enough for thee”; and I agreed with my thoughts, and I carried them into effect. So I built me an habitation, and took up my abode therein, and men used to come to me and carry away my work. Now whilst I was doing thus, and was giving my work for the benefit of strangers and the poor, Satan, the Enemy, with his wonted envy cast his arrows at me, and instead of the reward of my labours wherewith I expected to be rewarded, he flattered me by causing a certain virgin to come to me, with the excuse that she wished to buy the labour of my hands, and I gave her that which she wanted. And he stirred her up, moreover, and with one excuse or the other she was always coming to me; and when she had been accustomed to come, and had acquired freedom of speech with me, she began to come near me, and she would take hold of my hands, and laugh, and she was so bold as to eat with me; and subsequently we conceived and brought forth iniquity. And having lived with her in this fallen condition for six months I thought in my mind that whether it was to-day, or to-morrow, or at some future time, however far off that time might be, I should be delivered over to everlasting torment. The man who taketh out [of her house] the wife of another man, and seduceth her, is delivered over to the punishment of the Law; how much greater then will be the punishment of the man who hath seduced a woman who hath been betrothed to Christ? Then straightway I determined to come to this desert, and leaving everything I had behind me I went forth secretly, and I came and found this cave, and this fountain, and this palm which is in front of it, which produceth twelve clusters of dates each year, and thus yieldeth each month that which is sufficient for me for the whole month. Now after some time the hair of my body grew long, and my clothes wore out, and my hair covered my bodily shame; I have now been here for thirty years, and the air (or climate) always supplieth me in moderation with what is necessary.
And I questioned him further, saying, “Was thy mind disturbed about anything during the first years of thy life here?” And he said unto me, “I was greatly afflicted at first, and I used to throw myself upon the ground by reason of pain in my liver, and I could not stand up to say my prayers, but was obliged to make my supplications unto God lying on the ground. Now whilst I was in this tribulation I saw a man who came, and stood by my side, and said unto me, ‘What is thy pain?’ And at these words I gained a little strength, and I said unto him, ‘My liver troubleth me and causeth me pain’; and he said to me, ‘Shew me where the place is.’ And having shewn him, he spread out his fingers and his hands, and slit up my body as with a sword and he took my liver and shewed me the sore on it; then he removed the pain, and having made the place whole
