Tertullian — On Exhortation to Chastity 11

For (in that case) the shame is double; inasmuch as, in second marriage, two wives beset the same husband — one in spirit, one in flesh. For the first wife you cannot hate , for whom you retain an even more religious affection, as being already received into the Lord's presence; for whose spirit you make request; for whom you render annual oblations. Will you stand, then, before the Lord with as many wives as you commemorate in prayer ; and will you offer for two; and will you commend those two (to God) by the ministry of a priest ordained (to his sacred office) on the score of monogamy, or else consecrated (thereto) on the score even of virginity , surrounded by widows married but to one husband? And will your sacrifice ascend with unabashed front, and — among all the other (graces) of a good mind — will you request for yourself and for your wife chastity ? Chapter

12. Excuses Commonly Urged in Defence of Second Marriage. Their Futility, Especially in the Case of Christians, Pointed Out I am aware of the excuses by which we color our insatiable carnal appetite. Our pretexts are: the necessities of props to lean on; a house to be managed; a family to be governed; chests and keys to be guarded; the wool-spinning to be dispensed; food to be attended to; cares to be generally lessened. Of course the houses of none but married men fare well! The families of celibates, the estates of eunuchs, the fortunes of military men, or of such as travel without wives, have gone to rack and ruin! For are not we, too, soldiers? Soldiers, indeed, subject to all the stricter discipline, that we are subject to so great a General? Are not we, too, travellers in this world? Why moreover, Christian , are you so conditioned, that you cannot (so travel) without a wife? In my present (widowed) state, too, a consort in domestic works is necessary. (Then) take some spiritual wife. Take to yourself from among the widows one fair in faith , dowered with poverty, sealed with age. You will (thus) make a good marriage. A plurality of such wives is pleasing to God . But Christians concern themselves about posterity — to whom there is no tomorrow! Shall the servant of God yearn after heirs, who has disinherited himself from the world? And is it to be a reason for a man to repeat marriage, if from his first (marriage) he have no children? And shall he thus have, as the…

13. Examples from Among the Heathen, as Well as from the Church, to Enforce the Foregoing Exhortation To this my exhortation, best beloved brother, there are added even heathenish examples; which have often been set by ourselves as well (as by others) in evidence, when anything good and pleasing to God is, even among strangers, recognised and honoured with a testimony. In short, monogamy among the heathen is so held in highest honour , that even virgins , when legitimately marrying, have a woman never married but once appointed them as brideswoman; and if you say that this is for the sake of the omen, of course it is for the sake of a good omen; again, that in some solemnities and official functions, single-husbandhood takes the precedence: at all events, the wife of a Flamen must be but once married, which is the law of the Flamen (himself) too. For the fact that the chief pontiff himself must not iterate marriage is, of course, a glory to monogamy. When, however, Satan affects God's sacraments , it is a challenge to us; nay, rather, a cause for blushing, if we are slow to exhibit to God a continence which some render to the devil , by perpetuity sometimes of virginity , sometimes of widowhood. We have heard of Vesta's virgins , and Juno's at the town of Achaia, and Apollo's among the Delphians, and Minerva's and Diana's in some places. We have heard, too, of continent men , and (among others) the priests of the famous Egyptian bull: women , moreover, (dedicated) to the…