Letter 357: What has made Basil object to the letter, the proof of philosophy? I have learned to make fun from you, but nevertheless your fun is venerable and, so to say, hoary with age. But, by our very friendship, by our common pastimes, do away, I charge you, with the distress caused by your letter...in nothing differing.
Why does Basil object to my letter — the very proof that philosophy is alive between us? You've taught me to tease, but your teasing, I'll admit, has a certain gravitas to it — dignified even in jest.
But I appeal to our friendship itself, to the pastimes we've shared — please, I beg you, put aside whatever distress my letter caused you. In this we are no different from each other.
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*Note: This letter is from Libanius [celebrated pagan rhetor of Antioch, longtime correspondent of Basil] to Basil, and survives only as a fragment. The original text breaks off mid-thought.*
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Λιβάνιος Βασιλείῳ]
Τί παθὼν Βασίλειος ἐδυσχέρανεν τὸ γράμμα, τῆς φιλοσοφίας τὸ γνώρισμα; παίζειν παρʼ ὑμῶν ἐδιδάχθημεν· ἀλλʼ ὅμως τὰ παίγνια σεμνὰ καὶ οἱονεὶ πολιᾷ πρέποντα. ἀλλὰ πρὸς τῆς φιλίας αὐτῆς καὶ τῶν κοινῶν διατριβῶν, λῦσόν μοι τὴν ἀθυμίαν, ἥν μοι ἔτεκεν ἡ ἐπιστολὴ... ... οὐδὲν διαφέρουσα.
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