De Crucis
admitted the truth of the charge, explaining it in part by the character
of the Neapolitan people, and by the tendency of the northern traveller
to forget that such apparent luxuries as spacious rooms, shady groves
and the like are regarded as necessities in a hot climate. He urged,
moreover, that the monastic life should not be judged by a few isolated
instances; and on the way to Rome he proposed that Odo, by way of seeing
the other side of the question, should visit the ancient foundation of
the Benedictines on Monte Cassino.
The venerable monastery, raised on its height over the busy vale of
Garigliano, like some contemplative spirit above the conflicting
problems of life, might well be held to represent the nobler side of
Christian celibacy. For nearly a thousand years its fortified walls had
been the stronghold of the humanities, and generations of students had
cherished and added to the treasures of the famous library. But the
Benedictine rule was as famous for good works as for learning, and its
comparative abstention from dogmatic controversy and from the mechanical
devotion of some of the other orders had drawn to it men of superior
mind, who sought in the monastic life the free exercise of the noblest
activities rather than a sanctified refuge from action. This was
especially true of the monastery of Monte Cassino, whither many scholars
had been attracted and where the fathers had long had the highest name
for learning and beneficence.
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