iv).
Even so did my followers build their huts above the waters of the
Arduzon, so that they seemed hermits rather than scholars. And as
their number grew ever greater, the hardships which they gladly
endured for the sake of my teaching seemed to my rivals to reflect
new glory on me, and to cast new shame on themselves. Nor was it
strange that they, who had done their utmost to hurt me, should
grieve to see how all things worked together for my good, even
though I was now, in the words of Jerome, afar from cities and the
market place, from controversies and the crowded ways of men. And
so, as Quintilian says, did envy seek me out even in my hiding
place. Secretly my rivals complained and lamented one to another,
saying: "Behold now, the whole world runs after him, and our
persecution of him has done nought save to increase his glory. We
strove to extinguish his fame, and we have but given it new
brightness. Lo, in the cities scholars have at hand everything they
may need, and yet, spurning the pleasures of the town, they seek
out the barrenness of the desert, and of their own free will they
accept wretchedness."
The thing which at that time chiefly led me to undertake the
direction of a school was my intolerable poverty, for I had not
strength enough to dig, and shame kept me from begging.
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