Letter 567

To Pharetrius the Engineer. "The hands of Israel," says the psalm, "served in the basket" [Psalm 80:6 LXX]. If, then, you seek to understand this, do not run in your mind to the Egypt perceived by the senses, nor consider the things that took place in the time of Moses, but understand it as referring to yourself. For the basket signifies the manifold complexity of sin, Egypt signifies affliction, and the hands signify one's pursuits. If, then, you have been caught enslaving yourself to sins, groan to the Lord from your heart, out of the hidden tempest and the wicked constraint, and press on toward the freedom of virtue.

Αἱ χεῖρες τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, φησὶν ὁ ψαλμὸς, ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ ἐδούλευσαν. Εἰ τοίνυν ζητεῖς μαθεῖν, μὴ εἰς τὴν αἰσθητὴν Αἴγυπτον τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐδράμης, μηδὲ σκόπει τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ Μωσέως γενόμενα, ἀλλ’ εἰς ἑαυτὸν νόει. Κόφινος γὰρ τὴν πολύπλοκον ἁμαρτίαν σημαίνει, Αἴγυπτος δὲ τὴν θλίψιν, χεῖρες δὲ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα. Εἰ οὖν κατελήφθης σεαυτὸν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις δουλεύοντα, στέναξον πρὸς Κύριον ἐκ καρδίας, ἐξ ἀποκρύφου καταιγίδος, καὶ συνοχῆς πονηρᾶς, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐλευθερίαν ἐπείχθητι.