Letter 171: In civil wars, even the victors are more wretched than the vanquished — for the more they do, the greater their shame.

To the sons of Neilos. Why do you deny your nature or ignore your calling? For nature brought you forth from one womb, and calling regenerated you through one hope. Either respect the first birth, or fear the second rebirth, and make peace in concord, whether on account of nature or of calling. For brothers who quarrel dishonor both the parents who bore them and the God who baptized them, tearing asunder what both nature and grace have joined together. Your strife is a scandal to the faithful and a source of mockery to unbelievers, who point to your discord as evidence that the faith you profess has no power to transform human passions. To Martinianus, Zosimus, Maron, and Eustathios. If there were anyone — and what shall I call you that would match your insensitivity? — who could reach through to your hardened hearts with a word of correction, I would send him. But your obstinacy has become so great that it seems no human remedy can avail, and only the direct intervention of divine judgment will awaken you from the spiritual torpor into which you have fallen.

ΡΟΑ΄. – ΤΟΙΣ ΥΙΟΙΣ ΝΕΙΛΟΥ. Τί ἀρνεῖσθε τὴν φύσιν, ἢ (65) ἀγνοεῖτε τὴν κλῆ- σιν ; Ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ μιᾶς ὑμᾶς προήγαγε νηδύος; Ή δὲ διὰ μιᾶς ἀνεγέννησεν ἐλπίδος. Ή τὴν προτέραν τοίνυν αἰδέσθητε γέννησιν, ἢ τὴν δευτέραν φοβήθητε ἀναγέννησιν, καὶ σπείσασθε πρὸς ὁμόνοιαν, εἶτε τῆς φύσεως, εἴτε τῆς κλήσεως. POA'. - ΜΑΡΤΙΝΙΑΝΩ, ΖΩΣΙΜΟ, ΜΑΡΩΝΙ, ΕΥΣΤΑΘΙΟ. Εἰ μὲν ἦν τις (ὦ τί καλέσας ὑμᾶς τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀναλγησίας καθάψομαι 1) ὁ τὸ μέλλον ἐγγυησόμενος, καὶ καταστήσων δῆλον, ὡς οὐδεὶς ὑμῶν ἔσται ὁ τοιαῦ- τα ἔτι τολμήσων δρᾶσαι, οἷα ἐδράσατε, ἀσμένως ἂν τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἤγαγον, καὶ τοῖς παρελθοῦσιν ἐχαρι- σάμην τὸ λαθεῖν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐστιν ἀξιόχρεως ἐγγυητὴς, ἀναγκαία μοι ἔδοξεν εἶναι ἡ διὰ τῶνδε τῶν γραμμάτων παραίνεσις. Ἄν μὲν γὰρ εὔρῃ ὑμᾶς τὴν αὐτὴν νοσοῦντας νόσον, ἴσως ἐργάσεται τὸ αὐτῆς· ἂν δὲ ἀνενεγκόντας ἀπὸ τῆς μανίας, ὅπερ εἴχομαι γέγονεν. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἰατροῖς, τοῖς ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοτρίαις συμφοραῖς ἰδίας καρπουμένοις λύπας (74) (πολλοὶ γὰρ αὐτῶν κέρδους ἕνεκεν μόνον τὴν τέχνην μεταχειρίζονται) εὐχῆς ἔργον ἐστὶ μετὰ τὸ κατασκευάσαι τὰ βοηθήματα, μηδὲ εἰς χρείαν αὐτῶν τὸν κάμνοντα [ἐλθεῖν]· καὶ αὐτὸς εὐχομαι μὲν μηδενὶ ὑμῶν ταύτης χρείαν γενέσθαι τῆς παραινέ- σεως. Εἰ δ' ἄρα γένοιτο, [ὃ μὴ γένοιτο!] ὁ δεύτε- ρος ὑμᾶς οὐ διιππεύσει πλοῦς. Τί τοίνυν ἀναγκαῖον ψήθην παραινέσαι, φράσω. Ἀναγκάζομαι γὰρ εἰ- πεῖν, ὅπερ σαφῶς εἰπεῖν οὐ βούλομαι, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τῆς κακίας λαβύρινθον οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως ἐμπεπτωκότες, οὐ μόνον τοὺς θείους, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὺς τοὺς τῆς φύσεως, ὡς φασιν, ἐνετρέψατε νόμους· οἱ γὰρ παροινοῦντες κατὰ τῆς ἐννόμου φύσεως (74"), δι- καίως καὶ κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων λυττῶσιν. Οὐ γὰρ κωλύεται ῥᾳδίως ἐπιθυμία, τὸν τοῦ θείου φόβου χαλινὸν οὐκ ἔχουσα, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ χαλινῷ μὴ πειθόμενος ἵππος, ἢ καθάπερ, κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, λοιμὸς, πᾶσαν ἡλι κίαν ἐπινέμεται, καὶ πᾶν γένος, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀξίαν λυμαίνεται. Σεμνοπρεπῶν μὲν οὖν ἀνδρῶν ἀκοὴν ἐνοχλεῖν οὐ καλόν· τοῖς δὲ ἀδεῶς δρῶσιν, ἃ δρᾷν οὐ θέμις, ἐπιτιμᾶν χρησιμώτατον· ἀνανδρίας γὰρ ἂν εἴη πολλῆς μέλλοντά τι κακὸν ἐκριζοῦν, μηδὲ φωνὴν ῥῆξαι ἐπιχειρεῖν, ὡς τῆς σιγῆς αὐτομάτου Ἰασομέ- ---CONTINUES---