[226] Novell. CXXIII. c. 42.
[227] S. Theod. Studit. Testament. v. (Max. Bib. Pat. IX. I. 276).
[228] St. Benedict of Nursia, the real founder of Latin monachism, who quitted the world in 494 thus describes the wandering monks of his time: “Tertium vero monachorum teterrimum genus est Sarabaitarum ... qui bini aut terni, aut certe singuli sine pastore, non Dominicis sed suis inclusi ovilibus, pro lege eis est desideriorum voluptas; cum quidquid putaverint vel elegerint, hoc dicunt sanctum, et quod noluerint putant non licere. Quartum vero genus est monachorum quod nominatur gyrovagum, qui tota vita sua per diversas provincias ternis aut quaternis diebus per diversorum cellas hospitantur, semper vagi et nunquam stabiles, et propriis voluptatibus et gulæ illecebris servientes, et per omnia deteriores Sarabaitis: de quorum omnium miserrima conversatione melius est silere quam loqui.”—Regul. S. Benedicti c. 1.
[229] Cassiani de Cœnob. Instit. Lib. II. c. 8; Lib. V. c. 1, 15.
[230] Gelasii PP. I. Epist. IX. cap. xx., xxi.
[231] Symmachi PP. Epist. vi.
[232] Greg. Mag. Vit. S. Benedicti c. 2.—Juan Cirita, a Spanish saint of the twelfth century, was exposed to the same temptation as St. Benedict, the devil visiting him in the shape of a lovely woman who sought refuge from her pursuers in his cell. During a sleepless night, feeling his resolution giving way, he roused his fire and with a glowing brand burned his arm to the bone, whereupon the devil vanished, loading him with reproaches (Henriquez Vit. Joannis Cirita cap. ii.). Legends of this nature are not uncommon, nor are there wanting those of another class in which the immediate and visible agency of the Evil Spirit is not called into play. Thus the holy Godric, a Welsh saint of the twelfth century, endeavored to subdue his rebellious flesh in the manner which St. Benedict found so effectual, but without success. He then buried a cask in the earthen floor of his cell, filled it with water and fitted it with a cover, and in this receptacle he shut himself up whenever he felt the titillations of desire. In this manner, varied by occasionally passing the night up to his chin in a river of which he had broken the ice, he finally succeeded in mastering his fiery nature.—Girald. Cambrens. Gemm. Eccles. Dist. II. c. x.
[233] Regul. S. Benedicti c. 28, 29, 58.
[234] Tetrad. Regul. c. 1.
[235] Capit. Car. Mag. I. ann. 811 cap. xi. He also asks whether there were any monks in Gaul before the rule of St. Benedict was brought there, and is naturally not a little puzzled when told that St. Martin of Tours was a monk long anterior to the time of Benedict.—Capit. II. ann. 811 cap. xii. (Baluz. I. 331-2, Ed. Venet.).