Letter 594

To Constantine the Count. It is no recreation of the soul, as you say, to spend your time in the theaters and the horse-races, but rather utter ruin and a dreadful injury to the soul. But if you truly wish to be well refreshed in soul, hasten to the catholic Church, run to the ascetic dwellings of the monks, and you will truly find much consolation from good things and the greatest healing for the pains of the heart. Then afterward examine yourself: what sort of man you become when you withdraw from the Church and the monasteries, and what sort of man you become when you go out from the theater and the horse-race; and when you have set the two kinds of days side by side, you will have no need to be admonished by anyone else. For the comparison of the two kinds of days will suffice to show you the magnitude of the benefit found in the Church and the monasteries, and of the harm found in the circuses and the theaters.

Οὐκ ἔστι ψυχαγωγία, καθὼς σὺ λέγεις, τὸ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις, καὶ ταῖς ἱπποδρομίαις διατρίβειν, ἀλλ᾽ ὄλεθρος ἔσχατος, καὶ βλάβη ψυχῆς δεινή. Εἰ δὲ ὄντως βούλει καλῶς ψυχαγωγεῖσθαι, σπεῦδε εἰς ἐκκλησίαν καθολικήν, τρέχε εἰς τὰ ἀσκητήρια τῶν μοναχῶν, καὶ ἀληθῶς πολλὴν ἀγαθῶν εὑρήσῃς παρηγορίαν, καὶ τῶν τῆς καρδίας ἀλγηδόνων θεραπείαν μεγίστην. Εἶθ᾽ ὕστερον ἐξέταζε σεαυτόν, τίς μὲν γίνῃ ἀναχωρῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκκλησίας, καὶ τῶν-μοναστηρίων, τίς δὲ γίνῃ ἐξὼν ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου, καὶ τῆς ἱπποδρομίας· καὶ ἑκατέρας παραβαλὼν τὰς ἡμέρας, οὐκ ἂν δεηθείης παρ᾽ ἄλλου νουθετεῖσθαι. Ἀρκέσει γὰρ ἡ ἑκα. τέρας ἡμέρας σύγκρισις, δεῖξαί σοι τὸ μέγεθος τῆς τε κατὰ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν καὶ τὰ μονάστηρια ὠφε- λείας, καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς κίρκοις, καὶ τοῖς θεάτροις βλά- βης.