If the Libanian correspondence be accepted as genuine, we may add Celsus, a pupil of Libanius, to the group. [47] But if we except Basil's affection for Gregory of Nazianzus, of none of these intimacies is the interest so great as of that which is recorded to have been formed between Basil and the young prince Julian. [48] One incident of the Athenian sojourn, which led to bitter consequences in after days, was the brief communication with Apollinarius, and the letter written "from layman to layman," [49] which his opponents made a handle for much malevolence, and perhaps for forgery. Julian arrived at Athens after the middle of the year 355. [50] Basil's departure thence and return to Cæsarea may therefore be approximately fixed early in 356. [51] Basil starts for his life's work with the equipment of the most liberal education which the age could supply. He has studied Greek literature, rhetoric, and philosophy under the most famous teachers. He has been brought into contact with every class of mind. His training has been no narrow hothouse forcing of theological opinion and ecclesiastical sentiment. The world which he is to renounce, to confront, to influence is not a world unknown to him. [52] He has seen heathenism in all the autumn grace of its decline, and comes away victorious from seductions which were fatal to some young men of early Christian associations. Athens no doubt contributed its share of influence to the apostasy of Julian. Basil, happily, was found to be rooted more firmly in the faith. [53]
[21] Epp. cciv., ccx., ccxxiii.
[22] Epp. iii., ccxxiii. The researches of Prof. W. M. Ramsay enable the exact spot to be identified with approximate certainty, and, with his guidance, a pilgrim to the scenes of Basil's boyhood and earlier monastic labours might feel himself on fairly sure ground. He refers to the description of St. Basil's hermitage given by Gregory of Nazianzus in his Ep. iv., a description which may be compared with that of Basil himself in Ep. xiv., as one which "can hardly refer to any other spot than the rocky glen below Turkhal. Ibora," in which the diocese Annesi was situated, "cannot be placed further down, because it is the frontier bishopric of Pontus towards Sebasteia, and further up there is no rocky glen until the territory of Comana is reached. Gregory Nyssenus, in his treatise on baptism" (Migne, iii. 324 c.) "speaks of Comana as a neighbouring city. Tillemont, thinking that the treatise was written at Nyssa, infers that Nyssa and Comana were near each other. The truth is that Gregory must have written his treatise at Annesi. We may therefore infer that the territory of Ibora adjoined that of Comana on the east and that of Sebasteia on the south, and touched the Iris from the boundary of Comana down to the point below Turkhal. The boundary was probably near Tokat, and Ibora itself may have been actually situated near Turkhal." Prof. W. M. Ramsay, Hist. Geog. of Asia Minor, p. 326.
[23] Ep. xiv.
[24] Greg. Naz., Ep. iv.
[25] On the visits to Peter, Prof. W. M. Ramsay writes: "The first and more natural interpretation is that Peter lived at a place further up the Iris than Dazimon, in the direction of Neocæsarea. But on more careful consideration it is obvious that, after the troubles in Dazimon, Basil went to take a holiday with his brother Peter, and therefore he did not necessarily continue his journey onward from Dazimon. The expression of neighbourhood to the district of Neocæsarea is doubtless only comparative. Basil's usual residence was at Cæsarea. Moreover, as Ibora has now been placed, its territory probably touched that of Neocæsarea." Hist. Geog. of A.M. p. 328.
[26] Greg. Nyss., Orat. in xl. Mart.
[27] Greg. Naz., Or. xliii.
[28] Ep. ccxxiii.
[29] See Ep. cciv. and note on p. 250.
[30] i.e. the Cappadocian Cæsarea. The theory of Tillemont that Cæsarea of Palestine was the scene of Basil's early school life seems hardly to deserve the careful refutation of Maran (Vit. Bas. i. 5). cf. Ep. xlv. p. 148, and p. 145, n. cf. also note on p. 141 on a possible intercourse between the boy Basil and the young princes Gallus and Julian in their seclusion at Macellum. The park and palace of Macellum (Amm. Marc. "fundus") was near Mt. Argæus (Soz. v. 2) and close to Cæsarea. If Basil and Julian did ever study the Bible together, it seems more probably that they should do so at Macellum, while the prince was still being educated as a Christian, than afterwards at Athens, when the residence at Nicomedia has resulted in the apostasy. cf. Maran, Vit. Bas. ii. 4.
[31] Ep. cclxxi.
[32] Ep. lxiv.
[33] Greg. Naz. Or. xliii.
[34] Ep. li.
[35] Ecc. Hist. iv. 26.
[36] Ecc. Hist. vi. 17.
[37] Maran, Vit. Bas. ii., Fabricius, Ed. Harles. vol. ix.
[38] He does not seem to have been at Antioch until 353, D.C.B. iii. 710, when Basil was at Athens.
[39] cf. the correspondence with Libanius, of which the genuineness has been questioned, in Letters cccxxxv.-ccclix. Letter cccxxxix. suggests a possibility of some study of Hebrew. But Basil always uses the LXX.
[40] Greg. Naz., Or. xliii., and poem De Vita Sua.
[41] phratriai. Greg., De Vita Sua, 215.
[42] A somewhat similar exemption is recorded of Dean Stanley at Rugby.
[43] Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. 20, 21; Carm. xi. 221-235: "O d' eis en hemas diapherontos egage Tout en theos te kai pothos ton kreissonon." Ullman (Life of Greg.) quotes Cic., De Amicitia, xxv.: "Amicitiæ vis est in eo ut unus quasi animus fiat ex pluribus."
[44] Soc. iv. 26 and Soz. vi. 17.
[45] Ep. lxiv.
[46] Ep. cclxxii.
[47] Ep. cccvi.
[48] Greg. Naz., Or. iv., Epp. xxxix., xl., xli., on the first of which see note.
[49] Ep. ccxxiv. 2.
[50] Amm. Mar. xv. 2, 8. "Permissus" is no doubt an euphemism for "coactus."
[51] "Non enim citius contigit anno 355 exeunte aut ineunte 356, si quidem ibi vidit Basilius Julianum, qui in hanc urbem venit jam media parte anni 355elapsa: neque etiam serius, quia spatia inter studia litterarum et sacerdotium nimis contrahi non patitur rerum Basilii gestarum multitudo." Maran.
[52] On the education of Basil, Eug. Fialon remarks (Etude Historique et Litteraire, p. 15): "Saint Grégoire, sur le trône patriarcal de Constantinople, déclarait ne pas savoir la langue de Rome. Il en fut de même de Saint Basile. Du moins, c'est vainement qu'on chercherait dans ses ouvrages quelque trace des poètes ou des prosateurs Latins. Si des passages de l'Hexaméron semblent tirés de Cicéron ou de Pline, il ne faut pas s'y méprendre. C'étaint de sortes de lieux cammuns qui se retrouvent dans Plutarque et dans Élien-ceux-ci les avaient empruntés à quelque vieil auteur, Aristotle, par exemple, et c'est à cette source première qu'avaient puisé Grecs et Latins. Les Grecs poussaient même si loin l'ignorance du ayant à dire comment le mot ciel s'exprime en Latin, l'écrit a peu pres comme il devait l'entendre prononcer aux Romains, Keloum, sans se préoccuper de la quantité ni de l'etymologie...La littérature Grecque était donc le fonds unique des études en Orient, et certes elle pouvait, à elle seule, satisfaire de nobles intelligences...C'est dans Homère que les jeunes Grecs apprenaient à lire. Pendant tout le cours de leurs études, ils expliquaient ses poèmes...Ses vers remplissent la correspondances des pères de l'Eglise, et plus d'une comparaison profane passe de ses poèmes dans leurs homélies. Après Homère, venaient Hésiode et les tragiques Hérodote et Thucydide, Démosthène, Isocrate, et Lysias. Ainsi poètes, historiens, orateurs, formaient l'esprit, dirigeaient le coeur, élevaient l'âme des enfants. Mais ces auteurs étaient les coryphées du paganisme, et plus d'une passage de leur livres blessait la morale sévère du christianisme. Nul doute qu'un maitre religieux, un saint, comme le père de Basile, á propos des dieux d'Homére,...dût plus d'une fois déplorer l'aveuglement d'un si beau génie....Jusqu'ici, les études de Basile repondent à peu près á notre instruction secondaire. Alors, comme aujourd'hui ces première études n'etaient qu'un acheminement à des travaux plus serieux. Muni de ce premier bagage littéraire, un jeune homme rich, et que voulait briller dans le monde, allait dans les grands centres, à Antioche, à Alexandrie, à Constantinople, et surtout à Athènes, ètudier l'éloquence et la philosophie."
[53] cf. C. Ullman, Life of Gregory of Naz. chap. ii., and Greg. Naz., Or. xliii. 21. blaberai men tois allois Athenai at eis psuchen.
III.--Life at Cæsarea; Baptism; and Adoption of Monastic Life.
When Basil overcame the efforts of his companions to detain him at Athens, Gregory was prevailed on to remain for a while longer. Basil therefore made his rapid journey homeward alone. His Letter to Eustathius [54] alleges as the chief reason for his hurried departure the desire to profit by the instruction of that teacher. This may be the language of compliment. In the same letter he speaks of his fortitude in resisting all temptation to stop at the city on the Hellespont. This city I hesitate to recognise, with Maran, as Constantinople. There may have been inducements to Basil to stop at Lampsacus and it is more probably Lampsacus that he avoided. [55] At Cæsarea he was welcomed as one of the most distinguished of her sons, [56] and there for a time taught rhetoric with conspicuous success. [57] A deputation came from Neocæsarea to request him to undertake educational work at that city, [58] and in vain endeavoured to detain [59] him by lavish promises. According to his friend Gregory, Basil had already determined to renounce the world, in the sense of devoting himself to an ascetic and philosophic life. [60] His brother Gregory, however, [61] represents him as at this period still under more mundane influences, and as shewing something of the self-confidence and conceit which are occasionally to be observed in young men who have just successfully completed an university career, and as being largely indebted to the persuasion and example of his sister Macrina for the resolution, with which he now carried out the determination to devote himself to a life of self-denial. To the same period may probably be referred Basil's baptism. The sacrament was administered by Dianius. [62] It would be quite consonant with the feelings of the times that pious parents like the elder Basil and Emmelia should shrink from admitting their boy to holy baptism before his encountering the temptations of school and university life. [63] The assigned date, 357, may be reasonably accepted, and shortly after his baptism he was ordained Reader. [64] It was about this that he visited monastic settlements in Palestine, Mesopotamia, Coele Syria, and Egypt, [65] though he was not so fortunate as to encounter the great pope Athanasius. [66] Probably during this tour he began the friendship with Eusebius of Samosata which lasted so long.
To the same period we may also refer his renunciation of his share of the family property. [67] Maran would appear to date this before the Syrian and Egyptian tour, a journey which can hardly have been accomplished without considerable expense. But, in truth, with every desire to do justice to the self-denial and unworldliness of St. Basil and of other like-minded and like-lived champions of the Faith, it cannot but be observed that, at all events in Basil's case, the renunciation must be understood with some reasonable reservation. The great archbishop has been claimed as a "socialist," whatever may be meant in these days by the term. [68] But St. Basil did not renounce all property himself, and had a keen sense of its rights in the case of his friends. [69] From his letter on behalf of his foster-brother, placed by Maran during his presbyterate, [70] it would appear that this foster-brother, Dorotheus, was allowed a life tenancy of a house and farm on the family estate, with a certain number of slaves, on condition that Basil should be supported out of the profits. Here we have landlord, tenant, rent, and unearned increment. St. Basil can scarcely be fairly cited as a practical apostle of some of the chapters of the socialist evangel of the end of the nineteenth century. But ancient eulogists of the great archbishop, anxious to represent him as a good monk, have not failed to foresee that this might be urged in objection to the completeness of his renunciation of the world, in their sense, and to counterbalance it, have cited an anecdote related by Cassian. [71] One day a senator named Syncletius came to Basil to be admitted to his monastery, with the statement that he had renounced his property, excepting only a pittance to save him from manual labour. "You have spoilt a senator," said Basil, "without making a monk." Basil's own letter represents him as practically following the example of, or setting an example to, Syncletius.
Stimulated to carry out his purpose of embracing the ascetic life by what he saw of the monks and solitaries during his travels, Basil first of all thought of establishing a monastery in the district of Tiberina. [72] Here he would have been in the near neighbourhood of Arianzus, the home of his friend Gregory. But the attractions of Tiberina were ultimately postponed to those of Ibora, and Basil's place of retreat was fixed in the glen not far from the old home, and only separated from Annesi by the Iris, of which we have Basil's own picturesque description. [73] Gregory declined to do more than pay a visit to Pontus, and so is said to have caused Basil much disappointment. [74] It is a little characteristic of the imperious nature of the man of stronger will, that while he would not give up the society of his own mother and sister in order to be near his friend, he complained of his friend's not making a similar sacrifice in order to be near him. [75] Gregory [76] good-humouredly replies to Basil's depreciation of Tiberina by a counter attack on Cæsarea and Annesi.