Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/17

 they might  not  leave  the  house  of  prayer  without  divine  solemnities; and each  of  them  fed  himself  even  as  he  could  or  would:  some bare with  them  a  sufficiency  for  the  body,  some   apples  of  the palm-trees  [dates],  some  beans   moistened  with  water,  some  nothing save  the  body  alone  and  the  garment,  but  they  were  fed with [that  which]   might  wait  upon  the  necessity  of  nature,  that is. with the    herbs  which  grew  in   the    desert;    and    there    each one bound  himself  in  self-denial,  even  as  it  seemed  well  to  him, so that  none  of  them  knew  the  ways  or  deeds  of  others. "When they had  gone    over  the   river  Jordan,  then  each  one  sundered himself  far  from  the   others,  and  none  of   them    joined  himself  again  to  his  companions;    but  if  any  of  them  saw  another  afar [coming]  towards  him,  immediately  he  turned  out  of  his  [chosen] direction,  and  went  another  way,  and  lived  by  himself,  and  continued in  perpetual   prayers  and  fastings.     Verily  after   accomplishing  the  fast  in  this  manner,  they  returned  again  to  the  minster before  the  Lord's   resurrection-day,  that    is   to   say,    on  the festival  which  we  commonly  call  Palm-day;    each  one  had  within himself,  in  his  own  conscience,  the  witness  of  his  own  labour,  as  to  what  he  was  employed  in,  and  the  seeds  of  what  labours  he  was sowing;    and  none  of  them  asked  another   in  what  wise  he  had fulfilled the  conflict  of  the  labour.

Verily this  was  the  rule  of  the  minster,  and  thus  perfectly  was each one  preserved,  as  I   before  said,  so  that  he  joined  himself to God  in  the  desert;  and  they  fought  with  themselves  in  order that they  might  not  please  men,  but  only  God  Himself.

Then verily  Zosimus,  according  to  the  customary  law  of  the minster, went  over  the  river  Jordan,  having  with  him  a  very  little for the  necessities  of  the  body;  and  in  the  observance  of  his  rule went across  the  desert,  taking  at  due  time  a  meal,  and  [supplying] the  necessity  of  nature,  sitting  at  night  upon  the  earth, and resting  little;  and  he  slept  wheresoever  the  close  of  evening found him.

And again,  in  the  early  morning,  [he  kept]  proceeding  on  his journey as  he  was  unceasingly  determined,  and  going  about,  because he desired,  as  he  said  afterwards,  to  meet  a  father  in  the  desert