Malalas and erudite memory in sixth-century Constantinople

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Gabriel, the urban prefect who appointed Lydus to his professorship and who was the
dedicatee of two treatises by John the Lydian.86
Both John Malalas and Cassiodorus could have attended the lectures of Lydus and
could have used materials from these lectures to expand upon their accounts. Indeed,
as already mentioned, both Cassiodorus and Malalas were present in Constantinople
at the beginning of Lydus’ teaching career around AD 543. We do know that Malalas
made multiple redactions of his Chronographia in Constantinople,87 and the analyses
of M.S. Bjornlie have made a considerable case for Cassiodorus’reworking of some of
his state letters during the compilation of the Variae in Constantinople.88 Further in-
dications of borrowings from Lydus are the bundled appearance of parallels in Malalas
and Cassiodorus. Malalas’use of Lydus is conspicuous in book VII on the foundation
of Rome and the earlier books. In Cassiodorus, the parallels with Lydus appear most
notably in books VI and VII with model letters of appointment and in so-called rhe-
torical showcases at the beginnings and endings of a book.89
Furthermore, the treatises of Lydus betray their didactical origin.90 For instance,
the de Mensibus is structured according to the leitmotiv of the annual calendar. This
calendar is interspersed with encyclopaedic digressions based on loose associations.
These digressions are indicated in the text as such,91 next to some explicit references
86 PLRE IIIA, s.n. Gabrielius 1, p. 498, Maas (1992), pp. 9-11, 80, Kaldellis (2003), p. 313. Gabriel also
composed a poem on Eros, Anthologia Palatina XVI 208 (Kaldellis 2003, p. 313).
87 Croke (1990), pp. 17-25), Treadgold (2007), pp. 239-240.
88 Giardina (1993), pp. 69-72, Haarer (2006), p. 98, Bjornlie (2013), pp. 19-26,32,163-184. For Cassiodorus’
substitution of names, anonymization and different hypotheses for these practices, see Bjornlie (2013),
p. 175. “Attempting to reconstruct an epistolary record of the Amal regime over a span of thirty years,
and quite possibly lacking access to original documents at the time, Cassiodorus relied on his innate
capacity to elaborate and reconstruct as he saw fit. [... ] But that same lack of command over the events
also provided Cassiodorus with enough latitude to reinvent particular moments embedded within an
epistolary narrative.” (Bjornlie 2013, p. 176). We could also presume Cassiodorus added erudite subject
matter which circulated in Constantinople around John the Lydian and the state university of Constan-
tinople.
89 “It is often the case that Cassiodorus positioned diplomatic letters at the beginning and end of a book
in order to ‘bracket’ letters concerning the internal administration of Italy with letters demonstrating
Amal foreign policy.” (Bjornlie 2013, p. 175).
90 “Lydus had something of a “handbook mentality” that gave credence to the pronouncements of recog-
nized authorities.” (Maas 1992, p. 97).
91 Some examples from Lydus’ de Magistratibus follow: de Magistratibus I 51 “"Oil δε άναγκαϊον οίμαι
έμβραδύναι τώ Λόγω” (Schamp 2006a, p. 51), de Magistratibus 143 “Τοιαύτα μέν τι να
παρατραπείς του σκοπού εϊποιμ' άν περί τούτου” (Schamp 2006a, p. 53), de Magistratibus II1
“καί δήλα τά Λοιπά” (Schamp 2006b, p. 2), de Magistratibus II4 “περί ών κατά Λεπτόν
άφηγεϊσθαι περιττόν ύπολαμβάνων πάρειμι” (Schamp 2006b, p. 6), de Magistratibus II14
"περί ού μακρηγορειν άηδές είναι κρίνων έξ ανάγκης άναΛαβεϊν την άφήγησιν
συνωθούμαι, (...) πρός δε τό προκείμενον έπανελθωμεν” (Schamp 2006b, p. 19), deMagistra-
tibus III 2 “περί ών άν κατά την των τακτικών παράδοσιν άφηγησάμην εί μη πόρρω τού
σκοπού παρωθoύμηv”(Schamp 2006b,ρ. 43),deMagistratibus III 13 “καί τί χαλεπόν έμβραδύναι
τώ Λόγω πρός άπόδειξιν τού προκειμένου” (Schamp 2006b, p. 60), de Magistratibus III 31 “έμοί
δε δοκεϊ βραχύ παρατραπέντι τού σκοπού περί τής προσηγοριας τού ποταμού διά
βραχέων είπεϊν (...) ώστε δεήσει διδασκαλίας” (Schamp 2006b, p. 82), de Magistratibus III 32
“καί ταύτα μεν περί τών ποταμών, ώς εν παρεκβάσει” (Schamp 2006b, p. 84), de Magistratibus