On Stilicho's Consulship 2-3. Panegyric on the Sixth Consulship of Honorius. The Gothic War. Shorter Poems. Rape of Proserpina (Loeb Classical Library 136)

Late antique court poetry. Claudius Claudianus, Latin poet of great affairs, flourished during the joint reigns (AD 394-5 onwards) of the brothers Honorius (Emperor in the West) and Arcadius (in the East).Apparently a native of Greek Alexandria in Egypt, he was, to judge by his name, of Roman descent, though his first writings were in Greek, and his pure Latin may have been learned as a foreign language.About AD 395 he moved to Italy (Milan and Rome) and though really a pagan, became a professional court poet composing for Christian rulers works which give us important knowledge of Honorius’ time. A panegyric on the brothers Probinus and Olybrius (consuls together in 395) was followed in the subsequent ten years by other poems (mostly epics in hexameters): in praise of consulships of Honorius (AD 395, 398, 404); against the Byzantine ministers Rufinus (396) and Eutropius (399); in praise of the consulship (400) of Stilicho (Honorius’ guardian, general, and minister); in praise of Stili