Letters 3.131–3.160

To Peter the scholasticus. We must, friend, leave aside the names of good things and go to the realities. For kingship, wealth and glory are realities among those outside, but names among Christians; just as their opposites, obscurity, death and poverty, are names among us but realities among them. And, if you like, let us bring forward office, desired and fought over by all, and from it test all the rest; not saying that it is short-lived, nor that it is quickly extinguished (for many have been carried from their very seats of office to their tombs, and lament has succeeded the heralds' voices); passing over this too, that many have even been deprived of their ancestral property, being subjected to confiscation; when we test it most of all, let us not strip the harlot of her paint and cosmetics, but bring her forward adorned, so that her ugliness may then be exposed. Let us bring forward, then, the pomp, the lictors, the herald's voice, the obedience of the executioners, and being looked at by all; and let us examine whether these things that seem brilliant and desirable are not only superfluous and a useless reputation but even harmful. For in what is that man made better by them, in body or in soul? For this is a human being. Will he then be taller, or healthier, or quicker, or have keener senses? No one would say so. Let us go, then, to the soul. Will he become more chaste, or gentler, or more intelligent from this display? Not at all, but quite the opposite. For what happens with the body does not usually happen with the soul: the body gained nothing toward its own excellence, but the soul has even gained vice. For it immediately takes on folly, vainglory, madness, anger and countless offences. And if he rejoices, thinks highly of himself, is puffed up and exalts himself over all, this is the very summit of vice: that he neither feels pain nor perceives, but even rejoices as his diseases increase. For rejoicing is not good in every case: the robber rejoices after the theft, the plunderer after his greed, the adulterer after breaking into his neighbour's marriage, and the murderer after the slaughter. Let him not, then, say that he rejoices; but if he rejoices over something useful, let him show it, and I will rejoice with him. Since, then, the one freed from the passions alone is most free and most fit to rule (more kingly even than kings themselves), let us embrace virtue and free ourselves from that wicked slavery, thinking neither office, nor wealth, nor any such thing blessed and worth fighting for, but only being freed from the passions.

To Zosimus the presbyter. Either stop revelling in the misfortunes of others, rousing and summoning licentiousness that was asleep, or, if you do these things, do not approach the venerable altar. For by scandalizing many you drive them away from approaching, since they cannot bear to see so great a stain sitting beside the undefiled altar.

To Paul. [Against those who say that there is a horoscope, that is, fate, or what is called fortune.] If everything, as you say, wise man, both happens and is said according to fate, tell me how it now overturns itself through us. For if it does everything, it would be fate that is now proclaiming through us that there is no horoscope. How then is it not believed by you, when the very thing you say exists says that it does not exist?

To Orion. Do not simply bring out certain sayings of the holy oracles and tear them apart with your mouth (you will incur ridicule for lack of education and for folly; which is why some avoid you, afraid of giving a handle to a quarrelsome man), but by carefully seeking the occasions you will have the solutions. For interpretations bereft of their occasions are blind.

To Apollonius the bishop. I say that flattery is more powerful and more grievous than fear. For what compulsion cannot do, courting can; and those not overcome by fear, flattery has often enslaved. One must, then, be manly against both fear and fawning (each passion is servile) and honour the truth alone. [Letter 3.138] The esteemed man must be both a lover of God and a lover of people, so that neither through the height of his virtue and his dedication to God he may despise people, nor through people neglect God. For love of God, even if it is far greater, becomes more brilliant when entwined with love of people.

To Nilus. [On the wisdom of Daniel and the three young men.] The three young men and Daniel did not learn the curious lore of the Chaldeans; do not think so. For those who were so careful in their piety toward God that they would not share even the king's food, when would they have allowed themselves, even if threatened with countless deaths, to be rolled into servile learning? And that this is so, Scripture is a worthy witness, saying, "God gave them understanding and prudence in all letters and wisdom"; that is, they received the education in letters more sharply than any expectation and more swiftly than any hope. For by "letters" it means the wisdom that is in letters. And that this is true is plain both from their not having worshipped the royal image and from the lions' respect for the one and the fire's for the others. And if they say, "From Persian education," let them answer: how then did the lions destroy those who held the highest offices among them and were educated in all their wisdom before they touched the ground, and the fire others?

To Palladius the bishop. Do not despise those who come to you in poor dress, but admire their endurance and pity their change of fortune, considering that many who were of royal stock have been assigned the rank of hired labourers. And even if they are obscure and of obscure parents, do not turn away even so, but stretch out your hand in whatever you can, considering that what seems low birth is involuntary and not blameworthy; for it is the lowness that comes from character that is foul. And even if they are of bad character, let them enjoy necessary food, both for the sake of humanity and because of the divine command, which not only bids us give to everyone who asks but also takes what is given as given to itself. [Letter 3.141] [Against the Sabellians.] The most divine and ineffable Son of the Father, whom we worship, is fittingly called Word, not because he is only a word and the interpreter of the Father, as some think, but because he creates faster than a word and was begotten without passion. Being Word, he subsists in himself and has his own property. And that he is not without subsistence, the Word himself shows by saying that he has words: "Whoever hears my words and does them." If, then, the Word has words, he is not without subsistence; but subsisting in himself, he is called Word because he came forth without passion. [Letter 3.142] [On "Let your light shine," and that it is not contrary to "Take care with your almsgiving," and what follows.] Nothing is better, admirable friend, than a good reputation which spreads everywhere and travels over land and sea; one could not compare even the treasures of Croesus with it. That is why the Proverb-writer said: "A good name is better than much wealth; good favour than silver and gold." And Christ commanded: "Let your light shine before people," not so that we should live for love of honour (far from it! he roots this out everywhere, commanding us to make public neither prayer nor almsgiving, but even to keep the other hand from knowing what is to be done), but so that we should give no one a just handle for offence. For so, even without our willing it, the light of our deeds will shine round those who watch and turn them to the glorifying of God. That this is what it means is shown by its not saying, "So that you may be glorified," but "So that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

To Zosimus the presbyter. If you see bodily beauty, consider that this brilliant flower becomes dust tomorrow, and today's fire will turn to ashes the next day. For everything that has an end, and that a very swift one, even if it seems brilliant and lovely, ought to be easily despised, especially when it also gives birth to punishment.

To Palladius the subdeacon. What seems small is not small, not to add sin to sin; it is even very great. For it is a road leading to the best change. For if the stream of vice that runs toward destruction comes to rest, the movement toward virtue will make a beginning. For just as standing still and pausing on the racecourse gives rise to the opposite movement (unless one stops, one cannot go in the opposite direction), so too with vice: unless it stops, it would not give room to virtue.

To Peter the corrector. Equality is friendship, excellent friend. For inequality naturally harms friendship. Do not, then, use the same man as friend and flatterer. For the one who has fixed his friendship on equal and just terms will not bear it. [Letter 3.146] To Theognostus the presbyter. Though I have much to say of the renowned Timothy, I will say one thing, to which all tends: that, being a genuine lover of virtue, he always contended against the fame he already had, eclipsing the amazement at his earlier deeds by his later ones. [Letter 3.147] Breaking the tyranny of the prejudice that held the human race, and eager to lead it up from earthbound things to the lot above the world, the Saviour cried, "Rise, let us go hence." For mixing his own power with his voice, he strengthened the powers of those who wished to fly up to heaven, so that they bade a long farewell to prejudice and held to the journey upward.

To the same. The one who tyrannically overpowers the tyranny of the passions, which most think cannot be overpowered, ought to be celebrated both as brave and as a tyrant-slayer.

To the same. [On the holy Trinity.] Eternity is, as it were, ever-living; that is why it is usually applied only to the nature without beginning, which is always the same and unchanging. "Immortal" can be predicated also of what came to be but does not die, such as an angel and a soul; and "incorruptible" of things made but made superior to corruption. But "eternal" is properly proper to the divine essence. That is why it is naturally applied only to the worshipful and most royal Trinity, which does not admit "before" and "after," nor accepts "first," "second" and "third." For the Godhead is above number, superior to times and higher than every thought. For even if it is divided by properties, it is joined by dignity and essence. It is divided so that the Jews and Sabellius may be refuted; it is joined so that Arius and Eunomius may be put to shame. For being expanded into hypostases, it is joined in essence, which dignity always follows. [Letter 3.150] Since all who take much or little account of virtue believe that the prize of the priesthood was given you by divine assent, you ought to do everything so as not to outrage the divine ordination by what you do afterwards. For if you order your own soul by the ordinance of the priesthood, appoint right reason as emperor, give it anger as bodyguard, legislate that it do nothing the king does not wish, and banish from your mind all that is given over to vice through pleasures and pains, you will honour the decree from above.

To the same. The marks of a free soul are guilelessness, gentleness, humanity, courage, justice, self-control, condescension, mildness, generosity, ruling and voting not by favour but by judgment, and the others akin to these. The marks of a servile soul are being mastered by the opposite passions and having banished every good thought from itself.

To Isidore the deacon. [Numbers: why, when Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses, Miriam alone was punished.] Since you have written asking for what reason, when Aaron and Miriam slandered Moses, Miriam alone was punished, with leprosy blossoming on her face, where the tongue lies in ambush, I write what I heard from a certain wise man, and I will add what I myself have understood, so that you may test which is truer. He said that, since it was the beginning of the priesthood, God did not wish to outrage its prelude, lest its end also become disgraceful. I can neither overturn nor approve this. I do not overturn it, since it harms neither virtue nor piety; I do not approve it, since before Aaron there was a more divine and bloodless priesthood, that of Melchizedek, and because it does not befit an impartial judge to overlook justice because of the rank of the offender. But I say this rather: since Scripture placed Miriam before the man, the high priest, in the accusation, I think she supplied the seed and he followed. And the one who supplied the seed is plainly the cause of what grew. That is why, when nearly all made the calf in the desert, some paid the penalty, perhaps those who began the offence, and some were pardoned, those who followed them through false reasoning and deception. For it is not the deed so much as the mind with which it is done that is examined; for the Judge reaches even to thoughts. I think, then, that Miriam's being placed first and the high priest after, when elsewhere the man is placed first and the woman after, was done not by way of amplification but by way of giving the cause; for the female sex is, for the most part, talkative and meddlesome. That is why she also was punished; for having placed Aaron first everywhere else, he would not have placed him after here unless he wished to give the cause.

To Alphius. Even if, as you have written, Zosimus is the ringleader of the gang of robbers, chief of those who devour the people, advocate of those who live carelessly and accuser of those who live rightly, I blame not him alone but also Palladius and Maron, who, they say, fight shoulder to shoulder with him and arm their power against the gentleness of the decent. For they are the ones who strengthen his vice and do not allow it to be quenched, giving and receiving this accursed exchange. For by applauding the wicked they think they are applauded, and by being at war with lovers of virtue they expect to prevail. But God, who hates evil and loves good, will not bear this.

To Harpocras the sophist. [Against those who say that there is a horoscope, that is, fate, or what is called fortune.] You have done well, though the remnants of illness still sling me about, to compel me to take up my cobwebbed lyre and sing a song, even if not loud and audible, but faint and quiet. Sharpen your ears, then, and whet your mind to keen perception; for when one sings softly, it is not easy to hear. Whence, then, whence shall I begin the song? From where I must. I say, then, that the verdict about fate belongs, I think, to people who neither do anything good now nor expect to hereafter. And lest what is said seem a mere assertion, let the argument proceed by clear, compelling and unforced proofs, examining the facts and bringing the truth to light. See how many things they oppose, how many good things they strive to banish from their own choice, and shudder at the folly. They declare that God either does not exist; or exists but did not make the world; or made it but does not exercise providence; or exercises providence but delights in those who embrace vice; or does not delight in them but has yielded power to others; or has not yielded it but has been deprived of it against his will; or has not been deprived of it but does not wish to punish; or wishes to but cannot; or can but has preferred ease; or has not preferred ease but is overcome by the movement of the stars; or is not overcome but wishes to be idle and inactive; and many other things (not to lengthen the little discourse by saying each), every one of which breathes the utmost unreason and impiety. By these they arm their tongue against divine providence and send their arrows to heaven; and by the same they banish the good things on earth too: philosophy, medicine, all the sciences, arts and studies, the rewards of virtue and the penalties of vice. For if a horoscope rules, unjustly constructed by the gods they wrongly worship (for somehow they think the stars are gods), then one must not practise philosophy, nor legislate, nor judge, nor heal, nor pursue science or art, nor study, nor hold to virtue, nor keep from vice. All this, then, blessed friend, the much-repeated doctrine of fortune will overturn, tearing up all good things from their foundations; and who of those not without mind and understanding will bear it? And who, withdrawing himself from all these, will entrust his affairs to so-called fortune, whose wretchedness those who write about and fashion her, wishing to show it, were not content to give the form of a woman (though this was a sufficient sign of unreason and folly), but also gave her a rudder to hold in her hands, set a spherical base under her feet, and deprived her of her eyes, showing by all this her folly, her madness, her blindness and her instability? Who, then, despising the right hand that steers all things, will entrust himself to a blind, unstable and wretched fancy? And since they say, "How then do some grow rich unreasonably?", let them also say, "How do some do so reasonably?" And if they say, "How are some punished unjustly?", let them tell us, "How are some punished justly?" Either let injustice rule in everything, and let their unreasonable reasoning be believed; or let what happens according to reason also plead for what happens against reason. For it is better, far more fitting and more just to say that the worst people, even if they escaped here, will certainly pay the penalty there, than to say that lovers of virtue were wronged when punished here and that there will be no requital afterwards. The former is both true and reasonable and rouses all souls to virtue and piety; the latter is unreasonable and impious and overturns all right living. Let those who say these things, then, not call the movement of the stars harmonious or musical, since it, as they say, constructs an unmusical, unharmonious and uneven life, and every absurdity besides; and let them not farm, nor go to the law courts asking for help, nor enjoy medicine, nor praise philosophy, nor blame vice, nor improve themselves by study, nor strive to adorn themselves with any other virtue; but let them entrust themselves to the fortune they keep talking about, so that by the facts they may learn her weakness: that she will not only not hold out wealth, but will cause them to be banished by all as avenging spirits and enemies of our common nature. But if, while doing all these things (for they are ashamed to arm their tongue against things whose benefit is obvious), they are vexed at failures in their affairs, let them learn that success in many things has often turned out to many for evil. Wealth has harmed many, sharpening a sword against them and transferring it into the hands of their enemies. Office and kingship, fought over by all, have often taken away not only living well but life itself. Let them not, then, consider only whether failure attends their affairs; but if poverty has not often proved more useful than wealth to those who have it, then let them cry out against Providence; and let them not give themselves the authority to judge, but to the wise men celebrated among them. For why did Socrates, condemned to the hemlock, not think himself wronged? Why did Plato, when he was sold, not think he had lost his freedom? Why did Diogenes, living in rags, think himself richer than the Persian king? Why did Antisthenes rejoice in dirt and squalor and arm his tongue against those living in luxury? Why did Phocion, when he was led away with some friends, and one of them wept and filled the road with laments, say, "Are you not content to die with Phocion?" If, then, neither death, nor slavery, nor poverty troubled the wise, but they even prided themselves on these things (for they knew that life here is a racecourse and the life to come gives birth to the prize of the contests), for what reason do these men, defining blessedness by luxury, wealth and office, arm their tongue against Providence on account of those who undergo the opposite, Providence which knows what is advantageous and either permits or assigns to each, so that the rich man may give proof of his own choice and the poor man, tested by poverty like gold in fire, may be crowned? And if they say, "Everyone ought to have been tested by both wealth and poverty," we shall say that many have indeed been tested in this way and were seen to be arrogant in wealth and unmanly in poverty. And if not all, it is possible by these to give a defence for the rest too. But I would not say anything of this kind; I would rather say that lovers of virtue who are tested here are not harmed at all, since crowns are laid up for them there; rather their crown is lessened when they obtain some reward and prosperity here. Let them not, then, seek everything here, but consider that there will be an impartial judgment, which prose-writers, poets, orators and historians celebrate. For even if they did not attain exactness, they at least taught that it will certainly be.

To Isaiah the soldier. Do not teach luxury to one who has been trained to use moderate food, lest, making him lustful and licentious instead of chaste, you bring him down to the bottom of evils, where you perhaps live without knowing it. [Letter 3.156] [That the devil has no foreknowledge, but conjectures each thing from our movements.] The devil does not know what is in the mind, gentlest friend; for this is the special prerogative of the divine power alone, which also fashioned our hearts one by one. But he hunts out the soul's intentions from the movements of the body. For instance, has he seen someone looking curiously and feasting his eyes on another's beauty? Seizing on that impulse, he at once provokes such a man either to adultery or to sexual immorality. Has he seen a man irritable and hot-tempered? At once he sharpens the sword and urges him to murder. Has he seen a greedy man? He urges him to robberies and injustices. Has he seen one mastered by his belly? At once he sketches for him the passions that follow the belly and supplies material for carrying his purpose into action. Why does he not push everyone into the same passions? Because one has chosen this rather, another that; and this pleases one, that another. From the movements of the body, then, he infers the weak points of souls, and so weaves his snares.

To Cassius, member of the city council. It is better to keep the soul's beauty unharmed and unaffected; but if this is hard to keep, at least to receive the damage in small and easily healed things and not in vital ones. Do not, because you hear that repentance has been given, go fearlessly to sinning as though you will certainly be healed. Know, first, that many have not even had time for repentance, being called to account in the very act of their offences; next, that repentance usually heals the passions over a long time. For there is need of labours, fasting, vigils, almsgiving, prayers and all such things for the earlier wounds to be healed. Third, one must consider that even if it is healed, the scar exposes the passion. For a body unharmed and one that has been healed are not the same, nor a garment untorn and one torn, even if it seems by some skill to have been brought to the point of not being easily detected. And even if the soul is restored to its former beauty, it is not restored simply, as I said, but with countless labours, laments and penalties which the sinning soul brings upon itself.

To the same. [That faith without works does not save a person.] Faith, admirable friend, ought to be proclaimed by works rather than by words. And that this is true, those outside say: "Works will show more clearly than words"; and the Apostle more forcefully: "They profess to know God, but deny him by their works." And the divine oracle cries: "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me." For hidden things ought to be proved by works, not by words.

To Aetius. ["And Phinehas stood and made atonement, and the plague ceased."] When the Midianites resolved to confront the Hebrews, who were led by divine alliance, then, advised by a clever man, they bade farewell to arms and engines, strength and might (for they learned that these had availed the Egyptians nothing), and sent out to the war beautiful girls, not armed but adorned. For they knew that the help from above would not otherwise depart from them unless they slid into sexual immorality and from there into idolatry. For the greatest offences are naturally born from smaller ones. The girls, going out to battle, skirmished with them, bringing neither sword nor arrow, but putting forward their beauty and finery in place of every engine of war, and they so prevailed over them that the men threw away their arms and yielded the trophy to them. When the high priest's son saw that not only the common people but also those in authority had thrown away their shields and rushed into sexual immorality, and that because of this the divine help was about to fly away, he was deeply moved and, filled with just anger, took a sword and killed one of those in authority together with the woman with whom he had committed sexual immorality. And so he stopped not only the spread of the disease as it hastened to the vital parts, but also the divine wrath that was spreading over the sinners. He who cut out the disorder was honoured with the priesthood, as one who had given proof of a general's good order. And this is what you seek to learn: "Phinehas stood and made atonement, and the plague ceased, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." For the divine nature honoured the one who was justly indignant on its behalf and stopped the lawlessness with two slayings.

To Agathus the presbyter. [On patience, because of Sarah.] When Abraham, the friend of God, came from Persia to Palestine because of an oracle and to Egypt because of a famine, the officials, seeing his wife flashing with beauty and womanly virtue, reported her to the king as if bringing him a most precious treasure. And he took away the woman, who shone more with chastity than with beauty. And when the husband, fearing death and pretending to be her brother, gave up his wife but did not cry out against God's patience, then, then indeed divine help, setting its own weapons in motion, restored his wife untouched and unharmed to the friend of God. For by scourging that man at night with most bitter torments, subduing his pleasures by pains, or rather making them vanish altogether, it brought the righteous man his crown. Let us too, then, if we fall into trials, not cry out against God's patience, but rather hold fast to it, which finds ways where there are none and means where there are no means.