33 (358). To Aburgius
LETTERS
33. To Aburgius1 Who, indeed, knows as well as you how to honor an old friendship, to revere virtue, and to share the sufferings of those in distress? So, when troubles, unendurable in any event, but especially contrary to his character, overtook our brother
Gregory,2 the bishop dearly beloved of God, we thought it best to flee to your protection and to try to obtain from you deliverance from these vexations. For, it is an intolerable situation that one to whom it is not natural nor desirable should be compelled to plead his own case in court, and that one who is poor should be importuned for money, and that one who had long ago decided to spend his life in retirement should be drawn into court and should be harangued by demagogues. Now, your own prudence should decide whether it will be useful to discuss the matter with the Prefect of the Treasury or with some other magistrate.
34. To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata1 How can we be silent in the present circumstances? Or, since we are not able to endure it patiently, how can we speak adequately of the existing conditions, so that our utterance will not be like a groaning but rather like a lamentaI Ahurgills was an inAlIential lav compatriot of St. R~~il. upon whom the latter frequently called for aid; d. Letters 75. 147. 175. 196 (which was also attributed to St. Gregory of Nazianzus), and 304. The date of this letter is 369.
2 As the difficulties referred to are those mentioned in the previous letter, it is dearly St. Gregory of Nazianzus. and not St. Gregory of Nyssa. who is meant. The words ton episcopon crept into the text from the marginal notes.
1 This letter was written in the autumn of 369; d. Schafer. lac. cit.
SAINT BASIL
tion sufficiently evidencing the seriousness of the evil? For, even Tarsus2 is lost to us. And this is not the only calamity, although it is unbearable. Nay, more bitter than this is the fact that a city so great and so conveniently situated that it links together within itself the Isaurians, the Cilicians, the Cappadocians, and the Syrians has been so lost through the extreme folly of one or two men, while you delayed, and planned, and looked at one another. Therefore, in imitation of doctors (and I generally have a large number of illustrations of this kind at hand because of the illness which is ever with me) who, whenever the intensity of the pain is excessive, produce for the sick insensibility to suffering, it would be an excellent practice in the case of Gur own souls to join in prayer for insensibility to evils, so as not to be oppressed by intolerable pains. Nevertheless, although we are in such affliction, we experience one consolation-when looking to your Clemenc/ the thought and memory of you calms the grief of our soul. For, just as to our eyes some relief is afforded by turning back to the blues and greens after having looked intently at brilliant objects, so also to our souls the memory of your gentleness and graciousness is like some gentle touch effacing the pain, especially when we consider that you have fulfilled your duty as completely as i~ in your power. By these means you have adequately shown to us men, if we judge the matter reasonably, that nothing has been lost through your fault. Great, too, is the reward which you have won from God for yourself because of your
2 Sylvanus, Metropolitan of Tarsus, had died, and through the neglect of the bishops his successor was an Arian. However, many of the priests remained orthodox and in friendly communication with St. Basil. Cf.
Letter 114.
3 Hemer6teta-a title of address used by S1. Basil for clergymen and lay. men.