Letter 350
Late Antiquity Basil of Caesarea Greek- Basil to Libanius Your gloom has been dissolved. Let this be the preamble of my letter. As for you, mock and tear our affairs to pieces, whether laughing or in earnest. But why did you make mention of snow or pickled fish, when you might luxuriate in our jests? As for me, Libanius—that I may stir up in you broad laughter—I wrote this letter sheltered beneath a curtain of snow; and when you receive it and touch it with your hands, you will know how icy a thing it is, and how it portrays its sender lurking in his den, unable to peer out beyond the chambers of his house. For we have got tombs for our dwellings, until the spring shall come and bring us back to life, dead as we are, once more bestowing existence upon us, as upon plants.