not waged war against them with all his strength, because he hath not been permitted so to do, and he hath not been permitted to do so because of their feebleness and laxity. For the war of fornication which cometh upon a man only attacketh him in the degree which he is able to bear. For, behold, the great and famous fathers who endured this war in all its severity for a long time were always in a state of fear and trepidation, as was also Abbâ Arsenius, who was a man eighty years old; and when the noble lady came to him and said, ‘Remember me in thy prayers,’ he did not hesitate to say, ‘I will pray to God that He may blot the remembrance of thee out of my heart.’ And by means of this which he spake, he put to shame the demon of fornication, and shewed how great was the hatred for this unclean passion that warreth against the holy men which he possessed.”
[The story of Martînyânâ and the harlot is as follows:—There was a certain monk who dwelt in the desert, and whose name was Martînyânâ, and he laboured in great works, and God wrought by his hands many mighty deeds, and he was applauded by all men. Now when Satan, the Evil One, saw that he was greatly applauded he became bitterly angry, and he wished to distract and to withdraw him from his rule of life and ascetic labours. One day Satan saw that many folk were glorifying him, and he went and dwelt in a certain harlot, and he sent her to the blessed man in order to make him fall. So the harlot took her attire, and placed it in a bag, and went to the holy man, and when she arrived at his abode it was evening; and she knocked at the door and said, “O Saint Martînyânâ, open the door to me, so that the wild beasts may not eat me.” Now the holy man thought that she was a phantom, and he rose up and prayed, and since meanwhile she ceased not to cry out, he rose up from his prayer, and opened the door to her, and said to her, “Whence comest thou to me, O devil?” And she said, “[My] companions have forsaken me on the road, and I wandered about in the desert, and have arrived hither”; and he left her [there], and went into the inner cell, and shut the door thereof between himself and her. And after the old man had laid down to sleep the harlot arrayed herself in her attire, and put on her ornaments, and then sat down; and when the morning had come, the old man went forth from his cell, and seeing her dressed he said to her, “Whence art thou? What is thy business?” And she said, “I am a daughter of people of high degree, and my parents are dead, and they have left me great wealth. I heard that thou wast a great man, and I have come to thee, and I beg thee to come to my house and take me to wife, and we will live
