The Deserter’s Endless Toil

So he is driven about, more and more inflamed with love of his money. Once it is gained, it never lets a monk either stay in a monastery or live under the discipline of a rule. It separates him from the rest of the herd like some wild animal, and, for lack of companions, makes him an animal fit for prey and easily devoured, since he has no one living with him. Then it forces him, who once thought it beneath him to do the light duties of the monastery, to labor without stopping night and day in the hope of gain. It lets him keep no services of prayer, no pattern of fasting, no rule of vigils. It does not allow him to carry out the duties of fitting intercession, so long as he can satisfy the madness of avarice and supply his daily wants. And all the while it inflames the fire of greed the more, while he believes it will be put out by getting.