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CHAPTER V 32. Jerome's plea for the life of soli- tude (373). Family ties and obliga- tions should not stand in the way of the monastic life. Delights of the hermit. THE MONKS AND THE CONVERSION OF THE GERMANS I. THE MONASTIC ATTITUDE OF MIND One of the earliest and most eloquent pleas for mo- nasticism is found in a well-known letter of St. Jerome's, who himself led the life of a monk for many years. He thus urges on a friend, first the duty, then the beauty, of a hermit's existence. Though your little nephew twine his arms around your neck; though your mother, with disheveled hair and tear- ing her robe asunder, point to the breast with which she nourished you ; though your father fall down on the thresh- old before you, pass on over your father's body. Fly with tearful eyes to the banner of the cross. In this matter cruelty is the only piety. . . . Your widowed sister may throw her gentle arms around you. . . . Your father may implore you to wait but a short time to bury those near to you, who will soon be no more. Your weeping mother may recall your childish days, and may point to her shrunken breast and to her wrinkled brow. Those around you may tell you that all the household rests upon you. Such chains as these the love of God and the fear of hell can easily break. You say that Scripture orders you to obey your parents, but he who loves them more than Christ loses his soul. The enemy brandishes a sword to slay me. Shall I think of a mother's tears ? [When once his friend has cast off the responsibilities of the world he will discover that the desert is full of attrac- tions.] O solitude, whence are brought the stones of the city of the Great King ! O wilderness rejoicing close to 86