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BUT some are sometimes so tantalized by the silence of the desert
Fasting all through the day that they altogether dread intercourse with
men, and, when they have even for a little while broken through their habit
of retirement owing to the accident of a visit from some of the brethren,
boil over with marked vexation of mind, and show clear signs of annoyance.
And this especially happens in the case of those who have betaken
themselves to the solitary life without a well-matured purpose and without
being thoroughly trained in the coenobium, as these men are always
imperfect and easily upset, and incline to one side or the other, as the
gales of trouble may drive them. For as they boil over impatiently at
intercourse or conversation with the brethren, so while they are living in
solitude they cannot stand the vastness of that silence which they
themselves have courted, inasmuch as they themselves do not even know the
reason why solitude ought to be wanted and sought for, but imagine that the
value and the main part of this life consist in this; viz., in avoiding
intercourse with the brethren and simply shunning and loathing the sight of
a man.
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