Letter 230

To the same person. Our Lord Jesus Christ allotted the blessing to poverty; for poverty alone knows how to keep within the measures of human wretchedness. It hates pomp, it draws in the proud spirit, it humbles the reasonings, it is ashamed of arrogance, it looks upon the [...] of life, and it persuades a man to escape notice, so that he may not, while being saved, fail to be noticed [i.e., that his salvation not go unobserved].

Ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τῇ πτωχείᾳ τὸν μακαρισμὸν ἀπεκλήρωσεν· μόνη γὰρ αὕτη οἶδε τηρεῖν τὰ μέτρα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ταλαιπωρίας, μισεῖ τὸν ὄγκον, συστέλλει τὸ φρόνημα, ταπεινοῖ λογισμούς, ὑπερηφάνειαν αἰσχύνεται, βλέπει τοῦ βίου τὴν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ πείθει λαθεῖν, ἵνα μὴ λάθῃ σωζόμενος.