Letter 824: Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.
To Paulus.
Just as it is easy enough to sound a note that is altogether sharp or altogether deep, but to hit the mean belongs to a musician's trained skill, so too must one reason concerning frank speech [parrhesia] and the lack of it. For some men aim not at being of benefit but only at insulting; others aim at flattering and at weaving together praises for qualities that are not present. But those who employ the best measure neither insult nor fawn; rather, by blending modesty with frankness and gentleness with reproof, they thus come to heal those who are ignorant of themselves. Therefore do you yourself, employing this same method of conduct, set about the treatment of Esau, who through his excessive boastfulness has even lost the recognition that he is a human being.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ὥσπερ ὀξὺ μὲν ἢ βαρὺ κομιδῇ φθέγξασθαι ῥᾴδιον, τοῦ δὲ μέσου τυχεῖν, μουσικῆς ἐστιν ἕξεως· οὕτω καὶ περὶ τὸ παρρησιάζεσθαι, καὶ μή, λογιστεόν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὐ τοῦ ὠφελῆσαι, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ὑβρίσαι γίνονται μόνον· οἱ δὲ τοῦ κολακεύειν, καὶ τὰ μὴ προσόντα ἐγκώμια ὑφαίνειν. Οἱ δὲ μέτρῳ ἀρίστῳ χρώμενοι, οὔτε ὑβρίζουσιν, οὔτε θωπεύουσιν· ἀλλὰ κεράσαντες τῇ παρρησίᾳ τὴν αἰδῶ, καὶ τῇ ἐπιτιμήσει τὴν προσήνειαν, οὕτως ἐπὶ τὸ ἰατρευθεῖν τοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας ἔρχονται. Οὐκοῦν καὶ αὐτὸς ταύτῃ τῇ ἀγωγῇ χρησάμενος ἧκε ἐπὶ τὴν θεραπείαν Ἠσαῦου, τοῦ ἐκ τῆς ἄγαν ἀλαζονείας, καὶ τὸ ἄνθρωπον ἑαυτὸν νομίζειν ἀπολωλεκότος.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern isidore pelusium workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca
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