lawgiver, and the holy man, whose holiness wrought miracles. Herein he was the prototype of mediæval saints, whose characters combined a like miracle-working sanctity with the wisdom, firmness, and force which make the possessor a director of those about him and sometimes of the wider destinies of men. The holiness of Benedict's life was reflected in tales of miraculous deeds, many of which tales carry human life and holiness and poetic beauty;[1] and, as for the other aspects of his career, his regula gave the fundamental form to the monasticism of the West.
As Benedict is both saint and monastic lawgiver, so even more strikingly the writings of Gregory the Great exhibit two aspects of the man, which make him also one of the great prototypes of the mediæval monk-rulers of the Church. A strange but frequent combination of traits and faculties: the same man is well nigh a mystic, one to whom spiritual communion with God is blessedness, one to whom the career which disturbs the peace of this communion comes as a banishment; on the other hand, a man of marvellous practical sagacity and capacity for the management of affairs and the direction of men, a man of dauntless will and untiring energy, a man of power and authority, strong in exhortation, terrible in reproof,[2] whose commands are not to be withstood, and whose love is commensurate in fervor. Gregory is moreover a prototype of the mediæval union of humility and authority. He outlines such a character in his Book of Pastoral Rule: the bishop shall be humble, but
