1 This letter is almost undoubtedly spurious, but it has a certain interest, from the fact of its having been quoted at the so-called 7th Council (2d of Nicaea) in 787. Maran (Vit. Bas. xxxix.) is of opinion that it is proved by internal evidence to be the work of some Greek writer at the time of the Iconoclastic controversy. The vocabulary and style are unlike that of Basil.
2 Neuter sc. pro/swpa, not u 9posta/seij, as we should expect in Basil.
3 e!nsarkon oi'konomi/an an expression I do not recall in Basil's genuine writings.
4 Qeoto/kon. the watchword of the Nestorian controversy, which was after Basil's time.
1 Introduced by the Ben. with the following preface: "En magni Basilii epistolam, ex prisco codice lxi. f. 324, a me exscriptam quae olim clarissimis quoque viris Marcianae bibliothecae descriptoribus Zannetro atque Morellio inedita visa est; atque utrum sit alicubi postremis his annis edita, mihi non consat, sed certe in plenissima Garnerii editione desideratur. Ea scribitur ad Urbicum monachum, ad quem aliae duae Basilii epistolae exstant, nempe 123 and 262, in Garneriana editione. Argumentum titulusque est De Continentia, neque ver scriptum hoc Basilianum diutius ego celandum arbitror praesertim quia Suidas ac Photius nihil praestantius aut epistolari characteri accommodatius Basilii epistolis esse judicarunt. Mai, biblioth. nov. patr. iii. 450.
3 The Ben. note is: "Hac super re reverentissime theologiceque scribit Athanasius Corinthi episcopus in fragmento quod nos edidimus A.A. class l. x. p. 499-500, quod incipit: Zhtou=men, ei' h 9 plh/rwsij tw=n brwma/twn e'pi\ Xristou= e'ke/kthto kai\ ke/nwsin. Erat enim haec quoque una ex objectionibus haereticorum. Definit autem, corpus Christi hac in re fuisse caeteris superius, sicuti etiam in insolita nativitate. Ulitur quoque Athanasius exemplo trinitatis illius apud Abrahamum convivantis, neque tamen naturali necessitati obtem perantis; quod item de Christo post resurrectionem edente intelligendum dicit.