NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

To the President.every kind of calamity. He saw a son’s untimely death; he saw a house without successors;now, unless you devise some remedy commensurate with your kindness, he will see the veryconsolation of his bereavement made an occasion of innumerable troubles, for, I suppose,the little lad will never act as senator, collect tribute, or pay troops; but once again the oldman’s white hairs must be shamed. Concede a favour in accordance with the law andagreeable to nature; order the boy to be allowed to wait till he come to man’s estate, and theold man to await death quietly on his bed. Let others, if they will, urge the pretext of pressof business and inevitable necessity. But, even if you are under a press of business, it wouldnot be like you to despise the distressed, to slight the law, or to refuse to yield to the prayersof your friends.514