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Vita S. Hilarionis

4.

Ieiunium Hilarionis. Mirabantur omnes animum: mirabantur aetatem; nisi quod flamma quaedam [0031A] pectoris, et scintillae fidei in oculis relucebant. Laeves [al. lenes] erant genae, delicatum corpus et tenue, et ad omnem iniuriam impatiens: quod levi vel frigore, vel aestu, posset affligi. Igitur sacco tantum membra coopertus, et pelliceum habens ependyten, quem illi beatus Antonius proficiscenti dederat, sagumque rusticum, inter mare et paludem, vasta et terribili solitudine fruebatur, quindecim tantum caricas post solis occasum comedens. Et quia regio latrociniis infamis erat, numquam in eodem loco habitare consueverat. Quid [al. mansitans. Quid] faceret diabolus? quo se verteret? Qui gloriabatur ante, dicens: In coelum ascendam, super sidera coeli ponam thronum meum, et ero similis Altissimo (Isa. XIV, 14), cernebat se vinci a puero, et prius [0031B] ab eo calcatum fuisse, quam per aetatem peccare potuisset.

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The Life of S. Hilarion

4.

His courage and tender years would have been a marvel to all, were it not that his heart was on fire and his eyes bright with the gleams and sparks of faith. His cheeks were smooth, his body thin and delicate, unfit to bear the slightest injury which cold or heat could inflict. What then? With no other covering for his limbs but a shirt of sackcloth, and a cloak of skins which the blessed Antony had given him when he set out, and a blanket of the coarsest sort, he found pleasure in the vast and terrible wilderness with the sea on one side and the marshland on the other. His food was only fifteen dried figs after sunset. And because the district was notorious for brigandage, it was his practice never to abide long in the same place. What was the devil to do? Whither could he turn? He who once boasted and said, ¹“I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of the sky, I will be like the most High,” saw himself conquered and trodden under foot by a boy whose years did not allow of sin.