Letter 59: If you imagine that being tall makes you greater than other people, the giant Nimrod far surpassed you, as did the...

I learn that you have bid farewell to those who offer the best counsel, and having burst all the bonds of modesty, you are carried headlong toward infamous and ill-named wickedness. I would wish these things were not true; but if they are, make haste to recover before you are utterly overcome by such drunkenness. For the fall of a priest is not a private scandal but a public calamity.

ΝΘ'. - ΖΩΣΙΜΟ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Πυνθάνομαι ὡς ἐῤῥῶσθαι φράσας τοῖς τὰ κάλλιστα συμβουλεύουσι, καὶ πάντας τοὺς τῆς αἰδοῦς διαρ- βήξας δεσμούς, οἴχῃ φερόμενος ἐπὶ τὴν δυσκλεᾶ καὶ δυσώνυμον κακίαν. Βουλοίμην μὲν οὖν μὴ εἶναι ταῦτα ἀληθῆ· εἰ δ' ἐστὶ, σπούδασον πρὶν σφόδρα ὑπὸ τῆς τοιαύτης καταγωνισθῆναι μέθης ἀνενεγκεῖν, ἵνα μὴ xἀνταῦθα αἰσχύνην ἔξεις, κἀκεῖσε δίκην ὑφέξεις. ΠΟΛΥΧΡΟΝΙΟ. Τῆς πρὸς Ῥωμαίους Επιστολῆς. Εἰς τὸ γεγραμ- μένον· « Παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκι μον νοῦν, ποιεῖν, » κ. τ. λ. Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφας, δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν παρέδωκεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν, ἐρῶ· ὅτι εἰ τὸ ἑξῆς ἀνα- γνώσῃ, καὶ γνώσῃ, καὶ ἀπαλλαγήσῃ πάσης ἀμφιλο ΝΘ΄. – ΤΩ ΑΥΤΩ Εἰ χρήσιμον ὥσπερ εἶπον καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ τὰ ἐντελλόμενα διαπράττεσθαι, τὰ τῶν δικαίων ἀγαπῶμεν καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν παραφυλάττειν, ἵνα ῥᾳδίως οὕτω περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν γινώμεθα. ΡΟϚ΄. – ΠΑΥΛΩ Καὶ οἱ τοῖς τῶν ἀφρόνων θωπεύμασι ἐπαιρόμενοι.