Tertullian, On the Veiling of Virgins 14

People still repeat what a certain woman said when this question was first raised: "And how will we get the others to sign on for this kind of work?" They will make us happy, if there are more of them, and not by the grace of God or the merits of each one. Do virgins adorn the church for God, or does the church commend the virgins? So it is admitted that the whole enterprise is about glory. And where there is glory, there is recruitment; where there is recruitment, there is coercion; where there is coercion, there is necessity; where there is necessity, there is weakness. So while they leave their heads uncovered in order to be recruited for the sake of glory, they end up forced to cover their bellies because weakness has ruined them. Rivalry produces these women, not religion: sometimes even their own belly is their god, because the sisterhood of virgins easily accepts it. And they do not just rush into it; they also drag a long rope of sins behind them. For when they are put on public display and their virtue is proclaimed, and the brothers heap every honor and work of charity on them, while they cannot hide where something has been admitted, they feel as much shame as they once had honor. If an uncovered head is the badge of virginity, and a virgin falls from the grace of virginity, she keeps her head uncovered so she will not be exposed — and at that point she is already walking in a habit that belongs to someone else, the one that virginity claims for itself. She stays in the habit anyway, or at least in a borrowed one, so that a change of clothing does not betray her. Conscious of a womanhood that is now undeniable, they dare to approach God with uncovered heads. But God and the Lord is a rival who said: "Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed" (Luke 8:17), and he drags many of them into the open. They will not confess unless the cries of their own infants betray them. The more of them there are, the more you must suspect them of greater crimes. I will say it, though I do not want to: it is hard for a woman to become someone who does not fear becoming pregnant, and who, once she has, can lie about being a virgin under God. How far will she go to hide what happens in her own womb, so that even the mother stays concealed? God knows that infants have already been brought to birth intact, after being fought off for a time by their mothers. These virgins always conceive very easily and give birth very happily, and the children look just like their fathers. This forced, unwilling virginity admits to shameful acts. The very desire not to stay hidden is not modest; it endures something unworthy of a virgin — the desire to please, certainly even men. However much she tries with a good mind, she must risk herself by being put on display, while she is struck by uncertain and countless eyes, while she is titillated by pointing fingers, while she is loved too much, while she grows warm among constant embraces and kisses. Thus the forehead is hardened, thus modesty is worn away, thus it is dissolved, thus she learns to desire to please in a different way.