Letters 2.276–3.10

To Hermogenes the bishop. That Martinian, Zosimus and Maron, worthy disciples of Eusebius, as you said, slander him to everyone and everyone to him, is clear. That justice will not bear with them, nor with him, to the end, but will exact from them a penalty worthy of what they have done and are doing, is also clear. For no wrongdoer has escaped justice; some paid the penalty here, others there. [Letter 2.277] To the same. If it is not lawful to pity poverty in judgment (for it is not just that justice should be wronged), what punishment would they not justly receive who unjustly give their vote to wealth and shake the scale of justice for gain? For if poverty, which often meddles from necessity, was not counted worthy of pardon (since it ought to have entreated, not accused), what pardon will he obtain who gives his vote to one who, out of great luxury, insults justice?

To Nilus. It is not the same thing, excellent friend, to see suddenly and be wounded, and to suffer the same while eagerly hunting the beauty of others. The one who sees suddenly and is wounded can, with sober reasoning, both draw out the arrow and heal the wound. The best medicine for such a passion is fasting, and no longer looking at the woman who wounded him; and if necessity arises, to put reins on the eyes and turn them to the earth, from which that flower blossomed and into which, withered after a little while, it will be dissolved. But the one who looks continually and eagerly, even if he does not act with the body, completes the sin in the soul. For, tending the passion by looking, he fulfils the defilement by consent. Had desire not softened the strength of his soul, he would not have hastened to see the woman he ought to have fled headlong. That is why the divine oracle declared to be adulterers not those who simply saw and were wounded (for this often happens involuntarily), but those who look and make a business of it, saying: "Everyone who looks at a woman with a view to desiring her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

To Serenus the tribune. Justice, wise friend, which will exact justice from all there, often here too steals the wits of those who try to steal from it, and compels those who contrive to evade it to fall into their own nets through what they do; so wise, so powerful and so undeceivable is it. What Plato said in the person of Socrates, "When we have gone there we shall know clearly," was not said about the judgment, as though he doubted it (far from it: this doctrine was firmly fixed with him above all), but about whether Socrates had philosophized rightly. Having mentioned some who had perhaps philosophized supremely, lest he seem tiresome in bearing witness to himself, he said: "In this I too, as far as possible, left nothing undone in my life, but was eager in every way to become such. Whether I was rightly eager and achieved anything, we shall know clearly when we have gone there." In this he said something like Paul, who said: "I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not thereby justified; it is the Lord who judges me."

To Theodosius the scholasticus. One becomes higher than temptations not by avoiding them, but by training oneself to bear what happens. For temptations, insoluble as you say they are, are solved by the endurance and courage of those who know how to bear what befalls them. The best treatment of what is not in our power is the philosophy that is in our power; and the solution of necessities, insoluble as you say they are, is courage in difficulties and moderation in good fortune. And if the divine help holds out a hand, we shall bear what befalls more easily. Knowing this very well, the best interpreter of Christ's oracles said: "With the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you may be able to endure it."

To the same. [On "Our Father."] The prayer that the Lord taught his own disciples has nothing earthly in it, but everything heavenly and looking to the benefit of the soul. It teaches us to ask neither for office, nor wealth, nor beauty, nor strength, nor anything else that easily withers. For it is superfluous to ask to enjoy, when they are absent, the things we are commanded to keep away from even when they are present. And the very petition that seems small and concerned with the senses was thought by wise men to be said above all of the divine Word, who nourishes the bodiless soul and in a way mixes with and enters its substance. That is why it is called "epiousios" bread, since the term "substance" (ousia) befits the soul rather than the body. And if it is also said of daily bread, which suits the constitution of the body, this too becomes spiritual by the manner of asking; for to seek nothing more than bread belongs to a spiritual, splendid and philosophical mind. Let us ask, then, for what we have been taught, and not for things easily quenched. For it would be wretched and very foolish to ask for the things we have been commanded to shake off even when we have them.

To Eutonius the deacon. If, when we do everything and pull up every occasion of scandal by the root, some people out of malice slander us, it is painful, but not worth much worry. With our conscience bearing witness, the Judge knowing and good men proclaiming the truth, there is hope that the slander of the base will also be quenched. [Letter 2.283] Do not come to close quarters with dangerous men, but yield a little, when what happens does no harm to virtue, and their plotting will soon be quenched.

To Palladius the bishop. Flee, excellent friend, as far as possible, meetings with women. Those who serve as priests must be holier and purer than those who have taken to the mountains. For the latter care only for themselves, the former for themselves and for the peoples; the former are set on the summit of such honour, and everyone searches and scrutinizes their life, while the latter sit in a cave, either tending their own wounds or covering their defects (though there are some who weave crowns for themselves). If you are compelled to meet women, keep your eyes down, and teach them too how one ought to look (for one must not only teach how to look, but also look as one ought); and having said a few things that can sober and enlighten them, quickly fly away, lest the time spent soften your strength and make it slacker. Otherwise it will be as if it took a grim and proud lion, sheared off its mane, which makes the lion truly a lion and keeps its royal dignity, pulled out its teeth and stripped off its claws, with which it overcomes even the strongest beasts, and then, making it shameful and ridiculous, handed over to little girls to play with the fearsome and unbearable beast that shakes the mountains with its roar alone. If you wish to be honoured by women, that is above all unfitting for a spiritual man. But have nothing to do with women, and then you will enjoy glory from them. For it will come above all when it is above all not sought by us. People are accustomed to despise those who court them and to revere those who do not flatter them; and female nature is especially subject to this passion: it is unbearable when flattered, but it reveres and admires above all those who treat it more freely and with more authority. And if you say that you meet them often and are not harmed at all, I perhaps shall be persuaded. But I want you to be persuaded by those who say, "Waters wear away stones," and, "A persistent drop of water hollows a rock." What they mean to establish is this: what is harder than rock, or what softer than water, and that a mere drop? Yet persistence conquers even nature. If, then, nature, which is hard to move, is moved and suffers what it ought not, how will choice, which is easily moved, not be captured and overturned by habit?

To Theodotus the presbyter. If one must neither lament the noble athlete who has gone down into the contest and is covered with dust and beaten (for his toils end in crowns), nor wail for the champion who goes out to war and is about to undergo wounds and slaughter (for he will return victorious and obtain monuments and proclamations), but must lament those who run to robbery and murder, especially when they commit their crimes and then also when they are punished, how did you come to ask why Christ, when he went to the cross as a victor, not only did not accept the women who were lamenting but even rebuked them? It is clear that sympathy brings comfort to one who suffers unwillingly, but insult to one who suffers willingly. For sympathy is an insult to one for whom the suffering is not against his will. Since, then, he was going willingly to his passion, to quench death and unnerve the devil, and they were lamenting one who deserved to be praised and applauded, for this reason (and not, as some think, by way of a curse) he foretold, as the truth is, the evils that were about to befall them. For it is right to lament not the one who has routed sin and is hastening to put death to death and bind the devil, but those who have been captured by all these.

To Philoxenus the magister. [That nothing is higher than virtue.] Neither a bronze statue gleaming with gold, nor a portrait shining with colours, nor an Olympic crown, nor wealth, nor beauty, nor strength, nor office, nor kingship, nor anything else that seems great is great and worthy of zeal. For it yields to time, withers and becomes the work of forgetfulness. Virtue alone has celebrated and immortal fame, neither yielding to time, nor giving way to forgetfulness, nor knowing how to wither, but having its worth fresh, flourishing and youthful; and those who think well should rightly acquire it with all their strength.

To Theodotus the presbyter. [On the celebrated death of our Saviour.] Consider sin to be fuel and death fire. Where it found its own food, it fed on it; but in Christ, finding none, it was rightly quenched, or rather it died.

To Theodosius the scholasticus. The law, wise friend, is the best education in uprightness, not correcting those who walk uprightly but checking in advance the impulses of the disorderly. That is why Paul said, "The law is not laid down for the righteous." The Gospel is an exhortation to philosophy, giving wings to the longing of the lovers of virtue not so much by fear as by promises. Those who obey it, then, hold fast to virtue not from fear of the law but from preference for what is better.

To Isidore the scholasticus. Deeds, excellent friend, are judged by intention. That is why the man who wounded willingly but did not kill has been judged more accursed than the one who killed but did not intend it, in that the one who wounded willingly is punished in any case, while the one who killed unwillingly is pardoned. For just as, if someone took a sword and roamed the streets wishing to kill someone, but, finding no one, came back without having done it, he would not escape being a murderer (for he is judged such by the attempt, not by the result), so too a woman who adorns herself excessively and for that reason throws herself into the marketplace, or leans out of windows to hunt young men, is condemned as having hunted even if she fails in the hunt. For she has done all her part: she has mixed the poison, spread the nets and set the snare with all exactness. And if a man too adorns himself more licentiously than befits a man for this purpose, he too will undergo an inexorable penalty, even if no woman is found to drink the potion. But if a woman walks with dignity, chastely and decently, and someone who sees her is wounded, the fault lies not with the woman who was seen but with the one who was wounded. And if a man walks with dignity and fitness, and some woman who sees him is wounded, the fault lies not with the man but with the woman who was wounded. If anyone says this is not so, he will fill everything with confusion: he will indict Sarah, and Joseph, and Susanna, because others were wounded by seeing them. For she captured Pharaoh, he his mistress, and she that pair of licentious men. But if these not only stand outside blame but are above all praise, the same reasons that acquit them of the charge also strike out the accusation against those who do not hunt, even though others are wounded by them.

To Theodosius the presbyter. [That priests must flourish in every kind of virtue and be brave in dangers for piety.] Those who wear the most precious crown of the priesthood should rightly flourish in virtues rather than in money, and consider self-control the pleasure that befits them, yielding neither to the belly nor to the passions that follow the belly. For one must not regard authority as the purveyor of desires, but regard endurance as authority. And if danger lies ahead for the sake of virtue or piety, they must not flee death. For they would incur ridicule as cowards if they did not go gladly to the place where those who arrive have the hope of obtaining what they longed for all their lives; and they longed for the company of God.

To Serenus, tribune and notary. True nobility is naturally formed from good character, and firm dignity comes from virtue. But if someone, neither born of illustrious ancestors nor adorned with right character, buys himself a rank, which eunuchs sell and which the hands of emperors, perhaps not even noble ones, bestow, he would not rightly pride himself on it. And if he not only prides himself but also spits on those who have the most brilliant rank of virtue, he causes not only himself but also his ancestors, as obscure and undistinguished, to be mocked. So, that you may suffer nothing of the kind, know yourself.

To Isaiah the soldier. I say that not only those who, like you, are born of obscure and undistinguished parents, but not even those born of illustrious and famous ones, should be driven to such arrogance and pass beyond the bounds of nature. So that, offending beyond the bounds, you may not be required to pay penalties beyond the bounds, hasten to rein in the madness of arrogance with the reins of modesty, and shape yourself to the bearing that befits a reasonable man; and let no trace of such a disease appear, either in your eyes, or your brows, or your tongue, or your walk.

To Theognostus the presbyter. ["Learn to do good."] Since many who philosophize in words are refuted by their deeds (for while they chant the divine oracles in public, in secret they do what is not lawful), for this reason it was said: "Learn to do good." For speaking well, when right action is absent, not only appears vain and empty, but also begets laughter in the careless and annoyance in the more serious.

To Eutonius the deacon. [On the transformation and restoration of Nebuchadnezzar.] If for the Babylonian, who sinned so greatly, passed the bounds of nature and irrationally imagined himself equal to God, the limit of his misfortune was the recognition of the one who is higher (for after he recognized his own nature and confessed the incomparable superiority of the King of heaven, he recovered his own rule), how can you think that punishments are inflicted on us simply, and not for some gain?

To Martinian, Maron, Zosimus and Eustathius. My pen shrinks from writing what I did not even wish to learn. But since even those who have gone to the extreme of vice must be called back, I write so that you may stop doing what I would not speak of, so as not to defile my tongue. But you yourselves, I know not how …

To Eustathius the presbyter. Even if unexpected prosperity has made Zosimus the presbyter insolent, as you wrote (for people on whom prosperity falls most unexpectedly tend to turn to insolence), you, for your part, be philosophical. For in this way you will be able to pay him back too; nothing so punishes the insolent as the forbearance of those they insult. You will win the best verdict from all and show that what is said is false. For to be indignant and vexed is a proof that the insults are true; to laugh at them is the clearest proof of being conscious of nothing wicked.

To the same. I have learned from men to whom falsehood is hateful and on whose tongue truth dwells, that when you are insulted by Zosimus you are philosophical at the moment, but afterwards parade him, slandering him to all as one who, being a slave and born of slaves, reviles those adorned with piety and nobility; and that you recall those sayings of the ancients about such men: "A whipping-slave in prosperity is unbearable," and that "faring well beyond one's worth becomes for fools an occasion of thinking ill." I greatly wonder how, when the pyre of anger is at its height, you master your wrath, but when it seems to die down, you are defeated. For one who has not been wholly devoted to philosophy to be angry at first is not unlikely; but after the pyre has died down or even been quenched, to light the furnace for oneself again is unlikely. If the memory of what was said kindles the fire, let your having been philosophical gladden you instead and keep you in calm. You would do well to consider not what it befits him to hear, but what it befits you to say. Do not, then, insult yourself by contending with him, nor cause your own tongue to be defiled by mocking his life, but be philosophical to the end. This will beget you countless glory. [Letter 2.298] To Zosimus the presbyter. I grieve greatly in my soul that, sharp-sighted for the worst things, you are blind to virtue, and that, being a lover of transgressions beyond all bounds, you have also proved an inventor of still newer wrongs. If, then, you wish to free me from grief and yourself from punishment, change quickly, knowing well that whoever departs from here uninitiated and unperfected in virtue will lie in fire, while the one who has been perfected and purified will, when he arrives there, dance with the divine powers.

To Theodosius the scholasticus. [That the reading of the divine Scriptures is profitable to those who stand, to those who have fallen, and simply to all, giving each its oracle.] The sacred Scriptures hold that the faith about God must lie in all people not oblique and ambiguous, but straight, bright, firm, unshaken and unswerving. They promise good hope to those in danger and offer confidence to those who prosper; they hold out comfort to those in misfortune and threaten fear to those who offend. So that people, not understanding God merely as far as a name and so miscarrying every good notion, but understanding him as maker and ruler, overseer, provider and guardian, rewarding the good and punishing the wicked (for this is the most proper and glorious account of God), may flee vice and choose virtue. But examination of his essence is neither necessary for human beings nor within their reach. For one must know and believe that God is, not busy oneself with what he is. Leaving aside, then, the account of his essence as unattainable and in no way to be grasped, but swimming above every examination, let us order our life and our ways, as men who will certainly give an account.

To the same. [From the Epistle of John, on what is written: "Watch that you do not lose what you have worked for."] Every work shines when it is tended by practice (for what is not held together by practice is easily quenched); but virtue above all must be tended by daily exercise. If it is not cultivated, it sheds its leaves and loses its fruit. And this, then, is what you wished to learn: "Watch that you do not lose what you have worked for." For carelessness will quench earlier labours, even if they were brilliant; but zeal will also obliterate earlier carelessness.

To Zosimus the presbyter. If you have no regard at all for Gehenna or for the kingdom, you ought at least to wipe off the mockery you incur now. The account of the judgment is not doubtful but well known, familiar, and true, confessed by all the wise and by the holy Scriptures, and it will certainly come. You ought to keep it in your breast and to stop doing what you do in the belief that there is no judgment, so that you may free yourself from punishment, those who watch you from offence, us from grief, and the careless from despair.

To Ammonius. [On "He who is not against us is for us."] In time of war one should regard as a friend, in a way, not only the man who shoots alongside us, but also the one who seems to be ranged among the enemy yet does not shoot at us. That is why the divine oracle cries: "He who is not against you is for you."

To Eutonius the deacon. ["And it fell to the earth from the stars and from the power."] Since this has escaped even those who attend very closely to their reading, I would not blame you as though you did not read; but I will explain it briefly. Just as the Apostle calls stars those who by an excellent way of life give light to those who see them, writing, "among whom you shine as lights in the world," so too Daniel calls stars those who are bright through piety and excellent in their way of life. For he says, "And it fell to the earth from the stars and from the power," not meaning that the stars fell, as some have supposed (far from it!), but that Antiochus Epiphanes (for the angel was speaking about him) was brilliantly defeated by the Maccabees and fell from rule over the Jews. For he did not say, "The stars fell," but that he fell by the stars who fought brilliantly, that is, he was defeated. But if someone takes "fell" (epesen) as "struck" (epaisen) (for so it is often used, as in "He struck," instead of "he smote," "and his hands healed," where the second syllable is written with a diphthong), it can mean that he struck the seven brothers and their mother, and Eleazar the priest, who displayed a brilliant and shining way of life and appeared like stars on the earth. For "Maccabee" is interpreted, as among the Persians, "koiranos," that is, master. In those times, then, when Antiochus dared that tragedy against those most renowned men, the Maccabees rose up and drove him out of the land. That is why the name prevailed also for those who were tortured. For those too who in the Maccabean times endured the unbearable and did not abjure their ancestral laws were called Maccabees.

To the same. [On what the Saviour said about the church: "the gates of Hades."] It was said, not as though no one would make war on her or try to extinguish her, but as though many would oppose her and be utterly defeated: "And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it," that is, against the church. And so it has in fact turned out. She was warred against, but not defeated; rather, she was shown more brilliant than those who tried to extinguish her. Why then are you surprised if the saints too are warred against here? For it is from wars that trophies appear more brilliant and spoils more glorious. [Letter 3.6] To Heron the scholasticus. When God speaks or promises, let reasonings and syllogisms and plausible words get out of the way. For all these are nothing when compared with the dignity of the one who speaks.

To Antiochus the scholasticus. To bear a grudge is not the work of a noble soul but of a wretched and base one. But since not everyone passes the same verdict on the same matters, and some take a man's quickly accepting a remedy after he has been insulted as proof that he knows the charge is true, while others take it as proof that he knows nothing of what was said, the sensible man should rather follow the wiser and hold their verdict firm. And it is this: to accept the remedy as quickly as possible. For a false reproach goes no further than the ear. But since you have written, "What then if the insulter does not get his fill, but is only provoked further by the patience of the man he insulted?", I would say that this is, above all, hard to believe; but such a man must be fled like an untamed beast. As for what you wrote, that someone said, "I keep meeting him and bear it with philosophy, for it wins me greater praise," it is the mark (one must tell the truth) of a great man, if indeed he practises philosophy in deeds, but not of one who has surpassed the virtue of holy men. For our saints do not wish to weave their own crowns from the misfortunes of others; rather, they often neglect their own affairs in order to set right those of their neighbours. They do not drive others over a cliff in order to win greater glory for themselves; but if they can help, they give counsel, and if not, they flee, so that those people may not slide into a deeper pit. For they do what they do not out of love of honour but out of care for people's salvation.

To Aphrodisius the presbyter. Since telling of one's troubles brings some comfort to a man overwhelmed by grief, especially when it is told to true friends (for silence … ; many at least who endured and buried these things in silence fell into grievous illnesses), we should receive gently those who wish to tell of their misfortunes, and only after their suffering has been lightened by speaking should we offer what remedy we can. For if we stop their mouths from the start, we shall gain a name for lacking sympathy and make our help weak, since the height of the grief pushes it aside. But if we apply the medicine after the pain has been lightened, we shall gain two things: being sympathetic, and not missing the cure. [Letter 3.9] To Ausonius the corrector. Judges of affairs must be very sharp in understanding, so that, passing over both the cleverness of the speakers and the plausibility of what is said, they may be able to reach the very depth of the thoughts, hunt the truth out from there, and draw it up.

To Heraclides the bishop. [What the logion on the priest's breast means.] The word logion, most eloquent friend, does not always mean the same thing. When the first syllable is accented, it denotes an oracle; when the second, it denotes what was ordained to be placed on the high priest's breast, as it were a sacred place, house, or precinct of reason. And since you ask, "And why was it placed on the high priest's breast?", I say: first, because reason ought to ride on the spirited and desiring parts like a charioteer. Next, because truth and clarity ought to be the ornament of the one consecrated as priest. For on the logion lay "Revelation" and "Truth," the one showing clarity, the other truth. And if you wish to understand it in another way: because truth befits the inner word, and clarity the spoken word. And perhaps also because, as they say, a kind of flashing appeared in those stones when he went into the inner sanctuary to minister, and it truly showed what was to come, they were called by these names.