58.  This was the end and fortunate close, in the Providence of God, of the war with the world, a close worthy of his faith.  But here at once is the beginning of the war with the Bishops, and their allies, which involved great disgrace, and still greater injury to their subjects.  For who could persuade others to be temperate, when such was the conduct of their prelates?  For a long time they had been unkindly disposed towards him, on three grounds.  They neither agreed with him in the matter of the faith, except in so far as they were absolutely obliged to yield to the majority of the faithful.  Nor had they altogether laid aside the grudge they owed him for his election.  And, what was most grievous of all to them, though they would have been most ashamed to own it—he so far outshone them in reputation.  There was also a further cause of dissension which stirred up again the others.  When our country had been divided into two provinces and metropolitical sees, and a great part of the former was being added to the new one, this again roused their factious spirit.  The one104    The one, i.e., Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana. thought it right that the ecclesiastical boundaries should be settled by the civil ones:  and therefore claimed those newly added, as belonging to him, and severed from their former metropolitan.  The other105    The other, i.e., Basil. clung to the ancient custom, and to the division which had come down from our fathers.  Many painful results either actually followed, or were struggling in the womb of the future.  Synods were wrongfully gathered by the new metropolitan, and revenues seized upon.  Some of the presbyters of the churches refused obedience, others were won over.  In consequence the affairs of the churches fell into a sad state of dissension and division.  Novelty indeed has a certain charm for men, and they readily turn events to their own advantage, and it is easier to overthrow something which is already established, than to restore it when overthrown.  What however enraged him most was, that the revenues106    Revenues.  The dues and offerings of the people of the diocese. of the Taurus, which passed along before his eyes, accrued to his rival, as also the offerings at Saint Orestes’,107    Orestes.  A chapel dedicated to S. Orestes at the foot of Mt. Taurus, where the offerings were collected. of which he was greatly desirous to reap the fruits.  He even went so far as, on one occasion when Basil was riding along his own road, to seize his mules by the bridle and bar the passage with a robber band.  And with how specious a pretext, the care of his spiritual children and of the souls entrusted to him, and the defence of the faith—pretexts which veiled that most common vice, insatiable avarice—and further, the wrongfulness of paying dues to heretics, a heretic being any one who had displeased him.

Ὁ μὲν δὴ κοσμικὸς πόλεμος ἐνταῦθα ἐτελεύτησε, καὶ πέρας εἶχεν ἐκ Θεοῦ δεξιὸν καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου πίστεως ἄξιον. Ἄρχεται δὲ ὁ πόλεμος ἐνθένδε ἤδη τῶν ἐπισκόπων, καὶ τῶν ἐκείνοις συμμάχων: οὗ πολὺ μὲν τὸ ἄδοξον, πλείων δὲ ἡ βλάβη τοῖς ἀρχομένοις. Τίς γὰρ ἂν τοὺς ἄλλους πείσειε μετριάζειν, οὕτω τῶν προεστώτων διακειμένων; Εἶχον μὲν γὰρ οὐδ' ἐκ πλείονος ἐπιεικῶς πρὸς αὐτόν, τριῶν ὄντων τῶν ὑπαιτίων. Οὔτε γὰρ τῷ τῆς πίστεως λόγῳ συνέβαινον, ὅτι μὴ πᾶσα ἀνάγκη, τοῖς πλήθεσι βιαζόμενοι: οὔτε τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ χειροτονίᾳ μικροψυχίαν τελέως κατελελύκεσαν. Καὶ τὸ παρὰ πολὺ τῆς δόξης κρατεῖσθαι, πάντων βαρύτατον ἦν αὐτοῖς, εἰ καὶ ὁμολογεῖν αἴσχιστον. Ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ ἄλλη τις διαφορά, ἣ ταῦτα ἐκαινοποίησε. Τῆς γὰρ πατρίδος ἡμῶν εἰς δύο διαιρεθείσης ἡγεμονίας καὶ μητροπόλεις, καὶ πολλὰ τῶν ἐκ τῆς προτέρας τῇ νέᾳ προσαγαγούσης, ἐντεῦθεν καὶ τὰ ἐκείνων ἐστασιάσθη. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἠξίου τοῖς δημοσίοις συνδιαιρεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα: καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μετεποιεῖτο τῶν νεωστὶ προσελθόντων, ὡς αὐτῷ διαφερόντων ἤδη κἀκείνου κεχωρισμένων. Ὁ δὲ τῆς παλαιᾶς εἴχετο συνηθείας καὶ τῆς ἐκ τῶν πατέρων ἄνωθεν διαιρέσεως. Ἐξ ὧν πολλὰ καὶ δεινά, τὰ μὲν συνέβαινεν ἤδη, τὰ δὲ ὠδίνετο. Ὑπεσπῶντο σύνοδοι παρὰ τοῦ νέου μητροπολίτου, πρόσοδοι διηρπάζοντο: πρεσβύτεροι τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, οἱ μὲν ἀνεπείθοντο, οἱ δὲ ὑπηλλάττοντο. Ἐξ ὧν συνέβαινε καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν χεῖρον ἔχειν διϊσταμένων καὶ τεμνομένων. Καὶ γάρ πως ταῖς καινοτομίαις χαίρουσιν ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ σφῶν ἡδέως παρακερδαίνουσι: καὶ ῥᾷόν τι καταλῦσαι τῶν καθεστώτων ἢ καταλυθὲν ἐπαναγαγεῖν. Ὃ δὲ πλεῖον αὐτὸν ἐξέμηνεν, αἱ Ταυρικαὶ πρόσοδοι καὶ παρόδιοι, αὐτῷ μὲν ὁρώμεναι, ἐκείνῳ δὲ προσγενόμεναι, καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Ὀρέστην ἐκκαρποῦσθαι μέγα ἐτίθετο: ὡς καὶ τῶν ἡμιόνων λαβέσθαι ποτὲ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἰδίαν ὁδὸν ὁδεύοντος, εἴργων τοῦ πρώσω μετὰ λῃστρικοῦ συντάγματος. Καὶ ἡ σκῆψις, ὡς εὐπρεπής! Τὰ γὰρ πνευματικὰ τέκνα, καὶ αἱ ψυχαί, καὶ ὁ τῆς πίστεως λόγος, καὶ ταῦτα τὰ τῆς ἀπληστίας ἐπικαλύμματα, πρᾶγμα τῶν εὐπορίστων, καὶ τό, μὴ χρῆναι δασμοφορεῖν κακοδόξοις πᾶς γὰρ ὁ λυπῶν, κακόδοξος.