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 fashion]?” And the old man said unto him, “I see that thou toilest, and that thou dost not know that thou art toiling for naught”; then he said unto the old man, “At thy salutation I also was very sorry, and I learned that thou didst belong to the Great God. But a wicked monk met me just before thou didst, and he cursed me, and I smote him even unto death.” And the old man knew that it was his disciple [of whom he spake], and the priest laid hold upon the feet of Macarius, and said unto him, “I will not let thee [go] until thou makest me a monk”; and they came to the place where the brother was lying, and they carried him and brought him to the church of the mountain. Now when the fathers saw the heathen priest with him, they marvelled that he had been converted from the error which he had held; and Macarius took him and made him a monk, and through him many of the heathen became Christians. And Abbâ Macarius said, “ ‘An evil word maketh wicked even those who are good, and a good word maketh good even those who are wicked,’ as it is written.”

187. On one occasion thieves came to the cell of an old man, and said unto him, “We have come to take away everything which thou hast in thy cell”; and he said unto them, “My sons, take whatsoever ye please”; and they took everything which they saw in his cell and departed. Now they forgot [to take] a wallet which was hanging there, and the old man took it and ran after them, and entreated them, saying, “My sons, take this wallet which ye have left behind in your cell.” And when the thieves saw this they marvelled at the good disposition of the old man, and they gave back everything which they had taken from his cell, and they repented, and said to each other, “Verily, this man is a man of God.”

188. Abbâ Macarius the monk loved money so little that, on one occasion when thieves came to his cell by night, and took out whatsoever they could find in it, as soon as he perceived what they were doing, he helped them in their work and also to carry [their plunder] out of the desert.

189. They say that once when Abbâ Macarius was absent a thief entered his cell, and that when he returned and found a thief therein loading upon a camel everything which he had in his cell, he also went in and took some of the things and laid them on the camel; and when the thief had loaded the camel, he began to beat it in order to make it rise up, but it would not move. Now when Abbâ Macarius saw that the beast would not stand up, he took a basket which was remaining, and brought it out and laid it on the camel, and said, “The camel wisheth to carry off this also, O brother, and because of this