Short answers, pulled from the story.
Claudius Claudianus arrived in Rome during the year 394, stepping off a ship from his birthplace of Alexandria. He left behind the Nile delta to seek fortune within the imperial court at Mediolanum, now known as Milan.
The general Stilicho became Claudian's primary patron after the poet secured the rank of vir illustris. He wrote panegyrics praising the deeds of this powerful military leader while directing invectives against rivals like Rufinus in the Eastern court of Arcadius.
Augustine described Claudian as foreign to the name of Christ in his work Civitas Dei. The evidence suggests he remained a convinced pagan throughout his life until his death around 404 despite living in a time when Christianity was rising.
De raptu Proserpinae stands as his most important non-political work and remains unfinished today. Three books survive and are believed to have been written between 395 and 397.
Rembrandt created a painting titled The Abduction of Proserpina around 1631 that drew direct inspiration from Claudian's epic. This literary work influenced generations of artists and writers from the Renaissance onward.