163 (378). To Count Jovinus
SAINT BASIL
idea of seeing your Reverence. For, I am ashamed that I should not seem to have so much confidence in your prayers as to expect to become a young man in place of an old one, if there should be need of that, and not merely to become a little stronger instead of remaining weak and wholly powerless, as I now am.
It is not easy to put into words my reasons for not being with you already, not only because I am hindered by my present illness, but also because I have never had such power of speech as to be able to describe clearly my manifold and varied diseases. But, I can say that from Easter day until now fevers and diarrhea and disturbances of my bowels, overwhelming me like waves, did not permit me to emerge. Now, the kind and the character of these present attacks our brother
Barachus can tell, even if not in a manner in keeping with the truth, at least sufficiently to testify to the cause of my postponement. I am entirely convinced that, if you would truly pray with us, we should easily be freed from all these troubles.
163. To Count Jovinus1 I saw your soul in your letter. For, truly, no painter can so accurately portray the lineaments of a body as speech can image the secrets of the soul. In fact, the words of your letter aptly represented to us the stability of your character, the genuineness of your worth, and the purity of your mind in all respects; for this reason it also afforded us great consolation for your absence. Therefore, do not fail to use every preI Count Jovinus seems from this letter to have been on intimate terms with St. Basil; nothing more is known of him. This letter was written after Easter of 374. Cf. Loofs. op. cit. 46 n. 5.