repute from robberies, no man had ever stayed before in that place.
The devil, seeing what he was doing and whither he had gone, was
tormented. And though he, who of old boasted, saying, "I shall
ascend into heaven, I shall sit above the stars of heaven, and shall
be like unto the Most High," now saw that he had been conquered by a
boy, and trampled under foot by him, ere, on account of his youth,
he could commit sin. He therefore began to tempt his senses; but
he, enraged with himself, and beating his breast with his fist, as
if he could drive out thoughts by blows, "I will force thee, mine
ass," said he, "not to kick; and feed thee with straw, not barley.
I will wear thee out with hunger and thirst; I will burden thee with
heavy loads; I will hunt thee through heat and cold, till thou
thinkest more of food than of play." He therefore sustained his
fainting spirit with the juice of herbs and a few figs, after each
three or four days, praying frequently, and singing psalms, and
digging the ground with a mattock, to double the labour of fasting
by that of work. At the same time, by weaving baskets of rushes, he
imitated the discipline of the Egyptian monks, and the Apostle's
saying--"He that will not work, neither let him eat"--till he was so
attenuated, and his body so exhausted, that it scarce clung to his
bones.

One night he began to hear the crying {108} of infants, the bleating
of sheep, the wailing of women, the roaring of lions, the murmur of
an army, and utterly portentous and barbarous voices; so that he
shrank frightened by the sound ere he saw aught. He understood
these to be the insults of devils; and, falling on his knees, he
signed the cross of Christ on his forehead, and armed with that
helmet, and girt with the breastplate of faith, he fought more
valiantly as he lay, longing somehow to see what he shuddered to