Letters 5.444–5.484 (Letters)

Isidore of Pelusium

Letters 5.444–5.484

Isidore of Pelusium · Letters · ca. 393-ca. 435 · Pelusium · 37 passages

Greek text: PG 78.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0).

BothSource textEnglish

Transliteration

Show only the passage I followed

Chapter 5

5.444PG 78 78:1583

ΑΓΑΘΟΔΑΙΜΟΝΙ. Καινότερόν τι τεθέαμαι, ὃ οὐκ ἄν τις ῥᾳδίως καταδέξοιτο, μὴ ἀκριβῶς τὸ πρᾶγμα πυθόμενος. Τριῶν γὰρ ὁμοῦ φίλων περὶ ἑνὸς παρακαλούντων πράγματος, ὁ μὲν δεινότατος προσπαρώξυνεν, ὁ δὲ ἦττον δεινὸς ἐπράϋνεν· ὁ δὲ ἠμεληκὼς τοῦ λέγειν ἔπεισε. Καὶ ἡδυνήθη μὲν ὁ ἀμαθὴς τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἐχρῆν τὸν δεινότατον· ἔπαθε δὲ ὁ ῥητορικώτατος, ὅπερ ἐχρῆν τὸν ἀμαθέστατον. Ὡς δὲ ἡρωτᾶτο ἐκεῖνος, ᾧ τὴν πρεσβείαν προσέφερον, ἔφη, « τῷ τρόπῳ τῶν παρακαλούντων προεσχηκέναι οὐ τῷ λόγῳ· τῇ πολιτείᾳ πεπεῖσθαι, οὐ τῇ εὐγλωττίᾳ. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ βίος τοῦ λόγου περιγίνεται, καὶ ἡ γνώμη τῆς γλώττης, πρῶτον τὴν γνώμην, εἶτα τὴν γλῶτταν κοσμητέον· εἰ δὲ ἀπιστεῖς ταῦτα γεγενῆσθαι, εἰς τὴν Ὁμηρικὴν πρεσβείαν, ἣν ἀεὶ ἐπὶ γλώττης ἔχεις, τὸν νοῦν παράπεμψον· ἔνθα ὁ μὲν Ἰθακήσιος δεινότατος ὢν, πλέον παρώξυνε τὸν Πηλέως. Ὁ δὲ ἧττον δεινὸς, ὁ παιδαγωγός φημι, κατεπράϋνεν. Ὁ δὲ Τελαμώνιος, ὁ λίαν ἡμεληκὼς τοῦ λέγειν, ἔπεισε· καὶ δεδύνηται μὲν ὁ Τελαμώνιος τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἐχρῆν τὸν Λαέρτου· ἕπαθε δὲ οὗτος, ὅπερ ἐχρῆν ἐκεῖνον.

AGAThODAIMONI. Kainoteron ti tetheamai, ho ouk an tis rhądiōs katadexoito, mē akribōs to pragma pythomenos. Triōn gar homou philōn peri henos parakalountōn pragmatos, ho men deinotatos prosparōxynen, ho de ētton deinos epraÿnen; ho de ēmelēkōs tou legein epeise. Kai hēdynēthē men ho amathēs tosouton, hoson echrēn ton deinotaton; epathe de ho rhētorikōtatos, hoper echrēn ton amathestaton. Hōs de hērōtato ekeinos, hǭ tēn presbeian prosepheron, ephē, « tǭ tropǭ tōn parakalountōn proeschēkenai ou tǭ logǭ; tę̄ politeią pepeisthai, ou tę̄ euglōttią. Ei toinyn ho bios tou logou periginetai, kai hē gnōmē tēs glōttēs, prōton tēn gnōmēn, eita tēn glōttan kosmēteon; ei de apisteis tauta gegenēsthai, eis tēn Homērikēn presbeian, hēn aei epi glōttēs echeis, ton noun parapempson; entha ho men Ithakēsios deinotatos ōn, pleon parōxyne ton Pēleōs. Ho de hētton deinos, ho paidagōgos phēmi, katepraÿnen. Ho de Telamōnios, ho lian hēmelēkōs tou legein, epeise; kai dedynētai men ho Telamōnios tosouton, hoson echrēn ton Laertou; hepathe de houtos, hoper echrēn ekeinon.

To Agathodaemon. I have seen something rather novel, which one would not easily accept without learning the matter exactly. Three friends were together pleading about one matter: the most eloquent provoked the man further, the less eloquent calmed him, and the one who had neglected speaking persuaded him. The uneducated man achieved as much as the most eloquent ought to have, and the most rhetorical suffered what the most uneducated ought to have. When the man to whom they brought the embassy was asked, he said that he had heeded the character of the petitioners, not their words; he had been persuaded by their way of life, not their eloquence. If, then, life prevails over words and the mind over the tongue, one must adorn first the mind and then the tongue. And if you disbelieve that this happened, turn your mind to the Homeric embassy, which you always have on your tongue: there the man of Ithaca, most eloquent as he was, provoked the son of Peleus further; the less eloquent, the tutor I mean, calmed him; and the son of Telamon, who had greatly neglected speaking, persuaded him. The son of Telamon achieved as much as the son of Laertes ought to have, and the latter suffered what the former ought to have.

Notes and citation

Summary: Character persuades more than eloquence, as Isidore saw in a recent embassy and as the embassy to Achilles in Homer shows, where Ajax's plainness succeeded where Odysseus's eloquence failed.

Homer, Il. 9 (Odysseus, Phoenix and Ajax sent to Achilles).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split by OCR): παρα καλούντων → παρακαλούντων.

Extrabiblical texts: Homer, Il. 9.222-655 (Homer, Iliad; allusion)

Topics: Classical learning and education, The Christian life

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.444 (PG 78 78:1583; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-444). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-444

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-444) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.445PG 78 78:1585

ΖΩΣΙΜΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ γνώμην σαφῶς εἰπεῖν βούλομαι. Εἰ δὲ τις ὑπερβολικῶς εἰρῆσθαι δόξει, δοκείτω. Οἱ γὰρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐρασταὶ μαρτυρήσουσι τῷ ῥηθησομένῳ. Φημὶ τοίνυν, εἰ μὲν τῇ ἀρετῇ τιμωρία, τῇ δὲ κακίᾳ στέφανος ἀπέκειτο, ἥδιστ᾽ ἂν δίκην δέδωκα φιλάρετος ὢν, ἢ ἐστέφθην κακίας ὧν ἐραστής. Οὕτως ἡ μὲν κακία, κἂν στέφανον προξενοίη, πάσης μοι τιμωρίας δοκεῖ χαλεπωτέρα εἶναι. Ἡ δὲ ἀρετὴ τιμαλφεστέρα, κἂν τιμωρίας μὴ ἀμοιροίη. Ἡ μὲν οὖν εἰρημένη μοι ἥδε ὑπερβολή, ὡς φαῖεν τινες, ὧδε ἔχει καὶ ἄλις ἐχέτω. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πάντως τῇ μὲν ἀρετῇ στέφανος, τῇ δὲ κακίᾳ τιμωρία ἀπόκειται, τί ἐστι τὸ πεῖσάν σε εἰς τὸν πυθμένα τῆς κακίας καταποντῶσαι σαυτόν; ἡδέως ἄν σου πυθοίμην ἐγώ.

ZŌSIMO PRESBYTERŌ. Tēn emautou gnōmēn saphōs eipein boulomai. Ei de tis hyperbolikōs eirēsthai doxei, dokeitō. Hoi gar tēs aretēs erastai martyrēsousi tǭ rhēthēsomenǭ. Phēmi toinyn, ei men tę̄ aretę̄ timōria, tę̄ de kakią stephanos apekeito, hēdist᾽ an dikēn dedōka philaretos ōn, ē estephthēn kakias hōn erastēs. Houtōs hē men kakia, kan stephanon proxenoiē, pasēs moi timōrias dokei chalepōtera einai. Hē de aretē timalphestera, kan timōrias mē amoiroiē. Hē men oun eirēmenē moi hēde hyperbolē, hōs phaien tines, hōde echei kai alis echetō. Ei de kai pantōs tę̄ men aretę̄ stephanos, tę̄ de kakią timōria apokeitai, ti esti to peisan se eis ton pythmena tēs kakias katapontōsai sauton? hēdeōs an sou pythoimēn egō.

To Zosimus the presbyter. I want to state my own view clearly; and if anyone thinks it is said with exaggeration, let him think so, for the lovers of virtue will bear witness to what will be said. I say, then, that if punishment were laid up for virtue and a crown for wickedness, I would most gladly pay the penalty as a lover of virtue rather than be crowned as a lover of wickedness. So true is it that wickedness, even if it procured a crown, seems to me more grievous than any punishment, while virtue is more precious, even if it had its share of punishment. This, then, is what I have said, an exaggeration, as some might say; and let it suffice. But if a crown is in every way laid up for virtue and punishment for wickedness, what is it that has persuaded you to sink yourself to the bottom of wickedness? I would gladly learn it from you.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore would choose virtue even if it were punished and vice crowned; how much more, then, should Zosimus, since virtue is rewarded and vice punished.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): φαϊέν → φαῖεν.

Topics: The Christian life, The last judgment, Church office

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.445 (PG 78 78:1585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-445). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-445

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-445) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.446PG 78 78:1585

ΠΑΛΛΑΔΙΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ανθρώπιον φαῦλον, καὶ βδελυρὸν, καὶ κίβδηλον, καὶ τὶ γὰρ οὐ τῶν αἰσχρῶν καλέσας ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῦ γράμμασι Ζώσιμον, ἀληθῆ μὲν λέγεις · δέδοικα δὲ μὴ καὶ αὐτὸς μικρὸν ὕστερον τοιοῦτος εὑρεθείης. Ἐκεῖνα γὰρ, ὥς φασί τινες, ἤρξω πράττειν, ἃ ἐκεῖνος πράττων εἰς ἀνήκεστον ἀναλγησίαν τετελεύτηκε.

PALLADIO DIAKONŌ. Anthrōpion phaulon, kai bdelyron, kai kibdēlon, kai ti gar ou tōn aischrōn kalesas en tois autou grammasi Zōsimon, alēthē men legeis ; dedoika de mē kai autos mikron hysteron toioutos heuretheiēs. Ekeina gar, hōs phasi tines, ērxō prattein, ha ekeinos prattōn eis anēkeston analgēsian teteleutēke.

To Palladius the deacon. In calling Zosimus in your letter a worthless, loathsome and counterfeit little fellow, and every other shameful thing, you speak the truth; but I fear that you yourself may shortly be found to be such. For, as some say, you have begun to do the things by doing which he has ended in incurable insensibility.

Rom 2:1 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore agrees with a deacon's harsh view of Zosimus but warns him that he is beginning to follow the same path.

Topics: Church office, Sin

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.446 (PG 78 78:1585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-446). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-446

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-446) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.447PG 78 78:1585

ΜΩΣΕΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ἓν μόνον καλὸν ἔχειν μοι δοκεῖ ὁ πλοῦτος, ὅτι τοῖς μάλιστα φιλοῦσιν αὐτὸν κινδύνους ἐξαισίους ἀποτίκτει.

MŌSEŌ DIAKONŌ. Hen monon kalon echein moi dokei ho ploutos, hoti tois malista philousin auton kindynous exaisious apotiktei.

To Moses the deacon. Wealth seems to me to have only one good thing: that it breeds extraordinary dangers for those who love it most.

1 Tim 6:9 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Wealth's only merit is the danger it brings to those who love it.

Topics: Wealth and poverty

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.447 (PG 78 78:1585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-447). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-447

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-447) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.448PG 78 78:1585

ΖΗΝΩΝΙ. Ὁ βούλομαι συντόμως φράσαι περὶ τοῦ πάντα ἀρίστου Ἑρμογένους, τοῦ ὄντως ἐπισκόπου, τοῦτό ἐστιν· ὅτι τοσοῦτον ἀρετῇ τοὺς ἄγαν εὐδοκίμους παριὼν, ὅσον ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς ἄλλους ἅπαντας, ὡς μηδὲν μέγα διαπραττόμενος, οὕτω διάκειται, οὕτως ψήθη δεῖν τὴν ταπεινοφροσύνην, ὥσπερ φρούριον ἢ φυλακτήριον τῶν ἄλλων κατορθωμάτων ἔχειν.

ZĒNŌNI. Ho boulomai syntomōs phrasai peri tou panta aristou Hermogenous, tou ontōs episkopou, touto estin; hoti tosouton aretę̄ tous agan eudokimous pariōn, hoson ekeinoi tous allous hapantas, hōs mēden mega diaprattomenos, houtō diakeitai, houtōs psēthē dein tēn tapeinophrosynēn, hōsper phrourion ē phylaktērion tōn allōn katorthōmatōn echein.

To Zeno. What I want to say briefly about the all-excellent Hermogenes, truly a bishop, is this: though he surpasses in virtue the very esteemed as much as they surpass all others, he is disposed as one achieving nothing great, so much did he think he must keep humility as a fortress or safeguard of his other achievements.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bishop Hermogenes, though outstanding in virtue, guards it all with humility, thinking he has done nothing great.

Topics: Church office, Humility and pride

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.448 (PG 78 78:1585; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-448). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-448

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-448) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.449PG 78 78:1587

ΕΥΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ὥσπερ ἔνια τῶν ἐγκλημάτων εἴωθεν ἄπιστα ποιεῖν ὁ τῶν κρινομένων βίος, εὐδόκιμος ὧν καὶ λαμπρός · οὕτως ἔνια τῶν ἐγκωμίων πέφυκεν ἄπιστα ποιεῖν ὁ τῶν ἐγκωμιαζομένων τρόπος, σκαιὸς ὢν καὶ φαῦλος. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τῶν μηδὲν λόγου ἄξιον ποιεῖν ἐθελόντων, χαίρουσι μὲν ταῖς διαβολαῖς, δυσχεραίνουσι δὲ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐγκωμίοις (τὰς μὲν γὰρ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἡγοῦνται λέγεσθαι, τῶν δὲ οὐδέποτε ἀπολαῦσαι προσδοκῶσιν)· ἀλλ᾽ οὖν γε οἱ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐστεμμένοι, τοὺς μὲν ἀρίστους ἐφ᾽ οἷς οὐ συνίασι, διαβαλλομένους, καὶ πρὸ διαγνώσεως ἀπαλλάττουσι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. Τοὺς δὲ φαύλους, εἰ πρὸς χάριν ἐγκωμιασθεῖεν, ἀναξίους εἶναι τῶν ἐπαίνων νομίζουσιν, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν λεγομένων, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν πραττομένων τὰς ψήφους φέροντες. Οὐκοῦν μήτε οἱ ἄριστοι διαβαλλόμενοι δυσχεραινέτωσαν, (οὐδὲν γὰρ πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὰ λεγόμενα), μήθ' οἱ κάκιστοι ἐγκωμιαζόμενοι ἀγαλλέσθωσαν. ᾿Αλλότρια γὰρ αὐτῶν ἐστι τὰ ἐγκώμια.

EUTONIŌ DIAKONŌ. Hōsper enia tōn enklēmatōn eiōthen apista poiein ho tōn krinomenōn bios, eudokimos hōn kai lampros ; houtōs enia tōn enkōmiōn pephyken apista poiein ho tōn enkōmiazomenōn tropos, skaios ōn kai phaulos. Ei gar kai polloi tōn anthrōpōn, tōn mēden logou axion poiein ethelontōn, chairousi men tais diabolais, dyscherainousi de epi tois enkōmiois (tas men gar kai kath' heautōn hēgountai legesthai, tōn de oudepote apolausai prosdokōsin); all᾽ oun ge hoi tēn aretēn estemmenoi, tous men aristous eph᾽ hois ou syniasi, diaballomenous, kai pro diagnōseōs apallattousi tōn enklēmatōn. Tous de phaulous, ei pros charin enkōmiastheien, anaxious einai tōn epainōn nomizousin, ouk apo tōn legomenōn, all᾽ apo tōn prattomenōn tas psēphous pherontes. Oukoun mēte hoi aristoi diaballomenoi dyscherainetōsan, (ouden gar pros autous ta legomena), mēth' hoi kakistoi enkōmiazomenoi agallesthōsan. ᾿Allotria gar autōn esti ta enkōmia.

To Eutonius the deacon. Just as the life of those on trial, when it is esteemed and brilliant, usually makes some charges incredible, so the character of those praised, when it is perverse and worthless, naturally makes some praises incredible. For even if many people who are unwilling to do anything worthy of note rejoice at slanders and are vexed at praises (for they think the former are said against them too, and never expect to enjoy the latter), those crowned with virtue acquit the best men of charges even before investigation when they are slandered about things they know nothing of; and when the worthless are praised to curry favour, they consider them unworthy of the praises, casting their votes not from what is said but from what is done. So let neither the best be vexed when slandered (for what is said has nothing to do with them), nor the worst exult when praised; for the praises do not belong to them.

Notes and citation

Summary: A good life refutes slander and a bad life refutes flattery; the virtuous judge by deeds, so the slandered good and the praised wicked should be neither troubled nor elated.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split by OCR): κά κιστοι → κάκιστοι.

Topics: Lying and truthfulness, The Christian life

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.449 (PG 78 78:1587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-449). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-449

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-449) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.450PG 78 78:1587

ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟ. Πόσοι τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμήσαντες, τοῦ παντὸς ἐξέπεσον, καὶ τὰ περιττὰ συναγαγόντες, καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα ἀπώλεσαν; καὶ ὑπερβάντες τοὺς νενομισμένους ὅρους, καὶ τῶν μετρίων ἐγυμνώθησαν; Χρὴ οὖν περικόπτειν τὰ περιττὰ, ἵν᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις πλουτῶμεν · οὐ γὰρ τὸν πλοῦτον ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ δεῖσθαι πλούτου, πλοῦτός ἐστι μέγιστος.

ĒRAKLEIO. Posoi tou pleionos epithymēsantes, tou pantos exepeson, kai ta peritta synagagontes, kai ta anankaia apōlesan? kai hyperbantes tous nenomismenous horous, kai tōn metriōn egymnōthēsan? Chrē oun perikoptein ta peritta, hin᾽ en tois anankaiois ploutōmen ; ou gar ton plouton echein, alla to mē deisthai ploutou, ploutos esti megistos.

To Heraclius. How many, desiring more, have fallen from everything; gathering superfluities, have lost even necessities; and overstepping the customary bounds, have been stripped even of moderate means? So one must cut away superfluities, so as to be rich in necessities; for the greatest wealth is not having wealth but not needing it.

Notes and citation

Summary: Greed loses even what one has; true wealth is not needing wealth.

Lines of the scan are interleaved in this letter; they are put back in order. The opening of the letter may be lost.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (lines interleaved by the OCR, put back in order): & μισμένους ὅρους, καὶ τῶν μετρίων ἐγυμνώθησαν; Πόσοι τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμήσαντες, τοῦ παντὸς ἐξέπεσον, καὶ τὰ περιττὰ συναγαγόντες, καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα ἀπώλεσαν; καὶ ὑπερβάντες τοὺς νενοΧρὴ οὖν → Πόσοι τοῦ πλείονος ἐπιθυμήσαντες, τοῦ παντὸς ἐξέπεσον, καὶ τὰ περιττὰ συναγαγόντες, καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα ἀπώλεσαν; καὶ ὑπερβάντες τοὺς νενομισμένους ὅρους, καὶ τῶν μετρίων ἐγυμνώθησαν; Χρὴ οὖν.

Topics: Wealth and poverty, Self-control in food and drink

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.450 (PG 78 78:1587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-450). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-450

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-450) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.451PG 78 78:1587

ΕΥΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Οὐ ταυτὸν, ὦ θαυμάσιε, τὸ ὑποπτευθῆναι τῷ ἁλῶναι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ καὶ κατὰ τοῦ μὴ δράσαντος λέγεται, τὸ δὲ κατὰ τοῦ φωραθέντος. Εἰ δὲ Εὐσέβιος, ὡς φὴς, τοὺς μὲν μάτην ὑπονοουμένους καὶ διαβαλλομένους ἐξοστρακίζει, τοὺς δὲ ἁλόντας μείζονος ἀξιοῦ βαθμοῦ, πῆ μὲν κολακείαις πειθόμενος, πῆ δὲ χρημάτων ὀρεγόμενος, μὴ θαυμάσῃς. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ τ' ἄλλα πάντα κατὰ λόγον αὐτῷ ἐπράττετο, ἴσως καὶ τοῦτο διορθώσεως ἠξίωσεν. Εἰ δὲ πάντα δρᾷ ἃ δρᾶν οὐ θέμις, καὶ τοῦτο ἄξιον ὂν τῶν αὐτοῦ τρόπων μηδένα ξενιζέτω.

EUTONIŌ DIAKONŌ. Ou tauton, ō thaumasie, to hypopteuthēnai tǭ halōnai; to men gar kai kata tou mē drasantos legetai, to de kata tou phōrathentos. Ei de Eusebios, hōs phēs, tous men matēn hyponooumenous kai diaballomenous exostrakizei, tous de halontas meizonos axiou bathmou, pē men kolakeiais peithomenos, pē de chrēmatōn oregomenos, mē thaumasę̄s. Ei men gar t' alla panta kata logon autǭ epratteto, isōs kai touto diorthōseōs ēxiōsen. Ei de panta drą ha dran ou themis, kai touto axion on tōn autou tropōn mēdena xenizetō.

To Eutonius the deacon. Being suspected, admirable man, is not the same as being convicted; for the one is said even of one who did nothing, the other of one who has been caught. If Eusebius, as you say, banishes those who are suspected and slandered in vain, and counts those convicted worthy of a higher rank, persuaded now by flatteries and now reaching for money, do not wonder. For if everything else were done by him according to reason, perhaps he would have thought this too worth correcting; but if he does everything that it is not right to do, let this too, being worthy of his ways, surprise no one.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bishop Eusebius punishes the merely suspected and promotes the convicted for flattery or money, which is no surprise given his character.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (margin letter left in the OCR): Εἰ μὲν Η γὰρ → Εἰ μὲν γὰρ.

Topics: Church office, Church discipline and penance

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.451 (PG 78 78:1587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-451). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-451

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-451) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.452PG 78 78:1587

ΠΑΥΛΩ. Οὐ πάντως ὁ πολλὰς ἐπιστήμας ἢ τέχνας μεμαθηκὼς, οὐδ᾽ ἂν πάντων ἀνθρώπων εὐφυέστατος ᾖ, ἑκάστην αὐτῶν εἰς ἄκρον ἀκριβοῖ, τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ ὀφείλοντος εἰς τὴν ἄσκησιν καὶ τὴν μελέτην τῆς πρώτης τέχνης ἀναλωθῆναι, εἰς ἄλλης τέχνης ἀνάληψιν δαπανωμένου· ἀλλὰ πλεονεκτεῖ μὲν τῷ πολλὰς εἰδέναι, ἀντιπλεονεκτεῖται δὲ παρ᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν μίαν τέχνην εἰς ἄκρον ἡσκηκότων. Μὴ τοίνυν μηδ' αὐτὸς πάντα εἰδέναι θέλε. Ἐκ γὰρ τούτου τὸ μηδὲν ἀκριβῶς εἰδέναι περὶ ἕκαστον γίγνεται Ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἕνα βλέπων σκοπὸν, ἐκεῖ τεῖνον τὸ ὄμμα τῆς διανοίας. Οὕτω γὰρ περιέσῃ τοῦ πράγματος.

PAULŌ. Ou pantōs ho pollas epistēmas ē technas memathēkōs, oud᾽ an pantōn anthrōpōn euphyestatos ę̄, hekastēn autōn eis akron akriboi, tou chronou tou opheilontos eis tēn askēsin kai tēn meletēn tēs prōtēs technēs analōthēnai, eis allēs technēs analēpsin dapanōmenou; alla pleonektei men tǭ pollas eidenai, antipleonekteitai de par᾿ hekastou tōn mian technēn eis akron hēskēkotōn. Mē toinyn mēd' autos panta eidenai thele. Ek gar toutou to mēden akribōs eidenai peri hekaston gignetai Alla pros hena blepōn skopon, ekei teinon to omma tēs dianoias. Houtō gar periesę̄ tou pragmatos.

To Paul. The one who has learned many sciences or arts, even if he is the most gifted of all people, does not necessarily perfect each of them to the utmost, since the time that ought to be spent on the practice and study of the first art is spent on taking up another. He has the advantage of knowing many, but is surpassed by each of those who have practised one art to the utmost. So do not wish to know everything yourself; for from this comes knowing nothing exactly about each thing. But looking to one aim, direct the eye of your mind there; for so you will master the matter.

Notes and citation

Summary: Knowing many arts means mastering none; one should fix the mind on one aim.

Topics: Classical learning and education

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.452 (PG 78 78:1587; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-452). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-452

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-452) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.453PG 78 78:1589

ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Εὔφημον μὲν ἔχειν χρὴ καὶ σεμνὴν τὴν γλῶτταν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν τῆς κακίας τὸν πυθμένα νεναυαγηκότας ἀνιμᾶσθαι χρὴ, ἀτοπώτατον δὲ δοκεῖ τὸν ἄλλους ἀναστῆσαι βουλόμενον, αὐτὸν καταπίπτειν. Ὡς ἂν οἷός τε τυγχάνει, δίκαιος ἂν εἴη περιστέλλειν τὴν τῶν πραγμάτων αἰσχρότητα τῇ τῶν λέξεων σεμνότητι · ἵνα μὴ ἐπιστύψαι ἐκείνους βουλόμενος τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γλῶτταν καταῤῥυπαίνοι· μηδὲ ἀπαλλάξαι μολυσμοῦ ἐθέλων, αὐτὸς μολύνοιτο. Εἰ δὲ φαίης ὅτι οὐ δυνατόν ἐστι καὶ σεμνὸν εἰπεῖν καὶ καθάψασθαι τοῦ ἀκούοντος· φαίην, ὅτι ὁ τοῦ μετρίου ἐλέγχου καταφρονῶν, οὗτος καὶ τοῦ ἀμέτρου καὶ γυμνοῦ πλέον ὀλιγωρήσειεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ πραότης τοῦ λέγοντος, καὶ ἡ τῆς λέξεως σεμνότης οὐκ ὠφελεῖ, σχολῇ γε γυμνὴ τῶν πεπραγμένων αὐτῷ ἡ προφορὰ ὠφελήσει.

TŌ AUTŌ. Euphēmon men echein chrē kai semnēn tēn glōttan; epeidē de tous eis auton tēs kakias ton pythmena nenauagēkotas animasthai chrē, atopōtaton de dokei ton allous anastēsai boulomenon, auton katapiptein. Hōs an hoios te tynchanei, dikaios an eiē peristellein tēn tōn pragmatōn aischrotēta tę̄ tōn lexeōn semnotēti ; hina mē epistypsai ekeinous boulomenos tēn heautou glōttan katarrhypainoi; mēde apallaxai molysmou ethelōn, autos molynoito. Ei de phaiēs hoti ou dynaton esti kai semnon eipein kai kathapsasthai tou akouontos; phaiēn, hoti ho tou metriou elenchou kataphronōn, houtos kai tou ametrou kai gymnou pleon oligōrēseien. Ei gar hē praotēs tou legontos, kai hē tēs lexeōs semnotēs ouk ōphelei, scholę̄ ge gymnē tōn pepragmenōn autǭ hē prophora ōphelēsei.

To the same. One must have a well-spoken and dignified tongue; but since one must draw up those who have been shipwrecked to the very bottom of wickedness, and it seems most absurd for one who wishes to raise others to fall himself, one would do right, as far as one can, to cover the shamefulness of the deeds with dignity of expression, so as not, wishing to reprove them, to soil one's own tongue, nor, wishing to free them from defilement, to be defiled oneself. And if you say that it is not possible both to speak with dignity and to touch the hearer, I would say that one who despises moderate rebuke would think even less of immoderate and naked rebuke. For if the gentleness of the speaker and the dignity of the expression do not benefit, hardly will the naked recital of his deeds benefit him.

Eph 5:12 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Rebuke should cover shameful deeds with dignified language; one who despises a decorous rebuke will not heed a crude one either.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split by OCR): ἐκεί νους → ἐκείνους.

Topics: Church discipline and penance, Lying and truthfulness

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.453 (PG 78 78:1589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-453). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-453

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-453) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.454PG 78 78:1589

ΑΓΑΘΟΔΑΙΜΟΝΙ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΙΚΩ. Πολλάκις ὅ ἐπινοεῖ τις εἰς ἀσφάλειαν ἑαυτοῦ, τοῦτο εὑρίσκεται χαλεπωτάτων αἴτιον συμφορῶν. Καὶ ἵνα τὰ ἄλλα παρῶ, ἓν, δι' οὗ πάντα μηνύσω, λέξω. Μιθριδάτης, ὡς φασιν, ὁ Παρθυέων καὶ ἄλλων πολλῶν ἐθνῶν βασιλεύσας, ἐπὶ μέγα δυνάμεως προελθὼν, καὶ πλούτῳ κομῶν καὶ συμμαχίᾳ, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλάσας τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης εὐημερίας τὸν ὅρον, φοβηθεὶς μὴ δηλητηρίῳ ἀναιρεθείη, ἀλεξιφάρμακον ἑαυτῷ κατεσκεύασεν. Μεταβαλούσης οὖν αὐτῷ τῆς εὐημερίας, εἰς τοσαύτην ἦλθεν ἀνάγκην, ὡς εἰς φαρμακοποσίαν τραπῆναι. Ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ἤνυεν (ἔτυχε γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, πρόπομα πρὸς πᾶν φάρμακον ἀνδροφόνον ἀλεξιφάρμακον προπιών, ὥστε μὴ τὰ δηλητήρια αὐτὸν βλάψαι), οὗ προκατειληφυία ἡ δύναμις, τὸν ἐκ τοῦ δηλητηρίου ἱὸν οὐκ εἴασε κρατῆσαι. Τί οὖν τοὐντεῦθεν; Τινὰ τῶν δορυφόρων ἑαυτοῦ καὶ σκηπτούχων ἐφελκυσάμενος, κελεύει πατάξαι καιρίαν εἰς τὸ στέρνον τῷ ἀκινάκῃ. Ὃς δὲ πατάξας ἀνεῖλεν· οὕτως οὐδὲν ἐκεῖνον ὠφέλησεν ἡ δόξασα αὐτῷ ἀσφάλεια. Παρ᾽ ἐχθρῶν γὰρ τοῦτο πείσεσθαι προσδοκήσας, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῷ ἀλεξιφαρμάκῳ χρησάμενος, οὐδὲ βουλόμενος ἀποθανεῖν ἠδυνήθη, ἕως ἂν τὸ ξίφος κατὰ τοῦ στέρνου διηλάθη: Χρὴ οὖν μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐννοεῖν, ἀλλὰ ζῇν ἁπλότητι μᾶλλον προσκείμενον, καὶ τῇ θείᾳ προνοίᾳ ἐπιτρέποντα τὰ καθ' ἑαυτόν.

AGAThODAIMONI GRAMMATIKŌ. Pollakis ho epinoei tis eis asphaleian heautou, touto heurisketai chalepōtatōn aition symphorōn. Kai hina ta alla parō, hen, di' hou panta mēnysō, lexō. Mithridatēs, hōs phasin, ho Parthyeōn kai allōn pollōn ethnōn basileusas, epi mega dynameōs proelthōn, kai ploutǭ komōn kai symmachią, kai eis auton elasas tēs anthrōpinēs euēmerias ton horon, phobētheis mē dēlētēriǭ anairetheiē, alexipharmakon heautǭ kateskeuasen. Metabalousēs oun autǭ tēs euēmerias, eis tosautēn ēlthen anankēn, hōs eis pharmakoposian trapēnai. Hōs de ouden ēnyen (etyche gar, hōs ephēn, propoma pros pan pharmakon androphonon alexipharmakon propiōn, hōste mē ta dēlētēria auton blapsai), hou prokateilēphuia hē dynamis, ton ek tou dēlētēriou hion ouk eiase kratēsai. Ti oun tounteuthen? Tina tōn doryphorōn heautou kai skēptouchōn ephelkysamenos, keleuei pataxai kairian eis to sternon tǭ akinakę̄. Hos de pataxas aneilen; houtōs ouden ekeinon ōphelēsen hē doxasa autǭ asphaleia. Par᾽ echthrōn gar touto peisesthai prosdokēsas, kai dia touto tǭ alexipharmakǭ chrēsamenos, oude boulomenos apothanein ēdynēthē, heōs an to xiphos kata tou sternou diēlathē: Chrē oun mēden toiouton ennoein, alla zę̄n haplotēti mallon proskeimenon, kai tę̄ theią pronoią epitreponta ta kath' heauton.

To Agathodaemon the grammarian. Often what someone devises for his own safety is found to be the cause of the most grievous misfortunes. To pass over other cases, I shall tell one through which I shall show all. Mithridates, they say, who reigned over the Parthians and many other nations, having advanced to great power, abounding in wealth and alliances and reaching the very limit of human prosperity, feared that he might be killed by poison and prepared an antidote for himself. When his prosperity changed, he came to such necessity that he turned to drinking poison. But when it achieved nothing (for he had, as I said, drunk beforehand an antidote against every deadly poison, so that poisons would not harm him), its power, having taken possession first, did not allow the venom of the poison to prevail. What then? Drawing to him one of his bodyguards and sceptre-bearers, he ordered him to strike a mortal blow to his breast with his sword; and he struck and killed him. So the safety he thought he had did him no good. For expecting to suffer this from enemies, and therefore using the antidote, he could not die even when he wished, until the sword was driven into his breast. So one must not think of any such thing, but live devoted rather to simplicity, entrusting one's affairs to divine providence.

Notes and citation

Summary: Mithridates' precautions against poison only prevented his escape by poison when he wished to die; it is better to live simply and trust God's providence.

Mithridates VI was king of Pontus, not of the Parthians, as the letter says.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (repeated letter from the OCR): ἡἠδυνήθη → ἠδυνήθη.

Topics: Providence, Death and burial

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.454 (PG 78 78:1589; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-454). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-454

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-454) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.455PG 78 78:1591

ΑΜΠΕΛΙΩ ΚΟΜΗΤΙ. Οὐδὲν οὕτω ποιεῖ νομίμως ἄρχειν, ὡς τὸ νομίμως ἦρχθαι. Ὁ γὰρ ἀγαθὸς ἐν ὑπηκόοις, ἀγαθὸς ἔσται καὶ ἐν ἡγεμόσιν. Οἱ δ᾽ ἐν τῷ ἰδιωτεύειν καὶ πρωτοστατεῖν πρόχειροι, καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἄρχεσθαι ἀνεπιτήδειοι, οὗτοι καὶ εἰς ἀρχὴν ἀνεπιτηδειότατοι.

AMPELIŌ KOMĒTI. Ouden houtō poiei nomimōs archein, hōs to nomimōs ērchthai. Ho gar agathos en hypēkoois, agathos estai kai en hēgemosin. Hoi d᾽ en tǭ idiōteuein kai prōtostatein procheiroi, kai pros to archesthai anepitēdeioi, houtoi kai eis archēn anepitēdeiotatoi.

To Ampelius the count. Nothing makes one rule lawfully so much as having been lawfully ruled. For the one who is good among subjects will also be good among rulers; but those who in private life are quick to push to the front and unfit to be ruled are also most unfit for office.

Notes and citation

Summary: Only those who have learned to obey well are fit to rule.

Topics: Rulers and the state

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.455 (PG 78 78:1591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-455). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-455

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-455) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.456PG 78 78:1591

ΔΗΜΩ ΠΗΛΟΥΣΙΩ. Ασμένως ἐδέξατο τὴν πρεσβείαν ὁ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑμῶν λαχών. Καὶ πάλαι γὰρ ὡρμημένος ἥκειν, καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς ἐν ἀμείνονι ὄψει καταστῆσαι, τὴν ἡμετέραν ἀνέμενε γνώμην · ἧς λαβόμενος, ὡς αὐτόκλητος μᾶλλον ἢ ὡς κεκλημένος ἀφίξεται.

DĒMŌ PĒLOUSIŌ. Asmenōs edexato tēn presbeian ho tēn archēn hymōn lachōn. Kai palai gar hōrmēmenos hēkein, kai ta kath᾽ hymas en ameinoni opsei katastēsai, tēn hēmeteran anemene gnōmēn ; hēs labomenos, hōs autoklētos mallon ē hōs keklēmenos aphixetai.

To the people of Pelusium. The man who has been allotted rule over you gladly received the embassy. For he had long been eager to come and put your affairs on a better footing, and was waiting for our opinion; having received it, he will arrive as one coming of his own accord rather than as one invited.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore tells the people of Pelusium that their new governor has gladly accepted their invitation and will come.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word split by OCR): αὐτόκλης τος → αὐτόκλητος.

Topics: Rulers and the state

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.456 (PG 78 78:1591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-456). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-456

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-456) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.457PG 78 78:1591

ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Ὁ τῇ σῇ θεοσεβείᾳ προσφέρων τουτὶ τὸ γράμμα, αὐτάρκως οἴκαδε καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὸν ὡς παρὰ παιδοτρίβου ἀσκηθεὶς, καὶ ῥώμην καὶ τέχνην ἐν τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀγῶσιν οὐ μικρὰν συλλεξάμενος, ὥρμησεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἔρημον, τοῖς κηρύγμασιν ἑαυτὸν ὑποθήσων τοῖς Ὀλυμπικοῖς, καὶ τὰ περὶ ψυχῆς Ὀλύμπια ἀγωνισόμενος. Δείκνυε τοίνυν αὐτῷ δι' ὧν πράττεις τοὺς τῶν παλαισμάτων νόμους· ἵνα μήτε ἐξαγώνιος γενόμενος διαμάρτοι τοῦ σκοποῦ, μήτε εἰς τοὺς ἀγῶνας καταστὰς ἡττηθείη · ἀλλ᾽ εὐδόκιμος ἀποφανθεὶς, στεφάνων καὶ ἀναῤῥήσεων ἀξιωθείη.

ThEODOSIO PRESBYTERŌ. Ho tę̄ sę̄ theosebeią prospherōn touti to gramma, autarkōs oikade kai kath' heauton hōs para paidotribou askētheis, kai rhōmēn kai technēn en tois tēs aretēs agōsin ou mikran syllexamenos, hōrmēsen epi tēn erēmon, tois kērygmasin heauton hypothēsōn tois Olympikois, kai ta peri psychēs Olympia agōnisomenos. Deiknye toinyn autǭ di' hōn pratteis tous tōn palaismatōn nomous; hina mēte exagōnios genomenos diamartoi tou skopou, mēte eis tous agōnas katastas hēttētheiē ; all᾽ eudokimos apophantheis, stephanōn kai anarrhēseōn axiōtheiē.

To Theodosius the presbyter. The man who brings this letter to your godliness, having trained sufficiently at home and by himself as under a gymnastic trainer and gathered no little strength and skill in the contests of virtue, has set out for the desert, to submit himself to the Olympic heralds and to compete in the Olympic games of the soul. Show him, then, by what you do, the laws of the wrestling, so that he may neither go out of the contest and miss the mark nor, entering the contests, be defeated, but, shown approved, be counted worthy of crowns and proclamations.

1 Cor 9:25 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore commends to a desert presbyter a man who has trained at home and now goes to the desert for the monastic contest.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (end-of-line hyphen and stray dash left in the OCR; word split by OCR): παι δοτρίβου → παιδοτρίβου; ὥρμη - – σεν → ὥρμησεν.

Topics: Monastic life, Asceticism

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.457 (PG 78 78:1591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-457). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-457

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-457) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.458PG 78 78:1591

ΑΣΚΛΗΠΙΩ ΣΟΦΙΣΤΗ. Ἁρποκρᾶς, ὁ τρόπων μᾶλλον ἢ λόγων παιδευτὴς, ὁ τῇ θείᾳ θρησκείᾳ διαφερόντως ἀνακείμενος. (ᾧ ὄνομα μὲν ἦν σοφιστὴς, ὁ δὲ βίος ἐκ φιλοσοφίας ἀκιβδήλου), ὁ μὴ πλῆθος νέων περιιὼν καὶ θηρεύων, ἀλλ᾽ οὓς ἑώρα δεικνύντας ἀρετῆς σύμβολα ἐγκαταλέγων τῷ χορῷ· ὁ μὴ ἀφ᾿ ὧν μισθοὺς λήψοιτο τούτους ἀγαπῶν, ἀλλ᾽ οὓς ᾔδει σπουδαίους ἐσομένους, τούτων ἐπιμελούμενος, τὸν βίον κατέστρεψε. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν παιδευτοῦ χρήζει ἡ πόλις, μήνυσόν τινα, καὶ ἀλύουσα οὐκ ἂν διαμάρτοι.

ASKLĒPIŌ SOPhISTĒ. Harpokras, ho tropōn mallon ē logōn paideutēs, ho tę̄ theią thrēskeią diapherontōs anakeimenos. (hǭ onoma men ēn sophistēs, ho de bios ek philosophias akibdēlou), ho mē plēthos neōn periiōn kai thēreuōn, all᾽ hous heōra deiknyntas aretēs symbola enkatalegōn tǭ chorǭ; ho mē aph᾿ hōn misthous lēpsoito toutous agapōn, all᾽ hous ę̄dei spoudaious esomenous, toutōn epimeloumenos, ton bion katestrepse. Epei toinyn paideutou chrēzei hē polis, mēnyson tina, kai alyousa ouk an diamartoi.

To Asclepius the sophist. Harpocras, a teacher of character rather than of words, especially devoted to the divine religion (whose name was sophist, but whose life came from unadulterated philosophy), who did not go round hunting a crowd of young men, but enrolled in his choir those he saw showing signs of virtue, loving not those from whom he would receive fees but caring for those he knew would become earnest, has ended his life. Since, then, the city needs a teacher, point someone out, and in its distress it would not miss its aim.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore reports the death of the Christian sophist Harpocras, who taught character more than rhetoric and chose pupils for virtue, not fees, and asks for a successor to be recommended.

Lines of the scan are interleaved in this letter; they are put back in order.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (lines interleaved by the OCR, put back in order): λέγων τῷ χορῷ,· ὁ μὴ ἀφ᾿ ὧν μισθοὺς λήψοιτο τού - Αρποκρᾶς → Ἁρποκρᾶς; ἐγκατατους ἀγαπῶν → ἐγκαταλέγων τῷ χορῷ· ὁ μὴ ἀφ᾿ ὧν μισθοὺς λήψοιτο τούτους ἀγαπῶν.

Topics: Classical learning and education, Death and burial

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.458 (PG 78 78:1591; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-458). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-458

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-458) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.459PG 78 78:1593

ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ. Ὁ μὲν ἀρετὴν ἀσκῶν, δίκαιος ἂν εἴη καὶ τὴν θείαν εἰς βοήθειαν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι ῥοπήν· ὁ δὲ μηδόλως φροντίζων ἀρετῆς, οὐδ᾽ ἂν καλοίη, ἐπήκοον ἕξει τὸ Θεῖον. Τῷ γὰρ πάντα τὰ παρ' ἑαυτοῦ πληροῦντι εὐμενῶς ἐπινεύει. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ διὰ παραδειγμάτων βαδίσας ὁ λόγος σαφέστερον τοῦτο ποιήσῃ, παρεὶς τὸ φάναι. Εἰ ἡ πόρνη βούλεται μὲν σωθῆναι, οὐ βούλεται δὲ σωφρονῆσαι, πῶς σωθήσεται; Ἐκεῖνο φράσω. Ἔστω τις γράμματα μὲν ἐπιθυμῶν μαθεῖν, εἰς διδασκάλου δὲ μὴ φοιτῶν· εἶτα τῷ γραμματιστῇ ἀγοράζοντι ἐντυχὼν λέξοι· Ποίησόν με μαθεῖν γράμματα· ἄρ᾽ οὐχ ἡγῇ ἐκεῖνον λαμπρῶς ἀποκρίνεσθαι λέγοντα· Ἐμβρόντητε, καὶ πῶς ἂν δύναιο μαθεῖν, μήτε εἰς διδασκάλου φοιτῶν, μήτε γραφίδα καὶ δέλτον κεκτημένος, μήτε πονεῖν βουλόμενος; Τῇ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τῇ σῇ εἰ ὁ πόνος συναφθείη καὶ ἡ ἐμὴ σπουδή, ἔσται τι πλέον. Εἰ δὲ λέγοις μὲν ἐπιθυμεῖν, μηδὲ ποιοῖς ὧν οἱ ἐπιθυμοῦντες ποιοῦσι, πῶς μαθεῖν δυνήσῃ; Τοιοῦτοί εἰσι καὶ οἱ ἀρετῆς λέγοντες μὲν ἐπιθυμεῖν, τὴν δὲ εἰς αὐτὴν φέρουσαν ὁδὸν ἀποδιδράσκοντες.

ISIDŌRO EPISKOPŌ. Ho men aretēn askōn, dikaios an eiē kai tēn theian eis boētheian epikaleisthai rhopēn; ho de mēdolōs phrontizōn aretēs, oud᾽ an kaloiē, epēkoon hexei to Theion. Tǭ gar panta ta par' heautou plērounti eumenōs epineuei. Hina de kai dia paradeigmatōn badisas ho logos saphesteron touto poiēsę̄, pareis to phanai. Ei hē pornē bouletai men sōthēnai, ou bouletai de sōphronēsai, pōs sōthēsetai? Ekeino phrasō. Estō tis grammata men epithymōn mathein, eis didaskalou de mē phoitōn; eita tǭ grammatistę̄ agorazonti entychōn lexoi; Poiēson me mathein grammata; ar᾽ ouch hēgę̄ ekeinon lamprōs apokrinesthai legonta; Embrontēte, kai pōs an dynaio mathein, mēte eis didaskalou phoitōn, mēte graphida kai delton kektēmenos, mēte ponein boulomenos? Tę̄ men gar epithymią tę̄ sę̄ ei ho ponos synaphtheiē kai hē emē spoudē, estai ti pleon. Ei de legois men epithymein, mēde poiois hōn hoi epithymountes poiousi, pōs mathein dynēsę̄? Toioutoi eisi kai hoi aretēs legontes men epithymein, tēn de eis autēn pherousan hodon apodidraskontes.

To Isidore the bishop. The one who practises virtue would rightly call upon the divine favour for help; but the one who does not care for virtue at all will not have God listening even if he calls. For he graciously nods to the one who fulfils everything on his own part. And so that the argument may make this clearer by proceeding through examples, passing over the saying, "If the prostitute wishes to be saved but does not wish to be chaste, how will she be saved?", I shall tell this. Suppose someone desires to learn letters but does not go to a teacher; then, meeting the schoolmaster in the market, he says, "Make me learn letters." Do you not think he would answer brilliantly, saying, "Thunderstruck fool, how could you learn, neither going to a teacher, nor having pen and tablet, nor willing to labour? If labour were joined to your desire, and my effort, there would be some progress; but if you say you desire it but do none of the things those who desire it do, how will you be able to learn?" Such are those who say they desire virtue but run away from the road that leads to it.

Notes and citation

Summary: God helps those who do their part; one who wants virtue without effort is like a would-be pupil who never goes to school.

Topics: Grace, Free will, Prayer

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.459 (PG 78 78:1593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-459). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-459

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-459) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.460PG 78 78:1593

ΗΡΩΝΙ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Μηδὲν τίμιον εἶναι νόμιζε, ὁ μὴ πρὸς ἀρετὴν φέρῃ, μηδὲ ποιῇ ἀμείνους τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸ σπουδάζοντας. Φέρει δὲ εἰς ἀρετὴν τὸ τοῖς φιλαρέτοις ἀκολουθεῖν, καὶ ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς σωφρονεστάτοις, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς ἀσελγεστάτοις· τοῖς εἰρηνικωτάτοις καὶ οἷς συνδιατρίβειν λυσιτελὲς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς μαχιμωτάτοις. Εὖ γὰρ εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι κακίας τις ῥᾷον μεταλαμβάνει ἢ ἀρετῆς. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν ῥᾷον τὸ ἀρετῆς μετασχεῖν, ἐχρῆν καὶ τοῖς κακίστοις συνεῖναι τοὺς δυναμένους ταύτην χαρίσασθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο δύσκολον, ἄμεινον ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ εἶναι, καὶ φεύγειν τοὺς πονηρούς. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι οὐκ ὠφελοῦνται, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν αὐτὸς ζημιοῦσαι;

ĒRŌNI PRESBYTERŌ. Mēden timion einai nomize, ho mē pros aretēn pherę̄, mēde poię̄ ameinous tous peri auto spoudazontas. Pherei de eis aretēn to tois philaretois akolouthein, kai homilein tois sōphronestatois, alla mē tois aselgestatois; tois eirēnikōtatois kai hois syndiatribein lysiteles, alla mē tois machimōtatois. Eu gar eidenai chrē, hoti kakias tis rhąon metalambanei ē aretēs. Ei gar ēn rhąon to aretēs metaschein, echrēn kai tois kakistois syneinai tous dynamenous tautēn charisasthai. Epeidē de touto dyskolon, ameinon en asphaleią einai, kai pheugein tous ponērous. Ei gar ekeinoi ouk ōphelountai, di' hēn aitian autos zēmiousai?

To Heron the presbyter. Consider nothing precious that does not lead to virtue or make those who strive for it better. It leads to virtue to follow the lovers of virtue and to associate with the most temperate, not the most licentious; with the most peaceable, with whom it is profitable to spend time, not with the most quarrelsome. For one must know well that one takes on wickedness more easily than virtue. If it were easier to share in virtue, those who could impart it ought to associate even with the worst; but since this is difficult, it is better to be safe and flee the wicked. For if they are not benefited, why do you harm yourself?

1 Cor 15:33 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Since vice is caught more easily than virtue, one should keep company with the good and avoid the wicked.

Topics: The Christian life

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.460 (PG 78 78:1593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-460). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-460

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-460) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.461PG 78 78:1593

ΙΕΡΑΚΙ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ἡ φύσις ἀνάγκῃ καὶ ὅροις δέδεται, ἡ δὲ προαίρεσις ἐλευθερίᾳ καὶ ἐξουσίᾳ τετίμηται. Τί τοιγαροῦν τὸ σῶμα καλλωπίζων, τῆς ψυχῆς ἀμελεῖς; Μυρία μὲν ἐὰν μηχανήσῃ, τὸ εἰδεχθὲς σῶμα εὔμορφον οὐ ποιήσεις. Ῥᾷον δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς αὐτὴν τοῦ κάλλους ἀναγάγοις, εἰ βούλοιο, τὴν κορυφήν· καὶ τὸ μὲν, εἰ καὶ δυνατὸν ἦν, ἀνωφελὲς ἦν καὶ ἐπίφθονον· τὸ δὲ καὶ ὠφέλιμον, καὶ φθόνου κρεῖττον, καὶ βασκανίας ἀνώτερον. Εἰ δὲ νομίζεις δύσκολον εἶναι τὸ ἀναβῆναι ἐπὶ τὴν κορυφὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς, μάλιστα μὲν εἰσὶν οἱ καὶ τοῦτο ἀνύσαντες, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς κακίας πρὸς ἄκρον ἀναβεβηκότες ἀρετῆς. Εἰ δέ σοι δύσκολον εἶναι τοῦτο δοκεῖ, καὶ ἀπόστηθι τῆς κακίας, καὶ ἅψαι τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν φερούσης ὁδοῦ· τὸ γὰρ ἔτι μικρὸν ἑαυτοῦ διαφέρειν, οὐ δεῖ μικρὸν ἡγεῖσθαι. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔσται, εἰ τοῖς μὲν πονηροῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι μήτε αὐτὸς χρῆσθαι βουληθείης, μήτε τοῖς χρωμένοις χρῆσθαι, τοῖς δὲ ἀγαθοῖς καὶ πράγμασι καὶ ἀνδράσι συνάψειας σαυτόν. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀγαθοὺς οὐδὲ μισούμενον φεύγειν χρὴ, τοὺς δὲ πονηροὺς καὶ φιλούμενον.

IERAKI DIAKONŌ. Hē physis anankę̄ kai horois dedetai, hē de proairesis eleutherią kai exousią tetimētai. Ti toigaroun to sōma kallōpizōn, tēs psychēs ameleis? Myria men ean mēchanēsę̄, to eidechthes sōma eumorphon ou poiēseis. Rhąon de tēn psychēn eis autēn tou kallous anagagois, ei bouloio, tēn koryphēn; kai to men, ei kai dynaton ēn, anōpheles ēn kai epiphthonon; to de kai ōphelimon, kai phthonou kreitton, kai baskanias anōteron. Ei de nomizeis dyskolon einai to anabēnai epi tēn koryphēn tēs aretēs, malista men eisin hoi kai touto anysantes, kai ek tou bythou tēs kakias pros akron anabebēkotes aretēs. Ei de soi dyskolon einai touto dokei, kai apostēthi tēs kakias, kai hapsai tēs epi tēn aretēn pherousēs hodou; to gar eti mikron heautou diapherein, ou dei mikron hēgeisthai. Touto de estai, ei tois men ponērois epitēdeumasi mēte autos chrēsthai boulētheiēs, mēte tois chrōmenois chrēsthai, tois de agathois kai pragmasi kai andrasi synapseias sauton. Tous men gar agathous oude misoumenon pheugein chrē, tous de ponērous kai philoumenon.

To Hierax the deacon. Nature is bound by necessity and limits, but the will is honoured with freedom and authority. Why, then, do you beautify the body and neglect the soul? Though you contrive countless things, you will not make an ugly body shapely; but you could more easily bring the soul to the very peak of beauty, if you wished. And the one, even if it were possible, would be useless and invite envy; but the other is both useful and above envy and malice. And if you think it difficult to climb to the peak of virtue, there are above all those who have accomplished this too, and have climbed from the depth of wickedness to the summit of virtue. And if this seems difficult to you, at least depart from wickedness and take hold of the road that leads to virtue; for one must not think it a small thing to differ even a little from oneself. This will happen if you are willing neither to use wicked practices yourself nor to associate with those who use them, and join yourself to good things and good men. For the good one must not flee even when hated, and the wicked one must flee even when loved.

Notes and citation

Summary: The soul, unlike the body, can be made beautiful by free will; even a little progress from vice toward virtue matters, by shunning the wicked and joining the good.

Topics: Free will, The soul, Repentance, Dress and adornment

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.461 (PG 78 78:1593; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-461). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-461

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-461) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.462PG 78 78:1595

ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΑΛΙΩ. Οὐ τὸ ἀλαζονικὸν καὶ ὑπέρογκον δεῖγμα ἀρχοντικοῦ ἐστιν, ὡς ἡγῇ, φρονήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἥμερον καὶ εὐπρόσιτον, καὶ τὸ πᾶσιν μετ' ἐπιεικείας προσφέρεσθαι. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ θηριοπρεπὲς καὶ ὀφιῶδες, τοῦτο δὲ ἀρχικὸν, καὶ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις λυσιτελέστατον. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ φρονήματος, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ φρονήσεως τῶν ἡγεμόνων τὰ τῶν ὑπηκόων κατορθοῦται πράγματα. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ καὶ αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἀρχομένοις σφαλερὸν, ἡ δὲ ἑκατέροις ἀσφαλής· τοῖς μὲν εἰ τὸ ἀρχικὸν ἐπὶ τὸ δημοτικώτερον νεύειν ἀναπείθοιεν· τοῖς δὲ, εἰ τὴν ἐπιείκειαν τὴν ἡγεμονικὴν εἰς ἀγάπην μείζονα τοῦ φόβου τυγχάνουσαν τρέψοιεν.

ThEODŌRŌ AUGOUSTALIŌ. Ou to alazonikon kai hyperonkon deigma archontikou estin, hōs hēgę̄, phronēmatos, alla to hēmeron kai euprositon, kai to pasin met' epieikeias prospheresthai. Ekeino men gar thērioprepes kai ophiōdes, touto de archikon, kai tois hypēkoois lysitelestaton. Ou gar apo phronēmatos, all' apo phronēseōs tōn hēgemonōn ta tōn hypēkoōn katorthoutai pragmata. To men gar kai autois kai tois archomenois sphaleron, hē de hekaterois asphalēs; tois men ei to archikon epi to dēmotikōteron neuein anapeithoien; tois de, ei tēn epieikeian tēn hēgemonikēn eis agapēn meizona tou phobou tynchanousan trepsoien.

To Theodore the Augustalis. The sign of a ruler's spirit is not, as you think, what is boastful and overbearing, but what is gentle and approachable, and treating everyone with fairness. For the former is beastly and snakelike, but the latter is fit for rule and most profitable to subjects. For the affairs of the subjects are set right not by the pride of governors but by their prudence. For pride is hazardous both to themselves and to the governed, but prudence safe for both: for the former, if they persuade the ruling element to incline to the more popular; for the latter, if they turn the governor's fairness into love greater than fear.

Notes and citation

Summary: A governor shows his quality by gentleness and approachability, not arrogance; prudence, not pride, benefits ruler and ruled.

The Augustalis was the prefect of Egypt. Lines of the scan are interleaved at the start; they are put back in order.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (lines interleaved by the OCR, put back in order): τοῦτο δὲ ἀρχικὸν, καὶ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις λυσιτελέστατον. Οὐ τὸ ἀλαζονικὸν καὶ ὑπέρογκον δεῖγμα ἀρχοντικοῦ ἐστιν, ὡς ἡγῇ, φρονήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἥμερον καὶ εὐπρόσιτον, καὶ τὸ πᾶσιν μετ' ἐπιεικείας προσφέρεσθαι. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ θηριοπρεπὲς καὶ ὀφιῶδες, Οὐ γὰρ → Οὐ τὸ ἀλαζονικὸν καὶ ὑπέρογκον δεῖγμα ἀρχοντικοῦ ἐστιν, ὡς ἡγῇ, φρονήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἥμερον καὶ εὐπρόσιτον, καὶ τὸ πᾶσιν μετ' ἐπιεικείας προσφέρεσθαι. Ἐκεῖνο μὲν γὰρ θηριοπρεπὲς καὶ ὀφιῶδες, τοῦτο δὲ ἀρχικὸν, καὶ τοῖς ὑπηκόοις λυσιτελέστατον. Οὐ γὰρ.

Topics: Rulers and the state, Humility and pride

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.462 (PG 78 78:1595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-462). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-462

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-462) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.463PG 78 78:1595

ΑΛΥΠΙΩ. Ὁ θεατρομανὴς, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἐρωτομανὴς γίνεται. Φεῦγε τοίνυν ἐκεῖνο, ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο τεχθείη. "Αμεινον γὰρ μὴ ῥιζωθῆναι τὴν νόσον, ἢ ῥιζωθεῖσαν ἀνασπασθῆναι, ὅπερ τισὶ μὲν δύσκολον, τισὶ δὲ ἀδύνατον εἶναι δοκεῖ

ALYPIŌ. Ho theatromanēs, ō beltiste, erōtomanēs ginetai. Pheuge toinyn ekeino, hina mē touto techtheiē. "Ameinon gar mē rhizōthēnai tēn noson, ē rhizōtheisan anaspasthēnai, hoper tisi men dyskolon, tisi de adynaton einai dokei

To Alypius. The man mad about the theatre, my good man, becomes mad with lust. So flee the one, lest the other be born. For it is better that the disease not take root than that it be torn up after taking root, which seems to some difficult and to others impossible.

Notes and citation

Summary: Passion for the theatre breeds lust, so one should shun it before the disease takes root.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray mark from the OCR): Αμεινον & γὰρ → Αμεινον γὰρ.

Topics: Games, shows, and the theatre, Sexual morality

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.463 (PG 78 78:1595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-463). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-463

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-463) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.464PG 78 78:1595

ΔΙΟΓΕΝΕΙ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Τῆς γνησίας καὶ εἰλικρινοῦς φιλίας τὸ ἀδεὲς ἐγγυωμένης, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν αὐτὸς τοὺς ἐμπιστευθέντας σοι παρὰ τῶν φίλων εἰς προὗπτον ἔῤῥιψας κίνδυνον ; Ἀλλ᾽ ἴσως φιλίας εἰλικρινοῦς ἄγευστος ὧν καὶ ἀτέλεστος τοῦτο διεπράξω.

DIOGENEI DIAKONŌ. Tēs gnēsias kai eilikrinous philias to adees engyōmenēs, di' hēn aitian autos tous empisteuthentas soi para tōn philōn eis proupton errhipsas kindynon ? All᾽ isōs philias eilikrinous ageustos hōn kai atelestos touto diepraxō.

To Diogenes the deacon. Since genuine and sincere friendship guarantees security, for what reason have you thrown those entrusted to you by your friends into manifest danger? But perhaps, being untasted and uninitiated in sincere friendship, you did this.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore rebukes a deacon for endangering those his friends entrusted to him, a sign that he knows nothing of true friendship.

Topics: Love of God and neighbour, Church office

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.464 (PG 78 78:1595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-464). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-464

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-464) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.465PG 78 78:1595

ΑΣΚΛΗΠΙΩ. Ἐπειδὴ δεῖξαι ἴσως βουλόμενος τῆς σοφίας τῆς κοσμικῆς κρείττονα τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀνδρείαν, ἀπετείχισας ἡμῖν τὸν ῥήτορα φάσκοντα · Ὅσῳ τὸ φανερῶς τοῦ λάθρα κρεῖττον, καὶ τὸ νικῶντας ἢ παρακρουσαμένους πράττειν ὁτιοῦν ἐντιμότερον, τοσούτῳ κάλλιον Κόνωνα τὰ τείχη στῆσαι Θεμιστοκλέους. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ λαθών, ὁ δὲ νικήσας τοὺς κωλύσαντας ταῦτα ἐποίησεν. Ἐκεῖνό φημι, ὅτι μάλιστα μὲν οὔτε ταύτην, οὔτε ἐκείνην ἀποδεχόμεθα · ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν, εἰ μὴ κοσμηθείη τῇ θείᾳ παιδεύσει, οὐδὲν εἶναι ἡγούμεθα· τὴν δὲ κακίζομεν. ᾿Αδικεῖσθαι γὰρ, οὐκ ἀδικεῖν μεμαθήκαμεν. ᾿Ανδρείαν δὲ ἡγούμεθα, τὴν κατὰ τῶν δυσχερῶν ὑπεροψίαν, καὶ τὸ γενναίως φέρειν τὰ συμβαίνοντα. Εἰ δὲ χρή τι καὶ πρὸς τὸν ῥήτορα εἰπεῖν, εἴποιμ᾽ ἄν· ᾿Αλλ᾿ ὁ σοφίᾳ περιγενόμενος, ὦ ῥητόρων ἄριστε, δῆλος ἦν ὅτι καὶ νικήσας, εἰ συνέβη, πολεμῶν περιεγένετ᾽ ἂν μείζονως· ὁ δὲ ἀνδρείᾳ κρατήσας ἄδηλος ἦν, εἰ σοφίᾳ περιεγένετο τοῖς ὅπλοις ἡττηθείς.

ASKLĒPIŌ. Epeidē deixai isōs boulomenos tēs sophias tēs kosmikēs kreittona tēn en tois polemois andreian, apeteichisas hēmin ton rhētora phaskonta ; Hosǭ to phanerōs tou lathra kreitton, kai to nikōntas ē parakrousamenous prattein hotioun entimoteron, tosoutǭ kallion Konōna ta teichē stēsai Themistokleous. Ho men gar lathōn, ho de nikēsas tous kōlysantas tauta epoiēsen. Ekeino phēmi, hoti malista men oute tautēn, oute ekeinēn apodechometha ; alla tēn men, ei mē kosmētheiē tę̄ theią paideusei, ouden einai hēgoumetha; tēn de kakizomen. ᾿Adikeisthai gar, ouk adikein memathēkamen. ᾿Andreian de hēgoumetha, tēn kata tōn dyscherōn hyperopsian, kai to gennaiōs pherein ta symbainonta. Ei de chrē ti kai pros ton rhētora eipein, eipoim᾽ an; ᾿All᾿ ho sophią perigenomenos, ō rhētorōn ariste, dēlos ēn hoti kai nikēsas, ei synebē, polemōn periegenet᾽ an meizonōs; ho de andreią kratēsas adēlos ēn, ei sophią periegeneto tois hoplois hēttētheis.

To Asclepius. Since, wishing perhaps to show that courage in war is better than worldly wisdom, you walled us off with the orator who says: "As much as doing anything openly is better than doing it secretly, and doing it by victory more honourable than by deceit, so much finer was it for Conon to set up the walls than for Themistocles; for the one did it by escaping notice, the other by defeating those who would prevent him," I say this: above all we accept neither the one nor the other. The first we consider nothing unless it is adorned by divine instruction; the second we reproach. For we have learned to be wronged, not to do wrong. We consider courage to be contempt for hardships and bearing nobly what befalls. And if one must say something to the orator too, I would say: "But the one who prevailed by wisdom, best of orators, clearly would also have prevailed more greatly by fighting, had it come to that; while it is unclear whether the one who conquered by courage would have prevailed by wisdom had he been defeated in arms."

1 Cor 6:7 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Answering a sophist who quoted Demosthenes on Conon and Themistocles, Isidore says Christians value neither worldly cunning nor martial courage, but the courage of enduring hardship, and argues that wisdom is the greater strength.

Lines of the scan are interleaved at the start; they are put back in order.
Demosthenes, Lept. 73-74 (Conon and Themistocles rebuilding the walls of Athens). "To be wronged, not to do wrong": cf. 1 Cor 6:7.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (lines interleaved by the OCR, put back in order): κοσμικῆς κρείττονα τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀνδρείαν, Ἐπειδὴ δεῖξαι ἴσως βουλόμενος τῆς σοφίας τῆς ἀπετείχισας → Ἐπειδὴ δεῖξαι ἴσως βουλόμενος τῆς σοφίας τῆς κοσμικῆς κρείττονα τὴν ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις ἀνδρείαν, ἀπετείχισας.

Extrabiblical texts: Demosthenes, Lept. 73-74 (Demosthenes (orations); quotation)

Topics: War and military service, Philosophy, Patience

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.465 (PG 78 78:1595; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-465). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-465

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-465) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.466PG 78 78:1597

ΖΗΝΩΝΙ. Ἑρμογένης ὁ ἐπίσκοπος, ἀγαθὸς, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος γέγονεν, ἀνήρ. Τραφεὶς γὰρ ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Χριστοῦ νόμοις, παιδευθεὶς δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς παραδείγμασιν, ἐπισκοπῆς δὲ ἄξια καὶ φρονήσας καὶ πράξας, συνηβῶσαν τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν κέκτηται. Ὁ γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀσκοῦσιν ἀντοφθαλμεῖν μεμελετηκὼς φθόνος, τούτῳ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς πραότητος καὶ τῆς μετριοφροσύνης οὐδ᾽ ἀντιβλέψαι ἐτόλμησεν. Ἡ γὰρ πρὸς τὰ ἐνδοξότατα τῶν ἔργων σύντροφος ἀγρυπνία κοσμηθεῖσα τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ, καὶ τὸν τῶν καλλίστων λυμεῶνα φθόνον κατεδουλώσατο. Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ αὐτὸς κατ᾽ ἴχνος ἐκείνου βαδίσαι προήρησαι, καθάπερ εἰς ἀρχέτυπόν τινα εἰκόνα ὁρῶν, σφράγιζε τὴν ἀρετὴν τῇ μετριοφροσύνῃ. Καλὴν γὰρ ἀσφάλειαν καὶ μέγιστον σήμαντρον τῷ ταμείῳ τῶν κατορθωμάτων ἐπιθήσεις.

ZĒNŌNI. Hermogenēs ho episkopos, agathos, ei kai tis allos gegonen, anēr. Trapheis gar en tois tou Christou nomois, paideutheis de en tois apostolikois paradeigmasin, episkopēs de axia kai phronēsas kai praxas, synēbōsan tǭ chronǭ tēn doxan kai tēn timēn kektētai. Ho gar tois allois tois tēn aretēn askousin antophthalmein memeletēkōs phthonos, toutǭ dia to megethos tēs praotētos kai tēs metriophrosynēs oud᾽ antiblepsai etolmēsen. Hē gar pros ta endoxotata tōn ergōn syntrophos agrypnia kosmētheisa tę̄ tapeinophrosynę̄, kai ton tōn kallistōn lymeōna phthonon katedoulōsato. Ei toinyn kai autos kat᾽ ichnos ekeinou badisai proērēsai, kathaper eis archetypon tina eikona horōn, sphragize tēn aretēn tę̄ metriophrosynę̄. Kalēn gar asphaleian kai megiston sēmantron tǭ tameiǭ tōn katorthōmatōn epithēseis.

To Zeno. Hermogenes the bishop has been a good man, if anyone ever was. For, brought up in the laws of Christ, trained in the apostolic examples, and thinking and doing things worthy of the episcopate, he has acquired a glory and honour that have grown up with time. For envy, which has practised setting itself against all others who practise virtue, did not dare even to look him in the face because of the greatness of his gentleness and modesty. For watchfulness, the companion of the most glorious deeds, adorned with humility, has enslaved even envy, the destroyer of the noblest things. If, then, you too have chosen to walk in his footsteps, looking at him as at an archetypal image, seal your virtue with modesty; for you will put a fine security and a very great seal on the treasury of your achievements.

Notes and citation

Summary: Bishop Hermogenes' humility and gentleness disarmed even envy; Isidore urges Zeno to imitate him by sealing his virtue with modesty.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR lost the iota subscript): μετριοφροσύνη. Καλὴν → μετριοφροσύνῃ. Καλὴν.

Topics: Church office, Humility and pride, Anger and envy

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.466 (PG 78 78:1597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-466). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-466

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-466) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.467PG 78 78:1597

ΗΛΙΑ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Ὁ διδάσκειν μὲν μὴ δυνάμενος, μαθεῖν δὲ βουλόμενος ἀποδοχῆς ἐστιν ἄξιος. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τῷ μὴ εἰδέναι καὶ διδάσκειν ἐπαγγελλόμενος, ἐσχάτην ἀπαιδευσίαν νοσῶν, οὐδὲ μαθεῖν δυνήσεται, τοῦ δοκεῖν εἰδέναι χώραν μὴ παρέχοντος.

ĒLIA PRESBYTERŌ. Ho didaskein men mē dynamenos, mathein de boulomenos apodochēs estin axios. Ho de pros tǭ mē eidenai kai didaskein epangellomenos, eschatēn apaideusian nosōn, oude mathein dynēsetai, tou dokein eidenai chōran mē parechontos.

To Elias the presbyter. One who cannot teach but wishes to learn deserves approval. But one who, besides not knowing, even professes to teach, sick with the utmost want of education, will not even be able to learn, since seeming to know leaves no room.

Notes and citation

Summary: One who wishes to learn deserves praise; one who teaches what he does not know cannot even learn.

Topics: Classical learning and education, Humility and pride

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.467 (PG 78 78:1597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-467). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-467

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-467) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.468PG 78 78:1597

ΣΕΡΗΝΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Εἰ ὧν ἠμφισβήτησας μὴ τυχών, ἀλλὰ λαμπρῶς ἡττηθεὶς, νῦν χάριν δοκεῖς αἰτεῖν, δῆλος εἶ τῷ τῆς χάριτος ὀνόματι λῦσαι τὰ κριθέντα πειρώμενος. Εἰ δὲ λέγοις καὶ παρὰ τοῦ δικάσαντος ἠδικῆσθαι (τὸ μὲν ὡς δικαίως ἡττηθεὶς, ἐάσω λέγειν), τὸ δὲ, ὡς κέκριται, λέξω. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν οὐδ᾽ οὕτω κεκριμένον ἦν, τοῦ δικάσαντος ἀδεκάστου τυγχάνοντος, εἰ μὴ τὸ δικαίως προσῆν. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὸ νικῆσαι τὴν χάριν δίδωμι, ὅς γε οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἠγωνισάμην, εἴγε καταγνοὺς σαυτοῦ συγγνώμην ᾔτησας. Χρὴ γὰρ τὸ φρόνημα τῶν σφαλλομένων μὲν, μὴ οἰομένων δὲ ἐσφάλθαι, καθαιρεῖν· γνωσιμαχοῦσι δὲ συγγνώμην νέμειν.

SERĒNŌ DIAKONŌ. Ei hōn ēmphisbētēsas mē tychōn, alla lamprōs hēttētheis, nyn charin dokeis aitein, dēlos ei tǭ tēs charitos onomati lysai ta krithenta peirōmenos. Ei de legois kai para tou dikasantos ēdikēsthai (to men hōs dikaiōs hēttētheis, easō legein), to de, hōs kekritai, lexō. Oude gar an oud᾽ houtō kekrimenon ēn, tou dikasantos adekastou tynchanontos, ei mē to dikaiōs prosēn. Plēn alla kai meta to nikēsai tēn charin didōmi, hos ge oud᾽ an ex archēs ēgōnisamēn, eige katagnous sautou syngnōmēn ę̄tēsas. Chrē gar to phronēma tōn sphallomenōn men, mē oiomenōn de esphalthai, kathairein; gnōsimachousi de syngnōmēn nemein.

To Serenus the deacon. If, having failed to obtain what you disputed and having been brilliantly defeated, you now seem to ask a favour, you are clearly trying to undo the verdict under the name of a favour. And if you say you were wronged by the judge too (I will let pass saying that you were justly defeated), I will say this: it would not have been judged so, the judge being incorruptible, unless justice was on that side. Yet even after winning I grant the favour, I who would not have contended at all from the beginning if you had condemned yourself and asked for pardon. For one must bring down the pride of those who err but do not think they have erred, and grant pardon to those who acknowledge their fault.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore grants a defeated litigant the favour he asks, though he would have yielded from the start had the man admitted his fault.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip (breathing)): ἡμφισβήτησας → ἠμφισβήτησας; ἡγωνισάμην → ἠγωνισάμην.

Topics: Forgiveness of sins, Humility and pride

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.468 (PG 78 78:1597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-468). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-468

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-468) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.469PG 78 78:1597

ΠΡΩΝΙ ΠΟΛΙΤΕΥΟΜΕΝΩ. Μὴ ὥσπερ ταῦρος καὶ ἀγέρωχος, καὶ ἀτιμαγέλας τὰς ἱερὰς συνόδους ἀτίμαζε· ἀλλὰ μέγιστον ἡγοῦ κόσμον τὸ τοῖς ἁγίοις συναγελάζεσθαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ οὐ μόνον κόσμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσφάλειάν σοι προξενήσει, πρὸς τὸ μὴ θηριάλωτον γενέσθαι. Εἰ δεινὴ, ὡς γέγραφας, καὶ ἀσέληνος νὺξ τὰ πράγματα ἐπὶ Εὐσεβίου κατέχει· ἕπονται γὰρ ταῖς διαβολαῖς αἱ τιμωρίαι, οὐδεμίαν ἀνακωχὴν εἰς τὸ διαγνωσθῆναι τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρέχουσαι, καὶ ἀγνοουμένων ἔτι τῶν ἐγκλημάτων ἡ ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ τῶν συκοφαντουμένων ψῆφος ἐκφέρεται· αἱ δὲ πεπλασμέναι κατηγορίαι ἐλέγχων χηρεύουσαι ἀναρπάζουσι τοὺς ἀνευθύνους, τῶν θεσμῶν εἰς ἀκοσμίαν νεωτερισθέντων. Οἱ γὰρ περὶ αὐτὸν ὄντες πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοῦ βλέποντες τρόπους, καὶ τὸν ἑαυτῶν ῥυθμίζοντες βίον, ἐκ τῶν ὑπευθύνων τὰς διαβολὰς εἰς τοὺς ἀνεγκλήτους μεταφέρειν οὐ παραιτοῦνται· τοὺς μὲν ὄντως πονηρούς μισθοδοσίαις ἀφιέντες, τοὺς δὲ μὴ πριαμένους τὸν ἔχοντα τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῆς μηνύσεως ἐπὶ τοῖς αἰσχίστοις καταγγέλλοντες. Διὰ γὰρ τὸ συκοφαντεῖν ἐξεῖναι, οἱ μὲν τοῖς ἀργαλεωτάτοις ὑπεύθυνοι χρυσῷ τῆς κολάσεως κρατοῦσιν. Οἱ δὲ μὴ μόνον καθαρεύοντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ πλεονεκτήμασι κομῶντες, ὡς πονηροὶ ἀλίσκονται· χρήμασι τὴν ἄδικον ἐπιβουλὴν ἢ μὴ δυνηθέντες, ἢ μὴ ἀξιώσαντες καταπραῦναι. Ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν ἱερωσύνην οὐχ ὁ ἀρετῆς ἀνάπλεως ἕλκεται, ἀλλ᾿ ὅστις πλούτῳ κομῶν, χρυσῷ τὴν ἀξίαν ἀγοράσαι προήρηται, κἂν τῆς ἀν[ωτ]άτης ᾗ πονηρίας ἔμπλεως. Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ ταῦτα, καὶ τούτων πλείονά τε καὶ μείζονα δρῶν, οὐδέπω δίκην δέδωκε, μὴ καταψηφίζου ἀμέλειαν τῆς θείας προνοίας· ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν μακροθυμίαν αὐτῆς θαύμαζε, τὴν εἰς μετάνοιαν τοὺς πταίοντας καλοῦσαν. Τῶν δὲ μὴ μετανοούντων καταθρήνει τὴν ἀναλγησίαν, τὴν εἰς πικροτάτας αὐτοὺς βασάνους προάγουσαν.

PRŌNI POLITEUOMENŌ. Mē hōsper tauros kai agerōchos, kai atimagelas tas hieras synodous atimaze; alla megiston hēgou kosmon to tois hagiois synagelazesthai. Touto gar ou monon kosmon, alla kai asphaleian soi proxenēsei, pros to mē thērialōton genesthai. Ei deinē, hōs gegraphas, kai aselēnos nyx ta pragmata epi Eusebiou katechei; hepontai gar tais diabolais hai timōriai, oudemian anakōchēn eis to diagnōsthēnai tēn alētheian parechousai, kai agnooumenōn eti tōn enklēmatōn hē ep' olethrǭ tōn sykophantoumenōn psēphos ekpheretai; hai de peplasmenai katēgoriai elenchōn chēreuousai anarpazousi tous aneuthynous, tōn thesmōn eis akosmian neōteristhentōn. Hoi gar peri auton ontes pros tous autou blepontes tropous, kai ton heautōn rhythmizontes bion, ek tōn hypeuthynōn tas diabolas eis tous anenklētous metapherein ou paraitountai; tous men ontōs ponērous misthodosiais aphientes, tous de mē priamenous ton echonta tēn exousian tēs mēnyseōs epi tois aischistois katangellontes. Dia gar to sykophantein exeinai, hoi men tois argaleōtatois hypeuthynoi chrysǭ tēs kolaseōs kratousin. Hoi de mē monon kathareuontes, alla kai pleonektēmasi komōntes, hōs ponēroi aliskontai; chrēmasi tēn adikon epiboulēn ē mē dynēthentes, ē mē axiōsantes katapraunai. Epi de tēn hierōsynēn ouch ho aretēs anapleōs helketai, all᾿ hostis ploutǭ komōn, chrysǭ tēn axian agorasai proērētai, kan tēs an[ōt]atēs hę̄ ponērias empleōs. Ei toinyn kai tauta, kai toutōn pleiona te kai meizona drōn, oudepō dikēn dedōke, mē katapsēphizou ameleian tēs theias pronoias; alla tēn men makrothymian autēs thaumaze, tēn eis metanoian tous ptaiontas kalousan. Tōn de mē metanoountōn katathrēnei tēn analgēsian, tēn eis pikrotatas autous basanous proagousan.

To Heron the curial. Do not, like a bull, proud and straying from the herd, dishonour the sacred assemblies; but consider it the greatest adornment to be herded together with the saints. For this will procure you not only adornment but also safety, so as not to become the prey of beasts. [Letter 5.470] If, as you have written, a terrible and moonless night holds affairs under Eusebius (for punishments follow slanders, allowing no pause for the truth to be discerned, and while the charges are still unknown the verdict is pronounced for the ruin of those falsely accused; and fabricated accusations, bereft of proofs, carry off the blameless, the laws having been overturned into disorder; for those around him, looking to his ways and ordering their own lives by them, do not refuse to transfer the slanders from the guilty to the blameless, releasing the truly wicked for bribes and denouncing on the most shameful charges those who have not bought the one with power of information; for because false accusation is allowed, those guilty of the most grievous crimes master punishment with gold, while those who are not only pure but abound in merits are convicted as wicked, because they either could not or would not appease the unjust plot with money; and to the priesthood it is not the man full of virtue who is drawn, but whoever, abounding in wealth, has chosen to buy the dignity with gold, even if he is full of the utmost wickedness), if, then, though he does these things and more and greater, he has not yet paid the penalty, do not condemn divine providence for negligence; but admire its patience, which calls those who fail to repentance, and lament the insensibility of those who do not repent, which leads them on to the bitterest torments.

Rom 2:4 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore urges a curial not to shun church assemblies; a second letter describes the injustice of Bishop Eusebius's regime, where the guilty buy acquittal and priesthood, and says God's patience is a call to repentance, not negligence.

The heading reads ΠΡΩΝΙ, taken here as Heron.
Letter 5.470 begins at "If, as you have written"; its heading was not recovered from the scan. The word in square brackets in the edition (ἀν[ωτ]άτης) is translated as "utmost".

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip (punctuation)): βίον. ἐκ τῶν → βίον, ἐκ τῶν; ὅλκεται → ἕλκεται.

Topics: Worship, The church, Church office, Ordination, Providence, Repentance

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.469 (PG 78 78:1597; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-469). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-469

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-469) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.471PG 78 78:1599

ΕΥΔΑΙΜΟΝΙ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Ἐπειδὴ ἥκει καιρὸς, ἀρετῆς μὲν ἐπίδειξιν ἀπαιτῶν, δεικνὺς δὲ ὅσον ἀνδρείᾳ τῶν πολλῶν διενήνοχας, δέξαι ἀντ' ἄλλου τινὸς ἑρμαίου τὴν δραματουργηθεῖσαν κατὰ σοῦ ἐπιβουλήν· καὶ καλοῦντι τῷ καιρῷ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἄκουσον, μηδὲν ἀγεννὲς, μηδὲ ἄνανδρον ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἀλλὰ κρείττων τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἀναφανῆναι πειρώμενος.

EUDAIMONI PRESBYTERŌ. Epeidē hēkei kairos, aretēs men epideixin apaitōn, deiknys de hoson andreią tōn pollōn dienēnochas, dexai ant' allou tinos hermaiou tēn dramatourgētheisan kata sou epiboulēn; kai kalounti tǭ kairǭ pros aretēn akouson, mēden agennes, mēde anandron epideiknymenos, alla kreittōn tou peirasmou anaphanēnai peirōmenos.

To Eudaemon the presbyter. Since a time has come that demands a display of virtue and shows how much you excel the many in courage, accept, as some windfall, the plot staged against you; and listen to the time that calls you to virtue, showing nothing ignoble or cowardly, but trying to appear stronger than the temptation.

Jas 1:2 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore urges a presbyter to welcome a plot against him as an opportunity to show virtue and courage.

Lines of the scan are interleaved in this letter; they are put back in order.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (lines interleaved by the OCR, put back in order): κατὰ σοῦ ἐπιβουλήν · καὶ καλοῦντι τῷ καιρῷ πρὸς Ἐπειδὴ → Ἐπειδὴ; τὴν δραματουργηθεῖσαν ἀρετὴν, ἄκουσον → τὴν δραματουργηθεῖσαν κατὰ σοῦ ἐπιβουλήν· καὶ καλοῦντι τῷ καιρῷ πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἄκουσον.

Topics: Temptation, Patience

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.471 (PG 78 78:1599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-471). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-471

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-471) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.472PG 78 78:1599

ΠΟΣΕΙΔΩΝΙ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Τὸ προσκροῦσαι τῷ τετιμηκότι Θεῷ, πάσης συμφορᾶς καὶ τιμωρίας ἡγεῖσθαι χρὴ ἀργαλεώτερον. Οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἔγωγε νομίζω ἔσεσθαι τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς κολάσεως πόνον, ὅσον τὴν αἰσχύνην τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τῷ δοξάσαντι προσκροῦσαι συμβησομένην · τὸ δὲ καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ ὅπλα, δι' ὧν ἐτιμήθησαν, κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ κινοῦντας ἁλῶναι, καὶ τιμῇ κατὰ τοῦ τιμήσαντος κεχρημένους φωραθῆναι, πᾶσαν ὑπερβάλλει μανίαν. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀνυπέρβλητον ἄνοιαν, τὸ δὲ ἀνήκεστον μανίαν ἔχει. Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν τοὺς ἱερωμένους, ὥσπερ ἀνάκτορα, παντὸς τυραννικοῦ καὶ αἰσχροῦ πάθους ἀβάτους ἑαυτοὺς διατηρεῖν.

POSEIDŌNI PRESBYTERŌ. To proskrousai tǭ tetimēkoti Theǭ, pasēs symphoras kai timōrias hēgeisthai chrē argaleōteron. Ou gar tosouton egōge nomizō esesthai ton apo tēs kolaseōs ponon, hoson tēn aischynēn tēn apo tou tǭ doxasanti proskrousai symbēsomenēn ; to de kai auta ta hopla, di' hōn etimēthēsan, kat᾿ autou kinountas halōnai, kai timę̄ kata tou timēsantos kechrēmenous phōrathēnai, pasan hyperballei manian. To men gar anyperblēton anoian, to de anēkeston manian echei. Chrē toigaroun tous hierōmenous, hōsper anaktora, pantos tyrannikou kai aischrou pathous abatous heautous diatērein.

To Poseidon the presbyter. To offend God, who has honoured us, must be thought more grievous than any misfortune and punishment. For I do not think the pain of punishment will be as great as the shame that will come from having offended the one who glorified us. But to be caught moving against him the very weapons by which they were honoured, and to be found using the honour against the one who honoured them, surpasses all madness. For the first shows unsurpassable folly, the second incurable madness. So the ordained must keep themselves, like sanctuaries, inaccessible to every tyrannical and shameful passion.

Notes and citation

Summary: For priests to use their God-given honour against God is the height of madness; they must keep themselves like sanctuaries, free of every vice.

Topics: Church office, Sin

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.472 (PG 78 78:1599; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-472). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-472

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-472) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.473PG 78 78:1601

ΜΑΡΩΝΙ. Ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων ὡς τὰ πολλὰ αἱ φῆμαι φύονται· αἱ μὲν οὖν ἀληθεῖς οὐ ῥᾳδίως, τάχα δὲ οὐδ' ὅλως σβέννυνται. Αἱ δὲ ψευδεῖς, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν φθόνου ἕνεκεν πραττόμεναι, ὡς τὰ ἀράχνεια ὑφάσματα, θᾶττον διαλύονται. Πέπαυσο τοίνυν τῶν ἀτόπων πράξεων· εἰ δὲ μὴ, μὴ ἀγανάκτει κατὰ τῆς φήμης, ὡς πανταχόσε κωμῳδούσης. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἷόν τε ῥίζης κλάδους μὴ ἀναφῦναι. ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟ. Πιστεύω, ὅτι εἰ γνοίη παρὰ τῆς σῆς ὁσιότητος ὁ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἐπιτρέπων δυνάμει, ὅτι, σὺν Θεῷ φάναι, τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν βοηθείας ὠχυρωμένης, καὶ τῶν νόμων ἐῤῥωμένων, οὐδεὶς παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον ἐκβιάσασθαι τὸν πένητα ἐφ᾽ ὕβρει τῆς Ἐκκλησίας τῆς ὀρεγούσης τοῖς ἀδικουμένοις τὴν χεῖρα δυνήσεται, ἀποστήσεται τῆς κατὰ τοῦ πένητος ἀδικίας, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς καθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ὁ πάσχων (τέως γὰρ οὕτως εἰρήσθω), ὅσον ὁ δρῶν ἀδικεῖται.

MARŌNI. Ek tōn pragmatōn hōs ta polla hai phēmai phyontai; hai men oun alētheis ou rhądiōs, tacha de oud' holōs sbennyntai. Hai de pseudeis, kai para tōn echthrōn phthonou heneken prattomenai, hōs ta arachneia hyphasmata, thatton dialyontai. Pepauso toinyn tōn atopōn praxeōn; ei de mē, mē aganaktei kata tēs phēmēs, hōs pantachose kōmǭdousēs. Oude gar hoion te rhizēs kladous mē anaphynai. ISIDŌRO EPISKOPO. Pisteuō, hoti ei gnoiē para tēs sēs hosiotētos ho tę̄ heautou epitrepōn dynamei, hoti, syn Theǭ phanai, tēs Ekklēsias ek tēs anōthen boētheias ōchyrōmenēs, kai tōn nomōn errhōmenōn, oudeis para to dikaion ekbiasasthai ton penēta eph᾽ hybrei tēs Ekklēsias tēs oregousēs tois adikoumenois tēn cheira dynēsetai, apostēsetai tēs kata tou penētos adikias, mallon de tēs kath᾽ heautou. Ou gar tosouton ho paschōn (teōs gar houtōs eirēsthō), hoson ho drōn adikeitai.

To Maron. Reports mostly grow from deeds. True ones are not easily, perhaps not at all, extinguished; but false ones, spread by enemies out of envy, dissolve more quickly than spiders' webs. So stop your monstrous deeds; but if not, do not be indignant at the report for ridiculing you everywhere. For it is not possible for branches not to spring up from a root. [Letter 5.474] To Isidore the bishop. I trust that if the man who relies on his own power learns from your holiness that, God willing, since the church is fortified by help from above and the laws are strong, no one will be able to force the poor man contrary to justice, to the insult of the church which stretches out its hand to the wronged, he will desist from his injustice against the poor man, or rather against himself. For the one who suffers (to put it so for now) is not wronged as much as the one who does it.

Notes and citation

Summary: True reports, unlike slanders, do not die, so Maron should mend his life rather than resent his reputation; a second letter asks a bishop to warn a powerful man that the church will protect a poor man he is oppressing.

Letter 5.474 begins at "To Isidore the bishop"; the garbled numeral before it is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Latin x for Greek kappa in the OCR; OCR slip; OCR slip (breathing lost); garbled letter numeral from the heading): εἰἱ δὲ μὴ → εἰ δὲ μὴ; ρίζης → ῥίζης; ἀναφῦναι. ' – ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ → ἀναφῦναι. ΙΣΙΔΩΡΟ; Ἐxκλησίας → Ἐκκλησίας.

Topics: Church office, Lying and truthfulness, Wealth and poverty, The church

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.473 (PG 78 78:1601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-473). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-473

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-473) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.475PG 78 78:1601

ΑΘΑΝΑΣΙΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Πρώην μὲν ἑτέρων ἤκουον, νῦν δὲ ἔγνων δεινότατον ὄντα σε ῥητορεύειν· ὃς ἐπὶ πράξεσιν οὕτω παρανόμοις καὶ πονηραῖς λόγων εὐπρέπειαν ἐχόντων οὐκ ἠπόρησας. ᾿Αλλ' οὐχ ὁ τέχνῃ τάληθοῦς περιγενόμενος, ἐπαίνων ἄξιος, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀτέχνως φράζων. ᾿Αφέμενος τοίνυν τῆς δεινότητος, ἔχου τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ τὸν βίον τὸν σαυτοῦ πρὸς ταύτην βλέπων ῥύθμιζε. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀνθρώπους παραλογίσασθαι δυνηθείης, εἰ καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐφωράθης, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἀπαραλόγιστον οὐ φενακίσεις κριτήν. - ΜΑΡΤΙΝΙΑΝΩ, ΖΩΣΙΜΟ, ΜΑΡΩΝΙ,

AThANASIŌ PRESBYTERŌ. Prōēn men heterōn ēkouon, nyn de egnōn deinotaton onta se rhētoreuein; hos epi praxesin houtō paranomois kai ponērais logōn euprepeian echontōn ouk ēporēsas. ᾿All' ouch ho technę̄ talēthous perigenomenos, epainōn axios, all᾽ ho to alēthes atechnōs phrazōn. ᾿Aphemenos toinyn tēs deinotētos, echou tēs alētheias, kai ton bion ton sautou pros tautēn blepōn rhythmize. Ei gar kai anthrōpous paralogisasthai dynētheiēs, ei kai hoti malista de par' autois ephōrathēs, alla ton aparalogiston ou phenakiseis kritēn. - MARTINIANŌ, ZŌSIMO, MARŌNI,

To Athanasius the presbyter. Formerly I heard it from others, but now I know that you are most clever at rhetoric, since you were not at a loss for words with a fair appearance to cover such lawless and wicked deeds. But it is not the one who overcomes the truth by art who deserves praise, but the one who states the truth artlessly. So give up your cleverness, hold to the truth, and order your life looking to it. For even if you could mislead people, and even if you were not at all found out by them, you will not cheat the Judge who cannot be misled.

Heb 4:13 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore tells a clever presbyter who excused his misdeeds with rhetoric to prefer plain truth, since God cannot be deceived.

The first part of the heading of the next letter ("To Martinianus, Zosimus, Maron,") stands at the end of this passage in the scan; it is translated with the next passage.

Topics: Lying and truthfulness, Church office, The last judgment

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.475 (PG 78 78:1601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-475). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-475

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-475) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.476PG 78 78:1601

ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΩ. Ἐνέτυχον ἁγίῳ ἀνδρὶ, ᾧ ἔργον ἐστὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ τῶν πταιόντων ἱκετεύειν τὸ Θεῖον (ἴστε δὲ ὃν λέγω), καὶ εἶδον ὑπόθεσιν αὐτῷ δακρύων ἀενάων τὸν ὑμέτερον γεγενῆσθαι βίον. Αἰσχυνόμενος γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς παρὰ πάντων περὶ ὑμῶν κωμῳδουμένοις, ἔλεγε τοῖς παρακαλεῖν πειρωμένοις· « "Αφετε, πικρῶς κλαύσομαι, μὴ κατισχύετε παρακαλεῖν με. » Εἶτα ὡς ἀνένευσεν ὀλίγον ἐκ τῶν θρήνων, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅ τι ἐννοήσας (οὐ γὰρ ἀσφαλὲς τῶν ἀδήλων κατατολμᾷν), ὥσπερ ἔνθους γενόμενος, καὶ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναβλέψας, ὡς αὐτὸν ὁρῶν τὸν πάντων Δεσπότην, ἐβόησεν· « Δόξα σοι, βασιλεῦ, δόξα σοι. Πόσης μακροθυμίας πέλαγος παρὰ σοί! πόσης ἀνεξικακίας θησαυρός ! Οἱ διὰ τὸ ὄνομα τὸ σὸν ἐξ ἀφανῶν καὶ ἀτίμων λαμπροὶ καὶ περίβλεπτοι γεγονότες, τῇ τιμῇ κατὰ σοῦ τοῦ τετιμηκότος κέχρηνται, καὶ τολμῶσιν ἀτόλμητα, καὶ ἐνυβρίζουσιν εἰς τὰ ἅγια, συγγνώμης ἁμαρτάνοντες μείζονα. • Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἄλλων πρεσβεύων, διὰ τὰ ὑμέτερα πταίσματα τὴν θείαν ἐξεπλάγη μακροθυμίαν, τίς ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν ἱκετεύσει; τίς πρεσβεύσει; τίς παραστήσεται; Ἐννοοῦντες οὖν, οἱ τῶν κακῶν ἐστε, παύσασθε ἀσύγγνωστα πταίοντες. Φύλλον Σοφὸν ἔγωγε ἡγοῦμαι οὐ τὸν τὰς τῶν ποιητῶν ῥαψῳδίας, καὶ τὰς τῶν ῥητόρων δεινότητας, καὶ τὰς τῶν σοφῶν τερθρείας, ὡς νομίζεις, ἐπὶ γλώττης ἔχοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν τὸ ἦθος ἐξασκήσαντα, καὶ τὸν τρόπον ῥυθμίσαντα. Τὸν γὰρ τοιοῦτον οὐδ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων ἐκτραχηλίζεσθαι οἶμαι. Πονηρία γὰρ τὴν τοῦ λέγειν ἐμπειρίαν προσλαβοῦσα, πολλῷ ἀργαλεώτερα τῆς ἀμαθίας ἐργάζεται κακά. Εἰ δὲ θαυμάζεις τὸ εἰρημένον, ἐγγυήσεται Θουκυδίδης λέγων· « Αμαθία μετὰ σωφροσύνης ὠφελιμώτερον, ἢ δεξιότης μετὰ ἀκολασίας. » Εἰ τοίνυν οὐδὲ τὴν εὐφυΐαν ἐκεῖνος ἀπεδέξατο (πρὸς κακοῦ γὰρ γίνεται τοῖς μὴ καλῶς αὐτὴν γεωργοῦσι), σχολῇ γε περὶ τῆς ἔξωθεν παιδεύσεως ἀποφανούμεθα ὡς ἀξίας λόγου, ὅταν ὁ τρόπος ἀκόλαστος εἴη. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἄμφω συνέβαινε, φρόνησίς τε καὶ παίδευσις, τουτέστι, τρόπος καὶ λόγος, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι. Εἰ δὲ θάτερον λείπηται, ἄμεινον ἑλέσθαι τὸ κρεῖττον. Ὅτι δὲ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, ἐγγυήσεται καὶ Πλάτων, ὃν αὐτὸς καὶ μόνον ὀνομάζων ἐναβρύνῃ. Φησὶ γάρ· « Φημὶ τὰς ψυχὰς τὰς εὐφυεστάτας κακῆς παιδαγωγίας τυχούσας, διαφερόντως κακὰς γίνεσθαι'» καὶ τὰ μεγάλα ἀδικήματα, καὶ τὴν ἄκρατον πονηρίαν ἐκ φαύλης, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐκ νεανικῆς φύσεως, τροφῇ διολλυμένης γίγνεσθαι· ἀσθενῆ δὲ φύσιν μεγάλων οὔτε κακῶν, οὔτε ἀγαθῶν αἰτίαν ποτὲ ἔσεσθαι. Εἰ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ τῶν ἱστοριογράφων ἄκρος, καὶ ὁ τῶν φιλοσόφων κορυφαῖος τὸ ἦθος τοῦ λόγου, καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς πολυμαθίας προκρίνοντες ὤφθησαν, τί ἄτοπόν φημι, τὸν καρπὸν λέγων ἀναγκαιότερον τῶν φύλλων ἡγεῖσθαι; Καρπὸν μὲν γὰρ ὁρίζομαι εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν, φύλλα τὴν εὐγλωττίαν. Ποιεῖ μὲν οὖν τινα κόσμον τῷ δένδρῳ τὰ φύλλα περισειόμενα, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ καρπός ἐστιν ὁ ζητούμενος, δι᾿ ὅν καὶ τὰ φύλλα γεγένηται. Καὶ ἴσως οὕτω κέκληται παρὰ τὸ φυλάττειν αὐτόν. Αὐτὸς μὲν λίαν ἐξεθαύμασας τὰ πρώην ἐπισταλέντα · κινδυνεύεις δὲ αὐτὰ ἀνατρέπειν τῷ γεγραφέναι, δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν Ζώσιμος, καὶ Εὐστάθιος, καὶ Μάρων μήτε λόγῳ, μήτε βίῳ διαπρέποντες, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπαιδευσίαν ἐσχάτην ἐν ἑκατέρῳ νοσοῦντες, καὶ κωμῳδία καὶ γέλως πᾶσι προκείμενοι, δοκοῦσιν εἰς ἱερωσύνην τελεῖν. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἁπλῆν καὶ σαφῆ τὴν ἀπολογίαν ποιήσομαι. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τὸν λόγον ἐποιησάμην, τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς παιδεύσεως προκρίνων, εἰκότως ἄν με εἰς ἀνάγκην ἀπολογίας κατέστησας · εἰ δὲ προσώπων μὲν λόγος ἦν οὐδεὶς, αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα καθ' ἑαυτὸ ἐβασανίζετο· ὡς καὶ αὐτόν σε ἐκπλαγέντα, ὡς ἔφης, τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν γεγραμμένων, μείζους ἢ κατ᾿ ἐμὲ ἐπαίνους ὑφῆναι. Τί δήποτε νῦν ἀνθρώπους ὅπως δήποτε βιοῦντας εἰς μέσον προὔθηκας, ἐξελέγχειν τὰ πρώην γραφέντα ἐπιχειρῶν; Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ μυρίων ἐκεῖνοι γέμουσι κακῶν, καὶ πάντας ἀπέκρυψαν, ὡς γέγραφας, ταῖς παρανομίαις, ἤδη ὁ λόγος ὁ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ὠχυρωμένος ἀνατραπήσεται. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἤδη τοιοῦτοί εἰσι μετὰ τοῦ κωμῳδεῖσθαι, καὶ δίκην ἀνύποιστον δώσουσιν· ἡ δὲ ἀλήθεια διαλάμψει μειζόνως, οὐ παρ᾿ ὀλίγων πονηρῶν ἐλεγχομένη, ἀλλὰ ταύτῃ μάλιστα λαμπροτέρα γινομένη, ὅτι τοὺς μὴ ἐρῶντας αὐτῆς, δυσκλεεῖς ἀποφαίνουσα, τοὺς ἐραστὰς εὐκλεεστάτους ἀπεργάζεται.

EUSTAThIŌ. Enetychon hagiǭ andri, hǭ ergon esti to hyper tōn ptaiontōn hiketeuein to Theion (iste de hon legō), kai eidon hypothesin autǭ dakryōn aenaōn ton hymeteron gegenēsthai bion. Aischynomenos gar epi tois para pantōn peri hymōn kōmǭdoumenois, elege tois parakalein peirōmenois; « "Aphete, pikrōs klausomai, mē katischyete parakalein me. » Eita hōs aneneusen oligon ek tōn thrēnōn, ouk oid᾽ ho ti ennoēsas (ou gar asphales tōn adēlōn katatolmąn), hōsper enthous genomenos, kai eis ouranon anablepsas, hōs auton horōn ton pantōn Despotēn, eboēsen; « Doxa soi, basileu, doxa soi. Posēs makrothymias pelagos para soi! posēs anexikakias thēsauros ! Hoi dia to onoma to son ex aphanōn kai atimōn lamproi kai peribleptoi gegonotes, tę̄ timę̄ kata sou tou tetimēkotos kechrēntai, kai tolmōsin atolmēta, kai enybrizousin eis ta hagia, syngnōmēs hamartanontes meizona. • Ei toinyn kai ho hyper tōn allōn presbeuōn, dia ta hymetera ptaismata tēn theian exeplagē makrothymian, tis hyper hymōn hiketeusei? tis presbeusei? tis parastēsetai? Ennoountes oun, hoi tōn kakōn este, pausasthe asyngnōsta ptaiontes. Phyllon Sophon egōge hēgoumai ou ton tas tōn poiētōn rhapsǭdias, kai tas tōn rhētorōn deinotētas, kai tas tōn sophōn terthreias, hōs nomizeis, epi glōttēs echonta, alla ton to ēthos exaskēsanta, kai ton tropon rhythmisanta. Ton gar toiouton oud᾽ hyp᾽ ekeinōn ektrachēlizesthai oimai. Ponēria gar tēn tou legein empeirian proslabousa, pollǭ argaleōtera tēs amathias ergazetai kaka. Ei de thaumazeis to eirēmenon, engyēsetai Thoukydidēs legōn; « Amathia meta sōphrosynēs ōphelimōteron, ē dexiotēs meta akolasias. » Ei toinyn oude tēn euphyïan ekeinos apedexato (pros kakou gar ginetai tois mē kalōs autēn geōrgousi), scholę̄ ge peri tēs exōthen paideuseōs apophanoumetha hōs axias logou, hotan ho tropos akolastos eiē. Ei men oun amphō synebaine, phronēsis te kai paideusis, toutesti, tropos kai logos, eu an echoi. Ei de thateron leipētai, ameinon helesthai to kreitton. Hoti de tauth' houtōs echei, engyēsetai kai Platōn, hon autos kai monon onomazōn enabrynę̄. Phēsi gar; « Phēmi tas psychas tas euphyestatas kakēs paidagōgias tychousas, diapherontōs kakas ginesthai'» kai ta megala adikēmata, kai tēn akraton ponērian ek phaulēs, all' ouk ek neanikēs physeōs, trophę̄ diollymenēs gignesthai; asthenē de physin megalōn oute kakōn, oute agathōn aitian pote esesthai. Ei toinyn kai ho tōn historiographōn akros, kai ho tōn philosophōn koryphaios to ēthos tou logou, kai ton tropon tēs polymathias prokrinontes ōphthēsan, ti atopon phēmi, ton karpon legōn anankaioteron tōn phyllōn hēgeisthai? Karpon men gar horizomai einai tēn aretēn, phylla tēn euglōttian. Poiei men oun tina kosmon tǭ dendrǭ ta phylla periseiomena, all᾽ ho karpos estin ho zētoumenos, di᾿ hon kai ta phylla gegenētai. Kai isōs houtō keklētai para to phylattein auton. Autos men lian exethaumasas ta prōēn epistalenta ; kindyneueis de auta anatrepein tǭ gegraphenai, di᾽ hēn aitian Zōsimos, kai Eustathios, kai Marōn mēte logǭ, mēte biǭ diaprepontes, all᾿ apaideusian eschatēn en hekaterǭ nosountes, kai kōmǭdia kai gelōs pasi prokeimenoi, dokousin eis hierōsynēn telein. Egō de haplēn kai saphē tēn apologian poiēsomai. Ei men gar hyper autōn ton logon epoiēsamēn, tēn aretēn tēs paideuseōs prokrinōn, eikotōs an me eis anankēn apologias katestēsas ; ei de prosōpōn men logos ēn oudeis, auto de to pragma kath' heauto ebasanizeto; hōs kai auton se ekplagenta, hōs ephēs, to kallos kai tēn alētheian tōn gegrammenōn, meizous ē kat᾿ eme epainous hyphēnai. Ti dēpote nyn anthrōpous hopōs dēpote biountas eis meson prouthēkas, exelenchein ta prōēn graphenta epicheirōn? Oude gar ei myriōn ekeinoi gemousi kakōn, kai pantas apekrypsan, hōs gegraphas, tais paranomiais, ēdē ho logos ho par᾿ hēmōn ho tę̄ alētheią ōchyrōmenos anatrapēsetai. All᾿ ekeinoi men ēdē toioutoi eisi meta tou kōmǭdeisthai, kai dikēn anypoiston dōsousin; hē de alētheia dialampsei meizonōs, ou par᾿ oligōn ponērōn elenchomenē, alla tautę̄ malista lamprotera ginomenē, hoti tous mē erōntas autēs, dyskleeis apophainousa, tous erastas eukleestatous apergazetai.

To Martinianus, Zosimus, Maron and Eustathius. I met a holy man whose work it is to entreat God for those who fail (you know whom I mean), and I saw that your life had become for him an occasion of ever-flowing tears. Ashamed at what everyone ridicules about you, he said to those who tried to comfort him: "Let me be, I will weep bitterly; do not try to comfort me." Then, when he looked up a little from his laments, having thought of I know not what (for it is not safe to venture on what is hidden), as though inspired, he looked up to heaven, as if seeing the Master of all himself, and cried out: "Glory to you, King, glory to you! What a sea of patience is with you! What a treasure of forbearance! Those who for your name's sake have become brilliant and conspicuous from obscure and dishonoured men use their honour against you who honoured them, dare what should not be dared, outrage the holy things, and sin beyond pardon." If, then, even the one who intercedes for others was astonished at the divine patience because of your offences, who will entreat for you? Who will intercede? Who will stand by you? Considering, then, whose you are, stop committing unpardonable sins. [Letter 5.477] Leaf. I consider wise not the man who has on his tongue, as you think, the rhapsodies of the poets, the cleverness of the orators and the subtleties of the sages, but the one who has trained his character and ordered his ways. For I think such a man will not be thrown down even by those things. For wickedness that has acquired skill in speaking produces evils much more grievous than ignorance. And if you wonder at what is said, Thucydides will vouch for it, saying: "Ignorance with self-control is more useful than cleverness with licentiousness." If, then, he did not accept even natural talent (for it turns to harm for those who do not cultivate it well), much less shall we declare outside learning worthy of note when the character is licentious. If both come together, prudence and learning, that is, character and speech, it would be well. But if one is lacking, it is better to choose the better. That this is so Plato too will vouch, whom you take pride in naming alone. For he says: "I say that the most gifted souls, if they meet with a bad upbringing, become exceptionally bad," and that great crimes and unmixed wickedness come not from a feeble but from a vigorous nature corrupted by its rearing, while a weak nature will never be the cause of great things, either evil or good. If, then, both the summit of historians and the chief of philosophers have been seen to prefer character to speech and conduct to wide learning, what absurdity am I saying in holding the fruit more necessary than the leaves? For I define the fruit as virtue and the leaves as eloquence. The leaves shaken about give a certain adornment to the tree, but the fruit is what is sought, for whose sake the leaves too have come into being; and perhaps they are so called (phyllon) from guarding (phylattein) it. [Letter 5.478] You yourself greatly admired what I sent you earlier; but you risk overturning it by writing to ask why Zosimus, Eustathius and Maron, distinguished neither in speech nor in life but sick with the utmost want of education in both, and set before all as a comedy and a laughing-stock, are reckoned among the priesthood. I shall make a simple and clear defence. If I had made my argument on their behalf, preferring virtue to learning, you would rightly have put me under the necessity of a defence. But if there was no talk of persons, but the matter itself was examined by itself, so that you yourself, struck, as you said, by the beauty and truth of what was written, wove praises greater than I deserve, why ever have you now set before us men living in whatever way, attempting to refute what was written before? For even if they are full of countless evils and, as you have written, have outdone all in lawlessness, the argument we made, fortified by truth, will not therefore be overturned. They are already such, besides being ridiculed, and will pay an unbearable penalty; but the truth will shine more greatly, not refuted by a few wicked men, but becoming more brilliant precisely in this, that by showing those who do not love it to be inglorious, it makes its lovers most glorious.

Isa 22:4 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore tells four clerics of a holy intercessor who wept over their sins and marvelled at God's patience; further letters argue, with Thucydides and Plato, that character matters more than eloquence, as fruit more than leaves, and that the bad lives of some clergy do not refute this.

The heading begins at the end of the previous passage in the scan. Letter 5.477 begins at the title "Leaf" (Φύλλον); Letter 5.478 at "You yourself greatly admired"; their addressee lines were not recovered. A marginal gloss ("leaf, from guarding") between them is removed.
Isa 22:4 (LXX). Thucydides 3.37.3; Plato, Resp. 6.491e-492a.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip (breathing); marginal gloss left in the OCR; stray dash from the OCR; stray mark from the OCR): ἐξ ἀφανῶν· καὶ → ἐξ ἀφανῶν καὶ; ϋεξιότης → δεξιότης; ἐγγυήσειαι → ἐγγυήσεται; ὁρίζομαι – εἶναι → ὁρίζομαι εἶναι; φύλλον ἀπὸ τοῦ φυλάττειν Αὐτὸς → Αὐτὸς; νοσοῦντες·, → νοσοῦντες,; ἑβασανίζετο → ἐβασανίζετο; ἀνὑποιστον → ἀνύποιστον.

Extrabiblical texts: Thucydides, 3.37.3 (Thucydides, History; quotation); Plato, Resp. 491e-492a (Plato (works); quotation)

Topics: Church office, Prayer, Repentance, Classical learning and education, Philosophy

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.476 (PG 78 78:1601; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-476). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-476

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-476) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.479PG 78 78:1605

ΕΥΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Πόσους οἴει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀνωνύμους καὶ ἀδόξους εἶναι πολλῷ σπουδαιοτέρους γεγενημένους τῶν ἀδομένων ; τῷ τοὺς μὲν ποιητῶν τυχεῖν καὶ λογοποιῶν, τῶν πᾶν τὸ πραττόμενον μὴ πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν κρινόντων, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἣν εἶχον εὔνοιαν ὑπολαμβανόντων, καὶ τὸ κατορθωθὲν οὐρανόμηκες ποιούντων · τοὺς δὲ μὴ ἐσχηκέναι τοὺς ὑμνήσαντας διὰ φθόνον, ὅπερ ταῖς λαμπραῖς πράξεσιν ἀκολουθεῖν εἴωθεν. Ἐνταῦθα μὲν οὖν εἰ καὶ ἔδοξαν οἱ μὲν ἀνακεκηρύχθαι, οἱ δὲ σεσιωπῆσθαι, τοῦ κόσμου λοιπὸν εἰς τέλος ἐπειγομένου, ἐκεῖσε τοὺς ὄντως λαμπροὺς καὶ ἐνδόξους ὀψόμεθα, τῆς θείας δίκης οὐκ ἀνεξομένης ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξης ἐνεγκεῖν τὴν ψῆφον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας, τῆς εἰλικρινοῦς καὶ ἀδιαπτώτου. Μὴ οὖν ὀλιγώρει, εἰ οὐρανοπολίτης ὢν τὰς τῶν φθονούντων σοι γλώττας αἰχμῆς νεηκόνου ὀξυτέρας αἰσθάνῃ κατὰ σαυτοῦ φερομένας, ἀλλὰ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα λαμπρότερος ἔσεσθαι προσδόκησον.

EUTONIŌ DIAKONŌ. Posous oiei tōn anthrōpōn anōnymous kai adoxous einai pollǭ spoudaioterous gegenēmenous tōn adomenōn ? tǭ tous men poiētōn tychein kai logopoiōn, tōn pan to prattomenon mē pros tēn alētheian krinontōn, alla pros hēn eichon eunoian hypolambanontōn, kai to katorthōthen ouranomēkes poiountōn ; tous de mē eschēkenai tous hymnēsantas dia phthonon, hoper tais lamprais praxesin akolouthein eiōthen. Entautha men oun ei kai edoxan hoi men anakekērychthai, hoi de sesiōpēsthai, tou kosmou loipon eis telos epeigomenou, ekeise tous ontōs lamprous kai endoxous opsometha, tēs theias dikēs ouk anexomenēs ek tēs tōn anthrōpōn doxēs enenkein tēn psēphon, all᾽ ek tēs oikeias, tēs eilikrinous kai adiaptōtou. Mē oun oligōrei, ei ouranopolitēs ōn tas tōn phthonountōn soi glōttas aichmēs neēkonou oxyteras aisthanę̄ kata sautou pheromenas, alla dia touto malista lamproteros esesthai prosdokēson.

To Eutonius the deacon. How many people do you think, nameless and inglorious, have been far more earnest than those who are sung? Because the latter found poets and prose writers, who judge every deed not by the truth but take it according to the goodwill they had and make the achievement reach to heaven; while the former, through envy, which usually follows brilliant deeds, had no one to hymn them. Here, then, even if some seemed to be proclaimed and others passed over in silence, with the world now hastening to its end, there we shall see those truly brilliant and glorious, since divine justice will not consent to bring its verdict from human glory, but from its own, sincere and unerring. So do not lose heart if, being a citizen of heaven, you feel the tongues of those who envy you, sharper than a newly whetted spear, borne against you; but expect for this very reason to be the more brilliant.

Phil 3:20 (echo, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Many unsung people were better than the celebrated; at the end God will reveal the truly glorious, so the envied should not lose heart.

Citizenship in heaven: cf. Phil 3:20.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digit for Greek omicron in the OCR): ὀψ6μεθα → ὀψόμεθα.

Topics: The last judgment, Anger and envy, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.479 (PG 78 78:1605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-479). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-479

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-479) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.480PG 78 78:1605

ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Ἴσθι, ὅτι τοῖς τῆς ἀρετῆς πόνοις ἐκ πρώτης μέχρι τελευτῆς ἐγκαρτερῆσαι οὐχ οἷόν τε, μὴ τῆς προσδοκίας τῶν γερῶν κιρναμένης ἠρέμα τῷ ἱδρῶτι, καὶ κατὰ βραχὺ ἀλύπως τε καὶ κούφως, καὶ τρόπον τινὰ μετ' εὐφροσύνης παραπεμπούσης ἐπὶ τὸ τῶν ἀγώνων τέλος. Εἰ τοίνυν θεάσοιο ἄνθρωπον τοὺς πόνους τῆς ἀρετῆς, τὰς τῆς τρυφῆς τοῖς ἐχέφροσιν ἡδονὰς, φεύγοντα, ἴσθι ὅτι ἐλπὶς αὐτῷ χρηστὴ οὐκ ἀνθεῖ.

TŌ AUTŌ. Isthi, hoti tois tēs aretēs ponois ek prōtēs mechri teleutēs enkarterēsai ouch hoion te, mē tēs prosdokias tōn gerōn kirnamenēs ērema tǭ hidrōti, kai kata brachy alypōs te kai kouphōs, kai tropon tina met' euphrosynēs parapempousēs epi to tōn agōnōn telos. Ei toinyn theasoio anthrōpon tous ponous tēs aretēs, tas tēs tryphēs tois echephrosin hēdonas, pheugonta, isthi hoti elpis autǭ chrēstē ouk anthei.

To the same. Know that it is impossible to persevere in the labours of virtue from the first to the end unless the expectation of the rewards is gently mixed with the sweat and, little by little, painlessly and lightly and in a way with gladness, escorts one to the end of the contests. If, then, you see a man fleeing the labours of virtue, which are to the sensible the pleasures of luxury, know that no good hope blossoms in him.

Heb 12:2 (echo, low confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Only the hope of reward sustains one through virtue's labours; whoever flees them has no hope.

Topics: Hope, Perseverance

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.480 (PG 78 78:1605; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-480). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-480

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-480) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.481PG 78 78:1607

ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ. Φοβερόν ἐστι, καὶ λίαν φοβερὸν τὸ εἰς ἱερωσύνην νυνὶ τελέσαι. Δυοῖν γὰρ αὐτῷ θάτερον συμβήσεται· ἢ κατὰ τοὺς ἀρχαίους καὶ ἀποστολικοὺς κανόνας ζῶντα μισηθῆναι καὶ ἐπιβουλευθῆναι παρὰ τῶν τὴν νυνὶ ἐπιπολάσασαν ἐπιβλαβῆ καὶ παράνομον συνήθειαν ὡς νόμον θεῖον φυλαττόντων, καὶ τοὺς ὀρθῶς βιοῦντας ἐξοστρακιζόντων· ἢ ὑποκατακλίναντα ἑαυτὸν, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἀφειδῆσαι σωτηρίας, καὶ ἄλλους πολλοὺς σκανδαλίσαι, ὑπὲρ ὧν καὶ δίκας σφοδροτάτας δώσει. Μακάριον μὲν οὖν τὸ μηδὲ ἁλῶναί ποτε τῷ τοιούτῳ ἔρωτι. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἁλοὺς χειροτονηθείη, ἐχέσθω τοῦ προτέρου σκοποῦ, καὶ μετὰ παῤῥησίας τὰ ἀρχαῖα καὶ ἀποστολικὰ πράγματα ἀνανεούτω, μὴ τοῖς νῦν προπίνουσι τὴν ἱερωσύνην, καὶ πάντα καὶ λέγειν καὶ πράττειν ἐξεῖναι αὐτοῖς νομίζουσιν, εἰς τὰ πταίσματα συμπράττων. Κρείττον γὰρ τὸ ἐπιβουλευθῆναι καὶ ἀποχειροτονηθῆναι, τοῦ μετὰ τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν τετάχθαι.

TO AUTO. Phoberon esti, kai lian phoberon to eis hierōsynēn nyni telesai. Dyoin gar autǭ thateron symbēsetai; ē kata tous archaious kai apostolikous kanonas zōnta misēthēnai kai epibouleuthēnai para tōn tēn nyni epipolasasan epiblabē kai paranomon synētheian hōs nomon theion phylattontōn, kai tous orthōs biountas exostrakizontōn; ē hypokataklinanta heauton, kai tēs heautou apheidēsai sōtērias, kai allous pollous skandalisai, hyper hōn kai dikas sphodrotatas dōsei. Makarion men oun to mēde halōnai pote tǭ toioutǭ erōti. Ei de mē halous cheirotonētheiē, echesthō tou proterou skopou, kai meta parrhēsias ta archaia kai apostolika pragmata ananeoutō, mē tois nyn propinousi tēn hierōsynēn, kai panta kai legein kai prattein exeinai autois nomizousin, eis ta ptaismata symprattōn. Kreitton gar to epibouleuthēnai kai apocheirotonēthēnai, tou meta toioutōn andrōn tetachthai.

To the same. It is fearful, very fearful, to be admitted to the priesthood now. For one of two things will befall the man: either, living according to the ancient and apostolic canons, he will be hated and plotted against by those who keep the harmful and lawless custom that has now spread as if it were divine law, and who banish those who live rightly; or, yielding, he will be careless of his own salvation and scandalize many others, for whom he will pay the severest penalties. Blessed, then, is it never to be caught by such a desire. But if he is ordained without being caught by it, let him hold to his former aim and with frankness renew the ancient and apostolic practices, not cooperating in the failings of those who now squander the priesthood and think it permitted to them to say and do anything. For it is better to be plotted against and deposed than to be ranked with such men.

Notes and citation

Summary: Ordination is now perilous, since a priest must either keep the apostolic canons and be persecuted, or conform and be lost; better not to seek it, but if ordained, to restore apostolic practice even at the cost of deposition.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip (accent); words joined by OCR): συμβήσεταιἢ → συμβήσεται· ἢ; ἡ ὑποκατακλίναντα → ἢ ὑποκατακλίναντα.

Topics: Church office, Ordination, Tradition, Church discipline and penance

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.481 (PG 78 78:1607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-481). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-481

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-481) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.482PG 78 78:1607

ΛΑΜΠΕΤΙΟ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΩ. Οὐ κωμῳδεῖν, ἀλλὰ καταθρηνεῖν ὀφείλεις Εὐσέβιόν τε καὶ Χαιρήμονα καὶ Ζώσιμον, τοὺς, ὡς γέγραφας, κορυφαιοτάτους τῶν κακῶν, καὶ μηδενὶ ὑπερβολὴν καταλείψαντας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ Εὐστάθιος καὶ Μάρων τοῖς ἴχνεσιν αὐτῶν ἀκολουθοῦντες, οὐδέπω μὲν ἁμιλληθῆναι δεδύνηνται, δῆλοι δὲ εἰσι καὶ ὑπερβαλούμενοι· εἰς εὐχὴν τρεψοίμην, ὥστε κἀκείνοις καὶ τούτοις μετάγνωσιν ὥσπερ ἐκ μηχανῆς τινος ἐπιφανῆναι. Τάχα πως εἰ καὶ μὴ ἀναμαχέσασθαι δυνηθεῖεν τὰς τοσαύτας καὶ τηλικαύτας ἥττας, ἀλλὰ κἂν παραμυθία τις αὐτοῖς ἐν τοῖς δεινοῖς ἐκείνοις βασανιστηρίοις τεχθείη.

LAMPETIO EPISKOPŌ. Ou kōmǭdein, alla katathrēnein opheileis Eusebion te kai Chairēmona kai Zōsimon, tous, hōs gegraphas, koryphaiotatous tōn kakōn, kai mēdeni hyperbolēn kataleipsantas. Ei de kai Eustathios kai Marōn tois ichnesin autōn akolouthountes, oudepō men hamillēthēnai dedynēntai, dēloi de eisi kai hyperbaloumenoi; eis euchēn trepsoimēn, hōste kakeinois kai toutois metagnōsin hōsper ek mēchanēs tinos epiphanēnai. Tacha pōs ei kai mē anamachesasthai dynētheien tas tosautas kai tēlikautas hēttas, alla kan paramythia tis autois en tois deinois ekeinois basanistēriois techtheiē.

To Lampetius the bishop. You ought not to ridicule but to lament Eusebius, Chaeremon and Zosimus, who, as you have written, are the very chiefs of evils and have left no one room to surpass them. And if Eustathius and Maron, following in their footsteps, have not yet been able to rival them but are plainly going to surpass them, I would turn to prayer, that a change of mind may appear for both those and these, as if from some machine. Perhaps, even if they cannot fight back from so many and such great defeats, at least some consolation may be born for them in those terrible torments.

Notes and citation

Summary: Isidore tells a bishop to lament rather than mock the wicked clergy of Pelusium, and prays for their repentance.

"As if from some machine": the stage-machine of the theatre (deus ex machina).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray letter from the OCR): ς Οὐ κωμῳδεῖν → Οὐ κωμῳδεῖν.

Topics: Church office, Prayer, Repentance

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.482 (PG 78 78:1607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-482). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-482

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-482) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.483PG 78 78:1607

ΘΕΟΔΩΡΩ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟ. Οὐκ αἰσχρὸν τῶν μεγίστων ἐγκωμίων ἡττᾶσθαι, οἷς ἐξισῶσαι τοὺς λόγους οὐχ οἷόν τε· οὔτε μὴν δίκαιον, τῆς ἀξίας ὑστεροῦσιν, ἤδη καὶ τὸ κατὰ δύναμιν ἐλλείπειν. Ὁ γὰρ ἐπαινέσαι φιλονεικήσας μὲν, ἡττηθεὶς δὲ, τῇ τῆς προαιρέσεως δόξῃ κεκόσμηται· οὐκοῦν εἴγε σκαιότητος ἀδοξίαν ἀποῤῥίψασθαι βουλόμεθα, πειρώμεθα κἀκείνους ἐπαινεῖν, οἷς ὑπὲρ λόγους ὁ ἔπαινος. "Αμεινον γὰρ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἡττωμένους τῇ τῆς προαιρέσεως καλλωπίζεσθαι εὐγνωμοσύνῃ.

ThEODŌRŌ SChOLASTIKO. Ouk aischron tōn megistōn enkōmiōn hēttasthai, hois exisōsai tous logous ouch hoion te; oute mēn dikaion, tēs axias hysterousin, ēdē kai to kata dynamin elleipein. Ho gar epainesai philoneikēsas men, hēttētheis de, tę̄ tēs proaireseōs doxę̄ kekosmētai; oukoun eige skaiotētos adoxian aporrhipsasthai boulometha, peirōmetha kakeinous epainein, hois hyper logous ho epainos. "Ameinon gar en tois logois hēttōmenous tę̄ tēs proaireseōs kallōpizesthai eugnōmosynę̄.

To Theodore the scholasticus. It is not shameful to be defeated by the greatest praises, to which it is impossible to make one's words equal; nor is it right, when falling short of their worth, to fall short also of what one can do. For the one who strove to praise but was defeated is adorned with the glory of his intention. So, if we wish to throw off the disgrace of perversity, let us try to praise those too whose praise is beyond words. For it is better, when defeated in words, to be adorned with the good feeling of our intention.

Notes and citation

Summary: One should still try to praise those beyond praise, since the attempt honours the intention.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Latin c for Greek omicron in the OCR; OCR slip (breathing lost)): cὐκοῦν → οὐκοῦν; ήττωμένους → ἡττωμένους.

Topics: Classical learning and education, Love of God and neighbour

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.483 (PG 78 78:1607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-483). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-483

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-483) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.

5.484PG 78 78:1607

ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Πολλῷ ἀσφαλέστερον τὸ μὴ πολεμεῖσθαι τοῦ συμμαχεῖσθαι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἡσυχίαν ἔχει ἀπράγμονα, τὸ δὲ ἀναγκάζει συμπολεμεῖν πολλάκις τοῖς βοηθήσασι, καὶ εἰ ἀδίκως πολεμοῖεν, καὶ χάριν ἄδικον ἀντὶ δικαίας ἐκτίνειν.

TŌ AUTŌ. Pollǭ asphalesteron to mē polemeisthai tou symmacheisthai. To men gar hēsychian echei apragmona, to de anankazei sympolemein pollakis tois boēthēsasi, kai ei adikōs polemoien, kai charin adikon anti dikaias ektinein.

To the same. It is much safer not to be warred against than to have allies. For the one has untroubled quiet; the other often compels one to fight together with one's helpers, even if they fight unjustly, and to repay an unjust favour for a just one.

Notes and citation

Summary: It is safer to avoid conflict than to depend on allies who may later draw one into injustice.

The same thought as Letter 5.285.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Isidore of Pelusium, Ep. 5.484 (PG 78 78:1607; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-484). (abbreviation not yet checked)

Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/isidore-pelusium-epistulae/5-484

BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-isidore-pelusium-epistulae-5-484) · Report an error

Translation: Translated by Claude from the Greek of Migne (PG 78; PG 72), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek OCR; no public-domain English exists, so the translation was re-read against the Greek.