Letter 112: You are doing something like a man with an incurable disease who, having been given freedom to do whatever he...

To Menas the Prefect. Whenever you display your own goodness to those who are more humble, you fashion God to be more familiar to yourself. For if all who love justice are beloved by God, it is clear that the lover of love truly shows himself to be a philanthropist. Display the nobility of your choice, and you will not need the things that are not good, so that your temperance may become manifest to all. For the ruler who treats the lowly with kindness reflects the character of God, who causes his rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, and who shows no partiality of persons. By your mercy toward the poor, you store up treasure in heaven; by your justice toward the wronged, you become a co-worker with divine providence; and by your temperance in the exercise of power, you demonstrate that you are governed by reason rather than by passion. To the same. Let the exercise of authority always be tempered by the awareness that you yourself will one day stand before a Judge from whom nothing is hidden.

Eusebios. Whatever we say we priests should do. In church you teach with fair words, oh but it were rather so in act. For you resemble someone throwing stones into the air and aiming at the directness of their fall and (thereby) bringing them down upon himself. For if the refutation of sins is perceived amongst us as denying its words by its acts, not only do we fail to prevent hearers from acting badly, but we also incur mockery teaching one thing yet doing another.

ΜΕ΄. – ΜΗΝΑΣ ΕΠΑΡΧΩ. Ἐπειδὰν τοῖς ταπεινοτέροις προβάλλῃς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀγαθότητα, τὸν οἰκειότερον σαυτοῖς πλάττεις τὸν θεόν. Εἰ γὰρ ὅσοι τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἀγαπῶσιν ἀγαπητοὶ τῷ θεῷ, δῆλον ὡς ὁ τῆς ἀγάπης ἐραστής, ὄντως ἀπο- φ[α]ίνεται φιλάνθρωπος. Ἐπιδειξαι τὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως εὐγένειαν, καὶ τῶν οὐκ ὄντων ἀγαθῶν οὐ καταδεῖ, ἵνα πᾶσι καταφανὴς ἡ σὴ γένηται σωφροσύνη. ---CONTINUES--- ΥΜΒ΄. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ. Τι ἐστι· « Παιδία γίνεσθε ταῖς φρεσί. » Κἀκεῖνο ὅπερ ἔφης, συνήγορον εὑρίσκω τῶν πρώην γραφέντων σοι, μὴ παιδία γίνεσθαι ταῖς φρε- σὶν, ἀλλὰ τῇ κακίᾳ νηπιάζειν, ταῖς δὲ φρεσὶ τε- λειοῦσθαι, τοῦ πανσόφου γράψαντος Παύλου. Οὐ γὰρ ἔστιν, οὐκ ἔστι μὴ ἀποσμήξαντας τὴν κακίαν, καὶ νηπιάσαντας πρὸς ἀγνείαν, ἢ φρεσὶ τελειωθῆναι, ἢ εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον ἐργάτην ἀνεπαίσχυντον άνα- δῆναι. ΝΒ΄. – ΘΕΟΔΟΣΙΩ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΩ ΡΙΒ΄. – ΕΥΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς τὸ πᾶν διακυβερνᾷ σῶμα, και δρύνει τε καὶ κοσμεῖ τὴν ὄψιν, καὶ λύχνος ἐστὶν ἁπάντων τῶν μελῶν· διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ ἐν τινι βια- ---CONTINUES--- CΧΙΙ. - ΟΥΡΑΝΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Ἐν ἐκεῖνο τὸ Παύλου ῥητὸν, «Ἡ διαθήκη βεβαία ἐπὶ νεκροῖς.» Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφας, νομίζω, εἰς τοὐναντίον τὸν Παῦλον τετραφθῆναι πεπεισθῆναι, τί ἔστι, «Ἡ διαθήκη βεβαία ἐπὶ νεκροῖς· οὔτε γὰρ ισχύει, φήσεις, ζῶντος τοῦ διαθεμένου;» ἀντεπιστέλλω, ὡς οὔτε τοῦ μήποτε δὴ τοῦ νυνὶ γέγονε ἐκ τοῦ ταυτόματον, μίαν κατὰ τὸν πνευματικὸν λόγον κεραίαν τὸ ἐνὶ τῶν στοιχείων προσεῖσθαι πεπειραμένων. οὔτε γεγραμμένην ἐκεῖν, κατὰ τὴν ἀντιλήψιν ἀνευρῶσιν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν δουλέυσει. τοιαῦτα πραθήσητε, τὸ δὲ μέσον τῆς ψυῆς τῶν λόγων ὅλως οὐδενὸς ἠξίωται; τὰ μὲν ἀκολαστήσαντας τὴν ὑποβολὴν, ὁ πλάσμα λόγος οὐδενὶ τῶν ἀληθινῶν συνιέμενος. τὰ μηδέποτε νομισθέντος, τοῦ ἐν ἐκείνῳ κατὰ τὸν Πάυλον, εἴτ' οὖν Ἑρμῆς διαθάνατος τοῦ δόξαντος νῷ ἴσχυει, ὅτι, φησὶ, "διαθήκη τις τυγχάνει, ζωῆς ἔτι τοῦ διαθέμενου, βέβαιος." --- ΡΟΘ΄. – ΚΟΜΙΤΙ Τὰ καλὰ τοῖς καλοῖς μάλιστα ἀρέσκει.