Church Fathers: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06: 26.02.14 Against Jovinianus Bk 1 Pt 6

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Church Fathers: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06: 26.02.14 Against Jovinianus Bk 1 Pt 6



TOPIC: Post-Nicene Fathers Vol 06 (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 26.02.14 Against Jovinianus Bk 1 Pt 6

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48. When Theophrastus thus discourses, are there any of us, Christians, whose conversation is in heaven and who daily sayhyperlink "I long to be dissolved, and to be with Christ," whom he does not put to the blush? Shall a joint-heir of Christ really long for human heirs? And shall he desire children and delight himself in a long line of descendants, who will perhaps fall into the clutches of Antichrist, when we read thathyperlink Moses andhyperlink Samuel preferred other men to their own sons, and did not count as their children those whom they saw to be displeasing to God? When Cicero afterhyperlink divorcing Terentia was requested byhyperlink Hirtius to marry his sister, hehyperlink set the matter altogether on one side, and said that he could not possibly devote himself to a wife and to philosophy. Meanwhile that excellent partner, who had herself drunk wisdom at Tully's fountains, marriedhyperlink Sallust his enemy, and took for her third husband Messala Corvinus, and thus, as it were, passed through three degrees of eloquence. Socrates had two wives, Xantippe and Myron, grand-daughter of Aristides. They frequently quarrelled, and he was accustomed to banter them for disagreeing about him, he being the ugliest of men, with snub nose, bald forehead, rough-haired, and bandy-legged. At last they planned an attack upon him, and having punished him severely, and put him to flight, vexed him for a long time. On one occasion when he opposed Xantippe; who from above was heaping abuse upon him, the termagant soused him with dirty water, but he only wiped his head and said, "I knew that a shower must follow such thunder as that."hyperlink Metella, consort of L. Sulla thehyperlink Fortunate (except in the matter of his wife) washyperlink openly unchaste. It was the common talk of Athens, as I learnt in my youthful years when we soon pick up what is bad, and yet Sulla was in the dark, and first got to know the secrets of his household through the abuse of his enemies. Cn. Pompey had an impure wifehyperlink Mucia, who was surrounded by eunuchs from Pontus and troops of the countrymen of Mithridates. Others thought that he knew all and submitted to it; but a comrade told him during the campaign, and the conqueror of the whole world was dismayed at the sad intelligence.hyperlink M. Cato, the Censor, had a wife Actoria Paula, a woman of low origin, fond of drink, violent, and (who would believe it?) haughty to Cato. I say this for fear anyone may suppose that in marrying a poor woman he has secured peace. Whenhyperlink Philip king of Macedon, against whomhyperlink Demosthenes thundered in his Philippics, was entering his bed-room as usual, his wife in a passion shut him out. Finding himself excluded he held his tongue, and consoled himself for the insult by reading a tragic poem.hyperlink Gorgias the Rhetorician recited his excellent treatise on Concord to the Greeks, then at variance among themselves, at Olympia. Whereuponhyperlink Melanthius his enemy observed: "Here is a man who teaches us concord, and yet could not make concord between himself his wife, and maid-servant, three persons in one house." The truth was that his wife envied the beauty of the girl, and drove the purest of men wild with daily quarrels. Whole tragedies of Euripides are censures on women. Hence Hermione says,hyperlink "The counsels of evil women have beguiled me." In the semi-barbarous and remote cityhyperlink Leptis it is the custom for a daughter-in-law onhyperlink the second day to beg the loan of a jar from her mother-in-law. The latter at once denies the request, and we see how true was the remark ofhyperlink Terence, ambiguously expressed on purpose-"How is this? do all mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law?" We read of a certain Roman noble who, when his friends found fault with him for having divorced a wife, beautiful, chaste, and rich, put out his foot and said to them, "And the shoe before you looks new and elegant, yet no one but myself knows where it pinches." Herodotushyperlink tells us that a woman puts off her modesty with her clothes. And our own comic poethyperlink thinks the man fortunate who has never been married. Why should I refer to Pasiphaë,hyperlink Clytemnestra, and Eriphyle, the first of whom, the wife of a king and swimming in pleasure, is said to have lusted for a bull, the second to have killed her: husband for the sake of an adulterer, the third to have betrayed Amphiaraus, and to have preferred a gold necklace to the welfare of her husband. In all the bombast of tragedy and the overthrow of houses, cities, and kingdoms, it is the wives and concubines who stir up strife. Parents take up arms against their children: unspeakable banquets are served: and on account of the rape of one wretched woman Europe and Asia are involved in a ten years' war. We read of some who were divorced the day after they were married, and immediately married again. Both husbands are to blame, both he who was so soon dissatisfied, and he who was so soon pleased. Epicurus the patron of pleasure (thoughhyperlink Metrodorus his disciple married Leontia) says that a wise man can seldom marry, because marriage has many drawbacks. And as riches, honours, bodily health, and other things which we call indifferent, are neither good nor bad, but stand as it were midway, and become good and bad according to the use and issue, so wives stand on the border line of good and ill. It is, moreover, a serious matter for a wise man to be in doubt whether he is going to marry a good or a bad woman.hyperlink Chrysippus ridiculously maintains that a wise man should marry, that he may not outrage Jupiterhyperlink Gamelius and Genethlius. For upon that principle the Latins would not marry at all, since they have no Jupiter who presides over marriage. But if, as he thinks, the life of men is determined by the names of gods, whoever chooses to sit will offend Jupiterhyperlink Stator.

49. Aristotle and Plutarch and our Seneca have written treatises on matrimony, out of which we have already made some extracts and now add a few more. "The love of beauty is the forgetting of reason and the near neighbour of madness; a foul blot little in keeping with a sound mind. It confuses counsel, breaks high and generous spirits, draws away men from great thoughts to mean ones; it makes men querulous, ill-tempered, foolhardy, cruelly imperious, servile flatterers, good for nothing, at last not even for love itself. For although in the intensity of passion it burns like a raging fire, it wastes much time through suspicions, tears, and complaints: it begets hatred of itself, and at last hates itself." The course of love is laid bare in Plato's Phaedrus from beginning to end, and Lysias explains all its drawbacks-how it is led not by reason, but by frenzy, and in particular is a harsh gaoler over lovely wives. Seneca, too, relates that he knew an accomplished man who before going out used to tie his wife's garter upon his breast, and could not bear to be absent from her for a quarter of an hour; and this pair would never take a drink unless husband and wife alternately put their lips to the cup; and they did other things just as absurd in the extravagant outbursts of their warm but blind affection. Their love was of honourable birth, but it grew out of all proportion. And it makes no difference how honourable may be the cause of a man's insanity. Hencehyperlink Xystus in his Sentences tells us that "He who too ardently loves his own wife is an adulterer." It is disgraceful to love another man's wife at all, or one's own too much. A wise man ought to love his wife with judgment, not with passion. Let a man govern his voluptuous impulses. and not rush headlong into intercourse. There is nothing blacker than to love a wife as if she were an adulteress. Men who say they have contracted marriage and are bringing up children, for the good of their country and of the race, should at least imitate the brutes, and not destroy their offspring in the womb; nor should they appear in the character of lovers, but of husbands. In some cases marriage has grown out of adultery: and, shameful to relate! men have tried to teach their wives chastity after having taken their chastity away. Marriages of that sort are quickly dissolved when lust is satiated. The first allurement gone, the charm is lost. What shall I say, says Seneca, of the poor men who in numbers are bribed to take the name of husband in order to evade the laws promulgated against bachelors? How can he who is married under such conditions be a guide to morality, teach chastity, and maintain the authority of a husband? It is the saying of a very learned man, that chastity must be preserved at all costs, and that when it is lost all virtue falls to the ground. This holds the primacy of all virtues in woman. This it is that makes up for a wife's poverty, enhances her riches, redeems her deformity, gives grace to her beauty; it makes her act in a way worthy of her forefathers whose blood it does not taint with bastard offspring; of her children, who through it have no need to blush for their mother, or to be in doubt about their father; and above all, of herself, since it defends her from external violation. There is no greater calamity connected with captivity than to be the victim of another's lust. The consulship sheds lustre upon men; eloquence gives eternal renown; military glory and a triumph immortalise an obscure family. Many are the spheres ennobled by splendid ability. The virtue of woman is, in a special sense, purity. It was this that madehyperlink Lucretia the equal of Brutus, if it did not make her his superior, since Brutus learnt from a woman the impossibility of being a slave. It was this that madehyperlink Cornelia a fit match for Gracchus, andhyperlink Porcia for a second Brutus.hyperlink Tanaquil is better known than her husband. His name, like the names of many other kings, is lost in the mists of antiquity. She, through a virtue rare among women, is too deeply rooted in the hearts of all ages for her memory ever to perish. Let my married sisters copy the examples ofhyperlink Theano,hyperlink Cleobuline, Gorgente,hyperlink Timoclia, thehyperlink Claudias and Cornelias; and when they find the Apostle conceding second marriage to depraved women, they will read that before the light of our religion shone upon the world wives of one husband ever held high rank among matrons, that by their hands the sacred rites of Fortunahyperlink Muliebris were performed, that a priest orhyperlink Flamen twicehyperlink married was unknown, that the high-priests of Athens to this dayhyperlink emasculate themselves by drinking hemlock, and once they have been drawn in to the pontificate, cease to be men.



Footnotes



359 We hear very little of the two sons of Moses, Getshorn and Eliezer. See Ex. iv. 20, Ex. xviii. 3, 1 Chron. xxiii. 14. Their promotion is nowhere recorded, and Moses appointed a person of another tribe to be his successor.



360 See 1 Sam. viii. 1-4 and ch. 1 Sam. ix.



361 b.c. 46. "What grounds for displeasure she had given him besides her alleged extravagance it is hard to say. His letters to her during the previous year had been short and rather cold." Watson, Select Letters of Cicero. third ed. p. 397.



362 Hirtius was the friend personal and political of Julius Caesar, and during Caesar's absence in Africa he lived principally at his Tusculan estate which adjoined Cicero's villa. Hirtius and Cicero though opposed to each other in politics were on good terms, and the former is said to have received lessons in oratory from the latter.



363 But not long after divorcing Terentia he married Publilia, a young girl of whose property he had the management, in order to relieve himself from pecuniary difficulties. She seems to have received little affection from her husband. Watson, p. 397.



364 This statement is without authority. See Long's Article on Sallust in Smith's Dict. of Classical Biography.



365 Caecilia Metella, the third of Sulla's five wives, had previously been married to M. Aemilius Scaurus, consul b.c. 115. She fell ill during the celebration of Sulla's triumph on account of his victory over Mithridates in 81; and as her recovery was hopeless, Sulla for religious reasons divorced her. She soon afterwards died, and Sulla honoured her memory with a splendid funeral.



366 The famous dictator claimed the name Felix for himself in a speech which he delivered to the people at the close of the celebration of his triumph, because he attributed his success in life to the favour of the gods.



367 But Sulla's youth and manhood were disgraced by the most sensual vices. He was indebted for a considerable portion of his wealth to a courtesan Nicopolis, and his death in b.c. 78 at the age of 60 was hastened by his dissolute mode of life.



368 Pompey, like Sulla, was married five times. Mucia, his third wife, daughter of Q. Mucius Scaevola, the augur, consul b.c. 95, was divorced by Pompey in 62, and afterwards married M. Aemilius Scaurus, son of the consul by Caecilia and thus stepson of Sulla.



369 Born b.c. 234. died b.c. 149. He was the great-grandfather of Cato of Utica.



370 b.c. 382-336.



371 b.c. 385-322.



372 Born about b.c. 480 at Leontini in Sicily. He is said to have lived 105, or even 109 years. He was held in high esteem at Athens, where he had numerous distinguished pupils and imitators.



373 An Athenian tragic poet, celebrated for his wit.



374 See the Andromache.



375 There were two cities of this name, Leptis Magna and Parva, in N. Africa.



376 Or "on another day," that is, than the marriage day implied in the context.



377 Terence Hecyra II. i. 4.



378 Bk I. ch 8. "Candaules addressed Gyges as follows: `Gyges, as I think you do not believe me when I speak of my wife's beauty (for the ears of men are naturally more incredulous than their eyes), you must contrive to see her naked.


0' But he, exclaiming loudly, answered: `Sire, what a snocking proposal do you make, bidding me behold my queen naked! With her clothes a woman puts off her modesty,


0'" etc.



379 Perhaps Terence, Phormio I, iii. 21.



380 For these legends, see Classical Dict.



381 The most distinguished disciple and the intimate friend of Epicurus. His philosophy appears to have been of a more sensual kind than that of his master. He made perfect happiness to consist in having a well-constituted body. He died b.c. 277 in the 53rd year of his age, 7 years before Epicurus.



382 Chrysippus (b.c. 280-207) the Stoic philosopher, born at Soli in Cilicia. He opposed the prevailing scepticism and maintained the possibility of attaining certain knowledge. It was said of him "that if Chrysippus had not existed the Porch (i.e., Stoicism) could not have been." He is reported to have seldom written less than 500 lines a-day, and to have left behind him 705 works.



383 That is Zeus, regarded as presiding over marriages and the tutelary god of races or families.



384 Literally, "Jupiter who causes to stand": hence Jerome's play upon the word. Jupiter Stator was the god regarded as supporting, preserving, etc. Cic., Cat. I. 13, 31-"quem (sc. Jovem) statorem hujus urbis atque imperil vere nominamus."



385 The greater number of manuscripts read Sextus, an alternative name for the same person. Jerome in his version of the Chronicon of Eusebius speaks of "Xystus a Pythagorean philosopher" who flourished at the time of Christ's birth; but there is great difficulty in establishing the identity of the author of the "Sentences." See also the Prolegomena to Rufinus who translated the Sentences of Xystus, in Vol. III. of this Series.



386 See note above, p. 382.



387 Daughter of P. Scipio Africanus, and wife of Ti. Sempronius Gracchus, censor b.c. 169. The people erected a statue to her with the inscription "Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi."



388 See note p. 376.



389 Wife of Tarquinius Priscus.



390 Theano was the most celebrated of the female philosophers of the Pythagorean school. According to some authorities she was the wife of Pythagoras.



391 Cleobuline, or Cleobule, was celebrated for her riddles in hexameter verse. One on the subject of the year runs thus-"A father has 12 children, and each of these 30 daughters, on one side white, and on the other side black, and though immortal they all die."



392 Timoclia was a woman of Thebes, whose house at the capture of the city in b.c. 335 was broken into and pillaged by the soldiery. She was herself violated by the commander, whom she afterwards contrived to push into a well.



393 A vestal virgin who proved her innocence of the unchastity imputed to her by setting free a stranded ship with her girdle.



394 The epithet is said to have been given to the goddess at the time when Coriolanus was prevented by the entreaties of the women from destroying Rome.



395 The name for any Korean priest devoted to the service of one particular god. He took his distinguishing title from the deity to whom he ministered, e.g. Flamen Martialis.



396 Comp. Tertullian De Monogamia, last chapter-"Fortunae, inquit, muliebri coronam non imponit, nisi univira ...Pontifex Maximus et Flaminica (the wife of a Flamen) nubunt semel."



397 See Origen, Contra Celsum, Bk. VII. The water hemlock, or cowbane, is the variety referred to.