§7Sed sunt aliquae diuites et facultatum ubertate locupletes, quae opes suas praeferant et se bonis suis uti debere contendant.
But there are some women who are rich and wealthy with an abundance of resources, who display their wealth and contend that they ought to use their goods.
sciant primo illam diuitem esse quae Deo diues est, illam esse locupletem quae locuples in Christo est, bona esse illa quae sint spiritalia, diuina, caelestia, quae nos ad Deum ducant, quae nobiscum aput Deum perpetua possessione permaneant.
Let them know first that she is rich who is rich towards God, that she is wealthy who is wealthy in Christ, that those goods are good which are spiritual, divine, celestial, which lead us to God, which remain with us in the presence of God as a perpetual possession.
ceterum quaecumque terrena sunt in saeculo accepta et hic cum saeculo remansura, tam contemni debent, quam mundus ipse contemnitur, cuius pompis et deliciis iam tum renuntiauimus, cum meliore transgressu ad Deum uenimus.
But whatever things are earthly, accepted in the world and destined to remain here with the world, ought to be despised just as the world itself is despised, whose pomps and pleasures we already renounced at that very time when we came to God by a better transition.
Iohannes nos excitat et hortatur spiritali et caelesti uoce contestans: nolite, ait, diligere mundum neque ea quae in mundo sunt.
John excites and exhorts us, testifying with a spiritual and celestial voice: "Do not," he says, "love the world nor the things that are in the world.
si qui dilexerit mundum, non est caritas patris in illo: quoniam omne quod in mundo est concupiscentia carnis est et concupiscentia oculorum et ambitio saeculi quae non sunt a patre sed ex concupiscentia saeculi.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: because everything that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the ambition of the world, which are not from the Father but from the concupiscence of the world.
et mundus transibit et concupiscentia eius, qui autem fecerit uoluntatem Dei, manebit in aeternum, quomodo et Deus manebit in aeternum. aeterna igitur et diuina sectanda sunt et omnia de Dei uoluntate facienda sunt, ut Domini nostri uestigia et magisteria sectemur qui monuit et dixit: non descendi de caelo, ut faciam uoluntatem meam sed uoluntatem eius qui me misit. quodsi non est maior domino suo seruus et liberatori debet obsequium liberatus, qui esse cupimus christiani debemus quod Christus dixit imitari.
And the world will pass away and its concupiscence, but he who does the will of God will remain forever, just as God also will remain forever." Therefore, eternal and divine things must be pursued, and all things must be done according to the will of God, so that we may follow the footsteps and teachings of our Lord, who admonished and said: "I did not come down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." But if a servant is not greater than his lord, and the liberated owes obedience to his liberator, we who desire to be Christians ought to imitate what Christ said.
scriptum est et legitur et auditur et in exemplum nostri ecclesiae ore celebratur: qui dicit se in Christo manere debet quomodo ille ambulauit et ipse ambulare. ambulandum est uestigiis paribus, aemula ingressione nitendum.
It is written and read and heard, and celebrated by the mouth of the church as our example: "He who says he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk just as He walked." We must walk with equal footsteps, striving with an emulous gait.
tunc respondebit ad fidem nominis sectatio ueritatis et credenti praemium datur, si quod creditur et geratur.
Then the pursuit of truth will correspond to the faith of the Name, and the reward is given to the believer, if what is believed is also practiced.
§8Locupletem te dicis et diuitem.
You say that you are wealthy and rich.
sed diuitiis tuis Paulus occurrit et ad cultum adque ornatum tuum iusto fine moderandum sua uoce praescribit.
But Paul confronts your riches, and prescribes with his own voice that your attire and ornament be moderated to a just limit.
sint, inquit, mulieres cum verecundia et pudicitia conponentes se, non in tortis crinibus neque auro neque margaritis aut ueste pretiosa, sed ut decet mulieres promittentes castitatem per bonam conuersationem. item Petrus ad haec eadem praecepta consentit et dicit: sit in muliere non exterior ornamenti aut auri aut uestis cultus sed cultus cordis. quodsi ille mulieres quoque admonet coercendas at ad ecclesiasticam disciplinam religiosa obseruatione moderandas quae excusare cultus suos soleant per maritum, quanto id magis obseruare uirginem fas est, cui nulla ornatus sui conpetat uenia nec deriuari in alterum possit mendacium culpae, sed sola ipsa remaneat in crimine.
"Let women," he says, "adorn themselves with modesty and chastity, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly attire, but as becomes women professing chastity through good behavior." Likewise, Peter agrees with these same precepts and says: "Let there be in a woman not the outward adornment of braided hair, or of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but the adornment of the heart." But if he admonishes that those women also should be coerced and moderated to ecclesiastical discipline with religious observation, who are accustomed to excuse their attire through their husband, how much more is it lawful for a virgin to observe this, for whom no excuse for her ornament is competent, nor can the blame of the fault be derived onto another, but she herself remains alone in the crime.
§9Locupletem te dicis et diuitem.
You say that you are wealthy and rich.
sed non omne quod potest debet et fieri nec desideria prolixa et de saeculi ambitione nascentia ultra honorem ac pudorem uirginitatis extendi, cum scriptum sit: omnia licent, sed non omnia expediunt.
But not everything that is possible ought also to be done, nor should expansive desires arising from the ambition of the world be extended beyond the honor and modesty of virginity, since it is written: "All things are lawful, but not all things are expedient.
omnia licent, sed non omnia aedificant. ceterum si tu te sumptuosius comas et per publicum notabiliter incedas, oculos in te iuuentutis inlicias, suspiria adulescentium post te trahas, concupiscendi libidinem nutrias, sperandi fomenta succendas, ut etsi ipsa non pereas, alios tamen perdas et uelut gladium te et uenenum uidentibus praebeas, excusari non potes, quasi mente casta sis et pudica.
All things are lawful, but not all things edify." But if you adorn yourself more sumptuously and walk notably through public places, attracting the eyes of youth to yourself, drawing the sighs of young men after you, nourishing the lust of concupiscence, kindling the fuel of hope, so that although you yourself do not perish, you nevertheless destroy others and present yourself as a sword and poison to those who see you, you cannot be excused as if you were chaste and modest in mind.
redarguit te cultus inprobus et inpudicus ornatus, nec conputari iam potes inter puellas et uirgines Christi quae sic uiuis, ut possis adamari.
Your improper attire and immodest ornament refute you, nor can you now be counted among the maidens and virgins of Christ, you who live in such a way that you can be loved.