Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ecclesiasticus 9:5
There are 2 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 64, footnote 20 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Two Epistles Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
The Second Epistle of the Same Clement. (HTML)
The History of Susanna Teaches Circumspection with the Eyes and in Society. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 494 (In-Text, Margin)
... sit;” and that, again, in which it says: “Is there any one that puts fire in his bosom, and does not burn his clothes;” or, “Does a man walk on fire, and his feet are not scorched? So whosoever goeth in to another man’s wife is not pure from evil, and whosoever comes near to her shall not escape.” And again it says: “Thou shalt not long after the beauty a woman, lest she take thee captive with her eyelids;” and, “Thou shalt not look upon a maiden, lest thou perish through desire of her;”[Ecclesiasticus 9:5] and, “With a woman that sings beautifully thou shalt not constantly be;” and, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 382, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Virgins. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter III. Virgins are exhorted to avoid visits, to observe modesty, to be silent during the celebration of the Mysteries after the example of Mary. Then after narrating the story of a heathen youth, and saying of a poet, St. Ambrose relates a miracle wrought by a holy priest. (HTML)
... Rebecca came to wed Isaac, and saw her bridegroom, she took a veil, that she might not be seen before they were united? Certainly the fair virgin feared not for her beauty, but for her modesty. What of Rachel, how she, when Jacob’s kiss had been taken, wept and groaned, and would not have ceased weeping had she not known him to be a kinsman? So she both observed what was due to modesty, and omitted not kindly affection. But if it is said to a man: “Gaze not on a maid, lest she cause thee to fall,”[Ecclesiasticus 9:5] what is to be said to a consecrated virgin, who, if she loves, sins in mind; if she is loved, in act also?