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← De eruditione filiorum nobilium (On the Education of Noble Children)/Book 1 · De eruditione filiorum nobilium
Chapter 38Erud.1.38

De illo qui uoluerit continere.

Freedom to Answer God’s Call to Continence

A God-inspired young man should not be hindered by parents from pursuing continence or religious life, since virginity is a rare gift, not a universal obligation.

Furthermore, if any young man, inspired by God, should wish to practice continence or even to enter religious life, his parents ought not to prevent him, according to that saying of Solomon in Proverbs. 3: 'Do not prevent someone who is able to do good from doing it; if you are able, you yourself do good as well.' For as the Apostle says in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7: 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman,' and a little later, 'I want,' he says, 'all men to be as I myself am,' virgins. But perhaps someone will object, as Jerome relates in the first book against Jovinian: 'If all,' he says, 'were to be virgins, how would the human race survive?' But I say, 'Do not be afraid that all will become virgins, because virginity is a difficult thing and therefore rare.' If all could be virgins, the Lord would never say, 'Let anyone who can accept this accept it.' These are Jerome's words.

The Double Motive for Remaining Unmarried

For those properly able and willing, continence is preferable to marriage both for the glory of virginity and because virginity already had special merit in the Old Testament.

So for those who are truly able and willing to remain continent, it's not advisable to marry — better to stay as they are, in keeping with the Apostle's words quoted above: 'It is good for them if they remain so, even as I.'✦ And this for two reasons: on account of the glory of virginity and on account of the disadvantages of married life. Virginity carries a great weight of merit and reward — not only now under the New Testament, but it held that distinction long ago under the Old, even after the human race had already multiplied. Hence Jerome to Eustochium: 'Once,' he says, 'the blessing of children alone was —' . . when the world was still empty —

Prophetic and Apostolic Witnesses to Virginity

Old Testament prophets and New Testament figures such as Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph, and Mary exemplify virginity, and the Apostle’s teaching supports living as though unmarried in view of the shortness of the time.

. . But as the crop gradually grew, the reaper was sent in.✦ So Elijah was a virgin, Elisha was a virgin, and many of the sons of the prophets were also virgins. . . Jeremiah too, when the captivity was near, was forbidden to take a wife.✦ . . The Apostle says the same thing in different words:✦ . . "The time that remains is short, so that those who have wives should live as though they had none."✦1 These are Jerome's words. This is how Joseph and the blessed Virgin lived: though joined in marriage, they both remained virgins. Hence the same Jerome, writing against Helvidius: "You," he says, "claim that Mary did not remain a virgin; I go further and claim that Joseph too was a virgin through Mary, so that from a virgin marriage a virgin son might be born."2

John, Joseph, and the Hidden Reward of Virginity

John the Evangelist was called from marriage to follow the Virgin, and while conjugal chastity can be commendable, the unmarried state still frees a person from many hindrances to God’s service.

. . And since Mary remained a virgin, he deserved to be called the father of the Lord. This is Jerome. John too, beloved before the other apostles, wishing to marry, the Lord called from the wedding, so that a virgin himself, he might follow the virgin and receive the special reward of virginity. On this matter — namely, the prerogative —3 — the prerogative will be discussed more fully below. Furthermore, the disadvantages of weddings are many, and they hinder many good things.

Marriage as a Hindrance to God’s Service and Wisdom

Marriage distracts from undivided service to God and the study of wisdom, which is why sacred ministers are forbidden to marry and why philosophers also praised continence.

First, then, [the unmarried state frees a person] from service to God for the sake of worldly anxiety, according to that word of the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 7: 'The one who is without a wife is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please God.'✦ But the one who has a wife is anxious about the things of the world, and is divided.✦ For this reason too, in the Western Church, ministers appointed to sacred orders are forbidden to marry, so that they may be free to devote themselves to the service of God. Furthermore, it also hinders one from the study of wisdom, which is why the ancient philosophers too preferred to remain continent rather than to marry. Hence Jerome, writing against Jovinian, says: 'Epicurus too,' he says, 'the champion of pleasure —' . . — he says that marriages are rarely to be entered upon by the wise, because many troubles are bound up with marriage.

The Uncertainty and Trouble of Taking a Wife

A wise man cannot know whether a wife will be good or bad, and Theophrastus’s conditions for marriage show that few marriages meet the ideal, making philosophy and domestic life hard to combine.

. . It is also a serious matter for a wise man to be in doubt about whether the wife he is about to take will be a good one or a bad one. There is also said to be a golden book of Theophrastus on marriage, in which he asks whether a wise man should take a wife.4 And after he had laid out his conditions — if she were beautiful, if she were of good character, if from honorable parents, if he himself were also healthy and wealthy — he immediately concluded that a wise man should enter marriage at some point.56 But all of these things rarely come together in marriage. 'A wife should not be taken by a wise man,' he says. For in the first place, it is clear from this that the pursuits of philosophy are hindered, and that no one can devote himself equally to books and to a wife.✦

The Daily Troubles and Suspicions of Married Life

Marriage brings constant anxiety about money, status, and honor, along with suspicion, jealousy, and hidden adultery under the guise of household roles.

Many things too can be necessary for married women's use — gold, for instance. Gems, varied furnishings, and costly clothes. Then through entire nights, chattering questions directed against her husband. "That woman," she says, "goes out in public more adorned, she is honored by everyone, while I, wretched, am looked down on in the gathering of women. Why were you looking at the neighbor? What were you talking about with the maid? Coming from the marketplace, what did you bring? . . . "In the end, he suspects another's love of being his own hatred." . . Her face must always be attended to, and her beauty praised, so that if you should look at another woman, she won't think she has fallen from your favor. She must be called 'my lady'; her birthday must be celebrated; you must swear by her health and pray that she may outlive you, and keep praying. Her nurse must be honored, and her attendant, her father's servant, her foster-father, her handsome page, and her perfumed, curled-hair steward. . . under which names adulterers lie hidden. . . If you entrust the whole household to him, it must be served. If you reserve something to your own judgment, he will not think trust is being held for him, and he will turn into hatred and quarrels, and unless you have quickly taken counsel, an old woman will prepare poisons. Goldsmiths. . .

Guarding Chastity and the Illusion of Control

Attempts to guard a wife’s chastity are futile or harmful, since true chastity comes from freedom, not compulsion, and beauty or ugliness alike create danger and difficulty.

And shopkeepers. . . If you let silk garments in, there's a danger to chastity; but if you forbid them, there's the wrong of suspicion. But what good is even careful watchfulness, since a wife who is unchaste can't be kept chaste, and one who is chaste shouldn't need to be?7 For necessity is a faithless guardian of chastity, and only she who was free to sin should truly be called chaste. . .

The Perils of Desire, Beauty, and Inheritance

A beautiful wife is hard to guard and an ugly one undesirable; if marriage is sought for household help or sickbed care, a faithful servant or friend often serves better than a wife.

But he refused; a beautiful woman is quickly loved, an ugly one is easily lusted after. What many people love is hard to guard. It's troublesome to possess what no one considers worth having. Yet an ugly woman is held with less misery than a beautiful one is kept. Nothing is safe upon which the longings of an entire people sigh. One man solicits by his beauty, another by his talent, another by his witticisms, another by his generosity.8 In one way or another. . . A woman is swept away because she is provoked from every side. But if wives are taken on account of managing a household, the comforts of illness, and escape from solitude, a faithful servant manages far better — one who obeys the authority of his master and complies with his arrangement — than a wife who considers herself the mistress in that role, if she acts against her husband's will, that is, doing what pleases her rather than what is commanded. But friends and home-born slaves, bound by kindnesses, can sit beside a sick person far more than she who charges us with her own tears and, with the hope of inheritance, peddles gluttony and anxiety, throwing about the ailing mind of the one who suffers. . . disturbs. But if he falls ill, one must nurse alongside him and never withdraw from his bedside.

Children, Heirs, and the Folly of Family Ambition

Seeking a wife mainly for children, name, support in old age, or heirs is foolish, because chosen friends and relatives are better heirs and it is wiser to use resources well during life than leave uncertain inheritances.

Or if a wife is good and pleasant — though that's a rare bird indeed — we groan when she's in labor, and we're tormented when she's in danger. But the wise person can never be alone, for they carry with them all who are good — whoever lives now, whoever has lived before — and wherever they wish, they carry the spirit of those people with them.9 . . You'll never be less alone than when you're by yourself. Moreover, taking a wife for the sake of children — so that our name doesn't die out, or so that we'll have support in old age and can rely on sure heirs — is the height of foolishness. For what does it matter to us, when we depart this world, if no one else is called by our name — since a son doesn't immediately bear his father's name, and there are countless people who share the same name? Or take the idea that children are support for old age — raising them at home, when they might die before you do, or turn out to have twisted character, or at the very least, by the time they reach maturity, you'll seem to them to be dying too late to matter.10 But friends and relatives you've chosen with judgment are better and more reliable heirs than those you're forced to have, whether you want them or not. Even if an inheritance is secure, it's better to use your resources well while you're alive than to leave behind what you've gained through your own labor for purposes you can't predict. Theophrastus himself, discussing these and similar matters — who wouldn't be moved by the way of life of those Christians whose conversation is in heaven?✦ . . . Cicero too, when asked by Hircius to marry his sister Terentia after divorcing her, refused outright, saying he couldn't be married to a wife and give his attention to philosophy at the same time. .

Classical Examples of Marriage’s Distraction

Cicero refused marriage to devote himself to philosophy, and Gorgias’s domestic quarrels illustrate that even a teacher of harmony could not live peacefully with a wife and maid.

. Gorgias the rhetorician delivered a most beautiful discourse on harmony at Olympia, at a time when the Greeks were at odds with one another. To which Melancius, his enemy, replied: 'This man teaches us about harmony, when he could not bring himself, his wife, and his maid — three people in one house — to live in peace.' For his wife was jealous of the maid's beauty and tormented her most chaste husband with daily quarrels. . . . And so the whole attack on wifely love is set forth in Plato, and Lysias lays out all its drawbacks: that a wife is led not by reason but by passion, and that the heaviest guardian lies in wait most of all for the wife's beauty.

Ancient Voices on the Miseries of Marriage

Socrates, Valerius Maximus, and Ovid all testify that marriage brings regret, anxiety, conflict, and family betrayal, confirming the troubles already described.

This is Jerome. Furthermore, as Valerius Maximus tells it, when Socrates was asked by a young man whether he should take a wife or refrain from marriage altogether, he replied that whichever of the two he did, he would end up regretting it. For on the one side, he says, loneliness will take you in; on the other, bereavement. Here, the destruction of your family line; there, a stranger as your heir. There: constant anxiety, a steady stream of complaints, the reproach of the dowry, the heavy brow of in-laws, a mother-in-law's chattering tongue, the scheming of a rival in someone else's marriage, and the uncertain outcome for your children.1112 So says Valerius. And finally, as Ovid also says in the first book of the Metamorphoses: It threatens — I cast out the husband of a spouse; she, of a husband. . . . The son, before his time, probes into his father's years.

Prophetic Confirmation and Married Chastity’s Limits

Micah’s prophecy of household enmity agrees with these troubles, and while rare married chastity can have great merit, it still falls short of the state of virginity and the spiritual fruitfulness of Jerusalem.

or honors. The prophetic text of Micah 7 lines up with this: 'Against the one who sleeps in your bosom, guard the bars of your mouth, because a son commits outrage against his father, a daughter rises up against her own mother, a daughter-in-law against her own mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are members of his own household.'✦ These are the troubles of married life, which is why many of the wise, as has been said, have fled from marrying. Still, because it's difficult — and therefore rare — to find true chastity within marriage, in certain people, and especially in the ancient fathers before God, it seems comparable to the state or merit of virginity. Hence Augustine, in his book On the Good of Marriage: 'Even if there are perhaps some who are now found who neither seek nor desire anything in marriage except that very thing for which marriages were instituted, they still cannot be made equal to the holy fathers, who were devoted to the work of marriage for the sake of procreation.' For in those who now live, the very desire for children is carnal, whereas in the ancient fathers it was spiritual, because it was fitting to the sacrament of that time. . .

Continence and Marriage in God’s Ordering of Times

Virtues may be hidden or manifest, so continence in John and marriage in Abraham both serve Christ in their proper season, though continence in act is better than continence only in appearance.

And the same vein of love — now spiritual, then carnal — existed for the sake of propagating children through our mother Jerusalem.13 . . And indeed, the virtues of the soul are sometimes evident in action, and sometimes lie hidden in disposition. . . For this reason, just as the merit of patience is not unequal in Peter, who suffered, and in John, who did not suffer, so the merit of continence is not unequal in John, who experienced no marriages, and in Abraham, who begot sons.14 For both the celibacy of the one and the marriage of the other served as soldiers for Christ, for the ordering of different times.15

Comparing Goods, Persons, and Vocations

When comparing persons, the one who possesses the greater good is better, yet in themselves continence is superior to married chastity, even if both can be honorable in their own contexts.

But John practiced continence in actual fact, while Abraham had it in outward appearance only. . . So if we compare the things themselves, there's no question that the chastity of continence is better than married chastity.16 . . But when people compare themselves with one another, the better person is the one who possesses the greater good.17 .

Choosing Lesser Goods Without Great Evil

It is better to enjoy many lesser goods without great evil than one great good joined with great evil, just as a small healthy body is better than a giant body wasted by fever.

. . It's also better to have all good things, even lesser ones, than to have one great good along with a great evil. Even among good bodies, it's better to have the stature of Zacchaeus with health than the stature of Goliath with a fever.18 These words of Augustine, and these remarks on the guidance and discipline of young people, should suffice for now.19

Read the original Latin

Porro, si aliquis adholescencium inspiratus a deo uoluerit continere uel eciam religionem ingredi, non debet a parentibus prohiberi, iuxta illud salomonis in prouerb. iii: ‘Noli prohibere bene facere eum, qui potest: si uales, et ipse bene fac.’ ut enim ait apostolus in Ia ad corinthios vii: ‘bonum est homini mulierem non tangere,’ et paulo post, ‘volo autem,’ inquit, ‘omnes homines, sicut me ipsum esse,’ sc. uirgines. Sed forte obiciet aliquis, sicut refert ieronimus libro i contra iouinianum: ‘Si omnes,’ inquit, ‘uirgines fuerint, quomodo stabit genus humanum?’ At inquam, ‘noli metuere, ne omnes fiant uirgines, quia res difficilis est uirginitas et ideo rara. Si omnes esse uirgines possent, nunquam dominus diceret, qui potest capere, capiat.’ hec ieronimus.

Illis ergo, qui conmode ualent et uolunt continere, non expedit nubere, sed pocius sic permanere, iuxta illud apostoli, ubi supra: ‘bonum est illis, si sic permanserint sicut et ego.’ Et hoc propter duo, videl. propter gloriam uirginitatis et propter incommoda uite coniugalis. virginitas enim meriti et premij magnam prerogatiuam non solum habet nunc in nouo testamento, sed etiam habuit quondam in ueteri iam humano genere multiplicato. unde ieronimus ad eustachium: ‘Olim,’ inquit, ‘benediccio sola liberorum erat . . . cum adhuc orbis uacuus esset, .

. . paulatim uero segete increscente messor immissus est. Itaque uirgo fuit helyas, uirgo helyseus, uirgines quoque multi filij prophetarum . . . Jeremias eciam propinqua captiuitate uxorem prohibetur accipere . .

. Id ipsum et aliis uerbis loquitur apostolus dicens: “ . . . Tempus breue est; reliquum est, ut hij qui habent uxores sint tanquam non habentes.” ’ Hec ieronimus. Sic ioseph et beata uirgo se habuerunt, qui licet matrimonio coniuncti tamen uirgines pariter permanserunt. unde idem ieronimus contra heluidium: ‘Tu,’ inquit, ‘mariam dicis uirginem non permansisse, ego michi plus uendico etiam ioseph uirginem per mariam fuisse, ut ex uirginali coniugio nasceretur filius uirgo .

. . Et cum maria uirgo permansit, qui domini pater appellari meruit.’ hec ieronimus. Johannem quoque pre ceteris apostolis dilectum uolentem nubere dominus uocauit de nupciis, ut ipsum uirginem uirgo sequeretur ac prerogatiuam acciperet in premio uirginitatis. De qua, sc. prerogatiua, plenius dicetur infra. Porro incommoda nupciarum multa sunt et a multis bonis impediunt.

primo quidem a seruicio dei propter sollicitudinem seculi, iuxta illud apostoli Ia ad corinthios vii: ‘Qui sine uxore est, sollicitus est, que sunt domini, quomodo placeat deo. Qui autem cum uxore est, solicitus est, que sunt mundi, et diuisus est.’ Propter hoc etiam in occidentali ecclesia ministri in sacris ordinibus constituti prohibentur nubere, ut dei seruicio libere possint uacare. De hinc etiam impedit a studio sapiencie, propter quod et antiqui philosophi maluerunt continere quam nubere. unde ieronimus contra iouinianum: ‘Epycurus etiam,’ inquit, ‘uoluptatis assertor . . . raro dicit sapientibus ineunda esse coniugia, quia multa nupciis admixta sunt incommoda .

. . Graue quoque esse uiro sapienti uenire in dubium, utrum bonam an malam ducturus sit.’ Fertur et aureolus theofrasti liber de nupciis, in quo querit, ‘an uiro sapienti uxor ducenda sit. Et cum definisset, si pulcra esset, si bene morata, si honestis parentibus, si ipse quoque sanus ac diues sit, sapientem aliquando matrimonium inire statim intulit. hec raro in nupciis uniuersa concordare. Non est igitur,’ inquit, ‘uxor ducenda sapienti. Primum enim ex hoc patet impediri studia philosophie, nec posse quemquam libris et uxori pariter inseruire.

Multa etiam posse, que matronarum usibus necessaria sunt, aurum uidel. , gemme, variaque suppellex ac preciosas vestes. Deinde per totas noctes contra uirum garrule questiones. “Illa,” inquit, “in publicum procedit ornacior, hec honoratur ab omnibus, ego in conuentu feminarum misella despicior. Cur aspiciebas uicinam, quid cum ancillula loquebaris, de foro ueniens quid attulisti? . . .

” denique alterius amorem suum odium suspicatur . . . Attendenda est semper eius facies et pulcritudo laudanda, ne si alteram aspexeris, se exstimet displicere. vocanda est domina, celebrandus natalis eius, iurandum per salutem illius et ut sit superstes, orandum. Honoranda nutrix eius et gerula, seruus paternus et alunpnus et formosus assecla et procurator calamistratus . . .

sub quibus nominibus adulteri delitescunt . . . Si totam ei domum commiseris, seruiendum est. Si aliquid arbitrio tuo reseruaueris, fidem sibi haberi non putabit et in odium uertetur ac iurgia, et nisi cito consulueris, anus uenena parabit. Aurifices . . .

et institores . . . sericarum uestium si intromiseris, periculum est pudicicie, si uero prohibueris, iniuria suspicionis. verum quid prodest etiam diligens custodia, cum uxor seruari impudica non possit, pudica non debeatur? Infida enim custos est castitatis necessitas et illa uere pudica dicenda est, cui licuit peccare . . .

sed noluit; pulcra cito adamatur, feda facile concupiscit. Difficile custoditur, quod plures amant. Molestum est possidere, quod nemo habere dignetur. Minore tamen miseria deformis habetur quam formosa seruatur. Nichil tutum est, in quo tocius populi uota suspirant. Alius forma, alius ingenio, alius fascenninis, alius liberalitate solicitat. Aliquo modo . .

. expugnatur, quod undique lacessitur. Quod si propter dispensacionem domus et languoris solacia et fugam solitudinis ducuntur uxores, multo melius seruus fidelis dispensat obediens auctoritati domini et disposicioni eius obtemperans quam uxor, que in eo se exstimat dominam, si aduersus uiri faciat uoluntatem, id est quod placet, non quod iubetur. Assidere autem egrotanti magis possunt amici uernule beneficiis obligati quam illa, que nobis imputet lacrimas suas et hereditatis spe uendat ingluuiem et sollicitudinem iactans languentis animum . . . conturbet. Quod si languerit, coegrotandum est et nunquam ab eius lectulo recedendum.

Aut si bona fuerit et suauis uxor, que tamen rara auis est, cum parturiente gemimus, cum periclitante torquemur. Sapiens autem nunquam solus esse potest, habet enim secum omnes, quicunque sunt, quicunque fuerunt boni et animum eorum, quoconque uult, transfert . . . Nunquam minus solus erit quam cum solus fuerit. Porro causa liberorum uxorem ducere, ut uel nomen nostrum non intereat uel habeamus senectutis presidia et certis utamur heredibus, stolidissimum est. Quid enim ad nos pertinet recedentes e mundo, si nomine nostro alius non uocetur, cum et filius non statim patris uocabulum referat et innumerabiles sint qui eodem appellantur nomine? Aut que senectutis auxilia sunt nutrire domi, qui aut prior te forte moriatur aut peruersis moribus sit aut certe cum ad maturam etatem uenerit, tarde ei uidearis mori?

Heredes autem meliores et cerciores sunt amici et propinqui, quos iudicio eligas quam quos uelis nolis, habere cogaris. Licet certa hereditas sit, melius est, dum uiuis, bene uti substancia tua quam tuo labore quesita in incertos usus relinquere. Hec et huiusmodi theofrastus disserens quem non suffundat christianorum, quorum conuersacio in celis est? . . . Cicero quoque rogatus ab hircio, ut post repudium terencie sororem eius duceret, omnino facere supersedit, dicens se uxori non posse et philosophie pariter operam dare . .

. Gorgyas rethor librum pulcherrimum de concordia grecis tunc inter se dissidentibus recitauit olympie. Cui melancius inimicus eius, “hic nobis,” inquit, “de concordia precipit, qui se et uxorem et ancillulam tres in una domo concordare non potuit.” Emulabatur quippe uxor eius ancille pulcritudinem et castissimum uirum cotidianum iurgiis exagitabat. . . . Tota denique amoris uxorie insectacio apud platonem posita est et omnia eius incommoda lysias explicat, quod non iudicio sed furore ducatur uxor et maxime uxoris pulcritudini grauissimus accubet custos.’

hec Jeronimus. Porro, sicut refert valerius maximus, ‘socrates ab adholescentulo consultus, utrum uxorem duceret, an ab omni matrimonio se abstineret, respondit, utrumlibet horum fecisset, ipsum penitenciam acturum. “Nam hinc te,” inquit, “solitudo, ibi te orbitas excipiet, hinc generis interitus, illic heres alienus. Illic perpetua sollicitudo, contextus querelarum dotis exprobacio, affinium graue supercilium, garrula socrus lingua, subsessor alieni matrimonij, incertus liberorum euentus.” ’ Hec valerius. Denique, sicut dicit et ouidius in libro methamorphoseos i:

iminet exicio uir coniugis illa mariti. . . . filius ante diem patrios inquirit in annos

uel honores. Cui consonat illud propheticum michee vii: ‘ab ea, que dormit in sinu tuo, custodi claustra oris tui, quia filius contumeliam facit patri, filia consurgit aduersus matrem suam, nurus contra socrum suam et inimici hominis domestici eius.’ Hec de incommodis coniugalis uite, propter que multi sapientum, ut dictum est, refugerunt nubere. verumptamen, quia difficilis et ideo rara est sinceritas pudicicie coniugalis, in quibusdam et maxime in antiquis patribus apud deum uidetur equiparari statui uel merito uirginitatis. unde augustinus in libro de bono coniugali: ‘Illi,’ inquit, ‘eciam si qui forte nunc inueniuntur, qui non in connubio querunt nec appetunt nisi tantum id propter quod nupcie institute sunt, coequari sanctis patribus non possunt, qui operi nupciali ad propagacionem intenti sunt. In istis enim, qui nunc sunt, carnale est ipsum desiderium filiorum, in illis autem spirituale erat, quia sacramento illius temporis congruebat . . .

Eademque uena caritatis nunc spiritualiter et tunc carnaliter propter matrem nostram ierusalem erant filij propagandi . . . et uirtutes quidem animi aliquando in opere patent, aliquando in habitu latent . . . Quocirca, sicut non est impar meritum paciencie in petro, qui passus est, et in iohanne, qui passus non fuit, sic non est impar continencie in iohanne meritum, qui nullas expertus est nupcias et in abraham, qui filios generauit. siquidem et istius celibatus et illius connubium christo militauerunt pro distributione temporum.

Sed continenciam iohannes in opere tenebat, abraham uero in solo habitu habebat . . . Res igitur ipsas si conparemus, nullo modo dubitandum est continencie castitatem esse meliorem quam castitatem nupcialem . . . homines uero cum inter se conparamus, ille melior est, qui bonum amplius habet quam alius. .

. . Melius est eciam omnia bona uel minora tenere quam magnum bonum cum magno malo habere. Nam et in bonis corporibus melius est habere staturam zachei cum sanitate quam staturam golie cum febre.’ hec augustinus et hec ad presens de adholescencium regimine ac disciplina sufficiant.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Cor.7.8 — Now to the unmarried and to the widows I say: it is good for them if they remain as I am.
  2. ↩Matt.9.37-Matt.9.38 — Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Matt.9.38 — Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
  3. ↩Jer.16.2 — You shall not take a wife, and there shall not be sons or daughters for you in this place.
  4. ↩1Cor.7.29 — This I say, brothers: the time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they do not,
  5. ↩1Cor.7.29 — This I say, brothers: the time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they do not,
  6. ↩1Cor.7.32 — I want you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
  7. ↩1Cor.7.33 — but the one who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how he might please his wife,
  8. ↩1Cor.7.32-1Cor.7.33 — I want you to be free from anxiety. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. 1Cor.7.33 — but the one who is married is anxious about the things of the world, how he might please his wife,
  9. ↩Phil.3.20 — For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
  10. ↩Mic.7.6 — For a son treats his father with contempt, a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Quotation of 1 Corinthians 7:29 (Vulg. tempus breviatum est). The clause ut…sint is rendered as a result clause matching the Pauline sense.
  2. 2 ↩Jerome's argumentum a fortiori: if Mary remained a virgin, Joseph's virginity through Mary is the stronger claim (plus uendico). The ut clause is purpose, expressing the divine intention behind the virginal marriage.
  3. 3 ↩'sc.' is an abbreviation expanded here as 'scilicet' (namely); the sentence is a fragmentary editorial cross-reference.
  4. 4 ↩aureolus rendered as 'golden' in the sense of 'celebrated/gilt,' functioning as a title epithet for Theophrastus's work.
  5. 5 ↩definisset: lemma uncertain, rendered as 'had laid out' to convey the sense of setting forth conditions.
  6. 6 ↩morata: lemma uncertain, rendered as 'of good character' based on context of moral qualities in a prospective wife.
  7. 7 ↩debeatur rendered as 'shouldn't need to be' to capture the gerundive force: the chaste woman is not 'owed' compulsory guarding.
  8. 8 ↩fascenninis is a rare/medieval form; rendered as 'witticisms' following the candidate gloss, but the precise sense (coarse wit? banter?) is uncertain.
  9. 9 ↩animum eorum rendered as 'the spirit of those people' to capture the sense of carrying the inner life/goodness of the virtuous along with oneself; could also be rendered 'their mind' or 'their soul.'
  10. 10 ↩tarde ei uidearis mori rendered literally as 'you'll seem to them to be dying too late' — the sense is that by the time children are grown, the parent's death comes too late to be of real significance or comfort to them.
  11. 11 ↩contextus here likely means 'series' or 'chain' rather than 'context' in the modern sense; rendered as 'steady stream' to capture the cumulative force.
  12. 12 ↩subsessor is a rare term, literally 'one who lies in wait beneath'; rendered as 'scheming of a rival' to convey the sense of a hidden threat to the marriage.
  13. 13 ↩The 'vein of love' (vena caritatis) metaphor likely channels the preceding discussion of marital desire: the same natural impulse (vena) that once drove procreation 'carnally' now operates 'spiritually' within the covenant community ('our mother Jerusalem'). The contrast is between Old Testament fruitfulness and New Testament spiritual fruitfulness, not a rejection of marriage.
  14. 14 ↩The argument is that the virtue (patience, continence) has equal merit whether tested by actual suffering/marriage or by inner disposition alone. Peter and John illustrate patience under vs. without suffering; John and Abraham illustrate continence within vs. outside celibacy.
  15. 15 ↩'For the ordering of different times' (pro distributione temporum) suggests that celibacy and marriage each serve God's purposes in their proper season — not that one is superior in itself, but that each is fitting for its time.
  16. 16 ↩continencie: case uncertain (gen. sg. or nom. pl.); rendered as genitive of description ('of continence') as the most natural reading.
  17. 17 ↩cum: function ambiguous (temporal, causal, or concessive); rendered as temporal ('when') as the most natural reading in context.
  18. 18 ↩Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1–10) was notably short in stature; the contrast here is between smallness-with-health and greatness-with-illness, reinforcing the preceding moral point.
  19. 19 ↩The author attributes the preceding counsel to Augustine; the specific source is not identified here.

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