47. But, as I had begun to say, whether the fruit an hundred-fold be virginity dedicated to God, or whether we are to understand that interval of fruitfulness in some other way, either such as we have made mention of, or such as we have not made mention of; yet no one, as I suppose, will have dared to prefer virginity to martyrdom, and no one will have doubted that this latter gift is hidden, if trial to test it be wanting. A virgin, therefore, hath a subject for thought, such as may be of profit to her for the keeping of humility, that she violate not that charity, which is above all gifts, without which assuredly whatever other gifts she shall have had, whether few or many, whether great or small, she is nothing. She hath, I say, a subject for thought, that she be not puffed up, that she rival not; forsooth that she so make profession that the virginal good is much greater and better than the married good, as that yet she know not whether this or that married woman be not already able to suffer for Christ, but herself as yet unable, and she herein spared, that her weakness is not put to the question by trial. “For God,” saith the Apostle, “is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tried above what ye are able but will make with the trial a way out, that ye may be able to bear it.”173    1 Cor. x. 13 Perhaps, therefore, those men or women keeping a way of married life praiseworthy in its kind, are already able, against an enemy forcing to unrighteousness, to contend even by tearing in pieces of bowels, and shedding of blood; but these men or women, continent from childhood, and making themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, still are not as yet able to endure such, either for righteousness, or for chastity itself. For it is one thing, for truth and an holy purpose, not to consent unto one who would persuade and flatter, but another thing not to yield even to one who tortures and strikes. These lie hid in the powers and strength of souls, by trial they are unfolded, by actual essay they come forth. In order, therefore, that each be not puffed up by reason of that, which he sees clearly that he can do, let him humbly consider that he knows not that there is perchance something more excellent which he cannot do, but that some, who neither have nor profess that of which he is lawfully self-conscious, are able to do this, which he himself cannot do. Thus will be kept, not by feigned but by true humility, “In honor preventing one another,”174    Rom. xii. 10. [See R.V.] and, “esteeming each the other higher than himself.”175    Phil. ii. 3

47. Sed ut dicere coeperam, sive centenus fructus sit Deo devota virginitas, sive alio aliquo modo, vel quem commemoravimus, vel quem non commemoravimus, sit illa fertilitatis intelligenda distantia; nemo tamen, quantum puto, ausus fuerit virginitatem praeferre martyrio, ac nemo dubitaverit hoc donum occultum esse, si examinatrix desit tentatio.

CAPUT XLVII.

Ut non infletur virgo, cogitet se forte non posse pro Christo pati, quod possit conjugata. Habet itaque virgo quod cogitet quod ei prosit ad servandam humilitatem, ne violet illam quae supereminet donis omnibus charitatem, sine qua utique quaecumque alia vel pauca vel plura vel magna vel parva habuerit, nihil est. Habet, inquam, quod cogitet ut non infletur, non aemuletur; ita se scilicet bonum virginale conjugali bono multo amplius et melius profiteri, ut tamen nesciat utrum illa vel illa conjugata jam pati pro Christo possit, adhuc vero ipsa non possit, et in hoc ei parcatur, quia infirmitas ejus tentatione non interrogatur. Fidelis enim Deus, ait Apostolus, qui non vos permittet tentari super id quod potestis; sed faciet cum tentatione etiam exitum, ut possitis sustinere (I Cor. X, 13). Fortassis ergo illi vel illae conjugalis vitae retinentes in suo genere laudabilem modum, jam possint contra inimicum ad iniquitatem cogentem etiam laniatu viscerum et effusione sanguinis dimicare; illi autem vel illae a pueritia continentes, seque castrantes propter regnum coelorum, nondum tamen valeant talia vel pro justitia vel pro ipsa pudicitia sustinere. Aliud est enim pro veritate ac proposito sancto non consentire suadenti atque blandienti, aliud non cedere etiam torquenti atque ferienti. Latent ista in facultatibus et viribus animorum, tentatione panduntur, experientia propalantur . Ut ergo quisque non infletur, ex eo quod se pervidet posse, humiliter cogitet quod ignorat aliquid praestantius se fortasse non posse; aliquos autem qui illud quo sibi gloriose notus est, nec habent nec profitentur, hoc quod ipse non potest posse. Ita servabitur non fallaci, sed veraci humilitate, Honore mutuo praevenientes (Rom. XII, 10); et, Alter alterum existimantes superiorem sibi (Philipp. II, 3).