Cyprian & Lactantius · a new plain-English translation from the original language
As for you, whom the heavenly army has already marked out for its spiritual encampment, hold fast to a discipline that is uncorrupted, hold fast to one that is sober through devout virtues. Let prayer be your constant occupation, or else the reading of Scripture. Converse with God in this hour, and let this same hour belong to God speaking back to you. May his commands be the ones shaping you, his guidance the one directing your course. The one whom he has made rich, no one will make poor. There can no longer be any want, once the heavenly nourishment has filled the breast to the full. Then the ceilings picked out with gold and the dwellings clothed in panels of costly marble will seem cheap to you, once you have learned that it is yourself who must rather be cultivated, yourself who must rather be adorned, and that this house is the better one for you, the house where the Lord has settled himself as though it were his shrine, the house where the Spirit of holiness has taken up his dwelling. Let us paint this house with the colors of innocence, let us light it with the light of righteousness. This house will never sink into ruin through the decay of age, nor will it be disfigured by the fading of wall-paint or of gold. Whatever is merely painted on is perishable, and gives no lasting confidence to those who hold it, since it has no truth of possession. But this house endures, ever alive in its adornment, whole in its honor, lasting in its splendor. It cannot be destroyed or extinguished; it can only be reshaped for the better when the body itself returns.
These few words for now, dearest Donatus. For although an easy patience born of goodness, a mind made steady in the Lord, and a faith secure in wholesome hearing delight you, and nothing is so pleasing to your ears as what is pleasing to the Lord, still we must set a measure to what is said, since we are joined together and shall speak often again, and since this is now a time of rest and a season of leisure. Whatever remains of the day, as the sun now leans toward evening, let us spend it in gladness, and let not even the hour of our meal be without a share of heavenly grace. Let a sober banquet resound with psalms; since your memory is retentive and your voice tuneful, take up this task as is fitting. You feed your dearest companions all the more if we have some spiritual hearing among us, if a devout sweetness charms our ears.