of his date and of his age; but that such a person really existed,
and had his imitators, there can be no doubt. He is honoured as a
saint alike by the Latin and by the Greek Churches.

His life has been written by a disciple of his named Antony, who
professes to have been with him when he died; and also by Theodoret,
who knew him well in life. Both are to be found in Rosweyde, and
there seems no reason to doubt their authenticity. I have therefore
interwoven them both, marking the paragraphs taken from each.

Theodoret, who says that he was born in the village of Gesa, between
Antioch and Cilicia, calls him that "famous Simeon--that great
miracle of the whole world, whom all who obey the Roman rule know;
whom the Persians also know, and the Indians, and AEthiopians; nay,
his fame has even spread to the wandering Scythians, and taught them
his love of toil and love of wisdom;" and says that he might be
compared with Jacob the patriarch, Joseph the temperate, Moses the
legislator, David the king and prophet, Micaiah the prophet, and the
divine men who were like them. He tells how Simeon, as a boy, kept
his father's sheep, and, being forced by heavy snow to leave them in
the fold, went with his parents to the church, and there heard the
Gospel which blesses those who mourn and weep, and calls those
miserable who laugh, and those enviable who have a pure heart. And
when he asked a bystander what he would gain who did each of these
things, the man propounded to him the solitary life, and pointed out
to him the highest philosophy.

This, Theodoret says, he heard from the saint's own tongue. His
disciple Antony gives the story of his conversion somewhat
differently.