 Book 1, chapters 26 through 30 of Against to Veneanus by Saint Jerome. The sleeper box recording is in the public domain Coming to the gospel. He sets before us Zacharias and Elizabeth Peter and his mother-in-law and with a shamelessness to which we have now grown accustomed Fails to understand that they too ought to have been reckoned among those who serve the law The gospel had no being before the crucifixion of Christ It was consecrated by his passion and by his blood in accordance with this rule Peter and the other apostles I must give to Veneanus something now and then out of my abundance had indeed wives But those which they had taken before they knew the gospel But once they were received into the apostolate they first took the offices of marriage For when Peter representing the Apostles says to the Lord Low we have left all and followed thee the Lord answered him verily I say unto you There is no man that has left house or wife or brethren or parents or children for the kingdom of God's sake Who shall not receive manifold more in this time and in the world to come eternal life But if in order to show that all the apostles had wives he meets us with the words Have we no right to lead about women or wives? For Guinea in Greek Has both meanings Even as the rest of the Apostles and Cephas and the brethren of the Lord let him add what is found in the Greek copies We have no right to lead about women that our sisters are wise This makes it clear that the writer referred to other holy women who in accordance with Jewish custom Ministered to their teachers of their substance as we read was the practice with even our Lord himself where there is a previous reference to eating and drinking and The outlay of money and mention is afterwards made of women that our sisters It is quite clear as we have said that we must understand not wives But those women who ministered of their substance We read in the same counts in the Old Testament of the Shumanites Who was wants to welcome Elisha and to put for him a table and bread and a candlestick and the rest at all events if we take Ganaecus To mean wives not women the addition of the word sisters Destroys the effect of the word wives and shows that they were related in spirit not by wedlock Nevertheless with the exception of the Apostle Peter It is not openly stated that the Apostles had wives and since the statement is made of fun while nothing is said about the rest We must understand that those of whom scripture gives no such description had no wives Yet to be any is who has a right against us Zacharias and Elizabeth Peter and his wife's mother Should know that John was the son of Zacharias in Elizabeth That is a virgin was the offspring of marriage the gospel of the law chastity of matrimony So that by a virgin prophets the virgin Lord might both be announced and baptized We might say concerning Peter that he had a mother-in-law when he believed and no longer had a wife Although in the sentences we read of both his wife and daughter But for the present our argument must be based wholly on scripture He has made his appeal to the Apostles because he thinks that they who hold the chief authority in our moral system and our The typical Christian teachers were not virgins If then we allow that they were not virgins and with the exception of Peter The point cannot be proved and I must tell him that it is to the Apostles that the words of Isaiah relate Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a small remnant. We should have been as Sodom we should have been like unto Gomorrah So then they who were by birth Jews could not under the gospel recover the virginity Which they had once lost in Judaism and yet John one of the disciples who was related to have been the youngest of the Apostles And who was a virgin when he embraced Christianity Remained a virgin and on that account was more beloved of our Lord and lay upon the breast of Jesus and what's Peter Who had a wife did not dare ask you requested John to ask and after the resurrection When Mary Magdalene told them that the Lord had risen they both ran to the sepulchre But John outran Peter and when they were fishing in the ship on the lake of Ganesaret Jesus stood upon the shore and the Apostles knew not who it was they saw The virgin alone recognized a virgin and said to Peter it is the Lord Again after hearing the prediction that he must be bound by another and led with her He would not and must suffer on the cross Peter said Lord. What shall this man do? Being unwilling to desert John with whom he had always been united our Lord said to him What is that to thee if I wish him so to be? Whence the same when abroad among the brethren that the disciples should not die Here we have approved that virginity does not die and that the defilement of marriage is not washed away by the blood of martyrdom But virginity abides with Christ and its sleep is not death, but a passing to another state If however, Giovanni Annias should obstinately contend that John was not a virgin Whereas we have maintained that his virginity was the cause of the special love our Lord bore to him Let him explain if he was not a virgin why it was that he was loved more than the other Apostles But you say the church was founded upon Peter Although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles and they all received the keys of the kingdom of heaven And the strength of the church depends upon them all alike Yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when ahead has been appointed there be no occasion for schism But why was not John chosen who was a virgin? Deference was paid to age because Peter was the elder one who was a youth I may say almost a boy could not be set over men of advanced age and a good master Who was bound to remove every occasion of strife among his disciples and who had said to them Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you and he that is greater among you let him be the least of all Would not be thought to Afford cause of envy against the youth whom he had loved We may be sure that John was then a boy because Ecclesiastical history most clearly proves that he lived to the reign of Trajan That is he fell asleep in the 68th year after our boys passion as I have briefly noted in my treaties on illustrious men Peter is an apostle and John is an apostle, but the one a married man the other a virgin But Peter is an apostle only John is both an apostle and an evangelist and a prophet an Apostle because he wrote to the churches as a master an evangelist because he composed a gospel a thing Which no other apostles except Matthew did a profit for he saw in the island of Patmos To which he had been banished by the emperor Domitian as a martyr for the Lord an Apocalypse concerning the boundless mysteries of the future Tertullian moreover relates that he was sent to Rome and that having been plunged into a jar of boiling oil He came out fresher and more active than when he went in But this very gospel is widely different from the rest Matthew as though he were writing of a man begins thus the book of the generation of Jesus Christ The son of David the son of Abraham Luke begins with the priesthood of Zacharias Mark with a prophecy of the prophets Malachi and Isaiah The first has the face of a man on account of the genealogical table The second the face of a calf on account of the priesthood The third the face of a lion on account of the voice of one crying in the desert Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his past straight But John like an eagle soars aloft and reaches the father himself and says in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God and so on the virgin writer Expounded mysteries which the married could not and to briefly sum up all and to show how great was the privilege of John Or rather a virginity in John the virgin mother was entrusted by the virgin Lord to the virgin disciple But we toil to no purpose for our opponent urges us against the apostolic sentence and says Adam was first formed Then Eve and Adam was not beguiled, but the woman being beguiled had fallen into transgression But she shall be saved through the childbearing If they continue in faith and love and sanctification with sobriety Let us consider what led the apostle to make this declaration I desire therefore that the men pray in every place lifting up holy hands without wrath and disputing But in due course he lays down rules of life for the women and says in like manner that women adorn themselves in modest apparel With shame-facedness and sobriety not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment But which become a woman professing godliness through good works Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection But I permit not a woman to teach nor have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness And that the lot of the woman might not seem a hard one reducing her to the condition of a slave to her husband The apostle recalls the ancient law and goes back to the first example That Adam was first made then the woman out of his rib and that the devil could not seduce Adam But did seduce Eve and then after displeasing God She was immediately subjected to the man and began to turn to her husband and he points out that she who Once tied with bonds of marriage was reduced to the condition of Eve might blot out the old transgression by the procreation of children Provided however that she bring up the children themselves in the faith and love of Christ and in sanctification and chastity And we must not adapt the faulty reading of the Latin text sobrieteus and Castiteus that is Sofron Thronee You should see how you are mastered by the witness of this passage also and cannot be driven to admit That what you thought was on the side of marriage tells in favor of virginity or if the woman is saved in childbearing and The more the children the greater the safety of the mothers Why did he add if they continue in faith and love and sanctification with chastity? The woman will then be saved if she bear not children who will remain virgins if what she Has her self-loss she attains in her children and makes up for the loss and decay of the roots by the excellence of the flower in fruit Above and passing when our opponent adduced to Solomon who although he had many wives nevertheless built the temple I briefly replied that it was my intention to run over the remaining points Now that he may not cry out that both Solomon and others under the law Prophets and holy men have been dishonored by us Let us show what this very man with his many wives and concubines thought of marriage For no one can know better that he who suffered through them what a wife or woman is Well, then he says in the Proverbs the foolish and bold woman comes to want bread What bread surely that bread would come it down from heaven and he immediately adds the earth-born Parish in her house rush into the depths of hell who are the earth-born that perish in her house They of course who follow the first Adam who is of the earth and not the second who is from heaven and Again in another place like a worm in wood. So a wicked woman destroyed her husband But if you asserted that this was spoken of bad wives, I shall briefly answer What necessity rests upon me to run the risk of the wife I marry? Proving good or bad it is better. He says to dwell in a desert land Then with a contentious and passionate woman in a wide house. How seldom we find a wife without these faults He knows who was married hence that sublime orator various Communists says well the man who does not quarrel is a bachelor It is better to dwell in the corner of the house top than with a contentious woman in a house in common And a house common to husband and wife makes a wife proud and breeds contempt for the husband How much more if the wife be the richer of the two and the husband but a lodger in her house? She begins to be not a wife, but a mistress of the house And if she offend her husband they must part The continual dropping on a wintery day Turns a man out of doors and so will a contentious woman drive a man from his own house She floods his house with her constant nagging and daily chatter And ousts him from his own home. That is the church Hence the same Solomon previously commands My son flows forth beyond And the apostle writing to the Hebrew says therefore we ought to give the more earnest he did the thing spoken Lest happily we flow forth beyond But who can hide from himself? That is thus Eggmatically expressed The horse leech had three daughters dearly beloved But they satisfied her not and the force Is not satisfied when you say enough The grave the woman's love and the earth that is not satisfied with water and the fire that say if not enough The horse leech is the devil the daughters of the devil are dearly beloved And they cannot be satisfied with the blood of the slain the grave and the woman's love And the earth dry and scorched with heat It is not the harlot nor the adulteress who is spoken of But woman's love in general is accused of ever being insatiable Put it out it bursts into flame give it plenty and it is again in need It invigorates a man's mind and grosses all thought except for the passion which it feeds What we read in the parable which follows is to the same effect For three things the earth doth tremble And four for which it cannot bear for a servant when he is king and a fool when he is filled with meat For an odious woman when she is married to a good husband And in handmaiden that is heir to her mistress See how a wife is classed with the greatest evils But if you reply that it is an odious wife I will give you the same answer as before the mere possibility of such danger is in itself no light matter For he who marries a wife is uncertain whether he is marrying an odious woman Or one worthy of his love if she be odious she is intolerable if worthy of love Her love is compared to the grave to the parched earth and to fire Let us come to ecclesiastices and induce in a few corroborative passages from him also To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven A time to be born in a time to die a time to plant in a time to pluck up that which is planted We brought forth young under the law with moses Let us die under the gospel with christ we planted in marriage Let us by chastity pluck up that which was planted a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing A time to love and a time to hate a time for war and a time for peace And at the same time he warns us not to prefer the law to the gospel Nor to think that virgin purity is to be placed on a level with marriage Better he says is the end of the thing than the beginning thereof and he immediately adds Say not thou what is the cause that the former days were better than these For thou does not inquire wisely concerning this And he gives the reason why the latter days are better than the former For wisdom with an inheritance is good under the law carnal wisdom was followed by the sword of death Under the gospel and eternal inheritance await spiritual wisdom Behold this have I found say at the preacher one man among a thousand have I found But a woman among all those have I not found Behold this only have I found that God made man upright that they have sought out many inventions He says that he had found man upright consider the force of the words The word man comprehends both male and female, but a woman he says Among all these have I not found Let us read the beginning of genesis And we shall find adam that his man called both Male and female having then been created by God good and upright By our own fault we have fallen into a worse condition And that which is in paradise has been upright when we left paradise was corrupt If you object that before they sinned there was A distinction in sex between male and female That they could not without sin have come together It is uncertain What might have happened for we cannot know the judgments of God and anticipate his sentence as we choose What really happened is plain enough that they who were in paradise remained in perpetual virginity That they were expelled from paradise were joined together Or a paradise admits of marriage And there is no difference between marriage and virginity what prevented their previous intercourse even in paradise They are driven out of paradise and what they did not there they do on earth So that from the various early days of humanity virginity was consecrated by paradise and marriage by earth Let thy garments always be white the eternal whiteness of our garments is the purity of virginity And the morning we sowed our seed and in the evening let us not cease Let us who serve marriage under the law serve virginity under the gospel I pass to the song of songs And whereas our opponent thinks it makes all together for marriage I shall show that it contains the mysteries of virginity Let us hear what the bride says before that the bridegroom comes to the earth Suffers descends to the lower world and rises again We will make For the likeness of gold with ornaments of silver while the king sits at his table Before the lord rose again and the gospel shone the bride had not gold but likeness of gold As for the silver however which she professes to have At the marriage she not only had silver ornaments, but she had them in variety in widows in the continents And in the married Then the bridegroom Makes answer to the bride and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away And the truth of the gospel has come Rise up my love my fair one and come away for low the winter is past The rain is over and gone this relates to the old testament Once more he speaks of the gospel and of virginity The flowers appear on the earth the time of the pruning of vines has come Does he not seem to you to say the very same thing that the apostle says The time is shortened and henceforth both those that have wives may be as though they had none And more plainly does he herald chastity The voice he says of the turtle is heard in our land The turtle the chastest of birds Always dwelling in lofty places is a type of the savior Let us read the works of naturalness and we shall find it is the nature of the turtle dove If it lose its mates not to take another and we shall understand That the second marriage is reputed even by dumb birds and immediately the turtle says to its fellow The fig tree has put forth its green figs That is the commandments of the old law have fallen and the blossoming vines of the gospel give forth their fragrance Once the apostle also says we are a sweet saver of christ Arise my love my fair one and come away O my dove thou art in the cliffs of the rock in the covet of the steep place Let me see thy countenance. Let me hear thy voice For sweet is thy voice and thy countenance is comely Willst thou cover us thy countenance like moses and the veil of the law remained I neither saw thy face nor did I condescend to hear thy voice I said yay when ye make many prayers I will not hear But now with unveiled face behold my glory And shelter thyself on the cleft and steep places of the solid rock On hearing this the bride disclosed the mysteries of jastity My beloved is mine and I am his he feedeth his flock among the lilies That is among the pure virgins Would you know what sort of throne our true Solomon the prince of peace has And what his attendants are like behold he says It is the litter of Solomon three score mighty men are about it of the mighty men of israel They all handle the sword and are expert in war every man hath his sword upon his thigh They who are about Solomon have their sword upon their thigh Like ihud the left-handed judge who slew the fattest of foes A man devoted to the flesh and cut shorts All his pleasures I will get me he says to the mountain of myrrh to those that is who have mortified their bodies Into the hill of frankincense to the crowds of pure virgins And I will say to my bride thou art all fair my love and there is no spot in thee Went to the apostle that he might present the church to himself a glorious church Not having spot a wrinkle or any such thing Come with me from lebanon my bride with me from lebanon Thou shalt come and pass on from the beginning of faith From the top of sinar and hermon from the lion's den From the mountains of the leopards Lebanon is being interpreted whiteness Come then fairest bride concerning whom it is elsewhere said Who is she that cometh up all in white and pass on by the way of this world From the beginning of faith and from sinar Which is by interpretation god of light as we read in the psalm Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my path And from hermon that is consecration And flee from the lion's den and the mountains of the leopards who cannot change their spots Flee he says from lion's dens Flee from the pride of devils that when thou hast been consecrated to me I may be able to say unto thee thou hast ravished my heart my sister my bride Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one chain of thine neck What he says is something like this. I do not reject marriage You have a second eye the left one Which I have given you on account of the weakness of those who cannot see the right But I am pleased with the right eye of virginity and if it is blinded the whole body is in darkness But that we might not think he had in view carnal love and bodily marriage He at once excludes this meaning by saying Thou hast ravished my heart my bride my sister the name sister excludes All suspicion of unhallowed love How fair are thy breasts with wine those breasts considering which he had said above My beloved is mine and I am his betwixt my breasts shall he lie That is in the princely portion of the heart where the word of god has its lodging What wine is that which gives beauty to the breasts of the bride and fills them with the milk of chastity That Forsooth of which the bridegroom goes on to speak I have drunk my wine with my milk eat. Oh friends. Yay drink and be drunk in my brethren Hence the apostles also were said to be filled with new wine With new he says not with old wine because new wine is put into fresh wineskins And they did not walk in oldness of the letter but in newness of the spirit This is wine wherewith when youths and maidens are intoxicated They at once thirst for virginity. They are filled with the spirit of chastity and the prophecy of zakariah comes to pass At least if we follow the Hebrew literally for he prophesied concerning virgins And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof For what is his goodness and what is his beauty but the corn of the elect And the wine that giveth birth to virgins they are virgins of whom it is written in the 45th psalm The virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led they shall enter into the king's palace And of chapters 26 through 30 from book one book one chapters 31 through 35 of Against jivinianias by saint erome this labor box recording is in the public domain Then follows a garden shut up is my sister my bride My garden shut up a fountain sealed That which is shut up and sealed reminds us of the mother of our lord who was a mother and a virgin Hence it was that no one before or after our savior was laid in his new tomb Hewn in the solid rock And yet she that was ever a virgin is the mother of many virgins For next we read Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with precious fruits Like pomegranates and fruits is signified the blending of all virtues and virginity My beloved is white and ruddy white in virginity ruddy in martyrdom because he is white and ruddy Therefore it is immediately added his mouth is most sweet. Yay. He is altogether lovely The virgin bridegroom having been praised by the virgin bride in turn praises the virgin bride And says to her how beautiful are thy feet in sandals oh daughter of a benedad Which is being interpreted a people that offer itself willingly Where virginity is voluntary and therefore the steps of the church and the beauty of chastity are praised This is not the time for me like a commander to explain all the mysteries of virginity from the song of songs I have no doubt that the fastidious reader will turn up his nose at what has already been said Zaya tells of the mystery of our faith and hope Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name immanuel I know that the jews are accustomed to meet us with the objection that in hebra word Alma Does not mean a virgin but a young woman and to speak truth a virgin is properly called Bethulah, but a young woman or girl is not Alma, but Nahara What then is the meaning of Alma a hidden virgin that is not merely a virgin But a virgin and something more because not every virgin is hidden Shut off from the occasional sight of men Then again rebecca on account of her extreme purity And because she was a type of the church which is represented in her own virginity Is described in genesis as Alma Not Bethulah as may clearly be proved from the words of abraham's servant Spoken by him in mesopotamia And he said oh lord the god of my master abraham If now thou do prosper my way which I go behold I stand by the fountain of water And let it come to pass that the maiden which cometh forth to draw to whom I shall say Give me I pray thee a little water of this pitcher to drink And she shall say to me both drink thou and I will draw for thy camels Let the same woman be the woman whom the lord hath appointed for my master's son Where he speaks of the maiden Coming forth to draw water the hebra word is Alma that is a virgin secluded and guarded by her parents with extreme care Or if this be not so Let them at least show me where the word is applied to married women as well And I will confess my ignorance Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son If virginity not be preferred to marriage why did the holy spirit choose a married woman or a widow? For at the time of anna the daughter of faniel of the tribe of asher Was alive distinguished for purity and always freaked to devote herself to prayers and fasting in the temple of god If the life and good works in fasting without virginity can merit the advent of the holy spirit She might well have been the mother of our born Let us hasten to the rest The virgin daughter of zion hath despised thee and left thee to scorn To her whom he called daughter the prophet also gave the title virgin Who fear that if he spoke only of a daughter it might be supposed that she was married This is the virgin daughter whom elsewhere he thus addresses Sing o baron now that dost not bear break forth into singing and cry aloud Thou that didst not prevail with child for more are the children of the desolate Than the children of the married wife sayeth the lord This is she of whom god by the mouth of Jeremiah speaks saying Canna made forget her ornaments or a bride her attire Concerning her we read of a great miracle in the same prophecy that a woman should Compass a man and that the father of all things should be granted in a virgin's womb Granted says Jovenianus that there is a difference between marriage and virginity What have you to say to this suppose the virgin and a widow were baptized And continued as they were what difference will there be between them? What we have already said concerning Peter and John Anna and Mary may be of service here For if there is no difference between a virgin and a widow both being baptized Because baptism makes a new man upon the same principle harlots and prostitutes if they are baptized Will be equal to virgins if previous marriage is no prejudice to a baptized widow The past pleasures and the exposures of their bodies to public lust are no detriment in the case of harlots Once they have approached the laver they will gain the rewards of virginity It is one thing to unite with god a pure mind and free from any stain of memory Another to remember the foul and forced embraces of a man and in recollection To act apart which you do not in person Jeremiah who was sanctified in the womb and was known in his mother's belly Enjoyed the high privilege because he was predestined to the blessing of virginity And when all were captured and even the vessels of the temple were plundered by the king of babelon He alone was liberated by the enemy knew not the insults of captivity and was supported by the conquerors the nebuchadnezzar Though he gave Now bozeradan no charge concerning the holy of holies did give him charge concerning Jeremiah For that is the true temple of god and that is the holy of holies which is consecrated to the lord by pure virginity On the other hand zekiel Who was kept captive in babelon who saw the storm approaching from the north and the whirlwind Sweeping all before it says My wife died in the evening and I did in the morning as I was commanded For the lord had previously told him that in that day He should no longer open his mouth and speak and no longer keep silence Mark well that while his wife was living he was not at liberty to admonish the people His wife died the bond of wedlock was broken And without the least hesitation he constantly devoted himself to the prophetic office For he who is called being free is truly the lord's bondservant I do not deny the blessedness of widows who remain such after their baptism Nor do I disparage those wives who maintain their chastity in wedlock But as they attain a greater reward with god the married women who pay the marriage do Let widows themselves be content to give the preference to virginity Or if a chastity which comes too late when the glow of bodily pleasure is no longer felt Makes them feel superior to married women. Why should they not acknowledge themselves inferior to perpetual virginity? All that goes for nothing says divinianius Because even bishops priests and deacons Husbands of one wife and having children were appointed by the apostle Just as the apostle says he has no commandment respecting virgins And yet gives his advice as one who has obtained mercy from the lord And is anxious throughout the whole discussion to give virginity the preference over marriage It advises what he does not venture to command lest he seem to lay a snare And to put a heavier burden upon man's nature than it can bear So also in establishing the constitution of the church in as much as the elements of the early church were drawn from gentiles He made rules for fresh believers somewhat lighter That they may not in alarm shrink from keeping them Then again the apostles and the elders wrote letters from jerusalem That no heavier burden should be laid on gentile believers than that They should keep themselves from idolatry and fornication and from things strangled As though they were providing for infant children they gave them milk to drink not solid food Nor did they lay down rules for continence nor hinted virginity nor urged to fasting Nor repeat the directions given in the gospel to apostles Not to have two tunics nor script nor money in their girdles nor staff in their hand nor shoes on their feet And they certainly did not bid them if they wished to be perfect go and sell all that they had and give to the poor and come follow me Rift the young man who boasted of having done all that the law enjoins When he heard this went away sorrowful Because he had great possessions and the Pharisees derided in utterance such as this from our lord's lips How much more would the vast multitudes of Gentiles whose highest virtue consisted in not plundering another's goods Have repudiated the obligation of perpetual chastity and continence When they were told in the letter to keep themselves from idols and from fornication Seeing that fornication was heard of among them and such fornication as was not even among the Gentiles But the very choice of a bishop makes for me For he does not say let a bishop be chosen who marries one wife And begets children but who marries one wife and has children in subjection and well disciplined You surely admit that he is no bishop who during his episcopate pairs children The reverse is the case for he will be discovered He will not be bound by the ordinary obligations of a husband That will be condemned as an adulterer Either permit priests to perform the work of marriage with the result that virginity and marriage are in par Or if it is unlawful for priests to touch their wives They are so far holy that they imitate virgin chastity But something more follows a lame man or any believer Cannot pray unless he abstains from sexual intercourse Now a priest must always offer sacrifices for the people He must therefore always pray and if he must always pray He must always be released from the duties of marriage Or even under the old law they who used to offer sacrifices for the people Not only remained in their houses But purified themselves for the occasion by separating from their wives Nor would they drink wine or strong drink which are want to stimulate lust That married men are elected to the priesthood. I do not deny The number of virgins is not so great as that of the priests required Does it follow that because all the strongest men are chosen for the army weaker men should not be taken as well All cannot be strong If an army were constitutive strength only and the numbers went out for nothing The feebler men might be rejected as it is men of second or third rank strength are chosen That the army may have its full numerical compliment How is it then you will say that frequently at the ordination of priests a virgin is passed over and a married man taken Perhaps because he lacks other qualifications in keeping with virginity Or it may be that he is thought of virgin and is not Or there may be a stigma on his virginity Or at all events virginity itself makes him proud and while he plumes himself on mere bodily chastity He neglects other virtues. He does not cherish the poor. He is too fond of money It sometimes happens that a man has a gloomy visage A frowning brow a walk as though he were in a solemn procession And so offends the people who because they have no faults to find with his life hate his mere dress and gait Many are chosen not out of affection for themselves, but out of hatred for another In most cases the election is won by mere simplicity While the shrewdness and discretion of another candidate elicit opposition as though they were evils Sometimes the judgment of the commoner people is at fault And in testing the qualities of the priesthood The individual inclines to his own character with the result that he looks not so much for a good candidate As for one like himself not unfrequently it happens that married men who form the larger portion of the people In approving married candidates seem to approve themselves And it does not occur to them that the mere fact that they prefer a married person to a virgin Is evidence of their inferiority to virgins What i'm going to say will perhaps offend many yet. I will say it In good men will not be angry with me because they will not feel the sting of conscience Sometimes it is the fault of the bishops who choose into the ranks of the clergy not the best But the cleverest men and think the more simple as well as the innocent ones incapable Or as though they were distributing the office of an earthly service They give posts to their kindred and relations and they listen to all the dictates of wealth And worse than all they give promotion to the clergy who besmere them with flattery To take the other view if the apostles meaning be that marriage is necessary in a bishop The apostle himself ought not to have been a bishop for he said Yet I would that all men were even as I myself And john will be thought unworthy of this rank in all the virgins in the continent the fairest gems that give grace And ornament to the church Bishop priest and deacon are not honorable distinctions, but names of offices And we do not read If a man seek at the office of a bishop he desire with a good degree But he desire with a good work because by being placed in the higher order An opportunity is afforded him if he choose to avail himself of it for the practice of virtue The bishop then must be without reproach So that he is the slave of no vice The husband of one wife that is in the past not in the present Sober or better as it is in the greek vigilance that is Nephalero chaste for that is the meaning of Sophronoa Distinguished both by chastity and conduct Hospitable so that he imitates abraham in with strangers they rather in strangers entertains christ App to teach for a prophet's nothing to enjoy the consciousness of virtue Unless a man be able to instruct the people entrusted to him So that he can exhort and doctrine and refute the gainsares Not a drunkard for he who is constantly in the holy of holies and offers sacrifices Will not drink wine and strong drink unless the wine is a luxury If the bishop drink at all let it be in such a way that no one will know whether he has drunk or not No striker that is a striker of men's consciousnesses For the apostle is not pointing out what a boxer but a plaintiff ought not to do He directly teaches what he ought to do but gentle not contentious no lover of money One that ruleeth well his own house having his children in subjection with all chastity See what chastity is required in a bishop If this child be unchaste he himself cannot be a bishop and he offends god in the same way as did Eli the priest who had indeed rebuked his sons But because he had not put away The offenders fell backwards and died before the lamp of god went out Women in like manner must be chased and so on In every grade and in both sexes chastity has the chief place You see then that the blessedness of a bishop Priest or deacon does not lie in the fact that they are bishops priests or deacons But in they're having the virtues which their names and offices imply Otherwise if a deacon be holier than his bishop his lower grade will not give him a worse standing with christ If it were so Stephen the deacon The first to wear the martyr's crown would be less in the kingdom of heaven than many bishops And then timothy and titus whom I venture to make Neither inferior nor yet superior to him Just as in the legions of the army, there are generals tribunes centurions javelmen and light armed troops common soldiers and companies Once the battle begins all distinctions of rank are dropped And the one thing looked for is valor so too in this camp in this battle In which we contend against devils not names but deeds are needed And under the true commander christ Not the man who has the highest title has the greatest fame But he who is the bravest warrior End of chapters 31 through 35 book one book one chapters 36 through 40 Of against jevinianius by saint rom this leader box recording is in the public domain But you will say if everybody were a virgin what would become of the human race? Like shall here beget like if everyone were a widow or continent of marriage how will mortal men be propagated? Upon this principle there would be nothing at all for fear that something else may cease to exist To put a case of all men were philosophers There would be no husbandmen why speak of husbandmen? There would be no orators no lawyers no teachers of other professions if all men were leaders What would become of the soldiers if all were the head whose head would they be called? When there were no other members You are afraid that if the desire for virginity were general there would be no prostitutes no adulteresses No wailing infants in town or country every day the blood of adulterers is shed Adulterers are condemned and must is raging and rampant in the very presence Of the laws and the symbols of authority in the courts of justice Being unafraid that all will become virgins virginity is a hard matter and therefore rare because it is hard Many are called few are chosen And he began few persevere And so reward is great for those who have persevered If all were able to be virgins our lord would never have said He that is able to receive it let him receive it and the apostle would not have hesitated to give his advice Now concerning virgins. I have no commandment of the lord Why then you will say it were the organs of generation created And why were we so fashioned by the all wise creator that we burn for one another and long for natural intercourse To reply is to endanger our modesty. We are as it were between two rocks The simplegades of necessity and virtue On either side and must make shipwreck of either our sense of shame or the cause we defend If we reply to your suggestions shame covers our face If shame secures silence in a matter we seem to desert our post And yet to leave the ground clear to the raging foe Yet it is better as the story goes to shut our eyes and fight like the blindfold gladiators Than not to repel with the shield of truth the darts aimed at us I can indeed say our hinder parts which are banished from sight and the lower portions of the abdomen Which perform the functions of nature are the creator's work But in as much as the physical confirmation of the organs of generation Testifies to difference in sex. I shall briefly reply Are we never then to forego lust for fear that we may Have members of this kind for nothing Why then should a husband keep himself from his wife? Why should a widow persevere in chastity if we were only born to live like beasts? Or what harm does it do me if another man lies with my wife? Whereas the teeth were made for chewing and the food Masticated passes into the stomach and a man is not blamed for giving My wife bread similarly if it was intended that the organs of generation should always be performing their office When my vigor is spent let another take my place And if I may so speak that my wife quencher burning lust where she can But what does the apostle mean by exhorting to continents if continents see be contrary to nature What does our lord mean when he instructs us in the various kinds of eunuchs? Surely the apostle who bids us to emulate his own chastity Must be asked if we are to be consistent. Why are you like other men paul? Why are you distinguished from the female sex by a beard hair and other peculiarities of person? How is it that you have not swelling bosoms and are not broad at the hips narrow at the chest? Your voice is rugged your speech is rough your eyebrows more shaggy To no purpose you have all these manly qualities if you forego the embraces of women I am compelled to say something and to become a fool But you have forced me to dare to speak Our lord and savior who though he was in the form of god Condescended it to take the form of a servant and became obedient to the father Even unto death. Yay the death of the cross What necessity was there for him to be born with members which he was not going to use He certainly was circumcised to manifest his sex Why did he cause john the apostle and john the baptist to make themselves eunuchs through love of him after causing them to be born men? Let us then who believe in christ follow his example And if we knew him after the flesh let us no longer know him according to the flesh The substance of our resurrection bodies will certainly be the same as now Though of higher glory For the savior after his descent into hell had so far the self same body in which he was crucified That he showed the disciples the marks of the nails in his hands and the wound in his side Moreover if we deny the identity of his body because he entered though the doors were shut And this is not a property of human bodies We must deny also that peter and the lord had real bodies because they walked upon the water Which is contrary to nature In the resurrection of the dead they will neither marry nor be given in marriage But will be like the angels What others will hereafter be in heaven that virgins begin to be on earth If likeness to the angels is promised us and there is no difference of sex among the angels We shall either be of no sex as are the angels or at all events which is clearly proved Though we rise from the dead in our own sex. We shall not perform the functions of sex But why do we argue and why are we eager to frame a clever and victorious reply to our opponents? Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new I will run through the utterances of the apostles and as to the instances afforded by Solomon I add short expositions to facilitate their being understood So now I will go over the passages bearing on christian priority and continents And we'll make of many proofs a connected series By this method I shall succeed in omitting nothing relating to chastity and shall avoid being tediously long Amongst other passages Paul the apostle writes to the romans What fruit then had ye at the time of the things Whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death But now being made free from sin And become servants to god ye have your fruit unto sanctification And the end eternal life I suppose too that the end of marriage is death But the compensating fruit of sanctification Fruit belonging either to virginity or to continents is eternal life And afterwards wherefore my brethren ye also were made dead to the law through the body of christ That ye should be joined to another Even to him who was raised from the dead that we might bring forth fruit unto god For when we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were through the law Wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death But now we have been discharged from the law having died to that wherein we were holding So that we serve in newness of the spirits and not oldness of the letter When he says we were in the flesh and not in the newness of the spirit But in the oldness of the letter we did those things Which pertain to the flesh and bore fruit unto death But now because we are dead to the law Through the body of christ let us bear fruit to god that we may belong to him who rose from the dead And elsewhere having previously said I know that the law is spiritual And having discussed at some length the violence of the flesh which frequently drives us to do What we would not he at last continues. Oh wretched man that I am Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank god through jesus christ our lord And again So then I myself with the mind serve the law of god But with the flesh the law of sin And there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus Who walk after the flesh for the law of the spirit in christ jesus Made me free from the law of sin and death And more clearly in what follows he teaches the christians Do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit For they that are after the flesh Do mind the things of the flesh But they that are after the spirits the things of the spirit For the mind of the flesh is death but the mind of the spirit is life and peace Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against god For it is not subject to the law of god Neither indeed can it be And they that are in the flesh cannot please god But ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit If so be that the spirit of god dwelleth in you So then brethren we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh For if you live after the flesh ye must die But if by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live For as many as are led by the spirit of god These are sons of god if the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against god And they who are in the flesh cannot please god I think that they who perform the functions of marriage love the wisdom of the flesh And therefore are in the flesh The apostle being desirous to withdraw us from the flesh And to join us to the spirit says afterwards I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god to present your bodies to a living sacrifice Holy acceptable to god Which is your reasonable service And be not fashioned according to this world But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of god For I say through the grace that was given me to every man that is among you Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think But to think according to chastity not soberly as the latin versions badly render But think he says according to chastity for the greek words are esto sofroninin But let us consider what the apostle says be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of god What he says is something like this god indeed permits marriage He permits second marriages and if necessary prefers even third marriages deforenication and adultery But we who ought to present our bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to god Which is our reasonable service Should consider not what god permits but what he wishes That we may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of god It follows What he merely permits is neither good nor acceptable nor perfect And he gives his reasons for this advice Knowing the season that now it is high time for you to awake out of sleep For now a salvation nearer to us than when we first believed The night is far spent and the day is at hand And lastly put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof God's will is one thing his indulgence another Whence writing to the Corinthians he says i brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual But as unto carnal even as unto babes in christ I have fed you with milk and not meat For here it to you are not able to bear it Neither yet now are ye able for ye are yet carnal He who is in the merely animal state and does not receive the things pertaining to the spirit of god For he is foolish and cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned He is not fed with the food of perfect chastity But with the coarse milk of marriage As through man came death so also through man came the resurrection of the dead As an atom all die so in christ we shall all be made alive Under the law we serve the old atom under the gospel let us serve the new atom For the first man atom was made a living soul and the last atom was made a quickening spirit The first man is of the earth earthy the second man is of heaven As the earthy such are they also that are earthy And as is the heavenly such are they also that are heavenly And as we have borne the image of the earthly we shall now also bear the image of the heavenly Now this I say brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god Neither doth corruption inherit incorruption This is so clear that no explanation can make it clear Flesh and blood he says cannot inherit the kingdom of god Neither doth corruption inherit corruption if corruption attaches to all intercourse And incorruption is characteristic of chastity the rewards of chastity cannot belong to marriage But we know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved We have a building from god a house not made with hands Eternal in the heavens For verily in this we groan longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven We are willing to be absent from the body and to be at home with the lord Wherefore also we make it our aim whether in the body or out of the body to be well pleasing unto god And by way of more fully explaining what he did not wish them to be he says elsewhere I espoused you to one husband and I might present you as a pure virgin to christ But if you chose to apply the words to the whole assembly of believers And a nith's brothel to christ include both married women And twice married and widows and virgins that also makes for us for whilst he invites all to chastity For whilst he invites all to chastity and to the reward of virginity He shows that virginity is more excellent than all these conditions And again running to the galatians he says Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified Among the works of the law is marriage and accordingly under its they are cursed to have no children And if under the gospel it is permitted to have children It is one thing to make a concession to weakness another to hold out rewards to virtue Something else I will say to my friends who marry and after long chastity and continents begin to burn In our wanton as the brutes Are ye so foolish having begun in the spirits? Are ye now perfected in the flesh? Did ye suffer so many things in vain? If the apostle in this case of many persons loses the cores of continents And lets them have a slack reign he does so on account on the infirmity of the flesh This the enemy he has in view when he once more says walk by the spirits and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh For the flesh lust is against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh It is unnecessary now to speak of the works of the flesh It would be tedious and he who chooses Can easily gather them from the letter of the apostle I will only speak of the spirit and its fruits love joy peace long suffering goodness kindness faithfulness meekness continents All the virtues of the spirit are supported and protected by continents Which is as it were their solid foundation and crowning point Against such there is no law And they that are of christ have crucified their flesh with the passions and the lust thereof If we live by the spirit by the spirit, let us also walk Why do we who with christ have crucified our flesh and its passions and desires again desire to do the things of the flesh whatsoever a man soweth That shall he also reap for he that soweth unto his own flesh Shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth unto the spirit shall of the spirit reap eternal life I think that he who has a wife so long as he reverts to the practice and question That satan may not tempt him as sowing to the flesh and not to the spirit And he who sows to the flesh the words are not mine but the apostles Weeps corruption god the father chose us in christ before the foundation of the world That we might be holy and without spot before him We walked in the lusts of the flesh doing the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts And were children of wrath even as the rest But now he has raised us up with him and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in christ jesus That we may put away According to our former manner of life the old man Which is corrupt according to the lusts of deceit And the blessings may be applied to us which so finally concludes the mystical epistle to the Ephesians Grace be with all them that love our lord jesus christ in uncorruptness For our citizenship is in heaven from once also we wait for a savior The lord jesus christ who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation That it may be conformed to the body of his glory whatsoever things then are true whatsoever our chaste whatsoever things are just whatsoever things pertain to purity Let us join ourselves to these let us follow these christ hath reconciled us in his body to god the father through his death and Has presented us holy and without spot and without blame before him In whom we have been also circumcised Not with the circumcision made with hands to the spoiling of the body of the flesh But with the circumcision of christ having been buried with him in baptism Wherein also we rose with him If then we have risen with christ let us seek those things which are above For christ sitteth on the right hand of god Let us set our affections on things above not upon the things that are upon the earth For we are dead and our life is hid with christ in god When christ our life shall appear then we also shall appear with him in glory No soldier on service entanglet himself in the affairs of this life That he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier For the grace of god hath appeared bringing salvation to all men Instructing us to the intent that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts We should live purely and righteously and godly in this present world The day would not be long enough where I to attempt to relate all that the apostle enjoins concerning purity These things are those concerning which our lord said to the apostles I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Albeit when he the spirit of truth is come he shall guide you into all the truth After the crucifixion of christ we find in the acts of the apostles that one house that of philip the evangelist produced four virgin daughters To the end that cesarea where the gentile church had been consecrated in the person of cornelius the centurion Might afford an illustration of virginity And whereas our lord said in the gospel The law and the prophets were until john They because They were virgins were related to a prophesied even after john And they could not be bound by the law of the old testament Who had shone with the brightness of virginity Let us pass on to james who was called the brother of the lord a man of such sanctity and righteousness And distinguished by so rigid and perpetual of virginity that even josephus the jewish historian Relates that the overthrow of jerusalem was due to his death He the first bishop of the church At jerusalem which was composed of jewish believers to whom paul went accompanied by titus and barnabas Says in his epistle be not deceived my beloved brethren Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no difference Neither shadow that is casting by turning Of its own will he brought us forth by the word of truth That we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures Himself a virgin he teaches virginity in a mystery Every perfect gift come it down from above or marriage is unknown and it come it down not from any one You please but from the father of lights who says to the apostles He are the light of the world with whom there is no difference of jew or gentile Nor does that shadow which was the companion of trouble trouble those who have believed from among the nations But with his word he begat us And with the word of truth because some shadow image and likeness of truth Went before the law that we might be the first fruits of his creatures And as he who was himself the first begotten from the dead has raised all that have died in him So he who was a virgin consecrated the first fruits of his virgins In his own virgin self Let us also consider what peter thinks of the calling of the gentiles Blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ Who according to his great mercy begat us again into a living hope by the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead Unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not away Reserved in heaven for you Who by the power of god are guarded through faith and the salvation Ready to be revealed in the last time Where we read of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate if not away Prepared in heaven and reserved for the last time And of the hope of eternal life when they will neither marry nor be given in marriage There in other words the privileges of virginity are described Where he shows as much in what follows Wherefore greeting up the loins of your mind be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace That is to be brought unto you at the revelation of jesus christ As children of obedience not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance But like as he which called you as holy be yourselves also holy In all manner of living because it is written Ye shall be holy for i am holy For we are not redeemed with corruptible things With silver or gold but with the precious blood of a lamb without spot jesus christ That we might purify our souls in obedience to the truth Having been begotten again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible through the word of god who liveth in abideth And as living stones let us be built up a spiritual house In holy priesthood offering of spiritual sacrifices through christ our lord For we are an elect race a royal priesthood a holy nation A people for god's own possession Christ died for us in the flesh let us arm ourselves with the same conversation as did christ For he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin That we should no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men But to the will of god for the time past is sufficient for us when we walked in lasciviousness lusts and other vices Great and precious are the promises attached to virginity which he has given us That through it we may become partakers of the divine nature Having escaped from the corruption that is in the world through lust The lord knoweth how to deliver the ungodly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under the punishment under the day of judgment But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise dominion daring self-willed For they as beasts of burden without reason Think only of their belly and their lusts Railers who shall in their corruption be destroyed and shall receive the reward of iniquity Men that count unrighteousness delight spots and blemishes Thinking of nothing but their pleasures Having eyes full of adultery and insatiable lust Deceiving souls not yet strengthened by the love of christ for the utter swelling words and easily ensnare the unlearned With seduction of the flesh promising them liberty While they themselves are the slaves of vice luxury and corruption For of what a man Is overcome of the same he is also brought into bondage but if After they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our savior jesus christ They are again overcome by that which they Before became the last state has become worse with them than the first And it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than After knowing it to turn back in forsake the holy commandment delivered unto them And it has happened unto them according to the true proverb the dog hath returned to his own vomit again And the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire I have hesitated for fear of being tedious to quote the whole passage of the second epistle of peter And have merely shown that the holy spirit in prophecy foretold the teachers of this time and their heresy Lastly he more clearly denotes them saying in the last days seducing mockers shall come walking after their own lusts The epistle has described revinianus speaking with swelling cheeks and nicely balancing his inflated utterances Promising heavenly liberty when he himself is the slave of vice and self-indulgence A dog returning to his vomit for although he boasts of being a monk He has exchanged his dirty tunic bear feet common bread and drink of water for a snowy dress sleek skin honey wine and dainty dishes for the sauces of Apicius and pacomus for baths and rubbings and for the cook shops It is not clear that he prefers his belly to christ and thinks his ruddy complexion worth the kingdom of heaven And yet that handsome monk So fat and sleek and a bright appearance who always walks with the air of the bridegroom Must either marry our wife If he is to show that virginity and marriage are equal or if he does not marry one It is useless for him to bandy words with us when his acts are on our side And john agrees with this almost to the letter Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man loved the world the love of the father is not in him for all that is in the world Is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of this life Which is not of the father, but is of the world And the world path is away and the lust thereof But he that doeth the will of god abideth forever A new commandment I have written unto you which thing is true both in christ and in you Because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shineth And again beloved now are we the children of god And it is not yet made manifest what we shall be But we know that if he shall be manifested we shall be like him For we shall see him even as he is And everyone that hath this hope purifies himself even as he is pure Herein is our love made perfect If we have boldness in the day of judgment that as he is even so may we be in this world The epistle of jude also expresses nearly the same Heeding even the garments spotted by the flesh Let us read the apocalypse of john when we shall there find The lamb upon mount zion and with him 144 000 of them that were sealed having his name and the name of his father written in their foreheads Who sing a new song and no one can sing that song save they who have been redeemed out of the earth These are they who have not defiled themselves with women For they continued virgins these fall the lamb whether so ever he goeth Who they were redeemed from among men first fruits to god Into the lamb and in their mouth was found no guile And they are without spots out of each tribe the tribe of dan Accepted the place of which is taken by the tribe of levi 12 000 virgins who have been sealed are spoken of as future believers Who have not defiled themselves with women and that we may not suppose the reference to be to those Who know not harlots he immediately added for they continued virgins Whereby he shows that all who have not preserved their virginity in comparison of pure and angelic chastity End of our lord jesus christ himself are defiled These are they who sing a new song which no man can sing except him that is a virgin These are first fruits unto god and unto the lamb and are without blemish If virgins are first fruits it follows that widows and the continents in marriage Come after the first fruits that is are in the second and third rank Nor can a lost people be saved Unless it offers such sacrifices of chastity to god and with pure victims reconcile the spotless lamb It would be endless work to explain the gospel mystery of the ten virgins five of whom were wise and five foolish All I say now is that as mere virginity without works does not save So all works without virginity purity continents chastity are imperfect And we shall not be hindered in the least from taking this view by the objection of our opponent That our lord was at cana of gallivy and joined in the marriage festivals when he turned water into wine I shall very briefly reply that he who was circumcised on the eighth day And for whom a pair of turtle doves and two young pigeons were offered on the day of purification Like others before he suffered showed his approval of jewish custom That he might not seem to give his enemies just cause for putting him to death On the pretext that he destroyed the law and condemned nature And even this was done for our sakes For by going once to a marriage he taught that men should marry only once Moreover at that time it was possible to injure virginity if marriage were not placed next to it And the purity of widowhood in the third rank But now when heretics are condemning wedlock and despise the ordinance of god We gladly hear anything he may say in praise of marriage For the church does not condemn marriage, but it makes its subordinates Nor does she reject it but regulates it for she knows as was said before That's in a great house. There are not only vessels of gold and silver But also of wood and earthenware and that some are to honor and some to dishonor And that whoever cleanses himself will be a vessel of honor Necessary prepared for every good work End of book one chapters 36 through 40 Book one chapters 41 through 45 Of against eugenius by st. Jerome the sleeper vox recording is in the public domain I have given enough and more than enough illustrations from the divine writings of christian chastity And angelic virginity, but as I understand that our opponent in his commentaries summons us to the tribunal of worldly wisdom And we are told that views of this kind are never accepted in the world And that our religion has invented a dogma against nature I will quickly run through greek enrolment and foreign history And we'll show that virginity ever took the lead of chastity Fable relates that atalana The virgin of caledonian fame Live for the chase and dwelt always in the woods. In other words that she did not set her heart on marriage with its troubles Of pregnancy and of sickness, but upon the nobler life of freedom and chastity Our palaeus too and the thracian virgin is described by the famous poet and so is camellia Queen of the vulture on whom when she came to his assistance Turn us had no higher praise which he could bestow than to call her a virgin O virgin glory of italy and that famous daughter of lios The lady of the brazen house ever a virgin is related to have freed her country from pestilence by her voluntary death And the blood of the virgin effrigina is said to have calmed the stormy winds What need to tell of the syllabuses of erythry and kumine And the eight others for varro asserts There were ten whose ornament was virginity In divination the reward of their virginity But if in the aeolian dialect syllable is represented by The ovole we must understand That a knowledge of the counsel of god is rarely attributed to virginity alone We read to That casandra and Cresias Profites of apollo and juno or virgins And there were innumerable priestesses Of the tyrannian diana and of vestra One of these Monitana being suspected of unchastity was buried alive Which would be in my opinion an unjust punishment Unless the violation of virginity were considered a serious crime In all events how highly the romans always esteemed virgins is clear from the fact That councils and generals even in their triumphal chariots and bringing home the spoils Of concord nations were want to make Way for them to pass and so did men of all ranks When claudia a vestal virgin was suspected of unchastity and a vessel containing the image Of subel was a ground in the tiber It is related that she to prove her chastity with her girdle drew the ship which a thousand men could not move Yet as the uncle of lucian the poet says It would have been better if this circumstance had decorated A chastity tried and proved and had not pleaded in defense of a chastity equivocal No wonder that we read such things of human beings when heathen air also invented the virgin goddess Minerva and diana and placed the virgin among the 12 signs of the zodiac By means of which as they suppose the world revolves It is a proof of the little esteem in which they held marriage that they did not even among the scorpions Centurs crabs fishes and capricorn Thrust in a husband and wife When the 30 tyrants of athens had slain phyton at the banquet They commanded his virgin daughters to come to them naked like harlots And there upon the ground read with their father's blood To act the wanton for a little while they hid their grief And then when they saw the revelers were intoxicated Going out on the plea of easing nature they embraced one another and threw themselves into a well That by death they might save the virginity The virgin daughter of dimadion chief of the Aeropagites having heard of the death of her betrothed Leothanese who had originated The Namayan war slew herself for she declared that although in body she was a virgin Yet if she were compelled to accept another she should regard him as her second husband When she'd given her heart to lia santhis So close a friendship long existed between sparta And mesene that for the furtherance of certain religious rites they even exchanged virgins Well on one occasion when the men of mesene attempted to outrage 50 less sadamonian virgins Out of so many not one consented But they all most gladly died in defense of their chastity Once there arose a long and grievous war and in the long run Mamertia was destroyed Maristocles tyrant of orcho menos fell in love with a virgin of Stemphalus and went after the death of her father She took refuge in the temple of diana and embraced the image of the goddess It could not be dragged Hence by force she was slain on the spot Her death caused such intense grief throughout arcadia That the people took up arms and avenged the virgin's death Aristo menos of mesene a just man at the time when the last of demonians Whom he had conquered were celebrating by night the festival called the hyacinthia carried off from the sport of bands 15 virgins And fleeing all night at full speed got away from the spartan territory His companions wished to outrage them, but he admonished them to the best of his power not to do so And when certain refused Obey he slew them and restrained the rest by fear The maidens were afterwards ransomed by their kinsmen And on seeing Aristo menos Condemned for murder would not return to their country until clasping the knees of the judges They beheld the protector of their chastity acquitted How shall we sufficiently praise the daughters of Sudaus at luctra in baotia? It is related in the absence of their father They hospitably entertained two youths who were passing by And who having drunk to excess violated the virgins in the course of the night Being unwilling to survive the loss of their virginity the mains inflicted deadly wounds on one another Nor would one be right to omit the mention Of the locrian virgins They were sent to ileum according to custom which had lasted for nearly a thousand years And yet not one gave occasion to any idle tale or filthy rumor of virginity defiled Could anyone pass over in silence the seven virgins Of malitas who when the gall spread desolation far and wide that they might suffer no indignity at the hands of the enemy escaped disgrace by death And left to all virgins the lesson of their example that noble minds care more for chastity than life He can or having conquered and overthrown thieves was himself overcome by a passion for one captive virgin Who's voluntary self-surrender he longed for a captive maid he thought Must be only too glad but he found that virginity is dear to the pure in heart than a kingdom When with tears in grief he held her in his arms slain by her own hand Greek writers tell also of another theobian Virgin who had been deflowered by a Macedonian foe and who hiding her grief for a while Slew the violator of her virginity as he slept and then killed herself with the sword So that she would neither live when her chastity was lost nor die before she had avenged herself To come to the gymnosophists of india The opinion is authoritatively handed down that buddha the founder of their religion Add his birth through the side of a virgin You need not wonder at this in the case of barbarians when cultured greece suppose that Minerva at her birth sprang from the head of jove and father Bacchus from his thigh Speusipus also Plato's nephew In clear cuss in his eulogy of Plato and an axolids in the second book of his philosophy Relates that peri ticotone the mother of Plato was violated by an apparition of apollo And they agree in thinking that the prince of wisdom was born of a virgin Timaeus writes that the virgin daughter of Pythagoras Was at the head of a band of virgins and instructed them in chastity Deodorus the disciple of socrates is said to have had five daughters killed in dialectics and distinguished for chastity Of whom a full account is given by phylo the master of Cardenas And mighty rom cannot taunt us as though we had invented the story Of the birth of our lord and savior from a virgin For the romans believe that the founders of their city and race were the offspring of the virgin Iliad and of mars That these allusions to the virgins of the world brief and hastily gathered for many histories now suffice I will now proceed to married women who were reluctant to survive The deceased or violent death of their husbands for fear they might be forced into a second marriage And who entertained a marvelous affection for their only husbands they had This may teach us that second marriage was repudiated among the heathen Daito the sister of pygmalion I mean collected a vast amount of gold and silver saved to africa and there build carthage And when her hand was sought in marriage by ebas king of liberia She deferred the marriage for a while until her country was settled Not long after having raised a funeral pyre in the memory of her former husband Sikias she preferred to burn rather than to marry Carthage was built by a woman of chastity and its end was a tribute to the excellence of the virtue For the wife of has drew bull when the city was captured and set on fire And she saw that she could not herself escape capture by the romans Took her little children in either hand and left into the burning ruins of her house What need to tell of the wife of nissar atas who not enduring to wrong her husband Inflicted death upon herself rather than subject herself to the lust of the 30 tyrants Whom lysander had sets over conquered athens Artemisia also life of mouse solace Is related to have been distinguished for chastity Though she was a queen of caria And is extolled by great poets and historians No higher praise is bestowed upon her than that when her husband was dead She loved him so much that when he was alive and built a tomb so great That even to the present day all costly sepulchres Are called after his name mausoleums Tuta queen of the allerians Ode her long sway over brave warriors and her frequent victories over roam to her marvelous chastity The indians and almost all the barbarians have plurity of wives It is a law with them that the favorite wife must be burned with her dead husband The wives therefore vie with one another For the husband's love and the highest ambition of the rivals and the proof of chastity is to be considered worthy of death So then she that is victoria's having put on her former dress and ornaments Lies down beside the corpse embracing and kissing it and to the glory of chastity Despises the flames which are burning beneath her I suppose that she who dies thus wants no second marriage The famous alcivedas the friend of socrates when athens was conquered Fled to for Nabosus Who took a bribe from lysander? The lacedemonian leader and ordered him to be slain he was strangled and when his head had been cut off It was sent to lysander as proof of the murder But the rest of the body lay unburied his concubine therefore all alone In defiance of the command of the cruel enemy and in the midst of strangers in the face of peril Give him do burial for she was ready to die for the dead man Whom she lobbed when living led matrons christian matrons at all events Imitate the fidelity of concubines exhibit in their freedom what she and her captivity preserved Stratto ruler of Sidon Thought of dying by his own hand that he might not be the sport of the persians Who were close by in whose alliance he had discarded for the friendship of the king of egypt But he drew back in terror and eyeing the sword which he had seized awaited an alarm The approach of the enemy His wife knowing that he must be immediately taken Rested the weapon from his hand and pierced his side When the body was properly laid out she lay down upon it in the agony of death That she might not violate her virgin troth In the embraces of another Sinophon in describing the early years of the elder cirrus Relates that when her husband abradatas was slain Parthia who loved him intensely placed herself beside the mangled body Then stabbed herself and let her blood run into her husband's wounds The queen whom the king her husband had shown naked and without her knowledge to his friend Thought she had good cause for slaying the king She judged that she was not beloved if it was possible for her to be exhibited to another Rodagun Daughter of Darius after the death of her husband put to death the nurse who was trying to persuade her to marry again Alcestis is related in the story to have voluntarily died for Edmetos And Penelope's chastity is the theme of Homer's song Leo de Maia's praises are also sung by the poets because when Prostelius was slain atroi She refused to survive him End of book one chapters 41 through 45 book one chapters 46 through 49 of Against Jovinianius by Saint Jerome. This Levervox recording is in the public domain I might pass on to Roman women and the first that I shall mention Is Lucretia who would not survive for violated chastity But blotted out the stain upon her person with her own blood De Ilius the first Roman who won a naval triumph Took to wife of virgin Bilia of such extraordinary chastity that she was an example even to an age Which held unchastity to be not merely vicious but monstrous When he was grown old and feeble he was once in the course of a quarrel taunted with having bad breath In dud Gion he betook himself home And on complaining to his wife that she had never told him of it so that he might remedy The fault he received the reply that she would have done so but that she thought that all men had foul breath as he had In either case this chastin noble woman deserves praise Whether she was not aware there was anything wrong with her husband Or if she patiently endured and her husband discovered this unfortunate condition Not by the disgust of his wife but by the abuse of an enemy At all events the woman who marries a second time cannot say this Marsha Kato's younger daughter on being asked after the loss of her husband Why she did not marry again replied that she could not find a man who wanted her more than her money Her words teach us that men in choosing their wives look for riches rather than for chastity And that many in marrying use not their eyes but their fingers That must be an excellent thing which is won by avarice When the same lady was mourning the loss of her husband and the matrons asked what day would terminate her grief She replied the same that terminates my life I imagine that a woman who thus followed her husband in hearts and minds Had no thought of marrying again Portia whom Brutus took to wife was a virgin Kato's wife Marsha was not a virgin but Marsha went to and fro between Ortencias and Kato and was quite content to live without Kato While Portia could not live without Brutus for women attached themselves closely to particular men And to keep to one is a strong link in the chain of affection when a relative urged Ania to marry again She was a full age and a goodly person. She answered I shall certainly not do so For if I find a good man, I have no wish to be in fear of losing him If a bad one, why must I put up with a bad husband after having had a good one Portia the younger On hearing a certain lady of good character Who had a second husband praised in her house replied A chaste and happy matron never marries more than once Marcella the elder on being asked by her mother if she was glad she was married answered So much so that I want nothing more Valeria the sister of The misalice when she lost her husband Cervius Would marry no one else On being asked why not she said that to her her husband Cervius was ever alive I feel that in giving this list of women I have said far more than is customary In illustrating the point and I might be justly censured by my learned reader But what am I to do when the women of our time press me with apostolic authority And before the first husband is buried repeat from morning to night the precepts which allow a second marriage Seeing they despise the fidelity which christian purity dictates Let them at least learn chastity from the heathen A book on marriage worth its weight in gold Passes under the name of theophrastus In it the author asks whether a wise man marries And after laying down the conditions That the wife must be fair of good character and honest parentage The husband in good health and of ample means And after saying that under these circumstances a wise man sometimes enters the state of matrimony He immediately proceeds thus But all these conditions are seldom satisfied in marriage A wise man therefore must not take a wife For in the first place his study of philosophy will be hindered And it is impossible for anyone to attend to his books and his wife Matrons wants many things costly dresses gold jewels Great outlay made servants all kinds of furniture litters and gilded couches Then come curtain lectures and the live long night She complains that one lady goes out better dressed than she But another is looked up by all I am a poor despise nobody at the ladies assemblies Why did you ogle that creature next door? Why were you talking to the maid? What did you bring from the market? I am not allowed to have a single friend or companion She suspects that her husband's love Goes the same way as her hate There may be in some neighboring city the wisest of teachers But if we have a wife we can neither leave her behind nor take the burden with us The support a poor wife is hard to put up with a rich one is torture Notice too that in the case of a wife you cannot pick and choose You must take her as you find her If she has a bad temper or is a fool If she has a blemish or is proud or has bad breath Whatever her fault may be all this we learn after marriage Horses, asses, cattle, even slaves of the smallest worth Clothes, kettles, wooden seats, cups, and earthenware pitchers are first tried and then bought A woman is the only thing that is not shown before she is married For fear she may not give satisfaction Our gaze must always be directed to her face And we must always praise her beauty If you look at another woman she thinks that she is out of favor She must be called my lady Her birthday must be kept We must swear by her health and wish that she may survive us Respect must be paid to the nurse To the nursemaid To the father's slave To the foster child To the handsome hanger on To the curled darling who manages her affairs And to the eunuch who ministers to the safe indulgence of her lust Names which are only a cloak for adultery Upon whomesoever she sets her heart They must have her love though they want her not If you give her the management of the whole house You must yourself be her slave If you reserve something for yourself She will not think you are loyal to her But she will turn to strife and hatred Unless you quickly take care She will have the poison ready If you introduce old women and sousayers and prophets And vendors of jewels and silken clothing You imperil her chastity If you shut the door upon them She is injured and fancies you suspect her But what is the good of even a careful guardian When an unchaste wife cannot be watched And a chaste one ought not to be For necessity is but a faithless keeper of chastity When she alone really deserves to be called pure Who is free to sin if she chooses If a woman be fair she soon finds lovers If she be ugly it is easy to be wonton It is difficult to guard what many long for It is annoying to have what no one thinks worth possessing But the misery of having an ugly wife Is less than that of watching a comely one Nothing is safe for which a whole person sighs and longs One man entices with his figure Another with his brains Another with his wits Another with his open hand Somehow or sometime the fortress is captured Which is attacked on all sides Men marry indeed so as to get a manager for the house To soulless wearingness to banish solitude But a faithful slave is a far better manager More submissive to the master More observant of his ways Than a wife who thinks she proves herself mistress If she acts in opposition to her husband That is, if she does what pleases her Not what she is commanded But friends and servants who are under the obligation of benefits received Are better able to wait upon us in sickness Than a wife who makes us responsible for her tears She will sell you enough to make a deluge For the hope of a legacy Both of her anxiety But drives her sick husband to the distraction of despair But if she herself is poorly We must fall sick with her and never leave her bedside Or if she be a good and agreeable wife How rare a bird she is We have to share her groans and childbirth And suffer torture when she is in danger A wise man can never be alone He has with him the good men of all time And turns his mind freely wherever he chooses What is inaccessible to him in person He can embrace in thought And if men are scarce he converses with God He is never less alone than when alone Then again to marry for the sake of children So that our name may not perish Or that we may have support in old age And leave our property without dispute Is the height of stupidity For what is it to us when we are leaving the world If another bears our name When even a son does not all at once Take his father's title And there are countless others who are called by the same name Or what supports in old age Is he whom you bring up And who may die before you Or turn out a retrograde Or at all events when he reaches mature age You may seem to him long in dying Friends and relatives whom you can judiciously love Are better and safer heirs than those whom you must Make your heirs whether you like it or not Indeed the surest way of having a good heir Is to ruin your fortune In a good cause while you live Not to leave the fruit of your labor to be used You know not how When three of ratias thus discourses Are there any of us Christians Whose conversation is in heaven and who daily say I long to be dissolved and to be with Christ Whom he does not put to the blush Shall a joint heir of Christ really long for human heirs And shall he desire children and delight himself In a long line of descendants Who will perhaps fall into the clutches of antichrist When we read that Moses and Samuel Preferred other men to their own sons And did not count as their children Those whom they saw to be displeasing to God When Cicero after divorcing Terenia was requested by Eretius to marry his sister He set the matter All together on one side And said that he could not possibly devote himself to a wife And to philosophy Meanwhile that excellent partner Who had herself drunk wisdom At Tully's fountains married Salas to his enemy And took her third husband Masala Corvinius And thus as it were Passed through three degrees of eloquence Socrates had two wives Centipi and Miran Ran daughter of Aristides They frequently quarreled And he was accustomed to banter them For disagreeing about him He being the ugliest of men With stubbed nose, bald forehead Rough-haired and bandy-legged At last they planned an attack upon him And having punished him severely And put him to flight Vexed him for a long time On one occasion when he opposed Centipi who from above was heaping abuse upon him The termagat Seused him with dirty water And he only wiped his head and said I knew that a shower must follow such thunder as that Etella, consort of El Sula The fortunate, except in the matter of his wife Was openly unchaste And it was the common talk of Athens As I learned in my youthful years When we soon pick up what is bad And yet Sula was in the dark And first got to know the secrets of his household Through the abuse of his enemies Colonel Pompey had an impure wife Usha Who was surrounded by eunuchs from Pontus And troops of the countrymen of Mithridates Others thought that he knew all and submitted to it But a comrade told him during the campaign And the conqueror of the whole world Was dismayed at the sad intelligence Major Kato, the censor Had a wife Actoria Paula A woman of low origin Fond of drink Violence And who would believe it Haughty to Kato I say this for fear anyone may suppose That in marrying a poor woman He has secured peace When Philip, king of Macedon Against whom Demosthians Thundered in his Philippics Was entering his bedroom as usual His wife in a passion shut him out Finding himself excluded He held his tongue And consoled himself for the insult By reading a tragic poem Gorgias The retician recited his excellent treatise On concord to the Greeks Then at variance among themselves At Olympia Whereupon Melantheus, his enemy observed Here is a man who teaches us concord And yet could not make concord between himself and his wife And maidservants Three persons in one house The truth was that his wife envied the beauty of the girl And drove the purest of men wild with daily quarrels Old tragedies of Euripides Are censures on women Hence Ramonian says The councils of evil women have beguiled me In the semi-barbarious and remote city Leptis It is the custom for a daughter-in-law On the second day To beg the loan of a jar from her mother-in-law The latter at once denies the request And we see how true is the remark of Terence Ambiguously expressed on purpose How is this? Do all mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law? Be read of a certain Roman noble Who, when his friends found fault with him For having divorced a wife Beautiful and chaste and rich Put out his foot and said to them And the shoe before you looks new and elegant Yet no one but myself knows where it pinches Herodotus tells us that a woman puts off her modesty With her clothes And our own comic poet Thinks the man fortunate who has never been married Why should I refer to Pasifae Clytemnestra In Arifile The first of whom The wife of a king and swimming in pleasure Is said to have lusted for a bull The second to have killed her husband For the sake of an adulterer The third to have betrayed Amphyrus And to have preferred a gold necklace To the welfare of her husband In all the bombast of tragedy And overthrow of houses, cities, and kingdoms It is the wives and concubines Who stir up strife Parents take up arms Against their children Unspeakable banquets are served And on account of the rape of one wretched woman Europe and Asia are involved in a 10 years war We read of some who were divorced the day after they were married And immediately married again Both husbands arts of blame Both he who is soon dissatisfied And he who was soon so pleased Epicurious the patron of pleasure Though Metrodorus, his disciple, married Neontia Says that a wise man can seldom marry Because marriage has many drawbacks And as riches, honors, bodily health And other things which we call indifferent Are neither good nor bad But stand as it were midway And become good and bad According to the use and issue So wives stand on the borderline Of good and ill It is, moreover, a serious matter For a wise man to be in doubt Whether he is going to marry a good or a bad woman Crispus ridiculously maintains That a wise man should marry That he may not outrage Jupiter Gamelius and Genethlius For upon that principle, the Latins would not marry at all Since they have no Jupiter who presides over marriage But if, as he thinks, the life of men Is determined by the names of gods Whoever chooses to sit will offend Jupiter that door Aristotle and Plutriarch And our Seneca have written treaties on matrimony Out of which we have already made some extracts And now add a few more The love of beauty is the forgetting of reason And the neighbor of madness A foul blot, little in keeping with a sound mind It confuses counsel, breaks high in generous spirits Draws away men from great thoughts to mean ones It makes men quarrelous Ill-tempered, foolhardy, cruelly imperious, servile flatterers Good for nothing, at last not even for love itself For, although in the intensity of passion It burns like a raging fire It wastes much time through suspicions, tears, and complaints It begets hatred of itself, and at last hates itself The course of love is laid bare in Plato's Ladrius, from beginning to end And Lyceus explains all its drawbacks How it is led not by reason but by frenzy And in particular is a harsh goller over lovely wives Seneca too relates that he knew an accomplished man Who before going out used to tie his wife's garter upon his breast And could not bear to be absent from her for a quarter of an hour And this pair would never take a drink Unless husband and wife alternatively put their lips to the cup And they did other things just as absurd In the extravagant outbursts of their warm but blind affection Their love was of an honorable birth But it grew out of all proportion And it makes no difference how honorable May have been the cause of the man's insanity And Zistus, in his sentences, tells us that He who too ardently loves his own wife is an adulterer It is disgraceful to love another man's wife at all Or one's own too much A wise man ought to love his wife with judgment, not with passion Let a man govern his voluptuous impulses And not rush headlong into intercourse There is nothing blacker than to love a wife as if she were an adulteress Men who say they have contracted marriage and are bringing up children For the good of their country and of their race Should at least imitate the brutes and not destroy their offspring in the womb Nor should they appear in the character of lovers but of husbands In some cases marriage has grown out of adultery and shameful to relate Men have tried to teach their wives chastity after having taken their chastity away Marriages of that sort are quickly dissolved when lust is satiated The first allurement gone, the charm is lost What shall I say, says Seneca, of the poor men Who in numbers are bribed to take the name of husband in order to evade the laws promulgated against bachelors How can he who is married under such conditions be a guide to morality Teach chastity and maintain the authority of a husband It is the saying of a very learned man that chastity must be preserved in all costs And that when it is lost all virtue falls to the ground This holds the primacy of all virtues in woman This it is that makes up for a wife's poverty Enhances her riches Redeems her deformity Gives grace to her beauty It makes her act in a way worthy of her forefathers Whose blood it does not taint with bastard offspring Of her children who through it have no need to blush for their mother Or to be in doubt about their father And above all of herself since it defends her from external volition No greater calamity connected with captivity than to be the victim of another's lust The council ship sheds luster upon men eloquence gives eternal renown military glory And a triumph immortalize an obscure family Many are the spheres a noble by splendid ability The virtue of women is in a special sense purity It was this that made Mkria the equal of Brutus If it did not make her that his superior Since Brutus learned from a woman the impossibility of being a slave It was this that made Cornelia a fit match for Gracious And Portia for a second Brutus Tenenquil is better known than her husband His name like the names of many other kings is lost in the midst of antiquity She through a virtue rare among women Is too deep rooted in the hearts of the all ages for her memory ever to perish Let my married sisters copy the examples of Hieno, Leo Boolean Gorgente Timoklia The Claudius and Cornelius And when they find the apostle conceding second marriage to depraved women They will read that before the light of our religion shone upon the world Wives of one husband ever held high rank among matrons And that by their hands the sacred rites of Fortuna Malibras were performed that a priest or Glamon twice married was unknown And that the high priests of Athens to this day Emacilate themselves by drinking hemlock And once they have been drawn in to the pontificate cease to be men End of chapters 46 through 49 end of book one