ABSTRACT
Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (ca. 485–ca. 585 CE), the eminent Roman statesman and writer, understood the importance of the written word in the preservation of knowledge. Oral culture could not only maintain but also eradicate information; a written document ‘keeps a faithful witness of human deeds; it speaks of the past, and is the enemy of oblivion. For, even if our memory retains the content, it alters the words; but there discourse is stored in safety, to be heard for ever with consistency’. 2 In the sixth century CE, Cassiodorus realised the need to preserve both sacred and secular texts for future generations and wrote a number of treatises on the art of copying text for dissemination and preservation. Similarly, he stressed the importance of the presentation of text, noting that scholarly writing should consider not only the quality of its content but the mise-en-page also.
