Of course, the grateful emperor could do no less than richly endow the monastery, and bestow upon it additional privileges. Desiderius, the Benedictine abbot from 1058 to 1086, and in the eleventh century promoted to the papal chair under the title of Victor III, was distinguished for his attainments in medicine and in music, and founded a new hospital in connection with the monastery; he also composed four{074} books detailing the miraculous cures wrought by his patron saint. It was really within this monastery that Constantine the African, one of the most learned men and the most famous Christian physician of his time, compiled his numerous medical treatises. About Constantine there is much of romance. He was born in Carthage in 1018 and died in 1085. He visited all the prominent schools of his day in Egypt, Bagdad, Babylon, and even India, and for thirty-nine years pursued the various branches of knowledge away from home. Returning to Carthage, misunderstood and feared, he was accused of practicing sorcery and compelled to fly to save his life. Disguised as a beggar he escaped to Salernum, which had been recently captured by Robert Guiscard, and on the recommendation of some royal visitor, who had known him at another court, he was made private secretary to Guiscard. His new duties soon became irkscme, however, and he retired to a cloister to devote himself to literary labors. These, for the most part, were translations of Greek and Arabic writings, often made _verbatim_ and without credit. Whatever may be said about this lack of honesty, and the barbaric nature of his Latin, credit must be given him for reviving the study of Hippocrates and Galen in France; and he is generally credited with being the first to introduce into Europe knowledge of Arabian medicine. From Monte Casino the Benedictines at an early day spread to Salernum, where, by the middle of the tenth century, three monasteries were established, in all of which were kept holy relics. It now appears that, although there may have been some previous institution of learning at this point, and possibly even medical teachers, the real organization of a regular school of medicine was due to the Benedictines. In the annals of Naples of the middle of the ninth century the names of Salernian physicians are mentioned; and it is known that toward the close of the tenth century{075} Archbishop Verdun visited Salernum for relief from vesical calculus, and there died. The earliest medical writings of this school which have been preserved are found in the _Compendium Salernitanum_, discovered in manuscript form in 1837; and among the more prominent authors quoted are: Petronius, who wrote about 1035; Gariopontus, who wrote about 1040; Bartholomæus, Ferrarius, and Affiacius,--the latter a disciple of Constantius Africanus.