394 COSMOS. 



the other, all access is impeded by a broad mountain-ridge. 

 My hut is so situated on the summit of the mountain, that I 

 can overlook the whole plain, and follow throughout its course 

 the Iris, which is more beautiful and has a more abundant 

 body of water, than the Strymon near Amphipolis. The 

 river of my wilderness, which is more impetuous than any 

 other that I know of, breaks against the jutting rock, and 

 throws itself foaming into the abyss below an object of 

 admiration to the mountain wanderer, and a source of profit 

 to the natives from the numerous fishes that are found in its 

 waters. Shall I describe to thee the fructifying vapours that 

 rise from the moist earth, or the cool breezes wafted over the 

 rippled face of the waters? Shall I speak of the sweet song 

 of the birds, or of the rich luxuriance of the flowering plants ? 

 What charms me beyond all else is the calm repose of this 

 spot. It is only visited occasionally by huntsmen; for my 

 wilderness nourishes herds of deer and wild goats, but not 

 bears and wolves. What other spot could I exchange for 

 this? Alcmaeon, when he had found the Echinades, would 

 not wander further.' '* In this simple description of scenery 

 and of forest life, feelings are expressed, which are more inti- 

 mately in unison with those of modern times, than anything 

 that has been transmitted to us from Greek or Roman 

 antiquity. From the lonely alpine hut to which Basil withdrew, 

 the eye wanders over the humid and leafy roof of the forest 

 below. The place of rest which he and his friend Gregory of 

 Nazianzum had long desired, is at length found.f The poetic 

 and mythical allusion at the close of the letter, falls on the 

 Christian ear like an echo from another and earlier world. 



* Basilii M. Epist. xiv. p. 93, Ep. ccxxiii. p. 339. On the beauti- 

 ful letter to Gregory of Nazianzum, and on the poetic frame of mind of 

 St. Basil, see Villemain, De I Eloquence cliretienne dans le quatrieme 

 Siecle, in his Melanges historiques et litter air es, t. iii. pp. 320-325. 

 The Iris, on whose shores the family of the great Basil had formerly 

 possessed an estate, rises in Armenia, and after flowing through the 

 plains of Pontus, and mingling with the waters of the Lycus, empties 

 itself into the Black Sea. 



t Gregory of Nazianzum did not, however, suffer himself to be enticed 

 by the description of Basil's hermitage, preferring Arianzus in the 

 Tiberina Regio, although his friend had complainingly designated it 

 as an impure (3dpa6pov; see Basilii Epist., ii. p. 70, and Vita. Sancti 

 Bas., p. xlvi. and lix. of the edition of 1730. 



