Resultados25 letters/passages
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.02
To Anysius. Nothing could benefit Pentapolis more than honoring the Unnigardae [a barbarian military unit], who are excellent both as men and as soldiers, above all the other troops — not just the so-called native forces, but every auxiliary unit that has ever been stationed in our region. The proof of their quality is …
synesius_cyrene · c. 409 · score 0.02
To Simplicius. When you asked Cerialis to bring me your congratulations, you did him an unintended favor — you kept me ignorant for five days of what a contemptible man he is. Our cities had some hope for anyone Simplicius deemed worth knowing. But he quickly disgraced not you — may your reputation never depend on any …
synesius_cyrene · c. 405 · score 0.02
To Olympius. Just the other day — during the recent consulship of Aristaenetus [404 AD] and, I forget the name of his colleague — I received a letter bearing your seal and signed with your sacred name. But I suspect it was very old: it was worm-eaten, and the words were mostly illegible. Please do not content yourself …
synesius_cyrene · c. 406 · score 0.02
To my Brother. What now? Are we going to watch these vile raiders bravely risking death for the sake of other people's property — refusing to give up what they have plundered — while we spare ourselves and cling to our lives when our wives, our children, our freedom, and our country are at stake? It is time to act. I a …
synesius_cyrene · c. 409 · score 0.02
To my Brother. "Beware the asp and the toad, the snake and the Laodiceans. Beware the mad dog too — and again the Laodiceans." After the most cultured and amiable Pentadius, it is a Laodicean — Euthalius — who has obtained the governorship of Egypt. You know the youth: if I am not mistaken, he entered service around th …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.02
To Anastasius. I have not been able to do anything for the presbyter Evagrius — nor for anyone else who came to me for help during the rule of Andronicus. That man turned our province into a tyranny and made the bishop's office powerless. [This long, detailed letter describes the full extent of Andronicus's crimes and …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To a Bishop, expelled from his diocese for refusing to accept Arian doctrine. You have recovered what you truly are — you have not lost it. When a man is struck from the rolls of impiety, he is not at the same moment deprived of the throne of genuine piety. Welcome your exile from Egypt, and believe that the prophet's …
synesius_cyrene · c. 400 · score 0.01
To Troilus. You are both a philosopher and a compassionate man. So I can lament with you the misfortunes of my homeland. You will honor Cyrene because of her citizen the philosopher, and you will pity her because your nature is gentle. You have a double reason to lift her up from her ruin — and you have the power to do …
synesius_cyrene · c. 394 · score 0.01
The rest were equally qualified. [Synesius goes on to describe a terrifying storm at sea, with the Jewish captain refusing to steer on the Sabbath even as the ship was being swamped, passengers praying and writing hasty wills, soldiers drawing their swords to die fighting the waves rather than drowning passively, and t …
synesius_cyrene · c. 399 · score 0.01
Against Andronicus [Letter 57]. [This is not a letter but a formal episcopal decree — the longest document in Synesius's correspondence. It is a devastating indictment of Andronicus, a corrupt governor of Pentapolis.] The malevolent forces in the universe fulfill the designs of Providence insofar as they punish the des …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Theotimus. Consider Peter as well: the scourge of Pentapolis, a man who breaks its laws without method. God knows this, and so does Dioscurides. But Peter is far more shameless — he simply seizes whatever property he wants and makes it his own. Then when the case comes to court, he buys a favorable verdict by spendi …
synesius_cyrene · c. 410 · score 0.01
To my Brother. I hope I will benefit as much from my stay in Athens as you wish. It seems to me that I have already grown more than a palm's width in wisdom, and I can give you immediate proof of my progress. Well, it turns out that Athens no longer has anything sublime to offer a student of philosophy. The city's only …
synesius_cyrene · c. 405 · score 0.01
To my Brother. You must be joking when you say you want to stop us from manufacturing weapons — while the enemy holds our country, plunders everything, and slaughters entire populations every day, and we have no soldiers to be seen anywhere. Are we supposed to wait patiently to be killed? If a man may not forge a sword …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Anysius. The man carrying this letter is a philosopher at heart but a lawyer by profession. As long as you were with us, and as long as Pentapolis still existed as a functioning society, he practiced law in our country. But since your departure, the times have betrayed us to our enemies and brought a strange tranqui …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Anysius. The moment I heard the bad news from Cyrene — that the enemy were approaching — I thought of writing to you in Taucheira immediately. But a messenger arrived first to tell us that the general had already occupied the high ground. So you knew before we did. May God reward your alertness, now and always. I se …
synesius_cyrene · c. 413 · score 0.01
To the Philosopher [Hypatia, the famous mathematician, astronomer, and Neoplatonist philosopher in Alexandria, later murdered by a Christian mob in 415]. I salute you, and I beg you to salute your fortunate circle of companions for me, august Mistress. I have reproached you for a long time now for not thinking me worth …
synesius_cyrene · c. 413 · score 0.01
To the Philosopher [Hypatia]. I have produced two books this year. One was inspired by God himself; the other was provoked by the slander of men. Some of those who wear the white or dark robes [perhaps monks or philosophers of different schools] have attacked my work, and I felt compelled to respond. I am sending both …
synesius_cyrene · c. 413 · score 0.01
To the Philosopher [Hypatia]. Even if Fortune cannot take everything from me, she clearly wants to take everything she can. She has "bereft me of many excellent sons" [Homer, Iliad 22.44]. But she can never take from me the choice of what is best — and the best is you, and the friendship I share with you. I am sending …
synesius_cyrene · c. 394 · score 0.01
To my Brother. We set out from Bendideum [near Alexandria] at dawn but had barely passed the Pharian Shoals by noon — our ship ran aground two or three times still inside the harbor. A bad omen from the very start, and it would have been wiser to abandon a vessel that was already unlucky. But we were too ashamed to hav …
synesius_cyrene · c. 410 · score 0.01
To Athanasius. Odysseus tried to persuade Polyphemus to let him out of the cave. "I am a wizard," he said. "I can help you win the heart of the sea-nymph you have been courting without success. I know enchantments and love spells that not even Galatea can resist. Just move this door — or rather this boulder, which look …
synesius_cyrene · c. 401 · score 0.01
To Pylaemenes. I had a large Egyptian rug — not the kind you put under a bedspread, but one fine enough to use as a bedspread itself. Asterius, the shorthand writer, saw it and asked me for it, back when I was forced to sleep in front of the Record Office. I promised to leave it for him as a gift when I departed, but n …
synesius_cyrene · c. 402 · score 0.01
To Anastasius [one of Synesius's closest friends and an important courtier in Constantinople, tutor to the children of Emperor Arcadius]. Some god or argument or spirit has persuaded Sosenas that certain places attract or repel divine blessings. Since things have not gone well for him in our part of the world, he has c …
synesius_cyrene · c. 395 · score 0.01
To the Philosopher [Hypatia]. I am dictating this letter from my bed. May you receive it in good health — mother, sister, teacher, and benefactress, and everything else that is honored in name and deed. Bodily weakness has followed in the wake of my mental suffering. The memory of my dead children is consuming what rem …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Theophilus. I was prepared to place my hand and my judgment at the service of your fatherly command. However, I do not think Andronicus could have served his own profit better than Nicaeus has served his own ruin. I do not clearly understand why Nicaeus first left, nor why he has now returned in this state. The whol …
synesius_cyrene · c. 395 · score 0.01
To Theodorus and his Sister. How do you think I felt when a rumor swept through town that you were battling a dangerous — possibly catastrophic — case of ophthalmia, and that you were on the verge of losing your sight? Fortunately, the story turned out to be false. Some scoundrel seized on the word "ophthalmia" and inf …