Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily XII/Chapter 13

Chapter XIII.&#8212;A Woman of a Sorrowful Spirit.

But Peter alone did not think it worth while to look at the sights that were there; but noticing a certain woman sitting outside before the doors, begging constantly for her support, he said to her, &#8220;O woman, is any of your limbs defective, that you submit to such disgrace&#8212;I mean that of begging,&#8212;and do not rather work with the hands which God has given you, and procure your daily food?&#8221;&#160; But she, groaning, answered, &#8220;Would that I had hands able to work!&#160; But now they retain only the form of hands, being dead and rendered useless by my gnawing of them.&#8221;&#160; Then Peter asked her, &#8220;What is the cause of your suffering so terribly?&#8221;&#160; And she answered, &#8220;Weakness of soul; and nought else.&#160; For if I had the mind of a man, there was a precipice or a pool whence I should have thrown myself, and have been able to rest from my tormenting misfortunes.&#8221;