Concerning Virgins, to Marcellina

5. The Birthday of the Virgin Martyr Agnes

And it proceeds well, that since today is the birthday of a virgin, we should speak of virgins, and the book should take its beginning from a sermon. It is the birthday of a virgin: let us follow integrity. It is the birthday of a martyr: let us offer sacrifices. It is the birthday of holy Agnes: let men marvel, let little ones not despair; let married women be astonished, let unmarried women imitate. But what worthy thing can we say of her, whose very name was not empty of the light of praise? Devotion beyond her age, virtue beyond nature: so that it seems to me she bore not the name of a human being, but the oracle of a martyr, by which she indicated what she was to become.

6. A Praise That All Voices Can Sing

Yet I have whence a support may be gained for me. The name of a virgin is the title of modesty. I shall call her martyr, I shall proclaim her virgin. Praise enough, indeed abundant, is that which is not sought but simply held. Let, then, talents and eloquence fall silent; one voice is the proclamation. Let the old sing her, let the young sing her, let children sing her. No one is more praiseworthy than one who can be praised by all men. As many men as there are, so many heralds, who proclaim the martyr while they speak.

7. Fearless at Twelve Amid Chains and Blades

She is said to have suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve years. So much the more detestable is that cruelty, which spared not even so tender an age: nay rather, great is the power of faith, which found testimony even from that age. Was there in that little body room for a wound? And she who had no place to receive the steel, had that whereby to conquer the steel. Yet girls of that age cannot bear even the stern looks of their parents, and are wont to weep at the prick of a needle drawn tight, as though at wounds.

She, amid the bloody hands of executioners, unafraid; she, unmoved by the grating, heavy dragging of chains; ready now to offer her whole body to the sword of a raging soldier, not yet knowing how to die, but prepared; or if she were invited to the altars, to stretch out her hands to Christ amid the fires, and upon the very sacrilegious hearths to mark the trophy of the victorious Lord: now to insert both neck and hands into iron bonds; but no bond could enclose limbs so slender.

8. A New Kind of Martyrdom

A new kind of martyrdom? Not yet fit for punishment, and already ripe for victory: hard to contend, easy to be crowned: she fulfilled the mastery of virtue, though she carried the prejudice of her age. Not so would a bride hasten to the bridal chamber, as this virgin advanced with joyful, hurrying step to the place of punishment, her head adorned not with braided hair but with Christ; not wreathed with little flowers, but with character. All wept; she alone without tears. Most marveled that she, so prodigal of her life which she had not yet drained, now, as if it were already spent, gave it away so readily. All were amazed that she who could not yet by reason of her age be mistress of herself already stood forth as witness of divinity. She brought it about, in short, that belief was given her concerning God, to whom belief was not yet given concerning man. Because what is beyond nature is from the Author of nature.

9. Agnes Refuses the Executioner and Meets Death

With what terror did the executioner act that he might be feared, with what blandishments that he might persuade! How many prayers were offered that she might come to marriage with him! But she said: This too would be an injury to the Bridegroom, to await one who would seek to please. He who first chose me for himself shall receive me. Why do you delay, executioner? Let this body perish, which can be loved by eyes I do not wish to love it. She stood, she prayed, she bent her neck. You would see the executioner tremble, as though he himself had been condemned; the striker's right hand shook, his face grew pale at another's peril, while the girl feared not for her own. You have, then, in one victim a twofold martyrdom, of modesty and of religion. And she remained a virgin, and she obtained martyrdom.

10. An Invitation to Speak of Virginity

Now the love of integrity invites—and you too, holy sister, though silent, with your mute yet eloquent manner of life invite—that we should say something about virginity; lest it should seem to be touched only in passing, that which is the principal virtue. For virginity is not praiseworthy for this reason, that it is found even in martyrs, but because it is itself what makes martyrs.

11. Virginity as a Life Beyond Nature

Who indeed could comprehend by human wit that which nature herself has not enclosed within her own laws? Or who could embrace with natural speech what is above the use of nature? She has fetched from heaven what she might imitate on earth. Nor undeservedly did she seek from heaven her manner of living, she who found her Bridegroom in heaven. She, passing beyond clouds, air, angels, and stars, found the Word of God in the very bosom of the Father, and drank Him in with her whole heart. For who, having found so great a good, would forsake it? For your name is oil poured out: therefore do young maidens love you, and draw you after them. Finally, that saying is not mine, that they who neither marry nor are given in marriage shall be as angels in heaven. Let no one, then, wonder if those be compared to angels who are joined to the Lord of angels.

Who therefore would deny that this manner of life flowed down from heaven, which we do not easily find on earth, save after God descended into these members of an earthly body? Then did a virgin conceive in the womb, and the Word was made flesh, that flesh might become God.

12. Elijah and Mary as Types of Virginity

Someone will say: But Elias also is found to have been mingled with no desires of bodily union. Was it therefore that he was carried up to heaven in a chariot, was it therefore that he appears with the Lord in glory, was it therefore that he is to come as forerunner of the Lord's advent? And Mary, taking a timbrel, led the dances with virginal modesty. But consider whose figure she then bore. Was it not the figure of the Church, who as a virgin joined together with an immaculate spirit the religious assemblies of the people that they might sing divine songs? For we read too that virgins were dedicated in the temple at Jerusalem. But what does the Apostle say? Now these things happened to them in figure, that they might be signs of things to come; for the figure is found in few, the life of it in many.

13. The Incarnation Spreads Consecrated Virginity

But indeed after the Lord, coming into this body, joined together the fellowship of divinity and body without any stain of blended confusion, then, spread abroad through the whole world, the practice of heavenly life took root in human bodies. This it is that the angels ministering on earth declared would come to pass in the future, that there should be a race which would show forth to the Lord service by the offices of an immaculate body. This is that heavenly army which the host of angels praising promised on earth. We have, therefore, the authority of antiquity from of old, and the fullness of profession from Christ.

14. The Flawed Chastity of Vestal Virgins

Certainly this is not common to me with the Gentiles, not shared with the barbarians, not customary among the other living creatures: for even though we share with them one and the same vital breath of this air, and partake of the common condition of an earthly body, and do not differ in the practice of begetting; yet in this one point alone we escape the reproach of an equal nature, that virginity is affected by the Gentiles, but once consecrated is violated; it is assailed by barbarians, it is unknown among the rest.

Who would set before me the virgins of Vesta and the priestesses of Pallas? What sort of chastity is this—not of character, but of years! Which is prescribed not by perpetuity, but by age! More wanton is such integrity, whose corruption is reserved for a later age. They themselves teach that their virgins ought not to persevere, nor can they, who have set a term to virginity. But what sort of religion is this, where the young are bidden to be chaste, the old unchaste? But neither is that chastity which is maintained by law: nor is that unchastity, which is dismissed by law. O mysteries! O morals! Where necessity is imposed on chastity, and authority is granted to lust. Therefore she is not chaste, who is compelled by fear: nor honorable, who is hired for a price, nor is that modesty, which, exposed daily to the reproach of intemperate eyes, is scourged by shameful looks. Immunities are conferred, prices are offered; as though it were not the greatest sign of wantonness, to sell chastity.

What is promised for a price is discharged for a price: it is adjudged for a price, it is reckoned for a price. She who is accustomed to sell knows not how to redeem chastity.

16. Unchastity in Phrygian and Bacchic Rites

What shall I say of the Phrygian rites, in which unchastity is a discipline, and would that it were only among the weaker sex! What of the orgies of Liber, where the mystery of religion is an incitement to lust? What manner of life, then, can there be for the priestesses there, where the whorishness of the gods is worshiped? They have, therefore, no sacred virgin.

17. The Pythagorean Virgin Who Bit Her Tongue

Let us see whether perhaps the precepts of philosophy have formed any such, philosophy which is wont to claim for itself the mastery of all virtues. There is a certain tale celebrated of a Pythagorean virgin, who, when compelled by a tyrant to reveal a secret, lest anything might be extorted from her by torments toward confession, bit off her own tongue, and spat it into the tyrant's face: so that he who would not cease from questioning might have nothing left to question.

18. Silence Kept the Secret, Not the Disgrace

Yet the same woman, brave in soul but with a swollen womb—an example of silence and an outpouring of unchastity—was conquered by desires, though she could not be conquered by torments. She who could conceal the secret of her mind did not cover the disgrace of her body. She conquered nature, but did not maintain discipline. How she would have wished that her voice be the safeguard of her modesty! And perhaps patience had so trained her that she could deny the fault. She was not, then, unconquered in every respect; for the tyrant, though he could not discover what he did not ask, nonetheless discovered what he did not ask.

19. Agnes's Confession Surpasses the Pythagorean Virgin

How much braver are our virgins, who conquer even powers which they do not see: to whom there is victory not only over flesh and blood, but even over the very prince of this world and ruler of the age! Agnes, indeed, younger in age, but greater in virtue, more abounding in triumph, more confident in constancy, did not cut off her tongue for fear, but reserved it for a trophy. For she had nothing which she feared to betray, since her confession was not criminal but religious. Thus the other only concealed a secret; this one proved the Lord, whom, since her age could not yet confess him, nature confessed.

But what is virginal chastity, but integrity untouched by contagion? And whom can we reckon as its author, save the immaculate Son of God, whose flesh did not see corruption, whose divinity did not experience contagion? See, then, how great are the merits of virginity. Christ before a virgin, Christ from a virgin: born indeed of the Father before the ages, but born of a virgin for the sake of the ages. The former belongs to his nature, the latter to our benefit. The former always was, the latter he willed. Behold also another merit of virginity: Christ is the spouse of the virgin, and, if it may be said, Christ is of virginal chastity, for it is the virginity of Christ, not Christ of virginity. She is therefore a virgin who was wed, a virgin who bore us in her womb, a virgin who brought forth, a virgin who nourished with her own milk, of whom we read: How great things has the virgin of Jerusalem done!

The breasts shall not fail from the rock, nor the snow of Libanus, nor shall the water be turned aside that is carried by a mighty wind. What manner of virgin is this who is watered by the fountains of the Trinity: for whom waters flow from the rock, whose breasts do not fail, from whom honey is poured forth? Now the rock, according to the Apostle, is Christ. Therefore from Christ the breasts do not fail, brightness from God, the river from the Spirit. This is the Trinity which waters its Church, the Father, Christ, and the Spirit.

23. Paul's Counsel on Virgins Without Commandment

But let us now descend from the mother to the daughters. Concerning virgins, says the holy Apostle, I have no commandment of the Lord. If the Teacher of the Gentiles had none, who could have had one? And indeed he had no commandment, but he had an example. For virginity cannot be commanded, but only desired: for the things which are above us belong rather to wish than to precept. But I would, he says, have you without solicitude. For he who is without a wife is solicitous for the things of the Lord, how he may please God; and the virgin thinks on the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. For she who is married thinks on the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Let us compare, if you please, the goods of married women with the least of virgins. Let the noble woman boast of a fruitful childbearing; the more she has borne, the more she labors. Let her count the comforts of her children, but let her count equally the troubles. She marries and weeps. What sort of vows are these, that are wept over! She conceives and grows heavy. Fruitfulness begins, indeed, to bring hindrance before it brings fruit. She gives birth, and is sick. How sweet a pledge, that begins from danger and ends amid dangers, destined to be a source of pain before it is one of pleasure! It is bought at the price of dangers, nor is it possessed at will.

26. Blessed Are the Barren in the Age to Come

Why should I recount the troubles of nurturing, of instructing, and of marrying off? These are the miseries of the fortunate. The mother has heirs, but she increases her sorrows. For of the adverse things one ought not to speak, lest the minds of most holy parents tremble. See, my sister, how grievous a thing it is to suffer what ought not to be heard. And these things belong to the present age. But days will come when they shall say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not brought forth. For the daughters of this age are begotten and beget: but the daughter of the kingdom abstains from the pleasure of man, and from the pleasure of the flesh, that she may be holy in body and in spirit.

27. The Heavy Servitude of Wives to Husbands

Why then should I go over the heavy servitudes of women, and their bondage handed over to husbands, whom God bade to serve even before servants? These things I set forth, that they may obey the more willingly; for whom, if they are virtuous, this is a reward of love; if wicked, a punishment of guilt.

28. Against Painting the Face to Please a Husband

Hence arise those incentives to vice, whereby women paint their faces with sought-out colors, fearing to displease their husbands, and out of an adultery of the countenance devise an adultery of chastity. What madness it is here to alter the form given by nature, to seek painted appearance, and, while dreading mortal judgment, to betray their own! For she pronounces judgment on herself first, who desires to change what she was born. Thus, while she strives to please others, she first displeases herself. What truer judge, woman, do we seek of your deformity than yourself, who fear to be seen! If you are beautiful, why do you hide it? If deformed, why do you falsely claim to be fair, having neither the favor of your own conscience nor of another’s error? For he loves another, you wish to please another. And are you angry if he who is taught to commit adultery in you should love another? You are an evil teacher of the wrong done to you.

For even she who has suffered a procurer shrinks from acting as one; and though a base woman sins, still she sins not against another but against herself; and the crimes of the other are almost more tolerable, for there chastity is adulterated, here nature itself.

29. The Costly Vanity of Jewels and Ornament

Now at what cost is it needed, lest even a beautiful woman should displease! Hence precious necklaces hang from the neck, hence a gilded garment is trailed along the ground. Is this beauty then bought, or possessed? What of the fact that various allurements are even applied for the sake of scent! The ears are laden with gems, another color is poured over the eyes. What remains her own, where so many things are changed? Does a woman lose her own senses, and believe she can still truly live?

30. The True Adornment of Virgins

But you, blessed virgins, who know such things rather as torments than as ornaments: for whom holy modesty, suffused over bashful faces, and good chastity, are your adornment: not enslaved to human eyes, you weigh your merits by no other’s error. You too, indeed, have your own warfare of beauty, in which the form of virtue serves as soldier, not that of the body: which no age extinguishes, which no death can steal away, which no sickness can corrupt. Let God alone be sought as arbiter of beauty, who even in a body less fair loves the more beautiful souls. There is no known burden of the womb, no pain of childbirth: and yet the offspring of a pious mind is more numerous, which holds all as her children: fruitful in successors, barren of bereavements; she knows no funerals, she knows heirs.

31. The Church as Virgin and Fruitful Mother

Thus the holy Church is unstained by union, fruitful in childbirth, a virgin in chastity, a mother in offspring. The virgin, then, brings us forth, not filled by a man, but by the Spirit. The virgin bears us not with the pain of limbs, but with the joys of angels. The virgin nourishes us not with the milk of the body, but with that of the Apostle, with which he suckled the still weak age of the growing people. What married woman, then, has more children than the holy Church, who is a virgin in her sacraments, a mother to peoples, whose fruitfulness even Scripture attests, saying: For the children of the desolate are more than of her that has a husband? Our Church has no husband, but has a spouse; since whether the Church among the peoples, or the soul in each individual, weds, as it were, an eternal spouse by the Word of God, without any bending of modesty, barren of wrong, fruitful of reason.

32. A Virgin Is a Gift, Not a Dowry Prize

You have heard, parents, with what virtues you ought to train, with what discipline you ought to form your daughters, so that you may have those by whose merits your own faults may be redeemed. A virgin is a gift of God, an offering of a parent, a priesthood of chastity. A virgin is the mother’s sacrificial victim, by whose daily sacrifice the divine power is appeased. A virgin is the undivided pledge of her parents, who neither with a dowry ought to be solicited, nor by departure abandoned, nor by wrongs offended.

But someone desires to have grandchildren, and to gain the name of grandfather. First he hands over his own, while he seeks those of another; then he begins to be cheated of what is certain, while he hopes for what is uncertain: he bestows his own wealth, and is still asked for more; unless he pays the dowry, it is exacted from him; if he lives long, he becomes burdensome. This is to buy a son-in-law, not to gain one, who sells to parents the mere sight of their daughter. Is she therefore carried in the womb for so many months, only to pass into another’s power? Is the care of commending a virgin undertaken, only that she may be more quickly taken away from her parents?

34. Marriage Defended Through the Patriarchs' Example

Someone will say: Do you then dissuade marriage? I indeed encourage it, and I condemn those who have been accustomed to dissuade it; seeing that I am accustomed to recount the marriages of Sarah and Rebecca and Rachel, and of the other women of old, as examples of singular virtues. For he who condemns wedlock condemns also children: and condemns the society of the human race, drawn out through a succession of generations. For how could an age destined to endure into the future succeed to the preceding age, unless the grace of marriage kindled the desire of begetting offspring? Or how can it be praised that the immaculate Isaac approached the altars of God as a victim of his father’s piety, that Israel, set in a human body, saw God, and gave a religious name to the people, whose origin is condemned? One thing indeed men have, however sacrilegious, that even the wisest may approve in this: that by condemning marriages, they confess that they themselves ought not to have been born.

35. Comparing the Fruits of Marriage and Virginity

I do not therefore dissuade marriage, but I enumerate the fruits of consecrated virginity. This is the office of few, that of all. Nor can virginity exist, unless it have whence to be born. I compare good things with good things, that it may the more easily appear which is superior. Nor do I put forward any opinion of my own, but repeat that which the Holy Spirit uttered through the prophet: Better, he says, is barrenness with virtue.

36. The Virgin as Bride of the Heavenly King

For first, that which brides desire above all else—that they may boast in the beauty of their bridegroom—in this it is necessary that they confess themselves inferior to sacred virgins, to whom alone it is given to say: You are beautiful in form above the sons of men, grace is poured out upon your lips. Who is this bridegroom? Not one bound to base services, not proud of perishable riches: but whose seat is forever and ever. The daughters of kings are in his honor. The queen stood at your right hand, in gilded clothing, surrounded with the variety of the virtues. Hear then, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house; for the King has desired your beauty, since he himself is your God.

37. The Meaning of Kingdom, Gold, and Beauty

And observe how much the Holy Spirit, by the testimony of divine Scripture, has bestowed upon you: a kingdom, gold, beauty: a kingdom, either because you are the bride of the eternal King, or because, bearing an unconquered soul, you are not held captive by the allurements of pleasures, but reign as queen; gold, because just as that metal tried by fire is more precious, so the virginal beauty of the body, consecrated to the divine Spirit, gains increase of its comeliness; but beauty who can esteem greater than the comeliness of her who is loved by the King, approved by the judge, dedicated to the Lord, consecrated to God: always a bride, always unwed; so that neither love may have an end, nor modesty a loss.

38. The Perfect Beauty of the Virgin Soul

This assuredly is true beauty, to which nothing is lacking, which alone deserves to hear from the Lord: You are all fair, my near one, and there is no blemish in you. Come here, bride, from Libanus, come here from Libanus; you shall pass through and pass beyond, from the beginning of faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. By these signs is shown the perfect and irreproachable beauty of a virgin soul, consecrated on the divine altars, unbent by mortal things amid the encounters and lairs of spiritual beasts, but intent upon the mysteries of God, having merited love, whose breasts are full of gladness: For wine gladdens the heart of man.

39. The Fragrance of the Virgin's Garments

The scent, he says, of your garments is above all spices. And below: And the scent of your garments is like the scent of Libanus. See, virgin, what progress you bestow upon us. Your first scent is above all spices, which were sent to the burial of the Savior; it exhales the dying of the body’s motions, and the death of the pleasures of the members. Your second scent, like the scent of Libanus, breathes forth the integrity of the Lord’s body, the flower of virginal chastity.

40. Virginity Likened to the Labor of Bees

Let your works compose a honeycomb of honey; for virginity is worthy to be compared to bees: so laborious, so chaste, so continent. The bee feeds on dew, knows no mating, and composes honey. The dew of a virgin, too, is the divine word; for as dew, so descend the words of God. The modesty of a virgin is untainted nature. The offspring of a virgin is the fruit of labors, free from bitterness, rich in sweetness. The labor is shared in common, common also is the fruit.

41. Imitating the Bee in Purity of Speech

How I wish you, daughter, to be an imitator of this little bee, whose food is the flower, whose offspring is gathered by the mouth, and by the mouth composed! Imitate her, my daughter. Let no veil of guile cover your words, let them have no wrapping of deceit; that they may possess both purity, and be full of gravity.

42. Generosity to the Poor and the Lily Among Thorns

Let eternal posterity also be born to you from your own mouth, by your merits. And gather not for yourself alone, but for many (for who knows when your soul shall be demanded of you?), lest, leaving the storehouses heaped up with grain, of no use to your own life nor to your merits, you be snatched away to a place where you cannot carry your treasure. Be rich, then, but for the poor: that those who share your nature may share also in your resources.

I show you also a flower to be plucked, namely that one who said: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns; which is a clear sign that virtues are beset by the thorns of spiritual wickedness; whence no one gathers fruit, save he who approaches with caution.

44. Taking Wings on the Spirit to Seek Christ

Take up wings then, O virgin, but wings of the spirit; that you may fly above vices, if you desire to attain to Christ: He dwells on high, and regards the lowly things; and his form is like the cedar of Lebanon, which sets its foliage among the clouds, its root in the earth. For its beginning is from heaven, its lower part on earth, and it bears fruit nearest to heaven. Search out diligently so goodly a flower, lest perchance you find him in the valley of your breast; for he is frequently breathed upon the humble.

45. The Enclosed Garden as a Figure of Modesty

He loves to be born in gardens, in which Susanna, while walking, found him, ready to die rather than be violated. But what these gardens are, he himself shows, saying: A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up; because in gardens of this sort, the image of God being stamped with seals, the wave of a pure fountain shines forth; lest the streams be disturbed, scattered with mud by the wallowing of spiritual beasts. Hence that modesty, hedged about with a wall-like spirit, is enclosed, lest it lie open to plunder. And so, as a garden inaccessible to thieves gives forth the scent of the vine, the fragrance of the olive, the glow of the rose; so in the vine religion, in the olive peace, in the rose the modesty of consecrated virginity may grow. This is the odor which the patriarch Jacob breathed, when he deserved to hear: Behold, the smell of my son is as the smell of a full field.

For although the field of the holy patriarch was full of almost every fruit; yet he produced crops through greater labor of virtue, this one flowers.

46. Recognizing Christ's Two Natures, White and Ruddy

Gird yourself then, O virgin, and if you wish such a fragrance to breathe forth from you as from a garden, enclose it with the precepts of the prophets. Set a guard upon your mouth, and a door of restraint about your lips; that you too may be able to say: As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my brother among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. I found him whom my soul loves; I held him, and I will not let him go. My brother is gone down into his garden, to eat the fruit of his trees. Come, my brother, let us go forth into the field. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. My brother is white and ruddy. For it is fitting, O virgin, that you fully know him whom you love, and recognize in him the whole mystery both of his unbegotten divinity and of his assumed incarnation.

Rightly white, because he is the splendor of the Father: ruddy, because he was born of the Virgin. In him the color of each nature gleams and glows. Remember, however, that the insignia of his divinity are more ancient in him than the sacraments of his body, because he did not begin from the Virgin, but he who already was, came into the Virgin.

47. True Beauty Is a Good Report, Not the Body

He, set apart by soldiers, he, wounded by the lance, that he might heal us by the blood of that sacred wound, will assuredly answer you (for he is meek and humble of heart, gentle of countenance): Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind; blow upon my garden, and let my spices flow forth. For from all parts of the world the odor of sacred religion has grown, and the members of the beloved virgin have given forth fragrance. You are beautiful, my companion, as good report; comely as Jerusalem. It is not, then, the beauty of a perishable body, doomed to be destroyed by sickness or old age, but a good report of merits, liable to no mischance and never to die, that is the true adornment of virgins.

48. The Seal of the Trinity Upon the Heart

And since you are now worthy to be compared, not to earthly things, but to heavenly ones, whose life you live on earth, receive from the Lord the precepts which you must keep. Set me, he says, as a seal upon your heart, and as a seal upon your arm: whereby the clearer proofs of your prudence and of your deeds may be brought forth, in which the image of God, Christ, may shine, who, equalling the compass of the Father's nature, expressed the whole of whatever divinity he assumed from the Father. Whence also the apostle Paul says that we are sealed in the Spirit; since we have the image of the Father in the Son, and we have the seal of the Son in the Spirit. Sealed with this Trinity, let us take diligent care lest either lightness of character, or the deceit of any adultery, break the seal of the pledge we have received in our hearts.

49. The Church as a Wall Defending Virgins

But let this fear depart from sacred virgins, to whom the Church first grants such great defenses, she who, anxious for the success of her tender offspring, herself, like a wall, rises up with breasts abounding after the fashion of towers, until, the siege of hostile assault being loosed, she may procure peace for her vigorous youth, by the defense of a mother's virtue. Whence also the Prophet says: Let peace be in your strength, and abundance in your towers.

50. The Lord as Keeper of the Vineyard

Then the Lord of peace himself, after he has embraced with stronger arms the vineyards committed to him, and has seen his branches beginning to bud, tempers the breezes with his presiding countenance over the springing fruits, as he himself testifies, saying: My vineyard is before me; a thousand pieces are for Solomon, and two hundred for those who keep the fruit thereof.

51. Angels as Guardians of Virginal Chastity

Above he says: Sixty valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel, all holding swords, and expert in war; here, a thousand and two hundred. The number grew where the fruit also grew; for the holier each one is, the more amply guarded. So the prophet Elisha showed the guard of an army of angels present with him; so Joshua, son of Nun, recognized the leader of the heavenly host. Those, then, who can also fight for us, can guard the fruit in us. But to you, O holy virgins, there is a special defense, who with unblemished modesty keep the sacred bed for the Lord.

Nor is it strange if angels fight for you, who fight with the manners of angels. Virginal chastity deserves their protection, whose life it deserves to attain.

52. Chastity as a Foretaste of the Resurrection

And why should I pursue further the praise of chastity? Chastity even made angels. He who kept it is an angel; he who lost it is a devil. Hence also religion took its name. She is a virgin who weds God; a harlot, who has made gods. For what shall I say of the resurrection, whose rewards you already possess? For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but shall be, he says, as the angels in heaven. What is promised to us is ready at hand for you, and the use of our vows is present with you. You are of this world, and yet you are not in this world. The world has deserved to have you, but has not been able to hold you.

53. The Perils of Wine in Lot and Noah

How glorious a thing it is, that angels, on account of their intemperance, fell from heaven into the world, while virgins, on account of their chastity, have passed from the world into heaven! Blessed are the virgins, whom no allurement of bodies solicits, whom no defilement of pleasures casts headlong! A frugal diet, an abstemious drink, teaches ignorance of vices, since it teaches ignorance of the causes of vices. The occasion of sinning has often deceived even the just. Hence the people of God, after they sat down to eat and drink, denied God. Hence Lot was unaware of, yet endured, intercourse with his daughters. Hence, with backward steps, the sons of Noah once covered their father's shame: which the shameless one saw, the modest one blushed at, the dutiful one covered, though he would have taken offense had he himself seen it too. How great is the power of wine, that whom the flood did not strip bare, wine stripped bare.

54. The Vanity of Adorning Oneself to Please

What of this? How great is the felicity, that no desire of possessing inflames you? The poor man asks for what you have; what you do not have, he does not require. The fruit of your labor is a treasure to the needy, and two coins, if that is all there is, are the wealth of the giver. Hear then, sister, how many things you are free of. For it is neither mine to teach, nor yours to learn, what you ought to beware of; for the practice of perfect virtue does not need instruction, but forms itself. Do you see how she who adorns herself to please advances like the litters in a procession, turning to herself the faces and eyes of all, and by that very fact by which she strives to please, made more unsightly; for she displeases the people before she pleases her husband. But in you, the care for beauty being cast aside, more becomes you; and this very fact, that you do not adorn yourselves, is your adornment.

55. Jewelry Likened to Chains and Bondage

Behold ears torn with wounds, and pity the burden of the bent neck. The distinctions of metals are no alleviations of the punishments. Here a chain constrains the neck, there a fetter encloses the foot. It makes no difference whether the body is burdened with gold or with iron. So the neck is pressed, so the gait is weighed down. The price avails nothing; except that you women, lest the punishment be lost on you, tremble at it. What difference is there, whether another's sentence, or your own, condemns you? Hence you are even more pitiable than those who are condemned by public law, since they wish to be freed, but you wish to be bound.

56. A Bride Auctioned Like a Slave

How pitiable indeed is that condition, that, as though a slave were up for sale, the bride-to-be is put up for bid, so that whoever prevails with the price may buy her. Yet slaves are sold more tolerably, who often choose their own masters; for a virgin, if she chooses, it is a crime; if she does not choose, it is an insult. However beautiful and comely she may be, she both fears and desires to be seen: she desires it, that she may sell herself dearer; she fears it, lest that very thing be unbecoming which is seen. How great, moreover, are the mockeries of her hopes, and the anxious fear at the outcome of her suitors, lest the poor man mock her, lest the rich man disdain her, lest the handsome man laugh at her, lest the noble man spurn her!

57. Virgins Coming from Distant Regions to Be Veiled

Someone will say: You daily sing to us the praises of virgins. What am I to do, who daily chant the same things, and make no progress? But it is not my fault. Behold, virgins come to be consecrated from Piacenza, they come from Bologna, they come from Mauritania, to be veiled here. You see a great thing. Here I discourse, and elsewhere I persuade. If it is so, let us discourse elsewhere, that we may persuade you.

58. The Right to Choose God as a Husband

What of this, that even those who do not hear me, follow; those who hear me, do not follow? For I have known many virgins who wished it, yet were forbidden even to come forward, by mothers, and, what is graver, by widows, with whom my discourse here is concerned. Surely, if your daughters wished to love a man, they could, by the laws, choose whom they wished. To whom, then, it is permitted to choose a man, is it not permitted to choose God?

59. The Modesty of Virgins from Mauritania

Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which has grown even among barbarian hearts. From the farthest and remotest parts of Mauritania, virgins have been brought and long to be consecrated here; and though all their families are in bondage, chastity nevertheless does not know how to be a captive. She professes the eternal kingdom, who mourns the injury of servitude.

60. The Virgins of Bologna

For what shall I say of the virgins of Bologna, a fruitful company of modesty, who, renouncing worldly delights, dwell in a sanctuary of virginity? Without the fellowship of the other sex, advanced by the fellowship of modesty to the number of twenty, and the fruit a hundredfold, having left their parents' home, they press forward into the tabernacles of Christ, unwearied soldiers of chastity: now they resound with spiritual songs, now they earn their food by their works, and even by their hand they seek means for their generosity.

61. How the Sisterhood Welcomes a New Virgin

But if the scent of one to be tracked down as a virgin should arise (for beyond all others they scrutinize the modesty of those they hunt to spy it out), with the full pursuit of their cares they follow the hidden prey even to its very lair: or if the freer flight of anyone should shine forth, you would see them all rise on full wings, clap their feathers, and dart forth with applause: so that they surround the one in flight with a chaste choir of modesty, until, delighted by the white-robed company, forgetful of her home and country, she joins the nets of modesty and the hunting-ground of chastity.

62. Chaste Poverty Excels a Dowry

It is good, then, if the zeal of parents breathes upon a virgin like the breezes of modesty: but it is more glorious still, if the fire of tender age snatches itself, even without inherited nurture, spontaneously into the kindling of chastity. Her parents will deny her a dowry: but you have a rich Bridegroom, content with whose treasure you need not seek the profits of an ancestral inheritance. How much chaste poverty excels the advantages of a dowry!

63. Parents Test a Virgin's Resolve with Threats and Enticements

And yet, how often have you heard of one who, for the pursuit of purity, was made a stranger to her lawful inheritance? Her parents oppose her: but they wish to be conquered. They resist at first, because they fear to believe; they grow indignant frequently, that you may learn to conquer; they threaten disinheritance, to test whether you can be unafraid of worldly loss; they coax with sought-out enticements, to see whether the blandishment of various pleasures cannot soften you. You are exercised, O virgin, while you are constrained. And these are your first contests, which the anxious wishes of your parents set before you. Conquer piety first, girl. If you conquer your household, you conquer the world.

64. Heaven's Reward for a Renounced Inheritance

But grant that the losses of your patrimony await you; do not the future kingdoms of heaven compensate for the loss of fleeting and fragile possessions? And yet, if we believe the heavenly words, there is no one who has left house, or parents, or brothers, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, and shall not receive sevenfold as much in this present time: and in the world to come shall possess life everlasting. Entrust your faith to God; you who entrust money to a man, lend it out to Christ. A good guardian of a deposited hope pays back the talent of your faith multiplied with interest. Truth does not deceive, justice does not cheat, virtue does not defraud. But if you do not believe the oracle, believe at least the examples.

65. The Virgin Who Took Refuge at the Altar

Within our memory there was a maiden formerly noble in the world, now nobler before God; when she was being pressed to marriage by her parents and kinsfolk, she fled for refuge to the most holy altar. For where better should a virgin be than where the sacrifice of virginity is offered? Nor was that the limit of her boldness. She stood at the altar of God, a victim of modesty, a sacrifice of chastity: now placing the priest's right hand upon her head and demanding the prayer, now impatient of just delay, she cast her very head beneath the altar. "Shall not the altar," she said, "which sanctifies the very veils, veil me better than a bridal veil? More fitting for me is such a flame-colored veil, wherein Christ, the head of all, is daily consecrated. What are you doing, kinsfolk? Why do you still trouble my mind by seeking out marriages for me? I have long since made my provision. You offer me a bridegroom: I have found a better one.

Heap up whatever riches you please, boast of nobility, proclaim power—I have one with whom none can compare, rich beyond the world, powerful in empire, noble in heaven. If you have such a one, I do not refuse the choice; if you cannot find him, you are not providing for me, parents, but envying me."

66. A Virgin's Answer Concerning Her Father

While the others were silent, one spoke more abruptly. "What," said he, "if your father were alive, would he allow you to remain unwed?" Then she, with greater reverence, moderation, and piety, replied: "And for that reason perhaps he has died, lest anyone should be able to bring hindrance." That reply concerning her father proved itself an oracle concerning himself, by his own untimely death. Thus the rest, each fearing the same for himself, began to favor what they had sought to hinder; nor did virginity bring loss of the inheritance due, but rather gained the reward of integrity as well. You have here, maidens, the reward of devotion; parents, beware the example of giving offense.

1. From Praising Virginity to Instructing the Virgin

In the previous book we wished (for we could not fully accomplish it) to set forth how great a gift virginity is, so that the heavenly grace of the gift might of itself invite the reader. In the second book it is fitting that the virgin be instructed, and, as it were, trained by the teaching of suitable precepts.

2. Teaching by Example Rather Than Precept

But since we are too weak for admonishing, and unequal to teaching (for he who teaches ought to excel him who is taught), lest we should seem either to have abandoned the task we had undertaken, or to have claimed too much for ourselves, we thought it better that she be instructed by examples rather than by precepts—though indeed one profits more by example, since what has already been done is not judged difficult, and what has been proved is judged useful, and what has come down to us by a kind of hereditary custom of paternal virtue, transmitted by succession, is judged religious.

3. A Response to the Charge of Presumption

But if anyone accuses us of presumption, let him rather accuse us of eagerness; for since the virgins asked, I did not think even this ought to be refused. For I preferred to be led into danger of modesty, rather than not comply with the wish of those whose zeal our God himself indulges with a placid assent.

4. Coaxing Rather Than Commanding the Virgins

But neither can presumption be charged, since, though they had whence to learn, they sought rather my affection than my teaching; and eagerness may be excused, since, though they had the authority of a martyr for the keeping of discipline, I did not judge it superfluous if I should turn the blandishment of my speech toward the allurement of their profession. He teaches more easily who restrains vices with a stern feeling; we, who cannot teach, let us coax.

5. This Book Written for Absent Virgins

And since many, being absent, desired the use of my discourse, I have composed this volume: so that those set at a distance, holding the gift of my voice, might not believe themselves lacking him whom they hold. But let us pursue what we have proposed.

6. Mary's Life as a Mirror for Virgins

Let there be, then, for you, as it were painted in an image, the virginal life of Mary, from whom, as from a mirror, the likeness of chastity and the form of virtue shine forth. From this you may take examples of living, where, as in an exemplar, the expressed teachings of uprightness show what you ought to correct, what to fashion, what to hold fast.

7. The Virtues and Habits of Mary's Daily Life

The first ardor for learning is the nobility of the teacher. What is nobler than the Mother of God? What more splendid than she whom the Splendor chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contagion of body? For what shall I say of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body, but also in mind, one who by no wile of guile would adulterate a sincere affection: humble in heart, grave in words, prudent in spirit, more sparing in speech, more studious in reading; placing her hope not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the prayer of the poor; intent on work, modest in speech, accustomed to seek as arbiter of her mind not man, but God; to injure no one, to wish well to all, to rise up before her elders, not to envy her equals, to flee ostentation, to follow reason, to love virtue. When did she ever wound her parents even by a look? When did she disagree with her kin? When did she disdain the lowly?

When did she mock the weak? When did she avoid the needy—she who was accustomed to visit only those gatherings of men which mercy would not blush at, nor modesty pass by? Nothing stern in her eyes, nothing immodest in her act: no gesture too soft, no gait too loose, no voice too forward; so that the very appearance of her body was an image of her mind, a figure of uprightness. For a good house ought to be recognized even from its very threshold, and at the first entrance should show that nothing of darkness lies hidden within; so that our mind, hindered by no bodily barriers, like the light of a lamp placed within, may shine forth without.

Why should I recount the sparingness or abundance of her food: that the one exceeded nature, the other was almost lacking even to nature itself; there, no times left unremarked; here, days doubled by fasting? And if ever the wish to take food arose, the meal was for the most part whatever was at hand, such as would allow delay, not minister delights. Sleep was for her not desire but necessity, and yet even while she gave her body to rest, her mind kept watch: which often either repeated what she had read, or sang what had been interrupted by sleep, or carried on what was appointed, or foretold what was to be done. She knew not how to go abroad from home, except when she went to the church, and this itself with her parents or kinsfolk. Diligent in domestic privacy, attended by a company when abroad, yet with no better guardian of herself than herself, being venerable in gait and speech, she raised not so much the step of her foot as the step of virtue.

Yet though a virgin may have others as guardians of her members, of her own character she is herself the guardian; there will be many from whom she may learn, but she herself teaches herself, having virtues as her teachers: whatever she does is discipline. So was Mary to all, as though admonished by many: she fulfilled all the offices of virtue, so that she seemed not so much to learn as to teach. Such the Evangelist showed her to be, such God found her, such the Holy Spirit chose her. For why should I dwell on each particular, how her parents called her, how strangers proclaimed her, worthy to be chosen that the Son of God might be born of her? She was found at the very coming of the angel at home, in her private chamber, without a companion, lest anyone should break her concentration, lest anyone should disturb her; for she desired no female companions, she who had good thoughts as her companions. Yet she seemed to herself less alone precisely when she was alone.

For how was she alone, when so many books were present to her; so many archangels, so many prophets? Finally, Gabriel too, when he was accustomed to visit her, found her thus: and Mary, moved as at the sight of a man, was troubled at the angel; as though she recognized, upon hearing her name, one not unknown to her. Thus she was a stranger in her eyes to one to whom she was not a stranger in spirit; so that one may recognize her ears as reverent, her eyes as modest. Finally, at the greeting she fell silent, and being addressed she answered: she who had first been troubled in feeling, afterward promised obedience. How devoted she was toward her kinswoman, the divine Scripture signifies.

For she was made the more humble, when she knew herself chosen by God, and at once went into the hill country to her kinswoman: not that she might believe by example, she who had already believed by the oracle: for it was said, "Blessed art thou who hast believed." And she remained with her three months. Now in so long an interval of time, it is not faith that is sought, but piety that is shown. And this after the babe, leaping in his mother's womb, saluted the mother of the Lord, being possessed of devotion before nature itself.

13. Mary Ponders These Things in Her Heart

Thence, with so many following signs, when the barren woman bore, the virgin conceived, the mute spoke, the magus adored, Simeon waited, the stars announced. Mary was moved at the entrance, unmoved at the miracle: "She kept," it says, "all these things in her heart." Although she was the Mother of the Lord, she nevertheless desired to learn the precepts of the Lord: and she who had borne God, yet desired to know God.

14. Mary's Yearly Journey to Jerusalem

What of the fact that every year too she went to Jerusalem on the solemn day of the Passover, and went with Joseph? Everywhere in a virgin, modesty is the companion of each virtue. This must be inseparable from virginity, without which virginity cannot exist. Not even to the temple, therefore, did Mary go without the guardian of her own modesty.

15. Mary as the Pattern of Virginity

This is the image of virginity. For such was Mary, that the life of her alone is the discipline of all. If, then, the author does not displease, let us approve the work; so that whoever desires her reward for herself, may imitate her example. How many forms of virtues shine forth in one virgin? The secrecy of modesty, the standard of faith, the service of devotion: a virgin within the house, a companion in ministry, a mother at the temple.

16. Mary Presents the Virgins to Christ

Oh, how many virgins will she meet, how many, embracing them, will she draw to the Lord, saying: "These have kept, for my Son's marriage-bed, these have kept the nuptial chamber, with unstained modesty!" How the Lord himself will commend them to the Father, repeating no doubt that saying of his: "Holy Father, these are they whom I have kept for thee, in whom the Son of man, resting his head, found repose; I ask that where I am, they also may be with me." But if they ought not to profit themselves alone, who did not live for themselves alone, let this redeem their parents, let this redeem their brothers. "Righteous Father, the world has not known me, but these have known me, and have refused to know the world."

17. The Heavenly Procession of the Virgins

What a procession that will be, how great the joy of the angels applauding, that she should deserve to dwell in heaven, who lived a heavenly life in the world! Then too Mary, taking up the timbrel, will rouse the virginal choirs to sing to the Lord, because they have crossed the sea of the world without worldly waves. Then each one will exult, saying: "And I will go in to the altar of my God, and to God who gives joy to my youth." "I will sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and I will render my vows to the Most High."

18. The Virgin's Soul as an Altar of God

Nor would I hesitate to say that other altars of God lie open to you, altars which I would confidently call your minds, on which Christ is daily sacrificed for the redemption of the body. For if the body of a virgin is the temple of God, what is her soul, which, as with the ashes of her members stirred up, veiled by the hand of the eternal priest, breathes forth the vapor of the divine fire? Blessed virgins, who breathe such immortal grace, as gardens with flowers, as temples with religion, as altars with a priest!

19. Thecla Condemned to the Beasts for Refusing Marriage

Let holy Mary, then, form the discipline of life; let Thecla teach how to be sacrificed: who, fleeing the marriage bond, and condemned by the fury of her betrothed, changed even the nature of beasts by the reverence due to virginity. For when she was set before the beasts, since she also averted the gaze of men, and offered her very vitals to the savage lion, she brought it about that those who had cast lustful eyes upon her went away with chaste ones.

20. The Lion That Would Not Harm the Virgin

One might see the beast licking her feet, lying down upon the ground, testifying by mute sound that it could not violate the sacred body of the virgin. So the beast worshipped its own prey; and forgetting its own nature, it put on the nature which men had lost. One might see, by a kind of transfusion of nature, men clothed with savagery commanding fierceness fit for a beast: a beast kissing the feet of a virgin, teaching what men ought to have done. Virginity possesses such admiration that even lions marvel at it. No hunger bent them, no swift onrush seized them, no goad of anger provoked them, no habit deceived them though accustomed, no nature possessed them though wild. They taught reverence while they worshipped the martyr; they taught chastity too, while they kissed nothing of the virgin but her soles, their eyes cast down to the ground, as though blushing, lest any male, or even the beast itself, should see the virgin naked.

21. The Apostle as Teacher of All the Virgins

Someone will say: Why have you brought forward the example of Mary, as though one could find another who could imitate the Mother of the Lord? Why also that of Thecla, whom the teacher of the Gentiles instructed? Give me such a teacher, if you require such a disciple. I offer you this recent example, that you may understand the Apostle to be the teacher not of one, but of all.

22. A Virgin of Antioch Betrayed by Her Own Beauty

At Antioch there was recently a certain virgin who fled the public gaze: but the more she avoided the eyes of men, the more she inflamed them. For beauty heard of but not seen is desired the more, by two goads of desire, love and curiosity: since nothing occurs to displease, and that is thought the more pleasing which is not tested by the judging eye, but longed for by the loving mind. Therefore the holy virgin, lest desires should be fed longer by hope of possession, professing the integrity of her modesty, so quenched the torches of the wicked that she was no longer loved, but betrayed.

23. Sentenced to Sacrifice or the Brothel

Behold the persecution: a girl who did not know how to flee, certainly fearful; lest she should fall among the ambushers of chastity, she prepared her mind for virtue, so religious that she did not fear death, so chaste that she awaited it. The day of the crown came. Everyone's expectation was very great. The girl is brought forth, professing a twofold contest, both of chastity and of religion. But when they saw the constancy of her profession, the fear of her modesty, her readiness for tortures, her blushing at their gaze, they began to devise how, under the appearance of chastity, they might take away her religion; so that, having taken away that which was greater, they might also seize that which they had left. They order the virgin either to sacrifice, or to be prostituted in a brothel. How do they worship their gods, who thus avenge them? Or how do they themselves live, who judge in such a way?

24. The Virgin's Reasoning on Faith and Chastity

Here the girl, not because she doubted concerning religion, but because she trembled concerning her modesty, said within herself: What are we doing? Today either a martyr, or a virgin: one of two crowns is envied us. But the name of virgin is not recognized, where the Author of virginity is denied. For how is one a virgin, if you worship a harlot? How a virgin, if you love adulterers? How a virgin, if you seek love? It is more tolerable to have a virgin mind than a virgin flesh. Both are good, if it be permitted (if it is not permitted, at least let us belong not to a chaste man, but to God). And Rahab was a harlot, but after she believed in God she found salvation. And Judith adorned herself, that she might please an adulterer, who yet, because she did this out of religion, not out of love, no one judged her an adulteress. The example turned out well.

For if she, who committed herself to religion, preserved both her modesty and her country, perhaps we too, by preserving religion, shall preserve chastity as well. But if Judith had wished to prefer chastity to religion, having lost her country, she would also have lost her chastity.

25. Her Silence Before the Adulterer

And so, instructed by such examples, and at the same time holding in her mind the words of the Lord, in which he says: Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it, she wept, she was silent, lest the adulterer should hear her even speaking; she did not choose the injury of her modesty, but refused it for Christ. Judge whether she who did not adulterate even her voice could have had her body adulterated.

26. A Virgin of Christ Sent to a Brothel

My speech has long been ashamed, and shrinks from approaching and setting forth the criminal sequence of events. Close your ears, virgins. A maiden of God is led to the brothel. But open your ears, virgins. A virgin of Christ can be prostituted, she cannot be adulterated. Wherever a virgin of God is, there is a temple of God: nor do brothels defame chastity, but chastity even abolishes the infamy of the place.

27. Her Prayer Amid the Brothel Crowd

A huge crowd of wanton men gathers at the brothel arch. Learn, holy virgins, the miracles of the martyrs; unlearn the names of such places. A dove is shut in within, hawks shriek without: each contends who shall be first to seize the prey. But she, with hands lifted to heaven, as though she had come to a house of prayer, not to a lodging of lust, said: O Christ, who tamed the fierce lions for the virgin Daniel, thou canst also tame the fierce minds of men. Fire grew dewy for the Chaldeans, the wave suspended itself for the Jews—by thy mercy, not by its own nature. Susanna bent her knee to punishment, and triumphed over the adulterers: the right hand withered that violated the gifts of thy temple: now thy very temple is being touched; suffer not the incest of sacrilege, thou who didst not permit a theft. Let thy name be blessed even now, that I who came to adultery may depart a virgin.

28. The Soldier's Sudden Appearance

She had scarcely finished her prayer, and behold, a man in the terrifying guise of a soldier burst in. How did the virgin tremble at him, before whom the trembling crowd had given way? But she, not unmindful of the lesson: And Daniel too, she said, had come to watch the punishment of Susanna, and he, alone, absolved her whom the people had condemned. He too can, in this wolf's guise, be hiding a sheep. Christ also has his soldiers, he who has legions too. Or perhaps an executioner has entered. Fear not, my soul; such a one is wont to make martyrs. O virgin, thy faith has saved thee!

29. The Soldier Proposes an Exchange of Garments

The soldier said to her: Fear not, I beg, sister. I have come here as a brother to save a soul, not to destroy it. Save me, that you yourself may be saved. As an adulterer I entered; if you wish, I will go out a martyr. Let us exchange garments; mine suit me for you, and yours for me: but both for Christ. Your garment will make me a true soldier, mine will make you a virgin. You will be well clothed, I shall be better stripped, that the persecutor may recognize me. Take a garb that will hide a woman; give me one that will consecrate a martyr. Put on the cloak that will conceal a virgin's limbs, and preserve her modesty. Take the cap that will cover the hair, hide the face. Those who have entered a brothel are wont to blush. But when you have gone out, do not look back, mindful of Lot's wife, who lost her nature because, though with chaste eyes, she looked back upon the unchaste.

And fear not that anything will be lost by this sacrifice. I render a victim to God for you, you render a soldier to Christ for me. You have the good warfare of chastity, which serves for eternal pay: the breastplate of righteousness, which encloses the body with spiritual protection: the shield of faith, with which you may repel the wound: the helmet of salvation; for there is the defense of our salvation, where Christ is: since the head of woman is man, but the head of a virgin is Christ.

30. The Virgin Escapes in the Soldier's Dress

And amid these words he wove the cloak about her. Yet still the garb of both persecutor and adulterer was under suspicion. The virgin offered her neck, the soldier the cloak. What pageantry was that, what grace, when in a brothel they vied for martyrdom! Add the persons: a soldier and a virgin—that is, unlike each other by nature, but alike by God's mercy; so that the oracle might be fulfilled: Then wolves and lambs shall feed together. Behold, the lamb and the wolf not only feed together, but are also offered up together. What more? With their garb exchanged, the girl flies from the snare, now borne not on her own wings, but as it were on spiritual ones: and (what no ages ever saw) there goes out from the brothel a virgin—but Christ's.

31. The Onlooker's Astonishment at the Exchange

But those who saw with their eyes, and yet did not see, howled toward the lamb like ravishers, like wolves toward their prey. One who was more immodest went in. But when he took in with his eyes the whole tenor of the affair: What is this, he said? A girl went in, a man is seen. Behold, not that fabled hind in place of a virgin, but what is true—a soldier out of a virgin. But I too had heard, and had not believed, that Christ turned water into wine; now he has begun to change even sex. Let us withdraw from here, while we are still what we were. Have I too been changed, who perceive one thing, though I believe another? I came to a brothel, I see a bail-bond: and yet I shall go out changed, I shall leave chaste, who entered an adulterer.

32. The Virgin Insists on Her Own Death

By this evidence of the matter, since so great a crown was owed to so great a victor, he was condemned in place of the virgin, who had been seized in place of the virgin. Thus from the brothel there went out not only a virgin, but martyrs as well. It is said that the girl ran to the place of execution, and that both contended over the death, when he said: I have been ordered to be killed; the sentence has released you, since it seized me. But she began to cry out: I did not choose you as surety for death, but I chose you as pledge for my modesty. If modesty is sought, my sex remains intact; if blood is demanded, I do not need a surety, I have wherewith to discharge it myself. Upon me was that sentence laid which was laid for my sake.

Surely if I had given you as surety for a sum of money, and, in my absence, a judge had adjudged your property to the money-lender, you would summon me by that same sentence, and I would pay your debts from my patrimony. If I refused, who would judge me deserving of an undeserved death? How much greater is the interest owed on this life! Let me die innocent, lest I die guilty. There is no middle way here: today I shall be either guilty of your blood, or a martyr for my own. If I returned quickly, who dares to shut me out? If I delayed, who dares to acquit me? I owe more to the laws, guilty not only of my own flight, but also of another's slaughter. My limbs suffice for death, which did not suffice for outrage. In a virgin there is room for a wound, where there was none for disgrace. I avoided reproach, not martyrdom. To you I yielded my garment, I did not change my profession.

But if you snatch death away from me, you have not redeemed me, but cheated me. Beware, I beg, lest you contend; beware lest you dare to contradict. Do not take away the benefit which you gave. While you deny me this sentence, you restore the former one. For one sentence is changed by an earlier one. If the later does not bind me, the earlier does. We can both satisfy the sentence, if you allow me to be killed first. Against you they have no other penalty to exercise; in a virgin, modesty is at stake. And so you will be the more glorious, if you seem to have made a martyr out of an adulteress, than if you had made an adulteress out of a martyr.

33. Two Crowns Joined in One Martyrdom

What do you wait for? Two contended, and both won: nor was the crown divided, but added to. Thus the holy martyrs, conferring benefits upon one another in turn, the one gave the beginning to the martyrdom, the other its completion.

34. The Story of Damon and Pythias

But even the schools of the philosophers extol to the heavens Damon and Pythias, the Pythagoreans, of whom one, when he had been condemned to death, asked for time to commend his affairs to others; but the tyrant, most crafty, thinking that such a thing could not be found, demanded that he give a surety, who should be struck down in his place, if he himself made delay. Which of the two is the more excellent, I do not know. Both are excellent. One found a surety for his death, the other offered himself. And so, while the accused made delay before his punishment, the surety, with serene countenance, did not refuse death. When he was being led away, the friend returned, offered his own neck, bowed his head beneath the blow. Then the tyrant, marveling that friendship was dearer to philosophers than life, asked that he himself be received into friendship by those whom he had condemned. So great, he said, is the grace of virtue, that it bends even a tyrant.

35. The Virgin's Courage Surpasses Damon and Pythias

Worthy of praise, but lesser than our own. For there, both were men; here, a single virgin, who first overcame even her sex; those were friends, these unknown to one another; those offered themselves to a single tyrant, these to many tyrants—and these even more cruel, in that he spared, but these killed; among those, in the case of one, there was a necessity under obligation, in these, the free will of both. In this too these were more prudent, that for those the end of their zeal was for friendship's sake, for these, the crown of martyrdom; for those contended for men, these for God.

36. A Philosopher Strips the Gods of Their Gold

And since we have made mention of that man, it is fitting to relate what he thought of his own gods, that you may judge the more weak those whom their own worshippers mock. For when he had come into the temple of Jupiter, he ordered the golden garment with which the statue was covered to be stripped off, and a woolen one put on, saying that gold was cold in winter and heavy in summer. Thus he mocked his own god, thinking that he could bear neither the weight nor the cold. The same man, when he saw the golden beard of Aesculapius, ordered it taken away, calling it incongruous that the son should have a beard, when the father had none.

The same man took away the golden bowls from the statues that were holding them, alleging that he ought to receive what the gods gave: For these, he said, are the prayers of men, that they may obtain from the gods what is good; and nothing is better than gold: which, however, if it is evil, the gods ought not to have; if it is good, men ought rather to have it, who know how to use it.

37. Gods Unable to Defend Themselves

Thus they were held up to mockery, so that neither could Jupiter defend his own garment, nor Aesculapius his beard, nor had Apollo yet begun to reach puberty, nor could all who are called gods withdraw the bowls which they held—not so much fearing the charge of theft, as having no perception at all. Who then would worship those who can neither defend themselves as gods, nor hide themselves as men?

38. Jeroboam's Withered Hand Restored

But in the temple of our God, when Jeroboam, that most wicked king, took away the gifts which his father had placed there, and poured a libation to idols upon the holy altar: did not his right hand, which he stretched out, wither, nor did his own idols, which he invoked, profit him at all? Then, turning to the Lord, he asked pardon, and immediately his hand, which had withered through sacrilege, was healed through religion. Now in one instance a ripe example both of divine mercy and of indignation stood forth, that from him sacrificing his right hand should suddenly be taken away, and to him repenting pardon should be given.

39. The Bishop's Humble Dedication

These small gifts, holy virgins, I, not yet three years a priest, have prepared for you, untaught though I am by experience, but instructed by your ways. For how much experience could have matured in so brief a span of religious initiation? If you see any flowers here, know that they were gathered from the very bosom of your own life. These are not precepts for virgins, but examples drawn from virgins. My discourse has painted a likeness of your virtue; you see, as in a kind of mirror of this speech, the image of your gravity shining forth. If you have breathed any grace into my poor talent, whatever this book exhales of fragrance is your own. And since there are as many opinions as there are men: if anything in my discourse is refined, let all read it; if anything is matured, let the more mature approve it; if anything is modest, let it cling to hearts and color cheeks; if anything is flowery, let flowering youth not disapprove it.

40. Winning the Bride's Love Before Her Duty

We ought to have stirred up the bride's love; for it is written: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God. We ought at the wedding to have adorned at least the locks of prayer with certain curling-irons; for it is written: Clap thy hand, and stamp thy foot. We ought to have strewn the eternal marriage-chamber with roses. Even in these temporal marriages the bride is first applauded before she is commanded, lest harsh commands offend her before love, cherished by blandishments, has taken root.

41. The Yoke of Love Before the Yoke of Discipline

The strength of horses learns to love the sound of a stroked neck, so that it does not refuse the yoke. Indeed it is first accustomed to the word of gentle enticement, before the lash of discipline. But when it has bent its neck to the yoke, both the rein restrains and the goad urges, and its yoke-fellows draw it on, and the yoked companion invites it. So too our virgin ought first to have been played with by pious love, to marvel at the golden supports of the heavenly couch even at the very threshold of the wedding, and to behold the doorposts crowned with garlands of foliage, and to drink in within the delights of the resounding chorus; lest, terrified, she withdraw herself from the Lord's yoke before, being called, she should bend to it.

42. The Bride Called from Lebanon

Come therefore hither from Lebanon, O Bride, come hither from Lebanon, thou shalt pass through and pass beyond. For this little verse must be sung over to us again and again, so that, called by the Lord's own words, she who does not believe human ones may yet follow. This teaching we did not invent, but received; thus the heavenly doctrine of the mystic song has taught: Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy breasts are better than wine, and the odor of thy ointments above all spices. Thy name is as ointment poured out. This whole place of delights sounds with play, stirs up applause, provokes love. Therefore, it says, the young maidens have loved thee, and drawn thee: let us run after the odor of thy ointments: The King hath brought me into his chamber. She began with kisses, that she might arrive at the chamber.

43. The Bride Builds Towers of Silver

But she, so patient of hard labor, and of tried virtue, that she opens the bolts of the door with her hand, goes forth into the field, remains in the fortified places; yet at the beginning she runs after the odor of the ointment: soon, when she has come into the chamber, the ointment is changed from that of the fortified places. Then observe whither she goes: If she be a wall, she says, let us build upon it towers of silver. She who was playing with kisses now erects towers; that, turreted with the precious heights of the saints, she may not only frustrate hostile incursions, but also build safe bulwarks of good merits.

1. Liberius Recalls the Wedding at Cana

Since we have set forth in the two preceding books what we had to say, it is now time, holy sister, to turn over again the precepts of Liberius of blessed memory, which you are accustomed to discuss with me; so that the more holy the man, the more welcome his discourse may come to you. For he, when at the Savior's nativity, before the apostle Peter, you were signifying your profession of virginity also by a change of dress (for on what day better than the one on which a virgin acquired posterity?), while there stood by also many maidens of God who vied with one another for your fellowship, said: Good, daughter, you have desired a marriage. Do you see how great a people has assembled for the birthday of your Bridegroom, so that none goes away unfed? This is he who, being invited to a wedding, turned water into wine. In you also he will confer the sincere sacrament of virginity, you who before were subject to the base elements of material nature.

This is he who fed four thousand people in the desert with five loaves and two fishes. He could have fed more, had there then been more to be fed. Indeed to your wedding he has called more; but now it is not bread of barley that is served, but the body from heaven.

2. The Eternal Generation of the Word

Today indeed, according to man, man is born of a virgin, but before all things he was begotten of the Father: he who resembles the mother in body, the father in power. Only-begotten on earth, only-begotten in heaven: God from God, born of a virgin: justice from the Father, power from the Powerful, light from light: not unequal to him who begets, not distinguished in power: not confused by extension or utterance of the Word, as though mixed with the Father, but as distinguished from the Father by the right of generation; he is your brother, without whom neither the heavenly, nor the marine, nor the earthly things subsist. The good Word of the Father, which was, it says, in the beginning; you have his eternity. And he was, it says, with the Father; you have his power undivided from and inseparable from the Father. And the Word was God; you have his unbegotten divinity; for from this brief summary your faith is to be drawn.

3. Love the Son Because He Is Good

Love him, daughter, because he is good: For none is good but God alone. For if it is not doubted that the Son is God, and God is good: assuredly it is not doubted that the good God is the Son. Love him, I say. He it is whom the Father begot before the Day Star, that he might be eternal: begot from the womb, that he might be the Son: uttered forth from the heart, that he might be the Word. He it is in whom the Father was well pleased: he is the Father's arm, because he is creator of all things: the Father's wisdom, because he proceeded from the mouth of God: the Father's power, because in him dwells bodily the fullness of the Godhead. Him the Father so loves, that he bears him in his bosom, sets him at his right hand, that you may learn wisdom, and know power.

4. The Son's Equality with the Father

If therefore Christ is the power of God, was God ever without power? Was the Father ever without the Son? If the Father always was, so also always was the Son. Of a perfect Father, therefore, the Son is perfect. For he who detracts from the power, detracts from him whose power it is. Perfect divinity admits no inequality. Love, then, him whom the Father loves: honor him whom the Father honors: For he who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father. And he who denies the Son, has not the Father either. So much concerning the faith.

This is reported to have once happened to a youth for the love of Diana. But the tale is colored by poetic falsehoods, so that Neptune, incited by grief at the preferred rival, is said to have sent madness upon the horses, so that his great power might thereby be proclaimed—since he conquered the youth not by valor but by deceived him by fraud. Whence also they establish a yearly sacrifice to Diana, so that a horse is immolated at her altars. They say she is a virgin, who (a thing even harlots are wont to blush at) could love one who did not love her.

But let their fables, for my part, keep their authority; because, though both are wicked, it is a lesser thing that the youth should have burned with love for an adulteress so as to perish, than that two, as they themselves say, gods contended over an adultery: that Jupiter, moreover, avenged the grief of his whoring daughter upon the physician, for having healed the wounds of one who had committed adultery with Diana in the woods—Diana, that excellent huntress indeed, not of wild beasts but of lusts, and of wild beasts too, so that she hunted naked. Let them then give to Neptune dominion over madness, so as to establish the crime of incestuous love. Let them give to Diana a kingdom in the woods she inhabited, so as to confirm the adultery she was committing. Let them give to Aesculapius the power to restore the dead, provided they confess that he himself, when struck by lightning, did not escape.

Let them also give to Jupiter thunderbolts which he did not have, so as to bear witness to the reproaches which he did have. But let us return from the fables to our purpose.

8. Restraint in Food Before Marriage

Of all foods too, which generate heat in the members, I think one should sparingly partake; for even flying eagles cast down their flesh. In you also let that inward bird, of which we read: Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's, holding aloft, in swift virginal flight, know nothing of excessive craving for flesh. The gatherings of banquets are to be avoided, and greetings are to be shunned.

Or is it indeed a slight example of modesty, that Rebecca, when she came to the wedding and had seen the bridegroom, took a veil; lest she be seen before she was joined to him? And surely the beautiful virgin feared not for her comeliness, but for her modesty. What of Rachel; how, when a kiss was wrung from her, she wept and groaned; nor would she have ceased weeping, had she not recognized him as a kinsman? Thus she both kept the duty of modesty, and did not omit the affection of family love. But if it is said to a man: Gaze not upon a virgin, lest she become to thee an occasion of scandal; what must be said to a consecrated virgin, who, if she loves, sins in mind; if she is loved, sins also in deed? The greatest virtue is that of keeping silence, especially in the Church. No sentence of the divine readings will escape you, if you bring your ear close and restrain your voice.

Utter no word from your mouth which you would wish to recall: but let your confidence in speaking be more sparing. For in much speaking there is abundant sin. To the murderer it was said: Be still from sin, lest he sin further: but to the virgin it must be said: Be still, lest you sin. For Mary, as we read, kept all these things in her heart which were said concerning her Son: and you, when something is read whereby Christ's coming is either announced, or shown to have already occurred, do not disturb it with chattering, but apply your mind. Is there anything more unworthy, than that the divine oracles be drowned out by noise, lest they be heard, lest they be believed, lest they be revealed; that the sacraments be filled with confused voices, so that the prayer offered for the salvation of all is hindered?

12. A Barbarian Boy's Silent Endurance of Fire

The Gentiles pay reverence to their idols by keeping silence. Hence this example is handed down: when Alexander, king of the Macedonians, was sacrificing, a barbarian boy who was to light the flame for him took up the fire on his arm, and though his body was burned, remained motionless, betraying no pain by a groan, nor revealing his suffering even by a silent tear. So great in the barbarian boy was the reverence of discipline, that nature was overcome. And he feared not gods, who were nothing, but the king. For why should he fear those whom, had the same fire touched them, would have burned?

13. Modesty Announced by Voice and Bearing

How much better that a certain young man at his father's banquet is bidden not to betray amorous affairs by unseemly signs? And you, in the mystery, virgin of God, refrain from groans, throat-clearings, coughs, laughter. What that young man can do at a banquet, can you not do in the mystery? Let virginity be signified first by the voice, let modesty close the mouth, let religion exclude weakness, let habit train nature. Let a virgin's own gravity announce her to me before I see her, with modesty as her escort, with sober step, with modest countenance; and let the forerunning signs of integrity precede the manifestation of virtue. That virgin is not sufficiently approved who is inquired after only when she is seen.

14. The Silencing of the Frogs

It is a frequent story, that when a great many croakings of frogs were disturbing the ears of the pious people, a priest of God commanded them to be silent, and to show reverence to the sacred prayer; and thereupon suddenly the surrounding noise fell silent. Do the marshes then fall silent, and will men not be silent? Even an irrational animal recognizes through reverence what it does not know through nature: is the immodesty of men so great, that many do not know how to give to the reverence of minds what they give to the pleasure of ears?

15. Liberius Praises Her Fasting and Vigils

These things Liberius, of holy memory, said to you: things that with others are greater than the reality, with you lesser than your examples; so completely have you not only equaled every discipline in virtue, but even surpassed it in emulation. For fasting we have among the precepts, but only for single days: you, however, with nights and days multiplied, pass innumerable stretches of time without food; and if ever you are asked to take food, to lay down for a little while your book, you answer at once: Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Your very use of feasting is on whatever food comes to hand; so that, amid the loathing of one who eats, fasting is desired: your drink is from the spring, your weeping is in prayer, your sleep is over the book.

16. The Vine and the Virgin's Moderation in Age

These things suited your younger years, until the mind, mature with age, should grow gray: but when the virgin has raised up the trophy of the subdued body, her labor must be moderated, so that the teacher be kept fitted to age. Quickly does a vine, laden with fruitful branches at the age of full growth, crack, unless it is sometimes checked. Yet the same vine, while it is growing, should overflow, and when it has grown old should be pruned; lest it run wild into shoots, or, exhausted by too great fruit, die. A good farmer both cherishes with the warmth of earth the best vine and protects it from cold, and takes care lest it be scorched by the noonday sun. He also works the field by turns: or if he does not allow it to lie idle, he alternates different seeds, so that with the crops changed the fields may rest.

You too, veteran virgin, sow the hills of your breast at least with different seeds, now with moderate nourishment, now with sparer fasts, with reading, work, prayer; so that the change of labor may be a truce of rest.

17. Varying Devotions Like a Fruitful Field

Not the whole field yields the same harvest. Here bunches of grapes rise up from the hills, there you may see olives growing purple, here fragrant roses. Often too, leaving the plows, the very strong farmer himself scratches the soil with his finger, to set in the roots of flowers; and with rough hands, with which he guides struggling young oxen among the vineyards, gently presses the udders of sheep. For a field is better, the more numerous its fruit. Therefore you too, following the example of the good farmer, should not cleave your ground with perpetual fasts as though with unceasing plowshares. Let the rose of modesty bloom in your gardens, the lily of the mind, and let the violet-beds drink the watering fountain of the sacred blood. This is a common saying: What you wish to do for long, do not do it always. There ought to be something added in the days of Lent: but in such a way that nothing be done for the sake of ostentation, but of religion.

18. The Hours of Daily Prayer

Frequent prayer also should commend us to God. For if the Prophet says: Seven times a day have I given praise to thee, he who was occupied with the necessities of a kingdom; what ought we to do, who read: Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation? Certainly the solemn prayers with thanksgiving are to be kept up, when we rise from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to take food, when we have taken it, and at the hour of incense, and finally when we go to lie down.

19. Psalms and Prayer Before Sleep

But even in the very bed I wish you to weave together, in frequent turn, psalms with the Lord's Prayer, whether when you have awakened, or before sleep bedews the body; so that in the very beginning of rest, free from the care of worldly things, meditating on divine matters, sleep may find you. Finally, even he who first invented the very name of philosophy used to order, every day before he went to bed, that a flute-player should play softer strains, so as to soothe a heart made anxious with worldly cares. But he, like one who washes a brick, was vainly desiring to remove worldly things by worldly means; for he besmeared himself the more with mud, who sought a remedy from pleasure: but let us, having wiped away the defilement of earthly vices, cleanse the inner parts of our minds from every stain of the flesh.

20. Reciting the Creed Before Dawn

We ought also, in particular, every day at the hours before dawn, to recite the Creed, as a seal of our heart; to which also, whenever we shudder at anything, the mind must return. For when is a soldier without the sacrament of his military service, in his tent, or a warrior in battle?

21. The Bed of Tears and Solomon's Symbolic Bed

Now who does not understand that that saying was spoken for our instruction, which the holy Prophet utters: I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears? For whether you understand "bed" according to the letter, it shows that so great an abundance of deep tears ought to be poured forth, that the bed be washed, the couch watered with the weeping of one who entreats; for the weeping of the present is the reward of the future; because blessed are ye that weep, for ye shall laugh: or whether we take the prophetic saying as referring to the body, let us wash away the sins of the body with the tears of penitence. For Solomon made himself a bed of the wood of Lebanon; its pillars were of silver, its resting-place of gold, its covering of jewelled fabric. What is this bed, but the form of our body?

For in the jewels is shown the appearance of the brightness of the air, in the gold of fire, in the silver of water, through the wood, of earth: of which four elements the human body is composed, in which our soul reclines; let it not exist, rough as the harshness of mountains, nor dry and devoid of rest as bare ground, but let it, raised above vices, supported by wood, find repose. Whence also David says: The Lord bring him help upon the bed of his sorrow. For how can there be a bed of sorrow, when that which has no feeling cannot suffer sorrow? But the body is of sorrow just as it is the body of his death: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

22. Christ's Body of Sorrow and the Blood and Water

And since we have brought in this little verse, in which we have made mention of the Lord's body; lest perhaps it disturb some reader that the Lord took upon Himself a body of sorrow, let him recall that He both grieved and wept over the death of Lazarus, and in His passion was wounded, and from the wound blood and water came forth, and He breathed forth His spirit. The water for the washing, the blood for the drink, the spirit for the resurrection. For Christ alone is to us hope, faith, charity: hope in the resurrection, faith in the washing, charity in the sacrament.

23. Balancing Mourning and Rejoicing

Yet as He took upon Himself a body of sorrow, so also He turned His couch in His infirmity; because He turned it to the advantage of human flesh. For by the passion the infirmity was dissolved, by the resurrection death.

And yet you ought to mourn for the world, and rejoice in the Lord: sad unto penitence, joyful unto grace; although the Teacher of the Gentiles has also prescribed, by a salutary precept, that we ought to weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that rejoice.

24. Christ as Physician of the Soul

But he who desires thoroughly to smooth out every scar of this question, let him take refuge with the same Apostle: Whatsoever, he says, you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Let us, then, refer all our words and deeds to Christ, who has made life out of death, and created light out of darkness. For just as a sick body is now warmed with hotter applications, now tempered with cooler ones; and the change of remedies, if made according to the physician's prescription, is salutary; but if used contrary to his command, is an increase of the disease: so whatever is paid to Christ, our physician, is a remedy; whatever is taken without His sanction, is a harm.

25. Against Dancing and Its Dangers

The joy, therefore, of a well-conscious mind ought to be present, not stirred up by disorderly revellings, nor by nuptial symphonies; for there modesty is unguarded, and allurement is to be suspected, where the extreme companion of delights is dancing. From this I desire the virgins of God to be far removed. For no one, as a certain secular teacher has said, dances while sober, unless he is mad. But if, according to secular wisdom, either drunkenness or madness is the author of dancing, what do we think is guarded by the examples of the divine Scriptures, when John, the forerunner of Christ, slain at the choice of a dancing-girl, is an example that the allurement of dancing did more harm than the madness of sacrilegious fury?

26. The Dancing Girl's Immodest Performance

And since the recollection of such a man is not to be passed over briefly, it concerns us to consider who, and by whom, and for what cause, in what manner, and at what time he was slain. The just man is slain by adulterers, and the punishment for a capital crime is turned against the judge by the guilty. Then the reward of the dancing-girl is the death of a prophet. Finally (a thing which even all barbarians have been accustomed to shudder at) amid banquets and feastings the edict for the consummation of cruelty is brought forth: and from the banquet to the prison, from the prison to the banquet, the deadly service of that abominable crime is carried about. How many crimes are there in one single deed!

A deadly banquet is set up with regal luxury, and, having taken note of when a greater crowd than usual had assembled, the queen's daughter, instructed with the innermost secrets, is brought forth to dance in the sight of men. For what could she learn from an adulteress, but the loss of modesty? Or is anything so prone to lusts, as with unrestrained movements to lay bare those parts of the members which either nature has hidden, or discipline has veiled, to play with the eyes, to whirl the neck, to fling loose the hair? Rightly, from this, an insult proceeds even against the Divinity. For what modesty can there be, where there is dancing, and noise, and clapping?

28. Herod's Oath and John's Execution

Then the king, it says, being delighted, said to the girl that she should ask of the king whatever she wished. Then he swore that he would grant even the half of his kingdom, should she ask it. See how worldly men themselves judge concerning their own worldly powers, that for a dance even kingdoms are given away. But the girl, prompted by her mother, asked that the head of John be brought to her on a dish. Whereas it says: The king was made sorrowful; this is not the repentance of the king, but the confession of his iniquity: which is the custom of the divine judgment, that those who have done impious deeds condemn themselves by their own confession. But because of them that sat at table, it says. What is more unworthy than that he should order a murder to be done, lest he displease those who sat at table? And because of his oath, it says. O strange religion! It would have been more tolerable to have committed perjury.

Whence not without cause does the Lord in the Gospel command that we should not swear, lest it be an occasion of perjury; lest there be a necessity of sinning. And so, lest the oath be violated, an innocent man is struck down. Which I should shudder at more, I know not. Perjuries are more tolerable than the oaths of tyrants.

Who, seeing one running from the banquet to the prison, would not think that the prophet had been ordered to be released? Who, I say, hearing that it was Herod's birthday, a solemn banquet, and that the choice of asking whatever she wished had been given to the girl, would not have supposed that someone had been sent for John's release? What has cruelty to do with delights? What has pleasure to do with funerals? The prophet is snatched away to punishment at the time of the banquet, at the banquet's own command, at a time when he would not even wish to be released: he is slain by the sword, his head is brought on a dish. This was the dish owed to cruelty, on which a savagery unsated by feasting might feed.

30. A Rebuke Addressed to Herod

Behold, most cruel king, a spectacle worthy of your banquet. Stretch forth your right hand, that nothing of your savagery be wanting; that between your fingers the streams of holy blood may flow down. And since the hunger could not be sated by feasts, nor the thirst of an unheard-of savagery quenched by drinking cups; drink the blood still gushing from the veins of the severed head. Behold the eyes, even in death witnesses of your crime, turning away from the sight of your delights. The eyelids are closed, not so much by the necessity of death, as by horror at the debauchery. That golden mouth, now bloodless, whose sentence you could not bear, is silent, and yet you still fear. Yet the tongue, which is wont even after death to keep up the office of the living, though its motion be but a trembling one, was condemning the incest. This head is carried to Herodias: she rejoices, exults, as though she had escaped the charge; because she had slaughtered her judge.

31. A Lesson for Mothers and Daughters

What say you, holy women? Do you see what you ought to teach, and what you ought also to unteach, your daughters? She dances, but she is the daughter of an adulteress. But let her who is modest, who is chaste, teach her daughters religion, not dancing. But you, grave and prudent men, learn to avoid the banquets of detestable men. If such are their banquets, what must the judgments of the perfidious be?

32. Whether Virgins May Kill Themselves to Escape Dishonor

Now, as I spread the sails of my discourse toward its end, you suggest well, holy sister, what ought to be thought concerning the merits of those who cast themselves down from a height, or plunged themselves into a river, lest they fall into the hands of persecutors; since the divine Scripture forbids a Christian to do violence to herself. And indeed, concerning virgins placed under the necessity of custody, we have a clear and unambiguous statement, since there exists an example of martyrdom.

33. Pelagia's Resolve to Die Rather Than Be Taken

The holy Pelagia once lived at Antioch, about fifteen years of age, sister of virgins, and herself a virgin. She, at first shut up at home when the trumpet-call of persecution sounded, when she saw herself beset by robbers of the faith and of her modesty, her mother and sisters being absent, without protection, but more full of God: What are we to do, she said, unless you provide for us, a captive of virginity? Both to die is wished, and death is feared; because death is not to be accepted merely, but embraced. Let us die, if it be allowed; or if they will not allow it to be lawful, let us die nonetheless. God is not offended by such a remedy, and the deed relieves the faith. Certainly, if we consider the very force of the name, what force is voluntary? That is rather force, to wish to die and not to be able. Nor do we fear the difficulty. For who is there that wishes to die, and cannot?

Since the ways to death are so ready at hand? For now, cast down headlong, I shall overturn the sacrilegious altars, and quench the kindled hearths with blood. I do not fear that my right hand, failing, will not complete the stroke, nor that my breast will shrink from the pain. I shall leave no sin to the flesh. I shall not fear that a sword be lacking. We can die by our own weapons, we can die without the benefit of an executioner, in our mother's lap.

34. The Mother and Sisters Choose the River

It is said that she adorned her head, and put on a bridal garment; so that you would say she was going, not to death, but to a bridegroom. But when the detestable persecutors saw that the prey of modesty had been snatched from them, they began to seek her mother and sisters. But these, by a spiritual flight, already held the field of chastity, when suddenly, hemmed in on one side by the pressing persecutors, on the other by a rushing river, shut off from flight, shut in for the crown, they said: What do we fear? Behold water, who forbids us to be baptized? And this is a baptism by which sins are forgiven, kingdoms are sought. And this is a baptism, after which no one sins. Let the water receive us, which is wont to regenerate. Let the water receive us, which makes virgins. Let the water receive us, which opens heaven, covers the weak, hides death, makes martyrs.

Thee, Maker of all things, we beseech, O God, let not the water scatter our bodies once bereft of spirit; let not death separate the corpses of those whose lives affection did not separate: but let there be one constancy, one death, and even one burial.

35. Entering the River Together

Having said this, and having gathered up a little the fold of their garment girded about them, whereby they might cover their modesty without hindering their steps, joining hands as if they were leading a dance, they advance into the middle of the stream: directing their steps to where the current was swifter, where the deep was more sheer. None drew back her foot, none checked her going, none tried where she might set her step: anxious when the ground met them, offended at the shallow, glad at the deep. You might have seen the pious mother, binding her hands in a knot, rejoicing over the pledge, fearing for the fall, lest even the waves should snatch her daughters from her. These victims, she said, O Christ, I offer to Thee, the leaders of chastity, the guides of the way, the companions of the passion.

36. Their Bodies Preserved in Death

But who could rightly wonder that there was such great constancy in the living, when even in death they maintained the unmoved posture of their bodies? The water did not strip bare the corpse, nor did the rushing course of the river roll them about. Nay, even the holy mother, though bereft of sense, still preserved the embrace of piety: and the pious knot which she had tied she did not loosen even in death: so that she who had paid the debt owed to religion, might die with piety as her heir. For those whom she had joined together for martyrdom, she claimed even unto the tomb.

37. Marcellina's Inherited Chastity

But why do I use for you, sister, examples from other lands, when a hereditary succession of chastity, inspired by the infusion of a martyr forebear, has instructed you? For whence did you learn, you who had nothing whence you might learn, being placed in the country, with no companion virgin, formed by no teacher? You did not therefore act as a disciple, which cannot come to pass without a master, but as heir of virtue.

38. The Martyrdom of Sotheris

For how could it come to pass that holy Sotheris should not be the author of your mind, she who is the author of your lineage? In the age of persecution, raised even through servile insults to the height of her passion, she gave to the executioner even her own countenance—which amid the torments of the whole body is wont to remain free of injury, and rather to look upon torments than to suffer them. So brave and enduring was she that, when she offered her tender cheeks to the punishment, the executioner grew weary of striking sooner than the martyr yielded to the injury. She did not turn her countenance, she did not avert her face; she gave neither groan nor tear. At last, when she had overcome the other kinds of punishments, she found the sword which she sought.