apparently in vain, to leave his beloved Bruttii and return to the
Court of Ravenna.

MAGNUS AURELIUS CASSIODORUS SENATOR was born at Scyllacium
(_Squillace_) about the year 480. His name, his birthplace, and his
year of birth will each require a short notice.

[Sidenote: Name.]

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus, or Cassiodorius.]

(1) _Name._ Magnus (not Marcus, as it has been sometimes incorrectly
printed) is the author's praenomen. Aurelius, the gentile name,
connects him with a large gens, of which Q. Aurelius Memmius Symmachus
was one of the most distinguished ornaments. As to the form of the
cognomen there is a good deal of diversity of opinion, the majority of
German scholars preferring Cassiodor_i_us to Cassiodorus. The argument
in favour of the former spelling is derived from the fact that some of
the MSS. of his works (not apparently the majority) write the name
with the termination _rius_, and that while it is easy to understand
how from the genitive form _ri_ a nominative _rus_ might be wrongly
inferred instead of the real nominative _rius_, it is not easy to see
why the opposite mistake should be made, and _rius_ substituted for
the genuine _rus_.

The question will probably be decided one way or the other by the
critical edition of the 'Variae' which is to be published among the
'Monumenta Germaniae Historica;' but in the meantime it may be
remarked that the correct Greek form of the name as shown by
inscriptions appears to be Cassiodo_rus_, and that in a poem of