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 the cold, and then the man turned to himself and said, ‘I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, because how many are the rich men, and the owners of possessions who are at this present moment lying in irons, and in afflictions, and in prisons, and there are, moreover, others whose feet have been put in the stocks, who are unable to turn round to any side, whilst I, like a king, can spread out my feet and lie down, and besides this, I can go whithersoever I please.’ And when he had said these things, now I was standing up listening to him, I went in and told them to the brethren, and they benefited by the words of that poor man.”

302. An old man used to say, “Let me think first, and pray next, and then let us begin the work, and afterwards let us boast ourselves in God.”

303. A certain brother asked an old man, saying, “Why is it that I feel disgusted when sitting in my cell, and why am I sluggish in respect of works of spiritual excellence?” And the old man answered and said unto him, “Because thou dost not keep in mind the rest which those who labour expect, and the torments which are laid up for the lazy. For if, in very truth, thou wert seeing these things, thou wouldst be watchful and strenuous in thy labour.”

304. An old man used to say, “The man who maketh a boast of the Name of God, and who doeth not the works which are suitable to that Name, is like unto a poor man who, when a feast cometh, borroweth some clothes and putteth them on, and who, when the feast hath passed, strippeth them off himself because they are not his own, and giveth them to their owners.”

305. Abbâ Ammon used to say concerning Abbâ Paphnutius the Simple, who was from Scete, “When I went down there I was a young man, and he would not allow me to dwell there, saying, ‘In my days I will not permit the faces of young men, which resemble those of women, to dwell in Scete, because of the war of the Enemy against the holy men.’ ”

306. Abbâ Poemen (or Ammon) used to say, “If Nûzardân (Nebuzaradan), the chief of the warriors, had never come to the land of Judea, he would never have burnt down the temple of God which was in Jerusalem with fire”; [now the meaning] of these words is, that if the pleasures of the lust of the belly had never entered in on the soul the mind would never have been vanquished in the war of the Adversary.

307. A certain man asked Abbâ Sisoes, saying, “Hast thou not even yet arrived at the measure of Abbâ Anthony, our father?” And the old man answered and said, “If I had even