Letter 253

To the same person. Some call the prophets bees, and Scripture their hive. It is good, therefore, to be persuaded by Solomon when he says: "My son, eat honey, that the throat of your soul may be sweetened" [Proverbs 24:13]. And he calls the sweet food and the honeyed nourishment the reading and the study of the oracles of the Spirit.

Μελίσσας τινὲς τοὺς προφήτας κικλήσκουσι, μελισσουργεῖον δ᾽ αὐτῶν τὴν Γραφήν. Καλὸν τοίνυν ὑπάρχει, πείθεσθαι τῷ Σολομῶντι φάσκοντι· « Υἱέ μου, φάγε μέλι, ὅπως ἂν γλυκανθείη τῆς ψυχῆς φάρυγγα. » Βρῶσιν δὲ λέγει γλυκεῖαν, καὶ μελιτώδη τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν καὶ τὴν μελέτην τῶν λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος.