11. Nor do we ourselves set forth this in virgins, that they are virgins; but that they are virgins dedicated unto God by pious continence. For it is not at a venture that I may say, a married woman seems to me happier than a virgin about to be married: for the one hath what the other as yet desires, especially if she be not yet even the betrothed of any one. The one studies to please one, unto whom she hath been given; the other many, in doubt unto whom she is to be given: by this one thing she guards modesty of thought from the crowd, that she is seeking, not an adulterer, but a husband, in the crowd. Therefore that virgin is with good reason set before a married woman, who neither sets herself forth for the multitude to love, whereas she seeks from out the multitude the love of one; nor, having now found him, orders herself16    Componit for one, taking thought of the things of the world, “how to please her husband;”17    1 Cor. vii. 34 but hath so loved “Him of fair beauty above the sons of men,”18    Ps. xlv. 2 as that, because she could not, even as Mary, conceive Him in her flesh, she hath kept her flesh also virgin for Him conceived in her heart. This kind of virgins no fruitfulness of the body hath given birth to: this is no progeny of flesh and blood. If of these the mother be sought for, it is the Church. None bears sacred virgins save a sacred virgin, she who hath been espoused to be presented chaste unto one Husband, Christ.19    2 Cor. xi. 2 Of her, not altogether in body, but altogether in spirit virgin, are born holy virgins both in body and in spirit.

CAPUT XI.

11. Virgines ideo laudatae, quia Deo dicatae. Nec nos hoc in virginibus praedicamus, quod virgines sunt; sed quod Deo dicatae pia continentia virgines. Nam, quod non temere dixerim, felicior mihi videtur nupta mulier quam virgo nuptura: habet enim jam illa quod ista adhuc cupit, praesertim si nondum vel sponsa cujusquam sit. Illa uni studet placere, cui data est: haec multis, incerta cui danda est; hoc uno pudicitiam cogitationis defendit a turba, quod non adulterum, sed maritum quaerit in turba. Illa igitur virgo conjugatae merito praeponitur, quae nec multitudini se amandam proponit, cum amorem unius ex multitudine inquirit; nec se uni jam componit invento, cogitans quae sunt mundi, quomodo placeat viro (I Cor. VII, 34); sed speciosum forma prae filiis hominum (Psal. XLIV, 3) sic amavit, ut quia eum sicut Maria concipere carne non posset, ei corde concepto etiam carnem integram custodiret.

CAPUT XII.

Virgines sacrae non corporali, sed spirituali fecunditate Ecclesiae nascuntur. Bonum conjugii quam inferius bono sanctae virginitatis. Hoc genus virginum nulla corporalis fecunditas protulit: non est haec proles carnis et sanguinis. Si harum quaeritur mater, Ecclesia est. Non parit virgines sacras nisi virgo sacra, illa quae desponsata est uni viro casta exhiberi Christo (II Cor. XI, 2). Ex illa non tota corpore, sed tota virgine spiritu, nascuntur sanctae virgines et corpore et spiritu.