road which led to the possession of wealth
and honors. [26] The popular monks, whose reputation was connected with
the fame and success of the order, assiduously labored to multiply the
number of their fellow-captives. They insinuated themselves into noble
and opulent families; and the specious arts of flattery and seduction
were employed to secure those proselytes who might bestow wealth or
dignity on the monastic profession. The indignant father bewailed the
loss, perhaps, of an only son; [27] the credulous maid was betrayed
by vanity to violate the laws of nature; and the matron aspired to
imaginary perfection, by renouncing the virtues of domestic life. Paula
yielded to the persuasive eloquence of Jerom; [28] and the profane
title of mother-in-law of God [29] tempted that illustrious widow to
consecrate the virginity of her daughter Eustochium. By the advice, and
in the company, of her spiritual guide, Paula abandoned Rome and her
infant son; retired to the holy village of Bethlem; founded a hospital
and four monasteries; and acquired, by her alms and penance, an
eminent and conspicuous station in the Catholic church. Such rare and
illustrious penitents were celebrated as the glory and example of their
age; but the monasteries were filled by a crowd of obscure and abject
plebeians, [30] who gained in the cloister much more than they had
sacrificed in the world. Peasants, slaves, and mechanics, might escape
from poverty and contempt to a safe and honorable profession; whose
apparent hardships are mitigated by custom, by popular applause, and by
the secret relaxation of discipline. [31] The subjects of Rome, whose
persons and fortunes were made responsible for unequal and exorbitant
tributes, retired from the oppression of the Imperial government; and
the pusillanimous youth preferred the penance of a monastic, to the
dangers of a military, life. The affrighted provincials of every rank,
who fled before the Barbarians, found shelter and subsistence: whole
legions were buried in these religious sanctuaries; and the same cause,
which relieved the distress of individuals, impaired the strength and
fortitude of the empire. [32]

[Footnote 25: Chrysostom (in the first tome of the Benedictine edition)
has consecrated three books to the praise and defence of the monastic
life. He is encouraged, by the example of the ark, to presume that
none but the elect (the monks) can possibly be saved (l. i. p. 55, 56.)
Elsewhere, indeed