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| Basil to Libanius.
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Letter CCCXXXIX.
Basil to Libanius.
What could not a sophist
say? And such a sophist! One whose peculiar art is,
whenever he likes, to make great things small, and to give greatness to
small things! This is what you have shewn in my case. That
dirty little letter of mine, as, perhaps, you who live in all luxury of
eloquence would call it, a letter in no way more tolerable than the one
you hold in your hands now, you have so extolled as, forsooth, to be
eaten by it, and to be yielding me the prize for composition! You
are acting much as fathers do, when they join in their boys’
games, and let the little fellows be proud of the victories which they
have let them win without any loss to themselves, and with much gain to
the children’s emulation. Really and truly the delight your
speech must have given, when you were joking about me, must have been
indescribable! It is as though some Polydamas3270
| 3270 A famous
athlete of Scotussa. Paus. vi. 5. | or Milo3271
| 3271 The athlete of
Crotona, who was crowned again and again at the Pythian and Olympian
games. | were to
decline the pancratium or a wrestling bout with me!3272
| 3272 ὁ θλίβειν
καὶ
κατέχειν
δυνάμενος,
παλαιστικός·
ὁ δὲ ὦσαι τῇ
πληγῇ,
πυστικός· ὁ
δὲ
ἀμφοτέροις
τούτοις,
παγκρατιαστικός.
Arist., Rhet. i. v. 14. | After carefully examining, I have
found no sign of weakness. So those who look for exaggeration are
the more astonished at your being able to descend in sport to my level,
than if you had led the barbarian in full sail over Athos.3273
| 3273 The
story that Xerxes had made a canal through the isthmus of Athos was
supposed to be an instance of gross exaggeration. cf.
Juv. x. 174: Creditur olim Velificatus Athos et
quidquid Græcia mendax Audet in historia,” and
Claudian iii. 336: “Remige Medo solicitatus
Athos.” But traces of the canal are said to be still
visible. | I, however, my dear sir, am now
spending my time with Moses and Elias, and saints like them, who tell
me their stories in a barbarous tongue,3274
| 3274 This might
lead to the idea that Basil knew some Hebrew, but the close of the
sentence indicates that he means the Greek of the LXX., in which he
always quotes Scripture. |
and I utter what I learnt from them, true, indeed, in sense, though
rude in phrase, as what I am writing testifies. If ever I learned
anything from you, I have forgotten it in the course of time. But
do you continue to write to me, and so suggest other topics for
correspondence. Your letter will exhibit you, and will not
convict me. I have already introduced to you the son of Anysius,
as a son of my own. If he is my son, he is the child of his
father, poor, and a poor man’s son. What I am saying is
well known to one who is wise as well as a sophist.3275
| 3275 σοφῷ τε
καὶ
σοφιστῇ. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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