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the things that were sent; but in the presence of your honor we also make our defense, and we beseech you to feel no pain, and we will not cease from continually saying these things, until you make it clear to us, that you were not pained. For if we should receive such letters, we consider that we have received double, and triple, and many times more than what was sent. For this is especially sufficient to show both the respect and the honor which you have for us. ΣΛΓʹ. To the Bishop of Antioch. Your reverence ought not to let your mind be diverted by the words of those who have spoken, but in the multitude of falsehood to seek out the truth with much consideration. For if you were to suppose that all the things rumored were true, all would be in danger; but if the hidden things are sought out by judgment and laws, I for my part would have sought a tribunal from you, if someone does not again breathe upon me other weapons of slander. For I fear, I fear henceforth the shadows and the phantoms, since you yourselves have thus justified it. Friends have denied their friendship, those who were near have stood afar off, and those who are afar off shoot the arrows of slander. And while I was in the middle of the harbor, you made me suffer shipwreck. But even if I am cast out of the city and barred from the Church, I am persuaded to strip myself for every punishment. For it has been decided by me to practice philosophy and to bear difficulties nobly. For I know, I know clearly that the wilderness is more invigorating than the city, and the beasts of the field tamer than friends. Farewell. ΣΛ∆ʹ. To Brison. Having spent nearly seventy days on the journey, from which it is possible for your excellency to reckon, how many and how great evils we have suffered, being besieged in many places by the Isaurian terror, and wrestling with unbearable fevers, we arrived late at Cucusus, the most desolate place in the whole world. And I say these things not deeming it worthy to trouble anyone to move us from here for we have accomplished the most difficult thing, the misery of the journey, but 52.740 I ask you a favor, to write to us continually, and not, since we have been moved farther from you, to deprive us of this comfort as well. For you know how great a consolation it is for us, even if our affairs are in affliction and distress, when we hear about the health of you who love us, that you are in good cheer and health, and much security. In order, therefore, that we may enjoy much gladness from this, write these things to us continually. For you will not restore us in a random way, but you will prepare us to enjoy much comfort; for you are not unaware how we rejoice in your good things. ΣΛΕʹ. To Porphyry, Bishop of Rhosus. I know the steadfastness of your love, its unswervingness, its firmness, and that no difficulty of affairs could ever shake it; this you have shown through your deeds. For this reason we too, although we are in sickness, and have been carried away to the most desolate place of our whole world, Cucusus, and are besieged by the attack of the Isaurians, and are in many distresses, both write and render the due address to your reverence, separated in body, but bound together in soul, and from this we reap the greatest consolation. For even if the difficulty of spending time here is great, yet this one greatest thing we reap from it, being neighbors to you, and being able to continually, since the distance of this journey is small, both to write to your reverence and to receive letters from you. For enjoying this feast—for I consider this a feast, and a festival, and a cause of much pleasure—we shall not have even a small sense of the desolation, and the fear, and the anxiety. ΣΛʹ. To Carterius the governor. Cucusus is an exceedingly desolate place; yet it does not grieve us so much with its desolation, as it gladdens us with its quiet, and by causing us no trouble from any quarter. Therefore, having come to this desolation as to some harbor, so we sit, taking a breath from the evils along the journey, and by this quiet from the sickness and the other evils, which we endured, the

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τὰ πεμφθέντα· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς σῆς τιμιότητος καὶ ἀπολογούμεθα, καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν μηδὲν ἀλγῆσαι, καὶ οὐ πρότερον ἀποστησόμεθα συνεχῶς ταῦτα λέγοντες, ἕως ἂν ἡμῖν δηλοποιήσῃς, ὅτι οὐκ ἤλγησας. Ἂν γὰρ τοιούτων ἐπιτύχωμεν γραμμάτων, διπλασίονα, καὶ τριπλασίονα, καὶ πολλαπλασίονα τῶν ἀποσταλέντων ἡγούμεθα δεδέχθαι. Ἱκανὸν γὰρ μάλιστα τοῦτο δεῖξαι καὶ τὴν αἰδῶ, καὶ τὴν τιμὴν, ἣν ἔχεις πρὸς ἡμᾶς. ΣΛΓʹ. Πρὸς τὸν Ἀντιοχείας. Ἔδει μὲν τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐλάβειαν μὴ τοῖς ῥήμασι τῶν εἰρηκότων παρατρέπεσθαι τὴν διάνοιαν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ πλήθει τοῦ ψεύδους μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς σκέψεως ἀνιχνεύεσθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἅπαντα τὰ θρυλλούμενα ἀλήθειαν ὑπολάβοις, κινδυνεύσειαν ἂν ἅπαντες· εἰ δὲ κρίσει καὶ νόμοις ἀνιχνεύεται τὰ λανθάνοντα, κριτήριον ἂν ἔγωγε παρ' ὑμῶν ἐπεζήτησα, εἰ μή τις ἕτερα αὖθις ὅπλα συκοφαντίας μοι ἐπιπνεύσει. ∆έδοικα γὰρ, δέδοικα λοιπὸν τὰς σκιὰς, καὶ τὰ φαντάσματα, ἐπειδὴ αὐτοὶ ἐδικαιώσατε οὕτως. Οἱ φίλοι τὴν φιλίαν ἠρνήσαντο, οἱ πλησίον ὄντες πόῤῥωθεν ἔστησαν, καὶ πόῤῥωθεν ὄντες τὰ βέλη τῆς συκοφαντίας ἀποτοξεύουσιν. Ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τοῦ λιμένος ὄντα με ναυάγιον ὑπομεῖναι ἐποιήσατε. Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ τῆς πόλεως ἐκβάλλομαι, καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἀπείργομαι, πείθομαι πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀποδύσασθαι τιμωρίαν. Κέκριται γάρ μοι φιλοσοφεῖν, καὶ φέρειν γενναίως τὰ δυσχερῆ. Οἶδα γὰρ, οἶδα σαφῶς τὴν ἐρημίαν εὐτονωτέραν εἶναι τῆς πόλεως, καὶ τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ τῶν φίλων ἡμερώτερα. Ἔῤῥωσο. ΣΛ∆ʹ. Βρίσωνι. Ἑβδομήκοντα σχεδὸν ἡμέρας ἀναλώσαντες κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν, ὅθεν λογίζεσθαι ἔξεστι τῇ θαυμασιότητί σου, ὅσα τε καὶ ἡλίκα πεπόνθαμεν κακὰ, φόβῳ τε Ἰσαυρικῷ πολιορκούμενοι πολλαχοῦ, καὶ πυρετοῖς ἀφορήτοις παλαίοντες, ὀψέ ποτε ἀπηντήσαμεν εἰς τὴν Κουκουσὸν, τὸ πάσης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐρημότατον χωρίον. Καὶ ταῦτα λέγω οὐκ ἀξιῶν ἐνοχλῆσαί τινα, ὥστε ἡμᾶς μεταστῆσαι ἐντεῦθεν τὸ γὰρ χαλεπώτατον διηνύσαμεν, τῆς ὁδοῦ τὴν ταλαιπωρίαν, ἀλλ' 52.740 ὑμᾶς χάριν αἰτῶ, τὸ συνεχῶς ἡμῖν ἐπιστέλλειν, μηδὲ, ἐπειδὴ ποῤῥωτέρω μετῳκίσθημεν ὑμῶν, καὶ ταύτης ἡμᾶς ἀποστερῆσαι τῆς παραμυθίας. Ἴστε γὰρ ὅση παράκλησις ἡμῖν γίνεται, εἰ καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐν θλίψει καὶ περιστάσει, ὅταν ἀκούωμεν τὰ περὶ τῆς ὑγείας ὑμῶν τῶν ἀγαπώντων ἡμᾶς, ὅτι ἐν εὐθυμίᾳ καὶ ὑγείᾳ ἐστὲ, καὶ ἀδείᾳ πολλῇ. Ἵν' οὖν ἐντεῦθεν πολλῆς ἀπολαύωμεν τῆς εὐφροσύνης, γράφε ταῦτα συνεχῶς ἡμῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἡμᾶς ἀνακτήσῃ, ἀλλὰ πολλῆς ἡμᾶς παρασκευάσεις ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς παραμυθίας· καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ἀγνοεῖς, ὅπως χαίρομεν τοῖς σοῖς ἀγαθοῖς. ΣΛΕʹ. Πορφυρίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Ῥωσοῦ. Οἶδά σου τῆς ἀγάπης τὸ στεῤῥὸν, τὸ ἀπερίτρεπτον, τὸ ἀκλινὲς, καὶ ὡς οὐδεμία πραγμάτων δυσκολία αὐτὴν παρασαλεῦσαι δύναιτ' ἄν· τοῦτο διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἔδειξας. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, καίτοι ἐν ἀῤῥωστίᾳ καθεστῶτες, καὶ εἰς τὸ πάσης τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς οἰκουμένης ἐρημότατον χωρίον ἀπενεχθέντες, τὴν Κουκουσὸν, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν Ἰσαύρων ἐφόδου πολιορκούμενοι, καὶ ἐν πολλαῖς ὄντες περιστάσεσι, καὶ γράφομεν, καὶ τὴν ὀφειλομένην ἀποδίδομεν πρόσρησιν τῇ εὐλαβείᾳ τῇ σῇ, τῷ σώματι μὲν διεστηκότες, τῇ ψυχῇ δὲ συνδεδεμένοι, καὶ μεγίστην ἐντεῦθεν καρπούμεθα τὴν παράκλησιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλὴ τῆς ἐντεῦθεν διατριβῆς ἡ δυσκολία, ἀλλ' ἓν τοῦτο μέγιστον ἐντεῦθεν καρπούμεθα, τὸ ἐκ γειτόνων ὑμῖν εἶναι, καὶ συνεχῶς δύνασθαι, ὀλίγου τοῦ μέσου τῆς ὁδοῦ ταύτης ὄντος, καὶ ἐπιστέλλειν πρὸς τὴν ὑμετέραν εὐλάβειαν, καὶ δέχεσθαι παρ' ὑμῶν γράμματα. Καὶ γὰρ ταύτης ἀπολαύοντες τῆς ἑορτῆς ἑορτὴν γὰρ ἐγὼ τοῦτο τίθεμαι, καὶ πανήγυριν, καὶ πολλῆς ἡδονῆς ὑπόθεσιν, οὐδὲ μικρὰν αἴσθησιν τῆς ἐρημίας, καὶ τοῦ φόβου, καὶ τῆς ἀγωνίας ληψόμεθα. ΣΛʹ. Καρτερίῳ ἡγεμόνι. Ἐρημότατον μὲν χωρίον μεθ' ὑπερβολῆς ἡ Κουκουσός· πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐχ οὕτως ἡμᾶς τῇ ἐρημίᾳ λυπεῖ, ὡς εὐφραίνει τῇ ἡσυχίᾳ, καὶ τῷ μηδαμόθεν ἡμῖν πράγματα παρέχειν. ∆ιὸ καθάπερ εἰς λιμένα τινὰ τὴν ἐρημίαν ταύτην ἀπηντηκότες, οὕτω καθήμεθα ἀπὸ τῶν κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν κακῶν ἀναπνέοντες, καὶ τῇ ἡσυχίᾳ ταύτῃ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων κακῶν, ὧν ὑπεμείναμεν, τὰ