Letter 58

To the same man. Since you read the holy Scriptures with longing, you doubtless know the legislation that enjoins and commands all men that a parapet must be built upon the roof of the house [cf. Deuteronomy 22:8] - meaning, of course, the spiritual house, that is, the commonwealth lived according to God. For one must not only make a beginning of virtue, but also set upon it a finishing flourish and a completion, so that we may not be condemned, like the man in the Gospels who left his tower unfinished [Luke 14:28-30].

Ἐπειδὴ ποθεινῶς τὰς σεπτὰς ἀναγινώσκεις Γραφάς, οἶσθά που τὴν προττάττουσαν καὶ διακελευομένην τοῖς πᾶσιν νομοθεσίαν, δεῖν στεφάνην κατασκευάζειν ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος τῆς νοητῆς οἰκίας, δηλαδὴ τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν πολιτεύματος. Χρὴ γὰρ μὴ μόνον ἐπάρχεσθαι τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ κορωνίδα καὶ τέλος ἐπιτιθέναι, ἵνα μὴ καταγνωσθῶμεν, ὥσπερ ὁ ἐν τοῖς Εὐαγγελίοις τὸν πύργον ἀτελῆ καταλείψας.