Sidenote: Deut. xxii. 5.
1. YOU have referred to me, as to a father, the inquiry which has been
made of you, why the Law was so severe in pronouncing those unclean who
used the garments of the other sex, whether they were men or women, for
it is written, _The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a
man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for all that do so
are an abomination unto the Lord_.
2. Now, if you will consider it well, that which nature herself abhors
must be incongruous. For why do you not wish to be thought a man,
seeing that you are born such? why do you assume an appearance which
is foreign to you? why do you play the woman, or you, O woman, the man?
Nature clothes each sex in their proper raiment. Moreover in men and
women, habits, complexion, gestures, gait, strength and voice are all
different.
3. So also in the rest of the animal creation; the form, the strength,
the roar of the lion and lioness, of the bull and heifer are different.
Deer also differ as much in form as they do in sex, so that you may
distinguish the stag from the hind even at a distance. But in the case
of birds the similitude between them and men, as regards covering, is
still closer; for in them Nature distinguishes their sex by their very
plumage. The peacock is beautiful, but the feathers of its consort are
not variegated with equal beauty. Pheasants also have different colours
to mark the difference of the sexes. And so with poultry. How sonorous
is the cock’s voice, night by night performing his natural office of
calling us from sleep by crowing. They do not change their form; why
then do we desire to change ours?
4. A Greek custom has indeed prevailed for women to wear men’s tunics
as being shorter. Be it allowed however that they should imitate the
nature of the more worthy sex; but why should men choose to assume
the appearance of the inferior? A falsehood is base even in word, much
more in dress. So in the heathen temples, where there is a false faith,
there also is a false nature. It is there considered holy for men to
assume women’s garments, and female gestures. And therefore the Law
says that every man who puts on a woman’s garment is an abomination
unto the Lord.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35.
Sidenote: Gen. iii. 16.
Sidenote: 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
5. I conceive however that it is spoken not so much of garments as of
manners, and of our habits and actions, in that one kind of act becomes
a man, the other a woman. Wherefore the Apostle also says, as the
interpreter of the Law, _Let your women keep silence in the Churches;
for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are to be under
obedience, as also saith the Law. And if they will learn anything, let
them ask their husbands at home._ And to Timothy: _Let the woman learn
in silence with all subjection; but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor
to usurp authority over the man_.
6. But how unseemly is it for a man to do the works of a woman! As for
those who curl their hair, like women, let them conceive also, let them
bring forth. Yet the one sex wears veils, the other wages war. Let them
however be excused who follow their national usages, barbarous though
they be, the Persians and Goths and Armenians. Nature is superior to
country.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xi. 13–15.
7. And what shall we say of others who think it belongs to luxury to
have in their service slaves wearing curls and ornaments of the neck?
It is but just that chastity should be lost where the distinction of
sexes is not preserved, a point wherein the teaching of nature is
unambiguous, according to the Apostle’s words; _Is it comely that a
woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you
that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him: but if a woman
hath long hair, it is a glory unto her; for her hair is given her for
a covering._ Such is the answer which you may make to those who have
referred to you.
Farewell; love me as a son, for I love you as a father.