Laudator Temporis Acti

Basil of Caesarea, Letters 97 (tr. Roy J. Deferrari):

For whenever I look upon these very limbs of ours, and see that no one of them is sufficient in itself to produce action, how can I reason that I of myself suffice to cope with the difficulties of life? For one foot could not make a stride safely unless the other supported it, nor could the eye see accurately unless it had the other as its partner and, working in harmony with it, cast its glance upon the objects of sight. The hearing is more exact when it receives sound through both its channels; and the grasp of the hand is stronger through the combined efforts of the fingers. And to sum up, I see that none of those things which are accomplished either by nature or by deliberate choice is completed without the union of the related forces...

ὅταν γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὰ ταῦτα ἀπίδω τὰ μέλη ἡμῶν, ὅτι ἓν οὐδὲν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς ἐνέργειαν αὔταρκες, πῶς ἐμαυτὸν λογίσομαι ἐξαρκεῖν ἑαυτῷ πρὸς τὰ τοῦ βίου πράγματα; οὔτε γὰρ ἂν ποῦς ἀσφαλῶς βαδίσειε, μὴ συνυποστηρίζοντος τοῦ ἑτέρου, οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς ὑγιῶς ἴδοι, μὴ κοινωνὸν ἔχων τὸν ἕτερον καὶ μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ συμφώνως προσβάλλων τοῖς ὁρατοῖς. ἡ ἀκοὴ ἀκριβεστέρα ἡ δι᾿ ἀμφοῖν τοῖν πόροιν τὴν φωνὴν δεχομένη, καὶ ἀντίληψις κραταιοτέρα τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τῶν δακτύλων. καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς οὐδὲν οὔτε τῶν ἐκ φύσεως οὔτε τῶν ἐκ προαιρέσεως κατορθουμένων ὁρῶ ἄνευ τῆς τῶν ὁμοφύλων συμπνοίας ἐπιτελούμενον...