Philological Dissertation on Honored, Learned, Adored, and Fruitful Virginity

A little later he says: The Daunian women wear a black garment, and * thus in the Greek, but it should be read, if I am not mistaken, "their faces." their faces original: "τὰς ὄφεις" — the text likely meant "τὰς ὄψεις" are dyed with a reddish color, as Timaeus says, and they are girded with broad bands, shod with deep-cut sandals, and hold a staff in their hands. Which Canter, in his work on Cassandra, understands only of the Daunian Virgins. And Christian Virgins in the early years of the Church donned a religious habit, as the Fathers and Councils state; it was distinguished by nothing other than that it was more modest and humble, for they were dressed in black referring to vestis pullata, a garment worn in mourning or for solemnity. But how worthy of God a Virgin was considered is demonstrated by a brilliant passage from Herodotus, book 1, when he speaks of the Babylonian temple of Belus. In the middle of the temple, he says, a solid tower is built, a stadium in both length and width, and upon this tower another tower is placed, and others again upon this one, up to eight towers, etc. In the last tower there is a large shrine; in the shrine lies a large, beautifully draped bed, and a golden table is set near it. But there is no statue established there. Nor does any man stay there at night, except for one woman of the local people, whom the god chooses from all of them, as the Chaldeans say, who are the priests of this god.