Resultados25 letters/passages
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.02
To Olympius. Evil men from outside are troubling our Church. Take action against them. Only nails drive out nails.
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. 405 · score 0.02
To my Brother. At the moment I have neither donkeys, nor mules, nor horses available — they have all been sent to pasture. If I had them, I would have come to you. I thought of making the journey on foot, and I might have done it, but those who love me would not hear of it — the roads are too dangerous. The enemy roams …
synesius_cyrene · c. 402 · score 0.02
To Pylaemenes. I ask your friendship and protection for my dear Sosenas — born and raised amid learning, yet not meeting with the fortune that learning deserves. He blames his city's miserable condition and has convinced himself that one can change one's luck by changing one's address. He is heading for Constantinople, …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.02
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. 407 · score 0.02
To Joannes. Do not ask for great things. You face two dangers: if you succeed, you wound; if you fail, you are wounded.
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Anastasius [one of Synesius's dearest friends, tutor to Emperor Arcadius's children]. It was not generous of Amasis to steel his heart against tears over the misfortunes of Polycrates — misfortunes he had foreseen. He sent a herald to break off their friendship, rather than share in the suffering. I find this hard t …
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. 398 · score 0.01
To my Brother. A long letter to you would suggest that the messenger is a stranger to us. But my good friend Acacius is as well informed as I am, and he will tell you even more than he knows — because he is very fond of you and has a tongue that tends to outrun the facts. So I am keeping this letter short, less out of …
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. 407 · score 0.01
To Joannes. One should use the friendship of the powerful, but not abuse it.
synesius_cyrene · c. 401 · score 0.01
To Chryses. I am not recommending the charming Gerontius to your friendship merely because he is related to my children — although that alone would be reason enough. I recommend him because he is worthy of the golden Chryses in his character, if I may indulge a cold Gorgian pun on your name. Receive him well.
synesius_cyrene · c. 410 · score 0.01
To Olympius. I call as witness the divinity honored by both philosophy and friendship: I would have preferred many deaths to the bishopric. But God has imposed on me not what I desired but what He willed. I pray that He who gave me life will also protect it, so that this office may seem not a descent from philosophy bu …
synesius_cyrene · c. 406 · score 0.01
To Anastasius [one of Synesius's closest friends, an important courtier in Constantinople and tutor to the children of Emperor Arcadius]. I am overjoyed — and for what reason, do you think? From the bottom of my heart I rejoice to hear that those golden children have by imperial decree become legally your own. This is …
synesius_cyrene · c. 402 · score 0.01
To my Brother. The man carrying this letter is a paymaster and quartermaster of the Dalmatian cohort. I love all the Dalmatians as though they were my own children, because they are the people of the city to which I was appointed bishop [Ptolemais]. That is all I need to tell you — it is now for you to give him whateve …
synesius_cyrene · c. 404 · score 0.01
To Herodes and Martyrius. In writing a single letter to both of you, I am not at fault. It would actually be a reproach to me if I divided in my letters those who are united in my heart. Accept my best wishes, my dear friends, and know that you are equally cherished by me.
synesius_cyrene · c. 410 · score 0.01
To Auxentius [a childhood friend with whom Synesius was trying to mend a quarrel]. If I were to accuse you of betraying our friendship, I would win my case before the tribunal of God and all godly men. How did I get dragged into your quarrel with my brother? Without my approval, he took the side of Phaus, of blessed me …
synesius_cyrene · c. 408 · score 0.01
To Olympius. Though absent, you live always present in our memory. Even if we desperately wanted to, we could not forget the sweetness of your disposition and the sincerity of your character, admirable brother. Every gift you send reminds us not of your generosity — which we take for granted — but of the goodness of th …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To an unknown correspondent [perhaps Olympius]. Your wise letter has arrived — so tasteful and so brief, yet so eloquent. It is the offspring of a noble mind. The olive oil you requested is being sent with this reply. May it season your food as agreeably as your words have seasoned my day.
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Troilus. In the old days, when I wrote to friends, our exchanges were carefree. I lived among my books, almost completely disconnected from civic and political life. But now God has assigned me a fixed place and a specific rank in the city, and I live among a limited number of people. I want to be useful to my colle …
synesius_cyrene · c. 408 · score 0.01
To Simplicius. A man's feelings should not rise and fall with the turns of fortune, and the memory of old friends should never seem less important than present dignities. You have been forgetful of us for a long time. That is not right, considering the deep affection that once bound us so closely together.
synesius_cyrene · c. 403 · score 0.01
To Pylaemenes. In Plato, we see Socrates, already advanced in years, still pursuing his intellectual passions. "Do not be surprised," he says, "if, having given myself up to love with difficulty, I also give it up with difficulty." I have experienced the same thing in my relations with you and must ask the same forgive …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Herculian. You have not kept your promise, my dear friend — the promise that you would not reveal things that should remain hidden. I have just spoken with people who came from you. They told me things I shared with you in confidence, which you were not supposed to repeat. This is not the conduct of a philosopher. G …
synesius_cyrene · c. 402 · score 0.01
To Pylaemenes. No, my dear Pylaemenes — I call the god who presides over our friendship to witness — I never dreamed of ridiculing your love of country. Do I not also have a city and a home? You misunderstood my letter and blame me for a fault I did not commit. You love Heraclea. You are eager to serve your native city …