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On the Apparel of Women

Tertullian

Book 2 · Chapter 7

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter VII.—Of Elaborate Dressing of the Hair in Other Ways, and Its Bearing Upon Salvation.

What service, again, does all the labour spent in

‹ Book 2 · Chapter 6 Book 2 · Chapter 8 ›

arranging

the

hair

render

to

salvation

?

Why

is

no

rest

allowed

to

your

hair

,

which

must

now

be

bound

,

now

loosed

,

now

cultivated

,

now

thinned

out

?

Some

are

anxious

to

force

their

hair

into

curls

,

some

to

let

it

hang

loose

and

flying

;

not

with

good

simplicity

:

beside

which

,

you

affix

I

know

not

what

enormities

of

subtle

and

textile

perukes

;

now

,

after

the

manner

of

a

helmet

of

undressed

hide

,

as

it

were

a

sheath

for

the

head

and

a

covering

for

the

crown

;

now

,

a

mass

(

drawn

)

backward

toward

the

neck

.

The

wonder

is

,

that

there

is

no

(

open

)

contending

against

the

Lord’s

prescripts

!

It

has

been

pronounced

that

no

one

can

add

to

his

own

stature

.

You

,

however

,

do

add

to

your

weight

some

kind

of

rolls

,

or

shield

-

bosses

,

to

be

piled

upon

your

necks

!

If

you

feel

no

shame

at

the

enormity

,

feel

some

at

the

pollution

;

for

fear

you

may

be

fitting

on

a

holy

and

Christian

head

the

slough

of

some

one

else’s

head

,

unclean

perchance

,

guilty

perchance

and

destined

to

hell

.

Nay

,

rather

banish

quite

away

from

your

“

free

”

head

all

this

slavery

of

ornamentation

.

In

vain

do

you

labour

to

seem

adorned

:

in

vain

do

you

call

in

the

aid

of

all

the

most

skilful

manufacturers

of

false

hair

.

God

bids

you

“

be

veiled

.

”

I

believe

(

He

does

so

)

for

fear

the

heads

of

some

should

be

seen

!

And

oh

that

in

“

that

day

”

of

Christian

exultation

,

I

,

most

miserable

(

as

I

am

)

,

may

elevate

my

head

,

even

though

below

(

the

level

of

)

your

heels

!

I

shall

(

then

)

see

whether

you

will

rise

with

(

your

)

ceruse

and

rouge

and

saffron

,

and

in

all

that

parade

of

headgear

:

whether

it

will

be

women

thus

tricked

out

whom

the

angels

carry

up

to

meet

Christ

in

the

air

!

If

these

(

decorations

)

are

now

good

,

and

of

God

,

they

will

then

also

present

themselves

to

the

rising

bodies

,

and

will

recognise

their

several

places

.

But

nothing

can

rise

except

flesh

and

spirit

sole

and

pure

.

Whatever

,

therefore

,

does

not

rise

in

(

the

form

of

)

spirit

and

flesh

is

condemned

,

because

it

is

not

of

God

.

From

things

which

are

condemned

abstain

,

even

at

the

present

day

.

At

the

present

day

let

God

see

you

such

as

He

will

see

you

then

.

Notes

1
Mensuram. See Matt. vi. 27.
2
Exuvias.
3
“Alieni:” perhaps here ="alien,” i.e., “heathen,” as in other places.
4
Gehennæ.
5
Comp. Gal. iv. 31; v. 13.
6
See 1 Cor. xi. 2–16; and comp. de Or., c. xxii., and the treatise de Virg. Vel.
7
Comp. ad Ux., b. ii. c. iii.
8
Ambitu (habitu is a conjectural emendation noticed by Oehler) capitis.
9
See 1 Thess. iv. 13–17.
10
Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 50 with 1 Thess. v. 23.
11
Or, “within the limits of the flesh and the spirit.”