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

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

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<strong>Basil</strong> to Libanius.Letter CCCXLII.<strong>Basil</strong> to Libanius.All who are attached to the rose, as might be expected in the case of lovers of the beautiful,are not displeased even at the thorns from out of which the flower blows. I have evenheard it said about roses by some one, perhaps in jest, or, it may be, even in earnest, thatnature has furnished the bloom with those delicate thorns, like stings of love to lovers, toexcite those who pluck them to intenser longing by these ingeniously adapted pricks. 3277But what do I mean by this introduction of the rose into my letter? You do not need telling,when you remember your own letter. It had indeed the bloom of the rose, <strong>and</strong>, by its fairspeech, opened out all spring to me; but it was bethorned with certain fault findings <strong>and</strong>charges against me. But even the thorn of your words is delightful to me, for it enkindlesin me a greater longing for your friendship.3277 ms. vary between ἐνπλήκτοις, ἐνπλέκτοις, ἀπλήκτοις, ἀπράκτοις.909

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