19. I will come now to the passage in which I am accused of saying that--at least according to the true Hebrew text--the words "God saw that it was good" [1173] are not inserted after the second day of the creation, as they are after the first, third, and remaining ones, and of adding immediately the following comment: [1174] "We are meant to understand that there is something not good in the number two, separating us as it does from unity, and prefiguring the marriage-tie. Just as in the account of Noah's ark all the animals that enter by twos are unclean, but those of which an uneven number is taken are clean." [1175] In this statement a passing objection is made to what I have said concerning the second day, whether on the ground that the words mentioned really occur in the passage, although I say that they do not occur, or because, assuming them to occur, I have understood them in a sense different from that which the context evidently requires. As regards the non-occurrence of the words in question (viz., "God saw that it was good"), let them take not my evidence, but that of all the Jewish and other translators--Aquila [1176] namely, Symmachus, [1177] and Theodotion. [1178] But if the words, although occurring in the account of the other days, do not occur in the account of this, either let them give a more plausible reason than I have done for their non-occurrence, or, failing such, let them, whether they like it or not, accept the suggestion which I have made. Furthermore, if in Noah's ark all the animals that enter by twos are unclean, whilst those of which an uneven number is taken are clean, and if there is no dispute about the accuracy of the text, let them explain if they can why it is so written. But if they cannot explain it, then, whether they will or not, they must embrace my explanation of the matter. Either produce better fare and ask me to be your guest, or else rest content with the meal that I offer you, however poor it may be. [1179]
I must now mention the ecclesiastical writers who have dealt with this question of the odd number. They are, among the Greeks, Clement, Hippolytus, Origen, Dionysius, Eusebius, Didymus; and, among ourselves, Tertullian, Cyprian, Victorinus, Lactantius, Hilary. What Cyprian said to Fortunatus about the number seven is clear from the letter which he sent to him. [1180] Or perhaps I ought to bring forward the reasonings of Pythagoras, Archytas of Tarentum, and Publius Scipio in (Cicero's) sixth book "Concerning the Common Weal." If my detractors will not listen to any of these I will make the grammar schools shout in their ears the words of Virgil:
Uneven numbers are the joy of God. [1181]
20. To say, as I have done, that virginity is cleaner than wedlock, that the even numbers must give way to the odd, that the types of the Old Testament establish the truth of the Gospel: this, it appears, is a great sin subversive of the churches and intolerable to the world. The remaining points which are censured in my treatise are, I take it, of less importance, or else resolve themselves into this. I have, therefore, refrained from answering them, both that I may not exceed the limit at my disposal, and that I may not seem to distrust your intelligence, knowing as I do that you are ready to be my champion even before I ask you. With my last breath, then, I protest that neither now nor at any former time have I condemned marriage. I have merely answered an opponent without any fear that they of my own party would lay snares for me. I extol virginity to the skies, not because I myself possess it, but because, not possessing it, I admire it all the more. Surely it is a modest and ingenuous confession to praise in others that which you lack yourself. The weight of my body keeps me fixed to the ground, but do I fail to admire the flying birds or to praise the dove because, in the words of Virgil, [1182] it
Glides on its liquid path with motionless swift wings?
Let no man deceive himself, let no man, giving ear to the voice of flattery, rush upon ruin. The first virginity man derives from his birth, the second from his second birth. [1183] The words are not mine; it is an old saying, "No man can serve two masters;" [1184] that is, the flesh and the spirit. For "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other," so that we cannot do the things that we would. [1185] When, then, anything in my little work seems to you harsh, have regard not to my words, but to the Scripture, whence they are taken.
21. Christ Himself is a virgin; [1186] and His mother is also a virgin; yea, though she is His mother, she is a virgin still. For Jesus has entered in through the closed doors, [1187] and in His sepulchre--a new one hewn out of the hardest rock--no man is laid either before Him or after Him. [1188] Mary is "a garden enclosed...a fountain sealed," [1189] and from that fountain flows, according to Joel, [1190] the river which waters the torrent bed either [1191] of cords or of thorns; [1192] of cords being those of the sins by which we were beforetime bound, [1193] the thorns those which choked the seed the goodman of the house had sown. [1194] She is the east gate, spoken of by the prophet Ezekiel, [1195] always shut and always shining, and either concealing or revealing the Holy of Holies; and through her "the Sun of Righteousness," [1196] our "high priest after the order of Melchizedek," [1197] goes in and out. Let my critics explain to me how Jesus can have entered in through closed doors when He allowed His hands and His side to be handled, and showed that He had bones and flesh, [1198] thus proving that His was a true body and no mere phantom of one, and I will explain how the holy Mary can be at once a mother and a virgin. A mother before she was wedded, she remained a virgin after bearing her son. Therefore, as I was going to say, the virgin Christ and the virgin Mary have dedicated in themselves the first fruits of virginity for both sexes. [1199] The apostles have either been virgins or, though married, have lived celibate lives. Those persons who are chosen to be bishops, priests, and deacons are either virgins or widowers; or at least when once they have received the priesthood, are vowed to perpetual chastity. Why do we delude ourselves and feel vexed if while we are continually straining after sexual indulgence, we find the palm of chastity denied to us? We wish to fare sumptuously, and to enjoy the embraces of our wives, yet at the same time we desire to reign with Christ among virgins and widows. Shall there be but one reward, then, for hunger and for excess, for filth and for finery, for sackcloth and for silk? Lazarus, [1200] in his lifetime, received evil things, and the rich man, clothed in purple, fat and sleek, while he lived enjoyed the good things of the flesh but, now that they are dead, they occupy different positions. Misery has given place to satisfaction, and satisfaction to misery. And it rests with us whether we will follow Lazarus or the rich man.
[1037] Marcus Antonius, a Roman orator spoken of by Cicero. Orator c. 5, De Oratore i. c. 21, 47, 48. His treatise "De ratione dicendi" is lost. See Quintal iii. 1, 192.
[1038] Eccl. vii. 16: see Ag. Jov. i. 14.
[1039] Against Jov. i. 3.
[1040] A Gnostic presbyter of the second century who rejected the Old Testament.
[1041] An Eastern teacher of the third century, a.d., the main feature of whose system was its uncompromising dualism.
[1042] A Syrian rhetorician converted to Christianity by Justin Martyr. He wrote a harmony of the Gospels called Diatessaron.
[1043] I.e. "the abstainers," or "the continent," a Gnostic sect in the second century.
[1044] 1 Tim. iv. 3.
[1045] 2 Tim. ii. 20.
[1046] 1 Cor. iii. 10-12.
[1047] Heb. xiii. 4.
[1048] Gen. i. 28.
[1049] Matt. xiii. 8.
[1050] From this passage compared with Ep. cxxiii. 9, and Bede De Temporum Ratione, c. 1. (De Loquetâ Digitorum), it appears that the number thirty was indicated by joining the tips of the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, sixty was indicated by curling up the forefinger of the same hand and then doubling the thumb over it, while one hundred was expressed by joining the tips of the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. See Prof. Mayor's learned note on Juv. x. 249.
[1051] E.g. Cyprian and Origen (Hom. i. in Jos.).
[1052] Paterfamilias. Vide Cypr. de Hab. Virg. 21.
[1053] Ag. Jov. i. 4.
[1054] 1 Cor. vii. 4.
[1055] Ag. Jov. i. 7.
[1056] Matt. xix. 9.
[1057] 1 Cor. vii. 1.
[1058] Gen. xxxix. 12, 13.
[1059] 1 Cor. vii. 3, R.V.
[1060] Matt. xix. 6.
[1061] 1 Cor. vii. 7.
[1062] Ag. Jov. i. 8.
[1063] 1 Cor. xii. 4.
[1064] 2 Cor. ii. 7.
[1065] 2 Cor. ii. 10.
[1066] A.V. marg.
[1067] 2 Cor. ii. 10.
[1068] Gen. xxxvii. 23.
[1069] Acc. to the Vulgate. In A.V. it is the 45th.
[1070] Ps. xlv. 10, P.B.V.
[1071] 1 Pet. iii. 7; iv. 10.
[1072] 1 Cor. vii. 8-10.
[1073] Ag. Jov. i. 10.
[1074] Rom. vii. 2.
[1075] 1 Cor. vii. 39.
[1076] 1 Cor. vii. 18.
[1077] Ag. Jov. i. 11.
[1078] 1 Cor. vii. 15, R.V.
[1079] 1 Cor. vii. 19.
[1080] Jas. ii. 17.
[1081] Univira.
[1082] 1 Cor. vii. 21.
[1083] 1 Cor. vii. 25.
[1084] Ag. Jov. i. 12.
[1085] 1 Cor. vii. 21.
[1086] Ag. Jov. i. 12.
[1087] Ag. Jov. i. 13.
[1088] 1 Cor. vii. 35.
[1089] Jerome here explains the word aperispastos (A.V. "without distraction") in 1 Cor. vii. 35.
[1090] Eccles. i. 13; iii. 10.
[1091] Ag. Jov. i. 13.
[1092] Ag. Jov. i. 14.
[1093] Nu. xx. 17.
[1094] Eccles. vii. 16.
[1095] Ag. Jov. i. 14.
[1096] 1 Cor. vii. 9.
[1097] 1 Tim. v. 11, 12, R.V.
[1098] 1 Tim. v. 15.
[1099] 1 Cor. vii. 40.
[1100] Ag. Jov. i. 14.
[1101] Ag. Jov. i. 15.
[1102] 1 Cor. vi. 12.
[1103] Eph. v. 23, 24.
[1104] Ag. Jov. i. 9.
[1105] Ag. Jov. i. 23.
[1106] Viduitas vel continentia.
[1107] Ag. Jov. i. 33.
[1108] Ag. Jov. i. 40.
[1109] Rev. xiv. 3.
[1110] Rev. xiv. 4.
[1111] Joh. ii. 1, 2.
[1112] Ag. Jov. i. 40.
[1113] 2 Tim. ii. 20, 21.
[1114] I.e. continence in marriage.
[1115] Virg. A. xi. 374, 5.
[1116] Aliud esse gumnastikos scribere, aliud dogmatikos . The words do not appear to be used in this sense in the extant works of Aristotle.
[1117] Plaut. Aul. ii. 2, 18.
[1118] The reply of Origen to Celsus is still extant; those of Methodius, Eusebius and Apollinaris to Porphyry have perished. Cf. Letter LXX. § 3.
[1119] Two philosophic opponents of Christianity who flourished, the first in the second, the second in the third, century of our era.
[1120] Matt. xiii. 10-17.
[1121] Isa. xxiv. 16, Vulg.
[1122] Ag. Jov. i. 7.
[1123] 1 Cor. vii. 1, 2.
[1124] Ag. Jov. i. 7.
[1125] Eccles. i. 2.
[1126] Gen. i. 31; 1 Tim. iv. 4.
[1127] Col. i. 16. Cf. Milton, P. L. v. 601.
[1128] Ex. iii. 14.
[1129] Esth. xiv. 11.
[1130] Job xviii. 14, 15, Vulg.
[1131] Ag. Jov. i. 7.
[1132] Matt. xiv. 15-21; xv. 32-38. Cf. Joh. vi. 5-13.
[1133] Ps. xxxvi. 7, P.B.V.
[1134] Ag. Jov. i. 3.
[1135] Ag. Jov. i. 40.
[1136] Rev. xiv. 1, 4.
[1137] Ambrose, On Widowhood, xiii. 79; xiii. 81; xi. 69.
[1138] Phil. iii. 14.
[1139] Matt. xv. 32.
[1140] Matt. xxvi. 26, 29.
[1141] Gen. iii. 16.
[1142] 1 Cor. vi. 20; vii. 23.
[1143] Cf. Eph. vi. 6.
[1144] Ter. Andria Prol. 20, 21.
[1145] Ag. Jov. i. 7.
[1146] 1 Th. v. 17.
[1147] 1 Cor. vii. 5.
[1148] 1 Pet. iii. 7.
[1149] Ag. Jov. i. 20.
[1150] 1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5.
[1151] Ex. xix. 15.
[1152] Rom. xiv. 5.
[1153] Pers. ii. 16.
[1154] That what is now known as reservation of the elements was practised in the early church there is abundant evidence to show. Justin Martyr (Apol. I. 65) writes: "The deacons communicate each of those present and carry away to the absent of the blest bread and wine and water." And those to whom the eucharist was thus taken were not bound to consume it immediately, or all at once, but might reserve a part or all for future occasions. According to Basil (Ep. 93), "in Egypt the laity for the most part had every one the communion in their own houses"--and "all those who dwell alone in the desert, when there is no priest, keep the communion at home and receive it at their own hands." So Jerome speaks (Letter CXXV. 20) of Exuperius as "carrying the Lord's body in a wicker basket, His blood in a vessel of glass." See the article "Reservation" in Smith and Cheetham's Dict. of Christian Antiquities.