Chapter 14
TERTULLIAN
upon the head of a man. (8) Claudius 17 indeed tells us in his preface that, in the poems of Homer, the very heavens are crowned with stars18—crowned, to be sure, by God and for the advantage of man; therefore, man himself, too, should be crowned by God.
Finally, the world places crowns upon brothels, latrines, bakeshops, elementary schools, and the very amphitheater; they crown, too, the place where the clothes are stripped from the slain gladiators, and the very biers of the dead. So, do not determine from a line in Homer about heaven how sacred and holy, how decent and pure, is this article of apparel, but judge it as the whole world does.
(9) But, surely, a Christian will not even defile the door of his house with laurel crowns if he only remembers how many gods the Devil has attached to doors. For, we have
Janus for the door itself, Limentinus for the threshold, Forculus and Carna for the partitions and hinges and, among the Greeks, there is Apollo of the Door and other gods of the entrance—devils, all of them.
Chapter 14 (1) You see, then, surely, how unfitting it is for a Christian to put on his head this symbol of idolatry; in fact, I might have said, 'put upon Christ,' since He is the head of a Christian man.1 His head is as free as Christ Himself, not even submit ting to a veil, much less to a band. But even the head that 17 See above, Ch. 7 nn. 5, 17.
18 Cf. Iliad 18.485.
1 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.3.
THE CHAPLET
submits to a veil (I mean woman's), being already provided with this, has no room also for a band. She has the burden of her own lowliness to bear. (2) If the head of a woman should never be seen uncovered because of the angels,2 much less should she ever wear a crown. It may well be that she also wore a crown when she tempted the sons of God to evil.3 A crown on the head of woman is merely beauty made seductive, the sign of complete wantonness, the utter denial of modesty and the fanning of the fires of passion. Therefore, a woman will be guided by the advice of the Apostle and avoid a too elaborate adornment, that she may not either be crowned by any skilful arrangement of her hair.4
(3) To what kind of a crown, I ask you, did Christ Jesus submit for the salvation of both sexes, He who is the Head of man and the Glory of woman5 and the Husband of the Church? It was made from thorns and thistles—a symbol of the sins which the soil of the flesh brought forth for us,6 but which the power of the Cross removed, blunting every sting of death7 since the head of the Lord bore its pain. And be sides the symbol, we are also reminded of the scornful abuse, the degradation, and the vileness of his cruel tormentors.
(4) If that is the way the temples of Christ were then defiled and lacerated, why, then, do you now seek to have your head crowned with laurel, myrtle, and olive, or some more ex quisite leaf? Perhaps you would choose the hundred-leaved roses plucked from the garden of Midas,8 or both kinds of 2 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.10.
3 Cf. Gen. 6.1,2.
4 Cf. 1 Tim. 2.9.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.3-7.
6 Cf. Gen. 3.18.
7 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.55.
8 Cf. Herodotus 8.138.