the
heat of the day was over, and now the morning had hardly finished.
Paphnutius wandered through the most frequented streets. He had resolved
to take no food that day, in order to be the less unworthy of the
favours he had asked of the Lord. To the great grief of his soul, he
dared not enter any of the churches in the city, because he knew they
were profaned by the Arians, who had overturned the Lord's table. For,
in fact, these heretics, supported by the Emperor of the East, had
driven the patriarch Athanasius from his episcopate, and sown trouble
and confusion among the Christians of Alexandria.

He therefore wandered about aimlessly, sometimes with his eyes fixed on
the ground in humility, and sometimes raised to heaven in ecstasy. After
some time, he found himself on the quay. Before him lay the harbour,
in which were sheltered innumerable ships and galleys, and beyond them,
smiling in blue and silver, lay the perfidious sea. A galley, which bore
a Nereid at its prow, had just weighed anchor. The rowers sang as the
oars struck the water; and already the white daughter of the waters,
covered with humid pearls, showed no more than a flying profile to the
monk. Steered by her pilot, she cleared the passage leading from the
basin of the Eunostos, and gained the high seas, leaving a glittering
trail behind her.

"I also," thought Paphnutius, "once desired to embark singing on the
ocean of the world. But I soon saw my folly, and the Nereid did not
carry me away."

Lost in his thoughts, he sat down upon a coil of rope, and went to
sleep. During his sleep, he had a vision. He seemed to hear the sound of
a clanging trumpet, and the sky became blood red, and he knew that the
day of judgment had come. Whilst he was fervently praying to God, he saw
an enormous monster coming towards him, bearing on its forehead a cross
of light, and he recognised the sphinx of Silsile. The monster seized
him between its teeth, without hurting him, and carried him in its
mouth, as a cat carries a kitten. Paphnutius was thus conveyed across
many countries, crossing rivers and traversing mountains, and came at
last to a desert place, covered with scowling rocks and hot cinders. The
ground was rent in many places, and through these openings came a hot
air. The monster gently put Paphnutius down on the ground, and said--

"Look!"

And Paphnutius, leaning over the edge of the abyss, saw a river of fire
which flowed in the interior of the eart