the old man took him up to the roof of his cell, and said unto him, “Look to the west,” and when he looked he saw multitudes of devils with troubled and terrified aspects, and they shewed themselves in the forms of phantoms which were in fighting attitudes. Abbâ Isidore saith unto him, “Look to the east,” and when he looked he saw innumerable holy angels standing [there], and they were in a state of great glory. Then Abbâ Isidore said unto him, “Behold, those who are in the west are those who are fighting with the holy ones, and those whom thou hast seen in the east are they who are sent by God to the help of the saints, for those who are with us are many.” And having seen [these] Abbâ Moses took courage and returned to his cell without fear.
563. One of the old men said concerning the lustful thoughts which come into the heart of a man, and which are not carried into effect, that they are like unto a man who seeth a vineyard, and who desireth to eat the grapes thereof, but is afraid to go in lest he be caught and suffer death. If he be caught outside the hedge he will not die, because he hath neither gone into the vineyard nor hath eaten the grapes, but hath only desired; now he shall be beaten with few stripes, because he hath coveted, but he shall not die.
564. There was a certain old man, who lived in a cell, and his thoughts said unto him, “Go, take to thyself a woman”; then he rose up straightway and kneaded together some mud, and made the figure of a woman, and he said to himself, “Behold thy wife! It is necessary for thee to labour with all thy might that thou mayest be able to feed her.” And he laboured with his hands and twisted many ropes. Then after a few days, he rose up and made a figure of a woman, and said unto his thoughts, “Behold, thy wife hath brought forth, it is necessary for thee to work harder to keep thy wife and to clothe thy daughter”; and thus doing he vexed his body sorely. And he said unto his thought, “I cannot bear [all] this work, and since I am unable to bear the work, a wife is unnecessary for me”; and God saw his labour, and did away his thoughts [of fornication], and he had peace.
565. Abbâ Poemen used to say, “As the sword-bearer standeth before the king, being always ready [to smite], so is it meet for the soul which is prepared to stand [ready] to resist the devil of fornication.”
566. They used to say that Mother Sarah contended against the devil of fornication for seven years on the roof [of her house], before she vanquished him.
567. One of the old men said, “It is written concerning Solomon that he loved women, but every male loveth the females,
