Letter 507: Correct doctrine is necessary in a sermon, Theodosius, but it is not sufficient.
Even if you feel no shame before people, and make no claim to reputation, at least fear the divine punishment that follows upon such reckless acts. For even if justice is patient for the moment, calling you to repentance, a little later it will pursue all the more bitterly those who were not moved even by so great a mercy. Many indeed even in this life have not escaped the invincible hand, but were overtaken by such calamities as to overshadow all tragedies by their magnitude. And many who seemed in this life to have escaped punishment tasted still more bitter torments in the next, when justice justly measured out to them their due. The friends about whom you have written need neither exhortation nor encouragement. For they appear never to have ceased their contest for the noblest things, but to the very end, vehemently yearning for the heavenly prizes, they will maintain the agony of the struggle for victory.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
P. 507, 508. - LIB. 1, EP. 365.
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