§ 164. BASIL THE GEHA.T. 899
Roger Bacon (f 1294), penetrated the mysteries (yf . lature and i-aised the study of it again to consideration and honor.
We now return to the life of Basil. After finishing lug studies in Athens he appeared in his native city of Oaesarea as a rhetorician. But he soon after (a, d. 360) took a journey to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, to become acquainted with the monastic life ; and he became more and more enthusiastic foi' it. He distributed his jjroperty to the poor, and withdrew to a lonely romantic jdistrict in Pontus, near the cloister in which his mother Emmelia, witli his sister Macrina, and other pioua and cultivated virgins, were living. " God has shown me," he wrote to his friend Gregory, " a region which exactly suits my mode of life ; it is, in truth, what in our happy jestings we often wished. What imagination showed us in the distance, that I now see before me. A high mountain, covered with thick forest, is watered towards the north by fresh perennial streams. At the foot of the mountain a wide plain spreads out, made fruitful by the vapors which moisten it. The surrounding forest, in which many varieties of trees crowd together, shuts me off like a strong castle. The wilderness is bounded by two deep ravines. On one side the stream, where it rushes foaming down from the mountain, forms a barrier hard to cross; on the other a broad ridge obstructs approach. My hut is so placed upon the summit, that I overlook the broad plain, as well as the whole course of the Iris, which is more beautiful and copious than the Strymon near Amphipolis. The river of my wilderness, more rapid than any other that I know, breaks upon the wall of projecting rock, and rolls foaming into the abyss : to the mountain traveller, a charming, wonderful sight ; to the natives, profitable for its abundant fisheries. Shall I describe to you the fertilizing vapors which rise from the (moistened) earth, the cool air which rises from the (moving) mirror of the water I Shall I tell of the lovely singing of the birds and the richness of blooming plants? What delights me above all is the silent repose of the place. It is only now and then visited by huntsmen ; for my wilderness nourishes deer and herds of wild goats, not your beai'S and your wolves. How would I exchange a place with him ? Ale
900 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
mseon, after he liad found the Echinades, wished to wander nc further." '
This rouiantic picture shows that the monastic life had ita ideal and poetic side for cultivated minds. In this region Basil, free from all cares, distractions, and- interruptions of worldly life, thought that he could best serve God. " What is more blessed than to imitate on earth the choir of angels, at break of day to rise to prayer, and praise the Creator with anthems and songs ; then go to labor in the clear radiance of the sun, accompanied everywhere by prayer, seasoning work with praise, as if with salt ? Silent solitude is the beginning of purification of the soul. For the mind, if it be not disturbed from without, and do not lose itself through the senses in the world, withdraws into itself, and rises to thoughts of God." In the Scriptures he found, " as in a store of all medicines, the true remedy for his sickness."
Nevertheless, he had also to find that flight from the city was not flight from his own self. " I have well forsaken," says he in his second Epistle,"" " my residence in the city as a source of a thousand evils, hut I have not been able toforsahe myself. I am like a man who, unaccustomed to the sea, becomes seasick, and gets out of the large ship, because it rocks moi-e, into a small skiff, but still even there keeps the dizziness and nausea. So is it with me ; for while I carry about with me the passions which dwell in me, I am everywhere tormented with the same restlessness, so that I really get not much help from this solitude." In the sequel of the letter, and elsewhere, he endeavors, however, to show that seclusion from worldly business, celibacy, solitude, perpetual occupation with the Holy Scriptures, and with the life of godly men, prayer and contemplation, and a corresponding ascetic severity of outward life, are necessary for taming the wild passions, and for attaining the true quietness of the soul.
■ Ep. xiv. Tp-t)-yopi(f} eraipw (torn. iii. p. 132, ed. nova Paris. Gam.), elegantly reproduce^? in German by Humboldt, 1. c. p. 28, with the observation: "In this simple description of landscape and of forest-life, sentiments are expressed which nore intimately blend with those of modern times, than anything that has ooaa lown to us fron. Greek or Roman antiquity."
' ^Addressed to his friend Gregory, Ep. ii. c. 1 (torn. iii. p. 100).