is seven and forty years, as I suppose, since I went forth from the holy city.' Zosimus said to her: 'And what mightest thou find for thee to eat, or upon what food hast thou fed thee until now?' She answered him: ' I brought hither two and a half loaves with me when I passed over Jordan; in no short time, they became dried up and hardened, like stone; and these I partook of, using them for some time.' Zosimus said to her: 'And couldst thou pass through the length of so many seasons without loving the burning of fleshly inclination?' She then, as if troubled, answered him: ' Now thou askest me of the things that I myself greatly dread, whenever all the perils that I underwent recur to my memory, and the foolish thoughts that often disturbed me, so that I again endure some misery from such thoughts.' Zosimus said: 'Ah, lady, do not leave anything that thou wilt not tell me, but disclose all things in due order.' Then said she: 'Abbot, believe me, for seventeen years I fought against the desires of the appetites of the gentle and irrational wild animals. When I began to hunger, then the flesh-meats came amongst my desires; I yearned for the fishes that were in Egypt; I longed for the wine, wherein I formerly delighted to indulge unto intemperance; and even now it is extremely among my desires, because I formerly indulged in it beyond measure when I was in the world. Even here I was extremely athirst on account of the want of water in this wilderness, scarcely enduring my terrible necessity. It was as if an excessive longing after wanton poems troubled me, when they brought it into my mind to sing the devilish song which I formerly learnt in the world; but thereupon I, weeping and knocking my breast with my hands, reminded myself of my promise and of the protection that I had before chosen; and so, transporting myself in my thoughts beyond this desert, I arrived before the likeness of the good and holy mother of God who for
