c. 290
Greek
The Symposium
Symposion
Methodius of Olympus · d. c. 311
Ten virgins at a banquet deliver speeches in praise of chastity, in deliberate imitation of Plato's dialogue on love, closing with a hymn sung by the winner.
201–300
The Third Century
1 work
301–400
The Fourth Century
4 works
c. 371
Greek
On Virginity
Gregory of Nyssa · c. 335–c. 395
A commendation of the celibate life written, as its author admits with some regret, by a married man who can only describe the country from outside.
Cappadocian · TreatiseRead elsewhere
377
Latin
On Virgins
De Virginibus
Ambrose of Milan · c. 339 – 397
Three books addressed to his sister Marcellina, praising consecrated virginity and telling the story of Agnes, a girl of twelve who went to her execution as others go to a wedding. Ambrose has to answer parents who were locking daughters up to stop them taking the veil.
383
Latin
Against Helvidius
De Perpetua Virginitate Beatae Mariae
Jerome · c. 347 – 420
A Roman layman had argued from the gospels that Mary bore other children after Jesus and that marriage is therefore no worse than virginity. Jerome answers by combing the usage of until and brother through the whole of scripture, and proposes that the brothers of the Lord were cousins.
393
Latin
Against Jovinian
Jerome · c. 347–420
A violent reply to a monk who argued that marriage and virginity are equally meritorious — so violent that Jerome's friends tried to withdraw it from circulation.
Western · PolemicRead elsewhere
601–700
The Seventh Century
1 work
c. 685–695
Latin
On Virginity
De Virginitate
Aldhelm · c. 639–709
A double work in prose and verse for the nuns of Barking, praising virginity through a gallery of biblical and patristic examples, in an extravagantly ornate Latin.
Anglo-Saxon · TreatiseRead elsewhere