The surroundings and the personal appearance of the interlocutors were significant.  The apse of the basilica was as a holy of holies secluded from the hum and turmoil of the vast city. Cæsarea, when sacked by Sapor in 260, is said to have contained 400,000 inhabitants (Zonaras, xii. 630).  It may be presumed to have recovered and retained much, if not all, of its importance.  It was typical of what the Church was to the world.  The health and strength of the Church were personified in Basil.  He was now in the ripe prime of life but bore marks of premature age.  Upright in carriage, of commanding stature, thin, with brown hair and eyes, and long beard, slightly bald, with bent brow, high cheek bones, and smooth skin, he would shew in every tone and gesture at once his high birth and breeding, the supreme culture that comes of intercourse with the noblest of books and of men, and the dignity of a mind made up and of a heart of single purpose.  The sovereign presented a marked contrast to the prelate. The authority for the personal appearance of Basil is an anonymous Vatican document quoted by Baronius, Ann. 378:  “Procero fuit habitu corporis et recto, siccus, gracilis; color ejus fuscus, vultus temperatus pallore, justus nasus, supercilia in orbem inflexa et adducta; cogitabundo similis fuit, paucæ in vultu rugæ, eœque renidentes, genæ oblongæ, tempora aliquantum cava, promissa barba, et mediocris canities.”  Valens was of swarthy complexion, and by those who approached him nearly it was seen that one eye was defective.  He was strongly built, and of middle height, but his person was obese, and his legs were crooked.  He was hesitating and unready in speech and action. Amm. Marc. xxx. 14, 7:  “Cessator et piger:  nigri coloris, pupula oculi unius obstructa, sed ita ut non eminus appareret:  figura bene compacta membrorum, staturæ nec proceræ nec humilis, incurvis cruribus, exstanteque mediocriter ventre.”  “Bon père, bon époux, arien fervent et zélé, mais faible, timide, Valens était né pour la vie privée, où il eût été un honnête citoyen et un des saints de l’Arianisme.”  Fialon, Et. Hist. 159.  It is on the occasion of this interview that Theodoret places the incident of Basil’s humorous retort to Demosthenes, cf. Theod. v. 16 and note on p. 120 of Theod. in this series. the chief of the imperial kitchen, the Nebuzaradan, as the Gregories style him, of the petty fourth century Nebuchadnezzar.  This Demosthenes had already threatened the archbishop with the knife, and been bidden to go back to his fire.  Now he ventured to join in the imperial conversation, and made some blunder in Greek.  “An illiterate Demosthenes!” exclaimed Basil; “better leave theology alone, and go back to your soups.”  The emperor was amused at the discomfiture of his satellite, and for a while seemed inclined to be friendly.  He gave Basil lands, possibly part of the neighbouring estate of Macellum, to endow his hospital. Theod. iv. 16.  Bas., Ep. xciv.