1. I have received your Excellency's letter, in which you ask me to write to you. This you would not desire, did you not believe that what you thought I would write to you would be acceptable and pleasant —in other words, if you longed for the vanities of this world while they were unknown to you, you scorn them now they are known, for the charm in them is illusory, the toil unrewarded, the anxiety unremitting, the uplifting dangerous; man seeks them at first without reflection and abandons them at last with remorse. So it is with all the things that are sought in the tribulation of this mortal life with more eagerness than reflection, but it is far different with the hope of the godly; different with the reward of their toil, different too with the outcome of their perils. For in this world fear and grief, toil and peril, are unavoidable, but it is of the utmost importance for what cause, with what hope, and to what end a man endures those things. For my part, when I look upon those who love this world, I know not at what moment wisdom can most opportunely undertake the healing of their souls, for when things apparently are prosperous with them, they scornfully disdain her wholesome warnings and deem them but a kind of old wives' song; but when they are in the pangs of adversity, they rather think of escaping the source of their present pangs than of seizing the things that may provide a cure and a haven of refuge, in which their pangs will be completely prevented. At times, however (though these are less frequent in prosperity and more frequent in adversity), some of them turn the ears of their heart a to apply them to the truth, yet these are few, for so it was foretold. b Among them I desire you to be, my noble and most distinguished lord and son much longed for, because I love you truly. Let this counsel to you be my answer to your letter, for, though I should not wish you to endure henceforward such sufferings as you have endured in the past, my wish is yet greater that you may not have endured them without some change of your life for the better.
1. Accepi litteras eximietatis tuae, quibus me ad te petis ut scriberem. Quod quidem non desiderares, nisi et hoc, quod me posse scribere existimasti, gratum haberes atque iucundum, id autem est, ut vana saeculi huius, si inexperta concupisti, experta contemnas. Fallax est enim in eis suavitas et infructuosus labor et perpetuus timor et periculosa sublimitas, initium sine providentia et finis cum paenitentia. Ita se habent omnia, quae in ista mortalitatis aerumna cupidius quam prudentius appetuntur. Alia est autem spes piorum, alius laboris fructus, alia periculorum merces. Nam in hoc mundo non timere, non dolere, non laborare, non periclitari inpossibile est; sed plurimum interest, qua causa, qua expectatione, quo termino quisque ista patiatur. Ego quidem cum amatores saeculi huius intueor, nescio quando possit esse ad eorum animos sanandos opportuna sapientia. Quando enim res velut prosperas habent, fastu respuunt salubres monitus et quasi anilem reputant cantilenam; quando autem in adversis anguntur, magis cogitant evadere unde ad praesens anguntur, quam capere unde curentur et unde perveniant ubi angi omnino non possunt. Aliquando tamen quidam cordis aures admovent atque adhibent veritati rarius inter prospera, crebrius inter adversa, sed tamen pauci sunt, ita enim praedicti sunt, inter quos te esse cupio, quia veraciter diligo, domine insignis et praestantissime ac desiderantissime fili. Haec admonitio tibi sit mea resalutatio, quia, etsi te deinceps talia perpeti qualia pertulisti, plus tamen nolo haec ipsa te sine aliqua in melius vitae mutatione fuisse perpessum.