He said to the abbots Ephrem and Serapion—­

“You command large armies, and you are both great generals.  Therefore, you shall put on in heaven an armour of gold, and the Archangel Michael shall give you the title of kiliarchs of his hosts.”

Perceiving the old man Philemon, he embraced him, and said—­

“Behold, the kindest and best of all my children.  His soul exhales a perfume as sweet as the flower of the beans he sows every year.”

To Abbot Zozimus he addressed these words—­

“Thou hast never mistrusted divine goodness, and therefore the peace of the Lord is in thee.  The lily of thy virtues has flowered upon the dunghill of thy corruption.”

To all he spoke words of unerring wisdom.

To the old hermits he said—­

“The apostle saw, round the throne of God, eighty old men seated, clad in white robes, and wearing crowns on their heads.”

To the young men—­

“Be joyful; leave sadness to the happy ones of this world.”

Thus he passed along the front of his filial army, exhorting and comforting.  Paphnutius, seeing him approach, fell on his knees, his heart torn by fear and hope.

“My father! my father!” he cried in his agony.  “My father! come to my help, for I perish.  I have given to God the soul of Thais; I have lived upon the top of a column, and in the chamber of a tomb.  My forehead, unceasingly in the dust, has become horny as a camel’s knee.  And yet God has gone from me.  Bless me, my father, and I shall be saved; shake the hyssop, and I shall be washed, and I shall shine as the snow.”

Anthony did not reply.  He turned to the monks of Antinoe those eyes whose looks no man could sustain.  He gazed for a long time at Paul, called the Fool; then he made a sign to him to approach.  And, as all were astonished that the saint should address himself to a man who was not in his senses, Anthony said—­

“God has granted to him more grace than to any of you.  Lift thy eyes, my son Paul, and tell me what thou seest in heaven.”

Paul the Fool raised his eyes; his face shone, and his tongue was unloosed.

“I see in heaven,” he said, “a bed adorned with hangings of purple and gold.  Around it three virgins keep constant watch that no soul may approach it, except the chosen one for whom the bed is prepared.”

Believing that this bed was the symbol of his glorification, Paphnutius had already begun to return thanks to God.  But Anthony made a sign to him to be silent, and to listen to the Fool, who murmured in his ecstasy—­

“The three virgins speak to me; they say unto me:  ’A saint is about to quit the earth; Thais of Alexandria is dying.  And we have prepared the bed of her glory, for we are her virtues—­Faith, Fear, and Love.’”

Anthony asked—­

“Sweet child, what else seest thou?”

Paul gazed vacantly from the zenith to the nadir, and from west to east, when suddenly his eyes fell on the Abbot of Antinoe.  His face grew pale with a holy terror, and his eyeballs reflected invisible flames.