Letter 828: Virtue must be practiced with all one's strength — not merely admired from a distance.
I say that flattery is more powerful and more pernicious than violence. For what compulsion cannot achieve, fawning can. And those who have not been subdued by fear...
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἐγὼ τοῦ ἰφόδου τὴν χολαχείαν δυνατωτέραν χαὶ ἀργαλεωτέραν εἶναί φημι. Ὅσα γὰρ μὴ δύναται ἀνάγχη, δύναται θεραπεία" χαὶ τοὺς μὴ χειρωθέν- τας ὑπὸ φόδου, χολαχεία πολλάχις κατεδουλώσατο. Χρὴ οὖν καὶ πρὸς φόδον χαὶ πρὸς θωπείαν μὲν ἀνδρίζεσθαι (ἑχάτερον δὲ ἀνελεύθερον τὸ πάθος), τὴν δ᾽ ἀλήθειαν μόνην τιμᾷν. ΡΛΗ!. --- Τῇ ΑΥ̓ΤΩ. Χρὴ τὸν εὐδόχιμον, χαὶ φιλόθεον εἶναι. χαὶ φιλάν- θρωπον" ἵνα μήτε διὰ τὸ ὕψος τῆς ἀρετῆς, χαὶ τὸ ἀναχεῖσθαι τῷ Θείῳ, τῶν ἀνθρώπων καταφρονοίη, μῆτε διὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοῦ Θείου ἀμελοίη. Ἡ γὰρ ἀγάπη ἣ πρὸς τὸ Θεῖον, εἰ χαὶ μείξων ἐστὶ Ο πολλῷ, τῇ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους συμπλεχομένη, λαμπρο- τέρα γίνεται.
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