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ricardienneSo because NO ONE has done a complete translation of Cassiodorus' Variae, and because I am trying to write a ridiculously ambitious short paper, I am struggling through flowery late antique official correspondence all by myself. In the dark.
But it's sort of nifty. Theodoric refers to himself in the plural, which I expected, because a) "royal we" and b) everyone seems to do that in Latin; but he addresses the Emperor in the plural, too. Am I seeing an early (or maybe not so early) proto- tu/vous distinction happening? That would be awesome.
ETA: Yes! Because the next letter, merely to a consul, is firmly in the second person singular!
But it's sort of nifty. Theodoric refers to himself in the plural, which I expected, because a) "royal we" and b) everyone seems to do that in Latin; but he addresses the Emperor in the plural, too. Am I seeing an early (or maybe not so early) proto- tu/vous distinction happening? That would be awesome.
ETA: Yes! Because the next letter, merely to a consul, is firmly in the second person singular!
