Chapter 33.—Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities.  Fasts of Three Days. 70.  Still I would not on this account cast a slight upon a praiseworthy class of Christi- ans,—those, namely, who live together in cities, quite apart from common life.  I saw at Milan a lodging-house of saints, in number not a few, presided over by one presbyter, a man of great excellence and learning.  At Rome I knew several places where there was in each one eminent for weight of character, and prudence, and divine knowledge, presiding over all the rest who lived with him, in Christian charity, and sanctity, and liberty.  These, too, are not burdensome to any one; but, in the Eastern fashion, and on the authority of the Apostle Paul, they maintain themselves with their own hands.  I was told that many practised fasts of quite amazing severity, not merely taking only one meal daily towards night, which is everywhere quite common, but very often continuing for three days or more in succession without food or drink.  And this among not men only, but women, who also live together in great numbers as widows or virgins, gaining a livelihood by spinning and weaving, and presided over in each case by a woman of the greatest judgment and experience, skilled and accomplished not only in directing and forming moral conduct, but also in instructing the understanding.142 71.  With all this, no one is pressed to endure hardships for which he is unfit; nothing 61 is imposed on any one against his will; nor is he condemned by the rest because he confesses himself too feeble to imitate them:  for they bear in mind how strongly Scripture enjoins charity on all:  they bear in mind "To the pure all things are pure,"143 and "Not that which entereth into your mouth defileth you, but that which cometh out of it."144  Accordingly, all their endeavors are concerned not about the rejection of kinds of food as polluted, but about the subjugation of inordinate desire and the maintenance of brotherly love.  They remember, "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them;"145 and again, "Neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we refrain from eating shall we be in want;"146 and, above all, this:  "It is good, my brethren, not to eat flesh, nor drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother is offended;" for this passage shows that love is the end to be aimed at in all these things.  "For one man," he says, "believes that he can eat all things:  another, who is weak, eateth herbs.  He that eateth, let him not despise him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth:  for God hath approved 142 [Augustin ascribes a broadmindedness and charitableness to the ascetics of his time which was doubtless quite subjective.  The ascetics of that age with whose history we are acquainted were not of this type.  Jerome is an example.—A.H.N.] 143 Tit. i. 15. 144 Matt. xv. 11. 145 1 Cor. vi. 13. 146 1 Cor. viii. 8. Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities.  Fasts of Three Days. 104 Another Kind of Men Living Together in Cities.  Fasts of Three Days.