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Just as, then, malefactors at sea, wherever there is a city or a seaport or a harbor, do not attack those who are sailing; for this is to risk danger in vain. But if they catch the boat in the middle of the open sea, having the desolation of helpers as a provision for their audacity, they move and turn everything and do not desist until they either sink those sailing in it or suffer this themselves. So also this terrible pirate brings upon the virgin a great storm and a grievous squall and unbearable waves, stirring everything up and down, so as to capsize the boat by force and by violence. For he has heard that the virgin does not have coming together, but she must wrestle through everything, fight through everything against the spiritual forces of wickedness, until she truly sails into the calm harbor. For just as if he had shut a noble soldier outside the walls, Paul does not allow the gates to be opened for the virgin, even if the enemy rages fiercely against her, even if he becomes more vehement for this very reason, that the adversary has no opportunity for a truce. Not only the devil, but also the very sting of desire troubles the unmarried more greatly. And this is somehow clear to everyone. For of those things which we enjoy, we are not quickly captured by desire, since the license allows the soul to be at ease. And a certain proverb also testifies to this for us, a common one, but very true. For what is within one's power, it says, is not subject to strong desire. But if we are ever prevented from those things of which we were once masters, the opposite happens, and these things which were scorned by us because of our power over them, when they escape our authority, stir up our desire more vehemently. First, then, for this reason the calm is greater among the married; and second, because even if the flame should ever strive to be raised on high, intercourse, coming upon it, quickly puts it down. But the virgin, having nothing with which to quench the fire, sees it cresting and rising on high, but being unable to quench it, she becomes a fighter against the fire for one thing only: not to be burnt. Is there anything more paradoxical than this, to carry a whole pyre within and not be burned? To confine the flame in the storehouses of the soul, and to keep the mind untouched? For no one permits her to empty out these coals, but what the proverb-writer says is impossible in the nature of bodies, this she is compelled to endure in her soul. And what does he say? “Will one walk on coals of fire, and not burn his feet?” But behold, she walks and bears the torment. “Will one tie up fire in his bosom, and not burn his clothes?” But she, not in her clothes but having the fire within, raging and roaring, endures and contains the flame. Will anyone then dare, tell me, to compare marriage to virginity? Or even to look it in the face? But the blessed Paul does not permit it, having placed a great distance between each state. For the one, he says, is anxious about the things of the Lord, the other about the things of the world. Having therefore gathered the married together and favored them in this way, hear how he reproaches them again: “Come together again,” for he says, “so that Satan may not tempt you.” And wishing to show that the whole matter is not of his temptation but more of our own sluggishness, he added the more principal cause, saying “because of your lack of self-control.” Who then would not blush hearing these things? Who would not be eager to escape the blame for lack of self-control? For this exhortation is not for all, but for those who are exceedingly prostrate. If you are so a slave to pleasures, he says, if you are so dissolute as to be constantly poured out toward and gaping for intercourse, come together with your wife. The permission, therefore, is not of one who approves or praises, but of one who mocks and condemns. For if he had not greatly wished to censure the soul of pleasure-lovers, he would not have used the word “lack of self-control,” being more emphatic and containing great blame. For why did he not say “because of your weakness”? Because that was more of one who pardons, but to say “lack of self-control” is of one pointing out the of indolence

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Ὥσπερ οὖν οἱ κατὰ τὴν θάλατταν κακοῦργοι, ἔνθα μὲν ἂν ᾖ πόλις ἢ ἐπίνειον ἢ λιμήν, οὐκ ἐπιτίθενται τοῖς πλέουσι· τοῦτο γὰρ μάτην κινδυνεύειν ἐστίν. Ἂν δὲ ἐν μέσῳ τῷ πελάγει τὸ σκάφος ἀπολάβωσι, τὴν ἐρημίαν τῶν βοηθησόντων τῆς τόλμης ἐφόδιον ἔχοντες, πάντα κινοῦσι καὶ στρέφουσι καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἀφίστανται ἕως ἂν ἢ καταδύσωσι τοὺς ἐμπλέοντας ἢ τοῦτο πάθωσιν αὐτοί. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ δεινὸς οὗτος πειρατὴς τῇ παρθένῳ πολὺν ἐπάγει τὸν χειμῶνα καὶ χαλεπὴν τὴν ζάλην καὶ ἀφορήτους τὰς τρικυμίας, πάντα ἄνω καὶ κάτω κυκῶν, ὥστε τῇ βίᾳ καὶ τῇ ῥύμῃ περιτρέψαι τὸ σκάφος. Ἤκουσε γὰρ ὅτι τὸ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ συνέρχεσθαι ἡ παρθένος οὐκ ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἀνάγκη δι' ὅλου παλαίειν αὐτήν, δι' ὅλου μάχεσθαι πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας, ἕως ἂν εἰς τὸν εὔδιον ἀληθῶς καταπλεύσῃ λιμένα. Καθάπερ γὰρ στρατιώτην γενναῖον ἔξω τειχῶν ἀποκλείσας τὴν παρθένον ὁ Παῦλος, οὐκ ἀφίησιν ἀνοιγῆναι τὰς πύλας αὐτῇ, κἂν σφόδρα ὁ πολέμιος ἀγριαίνῃ πρὸς αὐτήν, κἂν αὐτῷ τούτῳ σφοδρότερος γίνηται, τῷ τὸν ἀντίπαλον μηδεμίαν ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἀνακωχῆς. Οὐχ ὁ διάβολος δὲ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας οἶστρος μειζόνως τοῖς μὴ γεγαμηκόσιν ἐνοχλεῖ. Καὶ τοῦτο παντί που δῆλόν ἐστιν. Ὧν μὲν γὰρ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ἔχομεν, οὐ ταχέως ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἁλισκόμεθα, τῆς ἀδείας τῇ ψυχῇ ῥαθυμεῖν συγχωρούσης. Καὶ τοῦτο καὶ παροιμία τις ἡμῖν μαρτυρεῖ, δημώδης μέν, σφόδρα δὲ ἀληθής. Τὸ γὰρ ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ, φησίν, ἕτοιμον οὐκ εἶναι πρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν σφοδρόν. Ἂν δέ ποτε κωλυθῶμεν ὧν πάλαι ἦμεν κύριοι, τοὐναντίον γίνεται καὶ τὰ δι' ἐξουσίαν παρ' ἡμῶν καταφρονούμενα ταῦτα ὅταν τὸ κῦρος ἡμῶν ἐκφύγῃ σφοδρότερον ἡμῶν τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν διήγειρε. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ταύτῃ μείζων παρὰ τοῖς γεγαμηκόσιν ἡ γαλήνη· δεύτερον δὲ ὅτι κἂν εἰς ὕψος ἀρθῆναι φιλονεικήσῃ ποτὲ ἡ φλόξ, καταστέλλει ταχέως αὐτὴν ἐπελθοῦσα ἡ μίξις. Ἡ δὲ παρθένος οὐκ ἔχουσα ὅτῳ σβέσει τὸ πῦρ, ὁρᾷ μὲν αὐτὸ κορυφούμενον καὶ εἰς ὕψος αἰρόμενον, σβέσαι δὲ οὐκ ἰσχύουσα ἑνὸς γίνεται μόνου τοῦ μὴ φλεχθῆναι μαχομένη πυρί. Ἆρα ἔστι τι τούτου παραδοξότερον, πᾶσαν ἔνδον βαστάζειν τὴν πυρὰν καὶ μὴ καίεσθαι; Συστρέφειν μὲν ἐν τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ταμιείοις τὴν φλόγα, ἀνέπαφον δὲ τὴν διάνοιαν διατηρεῖν; Οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῇ συγχωρεῖ τοὺς ἄνθρακας τούτους ἔξω κενῶσαι, ἀλλ' ὅπερ ὁ παροιμιαστὴς ἀδύνατον εἶναί φησιν ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν σωμάτων φύσεως, τοῦτο ὑπομένειν αὐτὴ καταναγκάζεται ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς. Τί δὲ ἐκεῖνός φησι; «Περιπατήσει τις ἐπ' ἀνθράκων πυρός, τοὺς δὲ πόδας οὐ κατακαύσει;» Ἀλλ' ἰδοὺ αὕτη περιπατεῖ καὶ φέρει τὴν βάσανον. «Ἀποδήσει τις πῦρ ἐν κόλπῳ, τὰ δὲ ἱμάτια οὐ κατακαύσει;» Αὕτη δὲ οὐκ ἐν ἰματίοις ἀλλ' ἔνδον ἔχουσα τὸ πῦρ ἀγριαῖνον καὶ ἠχοῦν, ἀνέχεται καὶ στέγει τὴν φλόγα. Ἔτ' οὖν τολμήσει τις, εἰπέ μοι, τῇ παρθενίᾳ τὸν γάμον παραβαλεῖν; Ἀντιβλέψαι δὲ ὅλως; Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀφίησιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος πολὺ τὸ μέσον ἑκατέρου τοῦ πράγματος θείς. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τὰ τοῦ κυρίου, φησίν, ἡ δὲ τὰ τοῦ κόσμου μεριμνᾷ. Συναγαγὼν τοίνυν εἰς ταὐτὸν τοὺς γεγαμηκότας καὶ ταύτῃ χαρισάμενος, ἄκουσον πῶς αὐτοῖς ὀνειδίζει πάλιν· «Ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό», γάρ φησι, «συνέρχεσθε ἵνα μὴ πειράζῃ ὑμᾶς ὁ Σατανᾶς.» Καὶ δεῖξαι βουλόμενος ὅτι οὐ τῆς ἐκείνου πείρας τὸ πᾶν ἐστιν ἀλλὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας νωθείας τὸ πλέον τὴν κυριωτέραν αἰτίαν ἐπήγαγε «διὰ τὴν ἀκρασίαν ὑμῶν» εἰπών. Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἐρυθριάσειε ταῦτα ἀκούων; Τίς οὐκ ἂν σπουδάσειεν ἐκφυγεῖν τῆς ἀκρασίας τὸν ψόγον; Οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς πάντας ἡ παραίνεσις αὕτη ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς σφόδρα κατωφερεῖς. Ἂν οὕτως ᾖς δοῦλος τῶν ἡδονῶν, φησίν, ἂν οὕτω χαῦνος ὡς διὰ παντὸς ἐκκεχύσθαι πρὸς τὴν μίξιν καὶ κεχηνέναι, συνέρχου τῇ γυναικί. Οὐκ ἄρα ἀποδεχομένου οὐδὲ ἐπαινοῦντος ἡ συγχώρησις ἀλλὰ σκώπτοντος καὶ καταγινώσκοντος. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν εἰ μὴ σφόδρα ἠθέλησε καθάψασθαι τῆς τῶν φιληδόνων ψυχῆς, τὴν τῆς ἀκρασίας ἔθηκε λέξιν, ἐμφατικωτέραν οὖσαν καὶ πολὺν ἔχουσαν τὸν ψόγον. ∆ιὰ τί γὰρ οὐκ εἶπε διὰ τὴν ἀσθένειαν ὑμῶν; Ὅτι ἐκεῖνο μᾶλλον συγγινώσκοντος ἦν, τὸ δὲ τῆς ἀκρασίας εἰπεῖν δεικνύντος τῆς ῥαθυμίας τὴν