To Bishop Paul: His Wisdom and Gentleness

The faithful interpreter of our holy religion so orders everything that no room is left for wrongdoers in the future. For what else, for instance, do you promise us, by such great holiness of character, than that we should lay aside every error and lead a blessed life? In this I see that the highest praise belongs to your virtues, because by your urging you have changed even an untaught mind and drawn it over to an excellent state. It would not seem so wonderful if you had only strengthened educated minds by instilling wisdom into them, for intelligent people have a kind of kinship with devotion; but rough country natures are not easily won over to the side of strictness. Think of those who carve the shapes of animals out of stone. They take on a fairly hard task when they strike very hard rock with their chisels, while those who try their hand on softer materials find their hands helped by how easily such stuff is shaped; and it is thought right that the workman’s labor, when it is hard, should be held in the highest honor. In the same way, sir, special praise ought to be given to you, because you have taken unpolished country minds, set them free from the darkness of sin, and made them both think what is human and understand what is divine. [a]

Xenocrates, by far the most learned of the philosophers, is held in no less esteem for succeeding by stern exhortation in getting luxury conquered. A certain Polemo, heavy with wine, came staggering openly out of a night of revelry just when Xenocrates’s hearers were flocking to his school. He went in too, and brazenly took his seat among the crowd of students, dressed just as he had come from the banquet. A garland of flowers was on his head, and he did not feel ashamed to look unlike all the others, because a long drinking bout had in fact upset his brain, the seat of reason. The rest of those present began to grumble loudly that so unfit a hearer had found his way in among a gathering of learned men. But the master himself was not disturbed in the least. Instead he began to speak on the science of morals and the laws of moderation. And the teacher’s influence proved so powerful that the mind of that brazen intruder was won over to the love of modesty. First of all, Polemo, utterly ashamed, took the garland off his head and declared himself a disciple. And in time he fitted himself so thoroughly to the duties of a dignified life, and gave himself so fully to modesty, that a glorious change of character covered over the habits of his former life. Now this is the very thing we admire in your teaching: without using any threats, and without resorting to terror of any kind, you have turned foolish minds to the worship of God, so that even a badly ordered mind should believe it better to live well and happily with everyone than to hold unrighteous opinions with a few. [c]