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to give occasions for reasonable complaint, just as we have not given any now, having settled everything before the journey to the East, all that was pleasing to you and was owed by us in justice; and of this the most revered and our common brother Evagrius is a witness (who both delivered this letter and was taught everything by your people; for they happened to be present), of our zeal for justice and of the gratitude of those who manage your affairs for what has been done.

29. To his brother Peter, bishop of Sebasteia

29.1 Having with difficulty found a brief period of leisure to attend to the care of my body

was I able, after the return from Armenia, to collect the notes against Eunomius dictated according to the counsel of your wisdom; so that for me the labor might henceforth be arranged into a composition of a discourse, and the discourse has now become a notebook. 29.2 But I have not written against both discourses; for I did not get so much leisure, since the one who lent me the book of the heresy, with great want of taste, immediately recalled it to himself and allowed me neither to copy it nor to study it at leisure; for having had leisure for only seventeen days, I was not able in so short a time to suffice for both 29.3 discourses. But being often troubled by many people who have a certain zeal for the truth, because the fact that a refutation of the blasphemy has been labored on by us has been rumored about, I know not how, I thought it well before all else to use your wisdom as a counsellor about these matters, whether one should entrust it to the ears of the many, 29.4 or whether one should decide something else. But what causes my doubt is this: since at the very time of the death of Saint Basil I received the discourse of Eunomius, while my heart was still boiling with grief and excessively pained at the common calamity of the churches, and since Eunomius had written not only what seemed to constitute his own doctrine, but his greater effort was concerned with the railings which he laboriously composed against our father, for this reason, being somewhat exasperated by the things said by him insolently, I have in some places shown a certain anger against the author and an inflammation of heart. 29.5 Since, therefore, the many have perhaps formed a different opinion of us, that we are well-disposed to endure those who insolently rage against us without order, having practiced moderation in our character as is possible from the teaching of that holy man, I fear lest from what has been written by us against our opponent we might seem to some of our readers to be of a new character, as being easily exasperated by the railings of the insolent. 29.6 Or perhaps the fact that we are angry not on our own behalf but on behalf of the things said against our father will excuse us from seeming to be such; for in such matters perhaps being moderate is more inexcusable than being harsh. 29.7 And if the first parts of the discourse seem to be somewhat polemical, I reckon that one who judges circumspectly would accept such an arrangement regarding the discourse. For it was necessary neither to leave the reputation of the great man undefended as it was being torn apart by the blasphemies of his adversary, nor to mix into the discourse completely by inserting sporadically the battle concerning 29.8 this matter. Moreover, to one who considers accurately, these too are parts of the contest; for since the discourse of our opponent is also divided into two aims, both into the slanders against us and into the accusation of the sound doctrine, it was necessary for our discourse also to be set against both. But for the sake of clarity and of not interrupting the train of thought of the questions concerning doctrine by the insertions of what is said against the slanders from him, having necessarily cut the treatise in two, at the beginning we occupied ourselves with the defense against the charges brought against us, and after this with those against the doctrine

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εὐλόγου μέμψεως τὰς ἀφορμὰς παρασχεῖν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ νῦν παρεσχήκαμεν, πρὸ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑῴαν ἀποδημίας πάντα καταπραξάμενοι ὅσα σοί τε καταθύμια ἦν καὶ παρ' ἡμῶν ὠφείλετο τῷ δικαίῳ· καὶ τούτου μάρτυς ὁ αἰδεσιμώτατος καὶ κοινὸς ἡμῶν ἀδελφὸς Εὐάγριος (ὃς ὁμοῦ τε τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ὤρεξε ταύτην καὶ πάντα παρὰ τῶν σῶν ἐδιδάχθη· παρόντες γὰρ ἔτυχον), τῆς τε ἡμετέρας ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίου σπουδῆς τῶν τε οἰκονομούντων τὰ σὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς γεγενημένοις εὐχαριστίας.

29.τ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ Πέτρῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Σεβαστείασ

29.1 Μόλις ἐπιτυχὼν βραχείας σχολῆς τῇ τε τοῦ σώματος θεραπείᾳ προσσχεῖν

ἠδυνήθην μετὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς Ἀρμενίας ἐπάνοδον καὶ συναγαγεῖν τὰ σχιδάρια τὰ πρὸς Εὐνόμιον κατὰ συμβουλὴν τῆς σῆς συνέσεως ὑπηγορευμένα· ὥστε μοι λοιπὸν εἰς λόγου σύνταξιν ἐναρμοσθῆναι τὸν πόνον καὶ πυκτίον 29.2 ἤδη γεγενῆσθαι τὸν λόγον. γέγραπται δέ μοι οὐ πρὸς ἀμφοτέρους τοὺς λόγους· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπέτυχον τοσαύτης σχολῆς, τοῦ χρήσαντός μοι τὸ τῆς αἱρέσεως βιβλίον κατὰ πολλὴν ἀπειροκαλίαν εὐθὺς ἀνακαλεσαμένου πρὸς ἑαυτὸν καὶ οὔτε μεταγράψασθαι οὔτε κατὰ σχολὴν ἐνδιατρῖψαι ποιήσαντος· ἐν ἡμέραις γὰρ ἑπτακαίδεκα μόναις σχολάσας, οὐχ οἷός τε ἤμην ἐν οὕτως ὀλίγῳ τῷ χρόνῳ πρὸς ἀμφο29.3 τέρους ἀρκέσαι τοὺς λόγους. πολλάκις δὲ παρὰ πολλῶν ἐνοχληθεὶς ἀνθρώπων τῶν τινα ζῆλον ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐχόντων διὰ τὸ περιτεθρυλῆσθαι οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως τὸ πεπονῆσθαι ἡμῖν πρὸς τὴν βλασφημίαν ἀντίρρησιν, καλῶς ἔχειν ᾠήθην πρὸ πάντων τῇ σῇ συνέσει περὶ τούτων συμβούλῳ χρήσασθαι, εἴτε χρὴ καταπιστεῦσαι ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν 29.4 ἀκοαῖς, εἴτε τι καὶ ἄλλο βουλεύσασθαι. ὃ δέ μοι τὴν ἀμφιβολίαν ποιεῖ, τοῦτό ἐστιν· ἐπειδὴ κατ' αὐτὴν τοῦ ἁγίου Βασιλείου τὴν κοίμησιν τὸν τοῦ Εὐνομίου λόγον ὑπεδεξάμην, ἔτι τῆς καρδίας περιζεούσης τῷ πάθει καὶ πρὸς τὴν κοινὴν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν συμφορὰν ὑπεραλγούσης, γέγραπτο δὲ τῷ Εὐνομίῳ οὐχ ὅσα μόνον τοῦ καθ' ἑαυτὸν δόγματος ἔχειν ἐδόκει τὴν σύστασιν, ἀλλ' ἡ πλείων αὐτοῦ σπουδὴ περὶ τὰς λοιδορίας ἦν, ἃς κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν φιλοπόνως συνέγραψεν, τούτου ἕνεκεν ὑποτραχυνθεὶς ἐκ τῶν ἐφ' ὕβρει παρ' αὐτοῦ ῥηθέντων ἔστιν ὅπου θυμόν τινα κατὰ τοῦ συγγραφέως καὶ φλεγμονὴν καρδίας ἐνεδει29.5 ξάμην. ἐπεὶ οὖν ἄλλα ἴσως ἡμῖν οἱ πολλοὶ συνεγνώκασιν, ὅτι πρὸς τὸ ὑπομένειν τοὺς ἀτάκτως καθ' ἡμῶν θρασυνομένους ἐπιτηδείως ἔχομεν, ὡς ἔστι δυνατὸν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ ἁγίου ἐκείνου διδασκαλίας ἀσκήσαντες ἐν τῷ ἤθει τὸ μέτριον, δέδοικα μὴ ἐκ τῶν πρὸς τὸν ἀντίπαλον ἡμῖν γεγραμμένων νεοφανεῖς τινες τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι δόξωμεν, ὡς εὐκόλως πρὸς τὰς τῶν ὑβριστῶν λοιδορίας ἐκτραχυνόμενοι. 29.6 ἦ τάχα παραιτήσεται ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὸ μὴ δοκεῖν εἶναι τοιούτους τὸ μὴ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τῶν κατὰ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰρημένων ὀργίζεσθαι· ἐν γὰρ τοῖς τοιούτοις τάχα τὸ μετριάζειν τοῦ χαλεπαίνειν ἐστὶν ἀσυγγνωστότερον. 29.7 Εἰ δὲ τὰ πρῶτα τοῦ λόγου ἐξαγώνιά πως εἶναι δοκεῖ, λογίζομαι τὸν κρίνειν ἐπεσκεμμένον ἀποδέξασθαι ἂν τὴν τοιαύτην περὶ τὸν λόγον οἰκονομίαν. οὔτε γὰρ ἀσυνηγόρητον ἔδει παρεθῆναι τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου ὑπόληψιν ταῖς τοῦ ἀντιδίκου βλασφημίαις σπαρασσομένην, οὔτε πάντη καταμιγνύειν τῷ λόγῳ σποράδην παρενείροντα τὴν περὶ 29.8 τούτου μάχην. ἄλλως δὲ τῷ ἀκριβῶς λογιζομένῳ καὶ ταῦτα μέρη τῶν ἀγώνων ἐστίν· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εἰς δύο σκοποὺς καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἐναντίου λόγος μεμέρισται, εἴς τε τὰς καθ' ἡμῶν διαβολὰς καὶ εἰς τὴν κατηγορίαν τοῦ ὑγιαίνοντος δόγματος, ἔδει πρὸς ἑκάτερα καὶ τὸν ἡμέτερον ἀντιταχθῆναι λόγον. σαφηνείας δὲ χάριν καὶ τοῦ μὴ διακοπῆναι τὸν εἱρμὸν τῶν κατὰ τὸ δόγμα ζητουμένων ταῖς παρενθήκαις τῶν πρὸς τὰς παρ' αὐτοῦ διαβολὰς λεγομένων, ἀναγκαίως εἰς δύο τεμόντες τὴν πραγματείαν κατ' ἀρχὰς μὲν περὶ τὴν ἀπολογίαν τῶν ἐπιφερομένων ἡμῖν ἠσχολήθημεν, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ τοῖς κατὰ τοῦ δόγματος