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their worth was of equal course and equal measure, the one reflecting the other, and the one drawing the eyes of all to herself, the other astonishing their minds. For in matters concerning the "loom" and whatever women's hands "weave," or whatever ingenious minds devise, of which I myself have often been a spectator, not one of all women could rival her, not even she who was commended for these things in Solomon; for I say this much, that what the word of the wise man fashioned for that woman, these things have been attested to my mother in double measure. But she cared less for these things, though she did not neglect them entirely; but that she had not been allotted a male nature, and that it was not permitted for her to converse freely with letters, this she considered a terrible thing; and whenever she could escape her mother's notice, having received only the rudiments of letters from someone, she then by herself would combine them and form syllables and words, needing no one to teach her the basics. She was, moreover, devoted to the divine temples, not given by her mother, nor dedicated like a lifeless offering, but approaching by her own choice and anticipating her mother's vow, and from her own home ministering to and worshipping God. Hence she neglected her body, but it had no need of artifice, but was like the roses, requiring no added beauty, and her neglected and unadorned state was for her rather an unaffected addition and a certain natural enhancement. And a spreading mist overshadows the sun and the passage of a cloud checks its ray, so that at such times we do not even know where the luminary of heaven is shining; but for her, nothing veiled her beauty, not even the most careful neglect of her appearance, so that like the light of a lamp she shone everywhere, with the result that almost all either stood "amazed" upon "seeing" her form somewhere, or were astonished upon hearing of it. To some, indeed, it even seemed a piece of good fortune, if they should ever see her; and I speak not only of lovers of her outward beauty, but also of those who are philosophically led from the sensible and present to the intelligible and unseen. But oh, "the digression of my speech," how the necessity of the narrative has carried me away and led me astray. For that beauty which I have slighted in my account, I now attest to her who bore me as a final crowning touch, not because I wish to do so, but because from this it came about that she inclined toward married life. For the report concerning her held all captive and bound them, drawing one after another, and it left everyone gaping, or rather, hanging—most on what they heard, some on what they saw. But why do I not speak of the other thing, which it is especially my duty to speak of? For it was not her visible form that so captivated the many as much as that which was hidden and unseen, I mean, that of her soul, so that it came to pass that, even if the one were not present, on account of the other hearers or beholders were struck with amazement; I speak distinctively of those who see the exterior and those who peer into the soul. But since both were present, and each portion of mankind was there, both those who admired the visible and those who embraced the intelligible, and also the third, middle group, who held to and were held by both, first, then, her father, proposing to her a certain trial of association and "setting many words in motion," since he found her unpersuaded, abandoned persuasion by words and inclined to force, as he also pretended a curse against her. Her consent forestalled the pretense; for the artifice was unknown to her, as the drama later unfolded. Therefore, with many running together or running ahead for her, the victor was not he who was greater in fortune, but he who was greater in virtue, I mean, my father, for whom this was a deficit in his happiness, if he were deprived of such a wife, just as it was a fulfillment having obtained her. 4. He was then, as they say, at that time "with the first down on his chin" and statue-like in form, not however in this alone like her, but also the communion of their characters had little difference, and it was as if a convergence

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ἰσόδρομα καὶ ἰσόμετρα τὸ ἀξίωμα, ἀνταυγάζοντος θατέρου θατέρῳ, καὶ τοῦ μὲν τοὺς τῶν ἁπάντων ὀφθαλμοὺς εἰς ἑαυτὸ ἕλκοντος, τοῦ δὲ τὰς διανοίας ἐκπλήττοντος. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς «ἱστὸν» καὶ ὅσα γυναικῶν χεῖρες «ὑφαίνουσιν», ἢ ὅσα γνῶμαι εὐφυεῖς ἀναπλάττουσιν, ὧν καὶ αὐτὸς πολλάκις γέγονα θεατής, οὐδεμία τῶν ἁπασῶν γυναικῶν ἐκείνῃ ἐρίσειεν, οὐδ' ἡ παρὰ τῷ Σολομῶντι ἐπὶ τούτοις μαρτυρηθεῖσα· τοσοῦτον γάρ φημι ὅτι ἅπερ ἐκείνῃ ὁ τοῦ σοφοῦ λόγος ἀνέπλασε, ταῦτα τῇ ἐμῇ μητρὶ διπλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ προσμεμαρτύρηται. ἡ δὲ τούτων μὲν ἧττον ἐφρόντιζεν, ὅτι μὴ καὶ κατωλιγώρει τὰ πλείω· ὅτι δὲ μὴ ἄρρενα τὴν φύσιν ἔλαχε, μηδὲ ἐξῆν ταύτῃ ἀδεῶς λόγοις προσομιλεῖν, ἐν δεινῷ ἐποιεῖτο· ὅπου δὲ τὴν μητέρα λάθοι, τὰς τῶν γραμμάτων ἀρχὰς παρά του μόνας λαβοῦσα, εἶτα δὴ ἀφ' ἑαυτῆς συνετίθει καὶ συλλαβὰς ἐποίει καὶ λόγους, μηδὲν προσδεομένη τοῦ στοιχειώσοντος. Ἦν δὲ καὶ τοῖς θείοις ναοῖς οὐ παρὰ τῆς μητρὸς δεδομένη, οὐδ' ὥσπερ ἄψυχον ἀνατεθειμένη ἀνάθημα, ἀλλὰ προσιοῦσα ἐκ προαιρέσεως καὶ φθάνουσα τῆς μητρὸς τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν καὶ οἴκοθεν λειτουργοῦσα Θεῷ καὶ λατρεύουσα. ἐντεῦθεν ἡ μὲν ἠμέλει τοῦ σώματος, τὸ δὲ οὐκ ἐδεῖτο τῆς προσποιήσεως, ἀλλ' ἦν ὥσπερ τὰ ῥόδα, ἐπιθέτου κάλλους μὴ προσδεόμενον, καὶ ἦν αὐτῇ τὸ ἠμελημένον καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον προσθήκη μᾶλλον ἀνεπιτήδευτος καὶ φυσική τις ἐπαύξησις. καὶ τὸν μὲν ἥλιον παρασκιάζει ἀχλὺς ὑποτρέχουσα καὶ τὴν ἀκτῖνα ἐπέχει νέφους ὑποδρομή, ὅθεν τηνικαῦτα οὐδ' ἴσμεν ὅπῃ φωτίζει τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁ φωστήρ· ἐκείνῃ δὲ τὸ κάλλος οὐδὲν ἐπεκάλυπτεν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐπιμελεστάτη τῆς ὥρας ἀμέλεια, ὅθεν ὥσπερ λαμπτῆρος φέγγος ἁπανταχῆ κατεφαίνετο, ὥστε πάντας σχεδὸν τὸ ἐκείνης εἶδος ἢ «ἰδόντας» που ἵστασθαι «θαμβηθέντας» ἢ ἀκούοντας καταπλήττεσθαι. ἐνίοις μέντοι γε καὶ εὐτύχημα ἄλλως ἐδόκει, εἴ που ἐκείνην θεάσαιντο· λέγω δὲ οὐκ ἐραστὰς μόνον τοῦ προβεβλημένου κάλλους, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσοι φιλοσόφως ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ καὶ ἐνταῦθα ἐπὶ τὸ νοητὸν καὶ ἀόρατον παραπέμπονται. Ἀλλ' ὢ «τῆς ἐκτροπῆς τοῦ λόγου», ὅπῃ με τὸ ἀναγκαῖον τῆς συνεχείας ὑφεῖλε καὶ παρεξένευσεν. ὃ γὰρ ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ λόγῳ κάλλος ἠτίμακα, τοῦτο τῇ γειναμένῃ ὥσπερ ἐσχάτην κορωνίδα προσμαρτυρῶ, οὐ τοῦτο βουλόμενος, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐντεῦθεν αὐτῇ τὸ πρὸς βίον νεῦσαι προσγέγονε. ξυνεῖχε γὰρ ἅπαντας ἡ περὶ αὐτὴν φήμη καὶ συνεδέσμει ἄλλον ἐπ' ἄλλῳ ἐφελκομένη, καὶ πάντας κεχηνότας ἵστη, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνηρτημένους τοὺς μὲν πλείους τῆς ἀκοῆς, ἐνίους δὲ τῆς ὁράσεως. ἀλλὰ τί μὴ τὸ ἕτερον λέγω καὶ ὃ μάλιστά μοι λέγειν καθήκει; οὐ γὰρ τὸ θεατὸν αὐτῆς εἶδος τοσοῦτον ὑπήγετο τοὺς πολλοὺς ὅσον τὸ κεκρυμμένον τε καὶ ἀθέατον, φημὶ δὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, ὥστε συμβαίνειν, εἰ καὶ μὴ θάτερον παρῆν, διά γε θάτερον ἐκπεπλῆχθαι τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ἢ θεατάς· λέγω δὲ διῃρημένως ὅσοι τε ἐκτὸς ὁρῶσι καὶ ὅσοι ἐς ψυχὴν παρακύπτουσιν. ἐπεὶ δ' ἄμφω ἤστην καὶ ἑκατέρα μερὶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρῆν, οἵ τε τὸ φαινόμενον ἀσπαζόμενοι καὶ οἱ περιπτυσσόμενοι τὸ νοούμενον, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ ἡ τρίτη καὶ μέση, οἱ ἁμφοτέρων ἐχόμενοί τε καὶ ἐξεχόμενοι, πρῶτα τοίνυν ὁ ἐκείνης πατὴρ πεῖραν τινὰ κοινωνίας αὐτῇ προβαλόμενος καὶ «λόγους κινήσας» πολλούς, ἐπεὶ μὴ πειθομένην εἶχεν, ἀφεὶς τὴν ἐκ τῶν λόγων πειθὼ ἐπὶ τὴν βίαν ἀπέκλινεν, ὡς δὲ καὶ ἀρὰν αὐτῇ προσεποιεῖτο. φθάνει τῇ κατανεύσει τὴν προσποίησιν· ἠγνοεῖτο γὰρ αὐτῇ τὸ πλάσμα, ὡς ὕστερον διεξῄει τὸ δρᾶμα. πολλῶν τοιγαροῦν ἐπ' αὐτὴν συντρεχόντων ἢ προτρεχόντων, νικᾷ οὐχ ὁ μείζων τὴν τύχην, ἀλλ' ὁ πλείων τὴν ἀρετήν, λέγω δὴ τὸν ἐμὸν πατέρα, ᾧ δὴ τοῦτο ἔλλειμμα πρὸς εὐδαιμονίαν ἦν, εἰ τοιαύτης ἀπεστέρητο γυναικός, ὥσπερ δὴ πλήρωμα ταύτης τετυχηκότι. 4. Ἦν μὲν οὖν, ὥς φασι, τηνικαῦτα «πρῶτος ὑπηνήτης» καὶ ἀγαλματίας τὸ εἶδος, οὐ μὴν ταύτῃ μόνον ἐκείνῃ προσόμοιος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ τῶν ἠθῶν κοινωνία βραχὺ τὸ διάφορον ἔχουσα, καὶ ἦν ὥσπερ συνδρομὴ