During the second Canto of The Faerie Queene, Phaedria takes Cymochles to an island filled with an abundance of nature, where he lulls him to sleep. Present on the island was every species of beautiful fauna in the world, and Cymochles lost his purpose and concentration. Spenser chose this landscape and situation to be the bane of Cymochles’s purpose because it represents the lack of occupation of the mind, something that is repeatedly enforced by early Christian writer Abba Philemon. Beautiful landscapes, plentiful nature, and other virtuous aspects of nature are often associated with virtue and holiness by Christian authors. What these aspects often accompany, however, is wholeness of mind and focus. When these landscapes are presented without said attributes, they become a tool to represent mental lethargy and a lack of purpose. On page 270 of The Faerie Queene, the book describes how the power of nature was able to overcome someone with “weak wit”. The texts says that because he had a wrathful nature, when he laid down on the island “so pleased, did his wrathful purpose faire appease”. In order for the landscape to be a place where one can embrace and concentrate on their purpose, they would first have to have a purpose and cause worthy of the landscape they encounter. On page 403 of the Philokalia, Abba Philemon speaks about how an unfocused mind easily is overcome by the immaterial if it is not properly equipped to handle those stimuli. He writes of a mind that has “turned towards immaterial things, is uplifted by the object of its spiritual contemplation so that it cannot be torn away.” In The Faerie Queene, Cymochles’s purpose is not one of spiritual contemplation, but of wrath. Therefore, when he is presented with the beautiful landscape, it takes him off course and dominates his mind. The power of nature on the characters present is also later reinforced by the text. Phaedria is described as having no cares at all, having fully given herself up to nature. Page 271 describes the way in which Phaedria has also been completely integrated into the nature surrounding them, and is described as giving “mother nature all care she lets”. Abba Philemonon repeatedly speaks about not letting one’s wander to the point of becoming listless, and to achieve that, you must dedicate your mind to being able to resist the temptations of the world. He writes, again on page 403, that “Above all, strive to guard your mind and to practise sobriety, be patient in strait circumstances”. Abba Philemon repeatedly reinforces this theme of having to “reinforce” your mind, in order to guard it from outside forces that might corrupt and dominate it. The “reinforcement” that Abba Philemon refers to is having a virtuous purpose that can’t be corrupted by outside forces, something that befalls Cymochles because he has set out in search of wrath. The act of “reinforcing” one’s mind is a gradual and intentional process, in which one builds defenses in the form of virtue to be able to combat potential deterrences to their virtuous purpose.