Letter 17: Epistle 17. To Eusebius, Archbishop of Cæsarea. I did not write in an insolent spirit, as you complain of my letter, but rather in a spiritual and philosophical one, and as was fitting, unless this too wrongs your most eloquent Gregory.
I did not write in an insolent spirit, as you suggest. I wrote in a spiritual and philosophical one — as was fitting, unless even that offends Your Eloquence.
You outrank me, I know. But surely you can grant me a small measure of liberty and honest speech.
So be kinder to me. But if you regard my letter as that of a servant who has no right even to look you in the face — then I'll accept the punishment and won't even shed a tear. Will you blame me for that too? That would be beneath you.
It's the mark of a great soul to accept a friend's frankness more readily than an enemy's flattery.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
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Epistle 42. To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata. (There still seemed a probability that intrigues and party spirit would carry the day, and so the two Gregories determined to call in the aid of Eusebius of Samosata, though he did not belong to the Province.
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1. What was my state of mind, think you, when I received your piety's letter? When I thought of the feelings which its language expressed, I was eager to fly straight to Syria; but when I thought of the bodily illness, under which I lay bound, I saw myself unequal, not only to flying, but even to turning on my bed.
After the letter conveyed to me by the officiales I have received one other dispatched to me later. I have not sent many myself, for I have not found any one travelling in your direction. But I have sent more than the four, among which also were those conveyed to me from Samosata after the first epistle of your holiness.
At once and in haste, after your departure, I came to the town. Why need I tell a man not needing to be told, because he knows by experience, how distressed I was not to find you? How delightful it would have been to me to see once more the excellent Eusebius, to embrace him, to travel once again in memory to our young days, and to be reminded o...