OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

383

trayed by the treachery of a female slave ;® and chap.

he was once concealed in a still more extraor-,_

dinary asylum, the house of a virgin, only twen-ty years of age, and who was celebrated in thewhole city for her exquisite beauty. At thehour of midnight, as she related the story manyyears afterwards, she was surprised by the ap-pearance of the archbishop in a loose undress,who, advancing with hasty steps, conjured herto afford him the protection which he had beendirected by a celestial vision to seek under herhospitable roof. The pious maid accepted andpreserved the sacred pledge which was entrust-ed to her prudence and courage. Without im-parting the secret to any one, she instantly con-ducted Athanasius into her most secret cham-ber, and watched over his safety with the ten-derness of a friend, and the assiduity of a ser-vant. As long as the danger continued, she re-gularly supplied him with books and provisions,washed his feet, managed his correspondence,and dexterously concealed from the eye of sus-picion, this familiar and solitary intercoursebetween a saint whose character required themost unblemished chastity, and a female whosecharms might excite the most dangerous cmo-tions.* During the six years of persecution and

c Rutin. 1. i, c. 18; Sozomen , 1. iv, c. 10. This and the follow-ing story will be rendered impossible, if we suppose that Athanasius always inhabited the asylum which heaccidentally : oroccasionally, hadused.

Palladius (Hist. Lnsiac. c. 136, in Vit. Patrum, p. 776), the origi-nal author of this anecdote, had conversed with the damsel, who, inher old age, remembered with pleasure so pious and honourable a con-nection. I cannot indulge the delicacy of Bat onius, Valesius, Tille-

tnont,