illiam of Malmsbury states that when tempted by the flesh he
would have women to sit and lie by him until he grew calm again;
the method proved very successful, for the reason, it was
thought, that the Devil felt he had been made a fool of.

In time the Catholic practice and theory of asceticism became
more formalized and elaborated, and its beneficial effects were
held to extend beyond the individual himself. "Asceticism from
the Christian point of view," writes Brenier de Montmorand in an
interesting study ("Ascetisme et Mysticisme," _Revue
Philosophique_, March, 1904) "is nothing else than all the
therapeutic measures making for moral purification. The Christian
ascetic is an athlete struggling to transform his corrupt nature
and make a road to God through the obstacles due to his passions
and the world. He is not working in his own interests alone,
but--by virtue of the reversibility of merit which compensates
that of solidarity in error--for the good and for the salvation
of the whole of society."

This is the aspect of early Christian asceticism most often emphasized.
But there is another aspect which may be less familiar, but has been by no
means less important. Primitive Christian chastity was on one side a
strenuous discipline. On another side it was a romance, and this indeed
was its most specifically Christian side, for athletic asceticism has been
associated with the most various religious and philosophic beliefs. If,
indeed, it had not possessed the charm of a new sensation, of a delicious
freedom, of an unknown adventure, it would never have conquered the
European world. There are only a few in that world who have in them the
stuff of moral athletes; there are many who respond to the attraction of
romance.

The Christians rejected the grosser forms of sexual indulgence, but in
doing so they entered with a more delicate ardor into the more refined
forms of sexual intimacy. They cultivated a relationship of brothers and
sisters to each other, they kissed one another; at one time, in the
spiritual orgy of baptism, they were not ashamed to adopt complete
nakedness.[74]

A very instructive picture of the forms which chastity assumed among the
early Christians is given us in the treatise of Chrysostom _Against Those
who Keep Virgins in their Houses_. Our fathers, Chrysostom begins, only
knew two forms of sexual intimacy, marriage and fornication