Letter 449: You seem to be ignorant of how great a joy the untroubled life contains.

To Maron. You too, O sacred head, had your share of the Cappadocian plague while you were dwelling in the city; and you did not fail to take note of the empty and shuddersome oaths of that unclean mouth, sworn together with his honeyed and frequent "I bow before you" - the private slanders he uttered against everyone, one by one; the perverse and sacrilegious robberies; the new tax-registration; the profiteering zeal exercised against God and against the poor; the plots laid against marriages; the breaking open of tombs; the chains in which he was confined; the prisons, one after another, into which, dragged off to the military camp, he was thrust; and the torture and stripping bare there, which he endured at God's hand for his correction. But since, having forgotten all those things, he again longs to hold office - as we learn - do not give way, but hinder him with all the power that is in you. In doing so you will do a kindness both to yourself and even to him: to yourself the glory, to the city its peace, and to him the not sinning much and so again suffering more.

Ἐκοινώνησας μὲν καὶ αὐτός, ὦ ἱερὰ κεφαλή, τοῦ Καππαδόκου λοιμοῦ, ἡνίκα ᾤκεις τὴν πόλιν· καὶ οὐκ ἔλαβες τοὺς ματαίους καὶ φρικτοὺς τοῦ ἀκαθάρτου στόματος ὅρκους, μετὰ μελιχροῦ καὶ συχνοῦ, Προσκυνῶ σε· τὰς πρὸς ἕκαστον ἰδία κατὰ πάντων καταλαλιάς, τὰς δυστρόπους καὶ ἱεροσύλους ληστείας, τὴν νέαν ἀπογραφὴν, τὴν κατὰ θεοῦ καὶ πτωχῶν ἐπικερδῆ σπουδὴν, τὰς τῶν συνοικεσίων ἐπιβουλὰς, τὰς τῶν μνημάτων διορυγὰς, τὰ δεσμὰ οἷς καθείρχθη, τὰ ἀμοιβαίους εἰρηκτὰς, ἃς ἐπὶ στρατόπεδον ἑλκόμενος ᾔκῃς, τὴν ἐκεῖσε βάσανόν τε καὶ γύμνωσιν, ἣν παρὰ θεοῦ ὑπέμεινε πρὸς διόρθωσιν. Ἀλλ’ ἐπειδὴ πάντων ἐκείνων ἐπιλαθόμενος, πάλιν ἄρξαι ἱμείρεται, ὡς μανθάνομεν, μὴ ἐνδώσεις, κωλύων ὅση σοι δύναμίς ἐστι. Σαυτῷ γε κἀπὸ καὶ αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ χαριῇ· σαυτῷ τὴν δόξαν, τῇ πόλει τὴν ἡσυχίαν, ἐκείνῳ τὸ μὴ πολλὰ ἁμαρτεῖν, καὶ πλείονα πάλιν παθεῖν.