Letter 463: The work of virtue is done slowly, Paul — so slowly that it sometimes seems nothing is happening.
To Alypius: The theater-mad man, good sir, becomes love-mad. Flee the former, therefore, lest the latter be born. For it is better that the disease not take root than that, once rooted, it be torn out -- which some find difficult and others impossible.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
ΥΞΓ΄. –– ΑΛΥΠΙΩ.
Ὁ θεατρομανής, ὦ βέλτιστε, ἐρωτομανὴς γίνεται. Φεῦγε τοίνυν ἐκεῖνο, ἵνα μὴ τοῦτο τεχθείη. "Αμεινον γὰρ μὴ ῥιζωθῆναι τὴν νόσον, ἢ ῥιζωθεῖσαν ἀνασπασθῆναι, ὅπερ τισὶ μὲν δύσκολον, τισὶ δὲ ἀδύνατον εἶναι δοκεῖ (46).
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