A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

CASSIODORUS.

MArcus Aurelius Cassiodorus, a Senator, descended of an illustrious Family, born at Squillaca a City of Calabria, about the Year 470, was promoted to the chief Offices at Court, by Odo∣acer King of the Herculi. This King being vanquish'd by Theodoric King of the Goths, Cassiodorus had no less Reputation in the Court of this last Prince, then of the former. He was made Gover∣nor of Calabria, and afterwards preferr'd many times to the Dignity of Questor, Master of the Palace, Profect Praetorio, and was made Consul in 514. He was most powerful at the Court of the Kings Theodoricus, Atharicus and Vitiges. Altho he was in the Court of those Arian Princes, yet he never departed from the Catholick Faith, but united the Title of a Good Christian with that of an Honou∣rable Person and a Great Magistrate. At the Age of 69 or 70, desiring to think more seriously of his Salvation, he retir'd from Court and founded the Monastery of Vivarium in his own Country. Father Garretus, who publish'd his Works, h••s taken great pains, and made a formal Dissertation on purpose to prove that he follow'd the Rule of St. Benedict; but it is a question about which few People will trouble themselves. However this be, Cassiodorus govern'd this Monastery for the space of 20 years; and there he died in peace, being aged 90 years.

The Works of this Author are considerable, but there are many of them which are not about Ecclesiastical Matters. They are all collected together in the last Edition made at Roan in 1679.

The first Tome contains all the Letters and Publick Acts which he dedicated when he was in Of∣fices. This Work is entitled, Divers Letters, collected together by Cassiodorus himself, and divided into twelve Books. The five first contain the Letters which he wrote in the name of King Theodoric, and under his Reign; the sixth and seventh contain divers Forms; the eighth, ninth and tenth con∣tain the Letters written in the Names of the Kings Athalaricus, Theodatus, and Vitiges; the two last contain the Letters which he wrote when he was Prefect Praetorio. There are some of them writ∣ten to all sorts of Persons, and about all kind of Affairs, so that they contain a wonderful variety of rare and curious things. They are all well written, full of good Sense, and very good Mora∣lity.

The Tripartite History is not properly the Work of Cassiodorus. Epiphanius Scholasticus transla∣ted into Latin the three Greek Historians, Socrates, Sozomon, and Theodoret; but as these Authors wrote the History of the same Time, so in reading them there is often found a Repetition of the same things: And Cassiodorus made out of these three one Body of History, by extracting out of every one what he says in particular, and avoiding the Repetition of what is said by more then one.

The Chronicon of Cassiodorus is very fuccinct, and contains only the Names of Consuls, and the principal Transactions: It is not very exact for Chronology.

He wrote the History of the Goths, but there remains nothing now but a little Abridgment of this Work made by Jornandes.

These are the Works contain'd in the first Tome of Cassiodorus.

The first Work of the second is his Commentary upon the Psalms, which he wrote in his Mona∣stery. He says himself in the Presace, That having renounc'd Secular Business and the Cares of the World, and begun to taste the sweetness of the Psalms, he was wholly addicted to the reading of this Book; and finding in them some dark places, he had recourse to the Commentary of St. Austin, wherein he found an infinite abundance of matter, and that he himself had added some later Disco∣veries. After this Commendation of the Psalms, and observing that they are sung to the Office of the Night and the Morning, at the first, third, sixth, ninth hour, and at Vespers, he proposes some general Remarks upon the Psalms. 1. He enquires what is Prophecy, and defines it, A way of speaking of Divine Things with Majesty and Truth by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit. 2. He says, That the Names of Persons that are at the beginning of the Psalms, are not the Names of the Authors, but of those who were to sing them, and to play upon Instruments. 3. That the Title in finem, To the End signifies that the Psalm has relation to Jesus Christ. 4. That the Psalter is pro∣perly an Instrument of Musick in the form of a D. That it may be applied to all Songs that are play'd upon this Instrument, and that it agrees in a particular manner to David's Work. 5. That a sweet and harmonious sound is properly call'd a Psalm, but a Song is a singing with the Voice, and

when the Voice accompanies the ••••strument, then it is call'd a Psalm Song. 6. That a Pause is rather a mark of dist••••ction and change of the Person, according to the Opinion of St. Austin, * 1.1 then a Continuation according to that of St. Jerom. 7. That the Psalms are but one Book divi∣ded into five parts. 8. That Jesus Christ is there represented both as God and as Man, and as God-man. 9. That in his Commentary he will first explain the Title of the Psalm, and then divide it into parts, and after that discover the literal and spiritual sense of it; and then he will declare the design of it, and lastly give the Sum of the whole Psalm, or dispute against some Error. 10. He speaks of the Eloquence and Usefulness of the Psalms. 11. He praises the Church. In fine, he di∣vides the Psalter into twelve parts, which he applies to the twelve states of Jesus Christ. These are the Prolegomena of Cassiodorus to his Commentary upon the Psalms. His Commentary is very large, he has taken many things, not only out of St. Austin, but also out of the other Fathers: It contains much Morality.

The Commentary upon the Canticles is none of Cassiodorus's, altho it goes under his Name in some Manuscripts, since the Author of this Commentary quotes the words of St. Gregory the Great, besides that this Commentary has not the style of Cassiodorus.

He wrote Commentaries upon the Epittles of St. Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation, but they are now lost.

It cannot be express'd, how many useful things are contain'd in his Treatise of the Institution to Divine Learning, or an Instruction for Learning Theology. He observes, in the Preface, that being troubled that there should be Masters for Human Learning, and Schools founded for teaching it, but none for Divine Learning, he had endeavour'd, with the help of Agapetus, to found Schools of Theo∣logy at Rome, as there had been formerly at Alexandria, and in his time at Nisibis: But the War hin∣dring him of Success in his Design, he thought it his duty to write these Books, as an Introduction to the Study of Theology. He would have the Holy Scripture studied in the first place, beginning at the Psalms, and then the Reading of the Fathers to follow. After he has spoken of the Com∣mentaries of the Fathers, upon the Books of the Bible, and of their Writings, he mentions the four General Councils. Afterwards he gives an account of the different divisions of the Books of Scrip∣ture; he speaks of the Hebrew Text and the Versions: from thence he passes to the Ecclesiastical Historians and Latin Fathers. He adds Remarks about the Order wherein the Holy Scripture is to be read, about the Observations which may be made use of about the necessity of understanding Cosmography, about the study of Human Learning, about Orthography and the Sciences.

The Treatises of Cassiodorus about the Sciences and Liberal Arts concern not Ecclesiastical Matters: that of the Soul has a nearer relation to the Dogmes of the Church. There he maintains, that the Soul is spiritual, that God created it, that it is immortal, and that it has no quantity nor extension. Having spoken of the Powers of the Soul, he says that it contracts Original Guilt, from which it is not deliver'd but by Baptism, and that during this Life it is capable of Vertues and Vices. Lastly, he says, that the Soul being separated from the Body by Death, is no more capable of doing Good or Evil, nor subject to the Infirmities of this Life; but that it expects either with Joy or Sorrow the Time of the General Judgment, at which it receives the reward of its good Actions, or the punish∣ment due to its Crimes * 1.2. And then having described the Happiness of Paradise, he concludes with an excellent Prayer.

The style of Cassiodorus is of a middle size; he writes cleanly enough for his time: He is full of Sentences and very useful Moral thoughts.

The Works of Cassiodorus which had been printed separately, were all collected together by the ca••e of Father Garetus, of the Congregation of St. Maurus, and printed at Roan in 1679.

Notes

• * 1.1

  S. Benedict
• * 1.2

  In these words Cas∣siodorus plainly as∣serts, that there are only two different states after this Life, the one of a joyful, and the other of a sorrowful expectation of a future Judgment, and that these two states are immutable, since good Souls are reserv'd with Joy, and wicked Souls with Sorrow to the Sentence of the last Day: And so they plainly exclude the Romish Purgatory, which is a state of Sorrow after this Life from which some Souls are deliver'd at last, to a state of endless Joy.