Among the later abbots of Monte Cassino there were three who attained considerable distinction as physicians. They were Bertharius, who wrote two treatises on medical topics; Alphanus II., Archbishop of Salerno, who was celebrated both as a physician and as a poet; and Desiderius (1027–1087 A. D.), who was skilled, not only in medicine, but also in jurisprudence, and who was elected Pope under the title of Victor III. The monastery attained the height of its celebrity at the time when Constantinus the African became one of its regular members. Although Constantinus was a native Arab (born at Carthage about 1018 A. D.), he became converted to Christianity quite early in life. It is said that he was a great traveler as well as a great scholar, and that he devoted several years to visiting foreign lands--Babylonia, India, Egypt and Ethiopia. It was in this way that he became so well versed in the languages of the East. Upon visiting Spain as a fugitive from his native city, he took with him several of the works of Hippocrates and Galen, and in course of time translated them into Latin. Finally, he accepted the position of secretary to Robert Guiscard, the first Norman Duke of Calabria and Apulia, who appears to have selected Salerno as his place of residence. At the same time he became one of the teachers at the medical school of that city, and served in this capacity for a certain length of time; but, at the end of a few years, he was formally accepted by the Abbot Desiderius as a member of the Monte Cassino community, and it was here that he did the larger part of his literary work. His death occurred in 1087 A. D., the same year in which the Abbot Desiderius--or, rather, Pope Victor III.--died. Constantinus was a prodigious worker, but it is doubtful whether he did anything of an original character. Not a few of the treatises which were, at that time, credited to him as original productions, are now known--thanks largely to the researches of the great French historian and linguist, Daremberg--to be simply translations from the Arabic. It is believed by some authorities that at Monte Cassino medicine was taught to laymen as well as to those who were preparing to become members of the Benedictine Order of monks. It is not likely, however, that this was done to any great extent, as much better facilities for acquiring knowledge of medicine were available at Salerno in the near neighborhood.