Letter 24
Bishop Ruricius to his son Constantius.
Even though I am well aware that you are devoted to Bacchus, to music, to various performances, and even to choruses of dancing girls — still, because it is good to be called away from these things while youth burns hottest, I write to remind you that the one who said "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden" [Matthew 11:28] offers a lighter burden than any of these pleasures, which weigh the soul down even as they seem to set it free.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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