Letter 497: There is a reason, Dionysios, that those who live virtuously are described in scripture as lights.
I considered it right to make known to the woman that once a headstrong youth, enslaved to women, having seen a most beautiful maiden and having been utterly conquered, and having set every device in motion so as to enjoy her beauty...
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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.
Latin / Greek Original
ΛΑΧΜΟΥ ΠΑΣΤΑ
ναικὶ δηλῶσαι ἐδικαίωσα, "Οτι Ποτὲ νεανίσκου A
κατωφεροῦς καὶ γυναικοδούλου ἑωρακότος εὐει-
δεστάτην παρθένον, καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἀλόντος, καὶ
πᾶσαν μηχανὴν κεκινηκότος ὥστ᾽ ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς
ἐπιθυμίας, ἐκείνη παρὰ μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀπηγό-
ρευσεν. ὧν γὰρ καὶ εὐγενὴς, καὶ σώφρων, καὶ ἀν-
ἐπαφον καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα διατηρεῖν τῷ
Χριστῷ ἐπηγγελμένη. Ὡς δ' ἤκουσεν αὐτὸν τὰ μαι-
νομένων δρῶντα καὶ λυττῶντα, εὗρε μηχανήν, δι' ἧς
καὶ αὐτὴ ἀκέραιος διατηρηθείη, κάκείνου σβέσει [ε] τὸ
πῦρ. ᾿Αποκειραμένη γὰρ, μᾶλλον δὲ πᾶσαν τῶν
τριχῶν ξυρήσασα τὴν εὐκοσμίαν, καὶ σποδῷ ὕδατι
μεμιγμένῃ τὸ πρόσωπον χρίσασα, ἐκέλευσεν ἐκεῖνον
πρὸς αὐτὴν εἰσελθεῖν. Εἶτα εἰσελθόντι ἔφη - Ταύτης
τῆς ἀκοσμίας ἐρᾶς; Ὁ δὲ ὥσπερ ἐκ μανίας ἀνενεγ-
χὼν, οὐ μόνον ἔσβεσε τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τὸ πῦρ, ἀλλὰ Β
καὶ σωφροσύνης γέγονε θερμὸς ἐραστῆς. Συμβουλεύε-
ται τοίνυν (31) καὶ αὐτὸς (ἅμεινον γὰρ τῶν μελλόν-
των κακῶν ἀποτροπὴν εὐρεῖν ἢ τῶν ἤδη γεγενημέ-
νων δίκην λαβεῖν [32]), μὴ κόσμῳ ἐπεισάκτῳ χρῆσθαι·
μηδὲ τῷ πυρὶ τῷ ἐμφύτῳ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ καλλωπι-
σμοῦ προστιθέναι ὕλην, ἵνα μὴ πτωμάτων ἐξαισίων
πρόξενοι γένωνται.
ΝΔ'. – ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΤΩ.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from Patrologia Graeca 78 OCR.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca
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