X.  Marriage is honourable; but I cannot say that it is more lofty than virginity; for virginity were no great thing if it were not better than a good thing.  Do not however be angry, ye women that are subject to the yoke.  We must obey God rather than man.  But be ye bound together, both virgins and wives, and be one in the Lord, and each others’ adornment.  There would be no celibate if there were no marriage.  For whence would the virgin have passed into this life?  Marriage would not have been venerable unless it had borne virgin fruit to God and to life.  Honour thou also thy mother, of whom thou wast born.  Honour thou also her who is of a mother and is a mother.17    The passage is obscure.  Combefis reads, “Though she be not a mother” but the mss are against him.  A mother she is not, but a Bride of Christ she is.  The visible beauty is not hidden, but that which is unseen is visible to God.  All the glory of the King’s Daughter is within,18    Ps. xlv. 14. clothed with golden fringes, embroidered whether by actions or by contemplation.  And she who is under the yoke, let her also in some degree be Christ’s; and the virgin altogether Christ’s.  Let the one be not entirely chained to the world,19    Luke viii. 14. and let the other not belong to the world at all.  For that which is a part to the yoked, is to the virgin all in all.  Hast thou chosen the life of Angels?  Art thou ranked among the unyoked?  Sink not down to the flesh; sink not down to matter; be not wedded to matter, while otherwise thou remainest unwedded.  A lascivious eye guardeth not virginity; a meretricious tongue mingles with the Evil One; feet that walk disorderly accuse of disease or danger.  Let the mind also be virgin; let it not rove about; let it not wander; let it not carry in itself forms of evil things (for the form is a part of harlotry); let it not make idols in its soul of hateful things.

Ιʹ. Καλὸν ὁ γάμος: ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν, ὅτι καὶ ὑψηλότερον παρθενίας. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν ἦν τι μέγα ἡ παρθενία, μὴ καλοῦ καλλίων τυγχάνουσα. Μὴ δὴ χαλεπαίνετε, ὅσαι ὑπὸ ζυγόν. Πειθαρχεῖν δεῖ Θεῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρώποις. Πλὴν ἀλλήλαις συνδεσμεῖσθε, καὶ παρθένοι, καὶ γυναῖκες, καὶ ἕν ἐστε ἐν Κυρίῳ, καὶ ἀλλήλων καλλώπισμα. Οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἄγαμος, εἰ μὴ γάμος. Πόθεν γὰρ εἰς τοῦτον παρῆλθε τὸν βίον παρθένος; Οὐκ ἂν ἦν γάμος σεμνὸς, εἰ μὴ παρθένον καρποφορῶν καὶ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ βίῳ. Τίμησον καὶ σὺ τὴν μητέρα τὴν σὴν, ἐξ ἧς γέγονας. Τίμησον καὶ σὺ τὴν ἐκ μητρὸς, καὶ μητέρα. Μήτηρ μὲν οὐκ ἔστι, Χριστοῦ δὲ νύμφη ἐστί. Τὸ μὲν φαινόμενον κάλλος οὐ κρύπτεται: τὸ δὲ ἀφανὲς Θεῷ βλέπεται. Πᾶσα ἡ δόξα τῆς θυγατρὸς τοῦ Βασιλέως ἔσωθεν, ἐν κροσσωτοῖς χρυσοῖς περιβεβλημένη, πεποικιλμένη, εἴτ' οὖν πράξεσιν, εἴτε καὶ θεωρήμασιν. Καὶ ἡ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν ἔστω τι Χριστοῦ: καὶ ἡ παρθένος ὅλη Χριστοῦ. Ἡ μὲν μὴ παντελῶς ἐνδεσμείσθω τῷ κόσμῳ: ἡ δὲ μηδ' ὅλως γινέσθω τοῦ κόσμου. Ὃ γάρ ἐστι τῇ ὑπὸ ζυγὸν τὸ μέρος, τοῦτο παντελὲς τῇ παρθένῳ. Ἀγγέλων ἐπανῄρησαι πολιτείαν; μετὰ τῶν ἀζύγων ἐτάχθης; μὴ κατενεχθῇς εἰς σάρκα, μὴ κατενεχθῇς εἰς ὕλην μὴ τῇ ὕλῃ γαμηθῇς, κἂν ἄλλως ἄγαμος μένῃς. Ὀφθαλμὸς πορνεύων οὐ φυλάσσει τὴν παρθενίαν, γλῶττα πορνεύουσα τῷ πονηρῷ μίγνυται. Πόδες ἄτακτα βαίνοντες ἐγκαλοῦνται νόσον, ἢ κίνδυνον. Παρθενευέτω καὶ ἡ διάνοια: μὴ ῥεμβέσθω, μὴ πλανάσθω, μὴ τύπους ἐν αὐτῇ φερέτω πονηρῶν πραγμάτων. καὶ ὁ τύπος μέρος πορνείας ἐστί: μὴ εἰδωλοποιείτω τῇ ψυχῇ τὰ μισούμενα.