Letter 1610: True humility is not the absence of accomplishment but the refusal to boast about it.
Both joy and grief cast the fickle and unstable out of their proper condition: the one lifting them up on wings and persuading them to act with insolence, the other humbling them and making them timorous. But the steadfast and firmly grounded, who have prudence as their foundation, neither of these two dislodges from their attentiveness. For they restrain the leapings of joy, reining it back as with a bridle of reason; and they prove stronger than grief, checking its excess. For just as a certain intelligent bridle restrains whatever is immoderate in happiness, so too a rein of sound reason curbs the excesses of grief, and those who possess it find themselves superior, tempering its want of measure.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
᾿Απένιμδ ἱπείαϑὸϊ8 μἰξαημα ΔΟΥΙΟ πιουείκνΥ, ἐαρὶεπ8 πο ἰΐοια. ( ρει. .) Ἱπεογία ἤιϊεὶ οἱ ἰηβι4 . ᾿οπιίη φϑαυιίυπι οἱ ΟΙΟΓ ἃ ἀόσοηιὶ! αἰπιονοιι βἰλυ. (δι ἢ ἀπ ! [ αὐϊδηβ., δ υϑῆἱ οὐ οοδδρὶ βιιδοιϑ; ἀοίοῦ γοΓῸ ἀἰδηΐιο γα [ον οἰ ο56 θόγα οοὐφὶῖ. (ὑ0ι- ΡίΔΑΙ68 Υ6 Ὁ ῬΟηΘ406 5ἰδϑ ]ο8 Ῥγυύοινί6 η ] ἀόσιη ἃ ἀδοῦτο ἀΐπιοτοί. Πυ οηἷπι ὄχϑυ διἰοιοηὶ λλϑοϊνίδϑαιο ἐοιμιρτηίαἶ!, ἰΔησυδπὶ ΓΔ θη ἰη16]- Τοὺς μὲ εὐριπίστους χαὶ ἀθεδαίους καὶ χαρὰ χαὶ λύπη τῆς πρεπούσης χαταστάσεως ἐξαχοντίζουσιν" ἡ μὲν πτερυῦσα χαὶ παροινεῖν ἀναπείθουσα,, ἣ δὲ ταπεινοῦσα χαὶ ψοτφοδεεῖς παρασκενάζουσα. Τοὺς δὲ βεδαίους καὶ ἐρηρεισμένους, χαὶ χρηπῖδα φρονήσεως ἔχοντας, οὐδ᾽ ὁποτέρα τούτων τοῦ προσέχοντος ἐξ- ίστησι. Τῆς μὲν γὰρ χαταστέλλουσι τὰ σχιρτή ματα, ἰοεῖιι5 ἴγθηο γεβφθιίο. ἈΠΠ0 ὙδγῸ βιιρθγίογαβ γορθιι- Ὦ χαθάπερ χαλινῷ τινι τῷ λογισμῷ ἀνασειράζοντες᾿" ἴυν, φυϊάαυϊά ἱμππιοάϊευπ ἰε ΠΠ σδεὶ αι ο. ΟΥΧΗΙΥ. --- ΑΟΘΑΤΗΟΌΔΣΜΟΝΙΝ τῆ; δὲ χρείττονες εὑρίσχοντας, τὴν ἀμετρίαν αὐτῆς χολάζοντες.
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