Chapter V.—Of Sin and Danger Incurred Even with a “Tolerant” Husband.

“But some husband does endure our (practices), and not annoy us.”  Here, therefore, there is a sin; in that Gentiles know our (practices); in that we are subject to the privity of the unjust; in that it is thanks to them that we do any (good) work.  He who “endures” (a thing) cannot be ignorant of it; or else, if he is kept in ignorance because he does not endure (it), he is feared.  But since Scripture commands each of two things—namely, that we work for the Lord without the privity of any second person,135    Matt. xxvi. 41.    Comp. Matt. vi. 1–4. and without pressure upon ourselves, it matters not in which quarter you sin; whether in regard to your husband’s privity, if he be tolerant, or else in regard of your own affliction in avoiding his intolerance.  “Cast not,” saith He, “your pearls to swine, lest they trample them to pieces, and turn round and overturn you also.”136    Adulamur:  “we fawn upon,” or “caress,” or “flatter.”  Comp. de Pæn., c. vi. sub init.:  “flatter their own sweetness.”    Matt. vii. 6.  “Your pearls” are the distinctive marks137    “Firmum,” opp. to “infirmam” above.  In the passage there referred to (Matt. xxvi. 41) the word is πρόθυμον.    Insignia. of even your daily conversation.  The more care you take to conceal them, the more liable to suspicion you will make them, and the more exposed to the grasp of Gentile curiosity.  Shall you escape notice when you sign your bed, (or) your body; when you blow away some impurity;138    Tuemur.  Mr. Dodgson renders, “guard not.”    Comp. de Idol., c. xi. sub fin. when even by night you rise to pray?  Will you not be thought to be engaged in some work of magic?  Will not your husband know what it is which you secretly taste before (taking) any food? and if he knows it to be bread, does he not believe it to be that (bread) which it is said to be?  And will every (husband), ignorant of the reason of these things, simply endure them, without murmuring, without suspicion whether it be bread or poison?  Some, (it is true,) do endure (them); but it is that they may trample on, that they may make sport of such women; whose secrets they keep in reserve against the danger which they believe in, in case they ever chance to be hurt:  they do endure (wives), whose dowries, by casting in their teeth their (Christian) name, they make the wages of silence; while they threaten them, forsooth, with a suit before some spy139    Species.    “Speculatorem;” also = "an" executioner.  Comp. Mark vi. 27. as arbitrator! which most women, not foreseeing, have been wont to discover either by the extortion of their property, or else by the loss of their faith.

CAPUT V.

Sed aliqui sustinent nostra, nec obstrepunt. Hoc est igitur delictum, quod gentiles nostra noverunt, quod sub conscientia istorum sumus, quod beneficium eorum est, si quid operamur. Non potest se dicere nescire, qui sustinet: aut si celatur, quia non sustinet, timetur. Cum autem Scriptura utrumque mandet, et sine alterius conscientia et sine nostra 1295B pressura operari Domino, nihil interest, in qua parte 1296A delinquas, aut in conscientia mariti, si scit ut patiens, aut in conflictatione tui, dum vitatur impatiens. Nolite, inquit, margaritas vestras porcis jactare, ne conculcent ea, et conversi vos quoque evertant (II Matth., VII, 6). Margaritae vestrae sunt quotidianae conversationis insignia. Quanto curaveris ea occultare, tanto suspectiora feceris et magis cavenda gentili curiositati. Latebisne tu, cum lectulum, cum corpusculum tuum signas, cum aliquid immundum flatu exspuis , cum etiam per noctem exsurgis oratum, et non magiae aliquid videberis operari? Non sciet maritus, quid secreto ante omnem cibum gustes; et si sciverit panem, non illum credit esse qui dicitur? Et haec ignorans quisque rationem simpliciter sustinebit, sine gemitu, sine suspicione panis an veneni? Sustinent 1296B quidam : sed ut inculcent, ut illudant hujusmodi 1297A foeminis, quarum arcana in periculum quod credunt servent, si forte laedantur ipsi; sustinent quarum dotes objectione nominis mercedem silentii faciant, scilicet apud arbitrum speculatorem litigaturi. Quod pleraeque non providentes, aut re excruciata, aut fide perdita recesserunt .