Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator - Opera omnia quae extant - 1650

M. Aurelii Cassiodori, senator - Complete works that survive (...) - Geneva, Samuel Chovet, 1650 - (16), 779, (32) pages - 17 x 22.5 cm.

Condition: very good. Title in red and black. Woodcut with printer logo. Slight discoloration of the paper here and there. Sturdy, pleasant contemporary velvet binding. A book that breathes history.


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Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (Scylaceum (Calabria), circa 480/485 AD - monastery Vivarium near Scylaceum, after 580), commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer.

Under the king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric the Great, and his successors, Cassiodorus held several important government positions, particularly that of prime minister (praefectus praetorio) and secretary of state (jurist and secretary).

When he retreated in 539 to the monastery of Vivarium he founded (now territory of Squillace in Calabria), he engaged here partly in theological studies, partly in the preservation and dissemination of scientific knowledge (preserving, translating, editing, and copying ancient writings). This is traditionally explained as the endeavor of someone who, in turbulent times, saw the end of classical culture approaching and decided to save what could be saved. Further research showed that he only included secular texts in his library if they were useful for better understanding the Holy Scripture. Cassiodorus was guided by an Augustinian program in this.

He probably died here shortly after 580, at around 100 years old.

The Variarum libri XII (Variae), essentially a collection of administrative decrees and state documents, along with some official letters, are very important for our understanding of the domestic history of that period. Of his Historia Gothorum, we only have an excerpt by Jordanes in his Getica, which largely consists of myths and fabrications.