578. An old man used to say, “Salt is produced by water, but if it falleth into water it becometh dissolved and is lost; similarly monks are born of women, but if they fall into women they are dissolved and perish from God.”
579. A certain father when he went out to become a monk was a virgin, and he did not even know that a whore existed among the children of men. And when he was dwelling in his cell the devils began to stir up in him the passion of fornication, and lifting up his eyes he saw the devils going round about him in the forms of Ethiopians, and they incited him to yield to the passion; then he rose up straightway and prayed, and said, “O Lord, help me,” and when he had said these things immediately a stone fell from the roof, and he heard, as it were, a sweet voice, and he seemed to enjoy a short respite from the thoughts of fornication. And he rose up and came to one of the old men and related the matter to him, and the old man answered and said, “I know not what this meaneth”; and he sent him on to Abbâ Poemen, and that brother related the matter unto him also. Then the old man said unto him, “The stone which thou didst see fall is the Calumniator, and that voice which thou didst hear is lust. Take heed unto thy soul, and make supplication unto God, and behold, thou shalt be freed from this war”; and Abbâ Poemen taught him how to contend against devils, and having prayed, he dismissed him, and that brother came to his cell. And he made entreaty and supplication unto God, and God granted him to attain to such a gift [of excellence] that, when that brother died, He was pleased that there should be revealed unto him whether it was well with his soul or not.
Now in another manuscript instead of the words, “He rose up and prayed,” it is thus written:—He saw the devils surrounding him in the forms of Ethiopians and they were inciting him to yield to the passion. And he said, “This natural member which stablisheth man is like unto a spout in a tank which letteth out water, and it is also like a conduit which carrieth the water off a roof; similarly this member carrieth off water from a man.” And having said these words straightway the stone fell, &c.
580. On one occasion a certain man went out to Scete to become a monk, and he took with him his son as soon as he had been weaned; and when the boy was grown up and had become a young man, the war of fornication attacked him, and he said unto his father, “I will go into the world, father, for I cannot endure this striving against fornication.” Then his father entreated him to persevere, but at length the boy said to his father, “Father, I cannot bear it any longer, let me go”; and his father said unto him, “My son, hearken to me for this time only.
