Photius of Constantinople, Epistle to Boris I of Bulgaria, 68 (72)
Written c. 865 CE to recently converted Boris I of Bulgaria. An example of mirrors for princes. The paragraph on oaths is given in Montagu's edition as 72, while in White & Berrigan's translation it is given as 68.
Source: Photius, The Patriarch and the Prince, p. 69, Trans: Despina S. White & Joseph R. Berrigan Jr.. Brookline MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press. 1982.
A hasty oath makes perjury easy. In addition, swearing is the mark of an unstable and ignoble character, The man who is stable and magnanimous will be ashamed to affirm his words only by oath and thus to dishonor the credibility of his usual behaviour. Very providently the Maker's law, too, forbids the oath.
Source: Photius, Epistolae, p. 34. Edited by Richard Montagu. London: 1651.
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