Poverty and virtue adorn the face better than pearls

Are you a craftsman? Sit at your work and sing psalms. But you do not want to sing psalms with your mouth? Do it with your mind. A psalm is a great companion. You will suffer nothing terrible from this, but you will be able to sit in your workshop as if in a monastery. For it is not the suitability of places but the discipline of our habits that gives us quiet. Paul, at any rate, worked at his trade in a workshop and suffered no harm to his virtue. So do not say, "How will I be able to practice philosophy when I am a craftsman and poor?" For this very reason you will be able to practice philosophy all the more. Poverty is more suited to piety than wealth, and work than idleness, just as wealth becomes a hindrance to those who are not careful. For when you need to let go of anger, to quench envy, to relax your temper, to show prayer, to show gentleness and meekness, to show kindness and love, where could poverty be an obstacle? These things are not accomplished by paying out silver, but by showing a right choice. Almsgiving is the thing that most requires money, but even this shone more brightly through poverty. For the woman who put in two obols was poorer than all people, and she surpassed them all (Mark 12:42). Let us not, then, think wealth is something great, nor consider gold better than clay. For the honor of a material comes not from its nature but from our own thinking. If someone examined carefully, iron is far more necessary than gold. Gold brings no need into life, but iron has furnished most of our needs, serving countless crafts. And why do I compare gold and iron? These ordinary stones are more necessary than precious stones. From those nothing useful could come, but from these houses, walls, and cities have been built. But show me what gain could come from these pearls—or rather, what harm could not come from them? For so that you may wear a single pearl, thousands of poor people are strangled by hunger. What defense will you find then? What pardon? Do you want to adorn your face? Not with pearls, but with self-control and dignity. That is how your husband will see your face as more graceful. That other adornment usually casts suspicion of jealousy, and leads to enmities, quarrels, and fights. For nothing is more unpleasant than a face that is suspected. But the adornment of almsgiving and self-control casts out every evil suspicion and draws your husband to you more powerfully than any bond. For the natural beauty of a face does not make it appear lovely as much as the disposition of the one looking at it does. And nothing creates that disposition as much as self-control and dignity. So even if a woman is beautiful, if her husband is hostile toward her, she will seem uglier than everyone to him. And if a woman happens not to be attractive, but her husband is kindly disposed toward her, she will seem more beautiful than everyone to him. For the judgments are made not in the nature of the things seen, but in the disposition of those who see. Adorn your face, then, with self-control, dignity, almsgiving, love for humanity, love, kindness toward your husband, gentleness, meekness, forbearance. These are the colors of virtue. Through these you will draw angels, not human lovers, to yourself. Through these you have God himself as your admirer. And when God approves, he will certainly subject your husband to you as well.