Letter 62: The strength of rulers is friendship with God.
To Titianus.
A discourse produced for the benefit of those who hear it is a discourse with real power, justly called a discourse, and one that holds its imitation toward God. But the one that ends only in delight and applause is a noise upon bronze, ringing in the ear with great clangor. Therefore regulate your discourse by dignity, preferring moderation to bombast; otherwise, know that you are a cymbal, suited only to the stage of the theaters.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Λόγος πρὸς ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀκουόντων γινόμενος,
λόγος ἐστὶν ἐνδύναμος, ἐνδίκως λόγος καλούμενος,
καὶ πρὸς θεὸν ἔχων τὴν μίμησιν. Ὁ δὲ πρὸς τέρψιν
[μόνην] καὶ κρότον τελευτῶν, ἦχος ἐπὶ (60) χαλκοῦ
τοῖς μεγάλοις ψόφοις τὴν ἀκοὴν ἐνηχῶν. Ἡ τοίνυν
σεμνότητι τὸν λόγον σου ῥύθμιζε, προτιμῶν τὸ
κόμπου τὸ μέτριον, ἢ γίνωσκε κύμβαλον ὤν, τῇ
σκηνῇ τῶν θεάτρων ἁρμόδιον.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern isidore pelusium workflow v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/PatrologiaGraeca (PG vol.78)
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