The Historians' History of the World 06

Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus (about 480-575 A.D.), although a scion of a noble Roman family, spent the best part of his long life in the service of the Gothic kings, and filled the most important offices under Theodoric and his successors. In his later years, after retirement to a monastery, he was no less active as a writer and a protector of learning. His most important work, De Rebus Gestis Gothorum, is preserved only in the barbarous version of Jordanes. The Variarum, a collection of letters and official documents, forms the best source of information concerning the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Italy.

Chronicle of Moissiac (Chronicon Moissiacense), in the Monumenta Germaniæ Historica, Hanover, 1819-1904, in progress.

The Chronicle of Moissiac, which seems to have had its origin in Aquitaine, is of some value for the history of southern Gaul in the early part of the ninth century.

Chronicon Cuspiniani, Basel, 1552.

These annals, an outgrowth of the consular fasti and more recently known as Fasti Vindobonenses or Consularia Italica

, are important for their accurate chronological data of the fourth and fifth centuries.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius, Orationes (Pro Sex. Roscio Amerino), edited by Andrew, bishop of Aleria, Rome, 1471; German translation by Klotz, Leipsic, 1835, 3 vols.; English translation by Wm. Guthrie, London, 1806, 2 vols.; and by C. D. Yonge, London, 1851-1852, 4 vols. Cicero’s writings, though not primarily historical, furnish valuable material for the historian.—Claudian(us), Claudius, Opera, Vincenza, 1482; Vienna, 1510; edited by Palmannus, Antwerp, 1571; by Burmann, Amsterdam, 1760; English translation by A. Hawkins, London, 1817, 2 vols.

Claudian was the last Latin classic poet. He was a native of Alexandria, but came to Rome about the end of the fourth century. He enjoyed the patronage of Stilicho, who granted him wealth and honours, but probably shared his patron’s ruin in 408. Claudian wrote numerous panegyrical poems, three historical epics, and many occasional verses. His epics are not without value as historical sources, as they follow the facts of history closely.

Cluverius (Cluver), Philip, Germania Antiqua, Leyden, 1616.—

Cochtaens, Joannes, Vita Theodorici regis Ostrogothorum et Italiæ, annotated by J. Peringskiöld, Stockholm, 1699.—Codex Carolinus (Letters from the Popes to Frankish Kings), edited by Philip Jaffé in his Monumenta Carolina, Berlin, 1867.

The Codex Carolinus, Letters from the Popes to the Frankish Kings, collected by the order of Charlemagne, is one of the most important of historical sources.

Codex Gothanus, edited by Waitz, in Monumenta Germaniæ, Historica, Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum, Hanover, 1819, in progress.

Composed probably about 810, and prefixed to a manuscript of Lombard laws now in the Ducal Library at Gotha.

Codex Theodosianus, Paris, 1686; edited by Hanel in the Corpus Juris Antejustinia neum, vol. II, Bonn, 1842.

A compilation in the year 438, of the constitutions of the Roman emperors from Constantine the Great to Theodosius II. It formed the basis for the Code of Justinian, and is the great authority for the social and political history of the period. These decrees with their appendices were officially recognised in the eastern empire, but in the west they had force only in an abbreviated version. The original work was in sixteen books, arranged chronologically by subjects, but at least a third of the entire work exists only in the abbreviated form.

Dion Cassius Cocceianus, Ῥωμαϊκὴ ἱστορία; Latin translation by N. Leonicenus, Venice, 1526; edited by Leunclavius, Frankfort, 1592; by J. A. Fabricius and H. S. Reimarus, Hamburg, 1750-1752, 2 vols.; by Sturz, Leipsic, 1824, 8 vols.; English translation by Manning, The History of Dion-Cassius, London, 1704, 8 vols.

Dion Cassius Cocceianus, born 155 A.D. at Nicæa, in Bithynia, was a grandson of Dion Chrysostom. He held many official positions under different Roman emperors from Commodus to Alexander Severus, but about 230 returned to Nicæa where he passed the remainder of his life. His great work consists of 80 books, divided into decades. It originally covered the whole history of Rome from the landing of Æneas in Italy down to 229 A.D., but unfortunately only a small portion of it has come down to us entire. We have books 36-54 complete, but of all the rest of the work only fragments and abridgments are extant. It was compiled with great diligence and judgment, and is one of the most important sources for the later republic and the first centuries of the empire. We have had occasion to quote the abridgment of Xiphilinus.