seized by a love of philosophy and true education. For of necessity, from what I have said, there will be many fellow-lovers [rivals], from which there is also benefit. For now, since it is neglected, the danger is that it will be entirely extinguished, and that not even a spark will remain for those who might wish to kindle it. Have my vows for philosophy, therefore, just now been conceived? Or is it rather that it will be none the worse for philosophy, even if it withdraws from the company of men? For it has its own dwelling place with God, around whom, even while it tarries here, it spends the greatest part of its labor; and as often as the earthly seat does not receive it when it descends, it remains with the Father, rightfully claiming this for itself, A *Non mihi vestro opus; ipsa Jovis solo me dignor honore.* [Not for me is your work; I deem myself worthy of the honor of Jove alone.] Human affairs, however, whether it be present or absent, become worse or better, and thoroughly happy or miserable. For these reasons, therefore, and for philosophy, I have conceived these vows. May God grant that I become master of that prayer which, when Plato uttered it, he did not attain. May I see you having joined philosophy to the empire! And no one will hear me speaking any further about the kingdom. For verily, it is now the time to keep silent, since in this one thing I have embraced everything. B And if this happens, I have given what I was striving for from the beginning, when I promised in my discourse to show you a certain representation of a king. For in truth, Speech is a certain shadow of the thing; but I, in turn, was asking from you the thing itself, animated and vital. Which indeed, I hope, I shall shortly see hereafter; and you will display to me the very work of the king, unless these sermons of mine should hover outside your ears; but may they rather flow in, and enter into the inner recesses of your soul. Yet I do not think that philosophy was impelled to that exhortation without some divine inspiration, God plainly ministering in this matter, who, as can be conjectured with no effort, applies himself more zealously to the amplification of your affairs. I, however, not undeservedly, will be the first to perceive some benefit from the fruit of my own seeds, if I shall one day experience that you are such an emperor as I fashion you to be, when I confer further and back with you regarding the things which the cities demand. C
A MONITOR TO THE FOLLOWING TRACT
Seek the subject matter of this book from Epistle 154, from which you will understand that it was written against certain ignorant men, averse to the Muses, who, because they themselves were devoid of all humanity and of the liberal arts, condemned the study of them in Synesius; charging him with this fault, that he scattered many things here and there in his writings about poets and other more elegant authors. Furthermore, they carped at him because he possessed copies that were less than perfect. Therefore, in this book he clears away both charges, and defends the cause of the liberal arts especially, and of more refined learning, with equal sweetness and copiousness of erudition.
FROM PHILOSTRATUS, ON DION
A I know not by what name Dion of Prusa should best be called, given his excellence in all things. For he was, as the saying goes, a horn of Amalthea; and as for his faculty of speech, he is to be ranked with the most eloquent. He imitated the rhetorical style of Plato and Demosthenes; and in his own particular genre of expression, he responds to them with a certain candor and a refined simplicity, no less than the strings of a musical instrument harmonize with one another. The finest and most praiseworthy quality in the orations of Dion is his regulation of the affections. For as often as he rebukes unruly and insolent republics, he appears neither scurrilous nor ill-tempered, but rather like someone tempering the ferocity of horses with a bridle B rather than a whip. And when he sets himself to praise cities that are well-governed, he does not seem to excite or puff them up with pride, but rather to restrain them, as if they would quickly perish should they degenerate into a different state. But he also maintained a manner of philosophizing that was not the common kind, nor prone to irony, but one that pressed forward with gravity, while being tempered by a certain seasoning of innate humanity. That he was also capable of writing history, his *Getica* makes clear. For indeed, he had traveled among the Getae when he was wandering. But as to the *Euboicus* and the *Encomium of the Parrot*, and whatever else Dion composed on less serious matters, let no one judge these to be trivial or slight, but rather consistent with the aim of a sophist. For it is the part of a sophist to apply earnestness even to such topics. Having lived during the times C when Apollonius of Tyana and Euphrates the Tyrian were professing philosophy, he was on familiar terms with both, though they differed from one another in their method of philosophy. I would not deem his departure to the Getae to have been an exile, since he was not deported by the order of the emperor; yet neither was it a mere journey, since he had been pulled away from his customary association with men and had withdrawn himself from the eyes and ears of all, doing one thing in one land and another in another, because he feared the Roman tyranny, by which all philosophy was being driven out. 34 Furthermore, while he labored to support himself by planting trees, or by digging D the soil, or by drawing water for baths and gardens, and many other such tasks for the sake of his livelihood, he was by no means neglectful of his studies; rather, he sustained himself throughout that whole time with two books: these were Plato’s *Phaedo* and Demosthenes’ oration *On the False Embassy*. Eventually, when he would frequent the military camps, in which he was wont to toil, and noticed the soldiers planning* sedition because of the slaughter of the tyrant, he did not hold back; but leaping up naked onto a high altar, he began his speech in this way: