It is bitter to say how many virgins fall every day, how many the Mother Church loses from her bosom, how many stars the proud enemy sets up his throne above; how many stones he hollows out, and nests like serpents in their hollows. You will even see many widows before marriage, covering with pretended clothes the unfortunate consciousness of their crime. And if they are not betrayed by the fullness of the womb and the cry of the child, then they walk with their heads raised and playful steps. Some of them take some drink for barrenness and commit the murder of a person even before they receive him in the seed. Others, when they feel themselves conceived from a crime, take medicines to poison the fetus, while often they themselves die and go to hell, guilty of three crimes – suicide, adultery from Christ, infanticide of an unborn child. These are the ones who like to say: "Everything is clean – pure. For me, my own consciousness is enough. God desires a pure heart. When they want to rejoice and celebrate, then, drunk with whole wine and with drunkenness combining the desecration of the holy, they say: "Let it not be that I depart from the communion of the blood of Christ." And when they see a woman pale and sad, they call her accursed and Manichaean, justly reasoning that fasting for Manichaean motives is heresy. These are those who, in full view of all, pass through the square and, secretly waving their eyes, draw crowds of young men with them; these are those to whom the prophetic word is always addressed: "Thou hadst the forehead of a harlot, thou hast cast away shame" (Jeremiah 3:3). Only the purple on the thin garment and the head slightly bandaged so that the hair would scatter, a light shoe and a hyacinth-colored fur coat fluttering behind the shoulders, garter mittens attached to the shoulders, and a well-dressed gait with twisted knees—this is what all their virginity consists of. Let them have their own praisers, who help them to perish for a higher price under the name of virgins. For my part, I would very much like not to please them.

It is shameful to point out indecent, sad, but real facts: where did the plague of Agapetus come from in the Church? Where does the naming of wives without marriage come from? Where does the new line of concubines come from? I will say more: whence come the fornicators of the same language? A man and a woman are in the same house, in the same bedroom, often in the same bed, and call us suspicious if we think anything. The brother leaves the maiden sister, the girl dismisses her unmarried relative, calls a stranger a brother, and, pretending both for the same purpose, they seek spiritual consolation on the side, in order to have bodily communion at home. Solomon convicts such people in parables, saying: "Can a man take fire in his bosom, lest his garment be burned? Can anyone walk on burning coals without burning his feet? (Proverbs 6:27-28).

Now that I have finished speaking of those who wish to appear but not to be virgins, I will address myself exclusively to you, the first of the noble virgins of Rome, who for this reason alone must take special care not to be deprived of blessings, both present and future. You have learned the painful side of marriage and the uncertainty of your fate in marriage from an example at home, because your sister Blasilla, the eldest in age, but the youngest by choice of lot, when she was married, became a widow in the seventh month. Oh, unfortunate human fate with an unknown future! Your sister has lost both the crown of virginity and the pleasures of marriage. And although widowhood stands on the second degree of chastity, yet what crosses do you think she bears at times, seeing every day in her sister what she herself has lost, and intending to receive a lesser reward for abstinence, while having experienced the pleasures of marriage, she endures their deprivation with greater difficulty. But let it also be calm and joyful. A hundredfold fruit and a sixty-fold fruit grow from the same seed of purity.

I do not want you to make the acquaintance of society ladies, to go to the houses of nobles, to often look at what you have despised, desiring to be a virgin. Women love to be honored for the sake of their husbands, who are in judicial or any other dignity. If a crowd of congratulators flocks to the Emperor's wife, then why do you not value your Husband? Why do you, the bride of God, hasten to the spouse of men? In this case, learn holy pride: know that you are above this nobility. I wish that you would withdraw from acquaintance not only with those women who are puffed up with the honors of husbands, surrounded by crowds of eunuchs, and dressed in gold-woven garments, but also avoid those who have become widows out of necessity and not out of will; I say this not in the sense that wives should wish for the death of their husbands, but that they should gladly take advantage of the opportunity for chastity that presents itself to them. And the widows, against whom I warn you, did not change their former way of life with the change of clothes. In front of the stretcher is a row of eunuchs: the widows' cheeks are flushed, their wrinkles are smoothed out so that it is easy to understand that they have not lost, but are looking for husbands. The whole house is full of caresses, full of feasts. The clergy themselves, who should be teachers of the law and the fear of God, kiss the heads of the matrons and, stretching out their hands as if for a blessing, accept gifts for their affability. And the matrons, noticing that the priests need their help, are filled with pride; having already experienced the dominion of men, they prefer the freedom of widowhood, they are called blameless and nones, and after a doubtful supper they see the apostles in a dream.

May women be your friends, exhausted by fasting, pale in face, wise in age and life, who daily sing in their hearts: Where are you pasture? Where do you rest at noon? (Song of Songs 1:6) and saying from the heart: I have a desire to depart and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). Be obedient to your parents: imitate your Bridegroom. Go out into society infrequently. Remember the martyrs on your bed. You will never lack excuses to go out into society, if you wish to go out always if necessary. Let your food be moderate and your stomach always unfilled. Many, abstaining from wine, become intoxicated with an abundance of food. When you get up to pray at night, let you feel sick, not from indigestion, but from emaciation. Read more often, study as much as possible. Let sleep take hold of you as you hold the book, and let your face bow to the holy page. Let you have daily fasting and relaxation for yourself, devoid of satiety. It is useless to fast for two or three days to fill an empty belly, while at the same time stopping the fast and rewarding oneself for it with excessive satiety. From this the burdened mind becomes dull, and the irrigated earth gives birth to thorns of lusts. When you feel that the outer man is reviving in the flower of youth, when after eating on the bed you will be enveloped by the pleasant luxury of desires, take up the shield of faith, with which the flammed arrows of the devil will be quenched. They all burn with adultery, like the furnace (Hos. 7:4) of their hearts. And you, who have followed in the footsteps of Christ, who have hearkened to His words, say: Did not our hearts burn within us when He spoke to us on the way, and when He explained the Scriptures to us? (Luke 24:32). And again: Thy word is kindled, and Thy servant loves Thee" (Psalm 118:140). It is difficult for the human soul not to love anything, it is necessary that our mind be attracted to some kind of attachment. Carnal love is overcome by spiritual love. One desire is extinguished by another. As much as it decreases here, so much does it increase there. Therefore, all the more sigh always, and say on your bed: "By night I sought him whom my soul loves" (Song of Songs 3:1); put to death, says the Apostle, your earthly members (Col. 3:5); therefore he himself later said frankly: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20). He who kills his limbs, who lives in this world, only apparently is not afraid to say: "Like a fur on a slate" (Psalm 118:83). All the phlegm of lust that was in me evaporated. My knees are weary from fasting (Psalm 108:24). And forget to carry my bread. By the voice of my sighing my bone cleaveth to my flesh (Psalm 101:5-6).

Be a nocturnal dragonfly. Thou shalt wash thy bed every night, and with thy tears I will lay thy bed. Watch and be like a bird in the wilderness. Sing with your spirit, sing with your mind: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His rewards, Who is merciful to all thy iniquities, Who healeth all thy infirmities, Who delivereth thy life from corruption (Psalm 102:2-4). And who among us can say from the heart: "Ashes are like bread, and my drink is mixed with weeping" (Psalm 101:10).

In sickness and sorrow you will give birth to children. But this is (say) the law of a woman, and not mine. And your attraction to your husband. Let her be submissive to her husband who does not have Christ as a spouse. And finally, you will die of death (Gen. 3). This is the end of marriage, and my goal is where no marriage is encroached upon. Let those who are married have their own time and name. And let me be granted virginity in Mary and Christ.

Perhaps someone will say: "And you dare to speak against marriage blessed by God?" No one compares evil with good. Let those who are married also be honorable, although they yield primacy to virgins. It is said: Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth (Gen. 1:28). Let him grow and multiply who desires to fill the earth. And your army is in heaven. Be fruitful and multiply—this commandment is fulfilled after paradise and nakedness and fig leaves, which signify the marriage lust. Let those marry and trespass, who eat their bread in the sweat of their brow, whom the earth gives birth to thorns and thistles, and the grass is choked by thorny bushes. And my seed bears a hundredfold fruit. Not all can contain the word of God, but to whom it is given (Matt. 19:11). Necessity makes some people celibate, and hunting makes me celibate. A time to embrace, and a time to avoid embraces. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather stones (Ecclesiastes 3:5). After the children of Abraham have been born from among the rude nations, they shall shine like stones in a crown in His land (Zech. 9:16). They pass through the whirlwind of this world and in the chariot of God turn with the speed of wheels. Let those who have lost their upper seamless tunic, who are pleased with the cry of infants, who at the very beginning of life weep bitterly that they have been born, sew tunics. Eve was a virgin in paradise: after the leather robes, her marriage state began. Your country is a paradise. Keep that with which thou wast born, and say: Turn, O my soul, unto thy rest (Psalm 114:6). Here is proof for you that virginity is inherent in nature, and marriage took place after the Fall: as a result of marriage, a virgin body is born, and in the fetus is regained that which was lost at the root. And there shall come forth a branch from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall spring forth from his root (Isaiah 11:1). The branch is the Mother of the Lord, simple, pure, unblemished, alien to every seed from without, and, like God, fruitful in solitude. The flower of this branch is Christ, who says: I am the narcissus of Sharon, the lily of the valleys! (Song of Songs 2:1). In another place it is called the stone cut off from the mountain without hands (Dan. 2:45), by which the prophet denotes His virgin birth from the Virgin. For the hands are accepted as something that has significance in relation to marriage, as it is said: "His left hand is under my head, and his right embraceth me" (Song of Songs 2:6). For our purpose, it is not superfluous to note that the animals brought into Noah's ark in pairs are unclean; and the number of clean animals is odd. Moses and Joshua were commanded to enter the Holy Land with their bare feet. The disciples were destined to preach the new gospel without being burdened with sandals and skins. And the soldiers who had divided Jesus' garments did not have to carry away His boots. For the master could not have what he forbade the servants.

I praise marriage, I praise marriage, but because virgins are born from marriage: I separate the rose from the thorns, the gold from the earth, the pearl from the shell. Is it possible that the ploughing man will always plow? Will he not enjoy the fruit of his labors? Marriage is more revered when that which is born of it is more loved. Why do you, mother, envy your daughter? She was brought up by your milk, she was born by your womb, she grew up in your womb. Thou hast preserved her in virginity by thy pious diligence. Are you indignant that she wanted to be the wife not of a warrior, but of a King? She has done you a great favor. You have become God's mother-in-law. Concerning virginity, says the Apostle, I have not the command of the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:25). Why is that? For the Apostle himself remained in virginity, not by command, but by his own will. One should not listen to those who say that he had a wife, whereas, speaking of abstinence and exhorting him to constant purity, he said: I desire that all men should be like me. And below: To the celibate and to the widows I say, It is good for them to remain as I am" (1 Corinthians 7:7-8). And in another place: "Or we do not have the power to have a sister wife as a companion, like the rest of the Apostles" (1 Corinthians 9:5). And so, why does the Apostle not have the Lord's command about virginity? Because what is offered without compulsion deserves a great reward. If virginity were commanded, marriage would seem to be rejected, and it would be too harsh to compel contrary to nature, to demand of men the angelic life, and in some way to condemn that which is created.

In the Old Testament there was a different kind of well-being. There it says: "Blessed is he who has a family in Zion, and the southerners in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 31:9), and again: "Cursed is the barren woman who has not begotten," and again: "Thy sons, for the new planting of olives is round about thy table" (Psalm 127:4). There are promises of riches and that there will be no sick person in the tribes of Israel. And now it is said: "Do not consider yourself a dry tree. Instead of sons and daughters, you have an eternal abode in heaven." Now the poor are blessed, and Lazarus is preferred to the rich man clothed in purple. Now it is stronger for the weak. At that time, the world was empty and, except for types, all blessing was in children. That is why Abraham already in his old age enters into marriage with Keturah, and Jacob buys himself off for mandrakes, and the beautiful Rachel, portraying the Church, laments her barrenness. But little by little, as the harvest increases, a reaper is sent. Elijah is a virgin, Elisha is a virgin, many prophetic sons are virgin. Jeremiah says: "Thou shalt not take thee a wife" (Jeremiah 16:2); He who is sanctified in the womb at the approach of captivity is forbidden to marry. The Apostle says the same thing in other words: "In present need I acknowledge that it is good for a man to remain so" (1 Corinthians 7:26); What is this need that takes away the pleasures of marriage? The time is short, so that those who have wives must be as if they had no wives (1 Cor. 7:29). Near Nebuchadnezzar. The lion moved from his lair. What will be the use of marriage with the coming of the most proud king? Why are the children, whom the prophet mourns, saying: The tongue of a suckling babe clings to his throat because of thirst; children ask for bread, and no one gives it to them (Lamentations 4:4)? But, as we have shown, only in men was found the treasure of abstinence, and Eve constantly gave birth in sickness. But when the Virgin conceived in the womb and bore us a child, dominion on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6), the mighty God, the Father of the age to come, the curse (on women) was loosed. Death is through Eve; life — through Mary. For this reason the gift of virginity is poured out more abundantly on women, because it received its origin from a woman. As soon as the Son of God descended to earth, He gathered Himself a new family, so that whoever received worship from the angels in heaven would have angels on earth as well. Then Judith courageously cut off the head of Holofernes. Then Haman, whose name means "unrighteousness," is burned by his fire. Then James and John, leaving their father, their nets, and the ship, followed the Saviour, leaving their blood ties, the ties of the ages, and the care of the house. Then for the first time it was heard: "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Mark 8:34). No warrior goes to battle with his wife. A disciple who wishes to go to the burial of his father is not allowed to do so. Foxes have holes and birds of heaven where they can rest, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Do not be distressed if you are in sorrowful circumstances. He who is unmarried cares about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but a married man cares about the things of the world, how to please his wife. There is a difference between a married woman and a virgin: an unmarried woman cares about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord, so that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but a married woman cares about the things of the world, how to please her husband (1 Corinthians 7:32-34).

How burdensome marriage is, what inconveniences it is associated with, this seems to have been expressed briefly in the book which we have published against Helvidius on the ever-virginity of Blessed Mary. It would be too long to repeat the same thing; anybody, can draw from that stream. But in order not to omit this subject altogether, I will now say one thing: the Apostle commands us to pray without ceasing, but he who has entered into marriage cannot pray; Consequently, one of two things remains: either to pray always and remain in virginity, or to cease to pray and enslave oneself to marriage. If a virgin marries, she will not sin, says the Apostle, but such will have sorrows according to the flesh (1 Corinthians 7:28). And at the beginning of this work I preceded that I would either not speak at all about the burdensome aspects of marriage, or would say very little, and now I advise: if you wish to know how many inconveniences a virgin is free from and how much a spouse is subject to, read the work of Tertullian to a philosopher friend and other books on virginity, and a fair work of Blg. Cyprian, and Pope Damasus, a work on this subject in prose and verse; likewise also the work of our Ambrose, which he recently wrote to his sister, in which he spread so widely that everything pertaining to the praise of virgins was examined, clarified, and set forth in order.

And we should go the other way. Our task is not so much praise as the preservation of virginity. It is not enough to know what is good if the chosen ones are not carefully preserved; for to value what is good is a matter of judgment, and to preserve it is a matter of work; The first is characteristic of many, and the second is characteristic of the few. But he who endures to the end, it is said, will be saved (Matt. 24:13), and many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 22:14). Therefore I adjure thee by God Jesus Christ and His chosen angels, guard what thou hast begun, and do not lightly put on display the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which only the priests are permitted to see, lest any stranger see the sanctuary of God. Uzzah, touching the ark, which should not have been touched, was struck by sudden death. But a vessel of gold or silver was not so dear to God as the temple of a virgin body. The shadow has passed, now the truth has come. You speak simply, you do not turn away from strangers with a gentle countenance, but otherwise shameless eyes look. They know how to contemplate beauty not of the soul, but only of the body. Hezekiah shows the Assyrians the treasure of God, but the Assyrians were not supposed to see what they wanted. Finally, when Judea was shaken by frequent wars, the vessels of the Lord were taken and carried away by the enemies for the first time. Belshazzar drinks from the sacred bowls in the midst of feasts and crowds of concubines (since the supreme triumph of vice is to dishonor the venerable).

Do not incline your ear to words of malice. Often, when people say something indecent, they test your way of thinking, whether you, virgin, willingly listen to what is said, whether you allow something ridiculous; whatever you say, they praise; what you reject, they deny; they call you courteous, and holy, and guileless. "Behold," they say, "truly a servant of God; This is complete simplicity. Not so-and-so, disgusting, shameful, uneducated, repulsive, who, perhaps, did not marry because she could not find a suitor." We are carried away by natural evil. We willingly take the side of our flatterers, and although we say that we are unworthy, and a hot blush appears on the face, yet inwardly the soul rejoices in praise. The bride of Christ is the ark of the covenant, consecrated inside and out, keeping within itself the law of the Lord. As there was nothing in the ark but the tablets of the Covenant, so there should be no external thought in you. On this purgatory, as on the cherubim, the Lord wants to sit. He sends His disciples to sit on you like a donkey's lot, He frees you from temporal cares, so that, leaving the Egyptian chaff and bricks, you will follow Moses in the wilderness and enter the land of promise. Let no one stop you, neither your mother, nor your sister, nor your kinswoman, nor your kinsman: the Lord demands you. If they want to hinder you, let them remember the plagues of Pharaoh, who, not wanting to let the people of God go to worship, suffered all that is written. Jesus, having entered the temple, vomited out things that did not belong to the temple. For God is jealous and does not want the Father's house to be turned into a den of robbers. Otherwise, as soon as the coins are counted, the cages with doves appear and simplicity is mortified, as soon as the concern for temporal affairs burns in the virgin breast, the veil of the temple is immediately torn asunder, the Bridegroom rises in anger and says: "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" (Matt. 23:38). Read the Gospel and see how Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord, is preferred to the zealous Martha. Of course, Martha, by her diligent service of hospitality, prepared refreshments for the Lord and His disciples; but Jesus said to her, "Martha! Martha! You care and fuss about many things; but a little is necessary as one; But Mary chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42). Be thou also Mary; prefer learning to food. Let your sisters fuss and seek how they can receive Christ's guest. And thou, having laid aside the burden of this world, sit at the feet of the Lord, and say: I have found him whom my soul loves, and have taken hold of him, and have not let him go" (Song of Songs 3:4). Ion will answer: She is the only one, my dove, my pure; she is the only one with her mother, distinguished from her mother (Song of Songs 6:9), that is, in the heavenly Jerusalem.

Let the secrets of your bed always keep you; let the Bridegroom always rejoice with you inwardly. When you pray, you converse with the Bridegroom; when you read, He converses with you; and when sleep bends you, He will come behind the wall, and stretch out His hand through the window, and touch your belly; and when thou hast awakened, thou shalt arise and say: I faint with love (Song of Songs 2:5); and thou shalt hear in turn from Him: "A closed garden is my sister, my bride, a well shut up, a sealed fountain" (Song of Songs 4:12). Take heed, do not go out of the house, do not desire to see the daughters of another country, having the patriarchs and the fathers of Israel as brothers: Dinah, when she goes out of the house, is corrupted. I do not want you to look for the Bridegroom in the haystacks and go around the corners of the city; if you say: "I will arise, I will go through the city, through the streets and squares, and I will seek him whom my soul loves" (Song of Songs 3:2), and you will ask: "Have you not seen him whom my soul loves? — then no one will be worthy to answer you. The groom cannot be found on the stacks. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life (Matt. 7:14). It follows: I sought him and did not find him; I called him, and he did not answer me (Song of Songs 5:6). And if only I didn't find everything! Thou shalt be beaten, thou shalt be naked, thou shalt say lamentable things: The guards met me, going round the city, and smote me, wounded me; they took off my veil" (Song of Songs 5:7). If, having left the house, she endures so much, who said: "I am asleep, but my heart is awake" (Song of Songs 5:2), and "My beloved is with me, he dwells at my breasts" (Song of Songs 1:12), then what will happen to us, who have not yet reached the age of maturity, and when the bride and groom enter inside, we remain outside? Jesus is jealous, He does not want others to see your face. Though you will apologize and make excuses: covering my face with a veil, I asked you there and said: Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where do you feed? Where do you rest at noon? Why should I be a wanderer among the flocks of your fellows? (Song of Songs 1:6); He will still be indignant, angry and will say: "If you do not know this, most beautiful of women, then follow the footsteps of the sheep and feed your goats near the tents of the shepherds" (Song of Songs 1:7). That is, although you are beautiful and your image is pleasing to the Bridegroom more than all women, yet if you do not know yourself and do not guard your heart with all guarding and do not avoid the eyes of young men, then depart from My bridal chamber and feed the goats that will be set up.