he anachorets for the place of their voluntary exile. An
easy and perpetual intercourse by sea and land connected the provinces
of the Roman world; and the life of Hilarion displays the facility with
which an indigent hermit of Palestine might traverse Egypt, embark for
Sicily, escape to Epirus, and finally settle in the Island of Cyprus.
The Latin Christians embraced the religious institutions of Rome. The
pilgrims, who visited Jerusalem, eagerly copied, in the most distant
climates of the earth, the faithful model of the monastic life. The
disciples of Antony spread themselves beyond the tropic, over the
Christian empire of AEthiopia. The monastery of Banchor, in Flintshire,
which contained above two thousand brethren, dispersed a numerous colony
among the Barbarians of Ireland; and Iona, one of the Hebrides, which
was planted by the Irish monks, diffused over the northern regions a
doubtful ray of science and superstition.

These unhappy exiles from social life were impelled by the dark and
implacable genius of superstition. Their mutual resolution was supported
by the example of millions, of either sex, of every age, and of every
rank; and each proselyte who entered the gates of a monastery, was
persuaded that he trod the steep and thorny path of eternal happiness.
But the operation of these religious motives was variously determined
by the temper and situation of mankind. Reason might subdue, or passion
might suspend, their influence: but they acted most forcibly on the
infirm minds of children and females; they were strengthened by secret
remorse, or accidental misfortune; and they might derive some aid from
the temporal considerations of vanity or interest. It was naturally
supposed, that the pious and humble monks, who had renounced the world
to accomplish the work of their salvation, were the best qualified for
the spiritual government of the Christians. The reluctant hermit was
torn from his cell, and seated, amidst the acclamations of the people,
on the episcopal throne: the monasteries of Egypt, of Gaul, and of the
East, supplied a regular succession of saints and bishops; and ambition
soon discovered the secret road which led to the possession of wealth
and honors. The popular monks, whose reputation was connected with
the fame and success of the order, assiduously labored to multiply the
number of their fellow-captives. They insinuated themselves into noble
and opulent families; and the specious arts of fla