fortune, and of my marriage dowry. Yet do not think that I say these things by way of re- proaching you; only in return for all these benefits I beg one favor: do not plunge me into a second widowhood; nor revive the grief which is now laid to rest: wait for my death: it may be in a little while I shall depart. The young indeed look forward to a distant old age; but we who have grown old46 have nothing but death to wait for. When, then, you shall have committed my body to the ground, and mingled my bones with thy father’s, embark for a long voyage, and set sail on any sea thou wilt: then there will be no one to hinder thee: but as long as my life lasts, be content to live with me. Do not, I pray you, oppose God in vain, involving me without cause, who have done you no wrong, in these great calamities. For if you have any reason to complain that I drag you into worldly cares, and force you to attend to business, do not be restrained by any reverence for the laws of nature, for training or custom, but fly from me as an enemy; but if, on the contrary, I do everything to provide leisure for thy journey through this life, let this bond at least if nothing else keep thee by me. For couldst thou say that ten thousand loved thee, yet no one will afford thee the enjoy- ment of so much liberty, seeing there is no one who is equally anxious for thy welfare. 6. These words, and more, my mother spake to me, and I related them to that noble youth. But he, so far from being disheartened by these speeches, was the more urgent in making the same request as before. Now while we were thus situated, he continually entreat- ing, and I refusing my assent, we were both of us disturbed by a report suddenly reaching 35 us that we were about to be advanced to the dignity of the episcopate.47 As soon as I heard this rumor I was seized with alarm and perplexity: with alarm lest I should be made captive against my will, and perplexity, inquiring as I often did whence any such idea concerning us could have entered the minds of these men; for looking to myself I found nothing worthy of such an honor. But that noble youth having come to me privately, and having conferred with me about these things as if with one who was ignorant of the rumor, begged that we might in this instance also as formerly shape our action and our counsels the same way: for he would readily follow me whichever course I might pursue, whether I attempted flight or submitted to be captured. Perceiving then his eagerness, and considering that I should inflict a loss upon the whole body of the Church if, owing to my own weakness, I were to deprive the flock of Christ of a young man who was so good and so well qualified for the supervision of large numbers, I abstained from disclosing to him the purpose which I had formed, al- though I had never before allowed any of my plans to be concealed from him. I now told 46 This must be regarded as a kind of rhetorical expression, as we learn from Chrysostom’s “Letter to a young widow” (see page 122) that his mother was not much past 40 at this time. 47 ἐπισκοπῆς is the reading of most mss but four have ίερωσύνης, “the priesthood,” which Bengel adopts, thinking that neither Basil nor Chrysostom could have been elected for the higher order at so early an age, but see below, p. 4, note 1. 43 Book I