Letter 572

To Crispus, returned from captivity. Having been ransomed from the bitter mastery of the barbarians by the compassion of God, how is it that you so quickly snore away in heedless ease, making no propitiation to the One who marvelously snatched you out of the hand of strangers and of the impious, but instead have enslaved yourself to your many sins?

Ἐκ τῆς πικρᾶς βαρβάρων δεσποτείας εὐσπλαγχνίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλυτρωθεῖς, πῶ ἢ ῥέγχειις ταχέως ἀμεριμνῶν, καὶ μὴ ἐξιλασκόμενος τὸν παραδόξως ἐξαρπάσαντά σε ἐκ χειρὸς ἀλλοτρίων, καὶ ἀσεβῶν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον σαυτὸν καταδουλώσας ταῖς πολλαῖς ἁμαρτίαις ;