the Name of Christ, and the beasts also made themselves subject to him at his command. For it chanced on one occasion when he was journeying in the desert that he saw a herd of wild asses feeding, and he said unto them, “In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, let one of you come hither”; and one of them came, and crouched before him very gently, and the blessed man mounted him and sat upon him, and the animal carried him whither he wished to go.
416. One day when the blessed Anthony was sitting in the desert with the brethren about him, suddenly there fell upon him a state of stupor, and he became exceedingly sad and sorry, and he bent his knees and prayed; and when, after a long time, he stood up, he wept and groaned, and the old man began to pluck out his hair, and to throw it away. Now when the brethren saw him weeping they entreated him to tell them what he had seen; and he answered and said unto them, “A great pillar hath fallen this day from the church.” Now he spake concerning that holy man who had fallen from his rule of life. And he sent to him straightway two brethren to see what had happened and to comfort him, and when the holy man sawthem, hewailed andcried, and took dust and cast it upon his head, and he fell down before them, saying, “Go ye and say to Abbâ Anthony, ‘Pray for me that ten days may be given me to live, and I believe that I shall repent’ ”; but he died before five days had passed, and did not remain long enough to offer up repentance for his sin.
417. There was a certain man of noble rank who sold everything which he had, and divided [the money] among the poor and the strangers, and he shaved his head and went and dwelt in a monastery; now there remained to him a remnant of his possessions sufficient for his wants. And after a little time, when he had obtained freedom of speech, he began to be proud and to exalt himself above the other brethren, saying, “They lack education, and the knowledge of learning”; and the blessed Mâr Basil, the Bishop, sent him a message in a letter, saying, “Thou hast lost the great name which thou hadst in the world, for thou wast called ‘nobleman’, and thou hast not become a monk.”
418. Abbâ Gregory made an answer against the thoughts and said to the brethren, “My brethren, inasmuch as we have passed the measure of children, let us cease from the mind of children, that is to say, let us free ourselves from the careless habits of filthy lusts; for it would be a shameful thing for us if, since childhood hath passed from us, and old age hath come upon us, the things of shame had not also passed away from us.”
