In the present paper, the general tendencies of Claudian's presentation of the Proserpina myth are discussed. In comparison with the traditional narratives of the myth, especiaIly Ov. Met. 5, Claudian stresses the aspect that the rape of Proserpina is a symptom of a larger violenc conflict between Dis and Jupiter; this aspect Claudian adopts from Stat. Theb. 8, as has been shown by Wheeler. Claudian seems to preclude systematically the possible ways of a peaceful solution which are opened in his literary predecessors, so that the conflict in his version - as far as the text is transmitted - finally appears unsolvable. In an appendix some neglected models of cercain passages of De raptu Proserpinae are examined.