The idle way of life of the anchorites was wholly repulsive to his views of the task for men and for Christians, but he succored those whom he could, and made no enquiries about the condition of the sufferer.  The pathetic union in which he found the two men touched his heart, and, turning to Paulus, he said kindly:  “I can leave you in perfect comfort, for you seem to me to have a faithful nurse.”

The Alexandrian reddened; he shook his head, and replied:  “I?  I thought of no one but myself, and left him to suffer and thirst in neglect, but now I will not quit him—­no, indeed, I will not, and by God’s help and yours, he shall recover.”

Petrus gave him a friendly nod, for he did not believe in the anchorite’s self-accusation, though he did in his good-will; and before he left the cave, he desired Hermas to come to him early on the following day to give him news of his father’s state.  He wished not only to cure Stephanus, but to continue his relations with the youth, who had excited his interest in the highest degree, and he had resolved to help him to escape from the inactive life which was weighing upon him.

Paulus declined to share the simple supper that the father and son were eating, but expressed his intention of remaining with the sick man.  He desired Hermas to pass the night in his dwelling, as the scanty limits of the cave left but narrow room for the lad.

A new life had this day dawned upon the young man; all the grievances and desires which had filled his soul ever since his journey to Alexandria, crowding together in dull confusion, had taken form and color, and he knew now that he could not remain an anchorite, but must try his over abundant strength in real life.

“My father,” thought he, “was a warrior, and lived in a palace, before he retired into our dingy cave; Paulus was Menander, and to this day has not forgotten how to throw the discus; I am young, strong, and free-born as they were, and Petrus says, I might have been a fine man.  I will not hew and chisel stones like his sons, but Caesar needs soldiers, and among all the Amalekites, nay among the Romans in the oasis, I saw none with whom I might not match myself.”

While thus he thought he stretched his limbs, and struck his hands on his broad breast, and when he was asleep, he dreamed of the wrestling school, and of a purple robe that Paulus held out to him, of a wreath of poplar leaves that rested on his scented curls, and of the beautiful woman who had met him on the stairs of the senator’s house.

     ETEXT editor’s bookmarks: 

     Action trod on the heels of resolve
     Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto
     I am human, nothing that is human can I regard as alien to me
     Love is at once the easiest and the most difficult
     Love overlooks the ravages of years and has a good memory
     No judgment is so hard as that dealt by a slave to slaves