house of his parents, besides whom and his home he knew nought. But
when he grew older, he would not be taught letters, {34} not wishing
to mix with other boys; but all his longing was (according to what
is written of Jacob) to dwell simply in his own house. But when his
parents took him into the Lord's house, he was not saucy, like a
boy, nor inattentive as he grew older; but was subject to his
parents, and attentive to what was read, turning it to his own
account. Nor again (as a boy who was moderately well off) did he
trouble his parents for various and expensive dainties, nor did he
run after the pleasures of this life; but was content with what he
found, and asked for nothing more. When his parents died, he was
left alone with a little sister, when he was about eighteen or
twenty years of age, and took care both of his house and of her.
But not six months after their death, as he was going as usual to
the Lord's house, and collecting his thoughts, he meditated as he
walked how the Apostles had left all and followed the Saviour; and
how those in the Acts brought the price of what they had sold, and
laid it at the Apostles' feet, to be given away to the poor; and
what and how great a hope was laid up for them in heaven. With this
in his mind, he entered the church. And it befell then that the
Gospel was being read; and he heard how the Lord had said to the
rich man, "If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all thou hast, and give
to the poor; and come, follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven." Antony, therefore, as if the remembrance of the saints had
come to him from God, and as if the lesson had been read on his
account, went forth at once from the Lord's house, and gave away to
those of his own village the possessions he had inherited from his
ancestors (three hundred plough-lands, fertile and very fair), that
they might give no trouble either to him or his sister. All his
moveables he sold, and a considerable sum which he received for them