Letter 4: (In answer to Ep. XIV., of Basil, about 361.) You may mock and pull to pieces my affairs, whether in jest or in earnest. This is a matter of no consequence; only laugh, and take your fill of culture, and enjoy my friendship.

Gregory to Basil. You may mock me and tear my affairs to pieces, whether in jest or in earnest. It makes no difference to me. Only laugh, and take your fill of amusement, and enjoy our friendship. Everything that comes from you is a pleasure to me, no matter what it is or how it looks. I believe you are teasing about the situation here not for the sake of teasing, but to draw me to yourself -- if I understand you at all. It is like people who block up streams in order to redirect them into another channel. That is how your words always strike me. For my part, I will admire your Pontus and your Pontic darkness, and your dwelling place so worthy of exile, and the hills hanging over your head, and the wild beasts that test your faith, and your remote spot nestled beneath them -- or as I should call it, your mousehole with its grand names: Retreat of Contemplation, Monastery, School. And I will admire your thickets of wild brush and your crown of precipitous mountains, by which may you be not crowned but walled in. And your rationed air, and the sun you yearn for but can only glimpse as through a chimney -- you sunless Cimmerians of Pontus, condemned not merely to a six-month night, as some are said to be, but to spend your whole life without emerging from the shadows -- a real shadow of death, to borrow a phrase from Scripture. And as for the surrounding countryside, shall I call it Eden and the fountain divided into four streams that water the world? Or shall I call it a dry and waterless wilderness -- and what Moses will come to tame it, striking water from the rock with his staff? For all of the land that has escaped the rocks is full of gullies; what is not a gully is a thicket of thorns; whatever is above the thorns is a cliff; and the road above that would make even a mountain goat think twice.

(In answer to Ep. XIV., of Basil, about 361.) You may mock and pull to pieces my affairs, whether in jest or in earnest. This is a matter of no consequence; only laugh, and take your fill of culture, and enjoy my friendship. Everything that comes from you is pleasant to me, no matter what it may be, and how it may look. For I think you are chaffing about things here, not for the sake of chaffing, but that you may draw me to yourself, if I understand you at all; just like people who block up streams in order to draw them into another channel. That is how your sayings always seem to me. For my part I will admire your Pontus and your Pontic darkness, and your dwelling place so worthy of exile, and the hills over your head, and the wild beasts which test your faith, and your sequestered spot that lies under them...or as I should say your mousehole with the stately names of Abode of Thought, Monastery, School; and your thickets of wild bushes, and crown of precipitous mountains, by which may you be, not crowned but, cloistered; and your limited air; and the sun, for which you long, and can only see as through a chimney, O sunless Cimmerians of Pontus, who are condemned not only to a six months' night, as some are said to be, but who have not even a part of your life out of the shadow, but all your life is one long night, and a real shadow of death, to use a Scripture phrase. And admire your strait and narrow road, leading...I know not if it be to the Kingdom, or to Hades, but for your sake I hope it is the Kingdom...And as for the intervening country, what is your wish? Am I falsely to call it Eden, and the fountain divided into four heads, by which the world is watered, or the dry and waterless wilderness (only what Moses will come to tame it, bringing water out of the rock with his staff)? For all of it which has escaped the rocks is full of gullies; and that which is not a gully is a thicket of thorns; and whatever is above the thorns is a precipice; and the road above that is precipitous, and slopes both ways, exercising the mind of travellers, and calling for gymnastic exercises for safety. And the river rushes roaring down, which to you is a Strymon of Amphipolis for quietness, and there are not so many fishes in it as stones, nor does it flow into a lake, but it dashes into abysses, O my grandiloquent friend and inventor of new names. For it is great and terrible, and overwhelms the psalmody of those who live above it; like the Cataracts and Catadoupa of the Nile, so does it roar you down day and night. It is rough and fordless; and it has only this morsel of kindness about it, that it does not sweep away your dwelling when the torrents and winter storms make it mad. This then is what I think of those Fortunate Islands and of you happy people. And you are not to admire the crescent-shaped curves which strangle rather than cut off the accessible parts of your Highlands, and the strip of mountain ridge that hangs over your heads, and makes your life like that of Tantalus; and the draughty breezes, and the vent-holes of the earth, which refresh your courage when it fails; and your musical birds that sing (but only of famine), and fly about (but only about the desert). No one visits it, you say, except for hunting; you might add, and except to look upon your dead bodies. This is perhaps too long for a letter, but it is too short for a comedy. If you can take my jokes kindly you will do well, but if not, I will send you some more.