Letter 516

To Pegasius the Count. It would be absurd to beat your wife, who is chaste and most dignified, who keeps her goodwill toward you throughout her whole life, and who, out of her great modesty and her honor toward you, does not even dare to look you in the eye. Cease, then, from flogging this most faithful woman, lest she grow resentful. For it is the mark of a philosophic soul never to strike with the hand at all, but to rebuke wrongdoers with words; whereas it is the token of a disorderly and uneducated man to deal out blows readily to whoever happens to be at hand.

Ἄτοπον ἂν εἴη τύπτειν τὴν σῦμδιόν σου, σώφρονά τε καὶ σεμνοπρεπεστἀτην ὑπάρχουσαν, τὴν τ’ εὔ- νοιαν σοι φυλαττομένην διὰ παντὸς τοῦ βίου, καὶ μὴ τολμῶσαν διὰ τὴν πολλὴν αἰδῶ, καὶ τιμὴν τὴν πρὸς σὲ, μηδ’ ἀντοφθαλμῆσαί σοι. Πέπαυσο τοίνυν τοῦ δέρειν τὴν πιστωτάτην, ἵνα μὴ ἀγανακτήσῃ. Φιλοσόφου γὰρ ψυχῆς σημεῖον, τὸ παντελῶς μὴ πλήττειν χειρὶ, τῷ λόγῳ δ’ ἐπιπλήττειν τοῖς πονη- ρευομένοις. Ἀτάκτου δὲ, καὶ ἀπαιδεύτου σή- μαντρον, τὸ ἑτοίμως πληγὰς ἀπάγειν τοῖς παρα- τυγχάνουσι.