93. Abbâ Poemen said, “The soul can be humbled by nothing except thou enfeeble it by the eating of [little] bread.”
94. They used to say about Abbâ Sarnâôs that he laboured exceedingly hard, and that he only ate two bread-cakes each day. And when he came to Abbâ Job, who was a man that was perfect in the laborious work of active excellence, and who was also a man that practised strict self-denial and abstinence, he said unto him, “As long as I live in my cell I can observe my rule of life, but if I go outside my cell I make openly submission because of the brethren.” Then Abbâ Sarnâôs said unto him, “To be able to keep hold upon thy rule of life only so long as thou art in thy cell is no great act of spiritual excellence, but it would be if thou couldst do so when thou didst go forth outside thy cell.”
95. Abbâ Poemen used to say, “As smoke driveth away bees, and men take the sweetness of their labour, even so also doth ease of the body drive away the fear of God from the heart, and it carrieth away all the good [effect] of its labour.”
96. On one occasion Abbâ Sylvanus and Zechariah his disciple were going to a monastery, and they prepared a little food to eat before they set out on their journey. And when they had gone forth his disciple found water on the way, and he wished to drink, but the old man said unto him, “Zechariah, to-day is a fast day,” but the disciple said, “Nay, O father, for behold we have eaten.” Then Abbâ Sylvanus said unto him, “The food which we ate was obligatory, but let us keep the fast, O my son.”
97. Abbâ Poemen said, “Every corporeal pleasure is contemptible before the Lord.”
98. The disciple of Abbâ Sisoes had to say unto him several times, “Rise up and let us eat.” And he used to say unto him, “My son, have we not eaten?” And the disciple would say unto him, “Nay, father.” Then the old man would say unto him, “If we have not eaten, bring the food and let us eat.”
99. Abbâ Daniel used to say, “In proportion as the body groweth, the soul becometh enfeebled; and the more the body becometh emaciated, the more the soul groweth.”
100. Abbâ Benjamin, the priest of the Cells, said, “On one occasion we went to a certain old man in Scete, and we wanted to give him a little oil; and he said unto us, ‘Behold, that little vessel of oil which ye brought to me three years ago is still lying in the place where ye put it, and it hath remained in the same state as that wherein ye brought it.’ And when we heard [this] we marvelled at the old man’s manner of life.”
101. Abbâ Benjamin also said, “We went to another old
