The Letters of Cassiodorus | Page 2

cost me no small amount of labour, ought (if I have not
altogether failed in my endeavour) to be of considerable assistance to
the historical enquirer. For instance, if he will refer to the heading Sajo,
and consult the passages there referred to, he will find, I believe, all
that Cassiodorus has to tell us concerning these interesting personages,
the Sajones, who were almost the only representatives of the intrusive
Gothic element in the fabric of Roman administration.
From textual criticism and the discussion of the authority of different
MSS. I have felt myself entirely relieved by the announcement of the
forthcoming critical edition of the 'Variae,' under the superintendence
of Professor Meyer. The task to which an eminent German scholar has
devoted the labour of several years, it would be quite useless for me,
without appliances and without special training, to approach as an
amateur; and I therefore simply help myself to the best reading that I
can get from the printed texts, leaving to Professor Meyer to say which
reading possesses the highest diplomatic authority. Simply as a a matter
of curiosity I have spent some days in examining the MSS. of
Cassiodorus in the British Museum. If they are at all fair
representatives (which probably they are not) of the MSS. which
Professor Meyer has consulted, I should say that though the titles of the

letters have often got into great confusion through careless and
unintelligent copying, the main text is not likely to show any very
important variations from the editions of Nivellius and Garet.
I now commend this volume with all its imperfections to the indulgent
criticism of the small class of historical students who alone will care to
peruse it. The man of affairs and the practical politician will of course
not condescend to turn over its pages; yet the anxious and for a time
successful efforts of Theodoric and his Minister to preserve to Italy the
blessings of Civilitas might perhaps teach useful lessons even to a
modern statesman.
THOS. HODGKIN.

NOTE.
The following Note as to the MSS. at the British Museum may save a
future enquirer a little trouble.
(1) 10 B. XV. is a MS. about 11 inches by 8, written in a fine bold hand,
and fills 157 folios, of which 134 belong to the 'Variae' and 23 to the
'Institutiones Divinarum Litterarum.' There are also two folios at the
end which I have not deciphered. The MS. is assigned to the Thirteenth
Century. The title of the First Book is interesting, because it contains
the description of Cassiodorus' official rank, 'Ex Magistri Officii,'
which Mommsen seems to have looked for in the MSS. in vain. The
MS. contains the first Three Books complete, but only 39 letters of the
Fourth. Letters 40-51 of the Fourth Book, and the whole of the Fifth,
Sixth, and Seventh Books, are missing. It then goes on to the Eighth
Book (which it calls the Fifth), but omits the first five letters. The
remaining 28 appear to be copied satisfactorily. The Ninth, Tenth,
Eleventh, and Twelfth Books, which the transcriber calls the Sixth,
Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth, seem to be on the whole correctly copied.
There seems to be a certain degree of correspondence between the
readings of this MS. and those of the Leyden MS. of the Twelfth

Century (formerly at Fulda) which are described by Ludwig Tross in
his 'Symbolae Criticae' (Hammone, 1853).
(2) 8 B. XIX. is a MS. also of the Thirteenth Century, in a smaller hand
than the foregoing. The margins are very large, but the Codex measures
only 6-3/4 inches by 4-1/4. The rubricated titles are of somewhat later
date than the body of the text. The initial letters are elaborately
illuminated. This MS. contains, in a mutilated state and in a peculiar
order, the books from the Eighth to the Twelfth. The following is the
order in which the books are placed:
IX. 8-25, folios 1-14. X. " 14-33. XI. " 33-63. XII. " 63-83. VIII. "
83-126. IX. 1-7, " 126-134.
The amanuensis, who has evidently been a thoroughly dishonest
worker, constantly omits whole letters, from which however he
sometimes extracts a sentence or two, which he tacks on to the end of
some preceding letter without regard to the sense. This process makes it
exceedingly difficult to collate the MS. with the printed text. Owing to
the Eighth Book being inserted after the Twelfth, it is erroneously
labelled on the back, 'Cassiodori Senatoris Epistolae, Lib. X-XIII.'
(3) 10 B. IV. (also of the Thirteenth Century, and measuring 11 inches
by 8) contains, in a tolerably complete state, the first Three Books of
the 'Variae,' Book IV. 5-39, Book VIII. 1-12, and Books X-XII. The
order, however, is transposed, Books IV. and VIII. coming after Book