A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

564 Roman Life Under the Late Empire
Advice to a
father
concerning
an infant
daughter.
St. Jerome,
Letter cxxviii.
V. The Training of a Nun
A girl should associate only with girls, she should know
nothing of boys and should dread even playing with
them. . . . Her mother's nod should be to her as much
a command as a spoken injunction.
She should love her
as a parent, obey her as a mistress, and reverence her as
her teacher. . . . She should until she is grown up commit
to memory the psalter and the books of Solomon ; the
gospels, the apostles, and the prophets should be the
treasure of her heart. She should not appear in public
too freely or too frequently attend crowded churches.
her pleasure should be in her chamber. She must never
look at young men or turn her eyes upon curled fops; and
the wanton songs of sweet-voiced girls, which wound the
soul through the ears, must be kept from her. The more
freedom of access such persons possess, the harder it is to
avoid them when they come; and what they have once
learned themselves they will secretly teach her and will
thus contaminate our secluded Danae by the talk of
crowd.
All
the
Give her for guardian and companion a mistress
and governess, one not addicted to much wine or in
the
Apostle's word idle and a tattler, but sober, grave, industrious
in spinning wool, and one whose words will form
her childish mind to the practice of virtue. . . .
Letter cvii.
In the
monastery.
Letter cxlvii.
Let her not converse with people of the world. . . .
Let her not be present at the weddings of your slaves
and let her take no part in the noisy games of the household.
... By vigils and fasts she mortifies her body
and brings it into subjection. . . . And by a deliberate
squalor she makes haste to spoil her natural good looks.
It is usual in the monasteries of Egypt and Syria for
maidens and widows who have vowed themselves to God