PL 2 · cols. 935–962
Tertullian, Liber de virginibus velandis
Editors' preface
Migne Reading Room
PL 2 · cols. 935–962
Editors' preface
(1) ‹anchor: meae opinionis› · call in col 936
Proprium jam negotium passus meae opinionis. Disputatione quadam adversus Graecos, cum et virgines velari oportere acrius forte asseruisset, Graecorum conviciis exceptus ac pro haeretico exagitatus fuisse videtur. RIG.
"Having now suffered the business proper to my opinion." It seems that in some disputation against the Greeks, having perhaps asserted rather sharply that virgins too ought to be veiled, he was met with the Greeks' abuse and harried as a heretic. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Latine quoque ostendam. Consentiunt interpretes Tertullianum hujus argumenti alterum Graece antea scripsisse. LE PR.
"I will show in Latin also." The interpreters agree that Tertullian had earlier written another [treatise] on this subject in Greek. LE PR[IEUR].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 473)
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Tertio Paris.
"Tertio" ("thirdly"): Paris edition.
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Transitum aetatis. Cum scilicet annos pueriles excesserint. Qua de re illud Virgilii Eclog. 4, in laudem Pollionis. Hinc ubi jam firmata virum te fecerit aetas. Cum scilicet in virum evaseris, et eris ἐν ἀκμῇ, ἤδη εἰς ἄνδρας ἀγγειλάμενος [reading uncertain at this resolution] scribit Synesius. LE PR.
"The passage of age": that is, when they have passed the years of childhood. On which point there is that line of Virgil, Eclogue 4, in praise of Pollio: "Hence, when now strengthened age has made you a man." That is, when you have grown up into a man and will be "in your prime, already enrolled among men," as Synesius writes. LE PR[IEUR].
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Nemo praescribere. Multa adduxit Lacerda ut explicaret verbum praescribere, tanquam significans excipere seu exceptiones producere ex usu jurisconsultorum. Hic uno verbo putarim nihil aliud esse quam nihil de veritate detrahi posse quacumque ratione, nihil illius splendorem abrogare posse aut majestatem. LE PR.
"No one [can] prescribe." La Cerda brought forward much to explain the verb "praescribere," as meaning to take exception, or to put in exceptions, after the usage of the jurists. Here, in a word, I should think it means nothing other than that nothing can be taken away from the truth by any means, that nothing can abolish its splendour or its majesty. LE PR[IEUR].
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Christus veritatem se. Christum veritatem esse ipse testatus est infinitis locis, quae omitto. Unde saepe miratus sum homines nonnullos Pharisaeorum fastum prae se ferentes, eo impietatis devenisse, ut mentitum aut saltem amphibologice locutum Christum dixerint octies, c. VIII Evangelii B. Joannis. Sed eam morum et disciplinae Christianae eversionem deflere, non est hujus loci neque etiam temporis. LE PR.
"Christ [called] Himself the truth." That Christ is the truth He Himself testified in countless places, which I pass over. Hence I have often wondered that some men, displaying the arrogance of the Pharisees, have come to such impiety as to say that Christ lied, or at least spoke ambiguously, eight times in chapter 8 of the Gospel of blessed John. But to lament that overthrow of Christian morals and discipline belongs neither to this place nor to this time. LE PR[IEUR].
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Disciplinae et conversationis. Severa semper disciplina conversationis nomine intelligitur. Apud Theodoretum ἄσκησις dicitur, S. Hieronymus, lib. I, adversus Jovinianum: Armamur eadem conversatione qua Christus. LE PR.
"Of discipline and way of life." By the name "conversatio" a severe discipline is always understood. In Theodoret it is called ἄσκησις ("ascetic practice"); St Jerome, Against Jovinian, book 1: "We arm ourselves with the same way of life as Christ." LE PR[IEUR].
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Inde germinis tumor. Tumor est omne quod concipitur; germen autem et gemma idem hoc in casu. LE PR.
"Then the swelling of the bud." A swelling is everything that is conceived; and "germen" and "gemma" (bud) are the same thing in this case. LE PR[IEUR].
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Eruditur in mansuetudinem saporis. Est enim velut sylvestris feritas succi et saporis in fructu adhuc rudi et immaturo : sic eruditur in mansuetudinem, cum paulatim coquitur in maturitatem. RIG.
"It is trained to mildness of flavour." For in fruit still raw and unripe there is a sort of wild harshness of juice and flavour: so it is trained to mildness when it is gradually ripened to maturity. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Loquetur Rhen. Seml. Leop.
"Loquetur" ("will speak"): Rhenanus, Semler, Leopold.
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Ita Rig. ex auctoritate cod. Wouw. et Ursini ; cod. Divion., Rhen. et alii : usque non olim. Sed probabiliter Rig. verb. non olim interpretandi causa esse adscripta, ut sola verb. usque nunc sint retinenda, conjecit.
So Rigaltius, on the authority of the manuscript of Wouwer and of Ursinus; the Dijon manuscript, Rhenanus and others: "usque non olim". But Rigaltius conjectured, plausibly, that the words "non olim" were added by way of explanation, so that the words "usque nunc" alone should be kept.
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Veritatis Seml.
"Veritatis" ("of the truth"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 473)
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Per Graeciam et quasdam barbarias ejus. Barbarias Graeciae, dicit extra Graeciam regiones quasdam, sed appositas Graeciae, quibuscum fuere Graecorum negotia seu bella. Horat. : Graecia barbariae lento collisa duello. — Per Graeciam et quasdam barbarias ejus. Graeciae urbes quasdam aut regiones intelligi puto; quamquam alii vicinas Graeciae urbes, finitimasque nationes notari existimant. LE PR.
"Throughout Greece and certain of its barbarian lands." By the "barbarian lands of Greece" he means certain regions outside Greece but adjoining it, with which the Greeks had dealings or wars. Horace: "Greece, locked with barbary in a long-drawn war." — "Throughout Greece and certain of its barbarian lands." I think certain cities or regions of Greece are meant; though others think the cities near Greece and the neighbouring nations are denoted. LE PR[IEUR].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 474)
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Diligimus Seml.
"Diligimus" ("we love"): Semler.
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Tam hic sicut in omnibus Seml.
"Tam hic sicut in omnibus" ("as much here as in all things"): Semler.
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Institutus Fran. mendose.
"Institutus": Franeker edition, wrongly.
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Praeterea Seml.
"Praeterea" ("besides"): Semler.
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Aliquae tales Seml.
"Aliquae tales" ("some women such as"): Semler.
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Ejusdem oculorum Seml.
"Ejusdem oculorum" ("of the same eyes"): Semler.
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Apostolici viri. Per viros apostolicos accipe Christianae religionis primores qui aut ab apostolis instructi institutique fuerunt, aut qui apostolorum doctrina digna gesserunt. De solis episcopis, aut summo tantum Pontifice id explicare parum conveniens videtur, cum ea vox Constantino Magno etiam tribuatur multis in locis, ut apud Theodoritum, c. 25, lib. I : Τὰς ἀποστολικὰς φροντίδας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ περιέφερεν, Apostolicas curas omnino versabat ; et alibi. LE PR.
"Apostolic men." By apostolic men understand the leading men of the Christian religion, who were either taught and formed by the apostles, or did things worthy of the apostles' teaching. To explain it of bishops alone, or of the supreme Pontiff only, seems hardly fitting, since the word is applied in many places even to Constantine the Great, as in Theodoret, book 1, chapter 25: "He carried apostolic cares about in his soul," "He was wholly taken up with apostolic cares"; and elsewhere. LE PR[IEUR].
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Et puto ante quosdam. Parcit nominibus eorum, qui etsi apostolis et apostolicis viris posteriores, virginum minime velandarum consuetudini auctoritatem dedisse dicebantur. RIG.
"And, I think, before certain [men]." He spares the names of those who, though later than the apostles and apostolic men, were said to have given authority to the custom of not veiling virgins. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Semel dixerim, una Ecclesia sumus. Libro de Unitate Ecclesiae B. Cypr. dictam etiam scripturam affert ad eamdem comprobandam, et alias praeterea multas, ad quem librum lectorem remittimus. Uterque autem illud : unum corpus, unam Ecclesiam interpretatur. PAM.
"Let me say it once: we are one Church." In his book On the Unity of the Church, blessed Cyprian too brings the said scripture to prove the same point, and many others besides; to that book we refer the reader. And both interpret that [text] as "one body, one Church." PAM[ELIUS].
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Quae virgines includit. Velamine. RIG.
"Which shuts virgins in": with a veil. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ejusdem libidinis est videri et videre. Id propter et hac de re loquens Hieronymus ad Eustoch.: Nullus, ait, tutus aspectus. Quasi dicat : nec videre, nec videri tutum est. Et Ambrosius, lib. I Offic. cap. 18, ait : « Nec videre viros femina, nec videri velit. » Haec praecepta eo tendunt, ut intelligat virgo quanti sit virginalis pudor. Ideo virgo dicitur a Cypriano, lib.: de Hab. virg., candidata pudoris, quasi hoc unicum ejus studium ; et Manil. lib. III : Semper amare parum est, cupient et amare videri. LAC.
"It belongs to the same lust to be seen and to see." For this reason Jerome too, speaking of this matter to Eustochium, says: "No look is safe." As if he said: it is safe neither to see nor to be seen. And Ambrose, On Duties, book 1, chapter 18, says: "Let a woman wish neither to see men nor to be seen." These precepts aim at this, that the virgin may understand how great a thing virginal modesty is. That is why Cyprian, in his book On the Dress of Virgins, calls the virgin "a candidate of modesty," as though this were her one pursuit; and Manilius, book 3: "To love is ever too little; they will wish also to be seen to love." LAC[ERDA].
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Antea quidam male paucis, si cum.
Formerly some [editions] wrongly read "paucis, si cum".
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Temerarie audaciam Seml.
"Temerarie audaciam" ("rashly, the boldness"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 474)
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Ille adversarius bonorum, multoque institutorum. Hoc est, sed praesertim bonorum institutorum, bonarum disciplinarum. RIG.
"That adversary of good things, and much more of [good] institutions." That is: but especially of good institutions, of good disciplines. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Et ne multinubi scandalizentur. Omnino sic legendum, non ut ubique scriptum atque editum reperi, Et ne multi nobis scandalizentur. RIG.
"And lest the many-times-married be scandalized." It must certainly be read so, and not as I found it written and printed everywhere: "And lest many be scandalized by us." RIG[ALTIUS].
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(17) ‹anchor: ostentatitiae virginitatis› · call in col 940
Ostentatitiae virginitatis. Notat virginem ostentabundam, ut quae non sibi vivat, sed populo et spectantibus, ut loquitur Seneca, epist, 94, ad fin. Est enim vitiosum, non virtutis, ait ille, monstrari et conspici. Itaque ostentatitia virginitas tota est vitiosa. LAC.
"Of a virginity put on show." He censures the virgin who makes a show of herself, as one who lives not for herself but for the people and the onlookers, as Seneca says, Letter 94, near the end. For to be pointed out and gazed at, he says, belongs to vice, not to virtue. So a virginity put on show is wholly vicious. LAC[ERDA].
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Paventes quod detegantur. Pavor virginibus convenit, quae ad quemlibet oculi jactum trepidare debent; quae autem denudantur, expavescunt, inquit Auctor, quasi ad stuprum vocarentur. Hac (continues)
"Fearing to be uncovered." Fear befits virgins, who ought to tremble at any cast of an eye; and those who are uncovered are terrified, says the Author, as though they were being summoned to defilement. By this (continues)
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 475)
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Arcessitae alii Jun.
"Arcessitae" ("summoned"): others, Junius.
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Prius Fran. Rig. Seml.
"Prius" ("earlier"): Franeker edition, Rigaltius, Semler.
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Consuetudine add. Seml.
Semler adds "consuetudine" ("by custom").
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Expugnatur Seml. Leop.
"Expugnatur" ("is overcome"): Semler, Leopold.
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Ita Wouwer. Rigalt. et melius, judic. Seml. qui legit tegit.
So Wouwer and Rigaltius, and better, in the judgement of Semler, who reads "tegit" ("covers").
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Nominatim Jun.
"Nominatim" ("by name"): Junius.
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Additur non Fran. sed ejicit negationem Jun. ex hoc velari Seml.
"Non" is added in the Franeker edition, but Junius removes the negative; "ex hoc velari" ("from this to be veiled"): Semler.
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Sciebat alios cod. Wouwer. et Rig.
"Sciebat alios" ("he knew others"): Wouwer's manuscript and Rigaltius.
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Non minus enim et hoc pati nolunt. Et hoc, id est, publicari, detegi caput. Sed magis placet quorumdam exemplarium scriptura : « Non minus enim et hoc pati volunt, » ut hoc ad stuprum referatur, quod propius est. RIG.
"For no less are they unwilling to suffer this also." "This also," that is, to be made public, to have the head uncovered. But I prefer the reading of certain copies: "For no less do they wish to suffer this also," so that "this" refers to defilement, which is nearer. RIG[ALTIUS].
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O sacrilegae manus ! Virgines istae dicatum Deo habitum induerunt, et sacrilegium fuit maximum illum attigisse. Dionysius Exiguus in Vita Pachomii ait, sacratum esse hunc habitum: « Eumque suscipiens habitu monachi consecravit. » Et Hieronymus ad Marcellam : « Tunicam fusiorem induta, se repente Domino consecravit. » LAC.
"O sacrilegious hands!" These virgins had put on a habit dedicated to God, and to have touched it was the gravest sacrilege. Dionysius Exiguus, in the Life of Pachomius, says that this habit was consecrated: "And receiving him, he consecrated him with the monk's habit." And Jerome to Marcella: "Having put on a fuller tunic, she suddenly consecrated herself to the Lord." LAC[ERDA].
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Dicatum Deo habitum. Virginum, aliae quidem capiti suo velamen induxerant, aliae libero capite intectoque permanserant. Has Tertullianus hominum, illas Dei virgines appellat. Sed virgines, intecti capitis, offensae discrimine illo velatae virginitatis, agebant querela scandali, postulabantque uti virginibus velamento interdiceretur, ne quid velatae gestarent quod invidiam faceret non velatis. Et forte annuerat episcopus postulationi. Succensuit Tertullianus tanquam sacrilego. « Quid pejus, inquit, aliquis persecutor fecisset? Denudasti puellam a capite, et tota jam virgo sibi non est. » RIG.
"A habit dedicated to God." Of the virgins, some had drawn a veil over their heads, while others had remained with the head free and uncovered. The latter Tertullian calls virgins of men, the former virgins of God. But the virgins of uncovered head, offended by that distinction of veiled virginity, brought a complaint of scandal and demanded that the veil be forbidden to virgins, so that the veiled might wear nothing to cause ill-will among the unveiled. And perhaps the bishop had granted the demand. Tertullian was angry with him as with a sacrilegious man: "What worse," he says, "could any persecutor have done? You have stripped the girl from the head, and now the virgin is not wholly her own." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Denudasti puellam a capite. Indignatur, quasi adjecturus talos ad imos. RIG.
"You have stripped the girl from the head." He speaks in indignation, as though about to add "to the very ankles." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Et tota jam virgo sibi non est. Etenim toto corpore suffunditur, quasi devirginata spectantium oculis procacibus. RIG.
"And now the virgin is not wholly her own." For she blushes over her whole body, as though deflowered by the wanton eyes of the onlookers. RIG[ALTIUS].
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In altera ivit Fran. Iniit alii.
"In altera ivit" ("went into another"): Franeker edition; "iniit" ("entered"): others.
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Quidem Fran.
"Quidem" ("indeed"): Franeker edition.
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Muliebri Seml.
"Muliebri" ("womanly"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 475)
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Inalteravit. Rectum esse puto : etsi manuscripti habeant, in altera iniit. Inalteravit, indidit alteri, conjunxit, confudit, ut jam ambo una sint, ac sese mutuo contineant. Ipse paulo post : A muliere non separavit, et non separando conjunxit ei a qua non separavit. RIG. — Inalteravit. Usurpat hoc Auctor, pro non alteravit. Sicut alibi, incriminari, pro non criminari. PAM.
"Inalteravit." I think it correct, though the manuscripts have "in altera iniit." "Inalteravit": put into the other, joined, blended, so that both are now one and contain each other. He himself says a little later: "He did not separate her from the woman, and by not separating he joined her to the one from whom he did not separate her." RIG[ALTIUS]. — "Inalteravit." The Author uses this for "did not alter," just as elsewhere "incriminari" for "not to be accused." PAM[ELIUS].
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Mulieris et virginis. Discriminant vulgo ita, ut mulier proprie sit quae nupsit, et quae habet liberos ; virgo quae integra est, et vere incorrupta. Ex qua distinctione locutus est Hieronymus, enarrans illud Oseae, Sponsabo te mihi, etc. Hoc tamen discrimen tantum abest ut sit perpetuum, ut potius sub mulieris nomine virgo quoque intelligatur, ut hic Tertullianus ait, et probabit infra, etc. LAC.
"Of woman and of virgin." They commonly distinguish them thus: that a woman, properly, is one who has married and has children; a virgin, one who is intact and truly uncorrupted. It was by this distinction that Jerome spoke in expounding that text of Hosea, "I will betroth you to me," etc. Yet this distinction is so far from being constant that rather a virgin too is understood under the name of woman, as Tertullian says here and will prove below, etc. LAC[ERDA].
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Proprie nominando. Nota mihi hanc vocem, evertentem Grammaticorum distinctionem inter nomina propria et appellativa. Hic enim proprie nominare dicit Tertullianus de nomine quod ipsi vocant appellativum. RIG.
"By naming properly." Note this expression, which overturns the grammarians' distinction between proper and common nouns. For here Tertullian says "to name properly" of a noun which they call common. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 476)
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Ut cod. Wouw. subcessivum Paris Venet.
As the manuscript of Wouwer; "subcessivum": Paris and Venice editions.
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Intelligetur Seml.
"Intelligetur" ("will be understood"): Semler.
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Alii add. adjicit.
Others add "adjicit" ("he adds").
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Sermo laciniosus. Hoc est, diffusus. In libris adversus Marcionem hoc vocabulum etiam reperias : ita in De cultu feminarum : « Caetera vero corporis, laciniosis pomparum, et deliciarum ineptiis occupare. » RHEN.
"A rambling discourse": that is, diffuse. You may find this word in the books Against Marcion too; so in On the Dress of Women: "But to occupy the rest of the body with the trailing follies of show and luxury." RHEN[ANUS].
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Naturalis vocabuli, etc. Etiam apud Jureconsultos, mulierem generale vocabulum esse, patet ex Ulpiano I. quaeritur; D. de Aedilit. edicto, ubi mulier etiam dicitur ea, quae virum non agnovit. PAM.
"Of a natural term," etc. That "mulier" (woman) is a general term among the jurists too is plain from Ulpian, law "Quaeritur," Digest, On the Aediles' Edict, where she also is called "mulier" who has not known a man. PAM[ELIUS].
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Quod communiter etiam virgines censeantur. Communi nomine mulieris comprehensae. RIG.
"Since virgins too are reckoned under the common [name]": included under the common name of woman. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Adhuc felix, etc. Ita probat suam sententiam Tertullianus, cui institit Ambrosius lib. de Inst. virg. c. 5 ; Denique virginitas primum hoc nomen, id est nomen mulieris, accepit. Nam cum sumpsisset Deus unam de costis Adae, et supplevisset carnem in locum ipsius, aedificavit, inquit eam in mulierem. Utique adhuc virum non cognoverat, et jam mulier vocabatur. LAC.
"Still happy," etc. So Tertullian proves his view, and Ambrose followed it up in his book On the Instruction of a Virgin, chapter 5: "In fact virginity first received this name," that is, the name of woman. "For when God had taken one of Adam's ribs and filled up flesh in its place, he built it, it says, into a woman. Certainly she had not yet known a man, and already she was called woman." LAC[ERDA].
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Conglutinabatur mulieri suae. Ad verbum ex Graeco transtulit illud : καὶ προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, voce composita a κόλλα, quod gluten significat. PAM.
"He was glued to his woman." He translated word for word from the Greek "and he shall cleave to his wife," the word being compounded from κόλλα, which means glue. PAM[ELIUS].
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In carnem unam Fran.
"In carnem unam" ("into one flesh"): Franeker edition.
(printed under page 476)
(28) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 944
Male in Venet. exstat legitur.
In the Venice edition "exstat" is wrongly read as "legitur".
(printed under page 476)
(29) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 944
Neminem Veneta male.
"Neminem" ("no one"): Venice edition, wrongly.
Commentarius. (printed under page 476)
(32) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 944
Prophetico modo dictum est. Nam prophetae solent de futuris ceu de praesentibus loqui. Sensum eumdem habet, quod sequitur, ad propheticam rationem. Item, ad prophetiam interpretetur. RHEN.
"It was said in the prophetic manner." For prophets are accustomed to speak of future things as of present ones. What follows, "after the prophetic manner," has the same sense. Likewise, "let it be interpreted as prophecy." RHEN[ANUS].
(printed under page 476)
(33) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 944
Fuisse nudos duos, Adam, etc. Verba vulgaris interpretis sunt II cap. Geneseos: Erat autem uterque nudus, Adam scilicet et uxor ejus. Sed Tertullianus conformis est in vertendo ; nam cum in Graeco sit γυνή, semper reddit mulier, non ut interpres, qui jam mulier, jam uxor. LAC.
"That the two were naked, Adam," etc. The words of the Vulgate translator, Genesis chapter 2, are: "And they were both naked, that is, Adam and his wife." But Tertullian is consistent in translating; for since the Greek has γυνή, he always renders "mulier" (woman), unlike the translator, who has now "woman," now "wife." LAC[ERDA].
(printed under page 476)
(34) ‹anchor: vocabitur mulier› · call in col 944
Caro ex carne mea vocabitur mulier. Hic praetermisit voculam Graecam, αὕτη, et proinde sine distinctione conjunxit duo commata, cum aliter Graece et Latine legatur, haec vocabitur. PAM.
"Flesh from my flesh; she shall be called woman." Here he passed over the little Greek word αὕτη ("this one"), and so joined the two clauses without a break, whereas in Greek and Latin it is read otherwise: "this one shall be called." PAM[ELIUS].
(printed under page 476)
(35) ‹anchor: propria vocabula› · call in col 944
Alia habent propria vocabula. Huc spectat imprimis quod uxor dicatur, Platoni lib. IX, γυνὴ γαμετή, quemadmodum Xenophonti in OEconomicis. Deinde haec sunt ejusdem synonyma, σύγγαμος, ἄλοχος, ἄκοιτις, παράκοιτις. PAM.
"They have other proper words." Here belongs above all that a wife is called, in Plato book 9, γυνὴ γαμετή ("wedded woman"), as also in Xenophon's Oeconomicus. Then there are these synonyms for it: σύγγαμος, ἄλοχος, ἄκοιτις, παράκοιτις (consort, bedfellow, spouse). PAM[ELIUS].
(printed under page 476)
(36) ‹anchor: matrimonii nexum› · call in col 944
Matrimonii nexum. Didoni apud Poetam est vinculum jugale : Ne cui me vinclo vellem sociare jugali lib. IV Aeneid. Gregorius Nyss., lib. de Virg. cap. 3 (continues)
"The bond of marriage." For Dido in the Poet it is "the marriage tie": "that I would not wish to join myself to anyone in the marriage bond," Aeneid book 4. Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity, chapter 3 (continues)
(printed under page 476)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 477)
(30) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 945
Ita mulier natura nomen est uxoris, et uxor conditione Latin.
"So 'woman' is by nature the name of a wife, and 'wife' by condition": Latinius.
(printed under page 477)
(31) ‹anchor: mulier, addidit› · call in col 945
Vocem addidit, quam Rig. post Wouw. e ms. inseruit delev. Seml. post Rhen.
The word "addidit" ("he added"), which Rigaltius, following Wouwer, inserted from a manuscript, Semler deleted, following Rhenanus.
(printed under page 477)
(32) ‹anchor: sumpta est› · call in col 945
Ait inserit Jun.
Junius inserts "ait" ("he says").
(printed under page 477)
(33) ‹anchor: Genesim observet› · call in col 945
Observat Seml.
"Observat" ("observes"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(34) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 945
Pertinet Fran.
"Pertinet" ("pertains"): Franeker edition.
(printed under page 477)
(37) ‹anchor: virginem› · call in col 945
Mulierem vocans virginem. Ad quod cum afferat duntaxat duos locos, alterum Lucae I, alterum Gal. IV, licebit illis addere illud Joannis II : Quid mihi tecum est, mulier? Item ejusdem cap. X, 26 : Mulier, ecce filius tuus. PAM.
"Calling the virgin a woman." Since he brings only two passages for this, one from Luke 1, the other from Galatians 4, we may add to them that of John 2: "What is it to me and to you, woman?" Likewise from the same, chapter 10, 26: "Woman, behold your son." PAM[ELIUS].
(printed under page 477)
(38) ‹anchor: ex muliere› · call in col 945
Factum ex muliere. Pamelio adjunge etiam haec Ulpiani ff. de aedilit. edicto : « Quae mulieribus legantur, etiam virginibus deberi certum est. » LAC.
"Made of a woman." To Pamelius add also these words of Ulpian, Digest, On the Aediles' Edict: "What is bequeathed to women is certainly owed to virgins also." LAC[ERDA].
(printed under page 477)
(34) ‹anchor: quod pertineat› · call in col 946
Pertinet Fran.
"Pertinet" ("pertains"): Franeker edition.
(printed under page 477)
(35) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 946
Quae Seml.
"Quae" ("who"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(36) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 946
Maritata Seml.
"Maritata" ("married"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(37) ‹anchor: vocabatur per (call printed as 27)› · call in col 946
Post Seml.
"Post" ("after"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(38) ‹anchor: Convertamus› · call in col 946
Convertamur Seml.
"Convertamur" ("let us turn"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(39) ‹anchor: an eaedem› · call in col 946
Eadem Seml.
"Eadem" ("the same"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(40) ‹anchor: quoque vocabuli› · call in col 946
Vocabulo Seml.
"Vocabulo" ("by the word"): Semler.
(printed under page 477)
(41) ‹anchor: communio› · call in col 946
Communionis Seml.
"Communionis" ("of communion"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 477)
(39) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 946
Benedicta tu inter mulieres. Expressior est haec versio quam vulgata, in mulieribus, quam interim etiam habet interpres B. Hieronymus eodem c. in benedictione Elisabeth. PAM.
"Blessed are you among women." This rendering is more exact than the Vulgate's "in mulieribus," which, however, blessed Jerome as translator also has in the same chapter, in Elizabeth's blessing. PAM[ELIUS].
(printed under page 477)
(40) ‹anchor: generi defensam› · call in col 946
Et ita universo mulierum generi defensam. Hoc est vindicatam. RIG.
"And so maintained for the whole class of women": that is, claimed for it. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 477)
(41) ‹anchor: aemulum Dei› · call in col 946
Saeculum aemulum Dei. Saeculum intelligit Christianum. Nam aemulum et aemulari fere in (continues)
"An age jealous for God." He means the Christian age. For "aemulus" and "aemulari" almost (continues)
(printed under page 477)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 478)
(42) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 947
Metitur Latin. nec displicet Rig.
"Metitur" ("measures"): Latinius, and Rigaltius does not dislike it.
(printed under page 478)
(43) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 947
Promissum latin.
"Promissum" ("let grow long"): Latinius.
(printed under page 478)
(44) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 947
Significans. Supra natas : at hic Fran. Rig. totum locum sic restituit Jun. Cum p. d. v. hominum ; aeque n. a. n. angelos, sed maritos, d. i. s. f. h. q. n. s. d. sic quoque virgines significavit supra natas, at hic angelis nuptas...
"Significans. Supra natas: at hic": Franeker edition, Rigaltius. Junius restores the whole passage thus: "Cum p. d. v. hominum; aeque n. a. n. angelos, sed maritos, d. i. s. f. h. q. n. s. d. — so too he signified virgins above as born, but here as married to angels..."
(printed under page 478)
(42) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 947
Si ita virgini caesum capillum decori mentitur. Sic habent editiones omnes, neque aliter exemplar Divionense. Sed laborat sensus in verbis, nisi ea sic explicentur : Viderit saeculum, inquit, si adeo mentitur decori, hoc est, si tam prave decori favet, ut caesum virgini capillum decori esse mentiatur; cum sit potius dehonestamento. Alium sensum quaesivit Latinius, littera detracta : « Si ita virgini caesum capillum decori metitur; » ut sit sensus : Viderit saeculum, si talem tribuat mensuram decori, caesum virgini capillum, ut puero promissum. Quae conjectura non displicet. RIG.
"If it so falsely counts cut hair as an ornament to a virgin." So all the editions have it, nor otherwise the Dijon copy. But the sense struggles in the words unless they are explained thus: "Let the age see to it," he says, "if it so lies about beauty," that is, if it favours beauty so perversely as to pretend that cut hair is an ornament to a virgin, when it is rather a disgrace. Latinius sought another sense by removing a letter: "If it so measures cut hair as an ornament to a virgin," so that the sense is: "Let the age see to it, if it assigns such a measure to beauty — cut hair for a virgin, as long hair for a boy." This conjecture is not displeasing. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 478)
(43) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 947
Quemadmodum et puero permissum. Latinius scribit, promissum. Sed nihil est necesse, cum sit eadem utrique significatio. RIG.
"Just as [long hair] is allowed to a boy." Latinius writes "promissum" ("let grow"). But there is no need, since both have the same meaning. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 478)
(45) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Quare Seml.
"Quare" ("wherefore"): Semler.
(printed under page 478)
(46) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Ipsa mss. Wouw. Rig.
"Ipsa" ("itself"): the manuscripts, Wouwer, Rigaltius.
Commentarius. (printed under page 478)
(44) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Si mulier potestatem habere super caput debet. Hoc est, notam potestatis, cui subjecit mulierem Deus. Ejus vero potestatis nota est velamen capitis. RIG.
"If a woman ought to have power over her head." That is, the mark of the power to which God has subjected woman. And the mark of that power is the covering of the head. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 478)
(45) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Propter angelos. Rursum hoc ad errorem Tertull. pertinet, cujus meminit supra libris de Idololatria, de Habitu mul. et de Cultu femin. B. vero Ambrosius angelos episcopos interpretatur, juxta Apocalypsim B. Joan. apostoli. PAM.
"Because of the angels." This again belongs to Tertullian's error, which he mentioned above in the books On Idolatry, On the Dress of Women and On the Adornment of Women. But blessed Ambrose interprets the angels as bishops, after the Apocalypse of blessed John the apostle. PAM[ELIUS].
(printed under page 478)
(46) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Quarum flos etiam humanam libidinem excusat. Hoc est, recusat; quemadmodum alibi dicit, exponere vestem, quod est, deponere. Excusat libidinem virgo, quae virginitatis suae flore gaudet, ita ut nolit decerpi; qualis ille Catulli flos intactus et illibatus : Ignotus pecori, nullo contusus aratro, Qui nondum tenuis carptus defloruit ungui, etc. Credibile est, inquit Tertullianus, talibus puellis angelos potius, quam maculatis jam corporibus exarsisse. RIG.
"Whose flower shakes off even human lust." That is, refuses it; as elsewhere he says "to set out a garment," meaning to lay it aside. The virgin shakes off lust who rejoices in the flower of her virginity, so that she will not be plucked; like that untouched and unharmed flower of Catullus: "Unknown to the flock, bruised by no plough, which, not yet plucked by a fine fingernail, has not faded," etc. It is credible, says Tertullian, that the angels burned for such girls rather than for bodies already stained. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 478)
(47) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Debet ergo adumbrari, etc. Id est velari. Nam facies virginis aperta peccandi occasionem offerre posset pulchritudinem, quae ideo Clementi Alexandr. cap. 2, lib. III. Paedag. μοιχικὸν κάλλος pulchritudo adulterii incitatrix dicitur. LE PR.
"It ought therefore to be shaded," etc. That is, veiled. For a virgin's uncovered face could offer beauty as an occasion of sin; which is why Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus book 3, chapter 2, calls it "adulterous beauty," beauty that incites to adultery. LE PR[IEUR].
(printed under page 478)
(48) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 948
Naturae praejudicium adjicit Apostolus. Ne putet quis parum attentus B. Paulo contradicere Septimium : quamvis enim abundans coma quasi naturale sit ornamentum mulieris, nihil tamen etsi censentur, (quanquam, ut alio loco ostendimus, consuetudo contraria fuerit); attonsis enim capillis semper velandae sunt feminae, adeo ut velum capillorum vices subeat. Quod in monialibus etiam nostris temporibus fieri solet. LE PR.
"The Apostle adds the precedent of nature." Let no inattentive reader think that Septimius contradicts blessed Paul: for although abundant hair is, as it were, a natural ornament of woman, yet they are reckoned as nothing even so (although, as we have shown elsewhere, the custom was the contrary); for women whose hair is cut must always be veiled, so that the veil takes the place of the hair. Which is commonly done with nuns in our own times too. LE PR[IEUR].
(printed under page 478)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 479)
(47) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Mulierem Seml.
"Mulierem" ("woman," accusative): Semler.
(printed under page 479)
(48) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Etiam delet Seml.
Semler deletes "etiam" ("even").
(printed under page 479)
(49) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Diffinitionem Seml.
"Diffinitionem" ("definition," so spelled): Semler.
(printed under page 479)
(50) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Detractamus Seml.
"Detractamus" ("we decline"): Semler.
(printed under page 479)
(49) ‹anchor: masculi investis› · call in col 949
Masculi investis. Ab aliis, antequam hisce adnotatiunculis manum admoveremus, observatum vidi, investem esse impuberem, et puberem vesticipem esse. Ad eum significatum accipiendus forsan Lucretius, lib. V : Impuberem molli pubescere veste.
"Of a beardless male." I saw it observed by others, before we set hand to these little notes, that "investis" means one not yet of age, and "vesticeps" one of age. Perhaps Lucretius, book 5, is to be taken in that sense: "[to begin] to grow downy, a stripling, with soft down."
(printed under page 479)
(50) ‹anchor: prejudicatum sit› · call in col 949
Cur non praejudicatum sit, etc. Pergit in eo argumentandi modo, quo perpetuo hic utitur; ut mulieris nomen de virgine ac marito conjuncta promiscue usurpetur. LE PR.
"Why should it not be prejudged," etc. He continues in the mode of argument he uses throughout here: that the name of woman is used indiscriminately of a virgin and of one joined to a husband. LE PR[IEUR].
(printed under page 479)
(51) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Ex parte definitionem Apostoli. Quamobrem parti uni praecepti illius potius haereticus quam alteri. Cum enim omnis mulier scripsit, cujuscunque generis, conditionis, et aetatis feminas comprehendit. LE PR.
"The Apostle's definition in part." Why [hold] heretically to one part of that precept rather than the other? For when he wrote "every woman," he included women of every kind, condition and age. LE PR[IEUR].
(printed under page 479)
(52) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 949
Non permittitur mulieri in ecclesia loqui. Moribus romanis receptum est, ut feminae civilibus officiis non fungantur; non quia non habent judicium, sed ne contra pudorem sexui congruentem virilibus officiis se immisceant. Propterea vero Ecclesia quoque ab virilibus muneribus removendas censuit. Etenim Apostoli edicto continetur : Mulieres in ecclesia loqui nolo. Quod verbum, cum sit generale, comprehendit omnia virilia, in quibus sunt et sacerdotalia. Non permittitur mulieri in ecclesia loqui ; puta nec sciscitari, nec disputare : nam haec virilium sunt munerum, et viris tantum conceduntur. Sed nec docere, nec tinguere, nec offerre : quae sane sunt officia sacerdotis, seu praesidis, aut praepositi ecclesiae. Auctor Quaestionum ex Veteri Test., quaest. 45, tom. IV Op. August., absurdum ait esse dicere, mulieri datum esse, ut quemadmodum vir, sic et ipsa imago Dei sit dominandi jure : « Quomodo enim potest de muliere dici, quia imago Dei est, quam constat dominio viri subjectam, et nullam auctoritatem habere ! Nec enim docere potest, nec testis esse, neque fidem dicere, neque judicare ; quanto magis non potest imperare ! » Denique, mulieri non permittuntur civilia nec virilia munera, multo autem minus sacerdotalia. RIG.
"A woman is not permitted to speak in church." It is received in Roman custom that women do not discharge civil offices; not because they lack judgement, but lest, against the modesty befitting their sex, they mix themselves in men's offices. For this reason the Church too judged that they should be kept from men's functions. For it is contained in the Apostle's edict: "I do not wish women to speak in church." This word, being general, includes all men's functions, among which are also the priestly ones. A woman is not permitted to speak in church: that is, neither to ask questions nor to dispute, for these belong to men's functions and are granted to men only. Nor yet to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer: these are indeed the offices of the priest, or of the president or head of the church. The author of the Questions on the Old Testament, question 45, in volume 4 of Augustine's works, says it is absurd to say that it was given to woman to be, like man, the image of God by right of dominion: "For how can it be said of woman that she is the image of God, when she is plainly subject to the dominion of man and has no authority? For she can neither teach, nor be a witness, nor give surety, nor judge; how much less can she command!" In short, civil and men's functions are not permitted to woman, much less priestly ones. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 479)
(51) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 950
Approbant Seml.
"Approbant" ("they approve"): Semler.
(printed under page 479)
(52) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 950
Spectant Seml. Leop. forte speciant Jun.
"Spectant" ("they look at"): Semler, Leopold; perhaps "speciant": Junius.
(printed under page 479)
(53) ‹anchor: nedum› · call in col 950
Ne duo sacerdotalis officii Seml.
"Ne duo sacerdotalis officii" ("lest two of the priestly office"): Semler.
(printed under page 479)
(54) ‹anchor: virgini non licet› · call in col 950
Si virgini non liceat sed Seml.
"Si virgini non liceat, sed" ("if it be not allowed to a virgin, but"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 479)
(35) [printed so; the call it answers is (53)] ‹anchor: nec offerre› · call in col 950
Nec offerre. Post Rhenanum Pamelius explicat sacrificare; quod vix admitterem : quid enim sibi vult illa interpretatio, quae mulieri missam celebrare non permittit? quis unquam permisit? Offerre intelligi debet de votis et orationibus. LE PR.
"Nor to offer." Pamelius, following Rhenanus, explains it as "to sacrifice"; which I would hardly admit. For what does that interpretation mean, which does not allow a woman to celebrate Mass? Who ever allowed it? "To offer" must be understood of vows and prayers. LE PR[IEUR].
(printed under page 479)
(54) ‹anchor: carnem suam sanctificare› · call in col 950
Carnem suam sanctificare. Infra, Ipsam naturam consecrare. Haec autem apud Isidorum leguntur, sed absurdissime in alium sensum detorta. lib. II de Offic. eccl. RIG.
"To sanctify her flesh." Below, "to consecrate nature itself." These words are read in Isidore, but most absurdly twisted to another sense: On Church Offices, book 2. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 479)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 480)
(55) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 951
Contexta Seml. forte non texta Latin.
"Contexta" ("woven together"): Semler; perhaps "non texta" ("not woven"): Latinius.
(printed under page 480)
(56) ‹anchor: qua› · call in col 951
Quasi Venet.
"Quasi" ("as if"): Venice edition.
(printed under page 480)
(55) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 951
Ut honorem sanctitatis in libertate capitis ostendat? Ita dictitabant, qui de virginitate gloriam captabant humanam, bona ratione factam sibi fuisse velaminis veniam; neque sibi fraudi aut invidiae esse debere datam sanctitati praerogativam. Sic enim fieri, ut honore isto conspicuae et insignes, cum in ecclesiam intrarent, caeteras ad opus idem sanctificandae carnis sollicitarent. Sed ineptum illis esse hujusmodi honorem contendit Tertullianus. Atque id revincit propositis honoribus aliis; majoribus quidem, sed virgini magis adhuc ineptis; potuit, inquit, dignius honorari aliqua praerogativa virilis aut gradus aut officii. Nam haec per derisum dici apparet ex praecedentibus : « Non permittitur mulieri muneris ullius virilis, nedum sacerdotalis officii sortem sibi vindicare. « Item ex sequentibus istis : « Adeo nihil virgini ad honorem de loco permissum est, sed nec de aliquibus insignibus. » — Ut honorem sanctitatis. Isidorus : « Honorem sanctificati corporis. » RIG.
"That she may show the honour of holiness in the freedom of her head?" So used to say those who sought human glory from virginity: that the dispensation from the veil had been granted them for good reason, and that the privilege given to holiness ought not to bring them harm or ill-will. For so it came about that, conspicuous and distinguished by this honour, they drew the rest, when they entered the church, to the same work of sanctifying the flesh. But Tertullian contends that such an honour is unfitting for them. And he refutes it by proposing other honours, greater indeed, but still more unfitting for a virgin: she could, he says, have been honoured more worthily by some privilege of a man's rank or office. That this is said in derision is plain from what precedes: "A woman is not permitted to claim for herself the lot of any man's function, much less of the priestly office." Likewise from these words that follow: "So far is nothing permitted a virgin by way of honour as to place, nor even as to any insignia." — "That [she may show] the honour of holiness." Isidore: "The honour of a sanctified body." RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 480)
(56) ‹anchor: not visible on the page-foot image› · call in col 951
In viduatu collocatam. Nempe ab episcopo; dixit autem, in viduatu, quemadmodum in diaconatu. Unde colligitur in Ecclesia tunc temporis Christiana ordinem sive honorem fuisse viduarum. Itaque lib. I ad Uxorem, viduam adlegi in ordinem, nisi univiram, non concedit. Postea vero nec ullas quidem ordinari placuit conciliis Arausicano I, et Epaonensi. RIG.
"Placed in the widowhood": by the bishop, that is; and he said "in viduatu" as one says "in diaconatu" (in the diaconate). From which it is gathered that in the Christian Church of that time there was an order or rank of widows. So in To His Wife, book 1, he does not allow a widow to be enrolled in the order unless she has had one husband only. But later the First Council of Orange and that of Epaon decided that none at all should be ordained. RIG[ALTIUS].
(printed under page 480)
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Stropulos Barbarorum. In antiquis exemplaribus et Rhenani editionibus, Scrobulos, seu Strubulos. Legendum, ut monuit Salmasius, Stropulos. Prisci Latini Strupos dixere taenias et fascias. Est autem Graecum στρόφος et στρόφιον. Inde Stropi et stropiola, seu strophiola et stropuli. RIG. — Stropulos. Haereo interpretationi rigaltii ; adde legi posse crobylos. Thucydidae interpres in lib. I : Κρώβυλος δ' ἐστὶν εἶδος πλέγματος τῶν τριχῶν ἀπὸ ἑτέρων εἰς ὀξὺ ἀπολῆγον. Crobylus est intorti hinc et inde capilli genus, in acutum vergens. In viris crobylus erat, corymbus in feminis, et scorpius in pueris. LE PR.
"The headbands of the barbarians." In the ancient copies and in Rhenanus's editions, "scrobulos" or "strubulos." It should be read, as Salmasius advised, "stropulos." The early Latins called ribbons and bands "strupi." It is the Greek στρόφος and στρόφιον. Hence "stropi" and "stropiola," or "strophiola," and "stropuli." RIG[ALTIUS]. — "Stropulos." I hold to Rigaltius's interpretation; add that "crobylos" may be read. The commentator on Thucydides, on book 1: "A crobylus is a kind of plaiting of the hair, from either side, ending in a point." A crobylus is a kind of hair twisted from this side and that, tapering to a point. In men it was the crobylus, in women the corymbus, and in boys the scorpius. LE PR[IEUR].
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Forte ut Jun.
Perhaps "ut" ("so that"): Junius.
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Scropulos Fran. strobulos Paris. Salmas. et Rig. legun stropulos.
"Scropulos": Franeker edition; "strobulos": Paris edition; Salmasius and Rigaltius read "stropulos" (headbands).
Commentarius. (printed under page 480)
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Cicadas Atheniensium. Athenienses τεττιγοφόροι crines implexos fibula in cicadam conformata nectebant. RIG.
"The cicadas of the Athenians." The Athenians, "cicada-wearers," fastened their plaited hair with a brooch shaped like a cicada. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Cirros Germanorum. Crinibus in nodum tortis. Tacitus, de Moribus Germanorum : « Insigne gentis obliquare crinem, nodoque substringere. » RIG.
"The topknots of the Germans": hair twisted into a knot. Tacitus, On the Customs of the Germans: "It is the mark of the race to comb the hair aslant and bind it up in a knot." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Stigmata Britonum. Britannorum corpora variis figuris compuncta fuisse tradit Herodianus, lib. III, atque inde est quod apud Claudianum legitur : Ferroque notatas Perlegit exangues picto moriente figuras. RIG.
"The tattoos of the Britons." Herodian, book 3, relates that the bodies of the Britons were pricked with various figures; and hence what is read in Claudian: "and as the painted [Briton] dies, [the sword] reads through the iron-marked figures, now bloodless." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Contumeliam communem. Pertinet illud ad naevos Tertulliani, qui tanto flagrabat virginitatis et continentiae amore, ut ita legitimum viri et uxoris congressum appellet hoc loco, et infra cap. 2. Pro antidoto autem hic servire poterit, quod lib. de Pud., vocet benedictionis concubitum. PAM.
"The common disgrace." This belongs to Tertullian's blemishes; he burned with such love of virginity and continence that he calls the lawful union of husband and wife by that name here and below, chapter 2. But as an antidote it may serve here that in the book On Modesty he calls it "the intercourse of blessing." PAM[ELIUS].
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Concupiscendi ignoraveris fructum. Oleum et operam perdunt qui aliter quam de vetita concupiscentia explicant. Id de liberis nequit dici, licet a Didonis sorore Anna Veneris praemia nominentur apud poetam Latinum, et δῶρ' Ἀφροδίτης apud Homerum. LE PR.
"You will have been ignorant of the fruit of desiring." Those who explain it otherwise than of forbidden desire waste their oil and their labour. It cannot be said of children, though in the Latin poet children are called "the rewards of Venus" by Dido's sister Anna, and in Homer "the gifts of Aphrodite." LE PR[IEUR].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 481)
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Virgineis Fran.
"Virgineis" ("virginal"): Franeker edition.
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Ita Seml.
So Semler.
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Natura Paris.
"Natura" ("nature"): Paris edition.
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Perspexerat Rhen.
"Perspexerat" ("had looked closely at"): Rhenanus.
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Communionem Franeq.
"Communionem" ("communion"): Franeker edition.
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Viderint plerique edd.
"Viderint" ("let them see to it"): most editions.
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Nuptias pati. Saepe hoc verbum occurrit in Tertull. de virgine jam matura et nubili. Petron. Satir. annis ad patiendum gestientibus. LAC.
"To undergo marriage." This word often occurs in Tertullian of a virgin already ripe and marriageable. Petronius, Satyricon: "with years eager to undergo [it]." LAC[ERDA].
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Penes Israel. Quo loci hoc scriptum in sacris bibliis, quaerit Pamelius ; sed monet Junius id non haberi ex lege Dei, sed tantum ex consuetudine Judaeorum fundata naturali jure, et cum aspectu ad ea quae dicuntur Deuteron, XXII. LAC.
"Among Israel." Pamelius asks in what place of the holy Bible this is written; but Junius points out that it comes not from the law of God but only from the custom of the Jews, founded on natural law and with a view to what is said in Deuteronomy 22. LAC[ERDA].
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Non sustinuit dextrae colluctationem. Id est, non exspectavit. RIG.
"She did not bear the clasp of the right hand": that is, she did not wait for it. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Rebeccam quidam adhuc velant. Hoc est, virgines quidem desponsatas nonnulli adhuc velant, minime autem caeteras. At Tertullianus et caeteras quoque velandas esse contendit. RIG.
"Some still veil Rebecca." That is, some still veil virgins who are betrothed, but not at all the rest. But Tertullian contends that the rest too must be veiled. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ex angustiis. Hoc est tenuitate facultatum sive fortunarum. Nam, ut est apud Satrographum, Non facile emergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta domi. Hujusmodi puellae pauperiores, difficilius etiam maritum inveniunt. RHEN.
"From straitened means": that is, from slenderness of resources or fortune. For, as the satirist has it, "Not easily do they rise whose merits are blocked by narrow means at home." Girls of this kind, being poorer, also find a husband with more difficulty. RHEN[ANUS].
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Vel scrupulositate. Hoc est morositate parentum, quibus nullus placet. RHEN.
"Or from scrupulousness": that is, from the fastidiousness of parents whom no one pleases. RHEN[ANUS].
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Expectationem transfigurationem Seml. Rig. ex spectatione.
"Expectationem transfigurationem": Semler; Rigaltius, "ex spectatione."
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Defendunt Seml. dependunt : hanc Ciacconi conjecturam auctoritate confirmatam cod. ms. prob. Rig.
"Defendunt": Semler. "Dependunt": Rigaltius approves this conjecture of Ciacconius, confirmed by the authority of a manuscript.
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Spiritu Seml.
"Spiritu" ("in spirit"): Semler.
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Naturalibus Venet.
"Naturalibus" ("by natural things"): Venice edition.
Commentarius. (printed under page 481)
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Continentiae votum. Notetur hic locus diligentissime. Ecce enim scriptor antiquissimus meminit voti continentiae, jam tum mitti soliti a fidelibus. LAC.
"A vow of continence." Let this passage be noted most carefully. For here a most ancient writer mentions the vow of continence, as already then customarily made by the faithful. LAC[ERDA].
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Aspice nuptam jam illam tuam virginem. Virgo illa tua, inquit, jam nupta est animam exspectatione mariti, nupta est, et carnem transfiguratione pubis. Nupta carnem et animam, ut, os humerosque Deo similis. RIG.
"Look: that virgin of yours is already married." That virgin of yours, he says, is already married in soul by the expectation of a husband; she is married in flesh too, by the change of puberty. Married in flesh and soul, as in "like a god in face and shoulders." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Cui tu secundum paras maritum. Sensus est, virgo tua quam tu virginem adhuc existimas, propter aetatem desiit esse virgo, non quidem a viro corrupta, sed ab aetate : proinde maritus, quem ei trades, secundus erit. RHEN.
"For whom you are preparing a second husband." The sense is: your virgin, whom you still think a virgin, has ceased to be a virgin because of her age, not corrupted by a man, but by age; so the husband you will give her will be the second. RHEN[ANUS].
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Et pudor ubique vestitur. Ipse libro de Anima : Vestitior sexus est. RIG.
"And modesty is everywhere clothed." He himself, in the book On the Soul: "The sex is more clothed." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Et menses tributa dependunt. Sic legitur in codice Ful. Ursini. At in codice Divionensi et in editionibus Rhenani, defendunt. RIG.
"And the months pay their tribute." So it is read in the manuscript of Fulvius Ursinus. But in the Dijon manuscript and in Rhenanus's editions, "defendunt." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Totam condixerunt confusionem. Quam prope dixit : Totam condixerunt contumeliae conjugalis impudentiam ! RIG.
"They have agreed on the whole confusion." How near he came to saying: "They have agreed on the whole shamelessness of the conjugal disgrace!" RIG[ALTIUS].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 482)
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Quid quod et jam Jun.
"Quid quod et jam" ("what of the fact that already"): Junius.
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Educuntur al.
"Educuntur" ("are brought out"): others.
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Solemnem Fran. Paris. solae enim Latin. Jun. sola enim manifesta paratura Ciaccon. solae in cod. Divionensi, quod Rig. praefert.
"Solemnem": Franeker and Paris editions; "solae enim": Latinius, Junius; "sola enim manifesta paratura": Ciacconius; "solae" in the Dijon manuscript, which Rigaltius prefers.
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De virginibus educantur. Educunt sese virginum censu. RIG.
"They are brought out from among the virgins": they take themselves out of the virgins' register. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Vertunt capillum. Nolim affirmare idem haec significare, ac crines intorquere. Cum enim lego lib. II de Cultu fem. cap. 6 : « Capitum croco vertere, » illud in memoriam revocat curam mutandis tingendisque crinibus apud veteres, Herodianus de Antonino : κόμας τε τῇ κεφαλῇ ἐπετίθετο ξανθάς· crines etiam capiti imposuit flavos, et apud Clem. Alex. τρίχας ξανθὰς ποιοῦν crines flavos reddens. Capitolinus in Vero : « Dicitur sane tantam habuisse curam flaventium capillorum, » etc. Ea fuit flaventis capillitii affectatio, ut Laetam admoneat B. Hieronymus : ne capillum irrufes. LE PR.
"They change their hair." I would not assert that this means the same as twisting the hair. For when I read in On the Adornment of Women, book 2, chapter 6, "to change [the colour] of the head with saffron," that recalls the care the ancients took in altering and dyeing the hair; Herodian on Antoninus: "and he put yellow hair on his head," he even put fair hair on his head; and in Clement of Alexandria, "making the hair yellow," rendering the hair fair. Capitolinus, in the Life of Verus: "He is said indeed to have taken such care of his golden hair," etc. Such was the affectation of fair hair that blessed Jerome warns Laeta: "do not redden her hair." LE PR[IEUR].
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Plus instrumenti ad balneas deferunt. Clemens, Paedag. III, 5 : Τά τε ἀργυρώματα μεθ' ὧν ἐμπομπεύουσιν ἀπειροκάλως ἐν τοῖς βαλανείοις προτιθέασι. RIG.
"They carry more equipment to the baths." Clement, Paedagogus 3, 5: "And they set out in the baths the silver vessels with which they tastelessly parade themselves." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Solae autem manifestae paraturae totam circumferunt mulieritatem. Sic omnino legitur in codice Divionensi, nec dubito talem fuisse Tertulliani manum. Hae nostrae, inquit, virgines. Christianae videlicet, etiam habitu mutationem aetatis confitentur, simulque pubertatem subnasci suam sentiunt, jam se esse mulieres, atque ex virginibus excessisse intelligunt. Itaque a capite ipso deponunt habitum virginalem, vertunt capillum, acu lasciviore comam sibi inserunt, crinibus a fronte divisis apertam professae mulieritatem. Deinde colligit : Imo solae virgines totam circumferunt manifestae paraturae mulieritatem. Etenim capite incedunt nudo, principali manifestae paraturae muliebris parte, quam regere solent mulieres. Itaque plus exhibent manifestae mulieritatis, quam ipsae mulieres. RIG.
"But they alone carry about the whole womanhood of an open get-up." So it is read without doubt in the Dijon manuscript, and I do not doubt that such was Tertullian's hand. "These virgins of ours," he says — Christian ones, that is — confess the change of age even by their dress, and as soon as they feel their puberty springing up, they understand that they are now women and have passed out of the virgins. So from the head itself they lay aside the virgin's dress, they change their hair, they set a more wanton pin in their tresses, and with the hair parted from the forehead they have professed open womanhood. Then he concludes: "Nay, the virgins alone carry about the whole womanhood of an open get-up." For they go with the head bare, the chief part of a woman's open get-up, which women usually cover. So they display more open womanhood than the women themselves. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Sed virginari volunt. Virgines haberi volunt, inutilis mihi videtur eorum labor ac propudiosus, qui statim explicant devirginari esse contrarium, et obscenitates mille obtrudunt ut scilicet gloriolam illam aucupentur qua eruditi credantur. Adeoque rerum venerearum et antiquae impuritatis indagatoribus illud relinquo, devirginare est διαπαρθενεύειν imminuere, depudicare, ut glossae docent, qua interpretatione nihil ad hunc locum, nihil minus conveniens : sed violo te, pudor ! LE PR.
"But they wish to be virgined": they wish to be held virgins. Useless, and shameful, seems to me the labour of those who at once explain that it is the contrary of "to be deflowered," and thrust in a thousand obscenities, so as to catch that little glory of being thought learned. So I leave it to the investigators of venereal matters and of ancient impurity that "devirginare" is διαπαρθενεύειν, to impair, to dishonour, as the glossaries teach; an interpretation that has nothing to do with this passage and could not fit it less: but I offend you, modesty! LE PR[IEUR].
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Uno habitu. Capitis videlicet aperti. RIG.
"In one dress": that is, of the uncovered head. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Sinistra conscientia Seml.
"Sinistra conscientia" ("with the left hand's knowledge"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 482)
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Si propter homines habitu abutuntur. Totus iste locus sic est legendus ac distinguendus : « Si 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. Timent extraneos, revereantur et fratres. Aut constanter audeant et in vicis virgines videri, sicut audent in ecclesiis. » Christianae virgines, quamvis in ecclesia capite essent intecto, tamen apud ethnicos et in vicis incedebant velatae caput. Dicebant autem se abuti habitu, hoc est, se ambulare in alieno habitu : ne scilicet in virginali suo ab ethnicis appeterentur ardentius. Laudat consilium Tertullianus ; sed praeterea requirit, ut in hoc etiam impleant habitum illum non suum, cum in ecclesiam ventitant ; nimirum propter fratres, qui etiam homines sunt. RIG.
"If they misuse a dress on account of men." This whole passage must be read and punctuated thus: "If they misuse a dress on account of men, let them carry it through in this too, and, as they veil the head among the heathen, let them at least hide in church the virginity they conceal outside the church. They fear strangers; let them respect the brethren too. Or let them boldly dare to be seen as virgins in the streets also, as they dare in the churches." Christian virgins, though in church they were with the head uncovered, yet among the heathen and in the streets went about with the head veiled. And they said they were misusing a dress, that is, walking in a dress not their own: lest, namely, in their own virgin's dress they be pursued more hotly by the heathen. Tertullian praises the plan; but he further requires that in this too they carry through that dress not their own when they come to church; because, of course, of the brethren, who are also men. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Si aliquid et apud ethnicos virginitatis nundinarint. Si tantum illis in sua virginitate constantiae suppetit, ut ejus etiam exempla proponere audeant unde ethnici sumant quod imitentur. RIG.
"If they have put something of their virginity on the market among the heathen too." If they have so much constancy in their virginity that they dare to set forth examples of it from which the heathen may take something to imitate. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Unius victoriati. Nummi genus ex Illyrico advecti, qui mercis loco erat; de eo Plin., lib. XXXIII, cap. 3. LE PR.
"Of a single victoriatus." A kind of coin brought from Illyricum, which served as merchandise; on it, Pliny, book 33, chapter 3. LE PR[IEUR].
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Sinistra conscia. Reducenda veterum exemplarium scriptura hujusmodi : Sinistra conscientia. Dixit autem sinistram conscientiam, pro sinistra conscia, quemadmodum libro de Paillo, sacerdotem suggestum, pro sacerdotali suggestu. RIG.
"With the left hand aware." The reading of the old copies should be restored, thus: "Sinistra conscientia" (with the left hand's knowledge). He said "sinistra conscientia" for "sinistra conscia," just as in the book On the Pallium [printed "Paillo"] "sacerdotem suggestum" for "sacerdotali suggestu" (a priestly platform). RIG[ALTIUS].
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Variae lectiones. (printed under page 483)
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In omni humilitate affert Rhen.
Rhenanus gives "in omni humilitate" ("in all humility").
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Datum Seml.
"Datum" ("given"): Semler.
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Wouweri ms. et Rig. quadam : caeteri quodam
Wouwer's manuscript and Rigaltius, "quadam"; the rest, "quodam".
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Fidem confessa, caeteri, confessus.
"Fidem confessa" ("having confessed the faith"); the rest, "confessus".
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Lat. conj. dummodo lateat, ubi quid admissum est.
Latinius conjectures "dummodo lateat, ubi quid admissum est" ("provided it be hidden, when something has been committed").
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Cum illam ipsam naturam consecramus. Codex Divion. « Cum illi ipsi naturam consecr. » Malim, « Cum illi ipsam naturam consecramus. » RIG.
"When we consecrate that very nature." The Dijon manuscript: "Cum illi ipsi naturam consecr[amus]." I should prefer: "When we consecrate nature itself to him." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ad hujusmodi opus. Intellige operationem sanctificandae carnis et consecrandae virginitatis. Sic operationem eleemosynae, et operationem jejunii. RIG.
"For a work of this kind." Understand the work of sanctifying the flesh and consecrating virginity. So "the work of almsgiving" and "the work of fasting." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ubi gloria, illic sollicitatio. Haec indicio sunt, virgines illo aevo, etiam Deo fuisse consecratas, nec tamen velatas, neque reclusas. RIG.
"Where there is glory, there is solicitation." This shows that in that age virgins were consecrated to God, yet neither veiled nor enclosed. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ventres tegere coguntur. Ventres dicit, ut solent auctores juris, uteros admisso viro gravidatos. Itaque, ventres tegere, hoc est, graviditates dissimulare. RIG.
"They are forced to cover their bellies." By "bellies" he means, as writers on law usually do, wombs made pregnant by admitting a man. So "to cover the belly" means to conceal pregnancy. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ipse venter Deus earum. Hic vulgari sensu ventrem posuit pro gula. RIG.
"The belly itself is their God." Here he has put "belly" in the ordinary sense, for gluttony. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Quia facile virgines fraternitas suscipit. Retuli ad eleemosynam qua fratres Christiani libenter accipiebant virgines; eo enim me ducunt verba, quae praecedunt de ventre, ut dicat : Producit illas aliquando venter, id est, gula, quia vident fratres suppeditare cibos virginibus. LAC.
"Because the brotherhood readily takes virgins in." I have referred it to the alms with which the Christian brethren gladly received virgins; for the preceding words about the belly lead me there, so that he means: the belly, that is, gluttony, sometimes brings them forward, because they see that the brethren supply food to virgins. LAC[ERDA].
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Prolatae in medium et publicato bono suo. Haec fieri solebant in professione virginis religiosa. Ecclesia frequenti proferebatur in medium talis propositi virgo coram praeside sive praeposito, ab eoque publicabatur virginis bonum, nempe bonum consecrandae virginitatis consilium. Ac deinceps a fratribus, hoc est, ab Ecclesia, omni honore et charitatis operatione cumulabantur. RIG.
"Brought forward into the open, and their good made public." These things used to be done at the religious profession of a virgin. Before a crowded church a virgin of such a resolve was brought forward into the open, in the presence of the president or head, and by him the virgin's good was made public, namely her good resolve to consecrate her virginity. And thenceforth they were loaded by the brethren, that is, by the Church, with every honour and work of charity. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Rig. consciae mulieritatis jam indubitatae Rhen. ed. I. conscientiae muliebritatis jam indubitate. etc.
Rigaltius, "consciae mulieritatis jam indubitatae"; Rhenanus, first edition, "conscientiae muliebritatis jam indubitate," etc.
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Quae timet fieri Rhen.
"Quae timet fieri" ("who fears to become"): Rhenanus.
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Rhen. quot pro quod supposuit.
Rhenanus put "quot" in place of "quod".
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Non invitata ut Rhen. et cod. Divion.
Not "invitata" ("enticed"), as Rhenanus and the Dijon manuscript have it.
Commentarius. (printed under page 483)
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Id est quem sibi vindicat virginitas, permanet nihilominus in habitu vel tunc saltem alieno, ne scilicet mutatione prodatur. Haec omnia, quamvis reperiantur in antiquis exemplaribus, mihi videntur importuna, atque ex aliqua forte ad libri marginem interpretatione invecta. RIG.
"That is, which virginity claims for itself, she nonetheless remains in the dress, at least then, not her own, lest she be betrayed by the change." All these words, though they are found in the ancient copies, seem to me out of place, and perhaps brought in from some explanatory note in the book's margin. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Nihil occultum quod non revelabitur. Graeca exemplaria imitatur ἀποκαλυφθήσεται. Sunt nihilominus etiam exemplaria latina Ms. editionis Vulgatae, quae sic legunt : reveletur. PAM.
"Nothing hidden that will not be revealed." He follows the Greek copies, ἀποκαλυφθήσεται ("will be revealed"). There are nonetheless also Latin manuscript copies of the Vulgate edition that read thus: "reveletur." PAM[ELIUS].
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Difficile mulier semel fit, quae non timet fieri. Vix est ut admittat semel, quae semel admisso non timet fieri mulier, quaeque jam facta potest virginem mentiri sub Deo, hoc est, in Ecclesia. Negationem reposui, quae excidit etiam antiquis exemplaribus. RIG.
"Hardly does she become a woman once who does not fear to become one." It is hardly possible that she should admit [a man] only once who, once she has admitted one, does not fear to become a woman, and who, once made one, can pretend to be a virgin before God, that is, in the Church. I have restored the negative, which dropped out even of the ancient copies. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Haec admittit flagitia coacta et invita virginitas. In cod. Divionensi legitur, Invitata, quod respondere videtur sollicitationi. Coactam et invitatam dicit virginitatem earum, quas aemulatio, non religio produxit, et sollicitavit ad hujusmodi opus dicandae consecrandaeque Deo virginitatis. Maletuentur quod humanae gloriae studio, non sanctitatis amore susceperunt.
"A forced and unwilling virginity commits these outrages." In the Dijon manuscript it is read "invitata" (enticed), which seems to answer to "solicitation." He calls forced and enticed the virginity of those whom rivalry, not religion, brought forward and solicited to this kind of work, of dedicating and consecrating virginity to God. They keep badly what they took up out of zeal for human glory, not out of love of holiness.
(printed under page 483)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 484)
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Censorum Venet. mend.
"Censorum" ("of the censors"): Venice edition, wrongly.
(printed under page 484)
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Operiosius Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Operiosius" ("more covered"): Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
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Induc Rhenan.
"Induc" ("put on"): Rhenanus.
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Dum inter amplexus et oscula assidua concalescit. Hoc autem faciebat fraternitas. Nam osculo se quondam salutabant Christiani. Et ante dixit : « Facile virgines fraternitas suscipit ; » fit autem susceptio per amplexum. RHEN. — Inter oscula assidua concalescit. Clemens de hoc osculo, lib. III Paedag. cap. 11 : Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἄναγνον φίλημα πλῆρες ἰοῦ, ἁγιοσύνην ὑποκρινόμενον, Est aliud osculum incestum, veneno plenum sanctitatem simulans. Et post pauca : Φιλήματα δὲ πολλάκις ἐνίησιν ἰὸν ἀκολασίας. Oscula saepe immittunt virus impudicitiae. Atqui osculum non hac mente religiosum sit necesse est. RIG.
"While she grows warm amid embraces and constant kisses." This the brotherhood used to do. For Christians once greeted one another with a kiss. And he said before: "The brotherhood readily takes virgins in"; and the taking-in is done by an embrace. RHEN[ANUS]. — "She grows warm amid constant kisses." Clement on this kiss, Paedagogus book 3, chapter 11: "There is also another, unchaste kiss, full of venom, feigning holiness," There is another kiss, impure, full of poison, simulating holiness. And a little after: "Kisses often inject the venom of licentiousness," Kisses often send in the poison of unchastity. And yet a kiss given without that intent must be a religious one. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Ipsum quoque livorem. Livorem accipit Auctor uti ex seq. patet, pro odio, et mox lividum pro invidioso. Similiter et B. Cyprianus qui librum scripsit de Zelo et Livore, et B. Hier. eumdem librum citans in Epistolam apostoli ad Galat. V. PAM.
"Envy itself too." The Author takes "livor," as is clear from what follows, for hatred, and presently "lividus" for envious. So too blessed Cyprian, who wrote a book On Jealousy and Envy, and blessed Jerome citing the same book on the Apostle's Epistle to the Galatians, chapter 5. PAM[ELIUS].
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Quod fascinum vocant. Invidiae quam Auctor, uti diximus, livorem nuncupat, magnam vim ad nocendum antiqui putabant, cum eam sola voluntate, et ipso afflatu ac contagione maleficam et venenatam esse, et hominibus quibus male vellet obesse graviter censerent. Hanc ergo ab ethnicis fascinum dictam recte dicit auctor, et ad odium diaboli refert, atque adeo ad instar illorum, qui varia contra fascinum, praesertim in pueris, adhibebant remedia, velamen capitis virginibus proponit. PAM.
"What they call the evil eye." The ancients thought that envy, which the Author, as we said, calls "livor," had great power to harm, since they held that by its mere will, by its very breath and contagion, it was malignant and poisonous, and gravely injured the people to whom it wished ill. So the author rightly says that the heathen called it "fascinum," and he refers it to the devil's hatred; and so, after the manner of those who applied various remedies against the evil eye, especially in children, he prescribes the covering of the head for virgins. PAM[ELIUS].
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Maritas Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Maritas": Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
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Nec Seml.
"Nec" ("nor"): Semler.
Commentarius. (printed under page 484)
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Gradum obstruxerit. Gradum obstruere est antevertere et praeoccupare. LAC.
"Will have blocked the step." To block the step is to forestall and anticipate. LAC[ERDA].
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Secundum annorum nomina. Subindicat olim feminas Christianos sorores nuncupari a fratribus, hoc est Christianis, qui in nulla erant dignitate; filias vero a Patribus, hoc est episcopis et presbyteris. Hinc patet nova nomina non esse in Ecclesia patrum et fratrum, item filiarum et sororum. PAM.
"According to the names of their years." He hints that Christian women were once called "sisters" by the brethren, that is, by Christians holding no rank; but "daughters" by the Fathers, that is, by bishops and presbyters. Hence it is plain that the names of fathers and brothers, and likewise of daughters and sisters, are not new in the Church. PAM[ELIUS].
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Emittat oculos. Verbum est circensium, et metaphora inde est sumpta. Sic Statius, lib. I, Sylv.: Vix dum emissa dies, et jam socialia praesto Omina. Mire enim hic hallucinatus est Bernartius, qui emissam diem vesperum intelligit; cum procul dubio matutinum tempus signetur, ut bene contra illum notat Casperius. Sic Claud. paneg, Manlii: . . Emisso quidquid sol imbuit ortu. Nec illud Virgilii aliter intelligendum est : Emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus.
"Let her send forth her eyes." It is a word of the circus games, and the metaphor is taken from there. So Statius, Silvae book 1: "Scarcely was the day let loose, and already the nuptial omens were at hand." Bernartius has strangely blundered here, taking "the day let loose" for evening; whereas without doubt morning is meant, as Casperius well notes against him. So Claudian, Panegyric of Manlius: "...whatever the sun has touched at its rising sent forth." Nor is that line of Virgil to be understood otherwise: "And Neptune felt the storm let loose."
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Nupsisti enim Christo. Habitum monasticae vitae imprimis laudat : unde manifesto colligitur hujus vitae rationem ante hunc virum floruisse in Ecclesia. Cyprianus enim integrum librum scripsit de Habitu virginum. Vide Ambros. ep 81. LAC.
"For you have married Christ." He praises above all the dress of the monastic life: from which it is plainly gathered that this manner of life flourished in the Church before this man. For Cyprian wrote a whole book On the Dress of Virgins. See Ambrose, Letter 81. LAC[ERDA].
(printed under page 484)
Variae lectiones. (printed under page 485)
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Renudae Venet.
"Renudae" ("uncovered again"): Venice edition.
(printed under page 485)
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Mulieris Jun.
"Mulieris" ("of a woman"): Junius.
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Nos Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Nos" ("we"): Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
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Felicitatis Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Felicitatis" ("of happiness"): Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
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Mitris enim et lanis. Mitra capitis ornatus est muliebris, seu corona quae fasciolis et redimiculis ligabatur; fasciae autem illae lanae seu phylla vocabantur. LE PR.
"For with mitres and woollens." The mitra is a woman's head-ornament, or a crown that was tied on with little bands and ribbons; and those bands were called "lanae" (woollens) or "phylla." LE PR[IEUR].
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Faciem quoque ita. Hieronymus ad Eustochium ; ep. 22 : operta facie vix unum oculum liberant ad videndum : multo austeriores Chalcedoniis ; de quibus Plutarchus in Quaest. Graec. : Αὗται δ' αὐτῶν ἔπραττον ὅτου δεηθεῖεν παρὰ δικασταῖς καὶ ἄρχουσιν, ἀπάγουσαι θάτερον μέρος τοῦ προσώπου τῆς καλύπτρας. RIG.
"The face too, in this way." Jerome to Eustochium, Letter 22: "with the face covered, they barely free one eye to see": far more austere than the women of Chalcedon, of whom Plutarch writes in the Greek Questions: "These women would transact whatever they needed before judges and magistrates, drawing aside one part of the veil from the face." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Quod adamare magis quam adamari possint. Uno scilicet oculo liberato videre ipsis licet quod concupiscant, et videre quidem acutius, contributa et collecta in unum oculum omni videndi facultate. Adeoque puellis Tarsensibus ne totam quidem faciem velatis fidendum esse censebat Dion Chrysostomus, cum ipsis audire ea liceret quae libidinem permoverent ; atque audire quidem attentius, mente tota negatis sibi oculis omnem ad aures imaginandi vim conferente. Τοιγαροῦν ὀξύτερον βλέπουσι ἑνὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ὥσπερ οἱ γεωμέτραι. Notum est in eam sententiam illud Persii : Non secus ac si oculo rubricam dirigat uno. RIG.
"That they can love more than be loved." With one eye freed, that is, they may see what they desire, and see it more sharply, the whole power of sight being gathered and concentrated into one eye. And so Dio Chrysostom judged that the girls of Tarsus were not to be trusted even with the whole face veiled, since they might hear the things that stir up lust, and hear them more attentively, the whole mind, denied its eyes, bringing all its power of imagining to the ears. "So they see more sharply with one of their eyes, like the geometers." Persius's line to that effect is well known: "just as if he were ruling a red line with one eye." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Et ethnicae quidem disciplinae meracior et barbarior modestia. Sensus est : Sed ethnicae istius modestiae disciplina, prorsus agrestis, inurbana, incivilis, mera barbaries. Quae sunt per derisum dicta, RIG.
"And the modesty of heathen discipline is purer, and more barbarous." The sense is: but the discipline of that heathen modesty is utterly boorish, unrefined, uncivil, sheer barbarism. Which things are said in derision. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Elegantes, inquit, cervices, et merito nudae. Grave monitum, neque indignum Angelo, si animum satis advertimus. Alloquitur Christianam. Elegantes, inquit, cervices, quas pretio tanto redemptas voluit Christus. Et merito nudae; quibus scilicet dirissimae servitutis jugum ademit idem Christus. Sed bonum est usque ad lumbos a capite veleris, ne nuda pateas peccata, quo semel occupata, Satanae mancipium fias ; ac deinceps ista tibi tanto manumissore parta cervicum libertas non prosit, vitio tuo in aeternum sub asperrima tyrannide servitium recasura. RIG.
"Elegant necks, he says, and rightly bare." A weighty warning, and not unworthy of an Angel, if we pay due attention. He addresses a Christian woman: "Elegant necks," he says, which Christ willed to redeem at so great a price. "And rightly bare": since, that is, the same Christ took from them the yoke of a most cruel slavery. But it is good for you to be veiled from the head down to the loins, lest you lie open, bare, to sin; seized by which once, you would become Satan's chattel, and thereafter this freedom of the neck, won for you by so great a liberator, would profit you nothing, being bound by your own fault to fall back for ever into servitude under the harshest tyranny. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Reveleris Jun.
"Reveleris" ("you are uncovered"): Junius.
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Meriturae proponit Rigaltius.
Rigaltius proposes "meriturae" ("about to earn").
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Quae omitt. Pam.
Pamelius omits "quae".
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Mentiuntur Rhen. Seml. Oberth.
"Mentiuntur" ("they lie"): Rhenanus, Semler, Oberthür.
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in omitt. Jun.
Junius omits "in".
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Utilitatem Rhen. Pam. Seml. Oberth.
"Utilitatem" ("advantage"): Rhenanus, Pamelius, Semler, Oberthür.
Commentarius. (printed under page 485)
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Facillime fimbriam aut villum. Facillime : hic accipiendum pro saepissime, ut supra, Quia facilius adamari quam adamare feminae possunt, id est saepius, ut plurimum. RIG.
"Most readily a fringe or a tuft." "Most readily" is here to be taken for "most often," as above, "Because women can more readily be loved than love," that is, more often, for the most part. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Quibus plane major est palma omni fimbria et filo. Longe ab recta ratione erravere, qui persuaderi sibi passi sunt palmam hic aliud esse quam manum. Triplicem notat impudentiae gradum, virginibus absque velamine in ecclesiam convenientibus. Hic tertius est, earum quae in oratione ipsa, vel in quacunque Dei mentione, non fimbriam aut villum filumve aliquod capiti superponebant; sed manum : quae etsi major erat omni aliarum fimbria et filo, tamen ne sic quidem dici poterant tectae ; nec minus aliis capite suo abutebantur. RIG.
"For whom the palm is plainly larger than any fringe or thread." Those strayed far from right reason who let themselves be persuaded that "palma" here is anything other than the hand. He marks a threefold degree of shamelessness in virgins who come to church without a veil. This is the third: of those who, in prayer itself or at any mention of God, put on the head not a fringe or tuft or some thread, but the hand: which, though it was larger than any fringe and thread of the others, yet not even so could they be said to be covered; and they misused their head no less than the others. RIG[ALTIUS].
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Bestia magis, quam avis. Plinius, lib. V : « Grandissimi, et pene bestiarum generis struthio cameli. » RIG.
"A beast rather than a bird." Pliny, book 5: "Ostriches, the largest [of birds], and almost of the kind of beasts." RIG[ALTIUS].
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Capitur tota cum capite. Idem Plinius, IX : « Mugilum natura ridetur, in metu capite abscondito totos se occultari credentium, iisdem tam incauta salacitas, etc. » RIG.
"She is caught whole, head and all." The same Pliny, book 9: "The nature of mullets is laughed at, which, when afraid, hide the head and believe themselves wholly concealed; and they have such incautious lust," etc. RIG[ALTIUS].
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