Claudius, a celebrated Latin poet, flourished under the emperor Theodosius and his sons Arcadius and Honorius. It appears from the direct testimony of Suidas that Claudian was a native of Alexandria. He went to Rome in A.D. 395, when he was about twenty years of age, and there he obtained the patronage of Stilicho—a man distinguished alike in the cabinet and the field, and who possessed so much influence under the emperor Honorius that for many years he was the real governor of the Western Empire. Stilicho afterwards fell into disgrace, and was put to death in 408; and it is conjectured that the poet was involved in the misfortunes of his patron. It has also been asserted, though without sufficient evidence, that Claudian suffered severe persecution from his successor Hadrian, an Egyptian by birth, who was captain of the guards to Honorius. However this may be, he was afterwards in high favour, and obtained various honours, as appears from an inscription discovered at Rome in the fifteenth century. Through the interposition, too, of Serena, the wife of Stilicho, he obtained in marriage a lady of high rank and wealth in Libya.

There are a few Christian hymns which, through mistake, have been ascribed by some critics to Claudian; but we have the explicit testimony of his contemporary St. Augustin that Claudian was a heathen. The time of his death is uncertain. The style of Claudian is classically pure, and his works bear the impress of true genius. Among the editions may be noticed that of 1765, cum notis variarum, 8vo; the Delphin edition of 1677, 4to; that of Gesner, Leipzig, 1759, 2 vols. 8vo; and that of the younger Burmann, Amsterdam, 1760, 4to, which is decidedly the best. There is a com-