Chapter 2
THE APPAREL OF WOMEN
Chapter 2 (1) You must know that perfect modesty, that is, Christian modesty, requires not only that you never desire to be an object of desire on the part of others, but that you even hate to be one. First of all, because the effort to please by external beauty does not come from a sound conscience, since beauty we know to be naturally the exciter of lust. Why, then, excite that evil against yourself? Why invite something to which you profess to be a stranger? Secondly, because we ought not to open the way to temptations. For, although by their vehe mence—from which God guard His own—they sometimes lead to greater perfection, they certainly disturb the soul by presenting a stumbling block to it.1
(2) We ought, indeed, to walk so in holiness and in the total fullness of our faith that we can be confident and sure in our own conscience, desiring that modesty may abide in us to the end, yet not presumptuously relying on it. For, the one who is presumptuous is less likely to feel apprehension, and he who feels less apprehension takes less precaution, and the one who takes less precaution is in the greater danger. Fear is the true foundation of our salvation, whereas presumption is a hindrance to fear. (3) Therefore, it will be more useful for us if we foresee the possibility that we may fall than if we pre sume that we cannot fall. For in anticipating a fall we will be fearful, and if fearful we will take care, and if we take care we shall be safe. On the other hand, if we are presumptuous and have neither fear nor take any precautions, it will be difficult for us to achieve salvation. He who acts securely and not at the same time warily does not possess a safe and firm security, whereas he who is wary can truly say that he will be
1 Cf. Matt. 18.7.
TERTULLIAN
safe. May the Lord in His mercy always take care of His servants that they may happily be permitted even to presume on His goodness.
(4) But why are we a source of danger to others? Why do we excite concupiscence in others? If the Lord in amplifying the Law2 does not make a distinction in penalty between the actual commission of fornication and its desire,3 I do not know whether He will grant impunity to one who is the cause of perdition to another. For he perishes as soon as he looks upon your beauty with desire, and has already committed in his soul what he desires, and you have become a sword [of perdition] to him so that, even though you are free from the actual crime of unchastity, you are not altogether free from the odium [attached to it]. As for instance, when a robbery has been committed on some man's land, the actual crime is not imputed to the master, but, as long as the estate is in bad repute, he also is tinged with a certain amount of infamy.
(5) Are we, then, going to paint our faces in order that others may perish? What about the Scripture which tells us: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.4 Do not seek only your interests, but those of your neighbor'?5 Now, no utterance of the Holy Spirit should be restricted only to its present matter, but must be directed and referred to every occasion to which its application is useful. Since, therefore, our own welfare as well as that of others is involved in the pursuit of beauty which is so dangerous, it is ,time for you to realize that you must not only shun the display of false and studied beauty, but also remove all traces of natural grace by concealment
2 Cf. Matt. 5.17.
3 Cf. Matt. 5.28.
4 Matt. 19.19; 22.39; cf. Lev. 19.18.
5 1 Cor. 10.24.
THE APPAREL OF WOMEN
and negligence, as equally dangerous to the glances of another's eyes. (6) For, although comeliness is not to be censured as being a bodily happiness, as an additional gift of the divine Sculptor, and as a kind of fair vestment of the soul, it must be feared because of the affront and violence on the part of those who pursue it. This danger even Abraham, the father of the faith, greatly feared because of his wife's shapely form and, untruthfully introducing Sara as his sister, he purchased his life by her disgrace.6
Chapter 3 (1) Now, let it be granted that excellence of form is not to be feared as if it were either harmful to those who possess it or ruinous to those who desire it or dangerous for those who come in contact with it; let us further assume that it is neither an occasion of temptation nor surrounded by danger of scandal1—it is enough to say that it is not necessary for the handmaidens of God. For, where modesty exists there is no need of beauty, since, strictly speaking, the normal use and effect of beauty is wantonness, unless, of course, someone can think of some other good that flows from bodily beauty. Let those women enhance the beauty they possess or seek for beauty they do not possess who think that they bestow upon themselves what is demanded from beauty when they exhibit it to others.
(2) But someone will say: Suppose we exclude wantonness and give to chastity its rightful place. Why should we not be permitted to enjoy the simple praise that comes to beauty and 6 Cf. Gen. 12.11-13.
1 Cf. Matt. 18.7.
TERTULLIAN
to glory in a bodily good? Let whoever takes pleasure in glorying in the flesh see to that.2 For us, in the first place, there can be no studious pursuit of glory, since glory is of its very nature a kind of exaltation and, in turn, exaltation is incongruous for those who, according to God's precepts, profess humility.3 Secondly, if all glory is vain and foolish, how much more so that which is a glorying in the flesh, particularly in us? For, if we must glory in .something, let it be in the spirit rather than in the flesh that we wish to please, since we are pursuers of things spiritual.4
(3) Let us find our joy in that which is really our business.
Let us seek for glory in those things in which we hope for salvation. To be sure, a Christian will also glory in his flesh, but only after it has endured torture for Christ's sake in order that the spirit may be crowned in the flesh rather than that the flesh may attract the eyes and sighs'of a young man. Thus, a thing that from every point of view is useless to you, you can safely scorn if you do not possess it and neglect if you do possess it.
Chapter 4 (1) Holy women, let none of you, if she is naturally beautiful, be an occasion of sin; certainly, if even she be so, she must not increase beauty, but try to subdue it. If I were speaking to Gentiles, I wpuld give you a Gentile precept and one that is common to all: you are bound to please no one except your own husbands. And, you will please your hus bands in the proportion that you take no pains to please any2 Cf. Phil. 3.3.
3 Cf. Matt. 11.29; 1 Peter 5.6; James 4.10.
4 Cf. Rom. 8.8,9.