Cassiodorus on the Role of Language and Culture in Divine and Secular Learning

Late antiquity, for the sake of convenience here very roughly defined as the time from the third until the sixth century A.D.,1 is extremely rich in documents that exhibit an impressive array of reflexions on language and culture.2 The best known and perhaps most influential figures within this period are Jerome (c. 347–419), Augustine (354–430), Boethius (c. 480–524), Cassiodorus (c. 485–c. 580), and Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636). In this period, reflexions on language occur in numerous different literary contexts: sermons, commentaries on the Bible, treatises on various disciplines, encyclopedias, letters, dialogues, and poetic works. This demonstrates that such considerations are by no means restricted to works of an instructional character; instead, they permeate a plethora of genres or text types, and this has an impact on how they are formulated. In some cases, language may be dealt with only in passing, while in other cases, it constitutes the main focus of a work. As