ys worthy of the reverence of all creation. And it were a long
tale to tell one by one their deeds of prowess.

"But when those cruel and brutal tyrants brought their miserable lives
to a miserable end, and persecution ceased, and Christian kings ruled
throughout the world, then others too in succession emulated the
Martyrs' zeal and divine desire, and, wounded at heart with the same
love, considered well how they might present soul and body without
blemish unto God, by cutting off all the workings of sinful lusts and
purifying themselves of every defilement of flesh and spirit. But, as
they perceived that this could only be accomplished by the keeping of
the commandments of Christ, and that the keeping of his commandments
and the practice of the virtues was difficult to attain in the midst of
the turmoils of the world, they adopted for themselves a strange and
changed manner of life, and, obedient to the voice divine, forsook all,
parents, children, friends, kinsfolk, riches and luxury, and, hating
everything in the world, withdrew, as exiles, into the deserts, being
destitute, afflicted, evil entreated, wandering in wildernesses and
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, self-banished from all
the pleasures and delights upon earth, and standing in sore need even
of bread and shelter. This they did for two causes: firstly, that
never seeing the objects of sinful lust, they might pluck such desires
by the root out of their soul, and blot out the memory thereof, and
plant within themselves the love and desire of divine and heavenly
things: and secondly, that, by exhausting the flesh by austerities, and
becoming Martyrs in will, they might not miss the glory of them that
were made perfect by blood, but might be themselves, in their degree,
imitators of the sufferings of Christ, and become partakers of the
kingdom that hath no end. Having then come to this wise resolve, they
adopted the quiet of monastic life, some facing the rigours of the open
air, and braving the blaze of the scorching heat and fierce frosts and
rain-storms and tempestuous winds, others spending their lives in the
hovels which they had builded them, or in the hiding of holes and
caverns. Thus, in pursuit of virtue, they utterly denied themselves
all fleshly comfort and repose, submitting to a diet of uncooked herbs
and worts, or acorns, or hard dry bread, not merely saying good-bye to
delights in their quality, but, in very excess of tempera