§2#5Ac si necessitas amicitiarum officiorumque gentilium vos vocat, cur non vestris armis indutae procedatis, tanto magis, quanto ad extraneas fidei? ut sit inter dei ancillas et diaboli discrimen, ut exemplo sitis illis, ut aedificentur in vobis, ut, quomodo ait apostolus, magnificetur deus in corpore vestro.
And if the necessity of friendships and duties of gentiles calls you, why should you not go forth clad in your own armor, so much the more indeed, as it is to those who are strangers to the faith? so that there may be a difference between the handmaids of God and of the devil, so that you may be an example to them, so that they may be edified in you, so that, as the apostle says, God may be magnified in your body.
Magnificatur autem in corpore per pudicitiam, utique et per habitum pudicitiae competentem.
But He is magnified in the body through modesty, and indeed also through the habit suitable to modesty.
Sed enim a quibusdam dicitur, ne blasphemetur nomen in nobis, si quid de pristino habitu et cultu detrahamus. Non auferamus ergo vitia pristina: simus et moribus iisdem, si et superficie eadem, et tunc vere non blasphemabunt nationes.
But indeed it is said by some: "Lest the name be blasphemed in us, if we detract anything from our former habit and adornment." Let us not, then, take away our former vices; let us also be of the same manners, if we are of the same appearance, and then truly the nations will not blaspheme.
Grandis blasphemia est ex qua dicatur: Ex quo facta est Christiana, pauperius incedit.
It is a great blasphemy from which it is said: "Since she became a Christian, she walks more poorly." Will you fear to seem poorer, since you have been made richer, and more squalid, since you have been made cleaner?
Timebis pauperior videri, ex quo locupletior facta es, et sordidior, ex quo mundior? Secundum gentilium, an secundum dei placitum incedere Christianos oportet?
Optemus tantummodo ne iustae blasphemationis causa simus.
Ought Christians to walk according to the pleasure of the gentiles, or according to that of God? Let us only desire that we may not be the cause of a just blasphemy.
Quanto autem magis blasphemabile est, si, quae sacerdotes pudicitiae dicimini, impudicarum ritu procedatis cultae et expictae? Aut quid minus habeant infelicissimae illae publicarum libidinum victimae? quas etsi quae leges a maritalibus et matronalibus decoramentis coercebant, iam certe saeculi improbitas quotidie insurgens honestissimis quibusque feminis usque ad errorem dinoscendi coaequavit.
But how much more blasphemable is it, if you, who are called the priests of modesty, go forth adorned and painted after the manner of unchaste women? Or what less do those most unhappy victims of public lusts have? whom, even if certain laws used to restrain them from marital and matronly ornaments, now certainly the wickedness of the world daily rising has co-equalized with all the most honorable women, even to the error of distinguishing them.
Quamquam lenocinia formae nunquam non prostituto corpori coniuncta et debita etiam scripturae suggerunt.
Although even the Scriptures suggest that the allurements of beauty are never not joined and due to a prostituted body.
Illa civitas valida, quae super montes septem et plurimas aquas praesidet, prostitutae appellationem a domino meruit.
That powerful city, which presides over seven mountains and many waters, merited the name of a prostitute from the Lord.
Sed quali habitu appellationi suae comparata est? Sedet certe in purpura et coccino et auro et lapide pretioso.
But with what kind of dress was she compared to her appellation? She sits indeed in purple and scarlet, and gold, and precious stone.
Quam maledicta sunt sine quibus non potuit maledicta et prostituta describi! Thamar illa, quia se expinxerat et ornaverat, idcirco Iudae suspicione visa est sedere, adeoque sub velamento latebat, habitus qualitate quaestuariam mentiente, ut quaestuariam et voluerit et compellarit et pactus sit.
How accursed are those things without which an accursed woman and a prostitute could not be described! That Tamar, because she had painted and adorned herself, for that reason seemed to Judah, by suspicion, to be sitting [as a prostitute], and she lay hid so much under her veil, the quality of her dress counterfeiting a woman of gain, that he both wished for her, and called to her, and bargained with her.
Unde addiscimus adversus congressus et suspiciones impudicas providendum omni modo esse.
Whence we learn that we must by all means provide against unchaste meetings and suspicions.
Quid enim castae mentis integritas alterius suspicione maculatur? quid speratur in me quod aversor? quid non meos mores habitus praenuntiat, ne spiritus per aures ab impudentia vulneretur? Liceat videri pudicam, certe impudicam non licet.
For why is the integrity of a chaste mind defiled by the suspicion of another? why is that hoped for in me which I turn away from? why does not my habit foretell my manners, lest the spirit be wounded through the ears by impudence? Let it be permitted to seem modest, but certainly it is not permitted to seem immodest.
Aliqua fors dicet, Non est mihi necessarium hominibus probari: nec enim testimonium hominum requiro; deus conspector est cordis. Scimus omnes, dum tamen quid idem per apostolum dixerit recordemur: Probum vestrum coram hominibus appareat. Ad quid, nisi ut malitia accessum ad vos omnino non habeat, vel ut malis exemplo et testimonio sitis? Aut quid est, Luceant operae vestrae? Quid autem nos dominus lucem mundi vocat? quid civitati super montem constitutae comparavit, si non relucemus in tenebris et extamus inter demersos? Si lucernam tuam sub modio abstruseris, in tenebris derelicta a multis incurseris necesse est.
Some one perhaps will say: "It is not necessary for me to be approved by men, for neither do I require the testimony of men; God is the inspector of the heart." We all know this, provided however we remember what the same God said through the apostle: "Let your probity appear before men." For what purpose, unless that malice may have no access to you at all, or that you may be an example and testimony to the evil? Or what is this: "Let your works shine"? But why does the Lord call us the light of the world? why did He compare us to a city set upon a hill, if we do not shine in darkness and stand out among those who are submerged? If you hide your lamp under a bushel, left in darkness you must of necessity be run against by many.
Haec sunt quae nos luminaria mundi faciunt, bona scilicet nostra.
These are the things which make us the lights of the world, namely, our good works.
Bonum autem, dumtaxat verum et plenum, non amat tenebras; gaudet videri et in ipsas denotationes exultat.
But good, at least true and full, does not love darkness; it rejoices to be seen, and exults in its very designations.
Pudicitiae Christianae satis non est esse, verum et videri.
For Christian modesty it is not enough to be, but also to seem.
Tanta enim debet esse plenitudo eius, ut emanet ab animo ad habitum et eructet a conscientia in superficiem, ut et a foris inspiciat quasi supellectilem suam, quae conveniat fidei continendae in perpetuum.
For so great ought to be its fullness, that it may flow from the mind to the habit, and burst forth from the conscience to the surface, so that even from without it may inspect as it were its own furniture, which is suitable for preserving the faith forever.
Discutiendae sunt enim deliciae quarum mollitia et fluxu fidei virtus effeminari potest.
For delicacies must be cast away, by whose softness and flux the virtue of faith can be effeminated.
Ceterum nescio an manus spatalio circumdari solita in duritiam catenae stupescere sustineat.
Indeed, I know not whether a hand accustomed to be surrounded with a bracelet can bear to grow numb in the hardness of a chain.
Nescio an crus periscelio laetatum in nervum se patiatur artari.
I know not whether a leg that has rejoiced in an anklet can suffer itself to be straitened into a shackle.
Timeo cervicem, ne margaritarum et smaragdorum laqueis occupata locum spathae non det.
I fear for the neck, lest, occupied by the snares of pearls and emeralds, it should give no place to the broadsword.
Quare, benedictae, meditemur duriora, et non sentiemus: relinquamus laetiora, et non desiderabimus.
Wherefore, blessed sisters, let us meditate on harder things, and we shall not feel them; let us leave more cheerful things, and we shall not desire them.
Stemus expeditae ad omnem vim, nihil habentes quod relinquere timeamus.
Let us stand ready for every force, having nothing which we may fear to leave.
Retinacula ista sunt spei nostrae.
These are the shackles of our hope.
Proiciamus ornamenta terrena, si caelestia optamus.
Let us cast away earthly ornaments, if we desire heavenly ones.
Ne dilexeritis aurum, in quo omnia delicta populi Israel denotantur.
Do not love gold, in which all the sins of the people of Israel are denoted.
Odisse debetis quod patres perdidit, quod a relinquentibus deum adoratum est.
You ought to hate what destroyed the fathers, what was adored by those who abandoned God.
Etiam tunc aurum ignis est esca.
Even then gold is the food of fire.
Ceterum tempora Christianis semper, et nunc vel maxime, non auro, sed ferro transiguntur: stolae martyriorum praeparantur, angeli baiuli sustinentur.
But the times for Christians are always, and now most of all, passed not in gold, but in iron: the robes of martyrdoms are prepared, the carrying angels are expected.
Prodite vos iam medicamentis et ornamentis exstructae prophetarum et apostolorum, sumentes de simplicitate candorem, de pudicitia ruborem, depictae oculos verecundia et os taciturnitate, inserentes in aures sermones dei, adnectentes cervicibus iugum Christi.
Go forth now adorned with the cosmetics and ornaments of the prophets and apostles, taking your whiteness from simplicity, your redness from modesty, painted in your eyes with bashfulness and your mouth with silence, inserting into your ears the words of God, binding on your necks the yoke of Christ.
Caput maritis subicite, et satis ornatae eritis.
Subject your head to your husbands, and you will be sufficiently adorned.
Manus lanis occupate, pedes domi figite, et plus quam in auro placebitis.
Busy your hands with wool, fix your feet at home, and you will please more than in gold.
Vestite vos serico probitatis, byssino sanctitatis, purpura pudicitiae.
Clothe yourselves with the silk of honesty, the fine linen of sanctity, the purple of modesty.
Taliter pigmentatae deum habebitis amatorem.
Thus painted, you will have God for your lover.