Letter 74
To Rufinus the Scholasticus [an advocate / man learned in the law].
Since, along with the public laws, you also handle the divine Scripture -- which is no small proof of wide learning -- and have made yourself the possessor of every kind of virtue, learn also the very thing you asked about. The bracelets, then, which Abraham's servant presented to Rebecca [Genesis 24:22], were tokens of self-control and of courage, and of prudence and of justice.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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
Ἐπειδὴ σὺν τοῖς νόμοις τοῖς δημοσίοις καὶ τὴν θείαν μεταχειρίζῃ Γραφήν, ὅπερ οὐ πολυμαθίας ὑπάρχει τεκμήριον, καὶ κτήτωρ παντοίας καθέστηκας ἀρετῆς, μάνθανε καὶ ὅπερ ἠρώτησας. Τὰ γὰρ δὴ ψέλλια, ἅπερ προσενήνοχε τῇ Ῥεβέκκᾳ ὁ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ παῖς, σωφροσύνης καὶ ἀνδρείας, φρονήσεώς τε καὶ τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἐτύγχανον σύμβολα.
---LETTER ΟΖ΄.---
Τὸ οἷαι θρηνῶδες ὑπάρχει ἐπίθεγμα, μυρία προμαρτυρόμενον σκυθρωπὰ καὶ ἀνιαρά. Διὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν ὁ Κύριος εἴρηκε διὰ τοῦ Ἠσαΐου · Οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπισπώμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ σχοινίῳ μακρῷ, ἐκ τοῦ προστιθέναι ταῖς προλαδούσαις ἁμαρτίαις τὰς μεταγενεστέρας ἡμικνωμένῃ ἀεί.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.
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