o monasteries, it seems
probable that Cassiodorus never formally assumed the office of Abbot
in either of them[77]. He had probably still some duties to perform as
a large landholder in Bruttii; but besides these he had also work to
do for 'his monks' (as he affectionately called them)--work of a
literary and educational kind--which perhaps made it undesirable that
he should be burdened with the petty daily routine of an Abbot's
duties. Some years before, he had endeavoured to induce Pope
Agapetus[78] to found a School of Theology and Christian Literature at
Rome, in imitation of the schools of Alexandria and Nisibis[79]. The
clash of arms consequent on the invasion of Italy by Belisarius had
prevented the fulfilment of this scheme; but the aged statesman now
determined to devote the remainder of his days to the accomplishment
of the same purpose in connection with the Vivarian convent.

[Footnote 77: But the words of Trithemius (quoted by Migne, Patrologia
lxix. 498), 'Hic post aliquot conversionis suae annos abbas electus
est, et monasterio multo tempore utiliter praefuit,' _may_ preserve a
genuine and accurate tradition. Cassiodorus' mention of the two
Abbots, Chalcedonius and Geruntius (De Inst. Div. Litt. cap. xxxii.)
shows that at any rate in the infancy of his monasteries he was not
Abbot of either of them.]

[Footnote 78: Agapetus was Pope in 535 and 536.]

[Footnote 79: 'Nisus sum ergo cum beatissimo Agapeto papa urbis Romae,
ut sicut apud Alexandriam multo tempore fuisse traditur institutum,
nunc etiam in Nisibi civitate Syrorum ab Hebraeis sedulo fertur
exponi, collatis expensis in urbe Romana professos doctores scholae
potius acciperent Christianae, unde et anima susciperet aeternam
salutem, et casto atque purissimo eloquio fidelium lingua comeretur'
(De Inst. Praefatio).]

In the earliest days of Monasticism men like the hermits of the
Thebaid had thought of little else but mortifying the flesh by vigils
and fastings, and withdrawing from all human voices to enjoy an
ecstatic communion with their Maker. The life in common of monks like
those of Nitria and Lerinum had chastened some of the extravagances of
these lonely enthusiasts while still keeping their main ends in view.
St. Jerome, in his cell at Bethlehem, had shown what great results
might be obtained for the Church of all ages from the patient literary
toil of one religious recluse. And finally St. Benedict, in that Rule
of his which was to be t