SOURCE: “Notes on the Style and Vocabulary of Cassiodorus's Institutiones,” in Classical Philology, Vol. XL, No. 1, January, 1945, pp. 24-31.

In the following essay, Jones reviews the content and aims of Cassiodorus's Institutiones and comments that the style of the work is elaborate and characterized by Cassiodorus's desire for balance. Jones then analyzes specific examples of the type of vocabulary used in the work.

Though many Latin scholars are aware of the unusual importance of Cassiodorus' Institutiones divinarum et humanarum lectionum,¹ the difficulties of its style and vocabulary (and even of its syntax) often prevent perfect comprehension. For this reason any light at all on these matters ought to be welcome. It happens that I have been laboring intermittently for several years on an English translation of this very work—its first translation into any language. In the course of my labors I have compiled observations on the style...