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Epistula ad Antiochum

Letter of the same to Antiochus. Indeed, your reverence ought not to have your mind turned aside by the words of those who have spoken, but in the multitude of falsehood to track down the truth with much consideration. For if all the rumors were true, all would be in danger. But if hidden things are investigated by judgment and laws, I myself would have sought a tribunal from you, unless someone will again unleash other weapons of slander against me. For I fear, I fear from now on the shadows and the phantoms, since you yourselves have deemed it so. Friends have denied their friendship, those who were near have stood afar off, and being far off they shoot the arrows of slander, and you have caused one who was in the middle of the harbor to suffer shipwreck. But, even if I am cast out from the city and barred from the church, I am persuaded to face every punishment; for I have decided to practice philosophy and to bear hardships nobly. For I know, I know clearly, that the wilderness is more lawful than the city and the beasts of the field are tamer than friends.

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Epistula ad Antiochum

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρὸς Ἀντίοχον ἐπιστολὴ Ἔδει μὲν τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐλάβειαν μὴ τοῖς ῥήμασι τῶν εἰρηκότων παρατρέπεσθαι τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ψεύδους μετὰ πολλῆς σκέψεως ἀνιχνεῦσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἅπαντα τὰ θρυλούμενα ἀληθῆ, κινδυνεύσειαν ἂν ἅπαντες. Εἰ δὲ κρίσει καὶ νόμοις ἀνιχνεύεται τὰ λανθάνοντα, κριτήριον ἂν ἔγωγε παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπεζήτησα, εἰ μή τις ἕτερα αὖθις ὅπλα συκοφαντίας μοι ἐπιπνεύσει. ∆έδοικα γάρ, δέδοικα λοιπὸν τὰς σκιὰς καὶ τὰ φαντάσματα, ἐπειδὴ αὐτοὶ ἐδικαιώσατε οὕτως. Οἱ φίλοι τὴν φιλίαν ἠρνήσαντο, οἱ πλησίον ὄντες πόρρωθεν ἔστησαν καὶ πόρρωθεν ὄντες τὰ βέλη τῆς συκοφαντίας ἀποτοξεύουσιν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τοῦ λιμένος ὄντα ναυά-γιον ὑπομεῖναι ἐποιήσατε. Ἀλλ', εἰ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐκβάλλομαι καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἀπείργομαι, πείθομαι πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀποδύσασθαι τιμωρίαν· κέκριται γάρ μοι φιλοσοφεῖν καὶ φέρειν γενναίως τὰ δυσχερῆ. Οἶδα γάρ, οἶδα σαφῶς, τὴν ἐρημίαν ἐννομωτέραν εἶναι τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ τῶν φίλων ἡμερώτερα.