[Sidenote: Great grandfather.]

(1) Cassiodorus, the writer's great grandfather, who held the rank of
an Illustris, defended the shores of Sicily and Bruttii from the
incursions of the Vandals. This was probably between 430 and 440, and,
as we may suppose, towards the end of the life of this statesman, to
whom we may conjecturally assign a date from 390 to 460.

[Sidenote: Grandfather.]

(2) His son and namesake, the grandfather of our Cassiodorus, was a
Tribune (a military rank nearly corresponding to our 'Colonel') and
Notarius under Valentinian III. He enjoyed the friendship of the great
Aetius, and was sent with Carpilio the son of that statesman on an
embassy to Attila, probably between the years 440 and 450. In this
embassy, according to his grandson, he exerted an extraordinary
influence over the mind of the Hunnish King. Soon after this he
retired to his native Province of Bruttii, where he passed the
remainder of his days. We may probably fix the limits of his life from
about 420 to 490.

[Sidenote: Father.]

(3) His son, the third Cassiodorus, our author's father, served under
Odovacar (therefore between 476 and 492), as Comes Privatarum Rerum
and Comes Sacrarum Largitionum. These two offices, one of which
nominally involved the care of the domains of the Sovereign and the
other the regulation of his private charities, were in fact the two
great financial offices of the Empire and of the barbarian royalties
which modelled their system upon it. Upon the fall of the throne of