ABSTRACT
Although writing decades-sometimes centuries-after the authors discussed in the previous chapter, Christian writers from the second through the fi fth centuries adopted the rhetorical stance of their predecessors: they too aimed to demonstrate their superiority in terms of morality. But ascetically inclined Christian moralists raised the bar set by early Imperial writers, competing in the “economy of sophrosyne” in innovative ways.2 They expanded the traditional paradigm of evaluating sexual virtue on a spectrum from moderation to excess. Christian writers extended one end of the spectrum to include higher degrees of restraint and discipline, up to full abstinence. Thus, Christian virginity was framed as a degree of selfmastery beyond pagan sophrosyne (pudicitia).3 According to this newly revised model of sexual virtue, they could then impute sexual immorality to their pagan (and sometimes fellow Christian) opponents for activities that in the past would have escaped critique, and indeed might even have been deemed modest.4
