Letter 1583: Touching on the highest of all subjects — for there is nothing more glorious than leading a wandering soul back to...
Isidore of Pelusium→Xummaagtheios|c. 430 AD|Isidore of Pelusium|To Xummaagtheios (recipient)|AI-assisted
education books
You ought not to be astonished if the wicked wage war against the good. On the contrary, it would be astonishing if matters were not so; for although it seems exceedingly absurd, and is neither expressible in word nor bearable in deed, nevertheless it happens according to reason. For darkness is opposed to light; and robbers, putting out the lamps, turn to their robbery. For, regarding the good men's way of life as a reproach upon their own, they contrive to put it out of the way.
It is a paradox, most excellent sir, that what is superior to the prevailing opinion is also a stranger to common custom.
You ought not to be astonished if the wicked wage war against the good. On the contrary, it would be astonishing if matters were not so; for although it seems exceedingly absurd, and is neither expressible in word nor bearable in deed, nevertheless it happens according to reason. For darkness is opposed to light; and robbers, putting out the lamps, turn to their robbery. For, regarding the good men's way of life as a reproach upon their own, they contrive to put it out of the way.
It is a paradox, most excellent sir, that what is superior to the prevailing opinion is also a stranger to common custom.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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.