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GERMANUS: By what treatment can any help be given to us or to others
who are thus weak and only up to this; who had received but little
instruction in the system of the coenobium when we began to aspire to dwell
in solitude before we had got rid of our faults; or by what means shall we
be able to acquire the constancy of an imperturbable mind, and immovable
steadfastness of patience; we who all too soon gave up the common life in
the coenobium, and forsook the schools and training ground for these
exercises, in which our principles ought first to have been thoroughly
schooled and perfected? How then can we now while we are living alone gain
perfection in long-suffering and patience; or how can conscience, that
searcher out of inward motives, discover whether these virtues exist in us
or are wanting, so that because we are severed from intercourse with men,
and not irritated by any of their provocations, we may not be deceived by
false notions, and fancy that we have gained that imperturbable peace of
mind?
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