¹ For further information on Garet's edition and other, earlier, editions, see below, p. 59-62.Google Scholar

² This work began as a dissertation for the Ph. D. degree at Cornell University.Google Scholar

¹ He had been Master of Offices in the reign of Theodoric from 523 to 527 A.D.; see van de Vyver, A., ‘Cassiodore et son œuvre,’ Speculum 6 (1931) 247.Google Scholar

² Stein, Ernest, Histoire du Bas-Empire II (Paris 1949) 338f. Google Scholar

³ Stein, , op. cit. 347.Google Scholar

⁴ Stein, , op. cit. 348; cf. Procopius, Gothic Wars 1.20.19f.Google Scholar

⁵ Stein, , op. cit. 353.Google Scholar

⁶ Th. Mommsen, ed., Cassiodorus Variae, MGH Auct. 12 (Berlin 1894) xi, xxx; cf. van de Vyver, op. cit. 252.Google Scholar

⁷ Cassiodorus, , Expositio Psalmorum praef. (CCL 97.3.1-5): ‘Repulsis aliquando in Rauennati urbe sollicitudinibus dignitatum et curis saecularibus noxio sapore conditis, cum psalterii caelestis animarum mella gustassem, id quod solent desiderantes efficere, auidus me perscrutator immersi, ut dicta salutaria suauiter imbiberem post amarissimas actiones.’Google Scholar

⁸ Mommsen 327.4ff.: ‘Sed postquam duodecim libris opusculum nostrum desiderato fine concluseram, de animae substantiae uel de uirtutibus eius amici me disserere coegerunt, ut per quam multa diximus, de ipsa quoque dicere uideremur.’ Cf. De Anima 1.1-9.Google Scholar

⁹ Cassiodorus refers to De Anima as Book XIII of the collection; Exp. Ps. 145.2 (CCL 98. 1299.30f.): ‘… in libro animae, qui in Variarum opere tertius decimus continetur …’Google Scholar

¹⁰ Cf. De Anima 2.1: ‘Dixi propositiones has non praeceptis regum quae nuper agebantur …’ Also 2.11-12: ‘Deinde qualia fatigatus possim disserere qui iam ad laboris terminum auida mente properarem?’ The treatise is obviously earlier than the Exp. Ps.; see note 9, supra, and Exp. Ps. 38.8 (CCL 97.347.186f.), Exp. Ps. 123.3 (CCL 98.1161.86f.). The Exp. Ps. was begun before the fall of Ravenna in May, 540. See supra, note 7.Google Scholar

¹¹ De Anima 18.9-10. Garet's edition of De Anima (PL 70.1279C-1308) divides the treatise into twelve chapters. The MSS of most importance (indeed the majority of them) list eighteen chapters. For further discussion of this matter see infra, II.Google Scholar

¹² van de Vyver, op. cit. 253; van, J. J. den Besselaar, Cassiodorus Senator en zijn Variae (Diss. Nijmegen 1945) 42f.; Cappuyns, D. M., art. ‘Cassiodore,’ DHGE 11 (1949) 1368. Mommsen (op. cit. xi, xxxi), on the other hand, dates the resignation of Cassiodorus and the publication of the Variae not later than the beginning of 540, when Ravenna was taken by the troops of the Eastern Empire. De Anima followed shortly thereafter. Mommsen thinks that the phrase refers to the Catholic Romans and the Arian Goths in Italy proper, and thus to the intrigues between the two peoples, which were evident in the execution of Boethius and the conspiracies against the Arian Goths led by the Catholics of Rome under the direction of the pope. Once Belisarius had taken Ravenna and put an end to the Ostrogoth kingdom, there would no longer be any need for a division between Goths and Romans, he dates De Anima, therefore, to 540 or shortly afterward. So, too, Schanz, M., Geschichte der römischen Literatur IV 2 (Munich, 1920) 101.Google Scholar

¹³ Cassiodorus, De orthographia (ed. Keil, , Grammatici latini 7.144.1f.): ‘Post commenta psalterii, ubi, praestante Domino, conuersionis meae tempore primum studium laboris impendi.’ He does not mention the Variae or De Anima here in the list of his works, since they were written before his conuersio. Google Scholar

¹⁴ The meaning of conuersio is disputed; tied up with its meaning is the question whether Cassiodorus entered the monastery of Vivarium as a monk. I agree with the arguments put forward by van de Vyver, op. cit. 261-263, 274-275, that Cassiodorus did not become a monk. Cf. per contra Thiele, Hans, ‘Cassiodor, seine Klostergründung Vivarium and sein Nachwirken im Mittelalter,’ Studien und Mitteilungen O.S.B. 50 (1932) 378–380. Cassiodorus’ conuersio, whatever its nature, was no spectacular change from his earlier career. Like a great number of his Roman contemporaries he was a Catholic serving a tolerant Arian regime. Cf. also (and for bibliography on Cassiodorus), Momigliano, A., ‘Cassiodorus and the Italian Culture of His Time,’ Proceedings of the British Academy 41 (1955) 207-245.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Cappuyns, op. cit. 1356; he also notes that, after the Variae, Cassiodorus no longer mentions his governmental or honorific titles (illustrissimus and patricius) at the beginning of his works.Google Scholar

¹⁶ 18.9-10.Google Scholar

¹⁷ De Anima 18.26-28; cf. Cappuyns, op. cit. 1356; van den Besselaar, op. cit. 43.Google Scholar

¹ CCL 97.347.186f.: ‘… in libro quem de anima pro nostra mediocritate conscripsimus.’ CCL 98.1161.86f.: ‘… sicut in libro dictum est, quem de anima, Domino praestante, conscripsimus.’Google Scholar

² His definite interest in ‘mystical’ number theory is evident in the Institutiones and other writings. Christ lived on earth 33 years; there are 33 chapters in Institutiones Cassiodorus, I. also speaks of the human head, made up of six bones, a perfect number (De Anima 11.3-6). For a further discussion of the use of numbers see R. Curtius, Ernst, European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (Transl. by Willard Trask, R., Bollingen Series 36; New York 1952) 501–514.Google Scholar

¹ For some of the material in this section, I am indebted to Schneider, Artur, ‘Die Erkenntnislehre bei Beginn der Scholastik,’ Philosophisches Jahrbuch der Görres-Gesellschaft 34 (1921) 225–64.Google Scholar

² Such were common in his works; see the prefaces to the Exp. Ps., the Institutiones and De orthographia. Google Scholar

³ ‘Les Institutions de Cassiodore et sa fondation à Vivarium,’ Revue Bénédictine 53 (1941) 80.Google Scholar

¹ Cassiodorus may have wished to indicate his allegiance to the religious life by not mentioning the names of any secular authors. Note his eulogy of Boethius by name in Variae 1.45 (39.26-41.33 Mommsen), and his use of Boethius’ work on arithmetic in De Anima without mention of the author. Cf. Courcelle, P., Les lettres grecques en occident (2nd ed. Paris 1948) 316 n.4.Google Scholar

² This statement was first made by Adolf Ebert, Geschichte der christlich-lateinischen Literatur I (Leipzig 1874) 489. It is repeated in Schanz, M., Geschichte der römischen Literatur IV 2 (Munich 1920) 101; Manitius, M., Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters I (Munich 1911) 42; and by van de Vyver, A., ‘Cassiodore et son œeuvre,’ Speculum 6 (1931) 253, among others. It has been repeated most recently by Fortin, E. A., Christianisme et culture philosophique au cinquième siècle (Paris 1959) 23, but he presents no convincing evidence.Google Scholar

³ Ebert, op. cit. 452. August Engelbrecht, Untersuchungen über die Sprache des Claudianus Mamertus (Vienna 1885) 54–56 (= Sb. Akad. Vienna 110 [1886] 474-76) exhibits a few of Claudianus’ parallels with Augustine, De quantitate animae.Google Scholar

⁴ Waszink, J. H., in his edition of Tertullian De Anima (Amsterdam 1947) ∗49, says that the treatise of Tertullian had no influence on Cassiodorus, and that the parallels he showed in his dissertation, Tertullian De Anima, mit Einleitung, Uebersetzung, und Kommentar (Amsterdam 1933) 16-17, are either unimportant or refer to common views.Google Scholar

⁵ In his introduction to his edition of the Expositio Psalmorum (CCL 97. xix), Adriaen, M. states that the Psalm text used by Cassiodorus was the Psalterium Romanum, but that it is not clear which form of this text he had before him. A study of the Biblical text used by Cassiodorus in his writings is the subject of a paper I am preparing.Google Scholar

⁶ See H. Stahl, William, trans., Macrobius Commentary on the Dream of Scipio (New York 1952) 23ff.Google Scholar

⁷ Cf. Courcelle, P., op. cit. 328 and n. 7.Google Scholar

⁸ Mynors, R. A. B., ed., Cassiodori Institutions (Oxford 1937) 184ff.Google Scholar

⁹ De symptomatum causis I (ed. Kühn, 7.110f.); De Hippocratis et Platonis decretis Z (ed. Kühn 5.520).Google Scholar

¹⁰ The theory depends perhaps on a commentary to the LXX text of Exodus 21.22. Cf. H. Waszink, J., op. cit . 425f.Google Scholar

¹¹ See Mommsen, , op. cit. xxi f. (Cassiodorus’ use of Hyginus); Nickstadt, Helmut, De digressionibus quibus in Variis usus est Cassiodorus (Diss. Marburg 1921) for his use of Ambrose's Exameron. Google Scholar

¹ Cf. supra, I, note 9,Google Scholar

² Mommsen, op. cit. xxxix ff., cix.Google Scholar

³ The MSS of Class I (b) are German, perhaps from Aachen, Palace School. On connections between that School and Lorsch, cf. Lowe, E. A., Codices latini antiquiores 9 (Oxford 1959) ix.Google Scholar

⁴ Hofmeister, A., ‘Zur Ueberlieferung von Cassiodors Variae,’ Historische Vierteljahrschrift 26 (1931) 24 and 27 n. 38.Google Scholar

⁵ Becker, G., Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui (Bonn 1885) 37.383; Mommsen, op. cit. cix.Google Scholar

⁶ Bede, Commentary on Esdras 2.7 (cf. Thiele, H., op. cit. 411) refers to Cassiodorus as a ‘senator’ who became a doctor of the Church; Paul the Deacon, Hist. Lang. 1.25 (cf. A. van de Vyver, op. cit. 263 n. 4) writes: ‘Cassiodorus primitus consul, deinde senator, postremo monachus exstitit.’Google Scholar

⁷ Christ, Karl, Die Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda im 16. Jahrhundert: Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse (Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Beiheft 64; Leipzig 1933) 191.Google Scholar

⁸ In 1502, a Bishop Dalberg saw, at Lorsch, a codex of the Variae containing only five books instead of the twelve mentioned in the table of contents. It is possible that this was not the same codex as the one mentioned in the catalogue; rather, it was probably a MS of Class II or Class IV, several of which contain a complete table of contents and number Books VIII-XII as I-V. Cf. Christ, op. cit. 191; Paul Lehmann, ‘Johannes Sicardus und die von ihm benutzten Bibliotheken und Handschriften,’ Quellen und Untersuchungen zur lateinischen Philologie des Mittelalters IV 1 (Munich 1913) 134.Google Scholar

⁹ Cf. the use of De Anima by Hrabanus Maurus (c. 776-865) and Hincmar of Reims (c. 805-882); cf. infra, p. 56.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Cf. the development of the interest in rhythmical clausulae in the late eleventh century as seen in the documents of the Papal Chancellery in the time of Urban II; also the great development of ars dictaminis (or dictandi). Note in medieval catalogues the references to the Variae, e g. Chur (1457): ‘Formolarium Cassiodori secundum curiam Romanam’; Arezzo (1338): ‘Formulae senatus Cassiodori’; Blois (1518): ‘Eiusdem formularum libri septem.’ Cf. Manitius, Geschichte der lateinischen Literatur des Mittelalters I (Munich 1911) 40f.Google Scholar

¹ Cf. Mary Ennis, G., The Vocabulary of the Institutiones of Cassiodorus (Washington 1939; Catholic Studies, U. in Medieval and Renaissance Latin 9); Fridh, A. J., ‘Études critiques et syntaxiques sur les Variae de Cassiodore,’ Göteborgs Kungl. Vetenskaps och Vitterhets-Samhälles Handlingar, 6A.4.2 (Göteborg 1950): idem, Terminologie et formules dans les Variae de Cassiodore (Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 2; Göteborg 1956); Leslie Jones, W., ‘Notes on the Style and Vocabulary of Cassiodorus’ Institutiones,’ Classical Philology 40 (1945) 24-31; Bernard Skahill, H., The Syntax of the Variae of Cassiodorus (Washington 1934; Catholic Studies, U. in Med. and Ren. Latin 3); Ludwig Traube, Index rerum et verborum, in Variae (ed. Mommsen, ), MGH Auct. 12.510-597.Google Scholar

² See J. Fridh, A., ‘Études’ (note 1, supra) 5-8. The figures given in Mary Suelzer, J., The Clausulae in Cassiodorus (Diss. Catholic U.; Washington 1944) 6–7 for De Anima are in large part useless, since they are based on Garet's text. Her analysis is, in general, much too uncritical. Cf. Fridh's remarks 6-8 concerning this dissertation; also the review by Leslie Jones, W., Class. Philol. 41 (1946) 118-121.Google Scholar

³ J. van den Besselaar, J., Cassiodorus Senator en zijn Variae (Diss. Nijmegen 1945) 179 has collected a list of the frequency of his use of this periphrasis in the Variae and Institutiones. Google Scholar

⁴ Op. cit. 545f.Google Scholar

¹ W. Jones, Leslie, trans., Cassiodorus, An Introduction to Divine and Human Readings (New York 1946) 108.Google Scholar

¹ There are approximately 160 MSS; cf. Halporn, J. W., ‘The Manuscripts of Cassiodorus’ “De Anima”,’ Traditio 15 (1959) 385–387. To this list must now be added Brussels Biby. Royale 1120 (20760-82) s. xiv, according to information kindly supplied to me by Rev. E. Mohan, G., O.F.M., Franciscan Institute, St. N. Y., Bonaventure.Google Scholar

² See infra, IX.Google Scholar

³ Cf. Ostler, Heinrich, Die Psychologie des Hugo von St. Victor (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters 6.1; Münster 1906).Google Scholar

⁴ Cf. Schneider, Artur, Die Psychologie Alberts des Grossen (Beiträge … 4.5; 1903) 370 n. 1.Google Scholar

⁵ Spettmann, Hieronymus, ed., Johannis Pechami Quaestiones … (Beiträge 19.5-6; 1918); Die Psychologie des Pecham, J. (Beiträge 20.6; 1919) 9, 30.Google Scholar

¹ Note the following abbreviations: Becker: Gustav Becker, Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui (Bonn 1885).Google Scholar

Bücherverzeichnis: Lehmann P., ‘Ein Bücherverzeichnis der Dombibliothek von Chur aus dem Jahre 1457,’ Erforschung des Mittelalters II (Stuttgart 1959) 171–185 (= Sb. Akad. Munich 1920, Abt. 4).

Christ: Karl Christ, Die Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda im 16. Jahrhundert: Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse (Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Beiheft 64; Leipzig 1933).

Delisle: Leopold Delisle, Le Cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale 3 v. (Paris 1868-81).

Gottlieb: Theodor Gottlieb, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Oesterreichs I (Vienna 1915-1929).

Indagni storiche: G. d’Adda, Indagini storiche … sulla libreria Visconteo-Sforzesca … di Pavia (Milan 1875-79).

James: James M. R., The Ancient Libraries of Canterbury and Dover (Cambridge 1903).

James, Trans.: James M. R., Lists of MSS Formerly in Peterborough Abbey Library (Bibliographical Society Transactions, Suppl. 5; Oxford 1926).

Laurent: M.-H. Laurent, Fabio Vigili et les bibliothèques de Bologne au début du XVI ^e siècle (Studi e Testi 105; Vatican City 1943).

Lehmann: Paul Lehmann, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz I-III (Munich 1918-1939).

Montebaur: Montebaur J., Studien zur Geschichte der Bibliothek der Abtei St. Eucharius-Matthias zu Trier (Römische Quartalschrift, Suppl. 26; Freiburg Br. 1931).

Omont: Omont H., Anciens inventaires et catalogues de la Bibliothèque nationale (Paris 1908). Some of the material presented in this section may be found in Manitius M., ‘Handschriften antiker Autoren in mittelalterlichen Bibliothekskatalogen,’ Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen 67 (1935) 319-322.

¹ Franz, A., M. Aurelius Cassiodorius Senator: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der theologischen Literatur (Diss. Breslau 1872) 136.Google Scholar

² Franz, , op. cit. 136.Google Scholar

³ Mommsen, , op. cit. cxii ff.; Franz, op. cit. 137.Google Scholar

⁴ Franz, , op. cit. 130.Google Scholar

⁵ Franz, , op. cit. 131.Google Scholar

⁶ Mynors, , Institutiones li.Google Scholar

¹ For a complete list of the MSS of De Anima see W. Halporn, J., ‘The Manuscripts of Cassiodorus’ “De Anima”,’ Traditio 15 (1959) 385–387.Google Scholar

² Closely related to L is Valenciennes Bibl. mun. 294, s. ix, from St. Amand, which contains in addition to De Anima (the first sheet containing the text of 1.1-41 is missing) Cassiodorus, Institutiones I (cf. Mynors, Institutiones xiii, MS V). V is written in a hand similar to L and is probably contemporary with it. The text of De Anima lacks several passages included in L. Google Scholar

³ Bischoff, B., Die südostdeutschen Schreibschulen und Bibliotheken in der Karolingerzeit , I: Die Bayerischen Diözesen (Leipzig 1940) 180f., 217ff. (espec. 221).Google Scholar

⁴ i.e., Soliloquia, De natura et origine animae, De immortalitate animae, De quantitate animae, Epistula 166 (a letter to St. Jerome on the nature and origin of the soul).Google Scholar

⁵ Cf. M. Lindsay, W., Notae latinae (Cambridge 1915) 377.Google Scholar

⁶ Wilmart, A., Codices Reginenses latini I (Vatican City 1937) 122.Google Scholar

⁷ The note reads: ‘Leo Gauensis episcopus, Petrus Forosimphroniates episcopus, Iohannes Tuscanensis episcopus, Iohannes Aritinus episcopus. Isti coegerunt rogando Cassiodorum beatum uirum ista promulgare.’ These bishops took part in the Synod of Ponthion in A.D. 876. See Bischoff, Bernhard, ‘Vier angebliche Freunde Cassiodors,’ Studien und Mitteilungen O.S.B. 55 (1937) 100–101, who suggests that these names were found in an exemplar of the text of Cassiodorus. The copyist, either well-intentioned or careless, made a clumsy attempt to unite the text and the names.Google Scholar

⁸ e.g., p. 163, ‘Abraham’ (beginning of quat. XI).Google Scholar

⁹ For a complete description, see Albert Bruckner, Scriptoria medii aevi helvetica, III: Schreibschulen der Diözese Konstanz, St. Gallen II (Geneva 1938) 26f. Google Scholar

¹⁰ Bruckner, A., op. cit. 46f. An example of his hand can be seen in Bruckner, op. cit. 174 (plate 39).Google Scholar

¹¹ Hofmeister, Adolf, ‘Zur Ueberlieferung von Cassiodors Variae,’ Historische Vierteljahrschrift 26 (1931) 38.Google Scholar

¹² Hofmeister, A., op. cit. 37f. classifies the Variae MSS as follows, simplifying the Mommsen classification (MGH, Auct. 12.xli-lxxxvii): (A) — Class I.1, MSS ending IV.39 or earlier (no MSS containing De Anima; London BM Harl. 3022, listed by Mommsen as belonging to this class does contain De Anima; collation of De Anima shows that it is related to Florence Med.-Laur. Gadd. LXXXIX. 23 [Mommsen's K, no. 55], a MS of Class II.2). (B) — Class II.1, MSS ending VII.41 or between IV.39 and VII.41 (no MSS containing De Anima). (C) — Class III, MSS containing VI-VIII.10 (no MSS containing De Anima). (u) — archetype of Class 1.2 pt. ii (I-IV.39, VIII-XII), Class II.2 (I-VII.41, VIII-XII), and Class IV (VII.42-XII). (D) — Class IV (VII.42-XII). (E) — Class V, MSS containing an epitome of VIII-XII. (F) — Class VI, MSS containing all twelve books. It is obvious that only (u), (D), and (F) would have MSS containing De Anima. Google Scholar

¹³ As Mommsen himself saw, op. cit. cii: ‘Sequitur liber de anima … cuius editori futuro hic liber praecipue consulendus erit.’Google Scholar

¹⁴ See J. Fridh, Ake, ‘Études critiques …, ’cit. supra p. 53, n. 1.Google Scholar