14 (19). To Gregory, His Companion
SAINT BASIL
14. To Gregory, His Companion!
Although my brother Gregory wrote that for a long time he had been wanting to visit with us, and added that you also had the same desire, I am unable to remain here because, having been frequently deceived, I am reluctant to rely upon your coming, and also because I am drawn away by business. I must immediately depart for the Pontus, where perhaps some day, if God wills, we shall cease from our wandering. For, after giving up with difficulty the vain hopes which lance entertained regarding you, or rather, to speak more truly, the dreams (for I agree with the man who said that hopes are the dreams we have when fully awake), I went to the Pont us in search of a place of habitation. There, at length, God showed me a spot exactly according with my frame of mind, so that I beheld in truth a place such as I have been accustomed frequently to fashion in my imagination when idly amusing myself.
There is a lofty, densely wooded mountain, watered on the north by cold, transparent streams. At its foot is spread out a flat plain, constantly enriched by the moisture from the mountain. A forest of trees of every color and variety, a spontaneous growth around this plain, has become almost an enclosing wall, so that even Calypso's isle which Homer seems to have admired more than all others for its beauty is insignificant in comparison. In fact, it falls little short of being an island, since it is encompassed on all sides by defenses. Deep ravines have broken it off on two sides, and along the third side the river, descending from the overhanging cliff, forms an unbroken and inaccessible barrier. Because the mountain extends along the other side and is joined to the ravines by crescent-shaped spurs, the approaches at its
I This letter was written after 360, but before Sl Basil became a presbyter.
LETTERS
base are walled off. There is one entrance to it, of which we are the master. Adjacent to my dwelling is a sort of narrow neck of land which supports a high ridge at its extremity, below which the plain lies spread out beneath. our eyes, and from which eminence the encircling river can be seen.
This affords me no less pleasure, I think, than the Strymon affords those viewing it from Amphipolis. 2 The latter, spreading out its rather leisurely stream to form a lake, almost ceases in its stillness to be a river; while the former, flowing the most swiftly of all rivers I have ever seen, is suddenly roughened in its course by a rocky margin, and the rebounding, water is whirled around in a deep eddy, providing a most pleasant sight for me and for everyone who sees it, and giving to the inhabitants of the place self-supporting employment, since numberless fish breed therein.
And what need to mention the land fragrances or the river breezes? Someone else might admire the abundant flowers or the multitudinous songbirds, but to these I do not have leisure to turn' my mind. The greatest praise we can give of this place is that, besides being suited, because of its singularly apt location, for the production of every kind of fruits, it nourishes the sweetest of all fruits to me-solitude; not only because it is free from the uproar of the city, but also because it is removed from the encroachment of travelers, except for those who come to us for the purpose of hunting.
In addition to all else, it is productive of game; not the bears or wolves of your country, may God forbid, but it feeds herds of deer and wild goats, hares, and other similar animals.
2 The Strymon. or Struma. is a river of Macedonia which flows through Lake Presias. and a little below Amphipolis. which it almost encircles; it empties into a bay of the Aegean Sea. called Strymonicus Sinus. Cf.
Hes. Th. 339; Aesch. Ag. 192; Hdt. 7.75; Thuc. 2.96. 4.108. 5.7; and Strabo. p. 323.