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allowing it to lie forever in ugliness and indolence, more like a slave. For this reason, God, having freed us from this worthless occupation, has implanted in us the art of what is better, and he who is unable to make a body beautiful out of ugliness, this one will be able to lead the soul, even if it has descended into the utmost deformity, up to the very peak of beauty, and thus to make it lovely and desirable, so that not only good men come to desire it, but also the King of all, God himself, just as the psalmist also said, when speaking of this beauty: “And the king shall desire your beauty.”

14 Do you not see also in the brothels of women, that gladiators and beast-fighters and runaway slaves would scarcely accept the ugly and shameless ones, but if someone beautiful and well-born and modest should, through some circumstance, come into this necessity, would anyone even of the most distinguished and great men blush at a marriage with her? But if among men there is so much mercy and so much disregard for reputation, as to free from that servitude those who have often been shamed on the roof and to hold them in the rank of wives, much more will this be so with God, and with souls of noble birth from above that through the tyranny of the devil have fallen into the brothel of the present life. And you will find the prophets are filled with these examples, when they speak to Jerusalem. For she too, having fallen into fornication, a rather new kind of fornication, as Ezekiel also says: “To all harlots wages are given, but you gave wages, and it was perverse in you, contrary to all women.” And again another: “You sat waiting for them like a crow in the wilderness.” Her therefore, who had thus committed fornication, God calls back again. For the captivity that happened was not so much for punishment as for conversion and correction; since, if God had wanted to punish them once and for all, He would not have brought them home again, He would not have made both the city and the temple greater and more glorious. “For,” he says, “the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former.” But if God did not shut out from repentance her who had often committed fornication, much more will he take hold of your soul, which has fallen this fall for the first time. For no one, no lover of bodies, however mad he may be, so burns for his beloved, as God desires the salvation of our souls; and it is possible to see this both from the things that happen every day and also from the divine Scriptures. See, for example, both in the introductions of Jeremiah and in many places of the prophets, Him being despised and scorned, and again running after and pursuing the friendship of those who turn away from him; which he himself also made clear in the Gospels, saying: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have wanted to gather your children, in the way that a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing?" And Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said: “That God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and placing in us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.” Consider this now to have been said to us as well. For not only unbelief but also an impure life is sufficient to create this dreadful enmity. “For the mind of the flesh,” it says, “is enmity against God.” Let us then destroy this dividing wall and break it down and render it dead, so that we may obtain the blessed reconciliation, so that we may again become lovely and desirable to God. I know that you now admire the beauty of Hermione, and you judge that there is nothing like that beauty on earth; but if you wish, my friend, you will be that much more comely and beautiful than her

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ἀνδραπόδου μᾶλλον ἐν ἀμορφίᾳ καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ἐῶντες κεῖσθαι διὰ παντός. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ταύτης ἡμᾶς τῆς κακοσχολίας ἀπαλλάξας ὁ θεὸς τοῦ βελτίονος ἡμῖν τὴν τέχνην ἐνέθηκε, καὶ ὁ τὸ σῶμα μὴ δυνάμενος εὔμορφον ποιῆσαι ἐξ εἰδεχθοῦς, οὗτος τὴν ψυχήν, κἂν εἰς ἐσχάτην δυσειδείαν κατενεχθῇ, εἰς αὐτὴν τῆς ὥρας ἀναγαγεῖν δυνήσεται τὴν κορυφήν, καὶ οὕτως ἐπέραστον ποιῆσαι καὶ ποθεινήν, ὥστε μὴ μόνον τοὺς ἄνδρας τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτῆς ἐλθεῖν ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων βασιλέα, θεόν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ ψαλμῳδὸς περὶ τούτου τοῦ κάλλους διαλεγόμενος ἔλεγεν· «Καὶ ἐπιθυμήσει ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου.»

14 Οὐχ ὁρᾷς καὶ ἐν τοῖς χαμαιτυπείοις τῶν γυναικῶν, ὅτι τὰς μὲν εἰδεχθεῖς καὶ ἀναισχύντους μονομάχοι καὶ θηριομάχοι καὶ δραπέται μόλις ἂν πρόσοιντο, εἰ δέ πού τις εὔμορφος καὶ εὐγενὴς καὶ αἰσχυντηλὴ κατά τινα περίστασιν εἰς ταύτην ἔλθοι τὴν ἀνάγκην, οὐδὲ τῶν σφόδρα λαμπρῶν καὶ μεγάλων ἀνδρῶν τὸν ἐκείνης τις γάμον ἐρυθριάσειεν; Εἰ δὲ παρὰ ἀνθρώποις τοσοῦτος ἔλεος καὶ τοσαύτη δόξης ὑπεροψία, ὥστε τὰς πολλάκις καταισχυνθείσας ἐπὶ τοῦ τέγους ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς δουλείας ἐκείνης καὶ ἐν τάξει ἔχειν γυναικῶν, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτο ἔσται, καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν εὐγενείας κατὰ τὴν τοῦ διαβόλου τυραννίδα εἰς τὸ τοῦ παρόντος βίου χαμαιτυπεῖον καταπεσουσῶν. Καὶ τούτων εὑρήσεις τῶν παραδειγμάτων τοὺς προφήτας πεπληρωμένους, ὅταν διαλέγωνται τῇ Ἰερουσαλήμ. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνην εἰς πορνείαν ἐκπεσοῦσαν, πορνείαν τινὰ καινοτέραν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Ἰεζεκιήλ φησιν· «Πάσαις πόρναις δίδοται μισθώματα, σὺ δὲ προσεδίδους μισθώματα, καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν σοὶ διεστραμμένον παρὰ πάσας τὰς γυναῖκας.» Καὶ πάλιν ἕτερος· «Ἐκάθισας προσδοκῶσα αὐτοὺς ὡσεὶ κορώνη ἠρημωμένη.» Ταύτην οὖν τὴν οὕτω πορνεύσασαν ἀνακαλεῖται πάλιν ὁ θεός. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ αἰχμαλωσία ἡ γενομένη, οὐ τιμωρίας τοσοῦτον ἦν ὅσον ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ διορθώσεως· ἐπεί, εἰ κολάσαι αὐτοὺς καθάπαξ ἐβούλετο ὁ θεός, οὐκ ἂν πάλιν ἐπανήγαγεν οἴκαδε, οὐκ ἂν μείζονα καὶ λαμπροτέραν καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν ναὸν κατεσκεύασεν. «Ἔσται γάρ, φησίν, ἡ δόξα τοῦ οἴκου τούτου ἡ ἐσχάτη ὑπὲρ τὴν ἔμπροσθεν.» Εἰ δὲ τὴν πολλάκις ἐκπορνεύσασαν οὐκ ἀπέκλεισεν τῆς μετανοίας ὁ θεός, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τῆς σῆς ἀνθέξεται ψυχῆς, τοῦτο πρῶτον πεσούσης τὸ πτῶμα. Οὐδεὶς γάρ, οὐδεὶς σωμάτων ἐραστής, κἂν σφόδρα ᾖ μανικός, οὕτω τῆς ἐρωμένης περικάεται τῆς αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὁ θεὸς τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἡμετέρων ἐφίεται ψυχῶν· καὶ τοῦτο ἔνεστι μὲν καὶ ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν γινομένων ἰδεῖν ἔνεστι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν. Ὅρα γοῦν καὶ ἐν τοῖς προοιμίοις τοῦ Ἰερεμίου καὶ πολλαχοῦ δὲ τῶν προφητῶν, καταφρονούμενον αὐτὸν καὶ ὑπερορώμενον, καὶ πάλιν ἐπιτρέχοντα καὶ διώκοντα τὴν φιλίαν τῶν ἀποστρεφομένων αὐτόν· ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ἐδήλου λέγων· «Ἰερουσαλήμ, Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ἐπισυνάγει ὄρνις τὰ νοσσία αὐτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε;» Καὶ ὁ Παῦλος δὲ Κορινθίοις ἐπιστέλλων ἔλεγεν· «Ὅτι θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ κόσμον καταλλάσσων ἑαυτῷ, μὴ λογιζόμενος αὐτοῖς τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, καὶ θέμενος ἐν ἡμῖν τὸν λόγον τῆς καταλλαγῆς. Ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ οὖν πρεσβεύομεν ὡς τοῦ θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι' ἡμῶν· δεόμεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ.» Τοῦτο καὶ πρὸς ἡμᾶς εἰρῆσθαι νόμιζε νῦν. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπιστία μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ βίος ἀκάθαρτος τὴν ἀπευκτὴν ταύτην ἱκανὸς ἔχθραν ἐργάσασθαι. «Τὸ γὰρ φρόνημα, φησί, τῆς σαρκός, ἔχθρα εἰς θεόν.» Καταλύσωμεν οὖν τοῦτο τὸ διάφραγμα καὶ διέλωμεν καὶ θῶμεν νεκρόν, ἵνα τῆς μακαρίας τύχωμεν καταλλαγῆς, ἵνα γενώμεθα πάλιν ἐπέραστοι καὶ ποθεινοὶ τῷ θεῷ. Οἶδα ὅτι θαυμάζεις τὴν Ἑρμιόνης ὥραν νῦν, καὶ τῆς εὐμορφίας ἐκείνης οὐδὲν ὅμοιον εἶναι κρίνεις ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· ἀλλ' ἐὰν θέλῃς, ὦ φίλος, τοσοῦτον αὐτῆς εὐπρεπέστερος ἔσῃ καὶ ὡραιότερος