Letter 427

To the Same Person. This one, He says, let him pass his life in the delight of the virtues, rejoicing and being kept on a straight course; and let that other one, continually disciplined by the sternness and severity of the trials laid upon him, and mourning, be drawn toward salvation; let another, by his good aim at attaining without ceasing the things that accord with his wish and purpose, take his joy in the sweet fragrance, traveling the road of this present and temporary life unhindered; and let yet another, amid countless stumbling-blocks and afflictions and sorrows, await with hardship a freedom that comes at last, and a final deliverance from evils. For I [God] know what is profitable for each, even as I keep watch over hidden things; and let each be governed in the manner fitted to what is profitable for his soul.

Οὗτος, φησί, τῇ τέρψει τῶν ἀρετῶν, διεξαγέτω τὸν βίον, χαίρων, καὶ διευθυνόμενος, καὶ ὁ ἄλλος τῇ στυφότητι, καὶ τῇ αὐστηρίᾳ τῶν ἐγκαταλείπων συνεχῶς παιδευόμενος, καὶ πενθῶν πρὸς σωτηρίαν ἑλκέσθω, ἄλλος τῇ εὐστοχίᾳ ἐπὶ τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν διηνεκῶς τῶν κατὰ βούλησιν, καὶ σκοπὸν, εὐφραινέσθω ἐπὶ τῇ εὐωδίᾳ ἀνεμποδίστως τοῦ προκαίρου βίου τὴν ὁδὸν πορευόμενος, καὶ ἕτερος μυρίοις προσκόμμασιν, καὶ θλίψεσιν, καὶ λύπαις, μόγις ποτὲ ἐλευθερίαν, καὶ τελευτάτην ἀπαλλαγὴν τῶν κακῶν ἐκδεχέσθω. Ἐγὼ γὰρ τὸ συμφέρον ἑκάστῳ ἐπίσταμαι ὡς περίπειν τὰ κρύφια, καὶ ἕκαστος ἁρμοδίως πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον τῇ ψυχῇ διοικείσθω.