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THE system of the anchorites, which you are surprised at my leaving, I
not only neither reject nor refuse, but rather embrace and regard with the
utmost veneration: in which system, and after I had passed thirty years
living in a coenobium, I rejoice that I have also spent twenty more, so
that I can never be accused of sloth among those who tried it in a half-
hearted way. But because its purity, of which I had had some slight
experience, was sometimes soiled by the presence of anxiety about carnal
matters, it seemed better to return to the coenobium to secure a readier
attainment of an easier aim undertaken, and less danger from venturing on
the higher life of the humble solitary. For it is better to seem earnest
with smaller promises than careless in larger ones. And therefore if
possibly I bring forward anything somewhat arrogantly and indeed somewhat
too freely, I beg that you will not think it due to the sin of boasting but
rather to my desire for your edification; and that, as I think that, when
you ask so earnestly, nothing of the truth should be kept back from you,
you will set it down to love rather than to boasting. For I think that some
instruction may be given to you if I lay aside my humility, and simply lay
bare the whole truth about my aim. For I trust that I shall not incur any
reproach of vainglory from you because of the freedom of my words, nor any
charge of falsehood from my conscience because of any suppression of the
truth.
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