Claudianus

Claudianus, CLAUDIUS, the latest of the great Latin poets, a native of Alexandria, flourished in the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th century. He wrote first in Greek, which appears to have been his native tongue, though he was originally of Roman extraction; but in Gibbon's words, he 'assumed in his mature age the familiar use and absolute command of the Latin language; soared above the heads of his feeble contemporaries, and placed himself, after an interval of three hundred years, among the poets of ancient Rome.' His poems brought him into such reputation that, at the request of the senate, the Emperors Arcadius and Honorius erected a statue in honour of him in the forum of Trajan. The productions of Claudianus that have come down to us consist of two epic poems, Raptus Proserpinæ and the fragmentary Gigantomachia; besides panegyrics on Honorius and Stilicho, Eidyllia, Epigrammata, and occasional poems. Claudianus displays a brilliant fancy, rich colouring, with variety and distinctness in his pictures; but he is often deficient in taste and gracefulness. His works have been edited by Gessner (1759), Burmann (1760), Jeep (1879), and Birt (1892).