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 556 APPENDIX he copies from his authorities, out of regard for Gothic feelings. Thus Prosper recorded that Ambrose of Milan wrote " in defence of the Catholic faith ". But the Goths were Arians ; and so Cassiodorus modifies the phrase to " concerning the Christian faith ". Again Prosper simply states that " Rome was taken by the Goths under Alaric " ; Cassiodorus adds that " they used their victory with clemency ". The best edition is Mommsen's in Chron. Min. ii. p. 120 sqq. Flavius Cresconius Coeippus, a native of Africa, seems to have held the office of a tribune or a notary, in that branch of the civil service of which the quaestor of the Sacred Palace was the chief. 30 He was an old man at the death of Jus- tinian. 31 He wrote two poems relating to contemporary history, both of the greatest interest and importance. (1) The Johannid celebrates the Moorish wars of Johannes, who was appointed Magister Militum in a.d. 546 (see below, Appendix 19). It was unknown to Gibbon and was published for the first time by Mazzuc- chelli (librarian of the Ambrosian library) from the Codex Trivultianus, the only Ms. now known to exist. (Other Mss. known in the Middle Ages and as late as the sixteenth century have disappeared.) The poem contains eight Books ; the end of the eighth Book is missing, and there are other lacunae. 32 Corippus introduces a sketch of the events in Africa which preceded the arrival of John (3, 54-4, 246) ; describing the career of Antala, the wars of Solomon and Areobindus. The poem must have been composed soon after the decisive victory of John in a.d. 548. The respect shown for Athanasius, the praetorian prefect, suggests that he was still in office when Corippus wrote. (2) Towards the end of Justinian's reign Corippus went to Constantinople, where he was present at the coronation of Justin II. In connexion with this Emperor's accession he wrote his In laudem Justini Augusti minoris, hoping that the sovereign would help him in his need. For he seems to have lost his property in the troubles which broke out in Africa a few years before (see below, p. 580). Compare, Praefatio, 43, nudatus propriis. This poem consists of a preface, a short panegyric on Anastasius the quaestor (who probably under- took to introduce Corippus to the Emperor), and four Books. It has been repeatedly edited, and has been well elucidated by Fogginius (1777). For its contents see Gibbon, c. xlv. The critical edition of Joseph Partsch (in the Mon. Germ. Hist.), 1879, has superseded all previous works. Corippus, it may be observed, though a poor poet compared with Claudian, is far more satisfactory to the historian. He has no scruples about introducing barbarous names into his verse, and is consequently less allusive. His account of the Moorish nations is of great import- ance for the geography of North Africa. We meet such names as Silcadenit, Naffur, Silvaizan ; such a line as, Astuces, Anacutasur, Celianus, Imaclas. Count Marcellinus was of Illyrian birth and Latin was his native tongue. He was cancollarius of Justinian, before Justinian ascended the throne and probably when he held the post of magister equitum et peditum in praesenti. Some years later, before the death of Justin, he wrote and edited a chronicle, beginning with the accession of Theodosius I., where Jerome stopped, and coming down to the death of Anastasius ; afterwards he continued it to a.d. 534. (Another contempor- ary but anonymous author subsequently brought it down to a.d. 548.) The sources of Marcellinus were Orosius, the Consularia of Constantinople (see above, vol. ii., Appendix 1), the Consularia Italica, Gennadius' continuation of Jerome's de Viris illustribus, and one or two ecclesiastical works (for instance a life of Chrysostom, similar to that of Palladius). See preface to Mommsen's edition in Chron. Min., vol. ii., p. 39 sqq. Marcellinus contains some important notices of events in Illyri- cum ; and for Anastasius, Justin and Justinian, his statements — always provokingly brief — have a very high value. 30 See Panegyr. in laudem Anastas. 46-48. 31 lb. 48. 32 In the ed. princeps and the greatly improved Bonn ed. by Bekker, it is divided into seven Books, as if the whole eighth were missing. But G. Loewe has shown that Books 4 and 5 were wrongly thrown into one, so that 5, 6, 7 should be 6, 7, 8 ; and so it appears in Partsch' s ed.