Expectations of Justice in the Age of Augustine

Introduction

Introduction Expectans expectavi Dominum et inclinatus est ad me et audivit clamorem meum. Patiently I awaited the Lord and he turned to me and heard my cry. -Vulgate Psalm 39:2 This doubled word deserves attention, for such a graceful repetition is not mere embellishment. Certainly we are able to be expectant, but in a grudging mood. Still we may be patiently expectant when we bear something calmly and with powerful longing. -Cassiodorus, Expositio Psalmorum 39.2 THE LIFE OF Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodoms Senator (4-85/90-ca. 580), best known simply as Cassiodoms, epitomized the age of transition in which he lived. One foot rested in the ancient past, for Cassiodoms had impeccable credentials as a late Roman aristocrat. While still a young man, he served as assistant to his father, the praetorian prefect, and then as quaestor. In 514 he was the sole consul in the empire, then master of offices from 523 to 527, and praetorian prefect in Italy for four years until 537. His other foot, however, was in the Middle Ages. He wrote Latin letters on behalf of I