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it momentarily anoints your throat, but later you will find it more bitter than gall, and sharper than a two-edged sword. And if she has also learned letters, the form of the sickness and the wickedness is twofold. For how many women through letters have killed their own husbands, and the secrets, which she alone knew and he himself, were made known for manifestation and the outcome of affairs through letters? For how many have I known who have sent sealed papers to the most malicious men and their adulterers, and through long-reaching hands have killed their spouses? Some through poisons, others while walking suddenly at night, and many also while going away in a field, someone striking with a sword, or with a stone, or with a club against the membrane of the brain, or against the head, or against the back, brought a sudden end. For they shamelessly approach the churches, on the pretext of prayer, and they swear by the immaculate body and the blood of the Son of God, or by his mother, or by some saint; for many also swear on the life-giving wood, not to set aside their abominable deeds, but to have their dealings firm and indissoluble. O most wretched woman! Do you make the fearful name of the Lord an accomplice of your adultery? O foolish and senseless one, do you make the virgin and Theotokos Mary the undefiled a collaborator in your evil plan? O untamed beast, and raven eating flesh, do you make the innocent houses of the saints a den of thieves and guilty of bloodshed? But the temple of the Lord, hallowed and pure, is not defiled, but you will harvest the fruits of your folly at the proper time, according to the apostle Paul who cries out: If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy. Do you wish that we also say other things regarding their disposition? For if she has modest neighbors, day after day she watches them, runs up to them, and if she sees any of their acquaintances and relatives entering their houses, proclaiming her own evils to them, she calls them adulteresses and maenads, who are free in both body and in spirit. And if 56.537 she has children, she looks upon them as wild beasts; if she possesses male servants, or female slaves, there is no gentleness in her, but by day on pretext of their service she flogs them, and at night over their work she vexes them. There is no fear of God before her eyes. Then when she goes to her husband on the couch, she does not let him sleep, but she angers him against the servants, she rouses him to battles against the neighbors. This male slave scorns me, this female servant mocks me, this neighbor does not cease reviling me both in the churches, and in front of friends, and in the marketplaces; carry out my vengeance; I will no longer sit with you at table, I will not eat bread with you; I will not sleep with you hereafter; because so-and-so and so-and-so do not blush before me your wife, but they consider me as clay. And if I say these things to you by conjecture, behold for me the Egyptian woman, who entrapped Joseph, and roused her husband to anger and battle; and finally she even threatened to kill the just man, had not the sleepless eye anticipated, and rescued him from bitter death. Behold for me also Herodias who killed the Baptist. For the Forerunner says to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have the wife of Philip your brother; and she, having bound the one greater among those born of women, in the midst of the banquet among the reclining friends, cut off his head; and what Herodias was not able to do while her husband was alive, this transgression she accomplished after his death. And what of Delilah? Did she not, having shaved and bound the most comely and most powerful Samson through adultery, hand him over to the foreigners and put him to death? Behold, three

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πρόσκαιρον λιπαίνει σου φάρυγγα, ὕστερον μέντοι πικρότερον χολῆς εὑρήσεις, καὶ ἠκονημένον μᾶλλον μαχαίρας διστόμου. Ἂν δὲ καὶ γράμματα ᾖ μεμαθηκυῖα, διπλοῦν τὸ εἶδος τῆς νόσου καὶ τῆς κακίας. Πόσαι γὰρ γυναῖκες διὰ γραμμάτων ἀπέκτειναν τοὺς ἑαυτῶν ἄνδρας, καὶ τὰ μυστήρια, ἅπερ μόνη ἐγίνωσκε καὶ αὐτὸς, εἰς ἐμφάνισιν καὶ πραγμάτων ἔκβασιν δι' ἐπιστολῶν ἐγνωρίσθησαν; Πόσας γὰρ ἔγνωκα ἀποστειλάσας βεβουλλωμένους χάρτας πρὸς κακοηθεστάτους ἄνδρας καὶ μοιχοὺς αὐτῶν, καὶ διὰ μακρῶν χειρῶν τοὺς συζύγους αὐτῶν ἀπέκτειναν; Τοὺς μὲν διὰ δηλητηρίων, τοὺς δὲ ἐν νυκτὶ ἀθρόον περιπατοῦντας, πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐν ἀγρῷ ἀπιόντας, ἢ μετὰ ξίφους, ἢ μετὰ λίθου, ἢ μετὰ ξύλου κρούσας τις κατὰ τοῦ μήνιγγος, ἢ κατὰ κεφαλῆς, ἢ κατὰ τοῦ νώτου, αἰφνίδιον τέλος ἐπήγαγε. Προσέρχονται γὰρ ἀναιδῶς ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις, προφάσει προσευχῆς, καὶ ὀμνύουσι κατὰ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ἀχράντου καὶ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ Υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἢ κατὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ μητρὸς, εἴτε κατά τινος ἁγίου· πολλαὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ ξύλου, τοῦ μὴ ἀθετῆσαι τὰς μυσαρὰς αὐτῶν πράξεις, ἀλλὰ τὰς συναλλαγὰς αὐτῶν βεβαίας ἔχειν καὶ ἀδιαλύτους. Ὦ παναθλία! τὸ φοβερὸν ὄνομα τοῦ Κυρίου συνεργὸν ποιεῖς τῆς σῆς μοιχείας; Ἄφρον καὶ ἀνόητε, τὴν παρθένον καὶ θεοτόκον Μαρίαν τὴν ἀμίαντον συνεργάτιν καθιστᾷς τοῦ πονηροῦ σου βουλεύματος; Θηρίον ἀνήμερον, καὶ κόραξ τρώγων σάρκας, ἀθῴους τῶν ἁγίων τοὺς οἴκους λῃστήριον καὶ αἱμάτων ἐνόχους ἀποτελεῖς; Ἀλλ' ὁ ναὸς Κυρίου ὁ ἡγιασμένος καὶ καθαρὸς οὐ μολύνεται, σὺ δὲ τῆς ἀφροσύνης σου τοὺς καρποὺς τρυγήσεις ἐν καιρῷ ἐπιτηδείῳ, κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον Παῦλον βοῶντα· Εἴ τις τὸν ναὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ φθείρει, φθερεῖ τοῦτον ὁ Θεός· ὁ γὰρ ναὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἅγιός ἐστι. Βούλεσθε καὶ ἕτερα λέξωμεν πρὸς τὴν αὐτῶν γνώμην; Αὕτη γὰρ κἂν γείτονας ἔχῃ σώφρονας, ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας αὐτὰς σκοπεύει, ταύτας ἐπιτρέχει, κἄν τινας τῶν γνωρίμων καὶ τῶν συγγενῶν θεάσηται εἰσερχομένους εἰς τὰς οἰκίας αὐτῶν, αὐταῖς τὰ ἑαυτῆς κακὰ προαναφωνοῦσα, μοιχαλίδας καὶ μαινάδας ἀποκαλεῖ, τὰς ἐλευθέρας καὶ τῷ σώματι καὶ τῷ πνεύματι. Κἂν 56.537 τέκνα ἔχῃ, ὡς θηρία ταῦτα βλέπει· κἂν οἰκέτας κέκτηται, κἂν δούλας, πραότης ἐν αὐτῇ οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν προφάσει δουλείας αὐτὰς μαστιγοῖ, καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ ἐπὶ τῇ ἐργασίᾳ αὐτὰς θορυβεῖ. Οὐκ ἔστι φόβος Θεοῦ ἀπέναντι τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῆς. Εἶτα ὅταν ἐπὶ κλίνης τῷ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς προσέλθῃ, οὐκ ἐᾷ αὐτὸν ὑπνῶσαι, ἀλλὰ θυμοῖ αὐτὸν κατὰ τῶν οἰκετῶν, ἐγείρει αὐτὸν πρὸς μάχας κατὰ τῶν πλησίον. Οὗτος ὁ δοῦλος καταφρονεῖ μου, αὕτη ἡ οἰκέτις ἐμπαίζει μοι, οὗτος ὁ πλησίον οὐ παύεται λοιδορῶν με καὶ ἐν ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ ἐπὶ φίλων, καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀγοραῖς· ποίησον τὴν ἐκδίκησίν μου· οὐ καθίσω ἔτι μετὰ σοῦ ἐπὶ τραπέζης, οὐκ ἐσθίω ἄρτον ἐπὶ σοῦ· οὐ καθευδήσω τοῦ λοιποῦ μετὰ σοῦ· ὅτι ἐμοὶ τῇ γυναικί σου οὐκ ἐρυθριᾷ ὁ δεῖνα καὶ ἡ δεῖνα, ἀλλ' ὡς πηλόν με λογίζονται. Καὶ εἰ στοχαζόμενος ταῦτα ὑμῖν λέγω, βλέπε μοι τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν, τὴν καταπλέξασαν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ, καὶ τὸν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς εἰς θυμὸν καὶ μάχην ἐγείρασαν· τελευταῖον δὲ καὶ θανατῶσαι ἠπείλει τὸν δίκαιον, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀκοίμητος ὀφθαλμὸς προέφθασε, καὶ ἐξείλετο αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ πικροῦ θανάτου. Ἴδε μοι καὶ τὴν Ἡρωδιάδα τὴν τὸν Βαπτιστὴν ἀποκτείνασαν. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Πρόδρομος, Οὐκ ἔξεστί σοι ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα Φιλίππου τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, πρὸς τὸν Ἡρώδην· καὶ αὕτη δεσμεύσασα τὸν ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζονα, ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ μέσον τῶν ἀνακειμένων φίλων, τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἀπέτεμε· καὶ ὃ μὴ ἴσχυσεν ἡ Ἡρωδιὰς ποιῆσαι ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς, ταύτην τὴν παρανομίαν ἐτέλεσε μετὰ θάνατον. Τί δὲ καὶ ἡ ∆αλιδάς; οὐχὶ τὸν ὡραιότατον καὶ δυνατώτατον Σαμψὼν διὰ μοιχείας ξυρίσασα καὶ δήσασα, τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις παρέδωκε καὶ ἐθανάτωσεν; Ἰδοὺ τρεῖς