Letter 470

To Quintilius the Cancellarius [a court usher and secretarial official]. If, holding the love of your soul directed toward God, you charm yourself with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs according to the tradition of the apostles, we will praise you. For such an exercise is beneficial, and it joins the one who sings psalms to God. For in singing continually and with understanding, in keeping with a diligent remembrance of the Higher One, the soul forgets the defiling and destructive passions, and is filled with unspeakable joy, and thereafter gazes longingly upon the divine, hastening and striving to keep its mouth open toward it and it alone, and preferring none of the things that are seen to that invisible beauty. But if, deceived by the devil, you are eager through shameful melody to ensnare pleasure-loving little women, who are dragged down by their many sins, we will abhor you for your unclean intent; for "praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner," as a certain wise man cried out.

Εἰ μὲν πρὸς Θεὸν ἔχων τὸν ἔρωτα τῆς ψυχῆς, κατ- ἐπάδεις σεαυτὸν ψαλμοῖς, καὶ ὕμνοις, καὶ ᾠδαῖς πνευματικαῖς κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν τῶν ἀποστόλων, ἐπαινεσόμεθά σε. Ὠφέλιμον γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτον σπούδασμα, καὶ τῷ θεῷ συνάπτον τὸν ψάλλοντα. Ἐν γὰρ τῷ ᾄδειν ἐντελεχῶς τε καὶ νουνεχῶς, κατὰ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς μνήμης τοῦ κρείττονος, ἐπιλανθάνεται μὲν ἡ ψυχὴ τῶν μιαρῶν καὶ ὀλεθρίων παθῶν, χαρᾶς δὲ ἀνεκλαλήτου πληροῦται, καὶ ποθεῖνως λοιπὸν ἐνατενίζει τῷ θείῳ, πρὸς αὐτὸ καὶ μόνον σπεύδουσα καὶ ἀγωνιζομένη κεχηνέναι, καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ὁρωμένων τοῦ κάλλους ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀοράτου προκρινοῦσα. Εἰ δ᾽ ἐξαπατώμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου, δι᾽ αἰσχρᾶς μελῳδίας σαγηνεύειν σπουδάζεις φιλήδονα γύναια, κατασεσυρμενα ταῖς πολλαῖς ἁμαρτίαις, βδελυξόμεθά σε τῆς ἀκαθάρτου γνώμης · « Οὐχ ὡραῖος γὰρ αἶνος ἐν στόματι ἁμαρτωλοῦ, » ὥς τις σοφὸς ἐδόα.