Letter 526

To Ulpianus the Scholasticus [scholastikos, an advocate or lawyer]. You gladly carry out your lawless deeds, but you receive unwillingly the grievous things that come upon you, by your own doing, at the command of God. Therefore I exhort you: just as you do not refuse to commit evils, so do not be willing to refuse the consequences that follow upon wicked actions. For surely, in accordance with the basest disposition and in accordance with vile service, the ration of provisions too is duly allotted.

Ἡδέως μὲν κατεργάζῃ τὰς ἀθεμιτουργίας, ἀήθως δ’ ἀποδέχῃ τὰ λυπηρὰ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα σῇ τῇ κελεύ- σει τοῦ Θεοῦ. Διόπερ παραινῶ σοι, ὥσπερ οὐ παραιτῇ διαπράττεσθαι τὰ κακὰ, οὕτως μὴ θέλε παραιτεῖσθαι τὰ ἐπακολουθοῦντα ταῖς πονηραῖς πράξεσιν· κατὰ γὰρ δὴ τὴν φαυλοτάτην γνώμην, καὶ κατὰ τὴν στρα- τείαν τὴν μοχθηρὰν, πάντως καὶ τὸ σιτηρέσιον ἐκτάσσεται.