rude contempt of mar- ried life. No wonder, then, that in Egypt and the whole East, the land of monasticism, women and domestic life never at- tained their proper dignity, and to this day remain at a very low stage of culture. Among the rules of Basil is a prohibition of speaking with a woman, touching one, or even looking on one, except in unavoidable cases. Monasticism not seldom sun- dered the sacred bond between husband and wife, commonly with mutual consent, as in the cases of Ammon and Nilus, but often even without it. Indeed, a law of Justinian seems to give either party an unconditional right of desertion, while yet the word of God declares the marriage bond indissoluble. The Council of Gangra found it necessary to oppose the notion that marriage is inconsistent with salvation, and to exhort wives to ' Athanasius says of St. Anthony, that the devil sometimes appeared to him in the form of a woman ; Jerome relates of St. Hilarion, that in bed his imagination was often beset with visions of naked women. Jerome himself acknowledges, in a letter to a virgin (!), Epist. xxii. (ed. Vallars. t. i. p. 91, 92), de Custodia Virgini- tatifi, ad Eustochium : " 0 quoties ego ipse in eremo constitutus et in ilia vasta solitudine, qufe exusta solis ardoribus horridum monachis prtebebat habitaculum, putavi me Romania interesse deliciis. . . . Ille igitur ego, qui ob gehenucE metum tali me carcere ipse damnaveram, scorpionum tantum sociua et ferarum, ssepe choris intereram puellarum. Pallebant ora jejuniis, et mens desideriis aestuabat in frigido corpore, et ante hominem suum jam in came praemortuum, sola libidinum incendia buUiebant. Itaque omni auxilio destitutus, ad Jesu jacebam pedes, rigabam lacrymis, crine tergebam et repugnantem carnem hebdomadarum inedia subjugabam." St. Ephraim warns against listening to the enemy, who whispers to the monk : Ov Swarhv iraiiffaiT^ai oltto aov, iav fxri Tr\r}pocpopr}ffTit iiribvfuav (Tov. • Vita Pach. § 61. Comp. Nilus, Epist. 1. ii. ep. 140: Tii/ej . . . kavruhs eacpa^av naxa'ipa, etc. Even among the fanatical Circumcelliones, Donatist medicant monka in Africa, suicide was not uncommon. 172 THIKD PEEIOD. A.D. 311-590. remain with tlieir husbands. In the same way monasticis;:o came into conflict with love of kindred, and with the relation of parents to children ; misinterpreting the Lord's command to leave all for His sake. Nilus demanded of the monks the entire suppression of the sense of blood relationship, St. An- thony forsook his younger sister, and saw her only once after the separation. His disciple. Prior, when he became a monk, vowed never to see his kindred again, and would not even speak with his sister without closing his eyes. Something of - the same sort is recorded of Pachomius. Ambrose and Jerome, in full earnest, enjoined upon virgins the cloister life, even against the will of their parents. When Hilary of Poictiers heard that his daughter wished to marry, he is said to have prayed God to take