Oblivio non natura nobis venit: Cassiodorus and the Lost Gothic History

Cassiodorus wrote a Gothic History in twelve books, which was lost shortly after the middle of the sixth century. It is known only thanks to an epitome written by Jordanes (the so-called Getica). The reasons of this loss have never been fully investigated, because it is generally believed that there would have been little interest in preserving the history of the Goths after the end of their kingdom. Cassiodorus’ Variae, however, survived and the same is true for his Chronica, an historical work written on behalf of the Gothic court, and for Jordanes’ Getica. This paper argues that the loss of the Gothic History was by no means accidental: it was decided by Cassiodorus himself, who did not want to circulate a book written mainly to please the Gothic kings. Moreover, he was not interested any more in a work serving a political purpose after his conversion. He preserved the Variae because they were a source of epistolary formulas and his chronicle because it helped to understand Biblical chronologies, but he hoped that his Gothic History would fall into oblivion, because it was a testimony of the original sin of its author, the long years spent by him at the court of Ravenna while pursuing a glittering but fallacious secular career.