ACC ~ Mark 6 v22

THE INTERWEAVING OF VICES

AMBROSE: Note how varied sins are interwoven in this one vicious action! A banquet of death is set out with royal luxury, and when a larger gathering than usual has come together, the daughter of the queen, sent for from within the private apartments, is brought forth to dance in the sight of all. What could she have learned from an adulteress but the loss of modesty? Is anything so conducive to lust as with unseemly movements to expose in nakedness those parts of the body which either nature has hidden or custom has veiled, to sport with looks, to turn the neck, to loosen the hair? CONCERNING VIRGINS 3.6.27. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0145, 3.6.26.9; NPNF 2 10:385*.

CALAMITIES ACCUMULATE

AUGUSTINE: A girl dances, a mother rages, there is rash swearing in the midst of the luxurious feast, and an impious fulfillment of what was sworn. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 2.33. [1]

[1] Cetedoc 0284, 307.38.1406.7; NPNF 1 6:140*. Cf. GC 1:402-3. A single debauched act may combine and express many accrued forms of vice: murder, lust, immodesty, exhibitionism, adultery, seduction and deception.

Mk