ABSTRACT
The siting of the Greek and Latin department of the Octavian Library, close to the colonnaded temple court, is clearly described by Clark. Is it possible then that the monastic cloister was a lineal descendant of the classical colonnade? No certain answer can be given, but it is improbable that there was any conscious imitation of classical models in the design of the monastic cloister. It is more likely that the same circumstances and the same needs chanced to produce similar results. The ruins of Roman colonnades were sometimes appropriated for the building of religious houses. There is the further point about the colonnade and cloister libraries: namely, that they must have been of special advantage in times when all reading and all writing meant reading and writing aloud; a habit which would be intolerable in a closed room occupied by many students.
