ASCETIC AND PARÆNETIC WORKS. LETTER TO EUGIPIUS THE PRESBYTER, concerning the translation made by him of the book of Gregory of Nyssa, 'On the Condition or Making of Man.' To the most holy lord, and by me most highly to be venerated, the sacred Eugipius the presbyter, Dionysius Exiguus. Having complied, according to my strength, with the holy zeal of your veneration, I have translated from the Greek tongue the book of the blessed Gregory of Nyssa, bishop, 'On the Condition of Man,' set forth by him in thirty-one chapters: in which work how much difficulty I experienced will be proved from the reading itself.
For in very many places, dwelling upon the opinions of the philosophers, he displayed the rich abundance of his learning, so that he omitted almost nothing of those things which were treated by those learned and leisured minds, through inextricable questions, in this matter. Some of their absurdities, too, he so demolished that he almost suggested to us that saying of the Apostle by which he instructs the faithful, saying: 'Beware lest anyone deceive you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ' (Col. II, 8). For just as he wisely approves certain right things which God revealed to them, so the perverse things of theirs he either himself corrects, or shows how far they are to be avoided by others;
except, of course, for a few instances in which, while he vigorously pursues vices, he himself also (as is wont to happen) put forth things that are faulty. Therefore, emulating the eloquence of so great a teacher, I have indeed striven to follow his fluency of expression, though I could not attain it with too unequal an ability. Yet I have preserved the fidelity of his thoughts according to my own mediocrity, knowing that nothing is more excellent than truth. And because there are, as I said, some things which can deservedly be reprehended, let no reader suppose my assent to be bound in these; for I have unfolded it by the office of a translator, not approved it by the judgment of a censor. Wherefore with the humble obedience of devotion I pray that your holiness may
receive the fulfilment of my promise with a most grateful mind, and in whatever I seem to have spoken less elegantly, may you clemently grant pardon; because, being drawn away by the necessity of the time from the conference of most learned men, I did not arrange the book with that splendour which I ought, a book which, as it is approved by many to abound in virtues, so to some, as I have often related, it seems sprinkled with certain blemishes. Let your worthiness therefore pray for me, that, pressed by such great straits, I may at least rejoice in the breadth of spiritual studies: nor may it ever be permitted to present sorrows so to prevail as to lead us away from the purpose of future delight. For we take the greatest solace in this misery, if we treat of the coming glory with continual meditation.
For although a man, out of love for heavenly things, bears with difficulty the discomforts of this pilgrimage, and cries out with the prophet in grief: 'Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged; I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar; my soul has been long a sojourner' (Ps. CXIX, 5); and although with the blessed Apostle he confidently asserts: 'I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ' (Phil. I, 23); yet he is believed not to be exiled far from his fatherland, if he always pursues his fatherland with longing.