SOURCE: “Themes of Encomium and Invective in Claudian,” in Transactions of the American Philological Association, Vol. 89, 1958, pp. 336-47.

In the following essay, Levy examines three themes developed by Claudian, noting their close relationship to the political, social, and religious conditions of his time.

Under the rubrics of encomium and invective can be listed the major portion of Claudian's writings. Some of his longer poems are panegyrics pure and simple. Here belong the encomia on the third, on the fourth, and on the sixth consulships of the Emperor Honorius; a panegyric on the consulship of Stilicho; another on that of the brothers Probinus and Olybrius. There is still another consular encomium, this one in honor of Manlius Theodorus. To the same general group belongs the shorter and less elaborate Laus Serenae, praising Theodosius' niece and adopted daughter, who was Stilicho's wife.

There are two full-dress invectives, one directed against...