54. Who, then, could refrain from wondering that a
man in age between a brother and a sister, the one a virgin, the other
a priest, yet in greatness of soul not below either, should so excel in
two great gifts, as to reflect the chastity of one vocation and the
sanctity of the other, being bound not by profession but by the
exercise of virtue. If, then, lust and anger bring forth other
vices, I may rightly call chastity and gentleness as it were the
parents of virtues; although, as it is the origin of all good things,
so too is piety the seed-plot of other virtues.