Antony, because the daemon had fallen, grow careless and despise
him; neither did the enemy, when worsted by him, cease from lying in
ambush against him. For he came round again as a lion, seeking a
pretence against him. But Antony had learnt from Scripture that
many are the devices of the enemy; and continually kept up his
training, considering that, though he had not deceived his heart by
pleasure, he would try some other snares. For the daemon delights
in sin. Therefore he chastised his body more and more, and brought
it into slavery, lest, having conquered in one case, he should be
tripped up in others. He determined, therefore, to accustom himself
to a still more severe life; and many wondered at him: but the
labour was to him easy to bear. For the readiness of the spirit,
through long usage, had created a good habit in him, so that, taking
a very slight hint from others, he showed great earnestness in it.
For he watched so much, that he often passed the whole night without
sleep; and that not once, but often, to the astonishment of men. He
ate once a day, after the setting of the sun, and sometimes only
once in two days, often even in four; his food was bread with salt,
his drink nothing but water. To speak of flesh and wine there is no
need, for such a thing is not found among other earnest men. When
he slept he was content with a rush-mat: but mostly he lay on the
bare ground. He would not anoint himself with oil, saying that it
was more fit for young men to be earnest in training, than to seek
things which softened the body; and that they must accustom
themselves to labour, according to the Apostle's saying, "When I am
weak, then I am strong;" for that the mind was strengthened as
bodily pleasure was weakened. And this argument of his was truly
wonderful. For he did not measure the path of virtue, nor his going
away into retirement on account of it, by time; but by his own
desire and will. So forgetting the past, he daily, as if beginning