at an end."

"I readily believe it," answered the blessed Mael. "For woman is a
cleverly constructed snare by which we are taken even before we suspect
the trap. Alas! the delightful attraction of these creatures is exerted
with even greater force from a distance than when they are close at
hand. The less they satisfy desire the more they inspire it. This is the
reason why a poet wrote this verse to one of them:

'When present I avoid thee, but when away I find thee.'

"Thus we see, my son, that the blandishments of carnal love have more
power over hermits and monks than over men who live in the world. All
through my life the demon of lust has tempted me in various ways, but
his strongest temptations did not come to me from meeting a woman,
however beautiful and fragrant she was. They came to me from the image
of an absent woman. Even now, though full of days and approaching my
ninety-eighth year, I am often led by the Enemy to sin against chastity,
at least in thought. At night when I am cold in my bed and my frozen
old bones rattle together with a dull sound I hear voices reciting the
second verse of the third Book of the Kings: 'Wherefore his servants
said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin:
and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her
lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat,' and the devil
shows me a girl in the bloom of youth who says to me: 'I am thy Abishag;
I am thy Shunamite. Make, O my lord, room for me in thy couch.'

"Believe me," added the old man, "it is only by the special aid of
Heaven that a monk can keep his chastity in act and in intention."