Letter 265

To Heraclitus the Scholasticus [advocate]. The first assault of temptation, from which the passions take their beginning, becomes a scout of our strength. For example, a sight that is able to stir up desire has fallen upon the eye; through this the enemy reconnoiters the power within you, whether you are someone strong and well-prepared, or feeble and easily captured. But if the sense-perception is softened through pleasure toward the sight, and the image of the impression slips inside, into the mind, through the eyes, then the general of the inner faculties is overcome in war, that is, the intellect.

Ἡ πρώτη τοῦ πειρασμοῦ προσβολή, ὅθεν τὰ πάθη λαμβάνει τὴν ἀρχήν, τοῦτο τῆς ἡμετέρας δυνάμεως κατάσκοπος γίνεται. Οἷον, ἐνέπεσε τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ θέαμα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν δυνάμενον ἀνακινῆσαι· διὰ τοῦτο κατασκοπεῖ τὴν ἐν σοὶ δύναμιν ὁ πολέμιος, εἴτε ἰσχυρός τις καὶ ἐμπαράσκευός εἶ, εἴτε ἄτονος, καὶ εὐάλωτος. Εἰ δὲ μαλαχθείη δι᾿ ἡδονῆς πρὸς τὴν θέαν ἡ αἴσθησις, καὶ τοῦ χαρακτῆρος εἴδωλον ἔνδον τῆς διανοίας διὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν εἰσδύει, τότε καταπολεμεῖται ὁ στράτηγὸς τῶν ἔνδον, τουτέστιν ὁ νοῦς.