Letter 344: I am dissuaded from writing often to you, learned as you are, by my timidity and my ignorance. But your persistent silence is different. What excuse can be offered for it?
Basil of Caesarea→Libanius|c. 377 AD|basil caesarea
Economic matters
I am discouraged from writing to you -- learned as you are -- by my timidity and my ignorance. But your persistent silence is a different matter entirely. What excuse can there be for it? If anyone reflects that you are slow to write to me, a man who lives at the very center of letters, he will conclude that you have simply forgotten me. A man who is ready at speaking is never unprepared to write. And if such a man stays silent, it is clear that he acts either from forgetfulness or from contempt.
I will, however, repay your silence with a greeting. Farewell, most honored sir. Write if you like. If you prefer, do not write.
ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA
Basil to Libanius.
I am dissuaded from writing often to you, learned as you are, by my timidity and my ignorance. But your persistent silence is different. What excuse can be offered for it? If any one takes into account that you are slow to write to me, living as you do in the midst of letters, he will condemn you for forgetfulness of me. He who is ready at speaking is not unprepared to write. And if a man so endowed is silent, it is plain that he acts either from forgetfulness or from contempt. I will, however, requite your silence with a greeting. Farewell, most honoured sir. Write if you like. If you prefer it, do not write.
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Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202344.htm>.
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I am discouraged from writing to you -- learned as you are -- by my timidity and my ignorance. But your persistent silence is a different matter entirely. What excuse can there be for it? If anyone reflects that you are slow to write to me, a man who lives at the very center of letters, he will conclude that you have simply forgotten me. A man who is ready at speaking is never unprepared to write. And if such a man stays silent, it is clear that he acts either from forgetfulness or from contempt.
I will, however, repay your silence with a greeting. Farewell, most honored sir. Write if you like. If you prefer, do not write.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.