Stimulated to carry out his purpose of embracing the ascetic life by what he saw of the monks and solitaries during his travels, Basil first of all thought of establishing a monastery in the district of Tiberina. Ep. xiv. ad fin.  Here he would have been in the near neighbourhood of Arianzus, the home of his friend Gregory.  But the attractions of Tiberina were ultimately postponed to those of Ibora, and Basil’s place of retreat was fixed in the glen not far from the old home, and only separated from Annesi by the Iris, of which we have Basil’s own picturesque description. Ep. xiv.  Gregory declined to do more than pay a visit to Pontus, and so is said to have caused Basil much disappointment. Greg. Naz., Ep. i. or xliii. § 25.  It is a little characteristic of the imperious nature of the man of stronger will, that while he would not give up the society of his own mother and sister in order to be near his friend, he complained of his friend’s not making a similar sacrifice in order to be near him. On the latter difference between the friends at the time of Basil’s consecration, De Broglie remarks:  “Ainsi se trahissait à chaque pas cette profords diversité de caractère qui devait parfois troubler, mais plus sonnent ranimer et resserrer l’union de ces deux belles âmes:  Basile, né pour le gouvernement des hommes et pour la lutte, prompt et précis dans ses resolutions, embrassant à coup d’œil le but à poursuivre et y marchant droit sans s’inquiéter des difficultés et du jugement des spectateurs; Grégoire, atteint de cette délicatesse un peu maladive, qui est, chez les esprits d’élite, la source de l’inspiration poétique, sensible à la moindre renonce d’approbation ou de blâme, surtout à la moindre blessure de l’amitié, plus finement averti des obstacles, mais aussi plus aisément découragé, mèlant a la poursuite des plus grands intérets un soin peut être excessif de sa dignité et toutes les inquiétudes d’un cœur souffrant.”  L’Eglise et l’Empire Romain au IVme Siècle, v. p. 89.  Gregory Greg. Naz., Ep. ii. good-humouredly replies to Basil’s depreciation of Tiberina by a counter attack on Cæsarea and Annesi.