Between Inaccuracy and Idealization. The concordia fratrum in Claudian's Poems

The present article aims to reappraise the ideal of concordia fratrum, which Claudian projected over the brother-emperors Honorius and Arcadius. He used different strategies, such as omissions and the demonization of external enemies (Gildo and Alaric) or antagonists who were in the Eastern Court (Rufinus and Eutropius) that could divert the attention from the feebleness of the bond between the two emperors to the individuation of the causes of such instability. Not least, Claudian made abundant use of the mythical repertoire. By these means, the poet foregrounded on the one hand how far the East was from Roman ideals and values, due to misleading figures like Eutropius, and on the other, the role of Stilicho, who was concealing an ambition to have power in both halves of the Empire and not only in the West. Claudian embraced Stilicho’s aim completely, considering him the only one who could maintain the concordia fratrum which Theodosius had entrusted him. However, despite the idealizing nature of his poems, Claudian did not always conceal the cracks that were behind this façade of harmonious co-regency of the power holders in the West and in the East and left some space for inaccuracies and historical comparisons which reveal his thought under the cover of his politically committed poetry.