Claudian

Claudius Claudianus (c. 370 – 404 AD), known in English as Claudian, was an Alexandrian poet, writing first in Greek and later in Latin. By many he is considered the last of the great Classical Latin poets.

English quotations here are taken from the translation by Maurice Platnauer in the Loeb Classical Library.

Quotes

• Minuit praesentia famam.
  • Presence will minish awe.
  • De Bello Gildonico, line 387.
  • Variant translation: Presence diminishes fame.

• Dis proximus ille est,
  quem ratio non ira movet.
  • But he whom reason, not anger, animates is a peer of the gods.
  • Panegyricus dictus Manlio Theodoro consuli, lines 227-228.

• Peragit tranquilla potestas
  quod violenta nequit; mandataque fortius urget
  imperiosa quies.
  • Quiet authority accomplishes what violence cannot, and that mandate compels more which comes from a commanding calm.
  • Panegyricus dictus Manlio Theodoro consuli, lines 239-241.

• Vile latens virtus.
  • Virtue hidden hath no value.
  • Panegyricus de Quarto Consulatu Honorii Augusti, line 222.

• Qui terret plus ipse timet.
  • Whoso causes terror is himself more fearful.
  • Panegyricus de Quarto Consulatu Honorii Augusti, line 290.

• In commune iubes si quid censesque tenendum,
  primus iussa subi: tunc observantior aequi
  fit populus nec ferre negat, cum viderit ipsum
  auctorem parere sibi. componitur orbis
  regis ad exemplum, nec sic inflectere sensus
  humanos edicta valent quam vita regentis.
  Mobile mutatur semper cum principe vulgus.
  • If thou make any law or establish any custom for the general good, be the first to submit thyself thereto; then does a people show more regard for justice nor refuse submission when it has seen their author obedient to his own laws. The world shapes itself after its ruler's pattern, nor can edicts sway men's minds so much as their monarch's life; the unstable crowd ever changes along with the prince.
  • Panegyricus de Quarto Consulatu Honorii Augusti, lines 296-301.

• Iam non ad culmina rerum
  iniustos crevisse queror; tolluntur in altum
  ut lapsu graviore ruant.
  • No longer can I complain that the unrighteous man reaches the highest pinnacle of success. He is raised aloft that he may be hurled down in more headlong ruin.
  • In Rufinum, Bk. I, lines 21-23.

• Natura beatis,
  omnibus esse dedit, si quis cognoverit uti.
  • Nature has given the opportunity of happiness to all, knew they but how to use it.
  • In Rufinum, Bk. I, lines 215-216.

• Omnia mors aequat.
  • Death renders all equal.
  • De Raptu Proserpinae Bk. II, line 302.
  • Variant translation: Death makes all things equal.

• Paupertas me saeva domat dirusque Cupido:
  sed toleranda fames, non tolerandus amor.
  • Biting poverty and cruel Cupid are my foes. Hunger I can endure; love I cannot.
  • Epigram XV