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of the increase of evils; so that we have need of many prayers, for the grace of the spirit to breathe upon us quickly and to pour out the bitterness of hatred and to shatter 12.4 the crystal formed for them from wickedness. For these reasons the sweet spring, existing according to nature, becomes more desirable than itself to those who await you from such 12.5 winters. Let grace, therefore, not be slow, especially <because> as the holy day approaches us it would be more blessed for the one who bore you to be honored by her own than for Pontus to be honored by ours. Come, then, O dear friend, bringing to us a multitude of good things, yourself; for this will be the fulfillment of our good things.

13. To Libanius

13.1 I heard a certain medical man relate a strange affliction of nature, and the story was like this: a certain man, he says, was afflicted with one of the more difficult diseases, and he proved the art to be less powerful than its promise; for everything devised for a cure was ineffective; then, when some welcome news was unexpectedly announced to him, good fortune, instead of art, released the man from his disease, whether because the soul, with its exceeding relief, also brought the body’s condition into harmony with itself, or in some other way, I cannot say; for I have no leisure to philosophize about such things, and the one who told the story did not add the cause. 13.2 But now I have remembered the story, I think, at an opportune moment; for being in a state I would not have wished (and I have no need now to recount precisely the causes of the painful things that have befallen me since I came to be with you and until now), when someone suddenly informed me about the letters of your only-begotten instruction, as soon as I received the letter and ran through what was written, immediately my soul was disposed as if I were being proclaimed for the noblest things among all men; so highly did I value your testimony, which you have granted us through the letter; then also the condition of my body was immediately changed for the better, and I myself give you an equally strange story, that of the same letter I read some parts while being sick, and other parts while being completely healthy. 13.3 And this is so much for that; but since my son Cynegius has become the occasion for this grace, you, with your abundant power to do good, are able not only to treat us well but also our benefactors, and this man is our benefactor, as has been said, having become for us the occasion and subject of the letters from you, and for this reason he is worthy to be treated well. 13.4 But as for our teachers, if you should seek those from whom we seem to have learned anything, you will find Paul and John and the rest of the apostles and prophets, if it is not indeed audacious for us to appropriate the teaching of such men; but if you speak of your wisdom, which those who know how to judge say flows from you and comes to be shared by all the rest who have any part in eloquence (for I heard these things from the wonderful Basil, who was your student, but my father and teacher, as he related it to everyone), know that I have nothing brilliant to say in my accounts of <my> teachers, having been with my brother for a short time and having been purified by his divine tongue only so much, as merely to recognize the loss of those uninitiated in eloquence; then, however, whenever I might have leisure, applying myself with all diligence to your works, I became a lover of your beauty, but have not yet attained my desire. 13.5 If, therefore, as I myself judge, our affairs are nothing, our teacher is nowhere; but if it is not right that your opinion, which you have of us, should be untrue, but that [and you] we are something in eloquence and not to be rejected, at least in your judgment, allow me to dare to attribute the cause of our things to you. 13.6 For if Basil is the champion of our

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τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἐπαυξήσεως· ὥστε πολλῶν ἡμῖν εὐχῶν εἶναι χρείαν, ἐπιπνεῦσαι διὰ τάχους τὴν χάριν τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ διαχέαι τὴν πικρίαν τοῦ μίσους καὶ διαθρύψαι 12.4 τὸν ἐκ τῆς πονηρίας αὐτοῖς πηγνύμενον κρύσταλλον. διὰ ταῦτα γλυκὺ τὸ ἔαρ καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχον, ἑαυτοῦ ποθεινότερον γίνεται τοῖς ἀπὸ τοιούτων σε προσδεχομένοις 12.5 χειμώνων. μὴ οὖν βραδυνέτω ἡ χάρις, ἄλλως τε καὶ <διότι> τῆς ἁγίας ἡμῖν ἡμέρας πλησιαζούσης εὐλογώτερον ἂν εἴη τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν τοῖς ἰδίοις μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν Πόντον τοῖς ἡμετέροις σεμνύνεσθαι. ἐλθὲ οὖν, ὦ φίλη κεφαλή, φέρων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν πλῆθος, σαυτόν· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔσται τῶν ἀγαθῶν τῶν ἡμετέρων τὸ πλήρωμα.

13.τ Λιβανίῳ

13.1 Ἤκουσά τινος ἰατρικοῦ παράλογόν τι φύσεως πάθος διηγουμένου, τὸ δὲ

διήγημα τοιοῦτον ἦν· κατείχετό τις, φησίν, ἀρρωστήματί τινι τῶν δυστροπωτέρων καὶ τὴν τέχνην διήλεγχεν ἔλαττον τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἰσχύουσαν· πᾶν γὰρ τὸ ἐπινοούμενον εἰς θεραπείαν ἄπρακτον ἦν· εἶτά τινος ἀγγελίας τῶν καταθυμίων παρ' ἐλπίδας αὐτῷ μηνυθείσης, ἀντὶ τῆς τέχνης ἡ συντυχία γίνεται λύουσα τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὴν νόσον, εἴτε τῆς ψυχῆς τῷ περιόντι τῆς ἀνέσεως καὶ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἕξιν ἑαυτῇ συνδιαθείσης, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλως, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν· οὔτε γὰρ ἐμοὶ σχολὴ τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοσοφεῖν, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ὁ εἰπὼν οὐ προσέθηκεν. 13.2 ἐπὶ καιροῦ δὲ νῦν ἐμνήσθην, ὡς οἶμαι, τοῦ διηγήματος· διακείμενος γάρ, ὡς οὐκ ἂν ἐβουλόμην (τὰς δὲ αἰτίας οὐδὲν δέομαι νῦν ἀκριβῶς καταλέγειν τῶν ἀφ' οὗ γέγονα παρ' ὑμῖν καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν συμπεπτωκότων μοι λυπηρῶν), μηνύσαντος ἀθρόως μοί τινος περὶ τῶν γραμμάτων τῆς μονογενοῦς σου παιδεύσεως, ἐπειδὴ τάχιστα τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐδεξάμην καὶ τοῖς γεγραμμένοις ἐπέδραμον, εὐθὺς μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν διετέθην ὡς ἐπὶ τοῖς καλλίστοις ἐπὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀνακηρυσσόμενος· τοσούτου τὴν σὴν μαρτυρίαν ἐτιμησάμην, ἣν διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῖν κεχάρισαι· ἔπειτα δέ μοι καὶ ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἕξις εὐθὺς πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον μετεποιεῖτο, καί σοι τὸ ἴσον παράδοξον καὶ αὐτὸς διήγημα δίδωμι, ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς ἐπιστολῆς τὰ μὲν ἀρρωστῶν 13.3 τὰ δὲ καθαρῶς ὑγιαίνων ἐπέδραμον. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον· ἐπεὶ δέ μοι τῆς χάριτος ταύτης ὁ υἱὸς Κυνήγιος ὑπόθεσις γέγονεν, οἷός <τ'> εἶ τῷ περιόντι τῆς εἰς τὸ εὐεργετεῖν ἐξουσίας οὐχ ἡμᾶς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς εὐεργέτας ἡμῶν καλῶς ποιεῖν, εὐεργέτης δὲ ἡμῶν οὗτος, καθὼς εἴρηται, τῶν παρὰ σοῦ γραμμάτων ἀφορμὴ γενόμενος ἡμῖν καὶ 13.4 ὑπόθεσις, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εὖ παθεῖν ἄξιος. διδασκάλους δὲ τοὺς ἡμετέρους, εἰ μὲν ὧν τι δοκοῦμεν μεμαθηκέναι ζητοίης, Παῦλον εὑρήσεις καὶ Ἰωάννην καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀποστόλους τε καὶ προφήτας, εἴ γε μὴ τολμηρὸν ἡμῖν τὴν διδασκαλίαν οἰκειοῦσθαι τῶν τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν· εἰ δὲ περὶ τῆς ὑμετέρας λέγοις σοφίας, ἣν οἱ κρίνειν ἐπιστήμονές φασιν ἀπὸ σοῦ πηγάζουσαν ἐν μετοχῇ τοῖς λοιποῖς γίνεσθαι πᾶσιν οἷς τινος καὶ μέτεστι λόγου (ταῦτα γὰρ ἤκουσα πρὸς πάντας διεξιόντος τοῦ σοῦ μὲν μαθητοῦ, πατρὸς δὲ ἐμοῦ καὶ διδασκάλου τοῦ θαυμαστοῦ Βασιλείου), ἴσθι με μηδὲν ἔχειν λαμπρὸν ἐν τοῖς <περὶ> τῶν διδασκάλων διηγήμασιν, ἐπ' ὀλίγον τῷ ἀδελφῷ συγγεγονότα καὶ τοσοῦτον παρὰ τῆς θείας γλώττης ἐκκαθαρθέντα, ὅσον ἐπιγνῶναι μόνον τὴν ζημίαν τῶν ἀμυήτων τοῦ λόγου· ἔπειτα μέντοι τοῖς σοῖς, εἴ ποτε σχολὴν ἄγοιμι, κατὰ σπουδὴν πᾶσαν ἐνδιατρίβοντα ἐραστὴν γενέσθαι τοῦ ὑμετέρου κάλλους, τυχεῖν δὲ μηδέπω 13.5 τοῦ ἔρωτος. εἰ μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ αὐτὸς ἐγὼ κρίνω, τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐστιν οὐδέν, οὐδαμοῦ ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν· εἰ δὲ τὴν σὴν ὑπόληψιν, ἣν ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἔσχες, μὴ ἀληθεύειν οὐ θέμις, ἀλλά τινες ἐν τῷ λόγῳ [καὶ ὑμεῖς] καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἀπόβλητοι παρὰ σοί γε κριτῇ, δὸς τολμῆσαι σοὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀνα13.6 θεῖναι τὴν αἰτίαν. εἰ γὰρ Βασίλειος μὲν τοῦ ἡμετέρου προστάτης