Letter 27: When by God's grace, and the aid of your prayers, I had seemed to be somewhat recovering from my sickness, and had got my strength again, then came winter, keeping me a prisoner at home, and compelling me to remain where I was. True, its severity was much less than usual, but this was quite enough to keep me not merely from travelling while it l...
To Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata
When, by God's grace and the help of your prayers, I seemed to be recovering somewhat from my illness and regaining my strength, winter arrived, keeping me a prisoner at home and forcing me to stay put. True, the cold was milder than usual, but it was quite enough to keep me not only from traveling during its worst, but even from venturing to put my head outside the door.
Still, it is no small thing for me to be able to communicate with your reverence at least by letter, and to rest easy in the hope of your reply. Should the season allow it, and should I be granted further length of life, and should the food shortage not prevent me from making the journey, then perhaps -- with the help of your prayers -- I may be able to fulfill my earnest wish: to find you at your own fireside, and with ample leisure to take my fill of your vast stores of wisdom.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Εὐσεβίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ Σαμοσάτων]
Ὅτε τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι καὶ τῇ βοηθείᾳ τῶν σῶν προσευχῶν μικρὸν ἀναφέρειν ἐκ τῆς ἀῤῥωστίας ἔδοξα καὶ ἀνελεξάμην ἐμαυτοῦ τὰς δυνάμεις, τότε ὁ χειμὼν ἐπεγένετο, οἴκοι καθείργων ἡμᾶς καὶ κατὰ χώραν μένειν συναναγκάζων. εἰ γὰρ καὶ πολλῷ κουφότερος τῆς συνηθείας ἀπήντησεν, ἀλλʼ οὖν ἔμοιγε ἱκανὸς εἰς ἐμπόδιον, οὐχ ὅπως ὁδοιπορεῖν δι’ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ μικρὸν προκύπτειν τοῦ δωματίου δύνασθαι.
Ἔστι δέ μοι οὐδὲ τοῦτο μικρόν, τὸ καταξιοῦσθαι διὰ γραμμάτων ὁμιλεῖν τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ σου, καὶ τῇ ἐλπίδι τῶν ἀντιδόσεων ἤδη προαναπαύεσθαι. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ καιρὸς ἐνδοίη, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῖν ἔτι λείποιτο χρόνος, καὶ μὴ ἄπορον ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν ὁ λιμὸς ἀπεργάσαιτο, ταχὺ ἂν τύχοιμεν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διὰ τῶν σῶν προσευχῶν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἑστίας σε καταλαβόντες κατὰ πᾶσαν σχολὴν τῶν μεγάλων θησαυρῶν τῆς ἐν σοὶ σοφίας ἐμφορηθείημεν.
Revision history
- 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import
Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/blob/master/data/tlg2040/tlg004/tlg2040.tlg004.perseus-grc2.xml
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