East and West. Stilicho 415 



the fall of the empire. But ' Roman ' was becoming more than ever a 

 mere name-label : there had never been a Roman nation. Of the third 

 class of alien soldiery little need be said. Military colonists of barbarian 

 origin had for a long time past been brought into the empire, some as 

 frontier guards holding land on condition of army service, others more 

 in the interior, even 1 in Italy; and these latter undoubtedly furnished 

 many recruits, on whatever terms. The general result may be summed 

 up in saying that, when the barbarian invaders at last came to stay, 

 they found their kindred already there at home. 



LV. CLAUDIAN. 



In Claudian, who wrote about 400, we have another oriental Greek, 

 who wrote chiefly in Latin with far more mastery of that language than 

 Ammianus. Stilicho his patron, the great barbarian head of the Roman 

 army, was at the height of his power, and Claudian's most congenial 

 occupation was to sing his praises and denounce his opponents. He 

 was also poet laureate of the feeble emperor Honorius. Writing mainly 

 on contemporary themes, he is, if allowance be made for his bias, a 

 witness worth citing; but the passages relevant to the present subject 

 are naturally few. In common with other writers of the later ages of 

 Rome he is constantly looking back to a great and glorious past, con- 

 trasting painfully with that present which he nevertheless is striving to 

 glorify. Thus he not only refers with enthusiasm 2 to the old heroes of 

 Roman history and legend, the common material of Roman literature, 

 but even dreams 3 of a golden age to be, when the earth of her own 

 accord shall render all good things in abundance to a people living 

 happily in communistic brotherhood. This fancy however is no more 

 than a piece of unreal rhetoric, an echo of Vergil. It is inspired by the 

 victories of Stilicho, and the world-dominion under which this beatific 

 vision is to be realized is the rule of Honorius. 



In January 395 the great Theodosius died, and the empire was 

 divided between his two sons. In November, Rufinus, who dominated 

 Arcadius at Constantinople, was murdered. His place was soon taken 

 by the eunuch Eutropius. On these two personages Claudian poured 

 out a flood of invective, speaking for Stilicho and the West. The greed 

 of Rufinus is depicted 4 as ruinous to the landed interests. 'The fertility 

 of his land was the ruin of the landlord : a good crop 5 made the farmers 

 tremble. He drives men from their homes, and thrusts them out of 



1 xxvni 5 15 of Theodosius defeating Alamanni, pluribus caesis, quoscumque cepit ad 

 Italiam iussu principis misit, ubi fertilibus pagis acceptis iam tributarii circumcolunt Padum. 

 370 AD. Cf xxxi 9 4, 377 AD, and xx 4 i, 360 AD. 



2 For instance, in Rufinum \ 200-5, de bello Gildon 105-12, de IV cos Honor 412-8. 



3 in Rufin I 380-2. 4 in Rufin I 189-92. 5 metuenda colonis fertilitas. 



