A Spur To Improve

Ὁτι παντάσασιν ἀκερδής ἐστιν ἡ κακία, καὶ πρὸς τὰ παρόντα φαύλη σύνοικος, καὶ πρὸς τὰ μέλλοντα ἰσχυρὰ κατήγορος, φήσουσί σοι πολλοί. Τί τοίνυν αὐτήν ἀσπάζῃ καὶ περιέπεις, Κακόβουλε μᾶλλον ἢ ΕὐΒουλε; Ἥν φεύγων ὡς πᾶσι τοῖς καλοὶς πολεμίαν, καὶ Θεῷ φανήσῃ καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἀοίδιμος. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλίον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΣΞΑ', Εὐβουλῳ

Many have said to you that evil is utterly unprofitable, since in the present it places one amid wickedness and in the future it bring strong denunciation. Why then should I not greet you and refer to you as a man of evil will rather than as one of good will? Yet if you flee from being an enemy to all that is fair, you may appear both to men and to God as one worth celebrating. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 261, to Euboulos