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Home , 520s, Cassiodorus

INTRODUCTION

1. Marcellinus comes Count Marcellinus,or Marcellinuscomes as he is usually designated,is one of the lesser literary figures of late antiquity. He is known almost exclusively as the author of an annalistic chronicle continuing that of from AD 379 to 518, which Marcellinus himself later updated to 534.1 He composed his chronicle in Constantinopleand it was while the Roman senator Cassiodorus was there in 550/1, as a refugee from Justinian's war against the ,that he acquired a copy of it If Cassiodorusdid not actually meet Marcellinus then he certainly knew somethingabout him, for in his lnstitutiones,a handbookfor , he tells us that Marcellinuswas an Illyrian: [Jerome]has been followedin turn by the aforesaid Marcellinusthe Illyrian who is said to have acted first as cancellariusof the patricianJustinian, but who later, with the Lord's help upon the improvement of his employer's civil status, faithfullyguided his work from the time of the emperor () to the beginning of the triumphantrule of the emperor Justinian.2 By 'Illyrian' Cassiodorus meant from the late Roman prefecture of Illyricum, more precisely from one of its -speaking Balkan provinces. At some point (c.500) he must have migrated to the eastern imperial capital, ,as did so many of his ambitiouscontemporaries. At ConstantinopleMarcellinus was eventuallyable to secure a prestigious position as cancellarius to a fellow-Illyrian, the Justinian, in the early 520s. As a cancellarius Marcellinus was comes and of senatorial status (vir clarissimus)- the titles he records in the preface to his chronicle.Marcellinus apparently left his court post before Justinianbecame emperor in 527. In this subsequent period he probably devoted himself to literary pursuits. Marcellinus,who is generally reticent about his own life and views (not that a chronicle gave him much scope to display his individuality), tells us in the preface that his chronicle originally covered the period 379 to 518. Since it was common practice for chroniclersto update their works it is reasonableto assume that the first edition appeared in or soon after 518, that is to say, a few years before Marcellinusentered the service of Justinian. The second edition of the chronicle,the version which survives, continued the work to 534. It was arguably written as a tribute to his former employer Justinian on the occasion of the triumph over the in which was celebrated at Constantinoplein 534. As with other similar chronicles,that of Prosper for example, the purpose of the second edition was merely to up-date the record. Except for minor necessarychanges it is unlikelythat there were any substantialadditions or modifications to what had been already written,for the period 379-518.

1In general: Mommsen, 1894, 42; Holder-Egger, 1877, 49-56; Schanz/Hosius/KrOger, 1920, 112; Moricca, 1943, 1363; PLR.E2: 711 s.v. 'Marcellinus 9'. 2 Inst. I. 17. 2, as interpreted in Croke, 1982c. xx Introduction Apart from the chronicle, Marcellinus wrote several other works which have not survived,despite the fact that Cassiodorusalso recommendedthese in his handbook: Marcellinustoo has ttaversed his journey's path in laudablefashion, completing four on the nature of events and the locations of places with most decorouspropriety; I have likewise left this wale for you (Inst.1.17.1). Marcellinus too, concerning whom I have already spoken, should be read with equalcare; he has describedthe city of Constantinopleand the city of Jerusalem in four short books in considerabledetail (Inst. 1.25.1) It is deduced from this statementthat there were two other works of Marcellinus(not one work described in two different ways, as sometimessuggested), both in four books, which were known to Cassiodorus:(1) a detailed work on the nature of temporal events and the location of places (M temporumqualitatibus et positionibuslocorum) and (2) another on the topographyof Constantinopleand Jerusalem.The chronicle itself displays the author's interest in both Constantinople(passim) and the 'Holy Land' (s.a. 415,419, 439,443,453, 516) and it would not be surprising if his books on Jerusalem, as well as those in the other work on the locations of places, were firmly rooted in first-hand observation - as Cassiodorus seems to imply. Moreover, it is quite possible that Marcellinus ttavelled as far afield as Dara on the Persian frontier on his sojourn. In any case the only surviving fragment of these works is a detailed description of Dara which appearsto derive from the books 'on the locationsof places·.3 Except for the facts that Marcellinuswas Illyrian, wrote a chronicle in about 518/9, was a cancellariusto Justinianbefore 527, then retired from imperialservice, updatedhis chronicle to 534 and was responsible for two other works now lost - except for all this, we know nothing else about the man. We have no idea when he was born or died, when he came to Constantinople, what sort of education he had and where he stood in the society of his day. Nonetheless the evidence of the chronicle itself permits a sketchy outline of his backgroundand culture.

2. The Chronicle's Perspective The predominant aspects of the chronicle are Marcellinus' treatment of events in his native area of Illyricumand of Constantinopleitself, the city where he worked and wrote his chronicle. Marcellinus has a lot to say about Illyricum in his chronicle and what he does offer is generally of a distinctly precise and relatively full nature, suggesting an intimateknowledge of local personalities,local affairs and local geography.On occasion, such as for the in Dardania in 518, he may also have had direct access to official local sources. The chronicle is an important source of information for the successive invasions of the (422,441,442,447,452), Ostrogoths (478,480) and (499,502, 517), and a detailedconsideration of many of his entries gives rise to new discoverieson matters affecting the chronology and topography of the invasions.4 In addition, Marcellinus frequentlypasses commenton the events he describes:there is unconcealedchagrin at the

3Croke, 1984, 77-88. 4Croke, 1977; 1980; 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984a.