and we must restrain and draw onwards our nature by main force to purity.”
568. A brother asked Abbâ Daniel, and said unto him, “Deliver to me a commandment”; [and he said unto him], “Never place thy hand in a dish and eat with a woman, and thou wilt be able to flee from the devil of fornication.”
569. They used to say that the great old man Abraham arrived at a monastery, and that he also saw there a youth, and that he refused to pass the night there; and the brethren who were with him said unto him, “Art thou also afraid, O father?” The old man said unto them, “Indeed, my sons, I am not afraid, but of what use is a vain war to me?”
570. A brother asked an old man, saying, “What shall I do? For my thoughts are [fixed] always upon fornication, and they will not give me peace even for a moment; and thus is my soul vexed.” And the old man answered and said unto him, “When these thoughts spring up in thee speak not with them, for it belongeth to them to rise up with continual anxiety, and not to be sluggish, but they have no power to force thee, for it belongeth to thee either to accept them or not. Hast thou not seen what the Midianites did, how they adorned their women and set them up, but they forced no man to take them? those who wished to do so fell into them, and those who did not became wroth, and made a slaughter in their wrath. Even so is it with the thoughts.” Then that brother said unto him, “What then shall I do? For I am weak, and passion overcometh me.” The old man said unto him, “Consider thy thoughts well, and when they begin to speak to thee, answer them never a word, but rise up and pray, and meditate upon holy words.” And the brother said unto him, “Behold, father, I do meditate [on holy words], and the passion riseth not in my heart, but I do not know the power of the words”; then the old man answered and said unto him, “Thou canst only [continue] to meditate, but I have heard Abbâ Poemen and many fathers say this word: ‘The enchanter knoweth not the power of the words which he uttereth, but when the animal heareth them, it knoweth their power, and he becometh subservient, and submitteth itself [to him].’ Even so is it with us, for although we do not know the power of the words whereon we meditate, the devils know their power as soon as they hear them.”
571. The old men in Scete were asked concerning fornication, “When doth a man see a face in the passion stirred up in him?” And they said, “This matter is like unto a table which is loaded with meats of all kinds, and a man who seeketh and desireth to eat of them; but if a man putteth not forth his hand and
