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
27, written in 409 and
offered here in the
translation by A.
Fitzgerald, speaks for itself. The addressee probably was an
influential courtier.
Letter 27: A Recommendation
To
Constans
If
you hold the virtue of philosophy in
esteem, you will honor it not merely in those of the present day who
have their
share in it, but also in those who are dead and gone. The divine
Amyntianus,
for a time once with us, has obtained a better lot, and is, I think,
present,
though he appears to be absent. A near relation of this man, his own
cousin, is
being attacked by your own Soterichus. Show a little interest yourself
in
behalf of Dionysius, and Soterichus will immediately stop attacking him.
|
Online 2007
Revision: 31 July 2007 |
