doubt that the general intention of Theodoric was to soothe the
wounded pride and flatter the vanity of the Roman Senators by every
means in his power: and for this purpose no one could be so well
fitted as Cassiodorus, Senator by name and by office, descendant of
many generations of Roman nobles, and master of such exuberant
rhetoric that it was difficult then, as it is often impossible now, to
extract any definite meaning from his sonorous periods.

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus Patrician.]

It was possibly upon his laying down the Consulship, that Cassiodorus
received the dignity of Patrician--a dignity only, for in itself it
seems to have conferred neither wealth nor power. Yet a title which
had been borne by Ricimer, Odovacar, and Theodoric himself might well
excite the ambition of Theodoric's subject. If our conjecture be
correct that it was conferred upon Cassiodorus in the year 515, he
received it at an earlier age than his father, to whom only about ten
or eleven years before he had written the letter announcing his
elevation to this high dignity.

[Sidenote: The Chronicon.]

Five years after his Consulate, Cassiodorus undertook a little piece
of literary labour which he does not appear to have held in high
account himself (since he does not include it in the list of his
works), and which has certainly added but little to his fame. This was
his 'Chronicon,' containing an abstract of the history of the world
from the deluge down to A.D. 519, the year of the Consulship of the
Emperor Justin, and of Theodoric's son-in-law Eutharic. This
Chronicle is for the most part founded upon, or rather copied from,