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.

And so, my Eustochia, daughter, mistress, co-servant, relative (the first name is according to age, the second according to worth, the third according to faith, the fourth according to love), listen to the words of the prophet Isaiah: "Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut thy doors behind thee, hide thyself for a moment, until the wrath shall pass away" (Isaiah 26:20). Foolish virgins wander outside; thou shalt be within with the Bridegroom; for if thou shuttest the doors, and according to the commandment of the Gospel pray to thy Father in secret, he shall come, and knock, and say, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Rev. 3:20), and thou shalt immediately answer with solicitude: "The voice of my brother knocking at the door: Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my pure!" (Song of Songs 5:2).

Do not say: I threw off my tunic; How can I put it on again? I have washed my feet; How can I get them dirty? (Song of Songs 5:3). Get up immediately and open it, so that during your delay the Bridegroom will not depart, and so that you will not have to look for it afterwards and say: "I have opened it to my brother; my brother is gone" (Song of Songs 5:6). For what good is it if the doors of your heart are closed for the Bridegroom? Let them be opened to Christ and shut up for the devil, according to the following saying: "If the wrath of the ruler burn against you, do not leave your place" (Ecclesiastes 10:4). Daniel dwelt in the uppermost upper room (for he could not dwell in the lower) and had windows open to Jerusalem. And thou shalt have windows open to whence the light comes, whence thou seest the city of the Lord. Do not open those windows of which it is said: "Death enters into our windows" (Jeremiah 9:21).

Most carefully you must avoid the fire of vanity. How, Jesus said, can you believe when you receive glory from one another? (John 5:44). See how great is the evil that he who possesses cannot believe? But we say: "Thou art my glory" (Ps. 3:4) and: "He who boasts, let him glory in the Lord" (2 Corinthians 10:17). And if I were to please men even now, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10), and I do not wish to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified for me, and I for the world (Gal. 6:14). And again: In Thee we will boast all the day; in the Lord my soul shall glory (Psalm 33:3). When you give alms, let God alone see; when you fast, let your face be joyful. Your clothes should not be very clean and dirty, and should not be distinguished by anything special, so that a crowd of passers-by does not stop in front of you and point their fingers at you. Thy brother is dead; the sister's body must be weakened: take care lest, by acting in this way often, you yourself die. Do not try to appear too pious and humble more than is necessary, lest, by avoiding fame, you acquire it. Many, shunning the witnesses of their poverty, compassion, and fasting, thereby want to be glorified, because they despise glory; and in a surprising way avoiding fame, they seek it. I find that many are strangers to other worries, from which the human mind rejoices and sorrows, hopes and fears. But there are too few who are free from the vice of vanity; and the best is he who occasionally stains his beauty with the mud of transgressions. I do not urge you not to boast of wealth, not to boast of the nobility of your family, not to exalt yourself before others. I know your humility; I know that you sincerely say: Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are lifted up lower (Psalm 130:1). I know that you and your mother have no place for pride, through which the devil fell. Therefore, it would be superfluous to write to you about this. It would be extremely stupid to teach what the person you teach knows. But beware lest you be led to vanity by despising the glory of this world; so that a secret thought does not creep in, abandoning the intention of being liked in gold-woven garments, and try to be liked in gloomy ones; When you come to the congregation of brothers or sisters, sit down, acknowledging that you are not worthy even of the footstool. Do not speak deliberately in a low voice, as if exhausted by fasting; do not lean on the shoulders of another, imitating the gait of a man who is exhausted in strength. There are others, darkening their faces, let them appear to men fasting; when they see someone, they immediately sigh, frown, and, lowering their heads, seem to barely look with one eye. A mourning dress, a belt of coarse cloth, hands and feet not washed — one womb, since it is not visible, is filled with food.

About these women it is sung daily in the psalm: the Lord scatters the bones of people who like Himself (Psalm 52:6). Others with a masculine appearance, having changed their clothes, are ashamed that they were born women, cut off their hair and shamelessly lift up their faces, like the faces of eunuchs. There are also those who are dressed in sackcloth and, having made caps to return to childhood, are like owls and owls.

But so that it does not seem that I am speaking only of women, I will add: flee also from men, whom you see in chains with hair grown like women's, contrary to the Apostle's commandment, with a goat's beard, in a black cloak, with their feet bare for a victim of cold. These are all tools of the devil. Such, unfortunately, was once Anthimus in Rome, such was Sophronius recently. Having penetrated into the houses of nobles and deceived women, burdened with sins, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, they take on the guise of holiness and asceticize, as it were, in long fasts, devoting their nights to secret feasts. It is shameful to speak of them more, so as not to appear not to be a teacher, but to be deceived. There are others (I am speaking of people of their own class) who seek the presbytery and deaconate, in order to see women with greater freedom. All their care is about clothes, so that they are fragrant, so that the foot is smoothly covered with soft skin. Hair curled with tongs; rings glitter on his fingers: they step a little, so as not to get their soles wet on a wet road. When you see such people, consider them grooms rather than clerics. Others devoted all their efforts and their whole lives to learning the names, houses and manners of noble women. I will briefly describe one of them, especially skillful in this, so that, knowing the teacher, you will recognize the disciples the more easily. At sunrise, he gets up hastily, makes a plan of congratulatory visits, chooses the shortest roads, and the impudent old man makes his way even to the bedrooms to the beds of the sleepers. When he sees a headboard, an elegant towel, or something else made of household junk, he feels, is surprised, praised, and, complaining that he needs it, he does not beg, but simply extorts, because every woman is afraid to offend the city postman. Purity is his enemy, fasting is also his enemy; He loves a sumptuous lunch of delicious cranes, popularly called Pipizo.

His tongue is coarse and impudent, and is always ready for backbiting. Wherever you turn, he is the first in sight. Whatever new happens, he is either the culprit or the spreader of the rumor. His horses change every minute, now docile, now mad: you would think that he is the brother of the Thracian king.

The cunning enemy uses various shackles. The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field, which the Lord God created (Gen. 3:1). For this reason the Apostle says: "We are not ignorant of his intentions" (2 Corinthians 2:11). Neither deliberate cynicism nor refined neatness are befitting for a Christian. If you do not know something, if you doubt something in the Scriptures, ask him whose life is righteous, whose years are venerable, who is not condemned by rumor, who could say: "I have betrothed you to one man, that I may present you to Christ as a pure virgin" (2 Corinthians 11:2). Or if there is no reliable mentor, it is better to remain in safe ignorance than to seek and fear. Remember that you walk among the snares: many virgins of venerable years with undoubted chastity have let the crown slip from their hands at the very sepulchre. If there are maids among the accomplices of your vow, do not exalt yourself before them, do not puff yourself up with the fact that you are a mistress; you have come to have one Bridegroom, you sing psalms together, you receive the Body of Christ together: what is the difference in relationships? Let others be invited to the feat. Let the crown of virginity be a call for others. If you notice any one who is unsteady in her faith, accept her, console her, caress her, and make her chastity an acquisition for yourself. If any of the maidservants pretends to express her zeal for virginity, wishing to be delivered from slavery, read him directly from the Apostle: "It is better to marry than to be inflamed" (1 Corinthians 7:9). And those maidens and widows who idly but diligently wander from house to house of matrons and, having lost all shame, surpass the jesters in parasitism, remove them as an infection. Bad associations corrupt good morals (1 Cor. 15:33). They have no more concern for the womb and for that which is closest to the womb. They advise and say in this way: "My little one, use your fortune and live as long as you live; Do you save everything for your heirs?" even hard souls they soften to sensuality. Falling into luxury in opposition to Christ, they wish to enter into marriage. They are subject to condemnation because they have rejected the former faith (1 Tim. 5:11-12). Do not try to appear to yourself to be particularly eloquent; do not find pleasure in poetic lyrical songs. Do not follow out of delicacy the effeminate taste of matrons, who now through clenched teeth, now with widened mouths, pronounce words half with a whisper, considering everything that is natural to be rude. To such an extent they like fornication even in language; But what has light to do with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial? (2 Corinthians 6:14-15). How will Horace get along with the Psalter, Maron with the Gospel, Cicero with the Apostle? Will not the brother also be offended, seeing you reclining in the trebice? And although everything is pure for the pure, and nothing should blaspheme, which is received with thanksgiving, yet we should not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons together. I will tell you my unfortunate adventure.