Letter 832: Anger is a fire: useful when controlled, devastating when unleashed.
That the devil does not have foreknowledge, but guesses at particular things from the movements within us. The devil does not know the things in our mind, O most gentle one; for this belongs exclusively to the divine power alone, which also fashioned our hearts by itself alone. Rather, from the movements of the body he hunts out the counsels of the soul. For example, he sees someone gazing about curiously and feasting his eyes on the beauty of others. Seizing upon that person's impulse, he immediately incites such a one either to adultery or to fornication. He sees someone wrathful and hot-tempered — immediately he sharpens the sword and urges him to murder. He sees someone greedy for base gain — he encourages robbery and injustice. He sees someone subject to the belly — immediately he sketches out for him the passions that follow from gluttony and provides material for bringing his own purpose to fulfillment. Why then does he not push all people toward the same passions? Because one person has chosen this, another that; and this one is pleased by this, that one by that. From the movements of the body, then, he infers the weaknesses of souls; and thus he weaves his deceits.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
“Ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει πρόγνωσιν ὁ διάδοιλος, ἀ..) ἐκ τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν κιγημάτων στοχάζεται τὰ καθέχα- Οὐ τὰ κατὰ διάνοιαν οἶδεν, ὦ πραότατε, ὁ διάδο- λος " τῆς γὰρ θείας μόνης ἐστὶ τοῦτο ἐξαίρετον δυνά- μεως, τῆς χαὶ πλαπσάσης χατὰ μόνα: τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν " ἀλλ᾽ ἀπὸ [τῶν] τοῦ σώματος () χινημάτων () τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς θηρεύει βουλεύματα. Οἷον εἶδέ τινα πε- ριέργως ὁρῶντα, καὶ ἐστιῶντα τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις χάλλεσι ; λαδὼν ἐχείνου τὴν ὁρμὴν, εὐθὺς ἢ εἰς μοιχείαν, ἣ εἰς πορνείαν τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐρεθίζει. Εἶδεν ὀργίλον καὶ θυμώδη; εὐθὺς τὸ ξίφος ἀχονᾷ, καὶ εἷς φόνον παρορμᾷ. Εἶδεν αἰσχροχερδῆῇ ; εἷς λῃ- στεία; προτρέπει χαὶ ἀδικίας. Εἶδε γαστρὸς ἥττονα ; εὐθὺς χαὶ τὰ μετὰ γαστέρων () αὐτῷ πάθη ὑπογρά- φει, καὶ ὕλας παρέχει πρὸς τὸ εἰς ἔργον χωρῆσαι τὸν οἰχεῖον σχοπόν. Διὰ τί γὰρ μὴ πάντας εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ πάθη ὠθεῖ; Ἐπειδὴ ὁ μὲν τοῦτο, ὁ δὲ ἐχεῖνο μᾶλλον προήρηται χαὶ τῷ μὲν τοῦτο, τῷ δὲ ἐχεῖνο ἀρέσχει. ᾿Απὸ τῶν χινημάτων οὖν τοῦ σώματος, χαὶ τὰ τῶν ψυχῶν σαθρὰ τεχμαίρεται " χαὶ οὕτω πλέχες τοὺς δόλους.
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