1 C.F. Basil's Greater Monastic Rules, Q. xxii., from which a considerable portion of this chapter is taken.
6 1 Tim. vi. 8. The Greek is skepa/smata, for which Jerome's version has "quibus tegamur." Sabbatier gives "victum et vestitum" as the rendering of the old Latin, but it is often quoted as "victus et tegumentum" by Augustine. "Alimenta et operimenta" must be Cassian's own rendering from the Greek. "Vestimenta," which he speaks of as being found in some Latin copies, is not given by Sabbatier at all, though Jerome quotes the text with "vestimentum" in Ep. ad Titum, III.
9 Quia nisi insolens sit diversitas non offendit aequalitas (Petschenig). The text of Gazaeus has inoequalitas.
10 The hood, or cowl (cuculla), was anciently worn by children and peasants, and thus was said to symbolize humility. Compare the account of the Egyptian monks given by Sozomen, Hist. III. xiv.: "They wore a covering on their heads called a cowl to show that they ought to live with the same innocence and purity as infants who are nourished with milk and wear a covering of the same form."
12 Colobium (kolo/bion), a tunic with very short sleeves. Cf. Dorotheus (Migne, Patrol. Graeca lxxxviii. 1631). To\ sxh=ma o@ forou=men kolo/bio/n e0sti, mh\ e#xon xeiri/dia, kai\ zw/nh dermati/nh kai\ a0na/laboj kai\ koukou/lion.
13 Col. iii. 5, 3. Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14. Cf. Sozomen l. c.: "They wore their tunics without sleeves in order to teach that the hands ought not to be ready to do evil."
14 Rebracchiatoria. The whole passage is somewhat obscure, and the various synonyms do not help us much in the elucidation of it. 0Ana/laboi is given in Petschenig's text, but a0nabola/i has some ms. authority. 0Ana/laboi is the word used by Sozomen, who also mentions this cord. "Their girdle also and cord, the former girding the loins, the latter going round the shoulders and arms, admonish them that they ought always to be ready for the service of God and their work."
19 Acts xx. 34; 2 Thess. iii. 8,10.
20 The mafors (mafw/rion or mafo/rion) is the monkish scapular, or working-dress. Cf. the Rule of S. Benedict, c. 55: "Scapulare Propter opera." In form it was a large, coarse cape, or hood.
21 The melotes (mhlwth/j), a sheepskin garment hanging down on one side, was the usual dress of monks. S. Anthony bequeathed his at his death, to S. Athanasius. Ath. Vita Anton, 91.
22 Pera can hardly be used here in its ordinary sense of scrip or wallet ph/ra. Gazaeus suggests that it may be a transcriber's error for poenula, while Ducange would read, "quae melotes appellatur, vel pera, et baculus." Mr. Sinker, in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Vol. II. p. 1619), suggests that possibly the word may be Egyptian.
26 Ps. lxi. (lxii.) 5; Jer. xvii. 16 (lxx.).
29 This and the following chapter are altogether omitted in the edition of Gazaeus.