Chapter III.
Of the ordeal by which one who is to be received in the
monastery is tested.
, then, who seeks to
be admitted to the discipline of the monastery is never received before
he gives, by lying outside the doors for ten days or even longer, an
evidence of his perseverance and desire, as well as of humility and
patience. And when, prostrate at the feet of all the brethren that pass
by, and of set purpose repelled and scorned by all of them, as if he
was wanting to enter the monastery not for the sake of religion but
because he was obliged; and when, too, covered with many insults and
affronts, he has given a practical proof of his steadfastness, and has
shown what he will be like in temptations by the way he has borne the
disgrace; and when, with the ardour of his soul thus ascertained, he is
admitted, then they enquire with the utmost care whether he is
contaminated by a single coin from his former possessions clinging to
him. For they know that he cannot stay for long under the discipline of
the monastery, nor ever learn the virtue of humility and obedience, nor
be content with the poverty and difficult life of the monastery, if he
knows that ever so small a sum of money has been kept hid; but, as soon
as ever a disturbance arises on some occasion or other, he will at once
dart off from the monastery like a stone from a sling, impelled to this
by trusting in that sum of money.