Letter 350: Your annoyance is over. Let this be the beginning of my letter. Go on mocking and abusing me and mine, whether laughing or in earnest.
Basil of Caesarea→Libanius|c. 377 AD|basil caesarea
grief deathhumorimperial politics
Death & mourning
Your annoyance is over. Let that be the beginning of my letter. Go ahead -- mock me and my people, whether in jest or in earnest. Why bother talking about frost or snow when you could be enjoying yourself at our expense?
For my part, Libanius, to give you a good laugh, I have written this letter wrapped in a snow-white veil. When you take it in your hand, you will feel how cold it is, and how perfectly it captures the condition of its sender -- imprisoned at home, unable to put his head out of doors.
My house is a tomb until spring arrives and brings us back from death to life, granting us once more, like plants, the simple gift of being alive.
ST. BASIL OF CAESAREA
Basil to Libanius.
Your annoyance is over. Let this be the beginning of my letter. Go on mocking and abusing me and mine, whether laughing or in earnest. Why say anything about frost or snow, when you might be luxuriating in mockery? For my part, Libanius, that I may rouse you to a hearty laugh, I have written my letter enveloped in a snow-white veil. When you take the letter in your hand, you will feel how cold it is, and how it symbolizes the condition of the sender — kept at home and not able to put head out of doors. For my house is a grave till spring comes and brings us back from death to life, and once more gives to us, as to plants, the boon of existence.
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Source. Translated by Blomfield Jackson. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 8. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3202350.htm>.
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Your annoyance is over. Let that be the beginning of my letter. Go ahead -- mock me and my people, whether in jest or in earnest. Why bother talking about frost or snow when you could be enjoying yourself at our expense?
For my part, Libanius, to give you a good laugh, I have written this letter wrapped in a snow-white veil. When you take it in your hand, you will feel how cold it is, and how perfectly it captures the condition of its sender -- imprisoned at home, unable to put his head out of doors.
My house is a tomb until spring arrives and brings us back from death to life, granting us once more, like plants, the simple gift of being alive.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.