When in battle and a front of soldiers appears to attack you, one does not stay in place to imagine in his soul striking the enemy, but fights valiantly onward or flees to his fortress to find refuge. So in prayer, we must find a suitable place, even a castle as St. Anthony did, to pray within in peace. He did not fight inwardly seated in the city, market, or even in his own abode, persistently praying in an unsuitable place, but flew and hid castled by walls.
There was a stage in prayer for St. Anthony when crowds of the insane and the disordered sought to surround, to watch, and to attack him.
Let us remember how Jesus, slipping through the crowds into the mountains sought refuge in solitude, evading the desire of so many for food rather than words of eternal life, and also avoiding the crowds forcibly making him King.