Letter 1514: Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.
Just as many people, though considering bodily health the greatest good, do not take sufficient care of it — for preferring the pleasant to the beneficial, they fail to attain it — so also many praise virtue but do not pursue it. They admire the idea of virtue in the abstract while pursuing vice in practice, and they praise the good life in conversation while living badly in deed. This is the most common of all human follies: knowing the right and choosing the wrong, seeing the better path and taking the worse. The cause is always the same: the immediate pleasure of vice outweighs, in the corrupted judgment, the distant reward of virtue. But this is a false calculation, for the pleasure of vice is brief and the pain that follows it is long, while the labor of virtue is brief and the joy that follows it is eternal. Let us therefore not be deceived by appearances, but calculate truly, weighing not only the present moment but also the future consequence, and choosing that which, though harder now, will prove better in the end. Let no one deceive himself into thinking that knowledge of the truth is sufficient without the practice of it. For the person who knows the good and does not do it commits a greater sin than the person who does evil in ignorance. Knowledge increases responsibility, and the person who has been given much will have much required of him. The devils themselves possess extensive theological knowledge — they know that God is one, as James tells us — yet their knowledge does not save them, because it is not accompanied by love and obedience. Let our knowledge therefore be always joined to practice, our understanding to obedience, and our theology to holiness of life.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ἘΡΙΒΤΟΙΑΒῸΜ . ΥἍ. -- ἘΡΙΘΤ. ΧΙΥΗΙΙ. ΧΗΥ͂. -- ΒΕΠΕΝΟ ΡῬΙΑΟΟΝΟ. γί για ἰαμάαιιν εἰ αἰροί. ((οπ[εν ερ. .) Ὥσπερ πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν νομίζοντες εἶναι τὴν ὑγίειαν τοῦ σώματος, οὐ πάνυ αὐτῆς φροντίζουσι. Τὰ γὰρ ἡδέα τῶν ὠφελίμων προ- τιμῶντες, διαμαρτάνουσι ταύτης" οὕτω χαὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπαινοῦντες, τὴν ὁδὸν τὴν ἐπὶ ταύτην φέρου- σαν ἀποδιδράσχουσιν. ΜΕ’. --- ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. ὕι τῃηᾶχηπὶ οχ δι πηδηῖϊ ὈΟηυ ΠῚ 5δηϊ διϑχὴ ὁογρογὶβ Ρογίαχυθ ποῦ Π , 5ἷ'ς 684Π ποη δάῃπιο- ἄσμπι εὐτῶ άθοηι. Ὠοϊοοί Πα δοΐπν ργτα- [ἐγοηί68 ἰϑάυηι ναι βάθη. . οἱ υἱγέυίοαι » ἀδιη ἰδυάδη!, ἃ Υἱᾶ ἴϑίηθι, διὶ ὁδηὶ ἀσπαδί, ἈΌΘΡΓΔΩΙ, 56Ύ ΧΕΥ͂. --- ΑΝΑΤΟΙΙΟ ΒΙΛΟΟΝΟ, ϑοπο υἱπὶ πιοάϊοο διιηιριῖ. ((οη[. 6ρ. . Ὁ οἶνος, εἰ καιρίως χαὶ μετρίως ποθείη, ἅτε τι- μηθεὶς, εὐφροσύνης αἴτιος γίνεται. Εὲ δὲ παροινὴ- θείη, ἀμύνεται τὴν ὕδριν, χαὶ δίχας ἀπαιτεῖ τοὺς Υἱμυπὶ Ορρογίυηθ ἃς πιούογαίο βυμηρίυη), φυδοὶ Ἰοηοῦο δἤοοίυπι, Ἰϑοι ἢ ΑΓ Δι ΟΔΙ]8λ Οδχϑὶ- δι11. γϑγὸ ἰαγφίυβ παυγίαιυγ, ἰηθυγίαῖ, υ]ο ει - ὑδριστὰς, γέλωτα χαὶ αἰσχύνην, χαὶ χωμῳδίαν, χαὶ καὶ ἱπίυγίλια, οἱ ρανηδ8 ἀχροδοίϊ, ἃ αυΐθυϑ ἰυΐυτία μώλωπας αὐτοῖς προξενῶν. Μᾷ'. -- ΠΑΥΛΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Οεμίοε, αἱ απϊηιὴ [ἐπϑείταδ, ἐμείοαϊοπάος Οὐ μόνον τὸ σῶμα ἀνέπαφον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς βολὰς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἃς χόρας διὰ τοῦτο χαληοῦμεν, παρ- θένους εἶναι χρὴ, καὶ μὴ πιστεύειν αὐταῖς ἀναισχύν- τως χαὶ ἀχρατῶς ἑστιᾶσθαι τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις χάλλεσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἀπὸ τῆς θέας ἐπὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν παιδαγωγη- θῶσιν. ΜΖ΄. --- ΕΥ̓ΓΕΝΙῺ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. ἁδοίμη) οδί, γίβυι), ἱσηποι δι, ΓΟΡΓΟΙ ΘΠ 5Ι ΟΠ ΘΙ δίᾳυο νϑγθεγ ργορίηδϑῖ. ΧΕΥ͂Ι. -- ΡΑΌΠ0 ΡΒΕΒΒΥΤΕΠΟ. . ( π . ορὶεῖ. , εἰ οἰμπ εεἰοἰ ἐς.) Νοὴ ΟΟΓΡΙ5Β ιοὰο ἰηϊδοιθη) ριΓυπΊαυ6, ἐϊ οουϊογαμι [Δ6ίι5 (υμάα οἱ χόρας, (ἰ εδῖ ρ016 , ἃΡ- ΡΟ . Ριρ ) υἱγχίηθ8 δαὺ ο48108 ἀοοοὶ , Β64α6 φογηΐλογα ἰρυΐδ6 δίψυθ ἱπηροίθηιον νλ--᾿ ξλτὶ ἴῃ δἰΐδγυπι [ογηηὰ ρυ]ο γ᾽ Βραου λη ὰ : πὰ ἃ σοομβρθοῖυ Ἰυθτίοο δὰ νϑηιθρουπὶ ρορἀυσδηίαγ. ΧΕΥ͂Ι. --- ΕὔΘΕΝΙΟ ὈΙΑΓΌΝΟ. γι γμοηι αἀπταν ὶ ποηιὶιπι ἐοη δα πεπάα Ορὶπὶο. Ἐπειδὴ χρὴ ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων τῶν σῶν χατα- Ὁ φυδηἀοᾳχυίάθπι ἰυ͵ ΠΠ οτῖ5 ἀἰνίπαγα 4υἱὰ κ6η5 στοχάσασθαι τῆς σῆς διανοίας, αἴσθομαί σε τοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς πόνους ἡδέως ὑπομένοντα, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς καρποὺς μεγάλους εἶναι νομίζοντα΄ ἀθυ- μοῦντα δὲ τῷ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις νομίζεσθαι δυστυχεῖν, ὀλίγα γράψαι διέγνωχα. Αανθάνεις γὰρ σαυτὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις δυσχεραίνων, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἥδεσθαι προσῆχεν. Εἰ γὰρ οὐχ ἀμφιδάλλεις, ὅτι μέγας σοι χαρπὸς ἔσται παρὰ Θεῷ τῆς περὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν δὐνοίας, τί σε τα- ράττει ἣ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὑπόνοια, εἰ χαὶ δοίημεν οὔ- πως αὐτοὺς ὑποπτεύειν; Ὅτι δὲ οὕτω νομίζουσι, ῥᾷοστα δεῖξαι πειράσομαι. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ σὺ μόνος τῶν ἀρετὴν ἢσχηχότων τοιαῦτ᾽ ἔπαθες, ἣν μὲν οὐδὲ τότε ἀληθὴς ἡ ὑπόνοια. Πλὴν ἀλλ᾽ εἶχον οἱ τοῖς καλοῖς ἀπεχθανόμενοι σχιὰν γοῦν ἀναισχυντίας. Εἰ δὲ οὔτε πρῶτος, οὔτε μόνος τοιαύταις συμφοραῖς περιέπεσες, ἀλλὰ πάντες σχεδὸν οἱ ἄριστοι, οὐ μόνον παρὰ Χρι- στιανοῖς, ἀλλ᾽, εἰ χρὴ πάντας περιλαδεῖν, χαὶ σόέ- σαι σου τὴν ἀθυμίαν, χαὶ παρ᾽ Ἰουδαίοις πάλαι χαὶ Ἕλλησι, καὶ βαρθάροις, τὲ ἀλύεις; Εἰ γὰρ χἀχεῖνοι, ὥσπερ ἀθληταὶ γενναῖοι τυπτόμενοι, χαὶ τρχυματι- ζόμενοι,͵ χαὶ αἷμασ! χαταῤῥεόμενοι χαὶ θανάτοις ὁμι- λοῦντες διετέλεσαν, τί σὺ τῇ ἀθυμίᾳ χαταδλάπτεις σαυτὸν, χαὶ ποιεῖ; τὸν ἀνταγωνιστὴν ἰσχυρότερον; Ταυτὸν γὰρ ποιεῖς, ὡς ἂν εἰ ἔλεγες, δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν οὐδένα τῶν θεατῶν πλήττει ὁ ἀνταγωνιστὴς, ἀλλ᾽ αὑτὸν τὸν ἀπογραψάμενον χαὶ εἰς τὸ στάδιον εἰσφοι- τήσαντα; Μὴ τοίνυν ἄλυε τοιαῦτα πάσχων οἷα χἀ- χεῖνοι, « ὧν οὐχ ἣν ἄξιος ὁ κόσμος" ν» ἀλλ᾽ εὐφραίνου, ἼῊΉΒΔθγ. χι, ὅ8. Ῥδτβοι.. ὅπ. ΠΧΧΥΠΠ. ι͵ ορογῖοι, δσ᾽ϑίποὸ Θππὶ, αυὶ ἰΑῦοΓ68. ρῖῸ υἱγίυ οι πὶ ἰυσυπάϊιδι6 δυδιϊηθαί, ορὶποίυγη ἱπς φδηί65 ἰηάδ [ΓσοΐυΒ οχϑίβι ΓΘ. Ῥαυοᾶ Ὑ6 βογίρβῖεϑθ δηϊλόγνονιο, αυο ὁ01685 ἸηΓο᾽ απ ποι ἰηΐς. θιι8 σοηβογὶ. Νοβοίβ φηΐιη ἰΐ8 ἱπαΐβηδῦ! δυ6. ΠΘΏβαΓΟ, ΓΟ αυΐ Ῥλ ογαὶ ἰφϑιϑῦὶ. δ᾽ Θηΐ ΠῸΠ ἀυυΐί88, αυἱη ρίῸ Βίιαάϊο νἱγίυι τηαβπθ) ἀριυά θδιπι ( ρτγρπηΐυπη) πηληθϑὶ, Θοηυΐά ποηνίδι!ηι [ θᾺΓ18 ϑυδρί οἴοιτο Ἷ Ε1θ] δἷς ἀθάϊηιδ ᾿ρ515 δυσρίςλησϊ 8η84Π), απἸούσυθ ἰἰὰ β6ηιϊδηϊ, (Ἀ0]ΠΠ Π Οϑι θη [8Π . δὶ οἷπιὶ [] δοτυπ, 4υΐ νἱγίυτἱ ὅδηῖ ΟμΟΓΆΠΙ, ἰᾳ. δοοίαϊι,
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