A Little Woman

Σκώπτεις τὴν Ἀλυπιανὴν ἡμῖν, ὡς μικρὰν, καὶ τῆς σῆς μεγαλειότητος ἀναξίαν, ὦ μακρὲ σὺ, καὶ ἀμέτρητε, καὶ πελώριε, τό τε εἶδος καὶ τὴν ἀλκήν. Νῦν γὰρ ἔγνων ὅτι ψυχὴ μετρεῖται, καὶ ἀρετὴ ταλαντεύεται, καὶ τιμιώτεραι τῶν μαργάρων αἱ πέτραι, καὶ κόρακες ἀηδόνων αἰδεσιμώτεροι. Σὺ μὲν οὖν ἀπόλαυε τοῦ μεγέθους καὶ τῶν πηχῶν, καὶ μηδὲν λείπου τῶν Ἀλωάδων ἐκείνων. Ἵππον γὰρ ἄγεις, καὶ τινάσσεις αἰχμὴν, καὶ θῆρες σοι μέλουσι. Τῇ δὲ οὐδὲν ἔργον, οὐδὲ πολλῆς τῆς ἰσχύος κερκίδα φέρειν, καὶ ἡλακάτην μεταχειρίζεσθαι, καὶ ἰστῷ προσκαθέζεσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ γέρας ἐστὶ γυναικῶν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο προσθείης, ὅτι γῇ προσπέφυκε δι' εὐχὴν, καὶ Θεῷ σύνεστιν ἀεὶ τοῖς μεγάλοις τοῦ νοῠ κινήμασι, τί σοι ἐνταῦθα τὸ ὑψος, ἢ τὰ μέτρα τοῦ σώματος; Ἴδε καίριον σιωπὴν, φθεγγομένης ἄκουσον· τὸ ἀκαλλώπιστον κατανόνσον, τὸ ὡς γυναιξὶν ἀνδρικὸν, τὴν οἰκωφέλειαν, τὴν φιλανδρίαν. Καὶ τότε φήσεις τὸ τοῦ Λάκωνος· Ὄντως οὐ μετρεῖται ψυχὴ, καὶ δεῖ τὸν ἐκτὸς ἐόντα, πρὸς τὸν ἐντὸς βλέπειν ἄνθρωπον. Ἄν οὔτω ταῦτα σκοπῇς, παύσῃ τοῦ παίζειν, καὶ καταπαίζειν αὐτῆς ὡς μικρᾶς, καὶ σαυτοῦ μακαρίσεις τὴν συζυγίαν.  Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος ὁ Ναζιανζηνός, Ἐπιστολή ΙΒ', Νικοβουλῳ  Source: Migne PG 37.44c-45a

You joke with me about Alypiana being little and unworthy of your grandness, you great, boundless, monstrous fellow, both in form and strength. For now I know that soul is a thing to be measured and virtue to be put in scales, and that rocks are more valuable than pearls, and crows more valuable than nightingales. You then rejoice in your magnitude and your cubits, and be in nothing inferior to the sons of Aloeus. 1 You ride a horse, and shake a spear, and concern yourself with wild beasts. But she has no work like that. Little strength one needs to carry a comb, to handle a distaff, to sit by a loom. This is the glory of woman. And if you add this also, that she has become fixed to the earth on account of prayer, and has continual communion with God by the great movement of her mind, then what is there here to boast of in the dimensions of your body? Keep a seasonable silence, listen to her voice, consider her unadornment, her womanly virility, her usefulness in the home, her love of her husband. Then you will say with the Laconian, that truly the soul is not a measurable thing and that one must pass from exterior things to inner things to see the person. If you see things this way, you will be done with play and mocking her as little, and you will bless your marriage. Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Letter 12, to Nicobulus 1 The Aloadae, Otos and Ephialtes