Letter 741

To Herodotus the Tribune. You have been conquered many times and trampled down by sin, and at last you have grown old and been made worthless through shamelessness. Come, even now, to recognition, becoming sober; be made strong through the invocation of our Savior Jesus Christ. Attend to him, O man, before you breathe your last. Crush the devil who crushed you, and conquer the one who conquered you. For to Isaac there was first born Esau, the worthless one, and afterward Jacob, who conquered the passions, the supplanter of base things [a play on Jacob's name, which was understood to mean 'supplanter']. Let good reckoning utterly conquer the evil thought that ran ahead of it.

Ἐνικήθης πολλάκις καὶ κατεπατήθης ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καὶ ἐπαλαιώθης λοιπὸν καὶ ἐματαιώθης διὰ τῆς ἀναιδείας. Ἔλθε κἂν νῦν εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν νήψας, ἰσχυροποιήθητι διὰ τῆς ἐπικλήσεως τοῦ Σω-τῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἐπιμέλησαι αὐτοῦ, πρὶν ἐκπνεύσεις, ἄνθρωπε. Σύντριψον τὸν ἀυντρίψαντά σε διάβολον, καὶ νίκησον τὸν νικήσαντά σε. Πρῶτον γὰρ ἐτέχθη τῷ Ἰσαὰκ Ἠσαῦ ὁ μεματαωμένος, εἶτα Ἰακὼβ, ὁ τὰ πάθη νικήσας, ὁ πτερνιστὴς τῶν φαύ-λων. Ὁ καλὸς ἐπιλογισμὸς τὸν πονηρὸν προφθά-σαντα λογισμὸν ἐκνικησάτω.