through the air. And the lions drew nigh and stood near the body of the blessed Paule, and they wagged their tails at the blessed Anthony, and they crouched down before him in perfect tameness, and they rubbed their teeth together and purred so loudly that the blessed man knew that they wished to be blessed, and to be helped, and that they desired [to know] concerning the departure of the blessed Paule. And after they had acted thus, the lions began to dig [a grave], and they threw up the earth with their paws, and they made the hole in the ground deep enough, and wide enough, and long enough, according to the measure of the body; and they lowered their ears and their tails, and bowed down their heads before Abbâ Anthony, and they licked his hands and his feet, and he knew that they wished to be blessed. Then he gave thanks for the glory of God because that even the wild and savage beasts knew how to [help] the good and chosen men of God, and he spake thus:—“O Lord God, without Whose command not one leaf falleth to the ground, and against Whose Will not one bird droppeth into the snare, do Thou bless all of us.” And he brought his hand nigh unto the lions, and commanded them to depart; and when the two lions had gone away Anthony took the body and buried it in the customary way. Then, after one day, he took the tunic of Abbâ Paule, which was made of palm leaves sewn together, like a true inheritance and a thing which brought privilege, and departed to his monastery. And when he had arrived there he related unto the monks the whole matter in due order; and on the feast of unleavened bread and at Pentecost Saint Anthony used to put on the tunic of the blessed and holy man Paule, and he would pray with it upon him.
And I, Hieronymus the sinner, entreat all those who read this book to pray for me. [In the text here comes the following note by some editor of Palladius:]
Concerning these histories of Paule, and of the company of Mark (?), and of Macarius, there are some who say that they were compiled by Hieronymus because his name occurs at the end of them.
Here endeth the History of Mar Paule, the holy Man, the Firstborn of all the Desert Monks
Chapter iij: The Triumph of a young Man who was an Alexandrian
THERE was a certain young man in Alexandria, who, immediately the law of nature began to work in him, and to make him to possess the knowledge which distinguisheth good from evil, endeavoured by every means in
