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for those who would come after, the succession of cohabitation is indispensable, which it was fitting to honor as a law of God. But those joined to each other are no longer two, but one flesh; therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. 5.4.1 These things were said then to the Pharisees; but hear now, you who traffic in these things and easily change your wives like clothes; you who often and readily set up bridal chambers like festival workshops; you who marry for wealth and make merchandise of your wives; you who are slightly provoked and immediately write the bill of divorce; you who leave behind many widows while they are still living. 5.4.2 Be persuaded that marriage is dissolved only by death and adultery. For it is not as with courtesans, where a small number of days tests the cohabitation and hunts for pleasure alone, so it is also with those things accomplished by law and ordinance; but quite the contrary, O man, a certain union of both body and soul takes place, so that character is blended with character and flesh is in a way bound together with flesh. 5.4.3 How then do you cut it apart without feeling? How do you depart easily and without pain, having taken a partner in life, not a servant for a few days, your sister and wife? Sister, on the one hand, according to the account of her formation and creation, for from one source of the earth and the same matter you have your being; wife, on the other hand, through the union of the yoke, through the law of marriage. 5.4.4 What bond then will you break, being bound both by law and by nature? And how will you set aside the agreements which you established at the wedding? And which ones do you think I mean? The dowry written down here, when with your own hand you signed the book, sealing what was being accomplished? 5.4.5 For those things too are strong and have sufficient security; but I refer myself to the voice of Adam; This is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bones; she shall be called my wife. 5.4.6 This voice is not preserved in writing in vain, but it is a common confession of men, set forth through the one person of this first man for the common multitude of women who are joined to men by law. And do not be surprised if one is held accountable for what another said. For all things that happened concerning the first-formed in the beginning, these became the nature of the subsequent race. 5.5.1 If then the wife who has been put away in vain, taking the book of the creation of the world, should drag you before the judge, the same one who is both judge and witness, what will you say, tell me? How will you erase your own voice, which you made before God, of which Moses the servant of God became the writer instead of a cheap notary? 5.5.2 God gave the woman, without father and mother, to Adam, and for this reason, like a good guardian, He secured the orphan; but now the daughters make strong use of the mother's rights against ungrateful and faithless men, so that for you contempt of your wife is impossible from any quarter, bound as you are both by the ancient divine laws and the new human ones. 5.5.3 But let the usefulness of a wife for life also put you to shame. She is a member, she is a helper; a fellow-worker for the conduct of life, for the begetting of children; a support in sickness, a comfort in afflictions, a guardian of the hearth, a treasure of possessions; grieving at the same things, rejoicing at the same things; possessing wealth in common, if there should be any; managing wretched poverty, resourcefully and steadfastly enduring the painful things from it, enduring laborious child-rearing because of her cohabitation with you. 5.5.4 And if somewhere a crisis of affairs should overtake you, having been overwhelmed, he disappears; but supposed friends, measuring friendship by the time of prosperity, withdraw in terrible times; slaves flee both the master and his misfortunes together. 5.5.5 There remains then the wife, the member of the ailing part and the servant of troubles and of her husband's care, wiping away the tear; healing the wound, if he is scourged; following him as he is led to prison; and if someone allows her to enter with him, gladly of the imprisonment

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γενησομένοις εἰς ἔπειτα τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῆς συνοικήσεως ἀπαραίτητον, ἣν τιμᾶν προσῆκεν ὡς νόμον Θεοῦ. Οἱ δὲ ἀλλήλοις συναφθέντες οὐκ ἔτι εἰσὶ δύο, ἀλλὰ σὰρξ μία· ὥστε ὃ συνέζευξεν ὁ Θεός, ἄνθρω πος μὴ χωριζέτω. 5.4.1 Ἐλέχθη μὲν ταῦτα τοῖς Φαρισαίοις τότε· ἀκούσατε δὲ νῦν, οἱ τούτων κάπηλοι καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ὡς ἱμάτια εὐκόλως μετενδυόμενοι· οἱ τὰς παστάδας πολλάκις καὶ ῥᾳδίως πηγνύντες ὡς πανηγύρεως ἐργασ τήρια· οἱ τὰς εὐπορίας γαμοῦντες καὶ τὰς γυναῖκας ἐμπορευόμενοι· οἱ μικρὸν παροξυνόμενοι καὶ εὐθὺς τὸ βιβλίον τῆς διαιρέσεως γράφοντες· οἱ πολλὰς χήρας ἐν τῷ ζῆν ἔτι καταλιμπάνοντες. 5.4.2 Πείσθητε, ὅτι γάμος θανάτῳ μόνῳ καὶ μοιχείᾳ διακόπτεται. Οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῶν ἑταιρίδων ὀλίγος ἡμερῶν ἀριθμὸς πειράζει τὴν συμβίωσιν καὶ μόνην θηρεύει τὴν ἡδονήν, οὕτως ἐστὶ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν νόμῳ καὶ θεσμῷ τελουμένων· ἀλλὰ πᾶν τοὐναντίον, ὦ ἄνθρωπε, μία τις ἕνωσις γίνεται καὶ σώματος καὶ ψυχῆς, ὡς καὶ τὸ ἦθος τῷ ἤθει συνανακιρνᾶσθαι καὶ τὴν σάρκα τῇ σαρκὶ τρόπον τινὰ συνδεδέσθαι. 5.4.3 Πῶς οὖν ἀπαθῶς διατέμνῃ; Πῶς εὐκόλως καὶ χωρὶς ἀλγηδόνος ἀναχωρεῖς, βίου κοινωνὸν λαβών, οὐκ ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν ὑπηρέτιν, τὴν ἀδελφὴν καὶ γυναῖκα; Ἀδελφὴν μὲν κατὰ τὸν λόγον τῆς πλάσεως καὶ τῆς δημιουργίας ἀφ' ἑνὸς γὰρ αἰτίου τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ὕλης ὑπέστητε· γυναῖκα δὲ διὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς συζυγίας, διὰ τὸν νόμον τοῦ γάμου. 5.4.4 Ποῖον οὖν διαρρήξεις δεσμὸν καὶ νόμῳ δεδεμένος καὶ φύσει; Πῶς δὲ ἀθετήσεις τὰς ὁμολογίας ἃς ἐπὶ τῷ γάμῳ κατέθου; Καὶ ποίας με οἴει λέγειν; Ἆρα τῆς προικὸς τῆς συγγραφείσης ἐνταῦθα, ὅτε τῇ σαυτοῦ χειρὶ ἐπεσημήνω τῷ βιβλίῳ ἐπισφραγιζόμενος τὰ τελούμενα; 5.4.5 Ἰσχυρὰ μὲν γὰρ κἀκεῖνα καὶ ἱκανὴν τὴν ἀσφάλειαν ἔχοντα· πλὴν ἐγὼ πρὸς τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἐμαυτὸν ἀναφέρω· Τοῦτο σὰρξ ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν μου καὶ ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου· αὕτη κληθήσεται μου γυνή. 5.4.6 Αὕτη ἡ φωνὴ οὐ μάτην ἀνάγραπτος σώζεται, ἀλλὰ κοινή ἐστιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὁμολογία, δι' ἑνὸς προσώπου τοῦ πρώτου τούτου κοίνῳ πλήθει τῶν γυναικῶν ἐκτεθεῖσα τῶν νόμῳ τοῖς ἀνδράσιν συναπτομένων. Καὶ μὴ θαυμάσῃς, εἰ ἐξ ὧν ἄλλος εἶπεν, ἄλλος εὐθύνεται. Πάντα γὰρ ὅσα περὶ τῶν πρωτοπλάστων ἐν ἀρχαῖς συνέβη, ταῦτα τοῦ ἀκολούθου γένους φύσις ἐγένετο. 5.5.1 Ἂν οὖν λαβοῦσα τὸ τῆς κοσμοποιίας βιβλίον ἡ μάτην ἀφιεμένη γύνη ἑλκύσῃ σε πρὸς τὸν δικαστήν δικαστὴν τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ μάρτυρα, τί λέξεις, εἰπέ; Πῶς ἐξαλείψεις τὴν σαυτοῦ φωνήν, ἣν ἐπὶ Θεοῦ ἐποιήσω, ἧς συγγραφεὺς ἀντὶ εὐώνου συμβολαιογράφου Μωϋσῆς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ θεράπων ἐγένετο; 5.5.2 Ἀπάτορα καὶ ἀμήτορα τὴν γυναῖκα ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐξέδοτο καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὡς ἀγαθὸς κηδεμὼν τὴν ὀρφανὴν ἠσφα λίσατο· τοῖς τῆς μητρὸς δὲ νῦν δικαιώμασιν ἰσχυρῶς αἱ θυγατέρες κέχρηνται κατὰ τῶν ἀγνωμόνων καὶ ἀπίστων ἀνδρῶν, ὥστε σοι παντα χόθεν ἡ καταφρόνησις τῆς γαμετῆς ἀδύνατος, καὶ ἀρχαίοις νόμοις τοῖς θείοις καὶ νέοις τοῖς ἀνθρωπικοῖς δεδεμένῳ. 5.5.3 ∆υσωπείτω δέ σε καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον τῆς γυναικὸς πρὸς τὸν βίον. Μέλος ὑπάρχει, βοηθός ἐστιν· συνεργὸς εἰς διαγωγὴν τοῦ βίου, εἰς παίδων γένεσιν· νόσου ἐπίκουρος, θλίψεων παραμυθία, φύλαξ τῆς ἑστίας, θησαυρὸς τῶν κτημάτων· τὰ αὐτὰ λυπουμένη, τὰ αὐτὰ χαίρουσα· κοινὸν κεκτημένη τὸν πλοῦτον, εἰ παρείη· τὴν μοχθηρὰν οἰκονομοῦσα πενίαν, εὐμηχάνως καὶ καρτερῶς ἀντέχουσα πρὸς τὰ παρ' ἐκείνης ὀδυνηρά, ἐπιμόχθου παιδοτροφίας ἀνεχομένη διὰ τὴν πρὸς σὲ συνοίκησιν. 5.5.4 Ἂν δέ που καὶ περίστασις καταλάβῃ πραγμάτων, βαπτισθεὶς ἀφανίζεται· οἱ δὲ νομιζόμενοι φίλοι τῷ καιρῷ τῆς εὐπραγίας τὴν φιλίαν μετροῦντες ὑποχωροῦσιν ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς· οἱ δοῦλοι καὶ τὸν δεσπότην ὁμοῦ καὶ τὰς συμφορὰς δραπετεύουσιν. 5.5.5 Λείπεται λοιπὸν ἡ γυνή, τοῦ νοσοῦντος μέρους τὸ μέλος καὶ τῶν κακῶν δούλη καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς θεραπείας, τὸ δάκρυον ἀποψῶσα· τὴν πληγήν, ἂν μαστιχθῇ, θεραπεύουσα· ἀκολουθοῦσα πρὸς δεσμωτήριον ἀγομένῳ· κἂν μέν τις ἀφῇ συνεισελθεῖν, ἡδέως τῆς καθείρξεως