Letter 242

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Poseidonius the Presbyter
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the transience of honor and power — arguing that what endures is not position but character.

All honors are fleeting, and all positions of power are temporary. What endures is the character you build while you hold the position — the person you have become, for better or worse, by the time the position is taken from you.

This is why those who use their positions primarily to accumulate honor and power are making a poor investment. They are trading something lasting for something temporary. The wise person uses his position to build virtue and to serve others, because those are the only investments that compound over time.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.