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But even male and female servants, even if not openly, at least secretly murmuring, pelt her with countless jests. And if it happens that young children of the deceased are also left behind, how will she raise them, and how will she provide for them? Will not their lives be harder than any orphans', seeing another man possessing all their father's things, both servants and house and fields, and the chief thing of all, his wife? How will they be able to feel as towards a mother? And how will she feel towards children before whom she is forced to be ashamed and to blush, and for whom she cannot bestow all motherly affection, with her mind being divided for the children from that other man? What then, if she is very young, he says, and enjoyed her husband for only a short time? For these things are said by me to the young women, not to the aged; for with those who do this I will not even converse; for if much time and age and all other things have not persuaded them to abstain from a second marriage, certainly my word will not persuade them either; but my whole argument is to these. What then, if she is a young woman, he says, and lived with her first husband for only a year, is she married to a second again? For what reason will you prefer her to the one who has spent her twentieth and thirtieth year in marriage? Not I, but the blessed Paul; for he says: "But she is happier if she so remains." For what if she lived with a husband for a long time, but with one and the same and only one, and the one she was allotted from the beginning? But this one has given herself to two, and that in a short time. But not willingly, he says; for if the first had lived, she would not have loved another besides him; but since he departed before his time, she was joined to a second again by necessity. What necessity? For I see another, greater necessity than this one you speak of, sufficient to keep her with the deceased, namely, to have tasted so bitterly the things of the world. For the one who has been with them for a long time and been well satisfied, as one who expects the same things, will take up the same again; but she who has experienced such harsh beginnings, with what choice and hope will she come to the trial of hard things? For not even if someone wishing to trade, before he profits, should suffer shipwreck upon leaving the harbor, will he easily take up the business afterwards. Nor is it likely that this woman, who expected many pleasant things, but before she had a good experience of them, saw such grief, would love the affairs of the world, unless she happens to be very incontinent; or rather, even if she were very disposed towards them, and held them with extreme passion, the unpleasantness of the beginning is sufficient to extinguish all her desire. For then we are accustomed to persist in things most, when we experience good beginnings; but when from the start and from the very starting-line, as one might say, we perceive harsh and difficult things, we quickly back away, our choice being extinguished in us. So that those who have endured untimely widowhoods, these would rightly abstain from a second marriage so as not to suffer the same things again. For she who remains in widowhood will have security and will not suspect another such grief again; but she who consorts with a second marriage will be forced to expect this terrible thing as well. And in other ways too, even if widowhood is one thing, yet not all will receive the same rewards for it, but some more, and some less. For those who have taken up the yoke in youth will enjoy a greater honor and gift, but those in old age not likewise as they. Why so? Because the one, although there were many hindrances, endured all things for the fear of God, but this one did not endure even a little sweat or toil; for how could she, when there was nothing to exert force? Just as, then, she who gives herself to a second is less than she who has one husband, so she who remains in widowhood in her very youth by a great measure the one in the

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ἀλλὰ καὶ οἰκέται καὶ θεράπαιναι, κἂν μὴ φανερῶς, λάθρα γοῦν διαγογγύζοντες μυρίοις αὐτὴν βάλλουσι σκώμμασιν. Εἰ δὲ συμβῇ καὶ παῖδας τοῦ τετελευτηκότος καταλειφθῆναι νέους, πῶς αὐτοὺς ἀναθρέψει, πῶς δὲ προστήσεται; τίνων δὲ ὀρφανῶν οὐ χαλεπώτερον ἐκεῖνοι βιώσονται τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ὁρῶντες ἅπαντα ἕτερον ἔχοντα, καὶ οἰκέτας καὶ οἰκίαν καὶ ἀγροὺς καὶ τὸ πάντων κεφάλαιον τὴν γυναῖκα; πῶς δυνήσονται ὡς πρὸς μητέρα διακεῖσθαι ἐκεῖνοι; πῶς δὲ αὕτη ὡς πρὸς παῖδας οὓς αἰσχύνεσθαι καὶ ἐρυθριᾶν ἀναγκάζεται, καὶ οἷς πᾶσαν ἀπονεῖμαι τὴν μητρικὴν οὐκ ἔχει φιλοστοργίαν, εἰς τοὺς ἐξ ἐκείνου παῖδας σχιζομένης αὐτῇ τῆς διανοίας; Τί οὖν, ἂν ᾖ σφόδρα κόρη, φησί, καὶ βραχὺν ἀπολαύσασα χρόνον τοῦ ἀνδρός; Πρὸς γὰρ τὰς κόρας μοι ταῦτα εἴρηται, οὐ πρὸς τὰς γεγηρακυίας· πρὸς γὰρ ἐκείνας τοῦτο ποιούσας οὐδὲ διαλεχθήσομαι· εἰ γὰρ ὁ πολὺς χρόνος καὶ ἡ ἡλικία καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα οὐκ ἔπεισαν αὐτὰς ἀποσχέσθαι δευτέρου γάμου, πάνυ γε οὐδὲ ὁ παρ' ἡμῶν πείσει λόγος· ἀλλ' ἅπας μοι πρὸς ταύτας ὁ λόγος ἐστί. Τί οὖν, ἂν ᾖ κόρη, φησί, καὶ μόνον ἐνιαυτὸν μετὰ τοῦ προτέρου συνοικήσασα, δευτέρῳ γαμεῖται πάλιν; τίνος ἕνεκεν τῆς εἰκοστὸν ἔτος καὶ τριακοστὸν ἀνηλωκυίας ἐν γάμῳ προτιμήσεις αὐτήν; Οὐκ ἔγωγε, ἀλλ' ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος· ἐκεῖνος γάρ φησι· «Μακαριωτέρα δέ ἐστιν, ἐὰν οὕτως μείνῃ.» Τί γάρ, εἰ καὶ πολὺν ἐκείνη χρόνον συνῴκησεν ἀνδρί, ἀλλ' ἑνὶ καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ μόνῳ καὶ ὃν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκληρώθη; αὕτη δὲ δυσὶν ἔδωκεν ἑαυτήν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν βραχεῖ τῷ χρόνῳ. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ἑκοῦσα, φησίν· εἰ γὰρ ὁ πρῶτος ἔζη, οὐκ ἂν ἕτερον ἠγάπησεν ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πρὸ ὥρας ἀπῆλθεν ἐκεῖνος, ὑπὸ τῆς ἀνάγκης δευτέρῳ συνήφθη πάλιν. Ποίας ἀνάγκης; Ἐγὼ γὰρ ταύτης ἧς λέγεις μείζονα ἑτέραν ἀνάγκην ὁρῶ ἱκανὴν αὐτὴν κατασχεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ τετελευτηκότι, τὸ πικρῶν οὕτως ἀπολαῦσαι τῶν πραγμάτων τοῦ κόσμου. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ πολὺν αὐτοῖς συγγενομένη χρόνον καὶ ἐμπλησθεῖσα καλῶς, ὡς τῶν αὐτῶν τευξομένη τῶν ἴσων ἅψεται πάλιν· ἡ δὲ προοιμίων οὕτω χαλεπῶν πειραθεῖσα ποίᾳ προαιρέσει καὶ ἐλπίδι πρὸς τὴν πεῖραν ἥξει τῶν χαλεπῶν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἴ τις βουλόμενος ἐμπορεύσασθαι, πρὶν ἢ κερδάνῃ ἅμα τῷ τὸν λιμένα ἐξελθεῖν ναυάγιον ὑπομείνοι, εὐκόλως ἅψεται τῆς πραγματείας λοιπόν. Οὐδὲ ταύτην εἰκότως τὴν πολλὰ μὲν προσδοκήσασαν ἡδέα, πρὶν ἢ δὲ ἐκείνων πεῖραν καλῶς λαβεῖν, τοσοῦτον πένθος ἰδοῦσαν ἀγαπῆσαι τὰ τοῦ κόσμου πράγματα, εἰ μὴ σφόδρα ἀκρατὴς οὖσα τύχοι· μᾶλλον δέ, εἰ καὶ σφόδρα πρὸς αὐτὰ διακέοιτο, καὶ λίαν ἔχοι προσπαθῶς, ἱκανὴ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἡ ἀηδία πᾶσαν σβέσαι τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτῆς. Τότε γὰρ τοῖς πράγμασι μάλιστα ἐπιμένειν εἰώθαμεν, ὅταν προοιμίων πειραθῶμεν καλῶν· ὅταν δὲ ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς, ὡς ἂν εἴποι τις, τῆς γραμμῆς χαλεπῶν καὶ δυσκόλων αἰσθώμεθα, ταχέως ἀνακρουόμεθα τῆς προαιρέσεως σβεννυμένης ἡμῖν. Ὥστε αἱ τὰς ἀώρους ὑπομείνασαι χηρείας, αὗται εἰκότως ἂν ἀπόσχοιντο γάμου δευτέρου ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν παθεῖν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῇ χηρείᾳ μένουσα ἕξει τὸ ἀσφαλὲς καὶ οὐχ ὑποπτεύσει πένθος ἕτερον τοιοῦτον πάλιν· ἡ δὲ προσομιλήσασα γάμῳ δευτέρῳ καὶ τοῦτο προσδοκᾶν ἀναγκασθήσεται τὸ δεινόν. Καὶ ἄλλως δὲ εἰ καὶ πρᾶγμα ἕν ἐστιν ἡ χηρεία, ἀλλ' οὐ πᾶσαι τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀπολήψονται τούτου μισθούς, ἀλλ' αἱ μὲν πλείους, αἱ δὲ ἐλάττους. Αἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐν νεότητι τὸν ζυγὸν ἀναδεξάμεναι πλείονος ἀπολαύσονται καὶ τῆς τιμῆς καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς, αἱ δὲ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ γήρᾳ οὐχ ὁμοίως ἐκείναις. Τί δήποτε; Ὅτι ἡ μὲν πολλῶν ὄντων κωλυμάτων διὰ τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον πάντα ἠνέσχετο, αὕτη δὲ οὐδὲ βραχὺν ἱδρῶτα ὑπέμεινεν οὐδὲ πόνον· πῶς γὰρ οὐδενὸς ὄντος πράγματος τοῦ βίαν παρέχοντος; Ὥσπερ οὖν ἡ δευτέρῳ δοῦσα ἑαυτὴν ἐλάττων ἐστὶ τῆς τὸν ἕνα ἄνδρα ἐχούσης, οὕτως ἡ ἐν χηρείᾳ μένουσα ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ νεότητι πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ τὴν ἐν τῷ