Synesius, Letter 026

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.

Born in Side, this man was a well-known rhetorician. Synesius wrote letters 112, 123, 118, 111, 73, 91, and 26, and mentions him in Letter 47.

This letter, written in 411, is offered here in the translation by A. Fitzgerald.

Letter 26: Gratitude

[1] To Troilus

Even if neither the people of Cyrene, nor those of the neighboring towns extend you the gratitude that you deserve for the fact that the great Anastasius writes to them, nevertheless, the grace of God will be with you, to Whom you will be dear for the part you have taken in forwarding good works.

[2] Be happy, most excellent of philosophers; so I delight to call you, for your acts speak for themselves.