Letter 299

Nilus of AncyraHelladius|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted

To Helladius the Reader [lector, a minor cleric].

That idleness becomes the beginning of wrongdoing for the undisciplined, you yourself also acknowledge; and that the Hebrews, having nothing to do in the wilderness, fell away into idolatry [Exodus 32, the golden calf], you know. Do not, therefore, abhor the work of the hands, for it is profitable, and altogether sobering.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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

Ὅτι ἡ ἀργία ἀρχὴ κακουργίας τοῖς ἀπαιδεύτοις γίνεται, καὶ αὐτὸς συνομολογεῖς, καὶ ὅτι μὴ ἔχοντες τί πρᾶξαι οἱ Ἑβραῖοι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ εἰς εἰδωλολατρίαν ἐξέπεσαν, γινώσκεις. Μὴ οὖν βδελύττου τὸ ἔργον τὸ τῶν χειρῶν, ὅτι ὠφέλιμον, καὶ πάνυ νηφάλιον.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern nilus ancyra workflow v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: project source import

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