The Senate at Rome in Ostrogothic Italy 135
Amal king.90 Interestingly, the father of Cassiodorus, at that time consularis
Sicilae,91 was among these ‘pioneers’ and initiated a long family tradition of ser-
vice to the Amals.92 It seems that Odovacer had alienated the Decii at the end
of his reign, who consequently numbered among Theoderic’s first supporters.93
The Gothic ruler responded to this overture by nominating one of their family,
Faustus Albinus Iunior, as consul of the year 493.94 In fact both Odovacer and
Theoderic nominated a Decius as their first consul. It seems that we are dealing
with a tradition which owes something to a desire to maintain an alliance with
at least part of the Roman aristocracy.95 Theoderic’s consular nominees for the
490s were moderately distinguished, but they do not compare with those for
the period 501–10, when only members of the most important families were
designated.96 In these early and important years of Theoderic’s reign, we see
an extraordinary group: out of ten western consuls, eight seem to have been
the sons of consuls and seven are known to have held at some point the dignity
of patricius.97 Alternatively, the consuls appointed in the period 511–21 “were
men of a different stamp”.98 Felix,99 consul of 511, was a provincial from Gaul;
in 513 the office passed to Probus,100 a scholarly man whose family does not
seem to have been established; and Cassiodorus, consul in 514, certainly was
the first consul in his family. This significant shift from the first to the second
decade of the 6th century was not a singular phenomenon, as appointments
to the office of praefectus urbis Romae seem to have followed a similar pattern.101
These figures show a significant turn towards homines novi in the second half
of Theoderic’s reign. Apart from the relief certain senators might have felt for
not being burdened by the negotium again, Theoderic’s championing of new
90 Anonymus Valesianus 53, ed. König; Malalas, Chronographia 15.9, ed. Thurn; Näf,
Senatorisches Standesbewusstsein, pp. 194f.
91 PLRE II, pp. 264f.
92 Henning, Periclitans, p. 182.
93 Ibid.
94 PLRE II, pp. 51f.
95 Moorhead, Theoderic, p. 148.
96 See Moorhead, Theoderic, pp. 148ff. for the complete lists of nominated consuls from 490
to the end of Theoderic’s reign.
97 For example the western consul for 501, Avienus, was a member of the Decii (PLRE II,
p. 193); in 502 the office was held by Rufius Magnus Faustus Avienus (PLRE II, pp. 192f.),
the son of Anicius Probus Faustus Niger, consul in 490.
98 Moorhead, Theoderic, p. 151.
99 PLRE II, pp. 462f.
100 PLRE II, p. 913.
101 Moorhead, Theoderic, pp. 154f.