Letter 194

Isidore of PelusiumUnknown|isidore pelusium
From: Isidore of Pelusium, monk at Pelusium
To: Didymus the Presbyter
Date: ~410 AD
Context: Isidore on the necessity of struggle — and on the fact that no one who fought in earnest was ultimately defeated.

First, you must overcome. And no struggle is contemptible when victory is what is at stake.

Even if the opponent is formidable — and the passions are formidable — history shows that those who fought in earnest were not finally defeated. The struggle is real, but it is not one-sided. The one who entered the contest has already done something the one who never fought cannot claim: he has tested himself. And in that testing, he has discovered resources he did not know he had.

Do not despise the difficulty. Embrace it. The difficulty is what makes the victory worth having.

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.