Basil, Letter 20
“For me, the intensity of the business I am now engaged in might give me some reason for a lack of correspondence. In addition, the smell I have contracted from excessive association with the idiotic mob makes me less at ease in addressing you sophisticates who will grow irritable and intolerant if you don’t hear anything worthy of your own wisdom.
But you, I guess, since you are readier to speak than all the Greeks I know, are accustomed to making your voice public on any pretext. And I think I know the most famous people in your ranks. There is no reason for your silence. And that is enough about that.”
Ἡμῖν μὲν γὰρ τὸ πυκνὸν τῆς ἀσχολίας τοῦτο ἐν ᾧ νῦν ἐσμὲν κἂν παραίτησιν ἐνέγκοι τυχὸν πρὸς τὴν ἔνδειαν τῶν γραμμάτων· καὶ τὸ οἱονεὶ ἐῤῥυπῶσθαι λοιπὸν τῇ κατακορεῖ συνηθείᾳ πρὸς ἰδιωτισμὸν ὄκνον εἰκότως ἐμποιεῖ προσφθέγγεσθαι ὑμᾶς τοὺς σοφιστάς, οἵ, εἰ μή τι ἄξιον τῆς ὑμετέρας αὐτῶν σοφίας ἀκούσεσθε, δυσχερανεῖτε καὶ οὐκ ἀνέξεσθε. σὲ δέ που τὸ ἐναντίον εἰκὸς ἐπὶ πάσης προφάσεως δημοσιεύειν σαυτοῦ τὴν φωνήν, ἐπιτήδειον ὄντα εἰπεῖν ὧν αὐτὸς οἶδα Ἑλλήνων. οἶδα γάρ, ὡς οἶμαι, τοὺς ὀνομαστοτάτους τῶν ἐν ὑμῖν. ὥστε οὐδεμία παραίτησις σιωπῶντι. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τοσοῦτον.
