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From the stony heights, and he saw God face to face. Aaron was a faithful priest among the first. And goodly Joshua held back the course of the moon and the sun, working longer slaughter and woes for the enemy. And you, blessed one, bearing the horn for the anointed, pure Samuel, David was famous in song among all kings, And Solomon, the first glory of wisdom. Nor will I forget the prophets. And a chariot snatched Elijah to heaven. And who is not amazed at John, between the law and the spirit, the loud-crying forerunner of the highest Light? 547 And who, thereafter, the twelve famous disciples? Who the strength of great-hearted Paul, who journeyed to heaven, and others who have been, and who now are the best, a bulwark of the Word, the glory of the world, and the foundations of the people? All these, marriage and Christ gave to mortals. Nor indeed did women priding themselves on piety, of whom the number is great in the divinely-inspired books, attain to good repute without marriage and the flesh. Let me tell a greater tale, honoring my friendship. And Christ was mingled with pure, but human, flesh, and was born of a betrothed woman, mixing one half of the mortal partnership with divinity. But one thing above all is my greatest power, if the unmarried prevail, for they too are my offspring, just as all are. 548 For the married are not born from the unmarried, but the unmarried from marriage. To our children we command, restrain the contest. If you are not fathers, yet you were born of fathers. Such is marriage. Thereafter, with downcast cheek, in worn-out rags, and with practices that weaken men, barefoot, and withered, with eyes cast to the ground, came Virginity, parting her lips but a little with modesty, her cheek blushing with modest blood, and silently drawing the veil down from her head, she would hide herself. Her then I would persuade with such words as these: O child of the Heavenly One, and glorious within, O you who stand beside the choirs of the great Ruler with the singers of hymns, even if your body and the earth hold you down, Come hither, and speak your word. And I will stand before you. 549 For to me indeed you have come, O queen, given by God; you have come, but may you come yet more and be gracious. Who leads me, even unwilling, to this seat? And who, me who is eager to honor my God with works and in tranquility, and with daily toils, and nightly songs, and with fountains of tears, and with pure purifications, calls me into an empty contest, and a strife of words? For my strength is not among men, nor am I skilled in words, nor do I mix in the marketplaces, nor do I rejoice in the votes of favorable judges, to whom there is little care for justice, and for few people, but often again they incline the scale of justice this way and that. For others are the honors of this life. But for me indeed 550 there is one law, and one thought, having mingled my love for the light-bringing God who rules on high, to journey from Him. And of other good things so much desire seizes my mind, as those which the empty-minded care for, puffed up in vain, which come quickly, and perish most quickly, as much as of smoke and vapor, and of a flowing breeze, and of sand dragged everywhere by the shaking winds, or of a ship's trackless path over the sea. I would rather be without honor among men, and have a little glory among the heavenly ones who are forever than, ruling over all things, to fall away from God. But nevertheless I tremble and I fear, lest someone, having been lifted up, on the newly-formed wing of virginity, plying it in the aether, might by these words slip most quickly to the earth. 551 For this reason I have come into your midst as a helper of my children, bearing a helpful word with the hand of God. And to my mother I will first say what is fitting, That indeed you spoke truly, and recounted, O graceful wedlock, and I praised it (for I will begin where your speech left off), that marriage is the root for the unmarried. For indeed it is both root and beginning. And who of sound mind would deny his parents? Yet not everything you said was true. But receive, even though you are a mother, a wise and prudent word, and a mystery of great wisdom concerning birth, which the depths of the great God have shown to me. A mortal is not the father of the whole man, as they say, but only of flesh and blood, both of which 552 perish. But the soul is the breath of the ruling God, entering from without into the form of dust. He who mixed them knows, how He first breathed, and mixed His image with the earth. A witness of my words

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Ὑψόθε λαϊνέῃσι, Θεὸν δ' εἰσέδρακεν ἄντην. Πιστὸς ἐνὶ προτέροισι θυηπόλος ἔσκεν Ἀαρών. Μήνης δ' ἠελίου τε δρόμον σχέθεν ἠῢς Ἰησοῦς, Μακρότερον δηίοισι φόνον καὶ κήδεα τεύχων. Καὶ σὺ, μάκαρ, χριστοῖσι φέρων κέρας, ἁγνὲ Σαμουὴλ, ∆αβὶδ ἐν βασιλεῦσιν ἀοίδιμος ἦεν ἅπασι, Καὶ Σολομὼν σοφίης πρῶτον κλέος. Οὐδὲ προφητῶν Λήσομαι. Ἡλίαν δὲ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἥρπασεν ἅρμα. Τίς δὲ νόμοιο μέσον καὶ πνεύματος οὐχὶ τέθηπε Φωτὸς Ἰωάννην ἐριηχέα πρόδρομον ἄκρου; 547 Τίς δὲ δυωδεκάδα κλεινῶν μετέπειτα μαθητῶν; Τίς Παύλοιο μένος μεγαλήτορος οὐρανοφοίτου, Ἄλλους θ' οἳ γεγάασι, καὶ οἳ νῦν εἰσὶν ἄριστοι, Ἕρμα λόγου, κόσμου τε κλέος, λαοῦ τε θέμεθλα; Τοὺς πάντας μερόπεσσι γάμος καὶ Χριστὸς ἔδωκεν. Οὐδὲ μὲν οὐδὲ γυναῖκες ἐπ' εὐσεβίῃ κομόωσαι, Ὧν μέγας ἐν βίβλοισι θεοπνεύστοισιν ἀριθμὸς, Νόσφι γάμου καὶ σαρκὸς ἐϋκλείης ἐπέβησαν. Εἴπω μείζονα μῦθον ἐμὴν τίων φιλότητα. Καὶ Χριστὸς καθαροῖς μὲν, ἀτὰρ σπλάγχνοισιν ἐμίχθη Ἀνδρομέοις, μνηστῆς δὲ διωλίσθησε γυναικὸς, Ἥμισυ συζυγίης μίξας βροτέης θεότητι. Ἓν δ' ἐπὶ πᾶσι μέγιστον ἐμὸν κράτος, ἢν κρατέωσιν Ἀζυγέες, καὶ οἳ γὰρ ἐμὸν γένος, ὥσπερ ἅπαντες. 548 Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐξ ἀγάμων γεγαμηκότες, ἐκ δὲ γάμοιο Ἀζυγέες. Τεκέεσσιν ἀνώγομεν, ἴσχετ' ἀγῶνα. Εἴ τοι μὴ πατέρες, πατέρων γε μὲν ἐξεγένεσθε. Τοῖα γάμος. Μετέπειτα κατηφιόωσα παρειῇ Ἐν τρυχίνοις ῥακέεσσι, καὶ ἅψεσιν ἀνδρανέουσι, Νήλιπος, αὐαλέη τε, κατὰ χθονὸς ὄμματ' ἔχουσα Παρθενίη, τυτθὸν δὲ διαστέλλουσα σὺν αἰδοῖ Χείλεα, φοινίσσουσα παρήϊον αἵματι σεμνῷ, Κἀκ κεφαλῆς ἐρύουσα σίγα κρύπτοιτο καλύπτρην. Τὴν δ' ἄρα παρπεπίθοιμι ἐγὼ τοιοῖσδ' ἐπέεσσιν· Ὦ τέκος Οὐρανίοιο, καὶ ἔνδοθι κυδήεσσα, Ὦ μεγάλοιο χοροῖσι παρισταμένη μεδέοντος Ὑμνοπόλοις, εἰ καί σε δέμας καὶ γαῖα κατίσχει, ∆εῦρ' ἴθι, καὶ φάθι μῦθον. Ἐγὼ δὲ σέο προπάροιθεν 549 Στήσομαι. Ἢ γὰρ ἔμοιγε θεόσδοτος ἦλθες ἄνασσα· Ἤλυθες, ἀλλ' ἔτι μᾶλλον ἴοις τε καὶ ἵλαος εἴης. Τίς με καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσαν ἄγει πρὸς τόνδε θόωκον; Τίς δ' ἔργοις μεμαυῖαν ἐμὸν Θεὸν ἀτρεμίῃ τε Τίειν, ἠματίοις τε πόνοις, νυχίῃσί τ' ἀοιδαῖς, Καὶ δακρύων πηγῇσι, καὶ εὐαγέεσσι καθαρμοῖς, Εἰς δῆριν καλέει κενεὴν, καὶ νείκεα μύθων; Οὐ γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἐμὸν κράτος, οὐδὲ λόγοισιν Εὔστροφος, οὔτ' ἀγοραῖς ἐπιμίσγομαι, οὐδὲ δικαστῶν Εὐμενέων ψήφοισιν ἀγάλλομαι, οἷσι μέμηλε Παῦρα μὲν εὐδικίης, παύροισί τε, πολλάκι δ' αὖ τε Ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα τάλαντον ἐπικλίνουσι θέμιστος. Ἄλλοισιν βιότοιο τὰ τίμια. Αὐτὰρ ἔμοι γε 550 Εἷς νόμος, ἓν δὲ νόημα, κερασσαμένην φιλότητα Πρὸς Θεὸν ὑψιμέδοντα φαεσφόρον ἔνθεν ὁδεύειν. Τῶν δ' ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν με τόσον φρένας ἵμερος αἱρεῖ, Οἷς κενεοὶ φρονέουσιν ἐτώσια φυσιόωντες, Ὦκά τ' ἐπερχομένοισι, καὶ ὀλλυμένοισι τάχιστα, Ὁσσάτιον καπνοῖο καὶ ἀτμίδος, ἠδὲ ῥεούσης Αὔρης, καὶ ψαμάθοιο τινασσομένοις ἀνέμοισι Πάντοσε συρομένης, ἢ ὑπεὶρ ἅλα νηὸς ἀταρποῦ. Βουλοίμην κεν ἄτιμος ἐν ἀνθρώποισιν ἐοῦσα, Τυτθὸν ἐν οὐρανίοισιν ἔχειν κλέος αἰὲν ἐοῦσιν Ἢ πάντων κρατέουσα, Θεοῦ πίπτειν ἀπάνευθεν. Ἀλλ' ἔμπης τρομέω καὶ δείδια, μή τις ἀερθεὶς, Παρθενίης νεόπηκτον ἐπὶ πτερὸν αἰθέρι νωμῶν, Τοῖσδε λόγοις ἐπὶ γαῖαν ὀλισθήσειε τάχιστα. 551 Τοὔνεκεν εἰς μέσον ἦλθον ἐμῶν τεκέων ἐπίκουρος, Μῦθον ἀοσσητῆρα Θεοῦ σὺν χειρὶ φέρουσα. Μητρὶ δ' ἐμῇ τὰ πρῶτα μυθήσομαι, ὅσσ' ἐπέοικε, Κεῖνο μὲν ἀτρεκέως μυθήσαο, καὶ κατέλεξας, Συζυγίη χαρίεσσα, καὶ ᾔνεσα (ἦ γὰρ ἔγωγε Ἄρξομ' ὅθεν κατέληξε τεὸς λόγος), ὡς ἀγάμοισι Ῥίζα γάμος. Καὶ γάρ τε πέλει καὶ ῥίζα καὶ ἀρχή. Τίς δέ κεν ἀρνήσαιτο σαοφρονέων γενετῆρας; Οὐ μὴν πάντ' ἀγόρευσας ἐτήτυμα. Ἀλλὰ δέχοιο, Καὶ μήτηρ περ ἐοῦσα, σοφὸν καὶ ἐχέφρονα μῦθον, Καὶ μεγάλης σοφίης μυστήριον ἀμφὶ γενέθλην, Ἣν κευθμῶνες ἔδειξαν ἐμοὶ μεγάλοιο Θεοῖο. Οὐχ ὅλου ἀνθρώποιο πατὴρ βροτὸς, ὡς ἐνέπουσιν, Ἀλλ' ὅσσον σαρκός τε καὶ αἵματος, ἀμφοτέρων μὲν 552 Ὀλλυμένων. Ψυχὴ δὲ Θεοῦ κρατέοντος ἄημα Ἔκτοθεν εἰσπίπτουσα πλάσει χοός. Οἶδεν ὁ μίξας, Πῶς τὸ πρῶτον ἔπνευσε, καὶ εἰκόνα μίξατο γαίῃ. Μάρτυς ἐμῶν ἐπέων