one thought like unto Abbâ Anthony, the whole of me would become like unto fire; but I know one man who, even with great labour, is able to bear his thoughts.”
308. Abbâ Abraham asked Abbâ Agathon, saying, “How is it that the devils make war upon me?” And Abbâ Agathon said unto him, “Do the devils make war upon thee? But they do not make war against us so fiercely as we ourselves do with our own wishes, though they do make war against us in proportion as our wishes do. Our desires become devils, and they force us to fulfil them. Now if thou wishest to see against whom they have made war, [it is] against Moses and those who resemble him.”
309. A brother asked an old man, saying, “In what condition is it meet for a monk to be?” And he said, “Even as I myself am, if one may [compare] one man with another.”
310. And an old man was also asked, “Why am I afraid when I go about in the desert?” The old man said unto him, “Because thou art still alive.”
311. A brother asked an old man, saying, “Why doth my spirit go round and round violently?” And he said unto him, “Because thou hast not yet seen the storehouse of life.”
312. And he was also asked, “What is it meet for a monk to do?” And he said, “Let him perform all kinds of good works in very deed, and let him acquire remoteness from every evil thing.”
313. And he was also asked, “What is a monk’s work?” And he said, “He must possess discretion.”
314. An old man said, “Unto every thought that riseth up in thee say, “Art thou of us, or of our enemies?” And the thought will always make confession unto thee.
315. Abbâ Agathon used to say, “The crown of the monk is humility.”
316. Abbâ Isidore said, “When I was a youth and was living in a cell, I possessed not the capacity for the service [of prayer and praise], for by night and by day there was service to me.”
317. He also said, “For forty years, I neither leaned upon anything nor lay down.”
318. He also said, “I was standing forty nights, and did not lie down.”
319. He also said, “For twenty years I continued to fight against one thought—that I might see all men of one mind.”
320. An old man was asked, “Why is it that whilst I am sitting in my cell my heart wandereth about?” The old man said to his questioner, “Because thine external lusts feel the motions which are in hearing, and in breathing, and in
