Letter 121: I greatly admire the courage of the celebrated Paul — how even when he was on trial, he gave public addresses, and...

To Peter. On judgment. Formerly I wrote to you in the hope that you would be released from your vice and would run back toward pure health; but now I am in peril, and so I make my argument, lest others too be cast by you into the pit of wickedness. If, then, you are unwilling to save yourself, why do you also bring ruin upon others? Why do you not rein in the neighing desires of others, until you bloody their mouths, but instead grant them license to rush wherever they wish? Rein them in, therefore, so that you may not suffer the opposite of what the Ninevites suffered. For just as those men, having feared the words, did not undergo the punishment that comes from deeds, so you too, despising the threat that comes from words, will undergo the chastisement that comes from deeds.

Περὶ κρίσεως. Πρώην μὲν ἔγραφον, ἐλπίζων σε τῆς κακίας ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι, καὶ πρὸς καθαρὰν ὑγίειαν ἀναδραμεῖσθαι· νῦν δὲ κινδυνεύω, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ καὶ ἄλλους εἰς τὸ βάραθρον τῆς πονηρίας ὑπὸ σοῦ ἐμβληθῆναι, ποιεῖσθαι τὸν λόγον (64). Εἰ τοίνυν μὴ βούλει σῶσαι σαυτόν, τί καὶ ἑτέροις λυμαίνῃ; Τί καὶ τὰς ἄλλων χρεμετιζούσας ἐπιθυμίας μὴ ἀνασειράζων, ἕως ἂν αὐτῶν αἱμάξῃς τὰ στόματα, ἀλλ’ ἄδειαν αὐταῖς διδούς ὁρμᾶν ὅποι βούλονται; Ἀνασειράζε τοίνυν αὐτάς (65), ἵνα μὴ τἀναντία τῶν Νινευϊτῶν ὑπομείνῃς. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι φοβηθέντες τὰ ῥήματα, οὐχ ὑπέμειναν τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων τιμωρίαν· οὕτω καὶ σὺ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ῥημάτων καταφρονῶν ἀπειλῆς, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πραγμάτων ὑποστήσῃ κόλασιν.