LEGEND OF ST ATHANASIUS 115 



of these, in their solitary cells, the raven was always 

 the cherished and often the only companion. 



St Athanasius, who by his learning, his rapidity 

 of movement, his prophetic anticipations, no less 

 than by the sanctity of his life, won for himself, like 

 Gerbert, Pope Sylvester the Second, of later times, 

 a great reputation as a magician among the mongrel 

 Graeco- Romano-Egyptian population of Alexandria, 

 was, one day, passing through its great square. A 

 raven happened to fly, croaking, over his head. 

 The mob gathered round him and asked what it 

 meant by its croak. " Don't you know? " he replied 

 with ready wit. " He is saying * Cras, eras/ ' To- 

 morrow, to-morrow ' ; and ' to-morrow ' something 

 which you regard as sad, will certainly fall upon you. 

 Your Pagan festival will be suppressed by the 

 Emperor." And suppressed by the Emperor, on 

 the morrow, it actually was. One wonders which 

 gained most in reputation with the populace, the 

 raven or the saint. 



For seventy-five years, St Antony had lived alone 

 in the desert, living down, as early Christian art in 

 all the chief picture galleries of Europe still testifies, 

 the temptations and attacks of the Evil One ; till, 

 one day, he felt something like a touch of spiritual 

 pride in the sanctity to which he had thus attained. 



