CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Morozova, Anastasiia |
|---|---|
| Title | Gratia non Debet Occumbere cum Dilectis: Love, Affection, and Affective Ties at the Ostrogothic Court in Cassiodorus's Variae |
| Summary | This thesis is an analysis of the language and rhetoric of the love of the Variae of Cassiodorus, a sixth-century Italo-Roman intellectual, member of the late-Roman elite and high official at the Ostrogothic court. This thesis examines the socially dictated, affective and connotative dimensions of love in various interactions between Ostrogothic social actors as presented in the Variae. Several questions are the focus of the thesis: what social interactions sparked the professions of affection? What vocabulary of love was used or predominantly associated with certain actors? How does the rhetorical and literary design of the text with three different narrative voices and voices of different royal personalities influence the expression of affection? And, finally, how does Cassiodorus appropriate and adapt already existent emotive codes? By answering these questions, I aim to provide an understanding of the social and rhetorical functionality of love in Cassiodorus’s Variae and the Ostrogothic kingdom. I will argue in this thesis that Cassiodorus’s main focus is the regnal affection towards subordinates and civic affection between officials and the public. This preference is based on the statistical appearances of love and the rhetorical framework of the Variae that primarily intends to provide a mirror of Ostrogothic virtuous government as well as ethical and rhetorical models for the Italo-Roman elite. When we consider the Variae in the historical post-Roman context, it is also clear that Cassiodorus pursues two goals, which are to portray love as a prerequisite for effective social and affective bonds and stability of the existent social structures and to adapt the late-imperial emotive codes to Ostrogothic royal personalities, thus, making them a main affective figure and a primary vehicle behind the socially constructive affection. |
| Supervisor | Gaşpar, Cristian Nicolae; Menze, Volker |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/morozova_anastasiia.pdf |
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