A letter from Jerome (414)

Translated letter:

1. Of all the subjects I have written about from my youth to my present age either by my hand or that of my copyists/secretaries, none has been more difficult than this; for I am about to write to Demetrias, a virgin of Christ, who is, in the Roman world, first in nobility and wealth. If I speak of everything that is suitable to her virtues, people will think that I am only flattering her; if I leave certain things out lest they seem too incredible, then my shame would cause damage to her praise. Then what should I do? I do not dare deny the praise that I am unable to adequately express. Her grandmother and her mother, two outstanding women, have such authority in commanding, such faith in seeking, and such perseverance in obtaining what they seek. They do not demand anything new or particular from me, for I have exercised my talent in such matters more than once; but they also wish that I, to the best of my ability, give witness to all the virtues of the woman, who - and let me quote a famous orator - "is to be praised more for what she will be than what she is" [Cicero] Still, she has passed her youthful years with a great intensity of faith and has begun at a point where others would have considered it of the highest virtue to finish. 2. Let disparagement and envy leave off and let no charge of ambition be brought against me. A stranger is writing to a stranger, at least when it comes to physical appearance. In other respects, her inner person is well known in the same way that Paul the Apostle knew the Colossians and many other believers whom he had not seen before. One can judge how greatly I esteem, rather, how great a miracle I consider our virgin, because I, occupied in explaining Ezekiel´s temple (which is really the most difficult work in all Scripture) and the part of the shrine where the temples of the saints and the altar of incense is described,1 preferred to take a brief side-journey so that I might go from one altar to another and dedicate to eternal chastity a living sacrifice that is pleasing to God and without any stain. I know that the pontiff prayed for the yellow bridal veil to cover the virgin´s head and that the statement of the apostle was celebrated: "I wish, moreover, to present you all to Christ as a chaste virgin" [2Cor.11:2] when "the queen stood at his right hand in a garment of gold and many details" [Ps.44:10]. Even Joseph and, at one time, the daughters of the king wore this garment woven with a plethora of virtues. From this, the bride herself rejoices and says: "The king led me into his chamber" [Cant.1:3] and a chorus of companions respond: "All the glory of the king´s daughter is within" [Ps.44:14]. But even our speech will add some benefit. The charge of horses becomes faster with applause, a boxer´s strength is increased with shouts from the crowd, and a talk from the general spurs on drawn swords and battle-ready troops. Therefore, even in this present work, although her grandmother and mother have planted the seeds, we will be the ones to water and the Lord will grant growth. 3. Rhetoricians are trained to decorate the one to be praised by tracing his nobility back to great-great-grandfathers and beyond so that a fertile root may compensate for sterile branches and so that what you may not have in fruit, you may admire in the trunk. Certainly I must repeat at this time the famous names of the Probi and Olybrii as well as the distinguished line of Anicius in which every man, or very nearly every man, was worthy of the consulate, or I should bring up Olybrius, the father of our virgin, whom Rome mourned when taken off by untimely death. I am afraid to say more lest I irritate the wound of the holy mother and the recollection of his virtues becomes a renewal of her pain. He was a dutiful son, a loving husband, a merciful lord, a friendly citizen, a consul while in his childhood, and a more illustrious senator because of the goodness of his character. He was happy in his death because he did not see his fatherland come to ruin; he was happier still in his offspring because he made the nobility of his great grandmother Demetrias even more distinguished by the perpetual chastity of his daughter Demetrias. 4. But what am I doing? Having forgotten my intention in my admiration for this young man, I have only praised some worldly goods when I should have been praising our virgin because she has rejected all of these things and because she has considered herself neither noble, nor too powerful due to her wealth, but human. Amid gems and silk, between crowds of girls and eunuchs, adulation, the attendants of a bustling household, and choice feasts which the abundance of a rich home provided, she had the incredible strength of mind to seek out the toil of fasting, the roughest of clothing, and restriction to her way of life. She did so because she had read the words of the Lord saying: "Those who wear soft clothing are in the houses of kings" [Matth.11:8]. She was amazed by the conduct of Elijah and John the Baptist: they both bound and weakened their loins with belts of fur. The latter is said to have come as a forerunner of the Lord in the spirit and virtue of Elijah, who prophesied while still in the womb and was praised by the voice of the judge before the day of judgment. She also marveled at the intensity of Anna, daughter of Phanuel, who served the Lord in a temple with prayers and fasts even to the extremes of old age. She thought about the chorus of Philip´s four virgin daughters and desired to be counted among these women who obtained the grace of prophecy because of their pure virginity. She was feeding her mind with thoughts of this sort, fearing nothing other than offending her mother and grandmother. Although she was inspired by their example, she was terrified by their will and their eagerness, not because her holy purpose might displease them, but because they would not dare to desire nor seek it because of its magnitude. This pupil of Christ was on fire: she came to hate her clothing and spoke to the Lord like Esther: "You know that I hate the sign of my head" -- that is the diadem which she wore as a queen - "and that I consider it as unclean as a menstrual rag" [Esther 14:16]. Of the holy and noble women who have seen her and know her - a raging storm drove some of them from the shores of Gaul to the dwelling of holy places throughout Africa - these women say that she, secretly at night with only the virgins of God aware of the plan who were in the company of her mother and grandmother, using neither linen nor any soft feathers, put a coverlet of goat´s hair on the bare ground as a spread and wet her face with constant tears, having fallen to her knees with the Savior in her thoughts, so that he might receive her purpose, fulfill her desire, and soften the minds of her mother and grandmother. 5. Why delay the matter further? When her wedding day was fast approaching and the bedroom was being prepared for the coming nuptials, Demetrias, in secret and apart from witnesses (the night was her comfort), is said to have equipped herself with the following words of advice: "What are you doing, Demetrias? Why do you guard your chastity with such fear? You need to have freedom and daring. If you are afraid thus in a time of peace, how would you act in the midst of a martyrdom? If you cannot endure a single unhappy look from your family, how would you put up with the tribunals of your persecutors? If the examples of men do not move you, let the blessed martyr Agnes encourage you and give you strength, for she has conquered her age as well as a tyrant and decorated the title of chastity with her martyrdom. You do not know, wretched girl, you do not know to whom you owe your virginity. Not long ago did you tremble in the grasp of foreign hands, covered by cloaks and in the embrace of your mother and grandmother; you saw how you were a captive and how your chastity was not in your power; you shuddered at the fierce looks of your enemies; you witnessed with a silent cry the rape of the virgins of God. Your city, once the head of the world, is now the tomb of the Roman people, and will you, an exile on the shores of Libya, receive an exile for a husband? What woman will you have to escort you? What retinue will lead you to your wedding? The hissing of the Punic tongue will sing wanton Fescennine verses for you. Get rid of all delays. `Perfect love sends fear out´ [1John 4:18]. Put on the shield of faith, the breastplate of justice, and the helmet of salvation. Proceed to battle. Your guarded chastity has its own martyrdom. Why fear your grandmother? Why fear your parent? Perhaps they wish for what they believe you do not wish for yourself." Stirred by these goads, she cast off all finery and worldly attire as though they were impediments to her purpose. She returned her expensive necklaces, valuable pearls, and gleaming gems to their boxes; then, she put on a cheap tunic, covered herself with an even cheaper cloak, and suddenly cast herself at her grandmother´s knees with such weeping and lamentation that she showed herself for who she was. The holy and venerable woman was amazed, staring at the strange attire of her granddaughter, and her mother stood astonished with joy. Both women did not believe that what they wanted to be true was actually true. Their voices were stuck in their throats and, between blushes and paleness, between fear and delight, their thoughts were shifting in every direction. 6. I must yield at this point and I should not try to narrate what words cannot describe. In explaining the magnitude of that incredible joy, the stream of Tullian/Ciceronian wit might run dry and the energetically and vigorously hurled statements of Demosthenes might flow more slowly and languidly. Whatever the mind is able to think, whatever speech is unable to explain, we have heard it accomplished at that time. Granddaughter and daughter kiss each other eagerly. They wept greatly for joy and raised her from the ground with their hands and embraced her as she was trembling. They saw their own mind in her plan and congratulated each other because she would make their noble family even nobler with her virginity. She found a way to give help to her family and to soothe some of the devastation of Rome. Great Jesus! Who can speak of the celebration throughout that household?

Many virgins, as if from a fertile root, sprang forth at the same time and a crowd of dependents and slaves followed the example of their patron and mistress. Virginity was professed warmly in every household and although their status was not equal to Demetrias in the flesh, the reward of chastity was the same for everyone. I am not putting this adequately: all the churches in Africa rejoiced with a celebratory dance. This great news made its way not only to cities, towns, and villages, but even to the huts. All the islands between Africa and Italy were replete with this rumor and the joys ran far and wide on unhindered feet. Then, Italy changed its clothes of mourning and the nearly ruined walls of Rome regained part of its original splendor, believing that God looked upon them favorably because of the perfect conversion of their foster-child. You would think that the band of Goths was destroyed and that the dregs of deserters and slaves had fallen because of a lightning bolt from God who thundered from above. The Romans did not rejoice this much at Marcellus´ success in battle at Nola after thousands of soldiers had fallen at Trebia, Thrasymenus, and Cannae. The nobility which had earlier been redeemed/ransomed for gold, the seminary of the Roman race, took less joy in seeing the devastation of Gallic troops from the citadel. The rumor made its way to the shores of the east and the triumph of Christian glory was also heard in the Mediterranean cities. What woman did not boast that she was among the virgins of Christ? What mother claimed that your womb was not blessed, Juliana?

The rewards of things to come may be uncertain for non-believers: in the meantime, you have received more than you have sacrificed, virgin. A single province might know the wife of a man, but the whole world has heard of the virgin of Christ. Wretched mothers who have little faith in Christ are accustomed to give their daughters to virginity who are disfigured and disabled somewhere in their bodies, because they have not found worthy son-in-laws. As the saying goes, a bead of glass is worth as much as a pearl. Of course, men who consider themselves rather religious give their virgin daughters barely enough money for sustenance and bestow upon their secular children of both sexes the majority of their wealth. Recently in this city a rich bishop left his two daughters without any means because they professed virginity and provided every means of luxury and delight for his other children. Many women of our purpose/belief, I am sorry to say, have done the same thing. If only this example were rare, but the more frequent it is, all the more fortunate are the women who do not follow the examples of many others.

7. All Christians praise that whatever had been prepared for her wedding was given to the virgin by the holy yoke of Christ so that, with no offense meant to the bridegroom, she, still richly endowed with her previous wealth, might come to her new promise and alleviate the poverty of the servants of God with what was about to be spent on worldly goods. Who could believe this? Even Proba, a very well-known woman in the Roman sphere for her dignity and nobility, whose holiness and excellence flowed over everyone, was venerable among foreigners. The ordinary consulships of her three sons Probinus, Olybrius, and Probus did not weary her and with the capture of the city as well as the burning and pillaging of homes, Proba is said to have sold her family possessions and to have made friends for herself of the mammon of iniquity so that they may receive her into eternal dwellings. Thus, may every rank of clergy and the empty names of monks blush at having purchased rewards when this noble woman is selling them. She had scarcely escaped the hands of barbarians and had wept over the virgins stolen from her grasp, when she is struck by the sudden and unbearable loss of her most beloved son - a loss that she had had no cause to fear; and, as the future grandmother of a virgin of Christ, she received this destructive wound with hope for the future, proving true of herself what is said in the lyric song in praise of the just: “If the broken world should fall, the ruins will strike the fearless” [Horace 3.3].

We read in the book of Job: “while that one still speaks, another messenger comes” [Job 1:18] and in the same book: “temptation” or, as it is better put in Hebrew, “battle is the life of man upon earth” [Job 7:1]. Indeed, we toil for this purpose; for this purpose we endanger our lives in the battle of this world, so that we may be crowned in the world to come. It is no surprise to believe this of man when the Lord himself has been tempted. And the Scripture about Abraham bears witness that God tested him. For which reason also the Apostle says: “Rejoice in the midst of tribulation” [Rom.12:12] and: “Know that tribulation works patience, patience experience, and experience hope; and hope, moreover, does not dismay” [Rom.5:3-5] and in another passage: “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or difficulties or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? Thus it is written: `Because we are killed throughout the day for your sake, we are valued as sheep for slaughter´” [Rom.8:35-36]. And Isaiah encourages men in similar circumstances by saying: “You who have been weaned from milk and plucked from the breast, await tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope. The sufferings of this time are worth nothing next to the future glory that will be revealed in us” [Isa.28:9-10].

The following discussion will show why I have quoted these words. [Proba], who had seen from the sea the smoke of her homeland and had entrusted her safety and that of her people to a fragile skiff, found the shores of Africa far more bitter; for she is seized by a man whose worse trait, cruelty or greed, was difficult to ascertain, to whom nothing is sweeter than wine and money, who, under the pretext of being on the side of the gentlest emperors, stood forth as the most violent of all tyrants, and - so that I may say something from the poets´ fables - like Orcus in Tartarus, he also had a Cerberus not of three heads, but many heads who would drag, maim, and destroy everything. Here he carried off the betrothed girls from their mothers´ laps, sold young noble maidens into marriage with the greediest dealers in Syria, did not show consideration for the poverty of orphans, widows, or virgins of Christ, and he looked at the pleaders´ hands more than their faces. Fleeing the barbarians, this lady endured both the wild Charybdis and Scylla, girded with many dogs, neither of which spared the shipwrecked nor were moved by the captives. Cruel one, at least imitate the enemy of the Roman Empire. The Brennus of our time took only what he had found, whereas you seek what you do not find. And rivals wonder - for virtue always lies open to envy - why did she purchase the chastity of such women with a tacit agreement, when even that man who could have taken all deemed it worthy to take a part, and she did not dare to deny these things as if to a companion, understanding that she, beneath the rank of her position, was serving a despot?

I sense that I am leaving myself open to the biting remarks of my enemies because I seem to fawn over the noblest and most distinguished of women. But they will be unable to charge me once they realize what I have been silent about up to this point; for I have never praised the antiquity of her family or the greatness of her wealth and power either while her husband was alive or after his death, subjects that perhaps others might have praised in a commissioned speech. It is my intention to praise the grandmother of my maiden in a style appropriate for the church and to give thanks because she has aided [Demetrias´] purpose through her own. Besides, my cell in the monastery, paltry food, cheap clothing, a life close to death, and very humble provisions disprove the charge of flattery.

At last, in the remaining part of this letter, I will direct my words to the virgin who is as noble for her holiness as she is for her family, whose ascent is as exalted as her potential fall is dangerous. “I will foretell this one thing to you, daughter of God, before all else, and I will warn you by repeating it again and again” [Virgil, Aeneid, 3.435-36], so that you may occupy your mind with the love of reading Scripture. Do not undertake planting darnel and straw in the good earth of your heart, nor let an enemy sow tares while the head of the household - who is the mind, that is, the intellect, always cleaving to God - is asleep, but always say: “At night I have sought the one whom my soul loved. Where do you feed? Where do you rest at midday?” [Cant.3:1, 1:6] and: “My soul has clung to you, your right hand has supported me” [Ps.62:9] and that phrase from Jeremiah: “In following you, I have not toiled” [Jer.17:16]. For “there is no grief in Jacob, nor is there toil in Israel” [Num.23:21]. When you were in the world, you loved the things of the world; you loved to mask your face with rouge, to color your face with white powder, to adorn your hair, and to construct a tower-shaped crown on your head with others´ hair, and let me say nothing about the price of your earrings, the radiance of your pearls from the depths of the Red Sea, the verdure of your emeralds, the flashes of onyx, and the sea of hyacinths, all things for which ladies yearn and go mad.

Now, however, you have left the world behind and, in the next step after baptism, you have entered into an agreement with your adversary, saying: “Devil, I reject you, your world, your pomp, and your works.” Keep the treaty that you have made, be agreeable, and stay true to the agreement with your adversary while you are on the path of this world. Otherwise, he may by chance hand you over to the judge and persuade him that you have seized upon something of his; then, you may be handed over to the attendant, who is both enemy and protector, and you may be sent to prison and into the outer darkness which surrounds us all the more with a greater horror as we are separated from Christ, the true light. And you may not depart from here unless you pay the final price, that is, unless you have atoned for the least of your sins, because we will give a reckoning of every idle word on the Day of Judgment.

8. I did not speak these things as an inauspicious prediction against you, but because I felt it my duty as an anxious and wary counselor who, when it concerns you, fears even the safest path. “If the spirit,” it says, “of the one in power ascends over you, do not leave your place” [Eccles.10:4]. As if in a military campaign and on the battle line, we always stand alert. He wants us to move from our place and to withdraw from our position, but our steps need to be strengthened and we must say: “He has placed my feet above the rock” [Ps.39:3] and: “the rock is a place of refuge for hares” [Ps.103:18] or for hedgehogs, as many understand it, small creatures quick to flee that are weighed down by thorns [of sins]. For that reason, Jesus wore a crown of thorns; he carried our sins and suffered for our sake so that the roses of virginity and the lilies of chastity might bloom out of the thorns and troubles of women to whom it is said: “You, woman, will give birth in worry and sorrow and your way of life will belong to your husband and he will rule over you” [Gen.3:16]. Whence the bridegroom also “feeds among the lilies” [Cant.2:16] and among those “who have not polluted their clothing” [Apoc.3:4] – for they have remained virgins and have heard the precept: “May your clothes always be white” [Eccles.9:8] – and as the author and prince of virginity he confidently says: “I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys” [Cant.2:1]. The rock, therefore, is for hares that flee from city to city during times of persecution and do not fear that prophecy: “flight has gone from me” [Ps.141:5]. Moreover, “the high hills are for deer” [Ps.103:18] and there they feed on the serpents which a little boy has drawn out of their holes. The leopard and the young goat rest at the same time and the cow and the lion eat the husks, not so that the cow may learn to be ferocious, but so that the lion may learn to be gentle.

Let us return to what I quoted above: “If the spirit of the one in power ascends over you, do not leave your place” and then: “for careful treatment soothes puts an end to the greatest sins” [Eccles.10.4]. This verse has the following meaning: if a serpent should creep into your thoughts, “protect your heart with every defense” [Prov.4:23] and sing with David: “Cleanse me of my secrets, O Lord, and keep me from the secrets of others” [Ps.18:13-14] and you will not arrive at the greatest sin which is done by action, but you will immediately destroy the incentives of sin in your mind and you will dash the little children of Babylon against the rock where the traces of the serpent cannot be found. You cautiously promise the Lord: “If they do not rule over me, then I will be blameless and I will be cleansed of the greatest sin” [Ps.18:44]. This is what is testified elsewhere in Scripture: “I will carry the sins of the father over to the third and fourth generation,” so that he may not punish immediately the thought and determination of our minds, but he may punish our offspring, that is, the evil doings and continued existence of our sins. Thus he says through Amos: “Concerning three and four cases of ungodliness” of this and that city, “will I turn away from punishment” [Amos 1:3, 2:4]?

9. I have gathered these words swiftly as if they were small blooms from the most beautiful field of Holy Scriptures; let them sufficiently urge you to close the chamber of your heart and fortify your brow with a frequent sign [of the cross] so that the destroyer of Egypt may not find a place in you, and so that the first-born that have perished among the Egyptians may be saved in your mind and you can say with the prophet: “my heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared; I will praise and I will sing. Rise up, my glory, rise up, psaltery and cithara” [Ps.107:2-3]

Even Tyre, riddled with the wounds of sin, is ordered to take up her instrument in order to do penance and, along with Peter, purify the stains of her former foulness with bitter tears. Let us, however, remain ignorant of penitence lest we take sinning lightly. It may be a plank for those who are wretched after a shipwreck: for a pure virgin, the ship itself may be saved. It is one thing to seek what you have thrown away; it is another to possess what you have never lost. Thus, even the apostle used to castigate his body and drive it to servitude so that he, while preaching to others, might not be found false. Inflamed by the fires of his body, he spoke as a representative of the human race: “I am a wretched man - who will free me from the body of this death?” [Rom.7:24] and again: “I know that good does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; for to wish is beside me, but to do good is not. For I do not do the good that I wish, rather the evil that I do not wish” [Rom.7-18-19] and finally: “Those in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if the spirit of God dwells in you” [Rom.8:8-9].

10. After paying very close attention to your thoughts, you must take up the weapons of fasting and sing along with David: “I have humbled my soul in fasting” [Ps.34:13] and: “I have eaten ash as though it were bread” and: “when they were troubling me, I wore a haircloth.” Eve was cast out of paradise because of food; Elijah, after he fasted for forty days, is carried to heaven on a fiery chariot; for forty days and nights Moses feeds on the intimacy and communion with God and proves in himself the truth of the following: “Man lives not on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” [Matth.4:4]. The Savior of the human race who left behind for us the example of his virtue and way of life is immediately taken by the spirit after his baptism so that he may fight against the devil and hand him, overthrown and crushed, to his disciples for trampling. Thus, even the apostle says: “God would crush Satan swiftly under your feet” [Rom.16:20]. Still, the ancient enemy makes an attempt to snare you with food after the forty days of fasting and says: “If you are the son of God, make these stones become bread” [Matth.4:3]. Legally, in the seventh month after the blare of the trumpets, there is a fast among all Jewish people on the tenth day of the month and the soul that preferred satiety to continence is expelled from its people. In Job, it is written of the serpent: “His virtue lies in his loins and his strength above the center of his stomach” [Job:40:11]. In the presence of young boys and girls he abuses the passion of their youth and sets on fire the wheel of our birth and he fulfills that statement of Hosea: “All adulterers have hearts like earthen vessels” [Hos.7:4] which are checked by God´s mercy and the chill of fasting. These were the fiery darts of the devil that simultaneously wound and set victims on fire. They were prepared by the king of Babylon for the three boys, who built a furnace forty-nine cubits high and seven times to destruction what the lord himself had ordered to be observed for salvation. But there, in the same way that the fourth one, having the appearance of the son of man, alleviated the intense heat and between the fires of the blistering furnace taught the flames to lose their heat, to grow smaller in appearance, and become harmless to the touch, in the same way, maidenly passion was extinguished in the virgin´s mind with heavenly dew and the chill of fasting; she is able to live as an angel in human form. Because of this, the chosen vessel says concerning virgins that there is no commandment from the Lord. It is your duty to act against nature, or, rather, to act above nature because you are born by cutting down your roots, plucking only the fruits of virginity, being ignorant of the marriage bed, shrinking from the touch of every man, and living in your body [as if] without a body.

11. But we are not ordering you to fast immoderately or abstain from food excessively, for these acts immediately break down tender bodies which then become ill before the foundations of a holy life can be laid down. There is a philosophical maxim that the mean is virtue and extremity is vice [in Greek] - something that also is able to resonate in Latin: virtues are moderated, and exceeding due measure is considered vice. From this came one of the maxims from the seven wise men: “Nothing too much”: a phrase so often repeated that it was even expressed in comic verse.2 Thus, you should not fast in such a way that you have heart palpitations and difficulty breathing, and are carried or dragged by your companions. Instead, you should fast so that with a suppressed appetite you may gain more than usual from reading Scripture, singing Psalms, and keeping vigils. Fasting is not a perfect virtue, but it is the foundation for other virtues, and holiness and chastity, “without which no one will see God” [Heb.12:14] offer the steps leading to the summit. Each virtue alone, however, will not be able to crown a virgin. Let us regard the Gospel tale of the wise and foolish virgins. Some of them enter the chamber of their bridegroom; some of them do not have the oil of good works and are then shut out because their lamps are extinguished. The field on fasting is wide. I have often run through it and many books have been written on the subject that I recommend so that you may learn what good lies in continence and, conversely, what evil lies in satiety.

12. Follow the example of your spouse: be subject to your mother and grandmother, and, unless in their company, do not look upon men - especially young men. Do not know any man whom they do not know. There is even a secular saying: “To like and dislike the same things - that is friendship” [Sallust on Catiline]. The examples of these women has taught you and the holy way of your house has prepared you to seek virginity, to recognize the precepts of Christ, and to know what path is best and what you ought to choose. Therefore, you should not think that what is yours is yours, but rather that it belongs to the women who have impressed upon you their chastity and from their honorable marriages and chaste marriage beds you have sprouted forth as the most precious flower that will bear perfect fruit if you humble yourself before the powerful hand of God and always remember this verse: “God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble” [James 4:6]. Moreover, grace lies not in the reward for work, but in the generosity of the giver, so that the words of the apostle may be fulfilled: “It is not of the one who wills or the one who runs, but of God who shows mercy” [Rom.9:16]. Still, it is ours to like and dislike; but the very thing that is ours cannot be ours without the mercy of God.

13. In choosing eunuchs, serving maids, and servants, you must look to their characters more than the elegance of their appearance. For, no matter the sex, age, or violence of mutilated bodies, people´s spirits must be considered first because they cannot be amputated except through fearing Christ. Wanton and offensive behavior should have no place in your presence; you should never hear shameful words, but you should not grow angry if you do. Lost men often try to test the gates of chastity with a single gentle expression. Leave laughing and being laughed at to the worldly; gravity befits your person. Lucilius, who writes that he laughed only once in his life, says that even Cato (I am speaking about the censor, once a leader of your city) did not blush at Greek letters in the last days of his life, and the old man did not give up on learning; … the same was written about Crassus. Men tried to feign this type of austerity in the hopes of gaining glory and winning popular opinion; as for us, so long as we dwell in the tabernacle of this body and are enveloped in fragile flesh, we can check and control our moods and disturbances, but we cannot cut them out. For this reason, the psalmist says: “Be angry and do not sin” [Ps.4:5]. The apostle explains this: “Do not let the sun go down on your anger” [Eph.4:26], for being angry is human while putting an end to anger is Christian.

14. I find it superfluous to advise you against greed, when your family is accustomed to have and to spurn wealth and the apostle teaches that greed belongs to the cult of the idols and the Lord responds to the one asking: “Good master, by performing what good act will I gain eternal life?´ If you wish to be perfect, come, sell all you have, and give to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. Come, follow me´” [Matth.19:21]. It is the height of perfect and apostolic virtue to sell everything one has, to distribute it to the poor, and, being thus light and unencumbered, to fly towards heaven with Christ. A caring dispensation has been entrusted to us, or rather to you, even though in this case the freedom of choice is left to every type of person. He says, “If you wish to be perfect: `I do not compel, I do not command, but I place before you the palm, I show you the prize; the choice is yours whether you wish to be crowned in competition´” [cf.2Tim.2:5]. And let us consider how wisely wisdom has spoken: “Sell what you have.” Who receives these instructions? Certainly the man to whom it was said: “If you wish to be perfect.” Sell not a part of your goods, but all of them. And after you sell them, what follows? “Give to the poor.” Not to the wealthy, not to your relations, and not for the purpose of luxury, but of necessity. Whether a man is a priest, a relative, or a neighbor, you should only consider his poverty. Let starving bellies praise you, not the opulent banquets of belchers. In the Acts of the Apostles, when our Lord´s blood was still warm and the new faith grew fervent among believers, everyone sold their possessions and brought their earnings to the feet of the apostles to show that money ought to be trampled underfoot. And everything was distributed to each person according to need. Ananias and Saphira, timid stewards, proved themselves duplicitous and were therefore condemned. For, after their vow, they had offered what they had vowed to him as though it were theirs and not his, and they reserved a part of another´s sustenance for themselves, fearing starvation which true faith never fears. Thus, they deserved their prompt punishment which was not out of cruelty, but an example of rebuke. In fact, the apostle Peter in no way called death upon them, as the foolish philosopher charges, but announced the judgment of God with the spirit of prophecy so that the punishment of the two people might become a lesson for many. From the moment when you were dedicated to perpetual virginity, your possessions became no longer yours; or, rather, they are truly yours because they have begun to be Christ´s, which, while your grandmother and mother are alive, must be managed according to their judgment. If they should pass on and come to rest in the sleep of the saints - for I know that they want you to survive them -, when your years grow more mature, your will more serious, and your purpose more resolute, you will do what seems best to you, rather what the Lord demands, for you will come to know that you have no possessions outside of what you have spent on good deeds. Others may build churches, adorn the walls with slabs of marble, bring in large columns, gild their capitals with expensive decorations not with meaning, and decorate the doors with ivory and silver and the golden and silver altars with gems - I do not blame them, nor do I reject them. “Let each one abound in his own judgment” [Rom.14:5]. It is better to do this than to brood over one´s store of riches. But your purpose is different: your duty is to clothe Christ in the poor, to visit him in the sick, to feed him in the hungry, to receive him in those who do not have a home (especially those who share our faith), to support monasteries of virgins, to take care of the servants of God and the poor in spirit, who serve your Lord day and night, who placed on the earth imitate angels´ way of life, who speak of nothing other than what pertains to praise of God, who, having clothing and provisions, take joy in these riches, who desire nothing more as long as they should preserve their purpose. Otherwise, if they should desire more, they would be found unworthy of even those things which are necessary. These things do I speak to a wealthy and noble virgin.

15. Now, I will only speak to the virgin, that is, considering not those things which are outside you, but considering only what is in you. In addition to the order of psalms and prayer which you must take care to do always in the third, sixth, and ninth hour, in the evening [vespers], at midnight, and at dawn, decide how many hours you should spend learning Holy Scripture, how much time you should spend reading in order to delight and instruct your soul, not to belabor it. And when you have completed these duties and concern for your soul often has encouraged you to kneel in prayer, always keep wool in your hands, or draw down the threads with your thumb, or place them on the shuttles to be woven, or gather others´ woven threads into a ball, or place them to be woven by others. Inspect what has been woven, critique what is flawed, and establish what needs to be done. If you are busy with such a great variety of work, your days will never be long, and, even though they are extended by the summer sun, the days will seem short when work remains undone. By doing these things, you will save yourself as well as others, you will be a teacher of a holy way of life, and you will have the chastity of many women as your gain. As Scripture says, “The soul of every idler has desires” [Prov.13:4]. For this reason, you must not stop working just because you lack nothing when God is well-disposed; instead, you must work along with everyone so that during work you may think of nothing other than serving God. I will put it simply: although you offer all of your property to the poor, nothing is more precious to Christ than what you have made with your hands either for your own purpose or as an example to other virgins; or, you may offer something to your grandmother or your mother in order to receive greater sums from them to restore the poor.

16. I have almost passed over the most important part. While you were still a little girl and Anastasius, the bishop of holy and blessed memory, ruled the Roman church, a raging storm of heresies from the East was trying to pollute and shake the simple faith that was praised by the voice of the apostle. But the bishop, rich in poverty and like an apostle in his concern for his people, immediately struck down the poisonous head and the hissing mouthes of the hydra. And I fear, or rather I have learned through a rumor, that these poisonous seedlings are still living and sprouting in certain people, so I think that you should be warned ahead of time with pious affection and esteem to hold on to the faith of Saint Innocent, the son and successor of Anastasius and the apostolic see, and also to receive no foreign doctrine even if it seems sensible and wise to you. For men of this sort tend to whisper together in corners and appear to seek the justice of God: “Why is that soul born in that province? What is the reason that some are born of Christian parents while others among wild and savage peoples where there is no word of God?” And wherever they strike the simple-minded with a scorpion-like sting and make a point of entry with a pipe-shaped wound, this is where they pour in their venom: “Do you think that a little child who scarcely recognizes his mother by her laugh or looks of happiness and does neither good nor evil deeds, is seized by the devil, afflicted with disease, and puts up with other ills that servants of God endure while impious men do not? Moreover, if the judgment of the Lord is true,´ they say, and justified´ [Ps.18:10], and there is nothing unjust in the Lord, we are compelled with good reason to believe that souls existed in the heavens, and condemned because of certain ancient sins, were, as we may say, buried in human bodies, and paid for their sins in the valley of tears. For this reason, the prophet also says: Before I was humbled, I sinned´ [Ps.118:67] and: Bring my soul out of prison´ [Ps.142:8] and: `Did that man sin, or his parents so that he was born blind?´” [John 9:2] And other similar passages.

This impious and wicked doctrine once made its way through Egypt and other eastern lands; now secretly, as if in a pit of vipers, it makes its way among more peoples, pollutes their purity, and slithers like a hereditary evil among a few people so that it may arrive at many. I am certain that you would not believe this doctrine if you should hear it, for you have female instructors under God whose faith is the model of doctrine. You will understand what I am saying - “for God will give you understanding in all things” [2Tim.2:7] - and you will not immediately demand a response against this wildest heresy and against even worse matters, lest I seem not so much to prohibit as to warn; for it is my present duty to instruct a virgin, not respond to heretics. However, in a separate work, with the help of God, I have overthrown all of their deceits and secret devices that they used to subvert the truth. I will send it to you readily and with pleasure, if you like. For they say that merchandise offered voluntarily is little esteemed and that a ready supply decreases in price when a rare supply always has great value.

17. There is usually a debate among men about whether life is better spent alone or in the company of others. The first option is preferred to the second, but, if it seems dangerous to men that, because they have been removed from the company of others, they may be vulnerable to unclean and wicked thoughts, and, being arrogant and haughty, look down upon everyone, and arm their tongues to detract from the clergy or other monks - about whom it is very well put: “Sons of men, their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongues are sharp swords” [Ps.56:5] - then how much more dangerous must it seem to women, whose inconstant and wavering minds, if left to their own judgment, quickly degenerate!

I know that certain people of both sexes have so disturbed their mental well-being through excessive fasting, especially those who dwell in moist and cold cells, that they do not know what they are doing or where they are going, nor do they know what they should do or what they should say. Of course, if those unlearned in secular literature should read any of the tracts of eloquent men, they only learn a multiplicity of words and not a greater knowledge of the scriptures and, according to the old saying, although they do not know how to speak, they cannot be silent. They teach scriptures that they do not understand, and, when they persuade others, they put on airs of learned men, acting as instructors of the ignorant even before they have been students. It is good, therefore, to obey one´s betters, to be subject to those who are excellent, and, after the rules of scriptures, to learn the path of one´s life from others and to not make use of the worst instructor, one´s own self-confidence. Of similar women, the apostle also says that they are carried off with every breeze of doctrine, “always learning and never arriving at the knowledge of the truth” [2Tim.3:7].

18. Please decline the company of married women who serve their husbands and the world so that your mind may not be disturbed by hearing what a husband says to his wife, or a wife to her husband. Conversations of this sort are poisonous; concerning the condemnation of these women, the apostle took a secular verse and made it applicable to the church: “evil conversations corrupt good morals” [1Cor.15:33]; although the Latin translation does not contain the iambic meter, the sense is accurately observed. Thus, you must choose serious women as your companions - especially widows and virgins -, whose conversation is recommended, whose speech is sensible, whose modesty is holy. Stay away from the playfulness of girls who adorn their heads, let their hair down on the forehead,, polish their nails, use face powder, wear tight sleeves, clothes without creases, and crisp slippers so that under the guise of virginity they may be ruined [appearing to be] for sale. For the morals and pursuits of mistresses are generally judged from the behavior of her handmaidens and attendants. May you consider beautiful, amiable, desirable as a friend the woman who does not know that she is beautiful, who disregards her appearance and, when going out in public, does not bare her chest and her neck by opening her cloak, but instead conceals her face and walks with scarcely one eye visible to see her path.

19. I doubt whether I should say it, but -like it or not - because it frequently occurs, it must be said; not because I ought to fear in you things that you probably do not know and have never heard before, but because other women may be advised by you through this occasion. A virgin should avoid, as though they were some form of poison and disease to her chastity, boys with curly hair and effeminate dress and skin smelling of foreign musk, for the Arbiter [Petronius] says: “The one who always smells good, does not smell good,” as if the virgin might avoid certain diseases and poisons of chastity. And let me be silent about the others whose improper visits defame both themselves and other women; for, even if nothing dishonorable happens, the greatest evil still exists by being open to the slander and cutting remarks of heathens.

I am not saying this about all people, just those whom the church itself blames and sometimes casts out, and against whom the censure of bishops and presbyters have sometimes raged, so that it may be almost more dangerous for wanton girls to go to places of worship than out in public. The women who live in a monastery and are gathered in great number should never go out alone or without their mothers. A hawk frequently separates a bird from a bevy of doves, immediately pounces on it, and, mangling it, gorges itself on its flesh and blood; sick sheep leave their flock and are devoured by wolves. I myself know saintly virgins who, on holidays, on account of the crowds of people, keep themselves at home and do not venture out when a stronger guard is necessary and when public places must be altogether avoided.

Around thirty years ago, I published a book on the preservation of virginity. In that book, it was necessary for me to speak against vices and to expose the snares of the devil in order to instruct the virgin whom I was advising. My language offended quite a few people; for each person, understanding what was said as applicable to him, did not receive me gladly as a counselor, and instead avoided me as if I were an accuser. And yet, what good did it do to have armed the troop of protestors and to have shown with grief the wounds of conscience? That book remains, those people do not. I have also written short treatises [Greek] to many virgins and widows and I gathered together whatever could be said in those little works; thus, it may seem that I am repeating the same things unnecessarily or that I am leaving things out which may be harmful. Of course, the blessed Cyprian also published an outstanding volume on virginity. Many others did as well, as much as in Latin as in Greek and in the letters and tongues of all peoples, especially in churches, praising the virginal [Greek] life. But those works pertain to those who have not yet chosen virginity and require encouragement in order to know what it is that they should choose. We, however, must protect our choice as if we must walk between scorpions and snakes so that, having girded our loins, properly shod with walking sticks in our hands, we may make our journey through the traps and the poisons of this world and be able to arrive at the sweet waters of the Jordan, enter the land of promise, ascend to the house of God, and say with the prophet: “Lord, I have loved the beauty of your home and the place where your glory dwells” [Ps.25:8] and also: “I have desired one thing of the Lord, this will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord for all the days of my life” [Ps.26:4]

Happy is that conscience and blessed is the virgin in whose heart no other love dwells except the love of Christ, who is wisdom, chastity, patience, justice, and every other virtue; [happy that woman] who does not sigh at the memory of a man, and does not desire to see the man whom she would not want to send away, were she to see him. Some women, who do not conduct themselves properly, defame the saintly way of virgins and the glory of heaven and of angels. They must be told openly either to marry if they cannot contain themselves, or to contain themselves if they do not wish to marry. This is a matter worthy of laughter, nay, of tears when a virgin handmaiden proceeds, dressed more lavishly than her mistresses; this has become so habitual that you would suspect the unpolished woman whom you see of being the mistress. Some women seek secluded lodgings apart from onlookers in order to live more freely, to use the baths, do what they wish, and avoid being noticed by others. We see these things and we endure them; if a golden coin shines, we consider them among good works.

20. The end I join to the beginning and I am not content to have advised you just once. Love Holy Scripture and wisdom will love you. “Love her and she will protect you; honor her and she will embrace you” [Prov.4:6]. Let these jewels hang on your breast and on your ears. Let your tongue know nothing other than Christ; let it make no sound except for what is holy. Let the sweetness of your mother and grandmother be always on your lips; imitation of them is the model of virtue. 3

Original letter:

Ad Demetriadem 1.Inter omnes materias, quas ab adulescentia usque ad hanc aetatem uel mea uel notariorum scripsi manu, nihil praesenti opere difficilius. scripturus enim ad Demetriadem, uirginem Christi, quae et nobilitate et diuitiis prima est in orbe Romano, si cuncta uirtutibus eius congrua dixero, adulari putabor, si quaedam subtraxero, ne incredibilia uideantur, damnum laudibus eius mea faciet uerecundia. quid igitur faciam? quod inplere non possum, negare non audeo: tanta est auiae eius et matris, insignium feminarum, in iubendo auctoritas, in petendo fides, in extorquendo perseuerantia. neque enim ut nouum quiddam et praecipuum a me flagitant, cuius ingenium in huiusce modi materiis saepe detritum est, sed ne uocis meae pro uirili parte desit testimonium in eius uirtutibus explicandis, cuius — ut incliti oratoris utar sententia — spes magis 1audanda quam res est, quamquam puellares annos fidei ardore superarit et inde coeperit, unde alias desisse perfectae consummataeque uirtutis est. 2. Procul obtrectatio, facessat inuidia, nullum in ambitione sit crimen, ignoti ad ignotam scribimus: dumtaxat iuxta faciem corporalem; alioquin interior homo pulchre sibi cognitus est illa notitia, qua et apostolus Paulus Colosenses multosque credentium nouerat, quos ante non uiderat. quantum sit apud me meritum, immo miraculum uirginis nostrae, hinc potest aestimari, quod occupatus in explanatione templi Hiezechielis — quod opus in omnibus scripturis sanctis uel difficillimum est — et in ea parte delubri, in qua sancta sanctorum et thymiamatis altare describitur, malui parumper hoc uti deuerticulo, ut de altari transirem ad altare et hostiam uiuam, placentem deo ac sine ulla macula aeternae pudicitiae consecrarem. scio, quod ad inprecationem pontificis flammeum uirginale sanctum operuerit caput et illud apostolicae uocis insigne celebratum sit: nolo autem uos omnes uirginem castam exhibere Christo, quando adstitit regina a dextris cius in uestitu deaurato circumdata uarietate. qua ueste polymita et, multarum uirtutum diuersitate contexta indutus fuit et Ioseph et regum quondam utebantur filiae. unde et ipsa sponsa laetatur ac dicit: introduxit me rex in cubicu1um suum sodaliumque respondit chorus: omnis gloria filiae regis intrinsecus. sed et nostra oratio dabit aliquid emolumenti. equorum cursus fauore pernicior fit, pugilum fortitudo clamoribus incitatur, paratas ad proelium acies strictosque mucrones sermo imperatoris accendit: igitur et in opere praesenti auia quidem materque plantauerint, sed et nos rigabimus et dominus incrementum dabit. 3. Rhetorum disciplina est abauis et atauis et omni retro nobilitate ornare. quem laudes, ut ramorum sterilitatem radix fecunda conpenset et, quod in fructu non teneas, mireris in trunco. scilicet nunc mihi Proborum et Olybriorum clara repetenda sunt nomina et inlustre Anicii sanguinis genus, in quo aut nullus aut rarus est, qui non meruerit consulatum, aut proferendus Olybrius, uirginis nostrae pater, quem inmatura morte subtractum Roma congemuit. uereor plura dicere, ne sanctae matris uulnus exasperem et uirtutum eius recordatio fiat doloris instauratio. pius filius, uir amabilis, clemens dominus, ciuis affabilis, consul quidem in pueritia, sed morum bonitate senator inlustrior. felix morte sua, qui non uidit patriam corruentem, immo felicior sobole, qui Demetriadis proauiae nobilitatem insigniorem reddidit Demetriadis filiae perpetua castitate. 4. Uerum quid ago? oblitus propositi, dum admiror iuuenem, laudaui aliquid bonorum saecularium, cum in eo mihi uirgo magis nostra laudanda sit, quod haec uniuersa contempserit, quod non se nobilem, non diuitiis praepotentem, sed hominem cogitarit. incredibilis animi fortitudo inter gemmas et sericum, inter eunuchorum et puellarum cateruas et adulationem ac ministeria familiae perstrepentis et exquisitas epulas, quas amplae domus praebebat abundantia, appetisse eam ieiuniorum laborem, asperitatem uestium, uictus continentiam. legerat enim domini uerba dicentis: qui mollibus uestiuntur, in domibus regum sunt, stupebat ad conuersationem Heliae et Iohannis Baptistae, quorum uterque zona pellicia adstrinxit et mortificauit lumbos suos, alter uenisse narratur in spiritu et uirtute Heliae praecursor domini, in utero prophetans parentis et ante diem iudicii iudicis uoce laudatus. Annae, filiae Fanuelis, mirabatur ardorem, quae orationibus atque ieiuniis usque ad ultimam senectutem in templo domino seruiebat. quattuor uirginum filiarum Philippi desiderabat chorum et unam se illarum esse cupiebat, quae pudicitia uirginali prophetiae gratiam consecutae sunt, his et huiusce modi cogitationibus pascebat animum nihil ita metuens quam auiam matremque offendere. quarum cum incitaretur exemplo, uoluntate et studiis terrebatur, non quo displiceret eis sanctum propositum, sed quod pro rei magnitudine optare id et appetere non auderent. aestuabat Christi tiruncula, oderat ornatum suum et cum Hester loquebatur ad dominium tu nosti, quod oderim insigne capitis mei — hoc est diadema, quo utebatur quasi regina — et tantae ducam inmunditiae uelut pannum mulieris menstruatae. aiunt sanctae et nobiles feminae, quae eam uidere, quae norunt, quas de litore Galliarum ad habitationem sanctorum locorum hostium per Africam conpulit saeua tempestas, noctibus et secreto consciis tantum uirginibus dei, quae in matris et auiae comitatu erant, numquam eam linteamine, numquam plumarum usam mollitie, sed ciliciolum in nuda humo habuisse pro stratu, iugibus faciem rigasse lacrimis saluatoris mente genibus aduolutam, ut suum reciperet propositum, ut inpleret desiderium, ut auiae animum matrisque molliret. 5. Quid ultra differo? cum iam nuptiarum adpropinquaret dies et futuro matrimonio thalamus pararetur, secrete et absque arbitris noctemque habens pro solacio talibus fertur se armasse consiliis: 'quid agis, Demetrias? cur pudicitiam tanto pauore defendis ? libertate opus est et audacia. quae sic in pace metuis, quid faceres in martyrio perpetrando? quae tuorum uultum ferre non potes, quomodo sustineres tribunalia persecutorum ? si te uirorum exempla non prouocant, hortetur faciatque securam beata martyr Agnes, quae et aetatem uicit et tyrannum et titulum castitatis martyrio coronauit. nescis, misera, nescis, cui debeas uirginitatem tuam. dudum inter barbaras tremuisti manus, auiae matrisque sinu et palliis tegebaris, uidisti te captiuam et pudicitiam tuam non tuae potestatis, horruisti truces hostium uultus, raptas uirgines dei gemitu tacito conspexisti. urbs tua, quondam orbis caput, Romani populi sepulchrum est, et tu in Libyco litore exulem uirum ipsa exul accipies? quam habitura pronubam? quo deducenda comitatu? stridor linguae Punicae procacia tibi fescennina cantabit. rumpe moras omnes. perfecta dilectio foras mittit timorem. adsume scutum fidei, loricam iustitiae, galeam salutis, procede ad proelium. habet et seruata pudicitia martyrium suum. quid metuis auiam? quid formidas parentem? forsitan et ipsae uelint, quod te uelle non credunt'. his inflammata stimulis omnem corporis cultum et habitum saecularem quasi propositi sui inpedimenta proiecit. pretiosa monilia et graues censibus uniones ardentesque gemmae redduntur scriniis, uili tunica induitur, uiliori tegitur pallio et insperata auiae genibus repente prouoluitur fletu tantum et planctibus, quae esset, ostendens. obstipuit sancta et grauis femina alienum habitum in nepte conspiciens, mater gaudio stabat adtonita. utraque uerum non credere, quod uerum esse cupiebant. haesit uox faucibus et inter ruborem atque pallorem metumque ac laetitiam cogitationes uariae mutabantur. 6. Succumbendum est huic loco neque narrare adgrediar, quod dicendo minus faciam. ad explicandam incredibilis gaudii magnitudinem et Tulliani fluuius siccaretur ingenii et contortae Demosthenis uibrataeque sententiae tardius languidiusque ferrentur. quicquid potest cogitare animus, quicquid sermo non potest explicare, illo in tempore factum audiuimus. certatim in oscula neptis et filiae ruunt. ubertim flere gaudio, iacentem manu attollere amplexarique trepidantem, agnoscere in illius proposito mentem suam et gratulari, quod nobilem familiam uirgo uirginitate sua nobiliorem faceret. inuenisse eam, quod praestaret generi, quod Romanae urbis cineres mitigaret. Iesu bone, quid illud in tota domo exultationis fuit? quasi ex radice fecunda multae simul uirgines pullularunt exemplumque patronae et dominae secuta est clientium turba atque famularum. per omnes domos feruebat uirginitatis professio, quarum cum inpar esset in carne condicio, unum erat praemium castitatis. parum loquor: cunctae per Africam ecclesiae quodam exultauere tripudio. non solum ad urbes, oppida uiculosque, sed ad ipsa quoque mappalia Celebris fama. penetrauit. omnes inter Africam Italiamque insulae hoc rumore repletae sunt et inoffenso pede longius gaudia cucurrere. tunc lugubres uestes Italia mutauit et semiruta urbis Romae moenia pristinum ex parte recepere fulgorem propitium sibi aestimantes deum in alumnae conuersione perfecta. putares extinctam Gothorum manum et conluuiem perfugarum atque seruorum domini desuper intonantis fulmine concidisse. non sic post Trebiam, Trasumennum et Cannas, in quibus locis Romanorum exercituum caesa sunt milia, Marcelli primum apud Nolam proelio se populus Romanus erexit. minori prius gaudio strata Gallorum agmina auro redempta nobilitas et seminarium Romani generis in arce cognouit. penetrauit hic rumor orientis litora et in mediterraneis quo que urbibus Christianae gloriae triumphus auditus est. quae uirginum Christi non huius se societate iactauit ? quae mater non tuum, Iuliana, beatum clamauit uterum? incerta apud infideles sint praemia futurorum: plus interim recepisti, uirgo, quam obtulisti. quam sponsam hominis una tantum prouincia nouerat, uirginem Christi totus orbis audiuit. solent miseri parentes et non plenae fidei Christiani deformes et aliquo membro debiles filias, quia dignos generos non inueniunt, uirginitati tradere -- tanti, ut dicitur, uitrum, quanti margaritum —; certe, qui religiosiores sibi uidentur, paruo sumptu et qui uix ad alimenta sufficiat uirginibus dato omnem censum in utrosque sexus saecularibus liberis largiuntur. quod nuper in hac urbe diues quidam fecit presbyter, ut duas filias in proposito uirginali inopes relinqueret et aliorum ad omnem copiam filiorum luxuriae atque deliciis prouideret, fecerunt hoc multae, pro dolor, nostri propositi feminae; atque utinam rarum esset exemplum, quod quanto crebrius est, tanto istae feliciores, quae ne plurimarum quidem exempla sectatae sunt! 7. Fertur et omnium Christianorum laude celebratur, quicquid fuerat nuptiis praeparatum, a sancta Christi synoride uirgini traditum, ne sponso fieret iniuria, immo ut dotata pristinis opibus ueniret ad sponsum et, quod in rebus mundi periturum erat, domesticorum dei inopiam sustentaret. quis hoc credat? Proba illa, omnium dignitatum et cunctae nobilitatis in orbe Romano nomen inlustrius, cuius sanctitas et in uniuersos effusa bonitas etiam apud barbaros uenerabilis fuit, quam trium liberorum, Probini, Olybrii et Probi, non fatigarunt ordinarii consulatus et cum incensis direptisque domibus in urbe captiuitas, nunc auitas uenundare dicitur possessiones et facere sibi amicos de iniquo mammona, qui se recipiant in aeterna tabernacula, ut erubescat omnis ecclesiastici ministerii gradus et cassa nomina monachorum emere praedia tanta nobilitate uendente. uix barbarorum effugerat manus et auulsas de conplexu suo uirgines fleuerat, cum subito intolerabili et quod numquam timuerat amantissimi filii orbitate percutitur et quasi futura uirginis Christi auia spe futurorum mortiferum uulnus excepit probans in se uerum esse, quod in lyrico carmine super iusti praeconio dicitur : si fractus inlabatur orbis,/ inpauidum ferient ruinae. legimus. in uolumine lob: adhuc isto loquente uenit alius nuntius et in eodem: temptatio — siue, ut melius habetur in Hebraeo, militia — est uita hominis super terram. ad hoc enim laboramus et in saeculi huius periclitamur militia, ut in futuro saeculo coronemur. nec mirum hoc de hominibus credere, cum dominus ipse temptatus sit. et de Abraham scriptura testatur, quod deus temptauerit eum. quam ob causam et apostolus loquitur: gaudentes in tribulatione et: scientes, quod tribulatio patientiam operatur, patientia probationem, probatio spem, spes autem non confundit, et in alio loco: quis nos separabit a caritate Christi? tribulatio an angustia an persecutio an fames an nuditas an periculum an gladius? sicut scriptum est: quia propter te mortificamur tota die, aestimati sumus ut oues occisionis. et Esaias huiusce modi homines cohortatur dicens: qui ablactati estis a lacte, qui auulsi ab ubere, tribulationem super tribulationem expectate, spem super spem. non sunt condignae passiones huius temporis ad futuram gloriam, quae reuelabitur in nobis, cur ista replicauerim, sequens sermo monstrabit. quae de medio mari fumantem uiderat patriam et fragili cumbae salutem suam suorumque commiserat, crudeliora inuenit Africae litora. excipitur enim ab eo, quem nescias utrum auarior an crudelior fuerit, cui nihil dulce praeter uinum et pretium et qui sub occasione partium clementissimi principis saeuissimus omnium extitit tyrannorum et — ut aliquid loquar de fabulis poetarum — quasi Orcus in tartaro non tricipitem sed multorum capitum habuit Cerberum, qui cuncta traheret, laceraret, extingueret. hic matrum gremiis abducere pactas, negotiatoribus et auidissimis mortalium Syris nobilium puellarum nuptias uendere, non pupillorum, non uiduarum, non uirginum Christi inopiae parcere manusque magis rogantium spectare quam uultus. hanc feram et Charybdim Scyllamque succinctam multis canibus fugiens barbaros matrona sustinuit, quae nec naufragiis parceret nec captiuitatibus flecteretur. imitare, crudelis, saltim hostem Romani imperii. Brennus nostri temporis tantum, quod inuenerat, tulit; tu quaeris, quod non inuenis. et mirantur aemuli — uirtus enim semper inuidiae patet—, cur tantarum secum pudicitiam tacita proscriptione mercata sit, cum et ille partem sit dignatus accipere, qui totum potuit auferre, et haec quasi comiti negare non ausa sit, quae se intellegebat sub nomine priuatae dignitatis tyranno seruientem? sentio me inimicorum patere morsibus, quod adulari uidear nobilissimae et clarissimae feminae. qui accusare non poterunt, si me scierint hucusque tacuisse; neque enim laudaui in ea umquam antiquitatem generis, diuitiarum et potentiae magnitudinem uiro uiuente uel mortuo, quae alii forsitan mercennaria oratione laudauerint. mihi propositum est stilo ecclesiastico laudare auiam uirginis meae et gratias agere, quod uoluntatem eius sua adiuuerit uoluntate. alioquin cellula monasterii, uilis cibus uestisque contempta et aetas uicina iam morti breuisque temporis uiaticum carent omni adsentationis infamia. denique in reliquis partibus omnis mihi sermo ad uirginem dirigetur et uirginem nobilem et nobilem non minus sanctitate quam genere, cuius quanto sublimis ascensus est, tanto lapsus periculosior. (unum) illud tibi, nata deo, proque omnibus u n u m/ praedicam et repetens iterumque iterumque monebo, ut animum tuum sacrae lectionis amore occupes nec in bona terra pectoris tui sementem lolii auenarumque suscipias, ne dormiente patre familias — qui est nous, id est animus, deo semper adhaerens — inimicus homo zizania superseminet, sed semper loquaris: in noctibus quaesiui, quem dilexit anima mea. ubi pascis, ubi cubas in meridie?et:adhaesit post te anima mea, me suscepit dextera tua illudque Hieremiae: n o n 1aboraui sequens te. neque enim est dolor in Iacob nec labor in Israhel. quando eras in saeculo, ea, quae erant saeculi, diligebas: polire faciem purpurisso et cerussa ora depingere, ornare crinem et alienis capillis turritum uerticem struere, ut taceam de inaurium pretiis, candore margaritarum Rubri Maris profunda testantium, zmaragdorum uirore, cerauniorum flammis, hyacinthorum pelago, ad quae ardent et insaniunt studia matronarum. nunc autem, quia saeculum reliquisti et secundo post baptismum gradu inisti pactum cum aduersario tuo dicens ei: 'renuntio tibi, diabole, et saeculo tuo et pompae tuae et operibus tuis', serua foedus, quod pepigisti, et esto consentiens pactumque custodiens cum aduersario tuo, dum es in uia huius saeculi, ne forte tradat te iudici et de suo aliquid usurpasse conuincat tradarisque ministro, qui ipse est inimicus et uindex, et mittaris in carcerem et in tenebras exteriores, quae, quanto a Christo, uero lumine, separamur, tanto nos maiori horrore circumdant, et non inde exeas, nisi soluas nouissimum quadrantem, id est minimum quodque delictum, quia et pro otioso uerbo reddituri sumus rationem in die iudicii. 8. Haec dicta sint non infausto contra te uaticinio, sed pauidi cautique monitoris officio ea quoque in te, quae tuta sunt, formidantis. si s p i r i t u s, inquit, potestatem habentis ascenderit super te, locum tuumne dim i s e r i s. quasi in procinctu et in acie stamus semper ad pugnam. uult nos loco mouere hostis et de gradu excedere, sed solidanda uestigia sunt et dicendum: statuit supra petram pedes meos et: petra refugium leporibus, pro quo multi 'erinacios' legunt, animal paruum et fugax et [peccatorum] sentibus praegrauatum. sed ideo Iesus spinis coronatus est et nostra delicta portauit et pro nobis doluit, ut de sentibus et tribulationibus feminarum, ad quas dicitur: in anxietatibus et doloribus paries, mulier, et ad uirum conuersio tua et ipse tui domina b i t u r, rosae uirginitatis et lilia castitatis nascerentur. unde et sponsus pascitur inter lilia et inter eos, qui uestimenta sua non coinquinauerunt — uirgines enim permanserunt audieruntque praeceptum: Candida sint semper uestimenta tua —, et quasi auctor uirginitatis et princeps loquitur confidenter: ego f1os campi et lilium conuallium, petra igitur leporum est, qui in persecutionibus de ciuitate fugiunt in ciuitatem nec timent illud propheticum: periit fuga a me. montes autem excelsi ceruis, quorum colubri cibus sunt, quos educit puer paruulus de foramine, quando pardus et haedus requiescunt simul et bos et leo comedunt paleas, ut nequaquam bos discat feritatem, sed leo doceatur mansuetudinem. reuertamur ad propositum testimonium: si spiritus potestatem habentis ascenderit super te, locum tuum ne dimiseris. post quod sequitur: quia curatio quiescere facit peccata maxima. qui uersiculus hunc habet sensum: si in cogitationes tuas coluber ascenderit, omni custodia serua cor tuum et cum Dauid canito: ab occultis meis munda me, domine, et ab alienis parce seruo tuo, et ad peccatum maximum, quod opere perpetratur, nequaquam peruenies, sed incentiua uitiorum statim in mente iugulabis et paruulos Babylonios allides ad petram, in qua serpentis uestigia non repperiuntur, cauteque domino promittis: si mei non fuerint dominati, tunc inmaculatus ero et emundabor a delicto maximo. hoc est, quod et alibi scriptura testatur: 'peccata patrum reddam in tertiam et quartam generationem', ut cogitationes nostras mentisque decretum non statim puniat, sed reddat in posteris, id est in malis operibus et in delictorum perseuerantia, quando loquitur per Amos: super tribus et quattuor inpietatibus illius et illius ciuitatis nonne auersabor eam? 9. Haec cursim quasi de prato pulcherrimo sanctarum scripturarum paruos flores carpsisse sufficiat pro commonitione tui, ut claudas cubiculum pectoris et crebro signaculo munias frontem tuam, ne exterminator Aegypti in te locum repperiat, sed primogenita, quae apud Aegyptios pereunt, in tua mente saluentur et dicas cum propheta: paratum cor meum, deus, paratum cor meum; cantabo et psallam. exsurge, gloria mea, exsurge, psalterium e t c i t h a r a. quam adsumere iubetur et Tyrus multis peccatorum confossa uulneribus, ut agat paenitentiam et maculas pristinae foeditatis cum Petro amaris abluat lacrimis. uerum nos ignoremus paenitentiam, ne facile peccemus. illa quasi secunda post naufragium miseris tabula sit: in uirgine integra seruetur nauis. aliud est quaerere, quod perdideris, aliud possidere, quod numquam amiseris. undo et apostolus castigabat corpus suum et in seruitutem redigebat, ne aliis praedicans ipse reprobus inueniretur, corporisque ex persona generis humani inflammatus ardoribus loquebatur: miser ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis huius? et iterum: s c i o, quia non habitat in me, hoc est in carne mea, bonum; uelle enim adiacet mihi, ut faciam autem bonum, nequaquam. neque enim, quod uolo, bonum, sed, quod nolo, malum, hoc facio et denuo: qui in carne sunt, deo placere non possunt. uos autem non estis in carne, sed in spiritu, si tamen spiritus dei habitat in uobis. 10. Post cogitationum diligentissimam cautionem ieiuniorum tibi arma sumenda sunt et canendum cum Dauid: humiliaui in ieiunio animam meam et: cinerem quasi panem manducaui et: cum molesti essent mihi, induebar cilicio. Eua per cibum eiecta est de paradiso. Helias quadraginta dierum exercitatus ieiunio igneo curru rapitur ad caelum. Moyses quadraginta diebus ac noctibus familiaritate et sermone dei pascitur et in se uerissimum probat: non in solo pane uiuit homo, sed in omni uerbo, quod egredietur ex ore dei. saluator generis humani, qui uirtutum et conuersationis suae nobis reliquit exemplum, post baptismum statim adsumitur ab spiritu, ut pugnet contra diabolum et oppressum eum atque contritum tradat discipulis conculcandum. unde et apostolus loquitur: deus autem conterat satanan sub pedibus uestris uelociter. et tamen hostis antiquus post quadraginta dierum ieiunium per cibum molitur insidias et dicit: si filius dei es, dic, ut lapides isti panes fiant. in lege mense septimo post clangorem tubarum, decima die mensis totius gentis Hebraeae ieiunium est et exterminatur anima illa de populo suo, quae saturitatem praetulerit continentiae. in Iob scriptura est de dracone: u i r t u s eius in lumbis et fortitudo illius super umbilicum uentris. aduersum iuuenes et puellas aetatis ardore abutitur et inflammat rotam natiuitatis nostrae et inplet illud in Osee: omnes adulterantes, quasi clibanus corda eorum, quae dei misericordia et ieiuniorum frigore restringuntur. haec sunt ignita diaboli iacula, quae simul et uulnerant et inflammant et a rege Babylonio tribus pueris praeparantur, qui succendit fornacem quadraginta nouem cubitorum habens et ipse septem ebdomadas ad perditionem, quas dominus obseruari iusserat ad salutem. sed, quomodo ibi quartus speciem habens quasi filii hominis inmensos mitigauit ardores et inter camini aestuantis incendia docuit flammas calorem amittere et aliud oculis comminari, aliud praebere tactui, sic et in animo uirginali rore caelesti et ieiuniorum frigore calor puellaris extinguitur ot humano corpori angelorum impetratur conuersatio. quam ob rem et uas electionis de uirginibus se dicit domini non habere praeceptum, quia contra naturam, immo ultra naturam est non exercere, quod nata sis, interficere in te radicem tuam et sola uirginitatis poma decerpere, nescire torum, omnem uirorum horrere contactum et in corpore uiuere sine corpore. 11. Neque uero inmoderata tibi imperamus ieiunia et inormem ciborum abstinentiam, quibus statim corpora delicata franguntur et ante aegrotare incipiunt quam sanctae conuersationis iacere fundamenta. philosophorum quoque sententia est mesotetas aretas, uperbolas kakias einai, quod Latinus ita potest sermo resonare: moderatas esse uirtutes, excedentes modum atque mensuram inter uitia reputari. unde et unus de septem sapientibus: ne quid, ait, nimis. quod tam celebre factum est, ut comico quoque uersu expressum sit. sic debes ieiunare, ut non palpites et respirare uix possis et comitum tuarum uel porteris uel traharis manibus, sed, ut fracto corporis appetitu nec in lectione nec in psalmis nec in uigiliis solito quid minus facias, ieiunium non perfecta uirtus, sed ceterarum uirtutum fundamentum est et sanctificatio atque pudicitia, sine qua nemo uideb i t deum, gradus praebet ad summa scandentibus nec tamen, si sola fuerit, uirginem poterit coronare. legamus euangelium sapientium et stultarum uirginum, quarum aliae cubiculum ingrediuntur sponsi, aliae bonorum operum oleum non habentes extinctis lampadibus excluduntur. latus est super ieiuniis campus, in quo et nos saepe cucurrimus et multorum proprii habentur libri, ad quorum te mittimus lectionem, ut discas, quid boni habeat continentia et quid e contrario mali saturitas. 12. Imitare sponsum tuum: esto auiae matrique subiecta. nullum uirorum — et maxime iuuenum — nisi cum illis uideas. nullum scias, quem illae nesciant. saecularis quoque sententia est: eadem uelle et eadem nolle, ea demum firma amicitia est. ut adpeteres uirginitatem, ut Christi praecepta cognosceres, ut scires, quid tibi expediret, quid eligere deberes, illarum te exempla docuerunt, sancta domi instruxit conuersatio. non igitur solum tuum putes esse, quod tuum est, sed et earum, quae suam in te expressere pudicitiam et honorabilium nuptiarum cubilisque inmaculati pretiosissimum germinauere te florem, qui perfectus afferet fructus, si humiliaueris te sub potenti manu dei et scriptum semper memineris: superbis deus resistit, humilibus autem dat g r a t i a m. ubi autem gratia, non operum retributio sed donantis est largitas, ut inpleatur dictum apostoli: non est uolentis neque currentis sed miserentis dei. et tamen uelle et nolle nostrum est; ipsum quoque, quod nostrum est, sine dei miseratione non nostrum est. 13. Eunuchorum quoque tibi et puellarum ac seruulorum mores magis eligantur quam uultuum elegantia, quia in omni sexu et aetate et truncatorum corporum uiolenta pudicitia animi considerandi sunt, qui amputari nisi Christi timore non possunt. scurrilitas atque lasciuia te praesente non habeat locum, numquam uerbum inhonestum audias aut, si audieris, non irascaris. perditae mentes hominum uno frequenter leuique sermone temptant claustra pudicitiae. ridere et rideri saecularibus derelinque; grauitas tuam personam decet. Catonem quoque — ilium dico censorium et uestrae quondam urbis principem —, qui in extrema aetate Graecas litteras non erubuit censor nec desperauit senes discere . . . . etM. Crassum semel in uita scribit risisse Lucilius. fuerit illa affectata seueritas et gloriam quaerens auramque popularem; nos affectus et perturba tiones, quamdiu in tabernaculo corporis huius habitamus et fragili carne circumdamur, moderari et regere possumus, amputare non possumus. unde et psalmista dicit: irascimini et nolite peccare, quod apostolus disserens: sol, inquit, non occidat super iracundiam uestram, quia et irasci hominis est et finem irae ponere Christiani. 14. Superfluum reor te monere contra auaritiam, cum generis tui sit et habere et calcare diuitias et apostolus doceat auaritiam esse idolorum cultum dominusque respondeat sciscitanti: magister bone, quid boni faciens uitam aeternam possidebo? si uis esse perfectus, uade, uende omnia, quae habes, et da pauperibus et habebis thesaurum in caelis et ueni, sequere me. apostolici fastigii est perfectaeque uirtutis uendere omnia et pauperibus distribuere et sic leuem atque expeditum cum Christo ad caelestia subuolare. nobis, immo tibi diligens credita est dispensatio, quamquam in hoc omni aetati omnique personae libertas arbitrii derelicta sit. si uis, inquit, esse perfectus: 'non cogo, non impero, sed propono palmam, ostendo praemia; tuum est eligere, si uolueris in agone atque certamine coronari'. et consideremus, quam sapienter sapientia sit locuta: uende, quae habes. cui ista praecipiuntur ? nempe illi, cui dictum est: s i uis esse perfectus. non partem bonorum tuorum uende, sed omnia, cum que uendideris, quid sequitur? et da pauperibus. non diuitibus, non propinquis, non ad luxuriam sed ad necessitatem, siue ille sacerdos siue cognatus sit et adfinis, nihil in illo aliud consideres nisi paupertatem. laudent te esurientium uiscera, non ructantium opulenta conuiuia. in Actibus apostolorum, quando domini nostri adhuc calebat cruor et feruebat recens in credentibus fides, uendebant omnes possessiones suas et pretia earum ad apostolorum deferebant pedes, ut ostenderent pecuniae esse calcandas; dabaturque singulis, prout opus erat. Ananias et Saphira, dispensatores timidi, immo corde duplici et ideo condemnati, quia post uotum obtulerunt quasi sua et non eius, cui semel ea uouerant, partemque sibi iam alienae substantias reseruarunt metuentes famem, quam uera fides non timet, praesentem meruere uindictam non crudelitate sententiae sed correptionis exemplo. denique et apostolus Petrus nequaquam inprecatur eis mortem, ut stultus philosophus calumniatur, sed dei iudicium prophetico spiritu adnuntiat, ut poena duorum hominum sit doctrina multorum. ex eo tempore, quo uirginitati perpetuae consecrata es, tua non tua sunt, immo uere tua, quia Christi esse coeperunt, quae auia uiuente uel matre ipsarum arbitrio dispensanda sunt, sin autem obierint et somno sanctorum requieuerint — scio enim et illas hoc optare, ut te habeant superstitem —, cum aetas maturior fuerit et uoluntas grauior firmiorque sententia, facies, quod tibi uisum fuerit, immo quod dominus imperarit, scitura nihil te habituram, nisi quod in bonis operibus erogaueris. alii aedificent ecclesias, uestiant parietes marmorum crustis, columnarum moles aduehant earumque deaurent capita pretiosum ornatum non sentientia, ebore argentoque ualuas et gemmi; aurea uel aurata distinguant altaria — non reprehendo, non abnuo; unusquisque in sensu suo abundet meliusque est hoc facere quam repositis opibus incubare —, sed tibi aliud propositum est: Christum uestire in pauperibus, uisitare in languentibus, pascere in esurientibus, suscipere in his, qui tecto indigent — et maxime in domesticis fidei —, uirginum alere monasteria, seruorum dei et pauperum spiritu habere curam, qui diebus et noctibus seruiunt domino tuo, qui in terra positi imitantur angelorum conuersationem et nihil aliud loquuntur, nisi quod ad laudes dei pertinet, habentesque uictum atque uestitum his gaudent diuitiis, qui plus habere nolunt, si tamen seruant propositum. alioquin, si amplius desiderant, his quoque, quae necessaria sunt, probantur indigni. haec ad uirginem diuitem et uirginem nobilem sim locutus. 15. Nunc tantum ad uirginem loquar, id est non ea, quae extra te, sed in te sunt, tantum considerans. praeter psalmorum et orationis ordinem, quod tibi hora tertia, sexta, nona, ad uesperum, medio noctis et mane semper est exercendum, statue, quot horis sanctam scripturam ediscere debeas, quanto tempore legere non ad laborem, sed ad delectationem et instructionem animae. cumque haec finieris spatia et frequenter te ad figenda genua sollicitudo animi suscitauerit, habeto lanam semper in manibus uel staminis pollice fila deducito uel ad torquenda subtemina in alueolis fusa uertantur aliarumque neta aut in globum collige aut texenda conpone. quae texta sunt, perspice; quae errata, reprehende; quae facienda, constitue. si tantis operum uarietatibus fueris occupata, numquam tibi dies longi erunt, sed, quamuis aestiuis tendantur solibus, breues uidebuntur, in quibus aliquid operis praetermissum est. haec obseruans et te ipsam saluabis et alias et eris magistra sanctae conuersationis multarumque castitatem lucrum tuum facies scriptura dicente: in desideriis est omnis anima otiosi. nec idcirco tibi ab opere cessandum est, quia deo propitio nulla re indiges, sed ideo cum omnibus laborandum est, ut per occasionem operis nihil aliud cogites, nisi quod ad domini pertinet seruitutem. simpliciter loquar: quamuis omnem censum tuum in pauperes distribuas, nihil apud Christum erit pretiosius, nisi quod manibus tuis ipsa confeceris uel in usus proprios uel in exemplum uirginum ceterarum uel, quod auiae matrique offeras maiora ab eis in refectionem pauperum pretia receptura. 16. Paene praeterii, quod uel praecipuum est. dum esses paruula et sanctae ac beatae memoriae Anastasius episcopus Romanam regeret ecclesiam, de orientis partibus hereticorum saeua tempestas simplicitatem fidei, quae apostoli uoce laudata est, polluere et labefactare conata est. sed uir ditissimae paupertatis et apostolicae sollicitudinis statim noxium perculit caput et sibilantia hydrae ora conpescuit. et quia uereor, immo rumore cognoui in quibusdam adhuc uiuere et pullulare uenenata plantaria, illud te pio caritatis affectu praemonendam puto, ut sancti Innocentii, qui apostolicae cathedrae et supra dicti uiri successor et filius est, teneas fidem nec peregrinam, quamuis tibi prudens callidaque uideatur, doctrinam recipias. solent enim huiusce modi per angulos musitare et quasi iustitiam dei quaerere: 'cur illa anima in illa est nata prouincia? quid causae extitit, ut alii de Christianis nascantur parentibus, alii inter feras et saeuissimas nationes, ubi nulla dei notitia est?' cumque hoc quasi scorpionis ictu simplices quosque percusserint et fistulato uulnere locum sibi fecerint, uenena diffundunt: 'putasne, frustra infans paruulus et qui uix matrem risu et uultus hilaritate cognoscat, qui nec boni aliquid fecit nec mali, daemone corripitur, morbo opprimitur regio et ea sustinet, quae uidemus inpios homines non sustinere et sustinere deo seruientos? sin autem iudicia', inquiunt, 'domini uera, iustificata in semet ipsis et nihil apud deum iniustum est, ipsa ratione conpellimur, ut credamus animas fuisse in caelestibus et propter quaedam antiqua peccata damnatas in corporibus humanis et, ut ita loquamur, sepultas nosque in ualle lacrimarum poenas luere peccatorum. unde et propheta dicit: priusquam humiliarer, ego peccaui et: educ de carcere animam meam et:iste peccauit, ut caecus ex utero nasceretur, an p a r e n t e s e i u s ? et cetera his similia'. haec inpia et scelerata doctrina olim in Aegypto et in orientis partibus uersabatur et nunc abscondite quasi in foueis uiperarum apud plerosque uersatur illarumque partium polluit puritatem et quasi hereditario malo serpit in paucis, ut perueniat ad plurimos, quam certus sum quod, si audieris, non recipias. habes enim apud deum magistras, quarum fides norma doctrinae est. intellegis, quid loquar — dabit enim tibi deus in omnibus intellectum — nec statim aduersum saeuissimam heresim et multo his nequiora, quam dixi, responsionem flagitabis, ne non tam prohibuisse uidear quam commonuisse, cum praesentis operis sit instruere uirginem, non hereticis respondere. ceterum omnes fraudulentias eorum et cuniculos, quibus nituntur subuertere ueritatem, in alio opere deo adiuuante subuertimus, quod, si uolueris, prompte libenterque mittemus. ultroneas enim aiunt putere merces et pretia facilitate decrescere, quae semper in raritate maiora sunt. 17. Solet inter plerosque esse certamen, utrum solitaria an cum multis uita sit melior. quarum prior praefertur quidem secundae, sed, in uiris si quidem periculosa est, ne abstracti ab hominum frequentia sordidis et inpiis cogitationibus pateant et pleni adrogantiae ac supercilii cunctos despiciant armentque linguas suas uel clericis uel aliis monachis detrahendi (causa) — de quibus rectissime dicitur: filii hominum, dentes eorum arma et sagittae et lingua eorum gladius acutus —, quanto magis in feminis, quarum mutabilis fluctuansque sententia, si suo arbitrio relinquatur, cito ad deteriora delabitur! noui ego in utroque sexu per nimiam abstinentiam cerebri sanitatem in quibusdam fuisse uexatam praecipueque in his, qui in humectis et in frigidis habitauere cellulis, ita ut nescirent, quid agerent quoue se uerterent, quid loqui, quid facere deberent. certe, si rudes saecularium litterarum de tractatibus hominum disertorum quippiam legerint, uerbositatem solam discunt absque notitia scripturarum et iuxta uetus elogium, cum loqui nesciant, tacere non possunt docentque scripturas, quas non intellegunt, et, cum aliis persuaserint, eruditorum sibi adsumunt supercilium prius inperitorum magistri quam doctorum discipuli. bonum est igitur oboedire maioribus, parere perfectis et post regulas scripturarum uitae suae tramitem ab aliis discere nec praeceptore uti pessimo, scilicet praesumptione sua. de talibus feminis et aposto¬lus loquitur, quae circumferuntur omni uento doctrinae semper discentes et numquam ad scientiam ueritatis peruenientes. 18. Matronarum maritis ac saeculo seruientium tibi consortia declinentur, ne sollicitetur animus et audias, quid uel maritus uxori uel uxor locuta sit uiro. uenenatae sunt huiusce modi confabulationes, super quarum damnatione saecularem uersum adsumens apostolus fecit ecclesiasticum: corrumpunt mores bonos confabulationes malae, cuius iambici metrum, dum uerbum seruat ex uerbo, nequaquam expressit Latina translatio. graues feminae — et maxime uiduae ac uirgines — tibi comites eligantur, quarum probata est conuersatio, sermo moderatus, sancta uerecundia. fuge lasciuiam puellarum, quae ornant capita, crines a fronte demittunt, cutem poliunt, utuntur lomentis, adstrictas habent manicas, uestimenta sine ruga soccosque crispantes, ut sub nomine uirginali uendibilius pereant. mores enim et studia dominarum plerumque ex ancillarum et comitum moribus iudicantur. illa sit tibi pulchra, illa amabilis, illa habenda inter socias, quae nescit esse se pulchram, quae neglegit formae bonum et procedens ad publicum non pectus et colla denudat nec pallio reuelato ceruices aperit, sed quae celat faciem et uix uno oculo, qui uiae necessarius est, patente ingreditur. 19. Dubito an loquar, sed — uelim, nolim —, quia crebro fit, dicendum est, non quo haec in te timere debeam, quae ista forsitan nescias nec umquam audieris, sed quo per occasionem tui ceterae praemonendae sint. cincinnatulos pueros et calamistratos et peregrini muris olentes pelliculas, de quibus illud Arbitri est: non bene olet, qui bene semper olet, quasi quasdam pestes et uenena pudicitiae uirgo deuitet, ut taceam de ceteris, quorum inportuna uisitatio et se infamat et alias, ut, etiamsi nihil mali operis perpetretur, tamen hoc sit uel maximum malum frustra patere maledictis et morsibus ethnicorum. nec hoc de omnibus dicimus, sed de his, quos ecclesia ipsa reprehendit, quos interdum abicit, in quos nonnumquam episcoporum et presbyterorum censura desaeuit, ut prope periculosius sit lasciuis puellis ad loca religionis quam ad publicum procedere. quae uiuunt in monasterio et quarum simul magnus est numerus, numquam solae, numquam sine matre procedant. de agmine columbarum crebro accipiter unam separat, quam statim inuadat et laceret et cuius carnibus et cruore saturetur. morbidae oues suum relinquunt gregem et luporum faucibus deuorantur. scio ego sanctas uirgines, quae diebus festis propter populorum frequentiam pedem domi cohibent nec tunc egrediuntur, quando maior est adhibenda custodia et publicum ponitus deuitandum. ante annos circiter triginta de uirginitate semanda edidi librum, in quo necesse mihi fuit ire contra uitia et propter instructionem uirginis, quam monebam, diaboli insidias patefacere. qui sermo offendit plurimos, dum unusquisque in se intellegens, quod dicebatur, non quasi monitorem libenter audiuit, sed quasi criminatorem sui operis auersatus est. uerumtamen quid profuit armasse exercitum reclamantium et uulnus conscientiae dolore monstrasse ? liber manet, homines praeterierunt. scripsi et ad plerasque uirgines ac uiduas spoudasmatia et, quidquid dici poterat, in illis opusculis defloratum est, ut aut ex superfluo eadem a nobis repetantur aut nunc praetermissa plurimum noceant. certe et beatus Cyprianus egregium de uirginitate uolumen edidit et multi alii tam Latino sermone quam Graeco omniumque gentium litteris atque linguis, praecipue in ecclesiis, agney uita laudata est. sed hoc ad eas pertineat, quae necdum elegerunt uirginitatem et exhortatione indigent, ut sciant, quale sit, quod eligere debeant; nobis electa seruanda sunt et quasi inter scorpiones et colubros incedendum, ut accinctis lumbis calciatisque pedibus et adprehensis manu baculis iter per insidias huius saeculi et inter uenena faciamus possimusque ad dulces Iordanis peruenire aquas et terram repromissionis intrare et ad domum dei ascendere ac dicere cum propheta: domine, dilexi decorem domus tuae et locum habitationis gloriae tuae et illud: unam petii a domino, hanc requiram, ut habitem in domo domini omnibus diebus uitae meae. felix illa conscientia et beata uirginitas, in cuius corde praeter amorem Christi, qui est sapientia, castitas, patientia atque iustitia ceteraeque uirtutes, nullus alius uersatur amor nec ad recordationem hominis aliquando suspirat nec uidere desiderat, quem, cum uiderit, nolit dimittere. sanctum uirginum propositum et caelestis angelorumque familiae gloriam quarundam non bene se agentium nomen infamat. quibus aperte dicendum est, ut aut nubant, si se non possunt continere, aut contineant, si nolunt nubere. digna res risu, immo planctu: incedentibus dominis ancilla uirgo procedit ornatior, ut pro nimia consuetudine, quam incomptam uideris, dominam suspiceris. nonnullae separata et absque arbitris quaerunt hospitia, ut uiuant licentius, utantur balneis faciantque, quod uolunt, et deuitent conscientias plurimarum. haec uidemus et patimur et, si aureus nummus adfulserit, inter bona opera deputamus. 20. Finem iungo principio nec semel monuisse contentus sum. ama scripturas sanctas et amabit te sapientia. dilige eam et seruabit te; honora illam et amplexabit u r t e. haec monilia in pectore et in auribus tuis haereant. nihil aliud nouerit lingua nisi Christum, nihil possit sonare, nisi quod sanctum est. auiae tuae tibi semper ac matris in ore dulcedo uersetur, quarum imitatio forma uirtutis est.

Historical context:

This letter is one of Jerome’s two treatises on virginity, the other written much earlier to Eustochium, ep.22, which Jerome mentions in section 19. In section 16, he warns Demetrias against heresies, which Kelly says are Origenism coming through Pelagius (313). In section 12, he directly attacks the idea that one can will salvation without grace.

Scholarly notes:

1 Kelly notes that Jerome mistakenly took the altar of wood to be the altar of incense, 312.
2 The Greek is attributed to Aristotle; the wise man is Chilo of Lacedaemon; the comic author is Terence, in the Andria.
3 Amy Oh provided this translation.

Printed source:

Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi Epistulae, ed. Isidorus Hilberg, 3v (New York: Johnson, 1970, CSEL, repr.1910-18), ep.130.

Date:

414