# Dion, or On Living according to His Own Principles

- Author: [Synesius of Cyrene](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/synesius-of-cyrene/)
- Latin title: *Dio*
- Date: ca. 404-405 (approximate)
- Source: G. Krabinger, ed., Synesii Cyrenensis quae exstant opera omnia, vol. 1 (Landshut, 1850), 239-311

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologia Graeca 66 (Paris, 1859); N. Terzaghi, ed., Synesii Cyrenensis opuscula (Rome, 1944)
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/
- Passages: 72

## Krabinger p. 239

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-239
- Source: Krabinger 1:239
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius begins from Philostratus, who in the Lives of the Sophists classed Dio among philosophers with a sophist's eloquence.

### Greek text

(ιλόερατο, μὲν ὁ “φμνιοι, ἀναγράφων τοὺ, Ἶ βίους Α τῶν μέχρις αὐτοῦ σοφιτῶν, ἐν ἀρχῇ τοῦ λόγου δύο μερίδας ποιεῖ τῶν τε αὐτὸ τ οὗτο σοφιτῶν, καὶ τῶν Β ὅσοι Φιλοσοφήσαντες διὰ τὴν εὐτομίαν ὑπὸ τῇς φήμῃ, ὅ ἐς ὅ τούς σοφιτὰς ἀπηνέχθησαν" καὶ τάττει τὸν Δίωνα. μετὰ τούτων, ἐν οἱ, Ἐαρνιάδην τε καταλέγει τὸν ᾿Αθηναῖον, καὶ ΛΜίοντα τὸν Βυδάντιον, καὶ συχνοὺς ἄλλους, καταβιώσαντα; μὲν ἐπὶ φιλοσόφου προαιρίσεως, λόγου δὲ ἰδέαν σοφιεικὴν ἢ) ἡρμοσμένους, ἐν οἷν ἀριθμεῖ καὶ τὸν Ἀνίδιον Εὔδοξον, ἄνδρα τὰ πρῶτα

### English translation (Claude)

Philostratus of Lemnos, writing up the lives of the sophists down to his own time, at the beginning of the work makes two classes: those who were sophists in the proper sense, and those who practised philosophy but, because of their fluency, were classed by report among the sophists. He places Dio with these, among whom he lists Carneades the Athenian, Leon of Byzantium, and many others who spent their lives in the philosophic way but were fitted with a sophistic style of speech; and among these he counts Eudoxus of Cnidus too, a man foremost

### Translation notes

- Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 1.484–487. Synesius writes to his son (named at the end of the work) about Dio Chrysostom and his own way of life.
- Krabinger's pages begin and end mid-sentence; each page is translated as far as its Greek runs. The OCR is rough: obvious misreadings are translated by sense; only larger slips and leaked notes are corrected.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 239 (Krabinger 1:239; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/239).

## Krabinger p. 240

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-240
- Source: Krabinger 1:240
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio was a sophist in style but not in life; he changed in the opposite direction from Aristocles, a Peripatetic who became a pleasure-loving sophist.

### Greek text

τῶν ᾿Αριεοτέλου! ὁμιλητῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀερονομίας εὖ ἥκοντα, ὁπόσην ὁ τότε χρόνος ἐπρίσβευεν. Ἡμῖν δὲ ὁ “ίων τῇ μὲν περιβολῇ τῆς γλώττης, ἣν χρυσὴν εἶχεν, ὥπερ καὶ λέγεται, σοφιτὴς ἔσω διὰ πάντων τῶν πέαυτοῦ, εἴ τις ἀξιοῖ τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τῆς φωνῇς σοφιεικὸν ἀγώνισμα οἴεσθαι" καίτοι καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ μικρὸν, ὁποῖόν ἐειν, ἐξετάσομεν" τὴν δὲ) προαίρεσιν οὐχ εἶς ὁ “ων, οὐδὲ μετὰ τούτων τακτέο;, ἀλλὰ μετ᾽ "Δριξοκλίους ἀπ᾿ ἐναντίας μέντοι κἀκείνῳρρ "ἄμφω τθμέν γε μεταπεπτώκασιν" ἀλλ᾽ ὁ- μὲν ἐκ φιλοσόφου Ὁ) καὶ μάλα ἐμβριθοῦς καὶ πρόσω καθεικότος τὸ ἐπισκύνιον ἐτέλεσεν εἰς σοφιεὰς καὶ 'τρυφῇς ἁπάσης οὐχ ἥψατο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς ἄκρον ἐλήλακεν" ἐννεάσας δὲ, τῇ 'προεασίᾳ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ πέριπάτου δογμάτων, καὶ συγγράμματα ἐξενῃνοχών. ἐρ τοὺ Ἕλληνας ἄξεα ἵ φιλοσόφου, σπουδῇς, οὕτω τὶ ἥττων ἐγένετο" δόξης“σοφιοικῆν» τώρ. μεταμέλειν μὲν αὐτῷ: γυρῶνέι τῆς ἐν ετὐλικίᾳ σεμνότητος» κόψαι δὲ τὰ ᾿Ιταλιωτικά τε καὶ ᾿Ασι-“ὃ ανὰ. θέατρα» μελέεαιρ ἰἐμαγωνίξὀμεμον" ἁλλιὰ καὶ κοττι

### English translation (Claude)

among the hearers of Plato, and well advanced in astronomy as far as the science of that time went. For us, Dio, by the dress of his tongue — which was golden, as indeed he is called — will be a sophist in all his works, if one thinks care for diction a sophistic accomplishment (we shall examine a little later what that is); but by his choice of life Dio is not one, nor to be ranked with these, but with Aristocles — though in the opposite direction from him. For both changed. Aristocles, from a philosopher very weighty, with his brow drawn far down, ended among the sophists, and not only touched every luxury but went to its extreme. Having grown old as head of the Peripatetic school and published writings worthy of philosophic seriousness among the Greeks, he was so overcome by sophistic fame that in old age he repented of the solemnity of his prime and wore out the theatres of Italy and Asia competing in declamations; he even gave himself to the game of

### Translation notes

- "Hearers of Plato": the OCR reads "Aristotle", but Eudoxus was Plato's associate; translated by sense. Aristocles of Pergamum: Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 2.3.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 240 (Krabinger 1:240; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/240).

## Krabinger p. 241

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-241
- Source: Krabinger 1:241
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio, unlike Aristocles, turned from sophist to philosopher; Philostratus should have described his double career instead of grouping him with Carneades.

### Greek text

τάβοις ἐδεδώκει, καὶ αὐλητρίδα, ἐνόμιδε, καὶ ἐπήγγελλεν ἐπὶ τούτοις συσσίτια' ὁ δὲ “]ίων ἐξ ἀγνώμονος σοφιςοῦ φιλόσοβοι ἀπετελέσθη τύχῃ δὲ μᾶλλον ᾽ γνώμῃ χρησάμενος, τὴν τύχυν αὐτὸς διηγήσατο, ἮΝν δὲ Ὁ δὴ καὶ τοῦ γράφοντος βίον διηγήσασθαι τὴν περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα διπλόην, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἁπλῶς οὕτως Ὁ συγκαταριθμῆσαι τοῖς ἀμφὶ, αρνεάδην καὶ Εὔδοξον" ὧν ἥντινα ἂν λάβῃ, ὑπόθεσιν, φιλόσοφός ἔτι, μετακεχειρισμένῃ σοφιεικῶ,, τοῦτ᾽ ἔσι, λαμυρῶ; ἀπηγγελμένη

### English translation (Claude)

cottabus, kept flute-girls, and announced dinners for them. Dio, on the other hand, from a heartless sophist became a philosopher in the end — by fortune rather than by judgment — and he told the story of that fortune himself. It was the task of one writing his life to relate the man's double character, and not simply to count him with Carneades and Eudoxus, any of whose subjects you take is philosophic, only handled in a sophistic way, that is, set out with flourish.

### Translation notes

- Dio's own account of his conversion in exile: Oration 13.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 241 (Krabinger 1:241; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/241).

## Krabinger p. 242

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-242
- Source: Krabinger 1:242
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Carneades and the like would have refused the name of sophist; Dio really lived two lives and argued against himself.

### Greek text

φὰαύθὴ κὰὶ Ἰαρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὗς λέγοντες ἐκήλοὺν ἐῷ κάλλει τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἠξιοῦντο τῇς προφηγορίας τοῦ σοφίξοῦ" αὐἱοὶ δ᾽ ἂν ἀπαξιῶσαί μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ ὡς οὐ διδόμενον δέξασθαι, φιλοσοφίας ἣν ὀνείδει τὸ τοιοῦτο τιθείσῃης, ἄρτι τοὺ Πλάτωνος ἐπαναςάντο; τῷ ὀνόματι. Ὃ δὲ προῦὔξτῃ τε λαμπρῶς τοῖν βίοιν ἑκατέρου χωρὶς, καὶ ταῖς ὑποθέσεσι μάχεται ταῖς αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ 7, λόγους ἐξενεγκὼν’ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐναντίων ἰνεάσειων. Χρὴ) δήπου καὶ δι᾽ αὐτὴν οὐχ ὕκιερα τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις διαφορὰν μὴ σεσιγῆσθαι τὰ ὃ) περὶ τὸν ἄνδρα. "Ὅπερ γὰρ ἷἱν τοῖς μιτὰ ταῦτα φησιν, ἀπολύων αὐτὸν ᾽ αἰτίαι, συνθέντα ἔπαινον ἐπὶ ψιτταπίῳ τῷ ὀρνιθι" σὸφιςοῦ γὰρ εἶναι μηδὲ τούτων ὑπερ

### English translation (Claude)

And these men were made famous by the people whom they charmed with the beauty of their words, and were thought worthy of the title of sophist; but they themselves, I think, would have refused it and not accepted it as given, since philosophy counted such a thing a reproach, Plato having lately risen up against the name. But Dio stood out brilliantly in each of the two lives separately, and he fights against his own theses, having produced speeches from opposite positions. For this reason not least — the difference in his speeches — the facts about the man must not be passed over in silence. For what Philostratus says later, excusing him for having composed a praise of the parrot — that it is a sophist's way not to disdain even such things —

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 242 (Krabinger 1:242; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/242).

## Krabinger p. 243

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-243
- Source: Krabinger 1:243
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Philostratus contradicts himself, calling Dio a philosopher mistaken for a sophist and yet excusing his trivial speeches as a sophist's.

### Greek text

ἐδεῖν. ἀὐτοῦ μὲν ἂν ἔλεγχος εἶναι δόξειε, “προειπόντος, ὅτι τῶν συκοφαντουμένων ἐεὶν ὁ ἀνὴρ, διτί; φιλόσοφο, ὧν, εἰς τὸν σοφιεὴν ἕλκεται. Αίγει γαὰῤ' οὕτω" Σοφιςὰ; δὲ οἱ παλαιοὶ ἑπωνόμαξον οὐ μόνον ὅ τῶν ῥητόρων τοὺ, ὑπερφωνοῦντά, τε καὶ λαμπροὺ,, Β ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων τοὺς ᾽ σὺν εὐροίᾳ ἐρμηνεύφντα;, ὑπὶρ ὧν ἀνάγκῃ πρύτερον εἰπεῖν, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ὄντες σοφιταὶ, δόξαντες δὲ παρῆλθον εἰς τὴν ἐπωνὸυ. Αἰαν ταύτην " εἶτα σαφῶς φιλοσόφους ἄνδρας ἐξαριθμεῖ. ται, μεθ᾽ ὧν δὴ καὶ τὸν “ίωνα, καὶ μετὰ “ίωνα : ἄλλου, ὧν περὶ τοῦ τελευταίου 'παυόμενος" τοσαῦτα, φησὶ, περὶ τῶν φιλοσοφησάντων ἐν δόξῃ τοῦ σοφισεῦσαι" ταὐτὸν ἑτέρως εἰπὼν, ὅτι μὴ ὄντες. σοφιταὶ Η τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐπεβάτευσαν. Ἑαίτοι μεταξύ πού φη- 1Ιὅσιν ἀπορεῖν, οἷ χοροῦ τάξει τὸν ἄνδρα, περιδέξιον.. : δή τινα ὄντα. Τί οὖν προεῖπα;; τί δὲ ἐπεῖπας, ὅτι τοῦτο μὲν ἔξιν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ φαίνεται; ἜΣ ᾿Αλλ' ἔγωγε οὐ μικρολογοῦμαι πρὸς τὰς ἐναντιολογίας.)}" συγχωρῶ δὲ τὸν “]ίωνα φιλόσοφον ὄντα

### English translation (Claude)

would seem a refutation of his own words, since he had said before that the man is one of those falsely accused, a philosopher dragged in among the sophists. For he says this: "The ancients called sophists not only those orators who were loud-voiced and brilliant, but also those philosophers who expounded with fluency, about whom it is necessary to speak first, since, not being sophists but seeming to be, they came into this title." Then he plainly enumerates philosophic men, among them Dio, and others after Dio, and when he finishes with the last of them he says, "So much about those who philosophized with the reputation of being sophists" — saying the same thing in other words, that, not being sophists, they rode upon the name. And yet somewhere in between he says he is at a loss in which chorus to place the man, since he was something of an all-rounder. Why, then, did you say the one thing first and the other after — that the one is so and the other only appears so? But I do not quibble over the contradictions; I grant that Dio, being a philosopher,

### Translation notes

- The quotation is Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists 1.484.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 243 (Krabinger 1:243; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/243).

## Krabinger p. 244

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-244
- Source: Krabinger 1:244
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Before his conversion Dio sincerely attacked philosophers, including Musonius; after it his strong nature showed itself in philosophy.

### Greek text

παῖξαι τὰ σοφιτῶν, εἰ μόνον πρᾶός ἔστι καὶ ἵλεως φιλοσοφίᾳ, καὶ μηδαμοῦ μηδὲν ἐπηρέακεν αὐτῇ, μηδ᾽ ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν ὅ ξυντέθεικε λόγους ἑταμούς τε καὶ κακοἦθειρ,. ᾿4λλ᾽ οὗτός γε) πλεῖστα δὴ καὶ μάλιτα σοφιτῶν ἰδ εἰς φιλοσόφου, τε καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἀπηναισχύντηκεν. Γ4τπει γὰρ, οἶμαι, φύσεως λαχὼν ἐχούσῃς ἰσχὺν, καὶ τὸ ὅδ) ῥητορεύειν αὐτὸ ἠλήθευεν, ἄμεινον ἀναπεπεισμένος “) εἶναι τοῦ δὴν κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν τὸ δὴν κατὰ ἢ τὰς κοινὰς ὑπολήψεις" ὅθεν ὅ τε δ) κατὰ τῶν φιλοσό- 10φῶὼν αὐτῷ. λόγος ἐσπουδάσθη, σφόδρα ἀπεικονισμένος καὶ οὐδὲν σχῆμα ὀκνήσας" καὶ ὁ πρὸς Μουσώνιον ἕτερος τοιοῦτος, οὐ προιγυμναδμένου τῷ τόπῳ τοῦ ᾿ ΖΊέωνος, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ διαθέσεω; γράφοντορ" ὠς; ἐγὼ σφόδρα διϊσχυρίδομαι" πείσαιμι δ᾽ ἂν "}) καὶ ἄλλον, ὅρτις εὔτοχος ἤθου, εἰρωνείαν τε καὶ ἀλήθειαν ἐκ παντοδαποῦ λόγου φωρᾶσαι" ἐπειδή τε ἰφιλοσόφησεν, ἐνταῦθα δὴ καὶ μάλιτα ἡ ῥώμῃ τῇς φύσεω;! αὐτοῦ διε-

### English translation (Claude)

played at the sophists' games — provided only that he is gentle and kindly toward philosophy, has never insulted her anywhere, and has not composed bold and malicious speeches against her. But this man, more than any sophist, behaved shamelessly toward philosophers and philosophy. For, I think, having been given a strong nature, when he was a rhetor he was sincere in his rhetoric, persuaded that it was better to live by common opinions than by philosophy. Hence his speech against the philosophers was written in earnest, very vividly drawn and shrinking from no figure; and another of the same kind against Musonius, not as Dio practising on a set theme but writing from conviction, as I strongly maintain — and I could persuade anyone else who is skilled at detecting irony and sincerity in every kind of speech. And when he took up philosophy, then above all the strength of his nature was

### Translation notes

- Dio's speeches Against the Philosophers and Against Musonius are lost.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 244 (Krabinger 1:244; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/244).

## Krabinger p. 245

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-245
- Source: Krabinger 1:245
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: After his conversion Dio treated even rhetorical themes as a statesman; he neglected technical philosophy but excelled in moral exhortation.

### Greek text

δείχθη.: Ὥιπερ γάῤ, ἐπιγνούσῃ, ὀψὲ τῷς φύσεως τὸ οἱκεῖον ἔργον, οὐ κατὰ μικρὸν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅλοις τοῖς ᾽ ἰδίοις ἀπηνέχθη τὴς σοφιεικῇ; προαιρέσεως" ὅς γε") καὶ τὰς ῥητορικὰς τῶν ὑποθέσεων οὐκέτι ῥητορικῶς, ἀλλὰ πολιτικῶς μετεχειρίσατο. Εἴ τις ἀγνοεῖ τὴν ἐν ταὐτῷ προβλήματι ᾽ διαφορὰν τοῦ πολιτικοῦ καὶ τοῦ ῥήτορο!, ἐπελθέτω μετὰ ναῦ τὸν ᾿Ασπασίας τε καὶ Περικλέου, ἢ ἐπιτάφιον Θουκυδίδου καὶ Πλάτωνος, ὧν ἑκάτερος θατέρου παρὰ πολὺ καλλίων ἐεὶ, τοῖς οἰκείοις κανόσι κρινόμενος. Ὁ δ᾽. οὖν “)ἐίων ἔοικε θεωρήμλιασι μὲν τεχνικοῖς ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ μὴ προςταλαιπωρῇσαι, μηδὲ προιίανασχεῖν φυσικοῖς δόγμασιν, ἅτε ὀψὲ τοῦ καιροῦ μετατεθειμένος" ὄνασθαι δὲ τῇς τοὰς ἐς ἦθος τείνει, καὶ ἠῤῥενῶσθαι παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν τῶν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ" ἐπιθέσθαι δὲ τῷ νουθετεῖν ἀνθρώπους, καὶ μονάρχου;, καὶ ἰδιώτας, καὶ καθ᾽ ἕνα, καὶ άθρόουι, εἰς ὃ χρήσα-

### English translation (Claude)

shown. For as if his nature had at last recognized its own proper work, he was carried away, not little by little but entirely, from his sophistic choice; and even his rhetorical subjects he handled no longer rhetorically but as a statesman. If anyone does not know the difference between the statesman and the rhetor treating the same problem, let him go through the Menexenus of Aspasia and Pericles, or the funeral speeches of Thucydides and Plato, each of which is far finer than the other when judged by its own rules. Dio, then, seems not to have toiled over technical theorems in philosophy nor to have given his mind to the doctrines of physics, since he changed late; but to have profited from the part that bears on character, and to have become as manly as anyone of his time; and to have set about admonishing people, monarchs and private persons, one by one and in crowds, for which he used

### Extrabiblical texts

- Thucydides, 2.35-46 (Thucydides, History): allusion, medium confidence
- Plato, Menex. (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato's Menexenus (Aspasia's funeral speech) and Pericles' funeral oration in Thucydides 2.35–46.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 245 (Krabinger 1:245; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/245).

## Krabinger p. 246

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-246
- Source: Krabinger 1:246
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's speeches should be sorted into those before and after his exile, so that his attacks on and praises of the philosophers are not confused.

### Greek text

ὅθαι προαποκειμένῃ τῇ παρασκεινῇ. τῇς, γλώττῃ. “1ι:ό μοι δοκεῖ καλῶς ἔχειν, ἐπιγράφειν ἅπασι τοῖς “1|ὠνος λόγοις, ὅτι πρὸ τῆι φυγῇ), ὁ μετὰ τὴν φυγὴν, οὐχ οἷς ἐμφαίνεται μόνοις ἡ φυγὴ, καθάπερ ἐπέγραψαν δ ἤδη τινὲς, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπαξάπασιν. Οὕτως γὰρ ἀν εἴημεν τούς τε φιλοσόφους καὶ τοὺς αὐτὸ τοῦτο σοφιεικοὺ; λόγους διειληφότες ἑκατέρους χωρὶς, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὥςπερ ἐν νυκτομαχίᾳ περιτευξόμεθα αὐτῷ, νὺν μὲν βάλλοντι Σωκράτη καὶ Ζῴύνωνα τοῖς. ἐκ “Ιιονυσίων σκώ,- Β μασι, καὶ τοὺς ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν ἀξιοῦντι πάσῃς ἐλαύνεαθαι γῦ: καὶ θαλάττης, εἰς ὄντας Ζῆρας πόλεων τε καὶ πολιτείαρ" νῦν δὲ ἐεφανοῦντί τε αὐτοὺς, καὶ παράδειμα τιθεμένῳ γενναίου βίου καὶ σώφρονος.

### English translation (Claude)

the store of eloquence already laid up. So it seems to me right to label all of Dio's speeches either "before the exile" or "after the exile" — not only those in which the exile appears, as some have already labelled them, but all of them. For so we should have separated the philosophic speeches and the properly sophistic ones, each apart, and should not meet him as in a battle by night, now pelting Socrates and Zeno with jests from the Dionysia and demanding that their followers be driven from all land and sea as plagues of cities and states, now crowning them and setting them up as an example of a noble and temperate life.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 246 (Krabinger 1:246; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/246).

## Krabinger p. 247

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-247
- Source: Krabinger 1:247
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Philostratus wrongly treats Dio's Euboean Speech, a serious portrait of the happy life, as being of a piece with his trivial praise of a parrot.

### Greek text

“ Φιλόφτρατος δὲ καὶ τοῦτό ἱπεριμερίμνως τὸν ἔπαινὸν τοῦ ψιττακοῦ καὶ τὸν υβοία τῆι αὐτῇς προασιρέσεω; οἴεται, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἀμφοῖν ') ὁμοίως εἷς ἀπολογίαν καθίξαται τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ “]ἴωνος, ὡς μὴ ἐπὶ τοῖς τυχοῦσιν ἱσπουδακέναι δοκεῖν. Τοῦτο δ᾽ ἤδη πλέον ἐεὶ ποιἦσασθαι θάτερον. Ὃ γὰρ ἀναγορεύδας αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς δι ὁλοΐνλήρου Ἷ τοῦ βίου φιλοσοφήσασι, προϊὼν οὐ μόνον ἐνδέδωκε πρὸς τὸ καὶ σοφιεικόν τι ἔργον εἰργάσθαι τὸν (ὶ “Ιίωνα, ἀλλὰ προταποτερεὶ τὸν ἄνδρα καὶ τῶν ὄντων ἐκ τῇς φιλοσόφου μερίδος, προινέμων αὐτὰ "τοῖς σὸ- ᾿φισικοῖ. Εἰ γὰρ τὸν Εὐβοέα τις ἀφαιρήσεται τοῦ σπουδαῖον εἶναι" καὶ ὑπὲρ σπουδαίων συγκεῖσθαι, οὔ μοι δοκεῖ ῥᾳς᾽ ἄν ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐγκρῖναί τινα λόγον τῶν “Ιίωνος, ὦιτε καὶ φιλόσοφον ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ προρφειρῇσθαι.: 1ὅ... οὗτός γε ὁ λόγος ὑποτύπωσίς ἐξιν᾽ εὐδαίμονος βίου πένητι καὶ πλουσίῳ τοῦ παντὸς ἀνάγνωσμα ἀδι-

### English translation (Claude)

Philostratus, quite carelessly, thinks the praise of the parrot and the Euboean Speech belong to the same choice, and sits down to defend Dio for both alike, lest he seem to have spent effort on trivial things. But this is to make the one more than it is. For he who proclaimed him among those who philosophized all their lives goes on not only to concede that Dio produced a sophistic work, but to rob the man in advance of what belongs to the philosophic portion, assigning it to the sophistic. If anyone takes from the Euboean Speech its being serious and composed about serious things, it seems to me such a man would not easily admit any speech of Dio's for which he could be called a philosopher. This speech, at least, is a sketch of the happy life, for poor and rich alike, a reading most worthy

### Translation notes

- The Euboean Speech is Dio Chrysostom, Oration 7.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 247 (Krabinger 1:247; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/247).

## Krabinger p. 248

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-248
- Source: Krabinger 1:248
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Euboean Speech humbles the rich and comforts the poor; it rightly follows Dio's fourth speech on kingship, which promised a portrait of the good life.

### Greek text

ὥτατον. ᾿Ωιδηκός τε γὰρ ἦθο, ὑπὸ πλούτου κατατέλλει, τὸ εὔδαιμον ἑτέρωθι δείξας, καὶ τὸ καταπε- ἢ πτωκὸς ὑπὸ πενίας ἐγείρει, καὶ ἀταπείνωτον εἶναι παρασκευάξδει" τοῦτο μὲν τῷ καταμελιτοῦντι τὰς ἀπάνὅ των ἀκοὰς διηγύματι, ὑφ᾽ οὐ κἀν Ξέρξῃ; ἀνεπείσθῃ, Ξέρξης ἐκεῖνος, ὁ τὴν μεγάλην τρατείαν ἐλάσας ἐπὶ τοὺς “Ἔλληναι,, μακαριώτερον ἑαυτοῦ γεγονέναι κυνῃγέτην ἄνδρα ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ τὴι Ἑυὐβοίας κέγχρους ἐσθίοντα" τοῦτο δὲ ταῖς ἀρίεταις ὑποθήκαις,, αἷς χρώἱενος, οὐδεὶς αἰσχύνεται 1.) πενίαν, εἰ μή γε καὶ φεύίξεται. “Ἰιὼὸ βελτίους οἱ τάττοντες αὐτὸν μετὰ τὸν ἔσχατον περὶ βασιλείας, ἐν ᾧ τέτταρας ὑποθέμενος βίους καὶ δαίμονα,, τὸν φιλοχρήματόν τε καὶ τὸν ἀπολαυεσικὸν, καὶ τρίτον τὸν φιλότιμον, τελευταῖον δὲ Ἶὅ) καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τὸν εὔφρονα καὶ σπουδαῖον, ἐκείνους μὲν τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἀλογίαν ᾽) ἅπαντας γράφει τε καὶ σχῃματίξει" παύεται δὲ τοῦ βιβλίου, τὸν λοιπὸν ἐπαγγεῖιλάμενος αὐτίκα ἀποδώσειν, ὅτῳ “ποτὲ πεπρώμενος ἐκ θεῶν ἐγένετο. ᾿ :

### English translation (Claude)

of everyone. It brings down a character swollen with wealth by showing happiness elsewhere, and raises up one cast down by poverty and makes it unbowed: the one by a story that pours honey into everyone's ears, by which even Xerxes would have been persuaded — that Xerxes who drove the great expedition against the Greeks — that a hunter in the hills of Euboea eating millet had been more blessed than he; the other by the best of precepts, using which no one is ashamed of poverty, if he does not even avoid it. So those are better who place it after the last speech on kingship, in which, positing four lives and daemons — the money-loving, the pleasure-loving, third the honour-loving, and last of all the sensible and serious — he describes and depicts all the irrational ones, and ends the book promising to render the remaining one at once, to whomever it was destined from the gods.

### Translation notes

- The fourth speech on kingship is Dio, Oration 4 (on the four daemons or lives).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 248 (Krabinger 1:248; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/248).

## Krabinger p. 249

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-249
- Source: Krabinger 1:249
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Apart from the heroic lives of Diogenes and Socrates, the Euboean hunter's simple, just life is the happy life open to all; Dio also praised the Essenes.

### Greek text

Χωρὶ, οὖν τιθέντι δ τοὺ, ἐν τοῖς συχνοῖ! λόγοις “Πιογένας τε καὶ Σωκράται, οἵ καὶ περιττοὶ τὴν φύσιν ἔδοξαν" καὶ οὐχ ἅπαντός σιν ἢ ὁ τοῖν ἀνδροῖν Β τούτοιν δῆλοι, ἀλλ᾽ διεὶς εὐθὺς αἵρεσίν τινα τῶν κατὰ᾿ φιλοσοφίαν ὑπίσχετο τὸν δὲ κατὰ τὴν κοινὴν φύσιν δητοῦντι καὶ τὸν ἅπασιν ἐγχωροῦντα, δίκαιον, ὅσιον, αὐτουργὸν, ἀπὸ τῶν ὄντων φιλάνθρωπον, οὐκ ἂν ἔτερος ἀντὶ τοῦ Εὐβοέω; ἀποδεδόμενο; εἴ βίος εὐδαιμονικός. "Ἔτι καὶ τοὺς ᾿Εσσηνοὺς ἱπαινεῖ που, πό- ἢ λιν ὅλην εὐδαίμονᾶ τὴν παρὰ τὸ νεκρὸν ὕδωρ ἐν τῇ μεσογείᾳ Παλαιείνη, κειμένην παρ᾽ αὐτά που τὰ Σό.

### English translation (Claude)

If one sets aside, then, the Diogeneses and Socrateses in his many speeches, who were thought extraordinary in nature — and the life of these two men is not open to everyone, but only to one who has at once committed himself to some school of philosophy — and seeks the life according to our common nature, open to all — just, holy, working with one's own hands, kind to others from what one has — no other happy life could be rendered than the Euboean's. He also praises the Essenes somewhere, a whole happy city by the Dead Water in the interior of Palestine, lying near Sodom itself …

### Translation notes

- Dio's praise of the Essenes by the Dead Sea is known only from this sentence of Synesius. The page ends mid-sentence and the next page does not continue it; lines are probably lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 249 (Krabinger 1:249; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/249).

## Krabinger p. 250

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-250
- Source: Krabinger 1:250
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's style differs between his sophistic showpieces, which preen like a peacock, and the plain, purposeful works of his later life.

### Greek text

ἀπήρξατο, καὶ εἰς τὸ νουθετεῖν ἀνθρώπου! ἀπέαλινεν, Οἱ οὐδένα λόγον ἄκαρπον ὅ) ἐξενήνοχε. Τῷ δὲ χα.πα- Ἐ ρέργως ἐντυγχάνοντι δήλῃ καὶ ἡ τῇς ἑρμηνείας ἰδέα διἢ αλλάττουσα, καὶ οὐκ οὖσα μιία τῷ “]ίωνι κατὰ τε τὰς σοφιεικάς ὑποθέσεις ᾽) καὶ κατά τάς πολιτικάς, Ἔν ἑκεί-, ναις μὲν γὰρ ὑπτιάδει καὶ ὡραϊδεται, καθάπερ ὁ ταὼς περιαθρῶν ἑαυτὸν, καὶ οἷρν γαννύμενος ἐπὶ ταῖς ἀγλαῖαι; τοῦ λόγου, ἅτε πρὸς ἦν τοῦτο ὁρῶν, καὶ τέλος τὴν εὐφωνίαν τιθέμενο. Ἔτω παράδειγμα ἡ τῶν Τιμπῶν φράσις καὶ ὁ Μιέμνωψ. Ἔν τούτῳ μὲν γε καὶ ὑπότυφός ") ἔσιν ἡ ἑρμηνεία" τὰ δὲ τοῦ δευτέρον χρόνου βιβλία, ὕκιτ᾽ ἂν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἴδοις χαῦνόν τι

### English translation (Claude)

… he began, and turned to admonishing people; so he has produced no speech without fruit. To one who reads him with care, the form of expression is also plainly different, and not one and the same for Dio in his sophistic subjects and in his political ones. In the former he leans back and preens himself, like the peacock looking himself over and, as it were, exulting in the splendours of speech, as one who looks to this and makes euphony his end. Let the description of Tempe and the Memnon serve as examples; in these the expression is somewhat puffed up. But in the books of his second period you would least of all see anything conceited

### Translation notes

- Dio's Tempe and Memnon are lost sophistic pieces.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 250 (Krabinger 1:250; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/250).

## Krabinger p. 251

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-251
- Source: Krabinger 1:251
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's mature style is ancient, weighty and natural, as in his civic speeches, unlike his showpieces and his early speech against the philosophers.

### Greek text

καὶ ἡ διαπεφορημένον. ᾿Ἐξελαύνει γάρ τοι φιλοσο-" φία καὶ ἀπὸ τῇς γλώττῃς τρυφὴν, τὸ ἐμβριθές τε καὶ κόσμιον -κάλλος ἀγαπῶσα, ὁποῖόν ἔτι τὸ ἀρχαῖον, [καὶ] κατὰ φύσιν ἔχον καὶ τοῖς. ὑποκειεμιένοὶς οἰκεῖον» οὗ μετὰ τοὺς λίαν ἀρχαίου, καὶ Ζίων ἐπιτυγχάνεε, διὰ τῶν πραττομένων ἰὼν, κἂν λέγῃ, κἂν διαλέ-. γηται. "Ἔτω «παράδειγμα τῇς ἀσφαλῶς " καὶ κυρίως ἐχούσης ἑρμηνείας ὁ. ἐκκλησιαεικός τε καὶ ὁ βουλευτικός. Εἰ δὲ βούλει, καὶ ὁντινοῦν τῶν πρὸς τὰς 10᾽σπόλειρ εἰρημένων τε καὶ ἐγνωσμένων προκεχειρισμένος, ἴδοις ἂν ἑκατέραν ἰδέαν ἀρχαϊκὴν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τῇς νεωτέρας χοῦς τῆς ἐπιποιούσῃς τῷ κάλλει τὴς φύσεω:, ὁποῖαι διαλέξεις, ὧν πρόσθεν ἐμνημονεύσαμεν, ὁ Μέμνων τε καὶ τὰ Τέμπη" λόγος δὲ οὗτος ὁ κατὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων. Ἐὰν γὰρ ἀποπροϊποιῇται πάνυ τοῦ θεάτρου γίνεται "καὶ τῇ, χάριτος" καὶ οὐκ ἂν εὕροις 3.) ῥητορείαν

### English translation (Claude)

or dissipated. For philosophy drives luxury even from the tongue, loving a weighty and orderly beauty such as the ancient style has, natural and suited to its subjects; and after the very ancient writers Dio too attains it as he goes through affairs, whether he is making a speech or conversing. Let the Assembly speech and the Council speech serve as examples of a secure and proper style. Or, if you like, take up any of the speeches he delivered and made known before the cities, and you would see each kind ancient, not of the newer stamp that adds to the beauty of nature, like the discourses we mentioned earlier, the Memnon and the Tempe — and this speech against the philosophers. For this one plainly makes for the theatre and for charm, and you would not find a rhetoric

### Translation notes

- The Assembly and Council speeches are Dio, Orations 47–48. Krabinger prints a bracketed καὶ as a word to be deleted; it is left out.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 251 (Krabinger 1:251; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/251).

## Krabinger p. 252

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-252
- Source: Krabinger 1:252
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's speech against the philosophers was as brilliant as Aristophanes' Clouds, whose fluency Synesius illustrates with a quotation.

### Greek text

ἐπαφροδιτοτίραν παρὰ τῷ “]ίωνι" ὃ καὶ θαυμάσας Β ἔχω τὴν τύχην φιλοσοφίας, εἰ μήτε κωμῳδία τῶν γεφελῶν μᾶλλον εὐδοκιμεῖ. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἔστιν ἥντινα. μετὰ τῇς ἴσης δυνάμεως ᾿Αριτοφάνυ; ἀπήγγελκε. Τεκμήριον ὅ ποιοῦ τοῦ σρογγύλω;. καὶ σὺν ἐὐροίᾳ προενηνέχθαι Ἀηρὸν. διατήξα,, εἶτα τὴν ψύλλαν λαβὼν, ᾿Ενέβαψεν εἰς τὸν κηρὸν αὐτῇς τὼ πόδε,, κάτα ψυγείσῃ περιέφυσαν Περσικαί, Ταύτας ὑπολίσα;, ἀνεμέτρει τὸ χωρίον.

### English translation (Claude)

more charming in Dio. Admiring it, I think philosophy's fortune remarkable, if not even the comedy of the Clouds is more admired. For there is no comedy that Aristophanes produced with equal power. Take as proof that it is delivered roundly and fluently: "melting wax, then taking the flea, he dipped its two feet in the wax; and then, when it had cooled, Persian slippers grew round them; loosening these, he measured the distance."

### Translation notes

- The quotation is Aristophanes, Clouds 149–152. The connection with the next page is lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 252 (Krabinger 1:252; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/252).

## Krabinger p. 253

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-253
- Source: Krabinger 1:253
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Even at his most showy, Dio stayed close to the ancient rhetoric; in most of his works he belongs with the sober classical orators.

### Greek text

τῶν νόμων τῇς τέχνη᾽ συγκείμενος δ᾽ οὖν ἀποῤῥήτῷ κάλλει καὶ θαυμαεῇ τινὶ χάριτι, εἰκῇ πως ἐπιτερπούσῃ τοῖς ὀνόμασι καὶ τοῖς ῥήμασιν. Οὗτός τε ὁ “Ἰίων ὕκμασε μάλιτα ἐν τῷ κατὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων, ἧντινα ὅ καὶ καλοῦσιν ἀκμὴν οἱ νεώτεροι" τοῦτ᾽ ἔςσιν ἡρμό- ᾿ σατο πανηγυρικώτερον ἀνδρὸς ἀσφαλοῦ;" καὶ μέντοιγε ἢ εἶς τὴν τοιαύτην ἰδίαν αὐτὸς αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ κράτιςο; ἔδοἕεν. Οὐ μέντοι τοσοῦτον ὁ “]ίων ἐξωρχύήσατο τὴν ἀρχαίαν ῥητορικὴν ἐν οἷς καὶ δοκεὶ σαφῶς ἀναχωρεῖν τῶν οἰκείων ἠθῶν, ὡς ἄν καὶ λαθεῖν, ὅτι “ων ἕεὶ, παρακινήσας ἐς τὸ νεώτερον' ἀλλ᾽ εὐλαβῶς ἅπτεται τῆς παρανομίας καὶ αἱσχυνομένῳ γε ἔοικεν, ὅταν τι παῤακεκινδυνευμένον καὶ νεανικὸν προενέγκηται" ὥρτε κἂν αἰτίαν φύγοι δειλίας, εἰ πρὸς τὴν ὕξτερον ἐπιπολάσασαν τῶν ῥητόρων τόλμαν αὐτὸν ἐξετάδοιμεν" τοῖς πλείςοις δὲ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ παρὰ βραχὺ τοῖς ἅπασι μετ᾽ ἐκείνων ταττέσθω τῶν͵ ἀρχαίων τε καὶ ςασίμῶν

### English translation (Claude)

… the laws of the art; but composed with an ineffable beauty and a marvellous grace, which somehow delights at random in the words and phrases. Dio was at his peak above all in the speech against the philosophers — what the moderns call "acme": that is, he composed it more for display than a sober man would; and indeed in this kind he seemed best of all his own work. Yet even where he seems plainly to depart from his own manner, Dio did not dance so far out of the ancient rhetoric that one would fail to notice it is Dio straying into the newer style; he touches the transgression cautiously and seems ashamed whenever he puts forth something venturesome and youthful, so that he would even escape a charge of timidity if we measured him against the daring that later spread among the rhetors. In most of his works, and almost in all, let him be ranked with the ancient and steady

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 253 (Krabinger 1:253; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/253).

## Krabinger p. 254

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-254
- Source: Krabinger 1:254
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's style is restrained and his arguments dense and inventive; his hand is recognizable in both his rhetorical and his political works.

### Greek text

ῥητόρων. παρ᾽ ὁντινοῦν καὶ δήμῳ διαλέχθῆναι καὶ ἰδιώτῃ τοῦ παντὸς ἄξιοι. Οἵ τε γὰρ ῥυθμοὶ τοῦ λόγου κεκολασμένοι, καὶ τὸ βάθο; τοῦ ἤθουϊ, οἷον σωφρονιςῇ τινὶ καὶ παϊδαγωγῷ πρέπον πόλεως; ὅλης ἀνὸὅ ὕτως διακειμένης. “Ὥιπερ δὲ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν οὔτε μίαν ἔφαμεν πάντως, οὐδὲ ἀνεπίγνωτον, ὅτι “]ἰωνός ἐξιν ἑκὰπέρα, νὺν μὲν ῥήτορος ἀνδρὸς, νῦν δὲ πολιτικοῦ" οὕτω καὶ τὰς διανοίας, ὅςτις οὐκ αὐτὸς δίχα. διανοίας ἐπιβάλλει τὰς ὄψεις ὅτῳ δὴ τῶν βιβλίων αὐτοῦ, ἐπιγνώσεται ““΄ωνοΐ οὖσας ἐν ταῖν δυεῖν ἰδέαιν τῶν ὑποθέσεων᾽" κἂν τὸ φαυλότατον προχειρίσῃ, τὸν “Ἰίωνα ὄψει τὸν ποριμώταᾶκον τῇ ῥητορείᾳ παντὸς ἐξευρεῖν λόγον μακρῷ γὰρ δὴ σοφιτῶν κατὰ τὸ ἐπιχειρῆσαι διήνεγκεν. Εἰ δὲ τις καὶ ἕτερος σοφιςὴς ἦν εὔπορος, ἀλλὰ πολλοῦ γε καὶ δεὶ παραβάλλεσθαι πρὸς τὴν τοῦδὲ πυκνότητα" ἅμα “δὲ καὶ θαυματή τις ἰδιότῃς

### English translation (Claude)

orators, worthy above all to address a people or a private person, as well as anyone. For the rhythms of his speech are restrained, and the depth of his character befits a corrector and tutor of a whole city in need of one. And just as we said that his style is not wholly one, and yet not unrecognizable — each kind is Dio's, now a rhetor's, now a statesman's — so too with his thoughts: anyone who does not cast his eyes thoughtlessly on any of his books will recognize them as Dio's in both kinds of subject. Even if you take up the most trivial, you will see Dio, most resourceful in rhetoric at finding every argument; for he far surpassed the sophists in argumentation. If any other sophist was resourceful, he still falls far short of comparison with this man's density; and at the same time a marvellous peculiarity

### Translation notes

- The sentence breaks off; the next page begins elsewhere, so lines are probably lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 254 (Krabinger 1:254; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/254).

## Krabinger p. 255

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-255
- Source: Krabinger 1:255
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius writes this assessment of Dio for the son whose birth had just been foretold, intending Dio's political works as a bridge to philosophy.

### Greek text

ἄνδρα ὁ ῬῬοδιακό; τὲ καὶ ὁ Τρωϊκὸς" εἰ δὲ βόλει, καὶ ὁ “ὴ τοῦ κώνωπος ἔπαινος. ᾿Εσπουδάσθη γὰρ τῷ “ίωνι καὶ τὰ παίγνια, πανταχοῦ τῇ φύσει χρωμένῳ" καὶ 5. οὐκ ἀν ἀπιτήσαις αὐτὰ τῇς αὐτῆς εἶναι παρασκευῆς τε καὶ δυνάμεως. Ταῦτά μοι περὶ “]ίωνος ἢ εἰπεῖν ἐπῆλθε πρὸς τὸν ὕσερόν ποτε παῖδα ἐσόμενον, εἰπεί μοι καὶ διεξιόντι τοὺ παντοδαποὺς αὐτοῦ λόγους μεταξὺ τὸ μιάντευμα γέγονε, Πατρικὸν δὴ “) πέπονθα, καὶ ἤδη συνεῖναι τῷ παιδὶ Ὁ βούλομαι καὶ διδάσκειν, ἅττα ὃ) 'μοι φρονεῖν ἔπεισι περὶ κάτου συγγραφέως τε καὶ συγγράμματος, 'συνιτὰς αὐτῷ φίλους ἄνδρας μετὰ τῇς προϊηκούσῃς ἕκαφον κρὶσεως" ἷν οἷς ἔτω καὶ “ων ὁ Προυσαεὺς, περιττὸς ἀνὴρ εἰπεῖν τε καὶ γνῶναι. αὶ τοῦτον οὖν ἐπαινέσας, αὐτῷ παραδίδωμι, ἵνα μοι μετὰ τὸς τῇς γενναΐας φιλοσοφίας προτάτας ἀπάρχοιτό ποτε καὶ τοῖς πολιτικοῖς τοῦ “]ἰωνος γράμμασι, μεθόριον αὐτὰ ἡγούμενος τῶν προπαιδευμάτων τε δ) καὶ τῇς ἀληθινωτάτη; παιδεία.

### English translation (Claude)

… the man, the Rhodian and the Trojan speeches; and, if you like, the praise of the gnat. For Dio took pains even over trifles, using his nature everywhere, and you would not doubt that they come from the same equipment and power. These things it occurred to me to say about Dio for the son who is one day to be mine, since, while I was going through his various speeches, the prophecy came. I feel a father's feeling, and wish already to be with the child and teach him what I think about each writer and each writing, introducing him to friendly men with the judgment proper to each; and among them let Dio of Prusa be, an extraordinary man at speaking and knowing. So, having praised him, I hand him over to the boy, so that after the champions of noble philosophy he may some day make a beginning of Dio's political writings too, regarding them as a borderland between the preparatory studies and the truest education.

### Translation notes

- The Rhodian and Trojan speeches are Dio, Orations 31 and 11; the praise of the gnat is lost. Synesius learned by a dream or oracle that a son would be born to him.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 255 (Krabinger 1:255; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/255).

## Krabinger p. 256

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-256
- Source: Krabinger 1:256
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: After weighty philosophy one should relax by stages through lighter literature and then climb back to seriousness.

### Greek text

προιταλαιπωρήσαντα Ἶ), ᾿ καὶ καταπεπυκνώμενον τὴν γνώμην, ἢ δόγμασι βάρος ἔχουσιν ἑξοιβασμένῃς τῷς διανοίας, εἶτα ἀποκλῖναι ὅ) δεῆσαν, μὴ εὐθὺς ἐπὶ κωὅ μῳδίαν, καὶ ψιλήν τινὰ ῥητορείαν ἀϊξαι" τοῦτο γάρ ἔςιν οὐκ ἐν τάξει" καὶ ταχὺ πρόσω τοῦ μετρίου ῥᾳεωνεῦσαι" ἀλλὰ κατὰ μικρὸν ἑκλυτέος ὁ τόνος, μέχρις ἄν, εἰ δοκεῖ, δόξειε δὲ, κἂν εἰς τὸ ἀντικείμενον ἤκῃ:, ἱπεξιὼν ἅπασιν, ὅσα Μουσῶν ἑταίροις ἀνδράσιν ἐῤῥᾳθύμηταί τε καὶ πέκαικται" πάλιν δὲ τὴν σπουδὴν ἐπιτείνων, ἀναβασμῷ χρύῴσῃ τοῖςδέ τε καὶ ἀδελφοῖς

### English translation (Claude)

… one who has toiled beforehand and has condensed his mind, his understanding worn by weighty doctrines, when he needs to turn aside, should not rush straight to comedy and some bare rhetoric — for that is out of order — and quickly grow slack beyond measure. The tension must be relaxed little by little, until, if it seems good — and it may — he comes even to the opposite, going through all the things in which the companions of the Muses have relaxed and played; and then, tightening his seriousness again, he will use these and some kindred readings as a ladder.

### Translation notes

- The beginning of the sentence is lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 256 (Krabinger 1:256; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/256).

## Krabinger p. 257

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-257
- Source: Krabinger 1:257
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The philosopher should be cultured and widely read, a true Greek; curiosity is the prelude to philosophy, which judges all the arts.

### Greek text

τισὶ τούτων 'ἀναγνώσμασιν" οὕτως") ἂν ᾿ἀριτα 'δρῴῃς, διατρέχων τὸν κάλλιστον δίαυλον, παρὰ μέρος ἐν: "βώ βλίοις ἀεὶ παίδων τε καὶ σπουδάξων..᾿Αξιῶ γὰρ ἐγὼ τὸν φιλόσοφον μηδ᾽ ἄλλο τι κακὸν, ᾿μηδ᾽'" ἄγροικον.) δεῖναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐκ Χαρίτων μυεῖσθαι καὶ ἀλρι βῶ; Ἕλληνα εἶναι, τοῦτ᾽ ἔσι δύνασθαι τοῖν" ἀνθρώποις ἐξομιλῆσαι, τῷ μηδενὸς ἀπείρως ἔχειν ἐλλογίμου συγγράμματο!. "Ἔοικε γὰρ οὐδ' ἄλλο τι γεγονέναι προοίμιον φιλοσοφίας, καὶ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ γνώσεωρ" καὶ 10ἐν παισὶν ἡ φιλόμυθος φύσι. ὑπόσχεσίς ἔτι φιλοσό.Ο᾽ φου τέλους. αὶ δῆτα τίνος ἂν εἴ) τέχνη καὶ ἐπισήύμη τέχνης ἢ ἐπιστήμης, ἡ, ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ εἶναι τὸ πάσαις ἐποχεῖσθαι παραλαμβάνεται, εἰ μὴ φιλοκρινοΐῃ τε αὐτὰς, καὶ τὴν μὲν ἐκ περιωπὴς ἀποσκο

### English translation (Claude)

In this way you would do best, running the finest double course, playing and being serious in books by turns. For I think the philosopher should be neither anything else bad nor boorish, but should be initiated also into the rites of the Graces and be exactly a Greek — that is, able to associate with people, being unacquainted with no notable writing. For there seems to have been no other prelude to philosophy than a curiosity for knowledge, and in children a story-loving nature is a promise of the philosophic end. And of what art or science would it be the task — the one which reason takes as riding upon all the others — unless to judge them and to look out over them from a watchtower, being escorted

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 257 (Krabinger 1:257; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/257).

## Krabinger p. 258

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-258
- Source: Krabinger 1:258
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Muses form one chorus and cannot be separated; specialists master only one, but philosophy presides over all.

### Greek text

δάρυφοροϊφο δ᾽. ὑφ᾽ ἀπασῶν, ὥιπερ ἴοικε τῇ βασιλίδι; Τὰς δὲ, Νίούσα; οὐχ ὁμοῦ τε..οὖσαι ἐμφαίνει τὸ ὄνομα... θεῶν “καλεσάντων, ἦ᾽ ἀνθῥώπων γε- θεῶν ἡ φήμῃ χρωμένων»). Χορόι τέ εἰσι δι᾽ αὐτὴν δήπου. τὴΜ σύνοδον.:.Αἰα δὲ αὐτῶν. οὐδεμιᾶς χωρὶς οὔτε ἐν. συμιποσίῳ θεῶν ἐπιδείκνυται τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔργον, οὔτε τυγχά- Ὠ νει παρά. ἀνθρώποι; βωμοῦ καὶ νεώ. Ἑαΐτοι τινὲς ἤδη φύσεως ἐνδείᾳ κατακερματίξουσιν αὐτῶν τὸ χω- 1θρίξεσαθαι μὴ δυνάμενον, καὶ ἕτερο! ἑτέρας ἐπήβολο; γέγονεν. ἀλλὰ φιλοσοφία τὸ ἐπὶ πάσαις ἐεί. ἸΚαί-

### English translation (Claude)

by all of them, as befits the queen? As for the Muses, does not the name show that they belong together — whether the gods named them so or people use the report of the gods? And they are a chorus surely because of their gathering; and none of them, apart from the others, either shows her proper work at the banquet of the gods or receives altar and temple among men. Yet some, through deficiency of nature, chop up what cannot be separated, and one man has become master of one, another of another; but philosophy stands over them all.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 258 (Krabinger 1:258; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/258).

## Krabinger p. 259

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-259
- Source: Krabinger 1:259
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Like Apollo leading the Muses and singing alone, the philosopher unites all learning, communing with God and also speaking to men.

### Greek text

τοι τοῦτο αἰνίττεται τὸ τῇ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν Μουσῶν εὐθὺ, τὸν ᾿Δπόλλω. παρεῖναι. Ὃ δὲ λόγος οὗτος τεχνίτην μὲν καὶ ἐπιεήμονα καλεῖ τὸν ἀποτεμνόμενον Ἶ) ἡντινοῦν εἴδησιν, ἄλλον αὶ ἄλλῃ προήκοντα δαίμονι" φιλόσοφον δὲ τὸν ἡρμοσμένον ἐκ τῇς ἁπασῶν συμφωνίας καὶ ἕν τὸ πλῆθος ποιήσαντα ἢ τοῦτον μὲν͵ οὕπω, προρεῖναι δὲ δεῖ τὸ καὶ ἔχειν αὐτὸν ἴδιον ἔργον ὑπερκείμενον τοῦ χοροῦ" ὥςπερ τὸν ᾿Απόλλω λόγος ἔχει νῦν μὲν ταῖς ἡηούσαι; συνάδειν, αὐτὸν ἐξάρχοντα καὶ ἐνδιδόντα ῥυθμὸν τῷ συτήματι " νῦν δὲ αὐτὸν κατὰ μόνας ἄδειν' ἐκεῖνο δ᾽ ἂν εἴν τὸ μέλος τὸ ἱερὸν καὶ ἀπόῤῥητον. Ἑαὶ ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς φιλόσοφος δ) συνέται μὲν ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τῷ θεῷῴ διὰ φιλοσοφία," συνέξαι δὲ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις διὰ τῶν ὑφειμέ- Β Ἰδνων τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεων. ᾿Επιεήσεται μὲν οὖν ὡς φιλόλογος ), κρινεῖ δὲ ὡς φιλόσοφος ἕκατόν τε καὶ πάντα. Οἱ δὲ ἀξεμφεῖς οὗτοι καὶ ὑπερόπται ῥητορικῇς

### English translation (Claude)

And this is hinted by Apollo's being present at once with the concord of the Muses. This account calls craftsman and expert the one who cuts off for himself any single knowledge, each devoted to a different deity, but calls philosopher the one tuned from the concord of all, who has made the many one — or rather, not yet him; he must also have a work of his own above the chorus, as the story is that Apollo now sings with the Muses, himself leading and giving the rhythm to the ensemble, and now sings alone; and that would be the sacred and ineffable song. So the philosopher, as we understand him, will be with himself and God through philosophy, and with people through the lower powers of speech. He will know as a lover of letters, and judge each thing and all as a philosopher. But these stiff despisers of rhetoric

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 259 (Krabinger 1:259; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/259).

## Krabinger p. 260

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-260
- Source: Krabinger 1:260
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Those who scorn rhetoric are simply incapable of it; a beautiful soul expresses itself outwardly, and eloquence even helps to guard sacred truths.

### Greek text

καὶ ποιήσεως οὔ μοι δοκοῦσιν οὐδὲ ὅδ) ἑκόντες; εἶναι τοιοῦτοι, πενίᾳ δὲ φύσεως μηδὲ τὰ σμικρὰ ἱκανοὶ, ὧν θάττον ἂν ἴδοις τὴν καρδίαν, ἢ τὰ ἶν τῇ καρδίᾳ, ἀδυνατούσῃς τῇς: γλώττῃς ἑξερμηνεῦσαι τὴν γνώμην. ᾿Εγὼ μὲν ὅ οὖν καὶ ἀπιτεῖν αὐτοῖς βούλομαι, καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἂν φαίην Ὁ ͵ ἀπόῤῥητον τι. κρύπτειν αὐτούς, ὥςπερ τὰς ᾿Εειάδας 1} τὸ πῦρ, πρῶτον μὲν, ὅτι μηδὲ ὅσιόν ἐστι τὰ μεγάλα σοφὸν γενέσθαι τὸν τὰ μικρὰ μὴ δυνάμενον. ἔπειτα ὥιπερ ὁ θεὸς. τῶν ἀφανῶν ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεων εἰκόνας μφανεῖ; ὑπεστήσατο, τῶν ἰδεῶν τὰ σώματα, οὕτως ἔχουσα κάλλος ψυχῇ καὶ γόνιμος οὖσα τῶν ἀρίτων διαδόσιμον ἔχει μέχρι τῶν ἔξω τὴν δύναμιν" οὐδὲν γὰρ ἰθέλει τῶν θείων ἔσχατον εἶναι. Εἰ δὲ καὶ κρύπτειν ἐπιτηδειότερος τὰ αἀβέβηλα ὁ παντοδαπῶς 1ὅ ἔχων τοῦ λόγου, καὶ περιβαλλόμενος; δύναμιν τοῦ διατί- ἢ θέσθαι τὰς συνουσίας ᾧ βούλεται, καὶ οὕτω μειονεκτεῖν ἀνάγκῃ τὸν ἄνδρα ἐκεῖνον, δι οὐ προετελέσθῃ τῷ

### English translation (Claude)

and poetry seem to me not to be such by choice, but through poverty of nature incapable even of small things; you would sooner see their heart than what is in their heart, since their tongue cannot express their thought. For my part I wish to distrust them, and I would not say that they hide something ineffable, as the Vestals hide the fire: first, because it is not even holy that one unable to do small things should become wise in great ones; then, just as God set up visible images of his invisible powers — the bodies of the forms — so a soul that has beauty and is productive of the best has a power that can be distributed even to outward things; for nothing divine wishes to be last. And if the one who has every kind of speech at his command, and is clothed with the power to arrange his conversations as he wishes, is better fitted to hide what must not be profaned, then that man must necessarily be at a disadvantage who has not been initiated

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 260 (Krabinger 1:260; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/260).

## Krabinger p. 261

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-261
- Source: Krabinger 1:261
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: An unlettered sage must either be silent or blurt out secrets; Proteus, by contrast, showed visitors a dazzling show.

### Greek text

κύκλῳ καὶ τὰ Μουσῶν οὐκ ώργίακε... Ζυοὶν γὰρ αὐ. τὸν καταλὰμβάνει τὸ ἕτερον, τοι σιγᾷν, ᾿) λέγειν, ὅσα νόμος σιγᾶσθαι. Ἢ γὰρ δ τὰς τῶν ἐν ἄτει τύχας διαλέξεων ὑπαθέσεις ποιήσεται, καὶ φορτικῶς 3} τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνέται, ὃ μηδεὶς ἄν ἐλεύθερος. ἀξιώσειεν, ᾽ βιώσει ἐν' σχολῇ γε ὁ τὴν΄ σοφίαν πόρυφαῖος εἶναι ποιούμενο. Τυχὸν μὲν γὰρ ὑδ᾽ ἄν, εἰ βούλοιτο, δύναιτο" 'πάντως δὲ οὐδ᾽ ἄν, ᾿ εἰ" δύναιτο, Α' βούλοιτο. "ἄγαμαι δὲ ἐγὼ καὶ τὸν Πρωτέα τὸν Φά.- 1θριον, εἰ σοφὸς ὧν τὰ μεγάλα, σοφιςικήν τινα θαυ- ᾿ατολογίαν προυὐβέβλητο, καὶ παντοδαπῶς τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι συνεμίγνυτο " ῴχοντο γὰρ ἄν τὴν, περὶ

### English translation (Claude)

into the circle and has not celebrated the rites of the Muses. For one of two things overtakes him: either to keep silent, or to say what the law requires to be kept silent. Either he will make the doings of people in the city the subjects of his discourses and consort with people vulgarly — which no free man would think fit, at least one who lives in leisure and makes himself a leader in wisdom; perhaps he could not even if he wished, and certainly, if he could, he would not wish. I admire Proteus of Pharos, who, wise in great things, put forward a sophistic wonder-show and mingled in every way with those who met him; for they would go away

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 261 (Krabinger 1:261; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/261).

## Krabinger p. 262

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-262
- Source: Krabinger 1:262
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Like Proteus's shows or Ixion's cloud, eloquent discourse satisfies the many and guards the inner truth, which God opens to the worthy.

### Greek text

τὸν τραγῳδίαν τεθαυμακότει, ὡς; μὴ ἐπιδητῇσαιτὴν ἂλύθειαν περὶ ὧν πραγματεύοιτο. “"Ἔτω δή τι τοῦ ψεὼ προτεμένισμα τοῖς ἀτελέςοι " ὁ 7. δὲ καθάκαξ ἀπο-: σεμνυνόμενος, οὐκρύπτει: μᾶλλον, γ᾽ ἐρεθίξεϊ καὶ ἀναῤὅ ῥιπίδει τὴν ἐν τῇ φύσέι. λιχνείαν, ὑφ᾽ ἡ, ἑκαεός ἐσι Εὶ πολυπράγμων τοῦ ἀποῤῥήτου. Εἰ δὲ' μιὴ 'ὁ ᾿Ιξίων. ἀνπὶ τῆς Ἥρας τὴν νερξλῃ» ὑῥρήκει, καὶ ᾿ἡγαπήπει συνὼν; τῷ εἰδώλῳ, οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἑκὼν ἐἶναι μεθεῖτο᾽ τῆς ἀτόπου διώξεω... εκ τῆνος " ΜΙαρασκευαεέον οὖν ἀντὶ λόγου. λόγον," ἀντὶ τοῦ μείδονος ὃ τὸν ἐλάττω᾽ καλὸν μέντοι τινὰ καὶ τοῖτον, ᾧ προεντυχόντες, ὁ μὲν, πολὺς. ἐνσχεθήσεται, καὶ τοῦτον ἀσπάσεται, καὶ οὐδ᾽ εἶναι πρεσβύτερον ἄλλον οἰήσεται ἦ᾽ ὁ δὲ λαχὼν φύσεως θείας, ἐντεῦθεν ἀρθεὶς, 1ῦ περινοήσει κἀκεῖνον. Ὃν ὃ) δὲ ὁ θεὸρ. κινεῖ, τούτῳ καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀνεῴξεται τὰ ἀνάκτορα" οὐδὲ ὁ. ΜΜενέλεωΟ ἠγνόγσε τὸν ὄντως Πρωτία" "Ἕλλην γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἦν, καὶ

### English translation (Claude)

admiring the tragic show around him, so as not to seek the truth about what he was dealing with. Let this be a forecourt of the temple for the uninitiated. But the one who is solemn through and through does not hide the secret; rather he provokes and fans the greed in our nature by which everyone is curious about the ineffable. If Ixion had not found the cloud instead of Hera and been content to be with the image, he would never willingly have given up his absurd pursuit. So one must prepare a speech in place of a speech, a lesser in place of the greater; yet a fine one, on meeting which the many will be held fast, embrace it, and not think there is another more venerable; while the one who has been given a divine nature will be raised from there and come to understand the other as well. And for one whom God moves, the shrine will be opened by us too. Menelaus did not fail to recognize the real Proteus; for he was a Greek, and

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Od. 4.351-570 (Homer, Odyssey): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Proteus and Menelaus: Homer, Odyssey 4.351–570. Ixion embraced a cloud in the form of Hera.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 262 (Krabinger 1:262; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/262).

## Krabinger p. 263

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-263
- Source: Krabinger 1:263
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Proteus's transformations hid lessons in natural philosophy; the philosopher, being human, needs literature both to reach people and to rest from contemplation.

### Greek text

τοῦ “ὸς κηδεεὴς ἄξιος), ᾧ μηδὲ τὴν πρώκῳῃν. ἐπὶ φαύλοις συνῆν. Τὸ γὰρ πῦρ, καὶ τὸ δένδρον, καὶ. τὸ θυρίον λόγοι τινὲς ἦσαν περὶ ξώων τε παὶ φυτῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν, πρώτων τοιχείων, ὧν -σύγκειται τὰ γινόμενα, Ὃ δὲ οὐδὲ ταῦτα ἠγάπησεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐνδοτίέρῳ ἢ: φύσεως, ἠξίου χωρεῖν.. Θεῖον οὖν ἀτεχνῷς τὸ πᾶσιν «ἀρκεῖν, ὧι ἕκατοι ἀπολαύειν αὐτοῦ δύναται" ὁ᾽ δὲ γες νόμενος τῶν ἄκρων ἐπιτυχὴ;, μεμνήσθω τκαὶ ιἄνθρῳ. Ὁ πος ὧν), καὶ δυνάσθω συνεῖναι ᾽. πρὸς μέερον΄ ἐπάφῳ, Τί οὖν ἄν τις ἀποκηρύεττοι.1}) τὰς ἹΠούσας, διὶ ὧν, ἔξε... καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπου, ἀρέσκειν, καὶ τὰ. θεῖα τηρεῖν, ἀκῃλίδωτα, χρωμένους ἐπικαλύμματι;. Ἐῤ᾿ δὲ τπαὶ ποι: κίλον ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν, καμεῖται. δύπου πρὸς ντὴν. ἐν θεωρέᾳ. ἀωήν' ὥιτε ὑφήσει τοῦ μεγέθυγρ καὶ, καταβήφε- Ι5ται" οὐ γάρ ἐσμὲν ὁ ἀκήρατος νοῦς, ἀλλὰ νοῦς ἐν δώου ψυχῇ. Καὶ ἡμῶν οὖν αὐτῶν εἶα μεριτέον τοὺς ἀνθρωπινωτίρουν τῶν λόγων. ὑποδοχήν. τινα, μι Α

### English translation (Claude)

a worthy son-in-law of Zeus, with whom Proteus did not consort from the first on trivial matters. For the fire, the tree and the beast were certain accounts of animals and plants, and also of the first elements of which things that come to be are composed; yet he was not content even with these, but thought fit to go into the inner part of nature. It is divine, then, to suffice for all, so that each can enjoy it as he is able; but whoever has reached the summits, let him remember that he is a man, and be able to be with people in due measure. Why then should one renounce the Muses, through whom we can please people and keep divine things unsullied, using coverings? And if our nature is manifold, it will surely grow weary of the life of contemplation, so that it will come down from its height and descend; for we are not pure mind, but mind in the soul of a living being. So we must set apart for ourselves the more human kinds of discourse, a kind of resting-place

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Od. 4.456-458 (Homer, Odyssey): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Proteus becomes fire, tree and beast in Odyssey 4.456–458; Menelaus is Zeus's son-in-law (4.569).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 263 (Krabinger 1:263; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/263).

## Krabinger p. 264

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-264
- Source: Krabinger 1:264
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Literature gives the mind a pure resting-place close to contemplation; without it, nature seeks lower pleasures.

### Greek text

'χανωμένους κατιούσῃ τῇ φύσει" ἀγαπητὸν γὰρ ἔχοντά που πλησίον ἀπονεῦσαι ᾽), καὶ ἀφοσιώσασθαι τῇ ψυχικῇ 'συτάσει δεομένῃ γλυκυθυμίας, ἡ πόῤῥω πεσεῖν, μηδὲ: κατὰ πᾶσαν δῆσαι τὴν ποικιλίαν τῇ, φύσεωρ" γὰρ θεὸς τὴν ἡδονὴν περόνην ἐποίησε τῇ ψυχῇ ᾽), δι᾿ ἦ, ἀνέχεται τὴν προςεδρείαν τοῦ σώματος. ’Τοιοῦτον οὖν τὸ ἐν λόγοις κάλλοι" οὐ βαθύνεται πρὸς ὕλην, οὐδὲ Ψμβαπτίδει τὸν νοῦν ταῖς ἐσχάταις; δυνάμεσιν » ἀλλὰ δίδωσιν. ἀνανεῦσαι δι᾽ ἐλαχίστου, “καὶ. εἰς ᾿{τὴν}Β οὐσίαν : ἀναδραμεῖν. ἄνω γὰρ ἔσι καὶ τὸ κἀτὼ " τῇ! τοιαύτης ' ἔωῦ.. ἴθῶι δὲ μὴ ἔειν ἡσθῆναι καθα: ρὰν ἡδονὴν"" δεῖ. δὲ τοῦ μειλιχίου τῇ φύσει" τί "καὶ ποιήσεις "ποῦ ' καὶ τρέψεται; “ρα οὐ πρὸς ἃ μὴδὲ εἰπεῖν. ἄξιονς; Οὐγὰρ δὴ. τὴν φύσιν ὑπερφρονύήσουσι,

### English translation (Claude)

for our nature on its way down. For it is something to be content with, to turn aside somewhere nearby and pay one's dues to the soul's tension, which needs some sweetness, rather than to fall far and be bound to all the variety of nature. God made pleasure a kind of pin for the soul, by which it bears its attendance on the body. Such, then, is beauty in speech: it does not sink deep into matter, nor dip the mind into the lowest powers, but lets it turn back up in a very short time and run back up to its true being; for even the "below" of such a life is above. But if one is not able to enjoy a pure pleasure, and nature needs something gentle, what will it do, where will it turn? Will it not be to things not even worth naming? For surely they will not look down on nature

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 83d (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Pleasure as a pin fastening soul to body: Plato, Phaedo 83d.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 264 (Krabinger 1:264; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/264).

## Krabinger p. 265

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-265
- Source: Krabinger 1:265
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Those who claim to need no rest from contemplation pretend to be gods; Synesius turns to barbarian ascetics who renounce society for contemplation.

### Greek text

ναὶ πρὸς θεωρίαν ἀτρύτω; ἔχειν ἐροῦσιν, ἀπαθεῖς εἶναι ποιούμενοι, θεοὶ σαρκία περικείμενοι" εἰ δὲ λέγοιεν, ἴσων ἀντὶ θεῶν, ἢ σοφῶν τε καὶ θείων ἀνδρῶν ᾿χαῦνοι καὶ ἁλαξόνες πόῤῥω γενόμενοι" ἀμείνους δ᾽ ἂν ἧσαν διαςτέλλοντες εὖ τὸ προίῆκον ἑκατέρῳ τῷ γένει. ᾿“πά- αὶ θεια μὲν γὰρ ἐν θεῷ φύσει " ἀρετῇ δὲ ἄνθρωποι κακίαν ἀμειβόμενοι μετριοπαθεῖς γίνονται" καὶ "τὸ «φυγεῖν τὴν ἀμετρίαν, αὐτὸ τῦτ᾽ ἂν εἴν τοῦ σοφοῦ. τὸ ἀγώνισμα. ιν τσὴ: 1: Ἢδη δὲ ἰγὼ κατενόησα ᾽) καὶ βαρβάρον; -ἀνθρώπου; ἐξ ἀμφοῖν τῶν ἀρίτων γενῶν, θεωρίαν μὲν ὑπεσχημένου,, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο ἀπολιτεύτους τε καὶ ἀκοινωνήτους ἀνθρώποις, ἅτε ἀΐξανται, ἑαυτοὺς ἐκλὺ-

### English translation (Claude)

and claim to hold out tirelessly in contemplation, making themselves out to be without passions, gods wearing bits of flesh. And if they say so, then perhaps, instead of gods or wise and divine men, they become vain boasters far off the mark. They would be better if they distinguished well what befits each race. Freedom from passion belongs to the divine nature; human beings, exchanging vice for virtue, become moderate in their passions, and to flee immoderation would be the very contest of the wise. I have already observed barbarian men, from both of the best classes, who profess contemplation and are therefore without part in public life and without fellowship with people, being ascetics, having released themselves

### Translation notes

- The "barbarian" contemplatives are Egyptian Christian monks, described from outside; the passage is translated as written.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 265 (Krabinger 1:265; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/265).

## Krabinger p. 266

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-266
- Source: Krabinger 1:266
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The ascetics live apart with sacred songs and rites, abstaining like Homer's gods from bread and wine, yet nature draws even them back from contemplation.

### Greek text

σας τῇς: φύσεως" καὶ ἧσαν αὐτοῖς σεμναί τε ᾧδαὶ καὶ ἢ ἱερὰ σύμβολα καὶ τακταί ὃ) τινεε πρόξοδοι πρὸς τὸ. θεῖον " πάνεα. ταῦτα ἀποκόπτει κατὰ τῇς ἐπιεροφῦς τῇς εἶς. ὕλην" καὶ ᾿βιοτεύουσι. χωρὶς ἀπ᾿ ἀλλήλων, τοῦ μή τι χάριεν ἰδεῖν ἡ. ἀκοῦσαι. ἐς Οὐ γὰρ σῖτον ἔδουσ᾽, οὐ πίνουσ᾽ δ) αἴθοπα οἶνον, καὶ περὶ τούτων, ἄν τις εἰκὼν οὐ πόῤῥω βάλλοι τάλρηθοῦ" ἀλλ᾽. οὐδὲ οὗτοι μέντοι λαμπρῶς οὕτως ἐπαναςάντε; ἦ τῇ φύσει, καὶ, ὡς ἄν ἡμεῖς φαῖμεν, δικαιότα- 1θτοι τυχεῖν ὄντες τῇς ἀρίστης δωΐε, ἀκμῆτες αὐτῇς ὃ) ἀπολαύουσιν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐπανάγει) καὶ τούτους ἡ ἐπίκηρος φύσις; μικρὸν ἱδρυθέντας ἐν τῷ μακαρίῳ τῇς οὐσίας

### English translation (Claude)

from nature. They had solemn songs, sacred symbols and certain ordered approaches to the divine; all these cut off the turning toward matter; and they live apart from one another, so as not to see or hear anything pleasant. "For they eat no bread, nor drink sparkling wine" — one who used this image of them too would not miss the truth by much. But even these, though they have risen up so brilliantly against nature and, as we would say, are most justly entitled to the best life, do not enjoy it untiringly. Perishable nature brings them back too, after they have been established only a little while in the blessedness of

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 5.341 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The line is Homer, Iliad 5.341 (of the gods).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 266 (Krabinger 1:266; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/266).

## Krabinger p. 267

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-267
- Source: Krabinger 1:267
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Few even of the ascetics reach contemplation, and none stays there; they know they are men with lower lives to keep in check.

### Greek text

αὐτῶν" καὶ καὶ δήπου πάντα ἐξῇς τὸν χρόνον ἐπιπολὺῇ» ἔχουσι τὸν νοῦν, καὶ ἐμφοροῦνται τοῦ νοητοῦ 'κάλ: λους, οἷς ποτὲ καὶ γέγονε προςτυχές. ᾿Ακούω γάρ ἐγὼ μηδὲ τούτοις ἅπασι παραγίνεσθαι τὸ τοιοῦτον, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τοῖς; πλείοσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ὀλίγων ἐλάττοσιν, οἷς ἡ πρώτῃ τε «ὁρμὴ γέγονεν ἔνθεο!, καὶ μέ-, νθυσιν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ,, ὅσον ἀνθρώπου φύσις χωρεῖ, πρὸ Β οὐδεμίαν ἀνθολκὴν τῆς φύσεως: μειλισσόμενοι. Πολ- Δοὶ μὲν γὰρ ᾽) ναρθηκοφόροι, παῦροι δέ τε βάκχοι" οὐδ᾽ οὗτοι μέντοι διαρκῶς ἀνέχονται τῇς βακχεία," ᾿ ἀλλὰ νῦν μὲν ἐν τῷ θεῷ κεῖνται, νῦν δὲ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καὶ ἐν τοὶς σώμασι, καὶ ἴσασιν ὄντες ἄνθρωποι, μιπραὶ μερίδες τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ ἔχοντες; ἀποκειμένας δωὰ; ἐλάττους, ἃς. ὑποπτεύουσι καὶ προκαταλαμβανουσιν, ὡς μὴ κινοῖντό τε καὶ κατεξανίξαιντο" ἢ τί αὖ

### English translation (Claude)

their being; and surely they do not hold their mind on high continually for all time, nor are they always filled with intelligible beauty, even those to whom it has sometimes happened. For I hear that this does not come to all of them, nor to most, but to fewer of the few: those whose first impulse was inspired and who abide in it as far as human nature allows, yielding to no counter-pull of nature. "For many are the wand-bearers, but few the Bacchi." And even these do not hold out continually in the Bacchic state; now they lie in God, now in the world and in bodies, and they know that they are men, small portions of the cosmos, who have lesser lives stored up in them, which they suspect and forestall lest they stir and rise up. Or why else

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 69c (Plato (works)): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "Many are the wand-bearers, but few the Bacchi": Plato, Phaedo 69c.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 267 (Krabinger 1:267; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/267).

## Krabinger p. 268

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-268
- Source: Krabinger 1:268
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The ascetics weave baskets to occupy their lower nature when they cannot contemplate, guarding against idleness.

### Greek text

τοῖς. οἱ κάλαθοι βούλονται, καὶ τὸ πλεγμάτια ἅττα με-Ο ταχειρίδεσθαι, εἰ μὴ πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τῷ τότε ἦσαν ἄνθρωποι, τουτ᾽ ἔξσιν ἐπιιροφὴν πρὸς τὰ τῇδε ποιοὐμενοις οὐ γὰρ δὴ θεωροῦσί τε ἅμα καὶ σοφίξονται δ περὶ τὰ πλέγματα 3.)" ἔπειτα τὴν σχολὴν ὑφεωρῶντο, ἦι ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνέχεται, πολλὰς ἀρχὰς ἐνδιδοῦσα κινήσεων; ν᾽ οὖν μὴ ἄλλο τι δρῷεν, ἀμφὶ ταῦτα ἔχειν νόμον ἐν σφίσι πεποίηνται, καὶ ταύτῃ τὴν φύσιν προτρέπονται. αὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ὕδονται τελεσιουργοῶν- 10τες, καὶ μάλλον, ὅσῳ πλείω τε καὶ καλλίω." ᾿“Ιεῖ γὰρ ἡμῶν εἶναί τι καὶ περὶ τὰ τῇδε" μὴ μέντοι Ὁ τοῦτό γε ἰσχυρὸν, ἵνα μὴ πλέον καθέλκῃ καὶ λίαν

### English translation (Claude)

do they want baskets, and to handle some small plaitings, unless, first, at those times they are men, that is, they make a turning toward things here — for they do not contemplate and at the same time exercise their skill on the plaiting — and secondly, they are wary of idleness, which our nature does not bear, since it supplies many beginnings of motion? So, that they may not do something else, they have made it a law among themselves to be busy with these things, and in this way they turn their nature. And indeed they take pleasure in finishing their work, and the more, the more and finer it is. For something of ours must be occupied with things here — yet not something strong, lest it drag us down further and take too firm a hold.

### Translation notes

- Basket-weaving was the characteristic manual labour of the Egyptian monks.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 268 (Krabinger 1:268; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/268).

## Krabinger p. 269

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-269
- Source: Krabinger 1:269
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Since no human can always contemplate, Synesius chooses literature as the purest middle pleasure between divine austerity and bodily indulgence.

### Greek text

ἀντιλαμβάνηται. Ἑαίτοι τοῦ γε ᾿Ελληνικοῦ τὸ βάρβαρον ἔντασιν τηρῇσαι ῥωμαλεώτερον" ᾧὶ γὰρ ἂν ὁρμήσῃ,. σφοδρόν τέ ἐστι καὶ ἀνένδοτον" τὸ δὲ ἀξείω; τε ἔχει καὶ ἡμερώτερον κέκραται" ὥϊτε κἂν θᾶττον ἐκλύοιτο. ὅ ᾿Εγὼ δὲ βουλοίμην δ μὲν ἂν εἶναι τῇς φύσεως ἡμῶν, ἀεὶ πρὸς θεωρίαν ἀνατετάσθαι' ἀμῃχάνου δὲ ὄντος τε) καὶ πεφηνότος βουλοίμην ἄν ἐν τῷ μέρει μὲν ἔχεσθαι τῶν ἀρίτων, ἐν τῷ μέρει δὲ κατιὼν εἰς τὴν φύσιν, ἅπτεσθαί τινος; εὐφροσύνῃς, καὶ ἐπαλείφειν εὐθυμείᾳ ὅ τὸν βίον" ἐπίσταμαι γὰρ ἄνθρωπο; ὧν, καὶ οὔτε θεὸς, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἀκλινὴς εἴην) πρὸς ἅπασαν ἡδονὴν, οὔτε θηρίον, ἵνα τὰς σώματος ἡδοίμην ἡδονάς. “Δείπεται δύ τι") τῶν ἐν μέσῳ δητεῖν. Τὶ δ᾽ ἂν εἴη πρὸ τὴν ἐν λόγοις τε καὶ περὶ λόγους διατριβῇς; τίς ἡδονὴ καθαρωτέρας τίς ἀπαθεξέρα ) προιπάθεια; τίς ἧττον ἐν ὕλῃς τίς μᾶλλον ἀμόλυντο; ὅγ; Ταύτῃ δὴ ἢ) πάλιν τὸν Ἕλληνα τοῦ βαρβάρου πρῶτον ἄγω, καὶΒ

### English translation (Claude)

And yet the barbarian keeps up his tension more vigorously than the Greek: wherever he rushes, he is vehement and unyielding, while the Greek is urbane and more gently blended, so that he would also relax sooner. I would wish it were in our nature to be always strained toward contemplation; but since that is impossible and has been shown to be, I would wish by turns to hold to the best things and by turns to come down into nature, touch some cheerfulness, and anoint life with good spirits. For I know that I am a man, neither a god, that I should be unbending toward every pleasure, nor a beast, that I should enjoy the pleasures of the body. It remains to look for something in between. What could that be, beside the pastime in literature and about literature? What pleasure is purer? What passion freer from passion? What less in matter? What more undefiled? Here again I put the Greek ahead of the barbarian, and

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 269 (Krabinger 1:269; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/269).

## Krabinger p. 270

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-270
- Source: Krabinger 1:270
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Greek descends from contemplation only as far as science and literature, which are akin to mind and train the soul's eye for higher vision.

### Greek text

σοφώτερον τίθημι, ὅτι κατιέναι δεῆσαν ὁ μὲν ἐν γειτόνων ἔτη τὴν. πρώτην" εἰς ἐπιστήμην γὰρ ἔτη. ᾿Ἐπιεύμῃ δὲ νοῦ διέξοδος κἄάτα εἰς λόγον ἦλθεν ἄλλον ἀπ᾽ ἄλλου, δι᾽ ὧν καὶ προῆλθε. Τί δ᾽ ἂν εἴη λόγου νῷ δ συγγενίτερον; τί δὲ ᾽) πορθμεῖον ἐπὶ νοῦν οἰκειότερον; “Ὥς ὅπυ λόγος, ἐκεῖ που ᾽ἦ) καὶ νοῦς εἰ δὲ μὴ, πάντως τις εἴδησις, ἐν ὑςέροις νόησις οὖσα. Ἑαὶ γὰρ ἐνθάδε καλοῦνταί τινες θεωρίαι καὶ θεωρήματα ἔργα ἐλάτ- ΚΟ τονος νοῦ, ῥητορικά τε καὶ ποιητικὰ, καὶ ἐν φύσει, καὶ ἐν μαθήμασιν. ᾿Αλλά τοι πάντα ταῦτα κοσμεῖ τὸ ὄμμᾳ ἐκεῖνο, καὶ ἀφαιρεῖ τὴν λήμην, καὶ διεγείρει, κατὰ βραχὺ προτεθίξδοντα τοῖς ὁράμασιν, ὥςτε θαρσησαί ποτε καὶ πρεσβύτερον θέαμα, καὶ μὴ ταχὺ σκαρδαμύξαι πρὸς ἥλιον ἁτενίσαντα. Οὕτω μὲν ἀνὴρ "Ἐλ- 15λην καὶ οἷς τρυφᾷ, τὴν ἐπιβολὴν γυμνάξει. καὶ ἀπὸ τῇς παιδιᾶς εἰς τὴν πρώτην ὑπόθεσιν ὄφελος ἄρνυται. Βαὶ γὰρ τὸ κρῖναι καὶ συνθεῖναι λόγον

### English translation (Claude)

count him wiser, because when he had to come down, the place he first came to was nearby: to science; and science is the unfolding of mind. Then he came to one discourse after another, the very ones by which he had gone forward. What could be more akin to mind than reason? What a more proper ferry to mind? Where there is reason, there somewhere is mind as well; or if not, at any rate some knowledge, which is intellection among lower things. For here too certain contemplations and theorems — rhetorical and poetic, and in nature and in mathematics — are called works of a lesser mind. Yet all of these adorn that eye, take away its rheum and rouse it, accustoming it little by little to visions, so that it may one day dare a more venerable sight and not quickly blink when it gazes at the sun. So the Greek trains his aim even by what he enjoys, and gains benefit from play for his first purpose. For to judge and compose a speech

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Resp. 516a-b (Plato (works)): allusion, low confidence

### Translation notes

- The image of the eye growing used to the sun recalls Plato, Republic 7.515e–516b.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 270 (Krabinger 1:270; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/270).

## Krabinger p. 271

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/239/#p-271
- Source: Krabinger 1:271
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Literary work engages the mind; the ascetics' way, though some reach the goal, is a leap without stages or reason.

### Greek text

ποίησιν, οὐκ ἔξω νοῦ" καὶ τὸ λέξιν καθῆραί τε καὶ Ὦ ἀποσμιλεῦσαι, καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον ἐξευρεῖν τε 'καὶ τάξαι, καὶ ἑτέρου τάξαντος αὐτὸν ἐπιγνῶναι, πῶρ ταῦτα καὶ ἀσπούδατα [καὶ] παίγνια; Οἱ δὲ τὴν ἑτέραν θόδὸν τὴν ἀξιουμίνην ἀδαμαντίνην εἶναι βαδίσαντες" ὑποκείσθω δὲ, ὅπερ ἐεὶν, ἐνίους αὐτῶν τυγχάνειν τοῦ τέλους᾽ ἀλλ᾽ ἔμοιγε οὐδὲ ὁδὸν δοκοῦσι βεβαδικέναι.- Πῶ, γὰρ, ἐν ἡ μηδεμία φαίνεται κατὰ βραχὺ πρόοδος, μηδὲ πρῶτον καὶ δεύτερον, μηδὲ τάξις; ᾿Α4λλ᾽ ἸΙθἔοικε γὰρ τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς πρᾶγμα βακχείᾳ καὶ ἅλματι μανικῷ δή τινι καὶ “θεοφορήτῳ, καὶ τὸ μὴ δ δραμόντα; εἰς τὸ ἔσχατον ἥκειν, καὶ μὴ κατὰ λόγον ἐνεργύσαντα; εἰς τὸ ἐπέκεινα λόγου γενίσθαι. Οὐδὲ γάρ ἐξιν οἷον ἐπιερασία τις γνώσεως, ἢ διέξοδος νοῦ, Ι5δτὸ χρῆμα τὸ ἱερὸν, οὐδὲ οἷον ἄλλο ἐν ἄλλῳ ἀλλ᾽, ὥς μικρῷ μεῖξον εἰκάσαι, καθάπερ ᾿Αριξοτέλης ἀξιοῖ

### English translation (Claude)

and a poem is not outside mind; and to purify and chisel diction, to find and arrange the main point, and to recognize it when another has arranged it — how are these frivolous playthings? But as for those who have walked the other road, thought to be of adamant — let it be granted, as is the case, that some of them reach the end — to me they do not seem even to have walked a road. For how is it a road, on which no gradual progress appears, no first and second, no order? Their business seems like Bacchic frenzy and some mad, god-borne leap: to reach the end without having run, and to come to what is beyond reason without having acted according to reason. For the sacred thing is not like an attending of knowledge or an unfolding of mind, nor like one thing in another; but — to compare a little thing with a greater — as Aristotle holds

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 271 (Krabinger 1:271; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/271).

## Krabinger p. 272

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-272
- Source: Krabinger 1:272
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Like initiates who undergo rather than learn, the ascetics leap up and fall down, skipping reason; the Greek philosopher climbs by a ladder.

### Greek text

τοὺς τελουμένους οὐ μαθεῖν τι δεῖν, ἀλλὰ παθεῖν 2, δηλονότι γινομένους ἐπιτηδείου. Ἑαὶ καὶ διατεθῆναι ᾿ ἐπιτηδειότῃι δὲ ἄλογος εἰ δὲ μηδὲ λόγος αὐτὴν παρασκευάδοι, πολὺ μᾶλλον. Τούτοις οὖν καὶ ἡὶ κάὅ θοδος εὐθυὺ; ἐπὶ σμικράν τινα πράξιν, ἄμεσος αὔτη καὶ πολὺ πόῤῥω, καὶ ἴοικε πτώματι, καθάπερ τὴν ἀνα-Β δρομὴν εἰκάδομεν ἄλματι. Οὗς “) γὰρ οὐ προὔπεμψε λόγος, τούτους οὐδὲ ἐπανιόντας ἰδέξατο. Πῶς ἦν ταῦτα ἀλλύήλοι; ἄν πρέψειε, νῦν μὲν ἐπαφὴν ἔχειν τοῦ Ἰθπρώτου, νῦν δὲ ἐπὶ ῥῶπας καὶ λύγου; ἐεράφθαι; ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅγε ἄνθρωπο; κατὰ τὴν μέσην καὶ ἐπισατικὴν δύναμιν λογικὸς ἔτι τε καὶ προφαγορεύεται, ἣν οὐδέποτε αὶ γεγυμνάκασιν, οὔκουν ὅσαγε φαίνονται. Τὸ μὲν οὖν τέλος, καὶ οὐ) δεῖ γενέσθαι, κοινὸν ἀμφοῖν, καὶ τυχόντες, οὐδὲν ἀλλήλων ἂν διαφέροιμεν' τάν μέσῳ δὲ ὁ ἡμεδαπὸς φιλόσοφος ἄμεινον ἔσκεπται" ὁδὸν γὰρ παρεσκευάσατο, καὶ κλιμακηδὸν ἄνεισιν, ὥςτε καὶ

### English translation (Claude)

that those being initiated need not learn something but undergo something, becoming, evidently, fit to receive. Fitness is irrational; and if reason does not even prepare it, all the more so. For these men, then, the descent too goes straight to some small activity, without any intermediary and very far down, and is like a fall, just as we compared the ascent to a leap. For those whom reason did not escort on the way out, it did not receive on their return either. How could these things suit each other: now to have touch with the First, now to be turned to wicker and withies? But man is called rational, and is so, by the middle, governing power, which these men have never exercised — at least so far as appears. The end, then, where one must arrive, is common to both, and once there we would not differ at all from one another; but in the middle our philosopher has planned better: he has prepared a road and ascends by a ladder, so that

### Extrabiblical texts

- Aristotle, fr. 15 Rose (Aristotle (works)): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Aristotle on the initiated: fragment 15 (Rose), known only from this passage of Synesius.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 272 (Krabinger 1:272; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/272).

## Krabinger p. 273

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-273
- Source: Krabinger 1:273
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The gradual way lets many advance; the leap succeeds only for rare, self-moved minds like the Egyptian king Amous.

### Greek text

παρ᾽ ἐαντὸν τι ποίσαι" προϊόντα γὰρ εἰκὸς ἐντυχεῖν. ποι τῷ ἐρατῷ “: καὶ μὴ τυχὼν “δὲ, πρὸ ὁδοῦ γέγονε, καὶ οὐδὲ τοῦτο μέντοι σμικρόν" ἀλλὰ διαφέροι ἂν τῶν πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων πλέον, κ ὅσον ἐκεῖνοι τῶν βοσκυμάτων. ) ᾿ ΨΙ Πε Ταύτῃ καὶ πλείους ἂν ἦν οἱ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἀφικνούἄέενοι, κατὰ φύσιν ἐχούσυ; τῇς ἐπιχειρήσεως" ἐκείνῃ. δ᾽ εἰ μή τις εὐγένεια. τήχρι."), ψυχῆς ἄνωθεν ἔλκουσα τὴν στρώτην͵ καταβολὴν, παὶ νοῦ χρῆμα ἐξαίσιον οἷον αὖταρκες εἶναι καὶ παρ ἑαυτοῦ κινηθῆναι. ᾿Οποῖος᾿Αμοῦ; ) ὁ Αἰγύπτιος οὐκ ἐξεῦρεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔκρινε, χρείαν, γραμμάς των. Τοσοῦτον αὐτῷ ὅ) τοῦ νοῦ περιῇν. ὋὉ δὲ. δὴ τοιοῦτος. καὶ δίχα τῇς, φιλοσόφου. μεθόδου θᾶττον ἄναλύσειεν. “Ὁ, γάρ. "9. θυ σιπό ἀρκεῖ" πολὺ δήπου

### English translation (Claude)

he achieves something by his own effort. For it is likely that, going forward, he will meet the beloved object somewhere; and if he does not reach it, he has at least advanced on the road, and even this is no small thing: he would differ from most people more than they differ from cattle. In this way, too, more would arrive from among us, since the attempt is in accordance with nature; but in that other way none would, unless some nobility of soul drew its first foundation from above, and a mind so extraordinary as to be self-sufficient and moved by itself — such as Amous the Egyptian, who did not invent but judged the use of letters, so much mind did he have to spare. Such a man would ascend more quickly even without the philosopher's method. For nature suffices; much more surely

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 274d-275b (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Amous (Thamus), the Egyptian king who judged Theuth's invention of letters: Plato, Phaedrus 274d–275b.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 273 (Krabinger 1:273; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/273).

## Krabinger p. 274

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-274
- Source: Krabinger 1:274
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Greek education helps ordinary souls rise, while the ascetic leap suits only souls rarer than the phoenix; most who attempt it toil in vain.

### Greek text

μᾶλλον, εἰ καί τις! αὐτὸν παραθήξειέ τε καὶ ἐκκαλίσαιτο τὸ γὰρ ἔνδοθεν σπέρμα. δεινὸς αὐξῆσαι, καὲὶὲ νὴ δαικρόν' σπινθῆρα λογοὺ παραλαβὼν, πυρκαϊὰν ὅλην ἀνάψαι, Τούτοις μὲν οὖν οὐδὲν παρὰ τοῦτο. μεῖον, ὅ εἰ μή γε καὶ προὔργου ποιήσει. Τὰ τῇς ᾿Ελληνικῆς δὲ ἀγωγῆς ) τοὺς ἧττον ἀδρούς προάγει τε καὶ ἀναῤῥιπίἔδει; καὶ ὅ τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς θεῖον ἐκθάλπει" ἑκὲλ δὲ χιόνοις τοῖς οἴκοθεν μακὰρίοις τὸ τέλος ἐπιτυγχάνξται. Σπανϊώτερον δὲ δήπου ") τὸ γένος τῶν τοιούτων ψυχῶν, ἢ τὸ τὸῦ φοΐνικος, ᾧ τὰς περιόδους μετροῦσιν Α|γύπτιοι. Οἱ δὲ κολλοὶ μάτην ἂν πονοῖεν καὶ ἀποέρύ- Χχοινέο,' δίχα νοῦ ἐῤν νοητὴν : οὐσίαν θηρώμένοι, καὶ Κα Ἡάλιςα οὔς οὔχ καὶ πρώτῃ φύσις ἐπὶ 'τόνδὲ "τὸν βίον ἐξώρμησεν. Οὐτοι᾿ “γὰρ ἂν ὀναϊντὸ τῇ! ὄρμθε" μὰλλον 'δὲ ἀὐτὴν ἐγὼ τὴν ὁρμὴν νόδ᾽ κἰνυυμΐνου" γνώριμα ποιούμαι; οἱ δὲ πλείους οὐδὲ ᾽ οἴκοθεν ἐκινή

### English translation (Claude)

if someone also whets him and calls him out; for he is able to increase the seed within, and, taking a small spark of reason, to kindle a whole blaze. For these, then, it is no loss on this account, if it is not even an advantage. The Greek training leads forward those less robust, fans them, and warms the divine in them; but there the end is reached only by those already blessed from within, and the race of such souls is rarer than that of the phoenix, by which the Egyptians measure their periods. The many would toil in vain and wear themselves out hunting the intelligible essence without mind, especially those whom nature did not first urge on to this life. These might benefit from the impulse — or rather, I take the impulse itself as a sign of a mind in motion; but most were not moved from within

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 274 (Krabinger 1:274; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/274).

## Krabinger p. 275

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-275
- Source: Krabinger 1:275
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Most who join the ascetic life lack mind, the only temple God inhabits; true philosophy seeks the purifying virtues by reason, not mere habit.

### Greek text

θησαν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ, “τὸν δεύτερον «λεγόμενον. πλοῦν", ὑπὸ τὴς σχολῇ! εἰς νσῦν διεγείρονται" ὦιπερ δὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν εὐδοκιμούντων, τὴν γενναίαν αἵρεσιν ἐδηλώκασι, παντοδαποί τε ὄντες τὰ γένῃ, καὶ κατὰ -χρείαγ." ἕκατοι συνιςάμενοι. Περὶ τούτων (δὴ. καὶ σαφῶς δεατείνομαι, ὅτι μάτην ἂν οὗτοι πομνοῖεν καὶ ἀποτρύχοιντο, ( οἷς οὔτε αὐτοφυής ἔσι νοῦν, υοὐτεί ἐπέκτῃ τος. "᾿Ἰευνδυνεύει ᾿ γὰρ οὐδ᾽ εἶναι θεμιτὸν ἄλλῳ τῳ ᾽ τῶν. ἐν φ μὲν οἴεσθᾶι τὸν θεὸν ἐνδημιύσειν ἀντὶ τοῦ νοῦ" νεὼς γὰρ οὗτος οἷκεῖος. θεῷ, Ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα. 'παὶ τὰς καθαρτικὰς μάρετάι ἀν) σπουδάξεσθαι παραδεδώκασιν Ἕλληνες σοφοὶ καὶ βάρ. βαροι, ἀποτειχίξοντεϊ Ἀ}ϊιᾳἥπασαν τὴν πραγματείαν " σῆς "φύσεως, ἵνα μηδὲν. ἐμπόδιον; παρέχοιμτῳ παϊρ, Ψαοβσεσιμ. Αὔτη μὲν ) καὶ διάνοια." τῶν’ πρώτων κεἰτουνσλμμένων ἑκατέραν: φιλοσοφίαν: “Οἱ δὲ καὶ τὰς εἰῥεαε ἄθέσι μάλ -Ὁ ὡς καὶ τρεῖς: οὐτὰν. ῥσνριπαι; λον, ᾽ λόγῳ. κρατύνουσι

### English translation (Claude)

nor are they roused to mind by leisure, the so-called "second voyage"; but like any other esteemed thing, they have aimed at the noble choice, being of every kind of race and each joining it for some need. About these I clearly maintain that they would toil in vain and wear themselves out, having neither natural nor acquired mind. For perhaps it is not even lawful to think that God will dwell in anything of ours other than the mind, for this is God's proper temple. That is why wise men, Greek and barbarian, have handed down that the purifying virtues are to be pursued, walling off all the business of nature, so that nothing may stand in the way of those being purified. This was the intention of those who first founded each philosophy. But others strengthen the virtues by habit rather than by reason.

### Translation notes

- "Second voyage": a proverb for the next-best course (Plato, Phaedo 99c–d). The "noble choice" is the monastic life.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 275 (Krabinger 1:275; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/275).

## Krabinger p. 276

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-276
- Source: Krabinger 1:276
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Ascetic self-control practised without wisdom is not true temperance, for the virtues imply one another and serve the mind's ascent.

### Greek text

φρόνῃησιν' γὰρ. οὐ προρίενται, οἵ γε καὶ σωφρασύνην. αἴ γε δὴ σωφροσύνην ιεἶναι τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς, συγχωρήσὸόμε.} (Ὡς οὐκ ἔστι γε, μὴ. οὐκ εἰριέναι τε καὶ συναιῥέῖσαθαι. τὰς. ἀρετάς, διὰ. τὴν «ἀναγκαίαν ἀντακολούθηὅ σιν. υἱάλλ' οἷοντὰΐ. γε, δεῖν σωφρονεῖν, οὐ, διότε ") σωφρφνητίον, ιεἰδότες,: ἀλλ'. ἐπίταγμα λαβόντι;,.. ὥπερ νόμον ἀναίτιον, -ὃν ὁ μὲν θεὶς οἶδεν, ὅτι ιτοῖ το διε’ ἄλλα, διὰ τὰς νούῤσειΐ, παὶ ὅτι προύργουι πρὸς ἄνοδίο

### English translation (Claude)

For they do not admit wisdom, they who admit temperance — if indeed we grant that what they have is temperance. It is not, since the virtues must enter and depart together, because they necessarily follow one another. But they think one must be temperate, not knowing why one must, but taking it as an order, like a law without reasons, which the one who laid it down knows is for the sake of other things — for the sake of intellection — and that it is useful for the ascent.

### Translation notes

- Most of this page in the OCR is Krabinger's apparatus, removed.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 276 (Krabinger 1:276; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/276).

## Krabinger p. 277

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-277
- Source: Krabinger 1:277
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The ascetics make continence an end in itself; for the philosopher the virtues are only purifications preparing the soul, which is not itself the good.

### Greek text

δονν τὸ πρὸ! μηδὲν τῶν "ἐν ὕλῃ! παθαίρεσθὰν. Οἷ- δὲ ἀπέχονται μίξεων, αὐτὸ "δι᾽ αὐτὸ τἐθαυμεικότες μτκαὴ μεέγιτον ἄγοντε, τὸ σμικρότατον; τὴν παραφκεύὴν τέλος ἡγούμενοι. ᾿Ημεῖς δὲ τὰς ἀρετὰς ὥςπερ (ξδιχεῖά τῆς ὅλης φιλοσοφίας σπυδάδομεν. Τὸ μὴ καθαρῷ ὦ γάρ καθαροῦ ἰφάπτεσθαι. μὴ οὐ θεμιτὸν ἡ Πλάτωνος ἀπεδεξάμεθα, ᾿"Αρεταὶ δὲ καθαίρουσι, τὸν ἀλλότριαν 8., ᾿Αλλ᾽ εἰ μὲν ἦν ἡ ψυχὴ ταἀγαθὸν, τἤρμει ἢ ῥιπτῦσαι καθήρασθθαι, καὶ ἦν ἀγαθὸν ἤδη τῷ μόνῃ ᾿γενόσθαι" νῦν δὲ οὐ γάρ ἕξιν ἀγαθόν' οὐ γάρ ἂν ἐγένετό Β ποτε ἐν κακῷ)" ἀλλ' ἀγαθοειδὴς ἐσι καὶ - μέσῃ τὴν

### English translation (Claude)

for being purified of everything in matter. But these men abstain from intercourse, admiring it for its own sake, making the smallest thing the greatest, and thinking the preparation the end. We pursue the virtues as the elements of the whole of philosophy; for we have accepted from Plato that it is not lawful for the impure to touch the pure. The virtues purify what is alien. If the soul were the good, it would be enough for it to be purified by casting things off, and it would be good as soon as it was alone; but as it is — for it is not the good, or it would never have come to be in evil — it is good-like and in the middle in

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 67b (Plato (works)): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "Not lawful for the impure to touch the pure": Plato, Phaedo 67b.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 277 (Krabinger 1:277; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/277).

## Krabinger p. 278

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-278
- Source: Krabinger 1:278
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Virtue only restores the soul to its middle state; to reach the good it must also ascend through mind toward God.

### Greek text

φύσιν. ἹἙέψασαν. οὖν "εἰς τὸ χεῖρον ἐπανήγαγεν καὶ ἀρετὴς καὶ τῇεαιηλῖδον ἀπέλυσε, καὶ πάλιν μέσην ἐποίησε. “εἶ δὴ καὶ ")υπροελθεῖν ἐπὶ τἀγαθόν᾽ τοῦτο δὲ. ἠδ᾽ διὰ, λόγαυ: οΙοῦς γάρ ἐσι τὸ σύδυγον. ὄμμα") τῶν νοητῶν, Οἷον" εἰν τέλαρ εἴν τὸ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἰδεῖν, ἐκ. ἀπόῥη μή. κεκυφέναι πρὸς τοὔδαφος, ἀλλὰ δεὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐν! (μέσῳ. τάσιν τῇς ὄψεως ἐπὶ τὰ ἄνω νεῦσαι “ὅ). Καὶ δέεα τῶν ἀρετῶν ὄναιτο ἄν τις τὸ ἀπηλλάχθαι ς τῷς ὑλικῆς προιπαθείας. “Ζεἰ δὲ καὶ ἀναγωγῆτ" οὐ γὰρ.θ ἀπόχρῃ μὴ κακὸν εἶναι, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ θεὸν εἶναι ὃ). Ἑαὶ ξοὶκεν εἶναι τὸ μὲν οἷον ἀπεεράφθαι τὸ σῶμα καὶ ὅσα τοῦ σώματος " τὸ δὲ οἷον ἐπεεράφθαι διὰ νοῦ πρὸς, θεόν. ᾿Ημεῖς; οὖν τιμῶντες τὰς ἀρετὰς ἴσμεν

### English translation (Claude)

its nature. When it had turned toward the worse, virtue brought it back, freed it from its stains, and made it middle again. But it must also go forward to the good, and this through mind; for mind is the eye yoked to the intelligibles. It is as if the goal were to look toward heaven: it is not enough not to stoop toward the ground; after holding the gaze level, one must look up to the things above. Through the virtues one may be released from the passions of matter; but there must also be an ascent. For it is not enough not to be evil; one must also be god. The one seems like being turned away from the body and all that belongs to it, the other like being turned through mind toward God. We, then, honouring the virtues, know

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plotinus, Enn. 1.2.6 (Plotinus, Enneads): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "One must also be god": Plotinus, Enneads 1.2.6 (the goal is not to be without sin but to be god).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 278 (Krabinger 1:278; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/278).

## Krabinger p. 279

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-279
- Source: Krabinger 1:279
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The virtues are like the alphabet for reading, a first step; ascetics who rest content with purity are blameless, but some go further foolishly.

### Greek text

ὥνειν᾽. ἔχουσι τάξιν 4“), ἣν αἱ. τῶν ετοιχείων, γραμμαὶ πρὸς ἱπιεήμην βιβλίου" πρῶται γάρ, εἰσιν͵ ἀνιόντῳν ἐπὶ τὸν. νοῦν. ᾿4λλ᾽ οὐ “) τὸ πᾶν ἴχομεν ἔχοντες τὰς ἀρετὰς, ἀλλ᾽ ἀφῃρήκαμεν, τὸ ἐμπόδιον, καὶ ὧν χωρὶ ἢ οὐδὲ ὅσιόν ἐειν ἐλπίσαι τυχεῖν τοῦ τέλους, ταῦτρος τίω; παρεσκευάκαμεν. Ταύτῃ “ δὲ οὐκ ἀπογινώσκομτες, ὐδη μέτιμεν αὐτὸ διὰ νοῦ σὺν τάξει παλαιοῖς τει καὶ μακαρίοις; ἀνδράσιν ἐξευρημένῃ" καὶ δητοῦντες, ἐκ οἷδα εἴ ποτε ἔλοιμεν' σχολῇ γε") ἂν περιτύχοι τῷ εὐτε ἑρασθέντι, μήτ᾽ εἰ δμτητέον εἰδότι, ζαί τοι κά4-! λιεα ἀπαλλάττουσιν αὐτῶν οἱ μένοντες ἐπὶ τούτου, καὶ μηδὲν προιϊπεριεργαδόμενοι" εἶεν γὰρ ἂν οὐ κακαὶ κα- Ἃ θηράμενρι. Οἷς δὲ ἐπῆλθε ἢ) διενέγκαι τοῦ πλήθους κατὰ τύἡντινοῦν

### English translation (Claude)

that they hold the rank that the letters of the alphabet hold toward knowledge of a book; for they are first for those ascending to mind. But we do not have the whole by having the virtues; we have removed the obstacle and prepared the things without which it is not even holy to hope to reach the end. Not despairing of this, then, we pursue it through mind, with an order discovered by ancient and blessed men; and, seeking, I do not know whether we shall ever take it — still less would one find it who neither loved it nor knew that it must be sought. Yet those of them fare best who stay at this point and meddle no further; for they would not be bad, being purified. But those to whom it occurred to stand out from the crowd by some chance,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 279 (Krabinger 1:279; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/279).

## Krabinger p. 280

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-280
- Source: Krabinger 1:280
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Some uneducated ascetics, scorning learning, spin absurd and malicious doctrines; Synesius addresses them directly.

### Greek text

χηνμαθοῦσιν, ὅτι λόγος Ἶ) ἐεὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπου καλὸν, εἶτα παιδείαν μὲν ἄπασαν ἠτιμάπκασιν,, ὑφ᾽ ἡ, ὁ νοῦς ἀναῤῥώννυται" κινοῦνται δὲ παρ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ' ἀτόπους κενήσεις ἦ, καὶ ἀποσεμνύνονξεαι. μὲν. πρὸς φιλόσοφίαν, τι δ᾽. ἄν εἰς αὐτοὺς δ) ἐμπέσῃ παράκυσμα, 'τοῦτο ταῖς “" παρ᾽ αὐτῶν προιθήκαι, πονηρὸν ἀπίδωκαν καὶ κακόγθει, τυφλὰ γεννήματα, νοῦ μὲν ὑκ ἄξιον εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ Ἴ) οὐδὲ διανοίας, δόξῃς δὲ ἀτόπου καὶ φαντασίας ἠμαρτημένης ἐκφίροντε," τούτους ἂν ἴδοις ") γελοίως δια- Β κειμένους, μᾶλλον δὲ λίαν ἐλεεινῶς. "Αξιον γὰρ ἀνθρώπους “ ὄντας ἐπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων συμφοραὶς μὴ γελᾷν, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλοφύρεσθαι. Φιὺ τῶν λόγων" φεῦ τῶν δογμάτων. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπέλθοι ᾽ φιλοσοφεῖν τοῖς κριοῖς, οὐκ οἶδα ἅττ᾽ ἂν ἀντὶ τούτων᾽.}) πρεσβεύσειαν. "Α4λλ' ἡμεῖς αὐτοῖς εἴπωμεν " 1ὅ ἄξιον γάρ' ὦ τολμηρότατοι πάντων, εἰ μὲν ἠπιτάμεθα ὑμᾶς εὐμοιρήσαντας ἐκείνην τῇς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀξίαν, ἣν ᾿Αμοῦ;, ἣν Ζωροάςρῃ:, ἣν 'Ἔρμῃ!, ἣν ᾿Αντώνιος, οὐκ

### English translation (Claude)

having learned that reason is the good of man, then dishonoured all education, by which the mind is strengthened. They are moved by themselves in absurd motions and give themselves airs about philosophy; whatever scrap of hearsay falls into their ears they turn, by their own additions, into something wicked and malicious — blind offspring, not worth calling products of mind, nor even of thought, which they bring forth from absurd opinion and erring imagination. You would see these men in a ridiculous state, or rather a very pitiable one; for being human we ought not to laugh at human misfortunes but to lament them. Alas for the arguments! Alas for the doctrines! If it occurred to rams to philosophize, I do not know what they would champion instead of these. But let us speak to them, for it is worth it: "O most daring of all men, if we knew that you had been granted the worth of soul that Amous had, and Zoroaster, and Hermes, and Antony, we would not

### Translation notes

- Antony is the Egyptian monk (d. 356), named with legendary sages as a self-taught exception. The polemic against unlearned monks is translated as written.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 280 (Krabinger 1:280; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/280).

## Krabinger p. 281

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-281
- Source: Krabinger 1:281
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius tells the unlearned ascetics that, lacking the genius of an Antony, they should either keep to the traditional teachings or be educated.

### Greek text

ἂν ἠξιοῦμεν φρενοῦν, οὐδὲ. διὰ μαθήσεω; ἄγειν, νόῦ μέγεθος ἔχοντας, ᾧ προτάσεις εἰσὶ καὶ τὰ συμπεράσματα' ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐντυχεῖν ποτὲ ᾽) τῷ τοιούτῳ γένοιτο; σεβοίμεθά τὲ ἂν αὐτὸν καὶ ἀξοίμεσα: ὑμᾶς δὲ ὁρῶὅμεν τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως ὄντας ἥττονας, καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον “ὁ ἀγχίνους ἢ παχεῖ. ὋὝΜμας ἐν ἀξιοῦμεν καὶ -νουθετεῖν, ἐν κοινῷ τιθέντες ὅ τι ἀν ἄριτον ὑμῖν " ἐξευρίσκωμεν. Ἢ τοίνυν ἐπὶ ἐῶν πρώτων ὑποθέσεων μένετε" παρέδοσαν γὰρ αὐτὰς ἄνδρες ἀγχίσποροι τοῦ θεοῦ: 10καὶ οὕτως ἂν εἴητε κατὰ Πλάτωνα μέσως ἔχονεε;"!Β

### English translation (Claude)

think fit to bring you to your senses, nor to lead you by learning, since you would have a greatness of mind for which the premises are also the conclusions; and if we ever met such a man, we would revere and honour him. But we see that you are inferior to the common nature, and no more quick-witted than dull. So we think it right to admonish you, setting before you in common whatever we find best for you. Either stay with the first principles — for they were handed down by men near akin to God — and so you would be, as Plato says, in a middle state:

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 281 (Krabinger 1:281; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/281).

## Krabinger p. 282

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-282
- Source: Krabinger 1:282
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Holding right opinion without reasons is a respectable middle state; those who seek the reasons need training, or they will fall into folly.

### Greek text

γοὐκέτι τμὲν ἀμαθεῖς,. οὔπω :δέ γε σοφοὶ, δόξαν ὀρθὴν πρεσβεύοντες, δίχα λόγου καὶ ἀποδείξεω.. Τὸ τε γὰρ ἀληθὲρ οὐχ ὅσιον᾽ ἀμαθὲς οἴεσθαι, καὶ τὸ ἄλογον εἶναι σοφὸν οὐδεὶς ἐπιτρέψει λόγο... Ταύτην ἀγαὅ πῶντερ" τὴν τάξιν, μετρίως ἄν. εἴγτε πεπραγότες, καὶ ἀναίτιοι μὲν. παρὰ θεῶν, ἀναίτιοι δὲ καὶ παρὰ. ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐπαίνου δικαίυ τυγχάνοιτε" δήμυ γὰρ ἀνδρὶ καὶ τὸ ὅτι αὐταρκε:. Εἰ δὲ μὴ κατὰ χώραν ΠΝ νοιτε, ἀλλ᾽ ἔτι ὁὀρίξεσθε τοῦ πρόσω, καὶ τὸ διότι Ἁ΄ ὅ3 1ὐ πολυπραγμονήσετε, καλῶς μὲν ἂν ποιοίητε σοφίας ἐρῶντεῦ, ἱεροῦ χρήματος, ἀλλὰ μὴ ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ποιεῖσθε τὴν θήραν" ἀγύμνατοι γάρ ἔτε, καὶ κίνδυνος εἰς ἄβυσ

### English translation (Claude)

no longer ignorant, not yet wise, holding right opinion without reason and demonstration. For it is not holy to think the truth ignorant, and no reason will allow the irrational to be wise. If you are content with this rank, you will have done moderately well, blameless before gods and blameless before men; you might even win just praise, for to a man of the people the "that" is enough. But if you do not stay in your place, but still reach out for what lies beyond and busy yourselves with the "why," you would do well to love wisdom, a sacred thing; only do not make the hunt on your own. For you are untrained, and there is danger that you fall into a bottomless pit

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Symp. 202a (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- The middle state of right opinion: Plato, Symposium 202a, 204a–b.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 282 (Krabinger 1:282; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/282).

## Krabinger p. 283

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-283
- Source: Krabinger 1:283
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Even Socrates nearly went astray; theologians cannot spring up overnight; truth demands a long course of education.

### Greek text

σόν. τινα. φλυαρίᾳι. ἐμπεσοῦσι διαφθαρῆναι,» ὃ, καὶ Σωκράτην ἰφηβύθῃ παθεῖν, καὶ τὸ πάθοι! οὐκ ἀπεκρύψατο φίλρυς ἄνδρας,. Παρμενίδην καὶ Ζήνωνα. Ἀκαίτον Σωκράτης ἐκεῖνος ἦν" ὑμεῖι δὲ, οἵπερ ἐεέ " δειν. δὲ ὅμως ἡ τόλμα, δόγμασιν ἀποῤῥήτοις ἀξιούντων -ἐνάλο Β λεσθαι, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν λέξεσι τριοδίτισιν..Ο μὲν οὖν Ἡάδμου σπόρος αὐθημερὸν ὁπλίτας, φησὶν, ἀνεδίδον. σπαρτούς᾽" σπαρτοὺς δὲ θεολόγους οὐδείς πω "μὖθος ἔτερατεύσατο. Οὐ γάρ ἔτιν ἡ ἀλήθεια πράγμα ἐκκείμε: 10νον, οὐδὲ καταβεβλημένον, οὐδὲ θήρᾳ ληπτίον, ΤΙ τ οὖνς ᾿Ενταῦθα καλείσθω φιλοσοφία σύμμαχος, καὶ παρασκευαδέσθωσαν 3.) ἀνεξόμενοι πάσῃς ἐκείνης. τῆς διεξόδου, μῆκοι ἐχούσης μυρίον,' παιδευόμενοι καὶ προπαιδευόμενοι. “]εἶ γάρ τοι πρῶτον ἀποδῦναι τὴν ἀγροικίαν, καὶ τὰ μικρὰ ἐποπτεῦσαι πρὸ τῶν μειδό- ἡἣ

### English translation (Claude)

of nonsense and are ruined — which Socrates nearly suffered as a youth, and he did not hide the experience from friendly men, Parmenides and Zeno. Yet that was Socrates; and you are what you are. Terrible is the daring of those who think fit to deal with ineffable doctrines, and that in street-corner language. The sowing of Cadmus, they say, produced sown hoplites on the same day; but no myth has ever invented sown theologians. For truth is not a thing lying in the open or thrown on the ground, nor to be taken by a quick hunt. What then? Here let philosophy be called in as an ally, and let them prepare to endure that whole course, of immense length, being educated and first given preparatory education. For one must first strip off boorishness and look upon the small things before the greater,

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Parm. 135c-d (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Socrates' youthful perplexity before Parmenides and Zeno: Plato, Parmenides 130a–135d.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 283 (Krabinger 1:283; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/283).

## Krabinger p. 284

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-284
- Source: Krabinger 1:284
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Initiation into wisdom comes by stages; late learning is no shame, but the unlearned ascetics add to ignorance the pretence of knowledge.

### Greek text

νων, καὶ 'χορεῦσαι πρὶν δᾳδουχῆσαι, καὶ δᾳδουχῆσαε πρὶν ᾿"ἱεροφαντῆσαι. Οὔκουν ἐθελήσετε' πόνων ἐπὲ πόνοιλᾳ ἀνέχεσθαι; ᾿Αλλ' οὐδὲ τὰ μεγάλα ἀκονιτὶ παρα“ γίνεται... Καίτοιγε. εἰ σὺν ὥρᾳ τοῦ πράγματος ἥψασθε, "καὶ ἡδονῆς ' ἄν τι τῷ ἔργῳ -προφῆν," ἦε οὗ ἡ προελθόντες ἀντιλαμβάνονται. ᾿μεῖς δὲ ὀψιμαθίαν αἰσχύνεσθε. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὗτοι τοῦτο αἰσχρόν" ἡ δὲ ἀμαθία (καὶ, τοῦτο μεῖδον, τοῦτο αἰσχρὸν), ἐν καὶ κείμενοι, Ὁ τῆς. μὲν ἁπλῆς οὐκ ἀνέχεσθε" πάλιν γὰρ ἂν εἴητε μετρίως. διακείμενοι, οὔτε εἰδότες, οὔτε εἰδέναι προιποιὀύμενοι, τοῦτ᾽ ἔειν ἐξ ἡμισείας εἰδότερ᾽ αὐτὸ γὰρ ἂν τοῦτο ἠπίξασθε, τὸ μηδενὸς ὑμῖν ἐπιρήμῃν παρεῖναι. 'Τὴν δὲ διπλὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτούς. μεγαλο

### English translation (Claude)

dance in the chorus before carrying the torch, and carry the torch before being hierophant. Will you not, then, be willing to bear toil upon toil? Great things do not come without dust. And yet if you had taken up the thing at the right age, some pleasure would have been added to the work, which those who go forward lay hold of. But you are ashamed of learning late. That is not shameful; ignorance is — and this is the greater thing, this is shameful — to remain in it. Simple ignorance you will not bear — for then you would again be in a moderate state, neither knowing nor pretending to know, that is, knowing by half, for you would know this very thing, that no knowledge is present to you. But double ignorance you drag upon yourselves in grand style;

### Translation notes

- Double ignorance (not knowing that one does not know): Plato, Laws 9.863c; Sophist 229c.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 284 (Krabinger 1:284; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/284).

## Krabinger p. 285

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-285
- Source: Krabinger 1:285
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Teaching before learning, the unlearned produce monstrous doctrines that tear the divine apart; like Icarus they lose both earth and sky.

### Greek text

σερεπῶ; ἕλκετε" φρονήματος: γὰρ ἀντὶ φρονήφεω; ὑποσελησθέντε;, καὶ πρὶν μαθεῖν διδάσκειν ἐπιβαλλόμε- -ψνοι, πάλιν ἐρῶ, φεῦ τῶν λόγων, φεῦ τῶν͵ δογμάτων, οἷα καὶ τίκτεται 4“) παρ᾽ ὑμῶν τέρατα ἀτεχνῶς, διέσπασμίνα καὶ πολυκέφαλα, οἷά φασιν ἐπαναεῆνρί ποτε τοῖς; θεοῖ. αὶ ταῦτα τί ἂν εἴποι τις, ἦ, σπαράττειν ἡ τὸ θεῖον. ἅπαν “) ταῖς ἀτόποις. ὑπονοίαις “περὶ αὐτοῦς Οὐκ ἄν, εἴ γε τὸν ἰδιώτην καλῶς ἐτηρήσατε, ἐνλ᾽ ἦν ἐκεῖ τὸ κατορθοὺν ἐν τῷ μετρίῳ. Ὃ Ἴκαρον ἐπειδὴ τοῖν ποδοῖν ἀπηξίου κεχρῆσθαι, ταχὺ. μάλα καὶ. ἀέρος καὶ γῇ: ἀπετύγχανεν,. ὧν τῇ μὲν ὑπερεῖδε, Ν τοῦ δὲ οὐκ ἐφίκετο.

### English translation (Claude)

for, puffed up with pride instead of wisdom, and setting out to teach before you have learned — again I say, alas for the arguments, alas for the doctrines! — such monsters are born from you, torn apart and many-headed, like those they say once rose against the gods. And what would one call this but tearing apart the whole divine by absurd conjectures about it? It would not be so if you had kept well to the layman's part, since there success lay in moderation. Icarus, because he disdained to use his feet, very quickly lost both air and earth: the one he despised, the other he did not reach.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 285 (Krabinger 1:285; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/285).

## Krabinger p. 286

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-286
- Source: Krabinger 1:286
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius's rebuke applies equally to boastful Greeks; he honours the poets, orators and historians who nurture the young toward the Muses.

### Greek text

Ταῦτα οὐ πρὸς τοὺς ἐκ ἢ) τῇς ἑτέρας ἀγωγῇς μᾶλλον, ἢ, καὶ πρὸ! τοὺς παρ᾽ ἡμῖν σὺν ᾿ἀλογίᾳ Ἶ μεγὰλοφώνου;, οἵ καὶ παρέσχον ἀφορμὴν τῷ λόγῳ, βοηθῆσαι τοῖς; προπαιδεύμασιν" ὧν τὶ ἂν τις Ὁ καὶ δοίη ἄἀν-Ὲ δ θρῶπων. ἁἀλαδόνων καὶ ἀνοήτων; Πολλοῦ μέντ᾽ ἂν εἶεν τρεῖς ᾿τοὐβολοῦ. Ἔγω δὲ χάριν οἶδα καὶ ποιῃταῖς δεξιόῖε, καὶ ῥήτορσιν ἀγαθοῖ;, καὶ δετι! ἱσορίαν τινὰ "κατεβάλετο λόγυ ἀξίως" καὶ ἀπαξαπλῶς οὐδένα τῶν 'συνειςἐνεγκόντων εἰς κοινὸν ᾿τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ὅ τις καὶ ἐἶχεν ἀγαθὸν, ἀγέρατον εἶναι βοὐλόμαι, ὅτι παῖδάς τε παραλαβόντες ἡμᾶςς ἐτιθηνήσαντο, καὶ ἀσθενεῖς ὄντος ἔτι ἢ τὴν γνώμην, ἐνοσοκόμῃσαν, τοῖς ὠφελίμοις ἐγειαταμιιγνύντεν: ἡδύσματα ἄκρατα γὰρ οὐδε ἂν ταῦἕα παρεέδίξατὸ διά “τε συφότητα καὶ τὴν τότε τῶν Ο αἰσθύσεῳν, ἁπαλότητα κἄθ᾽ οὕτω ῥώσανεις,: καὶ παραπέμψαντε,. ἄλλος δι᾽ ἄλλου, ταῖν; ἡπθμαις παρέδο- "τς δὲ. παρεσκεύασαν οἵους εἶναι τῶν ἄκρων ἐπο-

### English translation (Claude)

These words are addressed no more to those of the other way of life than to those among us who are loud-voiced without reason, who gave the argument occasion to come to the aid of the preparatory studies. What would one give for such boastful and foolish men? Three of them would be worth a great deal for an obol. But I am grateful to clever poets and good orators, and to anyone who has composed a history worth the name; and in short I wish no one who contributed something good to the common stock of the Greeks to go without honour. For they took us as children and nursed us, and while we were still weak in mind they tended us, mixing sweets with what was useful — for unmixed we would not have accepted even that, because of the tenderness of our senses at that time. And so, having strengthened us and passed us on, one to another, they handed us over to the Muses; and the Muses made us able

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 286 (Krabinger 1:286; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/286).

## Krabinger p. 287

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-287
- Source: Krabinger 1:287
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Muses refresh the weary philosopher and send him back to the contest; even one who loves only their outward beauty does no harm.

### Greek text

ρέξασθαι ")" ἐκεῖ τε γενομένων. ὅταν αἴσθωνται τὸν ψυχὰς ῥαινομένας ἱδρῶτι καὶ τὴν φύσιν ἡμῶν ἀπαγορεύουσαν,᾽ αὖθις ἀνεκαλέσαντο ν}) πραέω;, καὶ ἡ Καλλιόπῃ παραλαβοῦσα' ἥκοντας αὐχμοῦ πλέως, ἀνέκαυσέ ὅτε εἰς. ἀνθεινοὺς ἀγαγοῦσα "λειμῶνας, ὦ; μὴ διακναισθῆ-. νῶι τῷ 'πόνῳ, καὶ πανδαισίαν. παρέθηκεν ᾿Αττικῶν καταγλωττισμάτων καὶ καρυκεία; “ποιητικῆς, ὑφ᾽ ὧν. τὴν Ὦ μὲν πρώτην διέχειν, ἔπειτα ἐμυώπισε λαθοῦσα, καὶ κατὰ μικρόν πως. ἐπέερρεψέ' τελευτῶσα δὲ, ἐπὶ τὸν αὖ- 109ις ἀγῶνα ἐγύμνασε. αὶ δέτις δὲ οὐ προτέλειον ἡγεῖται τὰς ΜΙούσας, ἀλλὰ τὸ 'κράτος αὐτῷ ": τῇς σοφίας ἐν ταύταις εἶναι, καὶ οὐδ᾽, εἴ τι περιττόν αἰνίττονταί 'ποτε καὶ παραδηλοῦσι, συνιέναι βούλεται, τὸ δὲ ἐκκείμενον αὐτῶν κάλλος; ἠγάσθηῃ, καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ κέχηνε, καὶ ὑπὸ Ἰθ τούτου κατέχεται" οὐδὲ οὗτος μέντοι δεινὸν οὐδὲν εἶρ-

### English translation (Claude)

to reach for the summits. And when we are there, whenever they perceive our souls sprinkled with sweat and our nature failing, they gently call us back; and Calliope, receiving us parched, refreshed us by leading us into flowery meadows, so that we might not be worn away by toil, and set before us a full feast of Attic delicacies and poetic seasonings. With these she first held us, then spurred us on before we noticed, and gradually turned us, and at last trained us for the contest again. But whoever does not regard the Muses as a preliminary rite, but thinks that the power of wisdom lies for him in them, and does not even wish to understand what extraordinary thing they may sometimes hint at, but admires their outward beauty, gapes at it and is held by it — not even he has done anything terrible,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 287 (Krabinger 1:287; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/287).

## Krabinger p. 288

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-288
- Source: Krabinger 1:288
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The cultured man is a swan, the philosopher an eagle; God lets a man be both, joining eloquence and philosophy.

### Greek text

γαται δὴ), ἀλλὰ «καὶ κολλὰ ἀγαθά γε αὐτῷ γένοιτο, μουσικῷ. τε 'ἀνδρὶ' καὶ υχαρίεντι. αὶ γὰρ εἰ μὴ τεθήπαμῖν τοὺς κύκνους, ὥιπερ τοὺς ἀετοὺς αἰρομένους ὑψοῦ, "καὶ. ὑπὶρ πᾶν τὸ ὁρώμενον, ἀλλὰ γαννύμεθα γε - καὶ ὁρῶντες αὐτοῦς,. καὶ ἀκούοντες τῆς ᾧδηῆφ᾽ καὶ ἐμοῦ γε ἕνεκα μηδείς ποτε κύκνων τὸ ἔσχατον ἄσειεν. Εἰ "δὲ" βασίλειοί τέ εἰσιν. ἐκεῖνοι, καὶ διαιτῶνται παρὰ τὰ. [τοῦ] “ιὸς σκῆπτρα, καὶ τούτους εἴληχέ τις θεῶν ἐκ «Ιιὸς γεγονὼς, καὶ ἐκ ἀπαξιοῦνται. τοῦ τρίποδοι.. 10᾿᾽»Μετὸν δὲ ἅμα 3}) καὶ κύκνον γεένέσθαι, καὶ τὰ ἀμφοῖνΒ ἔχειν πλεονεκτήματα, ὄρνισι μὲν ἡ φύσις. οὐ ξυνεχώρησεν᾽ ἀνθρώπῳ δὲ ἔδωκεν ὁ θεὸς, ὅτῳ καὶ ἔδωκε γλώττης ιτε ἐὖ. ἥκειν, καὶ φιλοσοφίας. ἐπήβολον εἶναι. ᾿Ηγώνιταί γε Ἶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀμούσου; ὑπὲρ Μουσῶν, 1ὅ οἱ [καὶ] Ὁ ἐαροῦθῳι ἀποδιδράσκουσι τὸν ἔλεγχον τῇς

### English translation (Claude)

but many good things may come to him, as a musical and graceful man. For if we do not marvel at swans as we do at eagles soaring high above all that is seen, still we delight in seeing them and hearing their song; and for my part may no one ever sing the swans' last song. If they are royal birds and live beside the sceptre of Zeus, one of the gods born of Zeus has them as his portion, and they are not thought unworthy of the tripod. To become eagle and swan at once and have the advantages of both, nature did not grant to birds; but God gave it to the man to whom he gave both excellence in speech and a share in philosophy. I have contended for the Muses against the unmusical, who also run away from the test of

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 85a-b (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Swans belong to Apollo (Plato, Phaedo 84e–85b).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 288 (Krabinger 1:288; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/288).

## Krabinger p. 289

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-289
- Source: Krabinger 1:289
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius calls his essay a game written in freedom for his son, not a timed speech for a court.

### Greek text

ἀμαθία; τῷ καταφεύγειν ἐπὶ τὴν λοιδορίαν ὧν ἡγνοήπκασιν. Εἰ δή τι ὅ καὶ σπουδαιότερον εἴρηται παρὰ τὴν πρώτην ὑπόσχεσιν, τὶ μὲν ἄν γένοιτο καὶ σπυδαῖον παιδόντων. Οὐ μὴν ἔξι τι ποιεῖν δ) μὴ ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς ἕξεω," ἀλλ᾽, εἰ τῷ πλέονι δ) παίδομεν, οὐ τοῦ παντὸς αὶ ἁμαρτάνομεν; Παιδιὰ γὰρ παρεμβαλλόμεθα 7, ἐνδοθείσῃ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ δεῖν εὐρέσθαι τινὰ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ μαρτυρίαν τὸν “Ζίωνα, ἵνα μοι γένοιτο καὶ τῆς φιλίας αὐτοῦ κληρόνομος ὁ παῖς ὁ “οιρίδιος" δραμούσῃ δὲ ἐπὶ πολλὰ, καὶ δρόμους παντοίυρ" ἀόριτοι γὰρ αἱ τῶν παιδόντων ὁρμαί. Τοιοῦτόν ἐξιν ἀγρὸς καὶ ἐλευθερία, καὶ τὸ μὴ πρὸς ὕδωρ εἰρησομένους γράφειν τοὺς λόγου. 'Ὡ, εἶδον ἐγὼ 1} δικατὴν ἐφέτην μετροῦντα τὸν χρόνον τοῖς ἀγορεύουσιν" αὐτὸς μέντοι τοῦ προςμεμετρημένου τὸ μέν τι κατεδάρθανε, τὸ δὲ μάτην

### English translation (Claude)

their ignorance by taking refuge in abuse of what they do not know. If something more serious has been said than the first promise, what serious thing could come from people at play? Yet one cannot do anything except from one's whole disposition; but if for the most part we are playing, do we wholly miss the mark? For we have inserted a game, prompted by the need for Dio to find some testimony from me, so that my son, the fated one, might inherit his friendship too; and it ran on to many things and all sorts of courses, for the impulses of those at play are boundless. Such are the country and freedom, and not writing speeches to be spoken against the water-clock. I once saw a judge of appeal measuring out the time for the speakers; he himself slept through part of the allotted time and was idly

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Theaet. 172e (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Speeches timed by the water-clock: Plato, Theaetetus 172e.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 289 (Krabinger 1:289; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/289).

## Krabinger p. 290

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-290
- Source: Krabinger 1:290
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius, free of courts and audiences, pities the sophist who must please a crowd and becomes a public slave.

### Greek text

ἐγρηγόρει, καὶ ἀπῆν ὧς, ποῤῥωτάτω τοῦ πράγματος" ἀλλ᾽ ὑδὲν ἧττον ὁ ῥήτωρ ἡγόρευεν, ὡς ὑπ᾽ ἀνάγκης σιωπῃσόμενος αὐτίκα ἐμὲ δὲ ἀφίησι καὶ οὐ ςενοχωρεῖ προθεσμία τῷ μήτε πρὸς οὕτως ἄτοπον παπρασκευάδεσθαι δικαεὴν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ μέλλειν εἰς δεκαεήριον ἀγνωμονέξερον εἰριέναι τὸ θέατρον, θυροκο-᾿ πήσαντα καὶ ἐπαγγείλαντα τοῖς ἐν ἄξει μειρακίοις ἀκρόαμα ἐπιδέξιον" ὡς σχέτλιά γε τῶν δεικνύντων Ἂ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις τοὺς λόγου. Ὃν ") γὰρ δεῖ τοσού- Ἃ Ὡθ τοις ἀρέσκειν ἀνομοίως διακειμένοις, πῶς ἐκ ἀνεφίκτων ἐρᾷ; Οὗτος οὖν ἐεὶν ὁ δημόλογο; ἀτεχνῶς, ὁ δοῦλος ὁ δημόσιος, ὁ πᾶσιν ἐκκείμενος, ὃν ἔξεςι τῷ βουλομένῳ διαθεῖναι κακῶ. ΒΚαὰν γελάσῃ τις, ὁ σοφι-

### English translation (Claude)

awake for the rest, and was as far as possible from the business; yet the rhetor spoke on no less, as though about to be silenced by necessity at any moment. But no deadline releases or hems me in, since I neither prepare for so absurd a judge, nor am about to enter a theatre more unfeeling than ten judges, after knocking on doors and announcing to the youths of the city a clever recital. How wretched is the lot of those who display their speeches in theatres! For one who must please so many people of different dispositions — how is he not in love with the unattainable? This, then, is plainly the public talker, the public slave, exposed to all, whom anyone who wishes may treat badly. And if someone laughs, the sophist

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 290 (Krabinger 1:290; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/290).

## Krabinger p. 291

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-291
- Source: Krabinger 1:291
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The sophist lives in fear of his audience's every look, after nights of toil and anxious preparation for a single performance.

### Greek text

τ τίθνηκε, καὶ τὸν σκυθρωπὸν ὑποπτεύει" σοφιεὴς γάρ ἔσι, κἂν ὁτιοῦν γένος λόγων προεήσηται, δόξαν ἀντ᾽ ἀληθείας ἐρανιδόμενοι. “Δυπεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ σεανὺ προιέχων τὸν νοῦν, ὦ; λαβὴν ") θηρώμενο;" ἀλλ' 5» οὐδὲν ἧττον ὁ περιδινῶν ἁπανταχόσε τὴν κεφαλὴν, ὡ; οὐκ ἀξιῶν ἀκοῇς τὰ δεικνύμενα, Μαίτοιγε Β οὐκ ἐν δίκῃ πικρῶν τυγχάνει τῶν δεσποτῶν, δετι; πολλὰς μὲν νύκτας ἀύὔπνους ἀνέτλῃ, πολλὰς δὲ ἡμέρας παρετάθη, καὶ μικροῦ δεῖν ἀπεράλαξε τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπό 10τε λιμοῦ καὶ φροντίδων, 'ἵν᾽ ἀγαθόν τι συλλέξηται" καὶ ὕκει φίρων ἄκουσμα χάριέν τε καὶ ἡδὺ τοῖς ἀγερώχοι; αὐτοῦ παιδικοῖρ, δι᾿ οὗς ἔχει μὲν πονήρως, σκήπτεται δὲ ὑγιαίνειν. “Ο δὲ καὶ ἐλούσατο πρὸ τῆς κυρίας, καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἀπόντοσεν, ἐσθῆτι καὶ σχύματι σοβαρὸς, ἵνα καὶ θέαμα καλὸν ἦ, καὶ προιςγελᾷ τῷ θεάτρῳ, καὶ χαίρει" δῆθεν" ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ κατα-᾿ τείνεται, ἐπεὶ καὶ τραγακάνθη; ἐδήδοκεν, ἵνα τορόν

### English translation (Claude)

is dead, and he suspects the sullen listener; for he is a sophist, whatever kind of speech he professes, collecting opinion instead of truth. The one who attends very closely also distresses him, as though hunting for a hold; and no less the one who turns his head in every direction, as though he thought the show not worth hearing. And yet it is unjust that he meets with such bitter masters — he who endured many sleepless nights and strained through many days, and all but broke his soul with hunger and cares, to collect something good; and he comes bringing a charming and sweet recital for his haughty darlings, on whose account he is in poor health but pretends to be well. He has bathed before the appointed day and come to it, haughty in dress and bearing, so as to be a fine sight; he smiles at the theatre and pretends to be glad; but his soul is on the rack, for he has even eaten tragacanth so that he may

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 291 (Krabinger 1:291; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/291).

## Krabinger p. 292

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-292
- Source: Krabinger 1:292
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The sophist's care for his voice wins him only mockery; Synesius sings for himself, to the trees and the stream.

### Greek text

τε καὶ εὐηχὲς φθέγξῃηται. 'Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν οὐδ᾽ ἂν ὁ σεμνότατο; αὐτῶν προποιήσαιτο, μὴ οὐ πάνυ μέλειν αὐτῷ καὶ πεπραγματεῦσθαι τὰ περὶ τὴν φωνὴν, ὅς γε) καὶ μεταξὺ τῇς ἐπιδείξεως; ἐσράφῃη, καὶ τὸ ληπύθιον ἤτησε, καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀκόλουθος ὥρεξεν" ἐκ πολλοῦ γὰρ καὶ παρεσκεύασεν" ὁ δὲ ἀποῤῥοφεὶ τε καὶ ἀνακογχυλίξει, τοῦ νεαρῶς ἐπιτίθεσθαι τοῖς μέλεσι" Ὦ τυγχάνει δὲ οὐδ᾽ ὦ; ἀκροατῶν ἵλεων ὁ δύεηνο; ἄνθρωπο;, ἀλλὰ βούλοιντο μὲν ἄν αὐτὸν ἐξᾷσαι' γελῷεν ὶ γάρ ἄν" βούλοιντο δ᾽ ἂν καὶ διάραντα μόνον, ὥςπερ ἀνδριάντα, τὸ τόμα καὶ τὴν χεῖρα, ἔπειτα ἀφωνότερον ἀνδριάντος; γενέσθαι' ἀπαλλαγεῖεν γὰρ ἂν πάλαι δεόἱενοι. ᾿Εγὼ δὲ ἐπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ γὰρ ἄδω, καὶ ταῖξδε ταῖς κυπαρίττοι; προιάδω ἢ), ὕδωρ δὲ τουτὶ θεὶ ἦ) διάττον 32,

### English translation (Claude)

speak in a clear and resonant voice. Not even the most solemn of them would pretend that he does not care a great deal about his voice and work hard at it — one even turned round in the middle of his display and asked for the oil-flask; the attendant held it out, for he had long had it ready; and he sips and gargles, so as to attack his cadences fresh. Yet even so the wretched man does not find his hearers gracious: they would like him to sing out — for they would laugh — or they would like him to open his mouth and raise his hand, like a statue, and then become more voiceless than a statue; for they would have been released long ago, as they pray. But I sing by myself; I sing to these cypresses here, and to this water that runs by,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 292 (Krabinger 1:292; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/292).

## Krabinger p. 293

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-293
- Source: Krabinger 1:293
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Free of clocks, pupils and fixed lectures, Synesius speaks as long as he likes; teaching would have cost him his freedom and his judgment.

### Greek text

δρόλιον οὐ μεμετρημένον, οὐδὲ πρὸς κλεψύδραν ταμιευόμενον, ὅ τις ἂν καὶ ὑπηρέτης μειαγωγήσῃ δημόσιο!. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὦ) ἐγὼ μὲν εἰ μήπω παύομαι, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτίκα ἃ πεπαύσομιαι᾽ εἰ δὲ μὴ, καὶ μετὰ πλεῖστον" οὐ μὲν δὴ καὶ εἰς νύκτα γε ᾷσομαι. Τὸ δὲ καὶ πεπαυμένου ῥεῖ, καὶ ῥυύσεται καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν, καὶ εἰς νέωτα, καὶ ἀεί, Τί οὖν μὲ δεὶ προθεσμία δουλεύειν, ἐξὸν ἐμφορεῖσθαι τῇς αὐτονομίας, καὶ περιάγειν τοὺς λόγους, ἡ ἴοι δοκοῦσιν ἀκτέοι, οὐ κρινομένῳ πρὸς ὀλιγωἰθρίαν ἀκροατῶν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν ἔχοντι μέτρον; ᾿Εμοὶ γὰρ δὴ ὃ) ταύτην ἔδωκε τὴν μοῖραν ὁ θεὸς, ἀδέσποτον εἶναι καὶ ἄφετον, ὃ, οὐδὲ τρεῖς, οὐδὲ δύο περιεποιῃσάμῃην ἐμαυτοῦ μαθητα; εἶναι, δι᾽ οὖς ἂν ἐδέησεν εἰς ἀποδεδειγμένον χωρίον φοιτᾷν, καὶ περὶ συγκειμέ- αὶ Ιδνων ᾽}) πρὸς αὐτοὺς διαλέγεσθαι" ἠπιτάμην γὰρ πολὺ ") τῇν ἐλευθερίας ὑποτιμούμενος, εἰ πρῶτον μὲν ἀνάγκην ἕξω βιβλίον ἐξονυχίδειν, ὑφ᾽ οὐ γίνεται τὸ κατὰ μνήμην ἐνεργεῖν, τὴν δὲ ἐπιβολὴν ἀγύμναξον εἶναι καὶ ἄγονον, ἣν δεὶ κριτὴν εἶναι βιβλίων, ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τοῦτο ὁ φιλόσοφος μᾶλλον" ἐκεῖνο δὲ ἀποδεδόσθω γραμματικοῖς. Εἶεν δ᾽ ἂν καὶ φιλοσόφων βιβλίων γραμ

### English translation (Claude)

a little stream not measured out or rationed by a water-clock that some public slave would manage. If I have not stopped yet, I shall stop presently — or if not, after a very long time; I will not sing into the night. But the water flows even when I have stopped, and will flow night and day, into next year and for ever. Why, then, must I be a slave to a time limit, when I can take my fill of self-rule and lead my speeches wherever they seem to need to go, not judged by the impatience of hearers but taking myself as measure? For God gave me this lot, to be masterless and free, since I have not acquired even three, or even two, pupils of my own, for whose sake I should have to go to an appointed place and discourse on agreed subjects. For I knew I should be selling my freedom very cheap if, first, I had to scrape away at a book with my fingernails, which makes one work from memory while one's own aim — which must judge books, since in this one is more a philosopher — stays untrained and barren; the other may be left to grammarians. There might also be

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 293 (Krabinger 1:293; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/293).

## Krabinger p. 294

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-294
- Source: Krabinger 1:294
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Teachers who must lecture daily produce only barren or premature work and lose the ability to think a problem through.

### Greek text

ματικοί τινες ἀποδεδειγμένοι, τὰς συλλαβὰς εὖ μάλα συγκρίνοντές τε καὶ διακρίνοντες, οἰκεῖον δὲ οὐδὲν Ο οὐδέποτε μαιευσόμενοι" ὅ τι δὲ καὶ τέκοιεν, ὑπὸ θράσου; τυφλὸν καὶ ἀνεμιαῖον᾽ οὐ γὰρ ἐκθάλπει τὸν δεΐσω λόγον ᾽, ὅτῳ καθ᾽ ἡμέραν ἱμεῖν ἀνάγκῃ" τό τε σπουδῇ σχεδιάδειν, ἐν μὴ δέοντι τῇ σπουδῇ χρώμενον, ἐξίτηλον αὐτὴν ἀποφαίνει. Φύονται μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ λόγοις ὠδῖνες ψυχῶν, ὠϊπερ ἐπὶ τόκοις σωμάτων" ὅιτις δὲ ἀώροι; αὐταῖς συνεθίδεται, καὶ τα λοιπὰ πέπονθε παραπλήσια τοῖς; ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων συμβαίνουσιν᾽ ὀλισθοῦσα δὲ ἕξις εἰς τὸ ἀμβλίσκειν οὐδὲν ἂν ὠδινήσειεν ἀρτιμελὲς καὶ βιώσιμον. ᾿Εντεῦθεν Ὁ ὁ πρόχειρος; εἰς δῆμον εἰπεῖν ἀδύνατος ἐπιεῦσαι, καὶ σκέμμα παραλαβὼν, ὥςπερ ἀνδριάντα ξέσα;, ἐς τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἀπεργάδεσθθαι.

### English translation (Claude)

appointed grammarians of philosophic books, who compare and distinguish syllables very well but never bring anything of their own to birth; and whatever they do produce, out of boldness, is blind and a wind-egg. For a man who must disgorge every day does not warm the reason within; and improvising in earnest, spending earnestness where it is not needed, makes it fade. Birth-pangs arise in souls for speeches as in bodies for births; and whoever accustoms them to untimely deliveries suffers the rest like what happens to bodies: a habit that has slipped into miscarriage would bring forth nothing whole-limbed and viable. Hence the man always ready to speak to the people is unable to concentrate, and to take up a problem and work it out exactly, as one polishes a statue.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 294 (Krabinger 1:294; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/294).

## Krabinger p. 295

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-295
- Source: Krabinger 1:295
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A teacher answers to pupils and parents alike, a worse theatre than the sophist's; Synesius prefers free company and listening to better men.

### Greek text

“Ἅμα δὲ οὐδὲ μακάριον ᾧμην εὐθύνας ὑπέχειν ἢ) καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν τῶν ἀκροατῶν, ὑπὲρ μὲν αὐτῶν τοῖς προτήκουσιν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῶν ὁσημὲραι λόγων αὐτοὶς : βούλοιτο γὰρ ἂν ὁ διδάσκαλος δ ἀνὴρ εὐδοκιμεῖν ἐν τοῖς μαθηταῖς, καὶ θορυβεῖν ἐπὶ τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ τὰ παιδάρια. Οὐκοῦν ἄλλο τοῦτο θέατρον ὅϊ παρὰ πολὺ δυιτυχέξερον ὃ). Ιγυνὶ δὲ ὁπόσοις τε βούλομαι, καὶ ὁπόσα καὶ περὶ ὧν, καὶ ὁπηνίκα, καὶ ὅπου), τοσαῦτα καὶ οὕτως σύνειμι καὶ ὁ μέν τις ὥνησε συγγενόμενος, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸς ὥνατο. Βουλοίμην δ᾽ ἂν ἐγὼ τῶν ἀγαθόν τι λεγόντων' ἀκούειν μᾶλλον, ἡ λέγειν αὐτός" τῷ παντὶ γὰρ εὐτυχέσξερον ἀμέίνοσιν ἐντυγχάνειν δ) ἢ χείροσιν. ᾿Αλλ' ὄγε τοῦ διδασκάλου βίος. Μόγου δὲ ἐξηρήσθων Ὗ, εἴ τις εἴς, ἡ δύο φύσει ᾽) ιθτῶν ἐν τῷ πράγματι χαλεπῶν γεγόνασι διαφέροντες. Γένοιτο γὰρ ἂν 1}) κἀκεῖνο καὶ καθ᾽ ἕκατον ἐπιτήδευμα φανῆναϊ τινας ἀμείνυς, ἢ ὧς.) ἁλῶναι τοῖς προιπεφυκόσιν αὐτῷ καὶ παραβλαςάνουσι πάθεσιν᾽ ἐπεὶ ὅγε διδάσκαλος, ἐπειδὰν ἐξαρτήσηται τοὺς θαυμασομένου",

### English translation (Claude)

At the same time I did not think it a blessed thing to be accountable both to the hearers themselves and for the hearers — for them to their families, and to them for the daily speeches; for the teacher would wish to be admired by his pupils and to have the boys applaud his speeches. So this is another theatre, far more unhappy. As it is, I keep company with as many people as I wish, on as many things and on what subjects, when and where I wish; and one man has profited by being with me, while another has profited me. I would rather hear those who say something good than speak myself; for it is altogether more fortunate to meet better people than worse. But such is the teacher's life. Only let it be excepted if one or two by nature have proved superior to the difficulties of the business. For it may happen in every pursuit that some appear too good to be caught by the passions that grow up and sprout along with it; for the teacher, once he has attached his admirers to himself,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 295 (Krabinger 1:295; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/295).

## Krabinger p. 296

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-296
- Source: Krabinger 1:296
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A teacher must be envious of rivals and so cannot improve; Socrates, by contrast, learned from sophists and sent the rich young to them.

### Greek text

οὐδενὸς οὐδὲν ἀποδέξεται λέγοντος, καὶ κίνδυνος καταφρονηθῆναι, καὶ περιϊδεῖν ἀφιπτάμενα τὰ μειράκια. Ἐϊ γὰρ οὐ διοίσεται, τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἔφθειρε " δεῖ δὲ αὐτὸν τηρεῖσθαι διδάσκαλον. Εἰἱμαρμένῃ τοίνυν ἀνδρὸς δ διδασκάλου, καὶ φθονερὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι, τὸ μέγιτόν τε καὶ ὑλικώτατον τῶν παθῶν. Μαὶ ἀπεύξεται μὲν μηδένα. γενέσθαι σοφὸν ἐν πόλει" γενομένου δὲ λυμα- αὶ νεῖται τὴν δόξαν, ἵνα μόνος ἀποβλέποιτο. Καθιδεῖται. δὲ ὥςπερ κεράμιον ἐπιχειλὲς τῆς σοφίας, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔτι χωρῆσον. Οὔκουν ἀγαθόν γέ τι χωρεὶ, τελχὶς καὶ βάσκανος; ὧν. Πῶς οὖν 3") ἄν τις κάκιον ἀπαλλάἔειεν ἀνδρὸς, ὅτῳ μὴ ἕξεσι γενέσθαι βελτίονι; “Σωκράτης δὲ καὶ Προδίκῳ παρεῖχεν ἑαυτὸν ὠφελεῖν, εἴ τι δύναιτο, καὶ Ἱππίᾳ ξυνεχώρει τι λέγειν, καὶ ὦ; Πρωταγόραν ἐβάδιδε, καὶ συνίτῃ τοὺς πλουσιωτάτου; τῶν νέων τῷ τοιῷδε φύλῳ τῶν σοφιςῶν᾽ οὐ γὰρ

### English translation (Claude)

will accept nothing from anyone who speaks, and there is the danger of being despised and of watching the youths fly away. For if he does not excel, he has ruined his position; he must keep himself the teacher. It is fated, then, that a teacher be envious, which is the greatest and most material of the passions. He will pray that no one in the city become wise; and if one does, he will damage his reputation, so that he alone may be looked to. He sits like a jar filled to the brim with wisdom, which can hold no more. But it does not hold anything good, being a spiteful sorcerer and envious. How could a man fare worse than one who cannot become better? Socrates, on the other hand, offered himself to Prodicus to help him if he could, let Hippias say his piece, went to Protagoras, and introduced the richest of the young to this tribe of sophists; for

### Translation notes

- Socrates and the sophists: Plato, Protagoras 310a–316a; Hippias Major; Cratylus 384b (Prodicus).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 296 (Krabinger 1:296; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/296).

## Krabinger p. 297

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-297
- Source: Krabinger 1:297
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates let the young treat him as an equal, bore Clitophon's criticism, and humoured Phaedrus with a speech.

### Greek text

ἐποιεῖτο σοφὸς εἶναι “Σωκράτης " ἦν γὰρ σοφός" καὶ ἢ τοὶς μειρακίοις ἐξῆν, εἰ προεῖχον τὸν νοῦν, μὴ ἀγνοεῖν, ὅδιτις μὲν ὁ διδάσκων Πρωταγόρας, ὅξτις δὲ ὁ μανθάνων Σωκράτης. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ) Γλαύκων, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἐριτίας ἐκ τῇς ὁμοίας αὐτῷ διελέγοντο" καὶ οὐδὲ Σίμων ὁ σκυτεὺς πάνυ τι συγχωρεῖν ἠξίου Σωκράτει, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπράττετο λόγον ἑκάτου λόγου" λειτοφῶν δὲ καὶ ἐλοιδόρησεν αὐτὸν ἐν Δυσίου τοῦ σοφιτοῦ, καὶ τὴν Θρασυμάχου. συνουσίαν προὐτίμησε. Σωκράτης δὲ ὰ οὐδὲ πρὸς τοῦτο παρώξυντο Ἴ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο Βλειτοφῶν κακῶς οἴεται. "Ἤρκει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Φαῖδρος περιτυχὼν, καὶ εἴπετο Φαίδρῳ Σωκράτης πρὸ ἄρεος ἡγουμένῳ, καὶ ἠνέσχετο φορτικοῦ λόγου, καὶ ἀντεξἤγαγεν αὐτῷ ὅ) λόγον ἕτερον, ἵνα Φαίδρῳ χαρίσῃηται.

### English translation (Claude)

Socrates did not pretend to be wise — for he was wise — and the youths, if they paid attention, could not fail to know which was Protagoras the teacher and which Socrates the learner. Glaucon and Critias too conversed with him as equals; not even Simon the cobbler thought fit to concede much to Socrates, but demanded a reason for every argument; and Clitophon even reviled him in the presence of Lysias the sophist and preferred the company of Thrasymachus. But Socrates was not provoked even by this, and it is Clitophon who is wrong about it too. Phaedrus also was enough for him when he met him: Socrates followed Phaedrus as he led him outside the city, put up with a vulgar speech, and produced another speech against it to please Phaedrus.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 227a-237a (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Clitophon 406a–410e; Phaedrus 227a–237a.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 297 (Krabinger 1:297; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/297).

## Krabinger p. 298

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-298
- Source: Krabinger 1:298
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates was cheerful though despised, even by Xanthippe; free of opinion's tyranny, he could move from a playful speech to a hymn of the divine.

### Greek text

Οὕτως εὔκολος ἦν, καὶ οὐκ ἀπεσεμνύνετο πρὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπου,. Αὐτὴ ") μὲν γὰρ ἡ Ξανθίππῃ, φεῦ τῇς ὁλιγωρίας, ὧς ἐχρῆτο Σωκράτει..᾽4λλ' οὐδὲν ἐκώλυσε ",) ᾿ Σωκράτην εὐθυμεῖσθαι καὶ καταφρονούμενον: οὐδ᾽ Β ἐμὲ τοίνυν, οὐδ᾽ ἄλλον οὐδένα ἄνθρωπον, ὅρτις οὐχ ὑπίθηκεν ἑαυτὸν τῷ παντοδαπῷ θυρίῳ, τῇ δόξῃ" ἀλλ᾽ ἑαυτῷ ἀρίσκει καὶ τῷ θεῷ, τοῖς δὲ ἀνθρώποι; ἀνθρωπίνω; συνεῖναι καὶ βούλεται καὶ ἐπίσταται. ᾿Επεὶ τοι Ξωκράτῃ:ς καὶ τὸν ἀτοπώτερον τῶν λόγων διατιθέμενος, τὸν ἐπὶ διαβολῇ τῶν ἐρωτικῶν, δύναται μεθαρμόσασθαι τὴν ἀληθετέραν, καὶ αὐτίκα γε μεθαρμόσεται, καὶ τὸ Ζ'ιὸς ἄρμα ὑμνύσει, καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς διφρείας τῶν ἕνδεκα θεῶν μένει γὰρ Ἑεία ἐν θεῶν οἴκῳ

### English translation (Claude)

So easy-going was he, and he did not give himself airs toward people. As for Xanthippe herself — alas for her slighting of him! — how she treated Socrates! But nothing prevented Socrates from being cheerful even when despised. Nor does anything prevent me, or any other man who has not subjected himself to that many-headed beast, opinion; he pleases himself and God, and both wishes and knows how to be with people in a human way. Indeed Socrates, even while delivering the more absurd of the speeches, the one slandering love, can retune himself to the truer one, and presently will retune himself, and hymn the chariot of Zeus and the sacred cars of the eleven gods — for Hestia remains in the house of the gods

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 246e-247a (Plato (works)): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Socrates' two speeches on love and the chariots of the gods: Plato, Phaedrus 237a–257b (246e–247a).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 298 (Krabinger 1:298; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/298).

## Krabinger p. 299

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-299
- Source: Krabinger 1:299
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates rose from play to the highest vision before Phaedrus; Synesius likewise plays and is serious for his promised son.

### Greek text

κεόνῃ οὐμνεὶ δὲ καὶ ψυχὰς ὁπαδού, θεῶν, καὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα, ὃν ἔχουσιν ὑπερκῦψαι τῶν οὐρανοῦ νώτων: ᾽Εκεῖ που καὶ τὸν παρακπεκινδυνευμένον λόγον, «τὸ πεδίον ἐξηγεῖσθαι ιτολμᾷ τὸ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ταύτῃ ὅ παρὰ τὴν αὐτὴν πλάτανον, παρ᾽ ἣν ἐῤῥητόρευσε, καὶ " τῷ σοφιτῇ “υσίᾳ προμεγυμνάσατο 3.)}, καὶ πρὸς τὸν αὐτὸν μέντοι παῖδα, οὗτοι λέγω τὸν Φαῖδρον" νεανίας γὰρ οὗτος καὶ ἀνὴρ ἤδη" ἀλλ᾽ ὑπόκειται μειράκιον αὐτῷ καλὸν καὶ ἐν ὥρα᾽ καὶ τοῦτο πείθει καὶ μετα: πείθει τὰ περὶ ἔρωτος, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ παίξει τε καὶ... σπουδάξει.. Τί οὖν, εἰ κἀγὼ πρὸς τὸν ἐμαυτοῦ παῖδα ᾿), ὃν ὑπέσχετο μὲν εἰς νίωτα ὁ θεὸς, ἐμοὶ δὲ πάρεειν᾽ ὁ παῖς Ὦ ἤδη" πρὸς τοῦτον οὖν ἀξιῶ παίξειν τε καὶ σπουδά-

### English translation (Claude)

alone — and he hymns the souls that follow the gods, and the struggle they have to peer over the back of heaven. There he dares also to expound the hazardous account of the plain that lies beyond the things here, beside the same plane-tree by which he had played the rhetor and practised against the sophist Lysias, and to the same boy — I mean Phaedrus; for he is a youth, already a man, but a fair lad in his bloom is the subject of the speech, and him he persuades and persuades again about love, and plays and is serious toward him. What, then, if I too, toward my own boy — whom God promised for next year, but who is already present to me — think fit to play and be

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 248b (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Phaedrus 247b–248b (the souls' struggle, the plain of truth).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 299 (Krabinger 1:299; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/299).

## Krabinger p. 300

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-300
- Source: Krabinger 1:300
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius wants his son to be both eloquent and wise, like Socrates, who learned the art of the funeral speech from Aspasia.

### Greek text

ἐἄειν; ᾿Επεί τοι καὶ αὐτὸν ἀμφόϊερα ἀγαθὸν γενέσθαι βούλομαι, Ἂ- ΜΙύθων τε ῥητῆρ᾽ ἔμεναι, γνωςεῇρα τε ὄντων, καὶ μὴ καταφρονεῖν τοῦ Σωκράτους, ὃς οὐκ ἀπηξίου ὅ καὶ τοὺς δημοσίᾳ θαπτομένους δύνασθαι λόγῳ κοσμεῖν. Ἑαίτοι καὶ) τοῦτο μεῖδον ὁ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν ᾧετο᾽ προιἐνεμε. γὰρ ᾿Ασπασίᾳ τὴν δύναμιν ταύτην, κΚὶ προρςεφοίτα Ἁ κατὰ χάριν τοῦ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ παιδευθῆναι. Εἰ δὲ τινα τὰ κατὰ ᾿Δσπασίαν τε καὶ Σωκράτην ἐρωτικὰ ἔννε- 1θνόγκα;, ἐκ ἀπιετήσεις, ὅτι φιλρσορία τὰς τελεωτάτας ἐποπτεύσασα ὅδ τελετὰς ἁπανταχοῦ τὸ καλὸν ἐπιγνώσεται, καὶ ἀσπάσεται, καὶ ῥητορικὴν ἑπαινέσεται, καὶ ἀσπασίως καὶ ποιητικῆς ἀνθέξεται" ταύτην μὲν γὰρ μένει νέωτα

### English translation (Claude)

serious? For I wish him too to be good at both, "a speaker of words" and a knower of what is, and not to despise Socrates, who did not disdain to be able to adorn with speech those who were buried at public expense. And yet he thought this too great for himself; for he assigned this power to Aspasia, and frequented her for the sake of being taught about love. If you have understood the love-lessons of Aspasia and Socrates, you will not doubt that philosophy, having beheld the most perfect rites, will recognize beauty everywhere, embrace it, praise rhetoric, and gladly hold to poetry too; for this

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 9.443 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, medium confidence
- Plato, Menex. 235e-236b (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "A speaker of words": Iliad 9.443, with Synesius's own ending. Aspasia's funeral speech: Plato, Menexenus 235e–236b.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 300 (Krabinger 1:300; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/300).

## Krabinger p. 301

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-301
- Source: Krabinger 1:301
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates wrote poetry in prison at the god's command; Apollo himself is a poet, so those who despise poetry rank below Apollo.

### Greek text

ἄντικρυς εἰργάσατο καὶ Σωκράτῃς, οὐχ ὁ παῖρ, οὐδ᾽ ὁ νίος Σωκράτῃς, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μετὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἤδη δίαιταν ἔχων ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ, ὁπηνίκα παίδειν ἤκιτα καὶ. ρὸς ἦν τηλικῷδε ὄντι, καὶ ἐν τοιούτοις, οὔπω λέγω Β δεινοὶ" τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ δεινὸν Σωκράτει; ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ μέντοι παίδειν ἀξίοι;" ὁ δὲ τῷ θεῷ φησὶ πείθεσθαι 1"). Ἑκαὶ μὴ ἀπιεῶμεν " ὠκειοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ ἔργου. Ἢ οὐ ποιητής ἐσιν ὁ τὸ. χρητήριον ἔχων τὸ Πυθοῖ, καὶ νὴ “]α τὸ ἐν Βῤαγχίδαις; Οὗτος μέντοι μετεποιήθη ᾽) καὶ τῇς ᾿Ομήρου ποιήσεως ὡς αὐτῷ προ:ηκούσῃ;" Ἤειδον μὲν ἐγὼν, ὁ δ᾽ " ἀπέγραφε θεῖος “Ομῃρο:. Δελήθασιν οὖν ὑπὸ σοφίας οἱ Ξτασιῶται τῇ: ἀγλωτ- Ο τίας οὗτοι καὶ τὸν ᾿Απόλλω δεύτερον ἄγοντες ἑαυτῶν μετ᾽ ᾿Ασπασία; τε καὶ Ξωκράτου. Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἐπὶ πάν

### English translation (Claude)

Socrates plainly practised — not Socrates the boy or the youth, but Socrates already past his prime, living in the prison, when play was least fitting for a man of his age and in such circumstances — I do not say terrible ones, for what could be terrible to Socrates? — yet not fit for play. But he says he obeyed the god. And let us not disbelieve him; for the god made him his own by fellowship in the work. Or is not the one who holds the oracle at Pytho — and, by Zeus, the one at Branchidae — a poet? He even laid claim to the poetry of Homer as belonging to him: "I sang, and divine Homer wrote it down." So these partisans of tonguelessness, in their wisdom, have unwittingly ranked even Apollo below themselves, along with Aspasia and Socrates. But let us, to all

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 60d-61b (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Socrates writing verse in prison: Plato, Phaedo 60c–61b. The verse is an epigram ascribed to Apollo (Greek Anthology 9.455).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 301 (Krabinger 1:301; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/301).

## Krabinger p. 302

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-302
- Source: Krabinger 1:302
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius prays that his son be grounded in literature before meeting its enemies; he leaves him few lands and slaves but many books.

### Greek text

τας [τοὐ!] λόγους Γ) παρακαλῶμεν τὸν παῖδα καὶ συνευὐξώμεθα αὐτῷ, μὴ, πρὶν ἀμωςκγέπω; ἐμφορηθῆναι ἀφτορικῆς καὶ ποιήσεως, καὶ δύνασθαι νοῦν τε ἔχειν : καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν ἀμύνειν αὐταῖς, ἐντυχεῖν ἀνδρὶ θράσος ὅ ἔχοντι ᾿καὶ ἐπανιταμένῳ ταῖς Μούσαι.. Τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ χρήσαιο τοῖς κτήμασι τοῖς πατρῴοις; τὺς μὲν γὰρ ἀγροὺς ἐλάττους ἐποίησα, καὶ συχνοί μοι τῶν οἰκετῶν ἰσοπολῖται γεγόνασι, χρυσίον δὲ οὔτε ἐν φαλάροι: ἢ ἔχω γυναικῶν, οὔτε ἐν νομίσμασιν" ὅ τι γὰρ καὶ 1Ι0οἦν, ἅπαν αὐτὸ, ὥιπερ Περικλῆς, εἰς τὸ δέον ἀνάλωσα᾽" τὰ βιβλία δὲ πολλαπλάσια τῶν ἀπολειφθέντων ἀπέδειξα. Τούτοις; οὖν ἅπασι δέον σε δύνασθαι χρῆσθαι. Εἰ δὲ, ὅτι σοὶ.) μὴ διώρθωσα τὰ “Ζίωνο; γράμματα, δι᾽ ὃν καὶ προῆλθεν ἐπὶ τοσόνδε ὁ λόγος, διὰ Σ 5» τοῦτο δυιχεραίνεις τὸν πατέρα, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ ἄλλο τί σοι διώρθωται τῶν τῇ: ὁμοίας ἕξεως" “Ἰίωνι γὰρ οὐκ ἀπο-

### English translation (Claude)

kinds of literature, urge the boy on and pray with him, that before he has been filled somehow with rhetoric and poetry, and is able to have sense and defend them by means of them, he may not meet a man who has daring and rises up against the Muses. For what use would you make of your father's possessions? I have made the fields fewer, and many of my servants have become fellow-citizens; gold I have neither in women's ornaments nor in coin, for whatever there was I spent, like Pericles, on what was needed; but the books I have made many times more than were left to me. All of these you must be able to use. And if you are vexed with your father because I did not correct Dio's writings for you — on whose account this speech went so far — neither has anything else of the same sort been corrected for you; for Dio needs no defence

### Translation notes

- Krabinger prints a bracketed τοὺς as a word to be deleted; it is left out. "Fellow-citizens": Synesius had freed many of his slaves.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 302 (Krabinger 1:302; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/302).

## Krabinger p. 303

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-303
- Source: Krabinger 1:303
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius cites the Pythagorean rule against altering books as his reason for leaving Dio's text uncorrected.

### Greek text

λογία: Ἶ πρὸς τοῦτο δεήσει. Πάλιν οὖν δεήσει ῥῃητορικῇ!.. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐγὼ νόμον ἐκ φιλοσοφίας παρέξομαι. Πυθαγόρα; Μνησάρχου Σάμιος ἐπιγέγραπται τῷ νόμῳ, ὅςτις ὁ νόμιος οὐκ ἐᾷ τοῖς βιβλίοις ἐπιποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ βού.ὅλεται μένειν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ. τῇς πρώτης χειρὸς, ὅπως "ποτὲ ἢ) ἔσχε τύχῃς ἢ τέχνης. Ἔ-ει μὲν οὖν ἐν ταῖς ῥητορείαις ὁ νόμος; τὸ ἀῤῥητόρευτον" ἐν γὰρ ταῖς ἀλόγοις ἠἡρίθμηται πίτεσιν, ὃ τι μὴ παρὰ τὴν πειθὼ τοῦ λέγοντος, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τὴν πολιτείαν ἰσχύει. Καίτοι τινὲς ἐφ᾽ ἡμῶν εὐ, ἀξιοῦσιν ἀπὸ τοῦ τοιούτου ῥήτορες εἶναι, γραμματεῖ! ΒΕ ἀτεχνῶς; ὄντες. Οἱ δὲ, κἂν μάρτυρας ἀναβιβάσωνται, τοῦ πράγματος ἐπὶ τούτοις ὄντος, παρ᾽ ἑαυτοὺς οἰήσονται πεπρᾶχθαι τὴν δίκην οὕτως εἰσὶ κομψοί τε καὶ νεανίαι. ᾿Επεὶ δὲ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἐκ τῶν Ῥωμαϊκῶν ἀξόνων 1ὅ τὸν νόμον ἀνέγνωμεν, ἵνα καὶ ἀκόντων ἂν ἰσχύῃ, ἀλλ᾽ ἀνδρὸς ἔξει φιλοσόφου καὶ παλαιοῦ, πειθώ τινα δεῖ

### English translation (Claude)

for that. So rhetoric will be needed again. But I will produce a law from philosophy. Pythagoras of Samos, son of Mnesarchus, is the author of the law, a law that does not allow additions to books but wants them to remain as they came from the first hand, by chance or art. Now in rhetorical speeches a law is something unrhetorical; for it is counted among the proofs that need no art, since its force comes not from the speaker's persuasion but from the constitution. And yet some in our time think themselves orators on the strength of this, when they are plainly clerks; and even if they bring up witnesses, on whom the case rests, they will think the suit was won by themselves — so clever and young they are. But since we did not read this law on the Roman tablets, so that it should be valid even against the unwilling, but have it from the practice of an ancient philosopher, some persuasion must

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 303 (Krabinger 1:303; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/303).

## Krabinger p. 304

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/272/#p-304
- Source: Krabinger 1:304
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Pythagorean argument begins: best is a mind born already active and gifted, and some such have lived.

### Greek text

προμεῖναι, καὶ γενέσθαι νόμον τὸν λόγον. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὅπως μὴ λάθωμεν αὖθις ) περὶ τῶν μικρῶν τι μεῖξον εἰπόντες" ὡς οὐκ οἷδ᾽ ὅπως ἀπὸ τῶν φαυλοτάτων εἰς σεμνὰ ἄττα ἀποφερόμεθα. Φυλαξόμεθα οὖν, ὅσῃ ὅ δύναμις" εἰ δὲ πάντως δέοι, τῶν εἰρημένων τι παραλῃηψόμεθα. Ἐὰν τοῦτο ἀρκῇ, τῷ παντὶ ἂν ἔχοι καλῶς μηδὲν προςπεριεργάσασθαι. 'Ερεϊ τοίνυν ὁ Πυθαγόρας, ἡ ὅ!τις ὁ Πυθαγόρου θιασώτῃς τε καὶ συνήγορος, ἐπειδὴ νόμους ἐκεῖνος φθέγγεται" ἄριεον ἢ μὲν εἶναι φῦναι τὸν νοῦν αὐτάρκη πρὸς ὁτιοῦν ἐπιτήδευμα, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν 7δη νοῦν ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦτο ὄντα, ῥητορικὸν ἢ ποιητικὸν, εἰ μῇ γε καὶ πρὸς ἅπαν ἀκροφ ἦδη τινὲς ἡ ἅπαν ἀκροφυέσατον᾽" καὶ ἡδη τινὲς ἧκον ἐνθάδε τοιοίδε,

### English translation (Claude)

be added, and the speech become a law. But let us take care not again to say something too great about small matters before we notice; for I do not know how we are carried from the most trivial things to solemn ones. Let us guard against it as far as we can; and if it is altogether necessary, we shall take up something already said. If this is enough, it would be altogether best to do nothing more. Pythagoras, then, will say — or whoever is a member of his company and his advocate, since he speaks laws: "It would be best to be born with a mind sufficient for any pursuit — that is, a mind already in act, rhetorical or poetic, if not most gifted for everything; and some such have already come here,

### Translation notes

- A clause in the last sentence is duplicated in the OCR and is translated once.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 304 (Krabinger 1:304; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/304).

## Krabinger p. 305

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-305
- Source: Krabinger 1:305
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Most minds are only potential and are roused by books; the reader should rely less on the letter as he grows and supply gaps himself.

### Greek text

Ἀξΐγεθο; ἔχοντε,, ἢ δ) πρὸς ἑπιετήμην οἰκείωσιν, οἷς μαθύσεω; οὐκ ἐδέησεν, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτοὶ τέχνῃς ἰγένοντο παραδείγματα. Οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ τῇς μὲν εὐμοιρίας ταύτης οὐχ οὕτως εἰλύχασιν" ἑνίοις δὲ αὐτῶν πολλοῦ γε καὶ ὅ δεῖ" δυνάμει δὲ ὄντες νοῖ, καὶ οἱ μὲν ἧττον, οἱ δὲ μᾶλλον, ἀγχοῦ καὶ πόῤῥω τοῦ τέλους; ὑπὸ τῶν ἑἕνεργείᾳ νῶν ᾽), τῶν ἀποτελεσμάτων τῇς ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν, εἰς τοῦτο προάγονται. Ἰκαὶ ἡ πᾶσα τῶν βιβλίων ραν γμάξεία πρὸς ἕν τοῦτο τείνει" ἑκκαλεῖται τὴν δύναμεν δἰ Α ὑμῶν εἰς ἐνέργειαν. ᾿Ἀρχομένῃ μὲν οὖν, ἀπανταχοῦ δείθσθω τῶν γραμμάτων ποδηγχετούντων, καὶ πρὸς τὴν αἴσθησιν ἀπερειδέσθω" προϊοῦσα δὲ, ἀποπειράσθω τῇς ἰδίας ἰσχύος, καὶ μὴ πάντα ἐκιρεμαννύσθω τῶν συλλαβῶν" ὦιπερ. γὰρ: ἄλλο τι πρόβλημα ἀγαπα-. ἴδται, τὸ πόριμον ἡμῶν γυμναδούσῃ: τῇς ἀπορίας, οὕτω καὶ τὸ ἐνδεὲς εἰς τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῇς ἀναγνώσεως ὁ νοῦς προτυφαίνειν ἀναγκαδόμενος, καὶ μὴ πάντα ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς κείμενος,, μελέτην ποιεῖται τοῦ καὶ κατὰ

### English translation (Claude)

having greatness, or a natural affinity for knowledge, who needed no learning but themselves became models of an art. Most, however, have not been allotted this good fortune in the same way, and for some it is very far off; but being minds in potency, some less and some more, near to or far from the end, they are brought to it by minds in act — by the results of those minds' activity. The whole business of books tends to this one thing: it calls the potency forth into act. At the beginning, then, it needs letters guiding it everywhere and leans on perception; but as it advances, let it test its own strength and not hang everything on the syllables. For just as any other problem is welcome because the difficulty trains our resourcefulness, so the mind, when compelled to weave in what is missing to follow the sequence of the reading, and not resting wholly on the eyes, practises also on its own

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 305 (Krabinger 1:305; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/305).

## Krabinger p. 306

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-306
- Source: Krabinger 1:306
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Supplying what is missing in faulty books trains the mind, as eagles teach their young to fly by letting them go and catching them.

### Greek text

μόνας ἔργον τι θαῤῥῇσαι παραπλήσιον ἅμα δὲ καὶ Β προφεθίξεται, μὴ πρὸς ἄλλοιξ, ἀλλα. ἐντὸς. εἶναι" τὰ γὰρ διημαρτημένα' τάὐτα. βιβλία- τὸν νοῦν ἐπιδητεῖν ἔοικεν, ἐπιτατοῦντα ταῖς; ὄψεσι. Τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς κομιδη) ὅ μειρακίοις ἐπέταττεν ἡ Πυθαγόρου διδαχὴ, ἅμα μὲν αἀποπειρωμένῃ τῇς φύσεως τῇ! ἐκάτου, ἅμα δὲ καὶ προγύμνασμα αὐτὸ ἡγουμένη, παιδικωτέρον, ἔτι τῶν ἐπιπέδων ἰν γεωμετρίᾳ λημμάτων". οὐ γὰρ μέγα. τὸ. ἔργον Ἶ ςοιχεῖον.7, συλλαβὴν, ἔσω δὲ καὶ λέξιν,, εἰ δὲ βούλει, καὶ μίαν ὅλην περίοδον λόγου.) ἁρμόσαντα, πάλιν ἑτοίμως χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἀπὸ, τοῦ βιβλίου. Πάνυςσ δὲ ὅμοιον τοῦτο τῷ συμβαίνοντι κατὰ τοὺς τῶν ἀετῶν μεοττού. Τοὺς ἀετιδεῖς οἱ πατέρες, ἄρτι γενομένους. ἐκπετησίμους, ἄραντες. ὑψοῦ, μεθιᾶσιν, οἷον ἐπιτρέποντες αὐτὸς τοῖς οἰκείοις χρῆσθαι πτεροῖρ᾽ κἄτα αὖθιῤ ἀναλαμβάνουσι προλαμβάνοντε; τῇς ἡλικίας αἰτῶν τὴν ἀσθένειαν" καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκιῤ, ἕως ἂν τὴν πτῆσιν ἐκμελετήσωσιν. ᾿

### English translation (Claude)

to dare some work of the same kind; and at the same time it grows used to being not turned toward others but within. For faulty books seem to seek out the mind, setting it over the eyes. This the Pythagorean teaching enjoined even on very young boys, at once testing each one's nature and regarding it as a preliminary exercise more childish still than the plane lemmas of geometry; for it is no great task, having fitted in a letter, a syllable, a word, or, if you like, a whole period, to go on readily using what comes from the book. This is very like what happens with the young of eagles. The parents lift the eaglets, just fledged, high into the air and let them go, as though permitting them to use their own wings; then they take them up again, anticipating the weakness of their age; and they do this often, until the young have mastered flight.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 306 (Krabinger 1:306; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/306).

## Krabinger p. 307

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-307
- Source: Krabinger 1:307
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius often anticipates what an author will say next and finds he has matched the thought and even the words.

### Greek text

᾿Εγὼ τοίνυν" πρὸς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλον οὐδένα νεανιεύσομιαι, πρὸς σὲ ἢ δὲ τάγε ἀληθῆ" πολλάκι, οὐδὲ περιμένειν ἀξιῶ τοῦ βιβλίου τὴν συμφορᾶν, ἵν᾽ ἀγα- Ὦ θόν᾽ τί μοι γένηται, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ὁ) ἀνέχω τοὺς ὀφθαλ.μού, καὶ τῷ συγγραφεῖ δ) προιγυμνάδομαι, μηδ᾽ ἀκαρῇ διαλιπὼν, ἀλλ’ ἐφιεὶς τῷ καιρῷ, καὶ εἴρων ἢ. ὥςπερ ἑξῆς ἀναγεάσκων ἀπὸ τῇς διανοίας, ὃ τι μοι δοκεῖ τὸ ἀκόλουθον εἶναι, κάτα ἐξετάδω πρὸς τὰ γεγραμμές να τὰ" λελεγμένα. αὶ πολλάκις; μὲν οἷδα τυχὼν Ἰοτοῦ αὐτοῦ "μὲν νοῦ, τῇς αὐτῇς δὲ "καὶ λέξεως" ἤδη δὲ ποῖε τοῦ μὲν ἐνθυμήματος; εὔστοχος γέγονα, ὅ τι δὲ καὶ πὰραλλάττοι τῇς λέξεως, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μάλιτα εἴκαςο πρὸς τὴν ἁρμονίαν τῷ συγγράμματος: Ἐἰΐ δὲ καὶ ὁ νοῦς ὅΣ

### English translation (Claude)

As for me — for I will not boast to anyone else, but to you I will tell the truth — often I do not think fit even to wait for what follows in the book in order to gain some good, but I raise my eyes myself and compete in advance with the author, not pausing for a moment but giving myself to the occasion, and say, as though reading straight on from my own mind, what seems to me to follow; and then I check it against what is written. Often, I know, I have hit on the same thought and the same diction too; and sometimes I have been on target with the argument, and where I departed in diction, it came as close as possible to the harmony of the writing. And if the thought

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 307 (Krabinger 1:307; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/307).

## Krabinger p. 308

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-308
- Source: Krabinger 1:308
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Reading aloud, Synesius once filled gaps so well that the audience applauded the author for his additions.

### Greek text

ἕτερος, ἀλλὰ πρίπων γε.) ἐκείνῳ τἀνδρὶ τῷ τὸ βιβλίον ποιήσαντι, καὶ ὃν ᾽ οὐκ ἀπηξίωσεν, εἰ ἐνεθυμήθη" ἠδ᾽ δὲ ποτε οἶδα, περικαθημένων ἀνθρώπων ἐτύγχανον μὲν τῶν εὐγενῶν ") καὶ τασίμων τι συγγραμμάτων ἔχων ἐν ταῖν χεροῖν, δεομένων δὲ ἀναγινώσκειν εἰς κοινὴν ἀκοὴν ἐποίουν οὕτωρ᾽" εἰ δέ ποτε παρείκοι ᾽, προρεξεῦρον ἂν τι καὶ προτηρμήνευσα" οὐ μὰ τόν! λόγιον οὐκ ἐπιτηδεύσας, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπελθὸν οὕτως συνεχώρησα τῇ γνώμῃ τε καὶ τῇ γλώττῃ. αὶ δῆτα θόρυβος ἤρθη πολύς, καὶ πρότος ἐῤῥάγη τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπαινούντων ἐκεῖνον, ὅτου τὸ σύγγραμμα ἦν, ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς Β οὐχ ἤκιτα ταῖς προιθήύκαι. Οὕτω μοε τὴν ψυχὴν σ θεὸς ἁπαλὸν ἐκμαγεῖον ἐποίησε τῶν ἐν λέξεσί τε καὶ ἤθεσι χαρακτήρων" εἰ δὲ καὶ τῷ τοῖς ἀδιοορθώτοις τῶν βιβλίων ἐγγεγυμνάσθαι 3.) τὴν προοχὴν ἐπέτεινον,.

### English translation (Claude)

was different, it was still worthy of the man who made the book, and one he would not have disdained had he thought of it. Once, I remember, when people were sitting round me, I happened to have in my hands one of the noble and established writings, and when they asked me to read it aloud for all to hear, I did so; and whenever there was a gap, I supplied something and interpreted further — not, by the god of speech, by design; it simply came, and I gave way to my mind and my tongue. And indeed a great uproar arose, and applause broke out from those praising the man whose writing it was, not least for the additions themselves. So God made my soul a soft impression of the characters of style and manners; and if, by having trained on uncorrected books, I sharpened my attention,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 308 (Krabinger 1:308; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/308).

## Krabinger p. 309

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-309
- Source: Krabinger 1:309
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Steeped in reading, Synesius can continue tragedies and comedies in each author's own manner.

### Greek text

εἷς τοῦτο ἂν τὴν ἕξιν προήγαγεν ἡ φύσις πειρωμένῳ. Ἰοὺς ἐξηυλημένους τὰ ὦτα παραπέμπει τις ἠχὼ καὶ σπεπαυμένου τοῦ μἴλουι, καὶ μένουσι χρόνον ὑπόσυχνον τοῖς αὐλήμασι κατακώχιμοι 33. ᾿Εγὼ δὴ θαμὰ καὶ ὅ τραγῳδίαις ἐπετραγῴδησα καὶ κωμῳδίαις ἐπιτωμύλλο-Ο μαι πρὸς τὸν πόνον ἑκάξου τοῦ γράψαντο:. Εἴποι. " ἄν ἡλικιώτην εἶναι νῦν μὲν Ἐρατίνου καὶ Ἡράτητος, νῦν δὲ “ιφίλου τε καὶ Φιλήμονος, καὶ δύδ᾽ ἕξιν

### English translation (Claude)

nature would bring the habit to this point in one who makes the trial. For those whose ears are filled with piping, an echo follows them even when the tune has stopped, and they remain held by the music for a good while. So I have often added tragedy to tragedies and chatter to comedies in the vein of each writer. One would say I was now the contemporary of Cratinus and Crates, now of Diphilus and Philemon; and

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 309 (Krabinger 1:309; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/309).

## Krabinger p. 310

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-dion/305/#p-310
- Source: Krabinger 1:310
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: In all his imitations Synesius's own voice sounds through, like a drone string beneath a melody.

### Greek text

αίρομαι καὶ ἐπεξάγω τὴν πεῖραν. καὶ ὅλα συγγράμεματα πρὸς ὅλα ποιῶν, καὶ τεμαχίοις παραβαλλόμενος" παντοδαπῶν τε ὄντων τῶν λεκτικῶν χαρακτήρων καὶ ὅ πλεῖστον διαφερόντων ἐν ἑκάξῃ τῶν, μιμήσεων προς- Ὁ ηχεῖν ἀνάγκῃ καὶ τοὐμὸν ἴδιον, ὠιπερ αὶ ὑπάτῃ χορδὴ τὸν ῥυθμὸν, αὐτῇ μένουσα, παραβομβεῖ κινουμένῳ τῷ μέλει. '

### English translation (Claude)

I am elated and push the trial further, setting whole writings against whole writings and comparing myself in passages; and since the characters of style are of every kind and very different, in each of my imitations my own peculiar note must sound along too, just as the lowest string, itself staying still, hums the rhythm alongside the moving melody.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Dion 310 (Krabinger 1:310; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-dion/310).