Letter 693
To Polychronius, official. (362)
Accept, then, letters from both of us on behalf of a single matter -- the one asking, the other demanding. Acacius asks; I collect what is owed, having already asked before. As long as persuasion was needed, I did that. But since you made a promise, I now count you among my debtors.
Show us the deed, then, and put an end to those who keep pestering you. I would rather you imitated Zeus than the general Chares [a notoriously ineffective 4th-century Athenian commander].
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
1. My occupations are very numerous, and my mind is full of many anxious cares, but I have never forgotten you, my dear friends, ever praying my God for your constancy in the faith, wherein ye stand and have your boasting in the hope of the glory of God. Truly nowadays it is hard to find, and extraordinary to see, a Church pure, unharmed by the ...
Do you worship what you know or what you do not know? If I answer, I worship what I know, they immediately reply, What is the essence of the object of worship? Then, if I confess that I am ignorant of the essence, they turn on me again and say, So you worship you know not what.