Basil of Caesarea, on Exod 2:12

“And when he had looked about this way and that way, and saw no one there, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

“He who hated the pomp of royalty returned to the lowly state of his own race. He preferred to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to have the fleeting enjoyment of sin. He who, possessing naturally a love for justice, on one occasion even before the government of the people was entrusted to him was seen inflicting on the wicked punishment to the extent of death because of his natural hatred of villainy. He was banished by those to whom he had been a benefactor. He gladly left the uproar of the Egyptians and went to Ethiopia and, spending there all his time apart from others, devoted himself for forty entire years to the contemplation of creation.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.