ination to get away from the wickedness of the world, but
with a still greater scarcity of understanding regarding a reasonable
discipline of life. Soon, however, organization was proposed by monks of
experience, and rules formulated which were generally adopted. Saint
Pachomius was the first to form monkish foundations in the East. These
were visited by Athanasius while he was in exile, and he came back with
a glowing account of the sanctity of life and the marvellous exploits of
their members. His narrative fired the hearts of the more devout
Christians of the West, especially of the women, and that of the monk or
the nun became at once the most illustrious vocation which a Christian
could follow. The result was, as the Count de Montalembert shows, that
"the town and environs of Rome were soon full of monasteries, rapidly
occupied by men distinguished alike by birth, fortune and knowledge, who
lived there in charity, sanctity and freedom. From Rome, the new
institution--already distinguished by the name of religion, or religious
life, par excellence--extended itself over all Italy. It was planted at
the foot of the Alps by the influence of a great bishop, Eusebius of
Vercelli. From the continent, the new institution rapidly gained the
isles of the Mediterranean, and even the rugged rocks of the Gargon and
of Capraja, where the monks, voluntarily exiled from the world, went to
take the place of the criminals and political victims whom the emperors
had been accustomed to banish thither."

Western monasticism was inspired by a different genius from that of the
Eastern. Instead of being speculative and characterized by dreamy
indolence and meditative silence, it was far more practical. It was
active, stirring; duty, rather than esoteric wisdom, was its watchword.
Fasting, stated hours for prayer, reading, and vigorous manual work were
strictly enjoined by every rule. Consequently, the nuns and monks of the
West never went to the fantastic extremes which exhibited in the East a
stylite, or a female recluse, dwelling, like an animal, in a hollow
tree, or a drove of half wild and wholly maniacal humans who subsisted
by browsing on such edible roots as they found in the earth on which
they grovelled. Method, regularity, and purpose early gave character and
efficiency to Western monasteries, and prepared them for the literary
and industrial usefulness which followed in the wane of the first
frenzy, and which made monasticism, i