2 cf. Letters cxlvi. and ccxxxix. Maran. (Vit. Bas). is of opinion that as these two letters, clvii. and clviii., written at the same time, are very much in the same terms, they cannot be to the same person, and thinks that the sluggishness, which Basil complains of, fits with Eusebius much better than with Antiochus, who could not travel without his uncle's permission.
2 On the Nicene Creed and the Holy Ghost.
2 On the marriage with a deceased wife's sister. cf. Letter xcccv.
13 On the ancient dislike of stepmothers,cf. Herod. iv. 154, and Eurip., Alcetis 309, where they are said to be as dangerous to the children as vipers. Meanander writes deino/teron ou'de\n a#llo mptruia=j kako/n.
14 1 Thess. iv. 4. So A.V., apparently taking skeu=oj for body with Chrys., Theodoret, and others. The Greek is, most simply, not "possess," but get, and is in favour of the interpretation of Theod. of Mops., Augustine, and others, "get his wife." See Ellicott, Thess. p. 53.
3 1 Sam. ix. 3. So six mss. Editors have substituted "enemies." The letter does not exist in the Codes Harlaeanus. Onoi is supposed to meant that Faustinus and John, the predecessors of Amphilochius in the see of Iconium, were not very wise bishops. e#xqroi might mean that they were Arian. cf. Letter cxxxviii.
4 cf. Ps. lv. 22 and 1 Pet. v. 7.
2 On Basil's hopes of visiting Eusebius.
3 Eutyches was a Cappadocian, who was taken prisoner by the Goths, in the reign of Gallienus, in a raid into Cappadocia. It was through the teaching of these captives that the ancestors of Ulphilas became Christians. cf. Philost., H.E. ii. 5.
4 The Ben. note illustrates these modes of martyrdom from the letter of the Gothic Church, supposed to have been written by Ascholius, sent to Caesarea with the body of Saint Sabas, who suffered under Athanaricus, king of the Goths, in the end of the fourth century. "They bring him down to the water, giving thanks and glorifying God; then they flung him down, and put a block about his neck, and plunged him into the depth. So slain by wood and water, he kept the symbol of salvation undefiled, being 38 years old.: cf. Ruinart., Act. Sinc. p. 670.
2 So all the mss. But it is the opinion of Maran that there can be no doubt of the letter being addressed, not to Ascholius, but to Soranus, duke of Scythia. We have seen in letter 255 that Basil requested his relative Julius Soranus to send him some relics of the Gothic martyrs. This letter appears to refer to his prompt compliance with the request by sending relics of Saint Sabas.