Letter 654

To the Same Person. Neither is virtue a substance subsisting by nature, nor is vice a rational living creature, as some suppose; rather, both are accustomed to come into being - or, again, to pass away - through the taking up, or the practice, or the exercise, or the abstention of those who partake, or do not partake, of them.

Οὔτε ἡ ἀρετὴ οὐσίᾳ φύσει ὑφεστῶσα, οὔτε ἡ κα κία ζῷόν ἐστι λογικόν, ὥς τινες νομίζουσιν ἀλλ᾽ ἀμ φότερα ἐξ ἀναλήψεως, ἢ μελέτης, ἢ ἐργασίας, ἢ ἀποχῆς τῶν μετεχόντων ἢ μὴ μετεχόντων γίνεσθαι εἴωθεν, ἢ πάλιν ἀπογίνεσθαι.