Letter 1549
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore refuses to render a judgment on a man he has not personally observed or heard — he will wait for the formal outcome.
I will neither condemn nor acquit a man of whom I was neither a witness nor a judge. But if he is brought to trial and found guilty, then the verdict against him will be pronounced at that time. It is not my place to pronounce ahead of the process.
This is not indifference — it is justice. The mouth that pronounces guilt before the hearing has closed is not serving truth; it is serving rumor. I would rather be thought slow than be found unjust.
ΝΟ ἰέπιότο ἀὁ αἰϊο 7μαἀϊσαπάμηι. Ἐγὼ οὐ χαταψηφιοῦμαι, οὔτε χαταποφανοῦμαι ἀνδρὸς, οὗ μήτε ἀχροατὴς ἐγενόμην, μήτε διχαατής" εἰ δὲ κρινόμενος ἁλοίη, τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἡ κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐξενεχθήσεται Ψῆφος. ᾿
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: An unnamed person
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore refuses to render a judgment on a man he has not personally observed or heard — he will wait for the formal outcome.
I will neither condemn nor acquit a man of whom I was neither a witness nor a judge. But if he is brought to trial and found guilty, then the verdict against him will be pronounced at that time. It is not my place to pronounce ahead of the process.
This is not indifference — it is justice. The mouth that pronounces guilt before the hearing has closed is not serving truth; it is serving rumor. I would rather be thought slow than be found unjust.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.