CLAUDIANUS, CLAUDIUS. - The last notable Latin poet, born and educated in Alexandria; to the study of Greek, his native language, in which he also wrote verses, he added that of the Latin language and literature, acquiring a full mastery of it. In 395 he entered into relations with aristocratic families of the West, and, the following year, with the emperor Honorius and his minister Stilicho. His poems brought him such fame that a statue was erected to him in the Forum of Trajan (J. Kaibel, Epigrammata graeca, Berlin 1878, ibid. 1879). After 405 he is lost from view.
C. had a facile and abundant vein, which produced, in only nine or ten years, a copious output of epic and lyric poetry. He sang of the consulships of Honorius, Stilicho and other personages, the emperor's marriage, his and Stilicho's victories over Gildo, the African leader, and over Alaric; he inveighed against Rufinus and Eutropius, opponents of Stilicho. Of mythological subject are the De raptu Proserpinae and the Gigantomachia. There also remain 53 poems of lesser length and 5 letters. Some twenty poems, among them some on Christian subjects, attributed to C., are spurious or of doubtful authenticity.
C. has a fervid imagination and an elegant and harmonious verse; but rather than from a sincere and powerful inspiration he draws upon mythological erudition and rhetorical precepts, giving the greatest prominence to elements of effect, such as descriptions and speeches.
According to St. Augustine (De civ. Dei, V, 26), C. was Christi nomine alienus; according to Orosius (VII, 35), paganus pervicacissimus; nevertheless an Easter poem, the XXXII of the minor ones, seems to prove that the poet was a Christian; in the poems of broader scope, on the other hand, there is no trace of Christianity.
Bibliography8 worksEdition by L. Isep, 2 vols., Leipzig 1876-79; Th. Birt, in MGH, Auctores antiquissimi, X; J. Koch, Leipzig 1893. Studies: Schanz-Krüger, IV,
BIBL.: Edition by L. Isep, 2 vols., Leipzig 1876-79; Th. Birt, in MGH, Auctores antiquissimi, X; J. Koch, Leipzig 1893. Studies: Schanz-Krüger, IV, 11 (1920), pp. 2-32; Bardenhewer, IV (1924), pp. 124-25; P. Fargues, Claudien. Etudes sur sa poëie et son temps, Paris 1933; N. Terzaghi, Storia della letter. lat. da Tiberio a Giustiniano, Milan 1934, pp. 387-96; E. Bernert, Die Quellen Claudian in De raptu Proserpinae, in Philologus, 93 (1939), p. 352 ff.; P. Courcelle, Les lettres grecques en Occident, Paris 1943, p. 119 ff. (influence of the Neoplatonic philosopher Manlius Theodorus on C.). Further bibliography in B. Altager, Patrologia, 4th ed., Turin 1944, p. 283.
Pellegrino, Michele. “Claudiano, claudio.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, coll. 1792–1793. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949. https://azioneromana.com/article/claudiano-claudio.
MLA
Pellegrino, Michele. “Claudiano, claudio.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1949, coll. 1792–1793. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/claudiano-claudio.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec3_claudiano_claudio,
author = {Pellegrino, Michele},
title = {Claudiano, claudio},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {III},
pages = {1792--1793},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1949},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/claudiano-claudio}
}
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