Abstract
ABSTRACT: The article examines Claudian’s use of Stoic and Epicurean ideas to mount a vitriolic attack against Eutropius, the eunuch consul serving under the Eastern emperor Arcadius. Employed by Stilicho, the pre-eminent military commander of the Western emperor Honorius, Claudian, in Book 1 of the In Eutropium , synthesizes Stoic and Epicurean tropes about bodily afflictions that reveal one’s moral character. Claiming that Eutropius, a eunuch who had spent many years as a slave, is a monstrous proof of an offence committed against nature/God, Claudian’s polemic plays on the fears of his largely Christian audience about an imminent divine punishment, which the split of the Empire between Theodosius’ sons confirms.
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