The Latin of the medieval Church was thus born with a double character. It bound the universal Church intimately together ... but simultaneously preserved writings potentially corrosive of Christian belief. ... The more assiduously a young cleric read Cicero to polish his language for Christian ministry, the more exposed he was to pre-Christian thought.
Alexander Murray, review in the TLS of Ronald Witt The Two Latin Cultures and the Foundation of Renaissance Humanism in Italy (Cambridge, 2013)