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“My son, keep my words, and hide my commandments with you. Say that wisdom is your sister, and make understanding your intimate friend, that she may keep you from a strange and evil woman, if she should assail you with words meant for favor. For from the window of her house she looks down into the streets, whomever she sees of the foolish children, a young man lacking sense, passing by in the marketplace in the alleyways of her houses and speaking in the evening darkness, when there is a nocturnal and gloomy quiet, the woman meets him, having the appearance of a harlot, who makes the hearts of the young fly out, and she is flighty and dissolute, and her feet do not rest at home; for for a time she roams outside, and for a time she lies in wait in the streets at every corner. Then having seized him, she kissed him, and with a shameless face she said to him: I have a peace offering; today I am paying my vows; for this reason I came out to meet you, desiring your face I have found you; I have spread my bed with coverings, and with tapestries from Egypt I have strewn it; I have sprinkled my couch with saffron, and my house with cinnamon; come and let us enjoy love until dawn, come and let us roll in love,” and the rest, to which he adds: “She led him astray with her much talk, and with the snares from her lips she drove him to ruin; and he followed her, beguiled.” And again he says: “Pay no attention to a worthless woman; for honey drips from the lips of a harlot, who for a time soothes your throat, but afterwards you will find it more bitter than gall and sharper than a two-edged sword.” And again: “But jump away, do not delay nor fix your eye upon her; for having wounded many she has cast them down, and innumerable are those whom she has slain.” But if not, he says, “you will repent at your end, when the flesh of your body is consumed, and you will say: How I hated instruction, and my heart turned away from the reproofs of the just? I did not listen to the voice of him who instructed me and taught me, I did not incline my ear; I almost came into every kind of evil.” But that we may not extend the testimonies through many things, and if we have omitted any, you wise ones, choosing for yourselves the good things from the sacred writings, be strengthened, renouncing all evil things, so that you may be found holy in eternal life with God. But let the wife be subject to her own husband, because the husband is the head of the wife, and of the husband the

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«Υἱέ, φύλασσε ἐμοὺς λόγους, τὰς δὲ ἐμὰς ἐντολὰς κρύψον παρὰ σεαυτῷ. Eἰπὸν τὴν σοφίαν σὴν ἀδελφὴν εἶναι, τὴν δὲ φρόνησιν γνωρίμην περιποίησαι σεαυτῷ, ἵνα σε τηρήσῃ ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἀλλοτρίας καὶ πονηρᾶς, ἐάν σε λόγοις τοῖς πρὸς χάριν ἐμβάληται. Ἀπὸ γὰρ θυρίδος οἴκου αὐτῆς εἰς τὰς πλατείας παρακύπτουσα, ὃν ἂν ἴδῃ τῶν ἀφρόνων τέκνων νεανίαν ἐνδεῆ φρενῶν παραπορευόμενον ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἐν διόδοις οἴκων αὐτῆς καὶ λαλοῦντα ἐν σκότει ἑσπερινῷ, ἡνίκα ἂν ᾖ ἡσυχία νυκτερινὴ καὶ γνοφώδης, ἡ δὲ γυνὴ συναντᾷ αὐτῷ εἶδος ἔχουσα πορνικόν, ἣ ποιεῖ νέων ἐξίπτασθαι καρδίας, ἀνεπτερωμένη δέ ἐστι καὶ ἄσωτος, ἐν οἴκῳ δὲ οὐχ ἡσυχάζουσιν οἱ πόδες αὐτῆς· χρόνον γάρ τινα ἔξω ῥέμβεται, χρόνον δὲ ἐν πλατεάις παρὰ πᾶσαν γωνίαν ἐνεδρεύει. Eἶτα ἐπιλαβομένη ἐφίλησεν αὐτόν, ἀναιδεῖ δὲ προσώπῳ προσεῖπεν αὐτῷ· Θυσία εἰρηνική μοι ἔστιν, σήμερον ἀποδίδωμι τὰς εὐχάς μου· ἕνεκεν τούτου ἐξῆλθον εἰς συνάντησίν σου, ποθοῦσα τὸ σὸν πρόσωπον εὕρηκά σε· κηρίαις τέτακα τὴν κλίνην μου, ἀμφιτάποις δὲ ἔστρωκα τοῖς ἀπ' Aἰγύπτου· διέρραγκα τὴν κοίτην μου κρόκῳ, τὸν δὲ οἶκόν μου κινναμώμῳ· ἐλθὲ καὶ ἀπολαύσωμεν φιλίας ἕως ὄρθρου, δεῦρο καὶ ἐγκυλισθῶμεν ἔρωτι», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, οἷς ἐπιφέρει· «Ἀπεπλάνησεν δὲ αὐτὸν πολλῇ ὁμιλίᾳ, βρόχοις τε τοῖς ἀπὸ χειλέων ἐξώκειλεν αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ ἐπηκολούθησεν αὐτῇ κεπφωθείς.» Καὶ πάλιν λέγει· «Μὴ πρόσεχε φαύλῃ γυναικί· μέλι γὰρ ἀποστάζει ἀπὸ χειλέων γυναικὸς πόρνης, ἣ πρὸς καιρὸν λιπαίνει σὸν φάρυγγα, ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου.» Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἀλλὰ ἀποπήδησον, μὴ ἐγχρονίσῃς μηδὲ ἐπιστήσῃς τὸ σὸν ὄμμα πρὸς αὐτήν· πολλοὺς γὰρ τρώσασα καταβέβληκεν, καὶ ἀναρίθμητοί εἰσιν, οὓς πεφόνευκεν.» Eἰ δὲ μή, φησί, «μεταμεληθήσῃ ἐπ' ἐσχάτων σου, ἡνίκα ἂν κατατριβῶσιν σάρκες σώματός σου, καὶ ἐρεῖς· Πῶς ἐμίσησα παιδείαν, καὶ ἐλέγχους δὲ δικαίων ἐξέκλινεν ἡ καρδία μου; Oὐκ ἤκουον φωνῆς παιδεύοντός με καὶ διδάσκον τός με, οὐ παρέβαλον τὸ οὖς μου· παρ' ὀλίγον ἐγενόμην ἐν παντὶ κακῷ.» Ἵνα δὲ μὴ διὰ πλειόνων παρεκ τείνωμεν τὰς μαρτυρίας, καὶ εἴ τινα παρήκαμεν, οἱ σοφοί, ἑαυτοῖς τὰ καλὰ ἐπιλέγοντες ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν γραφῶν, ἐπι στερεοῦσθε παραιτούμενοι πάντα τὰ φαῦλα εἰς τὸ ὁσίους εὑρεθῆναι ὑμᾶς ἐν ζωῇ αἰωνίῳ παρὰ Θεῷ. Ἡ δὲ γυνὴ ὑποτασσέσθω τῷ ἑαυτῆς ἀνδρί, ὅτι κεφαλὴ τῆς γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνὴρ ὑπάρχει, τοῦ δὲ ἀνδρὸς τοῦ