Declamatory arguments and poetic autonomy in Claudian’s first invective "In Rufinum"

Abstract

This paper presents a new argument defending the long debated literary autonomy of Claudius Claudianus’ first invective In Rufinum. In this work, the poet fromAlexandria reversed the declamatory argument that Juvenal had deployed in his Satire XIII in order to reinforce the unity between the vignettes in his invective. Some features of Juvenal’s reception in the Roman intellectualmilieu of the 4th century enable to understand this archetypal reference Claudian makes to the satires. This hypothesis is supported by comparing the mentioned allusion with similar uses of such secondary argumentative threads in a non-invective poem of Claudian, the Panegyricus dictus Mallio Theodoro consuli. This non-satirical imitation of Juvenal by Claudianus, not explored so far, gives nuances to the mood in which the poet combines dynamically the genres placing himself in the Greek and Roman literary tradition.