Letter 346: You yourself will judge whether I have added anything in the way of learning to the young men whom you have sent. I hope that this addition, however little it be, will get the credit of being great, for the sake of your friendship towards me. But inasmuch as you give less praise to learning than to temperance and to a refusal to abandon our soul...
[From Libanius to Basil]
You yourself will judge whether I have added anything to the learning of the young men you sent. I hope that whatever small addition I have made will receive credit for being great, on account of your friendship toward me. But since you give less praise to learning than to self-control and a refusal to surrender the soul to dishonorable pleasures, they have devoted their main attention to that, and have lived -- as they should -- with constant awareness of the friend who sent them here.
So welcome what is yours, and give praise to men who by the way they have lived have done credit to both you and me. As for asking you to look after them -- that is like asking a father to look after his children.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Λιβάνιος Βασιλείῳ]
Εἰ μέν τι περὶ τοὺς λόγους τοῖς νέοις οἷς ἔπεμψας προσεθήκαμεν, αὐτὸς κρινεῖς. ἐλπίζω δὲ αὐτό, κἂν μικρὸν ᾖ, μεγάλου λήψεσθαι δόξαν, διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς φιλίαν. ὃ δὲ πρὸς τῶν λόγων ἐπαινεῖς, τὴν σωφροσύνην καὶ τὸ μὴ παραδοῦναι τὰς ψυχὰς ταῖς οὐ καλαῖς ἡδοναῖς, πάνυ τούτου πεποίηνται πρόνοιαν, καὶ διήγαγον, ὡς εἰκὸς ἦν, τοῦ πέμψαντος μεμνημένους. δέχου δὴ τὰ σεαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐπαίνει τοὺς σέ τε κἀμὲ τῷ τρόπῳ κεκοσμηκότας. παρακαλεῖν δέ σε πρὸς τὸ βοηθεῖν, ὅμοιον ἦν τῷ πατέρα παισὶ παρακαλεῖν βοηθεῖν.
Related Letters
Will you not give over, Basil, packing this sacred haunt of the Muses with Cappadocians, and these redolent of the frost and snow and all Cappadocia's good things? They have almost made me a Cappadocian too, always chanting their I salute you. I must endure, since it is Basil who commands.
To Basil [this letter is widely considered spurious — a later forgery attributed to Julian].
1. After some little time a young Cappadocian has reached me. One gain to me is that he is a Cappadocian.
Twice cabbage is death, says the unkind proverb. I, however, though I have called for it often, shall die once. Yes: even though I had never called for it at all!
(At the request of Anthimus it would appear that S. Gregory wrote to S. Basil a letter, not now extant, proposing a conference between the rival Metropolitans.