It is rare to find in Basil’s letters even so slight an allusion as this to the general affairs of the empire.  At or about the date of this letter the Goths, hitherto kept in subjection by the legions of Valens, were being driven south by the Huns and becoming a danger to the empire.  Amm. Marc. xxxi. 4.  Turbido instantium studio, orbis Romani pernicies ducebatur.