Synesius, Hymn 2

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.

Hymn 2 is offered here in the translation by A. Fitzgerald. It offers a description of the universe as God's creation.

Hymn 2: Prayer at Dawn

[1] Again light shines forth, again dawn,
again day, after the darkness that roams by night.

[2] Again make supplication to God,
O my heart, in songs of the morning,
He who has given light to the dawn,
who has given stars to the night,
the dancing company that encircles the universe.

[3] Ether has enveloped
the expanse of billowy matter,
mount