use, and * Ep. ii. 114 ; cited in Gieseler, ii. 2, p. 246, note 47 (Edinb. Engl. ed. ii, p. 13, note 47), and in Ncander. 196 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590. to this day appears here and there in the Greek and Roman churches, yet from the middle of the fourth century monasti- cism began to assume in general the form of the cloister life, as incurring less risk, being available for both sexes, and being profitable to the church. Anthony himself gave warning, as we have already observed, against the danger of entire isola- tion, by referring to the proverb : " Woe to him that is alone." To many of the most eminent ascetics anchoretism was a stepping stone to the coenobite life ; to others it was the goal of coenobitism, and the last and highest round on the ladder of perfection. The founder of this social monachism was PACHOirrus, a con- temporary of Anthony, like him an Egyptian, and little below him in renown among the ancients. He was born about 292, of heathen parents, in the Upper Thebaid, served as a soldier in the army of the tyrant Maximin on the expedition against Oonstantine and Licinius, and was, with his comrades, so kindly treated by the Christians at Thebes, that he was won to the Christian faith, and, after his discharge from the military ser- vice, received baptism. Then, in 313, he visited the aged hermit Palemon, to learn from him the way to perfection. The saint showed him the difficulties of the anchorite life : " Many," said he, " have come hither from disgust with the world, and had no perseverance. Remember, my son, my food consists only of bread and salt ; I drink no wine, take no oil, spend lialf the night awake, singing psalms and meditating on the Scriptures, and sometimes pass the whole night without sleep." Pachomius was astounded, but not discouraged, and spent sev- eral years with this man as a pupil. In the year 325 he was directed by an angel, in a vision, to establish on the island of Tabennse, in the Nile, in Upper Egypt, a society of monks, which in a short time became so strong that even before his death (348) it numbered eight or nine cloisters in the Thebaid, and three thousand (according to some, seven thousand), and, a century later, fifty thousand members. The mode of life was fixed by a strict rule of Pa- chomius, which, according to a later legend, an angel commu- § 38. PACHOMIDS AND THE CLOISTER LIFE. 197 nicated to him, and whicli Jerome translated into Latin. The formal reception into the society was preceded by a three-years' probation. Rigid vows were not yet enjoined. With spiritual exercises manual labor was united, agriculture, boat building, basket making, mat and coverlet weaving, by which the monks not only earned their own living, but also supported the pooi- and the sick. They were divided, according to the