Tertullian, On the Crown 14

Idolatry is so far from honoring its own head that it does the opposite; I've already made this point to Christ, since Christ is the head of man, and man stands as free as Christ himself — not even subject to a veil, let alone a binding obligation. A woman's head, by contrast, is already subject to the veil; that very fact occupies it, leaving no room for an additional obligation, because it already carries the burden of its own humility. Since a woman ought not appear with her head uncovered on account of the angels, a crown would scandalize those angels far more. What is a crown on a woman's head but a panderer to beauty, the hallmark of sheer wantonness, the final repudiation of modesty, a convergence of enticement? Consequently, the Apostle's perspective forbids a woman to adorn herself more elaborately, so that she not be crowned with hair arranged as artifice. Yet Christ Jesus is both the head of the man and the face of the woman, the man of the Church; tell me, what garland did he endure for both sexes? I think it was woven of thorns and tribulations, figuring the sins that the earth of our flesh produced for us, though the power of the cross removed them, blunting every sting of death in the Lord's own endurance. Apart from the figure, there is outright contempt, shame, and disgrace, intertwined with the savagery that defiled and lacerated the Lord's temples at that time. And yet you now crown yourself with laurel, myrtle, olive, some splendid leaf, and — most conveniently — with roses by the hundred plucked from Midas' garden, with both kinds of lilies, with every violet, perhaps even with gems and gold, all to emulate the crown that came to Christ afterward, because he tasted honey after gall; nor was the King of Glory welcomed by the heavenly host until the King of the Jews was condemned to the cross, first lowered a little by the Father to a rank beneath the angels, and so crowned with glory and honor. If you owe your head to him on these grounds, repay him in kind, if you can, with the sort he offered for yours: either do not crown yourself with flowers, if you cannot with thorns, because you are not able to with flowers.