CASSIODORO (FLAVIUS MAGNUS AURELIUS CASSIODORUS SENATOR)

CASSIODORUS (Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus senator). — Born c. 485 at Scyllacium, in Bruttium (modern Squillace), into a family of powerful officials of Syrian origin. Thanks to the high standing of his family (since his father, praefectus praetorio, soon appointed him as consiliarius) and to his own rhetorical skills, demonstrated in a panegyric to King Theodoric, Cassiodorus rapidly rose to fortune. He became quaestor and royal secretary while still possibly under twenty, and later ascended to the highest honors: ordinary consul in 514, then magister officiorum, praefectus praetorio in 533, and finally patricius. Four Gothic kings—Theodoric, Athalaric, Theodahad, and Witigis—employed him as their minister. Throughout his long political career, Cassiodorus, the mag-

ister officiorum, drew upon a vast historical and literary culture, which he had acquired in his youth. For the period up to Roman times, he drew from Eusebius, then from Livy, Aufidius Bassus, Victor of Aquitaine, and Italian chroniclers, especially for the list of consuls, to which a few notices are interspersed. In the background lies the theme of the praise of the Goths. This theme is openly developed in the De origine actibusque Getarum, composed in 12 books under Athalaric, of which only Jordanes’ meager epitome survives (v.). Cassiodorus strove to identify the Goths with the Getae and thus with the Scythians, attributing to them all the deeds and legends of those peoples. Thus, he succeeded in clothing barbarian history not only in the majesty of the Roman tongue but also in the charm of its ancient origins and legends. The Variae, which have come down to us, are a collection of 468 letters, divided into 12 books, compiled in 537. They are the letters he wrote as a statesman; however, the sixth and seventh books appear to be mere formularies. Toward the end, the collection takes on the aspect of an encyclopedia, with digressions on morality, law, politics, art, and natural history. In the Variae, the author’s attention is at times primarily focused on style, which is grand and bombastic, reflecting a characteristic of the age; the title refers to both style and content. The work was not intended by the author to serve as a historical source, yet it does so for us. The Ordo generis Cassiodororum, of which only part remains, is a genealogical memoir of the Cassiodorus family.

Shortly after the Variae, the brief treatise De anima, in twelve chapters, was written, marking a shift in the author’s thought toward different concerns. Drawing on St. Augustine, Tertullian, and Claudianus Mamertus, he first distinguishes the various meanings of the word "anima" (soul); then he defines it as: created by God, spiritual and of a special substance, animating the body, rational and immortal, capable of turning toward good or evil. It is made of light, as God is made of light, and is formless and incorporeal. Its four cardinal virtues are complemented by other moral virtues: "contemplatio," "iudicialis" (to distinguish good from evil), and "memoria"; it also possesses five natural virtues for the control of the body. It is created by God, as faith teaches, and has its seat in the head but is extended throughout the body, a wondrous and harmonious temple created for II. The work then discusses the particular signs by which the good and the evil are recognized, and concludes with a prayer.

These meditations on the soul serve as a bridge from his secular works to the four principal works of his monastic period. These latter are aligned with the cultural industriousness that Cassiodorus infused into the monastic life he founded.

Cassiodorus - *De institutione divinarum litterarum*, chaps. 8 and 9. Manuscript in semi-cursive script from northern Italy (8th c.). Vercelli, Biblioteca Capitolare, cod. n. 183, f. 104.

For himself and his monks; these are religious actions, just as his writings had previously been political actions. But they do not represent an ascetic withdrawal from the world, since the voice of the world is in fact present through the attention given to the human culture of antiquity: only, this is no longer an end in itself or a ladder to worldly honors, but is instead subjected to God and made an instrument for the interpretation of His word.

The *Complexiones in psalmos* are inspired above all by the *Expositiones in psalmos* of St. Augustine—“a stream drawn from the sea,” as the author himself says with a sense of profound admiration for the work of the master. It is preceded by a rich preface in 17 chapters on the nature of the Psalter and its interpretation. In this work, C. proceeds with a certain schematism, but gives the greatest preference to allegorical exposition. Each psalm is related by him to the life of Christ or to the Church.

Very similar are the *Complexiones in Epistolas et Acta Apostolorum et Apocalypsin*: not a continuous commentary, but exegetical notes which, *summatim dicendo*, encompass different matters that he proposes to treat. But the principal work of C. the monk is the *Institutiones divinorum et saecularium litterarum*. This too arose from a practical purpose. Since the stormy century had not permitted the projected foundation, with the help of Pope Agapitus (533–56), of a theological school in Rome for the study of the divine Scriptures, C. wished to supply this need with his *Institutiones*, an introduction to the study of theological sciences and especially of Holy Scripture (c. 544).

The first book makes known the Latin or Greek authors translated into Latin, preserved in the library of the monastery, which can aid in the study of the individual sacred books; it treats textual-critical questions, gives outlines of biblical cosmography, and recommends manual labor as a diversion from study—especially that which consists in copying codices.

The second book, in seven chapters, sets forth the elements of the seven liberal arts. The *De orthographia* is likewise a manual composed at the request of his monks, made up of extracts taken from the writings of eight ancient orthographers.

The *Historia ecclesiastica tripertita* was compiled from extracts from the histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, which the monk Epiphanius had expressly translated from Greek for him. As such, the work has for us only the value of a translation, often not even a successful one, but for C.’s successors, who were ignorant of the originals, it represented a precious handbook of ancient ecclesiastical history.

The figure of C. appears, on the whole, endowed with a singular harmony between intellectual and practical qualities, although these latter, by force of circumstances, seem in many parts to prevail. The project of fusion between barbarians and Romans, which is the foundation of the first part of his life, represents an attempt to reintroduce the Roman element among the active forces of politics. When this task failed, C. turned, with an act that appears to us marked by acute historical perception, to a different task, in which the surviving strength of Rome was instead bound to the Church. Thus he resolved the long-standing controversy between secular culture and Christianity. As a writer, he reserved for himself the modest but useful task of a compiler, forming with Dionysius Exiguus and Isidore of Seville that trio which most contributed to saving ancient culture in the Middle Ages. The transmission of this culture becomes in him a fervent and lucidly conscious work, just as clearly is seen in the *Institutiones* the figure of the monk whose three writing fingers, likened to the Trinity, “drive away the darkness before them.”

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**Studies:**
A. Thorbecke, *C. Senator, ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Völkerwanderungen*, Heidelberg 1867; A. Franz, *M. A. C. Senator*, Breslau 1872; I. Ciampi, *I Cassiodori nel V e nel VI sec.*, Imola 1876; G. Manzi, *M. A. C.*, Naples 1893; C. Pujia, *M. Aurelio C. in Calabria*, Rome 1909; P. Lehmann, *Cassiodoretudien*, in *Philologia*, 71 (1912), pp. 278–99; 72 (1913), pp. 303–317; 73 (1914), pp. 223–73; Schatz-Krüger, IV, II, pp. 92–109; G. A. Punzi, *L’Italia del VI sec. nelle Variae di C.*, Aquila 1927; A. Van der Vyver, *C. et son œuvre*, in *Speculum*, 6 (1931), pp. 244–92; id., *Les Institutiones de C. et sa fondation à Vivarium*, in *Rev. bénéd.*, 23 (1941), p. 39 ff.; Bardenhewer, V, pp. 264–78; Martens, III, II, pp. 1308–61; P. Courcelle, *Le site du monastère de C.*, in *Mélanges d’archéol. et d’histoire*, 55 (1938), p. 239 ff.; id., *Les lettres grecques en Occident*, Paris 1943, pp. 313–88; G. Bardy, *C. et la fin du monde ancien*, in *Année théologique*, 6 (1943), pp. 383–422; L. W. Jones, *C. Senator*, New York 1946; L. W. Laistner, *The Value and Influence of C.’s Ecclesiastical History*, in *Harvard Theol. Rev.*, 41 (1948), p. 51 ff.; P. Courcelle, *Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques*, Paris 1948, p. 171 ff. Marcella Aurigemma

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**C. and medicine.** — In the field of medicine, C. had notable importance for various reasons.

Through his wise work as advisor and assistant to King Theodoric, medicine owed the restoration of its dignity. He reestablished the office of the archiatroi and instituted the position of *Comes archiatrorum*, the supreme authority in medical legislation of the time, a kind of unappealable judge who could decide all questions that might arise among physicians. He was also the author of the investiture formula for the *Comes archiatrorum*, in which medicine was defined as “the first among the most useful arts that contribute to sustaining the indigence of human frailty.” All this was highly significant in the face of the excessively humble condition of the physician and of medicine in Gothic legislation. Finally, even in his retreat at Squillace, he devoted much attention, with his monks, to medicine and to the care of the sick, both practically and through his care for medical codices.

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