42

For women who commit such evils are present in the baths and churches. And often, apart from them, the women wearing gold, being pushed and pressed by the crowd, do not even notice when some of their gold has fallen off. Thus indeed many have lost not only these things, but necklaces composed of precious stones, much more valuable than these, which have been broken and have fallen off. But let this not be a fear, and let this concern be removed.

62 That wearing gold both spoils beauty and aggravates ugliness. Another saw, he says, and admired. But not her who wore them, but the things she wore; and for this reason he often disparaged her, as being adorned by them beyond her worth. For if she is beautiful, it spoils the beauty of her nature. For that great adornment does not allow it to appear unadorned, carrying off the greatest part of it; but if she is ugly and ill-favored, it has thus made her more displeasing. For ugliness, when appearing everywhere by itself, appears only as much as it is; but when the brilliance of stones and the beauty of some other material is set beside it, it is intensified into greater ugliness. For the light of a pearl placed upon the blackness of the body shows it to be much blacker, gleaming as if in darkness, and the flowers of the garments reveal the ill-formed nature of the face to be much worse, not allowing the form of the countenance to contend on its own merits with the spectators, but against that artificial and incomparable beauty, whence the defeat becomes greater. For the gold scattered on the garments, and the great variety from those who fashion such things, and all the rest of the adornment, just like some noble athlete, in good condition and vigorous, thrusting aside some mangy, shameful, and starving antagonist, so, having cast down the glory of the wearer's face, it draws the spectators to itself, causing her to be ridiculed all the more, and itself to be admired excessively.

63 What is the adornment of virginity and what is its beauty. But the adornment of virginity is not such. For it does not spoil the one who wears it, since it is not physical, but entirely of the soul. And for this reason, if she is ill-favored, it immediately changes her ugliness, clothing her with incomparable beauty, and if she is fair and radiant, it has made her more brilliant. For neither stones and gold, nor costly garments, nor the various costly flowers of dyes, nor anything else of that sort among those perishable things adorns souls, but instead of these: fasts, sacred vigils, meekness, gentleness, poverty, courage, humility, endurance—in a word, contempt for all the affairs of the present life. For her eye is so beautiful and comely as to have for a lover, instead of men, the incorporeal powers and their Master. And it is so pure and clear as to be able to perceive incorporeal beauties instead of corporeal ones, and so gentle and calm as not to grow savage or rise up against those who wrong and continually grieve her, but even to look upon them sweetly and graciously. And such modesty surrounds her that even the intemperate are ashamed and blush and give way from their own madness whenever they look intently at her. And just as the serving maid of a modest woman must herself be such, even if she does not wish it, so also the flesh of a soul that so philosophizes must regulate its own impulses according to that soul's movements. For eye and tongue and posture and gait and all things, in a word, are characterized by the inward good order; and just as a precious ointment, even if it is shut up in a vessel, tinges the air with its own fragrance, filling with pleasure not only those inside and standing near, but also all those outside, so also the fragrance of a virgin's soul, flowing around through the senses, reveals the virtue laid up within, and casting the golden reins of seemliness upon all, each of the horses in great

42

γὰρ ἐν βαλανείοις καὶ ἐκκλησίαις παραγίνονται αἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα κακουργοῦσαι γυναῖκες. Κἀκείνων δὲ πολλάκις χωρὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους ὠθούμεναι καὶ πιεζόμεναι αἱ χρυσοφοροῦσαι οὐδὲ αἰσθάνονται ἐκπεσόντος αὐταῖς τῶν χρυσίων τινός. Οὕτω γοῦν πολλαὶ οὐ ταῦτα μόνον ἀλλὰ πολλῷ τούτων ἔτι τιμιώτερα περιδέραια ἀπὸ τιμίων συγκείμενα λίθων διασπασθέντα καὶ ἐκπεσόντα ἀπώλεσαν. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ μηδὲ οὗτος ἔστω ὁ φόβος ἀλλὰ καὶ αὕτη ἐξῃρήσθω ἡ φροντίς.

62 Ὅτι τὸ χρυσοφορεῖν καὶ τῷ κάλλει λυμαίνεται καὶ τὴν ἀμορφίαν ἐπιτείνει. Εἶδεν ἕτερος, φησί, καὶ ἐθαύμασεν. Ἀλλὰ οὐ τὴν περικειμένην ἀλλὰ τὰ περικείμενα, ἐκείνην δὲ διὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐκάκισε πολλάκις ὥσπερ παρὰ τὴν ἀξίαν κοσμουμένην αὐτοῖς. Ἂν μὲν γὰρ εὔμορφος ᾖ, λυμαίνεται τῷ κάλλει τῆς φύσεως. Ὁ πολὺς γὰρ κόσμος ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἀφίησιν αὐτὸ φαίνεσθαι γυμνόν, τὸ πλεῖστον αὐτοῦ μέρος ἀποφερόμενος· ἐὰν δὲ ἄμορφος ᾖ καὶ δυσειδής, ἀτερπεστέραν ἀπέδειξεν οὕτω μᾶλλον αὐτήν. Ἡ γὰρ ἀμορφία πανταχοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὴν μὲν φαινομένη ὅσον ἐστὶ φαίνεται μόνον· ὅταν δὲ αὐτῇ παραβάλληται λίθων λαμπρότης καὶ ἑτέρας τινὸς ὕλης κάλλος, ἐπιτείνεται εἰς δυσείδειαν μειζόνως. Τό τε γὰρ τοῦ σώματος μέλαν πολλῷ μελάντερον δείκνυσιν ἐπικείμενον τοῦ μαργαρίτου τὸ φῶς καὶ ὥσπερ ἐν σκότῳ στίλβον, τό τε τοῦ προσώπου δυσδιάπλαστον τὰ τῶν ἱματίων ἄνθη πολὺ κάκιον ἀποφαίνει οὐκ ἀφιέντα καθ' ἑαυτὸν ἀγωνίζεσθαι τὸν τῆς ὄψεως τύπον παρὰ τοῖς θεαταῖς, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ χειροποίητον ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἀμήχανον κάλλος ὅθεν μείζων ἡ ἧττα γίνεται. Ὁ γὰρ διεσπαρμένος ἐν τοῖς ἱματίοις χρυσὸς καὶ ἡ πολλὴ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐργαζομένων ποικιλία καὶ ὁ λοιπὸς κόσμος ἅπας καθάπερ τις ἀθλητὴς γενναῖος εὐεκτῶν καὶ σφριγῶν ψωραλέον τινὰ καὶ αἰσχρὸν καὶ λιμώττοντα παρωσάμενος ἀνταγωνιστήν, οὕτω τὴν τοῦ προσώπου δόξαν τῆς περικειμένης καταβαλὼν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπᾶται τοὺς θεατάς, ἐκείνην μὲν καταγελᾶσθαι μειζόνως, αὐτὸν δὲ μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς θαυμάζεσθαι παρασκευάζων.

63 Τίς ὁ κόσμος τῆς παρθενίας καὶ τί τὸ κάλλος. Ἀλλ' οὐχ ὁ τῆς παρθενίας κόσμος τοιοῦτος. Οὐ γὰρ λυμαίνεται τῇ περικειμένῃ ἐπειδὴ μηδ' ἐστὶ σωματικὸς ἀλλὰ τῆς ψυχῆς ὅλος. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἄν τε δυσειδὴς ᾖ, μετέβαλε τὴν δυσείδειαν εὐθέως κάλλος περιθεῖσα ἀμήχανον, ἄν τε ὡραία καὶ φαιδρά, λαμπροτέραν εἰργάσατο. Οὐ γὰρ λίθοι καὶ χρυσὸς οὐδὲ ἱματίων πολυτέλεια οὐδὲ χρωμάτων πολυτελῆ ἄνθη διάφορα οὐδὲ ἄλλο τοιοῦτον οὐδὲν τῶν φθαρτῶν ἐκείνων κοσμεῖ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀλλ' ἀντὶ τούτων νηστεῖαι, παννυχίδες ἱεραί, πραότης, ἐπιείκεια, πενία, ἀνδρεία, ταπεινοφροσύνη, καρτερία-πάντων ἁπλῶς τῶν ἐν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ πραγμάτων ὑπεροψία. Καὶ γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸς αὐτῇ οὕτω μὲν καλὸς καὶ εὐπρεπὴς ὡς ἀντὶ ἀνθρώπων τὰς ἀσωμάτους δυνάμεις καὶ τὸν τούτων δεσπότην ἔχειν ἐραστήν. Οὕτω δὲ καθαρὸς καὶ διειδὴς ὡς ἀντὶ τῶν σωματικῶν τὰ ἀσώματα κάλλη δύνασθαι καθορᾶν, οὕτω δὲ ἥμερος καὶ γαληνὸς ὡς μηδὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδικοῦντας καὶ συνεχῶς λυποῦντας ἀγριαίνειν καὶ διανίστασθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τούτους ἡδὺ καὶ μειλίχιον ἐνορᾶν. Κοσμιότης δὲ αὐτῇ τοσαύτη περίκειται ὡς καὶ τοὺς ἀκολάστους αἰσχύνεσθαι καὶ ἐρυθριᾶν καὶ τῆς οἰκείας ἐνδιδόναι μανίας ὅταν πρὸς αὐτὴν ἴδωσιν ἀκριβῶς. Ὥσπερ δὲ γυναικὶ κοσμίᾳ τὴν διακονουμένην θεράπαιναν καὶ αὐτὴν εἶναι τοιαύτην ἀνάγκη κἂν μὴ βούληται, οὕτω καὶ τὴν σάρκα τῆς οὕτω φιλοσοφούσης ψυχῆς πρὸς τὰ ἐκείνης κινήματα καὶ τὰς οἰκείας ἀνάγκη ῥυθμίζειν ὁρμάς. Καὶ γὰρ ὀφθαλμὸς καὶ γλῶττα καὶ σχῆμα καὶ βάδισις καὶ πάντα ἁπλῶς πρὸς τὴν ἔνδον εὐταξίαν χαρακτηρίζεται· καὶ καθάπερ μύρον βαρύτιμον κἂν εἰς ἄγγος ἀποκλείηται τὸν ἀέρα τῆς οἰκείας ἀναχρῶσαν εὐωδίας, οὐ τοὺς ἔνδον καὶ πλησίον ἑστῶτας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἔξω πάντας ἐμπίπλησι τῆς ἡδονῆς, οὕτω καὶ ἡ τῆς παρθενικῆς ψυχῆς εὐωδία ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι περιρρέουσα ἐνδείκνυται τὴν ἔνδον ἀποκειμένην ἀρετήν, καὶ τὰς χρυσᾶς τῆς εὐκοσμίας ἐπιβάλλουσα πᾶσιν ἡνίας ἐν πολλῇ τῶν ἵππων ἕκαστον