the wife of Karish, is converted by Thomas and
flees from her husband, naked save for the curtain of the chamber
door which she has wrapped around her, to her old nurse. With the
nurse she goes to Thomas, who pours holy oil over her head,
bidding the nurse to anoint her all over with it; then a cloth is
put round her loins and he baptizes her; then she is clothed and
he gives her the sacrament. The young rapture of chastity grows
lyrical at times, and Judas Thomas breaks out: "Purity is the
athlete who is not overcome. Purity is the truth that blencheth
not. Purity is worthy before God of being to Him a familiar
handmaiden. Purity is the messenger of concord which bringeth the
tidings of peace."

Another romance of chastity is furnished by the episode of
Drusiana in _The History of the Apostles_ traditionally
attributed to Abdias, Bishop of Babylon (Bk. v, Ch. IV, _et
seq._). Drusiana is the wife of Andronicus, and is so pious that
she will not have intercourse with him. The youth Callimachus
falls madly in love with her, and his amorous attempts involve
many exciting adventures, but the chastity of Drusiana is finally
triumphant.

A characteristic example of the literature we are here concerned
with is St. Ambrose's story of "The Virgin in the Brothel"
(narrated in his _De Virginibus_, Migne's edition of Ambrose's
Works, vols. iii-iv, p. 211). A certain virgin, St. Ambrose tells
us, who lately lived at Antioch, was condemned either to
sacrifice to the gods or to go to the brothel. She chose the
latter alternative. But the first man who came in to her was a
Christian soldier who called her "sister," and bade her have no
fear. He proposed that they should exchange clothes. This was
done and she escaped, while the soldier was led away to death. At
the place of execution, however, she ran up and exclaimed that it
was not death she feared but shame. He, however, maintained that
he had been condemned to death in her place. Finally the crown of
martyrdom for which they contended was adjudged to both.

We constantly observe in the early documents of this romantic
literature of chastity that chastity is insisted on by no means
chiefly because of its rewards after death, nor even because the
virgin who devotes herself to it secures in Christ an ever-young
lover whose golden-h