In Eutropium

In Eutropium was a two-book long panegyric poem and an invective written by the poet Claudian against Eutropius, an Eastern Roman politician and court eunuch.[1][2] The poem describes a fictionalized telling of the life of Eutropius. It attempts to portray Eutropius as a corrupt, ineffective, and effeminate leader. The poem argues that he created a division between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, and caused numerous problems for the Eastern Empire. Claudian uses this to highlight a contrast between his view of a corrupted and weak Eastern Roman Empire and a powerful and righteous Western Roman Empire.

Bust of Eutropius c. 450 AD

Plot

The poem begins with Claudian recounting the career of Eutropius, an Eastern Roman politician and court eunuch, who became highly influential in the Imperial court. Claudian claims that Eutropius spent his early years as a catamite, which was a type of prepubescent male companion in a pederastic relationship in ancient Rome. According to Claudian, Eutropius went on to become a pimp, and a lady's maid, before being freed of slavery out of disgust. Claudian then discusses his ascent to power, then describes his actions as a ruler, portraying him as a cruel and corrupt ruler, then his campaign into Armenia, and then his rise to the position of consul. Claudian wrote that while the senate in Constantinople approved of his rise to consul, the rest of the Roman world found it to be distasteful. According to Claudian, the goddess Roma begged the Western Emperor Honorius and his general Stilicho to prevent the same fate from occurring in the Western empire. Following this, due to their disgust at Eutropius, the god Mars and his sister Bellona incite the Greuthungi into revolt against Eutropius. After failing to bribe the rebels, Claudian describes Eutropius turning to his general Leo to end the revolt. Leo's expedition ends in a military disaster. Afterwards, the goddess Aurora goes to seek Stilicho, appealing to him to intervene and save the Eastern empire.[3]

Themes

Claudian was an ancient Roman poet who lived during the Late Roman Empire and served in the court of Honorius. He was politically opposed to a prominent Eastern Roman politician named Eutropius. He was a court eunuch, who held the rank of consul, maintained a close relationship with the Eastern Emperor Arcadius, and was also his closest advisor. Due to his status as a eunuch, which was a heavily stigmatized characteristic in ancient Rome, Claudian saw Eutropius as an effeminate, incompetent, and foreign ruler who polluted the Eastern Empire.[4]: 147–148 

Claudian saw Eutropius as the scapegoat for all of the problems with the Eastern Roman Empire, and as the sole figure responsible for any disunity between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires. In his poem, Claudian wrote "Why seek to divide the two empires and embroil loving brothers in strife? […] It is for deeds like this that Eutropius demands this year of office, to ensure that by his efforts alone he leaves nothing not dishonored, ruining the army as its general, the court as their judge, the imperial fasti as a consul." These statements were likely an attempt by Claudian to portray Eutropius as fitting the Roman stereotype of a manipulative eunuch that pollutes and destroys. In reality, Eutropius lacked juridical power over the courts, and had been successful in his campaigns against the Huns.[5]: 304–305 

Claudian associated eunuchs, and therefore Eutropius, with foreign cultures. Claudian claimed that an Assyrian queen known as Semiramis invented the practice of castration to disguise her sex by surrounding herself with effeminate men. He also wrote that castration before puberty was a Parthian custom, used to "serve their lusts by thus lengthening the years of youthful charm."[4]: 151  From the perspective of the Roman deity Roma, who was a character in his poem, Claudian stated that Roma had: “long learned to tolerate" eunuchs, “ever since the court exalted itself with Arsacid pomp and the example of Parthia corrupted our morals.” Historically, Eutropius was castrated by an Armenian slave dealer, and sold in an Assyrian slave market. Within the poem, Claudian has Roma compare Eutropius to Pothinus, an ancient Ptolemaic eunuch responsible for the assassination of Roman general Pompey the Great. Roma states: "The slaves of Egypt’s kings have ever been a curse to the world; behold I suffer from a worse than Pothinus and bear a wrong more flagrant than that of which Egypt was once the scene. Pothinus’ sword at Alexandria spilled the blood of a single consul; Eutropius brings dishonor on us all."[4]: 156  Eutropius' status as a former slave was also a subject of criticism. In another section of the poem, Claudian compared the regret the people of the Eastern Empire felt at letting themselves be ruled over by a slave to the myth of Agave. In this myth, Agave, a follower of the god Dionysus murders her son Pentheus whilst in a bacchic frenzy, after he had outlawed the worship of Dionysus in his city of Thebes.[5]: 309 

Dyptich of the general Flavius Stilicho

Claudian considered Eutropius to be an effeminate figure.[6] Claudian wrote: "O shame to heaven and earth! Our cities behold an old woman decked in a consul’s robe who gives a woman’s name to the year." Claudian also criticized Eutropius for having a "feminine" triumph in Constantinople. He believed that Eutropius acted like an old dame who was traveling to see their daughter-in-law.[5]: 306 [7] At many points, Eutropius is described as a figure of a third gender, not as either a man or a woman. Roma describes eunuchs as an "Unhappy band…whom the male sex has discarded and the female will not adopt."[4]: 150–151 

He critiques Eutropius for his important role in the military of the Eastern Empire, considering him too effeminate to run an army, claiming that he should have taken up spinning instead. According to Claudian, the enemies of Rome rejoiced as a eunuch was in charge of Rome, stating that they "felt that at last we were lacking in men." Claudian describes the goddess Roma speaking to the Western Emperor Honorius, praising the martial strength of the Western Empire, and criticizing the Eastern Empire for effeminacy, claiming that the Eastern Empire is used to having women as rulers.[4]: 150–151 

Claudian attempts to establish a dichotomy between the martial prowess of the Western Roman Empire and a supposed effeminate and weak Eastern Roman military. The deities Mars and his sister, Bellona, are characters in his poem. Claudian writes that Mars addressed Bellona, demanding that they work towards "curing the East of effeminacy" and praising a Western Roman general named Stilicho for protecting and upholding the power and strength of Rome, keeping it "unsullied by an unheard of crime" as he was "heedful of the empire and of the character and morals of a past age." Following this conversation, Bellona heads to meet Tribigild, the leader of a tribe known as the Greuthungi, whilst disguised as his wife. Bellona urged him to revolt against Eutropius. Historically, the Greuthungi did revolt against the Eastern Empire under the administration of Eutropius. Claudian was likely attempting to portray Eutropius as the sole reason for this revolt.[5]: 307–309 

Claudian believed that an influential Western Roman general named Flavius Stilicho was the only man capable of protecting and uniting both the Western and Eastern Empires. He viewed Eutropius as an enemy who prevented Stilicho from accomplishing these goals. He portrays the general Stilicho as a protector of the two children of the Emperor Theodosius, Honorius and Arcadius, who were the emperors of the Western and Eastern Roman Empires respectively. He uses the analogy of children calling for their father's aid in times of distress to describe the situation of the Roman Empire. The children are likely a metaphor for either the people of the empires or Honorius and Augustus themselves, with Stilicho being the father protecting them from the numerous threats which faced the Late Roman Empire. Using the character of Roma, Claudian encourages Stilicho to take military action against Eutropius. Claudian wrote, "Why, Stilicho, dost thou delay to conquer because ashamed to fight [against a eunuch]?" Claudian portrays Stilicho as the savior of the east. Writing about Stilicho that "To him they look as to a star amid this universal shipwreck of war; to him innocent and guilty alike address their prayers." Claudian describes the goddess Aurora journeying to Italy and grasping Stilicho's "victorious hand" and asking him to take action against Eutropius. Aurora claims that Eutropius is maintaining a division between the two Roman Empires, and if he was eliminated Rome would be two empires ruled by two brothers acting as a cohesive unit.[4]: 154 

References
  1. Scourfield, J. H. D. (2015-12-22), "Claudian, poet, b. c. 370 CE", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Classics, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1607, ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5, retrieved 2023-08-12
  2. Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, Andrew; Huebner, Sabine R, eds. (2013-01-21). The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (1 ed.). Wiley. doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah12052. ISBN 978-1-4051-7935-5.
  3. Kelly, Gavin (2012). "Claudian and Constantinople". Two Romes: Rome and Constantinople in Late Antiquity. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 251–253. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739400.001.0001. ISBN 978-019-993-300-6.
  4. Tougher, Shaun (2015-01-01), "Eunuchs in the East, Men in the West? Dis/unity, Gender and Orientalism in the Fourth Century", East and West in the Roman Empire of the Fourth Century, Brill, pp. 147–163, ISBN 978-90-04-29193-5, retrieved 2023-08-12
  5. Fiorentini, Marzia (2022-11-07), Between Inaccuracy and Idealization: The concordia fratrum in Claudian's Poems, De Gruyter, pp. 304–311, doi:10.1515/9783110796612-014, ISBN 978-3-11-079661-2, retrieved 2023-08-12
  6. Stewart, Michael Edward (2017-01-01), "Breaking Down Barriers: Eunuchs in Italy and North Africa, 400–620", Byzantine Culture in Translation, Brill, p. 36, ISBN 978-90-04-34907-0, retrieved 2023-08-12
  7. Claudianus, Claudian (1922). "In Eutropium, Liber Prior" [Against Eutropius, First Book]. In Eutropium [Against Eutropius] (in Latin). Translated by Platnauer, Maurice. Harvard University Press. p. 159.
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