Letter 1535: Since we ourselves have no perception of the terrible things we do, because of laziness and self-love — and since we...
When the middle course is best, we should follow neither extreme. How much wiser it is to avoid both extremes and keep to the royal road! For excess in one direction is no better than excess in the other: both lead to ruin, though by different paths. The person who is too lenient encourages vice; the person who is too strict drives sinners to despair. The wise teacher knows when to be gentle and when to be firm, when to console and when to reprove, when to overlook a fault and when to expose it. This is the art of spiritual direction, and it requires not only knowledge but experience, not only learning but love. For rules can be learned from books, but their application to particular cases requires the living wisdom that comes only from long practice and deep prayer. Let us therefore seek the middle way, avoiding the ditch on either side, and guided not by our own preferences but by the needs of those entrusted to our care.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ῥετϊομίοεμηε ρέεσζητε, εἰ μέεοῖγε ε6 Ῥεοίατε. (Υϊάε ορίει. , Ἵ4 εἰ , δὺ4, .) θΘυδηύο μεδυίυπι, Δρίιηυς, πε4υο ἱροὶ δα βυιᾺ βεῦειηυδ οὗ περι εηι δ δινογεθησς εὐἱ, Βοησ6 δ᾽ ρυϑεοινδ, 4ᾳποὰ εἰ !ο περοίΐαα εὔκὰ ἰδ. δϑοει! εἷης πεκοιία : ἰάεῖτοοῦ π06 γϑείθ Ὑδίογο ορὶπα- πο, πόα πιοαύΐοοα αυφείπηυδ, οηῦα ουγλιὶ ἃ . Ἐπαιδὴ τῶν δεινῶν, ὧν δρῶμεν, αἴσθησιν οὐδ᾽ αὐτοὶ ἔχομεν διὰ ῥᾳθυμίαν χαὶ φιλαντίαν, οὔτε ἐτέ- ροις παρέχομεν, διὰ τὸ χἀχείνους μηδὲν ἄμεινον ἡμῶν διαχεῖσθαι, διὰ τοῦτο νομίζοντες ὑγιαίνειν, οὔτε ἰατροὺς ἐπιζητοῦμεν, οὔτε θεραπευθῆναι βου- ϑοτῸ ορίδηναβ : οἱ πὸ ἰος ἰρευπ) αυἱόοπι, ᾳυοό Ὁ λόμεθα' ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ὅτι νοσοῦμεν, ἴσμεν" φεκτοίδηνι5, ςοξροδείιηυς ; αϑοΐ δαργὰ πιοάσπι ὁδὶ ἰη- δοηδὶ "θα , φυΐη εἰ 4υλεὶ πιοτίυυπι . ΒΑ, ΟΧΧΧΥ͂Ι. --- ΕἸΌΕΜ. ὅπερ ἐσχάτης ἐστὶν ἀναλγησίας, μᾶλλον δὲ νεχρώ- σεως. ῬΑζ'. -- ΤΆ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ. Ῥεεοαίκηε ρμώπαηι, νυἱτίμιια ργαηιΐμηι ραγί( ; φμαηε ἐ μώ4 [κπσϊοπάπην, πες εοἰεπάα. ((οη[ἐγ. ερῖει. .) Οιπηΐβ ἱπιρτοῦϊί45 ροιιᾶπι ρᾶγίυγ, υἱ ργοῦα Πονίδιΐ : δδά ὔθς ἰΠυἀ [υφ΄ϊ, ρτοὈ Διο πν οοηιΓ Ὅτι μὲν παντὶ τρόπῳ πονηρία τιμωρίαν ὠδίνει, μάλα ἀχριδῶς οἶσθα" ὅτι δὲ χαὶ ἡ ἀγαθότης τῷ ἄγαν ΕρΡὨ68. "Υ͂, ; (4ἰδὶ. υ, ; (. ", : δλς. τι, . ΥΑΒΙΔἍΣ ΚΕΟΤΙΟΝΕΒ ΕΤ ΝΟΤΑ͂-. () φ πὶ σιγὴν ᾿ἰάδπι πιυίδηϊ ἴῃ ἐπ᾿ ἠχῆν. ῬΟΞΒΙΝ. () θ0ὸ μος οἰιαγασίοστο [ἰυδηϊ! οἀχβίδὶ, βδίνθ ΔΙΟΠΥΠΙΐΪ , ρογῦΓΟΥΘ δυηϊλβπιᾶ., οἱ αυξάδηι ορἰδιοἰΐ5 τος δογί "θη ) θοιποίγο Ῥμαίογοο, Περὶ ἑρμηνείας. ΕἸοθ8η5 γογὸ δορί βίο σγοροῦὶιὶ Νασίδη- 2θηἱ ] ΝΙσοθ]πι, οὐ . ἰος [6γ6 ἰηἰεϊυπι : Οκἱ ἐρί" δίοίας ξεγίδιπί. ΘΟΉΟΤΤ. ἘΡΙΘΤΟΙΛΕΙΝ . Υ. - ἘΡΙΘΤ, ΟΧΧΧΙ͂Χ. θεία εἶναι, ἢ τῷ ἄγαν εἰς τὸ Θεῖον ἡμᾶς ἄγειν, τὰ Α ΓΟ νῶι αἀϊνίπϑιι δὶ δευπίηθδ διἰδποοηίδην νοῦν ὑπερδαίνοντα τίχτει γέρα" χαὶ τοῦτ᾽ οἶσθα, Οὐχοῦν τὴν μὲν φεῦγε, τὴν δὲ δίωχε" χαὶ μὴ τὴν θείαν μαχροθυμίαν ἀμέλειαν ἡγοῦ. Πάντως γὰρ εἰς χρίσιν ἀχριδεστάτην προοίσει τὰ πρόδοτα ().
Related Letters
Your daughter's son is everything a grandfather could wish for: a lover of learning, no lover of physical pleasures,...
"To one the god gave one thing, but denied another," someone said of a man who prayed for two things.
Such has Diophantus been since boyhood: self-controlled, fair-minded, industrious, pleasing to the best men.
The road that seems finest to me is the one that leads toward piety and ends in open, spacious freedom.
Do not be ashamed of your work — take pride in it.