Letter 442
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Athanasios
Date: ~410 AD
Context: A single sentence containing one of Isidore's most polished aphorisms on self-control — its beauty is so evident that failure to be moved by it is itself a verdict on one's capacity for love.
Whoever, having seen the ineffable and surpassing beauty of self-control, was not conquered by its attraction — let that person be written down, by my judgment, as having no love for what is beautiful.
I say this not because self-control is easy — it is not. But its beauty is not hidden. It shines. The man who remains unmoved when he sees it has not been defeated by weakness; he has made a decision, and the decision is about what he values. That is why I say it is not a failure of will but a failure of sight. To see true beauty and not love it is to have the wrong kind of eyes.
Περὶ σωφροσύνης. Ὅστις τὸ ἀπόδλεπτον χαὶ ὑπέρχαλον τῆς σωφρο- σύνης κάλλος θεασάμενος, οὐχ ἐδαμάσθη τῷ φίλτρῳ, οὗτος ἀνέραστος τῶν χαλῶν παρ᾽ ἐμοὶ χριτῇ γε- γράφθω. Η'. .--- ΙΟΥΝΙΑ (). Περὶ παρθένων. Οὐ τῇ τοῦ σώματος ἁγνείᾳ μόνον, ὦ σοφὲ, ἀλλὰ χαὶ τῇ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ τὴν παρθενίαν ὁ θεσπέσιος ὁρίζεται Παῦλος.
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Athanasios
Date: ~410 AD
Context: A single sentence containing one of Isidore's most polished aphorisms on self-control — its beauty is so evident that failure to be moved by it is itself a verdict on one's capacity for love.
Whoever, having seen the ineffable and surpassing beauty of self-control, was not conquered by its attraction — let that person be written down, by my judgment, as having no love for what is beautiful.
I say this not because self-control is easy — it is not. But its beauty is not hidden. It shines. The man who remains unmoved when he sees it has not been defeated by weakness; he has made a decision, and the decision is about what he values. That is why I say it is not a failure of will but a failure of sight. To see true beauty and not love it is to have the wrong kind of eyes.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.