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On the Apparel of Women

Tertullian

Book 1 · Chapter 1

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Author: Tertullian

II. On the Apparel of Women.

Chapter I.—Introduction. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman.

If there dwelt upon earth a faith as great as

Book 1 · Chapter 2 ›

is

the

reward

of

faith

which

is

expected

in

the

heavens

,

no

one

of

you

at

all

,

best

beloved

sisters

,

from

the

time

that

she

had

first

“

known

the

Lord

,

”

and

learned

(

the

truth

)

concerning

her

own

(

that

is

,

woman’s

)

condition

,

would

have

desired

too

gladsome

(

not

to

say

too

ostentatious

)

a

style

of

dress

;

so

as

not

rather

to

go

about

in

humble

garb

,

and

rather

to

affect

meanness

of

appearance

,

walking

about

as

Eve

mourning

and

repentant

,

in

order

that

by

every

garb

of

penitence

she

might

the

more

fully

expiate

that

which

she

derives

from

Eve

,

—

the

ignominy

,

I

mean

,

of

the

first

sin

,

and

the

odium

(

attaching

to

her

as

the

cause

)

of

human

perdition

.

“

In

pains

and

in

anxieties

dost

thou

bear

(

children

)

,

woman

;

and

toward

thine

husband

(

is

)

thy

inclination

,

and

he

lords

it

over

thee

.

”

And

do

you

not

know

that

you

are

(

each

)

an

Eve

?

The

sentence

of

God

on

this

sex

of

yours

lives

in

this

age

:

the

guilt

must

of

necessity

live

too

.

You

are

the

devil’s

gateway

:

you

are

the

unsealer

of

that

(

forbidden

)

tree

:

you

are

the

first

deserter

of

the

divine

law

:

you

are

she

who

persuaded

him

whom

the

devil

was

not

valiant

enough

to

attack

.

You

destroyed

so

easily

God’s

image

,

man

.

On

account

of

your

desert

—

that

is

,

death

—

even

the

Son

of

God

had

to

die

.

And

do

you

think

about

adorning

yourself

over

and

above

your

tunics

of

skins

?

Come

,

now

;

if

from

the

beginning

of

the

world

the

Milesians

sheared

sheep

,

and

the

Serians

spun

trees

,

and

the

Tyrians

dyed

,

and

the

Phrygians

embroidered

with

the

needle

,

and

the

Babylonians

with

the

loom

,

and

pearls

gleamed

,

and

onyx

-

stones

flashed

;

if

gold

itself

also

had

already

issued

,

with

the

cupidity

(

which

accompanies

it

)

,

from

the

ground

;

if

the

mirror

,

too

,

already

had

licence

to

lie

so

largely

,

Eve

,

expelled

from

paradise

,

(

Eve

)

already

dead

,

would

also

have

coveted

these

things

,

I

imagine

!

No

more

,

then

,

ought

she

now

to

crave

,

or

be

acquainted

with

(

if

she

desires

to

live

again

)

,

what

,

when

she

was

living

,

she

had

neither

had

nor

known

.

Accordingly

these

things

are

all

the

baggage

of

woman

in

her

condemned

and

dead

state

,

instituted

as

if

to

swell

the

pomp

of

her

funeral

.

Notes

2
Comp. Heb. viii. 11; Jer. xxxi. 34 (in the LXX. it is xxxviii. 34).
3
Satisfactionis.
4
Comp. Gen. iii. 16, in Eng. ver. and in LXX.
5
Sæculo.
6
Resignatrix. Comp. the phrase “a fountain sealed” in Cant. iv. 12.
7
“Suasisti” is the reading of the mss.; “persuasisti,” a conjectural emendation adopted by Rig.
8
See Gen. iii. 21.
9
Rerum.
10
i.e., Chinese.