A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

:
562 Roman Life Under the Late Empire
Do the fol-
of manual
Vergil,
Georgics, i.
108-10.
Proverbs xiii.
4-
and when you have sown your cabbages or set your plants,
Convey water to them in conduits; that you may see with
your own eyes the lovely vision of the poet
Art draws fresh water from the hilltop near,
Till the stream, plashing down among the rocks,
Cools the parched meadows and allays their thirst.
Graft unfruitful stocks with buds and slips that you
may shortly be rewarded for your toil by plucking sweet
apples from them. Build also hives for bees, for to these
creatures the proverbs of Solomon send you, and you may
learn from the tiny creatures how to order a monastery
and to discipline a kingdom. Twist lines too for catching
fish, and copy books, that your hand may earn your food
and your mind be ever satisfied with reading.
For " everyone
that is idle is a prey to vain desires." In Egypt the
monasteries make it a rule to receive none who are not
willing to work; for they regard labor as necessary not
only for the support of the body but also for the salvation
of the soul.
f.
Ancient
World, 547 the fourth hour until about the sixth, they shall be free
IV. From the Rule of St. Benedict
On the duty
of labor.
Idleness is the enemy of the soul. And, therefore, at
fixed times the brothers ought to be occupied in manual
The editors
gratefully labor; and again at fixed times in sacred reading. Therefore
we believe that both seasons ought to be arranged
acknowledge
the use of
Og?, Source
after this manner,—so that, from Easter until the first
Book, 88 f.,
for this of October, going out early from the first until the fourth
selection.
hour they shall do what labor may be necessary. From
for reading.
After the meal of the sixth hour, rising from
the table, they shall rest in their beds with all silence; or
perchance he that wishes to read may read to himself in