As he was thinking thus to himself, lo! two lions came running from
the inner part of the desert, their manes tossing on their necks;
seeing whom he shuddered at first; and then, turning his mind to
God, remained fearless, as though he were looking upon doves. They
came straight to the corpse of the blessed old man, and crouched at
his feet, wagging their tails, and roaring with mighty growls, so
that Antony understood them to lament, as best they could. Then not
far off they began to claw the ground with their paws, and, carrying
out the sand eagerly, dug a place large enough to hold a man: then
at once, as if begging a reward for their work, they came to Antony,
drooping their necks, and licking his hands and feet. But he
perceived that they prayed a blessing from him; and at once,
bursting into praise of Christ, because even dumb animals felt that
he was God, he saith, "Lord, without whose word not a leaf of the
tree drops, nor one sparrow falls to the ground, give to them as
thou knowest how to give." And, signing to them with his hand, he
bade them go.

And when they had departed, he bent his aged shoulders to the weight
of the holy corpse; and laying it in the grave, heaped earth on it,
and raised a mound as is the wont. And when another dawn shone,
lest the pious heir should not possess aught of the goods of the
intestate dead, he kept for himself the tunic which Paul had woven,
as baskets are made, out of the leaves of the palm; and returning to
the monastery, told his disciples all throughout; and, on the solemn
days of Easter and Pentecost, always clothed himself in Paul's
tunic.

I am inclined, at the end of my treatise, to ask those who know not
the extent of their patrimonies; who cover their houses with