Ep. CXXV.  To Olympius.

Even hoar hairs have something to learn; and old age, it would seem, cannot in all respects be trusted for wisdom.  I at any rate, knowing better than anyone, as I did, the thoughts and the heresy of the Apollinarians, and seeing that their folly was intolerable; yet thinking that I could tame them by patience and soften them by degrees, I let my hopes make me eager to attain this object.  But, as it seems, I overlooked the fact that I was making them worse, and injuring the Church by my untimely philosophy.  For gentleness does not put bad men out of countenance.  And now if it had been possible for me to teach you this myself, I should not have hesitated, you may be sure, even to undertake a journey beyond my strength to throw myself at the feet of your Excellency.  But since my illness has brought me too far, and it has become necessary for me to try the hot baths of Xanxaris at the advice of my medical men, I send a letter to represent me.  These wicked and utterly abandoned men have dared, in addition to all their other misdeeds, either to summon, or to make a bad use of the passage (I am not prepared to say precisely which) of certain Bishops, deprived by the whole Synod of the Eastern and Western Church; and, in violation of all Imperial Ordinances, and of your commands, to confer the name of Bishop on a certain individual of their own misbelieving and deceitful crew; encouraged to do so, as I believe, by nothing so much as my great infirmity; for I must mention this.  If this is to be tolerated, your Excellency will tolerate it, and I too will bear it, as I have often before.  But if it is serious, and not to be endured by our most august Emperors, pray punish what has been done—though more mildly than such madness merits.

[125] ΟΛΥΜΠΙΩΙ

Παιδεύεταί τι καὶ πολιά, καὶ οὐ πάντη τὸ γῆρας, ὡς ἔοικεν, εἰς σύνεσιν ἀξιόπιστον. Ἐγὼ γοῦν πάντων μὲν μάλιστα τῶν Ἀπολλιναριστῶν εἰδὼς τὴν ἐνθύμησιν καὶ ἀσέβειαν, ὁρῶν δὲ οὐκ ἀνεκτὴν τὴν ἀπόνοιαν, ἐνόμιζον τῇ μακροθυμίᾳ πρᾴους ποιήσειν καὶ μαλάξειν κατὰ μικρόν, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ταῖς ἐλπίσιν ὑπέτεινον. Ἔλαθον δέ, ὡς ἔοικε, κἀκείνους χείρους ποιήσας καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν βλάψας τῇ ἀκαίρῳ φιλοσοφίᾳ: οὐ γὰρ δυσωπεῖ τοὺς πονηροὺς ἐπιείκεια. Καὶ νῦν, εἰ μὲν αὐτό μοι δυνατὸν ἦν δι' ἐμαυτοῦ ταῦτα διδάξαι, οὐκ ἂν ὤκνησα, εὖ ἴσθι, καὶ παρὰ δύναμιν κινηθεὶς προσπεσεῖν τῇ σῇ τιμιότητι.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ περαιτέρω προήγαγεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀρρωστία καὶ τοῖς Ξανξαρίδος θερμοῖς χρήσασθαι ἀναγκαῖον ἐγένετο, τῶν ἰατρῶν τοῦτο συμβουλευσάντων, ἀντ' ἐμαυτοῦ ποιοῦμαι τὰ γράμματα. Ἐτόλμησαν οἱ κακοὶ καὶ κακῶς ἀπολούμενοι πρὸς πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις καὶ καθῃρημένους ἐπισκόπους ὑπὸ πάσης ἀνατολικῆς καὶ δυτικῆς συνόδου καλέσαντες, ἢ παριοῦσι καταχρησάμενοι (οὐ γὰρ ἔχω τοῦτο εἰπεῖν ἀκριβῶς), καὶ πασῶν κατεξαναστάντες βασιλικῶν διατάξεων καὶ ὑμετέρων προσταγμάτων, ἐπισκόπου ὄνομα περιθεῖναί τινι τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀσεβῶν καὶ κιβδήλων, οὐδενὶ τοσοῦτον, ὡς οἶμαι, ὅσον τῇ ἐμῇ νεκρώσει (τοῦτο γὰρ δεῖ λέγειν) θαρρήσαντες. Ταῦτα εἰ μὲν ἀνεκτά, ἐνεγκάτω μὲν ἡ σὴ στερρότης: οἴσομεν δὲ καὶ ἡμεῖς, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ πολλάκις ἠνέγκαμεν. Εἰ δὲ βαρέα καὶ οὐδὲ τοῖς εὐλαβεστάτοις βασιλεῦσιν αὐτοῖς φορητά, ἐπεξελθεῖν τοῖς γεγενημένοις, εἰ καὶ τῆς ἀπονοίας ἔλαττον, καταξίωσον.