Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/293

 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