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whether you grieved then over your own sins, or over those of others, you would be worthy of countless praises. For when one grieves over the sins of others, he shows apostolic compassion, and imitates that holy one who says: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? But when he is stung by his own, he has both extinguished the punishment for what has already been dared, and has made himself more secure for the future through this grief. For this reason, I too, seeing you bowing down, and groaning, and striking your face, rejoiced, considering the fruit of this grief. For this reason, today also I will discourse to you on the same subject; so that those wishing to enter into marriage may take great forethought concerning this matter. For if, when we are about to buy houses and servants, we investigate and busy ourselves with both the sellers and the previous owners, and of the things being sold, the construction of the one, and of the others the condition of the body and the disposition of the soul; much more ought those who are about to take wives show so much forethought and much more. For it is possible to sell a house again if it is bad, and it is permitted to return a servant who has proven troublesome to the one who sold him; but for one who takes a wife, it is not possible to give her back to those who gave her away, but it is every necessity to have her within until the end, or, by casting her out for being wicked, to be convicted of adultery according to the laws of God. Therefore, when you are about to take a wife, do not read only the external laws, but even before those, the ones established among us; for according to these, not according to those, God will judge you on that day; and those, when overlooked, have often brought loss in terms of money, but these, having suffered this, bring upon the soul inevitable punishments and that unquenchable fire. 2. But you, when you are about to take a wife, run with great haste to the external lawyers, and sitting beside them, you examine with all accuracy, what will happen if the wife should die childless, and what if she has one child, and what if two or three, and how, if she has a father, and how if she does not have one, she will manage her own 51.227 affairs, and what part of the inheritance will come to her brothers, and what to her husband, and when he will be master of the whole, letting no one snatch away any part of her property, and when he will be cast out from the whole; and you busily inquire and seek many other such things from them, going about and looking around at everything, so that in no way any of the wife's property may come to any of her relatives; and yet, as I have already said, even if some unexpected thing should happen, the loss will be in money, but nevertheless you do not endure to overlook any of these things. How then is it not absurd, when money is about to be lost, to show such great diligence, but when the danger is for our soul and for the reckonings there, to take no account, when it is necessary to seek and investigate and busy ourselves with these things before all others? Therefore I exhort and advise those about to take wives to go to the blessed Paul, and to read the laws laid down by him concerning marriage, and having first learned what he commands to do, when a wife happens to be wicked and treacherous, and a slave to drunkenness, and abusive, and full of foolishness, and having any other such fault, so to discuss about marriage. For if you see that he gives you authority, upon finding one of these faults, to cast her out and bring in another, be confident, as one delivered from all danger; but if he does not permit this, but commands to love and keep within a wife who has all other faults except fornication, so secure yourself, as one who is about to all

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τῶν οἰκείων, εἴτε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων τότε ἁμαρτημάτων ἠλγήσατε, μυρίων εἴητε ἐπαίνων ἄξιοι. Ὅτε γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἀλγήσει τις, ἀποστολικὰ ἀποδείκνυται σπλάγχνα, καὶ τὸν ἅγιον ἐκεῖνον μιμεῖται τὸν λέγοντα· Τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; Ὅτε δὲ ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων δηχθῇ, τήν τε ἐπὶ τοῖς ἤδη τολμηθεῖσι κόλασιν ἔσβεσε, καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἑαυτὸν ἀσφαλέστερον διὰ τῆς λύπης ταύτης ἐποίησε. ∆ιὰ ταῦτα κἀγὼ κύπτοντας ὁρῶν, καὶ στενάζοντας, καὶ τὸ πρόσωπον τύπτοντας, ἔχαιρον τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς λύπης ταύτης ἐννοῶν καρπόν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ σήμερον περὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὑμῖν ὑποθέσεως διαλέξομαι· ὥστε τοὺς βουλομένους εἰς γάμον ἐλθεῖν, πολλὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πράγματος τούτου ποιεῖσθαι πρόνοιαν. Εἰ γὰρ οἰκίας ὠνεῖσθαι μέλλοντες καὶ οἰκέτας, περιεργαζόμεθα καὶ πολυπραγμονοῦμεν τούς τε πωλοῦντας, τούς τε ἔμπροσθεν κτησαμένους, αὐτῶν τῶν πωλουμένων τῶν μὲν τὴν κατασκευὴν, τῶν δὲ καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν, καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς προαίρεσιν· πολλῷ μᾶλλον γυναῖκας μέλλοντας ἄγεσθαι, πρόνοιαν τοσαύτην καὶ πολλῷ πλείονα ἐπιδείκνυσθαι χρή. Οἰκίαν μὲν γὰρ φαύλην οὖσαν ἀποδόσθαι πάλιν ἔξεστι, καὶ οἰκέτην σκαιὸν φανέντα ἀποδοῦναι τῷ πεπρακότι πάλιν ἀφίεται· γυναῖκα δὲ λαμβάνοντα ἀποδοῦναι πάλιν τοῖς ἐκδεδωκόσιν οὐκ ἔνι, ἀλλὰ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα διὰ τέλους ἔνδον ἔχειν, ἢ πονηρὰν οὖσαν ἐκβάλλοντα, μοιχείᾳ ἁλίσκεσθαι κατὰ τοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμους. Ὅταν οὖν μέλλῃς λαμβάνειν γυναῖκα, μὴ τοὺς ἔξωθεν ἀναγίνωσκε νόμους μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνων, τοὺς παρ' ἡμῖν κειμένους· κατὰ γὰρ τούτους, οὐ κατ' ἐκείνους σοι μέλλει κρίνειν κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ὁ Θεός· κἀκεῖνοι μὲν παροφθέντες, εἰς χρήματα τὴν ζημίαν πολλάκις ἤνεγκαν, οὗτοι δὲ τοῦτο παθόντες τῇ ψυχῇ τὰς ἀπαραιτήτους ἐπάγουσι τιμωρίας καὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἄσβεστον. βʹ. Σὺ δὲ ὅταν μέλλῃς ἄγεσθαι γυναῖκα, πρὸς μὲν τοὺς ἔξω νομικοὺς μετὰ πολλῆς τρέχεις τῆς σπουδῆς, καὶ παρακαθήμενος αὐτοῖς, μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας ἐξετάζεις, τί μὲν ἔσται, ἐὰν ἄπαις τελευτήσῃ ἡ γυνὴ, τί δὲ ἐὰν ἔχουσα παῖδα, τί δὲ ἐὰν δύο καὶ τρεῖς, καὶ πῶς μὲν ἔχουσα πατέρα, πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἔχουσα τοῖς ἑαυ 51.227 τῆς χρήσεται πράγμασι, καὶ τί μὲν εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἥξει τοῦ κλήρου, τί δὲ εἰς τὸν συνοικοῦντα, καὶ πότε κύριος ἔσται τοῦ παντὸς, μηδένα μηδὲν ἀφεῖναι τῶν ἐκείνης παρασπάσασθαι μέρος, καὶ πότε τοῦ παντὸς ἐκπεσεῖται· καὶ πολλὰ ἕτερα τοιαῦτα πολυπραγμονεῖς παρ' ἐκείνων καὶ ζητεῖς, πάντα περιιὼν καὶ περισκοπῶν, ὅπως ἐκ μηδενὸς γένηται τρόπου τι τῶν γυναικὸς πραγμάτων εἴς τινα τῶν ἐκείνῃ προσηκόντων ἐλθεῖν· καίτοι, ὅπερ ἔφθην εἰπὼν, εἰ καί τι συμβαίη τῶν ἀδοκήτων, ἐν χρήμασιν ἔσται τὰ τῆς ζημίας, ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐκ ἀνέχῃ τούτων οὐδὲν παριδεῖν. Πῶς οὖν οὐκ ἄτοπον, χρημάτων μὲν ἡμῖν ἀπόλλυσθαι μελλόντων, τοσαύτην σπουδὴν ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ ψυχῆς ὄντος ἡμῖν τοῦ κινδύνου καὶ τῶν εὐθυνῶν τῶν ἐκεῖ, μηδένα ποιεῖσθαι λόγον, δέον πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων πάντων ταῦτα ζητεῖν καὶ περιεργάζεσθαι καὶ πολυπραγμονεῖν; ∆ιὸ παραινῶ καὶ συμβουλεύω τοὺς μέλλοντας ἄγεσθαι γυναῖκας, πρὸς τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον ἀπαντᾷν, καὶ τοὺς παρ' αὐτῷ κειμένους περὶ γάμων ἀναγινώσκειν νόμους, καὶ μαθόντας πρότερον, τί κελεύει ποιεῖν, ὅταν πονηρὰ καὶ ὕπουλος, καὶ μέθης ἐλάττων, καὶ λοίδορος, καὶ ἀνοίας γέμουσα, καὶ ὁτιοῦν ἄλλο τοιοῦτον ἐλάττωμα ἔχουσα τύχῃ γυνὴ, οὕτω διαλέγεσθαι περὶ γάμου. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ ἴδῃς ὅτι σοι δίδωσιν ἐξουσίαν ἓν τούτων εὑρόντα τῶν ἐλαττωμάτων ἐκβάλλειν μὲν ἐκείνην, εἰσάγειν δὲ ἑτέραν, ὡς παντὸς ἀπηλλαγμένος κινδύνου θάῤῥει· ἂν δὲ τοῦτο μὲν οὐκ ἐπιτρέπῃ, κελεύῃ δὲ πλὴν πορνείας πάντα τὰ ἄλλα ἐλαττώματα ἔχουσαν στέργειν καὶ ἔνδον κατέχειν, οὕτως ἀσφάλισαι ἑαυτὸν, ὡς μέλλων ἅπασαν