of virtue was increased, in another negligence stirred up, and in
others conceit stopped, while all were persuaded to despise the
plots of the devil, wondering at the grace which had been given to
Antony by the Lord for the discernment of spirits. So the cells in
the mountains were like tents filled with divine choirs, singing,
discoursing, fasting, praying, rejoicing over the hope of the
future, working that they might give alms thereof, and having love
and concord with each other. And there was really to be seen, as it
were, a land by itself, of piety and justice; for there was none
there who did wrong, or suffered wrong: no blame from any
talebearer: but a multitude of men training themselves, and in all
of them a mind set on virtue. So that any one seeing the cells, and
such an array of monks, would have cried out, and said, "How fair
are thy dwellings, O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel; like shady
groves and like parks beside a river, and like tents which the Lord
hath pitched, and like cedars by the waters." He himself,
meanwhile, withdrawing, according to his custom, alone to his own
cell, increased the severity of his training. And he groaned daily,
considering the mansions in heaven, and setting his longing on them,
and looking at the ephemeral life of man. For even when he was
going to eat or sleep, he was ashamed, when he considered the
rational element of his soul; so that often, when he was about to
eat with many other monks, he remembered the spiritual food, and
declined, and went far away from them; thinking that he should blush
if he was seen by others eating. He ate, nevertheless, by himself,
on account of the necessities of the body; and often, too, with the
brethren, being bashful with regard to them, but plucking up heart
for the sake of saying something that might be useful; and used to
tell them that they ought to give all their leisure rather to the
soul than to the body; and that they should grant a very little time