Letter 588

To Nicaretus the Silentiary [a silentiarius was an imperial palace official charged with keeping silence and order at court]. The man who goes up into the theaters, and who through his ears and through his eyes is bewitched and besieged by shameful desire, is a finished and complete adulterer, whether you wish it so or not. And since you are not acquitted of the charge of adultery, how can you tell me that your own soul takes no harm at all, when it keeps its life only as a captive and is willingly led off into slavery by the devil?

Ὁ ἀναβαίνων εἰς θέατρα, καὶ δι᾿ ὤτων, καὶ δι᾿ ὀφθαλμῶν ὑπὸ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς καταγοητευόμενος, καὶ πολιορκούμενος ἐπιθυμίας, ἀπηρτισμένος μοιχὸς ὑπάρχει κἂν θέλῃς, κἂν μὴ θέλῃς. Τοῦ δὲ τῆς μοιχείας ἐγκλήματος οὐκ ἀπηλλαγμένος, πῶς λέγεις μοι μηδὲν παραβλάπτεσθαι τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχὴν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ σώζωσαν, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου ἑκουσίως ἀνδραποδιζομένην.