THE Regula Magistri, [...] is now known to be a work of the sixth century. Aside from all hypotheses, this dating is certain from the manuscript tradition alone. The RM probably was not often copied because of its length and because it was not followed in many monasteries after the time of its author. [The manuscript evidence makes it certain that] The composition of the rule, therefore, must belong to the sixth century at the very latest, and internal evidence points to the opening decades of the century. This puts it quite close in time to the RB, assigned to the early or middle part of the sixth century both by the testimony of Gregory and by internal evidence.

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