The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

pragmatic information than others; some are lengthy pieces of work, others comparatively
short, and so on.
Such a perspective requires a re-evaluation of the literary sources. Normative literature
will therefore include works such as the Apophthegmata Patrum, Evagrius Ponticus‟
Sententiae ad Monachos and Sententiae ad Virginem, Jerome‟s Life of Paul the Hermit,
Cassian‟s Conferences and Institutions, Athanasius‟ Life of Antony, Rufinus‟ Latin translation
of the History of the Monks of Egypt, Palladius‟ Lausiac History, Theodoret‟s Religious
History, Abba Isaiah‟s Asceticon, Martin of Braga‟s Sententiae and Sulpicius Severus‟ Life of
Martin and Dialogues. Also included within this are the Rule of Pachomius and Basil of
Caesarea‟s Longer Rules and Shorter Rules. This is because, like the other aforementioned
texts, they provide guidance and inspiration for an ascetic way of life, in this case cenobitic,
not monastic, but they do not take on the textual form of the regular genre. Whilst some of
the texts have been written specifically for a community, others were important in providing
inspiration and a guide to those aspiring to an ascetic ideal.
Regular literature, according to the definition posited above, can be said to begin with
the Rule of Augustine. However, many monastic rules were in circulation and in use up until
the end of the seventh century, a century that heralds the appearance of the first monastic
rules to be written in a vernacular in Ireland (O Maiden 1980; 1996). Thus far, a definition
has been offered to suggest the features that homogenise the regular genre in antiquity and
mark its writings out as peculiar within the category of ascetic, and particularly preceptive,
literature. Beginning with Augustine, the literature that qualifies as regular is as follows:
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