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| To Olympius.
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Letter IV.1763
| 1763 Placed about
358. Olympius sends Basil a present in his retreat, and he
playfully remonstrates. |
To Olympius.1764
| 1764 cf.
Letters xii., xiii., lxiii., lxiv., and ccxi. |
What do you mean, my dear
Sir, by evicting from our retreat my dear friend and nurse of
philosophy, Poverty? Were she but gifted with speech, I take it
you would have to appear as defendant in an action for unlawful
ejectment. She might plead “I chose to live with this man
Basil, an admirer of Zeno,1765
| 1765 The founder of
the Stoic school. | who, when he had
lost everything in a shipwreck, cried, with great fortitude,
‘well done, Fortune! you are reducing me to the old
cloak;’1766
| 1766 The
τρίβων, dim.
τριβώνιον, or worn cloak, was emblematic of the philosopher and later of the
monk, as now the cowl. cf. Lucian, Pereg.
15, and Synesius, Ep. 147. | a great admirer of
Cleanthes, who by drawing water from the well got enough to live on and
pay his tutors’ fees as well;1767
| 1767 Cleanthes, the
Lydian Stoic, was hence called φρέαντλος,
or well drawer. On him vide Val. Max. viii. 7 and Sen.,
Ep. 44. | an immense
admirer of Diogenes, who prided himself on requiring no more than was
absolutely necessary, and flung away his bowl after he had learned from
some lad to stoop down and drink from the hollow of his
hand.” In some such terms as these you might be chidden by
my dear mate Poverty, whom your presents have driven from house and
home. She might too add a threat; “if I catch you here
again, I shall shew that what went before was Sicilian or Italian
luxury: so I shall exactly requite you out of my own
store.”
But enough of this. I am very glad that you have
already begun a course of medicine, and pray that you may be benefited
by it. A condition of body fit for painless activity would well
become so pious a soul. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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