Wybrane listy Kasjodora (Variae, ks. I-V) – materiał dygresyjny jako narzędzie retoryczne
Selected letters of Cassiodorus (Variae, books I-V) - digressive material as a rhetorical device

Summary/Abstract: The highly rhetorized letters of Variae Cassiodorus, chancellor Theodoric the Great, who lived in the 6th century, are in line with the chancellery style of official letters (epistulae negotiales), assuming attachment to rigid linguistic formulas expressing the will of the ruler, and at the same time drawing attention to the writer’s oratory skills. The analysis of selected digressions in the article (letters: II 39, I 2, I 35, I 45, II 40) also showed the mannerist style of Cassiodorus, applicable at the end of the ancient epoch – non-schematic and full of antagonistic images form, stacking of linguistic tropes and extensive metaphorics. Digressions describing natural phenomena (hot springs in Aponos), the behavior of animals (fish and molluscs) and human inventions (clock and zither) were intended to soften the tone of the admonition addressed to the addressee, to show the author’s erudition, and to convey encyclopedic knowledge about the achievements of the passing civilization of the Western Roman Empire.

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