256 TREATISES ATTRIBUTED TO CYPRIAN. wedlock. Yet in allitis glorious,with allitsdegrees.For even to maintainthe marriage-faithisa matter of praisein the midst of so many bodilystrifes; and to have determined on a limitin marriagedefinedby continencyismore virtuous still,becausehereineven lawfulthingsarerefused.Assuredly to have guarded one'spurityfrom the womb, and to have kept oneself[pureas]an infanteven to oldage throughout the whole of life,iscertainlythe partof an admirablevirtue; onlythatnever to have known the body'sseductivecapacities isthe greaterblessedness,to have overcome them when once known isthe greatervirtue; yet stillin such a sortthatthat virtue comes of God's gift,although it manifestsitselfto men in theirmembers. 5. The preceptsof chastity,brethren,areancient.Where fore do I say ancient? Because they were ordained atthe same time as men themselves. For both her own husband belongs to the woman, forthe reason that besideshim she may know no other; and the woman isgiven to the man for the purpose that,when that which had been his own had been yieldedto him, he should seek fornothing belonging to another. And in such wiseit is said,K Two shallbe in one flesh,"1that what had been made one should return together,thata separationwithout return should not afford any occasionto a stranger. Thence alsothe apostledeclares thatthe man isthe head of the woman, that he might com mend chastityin the conjunctionof the two. For as the head cannot be suitedto the limbsof another,so alsoone's limbs cannot be suitedto the head of another: for one's head matches one'slimbs,and one'slimbs one'shead ; and both of them are associatedby a naturallinkin mutual con cord,lest,by any discordarisingfrom the separationof the members, the compact of the divine covenant should be broken. Yet he adds,and says: " Because he who loveshis wife,loveshimself. For no one hates his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishesit,even as Christ the church."1 From thispassage there is great authorityforcharitywith chastity,ifwives are tobe loved by theirhusbands even as 1Matt.xix.5. sEph.v.28,29.