In his extended, formal letter ad Uxorem (c. 200), Tertullian used the evil-communication phrase twice. Tertullian was a highly learned Christian. He surely read Paul’s letters to the Corinthians and thought carefully about 1 Cor. 15:33. He probably was also familiar with many of Menander’s plays, including some now lost. He thus probably knew the context of the evil-communication phrase in Menander.

In translating the evil-communication phrase from its Greek sources to Latin, Tertullian employ two different Lain words. The first translation is (ad Uxorem, Bk 1, Ch. 8, sc. 4) is “Bonos corrumpunt mores congressus mali”. The second translation (id. Bk 2, Ch. 3, sc. 3) is “Bonos corrumpunt mores confabulationes malae.” The difference between these two phrases probably shouldn’t be ascribed to Tertullian’s carelessness. Tertullian devoted his life to serious thought, serious writing, and Christianity. The second evil-communication phrase may have been a deliberate Latin revision in light of more study of the context of the evil-communication phrase in the original Greek.

In surviving ancient texts including Latin translations of the evil-communication phrase , authors subsequent to Tertullian never used congressus and often used confabulationes. Of 26 subsequent Latin translations of the evil-communication phrase in Patrologia Latina through the writings of Jerome, the fourth word of the phrase (όμιλίαι) was translated as follows: congressus, no instances; confabulationes, 13 instances; colloquia, 13 instances. The latter two terms have meanings closely associated with verbal practices. Jerome, a highly learned scholar, translated the evil-communication phrase with both confabulationes and colloquia.