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gold and braided hair? For did you come to dance? For to take part in a wedding? For did you come to a procession? There gold, there braided hair, there expensive clothes have their season; but now there is no need for any of these things. You came to beseech, to pray for your sins, to intercede for your offenses, asking the Master, to make him merciful; why do you adorn yourself? These are not the attire of a supplicant. How can you groan? How can you weep? How can you pray earnestly, clothed in such an attire? Even if you weep, your tears will be a laugh to those who see you; for it is not fitting for one who weeps to wear gold; since it is a stage and hypocrisy. For how is it not a stage, when from the very mind, from which such great luxury and ambition was born, from the same mind tears are also shed? Take away all that hypocrisy; God is not mocked. These things are for mimes and dancers who spend their days on the stage; but for a modest woman, none of these things is fitting. With modesty, he says, and self-control. 2. Therefore, do not imitate the courtesans; for through this attire they attract many lovers, and from this many have often received an evil suspicion, and have gained nothing from this adornment; for they have harmed many through this reputation. For just as she who has committed fornication, even if she has the reputation of being chaste, has gained nothing from the reputation, when he who judges secret things then brings all things to light; so also the chaste woman, if she contrives through her attire to get the reputation of an adulteress, has gained nothing from her chastity; for many have been harmed through this reputation. What then do I suffer, she says, if another suspects me? You give the occasion through your attire, through your glance, through your movements. For this reason Paul has much to say about dress, much about modesty. But if he took away these things which are only signs of wealth, gold, pearls, expensive clothing, how much more those which are of affectation, such as powders, painting of the eyes, a mincing walk, an affected voice, a languid eye full of all fornication, a studied draping of the cloak, of the tunic, an over-elaborate girdle, finished shoes? For he alluded to all these things by saying, In modest apparel, and by saying, With modesty; for these things are of shamelessness and indecency. Bear with me, I beseech you; for my discourse brings the reproof more openly, not to strike, nor to grieve, but to remove all that is foreign to the flock. If he forbids these things to those who have husbands, to those who live in luxury, to those who are wealthy, how much more to those who have professed virginity. And what virgin, she says, puts on gold? or braided hair? Such is the affectation of a plain attire, that 62.542 these things are nothing in comparison to it. For it is possible even through humble garments to be more adorned than those who are clothed in gold. For when the tunic is very dark blue, and gathered with a girdle with great precision around the chest, just like those who dance on the stage, so that it neither goes out to a swollen breadth, nor is drawn into thinness, but is a mean between both, and has many folds around the breast, is not this able to entice more than many silk garments? And what, when the shoe in its blackness shines brightly of itself, ending in a point, and imitates the elegance in paintings, so as not to support the ankle much? and what, when you do not adorn your face with powders, but wash it with much precision and leisure, and stretch over your forehead a veil much whiter than your face, then put the cloak on top, so that the black may stand out against the white? What could one say about those countless rollings of the eyes? about the fastening, which is now hidden, now exposed in the fastening of the breast-band? for they often bare this also, so that

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χρυσία καὶ ἐμπλέγματα; μὴ γὰρ χορεῦσαι ἦλθες; μὴ γὰρ γάμων μεθέξουσα; μὴ γὰρ εἰς πομπὴν παρεγένου; Ἐκεῖ τὰ χρυσία, ἐκεῖ τὰ ἐμπλέγματα, ἐκεῖ τὰ πολυτελῆ ἱμάτια ἔχει καιρόν· νῦν δὲ οὐδενὸς χρεία τούτων. Ἦλθες παρακαλέσαι, δεηθῆναι ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτημάτων, ἐντευξομένη ὑπὲρ ὧν προσέκρουσας, αἰτουμένη τὸν ∆εσπότην, ἵλεω καταστήσουσα αὐτόν· τί κοσμεῖς σαυτήν; Οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα ἱκετευούσης τὰ σχήματα. Πῶς δύνασαι στενάξαι; πῶς δύνασαι δακρῦσαι; πῶς μετὰ ἐκτενείας εὔξασθαι, τοιοῦτον σχῆμα περικειμένη; Κἂν δακρύσῃς, γέλως ἔσται τὰ δάκρυα τοῖς ὁρῶσιν· οὐ γὰρ χρυσοφορεῖν τὴν δακρύουσαν δεῖ· ἐπεὶ σκηνή ἐστι καὶ ὑπόκρισις. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ σκηνὴ, ὅταν ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς διανοίας, ἀφ' ἧς ἡ τοσαύτη πολυτέλεια καὶ φιλοτιμία ἐτέχθη, ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς καὶ δάκρυα προχέηται; Περίελε πᾶσαν ἐκείνην τὴν ὑπόκρισιν· Θεὸς οὐ παίζεται. Ταῦτα τῶν μίμων καὶ τῶν ὀρχηστῶν ἐστι τῶν ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς διημερευόντων· γυναικὶ δὲ κοσμίᾳ οὐδὲν τούτων πρέπει. Μετὰ αἰδοῦς, φησὶ, καὶ σωφροσύνης. βʹ. Μὴ τοίνυν τὰς ἑταιριζομένας μιμοῦ· διὰ γὰρ τούτου τοῦ σχήματος ἐκεῖναι πολλοὺς ἐπισπῶνται τοὺς ἐραστὰς, κἀντεῦθεν πολλαὶ πονηρὰν ἔλαβον ὑποψίαν πολλάκις, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἀπώναντο· πολλοὺς γὰρ διὰ τῆς δόξης ταύτης ἔβλαψαν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡ πεπορνευμένη κἂν ἔχῃ σώφρονος δόξαν, οὐδὲν τῆς δόξης ἀπώνατο, τοῦ τὰ κρύφια δικάζοντος τότε πάντα εἰς μέσον ἄγοντος· οὕτως οὐδὲ ἡ σώφρων, ἂν ἐπιτηδεύσῃ διὰ τοῦ σχήματος μοιχείας δόξαν λαβεῖν, ἀπώνατό τι τῆς σωφροσύνης· πολλοὶ γὰρ διὰ τῆς δόξης ταύτης ἐβλάβησαν. Τί οὖν ἐγὼ πάθω, φησὶν, ἂν ἕτερος ὑποπτεύσῃ; Σὺ δίδως τὴν ἀφορμὴν διὰ τοῦ σχήματος, διὰ τοῦ βλέμματος, διὰ τῶν κινημάτων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πολὺς τῷ Παύλῳ λόγος τῆς ἀμφιάσεως, πολὺς τῆς αἰδοῦς. Εἰ δὲ ἃ πλούτου μόνον ἐστὶ τεκμήρια ταῦτα περιεῖλε, χρυσὸν, μαργαρίτας, ἱμάτια πολυτελῆ, πῶς οὐ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἃ περιεργίας ἐστὶν, οἷον ἐπιτρίμματα, ὑπογραφὰς ὀφθαλμῶν, διατεθρυμμένην βάδισιν, διακεκλασμένην φωνὴν, ὄμμα ὑγρὸν καὶ πάσης πορνείας γέμον, περίεργον ἀναβολὴν τοῦ φάρους, τοῦ χιτωνίσκου, ζώνην περιεργοτέραν, ὑποδήματα ἀπηρτισμένα; Ἅπαντα γὰρ ταῦτα διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν, Ἐν καταστολῇ κοσμίᾳ, ᾐνίξατο, καὶ διὰ τοῦ εἰπεῖν, Μετὰ αἰδοῦς· ταῦτα γὰρ ἀναιδείας ἐστὶ καὶ ἀσχημοσύνης. Ἀνάσχεσθέ μου, παρακαλῶ· γυμνότερον γὰρ ὁ λόγος τὸν ἔλεγχον προσάγει, οὐχ ἵνα πλήξῃ, οὐδ' ἵνα λυπήσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα τὸ ἀλλότριον τῆς ἀγέλης ἅπαν περιέλῃ. Εἰ ταῖς ἄνδρας ἐχούσαις, εἰ ταῖς τρυφώσαις, εἰ ταῖς πλουτούσαις ταῦτα ἀπαγορεύει, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ταῖς παρθενίαν ἀναδεδεγμέναις. Καὶ τίς, φησὶ, παρθένος χρυσία περιτίθεται; τίς δὲ ἐμπλέγματα; Τοσαύτη ἡ τοῦ λιτοῦ σχήματός ἐστι περιεργία, ὡς 62.542 ταῦτα μηδὲν εἶναι πρὸς ἐκεῖνα. Ἔνεστι γὰρ καὶ δι' εὐτελῶν ἱματίων μᾶλλον καλλωπίζεσθαι τῶν τὰ χρυσία περικειμένων. Ὅταν γὰρ σφόδρα ᾖ κυανὸς ὁ χιτὼν, καὶ τῇ ζώνῃ συνεσταλμένος μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας περὶ τὸ στῆθος, καθάπερ τούτων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς ὀρχουμένων, ὥστε μήτε εἰς πλάτος ἐκβαίνειν ἐξωγκωμένον, μήτε εἰς ἰσχνότητα συστέλλεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀμφοτέρων εἶναι μέσον, καὶ πολλὰς ἔχειν περὶ τὰ στέρνα τὰς ῥυτίδας, πόσων σηρικῶν οὐχ ἱκανὸν τοῦτο δελεάσαι μᾶλλον; Τί δὲ, ὅταν τὸ ὑπόδημα ἐν τῷ μέλανι σφόδρα ἀποστίλβῃ δι' αὐτοῦ, λῆγον εἰς ὀξὺ, καὶ τὴν ἐν ταῖς ζωγραφίαις εὐφυΐαν ᾖ μιμούμενον, ὥστε μήτε τὸν ταρσὸν ἀνέχειν πολύ; τί δὲ, ὅταν τὴν ὄψιν ἐπιτρίμμασι μὲν μὴ καλλωπίζῃς, ἀπονίπτῃς δὲ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας καὶ τῆς σχολῆς, καὶ διατείνῃς μετὰ τοῦ μετώπου πολὺ τῆς ὄψεως λευκότερον τὸ κάλυμμα, εἶτα ἄνωθεν τὸ φάρος ἐπιτιθῇς, ὡς ἂν τῷ λευκῷ τὸ μέλαν ἐμπρέπῃ; Τί ἄν τις εἴποι περὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τὰς μυρίας ἐκείνας περιστροφάς; περὶ τῆς δέσεως, τῆς νῦν μὲν κρυπτομένης, νῦν δὲ γυμνουμένης ἐν τῇ δέσει τῆς περιστηθίδος; καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο γυμνοῦσι πολλάκις, ὥστε