xxxiv .-- M.] [Footnote 1111: Hence, perhaps, the accusation of treachery is countenanced by Hatilius:-- Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis iniquum Proditor arcani quod fuit imperii.
Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes, Crudelis summis miscuit ima furor.
Dumque timet, quicquid se fecerat ipso timeri, Immisit Latiae barbara tela neci.

Rutil.Itin.II.

41 .-- M.] Among the train of dependants whose wealth and dignity attracted the notice of their own times, our curiosity is excited by the celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed the favor of Stilicho, and was overwhelmed in the ruin of his patron.
The titular offices of tribune and notary fixed his rank in the Imperial court: he was indebted to the powerful intercession of Serena for his marriage with a very rich heiress of the province of Africa; [114] and the statute of Claudian, erected in the forum of Trajan, was a monument of the taste and liberality of the Roman senate.

[115] After the praises of Stilicho became offensive and criminal, Claudian was exposed to the enmity of a powerful and unforgiving courtier, whom he had provoked by the insolence of wit.

He had compared, in a lively epigram, the opposite characters of two Praetorian praefects of Italy; he contrasts the innocent repose of a philosopher, who sometimes resigned the hours of business to slumber, perhaps to study, with the interesting diligence of a rapacious minister, indefatigable in the pursuit of unjust or sacrilegious, gain.