Letter 112: Nonnus's beautiful hair may keep him circling between marriage and ordination.
You denied us your beloved, because you desired greater things and were hurrying toward priesthood. I have always admired your beautiful hair, but now I fear it may stand in the way of your zeal.
When you see the moment arrive and those famous locks about to fall, I imagine you will weep over the misfortune and run away, seeking to appear as a beautiful bridegroom instead of a priest. Then, if things happen that way, you will again betroth a young woman; and when the wedding is at hand, you will leap back toward priesthood as love changes direction.
Stop going round in circles. Let experience be your teacher, so that I do not again have to hear of substitutes, of your reddish locks, and of everything this present episode has taught me.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed.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.
Latin / Greek Original
Νόννωι Σὺ μὲν ὑμῖν τὴν ἐρωμένην ἠρνήσω, τὰ μείζω ποθῶν καὶ πρὸς ἱερωσύνην κατεπειγόμενος· ἐγὼ δέ σου τὴν καλὴν κόμην θαυμάσας ἀεί, νῦν δέδοικα μή σου παρεμποδὼν γένηται τῇ προθυμίᾳ. ἐπειδὰν γὰρ ἴδῃς παρόντα τὸν καιρὸν καὶ τὰς ᾀδομένας τρίχας μελλούσας πεσεῖν, δακρύσας, οἶμαι, τὸ πάθος οἰχήσῃ φυγών, καὶ ζητήσεις ἀνθ' ἱερέως νυμφίος ὀφθῆναι καλός. καὶ πάλιν, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, μνηστεύσεις κόρην, καὶ τοῦ γάμου παρόντος πρὸς ἱερωσύνην σχήσεις μεταπηδῶντα τὸν ἔρωτα. ἀλλὰ παῦσαί ποτε κύκλῳ φερό μενος, τὴν πεῖραν ἔχων διδάσκαλον, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν † μὴ γνῶν ὑποβόλων καὶ σῶν σπαδίκων ἀκούσω καὶ ὅσα νῦν ἡμᾶς ἐξεπαίδευσεν.
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern procopius gaza batch7 matia greek v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.matia.gr/pisth/pdf/pg_migne/Procopius_of_Gaza_PG_87a-87c/Epistulae.pdf
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