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Glossary of Select Sources Glossary of Select Sources The following glossary is a selective guide to the most essential literary sources of rel- evance to the Ostrogothic kingdom. Individual entries are limited to details of a bio- graphical or historical nature, descriptions of works and their value, and major issues of scholarly debate. References to modern scholarship, editions, and translations are not provided here. Instead, readers are invited to consult the bibliographies of relevant chapters appearing in this volume. Acta Synhodorum habitarum Romae A source of great value to the history of Rome, the Catholic Church, and especially the Laurentian schism, these Acts contain the minutes and/or subscription lists for a series of synods held in Rome between 499 and 502, as well as related correspondence between members of the church and King Theoderic. Agathias of Myrina (ca. 532–80?) A lawyer by training, resident of Constantinople, and author of poetic works, his Histories in five books was begun during the reign of Justin II (565–78) as a deliberate continuation of Procopius’ Wars. A chief source for the years 552–9, the work is concerned primarily with eastern affairs, although the first two books are invaluable for their treatment of the final years of the Gothic War in Italy, during which time the general Narses faced a number of local Gothic revolts and thwarted a major Franco-Alamannic invasion of Italy led by the duces Butilinus and Leutheris. Anonymus Valesianus Pars Posterior Also known as the Chronica Theodericiana or Excerpta Valsesiana II, this is the second of two biographical excerpts originally edited and published in the 17th century by Henri Valois, whence Valesianus. The text focuses primarily on events in Italy and to a lesser extent Constantinople between 474 and 526. Its main area of coverage is the reign of Theoderic, for which it provides many unique and occasionally fabulous details: some perhaps the prod- uct of oral tradition; others possibly derived from a source (or sources) close to the court at Ravenna. Its authorship is unknown and its treatment of certain topics, particularly the reign of Theoderic, is so bipolar, so repetitive, and so seemingly contradictory that some scholars have suggested it is the work of multiple authors or that one author has clumsily combined two (or more) opposing sources. Others maintain that it is the product of one author whose apparent contradictions were deliberate. This issue of authorship is further complicated by the fact that the sur- viving text is an excerpt, as indicated by its 9th-century manuscript heading (Item ex libris Chronicorum inter cetera) and the absence of anything resembling an introduction or conclusion. Its date of composition is also uncertain. Some place it shortly after the death of Theoderic in 526; others as late as the 540s or even 550s. 534 Glossary of Select Sources Boethius (ca. 480–524) A member of the famous Roman family the Anicii, Boethius was courted by the Gothic Amal family as an important link to the senatorial aris- tocracy at Rome. Theoderic advanced Boethius’ public career, although the stages of this career are a matter of some conjecture. Boethius received the western con- sulship in 510 and his sons held the consulships of the West and the East in 522, the year of his appointment as Magister Officiorum. In gratitude Boethius recited a (non-extant) panegyric addressed to Theoderic. In 523, detractors at Theoderic’s court accused a senator and ex-consul, Albinus, of treason. Boethius’ attempt to defend his colleague caused him to fall under suspicion, although various reasons have been suggested to explain his fall from favour. In any case, Theoderic placed Boethius under arrest on an estate outside of Pavia, where he was eventually exe- cuted. Boethius was survived by a lustrous scholarly reputation, earned for his translation of Greek scientific and philosophical works into Latin (for example, De arithmetica, De institutione musica, De topicis differentiis, In Porphyrium commen- taria) and for a number of short theological tracts (Tractates). His lasting reputa- tion was secured by his authorship of the Consolation of Philosophy, a philosophical dialogue between himself and Philosophia, written during his imprisonment. It is not known how the Consolation survived his execution, and its transmission during the 6th century is speculative at best. The brief biographical text known as the Ordo Cassiodororum compares the literary and public lives of Boethius, his father-in-law Symmachus (also executed for treason by Theoderic), and Cassiodorus, although the familial connection between Boethius and Cassiodorus is debated. Caesarius of Arles (ca. 469/70–542) A Gallo-Roman noble born in Burgundian Chalon-sur-Saône, monk of Lérins, abbot of Arles, and bishop of Arles from 502 until his death, he was an active promoter of Christianization and reform in Gaul and was deeply committed to preaching and an ascetic ideal. As bishop he revised the monastic rule for the monks under his charge (Regula ad monachos) and later founded the city’s first convent, for whose nuns he composed another rule (Regula ad virgines). More than 250 of his sermons survive and provide evidence for the style and content of his preaching, which were heavily influenced by Augustine. He presided over five church councils, whose canons are extant: Agde (506), Arles (524), Carpentras (527), Vaison (529), and Orange (529). Following the Ostrogothic annexation of Provence in 508/11, he was sent to Ravenna under guard but exoner- ated by Theoderic. Shortly thereafter, Pope Symmachus granted him the pallium, confirming Arles’ metropolitan status in 513; later, he was made papal vicar to Gaul and Spain and developed close ties with the Ostrogothic praetorian prefect of Gaul, Liberius. A handful of letters exchanged between Caesarius and his peers survive; so, too, does his testament, which sought to endow and protect the convent he founded. His Vita, finally, was written shortly after his death by five close associates. Taken as a whole, the Caesarian corpus provides invaluable insight into the social .
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