Letter 148

To Chrysogonus the Klesoudalios [an official title or office; Klesoudalios is otherwise obscure]. If one of the uninstructed should choose to slander what is best, and to begin from a lie, and to come to rest perpetually in a lie, tell me, at what point will it end, and to what conclusion will it come?

Εἴ τις βούλοιτο τῶν ἀπαιδεύτων κατασυκοφαντεῖν μὲν τὰ βέλτιστα, καὶ ἀπὸ ψεύδους ἄρχεσθαι, καὶ καταπαύειν εἰς ψεῦδος διηνεκῶς, φράσον μοι, εἰς ποῖον λήξει, καὶ καταντήσει πέρας;