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that result of his labours, men of all creeds unite in reverencing the name of S. Benedict" (Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography). In addition to the cares of religion and letters, manual labour of all kinds came within the Benedictine scope. "We owe the agricultural restoration of great part of Europe to the monks," says Hallam. They were, according to Guizot, "the agriculturists of Europe; they cleared it on a large scale"; they drained morasses, made roads, and built bridges. With monasteries of men grew also those for women, like that presided over by his sister S. Scholastica. "In them the gentle arts were cultivated and women found a refuge from the rude violence of turbulent ages." See Cardinal Newman's essays, "The Mission of St Benedict" and "The Benedictine Centuries."
S. AUSTIN OR AUGUSTINE
Abundant materials exist for the biography of this great convert and father of the Church: in the front rank stand his own "Confessions" and the Life written by his friend Possidius.
S. Augustine wrote a Latinity which, partly owing to the acuteness and activity of his mind, partly owing to long training in the arts of rhetoric, is singularly subtle and ingenious. It is not surprising that it should sometimes have baffled Caxton and his assistants in passages where they have to render texts of the Saint himself. Typographical errors, old and new, have induced further confusion. We have, therefore, modified the Caxton wording in a few places in order to bring out the altered or obscured meaning of the original.
89.
24. "that Jesus Christ was fantastic": that His human body was a mere illusion.
90.
1. "a book of philosophy": the Hortensius of Cicero.
22. "by the voice of a prophet": with prophetic utterance.
91.
30. "in such distresses": in the severities of the Christian life. Augustine saw what was right in faith and morals, but was not therefore converted. In his writings he constantly dwells on the doctrine that light of the intellect, however bright, is not necessarily accompanied or followed by the gift of faith, much less by virtuous action; that the gift and virtue of faith, though resting on an intellectual foundation, is gained and held only by the human will in cooperation with divine grace.
32. Simplicianus was a venerable old man, the fame of whose sanctity and prudence had reached Augustine;
