Synesius of Cyrene

Mosaic depicting an angel. Museum of Ptolemais

Synesius of Cyrene (c.370-c.413) was a Neo-Platonic philosopher who became bishop of Ptolemais in the Cyrenaica. He left behind a small corpus of texts that offer much information about daily life in Late Antiquity, and about the christianization of the Roman world.

The text of Letter 26, written in 411, is offered here in the translation by A. Fitzgerald. The addressee was a famous teacher of rhetorics.

Letter 26: Gratitude

To Troilus

Even if neither the people of Cyrene, nor those of the neighboring towns extend you the gratitude that you deserve for the fact that the great Anastasius writes to them, nevertheless, the grace of God will be with you, to Whom you will be dear for the part you have taken in forwarding good works. Be happy, most excellent of philosophers; so I delight to call you, for your acts speak for themselves.

Online 2007
Revision: 31 July 2007