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And, as I look at them, I find myself debating which I would rather be, a fisherman there in the boat, rocked by the swell, and warmed by the sun, or a friar, on the terrace of the garden on the summit of Deserto, lying perfectly tranquil, and also soaked in the sun. There is one other person, now that I think of it, who may be having a good time to-day, though I do not know that I envy him.
In those days, when the Church took the first choice in everything, the temptation to a Christian life must have been strong. The monastery at the Deserto was suppressed by the French of the first republic, and has long been in a ruinous condition.
"I am no priest, Sir," I said, "if you mean that. I am only a forerunner, at the best." "Vox clamantis in deserto," said the King. "I hope I shall be no Herod to cut off your head. But it is very kind of you to come to this wilderness. And have you seen my brother yet?" "I am to see his Royal Highness immediately," I said. "I waited upon Your Majesty first." "Poor James!" said the King.
On heights at either end of the Piano di Sorrento, and commanding it, stood two religious houses: the Convent of the Carnaldoli to the northeast, on the crest of the hill above Meta; the Carthusian Monastery of the Deserto, to the southwest, three miles above Sorrento. The longer I stay here, the more respect I have for the taste of the monks of the Middle Ages.
Neither have I crossed the threshold of San Francisco del Deserto, but I have wandered upon the green in front of the little chapel; and sat under the trees in contemplation of the sea and wished yes, really and truly wished that I were a barefooted Franciscan friar with nothing to do but look picturesque in such a terrestrial paradise.
Nowadays such opportunities may be had by any man who will keep himself free from the servitude of a bread-winning profession. It is not necessary now to cry Ecce in deserto or Ecce in penetralibus. Oh, I shall have my dark days; but whenever the blue devils get thick I shall take to the woods and return to sanity." "You mean to live in the country, then?" I inquired.
"'Boccha chiusa, ed occhio aperto Non fece mai nissun deserto. "The closed mouth and the open eye, etc." "That's very true," said the doctor, much struck. "Very true. 'In boccha chiusa non c'entrano mosche. One can't swallow flies if one keeps one's mouth shut. /Corpo di Bacco!/ that's very true indeed."
Besides the books we took with us we had newspapers, reviews, and other periodicals, so that we were never dull. On one occasion my daughters and I made an expedition up the hills to the Deserto, from whence one can see the Gulf of Salerno and the fine mountains of Calabria. My daughters rode and I was carried in a portantina.
Notandum, Theros Mons Dei in regione Maglaw iuxta Montem. Notandum similiter, Arabiam in deserto esse, cui iungitur Mons et desertum Sarracenorum, quod vocatur Phaaran. Mihi autem videtur, quod dupliei nomine, nupe Mons Sinay, nunc Oreb vocatur. Hieronymus. Phaaran nunc oppidum trans Oreb, iam iunctum Sarracenis, qui in solitudine vagi pererrant.
As we have moved down the ages, now and then, from the religious teacher, the statesman, the inventor, the social worker, or from the doctor, surgeon, or sexologist, there has been a "vox clamantis in deserto."
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