Nilus of Ancyra→Euporus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Euporus the Deacon.
The law of Moses prescribes that, among certain other creatures, both the mouse and the weasel be guarded against. In legislating this, it commands through symbol and figure that we associate ourselves neither with the foul reasonings that go before, nor with those that follow after. For of the passions, the ways, and the dispositions that are forbidden, some go in advance and some come after. When the desire to please men and vainglory have led the way, there follow inevitably arrogance and boastfulness and every shameful and demonic passion. Again, evil desire runs ahead to dig out the cave of licentiousness, and at once the demon of foul deeds comes in, and, having taken up residence in the cave that has been made, works sin. For the Lord Jesus says that the man who has looked upon a woman with desire is already a full-grown adulterer [Matthew 5:28]. Again, when envious malice and anger have led the way, there follow plotting and harm. For indeed the mouse often first digs out the hole in the wall, and then afterward a weasel, entering in, or a serpent, or some other such creature, makes its lair in the crevice.
The law of Moses prescribes that, among certain other creatures, both the mouse and the weasel be guarded against. In legislating this, it commands through symbol and figure that we associate ourselves neither with the foul reasonings that go before, nor with those that follow after. For of the passions, the ways, and the dispositions that are forbidden, some go in advance and some come after. When the desire to please men and vainglory have led the way, there follow inevitably arrogance and boastfulness and every shameful and demonic passion. Again, evil desire runs ahead to dig out the cave of licentiousness, and at once the demon of foul deeds comes in, and, having taken up residence in the cave that has been made, works sin. For the Lord Jesus says that the man who has looked upon a woman with desire is already a full-grown adulterer [Matthew 5:28]. Again, when envious malice and anger have led the way, there follow plotting and harm. For indeed the mouse often first digs out the hole in the wall, and then afterward a weasel, entering in, or a serpent, or some other such creature, makes its lair in the crevice.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.