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Nevertheless, at the birth celebration of the one who harmed the races and insulted the royal birth, "the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod. Wherefore he swore with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. But she, being prompted by her mother, says, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.' And the king was grieved; but because of his oaths and those reclining with him, he commanded it to be given. And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl; and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus."

21 Alas, with how many evils have women filled the life of men, how many thorns they have sown for us and thistles they have cultivated. A woman closed paradise to the first-formed man, women brought on the flood for the race of giants; "For seeing," it says, "the sons of God that the daughters of men were beautiful," they went in to them and the Lord was angered with wrath and said: "I repent that I have made man and I will wipe out every living thing from the face of the earth." A woman tempted the great patriarch Joseph, and made the prophet converse with chains, and caused the God-bearer to be seated in prison as an adulterer, as a corrupter to wear a heavy collar on his neck. A woman delivered Samson captive to the foreigners. A woman forced Elijah to become a fugitive from the whole land of Israel.

22 A woman now dances and blinds the symposium and stupefies the tyrant with the lawless spectacle. For she had a plaiting of hair that ensnared the young, a painting of the eyes that tripped up those who looked. She sprinkled paint on her charms, and for those who encountered her the hook was not bearable. She opened her mouth, and belched out death from her tongue. She bent back her neck, and the sight was a cause of corruption. She bared her breasts, and offered the gates of Hades to be seen by those who looked curiously. She bared her thighs, lifting up the tunic for the varied spectacle of her feet, and hissing serpents came forth from her loins for the corruption of the audience. And her nod was deceitful, her glance foul, her voice corrupting, her movement soul-harming, her kiss death-bringing.

23 Nevertheless Herod, having been caught, swore to give whatever the wicked little dancer might ask. "But she, being prompted by her mother: 'Give me,' she says, 'here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.'" Do you see how great is woman-crazed pleasure. Do you perceive how much corruption enslaves the one who is caught, how one made languid by drunkenness no longer knows his scepter, does not remember his authority, is set before all as a plaything. For what did the dancer say to him? "'Give me here at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.'" These are the words not of one asking, but of one commanding; for she does not approach the king as a girl with fear or modesty or any hesitation, but as a mistress to a servant, as one having power over chains to a prisoner. "'Give me,' she says, 'on a platter the head of John the Baptist.' Do not postpone the request. Here I demand the prophet's slaughter, here I demand the murder to be done of the one who reproves the adultery. Where you saw my nakedness, here I exact punishment on the one who denounces it.'"

24 "'Give me the head of John on a platter'; for Herodias commanded it, the adulteress ordered it. 'If you do not give it, you do not have the one who commits adultery with you; your bed after the wine will be widowed. Departing from the couch, with whom are you to lie? The mother is ashamed of her corruption, with John trumpeting it, she is ashamed before the servants, she is abashed before the guards. To all the queen is a piece of gossip because of the boldness of John

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ὅμως ἀγομένοις τοῦ βλάψαντος τὰ γένη καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐξυβρί σαντος γέννησιν, «ὠρχήσατο ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς Ἡρῳδιάδος εἰς τὸ μέσον καὶ ἤρεσε τῷ Ἡρῴδῃ· ὅθεν μεθ' ὅρκου ὤμοσεν αὐτῇ δοῦναι ὃ ἐὰν αἰτήσηται. Ἡ δὲ προβιβασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς· «∆ός μοι», φησίν, «ὧδε ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.» Καὶ ἐλυπήθη ὁ βασιλεύς· διὰ δὲ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς συνανακειμένους, ἐκέλευσε δοθῆναι καὶ πέμψας ἀπεκεφάλισε τὸν Ἰωάννην ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ. Καὶ ἠνέχθη ἡ κεφαλὴ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πίνακι καὶ ἐδόθη τῷ κορασίῳ· καὶ ἤνεγκε τῇ μητρὶ αὐτῆς. Καὶ προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἦραν τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἔθαψαν, καὶ ἐλθόντες ἀπήγγειλαν τῷ Ἰησοῦ.»

21 Φεῦ, κακῶν ὅσων αἱ γυναῖκες τὸν βίον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπλήρωσαν, ὅσας ἀκάνθας ἡμῖν ἔσπειραν καὶ τριβόλους ἐγεώρ γησαν. Γυνὴ τῷ πρωτοπλάστῳ τὸν παράδεισον ἔκλεισεν, γυναῖκες τὸν κατακλυσμὸν τῷ γένει τῶν γιγάντων ἐπήγαγον· «Ἰδόντες γάρ», φησίν, «οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς θυγατέρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅτι καλαί εἰσιν», εἰσῆλθον πρὸς αὐτὰς καὶ ὠργίσθη θυμῷ ὁ κύ ριος καὶ εἶπεν· «Μεταμεμέλημαι ὅτι ἐποίησα τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ἐξαλείψω πᾶν τὸ ἀνάστημα ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς.» Γυνὴ τὸν μέγαν πατριάρχην τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἐπείρασεν, καὶ δεσμοῖς ὁμιλῆσαι τὸν προφήτην πεποίηκεν, καὶ τὸν θεοφόρον παρεσκεύασεν ὡς μοιχὸν ἐν τῇ φυλακῇ καθέζεσθαι, ὡς φθορέα βαρὺν κλοιὸν ἐν τῷ τραχήλῳ περιφέρειν. Γυνὴ τὸν Σαμψὼν αἰχμάλωτον τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις παρέδωκεν. Γυνὴ τὸν Ἠλίαν δραπέτην τῆς γῆς ὅλης τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ γενέσθαι ἠνάγκασεν.

22 Γυνὴ νῦν ὀρχεῖται καὶ τυφλοῖ τὸ συμπόσιον καὶ καροῖ τῇ παρανόμῳ θεωρίᾳ τὸν τύραννον. Ἦν γὰρ αὐτῇ πλοκὴ τρι χῶν τοὺς νέους σαγηνεύουσα, ὀφθαλμῶν ὑπογραφὴ τοὺς ὁρῶν τας ὑποσκελίζουσα. Φυκίαν ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἐπέπαττεν, καὶ τοῖς συναντῶσι τὸ ἄγκιστρον φορητὸν οὐκ ἐτύγχανεν. Ἤνοιγε τὸ στόμα, καὶ θάνατον ἐκ τῆς γλώττης ἠρεύγετο. Ἀνέκλα τὸν τρά χηλον, καὶ φθορᾶς ἡ θεωρία ἦν πρόξενος. Ἐγύμνου τὰ στέρνα, καὶ ᾅδου προπύλαια παρεῖχεν ὁρᾶν τοῖς περιέργως βλέπουσιν. Ἐγύμνου τοὺς μηροὺς ἀναστέλλουσα τῶν ποδῶν τῆς ποικίλης θεωρίας τὸ χιτώνιον, καὶ δράκοντες ἐκ τῶν λαγόνων συρίζοντες εἰς φθορὰν τῷ θεάτρῳ προήρχοντο. Καὶ ἦν τὸ νεῦμα δολερόν, τὸ βλέμμα ῥυπαρόν, φθοροποιὸν τὸ φθέγμα, ψυχοβλαβὲς τὸ κίνημα, θανατηφόρον τὸ φίλημα.

23 Πλὴν ὁ Ἡρῴδης ἁλοὺς δώσειν ὅπερ ἂν αἰτήσῃ τὸ πονηρὸν ὀρχήστριον ὤμοσεν. «Ἡ δὲ προβιβασθεῖσα ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς αὐτῆς· ∆ός μοι, φησίν, ὧδε ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.» Ὁρᾷς ἡλίκον ἡ θηλυμανὴς ἡδονή. Αἰσθάνει πόσον ἡ φθορὰ τὸν ἁλόντα δουλοῖ, πῶς ὁ χαυνωθεὶς τῇ μέθῃ οὐκέτι τὸ σκῆπτρον οἶδεν, τῆς ἐξουσίας οὐ μέμνηται, πᾶσι πρό κειται παίγνιον. Τί γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ ὀρχήστρια ἐφθέγξατο; «∆ός μοι ὧδε ἐξαυτῆς ἐπὶ πίνακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.» Ταῦτα δὲ οὐ παρακαλούσης, ἀλλ' ἐπιταττούσης τὰ ῥήματα· οὐ γὰρ ὡς κόρη τῷ βασιλεῖ μετὰ φόβου ἢ αἰδοῦς ἤ τινος ὑποστολῆς προσέρχεται, ἀλλ' ὡς οἰκέτῃ δέσποινα, ὡς δεσμώτῃ ἡ δεσμῶν ἐξουσίαν ἔχουσα. «∆ός μοι, φησίν, ἐπὶ πί νακι τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ.» Μὴ ἀναβάλῃ τὴν αἴτησιν. Ὧδε χρῄζω τῆς τοῦ προφήτου σφαγῆς, ἐνταῦθα πρα χθῆναι τὸν φόνον τοῦ τὴν μοιχείαν ἐλέγχοντος. Ὅπου τὴν ἐμὴν ἐθεώρησας γύμνωσιν, ὧδε τὸν ταύτης θριαμβευτὴν τιμωρίαν εἰσπράττομαι.»

24 «∆ός μοι τὴν Ἰωάννου κεφαλὴν ἐπὶ πίνακι»· Ἡρῳδιὰς γὰρ ἐκέλευσεν, ἡ μοιχαλὶς προσέταξεν· «Εἰ μὴ δῷς, οὐκ ἔχεις τὴν ἅμα σοὶ μοιχεύουσαν· ἡ κοίτη μετὰ τὸν οἶνόν σοι χηρεύσει. Ἀναχωρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς στιβάδος, τίνι συνέρχεσθαι; Ἀισχύνεται τὴν φθορὰν ἡ μήτηρ, Ἰωάννου σαλπίζοντος, αἰδεῖται τοὺς οἰκέ τας, τοὺς δορυφόρους ἐντρέπεται. Πᾶσιν ἡ βασιλὶς θρύλημα διὰ τὴν Ἰωάννου παρρησίαν