Sententiae

Piety must be cared for above all things, which they rightly say is the mother of the virtues; for this is the beginning and end of the virtues 2 Sight is a teacher, as is the natural law, for knowing God and the cause that both sustains and creates all things; the one by encountering things seen and fixed, the other by reasoning through the things themselves that are seen and ordered to their author 3 Better [so zu lesen statt κρεῖστον] is an open-air faith than costly piety, and three gathered in the name of the Lord than many denying the divinity 4 Nothing is so magnificent to God, as a purified reason and a soul perfected in the doctrines of truth 5 Piety is the only unchangeable and abiding good 6 For that which is unattainable is also somehow not believable, because of envy; for to profane souls nothing of what is noble is trustworthy

Sententiae

Εὐσεβείας ἐπὶ πᾶσι φροντιστέον, ἣν μητέρα φασὶ τῶν ἀρε τῶν, ὀρθῶς λέγοντες· αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἀρχὴ καὶ τελευτὴ τῶν ἀρετῶν 2 Τὸ εἰδέναι θεὸν καὶ τὴν πάντων συνεκτικήν τε καὶ ποιητικὴν αἰτίαν καὶ ὄψις διδάσκαλος καὶ ὁ φυσικὸς νόμος· ἡ μὲν τοῖς ὁρω μένοις προσβάλλουσα καὶ πεπηγόσιν, ὁ δὲ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν ὁρωμένων καὶ τεταγμένων τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τούτων συλλογιζόμενος 3 Κρεῖσσον [so zu lesen statt κρεῖστον] ὑπαίθριος πίστις πο λυτελοῦς εὐσεβείας, καὶ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου πολλῶν ἀρνουμένων θεότητα 4 Οὐδὲν οὕτω τῷ θεῷ μεγαλοπρεπὲς, ὡς λόγος κεκαθαρμένος καὶ ψυχὴ τελεία τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας δόγμασιν 5 Μόνον ἀμετάπτωτον ἀγαθὸν καὶ παραμένον ἡ εὐσέβεια 6 Τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἐφικτὸν οὐδὲ πιστόν πως διὰ τὸν φθόνον· ψυχαῖς γὰρ βεβήλοις οὐδὲν τῶν καλῶν ἀξιόπιστον