"This latest volume in the Ancient Christian Writers series provides an original English translation of the text known as Ad Monachos by Evagrius Ponticus (345-399). The ancient text is a collection of 137 proverbs composed by Evagrius, imitating a biblical style and often intentionally enigmatic. The translation is made with a view toward catching the biblical echoes. In addition, an English equivalent of the pleasing Greek rhythms is created in order to facilitate memorization and meditation. At first glance the 137 proverbs may strike the reader as being haphazardly joined together. For someone unfamiliar with Evagrius's thought and language, some of the proverbs would seem especially bland, others impossibly mysterious. And yet this is a text whose value and interest can only be measured accurately once a key to reading it is discovered and actually used to unlock the very rich levels of meaning in each of its proverbs. This is accomplished in Jeremy Driscoll's extensive commentary." [Book jacket]