Letter CCCXLVII.

Libanius to Basil.

Every bishop is a thing out of which it is very hard to get anything.(1) The further you have advanced beyond other people in learning, the more you make me afraid that you will refuse what I ask. I want some rafters.(2) Any other sophist would have called them stakes, or poles, not because he wanted stakes or poles, but rather for shewing off his wordlets than out of any real need. If you do not supply them, I shall have to winter in the open air.