Letter 445
Isidore of Pelusium→Unknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Oaios
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the two kinds of life — one that sweetly nourishes a good reputation, and one that corrodes it — and the need to choose firmly.
You know how pleasantly good repute is nourished, when it is well tended. And you know also how easily it is destroyed by the attraction of pleasant things that lead nowhere good.
You must therefore flee the one and hold fast to the other. Not tentatively, not with one foot still in what you are fleeing — but resolutely, as a man who has decided. The life that virtue offers is not easy at the beginning, but its middle is livable and its end is sweet. The pleasurable life enters with a smile and exits with ruin.
Choose by the destination, not by the entrance.
.- ΝΟ τὸ (υφὶι, νἱν οἰαγβϑίπια, υἱἰυην αυΐθπι ρ651) - [ἐγαπὶ νοϊριδίαι ὨΆΌΘΓΘ : υἱγίυ!διῃ ϑυῖ6π), Γι θογρηι. Ἱὰρ ἡδέως ἀρδεύεται ἡ εὐδοχίμησις), οἶσθα. Χρὴ Ο οὐπν φογία ποιν᾽ πίϑαυβ βρίοπίογα οουϊπποίιν. δ5ὶ- τοίνυν τὴν μὲν φεύγειν, τῆς δ᾽ ἀπρὶξ ἔχεσθαι, ΙΓ΄. --- ΕΥ̓ΤΟΝΙΩ ΔΙΆΚΟΝΩ. Ἰοσοῦτον οἱ συνοιχοῦντες τῇ ἀρετῇ τῶν ἁμοιρούν- των αὐτῆς διενηνόχασιν, ὅσον ἄνθρωποι μὲν τῶν θηρίων, ἄγγελοι δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ γάρ τοι “τορεύονται διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς, ὥσπερ φωστῆρες ἐξαί- φνης ἐν σχότῳ φανέντες, χαὶ ἐπιστρέφοντες πρὸς ἐσυτηὺς τῶν ἄλλων τὰς ὄψεις. Εἷς τοίνυν αὐτῶν τυγ- χάνων, ἔχου τοῦ χτήματος. 1Δ΄. --- ἸΕΡΙΩ (). Θι γνήσιοι τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐρασταὶ, χαὶ ζῶντες ἐν οώματ', ὀρθοῦσι τὰς πόλεις " καὶ ἀποθέμενοι τοῦ- το, ἐγχαταλείπουσι κέντρον τοῦ πόθον. Τοινάρτοι ἐπίσημοι μὲν αὐτῶν οἱ τάφοι, ἐν τιμῇ δὲ τὰ γένη, διηνεχὴς δὲ ἡ μνήμη. Δικαίως. ᾿Αρετὴν γὰρ ἐχτή- σαντο, ἧς οὐ πέφυχεν ἄπτεσθαι τελευτή, Εἰ ὃὲ χαὶ ὑμογνωμονῶν ἡμῖν ἐτύγχανες ἐν τῇ περὶ Θείου δόξῃ αυϊάοπὶ φίογία ϑη ἀοτγῖθι8 Προ ἰγγίχοιγ Οροῦ- κοι ἱσίίν χαγα, ὕλης δυΐθην ιπογάΐοι8 ΤΟΙ ΠΟΓΘ. ΧΠ :. --- ΕΥΤΟΝΙΟ ὨΙΑΘΟΧΟ. Ουϊ νἱγι θεν ΘΟ ΘΓ ἈΪδιθ. παρθόμι, ἢἰἶξ, 4υΐ Ἰρδῖιι8 Ἔχρογίοβ δι , (δ ργδίν, Πυδη ΠῚ πον αφ π , δι ἀηφαὶ! [νον . ἈΠ ΘΙ αη1. ΙΖ δ πῇ ΡῸΓ ἴογυν ἰϑηαυδι ἰδ για συαπύδιη δγλυϊυπίυτ, δἰ ιη0 δίᾳιιθ πῃ πα ργ8 Θθηδροοιὶ [Ὁ6- γὶν τ, ΔΟΓα Οοὐ08 ἰῃ οοηνοτίθηι5. ΘυοΡγι πὶ ἰπ ἘΠ ΠΊΟΓΟ 6ΠΠΊ ἴρ86 , ΟἸΓ8 ρθΟ0856 : 6Π) [ 18Π -
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From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Oaios
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the two kinds of life — one that sweetly nourishes a good reputation, and one that corrodes it — and the need to choose firmly.
You know how pleasantly good repute is nourished, when it is well tended. And you know also how easily it is destroyed by the attraction of pleasant things that lead nowhere good.
You must therefore flee the one and hold fast to the other. Not tentatively, not with one foot still in what you are fleeing — but resolutely, as a man who has decided. The life that virtue offers is not easy at the beginning, but its middle is livable and its end is sweet. The pleasurable life enters with a smile and exits with ruin.
Choose by the destination, not by the entrance.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.