To Eusebius, in exile.

Even in our time the Lord has taught us, by protecting with His great and powerful hand the life of your holiness, that He does not abandon His holy ones.  I reckon your case to be almost like that of the saint remaining unhurt in the belly of the monster of the deep, or that of the men who feared the Lord, living unscathed in the fierce fire.  For though the war is round about you on every side, He, as I hear, has kept you unharmed.  May the mighty God keep you, if I live longer, to fulfil my earnest prayer that I may see you!  If not for me, may He keep you for the rest, who wait for your return as they might for their own salvation.  I am persuaded that the Lord in His loving-kindness will give heed to the tears of the Churches, and to the sighs which all are heaving over you, and will preserve you in life until He grant the prayer of all who night and day are praying to Him.  Of all the measures taken against you, up to the arrival of our beloved brother Libanius the deacon,³²¹⁶

3216 To be distinguished from Libanius the bishop, p. 177, and Libanius the professor, mentioned later.

3217 Δησερόρων, or Δεσερτόρων, the accepted reading, is a curious Latinism for the Greek αὐτόυολοι.  Eusebius was in exile in Thrace, and the now the Goths were closing round Valens.

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