we are being sold off. How often have I risen gladly, because I had left my master behind! How often have I risen short of breath, glistening with sweat, having abandoned at once both my sleep and the race, in which I was fleeing from the armed enemy soldier! To us alone does Hesiod seem to have said nothing, when he leaves Hope inside the jar; for we are all discouraged and despairing. That proverbial life 7—which is no life at all—is nothing other, sirs, than this very one we are living. Why the delay? Why do we hesitate? Pentapolis has become hateful to God. We are delivered overover to punishments. For the locust is by no means the sharper or more grievous evil, but that fire which, before the enemy, consumed the crops of the three cities. What is the end of these evils? If the islands are free and exempt from these things, I, for one, whenever the sea calms down, shall set sail. But I fear lest the disaster should overtake me first. For the lady of the assault draws near; they say that inside the city the winged messenger has B arrived, he who leads the enemy army. Most of all, that is the moment when the priest will show that the race to the courts of God is necessary, when the danger is upon the very skin of the city. I shall remain in my place in the church. I shall stand before the all-holy lustral waters. I shall embrace the holy columns which support the table that is pure and uncontaminated by earth; there I shall sit while I live, and there I shall lie once I am dead. I am a minister of God, and a priest, and perhaps it is fitting for me to sacrifice my very soul to Him. And surely God will not overlook that bloodless altar being defiled by the blood of a priest.
In speech excelling, and in deeds foremost, Whom all learning, Thalelaeus, becomes 8.
THE CONSTITUTIO OF SYNESIUS OF CYRENE
C I, having chosen a life of philosophy that is not sequestered, and since the most humane religion draws one toward a life of social fellowship, have obeyed your call, and I rejoice D that I have learned for what reasons the cities have 305 gathered together. For I believe it is of advantage to them even now...
and in the future to be, and to appear, grateful toward those who have voluntarily conferred benefits upon them. Therefore, I have welcomed the common voices of the people, and whoever has privately expressed his view, all of them I have praised with equal acclaim. But I too must be among those who offer praise, and it is fitting for me even more than for others, for I consider that I myself owe a debt of gratitude for the common good, and on behalf of each individual, as well as for the city, to those who have acted kindly. For why should he who is supposed to offer prayers on behalf of the common welfare not owe a debt of gratitude to one who has increased that welfare both by military force and by other care and concern? And why should I not pay every honor to him who, so that I might achieve my prayers, has accomplished them through sweat? I, for my part, have asked of God that the wicked and detestable barbarians might perish miserably. But the hands of Anysius, through the power of God, have accomplished this. For of the cavalry who recently made an incursion, being over a thousand in number, not even a fifth part remains, say those B who have suffered, and those same men who survived have counted those who have fallen. And this has been accomplished with no large army leading, but forty men were arrayed with him. And I, for my part, will say nothing bad of those cavalry and infantry to whom we give grain. But he believes that the Unnigardae must be used for everything; as for these many who are here, he did not even bring them as spectators of the works of others. They go alone to his military maneuvers. He is their centurion and their commander; he is their fellow soldier and their general; he runs with them through the countryside in armed courses. He is quickly everywhere; and wherever he is, he is victorious. But if these were more numerous—say, two hundred in addition to those we have—relying on the help of God, I venture to assert that this high-spirited youth would carry the war into the land of the barbarians. Therefore, we should ask for two hundred Unnigardae for the commander Anysius, if we are thinking and desiring to recall our kinsmen from the region of the barbarians. I wish I could see the pile of spoils and the booty of barbarian slaves, with him who was recently master in turn serving others! To pray for this was easy C indeed three days ago; but now it is also proper to hope for the same. For things which are subject to the eyes establish faith, and have become pledges of things expected; nevertheless, to obtain these, there is need of Anysius as commander of two hundred. He possesses both the nature and the skill to employ the Unnigardae; and the same man is able to disarm men, to castrate them, and to govern them as he pleases. The Unnigardae with Anysius are Roman hands, Roman militia. But without him, I can indeed praise the forty who are present for their strength, but I would not be willing to vouch for their resolve. Let a report be prepared requesting this, asking for soldiers and for time for the brave man. And what else is he like? Is he not the one who has put an end to the war in times of peace—a war little less severe than the barbarian one—the war arising from military disorder and the greed of the commanders? Being the only one of many commanders under whom a private citizen, having suffered injustice, speaks louder than a soldier. And whom is it possible to call most incorruptible? Not the one who is superior to the pride and the gains from the law? D And who would be more god-fearing than one who begins every deed and word from God? For all of which it is possible for us here to pray for a deep and flourishing old age for him.
to remain, [and] for virtue to advance with the years. A And what kind of man did he show himself to be towards others? That war which arose during peacetime, and which was somewhat more annoying than this barbaric one, stirred up by the confused tumult of soldiers, by their pleasures, and by the greed and insolence of the leaders—is he not the one who restrained and suppressed it? Under whom alone, among many leaders, does a private citizen, affected by injury, cry out more freely and more loudly than a soldier? Whom, furthermore, is it permissible to call a recipient of gifts, when he is alien to and abhors the taking of them? Does he not look with disdain even upon those gains which accrue by law? Who, indeed, would be more religious than he who begins all deeds and words from God? Surely for all these things it is right for all still to pray to God, that his advanced age may remain green, his virtue making progress along with his years.
OF SYNESIUS OF CYRENE
TO PAEONIUS: A DISCOURSE ON THE GIFT OF THE ASTROLABE
SYNESIUS OF CYRENE TO PAEONIUS, SERMON ON THE GIFT OF THE ASTROLABE
A Hearing you a short while ago expressing indignation B on behalf of philosophy, that there will be no limit to the impiety of men toward her, and at the same time [hearing you say] that she experiences a harsh and very ungrateful fortune—by which those who pretend to her, through frequent juggling of tricks, are esteemed both among the powerful and among the masses, while those who are truthful are disbelieved and honored only in the portion of Carians—I was pleased by your impetus; for it proceeded from a very noble nature. Yet, I do not think that anyone ought to be indignant when that which happens is according to reason. For it is surely reasonable that each person should happen upon those things which he has striven to attain and about which he has busied himself, and that he should, in turn, fail to attain those things which he neither desired at any time nor took care to ensure might come to him. If, therefore, the one has cared to become wise, and the other has only cared to seem so, each possesses that which is fitting: the one is, while the other seems to be. B Indeed, how terrible it would be, and how much more justly would they be indignant, those who hunt for glory through a philosophy that is not [real], but only apparent, if those who have concerned themselves with the former were to have both, while they themselves had neither! And yet they have practiced that which is easiest with no less care—to deceive those who do not know the things about which they are being deceived. Let these men, then, be brilliant, and let them be crowned by the theaters, if they so wish. For since they have abandoned the truth, they have merely disputed a name. But for us who are disregarded—since you wish to count me among those of the rare breed, and perhaps not least because you took hard the fortune of philosophy regarding me—for us who are disregarded by men, we must be content with the rank in which we have placed ourselves.