Letter 326

To the same person. The house of your soul is filled, from the floor up to the roof, with dung, with broken bits of potsherds, with filthy swaddling-rags, with the bones of the dead, and with rubble. How then do you urge me to bring in the royal vessels of the venerable teachings and to lay them up in your mind, when not the least bit of vacant space is to be found inside?

Ὁ τῆς ψυχῆς σου δόμος, κόπρου, καὶ κλασμά- των ὀστράκων, σπαργάνων τε ῥυπαρῶν, καὶ νεκρῶν ὀστέων, καὶ χώματος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐδάφους μέχρι τῆς στέγης πεπλήρωται. Πῶς οὖν παρακαλεῖς με τὰ βασιλικὰ σκεύη τῶν σεπτῶν διδαγμάτων εἰσαγαγεῖν, καὶ ἐναποθέσθαι τῇ διανοίᾳ σου, μηδόλως τόπου τινὸς ἔνδον εὑρισκομένου σχολάζοντος;