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.
A And we must not envy or esteem fortunate these half-educated men when they are exalted by the totally uneducated. For those who are not pure cannot see the beauty of an unstained soul; and to proclaim oneself and do everything for the sake of show is the mark not of wisdom, but of sophistic deceit. Wherefore, for those who do not obtain honor and reverence from the mob, it is well to say: “I care nothing for this honor; Zeus, I hope, will clothe me with a greater honor.” They too may consider that they are treated remarkably well, and rejoice in their hearts, if they have happened upon a man who possesses both prudence and power. For in this way we shall neither associate with the unworthy, nor be considered altogether ignoble and inglorious.
Why then should I hesitate to assign an intimate place in my heart to our admirable Paeonius, who for a long time has sought to bring together and unite into one place—having acutely observed the ancient kinship of these pursuits—philosophy and military affairs, which had been separated by great barriers? For Italy of old, having the same men as both auditors of Pythagoras and rulers of the cities, was called Great Greece; and not unjustly, since among those nations C Charondas and Zaleucus were establishing laws, while Archytas and Philolaus were acting as generals, and Timaeus, the most astronomical of men, was governing the city, conducting embassies, and performing other duties of civil administration; at whose suggestion Plato also discoursed to us on the nature of the world. Thus, the republic having been entrusted to their loyalty, they kept Italy blessed and flourishing up to the ninth generation from Pythagoras. And certainly the Eleatic school at Athens cared for letters and arms alike with equal honor. For you could not easily count how many tyrannies Zeno overthrew, having stirred up the healthier parts of the cities against them. And Xenophon, having taken up the ten thousand, who had despaired under calamities and were already on the verge of destruction, led them back from the furthest edge of the Persian empire, victorious over everything that opposed them. And what should one say of Dion, who came against the tyranny of Dionysius, which had enslaved the Greek cities in Sicily—cities that were not the least important—and in the beginning had also subdued the pride of the Carthaginians and was already encroaching upon the coast of Italy? Yet against this monarchy, this lover of Plato, who was also beloved by Plato, having enlisted foreign troops and having embarked his entire allied force onto a single ship—and a round one at that—sailed to Sicily. Through this great preparation, Dionysius was driven out, and then Dio reshaped the commonwealth, restoring the cities to the rule of the laws. Thus were philosophy and politics once united, and when they came together, such things they accomplished.
A Furthermore, just as other honorable and grave things, against which time has exercised its wanton violence, have in turn vanished from our age and become separated from their successors, it is hardly possible to speak with any dignity of the current state of human affairs. For must we conclude from this that these and other goods have deserted us? No greater calamity can befall cities than for them to possess might without sense, and prudence without power. Yet you appear to be undertaking to restore this connection to us. For you are both entrusted with public business and believe that you must pursue philosophy. Proceed in this way, then: contend as in a noble struggle on our behalf and on behalf of the Muses, so that no one may drive them forth—as if they were idle and helpless—from the forum and the camp, as though they were of no use for the serious deeds performed under the open sky, but were suited only for the pastimes and prattling of children. B It is fitting for us as well to extend to you a helping hand, each of us insofar as we are able. For thus you too will become a complete sage, not one who is merely initiated or imperfect and maimed, as if carried along by natural endowment alone; and the commonwealth would fare well in being overseen by such men, and we ourselves would benefit, having gained for philosophy a reputation among men by persevering in habits that are honorable. For it might well happen that the opposite would become true to that which was suggested a little earlier, when we said that the sophistical tribe infests the ignorance of the populace; and that, consequently, the true companions of philosophy come to hold less repute than the spurious and counterfeit. But when those who hold the magistracies, and have in their hands the affairs of cities, are not people from the common crowd but men of understanding, C they will quickly discern the spurious from the genuine; and it would no longer be difficult for the people to unlearn their own error. For it is not necessary to say anything to them, but rather to mark the base and adulterous with the stamp of their ignobility. It is in the nature of things that the leader should be held in admiration through the consent of those he governs; since even now the multitude, adhering to the greatest absurdities, considers the long-haired, the unkempt, and all the more brazen to be leading and eminent men. As for the others, the more varied and clever types of sophists, they almost worship and revere them—especially those who walk about with a club or a staff, and who spit before they speak. Therefore, you will also bring aid to the lot of philosophy, and you will not accuse her, for she does no wrong. D For what is reasonable and consistent has been shown to be the case. You will transfer this to what is more becoming and excellent when the themes of philosophy possess you more powerfully and ardently; for not even now have you taken up the defense sluggishly, inasmuch as you have barked back at the dogs, and have set yourself to fortify our Decelea. Having learned about you from those who were intimate with you before, even you yourself will soon perceive that you must ignite the astronomical sparks that are within your soul and, by means of what is already there, strive to lift them on high. For astronomy is itself a most venerable science, and perhaps it might become an ascent to something higher, which I consider to be the immediate ferry to the unspeakable theology. The matter
A which it subjects is that blessed body of the heavens, whose motion also seems to men noble and distinguished in philosophy to have the imitation of the intellect; and it does not proceed to its demonstrations in a controversial manner, but uses as ministers geometry and arithmetic, which if one were to call the unerring and unfailing rule of truth, he would in no way stray from what is fitting. I offer you a gift, most fitting for me to give and for you to receive: a work of my own intellect, as much as the most reverend mistress has contributed and supplied to me in this field; and, for the silver workmanship, the hands of those among us who are the most excellent. If I should preface something regarding this, I would be performing what is worthwhile for an understanding of the scope. The scope, however, is to provoke in you the natural impulses and drives toward philosophy. For if a desire should come over you to cast your eyes upon what is apparent, then I shall offer you a greater gift, concerning those things that relate to the science itself. But so that you may now also turn your attention to what is said about that which is demonstrated.
The unfolding of a spherical surface, preserving the same ratio B in the diversity of figures, the most ancient Hipparchus hinted at, and was the first to apply himself to this consideration; but we (unless perhaps this is greater than what we ought to claim for ourselves) have woven it through even to the extreme edge and have perfected it, when for a very long time in the interval the problem had been neglected; because that supreme Ptolemy, and that divine college of his successors, were content only with the use of it which those sixteen stars provide for the performance of nightly horoscopy, which alone Hipparchus, in transferring them, arranged in the instrument. And yet forgiveness must be granted to the men, since the matters which were of greater moment and profit were at the time unfinished; C and geometry, as if still hanging from the breast and tender, was laboring in these hypotheses. We, however, for the sake of having fashioned the most beautiful body of this science, having received it passed down without any labor of our own, give thanks to the blessed men who preceded us; yet we do not consider it a study alien to philosophy to introduce beautiful refinements, and by art to contrive something, and to elaborate something more ample and elegant. For just as cities, when they are founded, look only to the necessary things, that they may be preserved and endure, but as they grow they are no longer content with those necessary things, but the greatest part of their expenditures is transferred to beautiful porticoes and to the size D of gymnasia and the splendor of the forum; thus the approach to science consists in necessary matters, but its growth consists in superior ones. This consideration, therefore, concerning the explanation of the globe, having deemed it worthy of study in itself, we have both fashioned it and completed a treatise, having packed it tightly with a multitude of necessary and varied theorems, and we have exerted ourselves to transfer our discourses into material form, having fashioned a beautiful statue of the cosmic expanse. And by that same method, both the plane surface and the smooth hollow into these same [are to be]
A divided, we thought it more akin to [the nature of] the hollow, however slightly, to make it completely spherical; for the sake of the projection, we curved the breadth, and took care of other matters, so that the conception of the instrument might remind the intellectual spectator of the truth. For we have inserted the distinguished stars in six magnitudes, and we have observed their configurations with one another. Of the circles, some we drew around others, some through others; all, however, we divided into degrees, by making the five-degree lines larger than the one-degree lines, because we have also proportionally enlarged the inscriptions of the numbers alongside them, and in silver, where the blackness of the book makes its appearance, the underlying material [receives the letters]. They are not all cut in the same alignment, neither in relation to themselves nor to each other; but some are cut into equal segments, while others are irregular and unequal to the sense, but by calculation they are both level B and equal. For this had to happen, so that the different configurations might agree. For which reason also the great circles described through the poles and the tropic points, while remaining in theory circles, have become straight lines by the shifting of the theorem; and the Antarctic [circle] has been inserted larger than the greatest [circles], and the distances of the stars from one another have been magnified according to that principle of expansion. Regarding the epigrams, which we have engraved in solid gold in the spaces vacant of stars, along the Antarctic circle, the latter one, the quatrain, is ancient, containing a simpler encomium to astronomy:
I know that I am mortal, and a creature of a day; but whenever I track the dense, revolving spirals of the stars, No longer do I touch the earth with my feet, but side by side with Zeus I am filled with the ambrosia of the heavens.
The eight-line poem preceding it was composed by the person who [made] the work, that is, myself; it contains a seminal and comprehensive overview of what is seen, presented with force, and composed more for scientific instruction than for elegance. It addresses only the astronomer, [explaining] what benefit he might gain from the instrument. For it promises the positions of the stars, not, however, with respect to the Zodiac, but to the Equinoctial; for it was made clear through the written explanation that it is impossible for them to be detected in that [former] way. It says that the obliquities are also provided, namely those of the parts of the Zodiac relative to the parts of the Equinoctial, and in the individual [parts] that appear together with them: that is, with how many parts of the Zodiac, how many [parts] of the Equinoctial pass through that same Equinoctial. This is as follows: C it is written for the sake of those who will read it later, since for you, what is laid out on the tablet is sufficient.
Wisdom has found a path to the heavens. O wondrous way! And the mind of man has come from them, the heavenly ones.