widowes and virgins imitate her let marryed woemē reuerence her let such as are faulty feare her and let Priests looke with much respect vpon her Saint Hierome to Marcella by occasion of the sicknes and true conuersion of Blesilla ABRAHAM was tempted concerning his sonne and was found so much the more faithfull Ioseph was sould into Aegypt that he might feed his Father and his brethren Ezechias was frighted by the sight of death at hand that so pouring himselfe forth in teares his life might be prolonged for fifteen years The Apostle Peter was shaken in the Passion of our Lord that weeping bitterly he might heare those wordes Feed my sheepe Paul that rauening wolfe and who withall grew to be a second Beniamin was blinded in an extasis that so he might se afterwards being compassed in by a sudden horrour of darkenes he called vpon God whom he had persecuted long as man And so now O Marcella we haue seem our Blesilla boyle vp for the space of almost thirty dayes in a burning feauer to the end that she might know that the Regalo of that body was to be reiected which soon after was to be fed vpon by worms Our Lord Iesus came also to her and touched her hand and behould she rises vp and doth him seruice She had some little tincture of negligence being tyed vp in the swathing bāds of riches she lay dead in the sepulchre of this world But Iesus groaned deepely and cryed out in spirit saying Come forth Blesilla As soon as she was called she rose and being come forth she eates with our Lord. Let the Iewes threaten and swel let them seeke to kill her who is raised vp to life and let the Apostles onely reioyce at it She knowes that she owes him her life who restored it to her She knowes that she now imbraces his feet of whose iudgment she formerly was affrayd Her body lay euen almost without life and approaching death did euen shake her panting limmes Where were then the succours of her friends Where were those words which vse to be more vayne then any smoke She ows nothing to thee O vngratefull kinred of flesh and blood she who is dead to the world who is reuiued to Christ. Let him who is a Christiā reioyce and he who is offended at this declares himselfe not to be a Christian. The widow who is free from the tye of marriage hath no more to do but to perseuer But you will say that some will be scandalized at her browne coat Let them he scādalized also at Iohn thē whome there was none greater amōgst the sonnes of men who being called an Angel baptized our Lord himselfe and was clad with a camels skinne and was girt in by a girdle of haire If meane fare displease them there is nothing meaner then locusts Nay let Christian eyes be scādalized rather at these woemen who paint themselues with red and whose plastered faces being deformed euen with extreme whitenes make them like Idolls from whome if before they be aware any drop of teares breake out it makes ◅ furrow in their cheeks whome euen the number of their years cannot teach them how old they are for they strew their crowne with strange haire and they dresse vp their past youth in wrinckles of their present age and in fine though they trēble with being so old yet in presence of whole troupes of their grand-children they will still be tricked vp like delicate and tender maides Let a Christian woman be ashamed if she would compell Nature to make her handsome if she fullfill the care of her flesh towardes concupiscence for they who rest in that cannot please Christ as the Apostle sayth Our widow formerly would be dressing her selfe with a stiffe kind of care would be inquiring all day long of the glasse what it might be that she wanted And now she confidently sayth But all we contemplating the glory of our Lord with a cleare face are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the spirit of our Lord. Then did her maides marshall her haire in order and the crowne of her head which had made no fault was imprisoned by certaine Coronets crisped with irons But now her head is so much neglected as to know that it carryes inough if it be but vayled In those dayes the very softnes of downe would seeme hard and she would scarce be content to ly in beds when they were euen built vp to giue her ease but now she ryses vp full of hast to pray and with her shrill voice snatching the Allelluia out of the others mouthes her selfe is the first to prayse her Lord. Her knees are bent vpon the bare ground and that face which formerly had beene defiled and daub'd with painting is now often washed with teares After prayers they rattle out the Psalmes and her very necke her weake hammes and her eyes pointing towardes sleep can hardly yet through the excessiue ardour of her mind obtaine leaue that they may take rest Her browne coat is least fowled when she lyes vpon the ground She is poorely shod and the price of her former guilded shooes is now bestowed vpon the poore Her girdle is not now distinguished by studdes of gold and precious stone but it is of woll as simple poore as can be made such as indeed may rather tye in her cloathes then gird her body If the serpent enuy this purpose of hers and with faire speech perswade her to eat againe of the forbidden Tree let him be stricken with an Anathema let it be sayd to him as he is dying in his owne dust Goe backe Sathan which by interpretation is aduersary For an aduersary he is of Christ and he is an Antichrist who is displeased with the Precepts of Christ. Tell me I pray you what such thing euer did we as the Apostles did vnder the colour whereof men should be scandalized at vs They forsooke an old Father and their nets and ships The Publican ryses from the custome-house and followes our Sauiour one of the Disciples being desirous to returne home and declare his purpose to his friends is forbidden by the commandment of his Master Euen buriall not giuen to one by his Father and it is a kind of piety to want such piety for the loue of our Lord. Because we weare no silke we are esteemed to be Monkes because we will not be drunke nor dissolue our selues in loud laughter we are called seuer and sad people If our coat be not faire and white we are presently encountred with the by-word of being Impostours and Greekes Let them slander vs with more sly cunning if they will and carry vp downe their fat-backes with their full panches Our Blesilla shall laugh at them nor will she be sory to heare the reproaches of these croaking frogs when her Lord himselfe was called Belzebub Saint Hierome to Pope Damasus BECAVSE the Eastern part of the world being
of Christ in which age the Iewes conceiue Adam was created and when we read that our Lord and Sauiour rose againe besides many other proofes which I brought out of both TestameÌ„ts wherewith to straÌ„gle the hereticke And from that time Paula did so beginne to detest the man and all them who were of his doctrine that she proclamed them with a loud voice to be the enemyes of our Lord Now these thinges I haue mentioned not that I would briefly confute the heresy which is to be answered in many volumes but to the end I might shew the faith of so great a woman as she was who chose rather to vndergo the continuall emnities of men then to prouoke the wrath of God by entertayning such friendships as were faulty I will therefore say as I began there was nothing more docile then her wit She was slow to speake swift to heare as being mindefull of this precept Hearken O Israel and hold thy peace She had the holy Scriptures without booke And though she loued the historicall part thereof and said that it was the foundation and the ground of truth yet she did much more affect the spirituall meaning of it and by that high sence she secured the edificatioÌ„ of her soule In fine she compelled me that together with her daughter she might read ouer both the old Testament and the new whilest I expounded it Which I denying at the first for modesties sake yet at last in regard of her frequent desires I was content to teach that which I had learnt of my selfe that is to say I learnt it not of presumptioÌ„ which is the worst Master of all others but of the most illustrious men of the Church If at any time I were at a stand did ingenuously confesse myne owne ignorance she would neuer leaue me in peace but by a perpetuall kind of demaund compel me to declare out of many various opinions which seemed the most probable to me I will also speake of another particular which in the eye of enuious persons will seem to haue somewhat of the incredible She had a mind to learne the Hebrew tongue which I had gotten in some measure with much labour and sweat from my very youth and euen yet I do not forsake the study with a kind of indefatigable meditation thereof least I should grow to be forsaken by it And she also hath so obtayned this tongue as that she can read the psalmes in Hebrew and pronounce the language without any accent of the Latin tongue which we also see euen to this day in her holy daughter Eustochium who euer so adhered to her mother and so liued vnder her comaÌ„dments that she neuer lodged nor fed nor went without her nor had one penny in her power but did reioyce to see that little fortune which was left of her Fathers and Mothers patrimony to be bestowed by her Mother vpon poore folkes and she esteemed the duty she ought her parent to be her greatest inheritance and riches I must not passe ouer in silence with how great ioy she did eueÌ„ exult when she heard that her graÌ„dchild the young Paula who was begotten and borne of Leta and Toxotius yea conceiued with a desire and promise from them both of future chastity did sing forth Allelluia with her stammering tongue in her cradle in the middest of other childish toyes did breake forth the names of her grandmother and her aunt by halfe words In this alone she had still a desire concerning her couÌ„try to know that her sonne her daughter in law her grandchild had renounced the world and serued Christ our Lord which in part she hath obtayned for her grand-child is reserued to weare the vayle of Christ. Her daughter in law deliuered her selfe ouer to eternall chastity her sonne in law followes on in faith almes and other good workes and endeauoureth to expresse that at Rome which she hath accomplished at Ierusalem But what do we O my soule why fearest thou to come so farre as her end Already the booke is growne big whilest we feare to come to this last cast as if whilest we conceale it employ our selues vpon her praises we were able to put off her death Hitherto we haue sayled with a fore-wind our sliding ship hath plowed vp the crisping waues of the Sea at ease But now my discourse is falling vpon rockes and I am in such dauÌ„ger of present ship wracke as makes me say Saue vs Master for we perish And againe Rise vp O Lord why doest thou sleep For who can with dry eyes speake of Paula dying She fel into extreame indispositioÌ„ or rather she found what she sought in leauing vs and in being more fully ioyned to our Lord. In which sicknesse the approued dear affection of the daughter Eustochium to her mother was more confirmed in the eyes of al She would be sitting vpon the beds side she would hold the fanne to moue the ayre she would beare vp her head apply the pillow rubbe her feet cherish her stomacke with her hand compose her bed warme water for her bring the bason and preuent all the maydes in those seruices and whatsoeuer any other had done to hold that she her selfe had lost so much of her own reward With what kind of prayers with what kind of â—…tations and groanes would she be shooting her selfe swiftly vp and downe between that caue where our Lord had bene layd her mother lying in her bed that she might not be depriued of such an inestimable conuersation that she might not liue an houre after her that the same Bier might deliuer them both vp to one buriall But O frayle and caduke nature of mortall men for vnlesse the faith of Christ raised vp to heauen and that the eternity of the soule were promised our bodies would be subiect to as meane condition as beasts they of the basest kind The same death seises vpon the iust and wicked man vpon the good and bad the cleane and the vncleane him who sacrifices and him who sacrifices not as the good man so him who sins as him who sweares so him who feares to sweare an oath Both men beasts are dissolued into dust and ashes after the same manner Why do I make any further pause and encrease my sorrow by prolonging it This most wise of woemen found that death was at hand and that some part of her body and of her limmes being already cold there was onely a little warmth of life which weakely breathed in her holy brest yet neuertheles as if she had bene but going to visit her friends take her leaue of strangers â—…he would be whispering out those verses O Lord I haue loued the 〈◊〉 order of thy house the place of the habitation of thy glory And How belouâ—…d are thy tabernacles O God of power my soule hath euen saynted with an amorous kind of desire of entring into the Court of thy house
great Anthony who was directed so to do by a diuine reuelation he slept in our Lord. The life of this Paul is elegantly described by Saint Hierome THE LIFE IT hath beene often doubted among many by what Monke the Desart was first inhabited Some haue reached at it so high as to ascribe the first beginning to B. Elias then to Iohn But Elias seemes to vs to haue rather beene a Prophet then a Monke and Iohn to haue begun to be a kind of a Prophet before he was borne But some others affirme and they haue brought the whole vulgar to be of their opinion that Anthony was the first in vndertaking this kind of life which yet is but partly true For it is not so properly to be sayd that he was the first of all the Eremites as that he gaue spirit to the endeauours and designes of them all But Amathas and Macharius who were the disciples of this Anthony and whereof the former buryed the body of his Maister affirme euen to this day that a certaine Paul of Thebais was the chiefe and prime man of this Institute which opinion we also approue though not so much because he carries the name of it as vpon other reasons Many there are who spread abroad both these and other thinges at their pleasure as namely that there was a certaine man all hairy to his very feet who hid himselfe in a hoale vnder ground and they deuise many incredible thinges not worth the relating and since their affirmation is so voyd of shame their opinion seemes not worthy of confutation But now for as much as a diligent account hath beene giuen vs of this Anthony both in the Greeke and Latin tongue I haue disposed my selfe to write some few thinges of the beginning end of Paul rather because it hath beene omitted by others then that I presume vpon my selfe For as for the manner of his life in the middle part of his age and what subtil sly temptations of Sathan he sustayned there is no mortall man who can tell vs any newes thereof Vnder Decius and Valerian us the persecutors at such time as Cornelius at Rome Cyprian at Carthage were condēned to the felicity of shedding their blood many Churches in Aegipt Thebais were blasted by a bitter storme of persecution The Christians of that time desired no better then to giue their liues for the name of Christ by the compendious stroke of the sword but the crafty aduersary going in search after slower punishments for the deliuery of men ouer to death did more desire to cut the throates of soules then of bodies and as was said by Cyprian who himselfe suffered Martirdome he would not permit them to be killed who were euen desirous to dye And now to the end that his cruelty may be the more notorious we haue heere committed two examples to memory When a certaine Martyr was perseuering in his faith and continued to be conquerors in the middest both of rackes burning plates the persecutor commanded that he should be anoynted all ouer with hony and so with his handes bound behind him be extended vnder a scorching Sunne with his face vpward to the end that he might yeild himselfe vpon the sting of flyes who before had bene victorious ouer the torments of fyer He commanded another Martyr who was flourishing in the very prime of his youth to be led aside into a most delicious garden there in the middest of pure lyllies and blushing roses where also a streame of water was creeping on with a soft bubling noise and the wind gently whisling checkt the leaues of the trees to be spred with his face vpward vpon a bed stuffed with downe and to be left tyed there with silken bandes to the end that so he might not be able to deliuer himselfe from thence Now vpon the retiring of all them who were present a beautifull Curtisan came to make her approach and began with her delicate armes to embrace his necke and which cannot be modestly related did also impurely touch him otherwise to the end that his body being altered and inflamed by lust the lasciuious conquerors might ouerspred him This souldier of the band of Christ knew not what to do nor which way to turne himselfe whome torments had not subdued delight was beginning to ouercome when at length inspired from heauen he bit of his owne tongue spitting it into the face of her who kissed him the sense of lust was subdued by the sharpenes of that payne which succeeded At that time therefore when such thinges as these were acted in the inferiour T◅ebau when the Sister of Paul was then already bestowed by him in marriage himselfe hauing a rich inheritance descended to him by the death of both his Parents whilest then he was of the age of about fifteene years and hauing beene eminently instructed in the literature both of the Graecians and Egyptians indued with a meeke spirit which greatly loued God and finding that the storme of persecutions brought such thunder with it he tooke a resolution of retiring into a remote and priuate villa of his owne But O thou vast desire of gould How hugely doest thou make men bould His Sisters husband grew to betray him whome he ought to haue concealed nor could the teares of the wife nor the respects of common blood nor the consideration of God behoulding all thinges from on high disswade him from that wickednes But cruelty vrged him to do those thinges though the pretext which it tooke was from piety Now as soone as this most discreet young man grew to vnderstand thus much he fled towardes the desart Mountaynes where he might expect the end of this persecution and so voluntarily he made a vertue of necessity And proceeding on by little and little and then pawsing and often doing the same thing at last he met with a great rocky hill neer the bottome whereof there was a large kind of caue shut vp by a stone Vpon the remouing of which stone he being more earnest in making new discoueries according to the nature of man which loues the knowledge of hidden thinges he perceaued a great entry there within which being open to the sky aboue was ouerspred by the wide braunches of an ould Palme tree poynting out a most cleare fountayne the streame where of breaking onely out of the ground the same earth which had brougbt it forth did instantly sucke it vp againe through a little hole There were moreouer throughout that worne mountayne not a few old roomes wherein there might be seene certaine anuiles hammers which by that tyme were growen rough with rust and formerly had beene imployed vpon stamping coyne And it is related by the Aegyptians that this place had beene vsed as a secret mint-house of money at such tyme as Cleopatra kept that close intelligence with Antonius But Paul growing now to carry a particular kind of loue to this Caue as if it had beene
account Their Predecessors the Pharisies did the selfe same thing heeretofore when neither the desart and fasts of Iohn nor the couersation or society in eating and drinking which was vsed by our Lord Sauiour knew how to please But I will begin the worke which I haue in hand and passe by those barking Dogs with a deafe eare Hilarion was borne in a little towne called Thabatha which is situated towardes the South about fiue miles from Gaza a Citty of Palestine and he sprung as men are wont to say like a Rose out of thornes for he had Idolaters to his Parēts He was sent by them to Alexandria and applyed to the study of Grammar and there for as much as might be expected from one of his tender yeares he gaue great testimony in a short tyme both of his wit and good conuersation He was deere to all them who knew him and he was a Maister of speech and which passes these prayses he was a belieuer in our Lord Iesus and did not delight in those mad sportes which were exhibited in the Circus nor in the luxurious entertainements of the Theatre where so great essusiō of blood was made His whole comfort was to be at Church when Christians were assembled there Being then growen to heare the famous name of Anthony which was celebrated through all the parts of Aegypt he went on towards the desart through a desire he had to see him This he no sooner did but instantly he changed his former habit and remayned with him vpon the point of two Months contemplating the order of his life and the grauity of his conuersation how frequent he was in prayer how humble in receauing b◅ brethren how seuere in reprehending them how cheerefull in exhorting them and how no corporall indisposition did at any time interrupt the abstinent rigid dyet which he kept But then Hilarion being no longer able to endure the frequēt concourse of them who resorted to Antony by occasion either of being possessed by Diuels or of seuerall other infirmityes and not houlding it to be conuenient for him to endure such troupes of inhabitants of Citties in such a wildernes as that and conceauing that he was rather to begin as Anthony had done and that Anthony was then enioying the fruites of his victory like an ould souldier but that himselfe had scarce begun to carry armes he returned with some Monkes into his owne countrey And his Parents by that tyme being dead he distributed part of his substance to his Brothers and part to the poore reseruing nothing at all to himselfe as fearing both the example and punishment of Ananias and Saphyra in the Acts of the Apostles and remembring this saying of our Lord He who renounces not all that which he possesses can be no disciple of myne He was then about fifteene yeares of age and thus being naked but yet armed with Christ he entred into that Desart which is distant seauen mile from Matoma the staple of Gaza which lyes vpon the Sea coast on the left hād of them who go towards Aegypt And although those places were all stained with the bloud of many murthers and his friendes and kindred did declare the imminent danger to which he exposed himselfe yet he despised one kind of death that he might escape another All men wondred at his courage and they wondred also at his tender yeares sauing that the flame of his hart and certaine sparkes of fayth did euen shine out by his eyes His face was but thinne his body was delicate and leane and sensible of any iniury of weather of the trouble of any little either heat or could Hauing therfore all couered himselfe with sacke-cloath and besides wearing a shirt of haire which the B. Anthony had giuen him togeather with a country Cassocke at his departure he betooke himselfe to a vast and terrible kind of wildernes betweene the Sea shore on the one side certaine fenns on the other eating only fifteene dryed Figs euery day after Sunne set And because those parts were growen infamous by the multitude of cruell robberies which were cōmitted there abouts he neuer vsed to stay long in the selfe same place What had the Diuell now to do Which way should he turne himselfe He who once had vaunted and sayd I will pl◅nt my throne vpon the starres of Heauen and I will be like the most High perceaued himselfe now to be ouercome by a child and to be sooner troden vpon by him then he was able in effect through his tender yeares to tread at all The Diuell did therefore then begin to moue the sence of Hilarion and to suggest such motiues of lust as be vsuale when bodies are budding first in the spring of youth This young souldier of Christ was euen constrayned to thinke vpon obiects whereof he was ignorant to looke with the eye of his phansy vpon the whole story of that businesse wherof he had neuer taken any experience Vpon this being angry with himselfe and beating his breast with his fist as if he had beene able to destroy his thoughts with his handes I will take order sayth he thou little Asse that thou shalt not kicke nor will I feed thee with corne but with straw I will starue thee and I will lay heauy load vpon thee I will exercise and tyre thee out both by heates and coldes that so thou mayst haue more care how to get a bit of meat then how to satisfy thy lust So that whē his very life would be fayling after the fast of three or foure dayes he would sustaine it with the iuyce of herbes and a few dryed Figs praying singing often he would also be breaking the ground with a rake that so the labour of his working might ad to the trouble of his fasting And weauing small twigs together with great rushes he imitated the discipline of the Aegiptian Moncks remembred the sentence of the Apostle saying He who doth not worke must not eat Being thus extenuated and hauing his body so farre exhausted as that it would scarce hang together he began one night to heare the crying of Infants the bleating of Sheep the bellowing of Oxen the lamentation as if it had been of Woemē the roaring of Lyons the clashing noyse of an Army and such a confusion of prodigious sounds that being frighted with the noyse of them before he perceaued any sight his hart began to faynt But he soone found them to be scornes plots of the Diuell and so casting himselfe then vpon his knees he signed his forhead with the Crosse of Christ. Being defended with such a helmet as that and compassed in by the coat armour of fayth he fought more valiantly as he was layd downe then before already then desiring to see them whom formerly he had euen trembled to heare and looking for thē round about with earnest eyes When behould vpon the sodayne he perceaued by the shining of the Moone that a charriot drawen
by burning horses came rushing on towards him and as soon as he had called vpon Iesus all that businesse was swallowed vp before his eyes by a sudden gaping of the earth Vpon this he sayd He hath cast the horse and the horseman into the sea and some trust in their chariots and some in their horses but we will be magnifyed in the name of the Lord our God Many were his temptations and many snares were set by the Diuels for him day night all which if I would vndertake to relate I should exceed the measure of one volume How often would naked Woemen appeare to him as he was resting How often would most sumptuous dyet be set before him when he was fasting Sometimes the yelling wolfe and the grinning fox would be leaping ouer him when he was praying and when he was singing some fight of Gladiators would present it selfe and one as if he had bene killed did once fall downe before his feet desiring buriall at his hands He was praying with his head bowed downe to the ground and his mind being once distracted according to humane fraylty he had I know not what other thought when instantly a nimble rider got vpon his backe beating his sides with his heeles and his necke with his whippe and sayd why sleepest thou scornfully laughing at him as he sat did aske him when he was faynting whether he would eat any prouender or no Now from the sixteenth years of his age til the twentyth he declyned the heates and raynes in a poore short little Houel which he had woeuen of reeds and boughes Afterwards he built a little poore Cell for himselfe which is extant to this day It had but the breadth of foure foot and the height of fiue so that it was lower then he in length it was a little longer then the extent of his body so that you would rather haue esteemed it to be a graue then a house He cut his haire once euery yeare and it was at Easter He lay perpetually till his death vpon the bare ground with a matte He neuer washed that sacke-cloath which he had ōce put on affirming that it was idle to looke for neatnes in ◅aircloathes nor did he euer change any coat till it were vtterly worne out The holy scriptures he had without booke and after his prayers and the psalmes he would recite them as in the presence of God And because it would be a long businesse to discouer step by step how he rose vp towards perfection in the seuerall ages of his life I will brieflly first comprehend the history thereof in grosse and so lay it before the eyes of the Reader and then I will in order deliuer a more particular Relation Between the one and twentyth the seauen twentyth yeare of his age he daily tooke for three yeares a little more then half a pint of pulse steeped in cold water and during the other three he tooke dry bread with water and salt From the seauen twentyth to the thirtyth he was sustayned by wild herbes and by the rootes of certaine plantes taken rawe From the one thirtyth to the siue thirtyth he tooke for his dayly food six ounces of barly bread and some kitchin herbes but halfe boyled and without oyle But obseruing that his eyes began already to dazle and that his whole body grew to haue a kind of itch vpon it and to be subiect to an vnnaturall kind of roughnes he added oyle to his former dyet and till the sixtyth yeare of his age he ranne on in this degree of abstinence not once so much as tasting either pulse or fruit or any other thing At last when he found his body to be euen all ouerwrought and conceiued that his death was very neer at hand from the sixty fourth till the eightyth yeare of his age he abstayned euen from bread also with incredible feruour of mind proceeding as if he were but then newly entring into the seruice of God whereas others at that time are wont to be more remisse in their manner of life But hauing fourescore years of age there were made for him certaine little poore broths of flower and herbs which were broken or cut the whole proportion both of meat and drinke scarce arriuing to the waight of foure ounces thus he wēt through the whole order of his life neuer broke his fast till Sun set though it were vpon the highest feasts or in his greatest sicknes But now it is time that I returne to speake particularly of thinges in order When he was yet dwelling in his houel hauing eighteen yeares of age there came vpon him certaine murthering theeues either as thinking that he had somewhat which was worth the carrying away or els as houlding that it amounted to be a kind of contempt of them that a solitary youth should presume not to be affrayd of theyr force So as scouring that quarter between the sea and the Fens from the euening to Sūne rising neuer being able to meet with his lodging but once hauing found him in broad day light what wouldest thou do sayd they if now the murthering theeues should come To whom he answered That the naked man feares no theeues Whereupon they sayd yet there is no doubt but thou mayest be killed I may saith he and therefore do I feare no murthering theeues because I am ready to dy But they admiring his constancy and strong faith confessing how they had been wandring by night and that theyr eyes had been blinded from finding him did make him a promise to lead a better life from that tyme forward By this time he had been two and twenty yeares in that desart and was generally knowne by fame and published ouer all the cittyes of Palestine when in the meane while a certaine woman of Eleutheropolis who perceaued her selfe to be neglected by her husband by reason of her barrennes for already she had passed fifteene yeares without yeelding any fruit of mariage was the first who presumed to breake in vpon the Blessed Hilarion And he suspecting no such matter she cast her selfe sodainly downe at his knees and sayd Pardon this bouldnes pardon this necessity of myne VVhy doe you turne away your eyes VVhy fly you from your suiter Looke not on me as a woman but as a miserable creature Yet this sexe brought forth the Sauiour of the world not the whole but the sicke need the Physitian At length he stayed and looking after so long time vpon her he demanded the reason both of her comming of her weeping which as soone as he had vnderstood he cast vp his eyes to heauen bidding her haue fayth and following her with teares he saw her with a sonne at the yeares end This first miracle of his was illustrated by another greater Aristaene the wife of Elpidius who afterward was Captaine of the Guarde a woman of great nobility in her Country and yet more noble among Christians
ly hidden from the inhabitants also of that place but the men woemen there hauing their faces all growen wanne and worne with hunger came crowding to desire some showres of rayne of the seruant of Christ that is of the successour of the Blessed Anthony As soone as he beheld them he was stricken with strange griefe and casting his eyes vp to heauen and raysing both his handes on high he instantly obtayned what they desired But behould that dry and sandy country as soone as it was wel watered with raine budded forth vpon the sudden such a multitude of Serpents and other venemous creatures that innumerable persons had instantly perished if they had not made recourse to Hilarion But all those Sheepheards Country people applying certaine Oyle which he had blessed did assuredly recouer their health Yet perceauing himselfe to be also obserued there with strange kindes of honour he went on to Alexandria resolued to proceed from thence to that desart of the more remote Oasa and because from the first tyme that he had beene a Moncke he had neuer remayned in any Citty he turned a while to certaine Brothers wel knowne to him in Brutium not farre from Alexandria who when they had receaued the old man with an admirable kind of ioy they suddenly heard the night being then at hand that his disciples were making ready his Asse and that he was prouiding to be gone And therfore casting themselues at his feet they desired him to change his mind and then lying also prostrate before the threshold of the doore they professed that they would rather dy then loose such a guest He answered them after this manner I make hast to be gone for the preuenting of your trouble and you shall be sure to know heereafter that I went not hence so suddenly without cause The next day therefore they of Gaza went forth with their officers for they knew that Hilarion was come thither the day before and they entred into the Monastery and when they found him not there they sayd thus to one another Are not those thinges true which we haue sayd of this man A Magitian he is and knowes future thinges But the Citty of Gaza when once Hilarion was gone out of Palestine and Iulianus had succeeded in the Empire hauing already destroyed the Monastery made a petition to the Emperour for the death of Hilarion and Hesychius and they obtayned it and warrants were sent out through the whole world that they should be sought Hilarion therfore being gone from Brutium entred into Oasa by an impenetrable kind of desart and there hauing spent little more or lesse then a yeare he could only thinke of sayling ouer to some Ilandes that whome the earth had published at least the Sea might conceale for the fame of him had also arriued as farre as that place where thē he was and now he could no longer hide himselfe in the Easterne partes of the world where he was knowne to so many both by reputation and person About that very tyme Adrianus a disciple of his came suddenly to him out of Palestine bringing newes that Iulian was slaine and that a Christian Emperour began to raigne and that it became him to returne ro the Relickes of his Monastery He heard but detested that motiō hauing procured a Camell he came through a vast solitude to Paretonium a Sea-towne of Libya but the vnfortunate Adrian being willing to returne to Palestine and seeking to enioy his former glory vnder the title of his Master did him many wronges and at last hauing trussed vp those things togeather which had beene sent to Hilarion by certaine Brothers he went away without his priuity Vpon this occasiō because we are not likely to haue any other I will only tell you for the terrour of such as despise their Maisters and teachers that shortly aftér this man did rot of the Kings euill The old man therefore hauing one of Gaza with him did embarke himselfe vpon a ship which was bound for Sicily and when by the sale of a booke contayning the Ghospell which himselfe being young had written with his owne hādes he meant to haue payd for his passage the Masters sonne was suddenly possesséd by a Diuell about the middest of the Adriatike sea and began to cry out and say Hilarion thou seruant of God why dost thou not permit vs to be in safety euen at Sea Giue me day till I may come to land least being cast out heere I be precipitated into the Abysse He made answere to him thus Stay if my God will let thee stay but if he will cast thee out why dost thou lay it to my charge who am a sinnefull man and a beggar This he sayd least the Marriners and Marchants who were in the ship should publish him when they came to land But soone after this the boy was freed both his father and the rest who were present giuing their wordes that they would not name him at all Being entred within Pachinum which is a Promōtory of Sicily he offered the Maister his booke of the Ghospels for the passage of himselfe and the man of Gaza which Maister euen from the first had no mind to receaue it especially when he saw that they had nothing but that booke and their cloaths and so at last he swore he would not take it But the old man being inflammed through the experimentall comfort he had in being poore did reioyce so much the more both because in very deed he had nothing of this world and for that he was also esteemed a beggar by the Inhabitants of that place And yet doubting least some Marchants who vsed to come out of the Easterne parts might detect him he fled towardes the In-land that is some twenty miles from the Sea and there in a kind of wild little Country making daily vp some fagot of wood he would lay it vpon the backe of his disciple and that being sold in the next Towne did help them to some very little bread which might serue by way of reliefe both to themselues and such others as by chaunce vsed to passe that way But indeed according to that which is written The Citty placed vpon a hill cannot be concealed For when a certaine Buckler-maker was tormented in S. Peters Church at Rome the vncleane spirit cryed out in him after this manner Some few dayes since Hilarion the seruant of Christ came into Sicily and no mā knowes him and he thinkes he lyes secret there but I will go and reueale him Soone after this the same man shipping himselfe at Porto with his seruants arriued at Pachinum the Diuel conducting him till he might prostrate himselfe before the little poore cottage of the old man he was immediatly cured This first miracle of his in Sicily drew an innumerable multitude of sicke men as also of deuout persons to him so farre forth that a certaine man of much quality being sicke of a Dropsy was cured by
heard to be crying out from the Citties and Townes there abouts as if they were approaching towardes the shoare He therefore being come to Papho◅ that Citty of Cyprus which hath beene so ennobled by the inuention of Poets and which being fallen by frequent earthquaks doth now by the only appearance of the ruines shew what formerly it had beene liued obscurely within two miles of that place was glad that he might spend those few dayes in peace But twenty dayes more were not fully passed when throughout that whole Iland all those persons who were possessed with vncleane spirits began to cry out that Hilarion the seruant of Christ was come they must hasten towards him This did Salamina this did Curium and Lapetha and this did all those other Cittyes proclaime most of them affirming that indeed they knew Hilarion and that he was the true seruant of God but that they knew not where he kept So that within thirty or few dayes more there came to him two hundred possessed persons as well men as woemen As soone as he saw them he did so grieue that they would not giue him leaue to be quiet and being cruell after a sort in the way of reuenge vpon himselfe he did so whip vp those spirits by the extreame instance of his prayers that some of the possessed were presently deliuered others after two or three dayes and all within the compasse of a weeke Staying therfore there two yeares and euer being in thought how to fly away he sent Hesychius into Palestine to salute his Brethren and to visit the ashes or ruines of his Monastery with order that he should returne the next spring after Now though vpon the former returne of Hesychius thither Hilarion resolued to haue gone againe into Aegypt and namely to certaine places which are called Bucolia because no Christiās were there but it was a fierce and barbarous nation Hesychius did yet persuade him that he should rather procure to find out some more retired place in that very Iland where he was And when after long search in all those partes Hesychius had found one he conducted him twelue miles of from the Sea into the middle of certaine secret craggy mountaines to which a man was hardly able to ascend euen by creeping vpon his handes and knees He entred then and contemplated that so retyred and terrible place enuironed on all sides with trees and hauing store of water descending from the brow of the hill and a little kind of very delightfull garden and great store of fruit-trees the fruit wherof he yet did neuer taste There were also the ruines of a most ancient Temple from whence as himself related and his disciples testify to this present day there was heard the noyse of such an innumerable multitude of Diuels as that a man would euen conceaue it to haue beene some Army He was much delighted with this as finding that he had Antagonists at hand and there he dwelt fifteen yeares and in that last part of his life he was much comforted by the often visits of Hesychius For otherwise by reason of the great difficulty and craggines of the place and the multitude of Ghosts which were vulgarly sayd to be walking there either very few or none had both the power and the courage to go vp thither But yet vpon a certaine day going out of his little gardē he saw a man who had the Palsy in all his limes lying before his dore and he asked Hesychius who that was and how he had beene brought thither The sicke man answered and sayd that formerly he had beene the Steward of a little vilage to the confines whereof that very garden belonged wherein they were But the old man weeping stretching forth his hand to the sicke person who lay before him sayd I require thee in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that thou ryse and walke An admirable hast was made for the wordes were yet but tumbling out of the speakers mouth and euen very then his limmes being growne strong were able to support him Now as soone as this was heard the difficulty of the place and of the way which was euen almost impenetrable was yet ouercome by the necessityes of men the people round about hauing no care more at heart then to watch that by no meanes he might get away For already there was a rumour spread of him that he could not stay long in a place which yet he was not subiect to as being obnoxious to any leuity or childish humour but to the end that he might fly from honour importunity by that meanes for the thing to which he euer aspired was a remote and poore priuate life But in the eightyth yeare of his age whilest Hesychius was absent he wrote him a short letter with his owne hand in the nature of a kind of VVill bequeathing al his riches to him that is to say his booke of the Ghospels his coate of sacke-cloath his hood and his little cloake for his seruant dyed some few dayes before Now whilest himselfe was sicke there came many deuout persons to him from Paphos and especially because they had heard he sayd that he was to depart to our Lord and to be freed from the chaines of this body With them there came a certaine Constantia a holy woman whose sonne in law and daughter he had freed from death by anoynting thē with oyle He adiured them all that they would not reserue his body any one minut of an houre after he should be dead but that instantly they should couer him with earth in the same garden all apparelled as he was in a haire-cloath a hood and a country cassocke By that tyme he had but a very little heat which kept his breast luke-warme nor did any thing seeme to remaine in him of a liuing man besides his vnderstanding only his eyes being still open he spake thus Go forth what dost thou feare Go forth O my soule what dost thou doubt It is now vpon the point of threescore and ten yeares since thou seruest Christ and dost thou now feare death As he was speaking these wordes he rendred vp his spirit and instantly being al couered with earth the newes of his buriall was more speedily carryed to the Citty then of his death But as soone as the holy man Hesychius had vnderstood thus much in Palestine he went towardes Cyprus and pretending that he had a mind to take vp his dwelling in the same garden that so he might free the Inhabitants of the Country from the opinion that they had need to keep some strict guard vpon the body he grew able to steale it away after the end of ten moneths with extreame hazard of his life He brought it to Maioma whole troupes of Monckes and euen whole Townes attending it and he buryed it in his ancient Monastery his haire-cloath his hood and his little cloake being vntouched and his whole body was also as entire as if he
had beene thē aliue and it yeilded and odour so very fragrant as if he had beene pretiously imbalmed And now me thinkes that in the last period of this booke I may not conceale the deuotion of that most holy woman Constantia who vpon receauing the newes that the dear body of Hilarion was now carryed away into Palestine did instantly giue vp the ghost approuing euen by death her true loue to that seruant of God For she had beene wont to spend whole nights in watching at his sepulcher and for her better help in prayer to speake to him as with one who were still present with her To this very day you may discerne a wonderfull contention betweene them of Palestine and them of Cyprus the former challenging his body and the later his scirit and yet in both these places great wonders are daily wrought though more in the garden of Cyprus perhaps because his heart was more set vpon that place FINIS THE LIFE OF S. MALCHVS WRITTEN BY S. HIEROME THE ARGVMENT THE life captiuity of MALCHVS who was borne in Maronia a towne of Syria is described by S. Hierome and in the person of MALCHVS he exposes first to the Readers eye a solitary and famous Moncke and then the same as he was vexed and afflicted with temptations THE LIFE THEY who are to fight some sea battell dispose themselues first to stirre their ships in the hauen or at least in a still Sea they stretch their Oares they prepare their iron handes hookes and they frame the souldiers who are ranged out vpon the deckes to stand fast with vse though at the first their paces were vnequall and their steps sliding that so what they haue learned in this picture of fight may make them feare the lesse when they come to a true Sea battell After this very sort I who haue long held my peace for he hath made me silent to whome my speach is a torment desire first to exercise my selfe in some little work and as it were to rub off a kind of rust from my tongue that I may come afterwardes to write a more ample history For I haue resolued if our Lord giue me life if my calumniators will leaue persecuting me at least now that I am fled shut vp from them to write from the coming of our Sauiour till this age that is to say from the Apostles till the dregges of these our present dayes in what manner and by the meanes of what men the Church of Christ was instituted and how it came to growth how it increased by persecution and was crowned by Martyrdomes how afterward when the Empire was put into the hand of Christian Princes it grew greater in wealth and power but lesse in vertue But of these things at some other tyme now let vs declare what we haue in hand There is a little Towne lying towardes the East of Maronia a Citty of Syria vpon the point of thirty miles from Antioch This towne after hauing beene in the handes of many either absolute Lords or Possessours of it otherwise came at last when I being a young man remained in Syria into the hands of Pope Euagrius a neere friend of myne whome therefore I haue named now to shew by what meanes I might come to know that whereof I am about to write In that Towne therefore there was a certaine old man called Malchus whome we in Latin may call King A Syrian he was by natiō and by language and indeed Autochthon There was also in his society a very aged decrepit woman who seemed to be come to the very dores of death They were both so diligently deuout and so did they weare the very threshold of the Church away that you might haue taken them for the Zachary and Elizaheth of the Ghospell saue only that they had no Iohn betweene them Concerning these two I made diligent inquiry of the dwellers there about by what tye of coniunction they were knit of mariage of consanguinity or of spirit Al men made but this one answeare that they were Saints and persons very pleasing to God and they tould I know not what strange thinges of them and so being drawne on with this delight my selfe did set vpon the man and curiously asking him the truth of things he made me this account of himselfe I am sayth he my sonne a husband-man of that tract which belonges to Maronia and I was the only child of my Parents who being willing to make me marry as being the only spring of their stocke and the heire of their family I answeared that I rather chose to be a Moncke By how great threates of my Father and by how faire allurements of my Mother I was persecuted to the end that I might be content to loose my chastity this only consideration may serue to shew that I forsooke my home fled from my Parents And because I could not goe Eastward for that Persia was so neer at hand where there was a guard of Roman souldiers I turned my course toward the West carrying I know not what little thing with me by way of prouision which might only secure me frō the extreamity of want Why should I vse many wordes At length I came to the desart of Chal◅is which lyes somewhat Southward of Imma and Essa and meeting there with certaine Monckes I deliuered my selfe ouer to their discipline getting my liuing by the labour of my handes and restraining the lustfullnes of flesh and blood by fasting After many yeares a desire came into my mind of returning into my country whilest my Mother was yet aliue for by that tyme I had heard of my Fathers death to become a comfort of her widdowhood and that then after this hauing sould the little possession which I was to enioy I might bestow a part vpon the poore a part vpon erecting a Monastery and a part for why should I blush to confesse my little confidence in the prouidēce of God vpon the supply of myne owne expence charge My Abbot began to tell me alowd that it was but a temptation of the Diuell and that the subtile snare of the old enemy did but lurke vnder a specious pretext That this was but to returne as a dogge would do to his vomite that many Monckes had beene thus deceaued that the Diuell is neuer wont to shew his face without a maske He propounded many examples to me out of Scripture and that among the rest how in the beginning of the world Adam and Eue were supplanted by a hope of diuinity And when he could not persuade with me he besought me euen vpon his knees that I would not forsake him nor destroy my selfe nor looke backe ouer the shoulder when I had the plowgh in my hand But woe be to me wretched man I ouercame this Counsellour of myne by a most wicked kinde of victory conceauing indeed that he sought not my good but his owne comfort He went following me therefore out