Letter 484

From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium To: Ammonios the Scholar Date: ~410 AD Context: Isidore on intellectual pride as a particular danger for educated people — knowledge that produces arrogance has defeated its own purpose. The danger that accompanies learning, Ammonios, is pride — and the pride of the learned is particularly resistant to correction, because the learned man has argument at his disposal to defend himself against every charge. He can always explain why the charge is misdirected, why the critic has misunderstood, why the conclusion he has reached is actually correct. This makes the intellectual's pride more tenacious than the simple man's. The simple man who is proud can be shown plainly that he is wrong. The learned man who is proud will construct an argument demonstrating that he is right. The cure is not ignorance. It is the specific kind of knowledge that is self-knowledge — the recognition that knowing some things is very far from knowing everything, and that the capacity to construct arguments is not the same as the capacity to arrive at truth. Humility in the scholar is not an ornament. It is the condition of genuine learning.

Διὰ τί ἐπὶ τὸν σταυρὸν ἐρχόμενος ὁ Χριστὸς ταῖς κοπτομέγαις γυναιξὶν ἐπετίμησεν. Κινδυνεύεις, (ὦ τί σε χαλέσας ἀξίως προσείπω ἴ) ταῖς χοιναΐῖς ἡ ἕπεσθαι ἐννοίαις. Τὸ γὰρ γεγρα- φέναι δι᾿ ἦν αἰτίαν τὰς συμπασχούσας γυναῖχας οὐχ ἀπεδέξχτο ὁ Χριστὸς, ἀλλὰ χαὶ ἐπέσχηψε, τε- χιμήριόν ἐστι μέγιστον τοῦ μὴ τὰς χοινὰς ἐννοίας σώζεσθαι παρὰ σοΐ, “Ὑόδρις γὰρ ἐχείνῳ τὸ συμπα- θὲς, ᾧ μὴ τὸ πάθος ἀδούλητον τυγχάνει" οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄχοντες πάσχοντες ἐἰχότω;: () καταθρηνοῦνται’ οἱ δ' ἑχουσίως ἀθλοῦντες μαχαρίξζονται. Οὐ γὰρ τὰ γινόμενα; ἀλλ᾽ αἱ τῶν πασχόντων γνῶμαι βασα- νιζόμεναι, ἣ τοῦτο, ἢ ἐχεῖνο ἐφέλχονται. Τὸ γὰρ χαὶ λῃστὰς, καὶ μάρτυρας τὰ αὐτὰ πάσχειν (), οὔτ᾽ ἀπὸ μιᾶς ὁρμᾶται ἀρχῆς, οὔτε εἰς ἕν βλέπει τέλος: ΡΞΖ'. --- ΘΕΟΦΙΛΩ, Ὅτι μεγιστὴν ὠςέμειαν ἐμποιοῦσι τὰ περὶ ἂρδι τῆς διηγήματα καὶ τὸ συνεχῶς μεμνῆσθαι τῶν ὃν ταύτῃ «αμψάντων. Ὅτι τὰ ἄριστα διηγήματα τὰς ἐν ἡμῖν ἐμφύτους ἀφορμὰς τὰς εἰς ἀρξτήν φημι βλεπούσας, διεγεί- ρειν εἴωθεν, οἶσθα. Εἰ τοίνυν ταῦθ᾽ οὕτως ἔχει, μηδὲν] ἀπηχὲς μήτε λέγωμεν, μήτε πράττωμεν. ΡΞΗ, -- ἹΕΡΑΙΚΙῚ ΙΑΤΡΩ. Περὶ πενίας. Ἐπειδὴ ὁ τῷ δήμῳ διὰ τῆς κωμῳδίας ὀφρῦν ἐμθαλὼν τραγιχὴν, καὶ ἐπιστύψας αὐτῆς τὸ φορτι- χὺν, ἄριστος εἶναί σοι παραινέτης ἔδοξεν, ἅτε γρά- ψας ἃ μετὰ σεμνότητος πολλῆς ἐπιστύφειν τοὺς ἀχούυντας πέφυχεν, ἄχους αὐτοῦ λέγοντος " Οὐ τὸ Ὁ πένεσθαι ἐπονείδιστον πρᾶγμα ἡγούμενος (), τὴν τῆς φιλοσοφίας χαὶ πάσης ἐπιστήμης τε χαὶ τέχνης μητέρα ().