Resultados25 letters/passages
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. 407 · score 0.02
To Joannes. One should use the friendship of the powerful, but not abuse it.
synesius_cyrene · c. 406 · score 0.02
… rom the bottom of my heart I rejoice to hear that those golden children have by imperial decree become legally your own. This is the most wonderful news. May you enjoy them for many years.
synesius_cyrene · c. 409 · score 0.02
To Domitian the jurist. I know from the facts themselves that your greatest pleasure lies in doing good, and that you are always ready to extend a helping hand. I am therefore not embarrassed to ask you: help the man who carries this letter. His case is just, and your assistance will cost you nothing but a little time …
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. 394 · score 0.02
To the Philosopher [Hypatia]. I seem destined to play the role of an echo: whatever sounds reach me, I repeat. And so I pass on to you the praises of the remarkable Alexander [perhaps a relative of Synesius]...
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 402 · score 0.01
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. 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. 407 · score 0.01
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. 411 · score 0.01
To Hesychius. The Athenians praised Themistocles because, although he loved political power as much as any man of his time, he refused every office where his friends would receive no advantage over strangers. The times have recognized your own merits — through you, a new office has come into being in the administration …
synesius_cyrene · c. 411 · score 0.01
To Theophilus. The man carrying this letter has been sent on a piece of business that piety does not allow me to describe. But that he has cultivated virtue from his youth — this I can say truthfully. Honor him as a good man. As for the accusation he has made, let it follow its own course. Surely you would never interf …
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. 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. 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. 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. 405 · score 0.01
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. 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. 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. 406 · score 0.01
To Pylaemenes. I have two letters in circulation addressed to you: I am writing to both Thrace and Isauria at the same time, hoping to find you with one or the other. The theme of both is simply a greeting to my dear friend Pylaemenes the philosopher — for that is what he is, whether he likes it or not. He can never en …