pinguia quisquam vellera per tenues ferri producere rimas. 385 tunc Aiax erat Eutropii lateque fremebat,
non septem vasto quatiens umbone iuvencos,
sed, quam perpetuis dapibus pigroque sedili
inter anus interque colos oneraverat, alvum.
adsurgit tandem vocemque expromit anhelam : 390
novus hie torpor, socii ? quonam usque sedemus
femineis clausi thalamis patimurque periclum gliscere desidia ? graviorum turba malorum texitur, ignavis trahimus dum tempora votis.
me petit hie sudor. numquam mea dextera segnis
ad ferrum. faveat tantum Tritonia coeptis, 396
1 Gainas and Leo were sent by Eutropius to put down the revolt of Tarbigilus. Gainas, however, never left the Hellespont and Leo, advancing into Pamphylia, there met, and was defeated by, Tarbigilus (Zosim. v. 16. 5). We gather from Claudian that he had once been a weaver.
212
" Quis
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
handed he cannot cope with all these perils. They must pardon his age and send younger men to the
war :—
among a crowd of poor working-girls and bidding them in her raucous voice ply the loom and gain their livelihood, while they beg to be allowed the enjoyment of a holiday, to lay aside their tasks and visit their friends ; angered at her refusal and wearied of their work they crush the threads in their hands and wipe away their gentle tears with the
cloth.
Sudden from out that trembling throng upleaps
bold Leo 1 with his vast bulk, he whose single prowess Cyclopean hunger could scarce match, whom starving
Celaeno could not outvie. Tis to this fact that he
is said to have owed his name. Bold (when his
foe was absent), brave (as a speaker), great in bulk but small of heart, once a highly skilled spinner of thread and a cunning carder, none other could so well cleanse the dirt from out the fleece and fill the baskets, none other pull the thick wool over the iron teeth of the comb as could he. He was then Eutropius' Ajax and far and near he raged, shaking not a huge shield compact of seven layers of ox-hide, but that belly of his, laden with con tinuous feastings, as he sat lazily among old dames and distaffs. At length he arose and, panting, said, " What unwonted sluggishness is this, my friends ? How long must we sit closeted in the women's apartments and suffer our perils to increase by reason of our sloth ? Fate weaves for us a net work of ill while we waste our time in useless vows. This difficult task demands my action ; never was my hand slow to use iron. Let but Minerva favour
213
it is as though a hated forewoman were sitting
inceptum peragetur opus,
CLAUDIAN
iam cuncta furorem qui gravat, efficiam leviorem pondere lanae
Tarbigilum timidum, desertoresque Gruthungos
ut miseras populabor oves et pace relata 400 pristina restituam Phrygias ad stamina matres. "
His dictis iterum sedit ; fit plausus et ingens concilii clamor, qualis resonantibus olim
exoritur caveis, quotiens crinitus ephebus
aut rigidam Nioben aut flentem Troada fingit. 405 protinus excitis iter inremeabile signis
adripit infaustoque iubet bubone moveri
agmina Mygdonias mox impletura volucres. Pulcher et urbanae cupiens exercitus umbrae,
adsiduus ludis, avidus splendere lavacris 410 nec soles imbresve pati, multumque priori
dispar, sub clipeo Thracum qui ferre pruinas,
dum Stilicho regeret, nudoque hiemare sub axe sueverat et duris haurire bipennibus Hebrum.
cum duce mutatae vires. Byzantia robur 415 fregit luxuries Ancyranique triumphi.
non peditem praecedit eques ; non commoda castris eligitur regio ; vicibus custodia nullis
advigilat vallo ; non explorantur eundae
vitandaeque viae ; nullo se cornua flectunt 420 ordine : confusi passim per opaca vagantur
lustra, per ignotas angusto tramite valles.
1 Triumphi is ironical. Claudian refers to Eutropius' pleasure journey to Ancyra ; c/. ]. 98 of this poem.
214
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
mine attempts and the work begun will be the work
Now will I render proud Tarbigilus, whose madness has caused all this turmoil, of less
completed.
than a ball of wool, the Gruthungi I will drive before me like a flock of wretched sheep ; and when I have restored peace I will set the women of Phrygia once more beside their ancient spinning. "
So saying he sat down again. Great clamour and applause filled the council-chamber, applause such as rises from the rows of spectators in the theatre when some curled youth impersonates Niobe turned to stone, or Hecuba in tears. Straight way Leo unfolds his banners and starts on the journey whence there is to be no return. To the accompani ment of the screech-owl's ill-omened cry he bids march the host destined so soon to feed the vultures of Mygdonia.
'Tis a well-favoured army, enamoured of the city's shade, ever present at the games, anxious to shine in the baths, not to bear sun-scorch and rain, and oh ! how different to that former army who, 'neath the
weight
of Stilicho, endured under arms the frosts of Thrace and were wont to winter in the open air and break with their axes the frozen waters of Hebrus for a draught. Changed is the leader and changed their character. Byzantium's luxury and Ancyra's pomp 1 have destroyed their vigour. No longer does the cavalry ride ahead of the foot ; suitable ground is not chosen for camps ; no constant
leadership
of sentries safeguards the ramparts, no scouts are sent forward to discover which roads to take or which to avoid ; their evolutions are performed without drill or discipline, in confusion they stray hither and thither amid dark forests, along narrow
215
change
CLAUDIAN
sic vacui rectoris equi, sic orba magistro fertur in abruptum casu, non sidere, puppis ; sic ruit in rupes amisso pisce sodali
belua, sulcandas qui praevius edocet undas
425
inmensumque pecus parvae moderamine caudae temperat et tanto coniungit foedera monstro ;
illa natat rationis inops et caeca profundi ;
iam brevibus deprensa vadis ignara reverti 430 palpitat et vanos scopulis inlidit hiatus.
Tarbigilus simulare fugam flatusque Leonis
spe nutrire leves improvisusque repente,
dum gravibus marcent epulis hostique catenas
inter vina crepant, largo sopita Lyaeo 435 castra subit. pereunt alii, dum membra cubili
tarda levant ; alii leto iunxere soporem ;
ast alios vicina palus sine more ruentes
excipit et cumulis inmanibus aggerat undas.
ipse Leo damma cervoque fugacior ibat 440 sudanti tremebundus equo : qui pondere postquam decidit, implicitus limo cunctantia pronus
per vada reptabat. caeno subnixa tenaci
mergitur et pingui suspirat corpore moles
more suis, dapibus quae iam devota futuris 445 turpe gemit, quotiens Hosius mucrone corusco armatur cingitque sinus secumque volutat,
quas figat verubus partes, quae frusta calenti
1 The balaena or whale. According to ancient naturalists the balaena entered into an alliance with the musculus or sea-mouse which, in Pliny's words, "vada praenatans demonstrat oculorumque vice fungitur" (Pliny, H. N. ix.
186). 216
AGAINST EUTROPIUS, II
paths in unexplored valleys.
