Chapter XV: Preface: (xvi.)

Wilt dare to sing, my Muse, when so great, so august an assembly shall be thy critic? Does not thine own renown forbid thee? ’Tis greater now than thou deservest; how hard then to enhance, how disgraceful to diminish it! Or has thine assurance grown through ever dwelling in the camp, and does the soldier now wholly possess the poet’s breast? Behold the flower of the Roman senate, the majesty, the pride, the heroes of Gaul. The whole earth is my audience, my song shall sound in the ears of all the world. Alack! Love for our consul constrains too strongly. Jove, ’tis said, when he would fain learn its extent (for he knew not the bounds of his own empire) sent forth two eagles of equal flight from the East and from the West. On Parnassus, as they tell, their twin flights met; the Delphic heaven brought together the one bird and the other. Our Emperor needs no eagles to teach him the magnitude of his domains; yourselves are preceptors more convincing. ’Tis this assembly that gives to me the measure of the universe; here I see gathered all the brilliance of the world.

[169] See Introduction, p. xv. Judging from this poem Manlius
started by being an _advocatus_ in the praetorian prefect’s court,
was then _praeses_ of some district in Africa, then governor
(_consularis_) of Macedonia, next recalled to Rome as Gratian’s
_magister epistularum_, then _comes sacrarum largitionum_
(= ecclesiastical treasurer) and after that praetorian prefect of
Gaul (ll. 50-53).

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PANEGYRICUS

(XVII.)

Ipsa quidem Virtus pretium sibi, solaque late
Fortunae secura nitet nec fascibus ullis
erigitur plausuve petit clarescere vulgi.
nil opis externae cupiens, nil indiga laudis,
divitiis animosa suis inmotaque cunctis 5
casibus ex alta mortalia despicit arce.
attamen invitam blande vestigat et ultro
ambit honor: docuit totiens a rure profectus
lictor et in mediis consul quaesitus aratris.
te quoque naturae sacris mundique vacantem, 10
emeritum pridem desudatisque remotum
iudiciis eadem rursum complexa potestas
evehit et reducem notis imponit habenis.
accedunt trabeae: nil iam, Theodore, relictum,
quo virtus animo crescat vel splendor honori.[170] 15
culmen utrumque tenes: talem te protinus anni
formavere rudes, et dignum vita curuli
traxit iter primaeque senes cessere iuventae.
iam tum canities animi, iam dulce loquendi

[170] _honori_ conject. Birt; _honore_ codd.

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PANEGYRIC

(XVII.)

Virtue is its own reward; alone with its far-flung splendour it mocks at Fortune; no honours raise it higher nor does it seek glory from the mob’s applause. External wealth cannot arouse its desires, it asks no praise but makes its boast of self-contained riches, and unmoved by all chances it looks down upon the world from a lofty citadel. Yet in its own despite importunate honours pursue it, and offer themselves unsought; that the lictor coming from the farm hath ofttimes proved and a consul sought for even at the plough. Thou, too, who wert at leisure to study the mysteries of nature and the heavens, thou who hadst served thy time and retired from the law courts where thou hadst toiled so long, art once more enfolded by a like dignity, which, raising thee aloft, sets in thy returning hands the familiar rein. The consulship now is thine, Theodorus, nor is there now aught left to add to thy virtues or to the glory of thy name. Thou art now at the summit of both; from thine earliest years thy character was thus formed, the whole course of thy life was worthy of the curule chair; thy earliest youth outrivalled age. Even then thy mind was hoar, thy pleasant talk weighty, thy

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pondus et attonitas sermo qui duceret aures. 20
mox undare foro victrix opulentia linguae
tutarique reos. ipsa haec amplissima sedes
orantem stupuit, bis laudatura regentem.
hinc te pars Libyae moderantem iura probavit,
quae nunc tota probat; longi sed pignus amoris 25
exiguae peperere morae populumque clientem
publica mansuris testantur vocibus aera.
inde tibi Macetum tellus et credita Pellae
moenia, quae famulus quondam ditavit Hydaspes;
tantaque commissae revocasti gaudia genti 30
mitibus arbitriis, quantum bellante Philippo
floruit aut nigri cecidit cum regia Pori.
Sed non ulterius te praebuit urbibus aula:
maluit esse suum; terris edicta daturus,
supplicibus responsa venis. oracula regis 35
eloquio crevere tuo, nec dignius umquam
maiestas meminit sese Romana locutam.
hinc sacrae mandantur opes orbisque tributa
possessi, quidquid fluviis evolvitur auri,
quidquid luce procul venas rimata sequaces 40
abdita pallentis fodit sollertia Bessi.
Ac velut expertus[171] lentandis navita tonsis
praeficitur lateri custos; hinc ardua prorae
temperat et fluctus tempestatesque futuras
edocet; adsiduo cum Dorida vicerit usu, 45
iam clavum totamque subit torquere carinam:

[171] _expertus_ Barthius; Birt keeps MSS. _exertus_.

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converse the admiration and delight of all that heard it. The wealth of thy triumphant eloquence soon overflowed the forum and brought safety to the accused. Yea, this most august assembly was astonied at thy pleading, as it was twice to applaud thy governance. Next, a part of Libya approved the administration which it now in its entirety enjoys; but thy brief stay won for thee a pledge of perpetual love, and public statues bear witness with enduring eloquence that thou wert a nation’s guardian. Macedonia was next committed to thy care and the walls of Pella, enriched once by conquered Hydaspes. The mildness of thy rule brought to the country entrusted to thee such joy as it once knew under warlike Philip or when the empire of Indian Porus fell to Alexander’s arms.

But Rome could not spare thy services longer to the provinces; she chose rather to have thee for her own; thou comest to give edicts to the world, to make reply to suppliants. A monarch’s utterance has won dignity from thine eloquence, never can the majesty of Rome recall when she spoke more worthily. After this the offerings and wealth of the world, the tribute of the empire, is entrusted to thy care; the gold washed down by the rivers and that dug out of deep Thracian mines by the skill of pale-faced Bessi who track the hidden seams--all is thine.

As a sailor skilled in wielding the oar is at first set in charge of but a side of the vessel, then, when he can manage the lofty prow and is able, thanks to his long experience of the sea, to know beforehand what storms and tempests the vessel is like to encounter, he has charge of the helm and is entrusted with the

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sic cum clara diu mentis documenta dedisses,
non te parte sui, sed in omni corpore sumpsit
imperium cunctaque dedit tellure regendos
rectores. Hispana tibi Germanaque Tethys 50
paruit et nostro diducta Britannia mundo,
diversoque tuas coluerunt gurgite voces
lentus Arar Rhodanusque ferox et dives Hiberus.
o quotiens doluit Rhenus, qua barbarus ibat,
quod te non geminis frueretur iudice ripis! 55
unius fit cura viri, quodcumque rubescit
occasu, quodcumque dies devexior ambit.
Tam celer adsiduos explevit cursus honores;
una potestatum spatiis interfuit aetas
totque gradus fati iuvenilibus intulit annis. 60
Postquam parta quies et summum nacta cacumen
iam secura petit privatum gloria portum,
ingenii redeunt fructus aliique labores,
et vitae pars nulla perit: quodcumque recedit
litibus, incumbit studiis, animusque vicissim 65
aut curam imponit populis aut otia Musis.
omnia Cecropiae relegis secreta senectae
discutiens, quid quisque novum mandaverit aevo
quantaque diversae producant agmina sectae.
Namque aliis princeps rerum disponitur aër; 70
hic confidit aquis; hic procreat omnia flammis.

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direction of the entire ship; so when thou hadst long given illustrious proofs of thy character, the empire of Rome summoned thee to govern not a part but the whole of itself, and set thee as ruler over all the rulers of the world. The seas of Spain, the German ocean obeyed thee and Britain, so far removed from our continent. Rivers of all lands observed thy statutes, slow-flowing Saône, swift Rhone, and Ebro rich in gold. How often did the Rhine, in those districts where the barbarians dwell, lament that the blessings of thy rule extended not to both banks! All the lands the setting sun bathes in its rays, all that its last brilliance illumines are entrusted to the charge of one man.

So swiftly did thy career fill office after office; a single period of life was enough for the round of dignities and gave to thy youthful years every step on fortune’s ladder.

When repose was earned and now, after reaching the highest place, glory, laying care aside, seeks refuge in a private life, genius again wins reward from other tasks. No part of life is lost: all that is withdrawn from the law courts is devoted to the study, and thy mind in turn either bestows its efforts on the State or its leisure on the Muses. Once more thou readest the secrets of ancient Athens, examining the discoveries with which each sage has enriched posterity and noting what hosts of disciples the varying schools produce.

For some hold that air[172] is the first beginning of all things, others that water is, others again derive the sum of things from fire. Another, destined to

[172] Claudian refers to the early Ionian philosophers. Anaximenes
believed that air was the first principle of all things, Thales
said water, Heraclitus fire. l. 72 refers to Empedocles who
postulated the four elements and two principles, love and hate,
which respectively made and unmade the universe out of the
elements. The “_hic_” of l. 75 may be Democritus or it may refer to
the Sceptic, Pyrrho. The “_hic_” of l. 76 is Anaxagoras, the friend
of Pericles. “_Ille_” (79) may be taken to refer to Leucippus, the
first of the atomic philosophers; he postulated infinite space.
“_Hi_” (82) = Democritus, Epicurus, and other atomists. “_Alii_”
(83) are the Platonists.

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alter in Aetnaeas casurus sponte favillas
dispergit revocatque deum rursusque receptis
nectit amicitiis quidquid discordia solvit.
corporis hic damnat sensus verumque videri 75
pernegat. hic semper lapsurae pondera terrae
conatur rapido caeli fulcire rotatu
accenditque diem praerupti turbine saxi.
ille ferox unoque tegi non passus Olympo
inmensum per inane volat finemque perosus 80
parturit innumeros angusto pectore mundos.
hi vaga collidunt caecis primordia plagis.
numina constituunt alii casusque relegant.
Graiorum obscuras Romanis floribus artes
inradias, vicibus gratis formare loquentes 85
suetus et alterno verum contexere nodo.
quidquid Socratico manavit ab ordine, quidquid
docta Cleantheae sonuerunt atria turbae,
inventum quodcumque tuo, Chrysippe, recessu,
quidquid Democritus risit dixitque tacendo 90
Pythagoras, uno se pectore cuncta vetustas
condidit et maior collectis viribus exit.
ornantur veteres et nobiliore magistro
in Latium spretis Academia migrat Athenis,
ut tandem propius discat, quo fine beatum 95
dirigitur, quae norma boni, qui limes honesti;
quaenam membra sui virtus divisa domandis
obiectet vitiis; quae pars iniusta recidat,
quae vincat ratione metus, quae frenet amores;
aut quotiens elementa doces semperque fluentis 100

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fall self-immolated into Etna’s fiery crater, reduces God to principles of dispersion and re-collection and binds again in resumed friendship all that discord separates. This philosopher allows no authority to the senses and denies that the truth can be perceived. Another seeks to explain the suspension of the world in space by the rapid revolution of the sky (whence else the world would fall) and kindles day’s fires by the whirl of a rushing rock. That fearless spirit, not content with the covering of but one sky, flies through the limitless void and, scorning a limit, conceives in one small brain a thousand worlds. Others make wandering atoms clash with blind blows, while others again set up deities and banish chance.

Thou dost adorn the obscure learning of Greece with Roman flowers,[173] skilled to shape speech in happy interchange and weave truth’s garland with alternate knots. All the lore of Socrates’ school, the learning that echoed in Cleanthes’ lecture-room, the thoughts of the stoic Chrysippus in his retreat, all the laughter of Democritus, all that Pythagoras spoke by silence--all the wisdom of the ancients is stored in that one brain whence it issues forth the stronger for its concentration. The ancients gain fresh lustre and, scorning Athens, the Academy migrates to Latium under a nobler master, the more exactly at last to learn by what end happiness guides its path, what is the rule of the good, the goal of the right; what division of virtue should be set to combat and overthrow each separate vice, and what part of virtue it is that curbs injustice, that causes reason to triumph over fear, that holds lust in check. How often hast thou taught us the nature

[173] Claudian’s way of saying that Manlius translates Greek
philosophy into clear and elegant Latin, throwing his translation
into the form of a dialogue.

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materiae causas: quae vis animaverit astra
impuleritque choros; quo vivat machina motu;
sidera cur septem retro nitantur in ortus
obluctata polo; variisne meatibus idem
arbiter an geminae convertant aethera mentes;
sitne color proprius rerum, lucisne repulsu 106
eludant aciem; tumidos quae luna recursus
nutriat Oceani; quo fracta tonitrua vento,
quis trahat imbriferas nubes, quo saxa creentur
grandinis; unde rigor nivibus; quae flamma per auras 110
excutiat rutilos tractus aut fulmina velox
torqueat aut tristem figat crinita cometem.
Iam tibi compositam fundaverat ancora puppim,
telluris iam certus eras; fecunda placebant
otia; nascentes ibant in saecula libri: 115
cum subito liquida cessantem vidit ab aethra
Iustitia et tanto viduatas iudice leges.
continuo frontem limbo velata pudicam
deserit Autumni portas, qua vergit in Austrum
Signifer et noctis reparant dispendia Chelae. 120
pax avibus, quacumque volat, rabiemque frementes
deposuere ferae; laetatur terra reverso
numine, quod prisci post tempora perdidit auri.
illa per occultum Ligurum se moenibus infert
et castos levibus plantis ingressa penates 125
invenit aetherios signantem pulvere cursus,
quos pia sollicito deprendit pollice Memphis:

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of the elements and the causes of matter’s ceaseless change; what influence has given life to the stars, moving them in their courses; what quickens with movement the universal frame. Thou tellest why the seven planets strive backward towards the East, doing battle with the firmament; whether there is one lawgiver to different movements or two minds govern heaven’s revolution; whether colour is a property of matter or whether objects deceive our sight and owe their colours to reflected light; how the moon causes the ebb and flow of the tide; which wind brings about the thunder’s crash, which collects the rain clouds and by which the hail-stones are formed; what causes the coldness of snow and what is that flame that ploughs its shining furrow through the sky, hurls the swift thunderbolt, or sets in heaven’s dome the tail of the baleful comet.

Already had the anchor stayed thy restful bark, already thou wert minded to go ashore; fruitful leisure charmed and books were being born for immortality, when, of a sudden, Justice looked down from the shining heaven and saw thee at thine ease, saw Law, too, deprived of her great interpreter. She stayed not but, wreathing her chaste forehead with a band, left the gates of Autumn where the Standard-bearer dips towards the south and the Scorpion makes good the losses of the night. Where’er she flies a peace fell upon the birds and howling beasts laid aside their rage. Earth rejoices in the return of a deity lost to her since the waning of the age of gold. Secretly Justice enters the walls of Milan, Liguria’s city, and penetrating with light step the holy palace finds Theodorus marking in the sand those heavenly movements which reverent Memphis discovered by

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quae moveant momenta polum, quam certus in astris
error, quis tenebras solis causisque meantem
defectum indicat numerus, quae linea Phoeben 130
damnet et excluso pallentem fratre relinquat.
ut procul adspexit fulgentia Virginis ora
cognovitque deam, vultus veneratus amicos
occurrit scriptaeque notas confundit harenae.
Tum sic diva prior: “Manli, sincera bonorum 135
congeries, in quo veteris vestigia recti
et ductos video mores meliore metallo:
iam satis indultum studiis, Musaeque tot annos
eripuere mihi. pridem te iura reposcunt:
adgredere et nostro rursum te redde labori 140
nec tibi sufficiat transmissae gloria vitae.
humanum curare genus quis terminus umquam
praescripsit? nullas recipit prudentia metas.
adde quod haec multis potuit contingere sedes,
sed meriti tantum redeunt actusque priores 145
commendat repetitus honos, virtusque reducit
quos fortuna legit.[174] melius magnoque petendum
credis in abstrusa rerum ratione morari?
scilicet illa tui patriam praecepta Platonis
erexere magis, quam qui responsa secutus 150
obruit Eoas classes urbemque carinis
vexit et arsuras Medo subduxit Athenas?
Spartanis potuit robur praestare Lycurgus
matribus et sexum leges vicere severae

[174] Birt _regit_ with the MSS. (he suggests _nequit_); Heinsius
_legit_.

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anxious reckoning. He sought the forces that move the heavens, the fixed (though errant) path of the planets, the calculation which predicts the over-shadowing of the sun and its surely-fixed eclipse, and the line that sentences the moon to be left in darkness by shutting out her brother. Soon as from afar he beheld the shining face of the Maiden[175] and recognized the goddess, reverencing that dear countenance, he hurries to meet her, effacing from the sand the diagrams he had drawn.

The goddess was the first to speak. “Manlius, in whom are gathered all the virtues unalloyed, in whom I see traces of ancient justice and manners moulded of a purer metal, thou hast devoted time enough now to study; all these years have the Muses reft from me my pupil. Long has Law demanded thy return to her allegiance. Come, devote thyself once more to my service, and be not content with the glory of thy past. To the service of mankind what boundary ever set the limits? Wisdom accepts no ends for herself. Then, too, to many has this office fallen, as well it might, but only the worthy return thereto; reappointment to office is the best commendation of office well held, and virtue brings back him whom chance elects. Deemst thou it a better and a worthier aim to spend thy days in exploring Nature’s secret laws? Dost thou think it was thy Plato’s precepts raised his country to glory rather than he[176] who, in obedience to the oracle, sank the Persian fleet, put his city on shipboard and saved from the Medes Athens destined for the flames? Lycurgus could dower the mothers of Sparta with a man’s courage and by his austere laws correct the weakness of their sex; by forbidding

[175] Virgo (= Astraea) was a recognized synonym for the goddess
Justice; see Virg. _Ec._ iv. 6.

[176] _i.e._ Themistocles.

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civibus et vetitis ignavo credere muro 155
tutius obiecit nudam Lacedaemona bellis:
at non Pythagorae monitus annique silentes
famosum Oebalii luxum pressere Tarenti.
“Quis vero insignem tanto sub principe curam
respuat? aut quando meritis maiora patebunt 160
praemia? quis demens adeo qui iungere sensus
cum Stilichone neget? similem quae protulit aetas
consilio vel Marte virum? nunc Brutus amaret
vivere sub regno, tali succumberet aulae
Fabricius, cuperent ipsi servire Catones. 165
nonne vides, ut nostra soror Clementia tristes
obtundat gladios fratresque amplexa serenos
adsurgat Pietas, fractis ut lugeat armis
Perfidia et laceris morientes crinibus hydri
lambant invalido Furiarum vincla veneno? 170
exultat cum Pace Fides, iam sidera cunctae
liquimus et placidas inter discurrimus urbes.
nobiscum, Theodore, redi.”
Subit ille loquentem
talibus: “agrestem dudum me, diva, reverti
cogis et infectum longi rubigine ruris 175
ad tua signa vocas. nam quae mihi cura tot annis
altera quam duras sulcis mollire novales,
nosse soli vires, nemori quae commoda rupes,
quis felix oleae tractus, quae glaeba faveret
frugibus et quales tegeret vindemia colles? 180
terribiles rursum lituos veteranus adibo
et desueta vetus temptabo caerula vector?

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his fellow-citizens to put a coward’s trust in walls, he set Lacedemon to face wars more securely in her nakedness; but all the teaching of Pythagoras and his years of silence never crushed the infamous licentiousness of Sparta’s colony Tarentum.

“Besides, beneath such an emperor, who could refuse office? Was ever merit more richly rewarded? Who is so insensate as not to wish to meet Stilicho in council? Has ever any age produced his equal in prudence or in bravery? Now would Brutus love to live under a king; to such a court Fabricius would yield, the Catos themselves long to give service. Seest thou not how my sister Mercy blunts the cruel sword of war; how Piety rises to embrace the two noble brothers; how Treason laments her broken weapons and the snakes, writhing in death upon the Furies’ wounded heads, lick their chains with enfeebled venom? Peace and loyalty are triumphant. All the host of heaven leaves the stars and wanders from peaceful city to peaceful city. Return thou with us, Theodorus.”

Then Theodorus made answer: “From my long accustomed fields, goddess, thou urgest me to return, summoning to thy standard one grown rusty in the distant countryside. What else has been my care all these years but to break up the stubborn fallow-land into furrows, to know the nature of the soil, the rocky land suitable to the growth of trees, the country where the olive will flourish, the fields that will yield rich harvests of grain or the hills which my vineyards may clothe? I have served my time; am I to hearken once more to the dreadful trumpet? Is the old helmsman again to brave the seas whose lore he has forgotten?

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collectamque diu et certis utcumque locatam
sedibus in dubium patiar deponere famam?
nec me, quid valeat natura fortior usus, 185
praeterit aut quantum neglectae defluat arti.
desidis aurigae non audit verbera currus,
nec manus agnoscit quem non exercuit arcum.
esse sed iniustum fateor quodcumque negatur
iustitiae. tu prima hominem silvestribus antris 190
elicis et foedo deterges saecula victu.
te propter colimus leges animosque ferarum
exuimus. nitidis quisquis te sensibus hausit,
inruet intrepidus flammis, hiberna secabit
aequora, confertos hostes superabit inermis. 195
ille vel Aethiopum pluviis solabitur aestus;
illum trans Scythiam vernus comitabitur aër.”
Sic fatus tradente dea suscepit habenas
quattuor ingenti iuris temone refusas.
prima Padum Thybrimque ligat crebrisque micantem
urbibus Italiam; Numidas[177] Poenosque secunda 201
temperat; Illyrico se tertia porrigit orbi;
ultima Sardiniam, Cyrnum trifidamque retentat
Sicaniam et quidquid Tyrrhena tunditur unda
vel gemit Ionia. nec te tot lumina rerum 205
aut tantum turbavit onus; sed ut altus Olympi
vertex, qui spatio ventos hiemesque relinquit,
perpetuum nulla temeratus nube serenum
celsior exurgit pluviis auditque ruentes

[177] _Numidas_ Heinsius; Birt _†Lydos_.

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My fame has long been gathered in and where it is ’tis in safe custody; am I to suffer its being put to the hazard? Full well do I realize that habit is a stronger force than nature, nor am I ignorant of the rapidity with which we forget an art that we have ceased to exercise. The whip of an unpractised charioteer is powerless to urge on his horses; the hand that is unaccustomed thereto cannot bend the bow. And yet it were unjust, I admit, to refuse aught to Justice. Thou first didst draw man from his woodland cave and free the human race from its foul manner of life. Thanks to thee we practise law and have put off the temper of wild beasts. Whosoever has drunk of thee with pure heart will rush fearless through flames, will sail the wintry seas, and overcome unarmed the densest company of foemen. Justice is to the just as rain to temper even the heat of Ethiopia, a breath of spring to journey with him across the deserts of Scythia.”

So spake he and took from the goddess’ hand the four reins that lay stretched along the huge pole of Justice’s car. The first harnesses the rivers Po and Tiber and Italy with all her glittering towns; the second guides Numidia and Carthage; the third runs out across the land of Illyria; the last holds Sardinia, Corsica, three-cornered Sicily and the coasts beaten by the Tyrrhenian wave or that echo to the Ionian. The splendour and magnitude of the undertaking troubled thee not one whit; but as the lofty summit of Olympus, far removed from the winds and tempests of the lower air, its eternal bright serene untroubled by any cloud, is lifted above the rain storms and hears the hurricane rushing

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sub pedibus nimbos et rauca tonitrua calcat: 210
sic patiens animus per tanta negotia liber
emergit similisque sui, iustique tenorem
flectere non odium cogit, non gratia suadet.
nam spretas quis opes intactaque pectora lucro
commemoret? fuerint aliis haec forte decora: 215
nulla potest laus esse tibi, quae crimina purget.
servat inoffensam divina modestia vocem:
temperiem servant oculi; nec lumina fervor
asperat aut rabidas suffundit sanguine venas,
nullaque mutati tempestas proditur oris. 220
quin etiam sontes expulsa corrigis ira
et placidus delicta domas; nec dentibus umquam
instrepis horrendum, fremitu nec verbera poscis.
Qui fruitur poena, ferus est, legumque videtur
vindictam praestare sibi; cum viscera felle 225
canduerint, ardet stimulis ferturque nocendi
prodigus, ignarus causae: dis proximus ille,
quem ratio, non ira movet, qui facta rependens
consilio punire potest. mucrone cruento
se iactent alii, studeant feritate timeri 230
addictoque hominum cumulent aeraria censu.
lene fluit Nilus, sed cunctis amnibus extat
utilior nullo confessus murmure vires;
acrior ac rapidus tacitas praetermeat ingens
Danuvius ripas; eadem dementia sani 235
gurgitis inmensum deducit in ostia Gangen.
torrentes inmane fremant lassisque minentur

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beneath its feet while it treads upon the thunder’s roar; so thy patient mind, unfettered by cares so manifold, rises high above them; thou art ever the same, no hatred can compel thee, no affection induce thee, to swerve from the path of justice. For why should any speak of riches scorned and a heart unallured by gain? These might perhaps be virtues in others: absence of vice is no praise to bestow on thee. The calm of a god banishes anger from thy voice; the spirit of moderation shines from thine eyes; passion never inflames that glance or fills with blood the angry veins; never is a tempest heralded on thy changed countenance. Nay, thou punishest the very criminals without show of anger and checkest their evil-doing with unruffled calm. Never dost thou gnash with thy teeth upon them nor shout orders for them to be chastised.

He is a savage who delights in punishment and seems to make the vengeance of the laws his own; when his heart is inflamed with the poison of wrath he is goaded by fury and rushes on knowing nothing of the cause and eager only to do hurt. But he whom reason, not anger, animates is a peer of the gods, he who, weighing the guilt, can with deliberation balance the punishment. Let others boast them of their bloody swords and wish to be feared for their ferocity, while they fill their treasuries with the goods of the condemned. Gently flows the Nile, yet is it more beneficent than all rivers for all that no sound reveals its power. More swiftly the broad Danube glides between its quiet banks. Huge Ganges flows down to its mouths with gently moving current. Let torrents roar horribly, threaten weary

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pontibus et volvant spumoso vertice silvas:
pax maiora decet; peragit tranquilla potestas,
quod violenta nequit, mandataque fortius urget 240
imperiosa quies.
Idem praedurus iniquas
accepisse preces, rursus, quae digna petitu,
largior et facilis; nec quae comitatur honores,
ausa tuam leviter temptare superbia mentem.
frons privata manet nec se meruisse fatetur, 245
quae crevisse putat; rigidi sed plena pudoris
elucet gravitas fastu iucunda remoto.
quae non seditio, quae non insania vulgi
te viso lenita cadat? quae dissona ritu
barbaries, medii quam non reverentia frangat? 250
vel quis non sitiens sermonis mella politi
deserat Orpheos blanda testudine cantus?
qualem te legimus teneri primordia mundi
scribentem aut partes animae, per singula talem
cernimus et similes agnoscit pagina mores. 255
Nec dilata tuis Augusto iudice merces
officiis, illumque habitum, quo iungitur aulae
curia, qui socio proceres cum principe nectit,
quem quater ipse gerit, perfecto detulit anno
deposuitque suas te succedente curules. 260
crescant virtutes fecundaque floreat aetas.
ingeniis patuit campus certusque merenti
stat favor: ornatur propriis industria donis.
surgite sopitae, quas obruit ambitus, artes.
nil licet invidiae, Stilicho dum prospicit orbi 265

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bridges, and sweep down forests in their foaming whirl; ’tis repose, befits the greater; quiet authority accomplishes what violence cannot, and that mandate compels more which comes from a commanding calm.

“Thou art as deaf to the prayers of injustice as thou art generous and attentive where the demand is just. Pride, that ever accompanies office, has not so much as dared to touch thy mind. Thy look is a private citizen’s nor allows that it has deserved what it thinks to have but grown[178]; but full of stately modesty shines forth a gravity that charms because pride is banished. What sedition, what madness of the crowd could see thee and not sink down appeased? What country so barbarous, so foreign in its customs, as not to bow in reverence before thy mediation? Who that desires the honied charm of polished eloquence would not desert the lyre-accompanied song of tuneful Orpheus? In every activity we see thee as we see thee in thy books, describing the creation of the newly-fashioned earth or the parts of the soul; we recognize thy character in thy pages.

The Emperor has not been slow in rewarding thy merit. The robe that links Senate-house and palace, that unites nobles with their prince--the robe that he himself has four times worn, he hath at the year’s end handed on to thee, and left his own curule chair that thou mightest follow him. Grow, ye virtues; be this an age of prosperity! The path of glory lies open to the wise; merit is sure of its reward; industry dowered with the gifts it deserves. Arts, rise from the slumber into which depraved ambition had forced you! Envy cannot hold up her head while Stilicho and his godlike

[178] _i.e._ Manlius modestly regards his honours as a natural
growth, not as the reward of merit.

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sidereusque gener. non hic violata curulis,
turpia non Latios incestant nomina fastos;
fortibus haec concessa viris solisque gerenda
patribus et Romae numquam latura pudorem.
Nuntia votorum celeri iam Fama volatu 270
moverat Aonios audito consule lucos.
concinuit felix Helicon fluxitque Aganippe
largior et docti riserunt floribus amnes.
Uranie redimita comas, qua saepe magistra
Manlius igniferos radio descripserat axes, 275
sic alias hortata deas: “patimurne, sorores,
optato procul esse die nec limina nostri
consulis et semper dilectas visimus aedes?
notior est Helicone[179] domus. gestare curules
et fasces subiisse libet. miracula plebi 280
colligite et claris nomen celebrate theatris.
“Tu Iovis aequorei summersam fluctibus aulam
oratum volucres, Erato, iam perge quadrigas,
a quibus haud umquam palmam rapturus Arion.
inlustret circum sonipes, quicumque superbo 285
perstrepit hinnitu Bactin, qui splendida potat
stagna Tagi madidoque iubas adspergitur auro.
“Calliope, liquidas Alciden posce palaestras:
cuncta Palaemoniis manus explorata coronis
adsit et Eleo pubes laudata Tonanti. 290
“Tu iuga Taygeti frondosaque Maenala, Clio,
i Triviae supplex; non aspernata rogantem
amphitheatrali faveat Latonia pompae.

[179] codd. have _Stilichone_; Birt obelizes the line; it is only
found in V; _Helicone_ Gevartius.

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son-in-law direct the state. Here is no pollution of the consul’s office, no shameful names disgrace the Latin fasti; here the consulship is an honour reserved for the brave, given only to senators, never a source of scandal to Rome’s city.[180]

Now had Fame, announcing our good fortune, winged her way to Aonia whose groves she stirred with the tidings of the new consul. Helicon raised a hymn of praise, Aganippe flowed with waters more abundant, the streams of song laughed with flowers. Then Urania, her hair wreath-crowned, Urania whose hand had oft directed Manlius’ compass in marking out the starry spheres, thus addressed the other Muses: “Sisters, can we bear to be absent this longed-for day? Shall we not visit our consul’s door and the house we have always loved? Better known to us is it than Helicon; gladly we draw the curule chair and bear the fasces. Bring marvels for the people’s delight and make known his name in the famed theatres.

“Do thou, Erato, go visit the palace of Neptune beneath the sea and beg for four swift coursers such that even Arion could not snatch the prize from them. Let the Circus be graced by every steed to whose proud neighing Baetis re-echoes, who drinks of Tagus’ shining pools and sprinkles his mane with its liquid gold.

“Calliope, ask thou of Alcides the oil of the wrestling-ground. Let all the company proved in the games at Elis follow thee and the athletes who have won fame with Olympian Jove.

“Fly, Clio, to Taygetus’ heights and leafy Maenalus and beg Diana not to spurn thy petition but help the amphitheatre’s pomp. Let the goddess herself

[180] Claudian is thinking of Eutropius, Manlius’ eastern colleague.

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audaces legat ipsa viros, qui colla ferarum
arte ligent certoque premant venabula nisu. 295
ipsa truces fetus captivaque ducat ab antris
prodigia et caedis sitientem differat arcum.
conveniant ursi, magna quos mole ruentes
torva Lycaoniis Helice miretur ab astris,
perfossique rudant populo pallente leones, 300
quales Mygdonio curru frenare Cybebe
optet et Herculei mallent fregisse lacerti.
obvia fulminei properent ad vulnera pardi
semine permixto geniti, cum forte leaenae
nobiliorem uterum viridis corrupit adulter; 305
hi maculis patres referant et robore matres.
quidquid monstriferis nutrit Gaetulia campis,
Alpina quidquid tegitur nive, Gallica siquid
silva tenet, iaceat; largo ditescat harena
sanguine; consumant totos spectacula montes. 310
“Nec molles egeant nostra dulcedine ludi:
qui laetis risum salibus movisse facetus,
qui nutu manibusque loquax, cui tibia flatu,
cui plectro pulsanda chelys, qui pulpita socco
personat aut alte graditur maiore cothurno, 315
et qui magna levi detrudens murmura tactu
innumeras voces segetis moderatus aenae
intonet erranti digito penitusque trabali
vecte laborantes in carmina concitet undas,
vel qui more avium sese iaculentur in auras 320

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choose out brave hunters cunningly to lasso the necks of wild animals and to drive home the hunting-spear with unfailing stroke. With her own hand let her lead forth from their caverns fierce beasts and captive monsters, laying aside her bloodthirsty bow. Let bears be gathered together, whereat, as they charge with mighty bulk, Helice may gaze in wonder from Lycaon’s stars.[181] Let smitten lions roar till the people turn pale, lions such as Cybele would be fain to harness to her Mygdonian chariot or Hercules strangle in his mighty arms. May leopards, lightning-swift, hasten to meet the spear’s wound, beasts that are born of an adulterous union what time the spotted sire did violence to the nobler lion’s mate: of such beasts their markings recall the sire, their courage the dam. Whatsoever is nourished by the fields of Gaetulia rich in monsters, whatsoever lurks beneath Alpine snows or in Gallic woods, let it fall before the spear. Let large streams of blood enrich the arena and the spectacle leave whole mountains desolate.

“Nor let gentler games lack the delights we bring: let the clown be there to move the people’s laughter with his happy wit, the mime whose language is in his nod and in the movements of his hands, the musician whose breath rouses the flute and whose finger stirs the lyre, the slippered comedian to whose voice the theatre re-echoes, the tragedian towering on his loftier buskin; him too whose light touch can elicit loud music from those pipes of bronze that sound a thousand diverse notes beneath his wandering fingers and who by means of a lever stirs to song the labouring water.[182] Let us see acrobats who hurl themselves through the air like birds and build

[181] Helice = the Great Bear; so does the phrase “Lycaon’s stars,”
for Lycaon was the father of Callisto who was transformed by the
jealous Juno into a bear and as such translated by Jupiter to the
sky. Claudian means that he wants the Great Bear to observe this
assemblage of earthly bears.

[182] The _hydraulus_ or water organ was known in Cicero’s day
(_Tusc._ iii. 18.43). It is illustrated by a piece of sculpture in
the Museum at Arles (see Grove, _Dict. of Music_, under “Organ” ).

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corporaque aedificent celeri crescentia nexu,
quorum compositam puer amentatus in arcem
emicet et vinctu plantae vel cruribus hacrens
pendula librato figat vestigia saltu.
mobile ponderibus descendat pegma reductis 325
inque chori speciem spargentes ardua flammas
scaena rotet varios et fingat Mulciber orbis
per tabulas impune vagus pictaeque citato
ludant igne trabes et non permissa morari
fida per innocuas errent incendia turres. 330
lascivi subito confligant aequore lembi
stagnaque remigibus spument inmissa canoris.
“Consul per populos idemque gravissimus auctor
eloquii, duplici vita subnixus in aevum
procedat pariter libris fastisque legendus. 335
accipiat patris exemplum tribuatque nepoti
filius et coeptis ne desit fascibus heres.
decurrat trabeata domus tradatque secures
mutua postcritas servatoque ordine fati
Manlia continuo numeretur consule proles.” 340

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pyramids that grow with swift entwining of their bodies, to the summit of which pyramid rushes a boy fastened by a thong, a boy who, attached there by the foot or leg, executes a step-dance suspended in the air. Let the counterweights be removed and the mobile crane descend, lowering on to the lofty stage men who, wheeling chorus-wise, scatter flames; let Vulcan forge balls of fire to roll innocuously across the boards, let the flames appear to play about the sham beams of the scenery and a tame conflagration, never allowed to rest, wander among the untouched towers. Let ships meet in mimic warfare on an improvised ocean and the flooded waters be lashed to foam by singing oarsmen.

“As consul at once and stateliest master, upborne by a twofold fame, let Manlius go forth among the peoples, read in his own books and in our calendars. May the sire’s example be followed by the son[183] and handed on to a grandson, nor these first fasces ever lack succession. May his race pass on purple-clad, may the generations, each to each, hand on the axes, and obedient to the ordinance of fate, Manlius after Manlius add one more consul to the tale.”

[183] We do not hear of Claudian’s hopes coming true. This son was,
however, proconsul of Africa (Augustine, _Contra Crescon._ iii.
62).

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DE CONSULATU STILICHONIS

LIBER I.

(XXI.)

Continuant superi pleno Romana favore
gaudia successusque novis successibus augent:
conubii necdum festivos regia cantus
sopierat, cecinit fuso Gildone triumphos,
et calidis thalami successit laurea sertis, 5
sumeret ut pariter princeps nomenque mariti
victorisque decus; Libyae post proelia crimen
concidit Eoum, rursusque Oriente subacto
consule defensae surgunt Stilichone secures.
ordine vota meant. equidem si carmen in unum 10
tantarum sperem cumulos advolvere rerum,
promptius imponam glaciali Pelion Ossae.
si partem tacuisse velim, quodcumque relinquam
maius erit. veteres actus primamque iuventam
prosequar? ad sese mentem praesentia ducunt. 15
narrem iustitiam? resplendet gloria Martis.
armati referam vires? plus egit inermis.
quod floret Latium, Latio quod reddita servit
Africa, vicinum quod nescit Hiberia Maurum,

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ON STILICHIO’S CONSULSHIP (A.D. 400)