Letter 502: Humility, Ammonios, does not require you to accept every criticism that is made of you as accurate.
To Ammonios.
One must not suppose that the purple gleam of a garment, nor the radiance of varied gemstones blended with gold, is the adornment of a woman; for many of those tasteless women who chase after adornment of this kind have become wearisome and hateful to those who share their household. But it is the beauty of the soul, composed of the virtues, that draws together desire toward one's spouse and proves to be a remedy of goodwill.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Οὐχ ὑφάσματος ἁλουργὲς αἶθος, οὐδὲ λίθων ποι-
κίλων αὐγὰς πρὸς χρυσὸν κερασθεῖσας κόσμον γυναι-
κὸς εἶναι νομιστέον · πολλαὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀπῃροκάλων
καὶ κόσμον τοιοῦτον θηρωμένων, προσκορεῖς καὶ
μισηταὶ τοῖς συνοικοῦσι γεγένηνται. Ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς ψυ-
χῆς κάλλος τὸ ἐξ ἀρετῶν συγκείμενον, ὅπερ καὶ πό-
θου ἐστὶ πρὸς τὸν σύμβιον συναγωγῶν, καὶ εὐνοίας
τυγχάνει φάρμακον.
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
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