Letter 463

To Lausus the Primiscrinius. [primiscrinius: chief of a bureau of clerks in the late Roman imperial administration] Having no brothers and having acquired no children, for whom, then, do you insatiably heap up gold? And the greater the hoard, the more and the heavier the eternal punishment that is stored up for you. Would that so much wealth had passed, at the fitting time, into the hands of devout and holy men, according to what is written: that certain men gathered up silver greedily, of which they shall not taste; but the things which these men amassed out of much injustice, of these the righteous shall eat. But I do not think it will turn out so in your case; for you are unworthy, and the popular proverb already overtakes you, the one that says: "What the Tantalizers have gathered, the Castanet-players shall devour." [a proverbial saying: what greedy hoarders accumulate, frivolous and worthless people will consume]

Μήτ’ ἀδελφοὺς ἔχων, μήτε τέκνα κτησάμενος, τίνι ἄρα τὸ χρυσίον συνάγεις ἀκορέστως; Ὅσῳ δὲ πολὺ τὸ θησαύρισμα, τοσούτῳ πλεῖον καὶ βαρυτέρα ταμιεύεται σοι ἡ αἰώνιος κόλασις. Καὶ ὀφελόν γε τὰ τοσαῦτα χρήματα, τῷ καιρῷ τῷ οἰκείῳ εἰς ἄνδρας εὐλαβεῖς καὶ ὁσίους ἔφθασαν, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, ὅτιπερ Συνήθροισάν τινες ἀπλήστως ἀργύριον, ἐξ οὗ οὐ γεύσονται· ἅπερ δ’ οὗτοι συνήνεγκαν ἐξ ἀδικίας πολλῆς, ταῦτα δίκαιοι ἔδονται. Ἀλλ’ οὐχ οὕτως νομίζω γενήσεσθαι ἐπὶ σοῖ· ἀνάξιος γὰρ ὑπάρχεις, τὴν δὲ δημώδη παροιμίαν ἤδη καταλαμβάνουσαν σε, τὴν λέγουσαν· Τὰ Τανταλιστῶν φάγονται Κροταλισταί. ΠΝΑ΄. – ΞΑΝΘΙΠΠΩ ΔΙΑΚΟΝΩ. Καλῶς γε πάνυ πράττεις, ταῖς νηστείαις, καὶ ταῖς χαμευνίαις, τῇ τε χρηστῇ ἀγρυπνίᾳ, καὶ τῇ πυκνῇ προσευχῇ καταπατῶν τε καὶ ὑπεραλλόμενος τὰς τρικυμίας τῶν σαρκικῶν ἡδονῶν, Θεῷ δὲ τῷ συνεργοῦντι ἡμῖν ἀεὶ εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν τὴν νίκην ἀνατιθεὶς τοῦ κράτους τῆς θαλάσσης, τὸν δὲ σάλον τῶν κυμάτων αὐτῆς σὺ καταπραΰνεις.