Saxons, having been converted to Christianity, wished to
pursue their literary education, they addressed themselves to
Ireland. Aldhelm depicts them to us "sailing in a body"
for Ireland. ¹ Bede testified that "many of the English," in
the seventh century, went to Ireland to seek knowledge of
the Scripture and of asceticism. ² Ireland received them
kindly. It gave them books; it gave them masters. "All
was given gratuitously," says Bede, who adds that this
generosity provided them even with nourishment. ³ It was
therefore from the Irish monks that the Anglo-Saxon Church
took the torch of science, which it carried in its turn to
the Continent, before the dawn of the ninth century, when
darkness reigned.

At the end of the fifth century this darkness had begun
to spread over Gaul and over Italy; we shall presently refer
to Spain. Sidonius Apollinaris, Faustus of Riez, Claudian
Mamertius, Venantius Fortunatus, Bœthius, Cassiodorus,
Ennodius, Pomerius, who, of different degrees of merit, were
the last representatives of intellectual life. After them, the
sacred fire was extinguished. The study of authors was
neglected,--more than this, it was abhorred. Cæsarius,
the future bishop of Arles, read the pagan writers with
pleasure. But one day he became convinced that this
reading was leading him to hell, and he cast away profane
books. ⁴ His contemporary Ennodius, the brilliant rhetorician,
the elegant poet, felt the same scruples; after recovering
from an illness he forsook the pursuit of literature as if
it were a sin. ⁵ Three-quarters of a century later, Pope
St. Gregory, learning that the bishop of Vienne was
"teaching grammar," wrote to him: ⁶ "I feel ashamed
at reporting this news; this conduct in a bishop is so
execrable, that the matter should be seriously explained.
If the investigation shows that this rumour is false, and
that you are not studying the frivolous literature of the

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