Bad Books

Τίς σε οὐ κωμῳδήσει; τίς σε οὐκ ἐλεήσει, ἐν γαλήνῃ φιλοσοφίας τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου μαθητῶν καθεζόμενον, καὶ θόρυβον καὶ βρασμὸν Ἑλληνικῶν  συγγραφέων καὶ ποιητῶν ἐφελκόμενον; Τί γὰρ, εἰπε μοι, παρ' ἐκείνοις τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς προτισμότερον; Τί δὲ οὐ ψεύδους γέμει καὶ γέλωτος, ὦν ἐκεινοι σπουδάζουσιν; Οὐχ αἱ θεότητες ἐκ παθῶν; Οὐχ αἱ ανδρεῖαι ὑπὲρ παθῶν; Οὐχ οἱ ἀγῶνες ὑπὲρ παθῶν; Φεῦγε τοίνυν καὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν τῆς αἰσχρότητος. Δεινῶς γὰρ οἶδεν ἀναστομοῦν τοὺς τῶν τραυμάτων συνουλώσαντας μώλωπας· μήποτε ὑποστρεψῃ τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πονηρίας σφοδρότερον, καὶ χείρονά σοι τὴν ἥτταν τῆς προτέρας ἀγνοίας ἤ ῥᾳθυμίας ἐργάσηται. Ἅγιος Ἰσίδωρος Του Πηλουσιώτου, Βιβλιον Πρῶτον, Ἐπιστολὴ ΞΓ' Θαλελαιῳ Μονακῳ Source: Migne PG 78.224c

Who will not mark you as a comic figure? Who will not have you as a subject of tragedy, you who may sit in the peace of a disciple of the philosophy of Christ, yet you drag yourself off into the clamour and tumults of pagan tales and poetry? Why, tell me, do you prefer them to our works? Because there is no deceit and laughter on which they are so keen? Do Divine things come from depraved passions? Does fortitude over passion? Do struggles over passion? Since fearfully over the open wound the hard scab has already formed, flee your shameful reading, lest with greater vehemence the wicked spirit bear down on you, and on account of your prior ignorance and neglect, you be set to work on something worse and more wicked. Saint Isidore of Pelusium, Book 1, Letter 63, To Thalelaios the Monk