RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Cassianus Castellion
in his power, of which his own example was not the least, and so contributed largely to the establishment of the tradition which made the monasteries, especially of the Benedictine order, the homes of learning throughout the dark ages.
His literary work, like his life, falls into two periods. To the first belong a consular chronicle written in 519; twelve books of Gothic history, composed in the spirit of the policy of fusion already referred to, known to us only in the recast version of Jordanes, De origine actibusque Getarum (the work of Cassiodorus seems to have borne the same title); panegyrics on the kings and queens of the Goths, of which only dubious fragments remain; a collection (made about 538) of rescripts composed by him during his long and varied official life, and formulas of appointment to a great variety of offices, in twelve books, under the title Varies; a small philosophical work, De anima, written immediately after the completion of the Varice, at the request of friends, whose questions about the soul he answers, following Claudianus Mamertus and Augustine. The last-named work forms a sort of transition to those of the second period. The most important of these, composed probably in 544, is the Institutiones divinarum et smcularium litter arum (or better lectionum). The first book is devoted to spiritual learning, the second to secular; and both together form the first part of a complete course of instruction designed by Cassiodorus for the Western clergy, and especially for his own monks. The first book is only an introduction to the study of theology, explaining the most important preliminary knowledge required and the literary helps at the student's command for his further education; the second gives brief compendiums of various branches of secular learning. To this the last work of Cassiodorus, De orthographia, forms a supplement. Another voluminous theological work, begun before the Institutiones but finished long after, was a full explanation of the Psalms in their threefold aspect, spiritual, historical, and symbolic. He wrote other exegetical works, of which his Complexiones in epistolas et acta apostolorum et apocalypsin is still extant. Of much greater value to posterity is his Historia ecclesiastica tripartita in twelve books, composed of extracts from the Greek historians Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, whose works he had translated by Epiphanius. It is in no sense an original work, and is put together in a patchwork fashion; but it filled up a great gap in the general Western knowledge of church history, and, incomplete as it is, was the principal handbook used in the Middle Ages for its period.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography: The Varice and Orationum reliquice, with introduction, are in MGH, Auct. ant., xii. 1-385, 459-484; the Varies are also in MPL, lxix. The Letters of Cassiodorus, a Condensed Transl. of the Varice, ed. T. Hodgkin, appeared London, 1886. Consult: A. Olleris, Cassiodore, conservateur des livres de Vantiquite latine, Paris, 1841; R. Kopke, Deutsche Forschungen. Die Anfange des Kbnigtums, pp. 78-94, Berlin, 1859; A. Thorbecke, Cassiodorus Senator, Heidelberg, 1867; A. Franz, M. Aurelius Cassiodorius Senator, Breslau, 1872; H. von Sybel, Entstehung des deutschen Kbnigtums, pp. 184-208, Frankfort, 1881; A. Ebert, Geachichte der Li-
teratur des Mittelalters, i. 198, 498-514, Leipsic, 18S9. For further literature consult Potthast, Wegweiser, p. 198.
CASSOCK. See Vestments and Insignia, Ecclesiastical.
CASTELL, EDMUND: English Orientalist; b. at East Hatley (12 m. s.w. of Cambridge), Cambridgeshire, 1606; d. at Higham Gobion (10 m. s.s.e. of Bedford), Bedfordshire, 1685. He studied at Emmanuel and St. John's colleges, Cambridge (B.A., 1625; M.A., 1628; B.D., 1635; D.D., 1661). He assisted Walton on his Polyglot (1657), contributing the editions of the Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, and other (unacknowledged) portions, and also spent freely of his own fortune for the work. In 1669 he brought out in two volumes, folio, at London, Ms Lexicon Heptaglotton, Hebraicum, Chaldaicum, Syriacum, Samaritanum, Mthiopicum, Arabicum, conjunctim ; et Persicum separatim, specially prepared to supplement the Polyglot. This work was the result of eighteen years of the most unremitting labor, cost the author £12,000, and left him ruined in fortune and health. His work was enthusiastically received on the Continent, but neglected in England. Late in life he received some favor from the king, was appointed chaplain in ordinary in 1666, prebendary of Canterbury and professor of Arabic at Cambridge 1667, and was successively vicar of Hatfield Peverell, Essex; rector of Wodeham Walter, Essex; and rector of Higham Gobion..
Bibliography: A. a Wood, Athence Oxonienses, ed. P. Bliss,, iii. 883, 4 vols., London, 1813-20; twenty-three of hi* letters appear in J. Lightfoot, Whole Works, ed. J. R.. Pitman, 13 vols., London, 1822-25. Consult DNB, ix. 271-272.
CASTELLIO(N), SEBASTIANUS (SEBASTIEN CHATEILLON): French Reformer; b. at Saint- Martin du Fresne (30 m. w. of Geneva) 1515; d. at Basel Dec. 29, 1563. He pursued his studies under difficult circumstances until he became tutor to three young noblemen. In 1540 he went to Strasburg, lived in Calvin's house, and accompanied him to Geneva, where on Calvin's recommendation he became rector of the high school. But disagreement soon arose between him and the great Reformer, Castellio holding views of his own concerning election and Christ's descent into hell, and regarding the Song of Solomon as an erotic poem which should be excluded from the canon. He left Geneva in 1544 and settled in Basel, where he lived in great poverty till 1552, when he was appointed professor of Greek literature. His first publication was Dialogi sacri (Geneva, 1543; Eng. transl., The History of the Bible, collected into 119 dialogues, London, 1715; again under the title, Youth's Scripture Remembrancer, 1743), much used as a school-book. In 1551 he published in Basel his chief work, an elegant annotated Latin translation of the Bible, which he dedicated to Edward VI. of England (12th ed., Leipsic, 1778). The notes gave offense, as they betrayed skepticism as to the attainability of religious truth, and the dedication, a noble plea for religious toleration, was unacceptable to the age. In 1555 he published at Basel a complete French translation of the Bible,
Castor Caswall