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On the Apparel of Women

Tertullian

Book 2 · Chapter 10

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter X.—Tertullian Refers Again to the Question of the Origin of All These Ornaments and Embellishments.

It was God, no doubt, who showed the way

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to

dye

wools

with

the

juices

of

herbs

and

the

humours

of

conchs

!

It

had

escaped

Him

,

when

He

was

bidding

the

universe

to

come

into

being

,

to

issue

a

command

for

(

the

production

of

)

purple

and

scarlet

sheep

!

It

was

God

,

too

,

who

devised

by

careful

thought

the

manufactures

of

those

very

garments

which

,

light

and

thin

(

in

themselves

)

,

were

to

be

heavy

in

price

alone

;

God

who

produced

such

grand

implements

of

gold

for

confining

or

parting

the

hair

;

God

who

introduced

(

the

fashion

of

)

finely

-

cut

wounds

for

the

ears

,

and

set

so

high

a

value

upon

the

tormenting

of

His

own

work

and

the

tortures

of

innocent

infancy

,

learning

to

suffer

with

its

earliest

breath

,

in

order

that

from

those

scars

of

the

body

—

born

for

the

steel

!

—

should

hang

I

know

not

what

(

precious

)

grains

,

which

,

as

we

may

plainly

see

,

the

Parthians

insert

,

in

place

of

studs

,

upon

their

very

shoes

!

And

yet

even

the

gold

itself

,

the

“

glory

”

of

which

carries

you

away

,

serves

a

certain

race

(

so

Gentile

literature

tells

us

)

for

chains

!

So

true

is

it

that

it

is

not

intrinsic

worth

,

but

rarity

,

which

constitutes

the

goodness

(

of

these

things

)

:

the

excessive

labour

,

moreover

,

of

working

them

with

arts

introduced

by

the

means

of

the

sinful

angels

,

who

were

the

revealers

withal

of

the

material

substances

themselves

,

joined

with

their

rarity

,

excited

their

costliness

,

and

hence

a

lust

on

the

part

of

women

to

possess

(

that

)

costliness

.

But

,

if

the

self

-

same

angels

who

disclosed

both

the

material

substances

of

this

kind

and

their

charms

—

of

gold

,

I

mean

,

and

lustrous

stones

—

and

taught

men

how

to

work

them

,

and

by

and

by

instructed

them

,

among

their

other

(

instructions

)

,

in

(

the

virtues

of

)

eyelid

-

powder

and

the

dyeings

of

fleeces

,

have

been

condemned

by

God

,

as

Enoch

tells

us

,

how

shall

we

please

God

while

we

joy

in

the

things

of

those

(

angels

)

who

,

on

these

accounts

,

have

provoked

the

anger

and

the

vengeance

of

God

?

Now, granting that God did foresee these things; that God permitted them; that Esaias finds fault with no garment of purple, represses no coil, reprobates no crescent-shaped neck ornaments; still let us not, as the Gentiles do, flatter ourselves with thinking that God is merely a Creator, not likewise a Downlooker on His own creatures. For how far more usefully and cautiously shall we act, if we hazard the presumption that all these things were indeed provided at the beginning and placed in the world by God, in order that there should now be means of putting to the proof the discipline of His servants, in order that the licence of using should be the means whereby the experimental trials of continence should be conducted? Do not wise heads of families purposely offer and permit some things to their servants in order to try whether and how they will use the things thus permitted; whether (they will do so) with honesty, or with moderation? But how far more praiseworthy (the servant) who abstains entirely; who has a wholesome fear even of his lord’s indulgence! Thus, therefore, the apostle too: “All things,” says he, “are lawful, but not all are expedient.” How much more easily will he fear what is unlawful who has a reverent dread of what is lawful?

Notes

2
Universa nasci.
3
Veritate.
4
Illustrium.
5
De conchylio.
6
κοσύμβους. Isa. iii. 18 (in LXX.).
7
Lunulas = μηνίσκους, ib.
8
Or, “foreseen.”
9
Sæculo.
10
Or, “slaves.”
11
Timuerit.
12
1 Cor. x. 23.
13
Timebit.
14

Verebitur.