ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the digressive content of the Variae represents Cassiodorus reception and unique adaptation of a tradition for encyclopedic exposition. The chapter considers how the concept of varietas, especially as presented in the two prefaces of the Variae, derives from a long tradition for encyclopedic treatises and sympotic dialogues in ancient and late antique literature. The varietas of encyclopedic exposition was a discursive performance of knowledge that claimed to be holistic and didactic. It argues the Cassiodorus two prefaces to the Variae signal his intention to appeal to an audience's understanding of the cultural function of epistolary and encyclopedic writing. The group cohesion immediately visible in a collection of private letters to friends and associates is less readily detectable in a collection of dispositive letters such as the Variae, where the intimacy of amicitia has been replaced with governmental and legal authority. Cassiodorus interest in encyclopedic literature is illuminated further by the explanation of the collection's title.
