The Letters of Cassiodorus. Senator Cassiodorus

to me that not more than one-third of each letter is copied. In this manner the 'Variae' are compressed into the otherwise impossible number of 33 folios (149–182).

      All these MSS., even the best of them, give me the impression of being copied by very unintelligent scribes, who had but little idea of the meaning of the words which they were transcribing. In all, the superscription V.S. is expanded (wrongly, as I believe) into 'Viro Senatori;' for 'Praefecto Praetorio' we have the meaningless 'Praeposito;' and the Agapitus who is addressed in the 6th, 32nd, and 33rd letters of the First Book is turned, in defiance of chronology, into a Pope.

INTRODUCTION.

       Table of Contents

       CHAPTER I.

      LIFE OF CASSIODORUS.

	PAGE
Historical position of Cassiodorus	1
His ancestry	3−4
His name	5−6
His birthplace	6−9
Date of his birth	9−12
His education	12
Consiliarius to his father	12
Quaestor	14−16
Composition of the 'Variae'	16
Their style	17−19
Policy of Theodoric	20
Date of composition of the 'Variae'	23
Consulship	25
Patriciate	27
Composition of the 'Chronicon'	27
Composition of the Gothic History	29−35
Relation of the work of Jordanes to this History	34
Master of the Offices	36
Praetorian Praefect	39
Sketch of history during his Praefecture	42−50
End of official career	50
Edits the 'Variae'	51
His treatise 'De Animâ'	53
He retires to the cloister	54
His theological works	60−63
His literary works	64−66
His death	67
Note on the Topography of Squillace	68−72

       CHAPTER II.

      THE 'ANECDOTON HOLDERI.'

Content of the MS.	74−75
To whom addressed	76
Information as to life of Symmachus	77
Information as to life of Boethius	79
Religious position of Boethius	81
Information as to life of Cassiodorus