[Sidenote: Claudian.] Claudius Claudianus, the last important Roman poet, was, like Livius Andronicus, with whom Roman poetry began, a Greek by birth. He was born in Asia Minor, but lived so long at Alexandria that he called that centre of learning his fatherland (_patria_). In 395 A. D. he went to Rome, where he was attached to the court of Honorius, from whom he received the rank of patrician and the honor of a statue in the Forum of Trajan. He remained at Rome, or rather at Milan, until 404 A. D., but about that time returned to Alexandria, and married a noble woman of the place, being aided in his suit by Serena, niece and adopted daughter of the Emperor Theodosius and wife of Stilicho. Claudian’s poems all appear to have been written from 395 to 404 A. D., and throughout this period he is the faithful follower and enthusiastic admirer of Stilicho, Whether Stilicho’s death in 408 A. D. relegated Claudian to obscurity, or the poet himself died at about the same time as his patron, can not now be determined. Claudian’s works comprise epic poems on the important events of his times, such as the Gothic war and the war against Gildo, mythological epics, and shorter miscellaneous poems. Among the historical epics are included poems in praise of Honorius and other patrons of the poet, as well as metrical attacks upon Rufinus and Eutropius. The only remains of his mythological epics are three books of a poem, on the _Rape of Proserpine_, and somewhat more than one hundred lines of a _Gigantomachia_. In these poems Claudian shows the mythological and antiquarian learning which had for centuries been characteristic of the Alexandrian school of poetry. That school was already old when it was imitated by Catullus and his contemporaries in the early days of Roman poetry, and now, when Roman literature was dying, Alexandria continued to train learned poets. Had Claudian not gone to Italy, he would doubtless have continued to write in his native Greek, and might, as a Greek poet, have rivalled his contemporary Nonnus. In his historical and miscellaneous poems also Claudian exhibits much Alexandrian learning, and at the same time shows an intimate acquaintance with the earlier Roman poets, which is somewhat surprising in one who was educated in the Greek-speaking provinces of the east. It is equally surprising that Claudian uses the Latin language with an ease and grace not attained by any of his contemporaries. His verse is correct, dignified, and harmonious, his diction pure and classical. In these respects, as well as in wealth of imagery, brilliancy of narrative, and skill in composition, he is unequalled by any Roman poet after Statius. His historical poems must be used with caution by historians, for, although facts are not invented, they are presented in a strong light, or left in obscurity, according to the effect they might have upon the reputation of the poet’s friends or enemies. In the exuberance