21. Therefore hear me, O virgins, as a parent; hear, I beseech you, one who fears while he warns; hear one who is faithfully consulting for your advantage and your profit. Be such as God the Creator made you; be such as the hand of your Father ordained you. Let your countenance remain in you incorrupt, your neck unadorned, your figure simple; let not wounds be made in your ears, nor let the precious chain of bracelets and necklaces circle your arms or your neck; let your feet be free from golden bands, your hair stained with no dye, your eyes worthy of beholding God. Let your baths be performed with women, among whom your bathing is modest.35    Otherwise read, “among you;” or possibly, “whose bathing is modest towards you.” Let the shameless feasts and lascivious banquets of marriages be avoided, the contagion of which is perilous. Overcome dress, since you are a virgin; overcome gold, since you overcome the flesh and the world. It is not consistent to be unable to be conquered by the greater, and to be found no match for the less. Strait and narrow is the way which leadeth to life; hard and difficult is the track which tends to glory. By this pathway the martyrs progress, the virgins pass, the just of all kinds advance. Avoid the broad and roomy ways. There are deadly snares and death-bringing pleasures; there the devil flatters, that he may deceive; smiles, that he may do mischief; entices, that he may slay. The first fruit for the martyrs is a hundred-fold; the second is yours, sixty-fold. As with the martyrs there is no thought of the flesh and of the world, no small, and trifling, and delicate encounter; so also in you, whose reward is second in grace, let there be the strength in endurance next to theirs. The ascent to great things is not easy. What toil we suffer, what labour, when we endeavour to ascend the hills and the tops of mountains! What, then, that we may ascend to heaven? If you look to the reward of the promise, your labour is less. Immortality is given to the persevering, eternal life is set before them; the Lord promises a kingdom.

XXI. Audite itaque me , virgines, ut parentem; audite, quaeso, vos timentem pariter ac monentem; audite utilitatibus et commodis vestris fideliter consulentem. Estote tales quales vos Deus artifex fecit: 0460A estote tales quales vos manus Patris instituit: maneat in vobis facies incorrupta, cervix pura, forma sincera. Non inferantur auribus vulnera, nec brachia includat aut colla de armillis et monilibus catena pretiosa; sint a compedibus aureis pedes liberi, crines nullo colore fucati, oculi conspiciendo Deo digni. Celebrentur lavacra cum feminis, quarum inter vos pudica lavatio est. Nuptiarum festa improba et convivia lasciva vitentur, quorum periculosa contagio est. Vince vestem, quae virgo es: vince aurum, quae carnem vincis et saeculum. Non est ejusdem non posse a majoribus vinci et imparem minoribus inveniri. Arcta et angusta est via quae ducit ad vitam (Matth. VII, 14) durus et arduus est limes qui tendit ad gloriam (Ib. 13). Per hunc viae limitem martyres pergunt, eunt 0460B virgines, justi quique gradiuntur. Lata et spatiosa itinera vitate. Lethales illic illecebrae et mortiferae voluptates. Illic diabolus blanditur ut fallat, arridet ut noceat, illicit ut occidat. Primus, cum centeno, martyrum fructus est, secundus, sexagenarius, vester est. 0461A Ut apud martyres non est carnis et saeculi cogitatio, nec parva et levis et delicata congressio, sic et in vobis, quarum ad gratiam merces secunda est, sit et virtus ad tolerantiam proxima. Non est ad magna facilis ascensus. Quem sudorem perpetimur, quem laborem, cum conamur ascendere colles et vertices montium? Quid, ut ascendamus ad coelum? Si praemium pollicitationis attendas, minus est quod laboras. Immortalitas perseveranti datur, perpetua vita promittitur, regnum Dominus pollicetur.