deals to write their
own testimonials, but in this case there is reason to think that the
self-portraiture of Cassiodorus is accurate in its main outlines, though
our modern taste would have suggested the employment of somewhat less
florid colouring.

One literary service which Cassiodorus rendered to the Ostrogothic
monarchy is thus described by himself, still speaking in his young
king's name and addressing the Roman Senate.[90]

[Footnote 90: Variae ix., 25.]

"He was not satisfied with extolling surviving Kings, from whom their
panegyrist might hope for a reward. He extended his labours to our
remote ancestry, learning from books that which the hoary memories of
our old men scarcely retained. He drew forth from their hiding-place the
Kings of the Goths, hidden by long forgetfulness. He restored the Amals
in all the lustre of their lineage, evidently proving that we have Kings
for our ancestors up to the seventeenth generation. He made the origin
of the Goths part of Roman history, collecting into one wreath the
flowers which had previously been scattered over the wide plains of
literature. Consider, therefore, what love he showed to you (the Senate)
in uttering our praises, while teaching that the nation of your
sovereign has been from ancient time a marvellous people: so that you
who from the days of your ancestors have been truly deemed noble are
also now ruled over by the long-descended progeny of Kings".

These sentences relate to the "Gothic History" of Cassiodorus, which
once existed in twelve books, but is now unfortunately lost. A hasty
abridgment of it, made by an ignorant monk named Jordanes, is all that
now remains. Even this, with its many faults, is a most precious
monument of the early history of the Teutonic invaders of the Empire,
and it is from its pages that much of the information contained in the
previous chapters is drawn. The object of the original statesman-author
in composing his "Gothic History" is plainly stated in the above
sentences. He wishes to heal the wound given to Roman pride by the fact
of the supremacy in Italy of a Gothic lord; and in order to effect this
object he strings together all that he can collect of the Sagas of the
Gothic people, showing the great deeds of the Amal progenitors of
Theodoric, whose lineage he traces back into distant centuries. "It is
true" he seems to say to the Senators of Rome, "that you, who once ruled
the world, are now ruled by an alien; but at