145

happens to be arrayed; all will admire this, they will applaud this. For in that world of gold and costly garments, she has many who share in it with her; and if she should surpass this one, she is defeated by another; and if she should exceed them all, she is vanquished by the queen herself; but here she vanquishes all, even the wife of the king; for she alone in great wealth has chosen the things of the poor. So that, even if we are lovers of glory, here the glory is greater. I speak not only to the widows, and the rich ones; for here the necessity of widowhood seems to cause this; but also to those who have husbands. But I do not please my husband, she says. You do not wish to please your husband, but the crowd of poor women; or rather, not to please, but to wear them down and distress them, and to make their poverty greater. How many blasphemies are uttered because of you? Let there not be poverty, he says; God hates those who are poor, God does not love those in poverty. For that you do not wish to please your husband, and for this reason you adorn yourself, you make this clear to all by what you yourself do. For when you cross the threshold of your chamber, you immediately put everything away, both the garments, and the gold, and the pearls; and especially in the house you do not wear them. But if you wish to please your husband at all, it is through these things that you please him: through gentleness, through meekness, through modesty. For believe me, woman, even if your husband be ten thousand times wanton and unrestrained, these things will attract him more: gentleness, modesty, humility, thriftiness, simplicity. For the licentious man, even if you devise ten thousand such things, you will not restrain; and those women who have had such husbands know this; for if you adorn yourself, he, being licentious, will go off to another; but the sober and orderly man you will not win with these things, but with 63.201 their opposites; and in these things you also cause pain, acquiring for yourself the reputation of a lover of the world. For even if your husband is respectful, and as a sober man does not say this, yet inwardly he will condemn you; but envy and malice are not concealed. Will you not then cast out all pleasure, arousing envy against yourself? 7. Perhaps you hear what is said with displeasure, and are indignant, saying that he provokes the husbands more against their wives. I say these things not to provoke the husbands, but wishing these things to be done by you voluntarily, for your own sakes, not for theirs; not to free them from envy, but to free you from worldly show. Do you wish to appear beautiful? I too wish this, but the beauty which God seeks, the beauty which the King desires. Whom do you wish to have as a lover, God or men? If you are beautiful with that beauty, God will desire your beauty; but if this beauty exists without that one, He will abominate you, and defiled men will be your lovers; for no good man loves a married woman. Consider this also in the case of outward adornment. For that adornment, I mean that of the soul, draws God to it; but this one, in turn, draws defiled men. Do you see that I care for you, that I am concerned for you, so that you may be beautiful, truly beautiful, truly glorious, so that instead of defiled men you may have God, the Lord of all, as your lover? And she who has Him as a lover, to whom will she be like? She dances with angels. For if a woman loved by a king is counted blessed above all; she who is loved by God with a great love, of what will she be worthy? Even if you set the whole world against it, nothing is worthy of that beauty. Let us, therefore, cultivate this beauty, let us be adorned with this adornment, that we may enter into the heavens, into the spiritual bridal chambers, into the undefiled bridegroom's chamber. For this beauty is overcome by all things, and when it remains fair, and neither sickness nor care troubles it, which is impossible, it does not last for twenty years; but that beauty ever blossoms, ever flourishes; there is no need to fear change, no old age comes on and brings a wrinkle, no sickness befalls and withers it, no care of despondency has marred it, but it is superior to all these things. But this beauty is gone before it appears, and when it has appeared it does not have many admirers. For the orderly do not admire it, and those who do admire it, admire it with licentiousness. Do not

145

περικειμένη τυγχάνῃ· τοῦτο θαυμάσονται πάντες, τοῦτο κροτήσουσιν. Ἐν ἐκείνῳ μὲν γὰρ τῷ κόσμῳ τῷ τῶν χρυσίων καὶ τῶν πολυτελῶν ἱματίων, πολλὰς ἔχει τὰς κοινωνούσας αὐτῇ· κἂν ταύτην ὑπερακοντίσῃ, ὑπὸ τῆς ἑτέρας ἡττᾶται· κἂν πάσας ὑπερβάληται, ὑπὸ τῆς βασιλίδος αὐτῆς νικᾶται· ἐνταῦθα δὲ πάσας νικᾷ, καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως γυναῖκα· μόνη γὰρ ἐν πλούτῳ πολλῷ τὰ τῶν πενήτων εἵλετο. Ὥστε καὶ εἰ δόξης ἐρῶμεν, ἐνταῦθα μείζων ἡ δόξα. Οὐ πρὸς τὰς χήρας λέγω μόνον, καὶ τὰς πλουσίας· ἐνταῦθα γὰρ δοκεῖ ἡ τῆς χηρείας ἀνάγκη τοῦτο ποιεῖν· ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὰς ὑπάνδρους οὔσας. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀρέσκω, φησὶ, τῷ ἀνδρί. Οὐ τῷ ἀνδρὶ βούλει ἀρέσκειν, ἀλλὰ τῷ πλήθει τῶν γυναικῶν τῶν πενιχρῶν· μᾶλλον δὲ οὐκ ἀρέσκειν, ἀλλὰ κατατήκειν αὐτὰς καὶ ὀδυνᾷν, καὶ τὴν πενίαν μείζονα ποιεῖν. Πόσα διὰ σὲ βλάσφημα φθέγγονται; Μὴ ἔστω, φησὶ, πενία· ὁ Θεὸς μισεῖ τοὺς πενομένους, ὁ Θεὸς οὐ φιλεῖ τοὺς ἐν πενίᾳ. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐ τῷ ἀνδρὶ βούλει ἀρέσκειν, καὶ ταύτης ἕνεκεν τῆς αἰτίας καλλωπίζῃ, ἐξ ὧν αὐτὴ ποιεῖς τοῦτο δῆλον ἅπασι καθιστᾷς. Ὅταν γὰρ ὑπερβῇς τὸν οὐδὸν τοῦ θαλάμου, εὐθέως ἅπαντα ἀποτίθῃ, καὶ τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ τὰ χρυσία, καὶ τοὺς μαργαρίτας· καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας μάλιστα οὐ φορεῖς. Εἰ δὲ ὅλως βούλει ἀρέσκειν τῷ ἀνδρὶ, ἔστι δι' ὧν ἀρέσκεις, δι' ἐπιεικείας, διὰ πραότητος, διὰ κοσμιότητος. Πίστευε γάρ μοι, γύναι, κἂν μυριάκις ᾖ κατωφερὴς ὁ ἀνὴρ καὶ ἀκρατὴς, ταῦτα μᾶλλον αὐτὸν ἐφελκύσεται, ἐπιείκεια, κοσμιότης, τὸ ἄτυφον, τὸ ἀδάπανον, τὸ εὐτελές. Τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἀκόλαστον, κἂν μυρία τοιαῦτα ἐπινοῇς, οὐ καθέξεις· καὶ ἴσασιν ὅσαι τοιούτους ἐσχήκασιν ἄνδρας· ὡς γὰρ ἐὰν καλλωπίσῃς σαυτὴν, ἐκεῖνος ἀκόλαστος ὢν πρὸς ἑτέραν ἄπεισι· τὸν δὲ σώφρονα καὶ κόσμιον οὐ τούτοις αἱρήσεις, ἀλλὰ 63.201 τοῖς ἐναντίοις· ἐν τούτοις δὲ καὶ λυπεῖς, σαυτῇ δόξαν περιτιθεῖσα φιλοκόσμου. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ αἰδούμενος ὁ ἀνὴρ, καὶ τοῦτο ὡς σώφρων οὐ λέγει, ἀλλ' ἔνδοθεν καταγνώσεταί σου· τοὺς δὲ φθόνους καὶ τὰς βασκανίας οὐ περιστελεῖται. Οὐ πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν ἐκβαλεῖς λοιπὸν, φθόνον ἐγείρουσα κατὰ σαυτῆς; ζʹ. Τάχα δυσχερῶς ἀκούετε τῶν λεγομένων, καὶ ἀγανακτεῖτε λέγουσαι, ὅτι τοὺς ἄνδρας παροξύνει μᾶλλον κατὰ τῶν γυναικῶν. Οὐ τοὺς ἄνδρας παροξύνων ταῦτα λέγω, ἀλλὰ παρ' ὑμῶν βουλόμενος ἑκοντὶ ταῦτα γίνεσθαι, δι' ὑμᾶς, οὐ δι' ἐκείνους· οὐχ ἵνα ἐκείνους ἀπαλλάξω φθόνου, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑμᾶς ἀπαλλάξω φαντασίας βιωτικῆς. Βούλει φανῆναι καλή; κἀγὼ τοῦτο βούλομαι, ἀλλὰ κάλλος ὃ ὁ Θεὸς ζητεῖ, κάλλος ὃ ἐπιθυμεῖ ὁ βασιλεύς. Τίνα βούλει σχεῖν ἐραστὴν, τὸν Θεὸν ἢ ἀνθρώπους; Ἐὰν ἐκεῖνο ᾖς τὸ κάλλος καλὴ, ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιθυμήσει τοῦ κάλλους σου· ἂν δὲ τοῦτο χωρὶς ἐκείνου, ἐκεῖνος μέν σε βδελύξεται, ἔσονται δέ σου ἐρασταὶ ἄνδρες μιαροί· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ὑπάνδρου γυναικὸς ἐρῶν ἀγαθός. Τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ ἔξωθεν λογίζου. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ ὁ κόσμος, ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς λέγω, τὸν Θεὸν ἐπισπᾶται· οὗτος δὲ πάλιν τοὺς μιαροὺς ἄνδρας. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι ὑμῶν κήδομαι, ὅτι ὑμῶν φροντίζω, ἵνα καλαὶ ἦτε, ὄντως καλαὶ, ὄντως ἐπίδοξοι, ἵνα ἀντὶ ἀνδρῶν μιαρῶν τὸν ἁπάντων ∆εσπότην Θεὸν ἔχητε ἐραστήν; Ἡ δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἔχουσα ἐραστὴν, τίνι ἔσται ὁμοία; μετὰ ἀγγέλων χορεύει. Εἰ γὰρ παρὰ βασιλέως φιλουμένη τις ὑπὲρ πάντας μακαρίζεται· ἡ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλουμένη φιλίαν πολλὴν, τίνος ἔσται ἀξία; κἂν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀντιστήσῃς, οὐδὲν τοῦ κάλλους ἐκείνου ἄξιον. Τοῦτο τοίνυν ἀσκήσωμεν τὸ κάλλος, τούτῳ κοσμώμεθα τῷ κόσμῳ, ἵνα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς χωρήσωμεν, εἰς τὰς παστάδας τὰς πνευματικὰς, εἰς τὸν νυμφῶνα τὸν ἀκήρατον. Τοῦτο μὲν γὰρ τὸ κάλλος ὑπὸ πάντων ἁλίσκεται, καὶ ὅταν παραμείνῃ καλῶς, καὶ μήτε νόσος ἐνοχλήσῃ μήτε φροντὶς, ὅπερ ἀδύνατον, οὐ παραμένει εἴκοσιν ἔτη· ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἀεὶ ἀνθεῖ, ἀεὶ ἀκμάζει· οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκεῖ δεῖσαι μεταβολὴν, οὐ γῆρας ἐπελθὸν ῥυτίδα ἤγαγεν, οὐ νόσος κατασκήψασα ἐμάρανεν, οὐκ ἀθυμίας φροντὶς ἐλυμήνατο, ἀλλὰ πάντων τούτων ἐστὶν ἀνώτερον. Τοῦτο δὲ πρὶν ἢ φανῆναι, ἀπέστη, καὶ φανὲν οὐκ ἔχει πολλοὺς τοὺς θαυμαστάς. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ κόσμιοι οὐ θαυμάζουσιν, οἱ δὲ θαυμάζοντες, μετὰ ἀσελγείας θαυμάζουσι. Μὴ