Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Book I
If the faith on earth matched the reward expected in heaven, not one of you, beloved sisters, would have wanted a more joyful — let alone glorious — appearance after knowing the living God and learning your own condition as women. You would rather have chosen filth and squalor, dragging around a mourning, repentant Eve, so as to fully atone for what you inherited from her: the ignominy of the first sin and the envy of human perdition. "In pain and anxiety you will bear children, woman, and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you" (Genesis 3:16). Do you not know you are Eve? God's sentence still stands over this sex in this age, and the guilt must remain. You are the devil's gateway, the one who unsealed that tree, the first deserter of divine law, the one who persuaded the man the devil could not attack. You so easily destroyed God's image, man; because of your merit — death — even the Son of God had to die. And you still think to adorn yourself beyond your woolen tunics? Come now: even if from the beginning the Milesians sheared sheep, the Seres wove silk, the Tyrians dyed, the Phrygians sewed, the Babylonians embroidered, pearls gleamed and corals sparkled, gold itself came up from the earth with desire, and mirrors were allowed to lie — Eve, expelled from paradise and already dead, would have craved these things, I think. So she should neither desire nor know them now, if she wants to live again, since she neither had nor knew them when she was alive. All these things are the impediments of a condemned, dead woman, set up like funeral pomp. Those who invented them are likewise sentenced to death: the angels who plunged from heaven to the daughters of men, adding this disgrace to women. They revealed hidden materials and obscure arts to an ignorant world — metalworking, herbal lore, incantations, even astrology — and specifically gave women the tools of female vanity: gemstones for necklaces, gold bands for arms, dyes for wool, black powder to outline the eyes. The quality of these things is already declared by the character of their teachers: they offered nothing for integrity, nothing for chastity, nothing for the fear of God — only for sinners, lovers, deserters of the Spirit. If these are teachings, evil teachers taught evil. If they are rewards for lust, no shameful reward is honorable. What was the point of displaying these things as gifts? Could women not please men without splendor and artifice — the same crude, unrefined women who moved angels? Or would the angels have seemed sordid, insulting lovers, if they gave nothing to the women they seduced into marriage? But that calculation fails: they could desire nothing more, since they possessed angels and had married in high style. Indeed, those angels who sometimes remembered their fall and sighed for heaven after their fleeting lust rewarded women's natural beauty — the very cause of evil — so that their own happiness would not benefit them, but they would be dragged down from simplicity and sincerity into offense against God. They knew full well that all glory, ambition, and affectation of pleasing God through the flesh displeases God. These are the angels we will judge; these are the angels we renounce in baptism; these are the things by which they deserved to be judged by men. What will their gifts do before their judges? What commerce can the damned have with the damned? I say it is like Christ and Belial. With what consistency do we ascend that tribunal to condemn those whose gifts we crave? The same angelic substance is promised to you, the same sex as men, the same dignity of judging — unless we have already prejudged the matter here by condemning their things, which we will later damn in them; then they will judge and condemn us. I know the Book of Enoch, which assigned this order to angels, is rejected by some because it is not in the Jewish canon. They think it could not have survived the flood, the destroyer of all things. If so, let them remember Noah, Enoch's great-grandson, survived the flood and heard by family tradition of his ancestor's favor with God and all his prophecies; Enoch charged his son Methuselah to pass this knowledge down. Noah could certainly have succeeded in his preaching mission, since he spoke of God who preserved him and of his own house's glory. Even if that record was lost, the flood's violence could not destroy what the Spirit can reform — just as Ezra restored all Jewish literature after Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Since Enoch also prophesied the Lord in that same scripture, we reject nothing that pertains to us. We read that all Scripture is divinely inspired for edification. The Jews reject it for the same reason they reject nearly everything that speaks of Christ — no surprise, since they would not receive him speaking in person. Moreover, Enoch has the testimony of the apostle Jude. Let no mark of condemnation stain female pomp because of its authors' fate. Charge those angels only with rejecting heaven and marrying flesh. Let us examine the things themselves, to uncover the desires behind them. A woman's appearance has two forms: cultivation and ornament. Cultivation is what they call the worldly woman — gold, silver, gems, clothing. Ornament is what befits the impure woman — care of hair, skin, and those body parts that draw the eye. We charge the first with ambition, the second with prostitution. So look ahead, handmaid of God, and see which of these suits your discipline, you who are judged by a different standard: humility and chastity.
Latin
Si tanta in terris moraretur fides, quanta merces ejus exspectatur in coelis, nulla omnino vestrum, sorores dilectissimae, ex quo Deum vivum cognovisset, et de sua, id est de foeminae conditione didicisset, laetiorem habitum, ne dicam gloriosiorem appetiisset, ut non magis in sordibus ageret, et squalorem potius affectaret, ipsam se circumferens Evam lugentem et poenitentem; quo plenius id quod de Eva trahit (ignominiam dico primi delicti, et invidiam perditionis humanae) omni satisfactionis habitu expiaret. In doloribus et anxietatibus paries, mulier, et ad virum tuum conversio tua; et ille dominabitur tui; et Evam te esse nescis? Vivit sententia Dei super sexum istum, in hoc saeculo: vivat et reatus necesse est. Tu es diaboli janua, tu es arboris illius resignatrix, tu es divinae legis prima desertrix, tu es quae eum persuasisti, quem diabolus aggredi non valuit. Tu imaginem Dei, hominem, tam facile elisisti: propter tuum meritum, id est mortem, etiam Filius Dei mori habuit; et adornari tibi in mente est super pelliceas tuas tunicas? Age nunc, si ab initio rerum et Milesii oves tonderent, et Seres arbores nerent, et Tyrii tinguerent, et Phryges insuerent, et Babylonii intexerent, et margaritae canderent et ceraunia coruscarent, si ipsum quoque aurum jam de terra cum cupiditate prodisset; si jam et speculo tantum mentiri liceret: et haec Eva concupisset de paradiso expulsa, jam mortua, opinor. Ergo nec nunc appetere debet, aut nosse, si cupit reviviscere, quae nec habuerat, nec noverat, quando vivebat. Ideo omnia ista damnatae et mortuae mulieris impedimenta sunt, quasi ad pompam funeris constituta. Nam et illi qui ea constituerunt, damnati in poenam mortis deputantur: illi scilicet angeli, qui ad filias hominum de coelo ruerunt, ut haec quoque ignominia foeminae accedat. Nam cum et materias quasdam bene occultas, et artes plerasque non bene revelatas, saeculo multo magis imperito prodidissent (siquidem et metallorum opera nudaverant, et herbarum ingenia traduxerant, et incantationum vires provulgaverant, et omnem curiositatem, usque ad stellarum interpretationem, designaverant) proprie et quasi peculiariter foeminis instrumentum istud muliebris gloriae contulerunt: lumina lapillorum quibus monilia variantur: et circulos ex auro, quibus brachia arctantur: et medicamenta ex fuco, quibus lanae colorantur: et illum ipsum nigrum pulverem, quo oculorum exordia producuntur. Haec qualia sint, interim jam ex doctorum suorum qualitate et conditione pronuntiari potest, quod nihil ad integritatem peccatores, nihil ad castitatem adamatores, nihil ad timorem Dei desertores spiritus, aut monstrare potuerunt aut praestare. Si doctrinae dicendae sunt, mali magistri male docuerint necesse est. Si mercedes pro libidine, nullius rei turpis merces decora est. Quid autem tanti fuit ista monstrare sicut conferre? utrumne mulieres, sine materiis splendoris, et sine ingeniis decoris, placere non possent hominibus, quae adhuc incultae et incompositae et (ut ita dixerim) crudae ac rudes, angelos moverant? Anne sordidi, et per gratuitum usum contumeliosi amatores viderentur, si nihil foeminis in connubium allectis contulissent? Sed haec non capit aestimare, nihil plus desiderare poterant, quae angelos possidebant, magno scilicet nupserant. Enimvero, qui utique interdum cogitabant unde cecidissent, et post libidinum vaporata momenta coelum suspirabant, illud ipsum bonum foeminarum naturalis decoris, ut caussam mali, sic remuneraverunt, ne eis profuisset felicitas sua, sed ut devectum de simplicitate et sinceritate una cum ipsis in offensam Dei pervenirent. Certi erant omnem, et gloriam, et ambitionem, et affectationem per carnem placendi Deo displicere. Hi sunt nempe angeli quos judicaturi sumus, hi sunt angeli quibus in lavacro renuntiamus; haec sunt utique, per quae ab homine judicari meruerunt. Quid ergo facient apud judices suos res eorum? quod est commercium damnaturis cum damnandis? Opinor, quod Christo et Beliae. Qua constantia tribunal illud ascendimus, decreturi adversus eos, quorum munera appetimus? Nam et vobis eadem tunc substantia angelica repromissa, idem sexus qui et viris, eamdem judicandi dignationem pollicetur: nisi ergo hic jam praejudicaverimus, res eorum praedamnando, quas in illis tunc damnaturi sumus, illi potius nos judicabunt atque damnabunt. Scio scripturam Enoch, quae hunc ordinem angelis dedit, non recipi a quibusdam, quia nec in armarium judaicum admittitur. Opinor, non putaverunt illam ante cataclysmum editam, post eum casum orbis, omnium rerum abolitorem, salvam esse potuisse. Si ista ratio est, recordentur pronepotem ipsius Enoch fuisse superstitem cataclysmi Noë, qui utique domestico nomine et haereditaria traditione audierat et meminerat, de proavi sui penes Deum gratia, et de omnibus praedicatis ejus; cum Enoch filio suo Mathusalae nihil aliud mandaverit, quam ut notitiam eorum posteris suis traderet. Igitur sine dubio potuit Noë, in praedicationis delegatione successisse, vel quia et alias non tacuisset tam de Dei conservatoris sui dispositione, quam de ipsa domus suae gloria. Hoc si non tam expedite haberet, illud quoque assertionem scripturae illius tueretur. Perinde potuit abolefactam eam violentia cataclysmi, in spiritu rursus reformare: quemadmodum et Hierosolymis Babylonia expugnatione deletis, omne instrumentum judaicae litteraturae per Esdram constat restauratum. Sed cum Enoch eadem scriptura etiam de Domino praedicarit, a nobis quidem nihil omnino rejiciendum est, quod pertinet ad nos. Et legimus, omnem Scripturam aedificationi habilem divinitus inspirari. A Judaeis potest jam videri propterea rejecta, sicut et caetera fere quae Christum sonant. Nec utique mirum hoc, si scripturas aliquas non receperunt de eo locutas, quem et ipsum coram loquentem non erant recepturi. Eo accedit, quod Enoch apud Judam Apostolum testimonium possidet. Nulla nunc muliebri pompae nota inusta sit praedamnationis, de exitu auctorum. Nihil angelis illis imputetur, praeter repudium coeli, et matrimonium carnis. Rerum ipsarum qualitates examinemus, ut consilia quoque concupiscentiae earum deprehendamus. Habitus foeminae duplicem speciem circumfert, cultum, ornatum. Cultum dicimus, quem mundum muliebrem vocant; ornatum, quem immundum muliebrem convenit dici. Ille in auro, et argento, et gemmis, et vestibus deputatur: ista in cura capilli, et cutis, et earum partium corporis, quae oculos trahunt. Alteri ambitionis crimen intendimus, alteri prostitutionis: ut jam hinc prospicias, Dei ancilla, quid ex his disciplinae tuae conveniat, quae de diversis institutis censearis, scilicet humilitatis et castitatis.