Note 202 — PREFACE[192].

'Duodecim libris Gothorum historiam defloratis prosperitatibus condidisti.' By an extraordinary error this sentence has been interpreted to mean that Cassiodorus wrote his history of the Goths after their prosperity had faded; and some writers have accordingly laboured, quite hopelessly, to bring down the composition of the Gothic History to a late period in the reign of Athalaric. It is perfectly clear from many passages that Cassiodorus uses 'deflorare' in the sense of 'picking flowers,' 'culling a nosegay.' See Historia Tripartita, Preface (twice); De Instit. Divin. Litterarum, cap. xxx; and De Orthographiâ, cap. ii (title). I doubt not that careful search would discover many more instances. It is only strange to me that Cassiodorus should, by the words 'defloratis prosperitatibus,' so naïvely confess the one-sided character of his history.