writings of Cassian to the study of his monks, Cassiodorus warns them
against the bias shown in them towards the Semi-Pelagian heresy, and
desires them to choose the good in those treatises and to refuse the
evil. Whatever the reason may have been, it seems clear that
Cassiodorus did not make the Rule of Benedict the law of his new
monastery; and indeed, strange as the omission may appear, there is, I
believe, no allusion to that great contemporary Saint, the 'Father of
Monks,' in the whole of his writings.

[Footnote 74: 'Nam si vos in monasterio Vivariensi divinâ gratia
suffragante coenobiorum consuetudo competenter erudiat, et aliquid
sublimius defaecatis animis optare contingat, habetis mentis Castelli
secreta suavia, ubi velut anachoritae (praestante Domino) feliciter
esse possitis' (De Inst. Div. Litt. xxix.).]

[Footnote 75: 'Invitat vos locus Vivariensis monasterii ... quando
habetis hortos irriguos, et piscosi amnis Pellenae fluenta vicina, qui
nec magnitudine undarum suspectus habetur, nec exiguitate temnibilis.
Influit vobis arte moderatus, ubicunque necessarius judicatur et
hortis vestris sufficiens et molendinis.... Maria quoque vobis ita
subjacent, ut piscationibus variis pateant; et captus piscis, cum
libuerit, vivariis possit includi. Fecimus enim illic (juvante Deo)
grata receptacula ubi sub claustro fideli vagetur piscium multitudo;
ita consentanea montium speluncis, ut nullatenus se sentiat captum,
cui libertas eat escas sumere, et per solitas se cavernas
abscondere.']

[Footnote 76: 'Balnea quoque congruenter aegris praeparata corporibus
jussimus aedificari, ubi fontium perspicuitas decenter illabitur, quae
et potui gratissima cognoscitur et lavacris.']