Printed by T. Wood, for James Crokatt, 1728
A. D. 367. vil entred into the son of the master of the strip, and began to cry out: Hilarion, servant of God, why do you not let us rest, at least upon the sea? Give me time to get to land. If my G o D suffers
it, replied he, stay; if he drives you away, why do you vent your rage
upon a sinner, and a beggar? He spoke in this manner least the mariners
and the merchants should discover him on his arrival. The child was
delivered soon after, but the saint made the father and the rest of the
ship promise not to declare his name to any one. Being come at Pachinum in
Sicily, he offered the master of the vessel the gospels, which he had
written when young with his own hand, for the payment of his and his
disciple's passage. The master refused, and the rather because he saw
that all their wealth was this book, and the cloaths which they had upon
them.
S T. Hilarion
fearing least he should be discovered by the merchants of the east,
travelled up in the country twenty miles from the sea shore, and stopped
in an unfrequented place; where
by gathering sticks he made every day a faggot, which he sent his
disciple to sell at the next village, in order to buy a little bread for
themselves, and such as happened to come to them. In the mean time one
possessed by a devil, cryed out in St. Peter's at Rome j Hilarion, the
servant of Jesus Christ, came
some days since into Sicily j he thinks that he is very well concealed,
but I will go and find where he is. He accordingly embarked with his
slaves, landed at Pachinum, and went and
prostrated himself before the cottage of the aged saint, and was
immediately delivered. From that time an innumerable multitude of sick
and pious persons resorted to him; among others one of the chief men of
the city, who being cured of a dropsy, offered him great presents;
Matth. x. 3. but he answered in these words of the gospel; Freely ye have received, freely give.
c, 3z. He Sychi us, another faithful disciple of St. Hilarion, likewise sought
for him in all parts, being persuaded, that
where-ever he was, he would not long be concealed: At length in the
farthest part of Peloponnesus at Methone, now called Modon, a certain
Jew whose trade was to fell old goods, told him that a prophet of the
Christians had appeared in Sicily, who wrought so many miracles, that he
was taken for one of the holy men of old times. Whereupon Hesychius
embarked, and arrived safely at Pachinum, and
enquiring for the holy man at the first village, found that every body
knew him; but the greatest wonder was, that after he had performed so
many miracles, he had not taken any thing from any person, not c 3 3»-
so much as a morsel of bread. Hesychius soon learnt from Zanan, that the
aged faint was resolved to go into some barbarous country, where not
even his language should be understood: He carried him therefore to
Epidaurus in Dalmatia, where he was soon found out by his miracles. He
delivered Anim. xxvi: the country from a serpent of a monstrous size,
which devoured flocks of Hi^chr catt^e' a"d men
themselves; and in the earthquake which happened on the an 365. twelfth
of the calends of August, in the first consulship of Valentinian and
idac. fast. Valens, i. e. the twenty of July 365, the fee having overflown its banks, Chr,6,s am* tnreatnulS to overwhelm the whole city of Epidaurus, the inhabitants an/'cod. p." *n a croud brought him out upon the shore: He made three crosses upon 301. 1 the
the sand, and stretched out his hands against the sea, which immediately A. D. 367. stopped, rising up like a high mountain.
S T. Hilarion knowing how much this miracle had been noised abroad, c«
fled away in the night time in a small bark, which carried him to a
ship, designing to proceed to the island of Cyprus. They met in their
passage two pyrate vessels; all who were aboard came one after another
to tell him the news, astonished with fear. He smiled as he beheld them
at a distance, then turning towards his disciples said to them: Ye men
of little faith, what fear you? are they more numerous than Pharaoh's
army? When the pyrates were advanced within a stone's throw, he went
forward to the prow, and stretching out his hands against them, cryed:
Be satisfied with having come thus far; and
immediately the pyrate ships run back, notwithstanding all the
endeavours of the rowers to the contrary, returning to the lhore much
faster than they came out.
Being arrived at Cyprus, he retired to a place two miles from Paphos, c, 3J,
¦where he remained quiet some days. But he had not been there three
weeks, when such as were possessed with divils in any part of the
island, began to cry out, that Hilarion servant of Jesus Christ was come, and that they must go to him; most
part of them said, that they knew him very well, but could not tell
where he was. Within a month two hundred of them, of both sexes,
gathered round him. And to revenge himself in some sort of the devils,
who would not suffer him to he at rest, by the force of his prayers, in a
week's time, he put them all to flight, and delivered the possessed
persons.
H E continued
two years in the island of Cyprus, still considering how c. 36, he
might make his escape; but at length by the advice of Hesychius his
disciple, he laid aside his design of leaving the island, and retired to
a place twelve miles from the shore, not unpleasantly situated, among
very rough and craggy mountains, where there was water and fruit trees ¦> of which however he never eat. He wrought there also many miracles j and the in- c.
37. habitants diligently guarded the passes, least he should get away
from them. At length knowing that his death approached, he wrote with
his own hand a short letter to Hesychius who was absent, intending to
leave him all c. 3S, his riches; that
is his gospels and his cloaths, which were a tunick made of course
hair, a cowl, and a short mantle, and this letter was instead of a will.
Many pious persons came to him from Paphos, hearing that he had
foretold his death; among the
rest a woman called Constantia, whose daughter and son-in-law, her
husband,he had healed. He caused them all to swear not to keep his body a
moment after thebre th w as gone out of it, but to bury him in his
cloaths in a garden where he then was. Being at the point of death, he
said with his eyes open: Go out, my soul, go out; of what are you afraid? thou hast served Jesus Christ almost
threescore and ten years, and dost thou fear death? He was buried
immediately as he desired. Hesychius, who was in Palæstine, hearing this
news, repaired to Cyprus, and pretending that he would reside in the
fame garden, stole away the body ten months after, at the hazard of his
life. Constantia used to watch at the sepulcher of St. Hilarion, and to
speak to him as if he had been present, begging his prayers: but as soon
as she understood that his body was
fonte:http://books.google.it/books?id=24hRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA386&dq=pachinum&hl=it&output=text