(Forgive me if I've spoken about this before. I do recall writing this in a letter, but I can't remember if I discussed it on xanga.)

I'm currently translating Jordanes' Getica, which I'm certain none of you have ever heard of, so I'll give you some details. As with many ancient and medieval writers, we know very little about him, but from what we can gather he was part of the barbarian tribes invading the Roman Empire in the 500s. At some point he converted to Christianity and became a secretary to a military commander in the Roman army. Later in life he wrote Getica or by its real, fuller name De origine actibusque Getarum (On the Origin and Deeds of the Goths). Perhaps he wanted to get in touch with his roots a bit.

If you want to talk about the later Roman Empire and early Gothic history, he's one of the most oft-quoted sources I've seen. However each book I've read always handles him cautiously, saying it's uncertain how truthful or accurate Getica is. Now that I've started translating him, I see what the fucking problem is. He starts off in his introduction by mentioning Getica is just a summary of a longer work by Cassiodorus, the SparkNotes version if you will. He then admits he's only read Cassiodorus' work twice, doesn't own it, and can't remember it all but assures us he's keeping in the spirit of it.

Are you fucking kidding me son? You've only read this book twice, which you yourself say is volumes in length, and are writing a summary? Imagine reading War and Peace, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, or À la recherche du temps perdu twice and then writing a whole fucking book about it. Yeah, I could only give vague impressions myself. You know that Shakespeare project I had two years ago? I can't fucking remember the plot for some of them anymore. And those are short plays. Who knows what dense shit Jordanes had to wade through.

What's worst is Cassiodrus' book is lost, so we have nothing else to compare to. This is all we've got, which is why Jordanes is such an important source even though his material is dubious. I wonder if he knew how important his work would be whether he'd sit down and read it for, I don't know, a third or fourth time at least.