[Sidenote: Cassiodorus.]

III. As for _Cassiodorus_ himself, the additional information
furnished by this fragment has been already discussed in the foregoing
chapter. That he was _Consilarius_ to his father during his
Praefecture, and that in that capacity he recited an eloquent
panegyric on Theodoric, which was rewarded by his promotion to the
high office of the Quaestorship, are facts which we learn from this
fragment only; and they are of high importance, not only for the life
of Cassiodorus but for the history of Europe at the beginning of the
Sixth Century, because they make it impossible to assign to any letter
in the 'Variae' an earlier date than 500.




CHAPTER III.

THE GRADATIONS OF OFFICIAL RANK IN THE LATER EMPIRE.


[Sidenote: Official Hierarchy introduced by Diocletian.]

It is well known that Diocletian introduced and Constantine perfected
an elaborate system of administration under which the titles,
functions, order of precedence, and number of attendants of the
various officers of the Civil Service as well as of the Imperial army
were minutely and punctiliously regulated. This system, which, as
forming the pattern upon which the nobility of mediaeval Europe was to
a great extent modelled, perhaps deserves even more careful study than