29O PROGRESS OF MOJSf ACHISM, 



refted indeed for a time on the monks he left behind 

 him at his death ; as we gather from Palladius and Ru~ 

 finus. But the congregation at Tabenna gradually de- 

 parted from its love of regularity, its moderation, and 

 its morals. The increasing numbers of the monks, in- 

 creafed the neceffity of worldly cares, which foon got 

 the upper hand ; and thus all went to ruin. The fu- 

 periors, wanting the good fenfe of Pachomius, fell in- 

 to contentions about rank and precedency, a very or- 

 dinary fubjecl of ftrife among blockheads ; and thus 

 was a laborious and fandtified life changed into a life of 

 quarrels and difputes, of idlenefs and crimes. In the 

 monafteries of iEgypt none arrived at honour and ref^ 

 peel but perfons of profligate manners, who naturally 

 perfecuted the partisans of the prifline virtue. For 

 this reafon, however, the piety of particular monks 

 was thenceforward more exalted and fublime, as they 

 were forced to languish out their lives amidfr. innume- 

 rable crews of fcoundrels* 



Antonius, the ^Egyptian boor, was therefore the 

 mail who faw the world at his feet, and gave new 

 energy and life to the furious enthuliafm of the chrifti- • 

 ans of ./Egypt for making a bolder progrefs in a reli- 

 gion entirely miftaken. Pachomius, on the contrary, 

 by his temperate procedure, had much mitigated that 

 enthuliaftic fpirit. Be this as it may, the doclrine of 

 the mortification of man by folitude and voluntary tor- 

 ments, met now with univerfal approbation in ^Egypt, 

 wherever the chriftian religion had made its way in the 

 eaft. The inhabitants of monafteries were no longer 

 ( ailed afcetics, though they Hill led an afcetic life,, but 

 were diftinguifhed by the name of reclufes or monks. 



The 



