And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou [art] a fair woman to look upon:
Ver. 11. Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman.] And yet she was now sixty-five years of age; wherein she was a figure of "Jerusalem the mother of us all." Galatians 4:26 Song of Solomon 1:15 ; Son 4:1 Sarai's chief beauty was that of "the hidden man of the heart," as saith St Peter. 1Pe 3:4 ; 1Pe 3:6 But outward beauty is very lovely and attractive. Plato calls it the principality of nature; Aristotle, a greater commendation than all epistles. And being asked whether beauty were amiable, he answered, That's a blind man's question. a The poet could say, Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus -
That virtue hath a better grace
That shineth from a beauteous face.
Howbeit, Seneca saith, he was out in that saying; for that virtue needs no ornament more than she hath of her own, but beautifies herself sufficiently, and consecrates the body, wherein she dwells. b But by the leave of so great a philosopher, I am of the poet's mind; and although I grant that favour without grace is but a gold ring in a swine's snout, as Solomon hath it, or ornamentum in luto, as another (so it was in Alcibiades for a man, and in Aurelia Orestilla for a woman), yet surely, where they meet, they make a happy conjunction, and draw all hearts to them, as in Germanicus (for a man), in whom beauty and virtue strove for precedency; and Artaxerxes Longimanus, the son of Esther, who is said to have been of all men the most beautiful and most bountiful. c So in Esther (for a woman), who "obtained favour in the sight of all that looked upon her". Est 2:15 And Aspasia Milesia, the wife of Cyrus, who deserved to be styled καλη και σοφη, fair and wise, as Aelian relateth d As on the other side in Vatinius, deformity of body strove with dishonesty of mind, adeo ut animus eius dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur, saith Paterculus.
a Tυφλου το ερωτημς .
b Ipsa magnum sui decus est, et corpus suum consecrat. - Sen., epist. 67.
c Salvian. Cuias praeter formam nihil nunquam, bonus laudavit. - Salust. Kαλλιστος μεν το σωμα, αριστος δε την ψυχην εφυ. - Dio. Artaxerxes, omnium hominum pulcherrimus, ait Emil. Prob.
d Aelian Var. Hist., lib. xii. cap. 1.