: 1. Zhe Version of Evagrius. - Evagrius, ~presbyter (Eustathian) and subsequently (388) Bishop at Antioch (in Italy 364—373), translated the Vita Antonit into Latin. He prefaced it with a short apology (see below, Vit. Ant. § 1, note 1) for the freedom of his rendering, addressed “Innocentio carissimo filio.’ Now this Innocent, the friend of Jerome and Evagrius, died in the summer of 374, almost exactly a year after the death of Athanasius (D.C.B. iii. 31, 251). Of this identification there is no reason to doubt; still less ground is there for the hesitation (fist. Zit. I. 283, ‘non una est dubitandi ratio’) of Cave and others as to the identity of the version, printed by Montfaucon and transmitted by very numerous MSS. (‘que ingenti numero vidi,’ Migne xxv. p. clviii.) with that actually made by Evagrius. Therefore, even if we make the two very improbable assumptions that the Dedication to Innocentius falls within a few weeks or days of his death (i. during the journey from Italy to Syria!), and that the Vita was translated by Evagrius almost immediately upon its composition, the composition of the Vztfa falls within a few months of the death of Athanasius. Its antiquity then ‘is fully conceded’ even by Mr. Gwatkin (Studies, p. 103, who yet, p. 98, puts it down to ‘the generation after Athanasius!’). The translation of Evagrius also preserves what looks like the original heading. It should be added that the Evagrian version (read in the light of its preface), entirely excludes the hypothesis that the Greek text of the Vita is interpolated. Evagrius avowedly abridges at times, while in some cases he embellishes (see § 82, note 16).
ii. Jerome wrote his Vita Pauli in the Syrian desert, between 374 and 379. He mentions both the Vita and its Latin Version in the prologue: if he had seen the latter he can scarcely have been ignorant of its heading. The non-mention of Athanasius as the author is an argumentum ex silentio of the most precarious kind. Some fifteen years later (de Script. Eccles. 87, 88, 125) he repeatedly mentions Athanasius as the author, and specifies Evagrius as the translator.
iii. Ephrem the Syrian (Opp. ed. 1732-43, I. p. 249) quotes ‘Saint’ Athanasius by name as the biographer of Antony. Ephrem died in 373. But little stress can be laid upon this testimony, in view of the lack of a critical sifting of the works which bear the name of this saint (so Tillemont viii. 229, and vil. 138). More important is aa iv. Gregory Naz. Or. 21, ‘Athanasius compiled the biography of the divine Antony rot povadixod Blov vopoIectay &v mhdopare dSinynoews’ (cf. Vita, Prologue). This oration was delivered in 380, seven years after the death of Athanasius. Gregory, it 1s true, is not a good judge on a point of criticism. But he expresses the opinion of his time, and confirms and is confirmed by the evidence of Evagrius and Jerome. hoe suyaa y. Rufinus, His? Zecl. I. viii. He would give an account of Antony, but ‘ille libellus exclusit qui ab Athanasio scriptus etiam Latino Sermone editus est.’ This was written 400 A.D.: if in a later work (Hist. Mon. 30, and see also 29) he happens to allude to the Vita without mentioning its author, we are not entitled to say that to Rufinus ‘the work is anonymous’ Gwatkin, p. 103). : vi. The Py, of Pachomius, which (as above mentioned) has details of Antony’s life independent of the Vita, also mentions the latter (c. 1) as the work of; Athanasius. Though written perhaps as late as 390, this document is of great weight as evidence in the case (see Kriiger in Zheol. Lteg. 1890, p. 620).; a Paulinus aon pois t the Life of Ambrose (after 4oo) refers to the Vita as written by Athanasius.
Vill. i ritth-century historians, Palladius, Hist. Laus. 8, Socrates CHL i221) ee (i. 13) attest the established tradition of their day that Athanasius was the author of the Life.
ix. Augustine (Conf. viii. 14, 15, 19, 29) and Chrysostom (Hom. 8 on S. Matthew) mention the Vita without giving the name of the author. But we are not entitled to cite them as witnesses to its (alleged) anonymity, which they neither affirm nor imply.
The above witnesses, all of whom excepting No. viii. come within 50 years of the death of Athanasius, are a formidable array. No other work of Athanasius can boast of such external evidence in its favour. And in the face of such evidence it is impossible to place the composition later than the lifetime of the great Bishop. We have therefore to ask whether the contents of the V7fa are in irreconcileable conflict with the result of the external evidence: whether they point, not indeed to a later age, for the external evidence excludes this, but to an author who during the lifetime of Athanasius (ie. not later than the year of his death) ventured to publish a hagiographic romance in his name (‘ Evagrian’ heading, 3. INTERNAL Evivence. It may be remarked ¢ /imine that for the existence of Antony there is not only the evidence of the Veta itself, but also that of many other fourth-century documents (see above t. a. under ‘ sources’). Weingarten quite admits this (R.Z., X. 774, but he implies the contrary in his Zedt-tafeln, ed. 3, p. 228); and Mr. Gwatkin is certainly far ahead of his evidence when he pronounces (Arian Controversy, p. 48) that Antony ‘ never existed.’
a. Origin and early history of Monasticism. According to the Vita, the desert was unknown to povaxyoi (solitary ascetics, at the time (about 275? Vit. §3) when Antony first adopted the ascetic life. About the year 285 he began his twenty years’ sojourn in the ruined fort. To the end of this sojourn belongs the first great wave of Monastic settlement in the desert. During the later part of the great persecution ‘ monasteries ’ and monks begin to abound (§ 44, 46). The remainder of his long life (311—356) is passed mainly in his ‘inner mountain,’ where he forms the head and centre of Egyptian monasticism. Now it is contended by Weingarten and his followers that the Vita is contradicted in this important particular by all the real evidence as to the origin of monasticism, which cannot be proved to have originated before the death of Constantine. But Eichhorn has I think conclusively shewn the hastiness of this assumption. Passing over the disputable evidence of the De Vita Contemplativa ascribed to Philo, (which Weingarten endeavours, against Lucius and others, to put back to a date much earlier than the third century and out of relation to Christian asceticism’), the writings of Athanasius himself are the sufficient refutation of the late date assigned to the rise of monachism.
In the writings of the supposed date (356—362) of the Vita, references to monks are very frequent (e.g. Apol. Fug. 4, Apol. Const. 29): but previous to this (339) we find them mentioned in Ezcy/. § 3, and yet earlier, Afol. Ar. 67 (see below). In the letter to Dracontius (Zetter 49 in this vol.), corporate monasticism is implied to be no novel institution. Dracontius himself (about 354) is president of a monastery, and many other similar communities are referred to. (Gwatkin deals with this letter in an unsatisfactory fashion, p. 102, see the letter itself, S$ 7, 9, and notes.) The letter to Amun, probably earlier than that just mentioned, is clearly (sub. fin.) addressed to the head of a monastic’ society. Again, the bishops Muis and Paulus of Letter 49, § 7,who were monks before their consecration, had been in the monastery of Tabennze before the death of Pachomius, which occurred almost certainly in 346 (Eichhorn 12, 13.
The whole history of Pachomius, who was only a year or two older than Athanasius, although personally but little known to him, his monastery being at Tabennz, an island near Philz, is in conflict with Weingarten’s theory). Lastly? one of the most characteristic and life-like of the documents relating to the case of Arsenius and the Council of Tyre, namely the letter of Pinnes to John Arcaph (Aol. Ar. 67) carries back the evidence earlier still. Pinnes is ‘presbyter of a monastery’ (wom): that porn here means a society of monks, and not a posting station (Weing. in 2. #.,X. p. 775) is clear from the mention of ‘ Helias the monk,’ and ‘I, Paphnutius, monk of the same monastery. This letter proves that there were not only Catholic but Meletian monks, and these not hermits but in societies: and thus the origin of the solitary type of monasticism goes back as far asthe Meletian schism, (The existence of Meletian monks is attested independently of this letter, see Eich. P- 347.) Weingarten is quite unable to deal with this obstacle to his theory. His argument is simply this: either the letter has nothing to do with monks and monasteries (he overlooks Paphnutius), t See the note in Vol. I. of this Series, p.117, D.C.B. iv. 368, Theo.t. Lilag. xiil. 493—4 2 The silence of Zp, Hest. X. (338) is made much of by Weingarten, but there is nothing there to lead up to a reference to desert monasticism, VITA S. ANTONI. 19! or it must be rejected as spurious! What reductio ad absurdum could be more complete? In an equally desperate way he deals with the clear evidence of Aphraates, Hom. vi., as to the existence of (at any rate) solitary monasticism in Eastern Syria as early as 336. See Zexte und Untersuchungen iii. 3, pp. xvi. 89, &c. (Leipzig, 1888.)
6. fistorical misstatements. i, It is better to include under this head rather than under Peioscrs title ad peregrinos Jratres. Who were the ‘ foreign monks’ (rods év th Eévy povaxovs)?
troduction of monasticism into the West seems to belong to the time of S. Ambrose (Aug. Conf. vill. 6, cf. Sozom. III. 14, ‘ the European nations [before 361] had no experience of monastic societies ’) or rather Martin of Tours (D.C.B. iii. p. 840). The statement (Zucycl. Brit, ‘ Monachism’) that Athanasius carried the Vita Antoni’ to Rome in 340 is based on a misunderstanding of Jerome (%. 127), who really says no more than that the existence of monachism in Egypt first became known at Rome from the visits of Athanasius and of his successor Peter. If then the ‘ peregrini fratres’ are to be looked for in the West, we have a serious difficulty, and must choose between the Vita afd Sozomen. But the foreign monks may have belonged to the East. (I cannot see that § 93 ‘assumes,’ as Mr. Gwatkin maintains, ‘ the existence of numerous monks in the West.’ What is said is simply that Antony had deen heard of —n«ove8y-—in Spain, Gaul, and Africa.) However, the point must be left uncertain, and so far allowed to weigh against the Vita.
lu. Early intercourse of Athanasius with Antony (Prologue, and note 2). If the Benedictine text is correct, the reference must be to the period before Athanasius became deacon to Bishop Alexander, in fact to a period previous to 318 a.p. Tillemont (viii. 652), who maintains the other reading, mainly relies upon the impossibility of finding room for the intercourse in question in the early life of Athanasius. But his only source of knowledge of that period is Rufinus, a very poor authority, and Montfaucon replies with some force (Animadv. 11) that we have no sufiicient information as to how Athanasius passed the years previous to his ordination by Alexander. He also suggests that Athanasius may have been one of those who followed Antony’s example (§ 46, cf. Afol. c. Ar. 6) after his first visit to Alexandria. I may add that the notes to the Vita will call attention to several points of contact between the teaching of Antony and the earliest treatises of Athanasius. Yet the impression left on the mind is here again one of uncertainty (cf. Prolegg. ch. ii. § 1 jiz.).
ili, The narrative about Duke Balacius (§ 86: see note there) is another genuine difficulty, only to be got over if we suppose e7¢fer that Athanasius in one place tells the story inaccurately, and corrects himself in the other, ov that the Ast. Arian. was partly written for Athanasius by a secretary.
iv. Supposed learning of Antony. His ignorance of letters and of the Greek language does not prevent his forcibly employing the most effective arguments against Arianism (69), vindicating the Incarnation (74) much in the manner of Athanasius, and above all showing a fair acquaintance (72—74) with Platonic philosophy (see notes there). But everything in the biography points to a man of robust mind, retentive memory (3) and frequent ' intercourse with visitors. If he were so, he can scarcely have been ignorant of the theological controversies of his day, or of the current philosophical ideas. Nor can I see that the. philosophy of his argument against the Greeks goes beyond what that wouldimply. His allusion to Plato does not look like a first-hand citation. And even an Athanasius would not so entirely rise out of the biographical habits of his day as to mingle nothing of his own with the speeches of his hero (‘Equidem quid Antonio quid Athanasio tribuendum sit uix diiudicari posse concedo,’ Eich. p. 52).
c. Inconsistencies with Athanasius. It is the most serious objection to the Athanasian authorship of the Vata that Athanasius (with the exception of the ‘antilegomenon’ //ist. Ar. 14) nowhere else mentions Antony by name. Especially in the letter to Dracontius, who at first refused the Episcopate in the supposed interests of his soul, we might, it is argued, have expected a reference to the deep reverence of Antony (§ 67) for even the lowest clergy (the persons enumerated, Le¢ter 49, § 7, are bishops who had previously been monks, and have nothing to do with this question). That is true. We might have expected it. But as a matter of fact Athanasius uses another argument instead (see Letter 49, § 3, note 8*). It does not follow that he dd not know of the Antony of the Vita. But although the letter in question has been pressed unduly, the general objection, as an argumentum ex silentio on a rather large scale, remains3, Some more detailed points must now be considered, 3 It is fortified by the ‘silence of Eusebius’ (1) as to monks in general (but yet see 77. Z. II. 17, vol. 1, p. 116, note in this series) 5 (2) as to the part played by Antony at Alexandria during the persecution (4. &. VII. 32, VIII. 13, LX. 6); (3) as to Constantine's letter to Antony (§ 81), a. Demons and Miracles. The writings of Athanasius are singularly free from the tendency to indulge in the marvellous. The death of Arius he regards as a judgment, and relates it with a certain awe-struck sobriety. The ¢yun of Julian’s death in the Varrat. ad Ammon. comes less under the head of ecclesiastical miracle than under that of ra dea rév mpnyndrev (Herod. ix. 100, cf. Grote v. 260 sq.); whereas the Vita swarms with miraculous and demoniacal stories, some (passed over in silence by Newman and other apologists for the Life) indescribably silly (e.g. $$ 53, 63). Hence even Cave allows that the /7z¢a contains things ‘tanto viro indigna.’ But it must be observed (1) that Antony disclaims, and his biographer disclaims for him, inherent miraculous power. His miracles are wrought by Christ In answer to prayer, and he prefers that those who desire his help should obtain what they want by praying for themselves (cf. also § 49). (2) That again and again (esp. §§ 16—43) he insists on the absolute subjection of all evil powers to God, and their powerlessness to injure believers in Christ. (3) That Athanasius recognises onpeia (in the sense of miracles, see Leffer 49, § 9, note 9) as a known phenomenon in the case both of bishops and of monks. (4) That his language about demons and the power of the sign of the Cross in dispersing them is quite of a piece with what is related in the Vita (see notes passim). (5) On the clairvoyance of Antony, and one or two kindred matters which offer points of contact with phenomena that have been recently the subject of careful research, notes will be found below giving modern references. On the whole, one could wish that Athanasius, who is in so many ways suprisingly in touch with the modern mind (swfra, introd. to de Zncar. and Prolegg. ch. iv. § 2 dand § 3), had not written a biography revealing such large credulity. Butwe must measure this credulity of his not by the evidential methods of our own day, but by those of his own. Ifwe compare the Va, not with our modern biographies but with those, say, of Paul and Hilarion by Jerome, its superiority is striking (this is pointed out by W. Israél in Zecéschr. fir Wiss. Theol. 1878, pp. 130, 137, 145, 153). For myself, I should certainly prefer to believe that Athanasius had not written many things in the Vita: but I would far rather he had written them all than the one passage Hist. Ar.
B. Zheology. That there should be certain characteristic differences from the theology of Athanasius is what one would expect in an account of Antony that bore any relation to the historical person. Such is the anthropomorphic tendency, shewn especially in the corporeal nature ascribed to demons. Such perhaps is a tinge of naive semi-pelagianism about the Hermit’s language (§ 20 and elsewhere); we cannot forget the connection of Cassian’s Collations with Egyptian monasticism. Once again, ‘Antony’s shame of the body is not in the spirit of the writer ad Amunem’ (Gwatkin, Studies, p. 102). Lastly, in Antony’s account of the heathen gods (§ 76) we miss the characteristic Euhemerism of Athanasius (see supra, pp. 10, 62, &c.). Throughout, in fact, the ruder monastic instinct crops up from under the Athanasian style and thought of the biographer. But the latter is also unmistakeable (see the notes passim), and the differences have been certainly made too much of. [ will give one example from Mr. Gwatkin, who says (wbi supra), ‘Athanasius does not speak of mpdvoa like the Vite (c. 49, 66, 74), for de Fuga 25 specially refers to his providential escape from Syrianus, and c. Gent. 47, mpdvoa tv mévrey is very incidental.’ Now certainly the constant introduction of rpévo1a, which Mr. Gwatkin has understated, is a marked feature of the Vita. But I am not prepared to say that Athanasius could not speak in this way.
The word is common, and even characteristic, in his writings. A few examples will support this statement; more will be referred to in the index to this volume.
De Incarn. 2. 1. tiv trav doy rpdvotay Kab’ Eavtdy vdK elvat pooroyovow.
14. 6. rod dua rips (dias mpovoias...didSdoKevTos mept Tov Tatpés.
Epist. Aég. 15. 9 Bdrtmovres...mdvra ré€er Kal Tpovola kwovpera.
Apol. Fug. 17. fuehe yap adrois...pufre thy &pirpevny mapa ths Ipovoias xpiow mpodap-Rave (and so in §§ 9, 16, 22, 25 of this short tract).
Orat. ii. 37. ‘O Tarnp év T@ “Yi@ Tov TavTwY THY TpdvoLay ToLeirat, If each one of these and numberless other references to Providence is ‘ very incidental,’ those in the Via may surely claim the benefit (whatever that may be) of the same formula.
The above are the principal materials for a decision as to the genuineness of the Vita: and I do not see how they can justify any opinion but that stated at the outset. Against the Vz/a we have certain historical difficulties (intercourse with Athanasius, peregrini fratres, Balacius), and arguments ex silentio, a kind of evidence seldom conclusive. For it, we have a quite unusual array of external evidence, including an almost contemporary version, the absence of any room for its date at a safe distance from its traditional author, and the many points of contact, as well as the characteristic differences between the Vita and the writings of Athanasius. Moreover on the kindred question of the origin of monasticism, Weingarten’s gs ee ee eee ee gs ee ee eee ee theory breaks down, and leads him to suicidal steps in more than one direction. Although, therefore, it is permissible to keep an open mind on the subject, we must recognise that the enterprise of the recent assailants of the Via is at present at a dead halt, that overwhelming probability is against them.
tice Athanasius wrote the Viza, it does not follow that all its less edifying details are true, nor that its portraiture is free from subjectivity 4, At the same time, to the present writer at least, the lineaments of a genuine man, dpovoradods jyiv, stand out from the story. Doubtless there is idealisation, panegyric, an absence of sinfulness (Gwatkin, Studies, p. 100). But the moderate value set on miracles (38, 56), the absence of the element of fear from his religion (42, &c.), his serene courtesy (73) and uniform cheerfulness (67, 70), the caution against being tempted to excess in ascetic exercises (25), the ready half-humorous good sense (73, 85) of the man, are human touches which belong to flesh and blood, not to hagiographic imagination.
But here the question is one of individual taste. At any rate the Vita embodies the best spirit of early monasticism. It was the pure desire to serve God and fulfil the spirit of the Gospel that led Antony to part with all that might make the world precious to him, and to betake himself to his long voluntary martyrdom of solitude, privation, and prayer. We see nothing but tenderness and love of men in his character, nothing of the fierce bloodthirsty fanaticism which in persons like Senuti made fifth-century monasticism a reproach to the Christian name. Had Antony lived in our time, he might have felt that the solitary life was a renunciation of the highest vocation of which man is capable, the ministry to the material and spiritual needs of others. But it is not given to man to see all aspects of truth at once; and to our bustling, comfort-loving age, even the life of Antony has its lesson.
The Vita has undoubtedly exercised a powerful and wide-spread influence. Upon it Jerome modelled his highly idealised tales of Paul and Hilarion; at Rome and all over the West it kindled the flame of monastic aspirations; it awoke in Augustine (Conf. viii. wb¢ supra) the resolution to renounce the world and give himself wholly to God. The zzgens numerus of Latin manuscripts, and the imitation of its details in countless monastic biographies, testify to its popularity in the middle ages. Like monasticism itself, its good influence was not without alloy; but on the whole we may claim for it that it tended to stimulate the nobler of the impulses which underlie the monastic life.
A few words may be added on the evidence of the Vita as to the form and motive of early monachism. In the Life of Antony, the stages are (1) ascetics living in the towns and villages, not withdrawn from society (§§ 3, 4); (2) solitary monasticism in the desert, away from human society; and, as the fame of Antony increases, (3) the formation (§ 44) of clusters of cells centering round some natural leader, the germ of the Aavpa (such as the community of Tabennz under Pachomius). Of organised monastic communities the Vita tells us nothing. With regard to the motive of the earliest monasticism, this has been variously sought in (1) the development of the ascetic element present in Christianity from the very first; (2) in the influence of the Alexandrian School, especially Origen, who again is influenced by the spirit of revolt against the body and detachment from the world which characterised neo-Platonism (see Bornemann’s work mentioned above); (3) in the persecutions, which drove Christians to the desert (Eus. H. Z. vi. 42), which some adopted as their home; (4) to the (not necessarily conscious) imitation of analogous heathen institutions, especially the societies of dyvetovres which were gathered round or in the temples of Serapis (Weingarten, #.Z., X. 779—785. Revillout, p. 480n, refers to Zoega, p. 542, for the fact that Pachomius himself was a monk of Serapis before his forced baptism by his Christian neighbours; and that after it he continued his ascetic life with no external difference. (5) To the desire to avoid civil obligations, already marked in the Rescript of Valens (Cod. 7%. xii. 1. 63, quidam ignauiz sectatores desertis civitatum muneribus, &c.). Of the above motives the Veta gives no support to any but the first, which it directly confirms, and perhaps indirectly to the second. ‘The date of the Vita depends mainly on the view to be taken of § 82, where see note 16.
4 The life of Senuti (or ‘Schnoudi’), by his disciple Visa, may be consulted in illustration of this point. See edition by Amélineau in vol. 4 of the Memoires de la Mission archéologique Frangaise au Caire, 1888.
VOL. IV. G LIFE OF ANTONY.
TABLE (OF CONTENTS.
PROLOGUE.
§§ 1, 2. Birth and beginnings of Antony.
§§ 3, 4. His early ascetic life.
§§ 5, 6. Early conflicts with the devil.
§ 7. Details of his life at this time (271—285?)
§§ 8—ro,. His life in the tombs, and combats with demons there.
§ 11. He goes to the desert and overcomes temptations on the way.
§§ 12, 13. How Antony took up his abode in a ruined fort across the Nile, and how he defeated the demons. His twenty years’ sojourn there.
§§ 14, 15. Howhe left the fort, and how monasticism began to flourish in Egypt. Antony its leader.
§§ 16—43. His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan.
§ 44. The growth of the monastic life at this time (about A.D. 305).
5. How Antony renewed his ascetic endeavours at this time.
6. How he sought martyrdom at Alexandria during the Persecution (311).
7. How he lived at this time.
8. How he delivered a woman from an evil spirit.
§§ 49, 50. How at this time he betook himself to his ‘ inner mountain.’
§§ 51—53. How he there combated the demons.
§ 54. Of the miraculous spring, and how he edified the monks of the ‘ outer’ mountain, and of Antony’s sister.
S$ 55,56. Tow humanely he counselled those who resorted to him.
§ 57. Of the case of Fronto, healed by faith and prayer.
§ 58. Of a certain virgin, and of Paphnutius the confessor.
§ 59. Ofthe two brethren, and how one perished of thirst.
§ 60. Of the death of Amun, and Antony’s vision thereof.
§§ 61, 62. Of Count Archelaus and the virgin Polycration.
§§ 63, 64. Strange tales of the casting out of demons.
§ 65. Of Antony’s vision concerning the forgiveness of his sins, § 66. Of the passage of souls, and how some were hindered of Satan.
§ 67. How Antony reverenced all ordained persons.
§ 68. How he rejected the schism of Meletius and the heresies of Manes and Arius.
§ 69. How he confuted the Arians.
§§ 70, 71. How he visited Alexandria, and healed and converted many, and how Athanasius escorted him from the city.
$$ 72—79. How he reasoned with divers Greeks and philosophers at the ‘outer’ mountain.
TM SR A [f § 80. How he confuted the philosophers by healing certain vexed with demons.
§ 81. How the Emperors wrote to Antony, and of his answer.
§ 82. How he saw in a vision the present doings of the Arians.
S§ 83, 84. That his healings were done by Christ alone, through prayer.
§ 85. How wisely he answered a certain duke.
§ 86. Of the Duke Balacius, and how, warned by Antony, he met with a miserable end. § 87. How he bore the infirmities of the weak, and of his great benefits to all Egypt.
§ 88. Of his discernment, and how he was a counsellor to all.
§§ 89, 90. How, when now 105 years old, he counselled the monks, a § 91. Ofhis sickness and his last will. § 92. Of Antony’s death.
§ 93. How Antony remained hale until his death, and how the fame of him filled all the world nd gave advice concerning burial.
__ [Antony’s answers to a philosopher, and to Didymus, are given by Socrates IV. 23, 25: the following is from Hanmer’s translation of Socr. I. 21: ‘The same time lived A atoay the monk in the deserts of AXgypt. But inasmuch as Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria Ne lately set forth in a severall volume, intituled of his life, his manners and conversation how openly he buckled with divils, how he over-reached their sleights and subtle combats, Beart marvellous and strange miracles, I think it superfluous on my part to For the translation of the text I am indebted to my friend and coll 2 Ellershaw, jun. y mend and colleague the Rey. H.
rT ele Tue life and conversation of our holy Father, Antony: written and sent to the monks in foreign parts. by our Father among the Saints, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria.
Athanasius‘ the bishop to the brethren in foreign parts.
You have entered upon a noble rivalry with the monks of Egypt by your determination either to equal or surpass them in your training in the way of virtue. For by this time there are monasteries among you, and the name of monk receives public recognition. With reason, therefore, all men will approve this determination, and in answer to your prayers God will give its fulfilment. Now since you asked me to give you an account of the blessed Antony’s way of life, and are wishful to learn how he began the discipline, who and what manner of man he was previous to this, how he closed his life, and whether the things told of him are true, that you also may bring yourselves to imitate him, I very readily accepted your behest, for to me also the bare recollection of Antony is a great accession of help. And I know that you, when you have heard, apart from your admiration of the man, will be wishful to emulate his determination; seeing that for monks the life of Antony is a sufficient pattern of discipline. Wherefore do not refuse credence to what you have heard from those who brought tidings of him; but think rather that they have told you only a few things, for at all events they scarcely can have given circumstances of so great import in any detail. And because I at your request have called to mind a few circumstances about him, and shall