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On the Veiling of Virgins

Tertullian

Chapter 12

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter XII.—Womanhood Self-Evident, and Not to Be Concealed by Just Leaving the Head Bare.

Recognise the woman, ay, recognise the wedded woman,

‹ Chapter 11 Chapter 13 ›

by

the

testimonies

both

of

body

and

of

spirit

,

which

she

experiences

both

in

conscience

and

in

flesh

.

These

are

the

earlier

tablets

of

natural

espousals

and

nuptials

.

Impose

a

veil

externally

upon

her

who

has

(

already

)

a

covering

internally

.

Let

her

whose

lower

parts

are

not

bare

have

her

upper

likewise

covered

.

Would

you

know

what

is

the

authority

which

age

carries

?

Set

before

yourself

each

(

of

these

two

)

;

one

prematurely

compressed

in

woman’s

garb

,

and

one

who

,

though

advanced

in

maturity

,

persists

in

virginity

with

its

appropriate

garb

:

the

former

will

more

easily

be

denied

to

be

a

woman

than

the

latter

believed

a

virgin

.

Such

is

,

then

,

the

honesty

of

age

,

that

there

is

no

overpowering

it

even

by

garb

.

What

of

the

fact

that

these

(

virgins

)

of

ours

confess

their

change

of

age

even

by

their

garb

;

and

,

as

soon

as

they

have

understood

themselves

to

be

women

,

withdraw

themselves

from

virgins

,

laying

aside

(

beginning

with

their

head

itself

)

their

former

selves

:

dye

their

hair

;

and

fasten

their

hair

with

more

wanton

pin

;

professing

manifest

womanhood

with

their

hair

parted

from

the

front

.

The

next

thing

is

,

they

consult

the

looking

-

glass

to

aid

their

beauty

,

and

thin

down

their

over

-

exacting

face

with

washing

,

perhaps

withal

vamp

it

up

with

cosmetics

,

toss

their

mantle

about

them

with

an

air

,

fit

tightly

the

multiform

shoe

,

carry

down

more

ample

appliances

to

the

baths

.

Why

should

I

pursue

particulars

?

But

their

manifest

appliances

alone

exhibit

their

perfect

womanhood

:

yet

they

wish

to

play

the

virgin

by

the

sole

fact

of

leaving

their

head

bare

—

denying

by

one

single

feature

what

they

profess

by

their

entire

deportment

.

Notes

1
Oehler’s “immutare” appears certainly to be a misprint for “immature.”
2
Vertunt: or perhaps “change the style of.” But comp. (with Oehler) de Cult. Fem., l. ii. c. vi.
3
i.e., without appealing to any further proof.