if ye cannot, why do ye disturb me in vain? For a seal to us and a
wall of safety is our faith in the Lord." The daemons, having made
many efforts, gnashed their teeth at him, because he rather mocked
at them, than they at him. But neither then did the Lord forget
Antony's wrestling, but appeared to help him. For, looking up, he
saw the roof as it were opened and a ray of light coming down
towards him. The daemons suddenly became invisible, and the pain of
his body forthwith ceased, and the building became quite whole. But
Antony, feeling the succour, and getting his breath again, and freed
from pain, questioned the vision which appeared, saying, "Where wert
thou? Why didst thou not appear to me from the first, to stop my
pangs?" And a voice came to him, "Antony, I was here, but I waited
to see thy fight. Therefore, since thou hast withstood, and not
been worsted, I will be to thee always a succour, and will make thee
become famous everywhere." Hearing this, he rose and prayed, and
was so strong, that he felt that he had more power in his body than
he had before. He was then about thirty-and-five years old. And on
the morrow he went out, and was yet more eager for devotion to God;
and, going to that old man aforesaid, he asked him to dwell with him
in the desert. But when he declined, because of his age, and
because no such custom had yet arisen, he himself straightway set
off to the mountain. But the enemy again, seeing his earnestness,
and wishing to hinder it, cast in his way the phantom of a great
silver plate. But Antony, perceiving the trick of him who hates
what is noble, stopped. And he judged the plate worthless, seeing
the devil in it; and said, "Whence comes a plate in the desert?
This is no beaten way, nor is there here the footstep of any
traveller. Had it fallen, it could not have been unperceived, from
its great size; and besides, he who lost it would have turned back
and found it, because the place is desert. This is a trick of the