Letter 1557
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: Macarius the Deacon
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore urges his reader to do everything to avoid falling into the love of money, since recovery is so much harder than prevention.
Since it is difficult — hard, that is — for one who has fallen into the love of money to pull back (for such a person becomes hard to cure, if not incurable), one must do everything to avoid being caught by this terrible thing in the first place. It is far easier not to be caught than to recover yourself once you have been.
The man who has never been enslaved by money does not understand how strong its chains are. The man who has been does. This is why it is wisdom, not timidity, to flee the beginning of temptation rather than to test one's strength against a current that has already swept stronger men away.
Ανατίἶαπι [ὑσίέπααπι. ((οη[ἐγ. ἐρίεῖ. , , , .) Ουδηάοφᾳυϊάδιῃ ἀϊ!ο! , ος 6δὶῖ, πιοϊοδίυπι , 4ιΐ ἀϊνι ἰγυπὶ οΑρί8 ΔΠΙΟΓΘ ὁδί, Γαδίρίβοογο (Ὁ γ0 δηΐηι οπιδηἀαγὶ ροίαδί, πὸ ἀΐσδηιν, ἱποιιοπάδθ θαι μυ] δου ), ΟΠ ποθὴ δροηάυπι, π6 [ Πη810 οορίδν . ΕΔο οηἶπι δαί ἤθη οδρὶ, αυδηι δαπηοὶ οἀρίυπι ἢ πόοῦγῦο 1Ϊ! »6γαγί. ΟΟΧΧΥ͂. --- ΡΑΚΑΡ10 ΒΙΑΘΟΝΟ. Ἐπειδὴ χαλεπὸν, τουτέστι δύσχολον, τὸν εἷς ἔρω- τα χρημάτων ἐμπεσόντα ἀνανεῦσαι (δυσδιόρθωτος γὰρ, ἵνα μὴ εἴπω ἀδιόρθωτος, ὁ τοιοῦτος γίνεται), πάντα χρὴ πράττειν, ὥστε μὴ ἁλῶναι τῷ δεινῷ. Εὐχολώτερον γὰρ μὴ ἁλῶναι, ἣ ἁλόντα ἀνακτήσασθαι ἑαυτόν.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk
To: Macarius the Deacon
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore urges his reader to do everything to avoid falling into the love of money, since recovery is so much harder than prevention.
Since it is difficult — hard, that is — for one who has fallen into the love of money to pull back (for such a person becomes hard to cure, if not incurable), one must do everything to avoid being caught by this terrible thing in the first place. It is far easier not to be caught than to recover yourself once you have been.
The man who has never been enslaved by money does not understand how strong its chains are. The man who has been does. This is why it is wisdom, not timidity, to flee the beginning of temptation rather than to test one's strength against a current that has already swept stronger men away.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.