Nilus of Ancyra→Aphrodisius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Aphrodisius the Philosopher.
What profit, then, will accrue to you, when you neglect practical virtue, but profess, as you have supposed, a rational philosophy; when you promise to know the measures of the sun, and the operations of the stars, and the magnitude of heaven, and often even presume to do theology [to speak about God], where the truth is unattainable and conjecture is perilous, while you live more dishonorably than the swine wallowing in barbarian filth? And even if at some point you should be willing, when reproached by us, to come round to the practice of praiseworthy things, even so you have gained nothing at all, if you do not consent to recognize the Master of all, nor look for recompense after death.
What profit, then, will accrue to you, when you neglect practical virtue, but profess, as you have supposed, a rational philosophy; when you promise to know the measures of the sun, and the operations of the stars, and the magnitude of heaven, and often even presume to do theology [to speak about God], where the truth is unattainable and conjecture is perilous, while you live more dishonorably than the swine wallowing in barbarian filth? And even if at some point you should be willing, when reproached by us, to come round to the practice of praiseworthy things, even so you have gained nothing at all, if you do not consent to recognize the Master of all, nor look for recompense after death.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.