Letter 317
Late Antiquity Basil of Caesarea Greek- Without address, on behalf of a man in need
The scarcity of replies from your quarter makes our letters to your honour scarce. For we take it as a sign that our letter is a trouble to your honour, when we receive no answers to what we write from time to time. Yet again, the thought of the multitude of affairs about you shifts us to another mind, and we make allowance for one who, having so much in hand, forgets us—of whom, even were there full leisure and quiet, it would not, given the lowliness of our life, be easy to remember.
May the Holy One, then, both bring you to a greater eminence and preserve you in your present splendour by his own grace. As for us, we answer every occasion with letters—and not least the present one, on account of this man, whom we commend to you, and ask that he may be given some sense of the service rendered by our letters.