E06560: Aldhelm, in his prose On Virginity, names *Hilarion (anchorite in Palestine and Cyprus, ob. 371, S00099) as an exemplary virgin. Written in Latin in southern Britain, for the nuns at the monastery at Barking (south-east Britain), c. 675/686.

Aldhelm, prose On Virginity, 29

Hilarion, opinatissimus Palestinae solitudinis accola, ethnicis parentibus idolorum culturae deditis oriundus, rosa, ut dicitur, rubicunda de spinetis vulgo nascentibus florens, ea tempestate, qua praedictus Antonius per Aegiptum celeber fama vulgabatur, claruit, cuius vitam Hieronimus, caelestis bibliothecae egregius cultor universorumque interpretum praestantissimus, tantis opinionum rumusculis extollit [...] Qui ob integritatem castimoniae conservandam mortalium contubernia i declinans primo pubertatis tempore squalentis heremi vastitatem lustraturus prius paene contemplativam quam practicam contra rerum naturam rudis habitator exercuit vitam [...] Qua propter innumeris miraculorum prodigiis coruscans antiquis aequiperabatur patriarchis [...] O quanta est pudicitiae virtus, quae bachantis beluae rabiem humillima sprece compescuit et tumentem aequoris insaniam indulta potestate compressit [...]

'HILARION, the most famous inhabitant of the Palestinian desert, born of heathen parents given to the worship of idols, a crimson rose flowering – as it is said – from thorns burgeoning everywhere, was famous at the time when the aforementioned Anthony was celebrated by reputation throughout Egypt. Jerome, the distinguished student of the celestial library and the most excellent of all exegetes, praises his life with such a babble of good reports [...] Hilarion, for the sake of preserving the integrity of his chastity, rejecting the cohabitation with (other) mortals, ready from the first times of his infancy to range over the empty expanse of the foul desert as an early inhabitant (of it), practised a contemplative life, contrary to the usual nature of things, almost earlier than an active one [...] Wherefore, he resplendently equalled the ancient patriarchs with innumerable prodigious miracles [...] Oh, how great is the force of virginity, which curbed the insanity of a raging monster with a humble prayer, and held back the swelling fury of the sea with the power bestowed upon him [...]'

Text: Ehwald 1919, 266-7. Translation: Lapidge and Herren 1979, 89-9, lightly modified.