Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/280

 200 General History of Europe poverty; he was not permitted to own anything whatsoever not even a book or a pen. He was also required to pledge himself that he would never marry; for not only was the single life con- sidered more holy than the married, but the monastic organiza- tion would have been impossible unless the monks remained single. MONASTERY* OF VAL DI CRISTO This monastery in southern Spain has two cloisters, the main one lying to the left. The buildings were surrounded by vegetable gardens and an orchard which supplied the monks with food. We know that we are viewing the monastery from the west, for the church faces us 318. How the Monks contributed to Civilization. With the great loss of manuscripts due to the destruction of libraries and the general lack of interest in books, it was most essential that new copies should be made. Almost all the books written by the Romans disappeared altogether during the Middle Ages, but from time to time a monk would copy out the poems of Virgil, Horace, or Ovid, or the speeches of Cicero. In this way some of the chief works of the Latin writers have continued to exist down to the present day.