[Footnote 29: Theodorus Lector (circa 550), Eccl. Hist. ii. 18. Both
he and some later writers who borrow from him call the King [Greek:
Theoderichos ho Aphros]; why, it is impossible to say.]

[Sidenote: This did not proceed from indifference.]

The point which we may note is, that this policy of toleration or
rather of absolute fairness between warring creeds, though not
initiated by Cassiodorus, seems to have thoroughly commended itself to
his reason and conscience. It is from his pen that we get those golden
words which may well atone for many platitudes and some ill-judged
display of learning: _Religionem imperare non possumus, quia nemo
cogitur ut credat invitus_[30]. And this tolerant temper of mind is
the more to be commended, because it did not proceed from any
indifference on his part to the subjects of religious controversy.
Cassiodorus was evidently a devout and loyal Catholic. Much the larger
part of his writings is of a theological character, and the
thirty-five years of his life which he passed in a monastery were
evidently

'Bound each to each in natural piety'

with the earlier years passed at Court and in the Council-chamber.

[Footnote 30: Var. ii. 27.]

[Sidenote: Date of the commencement of the Variae.]

We cannot trace as we should like to do the precise limits of time by
which the official career of Cassiodorus was bounded. The 'Various