Tertullian, To His Wife Book II
Dearest fellow servant in the Lord, I have already laid out as best I could what a holy woman must pursue when marriage has been taken from her, no matter the circumstances. Now we must turn to a second line of counsel, prompted by human weakness and the warning example of certain women. They were given the chance for continence through divorce or a husband's death, yet they not only threw away that great good but also refused to remember the discipline even when remarrying, so that they would marry in the Lord above all (1 Corinthians 7:8). My mind is in turmoil: I who recently urged you to persevere as a one-man woman and a widow may now, by merely mentioning marriage, make it easier for you to slip from higher things. But if you are truly wise, you know you must hold to what is more useful for you. What is difficult, and not without necessities, is also this greatest proposal for the supreme safeguard of life. I would not have brought this up again unless I grasped the gravity of my concern. For as great as the continence of the flesh that serves widowhood is, its failure can seem excusable; difficult things win easy pardon. But to the extent that marrying in the Lord lies within our power, it is all the more culpable not to observe what you can. Add to this that the Apostle advises widows and the unmarried to remain as they are, saying: "I wish all to persevere according to my example" (1 Corinthians 7:8).
Latin
Proxime tibi, dilectissima in domino conserva, quid foeminae sanctae, matrimonio quacunque sorte adempto, sectandum sit, ut potui prosecutus sum. Nunc ad secunda consilia convertamur, respectu humanae infirmitatis, quarumdam exemplis admonentibus, quae divortio vel mariti excessu, oblata continentiae occasione, non modo abjecerunt opportunitatem tanti boni, sed ne in nubendo quidem rursum disciplinae meminisse voluerunt, ut in Domino potissimum nuberent. Itaque mihi confusus est animus, ne qui nuper te ad univiratus et viduitatis perseverantiam hortatus sum, nunc mentione nuptiarum, proclivium tibi labendi ab altioribus faciam. Quod si integre sapis, certe scis id servandum tibi esse, quod sit utilius. Quod vero difficile est, et non sine necessitatibus et hoc maximum propositum vitae supremi praesidii. Nec mihi de isto quoque referendi ad te caussae fuissent, nisi graviorem meam sollicitudinem comprehendissem. Nam quanto grandis est continentia carnis, quae viduitatem ministrat, tanto, si non sustineatur, ignoscibilis videri potest; difficilium enim facilis est venia. Quanto autem nubere in Domino perpetrabile est, uti nostrae potestatis, tanto culpabilius est non observare quod possis. Eo accedit quod Apostolus de viduis quidem et innuptis, ut ita permaneant, suadet, cum dicit: Cupio autem omnes meo exemplo perseverare.