Of
Claudiana
may be mentioned Vogt, De Clau-
J.
J.
Claudian - 1922 - Loeb
So Forster, Der Raub und die Rilckkehr der Persephone, Stuttgart, 1874.
2
xvii
INTRODUCTION
Manlius, which is certainly brighter than the others) are uniformly dull, but the poems on Rufinus and Eutropius are, though doubtless in the worst of taste, at least in parts amusing.
Claudian's faults are easy to find. He mistook
memory for inspiration and so is often wordy and tedious, as for instance in his three poems on Stilicho's
consulship. 1 Worse than this he is frequently ob scure and involved—witness his seven poems on the drop of water contained within the rock crystal. 2 The besetting sin, too, of almost all post-Virgilian Roman poets, I mean a " conceited " frigidity, is one into which he is particularly liable to fall. Examples are almost too numerous to cite but the following are typical : " nusquam totiensque sepultus " 3 of the body of Rufinus, torn limb from limb by the infuriated soldiery ; " caudamque in puppe re- torquens Ad proram iacet usque leo " 4 of one of the animals brought from Africa for the games at
Stilicho's triumph ; " saevusque Damastor, Ad de- pellendos iaculum cum quaereret "hostes, Germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver 5 of the giant Pallas turned to stone by the Gorgon's head on
Minerva's shield. Consider, too, the remarkable
1 Honourable exception should be made of xxi. 291 et sqq. —one of the best and most sincere things Claudian ever wrote.
2 It is worth observing that not infrequently Claudian is making " tentamina," or writing alternative lines : e. g. Carm. min. corp. vii. 1 and 2, and almost certainly the four lines of id. vi. v. is quite likely " a trial " for some such passage as xv. 523.
3 v. 453.
4 xxiv. 357-8.
5 Carm. min. corp. liii. 101-3.
xviii
INTRODUCTION
statement that Stilicho, in swimming the Addua, showed greater bravery than Horatius Cocles be cause, while the latter swam away from Lars Por- senna, the former " dabat . . . Geticis
bellis. " 1
Two of the poems are interesting as touching upon Christianity (Carm. min. corp. xxxii. " De salvatore," and 1. "In Iacobum"). The second of these two poems can scarcely be held to be serious, and although the first is unobjectionable it cannot be said to stamp its author as a sincere Christian. Orosius 2 and S. Augustine 3 both declare him to have been a heathen, but it is probable that, like his master Stilicho, Claudian rendered the new and orthodox religion at least lip-service.
It seems likely that after the death of Claudian
(404) and that of his hero, Stilicho, the political
poems (with the exception of the Panegyric on Probinus and Olybrius,4 which did not concern
Stilicho) were collected" and published separately. The " Carmina minora may have been published about the same time. The subsequent conflation of these two portions came to be known as " Claudianus maior," the " De raptu " being " Claudianus minor. "
The mss. of Claudian's poems fall into two main classes :
(1) Those which Birt refers to as the Codices
1 xxviii. 490.
2 vii. 35 "Paganus pervicacissimus. "
2 Civ. dei, v. 26 "a Christi numine alienus. "
4 This poem does not seem to have been associated with
the others till the 12th century.
pectora
xix
INTRODUCTION
maiores and which contain the bulk of the poems but seldom the " De raptu. "
xx
(2) Those which Birt calls the Codices minores
and which contain (generally exclusively) the " De raptu. "
Class (1) may be again divided into (a) mss. proper ; (6) excerpts. I give Birt's abbreviations.
(a) The most important are :
R = Cod. Veronensis 163. 9th century. Contains only the " Carmina minora. "
G = Cod. Sangallensis S n. 429. 9th century. Contains only the (Latin) " Giganto-
machia. "
G («c) = Cod. Reginensis 123. 11th century. Contains only " De Nilo. "
V = Cod. Vaticanus 2809. 12th century.
P = Cod. Parisinus lat. 18,552. 12th or 13th
century. " Contains all the
" cept (as usual) the " De raptu " and
" Pan. Prob. et Olyb. " C = Cod. Bruxellensis 5380-4.
century.
II = Cod. Parisinus lat. 8082.
No " minora. " (? ) 12th-13th
Carmina maiora
ex
13th century. This is Heinsius' " Regius. " The ms. once belonged to Petrarch and still
bears his name.
B = Cod. Neapolitanus Borbonicus 1111 E
47. 13th century.
A = Cod. Ambrosianus S 66. 15th century.
Contains all the " maiora " except the " De raptu " and " Pan. Prob. et Olyb. " J = Cod. Cantabrigiensis coll. Trinitatis
0. 3. 22. 13th century.
INTRODUCTION
Besides these are many inferior mss. referred to collectively by Birt as r.
(6) Consists of
E = Excerpta Florentina. 15th century. e = Excerpta Gyraldina . 1 6th century .
Each of them resembles the other closely and both come from a common parent.
Under (6) may further be mentioned the Basel
edition of Isengrin (1534), which preserves an in dependent tradition.
Birt postulates an archetype (12), dating between 6th and 9th centuries, and two main " streams,"
x and y ; y being again subdivided into w and z. The following is the family " tree. " Letters en
closed in brackets refer to non-existent mss. (fl)
:
(*)
g v p=p I
ABeE Of class (2) may be mentioned :
S = Cod. Parisinus lat. 15,005. 13th or 14th century.
a) (a)
(? )
(D)
liII
n=n c r (? )
I
INTRODUCTION
corp. Christi 6042. 13th 12th or 13th Crucis. 12th
century.
A'j_Codd. Oxonienses Bodleiani. 13th
century.
= Cod. Antverpiensis N. 71. 14th century.
to be observed that in Birt's edition, and in any other that accepts his " sigla," ABC and stand for different mss. according to whether they refer, or do not refer, to the " De raptu. "
Some mss. contain scholia but none of these go back before the 12th or even the 13th century.
The chief editions of Claudian are as follows
Ed. princeps
Celsanus, Vicenza, 1482.
Ugolentus, Parma, 1500. Parrhasius, Milan, 1500. Camers, Vienna, 1510.
Aldine ed. (Asulanus), 1523.
Isengrin ed. (Michael Bentinus), Basel, 1534. 1 Claverius, Paris, 1602.
Like Bentinus, Claverius used certain mss. (in his case those of the library of Cuiacius) unknown to us. 2
See section on mss.
Koch, De codicibus Cuiacianis quibus in edendo Claudiano Claverius usus est, Marburg, 1889.
xx
C = Cod. 228.
Cantabrigiensis coll. 13th century.
D = Cod. century.
Musei Britannici
W = Cod. Antverpiensis iii. 59. century.
F = Cod. Florentinus bibl. St.
ii
21
t is
:
:
(? )
V
V
INTRODUCTION
Plantin ed. (Scaliger), 1603.
Elzevir ed. (Heinsius), Leyden, 1650.
Amsterdam, 1665. Barth, Hanau, 1612.
Frankfort, 1650.
Delphin ed. (Pyrrho), Paris, 1677. Burmann, Amsterdam, 1760.
Konig, Gottingen, 1808.
These last three have good explanatory notes.
The first critical edition is that of L. Jeep (Leipzig,
1876-79).
In 1892 Birt published what must be considered
as the standard edition of Claudian —-vol. x. in the Monumenta Germaniae historica series. Birt was the first to put the text of Claudian on a firm footing, and it is his edition that I have followed, appending critical notes only where I differ from him. 1
The latest edition of Claudian is that of Koch (Teubner, Leipzig, 1893). Koch was long associated with Birt in his researches into textual questions connected with Claudian, and his text is substantially the same as that of Birt.
1 I should like if possible to anticipate criticism by frankly stating that the text of this edition makes no claims to being based on scientific principles. I have followed Birt not because I think him invariably right but because his is at present the standard text. Where I differ from him (and this is but in a few places) I do so not because I prefer the authority of another ms. or because I am convinced of the Tightness of a conjecture, but because Birt's conservatism commits him (in my opinion) to untranslatable readings, in which cases my choice of a variant is arbitrary. Of the principle of difficilior lectio I pragmatically take no account.
xxiii
INTRODUCTION
So far as I know, there is no English prose transla tion of Claudian already in the field, though various of his poems, notably the " De raptu," have found many verse translators, and in 1817 his complete works were put into English verse by A. Hawkins. An Italian version was published by Domenico Grillo in Venice
in 1716, a German one by Wedekind in Darmstadt in 1868, and there exist two French prose transla
tions, one by MM. Delatour and Geruzez Nisard, Paris, 1850) and one by M. Heguin de Guerle (Gamier freres, Collection Panckoucke, Paris,
1865).
Of Claudiana may be mentioned Vogt, De Clau-
J. H. E. Crees' Claudian as an Historical Authority (Cambridge His torical Essays, No. 17, 1908) ; Professor Postgate's
Panegirici di Claudiano (1909) ;
article on the editions of Birt and Koch in the Class. Rev. (vol. ix. pp. 162 et sqq. ), and the same scholar's Emendations in the Class. Quarterly of 1910 (pp. 257 et sqq. ). Reference may also be made to Pro fessor Bury's appendix to vol. iii. of his edition of Gibbon (1897, under " Claudian ") and to Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xxx. The En comiums of Claudius Claudianus. Vollmer's article in Pauly-Wissowa's Lexicon is a mine of information, but for completeness Birt's introduction (over 200 pp. long) stands alone.
The curious may find an interesting light thrown xxiv
(ed.
diani carminum quae Stilickonem praedicant jide kistorica (1863) ; Ney, Vindictae Claudianeae (1865) ; T. Hodgkin's Claudian, the last of the Roman Poets (1875) ; E. Arens' Quaestiones Claudianae (1894) ; two studies by A. Parravicini, (1) Studio di retorica sulle opere di Claudio Claudiano (1905), and (2) /
INTRODUCTION
on Claudian and his circle by Sudermann's play, Die Lobgesange des Claudian (Berlin, 1914).
All Claudian 's genuine works are translated in the present volumes with the exception of the two-line fragment " De Lanario " (Birt, c. m. c. Hi [lxxxviii. )j.
The appendix " vel spuria vel suspecta continens has been rejected both by Birt and Koch, and I have in this followed their example. The eight Greek poems attributed to Claudian are at least of doubtful authenticity, though Birt certainly makes out a good case for the " Gigantomachia " (a fragment of 77 lines). The remainder consists of short epi
two on the well-worn theme of the water enclosed in the crystal and two Christian ones.
These last are almost certainly not the work of Claudius Claudianus but of Claudianus Mamertus,
grams,
of Vienne circ. 474 a. d. We know from Sidonius (Ep. iv. 3. 8) that this Claudian was a writer of sacred poetry both in Greek and Latin —indeed the famous " Pange lingua " is attributed to him.
A word should perhaps be said as to the numbering
of the poems.
It is much to be regretted that Birt did not cut
adrift from Gesner's system, or at least that he only did so in the " Carmina minora. " The resultant discrepancy in his (and Koch's) edition between the order of the poems and their numbering is un doubtedly a nuisance, but I have not felt justified,
in so slight a work as the present one, in departing from the now traditional arrangement.
xxv
presbyter
INTRODUCTION
I wish, in conclusion, to express my thanks to my colleagues, Mr. R. L. A. Du Pontet and Mr. E. H. Blakeney : to the first for valuable suggestions on several obscure points, and to the second for help in reading the proofs.
MAURICE PLATNAUER. Winchester, September 1921.
xxvi
VOL. I B
CLAUDIAN
CLAUDII CLAUDIANI CARMINA
PANEGYRICUS DICTUS PROBINO ET OLYBRIO CONSULIBUS
I
Sol, qui flammigeris mundum complexus habenis volvis inexhausto redeuntia saecula motu,
sparge diem meliore coma crinemque repexi
blandius elato surgant temone iugales
efflantes roseum frenis spumantibus ignem. 5 iam nova germanis vestigia torqueat annus consulibus, laetique petant exordia menses.
Scis genus Auchenium, nec te latuere potentes Anniadae ; nam saepe soles ductoribus illis instaurare vias et cursibus addere nomen. 10 his neque per dubium pendet Fortuna favorem
nec novit mutare vices, sed fixus in omnes
cognatos procedit honos. quemcumque require hac de stirpe virum : certum est de consule nasci.
1 Probinus and Olybrius, the consuls for 395 (they were brothers), both belonged to the Anician gens, of which Auchenius became an alternative gentile name, Anicius becoming, in these cases, the praenomen. Many members of this family had been, and were to be, consuls : e. g. Anicius Auchenius Bassus in a. d. 408. The Annian gens was
2
THE POEMS OF CLAUDIAN
PANEGYRIC ON THE CONSULS PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
I
Sun, that encirclest the world with reins of flame and rollest in ceaseless motion the revolving centuries, scatter thy light with kindlier beams and let thy coursers, their manes combed and they breathing forth a rosy flame from their foaming bits, climb the heavens more jocund in their loftier drawn chariot. Now let the year bend its new steps for the consul brothers and the glad months take their beginning.
Thou wottest of the Auchenian1 race nor are the powerful Anniadae unknown to thee, for thou oft hast started thy yearly journey with them as consuls
and hast given their name to thy revolution. For them Fortune neither hangs on uncertain favour nor changes, but honours, firmly fixed, pass to all their kin. Select what man thou wilt from their family, 'tis certain he is a consul's son. Their ancestors are
related by intermarriage to the Anician : e. g. Annius Bassus
who married the daughter of Annius Anicius lulianus (cos. 322).
3
(cos. 331)
CLAUDIAN
per fasces numerantur avi semperque renata 15 nobilitate virent, et prolem fata sequuntur
continuum simili servantia lege tenorem.
nec quisquam procerum temptat, licet aere vetusto floreat et claro cingatur Roma senatu,
se iactare parem ; sed, prima sede relicta 20 Aucheniis, de iure licet certare secundo :
haud secus ac tacitam Luna regnante per Arcton sidereae cedunt acies, cum fratre retuso
aemulus adversis flagraverit ignibus orbis ;
tunc iubar Arcturi languet, tunc fulva Leonis 25 ira perit, Plaustro iam rara intermicat Arctos indignata tegi, iam caligantibus armis
debilis Orion dextram miratur inertem.
Quem prius adgrediar ? veteris quis facta Probini nesciat aut nimias laudes ignoret Olybri ? 30
Vivit adhuc completque vagis sermonibus aures gloria fusa Probi, quam non ventura silebunt
lustra nec ignota rapiet sub nube vetustas.
illum fama vehit trans aequora transque remotas Tethyos ambages Atlanteosque recessus. 35 audiit et gelido si quem Maeotia pascit
sub love vel calido si quis coniunctus in axe nascentem te, Nile, bibit. virtutibus ille
Fortunam domuit numquamque levantibus alte intumuit rebus ; sed mens circumflua luxu 40 noverat intactum vitio servare rigorftn.
hie non divitias nigrantibus abdidit antris
nec tenebris damnavit opes ; sed largior imbre sueverat innumeras hominum ditare catervas.
1 Probus was born about 332 and dicd about 390. He was (among many other things) proconsul of Africa and praefectus of Illyricum.
4
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
counted by the fasces (for each has held them), the same recurring honours crown them, and a like destiny awaits their children in unbroken succession. No noble, though he boast of the brazen statues of his ancestors, though Rome be thronged with senators, no noble, I say, dare boast himself their equal. Give the first place to the Auchenii and let who will contest the second. It is as when the moon queens it in the calm northern sky and her orb gleams with brightness equal to that of her brother whose light she reflects ; for then the starry hosts give place, Arcturus' beam grows dim and tawny Leo loses his angry glint, far-spaced shine the Bear's stars in the Wain, wroth at their eclipse, Orion's shafts grow dark as he looks in feeble amaze at his strengthless arm.
Which shall I speak of first ? Who has not heard of the deeds of Probinus of ancient lineage, who knows not the endless praise of Olybrius ?
The far-flung fame of Probus1 and his sire lives yet and fills all ears with widespread discourse : the years to come shall not silence it nor time o'ercloud or put an end to it. His great name carries him beyond the seas, beyond Ocean's distant windings and Atlas' mountain caverns. If any live beneath the frozen sky by Maeotis' banks, or any, near neighbours of the torrid zone, drink Nile's stripling stream, they, too, have heard. Fortune yielded to his virtues, but never was he puffed up with success that engenders pride. Though his life was sur rounded with luxury he knew how to preserve his
He did not hide his wealth in dark cellars nor condemn his riches to
the nether gloom, but in showers more abundant than rain would ever enrich countless numbers of 5
uprightness uncorrupted.
CLAUDIAN
quippe velut denso currentia munera nimbo 45 cernere semper erat, populis undare penates, adsiduos intrare inopes, remeare beatos.
praeceps illa manus fluvios superabat Hiberos
aurea dona vomens (sic vix 1 tellure revulsa
sollicitis fodiens miratur collibus aurum), 50 quantum stagna Tagi rudibus stillantia venis effluxere decus, quanto pretiosa metalli
Hermi ripa micat, quantas per Lydia culta
despumat rutilas dives Pactolus harenas.
Non, mihi centenis pateant si vocibus ora 55
multifidusque ruat centum per pectora Phoebus,
acta Probi narrare queam, quot in ordine gentes rexerit, ad summi quotiens fastigia iuris
venerit, Italiae late cum frena teneret
Illyricosque sinus et quos arat Africa campos. 60 sed nati vicere patrem solique merentur
victores audire Probi. non contigit illi
talis honor, prima cum parte viresceret aevi,
nec consul cum fratre fuit. vos nulla fatigat
cura diu maiora petens, non anxia mentem 65 spes agit et longo tendit praecordia voto :
coepistis quo finis erat. primordia vestra
vix pauci meruere senes, metasque tenetis
ante genas dulces quam flos iuvenilis inumbret oraque ridenti lanugine vestiat aetas. 70 tu, precor, ignarum doceas, Parnasia, vatem,
quis deus ambobus tanti sit muneris auctor.
Postquam fulmineis impellens viribus hostem
belliger Augustus trepidas laxaverat Alpes,
1 mss. si quis ; Birt suggests sic vix ; possibly ecquis should be read. Postgate (C. Q. iv. p. 258) quae vix . . . miretur . . . Astur
6
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
men. The thick cloud of his generosity was ever big with gifts, full and overflowing with clients was his mansion, and thereinto there poured a stream of paupers to issue forth again rich men. His prodigal hand outdid Spain's rivers in scattering gifts of gold
so much precious metal dazzles the gaze of the miner delving in the vexed bowels of the earth), exceeding all the gold dust carried down by Tagus' water trickling from unsmelted lodes, the glittering ore that enriches Hermus' banks, the golden sand that rich Pactolus in flood deposits over the plains
of Lydia.
Could my words issue from a hundred mouths,
could Phoebus' manifold inspiration breathe through a hundred breasts, even so I could not tell of Probus' deeds, of all the people his ordered governance ruled, of the many times he rose to the highest honours, when he held the reins of broad-acred Italy, the Illyrian coast, and Africa's lands. But his sons o'ershadowed their sire and they alone deserve to be called Probus' vanquishers. No such honour befell Probus in his youth : he was never consul with his brother. You ambition, ever o'ervaulting itself, pricks not ; no anxious hopes afflict your minds or keep your hearts in long suspense. You have begun where most end : but few seniors have attained to your earliest office. You have finished your race e'er the full flower of youth has crowned your gentle cheeks or adolescence clothed your faces with its pleasant down. Do thou, my Muse, tell their ignorant poet what god it was granted such a boon to the twain.
When the warlike emperor had with the thunder bolt of his might put his enemy to flight and freed 7
(scarce
CLAUDIAN
Roma Probo cupiens dignas persolvere grates 75 sedula pro natis dominum flexura rogando
ire parat. famuli currum iunxere volantem
Impetus horribilisque Metus, qui semper agentes proelia cum fremitu Romam comitantur anhelo,
sive petat Parthos seu cuspide turbet Hydaspen. 80 hie ligat axe rotas ; hie sub iuga ferrea nectit cornipedes rigidisque docet servire lupatis.
ipsa, triumphatis qua possidet aethera regnis,
adsilit innuptae ritus imitata Minervae.
nam neque caesariem crinali stringere cultu 85 colla nec ornatu patitur mollire retorto ;
dextrum nuda latus, niveos exerta lacertos,
audacem retegit mammam, laxumque coercens mordet gemma sinum ; nodus, qui sublevat ensem, album puniceo pectus discriminat ostro. 90 miscetur decori virtus pulcherque severo
armatur terrore pudor, galeaeque minaci
flava cruentarum praetenditur umbra iubarum,
et formidito clipeus Titana lacessit
lumine . quem tota variarat Mulciber arte. 95 hie patrius Mavortis amor fetusque notantur
Romulei ; pius amnis inest et belua nutrix ;
electro Tiberis, pueri formantur in auro ;
fingunt aera lupam ; Mavors adamante coruscat.
Iam simul emissis rapido velocior Euro 100 fertur equis ; strident Zephyri cursuque rotarum saucia dividuis clarescunt nubila sulcis.
nec traxere moras, sed lapsu protinus uno,
8
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
the Alps from fear, Rome, anxious worthily to thank her Probus, hastened to beg the Emperor's favour for that hero's sons. Her slaves, Shock and horrid Fear, yoked her winged chariot ; 'tis they who ever attend Rome with loud-voiced roar, setting wars afoot, whether she battle against the Parthians or vex Hydaspes' stream with her spear. The one fastens the wheels to the hubs, the other drives the horses beneath the iron yoke and makes them obey the stubborn bit. Rome herself in the guise of the virgin goddess Minerva soars aloft on the road by
which she takes possession of the sky after triumph ing over the realms of earth. She will not have her hair bound with a comb nor her neck made effeminate with a twisted necklace. Her right side is bare ; her snowy shoulder exposed ; her brooch fastens her flowing garments but loosely and boldly shows her breast : the belt that supports her sword throws a strip of scarlet across her fair skin. She looks as good as she is fair, chaste beauty armed with awe ; her threatening helm of blood-red plumes casts a dark shadow and her shield challenges the sun in
its fearful brilliance, that shield which Vulcan forged with all the subtlety of his skill. In it are depicted the children Romulus and Remus, and their loving father Mars, Tiber's reverent stream,
and the wolf that was their nurse ; Tiber is embossed in electrum, the children in pure gold, brazen is the wolf, and Mars fashioned of flashing steel.
And now Rome, loosing both her steeds together, flies swifter than the fleet east wind ; the Zephyrs shrill and the clouds, cleft with the track of the wheels, glow in separate furrows. What matchless speed ! One pinion's stroke and they reach their
9
CLAUDIAN
quem poscunt, tetigere locum : qua fine sub imo
angustant aditum curvis anfractibus Alpes 105
claustraque congestis scopulis durissima tendunt, non alia reseranda manu, sed pervia tantum
Augusto geminisque fidem mentita tyrannis. semirutae turres avulsaque moenia fumant ;
crescunt in cumulum strages vallemque profundam aequavere iugis ; stagnant inmersa cruore 111 corpora ; turbantur permixto funere manes.
Haud procul exhausto laetus certamine victor caespite gramineo consederat arbore fultus
adclines umeros ; dominum gavisa coronat 115 terra suum, surguntque toris maioribus herbae. sudor adhuc per membra calet creberque recurrit halitus et placidi radiant in casside vultus :
qualis letifera populatus caede Gelonos
procubat horrendus Getico Gradivus in arvo ; 120 exuvias Bellona levat, Bellona tepentes
pulvere solvit equos, inmensaque cornus in hastam porrigitur tremulisque ferit splendoribus Hebrum.
Ut stetit ante ducem discussas Roma per auras, conscia ter sonuit rupes et inhorruit atrum 125 maiestate nemus. prior hie : " o numen amicum " dux ait " et legum genetrix longeque regendo circumfusa polo consors ac dicta Tonantis,
die agedum, quae causa viae ? cur deseris arces Ausonias caelumque tuum ? die, maxima rerum ! 130
1 Maximus and Eugenius. See Introduction, p. ix. 10
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
goal : it is there where in their furthermost parts the Alps narrow their approaches into tortuous valleys and extend their adamantine bars of piled-up rocks. No other hand could unlock that gate, as, to their cost, those two tyrants 1 found ; to the Emperor only they offer a way. The smoke of towers o'er- thrown and of ruined fortresses ascends to heaven.
men are piled up on a heap and bring the lowest valley equal with the hills ; corpses
welter in their blood ; the very shades are con founded with the inrush of the slain.
Close at hand the victor, Theodosius, happy that
his warfare is accomplished, sits upon the green sward, his shoulders leaning against a tree. Trium phant earth crowned her lord and flowers sprang up from prouder banks. The sweat is still warm upon his body, his breath comes panting, but calm shines his countenance beneath his helmet. Such is Mars, when with deadly slaughter he has devastated the Geloni and thereafter rests, a dread figure, in the Getic plain, while Bellona, goddess of war,
lightens him of his armour and unyokes his dust- stained coursers ; an outstretched spear, a huge cornel trunk, arms his hand and flashes its tremulous splendour over Hebrus* stream.
When Rome had ended her airy journey and now stood before her lord, thrice thundered the conscious rocks and the black wood shuddered in awe. First to speak was the hero : " Goddess and friend, mother of laws, thou whose empire is conterminous with heaven, thou that art called the consort of the Thunderer, say what hath caused thy coming : why leavest thou the towns of Italy and thy native clime ? Say, queen of the world. Were it thy
11
Slaughtered
CLAUDIAN
non ego vel Libycos cessem tolerare labores Sarmaticosve pati medio sub frigore Cauros,
si tu, Roma, velis ; pro te quascumque per oras
ibimus et nulla sub tempestate timentes
solstitio Meroen, bruma temptabimus Histrum. " 135 Tum regina refert : " non me latet, inclite rector,
quod tua pro Latio victricia castra laborant
nec quod servitium rursus Furiaeque rebelles edomitae paribus sub te cecidere triumphis.
sed precor hoc donum cum libertate recenti 140 adicias, si vera manet reverentia nostri.
sunt mihi pubentes alto de semine fratres,
pignora cara Probi, festa quos luce creatos
ipsa meo fovi gremio. cunabula parvis
ipsa dedi, cum matris onus Lucina beatum 145 solver et et magnos proferrent sidera partus.
his ego nec Decios pulchros fortesve Metellos praetulerim, non, qui Poenum domuere ferocem, Scipiadas Gallisque genus fatale Camillos.
Pieriis pollent studiis multoque redundant 150 eloquio ; nec desidiis dapibusve paratis
indulgere iuvat nec tanta licentia vitae
adripit aut mores aetas lasciva relaxat :
sed gravibus curis animum sortita senilem
ignea longaevo frenatur corde iuventus. 155 illis, quam propriam ducunt ab origine, sortem oramus praebere velis annique futurum
devoveas venientis iter. non improba posco,
non insueta dabis : domus haec de more requirit.
adnue : sic nobis Scythicus famuletur Araxes, 160 12
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
wish I would not shrink from toiling neath a
sun nor from the cold winds of a Russian midwinter. At thy behest I will traverse all lands and fearing no season of the year will hazard Meroe in summer and the Danube in winter. "
Libyan
Full well know I, far-famed ruler, that thy victorious armies toil for Italy, and that once again servitude and furious rebels have given way before thee, overthrown in one and the same battle. Yet I pray thee add to our late won liberty this further boon, if in very truth thou still reverest me. There are among my citizens two young brothers of noble lineage, the dearly loved sons of Probus, born on a festal day and reared in my own bosom. 'Twas I gave the little ones their cradles when the goddess of childbirth
Then the Queen answered :
"
freed their mother's womb from its blessed burden
and heaven brought to light her glorious offspring. To these I would not prefer the noble Decii nor the brave Metelli, no, nor the Scipios who overcame the warlike Carthaginians nor the Camilli, that family fraught with ruin for the Gauls. The Muses have endowed them with full measure of their skill ; their eloquence knows no bounds. Theirs not to wanton in sloth and banquets spread ; unbridled pleasure
tempts them not, nor can the lure of youth under mine their characters. Gaining from weighty cares an old man's mind, their fiery youth is bridled by a greybeard's wisdom. That fortune to which their birth entitles them I beg thee assure them and appoint for them the path of the coming year.
'Tis no unreasonable request and will be no unheard- of boon. Their birth demands it should be so. Grant it ; so may Scythian Araxes be our vassal
13
CLAUDIAN
sic Rhenus per utrumque latus, Medisque subactis nostra Semiramiae timeant insignia turres ;
sic fluat attonitus Romana per oppida Ganges. "
Ductor ad haec : " optata iubes ultroque volentem,
diva, rogas ; non haec precibus temptanda fuissent. usque adeone meam condunt oblivia mentem, 166 ut pigeat meminisse Probi, quo vindice totam vidimus Hesperiam fessasque resurgere gentes ?
ante dabunt hiemes Nilum, per flumina dammae errabunt glacieque niger damnabitur Indus, 170 ante Thyesteis iterum conterrita mensis
intercisa dies refugos vertetur in ortus,
quam Probus a nostro possit discedere sensu. "
Dixerat et velox iam nuntius advolat urbem. extemplo strepuere chori collesque canoris 175
plausibus impulsi septena voce resultant,
laetatur veneranda parens et pollice docto
iam parat auratas trabeas cinctusque micantes stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
frondea lanigerae carpentes vellera silvae, 180 et longum tenues tractus producit in aurum
filaque concreto cogit squalere metallo :
qualis purpureas praebebat candida vestes
numinibus Latona suis, cum sacra redirent
ad loca nutricis iam non errantia Deli, 185
illa feros saltus et desolata relinquens Maenala lassato certis venatibus arcu, Phoebus adhuc nigris rorantia tela venenis extincto Pythone gerens ; tunc insula notos
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
and Rhine's either bank ; so may the Mede be o'erthrown and the towers that Semiramis built yield to our standards, while amazed Ganges flows between Roman cities. "
To this the king : " Goddess, thou biddest me do what I would fain do and askest a boon that I wish to grant : thy entreaties were not needed for this. Does forgetfulness so wholly cloud my mind that I will not remember Probus, beneath whose leadership I have seen all Italy and her war-weary peoples come again to prosperity ? Winter shall cause Nile's rising, hinds shall make rivers their element, dark- flowing Indus shall be ice-bound, terror-stricken once again by the banquet of Thyestes the sun
shall stay his course and fly for refuge back into the east, all this ere Probus can fade from my memory. " He spake, and now the speedy messenger hies him to Rome.
2
xvii
INTRODUCTION
Manlius, which is certainly brighter than the others) are uniformly dull, but the poems on Rufinus and Eutropius are, though doubtless in the worst of taste, at least in parts amusing.
Claudian's faults are easy to find. He mistook
memory for inspiration and so is often wordy and tedious, as for instance in his three poems on Stilicho's
consulship. 1 Worse than this he is frequently ob scure and involved—witness his seven poems on the drop of water contained within the rock crystal. 2 The besetting sin, too, of almost all post-Virgilian Roman poets, I mean a " conceited " frigidity, is one into which he is particularly liable to fall. Examples are almost too numerous to cite but the following are typical : " nusquam totiensque sepultus " 3 of the body of Rufinus, torn limb from limb by the infuriated soldiery ; " caudamque in puppe re- torquens Ad proram iacet usque leo " 4 of one of the animals brought from Africa for the games at
Stilicho's triumph ; " saevusque Damastor, Ad de- pellendos iaculum cum quaereret "hostes, Germani rigidum misit pro rupe cadaver 5 of the giant Pallas turned to stone by the Gorgon's head on
Minerva's shield. Consider, too, the remarkable
1 Honourable exception should be made of xxi. 291 et sqq. —one of the best and most sincere things Claudian ever wrote.
2 It is worth observing that not infrequently Claudian is making " tentamina," or writing alternative lines : e. g. Carm. min. corp. vii. 1 and 2, and almost certainly the four lines of id. vi. v. is quite likely " a trial " for some such passage as xv. 523.
3 v. 453.
4 xxiv. 357-8.
5 Carm. min. corp. liii. 101-3.
xviii
INTRODUCTION
statement that Stilicho, in swimming the Addua, showed greater bravery than Horatius Cocles be cause, while the latter swam away from Lars Por- senna, the former " dabat . . . Geticis
bellis. " 1
Two of the poems are interesting as touching upon Christianity (Carm. min. corp. xxxii. " De salvatore," and 1. "In Iacobum"). The second of these two poems can scarcely be held to be serious, and although the first is unobjectionable it cannot be said to stamp its author as a sincere Christian. Orosius 2 and S. Augustine 3 both declare him to have been a heathen, but it is probable that, like his master Stilicho, Claudian rendered the new and orthodox religion at least lip-service.
It seems likely that after the death of Claudian
(404) and that of his hero, Stilicho, the political
poems (with the exception of the Panegyric on Probinus and Olybrius,4 which did not concern
Stilicho) were collected" and published separately. The " Carmina minora may have been published about the same time. The subsequent conflation of these two portions came to be known as " Claudianus maior," the " De raptu " being " Claudianus minor. "
The mss. of Claudian's poems fall into two main classes :
(1) Those which Birt refers to as the Codices
1 xxviii. 490.
2 vii. 35 "Paganus pervicacissimus. "
2 Civ. dei, v. 26 "a Christi numine alienus. "
4 This poem does not seem to have been associated with
the others till the 12th century.
pectora
xix
INTRODUCTION
maiores and which contain the bulk of the poems but seldom the " De raptu. "
xx
(2) Those which Birt calls the Codices minores
and which contain (generally exclusively) the " De raptu. "
Class (1) may be again divided into (a) mss. proper ; (6) excerpts. I give Birt's abbreviations.
(a) The most important are :
R = Cod. Veronensis 163. 9th century. Contains only the " Carmina minora. "
G = Cod. Sangallensis S n. 429. 9th century. Contains only the (Latin) " Giganto-
machia. "
G («c) = Cod. Reginensis 123. 11th century. Contains only " De Nilo. "
V = Cod. Vaticanus 2809. 12th century.
P = Cod. Parisinus lat. 18,552. 12th or 13th
century. " Contains all the
" cept (as usual) the " De raptu " and
" Pan. Prob. et Olyb. " C = Cod. Bruxellensis 5380-4.
century.
II = Cod. Parisinus lat. 8082.
No " minora. " (? ) 12th-13th
Carmina maiora
ex
13th century. This is Heinsius' " Regius. " The ms. once belonged to Petrarch and still
bears his name.
B = Cod. Neapolitanus Borbonicus 1111 E
47. 13th century.
A = Cod. Ambrosianus S 66. 15th century.
Contains all the " maiora " except the " De raptu " and " Pan. Prob. et Olyb. " J = Cod. Cantabrigiensis coll. Trinitatis
0. 3. 22. 13th century.
INTRODUCTION
Besides these are many inferior mss. referred to collectively by Birt as r.
(6) Consists of
E = Excerpta Florentina. 15th century. e = Excerpta Gyraldina . 1 6th century .
Each of them resembles the other closely and both come from a common parent.
Under (6) may further be mentioned the Basel
edition of Isengrin (1534), which preserves an in dependent tradition.
Birt postulates an archetype (12), dating between 6th and 9th centuries, and two main " streams,"
x and y ; y being again subdivided into w and z. The following is the family " tree. " Letters en
closed in brackets refer to non-existent mss. (fl)
:
(*)
g v p=p I
ABeE Of class (2) may be mentioned :
S = Cod. Parisinus lat. 15,005. 13th or 14th century.
a) (a)
(? )
(D)
liII
n=n c r (? )
I
INTRODUCTION
corp. Christi 6042. 13th 12th or 13th Crucis. 12th
century.
A'j_Codd. Oxonienses Bodleiani. 13th
century.
= Cod. Antverpiensis N. 71. 14th century.
to be observed that in Birt's edition, and in any other that accepts his " sigla," ABC and stand for different mss. according to whether they refer, or do not refer, to the " De raptu. "
Some mss. contain scholia but none of these go back before the 12th or even the 13th century.
The chief editions of Claudian are as follows
Ed. princeps
Celsanus, Vicenza, 1482.
Ugolentus, Parma, 1500. Parrhasius, Milan, 1500. Camers, Vienna, 1510.
Aldine ed. (Asulanus), 1523.
Isengrin ed. (Michael Bentinus), Basel, 1534. 1 Claverius, Paris, 1602.
Like Bentinus, Claverius used certain mss. (in his case those of the library of Cuiacius) unknown to us. 2
See section on mss.
Koch, De codicibus Cuiacianis quibus in edendo Claudiano Claverius usus est, Marburg, 1889.
xx
C = Cod. 228.
Cantabrigiensis coll. 13th century.
D = Cod. century.
Musei Britannici
W = Cod. Antverpiensis iii. 59. century.
F = Cod. Florentinus bibl. St.
ii
21
t is
:
:
(? )
V
V
INTRODUCTION
Plantin ed. (Scaliger), 1603.
Elzevir ed. (Heinsius), Leyden, 1650.
Amsterdam, 1665. Barth, Hanau, 1612.
Frankfort, 1650.
Delphin ed. (Pyrrho), Paris, 1677. Burmann, Amsterdam, 1760.
Konig, Gottingen, 1808.
These last three have good explanatory notes.
The first critical edition is that of L. Jeep (Leipzig,
1876-79).
In 1892 Birt published what must be considered
as the standard edition of Claudian —-vol. x. in the Monumenta Germaniae historica series. Birt was the first to put the text of Claudian on a firm footing, and it is his edition that I have followed, appending critical notes only where I differ from him. 1
The latest edition of Claudian is that of Koch (Teubner, Leipzig, 1893). Koch was long associated with Birt in his researches into textual questions connected with Claudian, and his text is substantially the same as that of Birt.
1 I should like if possible to anticipate criticism by frankly stating that the text of this edition makes no claims to being based on scientific principles. I have followed Birt not because I think him invariably right but because his is at present the standard text. Where I differ from him (and this is but in a few places) I do so not because I prefer the authority of another ms. or because I am convinced of the Tightness of a conjecture, but because Birt's conservatism commits him (in my opinion) to untranslatable readings, in which cases my choice of a variant is arbitrary. Of the principle of difficilior lectio I pragmatically take no account.
xxiii
INTRODUCTION
So far as I know, there is no English prose transla tion of Claudian already in the field, though various of his poems, notably the " De raptu," have found many verse translators, and in 1817 his complete works were put into English verse by A. Hawkins. An Italian version was published by Domenico Grillo in Venice
in 1716, a German one by Wedekind in Darmstadt in 1868, and there exist two French prose transla
tions, one by MM. Delatour and Geruzez Nisard, Paris, 1850) and one by M. Heguin de Guerle (Gamier freres, Collection Panckoucke, Paris,
1865).
Of Claudiana may be mentioned Vogt, De Clau-
J. H. E. Crees' Claudian as an Historical Authority (Cambridge His torical Essays, No. 17, 1908) ; Professor Postgate's
Panegirici di Claudiano (1909) ;
article on the editions of Birt and Koch in the Class. Rev. (vol. ix. pp. 162 et sqq. ), and the same scholar's Emendations in the Class. Quarterly of 1910 (pp. 257 et sqq. ). Reference may also be made to Pro fessor Bury's appendix to vol. iii. of his edition of Gibbon (1897, under " Claudian ") and to Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xxx. The En comiums of Claudius Claudianus. Vollmer's article in Pauly-Wissowa's Lexicon is a mine of information, but for completeness Birt's introduction (over 200 pp. long) stands alone.
The curious may find an interesting light thrown xxiv
(ed.
diani carminum quae Stilickonem praedicant jide kistorica (1863) ; Ney, Vindictae Claudianeae (1865) ; T. Hodgkin's Claudian, the last of the Roman Poets (1875) ; E. Arens' Quaestiones Claudianae (1894) ; two studies by A. Parravicini, (1) Studio di retorica sulle opere di Claudio Claudiano (1905), and (2) /
INTRODUCTION
on Claudian and his circle by Sudermann's play, Die Lobgesange des Claudian (Berlin, 1914).
All Claudian 's genuine works are translated in the present volumes with the exception of the two-line fragment " De Lanario " (Birt, c. m. c. Hi [lxxxviii. )j.
The appendix " vel spuria vel suspecta continens has been rejected both by Birt and Koch, and I have in this followed their example. The eight Greek poems attributed to Claudian are at least of doubtful authenticity, though Birt certainly makes out a good case for the " Gigantomachia " (a fragment of 77 lines). The remainder consists of short epi
two on the well-worn theme of the water enclosed in the crystal and two Christian ones.
These last are almost certainly not the work of Claudius Claudianus but of Claudianus Mamertus,
grams,
of Vienne circ. 474 a. d. We know from Sidonius (Ep. iv. 3. 8) that this Claudian was a writer of sacred poetry both in Greek and Latin —indeed the famous " Pange lingua " is attributed to him.
A word should perhaps be said as to the numbering
of the poems.
It is much to be regretted that Birt did not cut
adrift from Gesner's system, or at least that he only did so in the " Carmina minora. " The resultant discrepancy in his (and Koch's) edition between the order of the poems and their numbering is un doubtedly a nuisance, but I have not felt justified,
in so slight a work as the present one, in departing from the now traditional arrangement.
xxv
presbyter
INTRODUCTION
I wish, in conclusion, to express my thanks to my colleagues, Mr. R. L. A. Du Pontet and Mr. E. H. Blakeney : to the first for valuable suggestions on several obscure points, and to the second for help in reading the proofs.
MAURICE PLATNAUER. Winchester, September 1921.
xxvi
VOL. I B
CLAUDIAN
CLAUDII CLAUDIANI CARMINA
PANEGYRICUS DICTUS PROBINO ET OLYBRIO CONSULIBUS
I
Sol, qui flammigeris mundum complexus habenis volvis inexhausto redeuntia saecula motu,
sparge diem meliore coma crinemque repexi
blandius elato surgant temone iugales
efflantes roseum frenis spumantibus ignem. 5 iam nova germanis vestigia torqueat annus consulibus, laetique petant exordia menses.
Scis genus Auchenium, nec te latuere potentes Anniadae ; nam saepe soles ductoribus illis instaurare vias et cursibus addere nomen. 10 his neque per dubium pendet Fortuna favorem
nec novit mutare vices, sed fixus in omnes
cognatos procedit honos. quemcumque require hac de stirpe virum : certum est de consule nasci.
1 Probinus and Olybrius, the consuls for 395 (they were brothers), both belonged to the Anician gens, of which Auchenius became an alternative gentile name, Anicius becoming, in these cases, the praenomen. Many members of this family had been, and were to be, consuls : e. g. Anicius Auchenius Bassus in a. d. 408. The Annian gens was
2
THE POEMS OF CLAUDIAN
PANEGYRIC ON THE CONSULS PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
I
Sun, that encirclest the world with reins of flame and rollest in ceaseless motion the revolving centuries, scatter thy light with kindlier beams and let thy coursers, their manes combed and they breathing forth a rosy flame from their foaming bits, climb the heavens more jocund in their loftier drawn chariot. Now let the year bend its new steps for the consul brothers and the glad months take their beginning.
Thou wottest of the Auchenian1 race nor are the powerful Anniadae unknown to thee, for thou oft hast started thy yearly journey with them as consuls
and hast given their name to thy revolution. For them Fortune neither hangs on uncertain favour nor changes, but honours, firmly fixed, pass to all their kin. Select what man thou wilt from their family, 'tis certain he is a consul's son. Their ancestors are
related by intermarriage to the Anician : e. g. Annius Bassus
who married the daughter of Annius Anicius lulianus (cos. 322).
3
(cos. 331)
CLAUDIAN
per fasces numerantur avi semperque renata 15 nobilitate virent, et prolem fata sequuntur
continuum simili servantia lege tenorem.
nec quisquam procerum temptat, licet aere vetusto floreat et claro cingatur Roma senatu,
se iactare parem ; sed, prima sede relicta 20 Aucheniis, de iure licet certare secundo :
haud secus ac tacitam Luna regnante per Arcton sidereae cedunt acies, cum fratre retuso
aemulus adversis flagraverit ignibus orbis ;
tunc iubar Arcturi languet, tunc fulva Leonis 25 ira perit, Plaustro iam rara intermicat Arctos indignata tegi, iam caligantibus armis
debilis Orion dextram miratur inertem.
Quem prius adgrediar ? veteris quis facta Probini nesciat aut nimias laudes ignoret Olybri ? 30
Vivit adhuc completque vagis sermonibus aures gloria fusa Probi, quam non ventura silebunt
lustra nec ignota rapiet sub nube vetustas.
illum fama vehit trans aequora transque remotas Tethyos ambages Atlanteosque recessus. 35 audiit et gelido si quem Maeotia pascit
sub love vel calido si quis coniunctus in axe nascentem te, Nile, bibit. virtutibus ille
Fortunam domuit numquamque levantibus alte intumuit rebus ; sed mens circumflua luxu 40 noverat intactum vitio servare rigorftn.
hie non divitias nigrantibus abdidit antris
nec tenebris damnavit opes ; sed largior imbre sueverat innumeras hominum ditare catervas.
1 Probus was born about 332 and dicd about 390. He was (among many other things) proconsul of Africa and praefectus of Illyricum.
4
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
counted by the fasces (for each has held them), the same recurring honours crown them, and a like destiny awaits their children in unbroken succession. No noble, though he boast of the brazen statues of his ancestors, though Rome be thronged with senators, no noble, I say, dare boast himself their equal. Give the first place to the Auchenii and let who will contest the second. It is as when the moon queens it in the calm northern sky and her orb gleams with brightness equal to that of her brother whose light she reflects ; for then the starry hosts give place, Arcturus' beam grows dim and tawny Leo loses his angry glint, far-spaced shine the Bear's stars in the Wain, wroth at their eclipse, Orion's shafts grow dark as he looks in feeble amaze at his strengthless arm.
Which shall I speak of first ? Who has not heard of the deeds of Probinus of ancient lineage, who knows not the endless praise of Olybrius ?
The far-flung fame of Probus1 and his sire lives yet and fills all ears with widespread discourse : the years to come shall not silence it nor time o'ercloud or put an end to it. His great name carries him beyond the seas, beyond Ocean's distant windings and Atlas' mountain caverns. If any live beneath the frozen sky by Maeotis' banks, or any, near neighbours of the torrid zone, drink Nile's stripling stream, they, too, have heard. Fortune yielded to his virtues, but never was he puffed up with success that engenders pride. Though his life was sur rounded with luxury he knew how to preserve his
He did not hide his wealth in dark cellars nor condemn his riches to
the nether gloom, but in showers more abundant than rain would ever enrich countless numbers of 5
uprightness uncorrupted.
CLAUDIAN
quippe velut denso currentia munera nimbo 45 cernere semper erat, populis undare penates, adsiduos intrare inopes, remeare beatos.
praeceps illa manus fluvios superabat Hiberos
aurea dona vomens (sic vix 1 tellure revulsa
sollicitis fodiens miratur collibus aurum), 50 quantum stagna Tagi rudibus stillantia venis effluxere decus, quanto pretiosa metalli
Hermi ripa micat, quantas per Lydia culta
despumat rutilas dives Pactolus harenas.
Non, mihi centenis pateant si vocibus ora 55
multifidusque ruat centum per pectora Phoebus,
acta Probi narrare queam, quot in ordine gentes rexerit, ad summi quotiens fastigia iuris
venerit, Italiae late cum frena teneret
Illyricosque sinus et quos arat Africa campos. 60 sed nati vicere patrem solique merentur
victores audire Probi. non contigit illi
talis honor, prima cum parte viresceret aevi,
nec consul cum fratre fuit. vos nulla fatigat
cura diu maiora petens, non anxia mentem 65 spes agit et longo tendit praecordia voto :
coepistis quo finis erat. primordia vestra
vix pauci meruere senes, metasque tenetis
ante genas dulces quam flos iuvenilis inumbret oraque ridenti lanugine vestiat aetas. 70 tu, precor, ignarum doceas, Parnasia, vatem,
quis deus ambobus tanti sit muneris auctor.
Postquam fulmineis impellens viribus hostem
belliger Augustus trepidas laxaverat Alpes,
1 mss. si quis ; Birt suggests sic vix ; possibly ecquis should be read. Postgate (C. Q. iv. p. 258) quae vix . . . miretur . . . Astur
6
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
men. The thick cloud of his generosity was ever big with gifts, full and overflowing with clients was his mansion, and thereinto there poured a stream of paupers to issue forth again rich men. His prodigal hand outdid Spain's rivers in scattering gifts of gold
so much precious metal dazzles the gaze of the miner delving in the vexed bowels of the earth), exceeding all the gold dust carried down by Tagus' water trickling from unsmelted lodes, the glittering ore that enriches Hermus' banks, the golden sand that rich Pactolus in flood deposits over the plains
of Lydia.
Could my words issue from a hundred mouths,
could Phoebus' manifold inspiration breathe through a hundred breasts, even so I could not tell of Probus' deeds, of all the people his ordered governance ruled, of the many times he rose to the highest honours, when he held the reins of broad-acred Italy, the Illyrian coast, and Africa's lands. But his sons o'ershadowed their sire and they alone deserve to be called Probus' vanquishers. No such honour befell Probus in his youth : he was never consul with his brother. You ambition, ever o'ervaulting itself, pricks not ; no anxious hopes afflict your minds or keep your hearts in long suspense. You have begun where most end : but few seniors have attained to your earliest office. You have finished your race e'er the full flower of youth has crowned your gentle cheeks or adolescence clothed your faces with its pleasant down. Do thou, my Muse, tell their ignorant poet what god it was granted such a boon to the twain.
When the warlike emperor had with the thunder bolt of his might put his enemy to flight and freed 7
(scarce
CLAUDIAN
Roma Probo cupiens dignas persolvere grates 75 sedula pro natis dominum flexura rogando
ire parat. famuli currum iunxere volantem
Impetus horribilisque Metus, qui semper agentes proelia cum fremitu Romam comitantur anhelo,
sive petat Parthos seu cuspide turbet Hydaspen. 80 hie ligat axe rotas ; hie sub iuga ferrea nectit cornipedes rigidisque docet servire lupatis.
ipsa, triumphatis qua possidet aethera regnis,
adsilit innuptae ritus imitata Minervae.
nam neque caesariem crinali stringere cultu 85 colla nec ornatu patitur mollire retorto ;
dextrum nuda latus, niveos exerta lacertos,
audacem retegit mammam, laxumque coercens mordet gemma sinum ; nodus, qui sublevat ensem, album puniceo pectus discriminat ostro. 90 miscetur decori virtus pulcherque severo
armatur terrore pudor, galeaeque minaci
flava cruentarum praetenditur umbra iubarum,
et formidito clipeus Titana lacessit
lumine . quem tota variarat Mulciber arte. 95 hie patrius Mavortis amor fetusque notantur
Romulei ; pius amnis inest et belua nutrix ;
electro Tiberis, pueri formantur in auro ;
fingunt aera lupam ; Mavors adamante coruscat.
Iam simul emissis rapido velocior Euro 100 fertur equis ; strident Zephyri cursuque rotarum saucia dividuis clarescunt nubila sulcis.
nec traxere moras, sed lapsu protinus uno,
8
PANEGYRIC ON PROBINUS AND OLYBRIUS
the Alps from fear, Rome, anxious worthily to thank her Probus, hastened to beg the Emperor's favour for that hero's sons. Her slaves, Shock and horrid Fear, yoked her winged chariot ; 'tis they who ever attend Rome with loud-voiced roar, setting wars afoot, whether she battle against the Parthians or vex Hydaspes' stream with her spear. The one fastens the wheels to the hubs, the other drives the horses beneath the iron yoke and makes them obey the stubborn bit. Rome herself in the guise of the virgin goddess Minerva soars aloft on the road by
which she takes possession of the sky after triumph ing over the realms of earth. She will not have her hair bound with a comb nor her neck made effeminate with a twisted necklace. Her right side is bare ; her snowy shoulder exposed ; her brooch fastens her flowing garments but loosely and boldly shows her breast : the belt that supports her sword throws a strip of scarlet across her fair skin. She looks as good as she is fair, chaste beauty armed with awe ; her threatening helm of blood-red plumes casts a dark shadow and her shield challenges the sun in
its fearful brilliance, that shield which Vulcan forged with all the subtlety of his skill. In it are depicted the children Romulus and Remus, and their loving father Mars, Tiber's reverent stream,
and the wolf that was their nurse ; Tiber is embossed in electrum, the children in pure gold, brazen is the wolf, and Mars fashioned of flashing steel.
And now Rome, loosing both her steeds together, flies swifter than the fleet east wind ; the Zephyrs shrill and the clouds, cleft with the track of the wheels, glow in separate furrows. What matchless speed ! One pinion's stroke and they reach their
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quem poscunt, tetigere locum : qua fine sub imo
angustant aditum curvis anfractibus Alpes 105
claustraque congestis scopulis durissima tendunt, non alia reseranda manu, sed pervia tantum
Augusto geminisque fidem mentita tyrannis. semirutae turres avulsaque moenia fumant ;
crescunt in cumulum strages vallemque profundam aequavere iugis ; stagnant inmersa cruore 111 corpora ; turbantur permixto funere manes.
Haud procul exhausto laetus certamine victor caespite gramineo consederat arbore fultus
adclines umeros ; dominum gavisa coronat 115 terra suum, surguntque toris maioribus herbae. sudor adhuc per membra calet creberque recurrit halitus et placidi radiant in casside vultus :
qualis letifera populatus caede Gelonos
procubat horrendus Getico Gradivus in arvo ; 120 exuvias Bellona levat, Bellona tepentes
pulvere solvit equos, inmensaque cornus in hastam porrigitur tremulisque ferit splendoribus Hebrum.
Ut stetit ante ducem discussas Roma per auras, conscia ter sonuit rupes et inhorruit atrum 125 maiestate nemus. prior hie : " o numen amicum " dux ait " et legum genetrix longeque regendo circumfusa polo consors ac dicta Tonantis,
die agedum, quae causa viae ? cur deseris arces Ausonias caelumque tuum ? die, maxima rerum ! 130
1 Maximus and Eugenius. See Introduction, p. ix. 10
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goal : it is there where in their furthermost parts the Alps narrow their approaches into tortuous valleys and extend their adamantine bars of piled-up rocks. No other hand could unlock that gate, as, to their cost, those two tyrants 1 found ; to the Emperor only they offer a way. The smoke of towers o'er- thrown and of ruined fortresses ascends to heaven.
men are piled up on a heap and bring the lowest valley equal with the hills ; corpses
welter in their blood ; the very shades are con founded with the inrush of the slain.
Close at hand the victor, Theodosius, happy that
his warfare is accomplished, sits upon the green sward, his shoulders leaning against a tree. Trium phant earth crowned her lord and flowers sprang up from prouder banks. The sweat is still warm upon his body, his breath comes panting, but calm shines his countenance beneath his helmet. Such is Mars, when with deadly slaughter he has devastated the Geloni and thereafter rests, a dread figure, in the Getic plain, while Bellona, goddess of war,
lightens him of his armour and unyokes his dust- stained coursers ; an outstretched spear, a huge cornel trunk, arms his hand and flashes its tremulous splendour over Hebrus* stream.
When Rome had ended her airy journey and now stood before her lord, thrice thundered the conscious rocks and the black wood shuddered in awe. First to speak was the hero : " Goddess and friend, mother of laws, thou whose empire is conterminous with heaven, thou that art called the consort of the Thunderer, say what hath caused thy coming : why leavest thou the towns of Italy and thy native clime ? Say, queen of the world. Were it thy
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non ego vel Libycos cessem tolerare labores Sarmaticosve pati medio sub frigore Cauros,
si tu, Roma, velis ; pro te quascumque per oras
ibimus et nulla sub tempestate timentes
solstitio Meroen, bruma temptabimus Histrum. " 135 Tum regina refert : " non me latet, inclite rector,
quod tua pro Latio victricia castra laborant
nec quod servitium rursus Furiaeque rebelles edomitae paribus sub te cecidere triumphis.
sed precor hoc donum cum libertate recenti 140 adicias, si vera manet reverentia nostri.
sunt mihi pubentes alto de semine fratres,
pignora cara Probi, festa quos luce creatos
ipsa meo fovi gremio. cunabula parvis
ipsa dedi, cum matris onus Lucina beatum 145 solver et et magnos proferrent sidera partus.
his ego nec Decios pulchros fortesve Metellos praetulerim, non, qui Poenum domuere ferocem, Scipiadas Gallisque genus fatale Camillos.
Pieriis pollent studiis multoque redundant 150 eloquio ; nec desidiis dapibusve paratis
indulgere iuvat nec tanta licentia vitae
adripit aut mores aetas lasciva relaxat :
sed gravibus curis animum sortita senilem
ignea longaevo frenatur corde iuventus. 155 illis, quam propriam ducunt ab origine, sortem oramus praebere velis annique futurum
devoveas venientis iter. non improba posco,
non insueta dabis : domus haec de more requirit.
adnue : sic nobis Scythicus famuletur Araxes, 160 12
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wish I would not shrink from toiling neath a
sun nor from the cold winds of a Russian midwinter. At thy behest I will traverse all lands and fearing no season of the year will hazard Meroe in summer and the Danube in winter. "
Libyan
Full well know I, far-famed ruler, that thy victorious armies toil for Italy, and that once again servitude and furious rebels have given way before thee, overthrown in one and the same battle. Yet I pray thee add to our late won liberty this further boon, if in very truth thou still reverest me. There are among my citizens two young brothers of noble lineage, the dearly loved sons of Probus, born on a festal day and reared in my own bosom. 'Twas I gave the little ones their cradles when the goddess of childbirth
Then the Queen answered :
"
freed their mother's womb from its blessed burden
and heaven brought to light her glorious offspring. To these I would not prefer the noble Decii nor the brave Metelli, no, nor the Scipios who overcame the warlike Carthaginians nor the Camilli, that family fraught with ruin for the Gauls. The Muses have endowed them with full measure of their skill ; their eloquence knows no bounds. Theirs not to wanton in sloth and banquets spread ; unbridled pleasure
tempts them not, nor can the lure of youth under mine their characters. Gaining from weighty cares an old man's mind, their fiery youth is bridled by a greybeard's wisdom. That fortune to which their birth entitles them I beg thee assure them and appoint for them the path of the coming year.
'Tis no unreasonable request and will be no unheard- of boon. Their birth demands it should be so. Grant it ; so may Scythian Araxes be our vassal
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sic Rhenus per utrumque latus, Medisque subactis nostra Semiramiae timeant insignia turres ;
sic fluat attonitus Romana per oppida Ganges. "
Ductor ad haec : " optata iubes ultroque volentem,
diva, rogas ; non haec precibus temptanda fuissent. usque adeone meam condunt oblivia mentem, 166 ut pigeat meminisse Probi, quo vindice totam vidimus Hesperiam fessasque resurgere gentes ?
ante dabunt hiemes Nilum, per flumina dammae errabunt glacieque niger damnabitur Indus, 170 ante Thyesteis iterum conterrita mensis
intercisa dies refugos vertetur in ortus,
quam Probus a nostro possit discedere sensu. "
Dixerat et velox iam nuntius advolat urbem. extemplo strepuere chori collesque canoris 175
plausibus impulsi septena voce resultant,
laetatur veneranda parens et pollice docto
iam parat auratas trabeas cinctusque micantes stamine, quod molli tondent de stipite Seres
frondea lanigerae carpentes vellera silvae, 180 et longum tenues tractus producit in aurum
filaque concreto cogit squalere metallo :
qualis purpureas praebebat candida vestes
numinibus Latona suis, cum sacra redirent
ad loca nutricis iam non errantia Deli, 185
illa feros saltus et desolata relinquens Maenala lassato certis venatibus arcu, Phoebus adhuc nigris rorantia tela venenis extincto Pythone gerens ; tunc insula notos
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and Rhine's either bank ; so may the Mede be o'erthrown and the towers that Semiramis built yield to our standards, while amazed Ganges flows between Roman cities. "
To this the king : " Goddess, thou biddest me do what I would fain do and askest a boon that I wish to grant : thy entreaties were not needed for this. Does forgetfulness so wholly cloud my mind that I will not remember Probus, beneath whose leadership I have seen all Italy and her war-weary peoples come again to prosperity ? Winter shall cause Nile's rising, hinds shall make rivers their element, dark- flowing Indus shall be ice-bound, terror-stricken once again by the banquet of Thyestes the sun
shall stay his course and fly for refuge back into the east, all this ere Probus can fade from my memory. " He spake, and now the speedy messenger hies him to Rome.
