Intellectual Culture And Literary Practices 323
officiorum. After Theoderic’s death in 526, Cassiodorus remained loyal to the
Ostrogoths, serving Theoderic’s successors as praetorian prefect.
As a statesman Cassiodorus was one of those Romans who not only served
in the royal administration, but also effectively created and maintained the
imperial image of the ruling family. Employing such a traditional literary
vehicle for imperial ideology as panegyric, Cassiodorus delivered praises to
Eutharic, Theoderic’s heir, and to Witigis and Matasuentha on the occasion
of their marriage.29 He also composed two works of history, the Chronicle
and the Gothic History, of which only the former survived intact. In both
works Cassiodorus firmly placed the Goths within the Roman tradition. The
Chronicle listed the great world rulers from Assyrian kings to the Roman con-
suls to the Gothic kings. Cassiodorus carefully shaped his brief chronological
entries to include the special contributions of the Goths and assert the legiti-
macy of Theoderic and his successors.30 In the lost Gothic History Cassiodorus
“made a Roman history from Gothic origins”, as he had Athalaric pronounce
in the Variae.31
The Variae, a collection of letters and other official documents that
Cassiodorus put together and edited after he retired from service (in 537–8 or
later, in the 540s) are a legacy of his administrative career. The Variae covered
almost three decades in the life of the Ostrogothic kingdom, and as our main
source for all sides of life from economics, politics, and ideology to the char-
acter of Theoderic and his family, Cassiodorus’ collection has received close
scholarly attention and many different interpretations.32 For the purpose of
this chapter, however, it is most important to point out that the Variae provide
us with an exceptionally rich picture of Cassiodorus’ intellectual preoccupa-
tions and literary style.
No longer a statesman at the time when he compiled the Variae, Cassiodorus
was still very intent on presenting the Amals as legitimate successors of the
Roman emperors of the past, which would also justify the activities of those
29 For surviving fragments see MGH AA 12, pp. 465–72; O’Donnell, Cassiodorus, pp. 33–6.
30 O’Donnell, Cassiodorus, pp. 37–43.
31 Cassiodorus, Variae 9.25.5, trans. p. 128 (modified by me): Originem Gothicam histo-
riam fecit esse Romanam... Cassiodorus’ history of the Goths served as the main source
for Jordanes’ Getica, a work whose level of dependence on Cassiodorus has long been
debated, see, for instance, Momigliano, “Cassiodorus”; O’Donnell, Cassiodorus, pp. 43–54;
Heather, “Historical Culture of Ostrogothic Italy”; and Christensen, Cassiodorus, Jordanes
and the History of the Goths.
32 For recent re-evaluations of Cassiodorus and his Variae, with surveys of contrasting schol-
arly opinions, see Giardina, Cassiodoro politico and Bjornlie, Politics. For a classical treat-
ment see Momigliano, “Cassiodorus”.