30 Her yoke is a golden ornament, and her bonds a purple cord. 31 You will wear her like a glorious robe, and put her on like a splendid crown. 32 If you are willing, my child, you can be disciplined, and if you apply yourself you will become clever. 33 If you love to listen you will gain knowledge, and if you pay attention you will become wise. 34 Stand in the company of the elders. Who is wise? Attach yourself to such a one. 35 Be ready to listen to every godly discourse, and let no wise proverbs escape you. 36 If you see an intelligent person, rise early to visit him; let your foot wear out his doorstep. 37 Reflect on the statutes of the Lord, and meditate at all times on his commandments. It is he who will give insight to your mind, and your desire for wisdom will be granted.

And hence some who have longed for it, and considering only the end of it, have come, by reason of coarseness of mind, ineffectually with unwashed feet, and have gone aside out of the way, from having conceived no worthy idea of the virginal manner of life. For it is not enough to keep the body only undefiled, just as we should not show that we think more of the temple than of the image of the god; but we should care for the souls of men as being the divinities of their bodies, and adorn them with righteousness. And then do they most care for them and tend them when, striving untiringly to hear divine discourses, they do not desist until, wearing the doors of the wise, they attain to the knowledge of the truth. For as the putrid humours and matter of flesh, and all those things which corrupt it, are driven out by salt, in the same manner all the irrational appetites of a virgin are banished from the body by divine teaching.