Letter 460: Let me put this to you plainly, Zosimus.

If you wish to know what "Wisdom has mixed her wine" means, and for what reason she did not set it forth unmixed, learn much in few words. The divine and supernatural teachings she mixed with words and bodily examples. For it was not possible for us to understand them in an incorporeal way. The union, therefore, of divine thoughts and earthly words she not unfittingly called a mixture. To Heron the Presbyter: Consider nothing precious that does not lead to virtue or make those who pursue it better. What leads to virtue is to follow lovers of virtue, to associate with the most temperate and not with the most licentious, with the most peaceable and those with whom it is profitable to spend time, not with the most quarrelsome. For one must know well that a person partakes of vice more readily than of virtue. For if it were easier to share in virtue, it would be fitting for those who can bestow it to associate even with the worst. But since this is difficult, it is better to remain in safety and to flee the wicked. For if they are not benefited, for what reason should you yourself suffer loss?

S. ISIDORI PELUSIOTE Α βούλει [γνῶναι ] τί ἐστιν, « Ἐκέρασεν ἡ σοφία τὸν ἑαυτῆς οἶνον, · καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίαν, οὐκ ἄκρατον αὐτὸν προύθηκε, μάνθανε δι᾽ ὀλίγων πολλά" Τὰ θεῖα καὶ ὑπερφυῆ παιδεύματα, λόγοις καὶ παραδείγμασι σωματικοῖς ἐκέρασεν. Οὐ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν ἡμᾶς ἄι- α[... ]ως νοῆσαι. Τὴν γοῦν ἕνωσιν τῶν θείων νοημάτων καὶ τῶν ἐπιγείων λόγων, πρᾶσιν οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἐκά- [... ]λεσε. ΥΞ΄. – ΗΡΩΝΙ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Μηδὲν τίμιον εἶναι νόμιζε, ὁ μὴ πρὸς ἀρετὴν φέρῃ, μηδὲ ποιῇ ἀμείνους τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸ σπουδά- ζοντας. Φέρει δὲ · δὲ εἰς ἀρετὴν τὸ τοῖς φιλαρέτοις ἀκο- λουθεῖν, καὶ ὁμιλεῖν τοῖς σωφρονεστάτοις, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς ἀσελγεστάτοις· τοῖς εἰρηνικωτάτοις καὶ οἷς συνδιατρίβειν λυσιτελὲς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τοῖς μαχιμωτά- τοις. Εὖ γὰρ εἰδέναι χρὴ, ὅτι κακίας τις βᾷον με- ταλαμβάνει ἢ ἀρετῆς. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν ῥᾷον τὸ ἀρετῆς μετασχεῖν, ἐχρῆν καὶ τοῖς κακίστοις συνεῖναι τοὺς δυναμένους ταύτην χαρίσασθαι. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τοῦτο δύσκολον, ἅμεινον ἐν ἀσφαλείᾳ εἶναι, καὶ φεύγειν τοὺς πονηρούς. Εἰ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι οὐκ ὠφελοῦνται, δι' ἣν αἰτίαν αὐτὸς ζημιοῦσαι; P. 460, lit. A, lin. 4. P. ἐθέλουσιν, cat. ἐθέ- λουσι.