4. He was moreover the first to speak shortly, as
befits the importance of the subject, about some of the daily duties of
life. As to this I should wish you to hear from himself, for it
would not be right for me to weaken the force of his lessons. I
would pray that we might visit him together, that so you might both
accurately preserve in your memory what he said, and supply any
omissions by your own intelligence. One thing that I do remember,
out of the many which I heard, is this; that instruction how to lead
the Christian life depends less on words, than on daily example.
I know that, if you had not been detained by the duty of succouring
your aged father, there is nothing that you would have more greatly esteemed than a
meeting with the bishop, and that you would not have advised me to
leave him in order to wander in deserts. Caves and rocks are
always ready for us, but the help we get from our fellow man is not
always at hand. If, then, you will put up with my giving you
advice, you will impress on your father the desirability of his
allowing you to leave him for a little while in order to meet a man
who, alike from his experience of others and from his own wisdom, knows
much, and is able to impart it to all who approach
him.