by burning horses came rushing on towards him and as soon as he had called vpon Iesus all that businesse was swallowed vp before his eyes by a sudden gaping of the earth Vpon this he sayd He hath cast the horse and the horseman into the sea and some trust in their chariots and some in their horses but we will be magnifyed in the name of the Lord our God Many were his temptations and many snares were set by the Diuels for him day night all which if I would vndertake to relate I should exceed the measure of one volume How often would naked Woemen appeare to him as he was resting How often would most sumptuous dyet be set before him when he was fasting Sometimes the yelling wolfe and the grinning fox would be leaping ouer him when he was praying and when he was singing some fight of Gladiators would present it selfe and one as if he had bene killed did once fall downe before his feet desiring buriall at his hands He was praying with his head bowed downe to the ground and his mind being once distracted according to humane fraylty he had I know not what other thought when instantly a nimble rider got vpon his backe beating his sides with his heeles and his necke with his whippe and sayd why sleepest thou scornfully laughing at him as he sat did aske him when he was faynting whether he would eat any prouender or no Now from the sixteenth years of his age til the twentyth he declyned the heates and raynes in a poore short little Houel which he had woeuen of reeds and boughes Afterwards he built a little poore Cell for himselfe which is extant to this day It had but the breadth of foure foot and the height of fiue so that it was lower then he in length it was a little longer then the extent of his body so that you would rather haue esteemed it to be a graue then a house He cut his haire once euery yeare and it was at Easter He lay perpetually till his death vpon the bare ground with a matte He neuer washed that sacke-cloath which he had ōce put on affirming that it was idle to looke for neatnes in ◅aircloathes nor did he euer change any coat till it were vtterly worne out The holy scriptures he had without booke and after his prayers and the psalmes he would recite them as in the presence of God And because it would be a long businesse to discouer step by step how he rose vp towards perfection in the seuerall ages of his life I will brieflly first comprehend the history thereof in grosse and so lay it before the eyes of the Reader and then I will in order deliuer a more particular Relation Between the one and twentyth the seauen twentyth yeare of his age he daily tooke for three yeares a little more then half a pint of pulse steeped in cold water and during the other three he tooke dry bread with water and salt From the seauen twentyth to the thirtyth he was sustayned by wild herbes and by the rootes of certaine plantes taken rawe From the one thirtyth to the siue thirtyth he tooke for his dayly food six ounces of barly bread and some kitchin herbes but halfe boyled and without oyle But obseruing that his eyes began already to dazle and that his whole body grew to haue a kind of itch vpon it and to be subiect to an vnnaturall kind of roughnes he added oyle to his former dyet and till the sixtyth yeare of his age he ranne on in this degree of abstinence not once so much as tasting either pulse or fruit or any other thing At last when he found his body to be euen all ouerwrought and conceiued that his death was very neer at hand from the sixty fourth till the eightyth yeare of his age he abstayned euen from bread also with incredible feruour of mind proceeding as if he were but then newly entring into the seruice of God whereas others at that time are wont to be more remisse in their manner of life But hauing fourescore years of age there were made for him certaine little poore broths of flower and herbs which were broken or cut the whole proportion both of meat and drinke scarce arriuing to the waight of foure ounces thus he wēt through the whole order of his life neuer broke his fast till Sun set though it were vpon the highest feasts or in his greatest sicknes But now it is time that I returne to speake particularly of thinges in order When he was yet dwelling in his houel hauing eighteen yeares of age there came vpon him certaine murthering theeues either as thinking that he had somewhat which was worth the carrying away or els as houlding that it amounted to be a kind of contempt of them that a solitary youth should presume not to be affrayd of theyr force So as scouring that quarter between the sea and the Fens from the euening to Sūne rising neuer being able to meet with his lodging but once hauing found him in broad day light what wouldest thou do sayd they if now the murthering theeues should come To whom he answered That the naked man feares no theeues Whereupon they sayd yet there is no doubt but thou mayest be killed I may saith he and therefore do I feare no murthering theeues because I am ready to dy But they admiring his constancy and strong faith confessing how they had been wandring by night and that theyr eyes had been blinded from finding him did make him a promise to lead a better life from that tyme forward By this time he had been two and twenty yeares in that desart and was generally knowne by fame and published ouer all the cittyes of Palestine when in the meane while a certaine woman of Eleutheropolis who perceaued her selfe to be neglected by her husband by reason of her barrennes for already she had passed fifteene yeares without yeelding any fruit of mariage was the first who presumed to breake in vpon the Blessed Hilarion And he suspecting no such matter she cast her selfe sodainly downe at his knees and sayd Pardon this bouldnes pardon this necessity of myne VVhy doe you turne away your eyes VVhy fly you from your suiter Looke not on me as a woman but as a miserable creature Yet this sexe brought forth the Sauiour of the world not the whole but the sicke need the Physitian At length he stayed and looking after so long time vpon her he demanded the reason both of her comming of her weeping which as soone as he had vnderstood he cast vp his eyes to heauen bidding her haue fayth and following her with teares he saw her with a sonne at the yeares end This first miracle of his was illustrated by another greater Aristaene the wife of Elpidius who afterward was Captaine of the Guarde a woman of great nobility in her Country and yet more noble among Christians
Anâ—… I haue chosen â—…o be an abiect in the house of my God rather then to dwell in the tabernacles of siâ—… And when vpon occasion I would be asking her why she was silent and would not answere whither she were in any payne or no she answered me in Greeke That she had no trouble but that she saw all things before her in tranquility peace After this she was silent and shutting her eyes as one who by this time despised mortall thinges she repeated those verses aforesaid but yet so that it was as much as we could do to heare her and then applying her finger to her mouth she made the signe of a Crosse vpon her lippes Her spirit fainted and panted apace towards death and her soule euen earnest to breake out she conuerted the very ratling of her throate wherewith mortall creatures vse to end their life into the praises of our Lord. There were present the Bishops of Ierusalem and of other Citties and an innumerable multitude of Priests and Leuites of inferiour rancke All the Monastery was filled with whole Quiers of virgins and Monks And as soon as she heard the Spouse calling thus Rise vp aâ—…d come O thâ—… my neighbour my beautifull creature and my doue for behold the winter is spent and past and the rayâ—…e 〈◊〉 goâ—… â—…he answered thuâ—… with ioy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iâ—… our land the time of pruning 〈…〉 land of the liâ—…ing From that time forward there was nâ—… lamentation nor dolefull crye as is wont to be vpon the death of men of this world but there 〈◊〉 whoâ—… swarmes of people who châ—…ed out the Psalmeâ—… in different tongues And Paula body being translated by the hands of Bishops 〈◊〉 they bending theâ—… necks vnder the Bier whilest some other Bishops carryed lampes tapers before the body and others led on the Quiers of them who sung she was layd in the midle of her Church of the Natiuity of our B. Sauiour The whole troope of the Citties of Palaestine came in to her funerall Which of the most hidden Moncks of the wildernes was kept in by his Cell which of the virgins was then hidden vp by the most secret roome she had He thought himself to oomiâ—… sacriledge who performed not that last Office to such a creature The widowes and the poore after the example of Dâ—…cas shewed the cloathes which she had giuen them The whole multitude of needy people cryed out that they had lost their mother and their nurse And which is strange the palenes of death had not â—…anged her face at all but a certaine dignity and deceâ—… did so possesse her countenance that you would not haue thought her dead but sleeping The Psalmes were sounded forth in order in the Hebrew and Greeke and Latin in the Syrian tongue not onely for those three dayes till her body was interred vnder the Church and neer the caue of our Lord but during the whole weeke all they who came in did the like belieuing best in those funerals which themselues made and in their owne teares The venerable virgin her daughter Eustochium like an infant weaned from her nurse could scarce be drawen from her mother She kissed her eyes and euen adhered to her face and embraced her whole body and euen would 〈◊〉 bene buryed with her mother I take Iesus to witneâ—… that there remayned not one penny to her daughter but as I said before she left her deeply in debt and which yet is matter of more difficulty an immense multitude of brothers and sisters whom it was hard to feed and impious to put away What is more 〈…〉 of a most noble family dâ—…d 〈◊〉 with a hâ—…ge 〈◊〉 should haue giuen away all she had with so great faith 〈◊〉 â—…o be come almost to the very extremity of pouerty 〈◊〉 others brag of their moneyes and of alme â—…ast into the poore maâ—… boxe of the Presents which they 〈◊〉 â—…ung â—…in â—…pes of gold No one hath giuen more to the poore then she 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing to her selfe Now â—…he 〈◊〉 riches and those good thinges which neither the â—…ye hath seeâ—… nor the care hath heard nor hath it ascended into thâ—… hart of man We lament our owne câ—…e we shall seem but to enuy her glory if we lament her longer who is raigning Be you secure O Bustochium that you are enriched with a great inheritance Our Lord is your part and to the end that your ioy may be the more complet your mother is crowned with a long martyrdome For not only is the effusion of blood reputed for such a confession but the vnspotted seruice of a deuout mind is a daily martyrdome The former crowne is wreathed made of roses and violets the later of lillies Wherupon it is written in the Canticle of Canticles My beloued is whit and red bestowing the some rewardes vpon such as ouercome whether it be in peace or warre Your mother heard these words with Abraham Go forth of thy country of thy kinred and come into the land which I will shew the and she heard our Lord commanding thus by Ieremy Fly you out of the middle of Babylon and saue your soules And till the very day of her death she returned not into Chaldea nor did she couer the pots of Egypt nor that stincking flesh but being accoÌ„panyed with quierâ—… of Virgins is made a fellow-Citizen of our Sauiour ascending vp to those heauâ—…ly kingdomes from the litle Bethleem she saith to that true Nâ—…mi Thy People is my people thy God my God I haue dictated this booke for you at two sittings vp with the same grief which you selfe susteynes For as often as I put my selfe to writ and to performe the worke which I had promised so often did my fingars growe numme my haÌ„d faynted my wit fayled and euen my vnpolished speech so farre from any elegancy or conceit of words doth witnes well in what case the writer was Farewel O Paula helpe thou by thy prayers this last part of his ould age who beares thee a religious reuâ—… Thy faith and workâ—… haâ—… ioyned thee in society to Christ and now being present thou wilt more easily obtayne what thou desirest I haue finished thy monnment which no age will be able to destroy I haue cut thy Elogium vpon thy sepulcher and I haue placed it at the foot of this volume that wheresoeuer our worke shal arriue the Reader may vnderstand that thou werâ—… praised and that thou art buryed in Bethleem The Title written on the Tombe She whom the Paulâ—…'s got the Scipio's 〈◊〉 The Graccho's and great 〈◊〉 race Lyes here interâ—…'d cal'd Paula heretofore Eustochiums mother Court of Romes chief grace Seekes for Christ poore and Bethlems rurall face Written vpon the Front of the Grot. Seest thou cut out of rocke this narrow 〈◊〉 T is Paulas house who now in heauen raâ—…nes And leauing brother kinred country Rome Children and wealth in Bethlems grâ—…t remaynes
and his death did agayne open the wound which scarce was skined before But because we are forbidden by the Apostles commandement to be afflicted for such as are departed and to the end that the excessiue force of sorrow may be tempered by the arriuall of a ioyfull newes I also declare it to you to the end that if you know it not you may know it and that if you know it already we may reioyce together at it Your Bonosus or rather myne or that I may say more truly Bonosus who belongs to vs both is now climing vp that ladder which Iacob saw in his sleepe He carryes his Crosse and neither is troubled with that which may succed nor with that which is past He sowes in teares that he may reape in ioy and according to the mistery of Moyses He hangs vp the serpent in the Desert Let all those false Miracles which are founded in lyes whether they be written either in the Greek or Latin tongue giue place to this truth For behould this young man who was brought vp with me in the liberall arts of this world who had plenty of estat honour amongst the men of his owne rācke hauing contemned the delight and comfort of his mother his sisters and his brother who was most dear to him doth now inhabit a certaine Iland which is haūted by nothing but shipwracks and a sea roareing loud about it where the craggy rockes and bare stones and euen silence it selfe giues terrour as if he were some new kind of Inhabitant of Paradice There is no husband man to be found no Moncke no nor ye◅ doth that little Onesimus in whome you know he delighted dearely as in a brother affoard him any society in this so vast solitud◅ of his There doth he all alone or rather not alone but now accompanyed with Christ behould the glory of God which euen the Apostls could not see but in the Desert He lookes not indeed vpon the towring Cittyes of this world but he hath giuen vp his name in the numbring of the new Citty his body is growne horrid with deformed sackcloath but he will so be the better able to meet Christ our Lord in the cloudes It is true that he enioyes no delitious gardens there but yet he drinkes of the very water of life from the side of our Lord. Place him before your eyes most dear friend and let your whole mind and cogitation procure to make him present to you Then may you celebrat his victory when you haue considered the labour of his combat The mad Sea is roaring round about the whole Iland and doth euen rebel againe in regard it is broken backe by those mountaines of wreathed rockes The ground is not there adorned with grasse and there are no fresh fields ouershadowed with delightfull groaues These abrupt rude hills contriue the place into a kind of hideous prison where he all secure as being without any feare and armed by the Apostle from head to foot is now hearkening to God when he reades spirituall things and then speaking to God when he is praying to him and perhaps also he hath some vision after the example of Iohn whilest he is dwelling in the Iland What plots can you thinke the Diuell to be deuising now What snares can you conceaue that he will be laying Will he perhaps being mindfull of his ancient fraude giue him a temptation by hunger But already he hath his answere Man liues not by bread alone Will he perhaps offer wealth or glory But then he shall be tould That such as desire to be rich fall into temptations and traps And All my glory is in Christ. Will he take aduantage of his body which is weakned by fasting and which may be assalted by some disease but he shall be beaten backe by this saying of the Apostle When I am weake then am I strong and strength is perfected in weaknes Will he threaten death but he shall heare Bonosus say I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Will he cast fyery darts at him Bonosus will receiue them vpon the target of fayth And that I may proceed no further Satan will impugne him but Christ will defend him Thankes be to the O Lord Iesus that I haue one in thy presence who may pray to the for me Thou knowest for to the all our thoughtes are knowne who searchest the secret of our harts and who sawest thy Prophet shut vp in the sea euen in the belly of that huge beast how Bonosus and I grew vp together from our tender infancy till we were in the flourishing prime of youth and how the same bosome of our nurses the same imbracements of our foster-fathers did carry vs vp and downe the house And how after we had studyed neer to those half barbarours bankes of the Rhine we liued vpon the same food and passed our time in the same house and how I was the first of the two who had a good desire to serue thee Remember I beseech thee how this great warryer of thyne was once but a green souldier in my company I haue the promise of thy Maiesty He who shall teach others and not do thereafter shall be accounted the least in the kingdome of heauen but he who shall both teach and do shall be called the greatest in the kingdome of heauen Let him enioy the crowne of his vertue and let him follow the lambe in his long whit robe for the daily martyrdome which he vndergoes There are many mansions in the Fathers house and one starre differs in clarity from another Impart thou to me that I may lift vp my head amongst the feet of thy Saints that when I may haue had a good desire and he may haue performed the good worke thou mayest pardon me because I was not able to fulfill it and thou mayest giue the reward to him which he deserues Perhaps I haue produced my speech into a greater length then the breuity of an Epistle would permit and this is euer wont to happen when I am to say any thing in praise of our Bonosus But to the end I may returne to that from which I had digressed I beseech you that together with your sight your mind may not consent to loose a friend who is long sought rarely found hardly kept Let any man shine neuer so brightly in gold and let his glittering plate be mustered out in as great pompe as pleaseth him charity cannot be bought nor can there be any price set vpon loue That friēdship which can euer fayle was neuer true Farewell in Christ. Saint Hierome to Asella IF I would imagine my selfe able to giue you such thankes as you deserue I should be deceiued God is able to repay that to your holy soule which you haue merited at my hands but I vnworthy man could neuer conceiue or euen desire that you should impart so great affectiō to me in Christ. And though some hold me to be wicked and euen
prisonner in this Monastery if indeed it were to any purpose now it is two dayes since the whole world is depriued of such a Father Shee belieued it and forbore her iourney within few dayes after a messenger came by whome she heard the newes that Anthony was dead Let others wonder at the Miracles which Hilarion wrought let them wonder at his incredible abstinence his knowledge and his pouerty For my part I am not so much amazed at any thing in him as that he could so tread honour and glory vnder his feet There came to him Bishops Priests whole flockes of Religious persons and Moncks and Matrones also which is a great temptation and from all sides both out of the Citties and Fieldes there came multitudes of common people yea and Iudges also and great persons that they might be able to get some bread or oyle which had beene blessed by him But he on the other side had his mind fixed vpon nothing but some wildernes so that one day he resolued to be gone and hauing procured a little Asse for he was then so consumed with fasting that he was scarce able to go he meant to vndertake his iourney with all speed Now as soone as this was knowne it wrought vpon the world there about as if some desolation had been at hand as if the Courts of Iustice were to haue been shut vp in Palestine for some extreme calamity which had happened And there grew to be assembled aboue ten thousand persons of both sexes and seuerall ages for the staying of him Whereas he inflexible to their prayers and scattering the sand with the end of his staffe sayd thus to them I will not make my Lord a lyer nor can I endure to see Churches ouerturned nor the Altars of Christ troden vpon nor the blood of my children spilt All they who were present vnderstood that some secret had beene reuealed to him which he would not confesse but yet howseuer they watched him that he might not get away He therefore resolued and he tooke them all to witnesse that he would not tast either meat or drinke till he were dismissed so after seauen days of his rigorous fasting he was at length released And bidding very many of them farewell there came yet to Betilium a huge troupe of followers but yet perswading those multitudes to returne he chose out forty Monckes who might make and take prouision and were able to goe fasting that is to say not to eat till Sunset The fifth day therefore he came to Pelusium and hauing visited those brothers who were in the desart neer at hand and who remayned in that place which is called Lychnos he went forward after three dayes to the fort of the Theubatians to visit Dracontius the Bishop and Confessor who liued there in banishment The Bishop being incredibly comforted by the presence of so great a person after three dayes more with much a do our old man went to Babylon that he might visit Philo the Bishop who was also a Confessor For Constantius the King who fauoured the heresy of the Arrians had sent them both out of the way into those seuerall places But Hilarion going from thence after three other dayes came to the towne called Aphroditos where meeting with Baysanes the Deacon who by reason of the vsuall great want of water in that desart was wont to hire out Camels and dromedaries to such as went to visit Anthony and so conduct them to him he confessed to those Brothers that the Anniuersary of Anthonyes death was at hand that he was then to celebrate the same to him by watching all that night in that very place where he dyed After three dayes therefore of trauaile through that vast and horrible desart at length they came to a huge high mountaine where they found two Monckes Isaac and Pelusianus which Isaac had beene Anthonyes interpreter And because occasion is heere so fairely offered and that already we are vpon the place I will in few wordes describe the habitation of so great a person as Anthony was There is a high and stony mountaine of a mile in circuit which hath aboundance of springing water at the roote therof The sand drinketh vp part and the rest sliding downeward grows by little and little to make a brooke vpon the banks wherof on both sides the innumerable Palme-trees which grow there giue both great cōmodity beauty to the place There you might haue seene our old man passe nimbly vp downe with the disciples of Blessed Anthony heere they sayd he sung heere he prayed heere he wrought heere when he was weary he vsed to rest These vincs and these little trees did he plant himselfe this little bed of earth did he compose with his owne hands this poole did he contriue with much labour for the watering of his garden with this Rake did he vse to breake vp the earth many yeares He lay in the lodging of Anthony and kissed that place of his repose which as a man may say was yet warme his Cell was of no larger measure then such a square wherein a sleeping man might extend himselfe Besides this in the very highest top of the mountaine which was very steep and could not be ascended but by circling there were two other Cells of the same proportion wherein he would stay sometymes when he had a mind to fly from the frequent recourse of comers and the cōuersation of his Disciples Now these two were hewen out of free stone and had no addition but of doores But when they were come to his garden do you see sayd Isaac that part thereof which is the orchard set with young trees and so greene with herbes Almost three yeares since when a heard of wild Asses came to destroy it he willed one of the leading Asses to stay and beating the sides of it with his staffe How chaunceth sayth he that you eat of that which you did not sow And from thence forth when they had druncke their water for which they came they would neuer touch tree or fruit any more Our old man desired besides that they would shew him the place of Anthonyes tombe but they leading him apart we are yet vncertaine whether they shewed it or not They say that the reason why Anthony commanded it to be concealed was for feare least one Pergamus who was a very rich man in those partes should carry the Saints body to his village so there erect a shryne But now Hilarion returning to Aphroditos and adioyning ōly two of his Brothers to himselfe remayned in the desart which is next that place in the practise of so great abstinence and silence as that he sayd he began to serue Christ but then Now then it had beene about three yeares when the heauēs seemed to be shut and had dryed vp the earth so that they vsed to say that euen the Elements did lament the death of Anthony Neither did the same of Hilarion
miserable and sinnefull creature am I held worthy to kisse the manger wherein my Lord being an infant cryed to pray in that stable where the Virgin Mother was deliuered of our Lord being made a child This is my rest because it is in the country of my Lord here will I dwell because my Sau◅our made choice thereof I haue prepared a lampe for my Christ my soule shall liue to him and my seed shall serue him Not farre from thence she went to the tower Ader that is to say Of the flocke neere which Iacob fed his flockes and the shepheardes who watched by night deserued to heare Glory be to God on high and peace on earth to men of a good will And whilest they kept their sheep they found the Lambe of God with that cleane most pure fleece which when the whole earth was dry was filled with celestiall dew and whose blood tooke away the sinnes of the world and droue away that exteminatour of Egypt being sprinkled vpon the posts of the house And then presently with a swift pace she began to go forward by that old way which leades to Gaza to the power of the riches of God and silently to reuolue within her selfe how the Ethiopian Eunuch prefiguring the Gentiles did change his skinne and whilest he was reflecting vpon his old way found the fountaine of the Ghospel From thence she pasled towards the right hād From Bethsur she came to Escoll which signifyes a Bunch of grapes and from whence in testimony of the extreme fertility of that soile as a type of him who sayd I haue trod the wine presse alone not one of the Gentils was with me those discouerers or spyes carryed home a bunch of Grapes of a wōderfull bignes Not farre from thence she entered into the little houses of Sarah and viewed the antiquities of the infancy of Isaac and the relikes of Abrahams Oake vnder which he saw the day of Christ and reioyced Rising vp from thence sh◅ ascended vp to Chebron which is Cariath Arbe that is to say the towne of the foure men Abraham Isaac Iacob and the great Adam whome according to the booke of Iesus Naue the Iewes conceiue to be buryed there although many thinke that the fourth man was Caleb whose memory they continue by shewing there a part of his side Hauing viewed these places she would not proceed to Chariath Cephor that is to say the little towne of letters because contemning the killing letter she had found the quickning spirit And she wondered more at those superiour and inferiour waters which Othoniel the sonne of Iephone Kenaz had gotten insteed of that Southerne Land dry possession and by Aquiducts had moistened those fieldes of the old testament that he might find the redemption of old sinnes in the water of Baptisme The next day the Sunne being risen she stood vpon the brow of Chaphar Barucha that is the Towne of benediction to which place Abraham followed our Lord looking downe from thence vpon a large desert that Land which of old was belonging to Sodomah and Gomorrah Adamah and Seboin◅ She then contemplated those Vines of Balsamum in Engaddi and the Calfe of Segor and Zoara which in the Syrian language signifyes The little one She remembred the little hollow caue of Lot and being all bathed in tears she admonished the Virgins who accompanyed her to take heed of Wine wherein Luxury is and whose fruites are the Moabites Ammonites I make too long stay in the South where the spouse found out her fellow-spouse as he was layd and where Ioseph was inebriated with his brethren But I will now returne to Hierusalem and betweene Thecua and Amos I will behold the b◅ightly shining light of Mount Oliuet from whence our Sauiour ascended vp to his Father and vpon which mountaine a red Cow was yearely burnt by way of Holocaust to our Lord the ashes whereof did expiat the people of Israel wherupon also the Cherubin passing away from the Temple according to Ezechiel there was founded a Church to our Lord. After this going into the Sepulcher of Lazarus she saw the house of Mary and Martha and Bethphage the towne of sacerdotall iawes and that place where the wanton asses coult of the Gentiles accepted the bridle of God and being ouerspred with the Apostles garments gaue an easy seat to the rider Then did she descend by a straight way towards Iericho reuoluing in her mind that wounded man of the Ghospell and withall the clemency of the Samaritan which signifyes a Guardian who layd the man being halfe dead vpon his beast and brought him to the stable of the Church whilest the Priests and Leuites with vnmercifull harts passed by She also saw the place called Adonim which is by interpretation of blood because much blood was wont to be shed there by the frequent incursion of murdering theeues She saw the Sicomore tree of Zach◅us that is to say the good workes of penance whereby he trod vnder foot his former sinnes which were full of extortion and cruelty beheld that high Lord of ours from the height of vertue And neer that way she saw those places of the blind men where receiuing their fight they prefigured the mysteries of both those people which were to beliue in our Lord. Being entred into Iericho she saw that Citty which Hiell founded in Abiram for his eldest sonne and whose gates were placed in Segub for his youngest She beheld the tents of Galgala and the whole heape of foreskinnes and the mystery of the Circumcision and the twelue stones which being transferred thither out of the bottome or bed of Iordan did strengthen the twelue fomdations of the Apostles and that fountayne of the lawe which auntiently was most bitter and barren of waters but now the true Elizeus had seasoned it with his wisedome and indued it both with suauity and plenty The night was scarce passed when she came with extreme feruour of deuotion to Iordan She stood vpon the bancke of the riuer and as soon as the Sunne was vp she remembred the Sunne of Iustice and how the Priests had formerly set their dry feet in the middest of the riuer when the streame made a fayre way by the staying of the water halfe or the one side and halfe on the other vpon the commandement of Elias and Elizeus and how our Lord by his baptisme clensed those waters which had bene infected in the tyme of the flood by the death of all mankind It will be a long businesse if I shall take vpon me to speake of the valley of Achor that is to say Of troubles and tumult wherin couetousnes and th◅ft were cond◅mned and of Bethel the house of God wherin the poore naked Iacob slept vpon the bare ground and laying that stone vnder his head which in Zachary is described to haue seuen eyes and in Esay is called the corner stone saw a ladder reaching vp to heauen toward which our Lord inclined
from aboue reaching forth his hand to such as were labouring to get vp and precipitating from on high such as were negligent She also exhibited veneration to the Sepulchres of Iesu the sonne of Naue vpon mount Ephraim and of Eleazarus the sonne of Aaron which was there hard by whereof the one was built by Tannathsare on the northside of the Mount Goas the other in Gabaah belonging to Phinees his sonne she much wondered that he who had the distribution of those possessions in his hands had chosen the mountaynous barreyne parts for himself What shall I say of Silo whereof the altar was pulled downe and is shewed to this day where the tribe of Beniamin did forerunne the rapt of the Sabines which was made by Romulus She passed by Scihem which now is called Neapolis for it is not Sichar as some erroneously affirme and she entred into that Church which is built neet the well of Iacob vpon the side of the mountaine of Garizim vpon which well our Lord sitting downe and being hungry and thirsty was satisfyed with the faith of the Samaritan woman who leauing both her fiue husbands vnder the law of Moyses and the fixt whome then she auowed her selfe to haue giuing ouer that errour to which Dositheus was subiect found the true Mesâ—… and the true Sauiour And turning aside from thence she sawe the tombes of the twelue Patriarchs and Sebastes that is Sameria which in honour of Augustus was called Augusta in the Graecian language There are the Prophets Helizeus and Abdias Iohn the Baptist then whom there was none greater among the sonnes of men There did she euen tremble and was astonished with many woÌ„derful things For she found the diuels roare through feuerall torments and that before the Sepulchres of the Saints men howled after the manner of wolues and barked like dogs and foamed like Lyons hissed like serpents and roared like Buls Others did shake and wheeled their heades about bent their crownes behind their backes to the ground and woemen would be hanging vp by their feet with their cloathes flying downe about their faces She had pitty on them and powred forth her teares she begged mercy at the hands of Christ for them all Now though she were but weake yet she went vp the hill on foot in two concauities whereof Abdias the Prophet fed a hundred Prophets with bread aud water in a time of famine and persecution From thence she went with a speedy pace to Nazareth that nursery of our Lord and to Canaan Caphernaum where his Miracles were so familiarly wrought And she saw the lake of Tyberiadis which was sanctifyed by our Lordr sayling on it the wildernes wherein many thousands of people were satisfyed with bread where the twelue baskets of the twelue tribes of Israell were filled with the reliquâ—… 〈◊〉 them who were fed She climed vp to Mount Thabor wherein our Lord was transfigured She saw a farre off the hils of Hermon and Hermonym and those large wild fields of Galilee wherein Sisara and all his Army was ouercome vnder the conduct of Barach the torreÌ„t of Cison which deuided that plaine by the middle and the towne neer Naim where the widowes sonne reuiued was shewed to her The day wil sooner faile me then discourse if I shal speake of all those places which the venerable Paula visited with an incredible faith I will passe on to Egypt I will stay a while in Soceth and at the fountayne of Sâ—…mpson which he produced out of a great iaw tooth and I will wash my dry mouth and being so refreshed will looke vpon Morastis which anÌ„tiently was the Sepulchre of the Prophet Micheas is â—…ow a Church And I will leaue on the one side the Chorreans the Gâ—…heans Maresa Idumea and Lachis and by those deepe sands which euen draw the feet of trauailers from vnder them and by that huge vastity of the desert I wil come to Sâ—…or that riuer of Egypt which by interpretation is Troubled and I will passe by the fiue Citties of Egypt which speake the Cananean tongue and the land of Gesse the fieldes of Tanais wherin God wrought wonderfull things and the Citty of No with grew afterward to be Alexandria and Nâ—…tria that towne of our Lord where the filthines of many is daily washed away with the most pure Niter of vertue Which when she saw the holy and venerable Bâ—…shop and Confessour Isidorus coming to meet her together with innumerable troupes of Monckes amongst whome there were many who were sublimed so farre as to be Leuites and Preists she reioyced indeed at the glory of our Lord but confessed her self to be vnworthy of so great honour How shall â—…be able to relate of those Machario's Arsenio's Serapions and the rest of the names of those pillars of Christ. Into whose cell did she noteÌ„ter Before whose feet did she not fal In euery one of the Saints she coÌ„ceiued her selfe to see Christour Lord whatsoeuer she gaue theÌ„ she reioyced in that she gaue it to our Lord. She expressed a strange ardour of minde a courage which was scarce credible to be in a womaÌ„ Being forgetfull of her sex and of her corporall indispositions she â—…d that she might dwell with her virgins among so many thousands of Moncks And perhaps she had obtayned it through the great respectâ—… which they carryed to her vnlesse a more earnest desire to reuiew the holy places had drawen her backe And by reason of those most excessiue heats she put her selfe to Sea from Pellusium to Maioma and retourned with so great speed that she might be thought to fly Soon after resoluing to remayne for euer in the holy Bethlem she entertayned herselfe for three yeares in that straight lodging till she had built Cels and Monasteries and diuers habitations for pilgrimes neer that way where Mary and Ioseph could find no place of entertainment And this shall suffice for the description of her Iourney which she performed with many virgins one of theÌ„ being her daughter But now let her vertue which is properly her owne be described more at large in the declararation whereof I professe before God who is both my witnes and my iudge that I will adde nothing to the truth nor amplify after the manner of men who praise others but rather say lesse then I might least els I may seem to speake incredible things and be conceiued to deliuer vntruthes and to adorne Esopes crow with colours belonging to other birds in the conceit of my detracters who are euer gnawing vpon me with a sharp tooth She abased her selfe with so great humility which is the chief vertue of Christians that whosoeuer had not seen her before and had desired to see her then for the fame of her person would neuer haue belieued that she was her selfe but the very poorest of her maydes And when she was hemmed in with quiers of virgins she would be the meanest of them all