The
Notable Characteristic Of His Rule Was A Sanctifying Of Intellectual
Labour.
In abandoning the world, he by no means renounced his
interest in its civilization.
Statesmanship having failed to stem
the tide of Oriental tyranny and northern barbarism, he set himself
to save as much as possible of the nobler part, to secure for
happier ages the record of human attainment. Great was the
importance he attached to the work of his Antiquarii - copyists who
laboured to preserve the manuscript literature which was in danger
of utterly perishing. With special reference to their work upon the
Scriptures, he tells them that they "fight against the wiles of
Satan with pen and ink." And again: "Writing with three fingers,
they thus symbolize the virtues of the Holy Trinity; using a reed,
they thus attack the craft of the Devil with that very instrument
which smote the Lord's head in his Passion." But all literature was
his care. That the copyists might write correctly, he digested the
works of half a dozen grammarians into a treatise on orthography.
Further, that the books of the monastery might wear "a wedding
garment" (his own phrase), he designed a great variety of bindings,
which were kept as patterns.
There, at the foot of Moscius, did these brethren and their founder
live and work. But on the top of the mountain was another retreat,
known as Castellense, for those monks who - divina gratia
suffragante - desired a severer discipline, and left the
coenobitic house to become anchorites.
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