Learn all you can, he said, about the characteristics of different plants and about the methods of preparing medicinal mixtures, but set all your hopes upon the Lord who is the preserver of our lives. In your search for knowledge about drugs consult the herbarium of Dioscorides, who has described and pictured the different herbs with great accuracy. Afterward read Latin translations of the works written by Hippocrates and by Galen, particularly the latter’s treatise on therapeutics, the one which he addresses to the philosopher Glaucon; and, in addition, study the work of Caelius Aurelianus on the practice of medicine, that of Hippocrates on medicinal plants and methods of treatment, and some of the other writings on medicine which you will find in my library and which I have left behind me for the benefit of my brethren in this institution. The advice given by Cassiodorus was heeded, not only by those to whom it was addressed, but also by many succeeding generations of monks. Even at the present time, says Neuburger, the books which Cassiodorus recommended are still to be found, either in the form of original manuscript copies or in that of translations, in the library of the parent institution. Furthermore, when it is remembered how large a number of affiliated Benedictine monasteries were established in different parts of Europe, it will readily be appreciated that the good accomplished by the advice which Cassiodorus gave must have been very great.