of truth and innocence. [139] The
monasteries of Egypt were seated in lonely and desolate places, on the
summit of mountains, or in the islands of the Nile; and the sacred horn
or trumpet of Tabenne was the well-known signal which assembled several
thousand robust and determined monks, who, for the most part, had been
the peasants of the adjacent country. When their dark retreats were
invaded by a military force, which it was impossible to resist, they
silently stretched out their necks to the executioner; and supported
their national character, that tortures could never wrest from an
Egyptian the confession of a secret which he was resolved not to
disclose. [140] The archbishop of Alexandria, for whose safety
they eagerly devoted their lives, was lost among a uniform and
well-disciplined multitude; and on the nearer approach of danger, he was
swiftly removed, by their officious hands, from one place of concealment
to another, till he reached the formidable deserts, which the gloomy
and credulous temper of superstition had peopled with daemons and savage
monsters. The retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life
of Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the
monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and as
messengers; but the importance of maintaining a more intimate connection
with the Catholic party tempted him, whenever the diligence of the
pursuit was abated, to emerge from the desert, to introduce himself into
Alexandria, and to trust his person to the discretion of his friends and
adherents. His various adventures might have furnished the subject of a
very entertaining romance. He was once secreted in a dry cistern, which
he had scarcely left before he was betrayed by the treachery of a female
slave; [141] and he was once concealed in a still more extraordinary
asylum, the house of a virgin, only twenty years of age, and who was
celebrated in the whole city for her exquisite beauty. At the hour
of midnight, as she related the story many years afterwards, she was
surprised by the appearance of the archbishop in a loose undress, who,
advancing with hasty steps, conjured her to afford him the protection
which he had been directed by a celestial vision to seek under her
hospitable roof. The pious maid accepted and preserved the sacred pledge
which was intrusted to her prudence and courage. Without imparting the
secret to any one, she instantly conducted Athanasius into