, an assemblage of state papers drawn up by Cassiodorus in accordance with the instructions of the sovereigns whom he served. In the first ten books the author always speaks in the person of the ruler for the time being; in the last two, in his own. The first five contain the ordinances of Theodoric, the sixth and seventh regulations (formulae) with regard to the chief offices of the kingdom, the eighth, ninth, and tenth, the decrees promulgated by the immediate successors of Theodoric, the eleventh and twelfth the edicts published by Cassiodorus himself during the years 534-538, when praefect of the praetorium. This collection is of the greatest historical importance, being our chief and most trustworthy source of information in regard to everything connected with the constitution and internal discipline of the Ostrogothic dominion in Italy. We must not, however, expect to find much that is attractive or worthy of imitation in the style of these documents. While we cannot help admiring the ingenuity displayed in the selection and combination of phrases, moulded for the most part into neat but most artificial forms, and polished with patient toil, we at the same time feel heartily wearied and disgusted by the sustained affectation and declamatory glitter which disfigure every page. The language is full of strange and foreign words, and little attention is paid to the delicacies of syntax, but Funceius is too harsh when he designates it as a mere mass of Gothic solecisms. Perhaps the best description which can be given of the general efiect produced upon the reader by these compositions is contained in the happy expression of Tiraboschi, who characterises the diction of Cassiodorus as " barbara eleganza."

, a dull, pompous, clumsy summary of Universal History, extending from the creation of the world down to A. D. 519, derived chiefly from Eusebius, Hieronymus, Prosper, and other authorities still accessible. It was drawn up in obedience to the orders of Theodoric, and by no means deserves the respect with which it was regarded in the middle ages, since it is carelessly compiled and full of mistakes.

The origin of this work is sufficiently explained by the title. It contains a complete survey of ecclesiastical history from Constantine down to the younger Theodosius. This, like the Chronicon, is of little value in the present day, since the authorities from which it is taken are still extant, and are infinitely superior both in matter and manner to the epitomizer. Prefixed we have an introduction, in which Cassiodorus gives full scope to his taste for inflated grandiloquence.

, &c., containing the calculations necessary for the correct determination of Easter. This treatise belongs to the date 562, and this is the latest year in which we can prove the author to have been alive.

, compiled by Cassiodorus when 93 years old from the works of nine ancient grammarians,--Agnaeus Cornutus, Velius Longus, Curtius Valerianus, Papirianus, Adamantius Martyrius, Eutyches, Caesellius, Lucius Caecilius Vindex, and Priscianus, in addition to whom we find quotations from Varro, Donatus, and Phocas.

, of which a fragment only has been preserved.

in two books, a compilation from the best authorities, much esteemed and studied during the middle ages. It contains a compendium of the seven liberal arts which were at one time supposed to embrace the whole circuit of human knowledge, --Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectics, Arithmetic, Geometry, Astronomy, Music.

Angelo Mai has recently published from a Vatican MS. some chapters, hitherto unedited, which seem to have formed the conclusion of the work. Classicorum Auctorum e Vat. Codd. vol. iii. p. 349.)

on the name, origin, nature, qualities, abode, and future existence of the soul, together with speculations upon other topics connected with the same subject.

an introduction to the profitable reading of the Holy Scriptures, intended for the use of the monks. This is perhaps the most pleasing of all our author's works. His profound and varied knowledge is here displayed to the best advantage, his instructions are conveyed in more plain and simple phraseology than he elsewhere employs, while a truly Christian tone and spirit pervades the whole.

extracted chiefly from the " Enarrationes" of St. Augustin, although we gather from internal evidence that the exegetical treatises of Hilarius, Ambrosius, Hieronymus, and others upon the same subject, had been carefully consulted. As a matter of course we detect in the copy the same features which distinguish the original, the same love of overstrained allegorical interpretation, the same determination to wring from the plainest and least ambiguous precepts some mystical and esoteric doctrine.

The , although breathing a spirit similar to the commentary just described, and set down in all MSS. as the production of Cassiodorus, is throughout so different in style and language from all his other dissertations, that its authenticity has with good reason been called in question.

Short illustrations of the apostolic Epistles, the Acts, and Revelations, first brought to light by Scipio Maffei.

Among his lost works we may name, 1. " Libri XII De Rebus Gestis Gothorum," known to us only through the abridgement of Jornandes; 2. " Liber Titulorum s. Memorialis," short abstracts, apparently, of chapters in holy writ; 3. " Expositio Epistolae ad Romanos," in which the Pelagian heresy was attacked and confuted. The last two, together with the " Complexiones" and several other treatises already mentioned, are enumerated in the preface to the " De Orthographia Liber."