3

enjoying, we offer up a common sacrifice, a common offering; this one has nothing more than that one, nor that one than this one, but all are in the same honor, and one voice from different tongues is sent up to the Creator of the world. The difference is not in the slave and in the free, not in the rich and in the poor, not in the woman and in the man, but in the disposition, in diligence and in sloth, in vice and in virtue. For thus I can call the poor man rich, and the rich man poor, and the man a woman, and the woman a man, and the unlearned man wise, and the wise man unlearned, not confusing the nature of things, but introducing the best rule that corrects all things. "And how," he says, "could the man become a woman, and how the woman a man?" Not by changing nature, but by choice. For when I see a man wearing gold, beautifying himself, arranging his hair, smelling of perfumes, effeminate in soft clothing and gait, given to luxury, how could I call this man a man, who has betrayed the nobility of his nature and conformed himself to the female? For if Paul does not deign even to count a woman who does these things among the living, but banishes her from the company of those who breathe, and places her with the dead, saying, "But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives;" how could the man be counted in the rank of men for doing these things, for which a woman has lost even her life? For do not show me the man by his cloak, nor by his belt, nor by swaggering around the house and being fearsome and threatening, but by the philosophy of his mind, when he restrains his passions, when he overcomes the diseases of the soul, when he rules his inner house, that of the soul, I say, and is not carried away by unseemly reasonings; this is especially a man. But if he is given to drunkenness and debauchery, and spends and consumes the day in revellings and drunken brawls, becoming softer than any wax by his passion, how shall I be able to call such a one a man, a captive, a slave bought with silver, one who yields to all passions, broken, effeminate, enfeebled, overcome by all, not even able to stand in the line of battle? Or do you not know that our war and battle line is not against kindred human beings, but against invisible powers, against the phalanxes of demons, according to the blessed Paul: "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers"? 3. For this is especially of a man. He, therefore, who beautifies himself, but is not youthful in spirit; who adorns himself, but is not manly, how could he stand in the battle line? or how could he be called a man, being disposed more softly than any woman? In the same way, then, just as I would not call this man a man, but softer than a woman, so also the woman who acts like a man is stronger than any man, if, having seized the spiritual weapons, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and put on the helmet of salvation, and held forth the shield of faith, and girded herself with the belt of truth, and taken the sword of the spirit, she stands in the battle line shining from her weapons, becoming higher than the heavens by her mindset, scattering the phalanxes of demons, casting down the tyranny of the devil, piercing the passions, working casualties thicker than those in wars, not of men, but of unseemly reasonings. For woman and man are divided in bodily things, and to the one are assigned the loom and the distaff and the basket and keeping house and staying indoors and raising children, but to a man the courts and council chambers and

3

ἀπολαύοντες, κοινὴν ἀναφέρομεν τὴν θυσίαν, κοινὴν τὴν προσφοράν· οὐδ' ἔχει τι πλέον οὗτος ἐκείνου, οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνος τούτου, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ τιμῇ, καὶ φωνὴ μία ἐκ διαφόρων γλωττῶν πρὸς τὸν τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀναπέμπεται ∆ημιουργόν. Ἡ διαφορὰ δὲ οὐκ ἐν τῷ δούλῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐλευθέρῳ, οὐκ ἐν τῷ πλουσίῳ καὶ ἐν τῷ πένητι, οὐκ ἐν τῇ γυναικὶ καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀνδρὶ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ γνώμῃ, ἐν τῇ σπουδῇ καὶ τῇ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ, ἐν τῇ κακίᾳ καὶ τῇ ἀρετῇ. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ πλούσιον ἐγὼ τὸν πένητα δύναμαι καλεῖν, καὶ πένητα τὸν πλούσιον, καὶ γυναῖκα τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ ἄνδρα τὴν γυναῖκα, καὶ ἰδιώτην τὸν σοφὸν, καὶ σοφὸν τὸν ἰδιώτην, οὐ συγχέων τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἄριστον κανόνα εἰσάγων τὸν πάντα διορθούμενον. Καὶ πῶς ἂν γένοιτο, φησὶν, ὁ ἀνὴρ γυνὴ, πῶς δὲ ἡ γυνὴ ἀνήρ; Οὐ τῆς φύσεως μεταβαλλομένης, ἀλλὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως. Ὅταν γὰρ ἴδω ἄνδρα χρυσοφοροῦντα, καλλωπιζόμενον, τὰς κόμας διατιθέντα, μύρων πνέοντα, μαλακῇ ἱματίων περιβολῇ καὶ βαδίσει θηλυνόμενον, τρυφῇ προσέχοντα, πῶς ἂν δυναίμην ἄνδρα καλέσαι τοῦτον τὸν τὴν εὐγένειαν τῆς φύσεως προδεδωκότα, καὶ πρὸς τὸ θῆλυ μεθαρμοζόμενον; Εἰ γὰρ οὐδὲ γυναῖκα ταῦτα ποιοῦσαν ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν ὁ Παῦλος ἀριθμεῖν οὐκ ἀξιοῖ, ἀλλ' ἐξορίζει τοῦ τῶν ἐμπνεόντων χοροῦ, καὶ μετὰ τῶν τεθνεώτων ἵστησι, λέγων· Ἡ δὲ σπαταλῶσα ζῶσα τέθνηκεν· πῶς ἂν ὁ ἀνὴρ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀνδρῶν καταλεχθῇ τάξιν ταῦτα ποιῶν, ἅπερ γυνὴ πράττουσα καὶ τὸ ζῇν ἀπολώλεκε; Τὸν γὰρ ἄνδρα μή μοι ἀπὸ τῆς χλανίδος δείξῃς, μηδὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ζώνης, μηδὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ σοβεῖν κατὰ τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ φοβερὸν εἶναι καὶ ἀπειλεῖν, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς κατὰ διάνοιαν φιλοσοφίας, ὅταν τῶν παθῶν κατέχῃ, ὅταν τῶν νοσημάτων τῆς ψυχῆς περιγίνηται, ὅταν ἄρχῃ τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ τῆς ἔνδον, τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν λέγω, καὶ μὴ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀτόπων λογισμῶν παρασύρηται· τοῦτο μάλιστα ἀνήρ. Ἂν δὲ μέθῃ καὶ κραιπάλῃ προσέχῃ, καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν δαπανᾷ καὶ ἀναλίσκῃ εἰς κώμους καὶ παροινίας, κηροῦ παντὸς μαλακώτερος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάθους γινόμενος, πῶς δυνήσομαι τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνδρα καλεῖν, τὸν αἰχμάλωτον, τὸν δοῦλον τὸν ἀργυρώνητον, τὸν πᾶσιν ἐνδιδόντα τοῖς πάθεσι, τὸν κατακλώμενον, τὸν μαλακιζόμενον, τὸν θρυπτόμενον, τὸν ὑπὸ πάντων καταβαλλόμενον, τὸν οὐδὲ στῆναι ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως δυνάμενον; Ἢ οὐκ ἴστε ὅτι οὐ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἡμῖν ὁμογενεῖς ἐστιν ὁ πόλεμος καὶ ἡ παράταξις, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀοράτους δυνάμεις, πρὸς τὰς τῶν δαιμόνων φάλαγγας, κατὰ τὸν μακάριον Παῦλον· Οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχὰς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας; γʹ. Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα ἀνδρός. Ὁ τοίνυν ὡραϊζόμενος, ἀλλ' οὐ νεανιευόμενος, ὁ καλλωπιζόμενος, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀνδριζόμενος, πῶς ἂν ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως στῇ; ἢ πῶς ἂν ἀνὴρ κληθείη, γυναικὸς πάσης μαλακώτερον διακείμενος; Κατὰ δὴ τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, ὥσπερ τοῦτον οὐκ ἂν καλέσαιμι ἄνδρα, ἀλλὰ γυναικὸς μαλακώτερον, οὕτω καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἀνδριζομένην ἀνδρὸς παντὸς στεῤῥοτέραν, ἂν τὰ ὅπλα ἁρπάσασα τὰ πνευματικὰ, καὶ τὸν θώρακα ἐνδυσαμένη τῆς δικαιοσύνης, καὶ τὸ κράνος περιθεμένη τοῦ σωτηρίου, καὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα προβαλλομένη τῆς πίστεως, καὶ τὴν ζώνην ζωσαμένη τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ τὴν μάχαιραν λαμβάνουσα τοῦ πνεύματος, ἐπὶ τῆς παρατάξεως στῇ λάμπουσα ἀπὸ τῶν ὅπλων, ὑψηλοτέρα τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ φρονήματος γινομένη, διαλύουσα τῶν δαιμόνων τὰς φάλαγγας, καθαιροῦσα τοῦ διαβόλου τὴν τυραννίδα, κατακεντοῦσα τὰ πάθη, πτώματα ἐργαζομένη τῶν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις πυκνότερα, οὐκ ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ λογισμῶν ἀτόπων. Γυνὴ γὰρ καὶ ἀνὴρ ἐν μὲν τοῖς σωματικοῖς εἰσι διηρῃμένοι, καὶ τῇ μὲν ἱστὸς καὶ ἠλακάτη καὶ καλαθίσκος καὶ τὸ οἰκουρεῖν καὶ θαλαμεύεσθαι καὶ παιδοτροφεῖν ἀφώρισται, ἀνδρὶ δὲ δικαστήρια καὶ βουλευτήρια καὶ