scarped right down, and the deep river
called Loire lay on the other side,
so that a man could not come to the monastery
except by a single path whereby he might ask for ingress.
Eighty monks dwelt in that monastery
under Martin's instruction, serving gloriously;
and all their things were in common between them,
and there no man had anything apart,
neither took they heed of buying, nor might they sell aught,
save only those things which provided for their subsistence;
nor might there any brother practise any craft
save to pray or to write books.
The elder brothers were at that time busied
in perpetual prayers, and the youthful wrote
and abode in silence, even as Martin appointed them.
They ate together at set times,
and they had no thought of wine save for the infirm men;
and many there had haircloth next to their body,
and there soft clothing was accounted as sin.
Nobly born men lived there in the monastery
who had been delicately nurtured, but they subjected themselves, nevertheless,
to the same austerity which was established there in the monastery,
and many of them we have seen afterward bishops.
Lo! what city was there that would not choose a bishop
from Martin's monastery, for sake of his glorious example?
VIII. There was at that time near the holy monastery
as it were a holy place, greatly venerated
by the common people, as if martyrs lay there;
and the former bishops had venerated the place
and had consecrated an altar there, though it was in error.
Martin did not believe the false delusion,
but enquired minutely of the oldest priests
the martyr's name, or when he was martyred;
but none of them knew anything certain about him.
