Ep. XLIX.  To Basil.  (The Praises of Quiet.)

You accuse me of laziness and idleness, because I did not accept your Sasima, and because I have not bestirred myself like a Bishop, and do not arm you against each other like a bone thrown into the midst of dogs.  My greatest business always is to keep free from business.  And to give you an idea of one of my good points, so much do I value freedom from business, that I think I might even be a standard to all men of this kind of magnanimity, and if only all men would imitate me the Churches would have no troubles; nor would the faith, which every one uses as a weapon in his private quarrels, be pulled in pieces.

[49] ΤΩΙ ΑΥΤΩΙ

Ἐγκαλεῖς ἡμῖν ἀργίαν καὶ ῥᾳθυμίαν, ὅτι μὴ τὰ σὰ Σάσιμα κατειλήφαμεν μηδ' ἐπισκοπικῶς κινούμεθα μηδ', ὥσπερ κυσὶ βρῶμα ῥιφὲν ἐν μέσῳ, κατ' ἀλλήλων ὑμᾶς ὁπλίζομεν: ἐμοὶ δὲ μεγίστη πρᾶξίς ἐστιν ἡ ἀπραξία. Καὶ ἵν' εἰδῇς τι τῶν ἐμῶν καλῶν, τοσοῦτον τῇ ἀπραγμοσύνῃ φιλοτιμοῦμαι, ὥστ' οἴεσθαι καὶ νόμος εἶναι πᾶσι τῆς περὶ τοῦτο μεγαλοψυχίας. Καὶ ὡς εἰ πάντες ἡμᾶς ἐμιμοῦντο, οὐδὲν ἂν ἦν πρᾶγμα ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις οὐδ' ἂν ἡ πίστις παρεσύρετο, τῶν ἰδίων ἑκάστῳ φιλονεικιῶν ὅπλον τυγχάνουσα.