Letter 195: True grace has piety as its foundation and virtue as its crown.
You do not escape notice, O most wicked one, in your wrongdoing; and for this reason you flee from a fair trial and take refuge in legal technicalities, which were devised for the protection of the wronged, not for the escape of the wrongdoers. Knowing, then, that you have been caught, defend yourself straightforwardly. Evasion only compounds the guilt it seeks to hide.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
ΗΣΑΙΑ.
Οὐ λανθάνεις, ὦ δεινότατε ἀδικῶν· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο
τὴν μὲν εὐθυδικίαν φεύγων, ἐπὶ δὲ παραγραφάς
καταφεύγων, τὰς πρὸς βοήθειαν τῶν ἀδικουμένων,
ἀλλ' οὐκ εἰς ἀποφυγὴν τῶν ἀδικούντων ἐπινοηθείσας.
Iνοὺς οὖν ὡς πεφώρασαι, ἐξ εὐθείας ἀπολογοῦ.
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