Tertullian
on the sins of Eve and The book of Enoch
Book I.
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 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,"1
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 penitence2
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."3
And do you not know that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence
of God on this sex of yours lives in this age:4
the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's
gateway: you are the unsealer5
of that (forbidden) tree: you are the first deserter
of the divine law: you are she who persuaded6
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?7
Come, now; if from the beginning of the world8
the Milesians sheared sheep, and the Serians9
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.
Chapter II.-The Origin of Female Ornamentation, Traced
Back to the Angels Who Had Fallen. (This
is all quoted from the book of Enoch)
For they, withal,
who instituted them are assigned, under condemnation, to the
penalty of death,-those angels, to wit, who rushed from heaven
on the daughters of men; so that this ignominy also attaches
to woman. For when to an age11
much more ignorant (than ours) they had disclosed certain well-concealed
material substances, and several not well-revealed scientific
arts-if it is true that they had laid bare the operations of
metallurgy, and had divulged the natural properties of herbs,
and had promulgated the powers of enchantments, and had traced
out every curious art,12
even to the interpretation of the stars-they conferred properly
and as it were peculiarly upon women that instrumental mean
of womanly ostentation, the radiances of jewels wherewith necklaces
are variegated, and the circlets of gold wherewith the arms
are compressed, and the medicaments of orchil with which wools
are coloured, and that black powder itself wherewith the eyelids
and eyelashes are made prominent.13
What is the quality of these things may be declared meantime,
even at this point,14
from the quality and condition of their teachers: in that sinners
could never have either shown or supplied anything conducive
to integrity, unlawful lovers anything conducive to chastity,
renegade spirits anything conducive to the fear of God. If (these
things) are to be called teachings, ill masters must
of necessity have taught ill; if as wages of lust, there
is nothing base of which the wages are honourable. But why was
it of so much importance to show these things as well as15
to confer them? Was it that women, without material causes of
splendour, and without ingenious contrivances of grace, could
not please men, who, while still unadorned, and uncouth
and-so to say-crude and rude, had moved (the mind of) angels?
or was it that the lovers16
would appear sordid and-through gratuitous use-contumelious,
if they had conferred no (compensating) gift on the women who
had been enticed into connubial connection with them? But these
questions admit of no calculation. Women who possessed angels
(as husbands) could desire nothing more; they had, forsooth,
made a grand match! Assuredly they who, of course, did sometimes
think whence they had fallen,17
and, after the heated impulses of their lusts, looked up toward
heaven, thus requited that very excellence of women, natural
beauty, as (having proved) a cause of evil, in order that their
good fortune might profit them nothing; but that, being turned
from simplicity and sincerity, they, together with (the angels)
themselves, might become offensive to God. Sure they were that
all ostentation, and ambition, and love of pleasing by carnal
means, was displeasing to God. And these are the angels whom
we are destined to judge:18
these are the angels whom in baptism we renounce:19
these, of course, are the reasons why they have deserved to
be judged by man. What business, then, have their things
with their judges? What commerce have they who are to
condemn with them who are to be condemned? The same, I take
it, as Christ has with Belial.20
With what consistency do we mount that (future) judgment-seat
to pronounce sentence against those whose gifts we (now) seek
after? For you too, (women as you are, ) have the self-same
angelic nature promised21
as your reward, the self-same sex as men: the self-same advancement
to the dignity of judging, does (the Lord) promise you. Unless,
then, we begin even here to prejudge, by pre-condemning their
things, which we are hereafter to condemn in themselves,
they will rather judge and condemn us.
Chapter III.-Concerning the Genuineness of "The Prophecy of Enoch."22
I
am aware that the Scripture of Enoch,23 which has assigned this order (of action)
to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted
into the Jewish canon either. I suppose they did not think that,
having been published before the deluge, it could have safely
survived that world-wide calamity, the abolisher of all things.
If that is the reason (for rejecting it), let them recall to
their memory that Noah, the survivor of the deluge, was the
great-grandson of Enoch himself;24 and he, of course, had heard and remembered,
from domestic renown25 and hereditary tradition, concerning his
own great-grandfather's "grace in the sight of God,"26 and concerning all his preachings;27 since Enoch had given no other charge to
Methuselah than that he should hand on the knowledge of them
to his posterity. Noah therefore, no doubt, might have succeeded
in the trusteeship of (his) preaching; or, had the case been
otherwise, he would not have been silent alike concerning the
disposition (of things) made by God, his Preserver, and concerning
the particular glory of his own house.
If (Noah) had not
had this (conservative power) by so short a route, there would
(still) be this (consideration) to warrant28
our assertion of (the genuineness of) this Scripture (The
book of Enoch): he could equally have renewed
it, under the Spirit's inspiration,29
after it had been destroyed by the violence of the deluge,
as, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian storming
of it, every document30
of the Jewish literature is generally agreed to have been restored
through Ezra.
But since Enoch
in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord,
nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains
to us; and we read that "every Scripture suitable
for edification is divinely inspired.31
By the Jews it may now seem to have been rejected for
that (very) reason, just like all the other (portions) nearly
which tell of Christ. Nor, of course, is this fact wonderful,
that they did not receive some Scriptures which spake of Him
whom even in person, speaking in their presence, they were not
to receive. To these considerations is added the fact that
Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.32
Chapter IV.-Waiving the Question of the Authors, Tertullian
Proposes to Consider the Things on Their Own Merits.
Grant now that no
mark of pre-condemnation has been branded on womanly pomp by
the (fact of the) fate33
of its authors; let nothing be imputed to those angels besides
their repudiation of heaven and (their) carnal marriage:34
let us examine the qualities of the things themselves, in order
that we may detect the purposes also for which they are eagerly
desired.
Female habit carries
with it a twofold idea-dress and ornament. By "dress"
we mean what they call "womanly gracing; "35
by "ornament," what it is suitable should be called
"womanly disgracing."36
The former is accounted (to consist) in gold, and silver, and
gems, and garments; the latter in care of the hair, and of the
skin, and of those parts of the body which attract the eye.
Against the one we lay the charge of ambition, against the other
of prostitution; so that even from this early stage37
(of our discussion) you may look forward and see what, out of
(all) these, is suitable, handmaid of God, to your discipline,
inasmuch as you are assessed on different principles (from other
women),-those, namely, of humility and chastity.
Chapter V.-Gold and Silver Not Superior in Origin or in
Utility to Other Metals.
Gold and silver, the
principal material causes of worldly38
splendour, must necessarily be identical (in nature) with that
out of which they have their being: (they must be) earth, that
is; (which earth itself is) plainly more glorious (than they),
inasmuch as it is only after it has been tearfully wrought by
penal labour in the deadly laboratories of accursed mines, and
there left its name of "earth" in the fire behind
it, that, as a fugitive from the mine, it passes from torments
to ornaments, from punishments to embellishments, from ignominies
to honours. But iron, and brass, and other the vilest material
substances, enjoy a parity of condition (with silver and gold),
both as to earthly origin and metallurgic operation; in order
that, in the estimation of nature, the substance of gold and
of silver may be judged not a whit more noble (than theirs).
But if it is from the quality of utility that gold and
silver derive their glory, why, iron and brass excel them; whose
usefulness is so disposed (by the Creator), that they not only
discharge functions of their own more numerous and more necessary
to human affairs, but do also none the less serve the turn of
gold and silver, by dint of their own powers,39
in the service of juster causes. For not only are rings made
of iron, but the memory of antiquity still preserves (the fame
of) certain vessels for eating and drinking made out of brass.
Let the insane plenteousness of gold and silver look to it,
if it serves to make utensils even for foul purposes. At all
events, neither is the field tilled by means of gold, nor the
ship fastened together by the strength of silver. No mattock
plunges a golden edge into the ground; no nail drives a silver
point into planks. I leave unnoticed the fact that the needs
of our whole life are dependent upon iron and brass; whereas
those rich materials themselves, requiring both to be dug up
out of mines, and needing a forging process in every use (to
which they are put), are helpless without the laborious vigour
of iron and brass. Already, therefore, we must judge whence
it is that so high dignity accrues to gold and silver, since
they get precedence over material substances which are not only
cousin-german to them in point of origin, but more powerful
in point of usefulness.
Chapter VI.-Of Precious Stones and Pearls.
But, in the next place,
what am I to interpret those jewels to be which vie with gold
in haughtiness, except little pebbles and stones and paltry
particles of the self-same earth; but yet not necessary either
for laying down foundations, or rearing party-walls, or supporting
pediments, or giving density to roofs? The only edifice which
they know how to rear is this silly pride of women: because
they require slow rubbing that they may shine, and artful underlaying
that they may show to advantage, and careful piercing that they
may hang; and (because they) render to gold a mutual assistance
in meretricious allurement. But whatever it is that ambition
fishes up from the British or the Indian sea, it is a kind of
conch not more pleasing in savour than-I do not say the
oyster and the sea-snail, but-even the giant muscle.40
For let me add that I know conchs (which axe) sweet fruits of
the sea. But if that (foreign) conch suffers from some internal
pustule, that ought to be regarded rather as its defect than
as its glory; and although it be called "pearl," still
something else must be understood than some hard, round excrescence
of the fish. Some say, too, that gems are culled from the foreheads
of dragons, just as in the brains of fishes there is
a certain stony substance. This also was wanting to the Christian
woman, that she may add a grace to herself from the serpent!
Is it thus that she will set her heel on the devil's head,"41
while she heaps ornaments (taken) from his head on her own neck,
or on her very head?
Chapter VII.-Rarity the Only Cause Which Makes Such Things
Valuable.
It is only from their
rarity and outlandishness that all these things possess their
grace; in short, within their own native limits they are not
held of so high worth. Abundance is always contumelious toward
itself. There are some barbarians with whom, because gold is
indigenous and plentiful, it is customary to keep (the criminals)
in their convict establishments chained with gold, and to lade
the wicked with riches-the more guilty, the more wealthy. At
last there has really been found a way to prevent even gold
from being loved! We have also seen at Rome the nobility of
gems blushing in the presence of our matrons at the contemptuous
usage of the Parthians and Medes, and the rest of their own
fellow-countrymen, only that (their gems) are not generally
worn with a view to ostentation. Emeralds42
lurk in their belts; and the sword (that hangs) below their
bosom alone is witness to the cylindrical stones that decorate
its hilt; and the massive single pearls on their boots are fain
to get lifted out of the mud! In short, they carry nothing so
richly gemmed as that which ought not to be gemmed if
it is (either) not conspicuous, or else is conspicuous only
that it may be shown to be also neglected.
Chapter VIII.-The Same Rule Holds with Regard to Colours.
God's Creatures Generally Not to Be Used, Except for the Purposes
to Which He Has Appointed Them.
Similarly,
too, do even the servants43
of those barbarians cause the glory to fade from the colours
of our garments (by wearing the like); nay, even their party-walls
use slightingly, to supply the place of painting, the Tyrian
and the violet-coloured and the grand royal hangings, which
you laboriously undo and metamorphose. Purple with them is more
paltry than red ochre; (and justly, ) for what legitimate honour
can garments derive from adulteration with illegitimate colours?
That which He Himself has not produced is not pleasing to God,
unless He was unable to order sheep to be born with purple
and sky-blue fleeces! If He was able, then plainly He
was unwilling: what God willed not, of course ought not
to be fashioned. Those things, then, are not the best by nature which are not from God, the Author of
nature. Thus they are understood to be from the devil,
from the corrupter of nature: for there is no other whose
they can be, if they are not God's; because what are not God's
must necessarily be His rival's.44
But, beside the devil and his angels, other rival of God there
is none. Again, if the material substances are of God,
it does not immediately follow that such ways of enjoying
them among men (are so too). It is matter for inquiry not only
whence come conchs,45
but what sphere of embellishment is assigned them, and where
it is that they exhibit their beauty. For all those profane
pleasures of worldly46
shows-as we have already published a volume of their own about
them47
-(ay, and) even idolatry itself, derive their material causes
from the creatures48
of God. Yet a Christian ought not to attach himself49
to the frenzies of the racecourse, or the atrocities of the
arena, or the turpitudes of the stage, simply because God has
given to man the horse, and the panther, and the power of speech:
just as a Christian cannot commit idolatry with impunity either,
because the incense, and the wine, and the fire which feeds50
(thereon), and the animals which are made the victims, are God's
workmanship;51
since even the material thing which is adored is God's (creature).
Thus then, too, with regard to their active use, does the origin
of the material substances, which descends from God, excuse
(that use) as foreign to God, as guilty forsooth of worldly52
glory!
Chapter IX.-God's Distribution Must Regulate Our Desires,
Otherwise We Become the Prey of Ambition and Its Attendant Evils.
For, as some particular
things distributed by God over certain individual lands, and
some one particular tract of sea, are mutually foreign one to
the other, they are reciprocally either neglected or desired:
(desired) among foreigners, as being rarities; neglected (rightly),
if anywhere, among their own compatriots, because in them
there is no such fervid longing for a glory which, among its
own home-folk, is frigid. But, however, the rareness and outlandishness
which arise out of that distribution of possessions which God
has ordered as He willed, ever finding favour in the eyes of
strangers, excites, from the simple fact of not having
what God has made native to other places, the concupiscence
of having it. Hence is educed another vice-that of immoderate
having; because although, perhaps, having may be permissible,
still a limit53
is bound (to be observed). This (second vice) will be ambition;
and hence, too, its name is to be interpreted, in that from
concupiscence ambient in the mind it is born, with a
view to the desire of glory,-a grand desire, forsooth, which
(as we have said) is recommended neither by nature nor by truth,
but by a vicious passion of the mind,-(namely, ) concupiscence.
And there are other vices connected with ambition and glory.
Thus they have withal enhanced the cost of things, in
order that (thereby) they might add fuel to themselves also;
for concupiscence becomes proportionably greater as it has set
a higher value upon the thing which it has eagerly desired.
From the smallest caskets is produced an ample patrimony. On
a single thread is suspended a million of sesterces. One delicate
neck carries about it forests and islands.54
The slender lobes of the ears exhaust a fortune; and the left
hand, with its every finger, sports with a several money-bag.
Such is the strength of ambition-(equal) to bearing on one small
body, and that a woman's, the product of so copious wealth: