Letter 358: Oh, for the old days in which we were all in all to one another! Now we are sadly separated! You have one another, I have no one like you to replace you.
Those were the days — when we meant everything to each other. Now there's this sad distance between us. You have each other there; I have no one here who can take your place.
I hear Alcimus [a mutual colleague] is pulling off something remarkable for a man his age — rushing off to Rome like a young man on an adventure. And in doing so, he's left you stuck managing the students. [Basil taught rhetoric before becoming a bishop] You, generous as ever, probably won't hold that against him. You didn't even hold it against me that I had to be the one to write first.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Λιβάνιος Βασιλείῳ]
Ὦ χρόνων ἐκείνων, ἐν οἷς τὰ πάντα ἦμεν ἀλλήλοισϲ νῦν διῳκίσμεθα πικρῶς, ὑμεῖς μὲν ἔχοντες ἀλλήλους, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀνθʼ ὑμῶν οἷοί περ ὑμεῖς οὐδένα. τὸν δὲ Ἄλκιμον ἀκούω τὰ νέων ἐν γήρᾳ τολμᾷν καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ῥώμην πέτεσθαι, περιθέντα σοι τὸν τοῦ συνεῖναι τοῖς παιδαρίοις πόνον. σὺ δέ, τά τε ἄλλα πρᾶός τις, καὶ τοῦτο οἴσεις οὐ χαλεπῶς, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμῖν τοῦ γράψαι πρότερον οὐκ ἔσχες χαλεπῶς.
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