74 (379). To Martinianus
SAINT BASIL
But, I am again wntmg a long letter. For, in my great desire to persuade you, I cannot willingly leave unsaid any of the thoughts which come to my mind, fearing lest on that account my request may become ineffectual, because I have done my teaching inadequately. 0 most honorable and noble son of the Church, confirm both my hopes which I now place in you and the unanimous testimony of all concerning your graciousness and gentleness, and order the soldier to depart from us at once. As the matter stands, he has left undone no act of annoyance or of insolence, since he prefers to avoid grieving you rather than to hold all of us as his close friends.
74. To Martinianus 1 How much, think you, would I esteem the opportunity of our some time meeting and conversing together at greater length, so that I may enjoy all your splendid qualities? For, if it is important as an evidence of culture 'to have seen the cities of men and to have learned their minds,'2 association
The identity of this Martinianus is not known beyond the fact that he was a personal frien<.~. of St. Basil. From the references in the letter to his great knowledge and extensive travels it may be inferred that he was a philosopher or a man of letters. Cf. W. M. Ramsay, 'Basil of Caesarea; Expositor 5, Series 3 (1896) 54. St. Basil wrote this and the two following letters to obtain mediators with the emperor for his country. The policy of the Byzantine government was to divide the larger provinces so as to lessen the power of the provincial governors.
It was now time for Cappadocia to be divided; and Valens' hatred of St. Basil caused him to leave the smaller section of the country to the metropolis, Caesarea. These letters, written in 371, are some of the poorest in the collection. St. Basil, however, showed his true greatness
Immediately after this when Val ens came to Caesarea.
2 Cf. Odyssey 1.3ff: 'Many were the men whose cities he saw and whose mind he learned, and many the woes he suffered in his heart upon the sea, seeking to win his own life and the return of his comrades: Cf. also Horace, De artc poetica 142: 'Qui mores hominum multorum vidit et urhes:
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with you, I think, bestows this favor in a short time. In fact, what greater advantage is it for a person to see many men, one at a time, than to see one man who has acquired the experience of all men together? I would rather say that the benefit is greatest in whatever procures without fatigue an acquaintance with the beautiful, and gathers a knowledge of virtue free from admixture with evil. At all events, whether it is renowned deeds or words worthy of remembrance, or the laws and customs of the most excellent men, all are stored up in the treasury of your soul. Therefore, not only for a year, as Alcinous listened to Odysseus,3 but for my whole life should I pray that I might listen to you, and that for this reason, at least, my life might be a long one, even though a burdensome one to me. Why in the world, then, am I writing now, when I ought to be present with you? Because my afflicted country urgently summons me to herself. You are not ignorant, most noble Sir, of what she has suffered-that certain veritable Maenads, evil spirits, have torn her asunder as they did Pentheus. In fact, they divide and redivide her like inexperienced doctors, making her wounds more painful because of their lack of experience. Now, since she is suffering because she has been cut to pieces, it is left to us to cure her ills, as it were. Therefore, the citizens have written urging us to come; it is necessary to present ourselves, not because we shall be of any assistance in the trouble, but to avoid the censure of desertion. For, you know how prone to hope are those who are in great straits, and prone at times also to find fault, always directing the blame to what has been disregarded.
Yet, for this same reason I wanted to meet you and to express my opinion, or rather to entreat you to consider some vigorous policy-one becoming to your high spirit-and not 3 Cf. Odyssey Bks. 7, 8, 9.
SAINT BASIL
to neglect our country which has fallen on her knees, but to go to the court, saying with your accustomed frankness that they should not think that they have acquired two provinces instead of one. They have not brought in the second from some other country, b~t have acted almost the same as a person who, after he had gained possession of a horse or a cow, would cut it in two, and then think that he had two animals in place of the one. Yet, he did not make two; he even destroyed the one. Furthermore, say to those who are in authority that they do not in this way strengthen their dominions, for power lies not in number but in the state of their affairs. For, now, we certainly think that some, perhaps because of their ignorance of the truth, others, because they do not wish to cause grief by their words, and still others, because it is a matter of no concern to them, disregard what is happening. Therefore, if it would be possible for you to go to the emperor himself, that would be best for our affairs, and befitting the noble character of your life. And if it is especially hard, both because of the time of year, and because of your age which, as you yourself say, has an accompanying sluggishness, at least there is no labor involved in writing. Therefore, if you give aid through letters to your country, you will, first, be fully aware that you have failed in nothing that comes within your power; then, furthermore, you will offer sufficient consolation to the afflicted by the very fact of showing sympathy. Would that it had been possible for you to be at hand in these troubles and to see with your own eyes the sad condition itself. For, thus being moved by the very vividness of the sight, you would, perhaps, have given vent to some utterance befitting both your Lordship and the dejection of the city. But, at all events, do not refuse to believe us when we give our description. Or would we truly
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need a Simonides4 or some other such lyric poet who knows how to bewail the sufferings in a striking manner? Yet, why do I say Simonides? I should have said Aeschylus,5 or someone like him, who graphically portrayed a terrible calamity, wailing aloud with mighty voice.
For, those assemblies and speeches and conferences in the market place by men of high repute, and such things as formerly made our city famous, have gone from us. As a result, any man of learning and eloquence now would seem to approach the market place more rarely than those did formerly at Athens who were charged with dishonor or were unclean of hand. There has been introduced in place of these assemblies the crudeness of certain Scythians or Massagetae. And there is only the sound of demanding creditors and hounded debtors, and of men being beaten with whips. The galleries on each side, resounding with gloomy echoes, seem, as it were, to send forth their own voice, groaning over the things that are happening. The struggle for life itself does not permit us to take into account at all closed schools and torch less nights.
For, the danger is not slight that, since those in power have been removed, everything will go down with them as with falling props. What words could adequately describe our evils? Some have fled, a part of our senate, and not the most inefficient part, preferring life exile to Podandus. 6 And when
I say Podandus, imagine that I say the Laconian Ceades,7 4 St. Basil is probably thinking of Simonides' lament on those who died at Thermopylae.
5 St. Basil probably has in mind Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes and the Orestean trilogy.
6 Modern Podando. in southern Cappadocia. established by Valens as the captial of the new division of the province.
7 The name given bv the Spartans to the pit into which all condemned criminals were thrown. Cf. Pallsanias 4.18.4; Thucydides 1.134; Strabo
8.367.
SAINT BASIL
or any other natural pit you may have seen in the world, such places, in fact, which, because they exhale sickness-laden breezes, some men have instinctively called Charonian. Realize that the vileness of Podandus also is like that of some such place. Accordingly, of the three divisions of our citizens, some, rising up, flee with their wives and their household; others, the majority of the noblest in the city, are led away like captives, a pitiable sight to their friends but fulfilling the prayer of their enemies, if, of course, there has been anyone at all invoking so terrible a curse upon us. But, now, the third part is left. These, being not only unable to endure the abandonment of friends, but being at the same time exposed in their weakened condition to destitution, have grown tired of life itself.
We urge you to make these facts clear to all by your own voice, and by the righteous frankness of speech which you possess by virtue of your state of life, distinctly declaring thi!>
-that, unless they quickly change their plans, they will not have any to whom they may show clemency. At all events, you will either be of some assistance for the common welfare or you will have done what Solon8 did, who, not being able to defend his abandoned citizens when the citadel had already been taken, put on his armor and sat down before the gates, making it very evident from his appearance that he did not agree to the things that were happening. Furthermore, I know this most positively, that, even if anyone would not now receive your opinion, a little later he will bestow on you the greatest praise for your good will and your wisdom, when he sees affairs turning out according to your prediction.
8 This story is related in Plutarch, Salon 30 and in Diogenes Laertius 1.49.