§12Agnosce et mulierem, agnosce et nuptam de testimoniis et corporis et spiritus, quae patitur et in conscientia et in carne.
Recognize her both as a woman and recognize her as betrothed from the testimonies of both body and spirit, which she experiences both in consciousness and in the flesh.
Hae sunt tabellae priores naturalium sponsalium et nuptiarum.
These are the prior tablets of natural betrothal and marriage.
Impone velamen extrinsecus habenti tegumen intrinsecus.
Place a veil from without upon her who has a covering within.
Tegantur etiam superiora cuius inferiora nuda non sunt.
Let the upper parts also be covered for her whose lower parts are not naked.
Vis scire quae sit aetatis auctoritas? Propone utramque, immutare compressam in habitu mulieris, et quae maturitate progressa in virginitate duret cum suo habitu: facilius illa mulier negabitur, quam ista virgo credetur.
Do you wish to know what the authority of age is? Present both cases: to change one who has been violated into the habit of a woman, and one who, advanced in maturity, continues in virginity with her own habit. The former will more easily be denied to be a woman than the latter will be believed to be a virgin.
Tanta est adeo fides aetatis, ut nec habitu obstrui possit.
So great is the credibility of age that it cannot be blocked even by habit.
Quid? quod etiam hae nostrae etiam habitu mutationem aetatis confitentur, simulque se mulieres intellexerunt, de virginibus educantur, a capite quidem ipso deponentes quod fuerunt: vertunt capillum et acu lasciviore comam sibi inserunt, crinibus a fronte divisis apertam professae mulieritatem.
What? Is it because even these virgins of ours confess the change of age even by their habit, and as soon as they have understood themselves to be women, they are brought out from the number of virgins, casting off from their very head indeed what they were? They alter their hair, and insert a comb for themselves with a more playful hairpin, having divided their hair from the forehead, professing open womanhood.
lavacro macerant, formae a speculo petunt, et faciem morosiorem lavacro macerant, forsitan et aliquo eam medicamine interpolant, pallium extrinsecus iactant, calceum stipant multiformem, plus instrumenti ad balneas deferunt.
They macerate themselves with baths, seek beauty from the mirror, and macerate their rather fastidious face with baths, perhaps also altering it with some cosmetic; they cast a cloak outwardly, pack their feet into multiform shoes, and carry more apparatus to the baths.
Quid singula persequar? Solae autem manifestae paraturae totam circumferunt mulieritatem, sed virginari volunt sola capitis nuditate, uno habitu negantes quod toto suggestu profitentur.
Why should I pursue individual details? Their manifest preparations alone carry about their entire womanhood, but they wish to play the virgin by the sole bareness of the head, denying by a single habit what they profess by their whole array.
§13Si propter homines habitu abutuntur, impleant illum etiam in hoc, et ut apud ethnicos caput velant, certe in ecclesia virginitatem suam abscondant, quam extra ecclesiam celant.
If they abuse their habit for the sake of men, let them fulfill it in this respect also; and as they veil their head among pagans, let them at least in the church hide their virginity, which they conceal outside the church.
Timent extraneos, revereantur et fratres: aut constanter audeant et in vicis virgines videri, sicut audent in ecclesiis.
They fear strangers; let them also revere the brethren. Or let them constantly dare to be seen as virgins in the streets, just as they dare in the churches.
Laudabo vigorem, si aliquid et apud ethnicos virginitatis nundinarint.
I will praise their vigor if they have traded any of their virginity among pagans.
Eadem nature foris quae et intus, eadem institutio apud homines et apud dominum eadem libertate constat.
The same nature is outside as inside; the same institution among men and with the Lord stands with the same freedom.
Quo ergo foris quidem bonum suum abstrudunt, in ecclesia vero provulgant? Exposco rationem.
Why, then, do they hide their good thing outside, but publicize it in the church? I demand a reason.
Utrumne ut fratribus suis placeant, an ut ipsi deo? Si ut ipsi deo, tam idoneus est ad conspicienda quaequae in occulto fiunt quam iustus ad remuneranda quae soli sibi fiunt.
Is it to please their brethren, or God Himself? If to God Himself, He is as fit to behold whatever is done in secret as He is just to reward what is done for Him alone.
Denique praecipit, nihil debucinemus eorum quae apud illum mercedem merebuntur, nec ea ab hominibus compensemus.
Finally, He commands that we should sound no trumpet of those things which will merit a reward with Him, nor compensate them from men.
Quod si unius victoriati vel quameunque eleemosynae operationem sinistra conscia facere prohibemur, quantum tenebrarum circumfundere debemus cum tantam oblationem deo offerimus ipsius corporis et ipsius spiritus nostri, cum illi ipsam naturam consecramus? Ergo quod non potest videri propter deum fieri, quia sic fieri deus non vult, sequitur ut hominum gratia fiat, utique primo illicitum, ut gloriae libidinosum.
But if we are forbidden to make the left hand conscious of the performance of a single coin or of any alms whatsoever, how much darkness ought we to pour around ourselves when we offer so great an oblation to God of our very body and our very spirit, when we consecrate nature itself to Him? Therefore, because what cannot be seen to be done for God's sake—since God does not wish it to be done so—it follows that it is done for the sake of men, which is indeed first unlawful, as being lustful for glory.
Gloria enim illicitum est eis quorum probatio in omni humiliatione constat.
For glory is unlawful to those whose testing consists in all humility.
Et si a deo confertur continentiae virtus, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis? Si vero non accepisti, quid habes quod datum tibi non est? Hoc ipso autem constat a deo datam tibi non esse, quod illam non soli deo praestas.
And if the virtue of continence is conferred by God, why do you glory as if you had not received it? But if you did not receive it, what do you have that was not given to you? By this very fact, however, it is clear that it was not given to you by God, because you do not present it to God alone.
Videamus ergo quod humanum est, an firmum sit et verum.
Let us see, then, whether that which is human is firm and true.