nd, almost without any signs of life. Taking a sponge, he
moistened his lips with water, then gave him the blessed Eucharist.
Simeon, having recovered a little, rose up, and chewed and swallowed by
degrees a few lettuce-leaves, and other herbs. This was his method of
keeping Lent during the remainder of his life; and he had actually
passed twenty-six Lents after this manner, when Theodoret wrote his
account of him; in which are these other particulars, that he spent the
first part of Lent in praising God standing; growing weaker, he
continued his prayer sitting; and towards the end, finding his spirits
almost quite exhausted, not able to support himself in any other
posture, he lay on the ground. However, it is probable, that in his
advanced years he admitted some mitigation of this wonderful austerity.
When on his pillar, he kept himself, during this fast, tied to a pole;
but at length was able to fast the whole term, without any support. Many
attribute this to the strength of his constitution, which was naturally
very {091} robust, and had been gradually habituated to such an
extraordinary abstinence. It is well known that the hot eastern climates
afford surprising instances of long abstinence among the Indians.[2] A
native of France has, within our memory, fasted the forty days of Lent
almost in that manner.[3] But few examples occur of persons fasting
upwards of three or six days, unless prepared and inured by habit.

After three years spent in this hermitage, the saint removed to the top
of the same mountain, where, throwing together some loose stones, in the
form of a wall, he made for himself an enclosure, but without any roof
or shelter to protect him from the inclemencies of the weather; and to
confirm his resolution of pursuing this manner of life, he fastened his
right leg to a rock with a great iron chain. Meletius, vicar to the
patriarch of Antioch, told him, that a firm will, supported by God's
grace, was sufficient to make him abide in his solitary enclosure,
without having recourse to any bodily restraint: hereupon the obedient
servant of God sent for a smith, and had his chain knocked off.

The mountain began to be continually thronged, and the retreat his soul
so much sighed after, to be interrupted by the multitudes that flocked,
even from remote and infidel countries, to receive his benediction; by
which many sick recovered their health. Some were not satisfied unless
they also touched him. The saint