Letter 83: "Professing to be wise, they became fools" [Romans 1:22] — this was said, my wise friend, because among the...

To Aemilianus and Pelagios the Deacons. That a gentle and all-wise word, like a remedy, is able to extinguish anger boiling from the very center of the heart, I know very well. But whether in our own words a medicine can be found capable of putting it to sleep — this I no longer know clearly. Yet if I should succeed, I would insist upon it. And if I should fail, I would be most grieved, but I would least blame myself. Since, then, your strife has reached to heaven, as they say, and has wounded not only you but many others in their vital parts, I would wish you to extinguish and destroy it and run back to friendship. But if this is not yet possible, as some say, at least by silence drain the strength from the boundless quarrelsomeness, and not increase it with words both spoken and unspoken. For when you cease uttering what is unlawful against each other, the strife, gradually and little by little extinguished and fallen, will prepare the way for friendship to be rekindled. For just as for the sick, not getting worse may be the beginning of getting better — for in the sharpest diseases, maintaining the same condition is rightly considered an improvement — so for you who are very sick (for do not think you are healthy, while you commit such outrages against each other), preventing the condition from worsening could be the beginning of correction. Whether, then, you choose to destroy the enmity entirely, or not to let it advance further, I shall not deprive myself of the hope that what is worthy of discourse will be judged by discourses. To Agathos the Presbyter. Why the law commanded that linen and wool and purple not be woven together, and in Leviticus examines leprosy of garments and stones. Since you have written asking what Moses intended when he legislated that linen and wool not be woven together, that purple not be woven into linen garments, and that leprosy of garments and stones be investigated — I could have disclosed the allegorical interpretations of these. For they contain excellent allegories capable of benefiting those whose minds are not untrained in contemplation. But since I know that many consider those who say such things to be weakening the struggles through ignorance, and since you rejoice in the facts themselves and in the plain interpretation of the Scriptures alone, I shall give a direct answer, free of circumlocution. I think therefore that in leading his subjects toward philosophy and wishing them to be governed by necessity alone, he banished all softness — through the prohibition of weaving linen and wool together, he exiled variety; through the prohibition of weaving purple into linen garments, he exiled extravagance and adornment; and through the investigation of leprosy in garments and stones, he forbade acquiring and storing up more than what is needed. For this tends to happen to old garments and houses. "Be a person of mere necessity," he says, "neither acquiring nor storing up anything superfluous, nor adorning yourself, but transferring all your care and zeal to the cultivation of the soul." To Heron the Scholastikos. On the text, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him." You are in danger, O wise one, of not knowing what everyone knows. For you have written: What is the meaning of "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him"? That everyone knows this — not only the nurslings of the sacred oracles, but even those who have never encountered them — Demosthenes also testifies when he says: All speech, if deeds are absent from it, appears vain and empty. And the secular lawgivers too punish not from words but from facts those who are judged for loyalty. And Christ set forth two requirements... To Paul the Deacon. I consider that man a splendid host not who entertains his guests with a bloated table and causes satiety to be insulted, but who blends rational exhortation with the sufficiency of what has been prepared — the benefit of which naturally touches even the soul. To the Count. That one must guard against the stumbling blocks that come from luxury.

ΠΓ. - ΑΙΜΙΛΙΑΝΟ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΛΑΓΙΟ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΟΙΣ. Ὅτι μὲν λόγος πραὺς καὶ πάνσοφος, βοηθήματος δίκην σβέσαι δύναται θυμὸν ἐκ μέσης καρδίας ζέον- τα, μάλα ἀκριβῶς οἶδα. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις λόγοις ἔνεστι φάρμακον εὑρεῖν κοιμίσαι δυνάμενον, τοῦτο δὴ οὐκέτι σαφῶς ἐπίσταμαι. Ἀλλ' εἱ μὲν ἀνύσω, διισχυρισαίμην. Εἰ δὲ διαμάρτοιμι, μάλιστα μὲν λυπηθείην · ἥκιστα δὲ ἐμαυτὸν μεμψαίμην (71). Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἔρις ἡ ὑμετέρα οὐρανομήκης, ὡς φασι, γεγενημένη, οὐ μόνον ὑμᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλοὺς ἄλλους εἰς τὰ καίρια ἔτρωσε, βουλοίμην ὑμᾶς (72) ταύτην μὲν σβέσαι καὶ ἀφανίσαι, εἰς δὲ φιλίαν παλινδρομῆσαι· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο τέως, ὡς φασί τινες, οὐχ οἷόν τε, κἂν τῇ σιωπῇ ἐκνευρίσαι τὴν ἄμετρον φιλονεικίαν, καὶ μὴ ῥητοῖς καὶ ἀῤῥήτοις ρήμασι ταύτην αὐξῆσαι. ὧν γὰρ παύσησθε ὁ μὴ θέμι, καθ' ἑαυτῶν φθεγγόμενοι, ἡρέμα καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν σβε- σθεῖσα ἡ ἔρις καὶ καταπεσοῦσα, τὴν φιλίαν ἀναζω- πυρῆσαι παρασκευάσει. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς κάμνουσι τὸ μὴ χεῖρον ἔχειν, ἀρχὴ γένοιτ' ἂν τοῦ βέλτιον ἔχειν (ἡ γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ὀξυτάτοις νοσήμασι ταυτότης, βελτίωσις εἰκότως ἐνομίσθη)· οὕτω καὶ ὑμῖν μάλα κάμνουσι (μὴ γὰρ δὴ ὑγιαίνειν νομίζετε, τοιαῦτα εἰς ἀλλήλους παροινοῦντες), τὸ μὴ ἐπιτριβῆναι τὸ πά- θος, ἀρχὴ γένοιτ᾽ ἂν διορθώσεως. Εἶτε οὖν ὑμῖν τέ- λεον ἀφανίσαι δόξειε τὴν ἔχθραν, εἴτε μὴ περαιτέρω προελθεῖν, οὐκ ἀφαιρήσομαι ἐμαυτοῦ τὸ εὔελπι ἄξιον εἶναι λόγου, διὰ λόγους κριθήσεσθαι. ΠΕΛΑΓΙΩ Οἱ μὲν παῖδες τῶν φιλοσόφων τῶν παλαιῶν εἰς ΠΔ'. – ΑΓΑΘΩ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΩ. Διὰ τὶ προσέταξεν ὁ νόμος, λίνον καὶ ἔριον καὶ πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνεσθαι, ἐν δὲ τῷ Λευϊτικῷ καὶ λέπραν ἱματίων καὶ λίθων πολυπραγμονεί. Ἐπειδὴ γέγραφας τί βουλόμενος ὁ Μωσῆς ἑνομο θέτησε, λίνον μὲν καὶ ἔριον μὴ συνυφαίνεσθαι· ἐν δὲ τοῖς λινοῖς ἱματίοις πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνειν, λέ- πραν τε ἱματίων καὶ λίθων πολυπραγμονεῖν, εἶχον μὲν καὶ τὰς θεωρίας αὐτῶν μηνῦσαι. Ἔχουσι γὰρ ἀρίστας ἀλληγορίας ὠφελῆσαι δυναμένας, τοὺς μὴ ἀγύμναστον ἔχοντας πρὸς θεωρίαν τὸν νοῦν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ οἶδα πολλοὺς μὲν νομίζοντας τοὺς τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγοντας, ἀμαθίᾳ τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐκλύειν σὲ δὲ τοῖς πράγμασι, καὶ μόνῃ τῇ ἐρμηνείᾳ τῶν Γραφῶν χαί- ροντα, εὐθεῖαν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ποιήσομαι, κύκλων ἀπηλλαγμένην. Οἶμαι τοίνυν ὅτι εἰς φιλοσοφίαν τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἐνάγων, καὶ τῆς χρείας μόνης γενέσθαι βουλόμενος, πᾶσαν. βλακείαν ἐξωστράκισε, διὰ μὲν τοῦ μὴ συνυφαίνειν λίνον καὶ ἔριον, τὴν ποικιλίαν ἐξορίζων· διὰ δὲ τοῦ πορφύραν μὴ συνυφαίνειν τοῖς λινοῖς ἱματίοις, τὴν πολυτέλειαν καὶ τὸν καλλωπι- σμόν· διὰ δὲ τοῦ λέπραν ἱματίων καὶ λίθων περιερ- γάζεσθαι, τὸ πλέον τῆς χρείας κτήσασθαι, καὶ ἀπο- θέσθαι ἀπαγορεύων. Τοῖς γὰρ χρονίοις ἱματίοις καὶ οἰκίαις τοῦτο συμβαίνειν εἶωθε. Τῆς χρείας γὰρ ἔσο, φησὶ, μηδὲν περιττὸν, μήτε κτώμενος, μήτε ἀπο- τιθέμενος, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ καλλωπιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ πᾶσαν τὴν φροντίδα καὶ τὴν σπουδὴν, εἰς τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιμέλειαν μετάστησον (43). Εἰ δὲ βουληθείης, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν ὠφεληθῆναι· φασὶ γὰρ τὰς τῶν καρπῶν ἀποῤῥεούσας ἡμέρους συκᾶς, διὰ τῶν ὀλύν- θων τῶν ἀγρίων συσφίγγεσθαι (44)· φαίην, ὅτι καὶ ΠΕ΄. – ΗΡΩΝΙ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟ. Εἰς τὸ, « Θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσιν εἰδέναι· τοῖς δὲ ἔρ- γοις ἀρνοῦνται. » Κινδυνεύεις, ὦ σοφὲ, ἀγνοεῖν, ὁ πάντες ἴσασι· γέ- γραφας γάρ· Τι ἐστι, « Θεὸν ὁμολογοῦσιν εἰδέναι, νῖς δὲ ἔργοις ἀρνοῦνται; » Ὅτι γὰρ πάντες τοῦτο [..]ασιν, οὐ μόνον οἱ τῶν ἱερῶν χρησμῶν τρόφιμοι, [..]λλὰ καὶ οἱ μηδαμῶς τούτων (70) ἐντετυχηκότες, μαρτυρεῖ καὶ Δημοσθένης λέγων· Ὡς ἄπας μὲν λό- γος, ἂν ἀπόντα ἔργα ἔχῃ, ματαιόν τι φαίνεται καὶ κενόν (71). Καὶ οἱ ἔξωθεν δὲ νομοθέται οὐκ ἀπὸ ῥη- μάτων, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ πραγμάτων τοὺς ἐπὶ καθοσιώσει κρινομένους κολάζουσιν (72). Ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς δύο προ- ---CONTINUES--- ΠΓ. – ΠΑΥΛΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Λαμπρὸν ἐστιάτορα εἶναι ἐκεῖνον ἡγοῦμαι, οὐ τὸν φλεγμαινούσῃ τραπέζῃ ἐστιῶντα τοὺς δαιτυμόνας, καὶ τὸν κόρον ὑβρίζεσθαι παρασκευάζοντα, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῇ αὐταρκείᾳ τῶν παρασκευασθέντων κιρνῶντα τὴν λογικὴν παραίνεσιν, ἧς ἡ ὠφέλεια καὶ ψυχῆς ἄπτε- σθαι πέφυκεν. ΡΝ΄. – ΑΡΣΑΚΙΩ ΜΟΝΑΖΟΝΤΙ Ἐνδοξοτέραν μὲν τὴν σιωπὴν τῶν πολυσχέδων λόγων ἡγούμεθα εἶναι.