Resultados25 letters/passages
synesius_cyrene · c. 397 · score 0.02
To Aurelian. I believe your divine soul was sent into this world for the common good of humanity — and you should be grateful to those who bring you cases like this, because they supply you with exactly the kind of work you were made for. I am not recommending the young Herodes to you because he is my relative, but bec …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.02
… gn to have him excommunicated and removed. It is addressed to Anastasius at the imperial court in Constantinople, in hopes that the central government will finally intervene. The letter reveals the desperate situation of a provincial bishop in a collapsing frontier zone — caught between barbarian raiders from outside, …
synesius_cyrene · c. 400 · score 0.02
To the Bishops. Andronicus of Berenice — let no one call him a Christian, for he was born, raised, and grew up to be the evil destiny of Pentapolis, having seized the government of his country for his own profit — is accursed of God. Let him and his entire household be expelled from every church. The reason is not mere …
synesius_cyrene · c. 410 · score 0.02
To my Brother. Poemenius, who carries this letter, was sent by Artabazaces — our recent governor — to take charge of all the property he acquired in this region. In performing this task, Poemenius showed himself gentle and considerate. What other man would have behaved so well with such an opportunity? No one in Libya …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.02
To Theophilus. Justice has departed from humanity. In the past, Andronicus committed injustice; now he in turn suffers it. But it is the nature of the Church to raise the humble and humble the proud. The Church detested Andronicus for his crimes, but now that he has been brought low, it is the Church's duty to show mer …
synesius_cyrene · c. 399 · score 0.02
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 the Bishops. Let Andronicus [a notoriously corrupt local official], who has made a mockery of the Church, now experience her justice. Just yesterday he sinned against God and insulted humanity. For this we closed the church against him and drafted a letter to your brotherhood announcing the sentence. He anticipated …
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. 411 · score 0.01
To Theophilus. I act on your instructions because it is my desire — and a divine necessity compels me — to treat as law whatever your sacred throne ordains. For that reason, I forced my sick body into action, traveled through hostile territory as though it were safe, and arrived at Palaebisca and Hydrax — two villages …
synesius_cyrene · c. 404 · score 0.01
To my Brother. This man [probably named Ammonius] is a senator of the city where my children were born. In some way, we ought to honor all Alexandrians as fellow citizens. More than that, he is a man of learning and virtue who deserves our help for his own sake. Receive him warmly and do whatever you can for him.
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. 411 · score 0.01
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. 412 · score 0.01
To Simplicius. God declares that we should forgive debts owed to us [Matthew 6:12]. One man owes us money; another owes us the payment of justice. The man who freely forgoes that penalty is obedient to God.
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. 401 · score 0.01
… ian by birth, dark-skinned, hook-nosed, and of medium height. He lives near the imperial palace — not the official state palace, but the one behind it.
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. 409 · score 0.01
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. 402 · score 0.01
To Pylaemenes. Here at last is that Anastasius [one of my dearest friends and an important courtier in Constantinople, tutor to the children of Emperor Arcadius] about whom I have spoken so often. If I were introducing you to him, I would praise you exactly as I am now praising him. You are both neighbors in my heart a …
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. 409 · score 0.01
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. 404 · score 0.01
To Olympius. I have adopted a new practice with this letter. I am writing not to recommend the bearer to your friendship, but rather to give you the benefit of meeting a man who will be very useful to you and to your beloved friend the great Diogenes. Do not be offended if I say that the advantage is more on your side …
synesius_cyrene · c. 409 · score 0.01
To Constans. If you hold the virtue of philosophy in esteem, you will honor it not only in the living but also in the dead. The divine Amyntianus, once among us for a time, has passed on to a better lot — absent in appearance, but I think still present in spirit. A close relative of his, his own kinsman, now needs your …
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. This Carnas is taking his time. Neither by choice nor by necessity will he ever become an honest man. Regardless, he will have to appear before us soon. I want to hear what he has to say and see how he looks us in the face — the man who tried to sell us a horse he had stolen from us, on the grounds that "a …
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 …