Theodoret of Cyrrhus→Unknown|c. 440 AD|theodoret cyrrhus
friendshipgrief death
To the Same.
When people love deeply, I am not sure they can be impartial judges of those they love. Affection overrides justice. A father sees beauty in a homely son. A son overlooks his father's faults. A brother looks at his brother through the lens of feeling, not through the clear light of nature. I am afraid this is how Your Holiness has judged my writing — that your verdict was delivered by warmth of heart, not by a cool assessment of the work.
The power of love is very great, and it often hides the considerable faults of those we care for. Because you are so full of it, you have garlanded what I wrote with your generous praise. All I can do is ask your piety to beseech our gracious Lord to make your commendation come true — to make the man you praised something like the portrait your kind words have painted of him.
Letter 2
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To the Same.
When men love warmly, I doubt whether in the case of the children of those whom they love, they can be impartial judges. Justice is carried away by affection. Fathers fancy that their ugly boys are beautiful, and sons do not see the uncomeliness of their fathers. Brother looks at brother in the light of affection rather than of nature. It is thus that I am afraid your holiness has judged what I have written, and that the sentence has been delivered by warmth of feeling. For truly the power of love is very great, and not seldom it keeps out of sight considerable errors in our friends. It is because you have so much of it, my dear friend, that you have wreathed what I have written with your kindly praises. All I can do is to ask your piety to beseech the good Lord to ratify your eulogy, and make the man you have praised something like the picture painted in the words of his admirers.
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To the Same.
When people love deeply, I am not sure they can be impartial judges of those they love. Affection overrides justice. A father sees beauty in a homely son. A son overlooks his father's faults. A brother looks at his brother through the lens of feeling, not through the clear light of nature. I am afraid this is how Your Holiness has judged my writing — that your verdict was delivered by warmth of heart, not by a cool assessment of the work.
The power of love is very great, and it often hides the considerable faults of those we care for. Because you are so full of it, you have garlanded what I wrote with your generous praise. All I can do is ask your piety to beseech our gracious Lord to make your commendation come true — to make the man you praised something like the portrait your kind words have painted of him.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.