18. No one indeed of these six widows could come up to your standard. For you, in case that you shall have maintained this vow even unto old age, mayest have all the three things wherein the desert of Anna excelled. For both thou hast had one husband, and he lived not long with thee in the flesh; and, by this means, in case that thou shall show forth obedience to the words of the Apostle, saying, “But she who is a widow indeed and desolate, hath hoped in the Lord, and persevereth in prayers night and day,”42    1 Tim. v. 5, 6 and with sober watchfulness shall shun what follows, “But she who passes her time in delights, living is dead,” all those three goods, which were Anna’s, shall be thine also. But you have sons also, which haply she had not. And yet you are not on this account to be praised, that you have them, but that you are zealous to nurture and educate them piously. For that they were born to thee, was of fruitfulness; that they are alive, is of good fortune; that they be so brought up, is of your will and disposal.43    Potestatis In the former let men congratulate you, in this let them imitate you. Anna, through prophetic knowledge, recognized Christ with His virgin Mother; thee the grace of the Gospel hath made the mother of a virgin of Christ. Therefore that holy virgin,44    Demetrias, whose grandmother was Proba Faltonia, her mother, Juliana. See S. Aug. Ep. 130. and 150. Vol. I, pp. 459, 503, sqq. whom herself willing and seeking it ye have offered unto Christ, hath added something of virginal desert also unto the widowed deserts of her grandmother and mother. For ye who have her, fail not to have something thence; and in her ye are, what in yourselves ye are not. For that holy virginity should be taken from you at your marriage, was on this account brought to pass, in order that she should be born of you.

18. Nulla quidem istarum sex viduarum tuae normae adaequatur. Tu enim si hoc votum ad senectutem usque perduxeris, omnia tria potes habere, quibus Annae meritum excelluit. Nam et unum virum habuisti, et non diu tecum vixit in carne: ac per hoc si exhibueris obedientiam verbis Apostoli dicentis, Quae autem vere vidua est et desolata, speravit in Dominum, et persistit in orationibus nocte ac die; atque illud quod sequitur sobria vigilantia devitaveris, Quae autem in diliciis agit, vivens mortua est (I Tim. V, 5, 6): omnia illa tria bona quae Annae fuerunt, et tua erunt. Tibi autem sunt et filii, quos forte illa non habuit: nec ideo laudanda es, quia eos habes, sed quia pie nutrire atque educare studes. Ut enim tibi nascerentur, fecunditatis; ut vivant, felicitatis est: ut autem sic instituantur, voluntatis et potestatis. In illis tibi homines gratulentur , in hoc te imitentur. Anna per propheticam scientiam cognovit apud matrem virginem Christum; te evangelica gratia fecit matrem virginis Christi. Illa itaque sancta virgo, quam Christo volentem et petentem obtulistis, vidualibus aviae matrisque meritis addidit aliquid de merito virginali . Non enim nihil inde habetis, quae hanc habetis: et in illa estis, quod in vobis non estis. Nam ut sancta virginitas adimeretur nubentibus vobis, ideo factum est, ut nasceretur ex vobis.