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| To Eustathius the Philosopher.
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Letter I.1737
To Eustathius the Philosopher.1738
| 1738 Another
ms. reading is “To Eustathius,
Presbyter of Antioch.” The Benedictine note is
“Eustathius was not a Presbyter, but a heathen, as is
indicated by Basil’s words, ‘Are not these things work
of fate,—of necessity, as you would
say?’” |
Much distressed as I was
by the flouts of what is called fortune, who always seems to be
hindering my meeting you, I was wonderfully cheered and comforted by
your letter, for I had already been turning over in my mind whether
what so many people say is really true, that there is a certain
Necessity or Fate which rules all the events of our lives both great
and small, and that we human beings have control over nothing; or, that
at all events, all human life is driven by a kind of luck.1739
| 1739 The word
τύχη does
not occur in the N.T. | You will be very ready to forgive me
for these reflexions, when you learn by what causes I was led to make
them.
On hearing of your philosophy, I entertained a
feeling of contempt for the teachers of Athens, and left it. The
city on the Hellespont I passed by, more unmoved than any Ulysses,
passing Sirens’ songs.1740
| 1740 ὡς ουδεὶς
᾽Οδυσσεύς.
The Ben. translation is “citius quam quisquam
Ulysses.” But the reason of the escape
of Ulysses was not his speed, but his stopping the ears of his crew
with wax and tying himself to the mast. cf. Hom.
Od. xii. 158. The “city on the Hellespont,”
is, according to the Ben. note, Constantinople; but Constantinople
is more than 100 m. from the Dardanelles, and Basil could hardly
write so loosely. |
Asia1741
| 1741 Apparently not
the Roman Province of Asia, but what we call Asia Minor, a name
which came into use in Basil’s century. The
“metropolis” is supposed to mean Cæsarea. | I admired; but I
hurried on to the capital of all that is best in it. When I
arrived home, and did not find you,—the prize which I had sought
so eagerly,—there began many and various unexpected
hindrances. First I must miss you because I fell ill; then when
you were setting out for the East I could not start with you; then,
after endless trouble, I reached Syria, but I missed the philosopher,
who had set out for Egypt. Then I must set out for Egypt, a long
and weary way, and even there I did not gain my end. But so
passionate was my longing that I must either set out for Persia, and
proceed with you to the farthest lands of barbarism, (you had got
there; what an obstinate devil possessed me!) or settle here at
Alexandria. This last I did. I really think that unless,
like some tame beast, I had followed a bough held out
to me till I was quite worn
out, you would have been driven on and on beyond Indian
Nyssa,1742
| 1742 Νύσιος=᾽Ινδικός.
cf. Soph. Aj. 707. Nyssa was in the
Punjab. | or any more
remote region, and wandered about out there. Why say
more?
On returning home, I cannot meet you, hindered by
lingering ailments. If these do not get better I shall not be
able to meet you even in the winter. Is not all this, as you
yourself say, due to Fate? Is not this Necessity? Does not
my case nearly outdo poets’ tales of Tantalus? But, as I
said, I feel better after getting your letter, and am now no longer of
the same mind. When God gives good things I think we must thank
Him, and not be angry with Him while He is controlling their
distribution. So if He grant me to join you, I shall think it
best and most delightful; if He put me off, I will gently endure the
loss. For He always rules our lives better than we could choose
for ourselves. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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