261 I have combined in this passage incidents from three distinct lives. St. Jerome, in a very famous and very beautiful passage of his letter to Eustochium (_Ep._ xxii.) describes the manner in which the forms of dancing-girls appeared to surround him as he knelt upon the desert sands. St. Mary of Egypt (_Vitæ Patrum_, ch. xix.) was especially tortured by the recollection of the songs she had sung when young, which continually haunted her mind. St. Hilarion (see his _Life_ by St. Jerome) thought he saw a gladiatorial show while he was repeating the psalms. The manner in which the different visions faded into one another like dissolving views is repeatedly described in the biographies. 262 Rufinus, _Hist. Monach._, ch. xi. This saint was St. Helenus. 263 Life of St. Pachomius (_Vit. Patrum_), cap. ix. 264 Rufinus, _Hist. Monach._ cap. i. This story was told to Rufinus by St. John the hermit. The same saint described his own visions very graphically. “Denique etiam me frequenter dæmones noctibus seduxerunt, et neque orare neque requiescere permiserunt, phantasias quasdam per noctem totam sensibus meis et cogitationes suggerentes. Mane vero velut cum quadam illusione prosternebant se ante me dicentes, Indulge nobis, abbas, quia laborem tibi incussimus tota nocte.”—Ibid. St. Benedict in the desert is said to have been tortured by the recollection of a beautiful girl he had once seen, and only regained his composure by rolling in thorns. (St. Greg. _Dial._ ii. 2.) 265 She lived also for some time in a convent at Jerusalem, which she had founded. Melania (who was one of St. Jerome’s friends) was a lady of rank and fortune, who devoted her property to the monks. See her journey in Rosweyde, lib. ii. 266 See his _Life_ in Tillemont. 267 Ibid. x. p. 14. A certain Didymus lived entirely alone till his death, which took place when he was ninety. (Socrates, _H. E._ iv. 23.) 268 Rufinus, _Hist. Monachorum_, cap. i. _ 269 Verba Seniorum_, § 65.