S. Basil the Great, when travelling from place to
place, to observe the highest forms of ascetic life, had met with
Eustathius at Tarsus, and formed a lasting friendship with a man whom
he describes as “exhibiting something above human
excellence,” and of whom, after the painful dissensions which
embittered Basil’s later life, that great saint could say, that
from childhood to extreme old age he (Eustathius) had watched over
himself with the greatest care, the result of his self-discipline being
seen in his life and character Basil, Epist.
244. Compare Newman, Preface to Catechetical Lectures, p.
iv..