Laudator Temporis Acti

Basil of Caesarea, Letters 115 (tr. Roy J. Deferrari):

And if there be need also of witnesses, slaves will not stand forth, nor any disreputable and utterly accursed race of eunuchs,—yes, I mean just that—a race, neither feminine nor masculine, woman-mad, envious, of evil wage, quick to anger, effeminate, slaves to the belly, money-mad, coarse, grumbling about their dinner, fickle, stingy, ready to accept anything, disgusting, crazed, jealous—and yet why say more?—at their very birth doomed to the knife! How then can these possess true judgment, whose very feet are twisted? They are chaste without reward—thanks to the knife; and they rave with passion without fruition—thanks to their own lewdness.

εἰ δὲ καὶ μαρτύρων χρεία, οὐ δοῦλοι στήσονται, οὐδὲ εὐνούχων γένος ἄτιμον καὶ πανώλεθρον· τοῦτο δὴ τοῦτο, ἄθηλυ, ἄνανδρον, γυναικομανές, ἐπίζηλον, κακόμισθον, ὀξύθυμον, θηλυδριῶδες, γαστρίδουλον, χρυσομανές, ἀπηνές, κλαυσίδειπνον, εὐμετάβλητον, ἀμετάδοτον, πάνδοχον, ἀπροσκορές, μανικὸν καὶ ζηλότυπον· καὶ τί γὰρ ἔτι εἰπεῖν; σὺν αὐτῇ τῇ γενέσει σιδηροκατάδικον. πῶς οὖν τούτων γνώμη ὀρθή, ὧν καὶ οἱ πόδες στρεβλοί; οὗτοι σωφρονοῦσι μὲν ἄμισθα διὰ σιδήρου· μαίνονται δὲ ἄκαρπα δι᾿ οἰκείαν αἰσχρότητα.