tione Div. Litt.]

It is true that the passage here quoted refers only to the work of the
copyist of the Christian Scriptures, but it could easily be shown from
other passages[81] that the literary activity of the monastery was not
confined to these, but was also employed on secular literature.

[Footnote 81: For instance, in cap. xv., after cautioning his copyists
against rash corrections of apparent faults in the sacred MSS., he
says: 'Ubicunque paragrammata in disertis hominibus [i.e. in classical
authors] reperta fuerint, intrepidus vitiosa recorrigat.' And the
greater part of cap. xxviii. is an argument against 'respuere
saecularium litterarum studia.']

[Sidenote: Bookbinding.]

[Sidenote: Mechanical appliances for the convent.]

Cassiodorus then goes on to describe the care which he has taken for
the binding of the sacred Codices in covers worthy of the beauty of
their contents, following the example of the householder in the
parable, who provided wedding garments for all who came to the supper
of his son. One pattern volume had been prepared, containing samples
of various sorts of binding, that the amanuensis might choose that
which pleased him best. He had moreover provided, to help the nightly
toil of the _scriptorium_, mechanical lamps of some wonderful
construction, which appears to have made them self-trimming, and to
have ensured their having always a sufficient supply of oil[82].
Sun-dials also for bright days, and water-clocks for cloudy days and
the night-season, regulated their labour, and admonished them when it
was time to unclose the three fingers, to lay down the reed, and to
assemble with their brethren in the chapel of the convent for psalmody
and prayer.

[Footnote 82: Paravimus etiam nocturnis vigiliis mechanicas lucernas,
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