Politics and tradition between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople: a study of Cassiodorus and the Variae 527-554

Part I, The Variae as windows onto painted curtains : 1. Cassiodorus and Italy in the fifth and sixth centuries

Part II, Cassiodorus and the circumstances of political survival: 2. The age of bureaucracy ; 3. The reign of Justinian ; 4. Voices of discontent in Constantinople ; 5. The Anicii between Rome, Ravenna and Constantinople ; 6. The memory of Boethius in the Variae

Part III, Reading the Variae as political apologetic: 7. Literary aspects of the Variae ; 8. Antiquitas and novitas : the language of good governance in the Variae ; 9. Natura and law in Justinian's Novellae and the Variae ; 10. Reading good governance in the Variae and the De anima ; 11. The Variae as apologetic narrative ; 12. Conclusion. innovative traditionalism and its consequence.