THE EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS TO MARY AT
NEAPOLIS, NEAR ZARBUS.
GNATIUS, who is also called Theophorus, to her who has obtained mercy through the grace of the most high God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Lord, who died for us, to Mary, my daughter, most faithful, worthy of God, and hearing Christ [in her heart], wishes abundance of happiness in God.
Chap. i.—Acknowledgment of her excellence and wisdom.
Sight indeed is better than writing, inasmuch as, being one[1] of the company of the senses, it not only, by communicating proofs of friendship, honours him who receives them, but also, by those which it in turn receives, enriches the desire for better things. But the second harbour of refuge, as the phrase runs, is the practice of writing, which we have received, as a convenient haven, by thy faith, from so great a distance, seeing that by means of a letter we have learned the excellence that is in thee. For the souls of the good, O thou wisest[2] of women! resemble fountains of the purest water; for they allure by their beauty passers-by to drink of them, even though these should not be thirsty. And thy intelligence invites us, as by a word of command, to participate in those divine draughts which gush forth so abundantly in thy soul.
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