A Book Collector Chastised

Βίβλους ἐκτήσω πλείστας, ὡς ἔμαθον, καὶ οἰήσει πλουτεῖς, ἀγνοῶν τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν, ταυτὸν τοιῶν τοῖς τὸν σῖτον κατέχουσι, καὶ τοὺς σῆτας τρέφουσι. Καὶ αὐταὶ μὲν γὰρ σντῶν μητέρες καὶ τροφοὶ, ὅταν δέδενται, γίνονται. Ἣ κέχρησο τοίνυν τῷ κτήματι, ἢ μὴ βλάπτε τὴν παίδευσιν, πολλὴν κἀνταῦθα κωμῳδίαν συνάγων, βιβλιοφόρος ἢ βιβλιοτάφος, καὶ σητοτρόφος καλούμενος· καὶ ἐπὶ Θεοῦ κατηγορίαν ἀθροίζων, ὡς μέγα τάλαντον ὠφελείας ἀποκρυψάμενος, ὅ ἄλλοις μὲν ἐπιστεύθη, καὶ σοφῶς ἐπειργάσθη, παρὰ σοῦ δὲ ἰταμῶς κατωρύχθη. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολή ΡΚΖ', Σιμπλικιῳ Source: Migne PG 78.268b

I have learned that you have procured many books for yourself and you think yourself enriched though you are ignorant of the reading of them, which is like those who hoard food and the worms eat it, for books are the mothers and nurses of worms when they are shut up. Make use, then, of what you have acquired, lest you hinder learning, and become a subject of ridicule, being called 'book devourer,' 'book tomb', 'worm feeder', and in the presence of God amassing condemnation, as one who hides the great talent of gain, which others receiving wisely put to work, but by you was precipitately buried. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 127, to Simplicius