XXXVI. There was a certain soldier of the world who desired to be a monk,
and laid down his weapons in God's church,
and turned to the monastic life before men,
and erected for himself a cell in a secret place
as if he could easily become an anchorite,
and Martin had consecrated his consort
to a nun's life in a certain convent.
Then the devil sent such a thought into the monk
that he would have his wife with him as companion,
and he went to Martin and opened his mind to him.
Then said the holy man that it was unbecoming
that his wife should dwell with him again;
after he was a monk, and refused him this.
He, nevertheless, continued in his self-will,
and said that it should not hurt his monkhood,
though he should enjoy her comfort and assistance,
and that he would not return to his former sins.
When he continued long in this obstinacy,
then said the holy man to the scornful monk,
' Tell me, I ask of thee, if thou hast ever been
either in battle or in any cohort?'
He said that he had verily been very often
both in a cohort and also in battle.
Then Martin said to the monk again,
' Sawest thou any woman when thou wast in battle
fighting beside you with drawn sword?'
Then the monk was ashamed, and he was very thankful
that he had been conquered by reason,
and that Martin had prevented him from following his error.
Then said the holy man, ' A woman should not go
to men's camps but remain at home;
contemptible would be the army in which women should fight;
let the soldier fight in the warlike cohort,
and let the woman keep herself within the protection of the wall,
and she shall have her glory if she keep her chastity
