Letter 760

To the Same Person. The beast is present within the general category as the passion that works through pleasure; and the varied and manifold forms of the pleasures, mingled into human life through the senses, are themselves the scales upon the serpent, speckled with the variegation of the passions. If, then, you wish to flee from cohabitation with this intelligible beast, guard the head, that is, the first assault of evil.

Ἔνεστι τὸ θηρίον τῷ γενικῷ λόγῳ, τὸ καθ’ ἡδονὴν πάθος· αἱ δὲ ποικίλαι καὶ πολύτροποι τῶν ἡδονῶν ἰδέαι, διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐμμιχθεῖσαι τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ ζωῇ, αὗταί εἰσιν αἱ περὶ τὸν ὄφιν φολίδες, ἐν τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν παθῶν διεστιγμέναι. Εἰ τοίνυν βούλει φυγεῖν τοῦ νοητοῦ θηρίου συνοίκησιν, φυλάττου τὴν κεφαλὴν, τουτέστι τὴν πρώτην τοῦ κακοῦ προσβολήν.