Letter 432
To Eusebius. (355)
I hear you praise me and never stop doing so, and it seems to me you are doing what is both just and in your own interest. A man who says he studied under the best teacher both pays the teacher his due and ennobles himself by showing what springs he has drunk from.
But the praise should come with letters too, so that no part of your duties toward me lies idle. It seems to me that you are afraid I will demand favors -- that having received one, I will press for a second -- and so you keep silent, blocking the path by which I might make reasonable requests of you.
If you say I am wrong, prove it. You will prove it by writing. If you do not write, then I have been deceived by Clematius, who reported all those fine things and persuaded me to write to you in the first place.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
Related Letters
(Eusebius having replied to the former letter Gregory wrote again, having an opportunity of communicating with his friend through one Eupraxius, a disciple of Eusebius, who passed through Cappadocia on his way to visit his master. This letter is sometimes attributed to Basil.) Our reverend brother Eupraxius has always been dear to me and a true ...