He journeyed along lonely roads. When evening came, the murmuring of the
breeze amidst the tamarisk trees made him shiver, and he pulled his hood
over his eyes that he might not see how beautiful all things were. After
walking six days, he came to a place called Silsile. There the
river runs in a narrow valley, bordered by a double chain of granite
mountains. It was there that the Egyptians, in the days when they
worshipped demons, carved their idols. Paphnutius saw an enormous sphinx
carved in the solid rock. Fearing that it might still possess some
diabolical properties, he made the sign of the cross, and pronounced the
name of Jesus; he immediately saw a bat fly out of one of the monster's
ears, and Paphnutius knew that he had driven out the evil spirits which
had been for centuries in the figure. His zeal increased, and picking up
a large stone, he threw it in the idol's face. Then the mysterious face
of the sphinx expressed such profound sadness that Paphnutius was moved.
In fact, the expression of superhuman grief on the stone visage would
have touched even the most unfeeling man. Therefore Paphnutius said to
the sphinx--

"O monster, be like the satyrs and centaurs our father Anthony saw in
the desert, and confess the divinity of Jesus Christ, and I will bless
thee in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."

When he had spoken a rosy light gleamed in the eyes of the sphinx; the
heavy eyelids of the monster quivered and the granite lips painfully
murmured, as though in echo to the man's voice, the holy name of Jesus
Christ; therefore Paphnutius stretched out his right hand, and blessed
the sphinx of Silsile.

That being done, he resumed his journey, and the valley having grown
wider, he saw the ruins of an immense city. The temples, which still