8. ****. Athanas. tom. ii. in Vit. St. Anton. p. 452 [p.
795, ed. Bened. 1698; cf. c. 72, p. 849], and the assertion
of his total ignorance has been received by many of the
ancients and moderns. But Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii.
p. 666) shows, by some probable arguments, that Antony could
read and write in the Coptic, his native tongue; and that he
was only a stranger to the 'Greek letters'. The philosopher
Synesius (p. 51 [ed. Par. 1612]) acknowledges that the
natural genius of Antony did not require the aid of
learning.