IX.

The soul can with difficulty be recalled to those good things from which it has fallen, and is with difficulty dragged away from those evils to which it has become accustomed. If at any time thou showest a disposition to blame thyself, then perhaps, through the medicine of repentance, I should cherish good hopes regarding thee. But when thou altogether despisest fear, and rejectest with scorn the very faith of Christ, it were better for thee that thou hadst never been born from the womb.—From the writings of John of Damascus.

09 [17c] Δυσαναβίβαστος ἡ ψυχὴ πρὸς ταῦτα ἀφ' ὧν ὠλίσθησε καλῶν, δυσεκβίβαστός τε τούτων ὧν συνειθίσθη κακῶν. [Εἰ μὲν σαυτόν ποτε ἠθέλησας μέμψασθαι, τῷ φαρμάκῳ τῆς μετανοίας τάχα ἂν χρηστάς τινας ἐλπίδας ἐθρεψάμην ἐπὶ σοί, ἐπειδὴ δὲ τελείως κατεφρόνησας τοῦ φόβου καὶ αὐτῆς κατέπτυσας τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως, βέλτιόν σοι ὑπῆρχεν ἵνα μὴ ἐγενήθης ἀπὸ γαστρός.]