Resultados25 letters/passages
synesius_cyrene · c. 405 · score 0.02
To my Brother. I have acquired three hundred lances and the same number of scimitars. As for double-edged swords, I never had more than ten — they do not manufacture those long iron weapons in our country. But I think the scimitars strike the enemy's bodies with a more devastating blow anyway. [The letter continues wit …
synesius_cyrene · c. 406 · score 0.02
To my Brother. Are you surprised that while living in a parched place like the country of the Phycuntes [the "Seaweed People"] you shiver and your blood turns to poison? It would have been more surprising if your body had held up. Come to me instead — we have clean water, good air, and room for you. An invitation like …
synesius_cyrene · c. 401 · score 0.02
To my Brother. How often one sees the same men who are brave in peacetime turn cowardly in battle! They prove themselves worthless everywhere. I think we should all be grateful to war, for it is an exact touchstone of the blood in a man's heart. It strips away many a braggart and returns them to us humbler. We will no …
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. 413 · score 0.02
To the General. Praise is the reward of virtue, and we offer it now to the most illustrious Marcellinus [a man of senatorial rank], at this moment when he is leaving his post — precisely when there can be no suspicion of flattery. When he arrived here, he found our cities attacked from without by hordes of barbarians a …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.02
To the Bishops. "It is better to trust in God than to trust in man" [Psalm 97:8]. Even so, I hear that the followers of the godless heresy of Eunomius [an extreme Arian theologian who denied any similarity between Father and Son] are putting forward a certain Quintianus and boasting about their influence at court, with …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Anysius. So this is how sons defend their fathers! I thank you for it. Carnas came to me as a suppliant, and God himself made the plea sacred. How can a priest ignore the arrest of a man — on his own warrant, no less — during a day of fasting? Whoever brought him did not hand him over willingly; he was taken by forc …
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. 403 · score 0.01
To Pentadius the Augustalis [the governor of Egypt]. As for the flood of people coming to see both you and me about their problems — you have only yourself to blame. You have been too zealous in making it obvious to everyone that you hold me in high honor, and the result is a perfect deluge of people in trouble beating …
synesius_cyrene · c. 406 · score 0.01
To my Brother. You remember Chilas, I suppose — the one who ran a disorderly house. He was quite famous in his profession. Andromache, the actress — one of the prettiest women of our time — was part of his company. After all that, the man has turned devout, applied to our bishop, and been received into the Church. [The …
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 401 · score 0.01
To my Brother. When a sick man struggles to vomit, doctors prescribe warm water to make it easier for his stomach to expel what is already there. In the same way, I have news to deliver that will not go down easily. Brace yourself, and let me give it to you straight. [A characteristically Synesian opening — using a med …
synesius_cyrene · c. 412 · score 0.01
To Chryso- [otherwise unknown]. For everyone else, spring is delightful because it covers the earth with flowers and turns the whole countryside into a meadow. For me, its great charm is that it permits me to write to my friends by sea. Winter shuts the ports and cuts us off. Spring opens them again. So here is my lett …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Anysius. Joannes [a mutual friend of ours who, after an illness that left him unfit for military service, entered a monastery] has been in the grip of a serious illness. But he suffers less from the disease itself than from the heartbreak of being separated from you. He is still in the same condition, and on top of …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Theophilus. The Olbiates — a village community — were required to elect a bishop to replace the blessed father Athamas, who died after a long life in the priesthood. They called me in to take part in their deliberations. I complimented the people on having so many worthy candidates to choose from — a sign of a healt …
synesius_cyrene · c. 403 · score 0.01
To Pentadius the Augustalis. I am worried about two people: about you, that you may not commit an injustice; and about this man, that he may not suffer one.
synesius_cyrene · c. 407 · score 0.01
To the Doctor Theodorus. Scarcity of food is a blessing forced upon us. Someone else might scoff at the idea, but you cannot — you are the admirer of Hippocrates, who declared that want is the mother of health.
synesius_cyrene · c. 407 · score 0.01
To Joannes. If you want to live without fear, you should fear the law. But you have always been too proud even to seem afraid of it. At the very least, fear your enemies — and with them, fear the judges, if they are honest. Even if they are corrupt, you should still fear them: once a man with a deeper purse comes along …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Herculian. Reading your letter, I recognize Odysseus at once. Many traits of character in it recall that hero. But I do not recognize Proteus [the shape-shifting sea god]. You are too constant for that — your character does not change with every audience. That is what I admire in you: consistency, even when the time …
synesius_cyrene · c. 403 · score 0.01
To Olympius. How do you think I received your welcome letters — I who was thirsting to hear from you? Every passage made my heart melt. They inspired many different feelings, and now I look forward to seeing again that Alexandria where there still lives a friend so dear to me. By taking such an interest in Secundus, yo …