th whom he had many
"_gloriosa colloquia_" (as he calls them), conversations in which the
young, learned, and eloquent Roman poured forth for his master the
stored up wine of generations of philosophers and poets, while the
kingly barbarian doubtless unfolded some of the propositions of that
more difficult science, the knowledge of men, which he had acquired by
long and arduous years of study in the council-chamber, on the
mountain-march, and on the battle-field.

We can go at once to the fountain-head for information as to the
character of Cassiodorus. When he was promoted, soon after the death of
Theodoric, to the rank of Praetorian Prefect, it became his duty, as
Quaestor to the young King Athalaric (Theodoric's successor), to inform
himself by an official letter of the honour conferred upon him. In
writing this letter, he does not deviate from the usual custom of
describing the virtues and accomplishments which justify the new
minister's promotion. Why indeed should he keep silence on such an
occasion? No one could know the good qualities of Cassiodorus so well or
so intimately as Cassiodorus himself, and accordingly the Quaestor sets
forth, with all the rhetoric of which he had such an endless supply, the
virtues and the accomplishments which his observant eye has discovered
in himself, the new Praetorian Prefect. Such a course would certainly not
be often pursued by a modern statesman, but there is a pleasing
ingenuousness about it which to some minds will be more attractive than
our present methods, the "inspired" article in a hired newspaper, or the
feigned reluctance to receive a testimonial which, till the receiver
suggested it, no one had dreamed of offering.

This then is how Cassiodorus, in 533, describes his past career[87]:
"You came (his young sovereign, Athalaric, is supposed to be addressing
him) in very early years to the dignity of Quaestor; and mv grandfather's
(Theodoric's) wonderful insight into character was never more abundantly
proved than in your case, for he found you to be endued with rare
conscientiousness, and already ripe in your knowledge of the laws. You
were in truth the chief glory of your times, and you won his favour by
arts which none could blame, for his mind, by nature anxious in all
things, was able to lay aside its cares while you supported the weight
of the royal counsels with the strength of your eloquence. In you he had
a charming secretary, a rigidly upright judge, a minis