conservatrices illuminantium flammarum, ipsas sibi nutrientes
incendium, quae humano ministerio cessante, prolixe custodiant
uberrimi luminis abundantissimam claritatem; ubi olei pinguedo non
deficit, quamvis flammis ardentibus jugitor torreatur.]

[Sidenote: Relation to the Benedictine Rule.]

Upon the whole, though the idea of using the convent as a place of
literary toil and theological training was not absolutely new,
Cassiodorus seems certainly entitled to the praise of having first
realised it systematically and on an extensive scale. It was entirely
in harmony with the spirit of the Rule of St. Benedict, if it was not
formally ordained in that document. At a very early date in the
history of their order, the Benedictines, influenced probably by the
example of the monastery of Vivaria, commenced that long series of
services to the cause of literature which they have never wholly
intermitted. Thus, instead of accepting the obsolete formula for which
some scholars in the last age contended, 'Cassiodorus was a
Benedictine,' we should perhaps be rather justified in maintaining
that Benedict, or at least his immediate followers, were
Cassiodorians.

[Sidenote: Cassiodorus as a transcriber of the Scriptures.]

In order to set an example of literary diligence to his monks, and to
be able to sympathise with the difficulties of an amanuensis,
Cassiodorus himself transcribed the Psalter, the Prophets, and the
Epistles[83], no doubt from the translation of Jerome. This is not the
place for enlarging on the merits of Cassiodorus as a custodian and
transmitter of the sacred text. They were no doubt considerable; and