Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/178

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160 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [ch^p.

First are to be noticed the writings of Cassian, the Western compiler and arranger of the data of monasticism; and then the Western regulae, the legislative documents proper, which direct and order the life of the monk.

Cassian wrote two works upon monasticism. The earlier of these, written between the years 419 and 426, was entitled De institutis Cœnobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis libri XII.[1] It presented a picture of Egyptian monasticism. His later work, the Conlationes, composed between 426 and 428, purports to give the discourses of Egyptian abbots, edifying to those who should seek to perfect themselves in monastic virtues. The names of the abbots are given; and the Conlationes probably reflect their utterances.[2] Cassian was not a legislator, but a com-

  1. For the life of Cassian, perhaps a native of Gaul (cir. 360-cir. 432), see prolegomena to the translation of his works by E. C. S. Gibson, in Nicene Fathers, Vol. XI, 2d series. Cassian, Inst., V, 4, says that Anthony said that a monk should not go to one man to learn all the virtues, but go to many, seeking to learn from each the virtue in which he excels. St. Basil the Great travelled through Egypt, Palestine, Cœle-Syria, and Mesopotamia to see saintly anchorites and monks. Thus many finished their education in asceticism. Compare also the trip of Jerome and Paula, described by Jerome in Ep. 108, Ad Eustochium.
  2. For example, he reports the discourse of Abbot Moses of the desert of Scete upon the scope and purpose of monastic life. Says Moses, in Aristotelean-Ciceronian way: "Omnes artes ac disciplinae scopon quendam, id est destinationem, et telos, hoc est finem propriam habent." The Kingdom of Heaven is the monk's final goal; but we may distinguish between that and the means which form a subsidiary end: "Finis quidem nostrae professionis ut diximus regnum dei sen regnum caelorum est, destinatio vero, id est scopos, puritas cordis, sine qua ad ilium finem impossibile est quempiam pervenire" (Conl., I, 2-4).