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 his mother, and he was under the power of a devil, and he said unto his mother, ‘Rise up, let us depart from here’; and she said unto him, ‘I cannot walk.’ Then the young man said unto him, ‘I will carry thee myself.’ ” And Abbâ Macarius marvelled at the wickedness of that devil, and sought to drive them away.

51. On one occasion five brethren came to visit a great old man, and he asked the first one, saying, “What kind of work doest thou?” And he said unto him, “I twist palm leaves into ropes, father”; and the old man said unto him, “God shall plait a crown for thee, O my son.” Then he said to the second brother, “And what dost thou do?” And he said unto him, “I make mats, father”; and the old man said unto him, “God shall give thee strength, O my son.” And he said unto the third brother, “And what dost thou do?” And he said unto him, “[I make] sieves, father”; and the old man said unto him, “God shall preserve thee, O my son.” Then he asked the fourth brother, saying, “What dost thou do?” And he said unto him, “I can write well.” And the old man said unto him, “Thou knowest.” Then he said unto the fifth brother, “And what dost thou do?” And he said unto him, “I weave linen.” Then the old man said, “I am not near,” and he said also, “If the twister of palm-leaf ropes be watchful with God He will plait him a crown for him; mat[-making] requireth strength because there is labour therein; and God must protect him of the sieves because he hath to sell them in the villages; as to the scribe, he must be humble in heart, for there is in his business exaltation of spirit, as regardeth the linen weaver, I am not near (i.e., concerned) to speak, for he is a merchant and he tradeth. But if a man seeth a brother afar off carrying palm branches, or palm-leaf mats, or sieves, he saith, ‘This man is a monk, for grass is the work of our hands, and he is avoiding the burning of the fire’; and if he seeth a man selling linen, he saith straightway, ‘Behold, the merchants have come, for the [selling of] linen is the work of this world, and it doth not benefit many.’ ”

52. Abbâ Jacob used to say, “It is not only words which are required, for in this [life of] time many have abundance of words, but it is work which is required, and it is necessary to have it, and not words wherein there is no work.”

53. One of the old men used to say, “That which is hated by thee do not unto thy companion; if it be hateful to thee for him to calumniate thee, do not thou calumniate any man; if it be hateful to thee to be accused, accuse thou no man; if it be hateful to thee for a man to revile thee, or to treat thee with contempt, or to pluck thee away, or to do any such