Letter 1645: The spiritual life is a journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
To Nilammon the Scholasticus. The courtroom is a theater in which justice and injustice contend for the prize, and the advocate who takes the side of injustice — however skillfully he argues his case — is a traitor to the very profession he practices. For the law was established to protect the weak from the strong, the innocent from the guilty, and the helpless from the powerful. The advocate who uses the law to accomplish the opposite — to give the strong a weapon against the weak and the guilty an escape from justice — perverts the law and makes a mockery of the courtroom. I know that you are under pressure to take such cases, Nilammon, and I know that the financial rewards are considerable. But what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Choose justice over profit, truth over expedience, and the approval of God over the applause of the crowd, and you will never regret it, though it may cost you dearly in the short term.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
ΠΙῸ πη ὁ50 νίγυπ) γος : ΠῚ ΓαφΌΪΔη 8Π - εἰτἰξ ὄυςσο, αυΐ δἦνια δχαδριίοιθ [Γαι . σοηΒ601 , ΠΟ4ι16 .. ᾿πἷν διῃ οἰ λἢ, 4η6 οἰδηι6- ϑιΐνα (υνοὶ οὐ δἰ νυ] ϑιθ , δι οὐ ἶὰ ριι- ΓΔ ΔΠ Π , ισΘια6 ὀχ! δι πδηῖδη , - νἱΐσοι δὐΐι ᾿ἰπ σιϑ1 ; νΟΓῸ [ ΟΝ .. δ᾽ οἰογθιι νἰ δ , ἸΠΟΓΟΒ6 . ὈΠΧΙ. -- ΝΙΊΠΑΜΜΟΝΙ ΒΟΠΟΠΑΘΤΙΟΟ. Ἡειϊομίοεῖ, δοἰϑέφιο πιαίε σοπεοὶϊ φιιῖα δίαίιιε. Ὥσπερ οἱ ψοφοδεεῖς, χαὶ πρὸς μόνην τὴν ἀχοὴν τῶν δεινῶν χαταπλήττονται, χαὶ οὐδὲ φύλλου φέρουσι χίνησιν, τοῦ δέους χατὰ τῶν τυχόντων μεγάλας ἐμποιοῦντος τὰς ὑποψίας " οὕτω χαὶ οἱ πταίοντες, ἐλέγχοις πανταχόθεν βάλλονται, τοῦ συνειδότος χαὶ ὕὲ εἰπε, οι. δὰ δοίη τοϊοϑιϊ σαν δυάϊ Ρογοο μη γ, Δ6. όσα αυϊάσπι [Ὁ τηοίτεηι, ᾳυοι [οἰΐα πη δι10 ἰρδι εὐδρηυπὶ πλθί Δ ΘΟΓΟΒηΊ8 ἰμοιεἶ ; δυπιάθδη τηοιυλ αυὶΐ εἰα χιδυλ, αν “ δρροίυμιαν οοηνίο ΘΟ βοίογυιη, να ἰδ δ - ἐχ τῶν ἐπαινούντων, καὶ ἐχ τῶν ψεγόντων, χαὶ ἐχ Ὁ τἰμην βἶνα υἱιαραγδηιϊίαπι), δὲ ἰδ ὁχ οοηδςο , 4αλπὶ τῶν συνειδότων, χαὶ ἐκ τῶν μὴ συνειδότων χατατο- ξεύοντος τοὺς ἐργασαμένους.
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