Malalas and erudite memory in sixth-century Constantinople

235

“[...] he asked me to think of someone to teach him the Italian language, though
he was searching for a Libyan; for he said that he had perceived that the latter
conversed more elegantly than the Italians.”99
Perhaps this reference to African Latin speakers using Latin more elegantly referred
to Priscian, who hailed from Caesarea in Mauretania, North Africa.
Although attractive, the hypothesis of a “school of Roman érudits' must necessarily
remain in the field of speculation for a want of conclusive evidence. One might even
say differences in social status preclude the possibility of, for instance, Cassiodorus’
attending lectures of Lydus.100 Furthermore, there are other hypotheses which can
explain the concurrence of social links and textual parallels. Perhaps the three authors
were in the habit of attending literary soirées where antiquarian lore circulated. They
possibly selected from common sources which they could have found in the imperial
archives.
Nevertheless, the data and connections as presented above can attest to a common
culture of Roman erudition in which the historiographical oeuvres of John Lydus,
John Malalas and Cassiodorus functioned, often in dialogue with each other. The ex-
istence of a common pool of erudite historical material which was used by different
authors hailing from different parts of the former empire, with different agendas and
different outlooks, is significant. In spite of the apparent fragmentation of the Ro-
man Empire in late antiquity and the parting of ways between East and West, the
Roman historical erudition underlying the variegated literary production of the sixth
century remained in content and outlook essentially the same. This was the outlook
of a changing Roman Empire which looked to its distant past in order to redefine
itself. Not coincidentally, the writings under scrutiny were contemporary to Justinian’s
compilation and restoration of Roman law, and his Reconquista of the western parts
of the empire.
Bibliography
Sources
Achilles Tatius, Leucippe et Clitophon, ed. and trans. Garnaud, J.-P, Achille Tatius D’Alexandrie,
Le Roman de Leucippé et Clitophon, Paris 1991.
Cassiodorus, Variae, ed. Fridh, Â.J. und Halporn, J.W., Magni Aurelii Cassiodori Senatoris opera
pars I Variarum libri XII De anima, (CC SL 96), Turnhout 1973.
Codex Theodosianus, ed. Mommsen,Th./Meyer, P./Krüger, P.,Theodosiani libri XVI cum constitu-
tionibus Sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, Berlin 1905.

99 ήξίου περινοήσαί τι να πρός διδασκαλίαν αύτω τής ΊταΛίδος φωνής, Λίβυν έπιζητών
αυτόν γάρ έφασκεν έγνωκεναι στωμυλωτέρως παρά τούς ’Ιταλούς διαλέγεσθαι (Schamp
2006b, p. 136), trans. Bandy (1983), p. 251.

100 Although, it has to be said, the humble social origin of Priscian did not preclude him from being in
contact with aristocrats from the highest echelons, such as Symmachus and Boethius (Nicks 2000,
pp. 189-190, Bjornlie 2013, pp. 84,135).