of the field; they toil not, neither do they spin.' Again he said, 'Mary
hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'"

Then Satan lifted up his hand, with the gesture of one who disputes and
prepares to count off his arguments on the fingers. And he said:

"Giovanni, Giovanni! what was written in one sense, you read in another;
you are less like a Doctor at his desk than an ass at the manger. So
must I correct you, as a master corrects his scholar. It is written the
lilies of the field have no need to spin--because they are beautiful,
and beauty is a virtue. Again it is written how Mary is not to do the
household tasks, because she is doing lovingly to Him who has come to
see her. But you, who are not beautiful nor yet instructed, like Mary,
in the things of love, you drag out a contemptible existence wandering
the highways."

Giovanni made reply:

"Sir! just as a Painter will depict on a narrow panel of wood an entire
city with its houses and towers and walls, so you have painted in a few
words my soul and my similitude with a wondrous exactness. And I am
altogether what you describe. But if I followed perfectly the rule
etablished by St. Francis, that Angel of God, and if I practised
spiritual poverty to the full, I should be the lily of the fields and I
should have the good part of Mary."

But Satan interrupted him, and cried:

"You profess to love the poor, yet you prefer the rich man and his
riches, and adore Him who possesses treasures to give away."