14.  O untended body, and squalid garments, whose only flower is virtue!  O soul, clinging to the body, when reduced almost to an immaterial state through lack of food; or rather, when the body had been mortified by force, even before dissolution, that the soul might attain to freedom, and escape the entanglements of the senses!  O nights of vigil, and psalmody, and standing which lasts from one day to another!  O David, whose strains never seem tedious to faithful souls!  O tender limbs, flung upon the earth and, contrary to nature, growing hard!  O fountains of tears, sowing in affliction that they might reap in joy.10    Ps. cxxvi. 5.  O cry in the night, piercing the clouds and reaching unto Him that dwelleth in the heavens!  O fervour of spirit, waxing bold in prayerful longings against the dogs of night, and frosts and rain, and thunders, and hail, and darkness!  O nature of woman overcoming that of man in the common struggle for salvation, and demonstrating that the distinction between male and female is one of body not of soul!  O Baptismal purity, O soul, in the pure chamber of thy body, the bride of Christ!  O bitter eating!  O Eve mother of our race and of our sin!  O subtle serpent, and death, overcome by her self-discipline!  O self-emptying of Christ, and form of a servant, and sufferings, honoured by her mortification!

ΙΔʹ. Ὢ πιναροῦ σώματος καὶ ἐνδύματος, ἀρετῇ μόνον ἀνθοῦντος! Ὢ ψυχῆς διακρατούσης τὸ σῶμα, καὶ δίχα τροφῆς σχεδὸν, ὥσπερ ἄϋλον! μᾶλλον δὲ σώματος βιασαμένου νεκρωθῆναι καὶ πρὸ τῆς διαζεύξεως, ἵν' ἐλευθερίαν λάβῃ ψυχὴ, καὶ μὴ παραποδίζηται ταῖς αἰσθήσεσιν! Ὢ νυκτῶν ἀΰπνων, καὶ ψαλμῳδίας, καὶ στάσεως ἐξ ἡμέρας εἰς ἡμέραν ἀποληγούσης! Ὢ Δαβὶδ, ταῖς πισταῖς μόνον ψυχαῖς οὐ μακρὰ μελῳδήσας! Ὢ μελῶν ἁπαλότητος ἐπὶ γῆς ἐῤῥιμμένων, καὶ παρὰ τὴν φύσιν τραχυνομένων! Ὢ πηγαὶ δακρύων σπειρομένων ἐκ θλίψεως, ἵν' ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει θερίσαιεν! Ὢ βοῆς νυκτερινῆς νεφέλας διερχομένης, καὶ φθανούσης πρὸς τὸν οὐράνιον! Ὢ θερμότητος πνεύματος, κυνῶν κατατολμώσης νυκτερινῶν δι' ἐπιθυμίαν εὐχῆς, καὶ κρυμῶν, καὶ ὑετῶν, καὶ βροντῶν, καὶ χαλάζης, καὶ ἀωρίας! Ὢ γυναικεία φύσις τὴν ἀνδρείαν νικήσασα διὰ τὸν κοινὸν ἀγῶνα τῆς σωτηρίας, καὶ σώματος διαφορὰν οὐ ψυχῆς τὸ θῆλυ καὶ τὸ ἄῤῥεν ἐλέγξασα! Ὢ τῆς μετὰ λουτρὸν ἁγνείας, καὶ τῆς νύμφης Χριστοῦ ψυχῆς ἐν καθαρῷ νυμφῶνι τῷ σώματι! Ὢ πικρὰ γεῦσις, καὶ Εὔα μῆτερ καὶ γένους καὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ὄφι πλάνε καὶ θάνατε, τῇ ἐκείνης ἐγκρατείᾳ νενικημένα! Ὢ Χριστοῦ κένωσις, καὶ δούλου μορφὴ, καὶ παθήματα, τῇ ἐκείνης νεκρώσει τετιμημένα!