# In Praise of Baldness

- Author: [Synesius of Cyrene](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/synesius-of-cyrene/)
- Latin title: *Calvitii encomium*
- Date: ca. 400-404 (approximate)
- Source: G. Krabinger, ed., Synesii Cyrenensis quae exstant opera omnia, vol. 1 (Landshut, 1850), 175-238

- 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-phalakras/
- Passages: 64

## Krabinger p. 175

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-175
- Source: Krabinger 1:175
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius explains that Dio Chrysostom's Encomium of Hair would shame any bald man, for nature makes us all want to be beautiful.

### Greek text

ἥΖωνι τῷ χρυσῷ τὴν γλῶτταν ἐποιήθη βιβλίον, κόμη: Ὦ ἐγκώμιον, οὕτω δή τι λαμπρὸν, ὦ; ἀνάγκην. εἶναι παρὰ τοῦ λόγου φαλακρὸν ἄνδρα αἰσχύνεσθαι. Β Συνεπιτίθεται γὰρ ὁ) ὁ λόγος τῇ φύσει" φύσει δὲ ἅπαν- 5» τες ἐθέλομεν εἶναι καλοὶ, πρὸς ὃ μέγα μέρος αἱ τρίχες συμβάλλονται, αἷς ἡμᾶς ἐκ παίδων ἡ φύσις ὠκείωσεν. ᾿Εγὼ μὲν οὖν' καὶ, ὁπηνίκα τὸ δεινὸν ἤρχετο..

### English translation (Claude)

For Dio of the golden tongue a book was composed, an encomium of hair, so brilliant that the argument makes it inevitable for a bald man to be ashamed. For the argument joins forces with nature, and by nature we all wish to be beautiful, and hair contributes a large part to that — hair, with which nature has made us familiar since childhood. As for me, when the trouble began

### Translation notes

- Synesius answers Dio Chrysostom's lost Encomium of Hair, which he quotes in part (pp. 180–183).
- 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, Calv. 175 (Krabinger 1:175; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/175).

## Krabinger p. 176

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-176
- Source: Krabinger 1:176
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius tells how his hair fell out like an army ravaging a countryside, leaving him bald in front; he blamed the gods.

### Greek text

καὶ θρὶξ ἀπεῤῥύῃ, μέσην αὐτὴν δέδηγμαι τὴν καρδίαν" καὶ ἐπειδὴ προιέκειτο μᾶλλον, ἄλλῃς ἐπ᾿ ἄλλῃ πιπτούσης, ἤδη δὲ καὶ σύνδυο καὶ κατὰ πλείου,, καὶ ὁ πόλεμος λαμπρὸς ἦν, ἀγομένης καὶ φερομένης τῇς ὕκεφαλῇι!, τότε δὴ, τότε χαλεπώτερα πάσχειν ᾧμην, Ὁ ὑπ᾽ ᾿Αρχιδάμου τοὺς ᾿Αθηναίου; ἐπὶ τῇ δενδροτομίᾳ τῶν ᾿Αχαρνῶν 1}), ταχύ τε ἀπεδείχθην ἀνεπιτήδευτος Ἷ) Εὐβοεὺς, οὖς ὄπιθεν κομόωντας ἱεράτευσεν ἐπὶ Τροιαν ἡ ποίγσι,. Ἐν ᾧ τίνα μὲν θεῶν, τίνα δὲ δαι- Ἰθμόνων παρῆλθον ἀκατηγόρητον; ᾿Επεθέμην δὲ καὶ ᾿Επικούρου τι γράφειν ἐγκώμιον, οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ

### English translation (Claude)

and hair after hair flowed away, I was bitten to the very heart. And when it advanced further, one hair falling after another, and now two at a time and more, and the war was in full blaze, my head being plundered and pillaged, then, then indeed I thought I suffered worse than the Athenians suffered at Archidamus's hands when he cut down the trees of Acharnae; and I was soon shown, without trying, to be one of the Euboeans whom the poem marshals against Troy "long-haired behind." Which of the gods, which of the daemons, did I then leave unaccused? I even set out to write an encomium of Epicurus, not in the same spirit …

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 2.542 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence
- Thucydides, 2.19-20 (Thucydides, History): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "Long-haired behind": Homer, Iliad 2.542 (the Abantes of Euboea). The Spartan ravaging of Acharnae is in Thucydides 2.19–20.
- The sentence breaks off; the next page begins elsewhere, so lines are probably lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 176 (Krabinger 1:176; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/176).

## Krabinger p. 177

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-177
- Source: Krabinger 1:177
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: In his grief Synesius questioned providence: he was chaste, yet even mothers and sisters favour handsome men.

### Greek text

μὴν " ἀντιδηξόμενον. ᾿Ελεγον γὰρ ὅτι ποῦ τὰ τῇ! ῃ προνοίας ἐν τῷ παρ᾽ ἀξίαν ἑκάτου; Μαὶ τί γὰρ ἀδικῶν ἐγὼ φανοῦμαι ταῖς γυναιξὶν ἀειδέξερος; Οὐ δεινὸν, εἰ ταῖς ἱκ γειτόνων " τὰ γὰρ ἐς ἀφροδίτην " ἐγὼ δικαιότατος, κἂν τῷ Βελλεροφόντῃ σωφροσύνης ἀμφιρβητήσαιμι. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ μήτηρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀδελφαὶ, φασὶ, τῷ κάλλει τὶ νέμουσι τῶν ἀῤῥένων"

### English translation (Claude)

… to bite back. For I said: where is providence, when each gets what he does not deserve? What wrong have I done, that I shall look uglier to women? Not that it matters as regards the neighbours' wives — in matters of love I am most upright, and might contend with Bellerophon for chastity. But even a mother, even sisters, they say, give something to the beauty of their males;

### Translation notes

- Only a few lines of this page survive in the OCR; the beginning is lost.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 177 (Krabinger 1:177; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/177).

## Krabinger p. 178

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-178
- Source: Krabinger 1:178
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius had come to terms with baldness until Dio's speech renewed his grief, like the crab that joined the Hydra against Heracles.

### Greek text

ἐδήλωσε δὲ καὶ Παρύσατι;, ᾿ἀρταξέρξυην.τὸν βασιλέα διὰ Κύρον τὸν καλὸν ἀποεςέρξασα. Ταῦτ᾽ ὃ ἄρα ἱποτνιώμην, καὶ μικρὸν οὐδὲν ἐπε.-' νόουν περὶ τῇς συμφορᾶ,. ᾿Επεὶ δὲ ὃ τε) χρόνος αὐ τὴν συνηθεξέραν ἱποίησε, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἀντειριὼν κατεξανί:η ὅ τοῦ πάθου;, τὸ δὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ὑπεξίτατο, δ᾽ διὰ ταῦτα ῥάᾷων ὅδ) ἦν καὶ ἀνέφερον" νυνὶ δὲ ἀνθυπήνεγκεν αὐτὸ ῥιῦμα ἕτερον οὗτὸς αὐτὸς ὁ “]ίων, καὶ ἢ ἐπανήπει μοι μετὰ συνηγόρουι Πρὸς δύο δὲ, Ιθοφησὶν ὁ λόγος, οὐδ᾽ ᾿Ηρακλῇς, εἰ τοὺς Πολιονίδας ἐκ λόχου προπεσόνταίῤ οὐκ ἤνεγκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὴν Ὗ ὕδραν ἀγωνιδόμενος, τέως μὲν εἶς ἑνὶ συνεφεήκεσαν 5. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ καρκίνος αὐτῇ παριγένετο, κἂν ἀπεῖπεν, ιἱ μὴ τὴν ᾿Ιόλεω συμμαχίαν ἀντιπηγάγετο. άγώ μοι δοκῶ παραπλήσιόν τι παθεῖν ὑπὸ “]Ζίωνος, οὐκ ἔχων ἀδελφιδοῦν τὸν ᾿Ιὐλεων. Πάλιν οὖν ἐκλαθόἅενο; ἐμαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν λογισμῶν, ἐλεγεῖα ποιῶ, : θρηνῶν ἐπὶ τῇ κόμῃ. Σὺ δὲ ἐπειδὴ φαλακρῶν μὲν

### English translation (Claude)

as Parysatis showed, who turned against King Artaxerxes for the sake of handsome Cyrus. So I lamented these things and thought my misfortune no small one. But when time made it more familiar, and reason resisted and rose up against the feeling, and the feeling gradually gave way, I was easier for that reason and recovered. But now this same Dio has brought on another flood against me, and it has come back on me with an advocate. "Against two," says the saying, "not even Heracles" — if he could not withstand the sons of Molione when they fell on him from ambush. Even in his fight with the Hydra, as long as it was one against one, he held out; but when the crab came to its aid, he would have given up, had he not brought in Iolaus as his ally. I seem to have suffered something similar at Dio's hands, not having a nephew Iolaus. So again, forgetting myself and my reasonings, I compose elegies lamenting my hair. But you, since, though bald, you

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaed. 89c (Plato (works)): allusion, low confidence

### Translation notes

- Parysatis favoured her younger son Cyrus over Artaxerxes II (Xenophon, Anabasis 1.1). "Not even Heracles against two" is a proverb (Plato, Phaedo 89c).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 178 (Krabinger 1:178; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/178).

## Krabinger p. 179

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-179
- Source: Krabinger 1:179
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius addresses a bald friend who is proud of his baldness and offers to recite Dio's speech from memory.

### Greek text

ἐμπάδῃ τῷς συμφορᾶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ, ὅταν: ἔξνους προκειμένου μετώπων ἐξέτασις γίνηται ᾽, σαυτὸν ἐπιλέγεις, ὧς ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθῷ δὴ ἔινι φιλοτιμούμενος, οὐκδοῦν ἀνάσχου τοῦ λόγου, καὶ τήρησον ἐν. πείσῃ, φασὶ 2, τὴν καρδίαν, ὥςπερ ὁ Ὀδυσσεὺς πρὸς τὴν ἀναγωγίαν τῶν γυναικῶν ἀνέκπληκτος ἔμεινε" καὶ σὺ πειρῶ μηδὲν ὑπὸ τούτου͵ παθεῖν., ᾿Αλλ᾽ιιούκ, ἂν δύναιο; Τί φής; αὶ μὴν δυνήσῃ. Τοιγαροῦν 'ἄκαονε. “εῖ δὲ οὐδὲν ἐξελίττειν τὸ βιβλίον, ἀλλ᾽ αὐτὸς ἱρῷ. αὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ πολύειχόν ἐξι" γλαφυρὸν;

### English translation (Claude)

pay no heed to the misfortune, but even, when a review of foreheads is held in company, count yourself in, priding yourself on it as on a good thing — well then, bear with the speech, and keep your heart "in obedience," as they say, as Odysseus remained undismayed at the misconduct of the women; you too, try to be unaffected by it. But you could not? What do you say? Indeed you will be able. So listen. There is no need to unroll the book; I will tell it myself. For it is not long, and it is elegant;

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Od. 20.23 (Homer, Odyssey): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "Keep your heart in obedience": Homer, Odyssey 20.23, of Odysseus restraining his anger at the maidservants.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 179 (Krabinger 1:179; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/179).

## Krabinger p. 180

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-180
- Source: Krabinger 1:180
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius quotes the opening of Dio's speech: combing his neglected, matted hair, Dio was moved to praise those who love long hair.

### Greek text

Κάλλο) αὐτοῦ 'προρμδάνει τῇ μνήμῃ ὥςτε οὐδὲ βοῦ. ἱλόμινον ἐπιλαθέσθαι με.} οἱόν τε.; "- Ἡλι ς,ὅτ'. εὐ» ε} οὐναςὰς ξωθὲν, καὶ ἑούς 'θεούὺς προριπὼν, ὅπερ ζωθα,ἰπεμελούμην "τῆς κόμη "καὶ γὰρ ἱἰτύγχανον μα- "σλακώτερον τὸ σῶλμια ἔχων" ἡὶ δὲ ἠμέλητο᾽ ἔν πλείονος. "Πάνὸ-. γοῦν συνέερραλπτο, καὶ συνεπέπλεκτο ὅ τὰ Ὁ πολλὰ αὐτῇ!, οἷον τῶν ὀΐων τὰ πεῤὶ τοῖς σκέλεσιῤ αἰώρούμενα". πολὺ δὲ) ταῦτα σκληρότερα ὦ, ἄν ἐκ λεπτο-Π΄ τίρων δυμβεμλεγμῖνα τῶν τριχῶν. Ἦν οὖν ὀφθῦναι 10τὲ ἀγρίᾳ ΕΙ κόμν καὶ βαρεῖα " μόλις δὲ διελύετο, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ. αὐτῇς ἀπεσπᾶτο ἴ). καὶ διετείνετο: Οὐκοῦν ἐπήει μοι τοὺς φιλοκόμου; ἐπαινεῖν ' οἱ ὅ) φιλόκαλοι ὄντες καὶ τὰς κόμας περὶ πλείφσου ποιούμενοι ἐπιμελοὺνται οὐ ῥᾳθύμω;,. ἀλλὰ κάλαμόν τινα ἔχουσιν ἀεὶ ")δ; μ, ᾿ ᾿ ᾿ μω “

### English translation (Claude)

its beauty takes hold of the memory, so that I could not forget it even if I wished. "Rising at dawn and addressing the gods, as is my custom, I attended to my hair; for I happened to be somewhat unwell in body, and it had been neglected for a long time. Much of it had become matted and tangled, like the tufts of sheep that hang about their legs — and these are much harder, being tangled out of finer hairs. So it was wild and heavy to look at; it would barely come apart, and much of it was torn out and stretched. So it occurred to me to praise the lovers of long hair, who, being lovers of beauty and setting great store by their hair, care for it not idly but always have a reed

### Translation notes

- Pages 180–183 quote Dio Chrysostom, Encomium of Hair (preserved only here).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 180 (Krabinger 1:180; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/180).

## Krabinger p. 181

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-181
- Source: Krabinger 1:181
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's speech continues: lovers of long hair comb it constantly and sleep on wooden headrests to keep it clean.

### Greek text

ἐν '᾿αὐτῇ. τῇ. κόμῃ, ᾧ ξαίνουσιν αὐτὴν, ὅταν σχολὴν. ἄγωσι" καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ, χαλεπώτατον ᾿,. χαμαὶ κοιμώμενοε φυλάττουσιν ὅπως; μηδέποτε, ἅψωνται τῇς γ7:» ὑπερείδοντες ὑπὰ τὴν κεφαλὴν μικρὸν ξύλον, δόπω, ἀπέχῃ τῦι γῆ. ὧν! πλεῖστον, καὶ μάλλον φροντί- Η ἔουσι τοῦ καθαρὰν͵ φέρειν τὴν κόμην, ὃ, τοῦ ἡδέως κα- Βεύδειν" ἡ μὲν γὰρ καλού, τε "καὶ φοβεροὺς ᾽. ἔοικε ποιεῖν" ὁ δὲ ὕπνος, κὰν πάνυ ἡδὺ, ᾧ, βραδεῖς τε καὶ ἀφυλάκτου. “]οκοῦσι δέ, μοι ἱκαὶ. “Μακεδαιμόνιοι

### English translation (Claude)

in their hair, with which they comb it when they have leisure. And — what is hardest — when they sleep on the ground they take care that it never touches the earth, propping a small piece of wood under their heads so that it is held as far from the earth as possible; they care more about keeping their hair clean than about sleeping comfortably. For hair seems to make them handsome and fearsome, while sleep, however sweet, makes them slow and off guard. And the Lacedaemonians, too, seem to me

### Translation notes

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

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 181 (Krabinger 1:181; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/181).

## Krabinger p. 182

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-182
- Source: Krabinger 1:182
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio notes that Homer praises his heroes for their hair: Achilles, Menelaus, Hector.

### Greek text

ἄλλο σῶμα ἐπαινεῖ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μόνον τοὺ! Ἔλλῃηύας ᾿ἐἑλίκωπας καλεῖ" ἀλλ᾽ οὔδὲν ἧττον καὶ ᾽τὸν ᾿4γα- Μέμνονα' τὸ "κοινὸν ἐκὶ τοῖς “Ελλησὶν" ἀπὸ δὲ τῇ κόμὴ ᾿πάνταρ " πρῶξόν μὲν ᾿Αχιλλία, διττὰ ἸαΔ ομ, τ “ἔανθη, δὲ κόμης ἴλε Πηλείωνα" (' ἔπειτα Μινἐλεὼν 347; ξανθὸν ἑπονομιάδων ἀπὸ τ! κό- ΠΝ τῇ: δὲ “Ἕκτορο χἀΐτη! μέμνηται, 5.5 μρδηδο ἐὩτ τ Ἐὲ πεν τς ἀμφὶ δὲ 'χαῖται 'ποάδνεαὶ. πεφύρῃντο.

### English translation (Claude)

… he praises … and not only calls the Greeks "quick-eyed" but no less Agamemnon too, which is common to the Greeks; but he praises them all from their hair. First Achilles: "… she seized the son of Peleus by his yellow hair"; then Menelaus, calling him "fair-haired" from his hair; and he mentions Hector's locks: "… and about him his dark hair spread out,"

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 1.197 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence
- Homer, Il. 22.401-402 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The beginning of the page is lost in the OCR. Quotations: Iliad 1.197 (Athena seizes Achilles by the hair); Menelaus is "fair-haired" (ξανθός) throughout Homer; Iliad 22.401–402 (Hector's hair in the dust).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 182 (Krabinger 1:182; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/182).

## Krabinger p. 183

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-183
- Source: Krabinger 1:183
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio concludes that Homer honours hair in men, and in Zeus above all, more than in women; Synesius now prepares his reply.

### Greek text

Ἰυάνεαι δ᾽ ἐγένοντο ἔθειραι " πάλιν δ᾽ 3}) ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ" Π} -- - - - -- καδδὲ κάρητος Οὖλας ὁκε κόμαι, ὑακινθίνῳ ἄνθει ὁμοίαις. ὃ αὶ πρέπειν. γε μάλλον τοῖς ἀνδράσι φαίνεται καθ᾽ Ὅμηρον ὁ κόσμιος ὁ τῶν τριχῶν ἡ ταῖς γυναϊξί. Γυναικῶν γοῦν περὶ κάλλους διεξιὼν, οὐ τοσαυτάκις φαίνεται κόμης μεμνημένος, ἐπεί τοι καὶ τῶν θεῶν τὰς μὲν θηλείας ἄλλως ἐπαινεῖ" χρυσὴν γὰρ ᾿Αφροδίτην 3, καὶ βοῶπιν Ἥραν, καὶ Θέτιν ἀργυρόπεξαν. “ἢ Τοῦ “]Πὸς δὲ μάλιςα ἐπαινεὶ τὰς χαίτας" ᾿“ἱμβρόσιτχι δ᾽ ἄρα χαῖται ἐπεῤῥώσαντο ἄνακτος. Ταυτὶ μὲν σοι τὰ “]ωνοι. ᾿Ατὰρ ἴ), ὦ; οὐδὲ μάντις εἰμὶ πονηρὸς, δειν Ὦ Θρασύμαχον ἐρυθριῶντα ὀψό-

### English translation (Claude)

"and dark grew his locks"; and again of the same man: "and from his head she let fall curling locks, like the hyacinth flower." And according to Homer the adornment of hair seems to suit men more than women. At any rate, when he describes the beauty of women, he does not seem to mention hair so often; even among the gods he praises the goddesses in other ways — golden Aphrodite, ox-eyed Hera, silver-footed Thetis — but of Zeus he praises above all the locks: "and the ambrosial locks of the lord waved." These, then, are Dio's words for you. But, since I am no bad prophet, I expect I must see Thrasymachus blushing

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Od. 16.176 (Homer, Odyssey): quotation, high confidence
- Homer, Od. 6.230-231 (Homer, Odyssey): quotation, high confidence
- Homer, Il. 1.529 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence
- Plato, Resp. 350d (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Quotations: Odyssey 16.176 and 6.230–231 (Odysseus); Iliad 1.529 (Zeus). "Thrasymachus blushing": Plato, Republic 1.350d, of an opponent forced to concede.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 183 (Krabinger 1:183; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/183).

## Krabinger p. 184

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-184
- Source: Krabinger 1:184
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius judges Dio clever but empty, and resolves to answer him by praising baldness, the finer subject.

### Greek text

μενος. ᾿Αλλὰ περὶ ἱμὲ γὰῤ οὐκέτι) παραπλήσιον πά- 90, ἐγίνετο. Ἐομιδῇ γὲ τὸι τὴν πρώτην ἑαλωκὼς τοῦ λόγου, νῦν μοι δοκεῖ “ων λέγειν μὲν εἶναι δεινὸς, οὐκ ἔχειν δὲ ὃ τι καὶ λέγοι " λέγειν 'δέ ὅμως ὑπὸ πε. δριουσίας τοῦ δύνασθαι" Ἐπεί τοι πολλῷ θαυμασιώτερο! ἂν φανῆναι, τοὐναντίον ἐπαινέσαι προιλόμενος, τὸ καθ᾽᾿ ἡμαᾶ, πρᾶγμια τῇς κεφαλὴ. Ὃ γὰῤ ἐν" ἀπόροις εὔπορος τί ᾿ἂν ἐποίησεν, ἐμπισὼν ὕλῃ χωρούσῃ τὴν δύναμιν; Ιγυνὶ δὲ οὖσης αὐτῷ' κόμης "καὶ τέχνης, ἰχρή- Ἰ0σάτο τῇ τέχνῃ περὶ τῆς κόμην ἴ). 'Ὥς δὲ καὶ πανούρ-᾿ γως ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ βιβλίον παρήγαγεν. Οὐ γὰρ ἕτερός τί, δ) σιν ὁ ἐν τῷ. λόγῳ' φιλόκομλιος, ὁ τῷ καλάμῳ καλλύνων τὴν κόμην, ἀλλ᾽ οὗτος αὐτὸς, ὅτῳ ποτὲ τῷ καλάμῳ τὸν λόγον ξυνέγραψεν. Εἰ δὲ κἀγὼ Ιῦ φαλακρός εἰμι, καὶ δύναμαι λέγειν, καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦ πράγματός; πλέονι κάλλιόν ἔειν, ᾽ ἰγὼ “ίωνος οὐκ ἀνταποδίχείρων, τὶ Ὁμαι, καὶ λαμβάνω πεῖραν τοὶ.

### English translation (Claude)

here. For with me it no longer turned out the same way. Though at first I was entirely captured by the speech, now Dio seems to me clever at speaking but to have nothing to say, and yet to speak all the same out of a surplus of ability. He would have appeared far more wonderful if he had chosen to praise the opposite, our condition of the head. For one who is resourceful where there are no resources, what would he not have done had he come upon material that gave his power room? As it is, having hair and having art, he used his art on his hair. And how slyly he brought himself into the book! For the lover of long hair in the speech, who beautifies his hair with a reed, is none other than he himself, with whatever reed he wrote the speech. But if I too am bald and can speak, and my subject is finer than his by a good margin, should I not answer Dio in kind, and make trial

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 184 (Krabinger 1:184; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/184).

## Krabinger p. 185

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-185
- Source: Krabinger 1:185
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius will reply plainly, without Dio's rhetorical preludes, for he is a farmer and huntsman, not a rhetor.

### Greek text

ἐμαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῇς ὑποθθέσεως, εἰ ἄρα δυναίμην ἀντιπεριτῆσαι τοῖς κομήταις τὸ ὄνειδος; ᾿Εῤῶ 'δὲ, οὔτε προοιμιασάμενο; ἀκμαὶόν τι καὶ τορὸν, οἵῳ τοὺς ἀγωνιεικοὺς λόγους οἱ ῥήτορες, ὥιπερ ἐμβόλοις τὰρ τριή: ἄρεις ὁπλίδουσιν, οὔτε προάσαι, ὅπερ “]ίων ἐποίησε; μέλος ἀναβεβλημίνον καὶ λιγυρὸν, ἅτε κιθαρῳδικοῦ νόμου, τοῦ λόγου προανακρουσάμενοι " ᾿Αναςας ἕωθεν, “καὶ τοὺς θεοὺς προφειπὼν, ὅπερ εἴωθα, ἐπεμελὸύμὴν τῆς κόμη. αὶ γὰρ ἐτύγχανον μαλακώτερον τὸ Ἰθσώμια ἔχων " ἡ δὲ ἡμέλητο ἐκ πλείονος. ᾿ἰάθ᾽ οὕτω προϊὼν διὰ τῶν συμπτωμάτων τὴς ἀμελείας ν)͵, ἔλαθεν ἡμᾶς κατὰςὰς εἰς ἔπαινον τῆς ἐπιμελείας. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἡμᾶς δρῶσιν οἱ δεινοὶ τῶν λόγων δημιουργοί" νῦν μὲν κηλοῦσι, νῦν δὲ καταπλήττουσιν. ᾿Εγὼ δὲ δυναί- ἢ τ μην οὐ χεῖρον ἐτέρου συνιέναι περὶ πραγμιάτων᾽ ῥη. τορικὴν δὲ οὐκ ἐργάδομαι, ἀλλὰ προὐεησάμῃην τοῦ βίου τέχνας δύο, φυτγκομεῖν τε καὶ κυνοκομεῖν ἐπὶ τῶν ͵ θηρίων τὰ ἀλκιμώτατα. “]1ἀκτυλοι δὲ οὗτοι σκαφίσι

### English translation (Claude)

of myself and my subject, to see whether I can turn the reproach round against the long-haired? I shall speak without a vigorous and piercing prelude, such as the rhetors use to arm their combative speeches, as triremes are armed with rams, and without singing a prelude, as Dio did — a drawn-out, shrill tune, as though striking up a citharode's nome before his speech: "Rising at dawn and addressing the gods, as is my custom, I attended to my hair; for I happened to be somewhat unwell in body, and it had been neglected for a long time." And so, going on through the consequences of the neglect, he slipped unnoticed into praise of care. This is what the clever craftsmen of speeches do to us: now they charm, now they astound. I could understand matters no worse than another; but I do not practise rhetoric. I have chosen two crafts for my life, tending plants and keeping hounds for hunting the most valiant of beasts. These fingers have been worn by mattocks

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 185 (Krabinger 1:185; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/185).

## Krabinger p. 186

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-186
- Source: Krabinger 1:186
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: As a countryman, Synesius will argue his case with plain facts, not polished speeches.

### Greek text

καὶ προβολίοις ἀντὶ καλάμων τετρίφαται, εἰ μὰ καλαμον λέγοις ἀντὶ τοῦ γραφέως τὸ ἐν βέλει. Τούτῳ μὲν γὰρ. οὐδὲν θαυμαςὸν εἰ καὶ προιςτετῴκασιν. Οὐ δὴ καταισχυνῶ τὰ πάτρια τῶν ἀγρῶν, οὐδε φαδνοῦμαι ερογγύλλων λογάρια, προοίμιά τινα καὶ προνόμμα" ἀλλ᾽ ὃ κράτιτον ἡγοῦμαι καὶ ἀγροίκῳ πρὸς δ τρόπου,. ψιλὰ! αὐτάς τῶν νοημάτων τὰς φάσεις εἰς μέσον κατατιθέμενο;, ἀγωνιοῦμαι τοὶς πράγμασι, μόνον

### English translation (Claude)

and hunting spears instead of reeds — unless you mean by "reed" not the writer's but the one in an arrow; that it should have stood in front of these is no wonder. So I shall not shame the ancestral ways of the fields, nor shall I be caught rounding off little speeches, preludes and preambles; but doing what I think best and suited to a countryman, setting the bare statements of my thoughts before you, I shall contend with the facts alone,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 186 (Krabinger 1:186; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/186).

## Krabinger p. 187

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-187
- Source: Krabinger 1:187
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius begins his argument: hair is dead matter; beasts are covered with it, while man, who has a higher life, keeps it only in a few places.

### Greek text

εἰ τῇ, γλώττῃς τὸν τόνον ἀπὸ τῇς διαλέξεως εἰς ἐπι: σρόφὴν μεθαρμόσαιμι, ἀπὸ “Ιωρίου, φασὶν, ἐπὶ Φρύγιονὸ “]εῖ᾽ γὲ τοι πνεύματος 'ἀρκοῦντος ἐπιχειρήμασιν, “ἅττα μοι πολλὰ᾽ τὴν καρδίαν. ἀναδώσειν μιανὅ τεύολιαι. τ 1. ᾿Οὐμὸς οὖν λόγος ὁριεεὶ πάντων ὕπιεα, χρῆναι φαλακρὸν ἄνδρα αἰσχύνεσθαι, Τί γάρ, εἰ ψιλὴν "μὲν ἔχει ἦ τὴν κιφαλὴν, λάσιον δὲ τὸ φρονοῦν, οἷον τὸν “ἰακίδην ἡ ποίησις ὕμνησεν; ᾿4λλ' οὐτὸς γε ῥἡμέλει τῶν Β Ιθτριχῶν, ἂς καὶ δωρεῖται νεκρῷ, ἹΝεκρὸν γάρ τι") καὶ αὐται, καὶ τοὶς δῶσιν οὐ δῶντα μέρῃ παρύρτηνται, Ἰαύτῃ δ) τῶν δώων τὰ ἀλογώτερα κατὰ “χαντὸς αὖὐ- Ἱτὰς ὁ) ἠμφίεται τοῦ σώματος" ἄνθρωπος δὲ, ἐπεὶ μετεῖληφεν. ἐναργιτέρας δωΐε Ἶ), γυμνός ἐξε τῷ -πλείρῳ τὰ Ιόσυμφυοῦ; φορτίου" ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἀνεπίμικτον ὅδ) ὃν τῷς πρὸς πὰ θνητὰ κοινωνίας ἁλαξονεύηται, μέρεσιν 

### English translation (Claude)

if I were to change the pitch of my tongue from conversation to intensity — from the Dorian, as they say, to the Phrygian. For there must be breath enough for the arguments, which, I expect, will make my heart pound many a time. My argument, then, will prove the most ridiculous of all claims to be that a bald man must be ashamed. For what if he has a bare head but a shaggy mind, like the son of Aeacus whom poetry has sung? Yet he took little account of his hair, which he even gives to a corpse. For hairs are a dead thing, and hang upon living beings as parts that do not live. That is why the more irrational animals are clothed in them over the whole body; while man, since he has a share in a more vivid life, is bare of that inborn burden over most of himself; and, so that he might not boast of being wholly unmixed with what is mortal, he has hair on a few

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 1.189 (Homer, Iliad): allusion, medium confidence
- Homer, Il. 23.141-153 (Homer, Iliad): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "Shaggy mind": Achilles' "shaggy breast" (Iliad 1.189); he cuts his hair for the dead Patroclus in Iliad 23.141–153.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 187 (Krabinger 1:187; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/187).

## Krabinger p. 188

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-188
- Source: Krabinger 1:188
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hair is at war with intelligence: man is the most hairless and wisest animal, the sheep the woolliest and stupidest; Plato's bad horse is shaggy-eared and deaf.

### Greek text

γοις κολιᾷ, - “Οεῆις οὖν οὐδὲ τοῖς ὀλίγοις πκομᾷ, οὗτος, ἔρι ὃ πρὸς ἕτερον ἄνθρῳπον, ὄπιρ, ἄνθρωποι. πρὸς. θ5ρίον... !Ὥνπερ δὲ ἄνθρωπος, τῶν ἐπὶ γθε. φρονιμώτατὸν τὲ.) ὁμοῦ καὶ ψιλότατον, οὕτως ὁμολογεῖται δμὲν τῶν βοσκημάτων ἁπάντων πρόβατον ἡλιθιώτατον αὶ εἶναι" τοῦτο δὲ ἔσιν δ᾽ μὴ διακεκριμένας, ἀλλὰ κατὰ συεήματα τὰς τρίχας ἀνίησιν" ὥςτε κινδυνεύει τὸ τῶν. τριχῶν. τοῦτο πρᾶγμα πόλεμον ἔχειν 'πρὸς φρόνησιν" οὐδενὶ 'γὰρ ἐθέλουσιν ἅμα συγγίνεσθαι. “Εἰ δὲς δεῖ τι 'συντελέσαι καὶ κυνηγέται" φίλοι γὰρ οἱ ἄνδρες ὁ καὶ ἣν. μετέρχονται τέχνην" ἐκεῖναι σοφώταται "τῶν τ κυνῶν, ὧν ὦτα καὶ γαςέρες ψιλαΐ" αἱ λάσιοι. δὲ. ἔμπλην ντοι! καὶ θρασεῖαι, καὶ΄ βελτίους εἰσὶν ἀπούσαι τῆς 97ραφ. “Ἑἰ' δὲ «καὶ Πλάτων ὁ- σοφὸ, τῇς συνωρίδος;, ἣν “ἐλαύνει. ψυχὴ, τὸν ἄδικον ιἴππον περὶ. ὦτα. λασιός Ὁ κωφον Λέγει, τί καὶ καλὸν ᾿ἐννοεῖ περὶ τῶν: τριχὼν; ᾿Αλλάᾶ' κἀὶ "μὴ λέγοντος Πλάτωνος ἀνάγκῃ κωφὸν. εἶναι ὁ: τόν ταύτῃ λάσιον, ὅθεν «ἀκούομεν, ὥςπερ 'τυφλὸν τὸν ταύτῃ. λάσιον, ὅθεν ὁρῶμιεν. Τοῦτο μὲν οὖν εἰ γένοιτο, τέρας ἐείν. "᾿Ηδη δὲ " ἀνεφύτην ἐπὶ θλεβάρου

### English translation (Claude)

parts. So whoever has no hair even on those few parts is to another man what men are to beasts. And just as man is at once the most intelligent of things on earth and the most hairless, so it is agreed that of all livestock the sheep is the most stupid; and it is the one that sends up its hair not in separate strands but in masses. So the business of hair seems to be at war with intelligence: they will not keep company together in anyone. If huntsmen too must make a contribution — for these men are my friends, as is the craft they pursue — the cleverest hounds are those with bare ears and bellies, while the shaggy ones are dull and rash and are better away from the hunt. And if Plato the wise says that, of the pair the soul drives, the unruly horse is shaggy about the ears and deaf, what good does he think of hair? Even without Plato saying it, one who is shaggy where we hear must be deaf, just as one shaggy where we see must be blind. That, if it happened, would be a monstrosity. Already, when double hairs grow on the eyelid,

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 253e (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Phaedrus 253e (the unruly horse of the soul's chariot, "shaggy about the ears, deaf").

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 188 (Krabinger 1:188; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/188).

## Krabinger p. 189

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-189
- Source: Krabinger 1:189
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The noblest parts of the body, the senses, are hairless; so the bald man, as man is the noblest animal, is the most divine thing on earth.

### Greek text

δίδυμοι τρίχες, καὶ δοκεῖ τὸ ἔσχατον εἶναι κακῶν, παρῳκηκέναι' τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ τρίχας, ἐφ᾽ ἃς ἅπασα τίχνῃ καὶ βέα κινεῖταί, "πὴ φθάσωσι τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἱξορύξασαι. Οὐ γὰρ ἀνέχεται τοῖς τιμιωτάτοις ἡ φύσις συὺδόντα τὰ ἀτιμίότατα. Τιμιώτατα δὲ τοῦ δώου τὰ αἰσθητήρια καὶ δίς μάλιτα τῶν τοῦ, σώματος μορίων -Φῶόν ἐδι" 'πρώτοι,΄ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ἡ Ψυχὴ τὰς ἑαυτῇς δυνάμεις ἐμέρισεν" ὄψις δὲ "τὸ πάντων θειότατον, ἀλλά τοι καὶ τὸ Φιλότατον. Πάλιν οὖν ὠιπερ. ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου 3") 1ι0τα᾽ τιμιώτατα φαλακρότατα, οὕτως ἔχειν ἀνάγκῃ πρὸς" αὐτὸ τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ γένους τὰ κράτιτα, Τουτὶ δὲ μικρῷ πρόσθεν ἐδεικνύετο, καὶ δι᾽ ὁλοκλήρου τοῦ γένὑς, ὃ τοσοῦτον ἀναχωρεῖ θυηρίων, ὅσον τριχῶν. “Εἰ δὴ δώων μὲν ἁπάντων ἱερώτατον ἄνθρωπο; ἀνθρώπων δὲς οἷς ὑπήρξεν εὐμοιρῆσαι τὴν ἀποβολὴν τῶν τριχῶν, φαλακρὸς ἂν εἴν τῶν ἐπὶ γῇ, τὸ θειότατον. ΠΕ.

### English translation (Claude)

it seems the worst of evils that hairs have settled beside the eye, and every art and force is set in motion against them, lest they dig out the eye first. For nature does not allow the most worthless things to live with the most honoured. The most honoured parts of a living being are the sense-organs, and they are the most alive of the parts of the body, for the soul gave its powers to them first; and sight is the most divine of all — and also the barest. Again, then, just as in one man the most honoured parts are the baldest, so the best of the race must stand in relation to the race itself. This was shown a little earlier for the race as a whole, which is as far removed from beasts as from hair. If, then, of all living beings man is the most sacred, and, among men, those who have had the good fortune to shed their hair, the bald man would be the most divine of things on earth.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 189 (Krabinger 1:189; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/189).

## Krabinger p. 190

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-190
- Source: Krabinger 1:190
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The wise have been bald; Apollonius, a wonder-worker rather than a sage, is no exception that counts; Dionysus's followers are shaggy.

### Greek text

βούλει τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος σοφῶν φαλακρῶν γὰρ ἂν εἷ. “᾿ ῥαι δόξειε θέατρον., ᾿Αἀπολλωνιὺς μὴ ἰνοχλείτω͵ τῷ, λόγῳ, μηδ᾽ εἴ τις ἕτερος γόγε καὶ περιττὸς Ὁ τὰ δαμιόνια. Καὶ γὰρ οὐκ ὄντες οὗτοι κομῆται δύνανται φαίνεσθαι τὰ πλύήθη καταπολιτευόμενοι". τάχα δὲ͵ οὐδὲ σοφία τὸ δ) τῶν γούτων, τερατουργία δὲ τίς ἐσι. καὶ οὐκ ἐπισήμῃ τις, ἀλλὰ δύναμι. Οὕτω γὰρ οἱ νομοθέται σοφίαν μὲν τῶν τιμιωτάτων ἐνόμιδον" ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς γόητα, ἔτρεφον τοὺς δημιίου. ῶετε Ἶ) «εἰ καὶ κο- Ο μύτη, ἦν ᾿Απολλώνιοι, οὐδὲν πρὸς λόγον ἢ. Μαΐτοι φίλα ") μιοι πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ βουλοίμην. ἂν αὐτὸν εἶναι τοῦ ν καταλόγου. Αινδυνεύει γὰρ ἐκ τῶν εἰρῳμίνων ὑγιῶς ἀντιςρέφειν ὁ λόγος" εἰ σοφός ") τις, καὶ φαλακρόφ' εἰ μὴ φαλακρός τις, οὐδὲ σοφό!. Οὕτω δὲ ἔχει καὶ τὰ δαιμόνων. [Ὃς τὴν “]ιονύσου τε- "ἡ θέαται τελετὴν, τὸ μὲν ὅσον ἑεὶ τοῦ θιάσου, δασὺ τριχί" τῇ μὲν, οἰκείᾳ" τῇ δὲ, ἀλλοτρίᾳ κατάκομιον " Βακχικὸν γὰρ οὐδὲν οὕτω,, ὡς κἡὶ νεβρίς" οἱ. δὲ καὶ

### English translation (Claude)

If you wish to review the wise men of all time, it would look like a theatre of bald men. Let Apollonius not trouble the argument, nor anyone else who is a wizard and extraordinary in matters of daemons. For these, though long-haired, can appear to be sages by swaying the crowds; but perhaps what wizards have is not wisdom but a kind of wonder-working, not a science but a power. Thus the lawgivers counted wisdom among the most honoured things, but kept public executioners for wizards. So even if Apollonius was long-haired, it is nothing to the argument. And yet I am well disposed toward the man and would wish him to be on the list. For the argument, from what has been said, seems to convert soundly: if someone is wise, he is bald; if someone is not bald, he is not wise either. It is the same with daemons. Whoever has watched the rite of Dionysus knows that all of his company are shaggy with hair, partly their own and partly borrowed — for nothing is so Bacchic as the fawnskin — and some even

### Translation notes

- Apollonius of Tyana, the long-haired wonder-worker. "Though long-haired": the OCR reads a negative (οὐκ ὄντες … κομῆται), which does not fit the argument; translated by sense, uncertain.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 190 (Krabinger 1:190; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/190).

## Krabinger p. 191

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-191
- Source: Krabinger 1:191
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Amid the shaggy Bacchants, bald Silenus alone stays sober and is Dionysus's tutor, honoured by Zeus.

### Greek text

παρὰ τῶν πιτύων κόμας δανείξονται.. Τούτους μὲν ἅπαντας εἶδεν ἀνασειομένους τε καὶ βρυάδοντας, “καὶ ἐν ἀκόσμοις σκιρτήμασιν, ὠς ἄν, οἶμαι, τῇ μέθῃ κα ἢ κρατημένυς, ὅτις ποτὲ ἱσιν ἐν τελεταῖς ( ἡ μέθη" πλὴν ἀλλ᾽ ἐοίκασιν εἰς τὸ πλημμελὲς ὑπενηνέχθαι τῇς φύσεω:. Σειληνῷ δὲ κακεῖ καθέδρα καὶ σκύτος “) ἱεὶ, καὶ τοῦ “]ιονύσου παιδαγωγὸς ἀποδέδεικται" ἔδει γὰρ, οἶμαι, φαλαπρὸν ὄντα, νοὺν ἔχειν καὶ σωφρονεῖν ἐν τοσούτοις παρακινήσασι. αΐτοι μὴ μικρὸν οἰγθὴς ιθ9 ὑπὸ τῷ «“]Πὸς ἁπάντων αὐτὸν προτετιμῆσθαι δαιμόνων, παρεῖναι καὶ φρενοῦν αὐτῷ τὸ παιδάριον.

### English translation (Claude)

borrow tresses from the pines. All these he saw tossing their heads and swelling with frenzy, in disorderly leaps, as though, I suppose, overcome by drunkenness — whatever the drunkenness in the rites may be; at any rate they seem to have been carried away into nature's discord. But Silenus there too has a seat and a staff and has been appointed tutor of Dionysus; for he had, I think, being bald, to keep his wits and stay sober among so many in a frenzy. And do not think it a small thing that he has been honoured by Zeus above all daemons, to be present and bring his boy to his senses.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 191 (Krabinger 1:191; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/191).

## Krabinger p. 192

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-192
- Source: Krabinger 1:192
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Silenus restrains the young Dionysus's madness; wits and hair never dwell together, as Socrates knew.

### Greek text

μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ "“ καὶ γεύσασθαι τοῦ ξωροῦ, καὶ μα-Ὁ9 νῇναί ποτὲ φύσεως; ἱμέρῳ, καὶ προελθεὶν τὴν παρα- “φορὰν ἐς ὃ ταῖς, Βάκχαι; συνεξορχύσνυται" Ἀετρεῖ δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν μανίαν ὁ Σειλῃνὸ;, μὴ λάθῃ πολὺς ᾿πῤυεὶς ἐπὶ θάτερα, καὶ γένηται τῷ πατρὶ δυιανάγωγο:. ᾿λλὰ ταχὺ γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπανακτέον 3.), λαβόντας ἀποχρῶν τὸ τεκμήριον, αἷς ἐκεῖ φρένες, ὅθεν οἴχονται τρίχες" ἐκεῖ δὲ τρίχες, ὅθεν οἴχονται φρένε. Ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα καὶ Σωκράτης: ὁ Σωφρονίσκυ, μέτριος ἰς τάλλα γενόμενος, καὶ παρ᾽ ὀντινῦν οἰκείων ἐπαίνων φεισά-

### English translation (Claude)

For he lets him taste the neat wine, and sometimes rave from the desire of his nature, and carry the frenzy so far as to dance with the Bacchae; but Silenus measures out his madness, lest he be carried too far to one side before anyone notices and become hard for his father to bring back. But we must quickly return from there, having taken a sufficient proof: where there are wits, from there hairs depart; where there are hairs, from there wits depart. That is why Socrates, son of Sophroniscus, who was moderate in other things and more sparing of self-praise than anyone,

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 192 (Krabinger 1:192; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/192).

## Krabinger p. 193

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-193
- Source: Krabinger 1:193
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates prided himself on looking like Silenus; hair flourishes in thoughtless boyhood and departs as wisdom arrives with age.

### Greek text

μένος, ἐκ ἠδύνατο μὴ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι! τῇ ᾿ πρὸς ἑὸν Β Σειληνὸν ὁμοιότητι. Ἔν. τούτῳ γὰρ ἅπαν ἐνὴν, ὅσον ἰβύλετο, νῦ δοχεῖον αὐτῷ κατασκευάσασθαι τὴν κεφαλήν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὦιπερ ἄλλα πολλὰ τῇς γνώμης ΣΣὠκράτυς, καὶ ὅτοῦτο τοὺς ἠλιθίου; ἐλάνθανεν, ὅτι τῷ Σειληνῷ λίαν. ἑαυτὸν ἀπεσέμνυνεν. Τὸ δὲ δη παιδαρίοις" μὲν ἐπιπρέπειν τὴν ἄνθην τῇς κόμη, ἐν ᾧ τοῦ βίου μήπω φρονῦμεν, τοῦ δὲ γῴρως ἀποφοιτᾷν, καὶ μῇ περιμίνειν ἡλικίαν, ὅτις ἐπιδήλω; νῦν τε καὶ φρόνησιν ἐνοικίξει τῷ ἐώῳ, τί ἂν εἴποις, ἢ καταδικάδειν ἀλογίαν τῇς Φίσεω; τῶν τριχῶν; Εἰ δὲ κομᾷ τις καὶ γέρων" καὶ γὰρ 4“) ἀφραίνει τις γέρων, καὶ οὐχ ἅπαν. τες ἄνθρωποι δήπουθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπνυ φθάνυσι

### English translation (Claude)

could not help priding himself on his likeness to Silenus. For in this lay all he wished: to have made his head a receptacle for mind. But like many other things in Socrates' thinking, this too escaped the foolish: that he was very proud of being like Silenus. And that the bloom of hair befits little boys, at the time of life when we are not yet sensible, but departs in old age and does not wait for the age that plainly settles mind and wisdom in the living being — what would you say this is, but a verdict condemning the irrational nature of hair? If an old man too has long hair — well, an old man too is sometimes foolish, and surely not all people reach human

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Symp. 215a-b (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Socrates' likeness to Silenus: Plato, Symposium 215a–b; Xenophon, Symposium 4.19.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 193 (Krabinger 1:193; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/193).

## Krabinger p. 194

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-194
- Source: Krabinger 1:194
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Mind and hair displace each other; Synesius begins a Neoplatonic explanation: matter, the lowest and most manifold being, entwines itself about divine seeds.

### Greek text

Ἱ τελειότητα. τ χει μὲν, ἦν ἅτως, "ὡς μὴ περιμένειν ἀλληλα γὺν ιτενκαὶ κόμην, ἀλλ᾽, ὥπερ φωτὶ σκότος, ἐξίξασθαι,. ἹΗκιξητοῦσι δὲ τὴν αἰτίαν͵ ὁ λόγος ἀποῤῥντότερο.., «Πειρᾳδόμεθα δ᾽ ἦν ὅσον εἰς τὴν παροῦὅ σαν. χρείαν. ἐρμεῖ, λαβόντες, εὐαγῶι περιξεῖλαι τὸ ὅσον. Τὰ πρῶτα τῶν ὄντων ἀπλὰ" κατιοῦσα δὲ κα φύσις ποικίλλεται. Ἢ δὲ ὕλῃ τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἔσχατον " ταύτῃ. καὶ εἰ ποικιλώτατον. εν 1η, κἂν τι δέκοται θεῖον, Ὁ καὶ σπίρματα, περιπλέκεταί τε αὐτοῖς, καὶ πλείςη περὶ αὐτὰ γίνεται. Τάχα μὲν οὖν ὃ) ἔχει δεξιουμένη, τάχα δὲ διὰ. τὴν ᾿ἀναγκαίαν͵ ἀντίθεσιν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ συ- 'ἱψόδῳ κατισχύουσα τοῦ θείου," πρὶν τελειωθῆνάι τὴν μφασιν.᾿ λύναϊτο δ᾽ ἂν καὶ ἑκάτερον. Οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσιν, ὔἰπὲρ δοκοῦσι ἴ, μάχην οἱ, λόγοι. ᾿Αλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ "νῦν. περὶ! τούτων ἑεὶν, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα δι᾽ ἕτερα, δεικτέον " μέειε οὖν 

### English translation (Claude)

perfection. It is so, then, that mind and hair do not wait for each other, but give way to each other as darkness to light. For those who seek the cause, the account is rather secret; but let us try, taking as much as the present need requires, to cut away the rest reverently. The first of beings are simple; nature becomes manifold as it descends. Matter is the last of beings, and therefore also the most manifold; and if it receives something divine — seeds too — it entwines itself about them and gathers thickly around them, perhaps because it welcomes them, perhaps because, through the necessary opposition, it overpowers the divine at their first meeting, before its manifestation is complete. Both could be true; the accounts are not at war, as they seem. But since our subject now is not these things, and they must be shown for the sake of others, it is evident

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 194 (Krabinger 1:194; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/194).

## Krabinger p. 195

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-195
- Source: Krabinger 1:195
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: As grain sheds stalk and husk when the fruit ripens, so the head, the fruit in which mind dwells, sheds its hair.

### Greek text

ἐεὶν ἐπὶ τῶν. πρᾳγμάτων δ),. ὧς ἐν ἀτελεξέροις ἡ φύσις ἰσχύει, δυναμουμένοις. δὲ ὑπεξίραται. ᾿Αρ᾽ οὖν οὐχὶ Α καὶ τῶν καταβαλλομένων ἐν γῇ σπερμάτων οἱ. λόγοι θεῖόν εἰσιν, εἰ καὶ τοῦ θείου, τὰ ἔσχατον;, Τούτων διτέλος μὲν ὁ καρπὸς, ἀλλὰ πρὶν ὕκειν εἰς τοῦτο, θία τὴν πομπείαν. καὶ τὰ κάλλῃ τῇς φύσεω.. 'Ρίδαι, καλάμῃ, φλοιὸς, ἀθέρες, λέμματα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς λέμμασιν ἕτερα λέμματα" ὁ δὲ, καρπὸς ἀτελὴς ἔτι καὶ κρύφιος. Παραγενομένου δὲ αὔᾳ πάντα 1), καὶ ἀπεῤῥύῃ τὴς ὕλυι τὰ παίγνια. ᾿Ὡραϊσμοῦ γὰρ οὐ δεῖται τὸ τέλειον. Ἤδη δὲ τέλειος ᾽, ἐν ᾧ λόγος.ἰεὶν ἕτερος ιαπέρματηι, ᾿Επὶ τούτοις.) ᾿Ελευσὶς ἄγει, τὰ “Ιήμητρος ἀνακαλυπτύήριᾳ. Εἰ δὴ νοῦς τὸ θειότατόν ἐξι. τῶμ ἄνωθεν ἠκόντῳν Βὶ. Η, δὲ -, » » σπιρμάτων, ἑνοικίξεται δὲ κεφαλῇ, καὶ αὐτῇ ᾽ καρ- 1ὅ πὸς ἐξσιν ὁ ἕνυλος νοῦ, καθᾶάπερ ὁ πυρὸς ἐκείνου τοῦ λόγου, εἰωθὸς, κἡὶ φύσις ποιεῖ, Θαυματοποιεῖ περὶ

### English translation (Claude)

in actual things that nature is strong in what is less perfect, but withdraws from what is gaining power. Are not the principles of the seeds sown in the earth divine, even if the last of the divine? Their end is the fruit; but before it comes to that, see the pomp and the beauties of nature: roots, stalk, bark, awns, husks, and on the husks other husks; and the fruit is still imperfect and hidden. When it arrives, all these are dry, and the playthings of matter have flowed away; for what is perfect needs no adornment. And it is already perfect when there is in it another seminal principle. For this Eleusis celebrates Demeter's festival of unveiling. If, then, mind is the most divine of the seeds that come from above, and dwells in the head, and the head itself is the fruit — the mind in matter, as the wheat is the fruit of that principle — nature does what it is accustomed to do: it works wonders about

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 195 (Krabinger 1:195; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/195).

## Krabinger p. 196

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-196
- Source: Krabinger 1:196
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A bald head, its husk of hair winnowed away, is a ripe fruit and a temple of God where mind dwells.

### Greek text

τὴν, “παὶ τριχῶν αὐτὴν ἀγάλλει κάλλεσιν, ὥςπερ ἀθίρων τινῶν, ἢ λεμιμάτων, ἢ καὶ νὴ “]ἰα τῇς ἄν- 36, ἣν τοῖς φυτοῖς πρὸ τῶν ἀκροδρύων χαρίξεται. ᾿Αλλ' οὔτε ἀκρόδρυον ἐν φυτῷ ", τρὶν ἀπανθῆσαι" νοῦ! ἄε οὐκ ἄν καραγίνοιτο κεφαλῇ, πρὶν τελειωθεῖσαν ἀποσκυβαλίσαι τὰ περιττὰ, καθάπερ ὑπὸ πτύου, τοῦ χρόνου, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀἁποσκευάσασθαι τὴν φλυαρίαν τῆς φύσεως" ὃ ὥντε τοῦτ᾽ ἄν τις θεῖτο τεκμήριον τοῦ τέλειον ἡδη καρπὸν ἀποδεδεῖχθαι τὴν κεφαλήν. Ἣν ἂν ἀκριβῶς ἴδῃ: ἐκλελεμμένην, ἑκεῖ νόμιδε κατεσκηνωκέναι Ὁ) τὸν νοῦν, ἐκείνην ἡγοῦ τὴν κεφαλὴν νεὼν τοῦ θεοῦ. "Αγοιτ' ἂν οὖν ἐν δίκῃ μυστήρια κεφαλῆς ἀνακαλυπτήρια, διὰ μὲν τοὺς βεβήλους οὐτωσί πωςς καλού-

### English translation (Claude)

it, and adorns it with beauties of hair, as with awns or husks, or indeed with the flower that it gives to plants before the fruit. But there is no fruit on a plant before it has shed its flowers; and mind would not come to a head before the head, perfected, has winnowed off its superfluities by time as by a fan and cleared away all the frippery of nature. So one might take this as proof that the head has been shown to be already a perfect fruit. Whatever head you see neatly husked, consider that mind has taken up its dwelling there; regard that head as a temple of God. So mysteries of the head might justly be held, "unveilings," called so

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 196 (Krabinger 1:196; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/196).

## Krabinger p. 197

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-197
- Source: Krabinger 1:197
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Baldness is an initiation; Egyptian priests shave even their eyelashes, and the naturally bald man is akin to God.

### Greek text

μενα" οἱ σοφοὶ δ᾽ ἄν. εἰδεῖεν,".ὃτι νοῦ ταῦτα, ἐπιβατήρια" ὁ δὲ ἄρτι παραγγείλας. -εἰς ιφὰλαπρρὺ;, οὗτός ἔσιν ὁ νεοτελὴς, ὃ μεμυημένορ, τὰ «θεοφάνια ν᾽). 1. Ὠεπερῇ δὲ εἰσι " πυροὶ, καὶ ῥοιαὶ;, καὶ κάρυα "πονηρὰ καὶ ἐναποθνήσκοντα τοῖς: ἐλύτροις «καλ τοῖς, κελύφεσιν, οὔ- ( τὠς εἰσὶ καὶ κακαὶ κεφαλαὶ » τοῦ΄ θείου μὲν. ἅμοιροῦσαι, πολὺ “δὲ τὸ νεκρὸν 'περικεέμεναι. "Ἤδη “δὲ ἐγὼ κατενόησα. καὶ τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ θεραπευτὰς τοῦ, θείου μηδὲ τῶν ἐπίβλεφαριδίων ἀνεχομένηυφιτριχῶν" Ιθκαὶ ἦσαν μὲν ἰδεῖν γελοῖοιν σοφὸν δέ τι ἐνόουν, ἅτεκι ὄντες περιττοὶ καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι. Ταῖς γὰρ φύσεσι ταῖς. ἀϊδίοις καὶ οὐσιωμέναις δωῇ,, ἱταύταις οὐ χρεών ἕξι πελάδειν μετὰ ἀποθανόντων μερῶν. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ ἔυραῖος χειροποίητος ἐσιν εὐσεβὴς, ὁ᾽ φύσει φαλακρὸς. αὐτοφυῶς ὠκέΐϊωται τῷ θεῷ.: ήηποτε γὰρ καὶ τὸ θεῖον, εἰ αὐτὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐσιν, “Ἱλεων δὲ εἴη τῷ λόχῳ" πάνυ γὰρ ἀπ’ “ εὐσιβοῦ! διανοίας, εἰρήσεται. ᾿ ν΄ ἄν Η ῶ, ἢ ΗῚ. “Ὅσον μὲν οὖν ξεὶ ἢ τοῦ θείου τὸ ἱμὴ ὠδινόμενον, : τὶ ἂν τις περιεργάδοιτο, ἅπαξ γε. ἢ βουλόμενον ἐμ-Β

### English translation (Claude)

for the sake of the profane; but the wise would know that these are mind's rites of entrance, and the one who has just been enrolled among the bald is the newly perfected, initiated into the divine appearances. But just as there are bad grains of wheat, pomegranates and nuts, which die inside their husks and shells, so there are bad heads, which have no share in the divine but wear much that is dead about them. I have also observed that the servants of the divine in Egypt do not tolerate even the hairs on their eyelids. They were ridiculous to look at, but they had some wise thought, being remarkable men and Egyptians. For it is not right to approach natures that are eternal and whose very being is life with parts that are dead. If, then, the man shaved by hand is pious, the man bald by nature is naturally akin to God. For perhaps the divine itself is such — may it be gracious to the argument, for it will be said from an entirely pious mind. As for that part of the divine which is not shown, why should one meddle with it, since it wills once for all not to be manifest?

### Extrabiblical texts

- Herodotus, Hist. 2.37 (Herodotus, Histories): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Egyptian priests shaving all their body hair: Herodotus, Histories 2.37.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 197 (Krabinger 1:197; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/197).

## Krabinger p. 198

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-198
- Source: Krabinger 1:198
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The visible divine bodies are bald spheres, and the world-soul received the sphere, the most perfect shape, from its maker.

### Greek text

φανὲν εἶναις Ὕὸ δὲ ὁρώμενον ἅπαν ἀκριβεῖς εἰσὶ σφαὶϊραι, ἥλιος, σελήνῃ,. πάντες ἀξέρες, ἀπλανεῖς τε καὶ πλάφη τε, Εἰ δὲ ὃ). μείουγκαὶ μείδους "εἰσὶν; ἀλλ᾽ ὑμοιοσχήμονεί 'ἄπαντε: Τί. δ' ἀν σφαίραι. γένοιτο! -φαχακρότεὅρον; τί' δὲ θέσπεσεώτερον } “Ἱέγεται "δέ: τις καὶ ᾿λόγοι, ' ὅτι βούλεται μὲν αὶ ψυχὴ μιμεῖσθαι θεόνο. 'Ο. δέ ἐξιν᾽ ὁ τρίέοὶ θεδέ, ἡ 'τοῦ 'κοσμοῦ ψυχὴ, ὃν" ὁ. πατὴρ μὲν αὐτῆς, τοῦ δὲ σωμπτικθὺ κόσμου τδημιουργὸς ἐπειτήγαγε τῷ κόσμῳ, τέλεον αὐτὸν καὶ «ὅλον καὶ πᾶν ἐκ πάν-Ο Ἰθτῶν σπερμάτων τὲ καὶ σωμάτων. ἀπεργασάμενος, ἀπο-" υ" δοὺς διὰ 'τοῦτο καὶ σχῆμα" σχημάτων "τὸ περιεκτικώτατον. ᾿Εξτι δὲ τῶν. μὲν ᾿ἰσοπεριμέτρων μεῖδον ἀεὶ τὸ πολυγωνότερόν" τῶν δὲ πολυγώνων ἁπάντων κύκλοι ἐν. ἐπιπέδοιρ"" ἐν" δὲ τοῖῤ βάθοι ἔχουσι σφαῖρα, “Ἴσασιν οἱ γεωμεζβίαι αἱ πρευμάρίαι ἐπφβολὸν Ἂν Ἢ τε οὖν

### English translation (Claude)

But all of it that is seen consists of exact spheres: sun, moon, all the stars, fixed and wandering. And if they are smaller and greater, yet all have the same shape. What could be balder than a sphere? What more divine? There is also a teaching that the soul wishes to imitate God. The third god is the soul of the cosmos, which its father, the maker of the bodily cosmos, set over the cosmos, having made it perfect and whole and all, out of all seeds and bodies, and for this reason gave it the most comprehensive of shapes. Of figures with equal perimeter the one with more angles is always greater, and of all polygons the circle is greatest among plane figures, and among solids the sphere. Those versed in geometry know this. So the

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Tim. 33b-34b (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Timaeus 33b–34b (the cosmos made spherical as the most comprehensive figure). "The third god": the world-soul in the Neoplatonic triad.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 198 (Krabinger 1:198; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/198).

## Krabinger p. 199

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-199
- Source: Krabinger 1:199
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Individual souls imitate the world-soul by dwelling in heads, little spheres; a wise soul chooses a bald, perfectly spherical head.

### Greek text

ὅλῃ, Ψύχη 'σφαῖραν ὄντα τὸν ὅλον. κόσμον...) ψυχοῖ, αἷ. τε ἀπὸ «τῆς. ὅλὴὶ ῥυεῖσαι καὶ μὲρῃ γενόμεναι θέλουσιν.ἐκάφῃ)" τοῦθ΄..),) ὁπὲρ ιὴ πᾶσα. ψυχή, δισινεῖν σώ: ἢ ματα 'καὶ 'κόσμων “εἶναι. ψυχαὶ, δ' καὶ, σοῦ" μέῤισμκοῦ δ γέγονεν αὐταῖς αἴτιον. Οὕτως ἐδέγσε: τῇ" φύσεεισφαι! “ ρῶν μερικῶν. "ἄνω μὲν οὖν ἀτέρες᾽ κάτω δὲ κεφαλαὶ διιπλάσθθησαν, ἵν' εἶεν οἶκοι ψυχῶν, ἐν κόσμῳ κόσμοι ἔδει, γὰρ ὁ) οἶμαι, εἶναι τὸν κόσμοὶΛ ᾿ Σῶον μικροί " ἐκ -ξώων συγκείμενον. Ταΐ μὲν οὖν εὐηθικωτέραις. ψύ. Ιῦ χαὶς: οὐδὲν, δεαφέρει καὶ" εἰς' κομῇτιν' κεφαλὴν ἐναικίς σασθαι, ταρὰ πλεῖτον᾽ σύόδαν τῆς ἀκριβείας τόϊ σχής ματος" σοφὴ δε ψυχὴ πρὸς ἀξίὰν ἐκάτγ' τὴν ἑαυτῆς, οἱ αν ᾿ἄερον,. ἡ δὲ φάλάκραν. ἐνεϊμάτο, ν.}. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἔν φέσι, ᾿ἀσθενεὶ 'πρόγ: τελέαν' κά ἐϊερήβεμηὸ, «ἀλλὰ τήντ)ε “αὖ πόσο ὦ 

### English translation (Claude)

whole soul ensouls the whole cosmos, which is a sphere; and the souls that flowed from the whole and became parts each wish to do what the whole soul does — to move bodies and be the souls of worlds; and this was the cause of their division. So nature needed partial spheres: above, stars; below, heads were formed, so that they might be houses of souls, worlds within the world. For the cosmos had to be, I think, a living being composed of living beings. To simpler souls it makes no difference if they dwell even in a long-haired head, far from the exactness of the figure; but a wise soul chose, according to its worth, the … one, the bald one …

### Translation notes

- The last lines of the page are badly garbled in the OCR and left untranslated.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 199 (Krabinger 1:199; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/199).

## Krabinger p. 200

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-200
- Source: Krabinger 1:200
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The bald head, like the sphere of heaven, is a little world; Homer and Phidias gave Zeus long hair, but the visible god in heaven is a sphere.

### Greek text

ἄνῳ "καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐπιφάνειαν ἡμῶν οὐκ ἀνέχεται μὰ οὐ κάσμον. εἶναι. τῷ. σχήματι... Ἡ φαλάκρα 'τοίνυν αἰ καὶ οὐρανὸς ἡμὶν ἀναπίφηνεν οὖὐσὰ, καὶ ὅσα τις ἂν εἴποι. σφαίρας. ἐγκώμια, αὐτὰ ταῦτα καὶ φαλάκραρ ὅ ἐγκώμια. διεξέρχεται... ΕΥΥ Πρὸς ταῦτα γραφέτω μὲν Ομῃηρος, πλαττέτω δὲ, εἰ. βούλεται, «καὶ Φειδίας ἀποδείξεις τῷ “Ζίωνι,. χαίτην τῷ “1 καθιέντες ἦ, καὶ ταύτην βαθείας τριχὸς, ἵν᾽ ἔχῃ Β κινεῖν «δ αὐτῶν ὀπότε θέλοι τὸν οὐρανόν. ᾽Ο "γὰρ ὁρώμενον ἐν οὐρανῷ Ζεύι,, ἅπαντες ἴσμεν οἷός ὃ) ἔσιν"," δὲ τις. ἔσει καὶ ἕτερος Ζεύς, οὐκ οἶδα μὲν,, εἴ τις «ἕξι Ἢ μετὰ σώματος ἕτερο.. ᾿Ἔτω δὲ, εἴ τις οἴεται. Πάντως οὖν ἢ πρῶτοι δ), ὃ', μετὰ τοῦτον. Οὐκοῦν εἰκών ἔσει παραδείγματος τούτου. ᾿᾿Οποτέρως δ᾽ ἂν ἔχῃ Ἴγ, τοιοῦ. τός ἐἔξιν,. ὁποῖος ὁ πᾶσι φαινόμενος, ὡς ἂν ἡ ταξις τῆς φύσεω;' χωρήσῃ ὃ τὴν ὑμοιότητα. ᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ ἐοίκασι ποιητική τε") καὶ πλαεικὴ, καὶ τὸ μιμητικὸν ἅπαν γὲ- " τ.", ΄. Ὁ. 

### English translation (Claude)

above, and does not allow our surface turned up toward heaven not to be a world in its shape. Baldness, then, has been shown to us to be a heaven as well, and whatever praises one might speak of a sphere, these same praises tell of baldness. Against this let Homer write, and let Phidias too, if he likes, sculpt proofs for Dio, letting a mane fall on Zeus, and that of thick hair, so that he can move heaven with it whenever he wishes. For the Zeus who is seen in heaven — we all know what he is like. Whether there is also another Zeus I do not know, whether there is another with a body; let it be so, if anyone thinks so. In any case he is either the first or comes after this one, and so is an image of this model. Whichever way it is, he is like the one who appears to all, so far as the order of nature admits the likeness. But poetry and sculpture and the whole imitative race seem

### Translation notes

- Phidias's Olympian Zeus was said to be modelled on Iliad 1.528–530.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 200 (Krabinger 1:200; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/200).

## Krabinger p. 201

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-201
- Source: Krabinger 1:201
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Poets and sculptors please popular opinion, which prizes externals like hair; telling the truth about the gods would have cost Homer dearly.

### Greek text

νος ὕκιεα μὲν εἶναι φιλάληθες᾽" δημαγωγικὸν 1}) δὲ᾽ ὡς μάλιτα, καὶ ποιεῖν ἅττα ποιεῖ, πρός δόξαν,Ο οὐ πρὸ, ἀλήθειαν. Τίμιον δὲ ἀμαθέσιν ἡ κόμη, καὶ πᾶν τὸ περικείμενον ξέωθεν. δήμου δόξα τεθαύμακεν, ᾿αγροὺς, καὶ. ἀπήνα!, καὶ οἰκίας, καὶ συνοικίας ἦ, ὅσα μὴ τὴς φύσεως ἐξὶ τῶν ἐχόντων, αλλ', ὥπερ αἱ τρίχε,, ἀλλότριον" πόῤῥω γάρ εἰσι.) νοῦ καὶ θεοῦ, καὶ ἀντὶ νοῦ καὶ θεοῦ φύσις αὐτοὺς διοικεῖ καὶ τύχῃ. Ἔτι τοῦτο ἁλλοτριώτιρον. ΔΙακαρίξεται δ᾽ οὖν. ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων 10ὅσα τύχῃς δῶρα καὶ φύσεως. Ὅστις [δ] ᾽) οὖν δήμῳ γράφει καὶ δήμῳ λέγει, τοῦτον ἄνάγμν δηλαν εἶναι τῷ Ὁ δόξῃ, ἵν᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρεσκόντῳν αὐτῷ πλάττῃ καὶ δια... λέγηται. αὶ γὰρ ἀμαθεῖς ὄντες, ἰσχυρογνώμονές εἰσι καὶ χαλεποὶ προτάται τῶν ἀτόπων προλῤψιων, ὡς» ἂν τίς τι τῶν πατρίων παρακινῇ, Ἰαχὺ πιεῖται ᾽ τὸ πάλνειον, Τί δ' ἂν οὖν δοκεῖς Ομηρον ὑπὸ τῶν ᾿Ἑλλῃηνῶν παθεῖν, αὐτὰ τάληθῇ περὶ τοῦ “1ιὸς εἰπόνεα «καὶ μηδὲν τοιοῦτο τερατευσάμενον, ᾧ τὰ παιδάρια παταπλύήττεται;; ων, ͵ χ

### English translation (Claude)

to be least of all lovers of truth and most of all crowd-pleasers, making whatever they make for opinion, not for truth. Hair is precious to the ignorant, and so is everything that lies about us from outside, which popular opinion admires — fields, carriages, houses, rented blocks — things that do not belong to the nature of their owners but, like hairs, are alien; for they are far from mind and God, and instead of mind and God, nature and fortune govern them; and fortune is more alien still. The gifts of fortune and nature, then, are counted blessed by the foolish. So whoever writes for the people and speaks to the people must be a slave to opinion, so that he moulds his images and speaks from what pleases it. For being ignorant they are obstinate and harsh champions of their absurd preconceptions, so that if anyone disturbs any of the ancestral things, he quickly drinks the hemlock. What then do you think Homer would have suffered at the hands of the Greeks, had he told the very truth about Zeus and invented nothing of the kind that awes little children?

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 201 (Krabinger 1:201; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/201).

## Krabinger p. 202

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-202
- Source: Krabinger 1:202
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Egyptian priests show the people animal-headed images but keep the true images of the gods, spheres, hidden in sacred caskets.

### Greek text

“2 ΓΙ ὁ γπν ν1} Ὡς “ν᾽, ν᾿.. "1... ΣΡ αν ΡΤ ψ. ᾿Αἰγύπτιοι "δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ν σοφοὶ, χα υἵΓ τὰ 'προ- γ: φητινᾶ ἂ" γίνη βαναύσοις ᾿ μὲ 'λαὶ χειρώναξιν οὐκ ἐπὶ: τ ἡἐπουσὶ Ὦ δὴαιουργεϊν»" εἶδ θεῶν, ἐν α εὐ τὶ τοιοῦτο Ἵ παρανομήσώσιν ἀλλα' ΩΣ ΠῚ ῥαάμφεσὶ 4} τῶν ᾿ἰἐράὃ κων τε 'κἀὶ τῶν᾽ ἴβεων! ἃ᾿ τὸν; κρδτὲμεν δι άσιν" ἐγκοχάπτὸυσι γ κἀτμιωκῶντοι ἰοῦ δύμου: αὐτοὶ" δὲ ματαδύντες δ ὰ ἯΙ Γ ᾿ἱεροὺς χρραμιόὺὶ κὰν ἀνε' "ἂν ᾿ἀπεργάσων: ἑαι.Ἡ περιείλλουσὶ" καὶ! “ἕςιν' "αύτοῖς κωμαφήρια 5γ} τὰ κἰβωτιά᾽ κρύπτοντα;; φὰσὶ, ᾿ταύτας νάϊ σφαΐϊρας, ἂς ὁ [ΠῚ "4 δῆιλον," ἐὰν ἴδῃ, ᾿χαλεπανεὶ" τὸ δὲ βάτον ἌΝ κατὰ γελάτ ἀξ ἀμηδεϊἐξὴι γὰρ᾽ εἰῤαμῖας. Πῶς “, οὐ ἀνα Ὲ δ: εὍ! "1 : 1.5..." ΠΟΤ Ως» ᾿ εἶ “τ εἰ 

### English translation (Claude)

The Egyptians are wise in this too: they do not allow common workmen and craftsmen to fashion the images of the gods, lest they transgress in some such way; but they carve beaks of hawks and ibises … mocking the people, while they themselves, going down into the sacred chambers, carry round … and they have processional caskets which hide, they say, these spheres, at which the people, if it saw them, would be angry, and the … would laugh …

### Translation notes

- The OCR of this page is badly garbled; only the general sense can be given, and gaps are marked.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 202 (Krabinger 1:202; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/202).

## Krabinger p. 203

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-203
- Source: Krabinger 1:203
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The Egyptians show Asclepius bald, the Greeks long-haired; truer images of the gods come from Egypt, whose priests even converse with them.

### Greek text

μὸς γε ὦν; “)ιὸ τεθεῖσθαι πᾶσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀνδριάσι τὰ ῥάμφη "τῶν ἵβεων" ἕνα δὲ, ὃν οὐ κρύπτουσιν. ἀλλ᾽ ἀναδεικνύδυσι, τὸν ᾿Ασκληπιὸν, τοῦτον ἂν ἴδοις ὑπέρου "πολὺ φαλακρότερον. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οὗτος ἐν ᾿Επιδαύὅρῳ κομᾷ " Ἕλλησι γὰρ ἀταλαίπωρο; τῇ ἀληθείας" ἡ δήτησις, ὧς ἐν δίκῃ τὸ γίνος ὁ συγγραφεὺς ἐλοι: δόρησεν. " Αἰγύπτιοι. δὲ καὶ: ὁρῶσιν αὐτὸν ὁσημέραι καὶ τὴν διὰ λόγων συγγίνονται, οὐχ ᾿οὗ τὴν ἑξίαν' ἔχει μόνόν, οὐδ᾽ ὡς ἀν αὐτὸς, καὶ ὅσα προέληται: ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐγὼ γάρ ἀκούω λεγόντων, ὦ; ἀνὴρ Αἰγύπτιος τέχνην Ο' ἐπὶ τοὺς θεούξ᾽ ἔχει, 'καί τινας ἴυγγας δ" ᾿τ᾿ώςθ᾽, ὅταν ᾿ἐθέλοι, μικρὸν ὑποβαρβαρίσα: ἅπαν ἐἴλκυσεν ὅσον ἐξὶ τοῦ θείου τὸ πεφυκὸς ὑλκαὶς τισὶν: ἔεσθαι. ᾿ Παρὰ τούτων οὖν, "οὐ παρ᾽ ᾿Ελλήνων" χηπτίον “τοῦ ᾿θείου τὰς ἀληθεεέρας" ἐἰκόνα,.. Ἑαίτοιγε ἀπόχρη, τὸ σμι ὁ κρῷ πρότερον" εἰρημένον, τὸν ἥλιον ἰδόντι. καὶ τοὺς ἀςέρας μηδὲν ΚΡΟΈΡΕΡΥ ἐδεύθοις Εἰ δὲ τις ἔξει καὶ.

### English translation (Claude)

since it is a crowd. That is why the beaks of ibises are set on all the statues. But one god whom they do not hide but display, Asclepius — him you would see much balder than a pestle. Yet at Epidaurus he has long hair; for among the Greeks the search for truth is careless, as the historian rightly reproached the race. The Egyptians see him every day and converse with him by speech, not only in the form he has, nor only as he himself chooses. For I hear people say that an Egyptian has an art directed at the gods, and certain charms, so that whenever he wishes, with a little barbarous muttering, he draws down whatever of the divine is by nature drawn by spells. From these, then, not from the Greeks, must the truer images of the divine be sought. And yet what was said a little earlier is enough for one who has looked at the sun and the stars … If there is also

### Extrabiblical texts

- Thucydides, 1.20.3 (Thucydides, History): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "The search for truth is careless": Thucydides 1.20.3.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 203 (Krabinger 1:203; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/203).

## Krabinger p. 204

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-204
- Source: Krabinger 1:204
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Comets, "long-haired stars," are not true stars but short-lived flares below the moon; true stars are perfect spheres.

### Greek text

κομήτης ἀτήρ᾽ ἴδσι μὲν οὐδε" χώρα γὰρ ἀξέρων τὸ κύκλῳ σῶμα κινούμενον, περὶ ἣν οὐδὲν οὐδέποτε Ὁ) νεώτερον. γίνεται" ὁ δὲ ὑπὸ σελήνην τόπος,’ αὐτὰ τὰ - μεθόρια τῇς γενέσεως, οὗτος ἴσχει τὰ ὑπεκκαύματα, δ ψευδωνύμου, ἀςέρας,. τῷ μὲν ἐξθε. ὑποκεῖσθαι συγκινουμένου;, τῷ δὲ μὴ τὴς αὐτῇς φύσεως εἶναι. πλημλεξε λῶς κινουμένους.. ᾿Ηκὲ τις ἐπὶ τὸ της, ἰσημερίας. ση- ᾿ς μεῖον ἀπὸ ποῦ θυτηρίου. κἀκεῖθεν ἡξει παραφερόμενος ἐπὶ τὸν πόλον τὸν βόρειον, ἄν μὴ φθάσῃ προαπολόμενοι. Τούτων γὰρ ὄψει τινὰ πολυμλιήκῃ,..: καὶ τήμερον μὲν, ἂν. τύχῃ, δωδίου. μῆκος. ἐπέχοντα" εἰς τρίτην δὲ. οὐδὲ -τριτημόριον" ιἱς δεκάτην -δὲ καὶ εἰς «τριακοτὴν καλῶς ποιῶν οἴχεται, κατὰ σμικρὸν. ἀπεσβηκὼς καὶ: οὐδεὶς, γενόμενος οὐδαμοῦ, Τούτους ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐδ᾽ ὅσιόν. ἐειν᾽ ἀξέρας καλεῖν... Εἰ, δὲ σὺ βούλες,, 3». οὐκοῦν τοσοὐτὸν ἐξιν αὶ κόμῃ κακὸν, ὦρτε καλεὶν

### English translation (Claude)

a long-haired star, a comet — I know of none. For the region of the stars is the body moving in a circle, about which nothing new ever happens; it is the region below the moon, the very borderland of coming-to-be, that holds the flare-ups, falsely called stars, which move along with the heaven because they lie beneath the aether, but move irregularly because they are not of the same nature. One comes from the Altar to the equinoctial point, and from there will be carried toward the north pole, unless it perishes first. You will see some of them very long, today perhaps stretching the length of a zodiac sign, on the third day not a third of that, and by the tenth or thirtieth it is gone — and good riddance — gradually quenched and turned into nothing anywhere. These I think it is not even holy to call stars. But if you wish to, then hair is so great an evil that to call

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 204 (Krabinger 1:204; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/204).

## Krabinger p. 205

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-205
- Source: Krabinger 1:205
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Comets portend disaster and perish; true stars never perish and are spheres, so the bald are the most godlike of men.

### Greek text

καὶ ἐν ἄτρῳ' θνητὸν εἶδος ἐργάξεσθαι ". Καὶ φανέντε! δὲ, τίρας εἰσὶ πονηρὸν, οὖς οἱ τερατοσκύποι καὶ οἱ μάντεις ἐκθύονται. «““ημοσιωτάτας γέ τοι μαντεύουσι συμφοράς, ἐθνῶν ἀνδραποδισμοῦ!, πόλεων ἀναἡ;άσει;, βασιλίων ὀλέθρους, μικρὸν οὐξὶν, οὐξὶ μέτριον, ἀλλὰ πάντα πέρα δεινῶν. Οὐ μὲν πως ἀπόλωλεν ἀπευθής ἐκ “]ὸς ἀτὴρ, Ἔξ οὐ καὶ γενεῦῆθεν ἀκούομεν. “Οκτις οὖν ἀπόλωλεν, οὐκ ἔξιν ἀεήρ, ἀλλὰ πάντα σφαιρικὰ τὰ μακάρια σώματα. Ἐμοὶ δὴ καὶ τοῖς ἑμοῖρ παρείη τουτὶ τἀγαθὸν, ὃ με ποιεῖ τοὶς θεοῖς παραπλήσιον" οὐ γὰρ ἕτεροϊ τινές εἰσιν ἀντὶ τῶν οὕτως ἐχόντῶν ἀντίθεοι, οὐδ᾽ οὖς μᾶλλον προφήκει θεοειδέας καὶ θεοεικέλους καλεὶν, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα τὰ τοῦ θείου κάλλους ὀνόματα. Καὶ οὐχ οὕτω μὲν ἀξιον,

### English translation (Claude)

something long-haired even in a star makes it a mortal kind. And when they appear they are an evil portent, which the portent-watchers and seers try to avert by sacrifice. They foretell the most public misfortunes: the enslavement of nations, the devastation of cities, the destruction of kings — nothing small, nothing moderate, but everything beyond terrible. "Never yet has a star from Zeus perished unnoticed, since we have heard from our birth." Whatever has perished, then, is not a star; but all the blessed bodies are spherical. May this good be mine and my family's, which makes me like the gods; for there are no others who are godlike rather than those so endowed, none whom it more befits to call god-shaped and god-resembling, with all the other names of divine beauty. And it is not that this is merely fitting

### Extrabiblical texts

- Aratus, Phaen. 259-260 (Aratus, Phaenomena): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The quotation is Aratus, Phaenomena 259–260.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 205 (Krabinger 1:205; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/205).

## Krabinger p. 206

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-206
- Source: Krabinger 1:206
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The bald are called "little moons"; the fully bald are suns; Homer's suitors mocked the bald Odysseus, who would kill them all.

### Greek text

ἑτέρως δὲ γίνεται" ἀλλ᾽ ἀκούσαις ἂν ὑποκοριδομένων καὶ ἄντικρυς σελήνια καλούντων τοὺς φαλακρούς. Γ᾿ Ἀκαὶ μικροῦ με παρῆλθεν ᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο τὸ χάντων εἰπεῖν οἰκειότατον, ἡ σελήνη καὶ τῆς σελήνῃς αἱ φαἤσεις, αἱς φαλακρῶν παῖδες ὁμώνυμοι καὶ ὁμοιοσχήμόνε. Βαὶ γὰρ ἄρχεται μηνοειδὴς Ὗ ἡ φιλτάτη, καὶ διχόμηνο; γίνεται, καὶ πάλιν ἀμφίκυρτο;" τελευτῶσα δὲ 7δη πανσέληνοι. Ἰζαίΐτοι τοὺς εἰς ἄκρον εὐτυχίας ἐληλακότας, αὐτοὺς λίγω τοὺς πανσελήνου;, ᾿θέμις ἤδη καὶ ἡλίους καλεῖν εἰ οὐκέτι δ) γὰρ ἐπανίασιν ἐπὶ τὰς Ὁ φάσεις, ἀλλὰ διατελοῦσιν ὁλοκλήρῳ “ἢ τῷ κύκλῳ τοῖς κατ᾽ οὐρανὸν ἀντιλάμποντε,, ὥιπερ ἀμέλει τὸν δυσσέα Ἶ παίδουσιν οἱ μινηφῆρες, μειράκια κομῶντα καὶ διαῤῥέοντα, καὶ ταχὺ λιάλα κακῶς ἀπολούμενα, πλεῖον Ιδέκατόν, ὑφ᾽ ἐνὸς ἅπαντα φαλαπροῦ, ὃν τέως λαμιπαδηκότιον ὄντα καὶς φῶς ἅπτοντα χειροποίητον, νουθὲτοῦσιν ἀπηλλάχθαι πραγμάτων, ὡς ἀρκούσῃης τῇς κε

### English translation (Claude)

and the practice otherwise: you may hear people calling the bald, endearingly and outright, "little moons." And I nearly passed over the very thing most fitting of all to say: the moon and the moon's phases, with which the sons of the bald share both name and shape. For the dearest one begins as a crescent, becomes a half-moon, then gibbous, and at last full. And those who have reached the summit of good fortune — I mean the "full moons" themselves — it is right to call suns, for they no longer return to the phases but go on shining back at the heavenly bodies with a whole circle. So of course the suitors mock Odysseus — long-haired, dissolute youths, soon to perish miserably, more than a hundred of them, all at the hands of one bald man — and while he was still a torch-bearer lighting a man-made light, they advise him to be rid of the work, since his head

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Od. 18.353-355 (Homer, Odyssey): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The suitors' jest that Odysseus's bald head gives light: Odyssey 18.353–355.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 206 (Krabinger 1:206; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/206).

## Krabinger p. 207

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/175/#p-207
- Source: Krabinger 1:207
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Light, which bald heads give off, is akin to the gods; hair belongs with shade and darkness, as Archilochus's line on hair as a shade shows.

### Greek text

φαλὴής περιλάμψαι τὴμ ὅλην οἰκίαν. ' Οὐκοῦν αὐτὸ τοῦτο. καὶ τὸ θειότατόν ἐσιν, ὃ “καὶ τοῖς θεοὶς οὐκ ἔξσιν ἐμφε- Ὁ ρὲς, ἀλλ' ἤδη καὶ συγγενὲς,. φῶς ἔχειν. τε καὶ ποιεῖν. Τούτου μὲν οὖν, τὴς σιλπνότητος, ἡ λειότῃ; αἰτία. "Ετι 5δὲ οὐδὲν: ἕτερον ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ λειότης ᾽); ἢ) παντελὴς. ἀπουσία τριχῶν". ἅμα γάρ τις ἀναχωρεὶ τῶν χειρόνων, καὶ πρόςφεισι τοῖς βελτίοσιν, ὥςπερ ἐλέγομεν ἀντίθεσιν εἶναι τῷ νεκρῷ πρὸς ξωήν" ξδωὴ δὲ, καὶ φῶς, καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα τῆς ἀγαθῇ; συτοιχίας.Ὦ) ἔξι τε καὶ νομιίδεται.. Εἰ δὴ ψιλότητι προιήκει τὸ φῶς, σκότῳ πρέπειν ἡγητέον ἐὴν κόμην" τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ εὖλογόν ἐξιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παντάπασιν ἀναγκαῖον. Ἴσωε; δὲ' καὶ πειθώ τινα᾿ δεῖ προαγαγεῖν τῷ λόγῳ, μὴ μένοντας ἐπὶ τοὺ βιαίου ᾽ τῆς ἀποδείξεω:. Οὐκε ν ἅπαντες οἴονταί τε καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτοφυὲς εἶναι σκιάδειον τὴν κόμην" καὶ ὁ κάλλιτος ποιητῶν ᾿Αρχίλοχος ᾽ὦ) ἐπαινέσαι αὐτὴν, ἐπαινεὶ μὲν οὖσαν ἐν ἱταίρας σώματι, λέγει δὲ οὕτως"... Ξ-- -ὩΡ τα -ῷ καὶ δὲ οἱ κόμῃ 420 ᾿ "μους κατίσκιαδε καὶ μετάφρενα.

### English translation (Claude)

was enough to light up the whole house. So this very thing is the most divine, which is not only like the gods but even akin to them: to have light and to make it. The cause of this brightness is smoothness, and smoothness in the head is nothing else than the complete absence of hair. For one at the same time withdraws from the worse and draws near the better, just as we said there is an opposition between the dead and life; and life and light and all such things are, and are reckoned, in the column of the good. If, then, light belongs to bareness, hair must be thought fitting to darkness; and this is not merely reasonable but altogether necessary. Perhaps, too, we should bring some persuasion to the argument and not rest on the compulsion of demonstration. Do not all people think and say that hair is a natural sunshade? And Archilochus, the finest of poets, wishing to praise it, praises it on the body of a courtesan, and speaks thus: "and her hair shaded her shoulders and back."

### Extrabiblical texts

- Archilochus, fr. 31 (Archilochus): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Archilochus, fragment 31 (West).
- The "column of the good": the Pythagorean table of opposites.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 207 (Krabinger 1:207; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/207).

## Krabinger p. 208

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-208
- Source: Krabinger 1:208
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Shade is darkness, as night and thick forests show; baldness belongs to the bright gods, and it is also healthy.

### Greek text

Σκιά δὲ οὐδὲν ἕτερόν ἔτιν, καὶ σκότος" ἑκατέρῳ γὰρ, τῶν ὀνομάτων φωτὸς; ἀπουσία σημαίνεται. ᾿Εγγυτέρω αὶ δὲ προμοῦσι καὶ ἀἁπτομένοις τοῦ πράγματοι, ἴδοι τις ἂν καὶ τὴν νύκτα τὴν 3.) μεγίτην οὖσαν σκιὰν, ἀντιφραττούσῃ: ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τῇς γῆ. ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ μεθ᾽ ὑμέ-. ραν αἱ συνῃηρεφεὶς ὅλαι φωτὸς, ἀμοιροῦσι τῷ λίαν εἶναι κατάσκιοι καὶ κατάκομοι. - Ταντὶ ) μὲν οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ θεῖον εἶναι χρῆμα τοῦτο, καὶ τοὶ φανοτάτομ “) ἀνακεῖσθαι τῶν ἐν αἰθέρι θεῶν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑγίεια καλόν" τὸ κάλλιστον μὲν οὖν Ἷ τῶν καλῶν᾽ διά ταύτην ἐγὼ πολλὺς κομήτας ἐπὶ τὸ ξυρὸν ἢ)

### English translation (Claude)

Shade is nothing other than darkness: each name signifies the absence of light. And for those who come closer and grasp the matter, one may see that night too is the greatest shadow, the earth screening off the rays. Even by day, thickly roofed forests have no share in light, from being too shady and too leafy-haired. So much, then, for this thing's being divine and dedicated to the brightest of the gods in the aether. And if health too is a fine thing — rather the finest of fine things — because of it I see many long-haired men taking refuge in the razor

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 208 (Krabinger 1:208; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/208).

## Krabinger p. 209

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-209
- Source: Krabinger 1:209
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Physicians remove hair to cure diseases of the head and body, since the head governs the body's health; the bald are healthier.

### Greek text

ὁρῶ καὶ τὸν δρώπακα καταφεύγοντας,; ὡς ἅμα μὲν Ὁ φαλακρού,, ἅμα δὲ ἐξάντει; ἐσομένους τῆς νόσου.. ᾿Αλλ᾽ εἰ μὲν ὀφθαλμία, καὶ κόρυξα, καὶ βάρος ὦτων, καὶ τἄλλα πάντα Ἢ τὰ περὶ αὐτὴν ὄντα ι'πάθῃ τὴν κεδφαλὴν τῷ φορτίῳ τούτῳ συναπαλλάττεται, μέγα ἂν; εἴ) καὶ δ) τοῦτο" πολὺ δὲ μεῖξδον, εἰ καὶ ποσὶ καὶ σπλαγχνοις ἐλυσιτέλησεν. Οὔτοι μὲν οὖν εἰσὶν, οἱ ταῦτα δυευχεῖς, οἱ τοὺς καλουμένους κύκλους ὑπὸ τῶν ἰατρῶν ὑπομένειν ἀναγκαδόμενοι, ὧν ἀρχῇ, καὶ μέσα, καὶ τέλος ὁ δρώπαξ ἰεὶν, “ὃς.) ἀκριβέξερον σιδήρυ ταῖς θρι-." ξὶν ἐπεξέρχεται. αὶ γὰρ' εὐλογον «ἐξ ὑπερκειμένυ χωρίθ, καθάπερ ἐξ ἀκροπόλεως, ἀπὸ τῇς κεφαλὴν ᾽) ἐξηφθαι τῷ παντὶ σώματι τά τε τῶν νόσων καὶ τὰ τῇ! ὑγιείας πείσματα. Οὔκουν "» καὶ ὑγμίαι οὐκ ἴσον μέρος μετέχομεν, ἀλλὰ σὺν θεῷ φάναι τὸ πλέον. “16ἕειε δ᾽ ἂν αὐτὸ τοῦτο αἰνίττεσθαι καὶ τὰ. βρέτα. τὰ ᾿Ασκλυπίεια, καίτοι { ψιλὰ) τριχῶν Αἰγυπτιακῶ;

### English translation (Claude)

and the pitch-plaster, to be at once bald and rid of their disease. If eye-inflammation, catarrh, heaviness of the ears and all the other ailments of the head are got rid of together with this burden, that too would be a great thing; much greater if it also benefits feet and bowels. These unfortunates are the men who are compelled to undergo what physicians call "cycles," whose beginning, middle and end is the pitch-plaster, which pursues the hairs more thoroughly than iron. For it is reasonable that from a commanding position, as from an acropolis, the cables both of diseases and of health should be fastened from the head to the whole body. So we bald men do not have an equal share of health, but, with God's leave be it said, the larger. The statues of Asclepius, too, would seem to hint at this very thing, being bare of hair in the Egyptian manner

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 209 (Krabinger 1:209; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/209).

## Krabinger p. 210

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-210
- Source: Krabinger 1:210
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: A bare skull, hardened by sun and weather, resists disease, as Homer's mountain-grown, wind-nourished spears are the strongest.

### Greek text

διακείμενα. Εϊη γὰρ ἂν εἰς κοινὸν νουθεσία, καὶ παράγγελμα τῶν ἰν ἰατρικῇ τὸ ὑγιεινότατον, καὶ μονονουχὶ λέγειν ἔοικεν, ὡς δέτις ὑγιαίνειν ἐρᾷ, μιμείσθω τὸν ἰατρικῇ: εὑρετὴν καὶ προτάτην. Ἐΐληθεροῦν ᾽) γὰρὶΞ, ὅ πρανίον, καὶ πάσαις ταῖς ὥραις ἐκκείμενον, οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσαις, εἰ ταχέως ἀπεργασθείη σίδηρος ἀντ᾽ ὁξέου" οὕτω δὲ ἔχον, ἁπάσαις ἄν εἴη νόσοις δυρεμβολώτατον. αὶ ὥιπερ τῶν δοράτων τὰ μὲν ἔλεια καὶ τά πεδινὰ χείρω, τὰ δὲ ὄρεια κρείττω" τὴν δὲ αἰτίαν ᾿Ομή- Ιθρου πυνθάνου, καὶ ἀκούσῃ λέγοντος ἀνεμοτρεφῇ γάρ ἔξι καὶ γεγυμνασμένα. Μδὲ γὰρ Χείρωνα τὸν σοφὸν εἰπῇ νόμιξε τῷ Πηλεὶ τὸ δόρυ τεμεῖν, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν γειτόνων Τεμπῶν, οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ τινος; ὄρους ἡ φά-

### English translation (Claude)

as they are. It would be a public admonition and the healthiest of medical precepts, almost saying: whoever wishes to be healthy, let him imitate the inventor and patron of medicine. For a skull warmed by the sun and exposed to all the seasons — you would not wonder if it were quickly turned into iron instead of bone; and being so, it would be the hardest of access for all diseases. And just as among spears those from marshes and plains are worse, and those from mountains better — ask Homer the cause, and you will hear him say that they are "wind-nourished" and trained; for do not think that Chiron the wise cut the spear for Peleus from neighbouring Tempe, or from some mountain gorge

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 11.256 (Homer, Iliad): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "Wind-nourished": Iliad 11.256 and 15.625 (ἀνεμοτρεφής).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 210 (Krabinger 1:210; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/210).

## Krabinger p. 211

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-211
- Source: Krabinger 1:211
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The bare head is like hardy mountain timber, the hairy one like soft marsh wood; the battlefield of Cambyses and the Egyptians offers proof.

### Greek text

ραγγο!ς, οὐ λεῖα καὶ μήκιτα φύεται, ἀλλὰ. Πηλίου ἐκ κορυφῇ:, οὗ ταῖς ἐμβολαῖ; τῶν ἀνέμων" ἐξέκειτο, Ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα ξύλον ἀγαθὸν ἦν, ὃ γε καὶ τῇ. διαδοχῇ τοῦ γένους ἐξήρκεσεν" οὕτως ἔχει καὶ περὶ τούτω τὼ δπεφαλὰ, τὴν τε δασεῖαν καὶ τὴν ψιλήν.: Ἢ μὲν ἔλειός ἐξι" σκιατροφεῖται γάρ' ἡ δὲ ὄρειος" ἀνεῖται γὰρ ἅπασι πνεύμασι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο "αρξιρὰ ἢ μὲν αὕτη, ῥαδινὴ δὲ ἐκείνη. ᾿ς 13. ἜἜξεει δὲ ἢ πεῖραν τοῦ λόγου λαβεῖν ἐκεῖ γενομέ- 1θ0νοις, οὗ συνεῤῥάγῃ τὸ Ἐαμβύσου καὶ Ψαμμιτίχον τρατόπεδον, κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ᾿ἀραβίας εἰς Αἴγυπτον εἰβο- Ὦ λύν ᾽ τούτω ὅ γὰρ ἀλλήλων τότε πειρώμενοι, καὶ τὸν παρόντα καιρὸν ἑκάτεροι τῇ παντὸς εἶναι κρίσιν ἡγούμενοι, μόλις ποτὲ διελύθησαν" γενομένου δὲ ὅ) φό- Ἰόνου πολλοῦ, καὶ τοῦ πάθου; κρείττονος ὄντος, ἢ κατ᾽ ἀναίρεσιν τῶν νεκρῶν, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδὲν οἱ περιγενόμενοι τοὺς ἀποθανόντας ἐποίησαν" ἀναμὶξ δὲ ὄντας τ,

### English translation (Claude)

where smooth and very tall trees grow, but "from the peak of Pelion," where it was exposed to the onsets of the winds. That is why it was good wood, which even lasted through the succession of the family. So it is with these two heads, the hairy and the bare: the one is a marsh-grower, for it is reared in shade; the other is mountain-bred, for it is open to every wind; and for this reason the latter is strong, the former soft. 13. One can test the argument by going to the place where the armies of Cambyses and Psammetichus clashed at the invasion from Arabia into Egypt. For they tested each other then, each side thinking the moment the decision of everything, and were separated only with difficulty; and since there was great slaughter, and the disaster was too great for taking up the dead, the survivors did nothing else for the fallen; but, the dead lying mixed together

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 16.143-144 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "From the peak of Pelion": Iliad 16.143–144 (Achilles' spear). Herodotus (3.11–12) names the Egyptian king Psammenitus; Synesius writes Psammetichus.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 211 (Krabinger 1:211; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/211).

## Krabinger p. 212

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-212
- Source: Krabinger 1:212
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Herodotus found the Persian skulls thin from wearing caps and the Egyptian ones hard from going bareheaded in the sun.

### Greek text

ὡς ἕκατο; ἐξύγχανε -πεπτωκὼ; ἐπὶ παρατάξεως, ἀλλήλων ἡδιέκριναν “τπαὶ Ψψὺν εἰσὶ, δύο θημῶνες ὀξέων, ὁ μὲν.“γυπτίων, (ὁ δὲ. Μηδικῶν ὃ). Θαυμάδει τοίνυν ρόδο. τος. τἴσικει γὰρ (ὦ βέλτιςος. ἱμπεπελακέναι ταὶς κεἢ φαλαϊᾷ" τῶν μὲν τὴν ἰσχνότητα καὶ ἀσθένειαν " καὶ γάρ. ἂν ψύήφιδι, φησὶ, διατετραναίῃης βαλών" τῶν δὲ τὸ παχὺ καὶ τερέμνιον" ἀντίτυποι γὰρ ἀπήντων ᾽Ἶ αὐτῷ καὶ σκληραὶ, καὶ οὐδ᾽ ἂν ὅλῃ χερμὰς ἐπ᾿ αὐτὰς ἐξαρκέσειεν, ὥςτε κορύνῃ; ἂν δέοι. Αἰτίαν δέ γέ φασιν, ἐφ᾽ ἣν ἡμεῖς τὴν πεῖραν ἐκαλέσαμεν μάρτυρα, τῶν μὲν τοὺς πίλου;, τῶν δὲ τὴν ὑφ᾽ ἡλίῳ τροφήν. Εἰ δὲ χαχεπὸν μὲν ὁδὸν προελέσθαι διὰ τοσούτων ἐθνῶν ὑπερόριον, οὐχ ὅσιον δὲ οὐδὲ λίθῳ πατάξαι νεκροῦ κεφαλὴν, Ἡροδότῳ δὲ ἀπιςεῖς, οὐκοῦν οἰκέται κἀμοὶ

### English translation (Claude)

as each had happened to fall in the battle line, they sorted them from one another, and there are two heaps of bones, one of Egyptians, the other of Medes. Herodotus, then, marvels — for it seems the excellent man went close to the skulls — at the thinness and weakness of the one kind: you would pierce them, he says, by throwing a pebble; and at the thickness and hardness of the other: they met him resistant and hard, and not even a whole stone would suffice against them, so that one would need a club. The cause, they say — and for this we called the test as a witness — is in the one case the felt caps, in the other being reared under the sun. If it is hard to undertake a journey abroad through so many nations, and not holy to strike a dead man's head with a stone, and you do not trust Herodotus, then my servants

### Extrabiblical texts

- Herodotus, Hist. 3.12 (Herodotus, Histories): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Herodotus, Histories 3.12: the Persian skulls are thin, the Egyptian skulls, shaved from childhood and exposed to the sun, are hard.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 212 (Krabinger 1:212; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/212).

## Krabinger p. 213

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-213
- Source: Krabinger 1:213
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius's servants are a test of skulls; a bald showman in the theatre takes blows, boiling pitch and smashed jars on his head.

### Greek text

καὶ συχνοι ἄλλοις εἰσὶν ἐν ἄξει Σκύθαι. καὶ κυ. θεκῶν ἀνεικοτερ τας κόμα. Τούτοις ἄν τὶς ἐντείνγ" αὖνε δυλον ᾽Ὗ, ᾿ἀπολώλεκεν: Τὸν ἐν θεάτρῳ δὲ ἀνθρὼΣ πον, ὃς πολλὴν καὶ "καλὴν 'παρέχει τῴν δήμῳ" δίατρε 5. βὴν, ἔξει καθ' ἑκάστην ἱερομηνίαν τῷ καταλαβόντι θέᾳν ἢ θεᾶσθαι.. Οὗτος ἔξε 3}) μὲν "τῶν τέχνῃ φαλακρῶν: οὐ τῶν φύσει, βαδίξων᾽ ἐπευτά. κουρεῖα τῆς ἡμέρας πολλάκις -᾿πάρεισι δὲ᾽ εἰς τὸν. δῇμον: ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸς τοῦτος τῆς κεφαλὴς τὴν ῥώμην ἐπιδειξόμενος, ἡ "λἱγδέν τἔτε δεινὸν τῶν δεινῶν" ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς πίτταν ἀνὰξέου- θ! σαν παραβάλλεται, καὶ διακυρίττεται δεδιδαγμένῳ, κριῷ, πόῤῥωθεν εὖ μάλα τὸν πίτυλον κατασείοντι" ἐπιλεῖ-, πει δὲ τὰ ΔΙεγαρέων κεράμια, τῇ γενναίᾳ ταύτῃ ΄΄ ᾿ ΠῚ προςρκαταγνύμενα" τέμνεται. δὲ, καὶ κατατέμνεται, καὶ

### English translation (Claude)

and many others in the city are Scythians and wear their hair long in the Scythian way; anyone who strikes one of these has lost a slave. But the man in the theatre who provides the people with much fine entertainment — at every festival anyone who gets a seat can watch him. He is one of the bald by art, not by nature, going to the barbers' shops many times a day; and he comes before the people to show off the strength of his head itself, which suffers nothing from the most terrible things. He even exposes it to boiling pitch, and butts heads with a trained ram that brings its blow down very hard from a long way off; the Megarian jars give out, smashed against this noble head; it is cut and gashed, and

### Translation notes

- "Scythians": Gothic slaves.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 213 (Krabinger 1:213; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/213).

## Krabinger p. 214

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-214
- Source: Krabinger 1:214
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius could match the showman's feats, but his baldness is chiefly a safeguard: if he ever fell into poverty, it would earn him a living.

### Greek text

οὐδὲν ὃ τι οὐ τῶν τοῖς ὁρῶσι φρίκην. φερόντων, καὶ γε καὶ προιάλλονται. ) βλαύτῃ, ᾿άττικῇ, ἀκριβέτερον. Τοῦτον ἐγὼ τὸν ἄνδρα θεώμενος, τῇς ἢ) εὐτυχίας ἐμαυτὸν ἐμακάρισα. αὶ γὰρ κἂν ἐγὼ ταῦτα πάντα ᾿δυναίὅ μην" (ἀλλ᾽ οὗτος ἐμοῦ τῇ τόλμῃ περίεει " μᾶλλον δὲ τοῦτον μὲν εἰς τοῦτο τῇς ) τόλμῃς ἡ πενία προήγαγεν" ἐμοὶ δὲ τῇς πείρας οὔτε 3“) δεῖ, μύτε δέοι" ἀλλ᾽ ἕτερον αὐτοῦ τὸ παμμέγεθες ἀγαθὸν, ὃ τῶν εἰρημένων οὐδενὸς ἀπολείπεται. "Αν 'μὲν γὰρ ᾧ τῇς Πινδά- Ἰθρου τυγχάνειν εὐχῆς, καὶ δὴν ἔχωμεν ἀπὸ τῶν οἱκείων, ἐν καλῷ τοῦ θεάτρου καθιξησόμεθα, ἀκροα-

### English translation (Claude)

there is nothing that makes onlookers shudder which it does not undergo; and they even strike it hard with an Attic slipper. Watching this man, I counted myself blessed in my good fortune. For I too could do all these things — though he surpasses me in daring; or rather, poverty led him to such daring, while I neither need to make the trial nor, I hope, ever shall. But there is another very great good in it, inferior to none of those mentioned. If we obtain Pindar's prayer and have a living from our own, we shall take a good seat in the theatre as

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 214 (Krabinger 1:214; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/214).

## Krabinger p. 215

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-215
- Source: Krabinger 1:215
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hair weakens its wearer and so does not suit men; law and nature both show that long hair is not a mark of manhood.

### Greek text

ταὶ τῶν δεικνυμένων καὶ. θεαταί. ἄν «χορηγῆσαι δέῃ. τῇ πόλει, κἂν ἐπιδόσεις. ὁ δῆμος, αἰτῇ, χρησόμεθα μεγαλοπρεπῶς τοῖς ὑπάρχουσι. ’ τοῦ δαιμονίου δὲ ἀντιπνεύσαντο; καὶ τῶν ἀλφίτων. ἐπιλειπόνδιτων" ὃ μηδενὶ τῶν θείων ἀνδρῶν παραγένοιτο " τὸ. γοῦν ἔσχατον ἄπει τῶν κακῶν, ὁ λιμός, οἷς ἅπασιν ἕξεσι θαυματοποιοὶς εἶναι, καὶ μικρὸν ἀπερυθριάσασιν, ἐν τῷ λογείῳ ἀποδοῦναι 'καὶ σχεδιάσαι τέχνὴν θέας ἀδίαν. ΓὍςτις οὖν, ὥςπερ «“]ίων, οἴεται πρέπειν πολὺ μαλλον ἀνδράσιν κα γυναιξὶ τὴν κόμην, πῶς οὐ τοῖς οὖσι ἢ) καὶ τοῖς φανεροῖς τἀναντιώτατα διατάττεται; Ὃ γὰρ τοὺς ἔχοντας ἀσθενεςέρους ποιεῖ, πῶς εὐλογόν ἔτι τῇ τῶν ἰσχυόντων μιοίρᾳ προινέμειν; ᾿Αμέλει ἦ δὲ καὶ φύσει καὶ τ νόλιῳ διώριξαι "«νὁμῳ μὲν, εἰ αὐτε πᾶσι καλὸν ὁ) καὶ κό: μι) τοῖς ἄῤῥεσι, μὴτε πανταχοῦ, μήτ᾽ ἀεὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς.

### English translation (Claude)

hearers and spectators of what is shown; and if we must pay for a chorus for the city, or the people ask for contributions, we shall use our means magnificently. But if fortune blows contrary and the barley runs out — may that befall none of the divine men! — at least the worst of evils, hunger, will be absent for us, who can all be wonder-workers and, setting aside a little shame, go on the stage and improvise a novel kind of show. Whoever, then, like Dio, thinks long hair much more fitting for men than for women — how does he not order things in the way most contrary to what is and what is plain? For what makes its owners weaker, how is it reasonable to assign to the lot of the strong? Indeed it has been settled by both nature and law: by law, since long hair is not fine for all males, nor everywhere, nor always for the same people.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 215 (Krabinger 1:215; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/215).

## Krabinger p. 216

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-216
- Source: Krabinger 1:216
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Custom about men's hair varies, but women always cherish their hair and are never naturally bald; baldness belongs to men.

### Greek text

“ακεδαιμόνιοι 'γαριμετα΄. Θυρέαν, ᾿Αργεῖοι δὲ΄ πρὸ Θυ- ᾿ρέας. ὅ) ἐκόμησαν υυδυχνὰλ) δὲ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὔτε νῦν,, οὔτε πρότερον" γοναιξὶ. δὲ ἀεὶ. καὶ πάσαις "καὶ πανταχοῦ ἴ) καλὸν : ἱσπουδακέναι περὶ. τὴν ἐπιμίλειαν τῶν ὕ τριχῶν' οὐ γὰρ. ἔξιν., οὔτε γέγονεν, ὅτις ") ὑπέθηκε.. ξυρῷ τὴν κιφαλὴν, ὅτι “μὴ κατ᾽ ἀπαισιὸν τινα καὶ ἀποτρόπαιον συμφοράν᾽ εἰ δὴ τι καὶ τοιοῦτον ὁ χρόνος ἤνεγκεν ἢ ἰγὼ γὰρ οὔτε εἶδον, οὔτε ἤκουσα. ᾽Ομολογεὶ δὲ καὶ 1.) ἡ φύσις τῷ νόμῳ" γυνὴ μὲν γάρ. "Ὁ οὐδεμία τῶν ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀναδέδεικται φαλακρά" καὶ οὐκ ἐρεῖς ὡς οἱ κεκρύφαλοι κρύπτουσιν" αἱ γὰρ κωμῳδίαι καὶ διὰ τούτων ὁρῶσιν 1. εἰ δὲ τριχοῤῥυὴς τις ἐγέ: ψετο; 'νόσον τινά ταύτην νοσεὶ, καὶ δι᾽ ἐλαχίςῃ;ς ἐπιμελείας εἰς τὸ πεφυκὸς ἱπανέρχεται" ἀνδρῶν δὲ, οὺς

### English translation (Claude)

The Lacedaemonians wore their hair long after Thyrea, the Argives before Thyrea, and many of the nations neither now nor ever. But for women it is always fine — for all women, and everywhere — to be zealous in caring for their hair; for there is not, nor has there ever been, a woman who put her head under the razor, except in some ill-omened misfortune to be averted — if indeed time has ever brought such a thing, for I have neither seen nor heard of it. And nature agrees with law: no woman of all time has been shown to be bald; and you will not say that their hairnets hide it, for the comedies see even through those. If a woman's hair falls out, she has this as a disease, and with the slightest care she returns to her natural state. But of men — those

### Extrabiblical texts

- Herodotus, Hist. 1.82 (Herodotus, Histories): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The Spartans and Argives changed their hair customs after the battle of Thyrea: Herodotus, Histories 1.82.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 216 (Krabinger 1:216; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/216).

## Krabinger p. 217

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-217
- Source: Krabinger 1:217
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Baldness is nature's goal for men, to be helped by the razor; the Spartans combed their hair before Thermopylae, and all died.

### Greek text

καὶ. ἀξιὸν ἄνδρα, καλεῖν,, οὐ ῥᾷδιον εἰπεῖν, ὄξςτις οὐκ ἔφθασεν εἰς τοῦτο τῇς φύσεως, “1: αὐτὸ ἢ «γὰρ τοῦτο |) καὶ δοκεῖ. τέλος εἶναι, τῆς φύσεως, εἰ καὶ μὴ ᾽) πᾶσιν ἐπιτυγχάνεται., "Ὥϊπερ δὲ γεωργῶν παῖδες ἀπὸ τῇς ὁρμῆς δτῶν ὑγιαινόντων φυτῶν συνέντες ᾽.), ὡς εἰς ὀρθὸν, αἵρεσθαι βούλεταί τε καὶ πέφυκεν, ὅσα. μὴ πρὸς τοῦτο παρ᾽ ἑαυτῶν ἐξισχύει, κοντοῖς αὐτὰ καὶ χάραξιν ὑπερείδουσιν" οὕτως,. ἐπὲιδ) πεφύνασιν ἅπαντες, ὧν ἡ φύσις ἀρίτῃ,. παραπλυσίω; ἐμοὶ διακείμενοι, ξυρῷ 1θ0τοὺς οὐχ οὕτως ἔχοντας. ἐπανόρθιωτξου καὶ βοηθυτέον ἂν εἴη. τῇ φύσει. “ακεδαιμονίων μὲν οὖν ἀξιον ἀεμνῆσθαι, πρὸ τῇ Ὁ ἐν Θερμοπύλαις μάχης ἡσκηκότων τὰς τρίχας, ἣν δι᾽ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καλεὶ μεγάλην, ὅτι “ακεδαιμόνιοι πρὸ αὖ" τῇς ἐκτενίσαντο, ὧν οὐδεὶς ἐπὶ τῷ πονηρῷ τούτῳ ση- Μεὶῳ περιεγένετο, Λέγω δὲ, οὐκ ἀναμιμνήσκων τῶν. εἰρημένων, ὅτι τρίχες κἀν Ὦ τοῖς δῶσιν ἕξι νεκρὸν, ἀλλ᾽

### English translation (Claude)

whom it is even worth calling men — it is not easy to name one who has not reached this point in his nature. For this very thing seems to be the goal of nature, even if not everyone attains it. Just as farmers' sons, perceiving from the growth of healthy plants that a plant wishes and is made to rise upright, prop up with poles and stakes those that are not strong enough to do so by themselves, so, since all whose nature is best are disposed like me, those who are not must be set right with the razor and nature must be helped. The Lacedaemonians, then, are worth remembering, who dressed their hair before the battle at Thermopylae — which he calls great for this very reason, that the Lacedaemonians combed their hair before it; and not one of them survived that evil omen. I say this not recalling what was said before, that hairs are something dead even in the living, but

### Extrabiblical texts

- Herodotus, Hist. 7.208-209 (Herodotus, Histories): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The Spartans combing their hair before Thermopylae: Herodotus, Histories 7.208–209.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 217 (Krabinger 1:217; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/217).

## Krabinger p. 218

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-218
- Source: Krabinger 1:218
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hair even grows on corpses; Dio cites the doomed Spartans but forgets Alexander's men, who shaved before winning at Arbela.

### Greek text

ὅτι τεθνεώτων αὐξουσι" τοῦτο γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ θεραπευτῶν εἰς πάντας διατεθρύληται, καὶ τις ἐν χρῷ κουρίας ἀποθανὼν, εἰς νέωτα κόμην καὶ πώωγωνα βαθὺν ἤνεγκε. Τούτους μὲν οὖν εἵλκυσεν εἰς τὸν λόγον, οἵ κάλλιςα. τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀπέθανον" τῶν δὲ τὰ ' καλλίτας τε καὶ μεγίτας ὁ νίκας ἀνῃρημένων, καὶ τιμκωρησαμένων ὑπὲρ τε τούτων αὐτῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος ὅ) τὸν βάρβαρον ἑκὼν ἐπιλανθάνεται. Μίγω δὲ Μακεδόνας τε καὶ τοὺς ᾿Αλεξάνδρῳ συναναβάν- 10τα, Ἕλληνα, ὧν." οὐκ ἐγίνοντο μόνοι Πακεδαιμόνιοι- Οὗτοι πρὸ τῇς ἐν ᾿Αρβύήλοις ἢ μάχῃ, ὃν δικαιότερον ἄν τις μεγάλην προιαγορεύσειε, πείρᾳ μαθόντες ὅτι πονῃηρὸν τρατιῶταις αἱ τρίχες ὅ, πανδημεὶ ξυράμενοι, μετὰ θεοῦ καὶ τύχης καὶ ἀρετῇς εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ὅλων ἀγῶνα ( 1ὕ συνέστησαν. ᾿Επράχθη δὲ ἀπὸ τοιαύτη! αἰτίας ἡ διαβολὴ τῶν τριχῶν, ὡς ὁ τοῦ “άγου Πτολεμαῖος ξυνέγραψεν, ὃς, ὅτι μὲν παρὴν τοῖς δρωμένοις, ἠπίξατο"

### English translation (Claude)

that they grow on the dead. This is spread abroad to everyone by the embalmers in Egypt, and a man who died close-cropped had by the next year produced a head of hair and a deep beard. These men, then, who died most nobly of the Greeks, he dragged into his speech; but those who won the finest and greatest victories and took vengeance on the barbarian for these same men and for the rest of Greece, he willingly forgets. I mean the Macedonians and the Greeks who went up with Alexander — among whom the Lacedaemonians alone were missing. Before the battle at Arbela, which one might more justly call great, these men, having learned by experience that hair is bad for soldiers, shaved in a body and, with God and fortune and valour, joined in the contest for everything. The discrediting of hair came about from the following cause, as Ptolemy son of Lagus wrote, who knew it because he was present at the events;

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 218 (Krabinger 1:218; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/218).

## Krabinger p. 219

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-219
- Source: Krabinger 1:219
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Ptolemy's story: a Persian seized a long-haired Macedonian by the hair and killed him, and soon the Persians were routing every long-haired soldier.

### Greek text

ὅτι δὲ βασιλεὺς ἦν, ὁπηνίκα συνέγραψεν, οὐκ ἐψεύδετο.. ΐ ᾿Ανὴρ Μακεδὼν κόμην τε ἀνεικὼς εἰς τὸ πε-᾿ ριττὸν καὶ γένειον βαθὺ καθεικὼ; ἐπ᾿ ἄνδρα Πίρσην 5ἰφέρετο" συμφρονήσας δὲ “) ὁ Πέρσης, καίπερ ὧν ἷν δεινῷ, γέῤῥον μὲν ἐκεῖνο ὁ) καὶ ξυςὸν ἀφίησι τῶν χειρῶν, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανὰ ταῦτα τῷ Μῖακεδόνι" ἄττει δὲ ὁμόσε, Ὦ καὶ φθάσαι, εἴσω τῶν τοῦ πολεμίου ὅπλων γενέσθαι, λαμβάνεται τοῦ πώγωνος καὶ τῇς κόμης, κάθ' οὕτω καταβάλλει τρατιώτην ἄμαχον, τριχὶ δίκην ἰχθύος ἐφελκυσάμενος" πεσόντα δὲ ἤδη κατακαΐνει, τὸν ἀκινάκην σπασάμενο,. Εἶδε δή δ) τις καὶ ἕτερος Πέρσης," καὶ μάλα ἄλλος καὶ ἄλλος, καὶ ταχὺ μὲν ἅπαντες ἦσαν ῥιψάσπιδε;, ταχὺ δὲ ἄλλος ἄλλον κομήτην ἀπολαβόντες, ἀνὰ τὸ πεδίον ἐδίωκον" παρύει γὰρ ὥςπερ σύνθημα διὰ τοῦ Πιρσικοῦ «ρατεύματος, ὅτι ἄνδρες οὗτοι θριἔξὶν ἁἀλώσιμοι. Μόνον οὖν, ὡς εἰκὸς, ὅσον φαλακρὸν ἦν τῇ: ᾿Αλεξάνδρου φάλαγγοι!, συντεταγμένον διέμεινεν. ᾽Εν τούτῳ δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀπορίᾳ συνείχετο, γυλινοῖς ἐξιςάμενος οἷς ὠπλισμένοι; ἦν ἀνυπότατο;, κἂν αἱ-

### English translation (Claude)

and since he was king when he wrote, he did not lie. A Macedonian, who had let his hair grow to excess and let a deep beard hang down, was charging at a Persian. The Persian kept his head, though in danger: he let go of his wicker shield and spear, as of no use against the Macedonian, rushed to close quarters, and getting first inside the enemy's weapons, seized his beard and hair; and so he threw down an unbeatable soldier, hauling him in by the hair like a fish, and when he had fallen, drew his short sword and killed him. Another Persian saw it, and then another and another, and quickly they all threw away their shields, and quickly each caught a long-haired man and chased him over the plain; for a watchword, as it were, ran through the Persian army that these men could be caught by the hair. Only the bald part of Alexander's phalanx, as was to be expected, stayed in formation. Meanwhile the king was in perplexity, cut off from the arms with which he was unbeatable, and he would have

### Translation notes

- Ptolemy I's history of Alexander is lost; this story is known only from Synesius.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 219 (Krabinger 1:219; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/219).

## Krabinger p. 220

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-220
- Source: Krabinger 1:220
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Alexander had his army shaved and won; hair makes no one fearsome, as the soldiers' helmets show.

### Greek text

σχῤῥῶ; ἀνέλυσεν ἐπὶ Ἀιλικίαρι᾿λέξανδροῤ, πᾶν ἐγένετο τοῖς Ἕλλησι καταγέλατος, τῇ τριχομιαχίᾳ κεκρατημένος" νυνὶ δὲ" μοιρίδιον γὰρ ἦν ἤδη τοῖς Ἡρακλείδαι; τοὺς ᾿᾿χαιμενίδας παραχωρῆσαι τῶν σκήπτρων" ἡταχὺ συνείς τι τοῦ δεινοῦ. κελεύει μὲν ἀνακλητικὸν ἡχῦσαι ταῦ σάλπιγγα ἀπαγαγὼν δὲ ὡς ποῤῥωτάτω, καὶ καθίσάξ ἵν, καλῷ τὸν σρατὸν, ὦ ἱπαφίησιν αὐτῷ.1} τοῦ! κουρέαι. ΠΝ μὲν οὖν δώροις ὑπὸ τοῦ᾿ βασιλέως εἰ ἀναπεισθέντες, 'πανδημεὶ᾿ τοῦ Μακεδόνας ἰξύρησαν. Σ]αρείῳ δὲ ") ν «ῇ. ΡΟ. - ᾽ ο καὶ Πέρσαις οὐκέτι τὸ πράγμα κατ᾽ ἱἐλπίδα; ἰχώρυδε" ζ γὰρ οὔσηι ἔτι λαβηι πρὸς πολὺ καλλίου! ἀγώντοιᾷ τοῖν, ὅπλοις ἐκρίνοντο. ιν ͵.Ἷὺς 11. Ἰόμῃ τοίνυν οὐτε ποιεῖ φοβεροὺς, οὔτε 'δείκνυσιν, εἰ μιή γε.) τῶν βρεφῶν εἰσὶ μορμολύκεια. ᾿Επεὶ τούς γὲ φρατιώτα! “ὁρῶμεν ἐν ᾧ δεῖ τοὺς πολεμίους φοβεῖν, πράνῃ πιρικειμένους ἢ. Τὸ δὲ κράνος οὐδὲν ἀλλ᾽ ἢ,

### English translation (Claude)

withdrawn shamefully to Cilicia, and Alexander would have been a laughing-stock to the Greeks, beaten in a battle of hair. But as it was — for it was already fated that the Achaemenids should yield the sceptre to the Heraclids — he quickly grasped something of the danger, ordered the trumpet to sound the recall, led the army as far off as possible, settled it in a good place, and let the barbers loose on it. These, persuaded by gifts from the king, shaved the Macedonians to a man. For Darius and the Persians things no longer went as they had hoped: there being no longer any hold, the battle was decided by arms on far nobler terms. 14. Hair, then, neither makes men fearsome nor shows them so, unless indeed it is a bugbear for babies. For we see that soldiers, when they need to frighten the enemy, put on helmets; and the helmet is nothing but

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 220 (Krabinger 1:220; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/220).

## Krabinger p. 221

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-221
- Source: Krabinger 1:221
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The terrifying helmet is a bronze bald head; Homer's Achilles says the Trojans fear the gleam of his helmet, not his hair.

### Greek text

κατὰ τόνομα καὶ τὸ. πρᾶγμα χαλκοῦν κρανίον ἐείνν αὶ Εἰ δὲ ἵππων θριξὶν ἐνσπευάξονται, οἷς μὶν ὑπῆρξεν ἀμφιέσασθαι κραᾶνος;; ἴσασι περὶ τοῦ σχήματοι" διδακτέ ον δ᾽ ἂν εἴν τοὺς οὐκ εἰδότας, ὡς ὄπισθεν σκευάδονὅται ςοιχηδὸν διοτεθείσαις θριξὶ μεταξὺ τοῦ πίλου καὶ ᾿ τοῦ κράνου;. ᾿Επεὶ. τήν. γε κυρτὴν ἐπιφάνειαν οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἭἬφαιτος. ἐγκρατῆ. τριχῶν ἀπεργάσαιτο' ἔχουσα δὲ ὥπερ ἔχει, φαλάκρας ἀπριβεεάτην εἰκόνα παρέχεται. Ταύτῃ καὶ καταπληκτικωτατὸν ἐξιν ἁπάντων, ὅσα τ:ρατιώταις περίκειται. ᾽Ο γοῦν ᾿Αχιλλεύς ἀναθαρσῆσαι τοὺς Τρῶάρῃγ φησιν, οὐχ ὅτι τῇς κόμῃς οὐχ ὁρῶσιν αἰωρουμένῃν τὴν σόβην' ἀλλὰ πῶς λίγει; -- -- -- οὐ γάρ ἑμῇς κόρυθος λεύσσουσι μέτωπον " "Εγγύθι λαμιπομιένῃη;. ΙΕ] Τὸ γὰρ ἀποείλβον αὐτῇς καὶ λεῖοι", αὐτὸ τοῦτο φαλάκρα τε ἂν εἴν καὶ φόβητρον. Εἰ δὲ ᾿Αχιλλεὺς ἑκόμα" καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ τοῦτό φησι" νέος γὰρ ἦν, ὁπη-

### English translation (Claude)

in name and in fact a bronze skull. And if they are decked with horsehair, those who have worn a helmet know about its shape, while those who do not know must be told that the hairs are fitted at the back, set in rows between the felt cap and the helmet. For not even Hephaestus could make the curved surface hold hairs; and as it is, it gives the most exact image of baldness. That is why it is the most terrifying of everything soldiers wear. At any rate, Achilles says the Trojans took courage, not because they did not see the plume of his hair waving — but how does he put it? "For they do not see the front of my helmet shining close by." Its gleaming smoothness is itself baldness and a terror. If Achilles wore his hair long — for he says this too — he was young,

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 16.70-71 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The quotation is Iliad 16.70–71.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 221 (Krabinger 1:221; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/221).

## Krabinger p. 222

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-222
- Source: Krabinger 1:222
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Achilles' long hair, like his anger, belonged to his youth; had he lived he would have become bald and a philosopher, as Socrates mellowed with age.

### Greek text

νίκα καὶ ὀξύῤῥοπος ἦν εἰς ὀργὴν, οὐδέπω χωρούσῃη: τῇς ἡλικίας οὔτε ψυχῇ:, οὔτε. σώματος τελειότητα. Ἰγέῳ δὲ εἰκὸς ἀναδεῖν καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν οἶμαι θριξὶ, καὶ θυμῷ τὴν καρδίαν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὥιϊπερ ἐκ ἐπαινεῖται δ᾿ ἃ. δ᾽ Αχιλλέα περὶ ψυχὴν ὁ θυμὸς, οὕτως οὐδὲ περὶ σῶμα ἡ κόμῃ τῶν θαυμαςῶν. Ἑαΐτοι συγχωρῶ Θέτιδος ὄντα κράτιτα φῦναι πρὸς ἅπασαν ἀρετὴν," καὶ γνώμην ἀποφαίνομαι περὶ ᾿Αχιλλέως, εἰ περιεγένετο, φαλάκρας τε ἂν αὐτὸν καὶ φιλοσοφίας οὐκ ἀμοιρῇσαι. Καὶ νέος Ιθ0ὦν, ἀμωιγέπως ἰατρικῇ, τε καὶ μουσικὴ: ἥπτετο, καὶ αρὸ; ἃς εἶχε τρίχας, οὕτω δυιχερῶς εἶχεν, ὡς ἱεροῖς ὁσιωθείσας ἡρίοις ἀπάρξασθαι. ᾿Επεί τοι καὶ Σωκράτὴν αὐτὰ ταὐτά φησιν ᾿Δριεόξενος, ὡς φύσει γεγόνει τραχὺς [εἰ] ὀργὴν, καὶ, ὁπότε κρατηθείῃ τῷ πά- Β 1ὅθει, διὰ πάσῃ: ἀσχημοσύνης ἐβάδιδεν, Οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ Σωκράτη: πω τότε φαλακρὸς ἦν, πᾷῖντε καὶ εἴκοσιν

### English translation (Claude)

at the time when he was also quick to anger, his age not yet admitting perfection of either soul or body. It is natural, I think, for a young man to crown his head with hair and his heart with anger. But as anger in Achilles' soul is not praised, so neither is hair among the marvels of his body. Yet I grant that, as Thetis's son, he was born the strongest for every virtue, and I declare my opinion about Achilles: had he lived on, he would not have been without a share of baldness and philosophy. Even as a young man he took up medicine and music in some way, and he was so ill-disposed toward the hair he had that he offered it as first-fruits to a sacred tomb. Indeed Aristoxenus says the same of Socrates: that by nature he was harsh in temper, and whenever he was overcome by passion he went to every length of unseemliness. Yet Socrates was not bald then either, being twenty-five

### Translation notes

- Aristoxenus, Life of Socrates (fragment). Krabinger prints a bracketed εἰ as a word to be deleted; it is left out.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 222 (Krabinger 1:222; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/222).

## Krabinger p. 223

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-223
- Source: Krabinger 1:223
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Socrates grew bald and gentle; Achilles' bald forefathers and divine kin show he too would have gone bald, so Dio's quotation proves nothing.

### Greek text

ἔτῃ γεγονὼς, ὁπηνίκα Παρμενίδης καὶ Ζήνων ἧκον ᾿Αθήναδε, ὡς Πλάτων φησὶ 5"), τὰ Παναθήναια θεασόμενοι. ᾿4λλ᾽ εἴ τις ὕξερον ὦ; περὶ χαλεποῦ τοῦ Σωκράτους, ὖ ὡ;, περὶ κομύήτου διελέγετο, πολὺν ἀν οἶμαι τὸν 5λέγοντα παρὰ τοῖς εἰδόσιν ὀφλῇσαι κατάγελων" ὡς; οὗτὸς ἐσιν ὁ τῶν πώποτε πεφιλοσοφῃκότων φαλακρότατός τε ὁμοῦ καὶ πραότατος. ΔΙ δὴ καταδίκαξε κόμην τοῦ ἤρωοις' ἐν ᾧ γὰρ διαλέγῃ περὶ αὐτοῦ, μειράκιον ἦν, οὔπω πρώην ἐξ ἐφήβων γενόμενον, αὶ σὺ μὲν οὐκ ἂν ἔχοις εἰπεῖν, ὅτῳ ποτὲ τεκμηρίῳ χρώαμενος ἀποφαίνῃ περὶ τῶν ᾿Αχιλλέως τριχῶν, ὡς κἂν τὸ γῆρας αὐτοῦ περιέμειναν" ἐγω δὲ, ὡς; οὐκ ἂν περιέμειναν, ἔχω πολλὰ, τὸν πατέρα, τὸν πάππον" εἶδον γὰρ, εἶδον εἰκόνας" τὸ συγγενῇ γεγονέ- 15ναι θεῶν, “᾿Απαξ δὲ εἰρημένον ἀρκεῖ περὶ τοῦ σχήματος; τῶν θεῶν. Τὶ οὖν ὥιπερ ἑρμαίου ) λαβόμενος; ἔ ἔχῃ. -- -- --- ξανθῆ; δὲ κόμης ἕλε Πρλείωνα; "}) 

### English translation (Claude)

years old when Parmenides and Zeno came to Athens, as Plato says, to see the Panathenaea. But if anyone later had spoken of Socrates as harsh, or as long-haired, I think he would have earned much ridicule among those who knew; for he was of all who have ever philosophized at once the baldest and the gentlest. So do not condemn the hero to long hair; for at the time you speak of he was a lad, not long out of the ephebes. You could not say what proof you rely on in declaring that Achilles' hair would have lasted into his old age; but I have many proofs that it would not have lasted: his father, his grandfather — for I have seen, I have seen their images — and his kinship with gods; and what was said once about the shape of the gods is enough. Why, then, do you seize on this as a windfall: "she seized the son of Peleus by his yellow hair"?

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Parm. 127b-c (Plato (works)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Parmenides 127b–c (Socrates' age at the visit of Parmenides and Zeno).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 223 (Krabinger 1:223; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/223).

## Krabinger p. 224

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-224
- Source: Krabinger 1:224
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio cut the line short: Athena seized Achilles from behind, which proves he was already bald in front.

### Greek text

“Ὅλως; δὲ διά τἴ τεμάχιον" ἐκφέρεις, ᾿ἀλλὰ μὴ πάντα" τὸν εἶχον ἔχκεις ) εἰς μέσον; Οὐκοῦν ἐπεὶ μὴ σὺ ὃ) βούλει, τοῦ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν αὐτὸ γενέσθαι σὺ τὴν ἀνάγκην ἐποίησας. ἤ Σεῦ δ᾽ ὁ) ὄπιθεν, ξανθὴ; δὲ κόμης ἔλε Πηλείωνα. Εὐγε, ὦ Ζίων, ὡς οὐ παρελκούσα; ἀφύρῃσαι συλλαβὰς, ἀλλ' ἑν' αἷς ἅπαν ἕνι τοὐναντίον ᾧ βούλει, ᾽᾿Εντεῦθεν ἐγὼ μαντεύομαι ὃ) κἀν τούτῳ τῇς ἡλικίας ᾿χιλλεῖ Φαλάκρα; μετεῖναι. Ἤκουσα ὅ), φῃσὶν, ἡ θεὸς ὄπι- 10σθὲεν αὐτοῦ, τῆς κόμης ἐλάβετο. ᾿Αλλὰ κἂν ἐμοὺ. τι, ἀλλὰ κἂν αὐτοῦ Σωκράτυ;, κὰν τοῦ γεραϊιτάτου τῶν Ελλήνων ὄπισθεν λάβοιτο’ ἐκεῖ γὰρ ἡμῖν ὑπολείπεται τὰ τῆς ἐπικήρου φύσεως; σύμβολα" οὐ γὰρ οὔτε ᾽ ἀνθρώπινόν ἐσιν, οὔτε δαιμόνιον ἀγαθὸν, ἀλλὰ θείας ἄντικρυς καὶ μοίρας καὶ φύσεως, εἷς τὸ παντελὲς " ἀπηλλάχθαι τῆς πρὸς τὸ θνητὸν κοινωνίας. Ν

### English translation (Claude)

And why do you bring out a slice at all, instead of setting the whole line before us? Well then, since you will not, you have made it necessary for it to come from us: "She stood behind him, and seized the son of Peleus by his yellow hair." Bravo, Dio, for cutting off not superfluous syllables but the very ones that contain the whole opposite of what you want! From this I divine that even at that age Achilles had a share of baldness. You heard, he says, that the goddess took hold of his hair from behind. But she could take hold from behind of me, of Socrates himself, of the oldest of the Greeks; for there are left to us the tokens of our perishable nature. To be wholly rid of fellowship with what is mortal is neither a human nor a daemonic good, but plainly belongs to a divine lot and nature.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 1.197 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The full line is Iliad 1.197.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 224 (Krabinger 1:224; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/224).

## Krabinger p. 225

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-225
- Source: Krabinger 1:225
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio found nothing good to say of hair; he clings to Homer, cutting some lines short and citing others that Homer never wrote.

### Greek text

Ἵνα λάβοιτο -τῇν κόμης, ὄπισθεν ἔφῃ,,. ὧρ οὐκ οὔσῃ! Β ἐκ τοῦ προσθίον λαβὴ: “Ὅλως δὲ ἀγαθὸν μὲν.}). ούδεν" ὑπὲρ' φύσεως τῶν" διριχῶν. ἔνι τῷ “]ίωνος λόγῳ. ἙΚαίτοιγε, εἴπερ ἣν. ἐν τῷ πράγματι, Ζίων ἂν ἐξεῦρεν αὐτὸ, καὶ, εἰ σμικρὸν ἦν, “ων ἂν αὐτὸ μέγισον ἔδειξεν, ὃ, καὶ νῦν οὕτω πόῤῥωθεν ἐξευρίσκει μὲν Λακεδαιμονίους οὐδὲν... ὄντας πρὸς ἔπο,' οὔκουν ὅ), ὅσα γε καὶ ἄλλῳ δοκεῖν" Ομήρου δὲ ἐξαψάμενος, ὥπερ δ) ἱερᾶς ἀγκύρας,, ἔχεται μέχρι τελευτῇς τοῦ βιβλίου" οὕτω δὲ ἀδίκως πανὺ καὶ ῥητορικῶ; χρῆται τῷ λόγῳ, ὥςτε νῦν μὲν ἀπέκοψεν, ὥιπερ νόμου, τοῦ εἰχου" ἑτέρωθι δὲ οὐκ ὄντων αὶ είχων δ), ὡς ὄντων, μέρῃ μαρτύρεται. "Ἕκτορος γὰρ 1ὅ ἄντικρυς; καταψεύδεται, μᾶλλον δὲ ᾿Ομήρου τὰ περὶ

### English translation (Claude)

"That she might take hold of his hair, she stood behind," since there was no hold in front. In short, there is nothing good said for the nature of hair in Dio's speech. And yet, if there were any good in the thing, Dio would have found it, and if it were small, Dio would have shown it to be the greatest — he who even now goes so far afield to find the Lacedaemonians, who are nothing to the point, at least as anyone else would see it. Fastening on Homer as on a sacred anchor, he holds on to him to the end of the book; and he uses the argument so unjustly and rhetorically that now he has cut off part of a line, as one might cut down a law, and elsewhere he cites as witnesses parts of lines that do not exist as though they existed. For he plainly tells lies about Hector, or rather about Homer, concerning

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 225 (Krabinger 1:225; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/225).

## Krabinger p. 226

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-226
- Source: Krabinger 1:226
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hector, whose statue at Ilium shows him close-cropped, rebuked Paris for his cultivated hair, so Dio's claim about Hector's hair is false.

### Greek text

εἰγὰρ παραδίδοται τὰ περὶ τὴν κουρὰν ὁμοιότατα τοϊπάνὺ σώφροσι διακείμενος, καὶ δείκνυσιν ὁ τἀληθέτατα περὶ τῶν ἡρώων συγγεγραφὼς, ἅτε, οἶμαι, τῶν μὲν συςραδ τιώτης γενόμενος, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς ςρατευσάμενος, ὃς αὐτὰ ταῦτά φησι ᾽}) περὶ “Ἑκτορος’ εἶ τε εἰς Ἴλιον 13}))} γέγονας, εὐθὺς εἰριόντι πᾶρ ᾿Ιλιεὺς ἡγεῖται τὴν ἐπὶ τὸν νεὼν τὸν Ἑκτόρειον, οὗ τὸν ἀνδριάντα πρόχειρον' μὲν ἰδεῖν" ἐπέρχεται δὲ τοῖς ἰδοῦσιν εἰπεῖν, ὠς ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνου: κατε- Ὦ Ἰθσκευάσθη τοῦ σχήματος, ὅπερ ἔχων ὠνείδισε τάδελφῷ τὸ κάλλος τὸ ἐπιποίητον, τὴν τῶν τριχῶν ἐπιμέλειαν. “Α' δὲ γέγραφεν ὦ; 'Ομήρῳ περὶ “Ἕκτορος εἰρημένα"

### English translation (Claude)

his hair. For what is handed down about his haircut shows him most like very sober men; and this is shown by the one who wrote most truly about the heroes — since, I suppose, he was a fellow-soldier of some of them and fought against others — who says these very things about Hector: if you have been to Ilium, as soon as you enter, every man of Ilium leads you to the temple of Hector, whose statue is easy to see; and it occurs to those who see it to say that it was made in the very shape in which he reproached his brother for his artificial beauty, the care of his hair. And what he has written as said by Homer about Hector,

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 3.54-55 (Homer, Iliad): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- "The one who wrote most truly about the heroes": probably Philostratus's Heroicus, whose informant is the ghost of Protesilaus. Hector reproaches Paris's hair in Iliad 3.54–55.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 226 (Krabinger 1:226; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/226).

## Krabinger p. 227

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-227
- Source: Krabinger 1:227
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius denies that Homer gave Hector long hair: Hector himself mocked Paris as a dandy.

### Greek text

-- -- -- - --Ἠ Ὴ -- ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται, Ἀυάνεαι πεφόρῃντο͵ δὲ ὑχῳ γ,»ν τῷ Ἃ δειξάτω τις, οὗ κεῖται τῶν ᾿Ομήρου βῥαψῳδιῶν, ᾿«λλ' Δ αν}ὲ οὐδ' ἂν Ἴωνα δοκῶ τὸν ῥαψῳδὸν᾿ ἐξευρεῖν, ἐν ᾿ πῶ ῶ; δ᾽ ἄν “Ὄμηρος κομήτην ἐποίησεν, ὃν εἰόγαγεν εἰρ “τὴν ἃ} τς ποίησιν ἑτέρῳ καλλωπιεῇ λοιδορούμενον: Ὅμοιον ἰδ καὶ Φιλέας ᾿Ανδοκίδην ἱεροσυλίας ἐγράψατο, ὥςπερ οὐκ αὐτὸς ὧν ὁ τῇς θεοῦ τὸ Γοργόνειον ") ἐξ, ἀκροπόλεως; ὑφελόμενο. Οὕτως ἔχει σοὶ καὶ πὰ κατὰ τόνδε τὸν ὕρω.

### English translation (Claude)

"… and about him his dark locks were spread," let someone show where it stands in the rhapsodies of Homer. I do not think even Ion the rhapsode could find it. How would Homer have made long-haired a man whom he brought into the poem reviling another as a dandy? It is as when Phileas indicted Andocides for sacrilege, as though he himself were not the man who stole the goddess's Gorgon-head from the Acropolis. So it stands with you, too, regarding this hero.

### Translation notes

- The line Synesius says cannot be found is close to Iliad 22.401–402 (Hector's corpse); he means that Dio's wording is not Homer's. The story of Phileas and Andocides is otherwise unknown.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 227 (Krabinger 1:227; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/227).

## Krabinger p. 228

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-228
- Source: Krabinger 1:228
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Homer's epithets for Menelaus describe rather than praise; Dio ignored Homer's many fair-haired goddesses.

### Greek text

“λε.. 20. Εἰ δὲ γκάρῃ ἔανθὸ, ἦν ὁ ὁ “Μενίλαος; ἀλλ᾽ οὔτι καὶ ἐκομι εὴ γε ἦν, ὅσα γε ἀπὸ τὸ Ἀόγι: «{λλ' οὐδὲ ἱπαίνον. τοῦτο. τριχῶν, ἀλλ᾽, ὥγπερ εἶχεν, ἐδίδαξεν. Οὐ εᾶῤ, ὁδ τι ἂν “Ομηρος ὀνομάσῃ Ἶ, τοῦτο τὴν ᾽φύσεωρ ἰὼ ἐῶν ἐπαινετῶν “ίωνι δὲ ὑπὲρ εὐπορίαε' ε ταὐτὸν. ἐδικὲν εἶναι μνήμῃ τριχῶν καὶ ἐγκώμιον, ὅςτις οὕτω) δ) ἀνδῥείως ἐκέθετο, τὰ μὲν οὐκ ἐνόντα τῇ ποιήσει" προινέ- Β ἀξ; τῶν δὲ ὄντων ἀποτερεῖν αὐτὴν, ὧ,θ᾽, ἵνα πείσῃ λέγων, ὅτι πρέπει πολὺ μᾶλλον ἀνδράσιν ᾿) γυναιξὶν ρας ἄλλως ἐπαινεῖ, βοῶπιν Ἥραν καὶ Θέτιν ἀργυρφπεξαντ! τοῦ “1᾽ιὸς δὲ μάλιτα ἐπαινεῖ τὰς τρίχαι. Ἔξεκέκοπτὸ γὰρ ἴσω, 5") αὐτῷ τὸ βιβλίον ἐπῶν ἀγαθῶν. καὶ: σμχνῶν;, ὁποῖα ταυτί" ἱ' 15.“ ᾿Απόλλωνι ἄνακτι, τὸν ἠύκομο; τέκε “τώ ὃ). ν "Τὸν θὲγ ᾿Αθηναίη; ἐπὶ γούνασιν ἠυκόμοιο. Περὶ δὲ τῆς Ἥρας ἐπιβουλευούση τὸν “17|ὰ κατακοιμί-Ο σαι. ἰώ τὰ τε ἄλλα κομιμωτίφασθαί φ»σι τὴν θεὸν, ἐν "

### English translation (Claude)

If Menelaus was "fair" of head, still he was not long-haired, as far as the word goes. Nor is this praise of hair; the poet only told what he was like. For not everything Homer names belongs to the nature of things to be praised; but to Dio, from an abundance of resource, a mention of hair and an encomium seemed the same thing — he who so boldly undertook to add to the poetry what is not in it and to rob it of what is, so as to persuade us, saying that hair befits men much more than women. He says Homer praises the goddesses otherwise, ox-eyed Hera and silver-footed Thetis, but of Zeus praises above all the hair. Perhaps his copy had had many good lines cut out of it, such as these: "to lord Apollo, whom fair-haired Leto bore," and "on the knees of fair-haired Athena." And of Hera, plotting to put Zeus to sleep, he says that among her other adornments the goddess dressed her hair at

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 1.36 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence
- Homer, Il. 6.92 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Quotations: Iliad 1.36; Iliad 6.92 (also 6.273, 6.303). Hera's toilette: Iliad 14.170–186.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 228 (Krabinger 1:228; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/228).

## Krabinger p. 229

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-229
- Source: Krabinger 1:229
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Homer praises Hera's hair at length, which Dio passed over; but Synesius will not concede that any heavenly being is long-haired.

### Greek text

ᾧγε μέλλει καὶ δεήσεσθαι, τοῦ κεεοῦ, "δὲ ἄλλα τε πολλὰ δύνάται, καὶ μέγιστον, ὅτι κλέπτεε τῶν ἐχόντων"}") τὸν νύν. Τότε τοίνυν ἐν ταὐτῷ μυραλοιφῇσαί ων τε ον λέγει, καὶ ὅτι σα τ Ὁ" 5, -παπα.- - -- τῷ.-.ὄ- -ος-- χαέτας. ἮΝ Δ}}} Πεξαμένη, χερσὶ 'πλοκάμους, ἔπλεξε φαεινοὺς, Καλοὺς, ἀμβροσίου, ὁ " αασο τ στον ὃ' καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἐγκωμίων. ἄξων. νὐ "Μξιόν γε Ὁ μόν,. εἴπερ ὁ λόχο;ς.. ἐπὶ τὸν Ζία," πολλῶν, ἄν τὰς εἴποι ᾽, τῷ “΄ωνι παρεωραμένων"- μάλλον «δὲ "ἃ καλῶς ἐκεῖνος εἰδὼς, οὐκ εἰδέναι προιεποιήσατο. ᾿Εγὼ δὲ καὶ οἶδα ταυτὶ, καὶ οὐκ ἄγω. γε" [τὰ]: ψευδῆ"): δίὰ τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, οὐδ᾽ ἂν συγχωρήσαϊμι κομήτην εἶναί τινα τῶν οἰκούντων τὸν οὐρανόν. Κοινὸς ὁ λόγος 'περΐ τε ι6τῶν ἀῤῥένων καὶ θηλειῶν. " ὦ; οὐδέν γε τῇς ἐν ἄεροις.. “φροδίτῃ! ὁ ὁ Ζεὺς ἀπκριβέξερος εἰ σφαιρικὴν ἐπιφάνειαν,

### English translation (Claude)

the very moment when she was about to need the girdle as well, which can do many things, and above all steals the wits of those who have them. Then, he says, she anointed herself with perfume and her hair: "and having combed it with her hands, she braided the shining tresses, fair and ambrosial" … worthy of a great many praises. It would be worth something if the argument were about Zeus, with so many things one might say Dio overlooked — or rather, things he knew well but pretended not to know. But I both know these things and do not bring in falsehoods for the sake of my thesis; nor would I grant that any of those who dwell in heaven has long hair. The argument is the same for males and females; for Zeus is no more exactly a spherical surface than Aphrodite among the stars.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 14.175-177 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- The quotation is Iliad 14.175–177. A few words after it are garbled in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 229 (Krabinger 1:229; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/229).

## Krabinger p. 230

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-230
- Source: Krabinger 1:230
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Without Homer and the Spartans Dio's speech has nothing left; Synesius's speech has shown baldness divine, natural and good.

### Greek text

ιβἴρῳται. δὲ ᾿οὕτω καὶ περὶ τοῦ “1ὸς,. ὃν πορωνέδα «ῷ λόγῳ. Δίων ἐπέθηκεν." ὡς ἃ Ομήρῳ τεθεαλόγηται, πὰ -μὲν πολλὰ πρὸς δόξαν ἐεὶν, ὀλίγα δὲ πρὸς ἀλή- 8: θειαν, Ἕν δή τι καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς δόξαν. ἐξὶν, αἱ ῥωνπνύμεναι τρίχερ -ἀπὸ τῇς κεφαλῆς τοῦ “]ιὸς καὶ συγκι- »νὀῦσαι τὸμ:οὐρανὸν, νὃ' τοῖς 'πλήθεσι καὶ "τοῖς ιἀψαλματοποιοῖς συνεχώρησεν. ᾿Ομῴρου τοίνυν καὶ. Δακεδαιπονέων. ἐξῃρημένων, «οὐδὲν «ζει μέρος ὑπολείπεται τῷ λόγῳ τῷ «“7ίωνος,. ᾿εἰλλὰ «καὶ τούτων προφόντων, ὅπερ ἐλέγομεν, ι.οὐκ. ἐσθθ᾽υ. τι «καὶ περὶ φύσεως εἴρηκει. τῶν!" τριχῶν, οὐτ᾽: οἴκοθεν ἐξευρὼν, οὔτε, παρὰ τούὐτών.λαβώῶν.""οὐχ' ὅ. τί. πῷτέ. εἰσιν, εἶπεν" οὐχ ιὁποῖον. ἐδίδα- Καὶ ἕεν' οὐχιω; ἀγαθάμ εἰσιν, οἷς ἂν ὑπάρξωσιν, ἔδειξεν" οὐχ ὦ; κακὸν. οἷλιοῦ πάρεισιν. Ο δὲ λόγος οὗτος αὖτάς υτῶν 'πραγμάτων. τὰξ οὐσίας ἐξητακὼ;, ιφαλάκραν αιὲν. θεῖον: οὐσαγμε ἐξεῦρε, καἱ τοῦ θείου συγγενῇ, καὶ τέλος τῇς φύσεως, καὶ σηκὸν ἄντικρυς ᾧ φρονοῦμεν θεοῦ, ἄλλα μὐρία καὶ περὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἀγὰθὰ καθ' ἕκατον ἐπεξιὼν, ὅπως τε ἔχει, καὶ διὰ τί" ὡς Δροὐδὲν ὅ τί καὶ δίχα λαμιπρᾶς αἰτίας προύνεγκεν 35}. Θρνᾶὶ δὲ πέφηνεν: ἅπαντα τἀναντία "τούτων ὑκάῤχοντα, ᾿ ΩΝ "ἮΝ 

### English translation (Claude)

Let this be said in the same way about Zeus, whom Dio set on his speech as its crown: that of what Homer has said about the gods much is for opinion and little for truth; and one of the things for opinion is the hair waving from Zeus's head and shaking heaven along with it, which he conceded to the crowds and the reciters. Once Homer and the Lacedaemonians are removed, no part at all is left to Dio's argument. But even if these are granted, as we said, he has said nothing about the nature of hair, neither finding it out himself nor taking it from them: he did not say what hairs are; he did not teach what sort of thing they are; he did not show that they are good for those who have them, or that they are not an evil for those on whom they grow. This speech, on the other hand, examining the very essences of things, has found baldness to be divine, akin to the divine, the goal of nature, and plainly the shrine of God in which we think, going through countless other goods of body and soul one by one, how they are and why, so that it put forward nothing without a brilliant cause. And hair has been shown to have all the opposites of these:

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 230 (Krabinger 1:230; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/230).

## Krabinger p. 231

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-231
- Source: Krabinger 1:231
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hair belongs with the irrational; long-haired men are adulterers, like Homer's Paris, who steal a wife's affection, worse than a captor in war.

### Greek text

αἰλογίᾳ, καὶ δῷα,, καὶ πᾶν, ὅ τι τῇς ἐναντίας τριθεῷ 1.) μερίὶδοιινἐεί.»- Πεφήμασιν,(ἀθέρες τινὲς οὖσαι, τοῦ δώρου ὁ «καὶ πεῤβικαάρκπια,.-παἰϊγνια ιφύσεωρ,. »εὔδρ! ἀφιλοῦε. εἰξανθήμίαται. ἐλ ταν αὐ κ᾽ νιν Ἀἶο ὍΣ ΑΖ, ιν ᾿ς ὅ μι ῥξυνεῆς δὲ οἷαι, κατὰ βμω τε καὶ κατ᾽ ἐπιεό: ᾿δεύμα διελέσθαι τὶ τοῦ ᾿ἄνδρᾶι; οὗς ὅδε τε κἀκεῖνοι ὁ λόγος ἐνεκωμίασεν τ. ᾿Οὐκοῦν ἀπὸ͵ μὲν τῶν φὶ οκόμων εἰσὶν οἱ μοιχοί. Καὶ γὰρ “ὀμηροΐ ἐχόμενον. τοῦ κέρὰ ἀγλαοῦ. τὸν παρθενοπίπαν ἱπόΐησεν, ὡς ἐπὶ ᾿διαφθορᾷ γυναικῶν ἡγλαϊσμίνης τῦν κόμητ' καὶ μοιχὸς ἱθιν αὑτὸς οὗτος" τὰ κράτιτα μὲν οὖν τῶν μοιχῶν᾽ εἰς ὃν ἀπέῤῥιπται τοὔνειδος. Ἔν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο γένος ἐπιβουλότατον, καὶ εἴσω τοῦ τείχους τῶν ὁμοφύλων Χ πολεμτώτατον. Ὁ Ὧν γάρ᾽ ἵνα 'μὴ βιασθεῖεν, προκινδυνεύομεν, τρατευὅμενοι, θυγαείρων λέγω. καὶ γυναικῶν, ταύτας, ἂν οὕτω τύχῃ, μειράκιον, εὐπάρυφον ἄγει λαβὸν᾽ οἷ γῆι: καὶ θαλάττῃ: βούλεται", εἰ δὲ μὴ γῇ: ᾽) θαλάττη, "ἀλλὰ γωνίαι ἢ σκότου... Μαίΐτοι δοριαλώτου μὲν γυναικὸς κἂν ἡ γνώμῃ τῷ γὲγαμηκότι. συμμείνειεν" ὁ δὲ μοιχὸς αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἔσιν, ὃ καὶ πρῶτον". ἰσύλσε τῷς ψυχὴν τοῦ συνῳκῃκότος τὴν εὔνοιαν, ὦντε μὴ" Ἣξ ἡαϊσείας, τἀνδρὶ

### English translation (Claude)

irrationality, beasts, and everything that belongs to the opposite column. Hairs have been shown to be husks of the living being, superfluities, playthings of nature … One may also distinguish, by way of life and by pursuit, the men whom his speech and this one praised. From the long-haired come the adulterers. Homer made the ogler of girls "glorious with his horn," as one whose hair is adorned for corrupting women; and this same man is an adulterer — indeed the chief of adulterers, on whom the reproach has been fastened. This is one race, the most treacherous, and the most hostile within the walls of its own people. For those for whose sake we risk our lives in war, so that they may not be violated — I mean daughters and wives — these, it may be, some youth with a fine purple border takes and leads wherever on land and sea he pleases, or, if not over land and sea, into corners and darkness. A wife taken captive in war may still keep her mind with her husband; but the adulterer is precisely the one who first steals the goodwill of the wife's soul from her husband, so that the husband's loss is not by half

### Extrabiblical texts

- Homer, Il. 11.385 (Homer, Iliad): quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- "Glorious with his horn" (κέρᾳ ἀγλαέ): Diomedes' insult to Paris, Iliad 11.385. One line of the page is garbled in the OCR.
- Synesius's attack on adultery is rhetorical; it is translated as written.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 231 (Krabinger 1:231; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/231).

## Krabinger p. 232

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-232
- Source: Krabinger 1:232
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Adultery, the vice of the long-haired, ruins houses and cities and caused the Trojan War; worse still are those who sell themselves.

### Greek text

'γειγονῖναὶ τὴν τοῦ΄ γοναίου. δημίαν. ἝἰΪκότω; "οὖν "ἔπ “ τοὐτθῖς δ} οἱ μὲν νόμοι τοὺς δημίου!" ὁνλίξουσιντ' οὐ δὲ “πηκυροὶ ") τὰς ᾿Αττικὰ! ῥαφανίδας. φυτεύυσινι “αἰρεὐθύ;, ἐπειδὰν ἁλῷ τι, τιμωρίας ἀπάρχονται. Ἔν μὲν": δη. Βτοῦτο τοιοῦτο γένος, ὃ συχνὰς μὲν οἰκίας ἀνατάτους ἐποίησεν, ὦ ἑνίας δὲ ἤδη καὶ πόλει! καὶ τοῦ ἰσυῤῥ γῆναι τὸ ἠπείρου! ἀλλήλαις, [μ᾽ καὶ διαβῆναι τοῦ Ἕ λληναὶ ἐπὶ τὰ “Πριάμου σκήπερα μοιχεία, γίγονε πρόφασι. ὑΕτερον δὲ, ὃ τούτου πολὺ ᾿χαρόν ἐει, τοὺ τὸν ᾿Α. ἐξαν- Β δρον ἡμῖν. ἀναδείξαντοι, ὅθεν οἱ Ἠλεισθέναι ".) καὶ Τίμαρχοι». καὶ πάντει οἱ πρὰι ἀργύριον τὴν ὥραν 'διατιθέμενοι" καὶ εἰ αὐ πρὸς ἀργύριον δὲ, ἀλλὰ πρὸς ἄλλο ριολιναξον'

### English translation (Claude)

only. Reasonably, then, for these men the laws arm the executioners, and the wronged husbands plant Attic radishes and, as soon as one is caught, begin the punishment. This, then, is one such race, which has made many houses desolate and some cities too; and adultery became the pretext for continents to clash and for the Greeks to cross over against the sceptre of Priam. Another race, much worse than this, is the one that showed us Alexander, the source of the Cleisthenes and Timarchuses and all who sell their youth for money — and if not for money, for something else,

### Translation notes

- The "Attic radish" was a humiliating punishment of adulterers (Aristophanes, Clouds 1083). Cleisthenes and Timarchus are proverbial for effeminacy and prostitution (Aristophanes; Aeschines, Against Timarchus).

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 232 (Krabinger 1:232; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/232).

## Krabinger p. 233

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-233
- Source: Krabinger 1:233
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The effeminate are all hair-dressers; elaborate curls betray a secret vice, as the skin betrayed Pherecydes' disease.

### Greek text

τι" καὶ εἰ μὴ πρὸς μηδοτιοῦν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἐξάγισον δονήν᾽ καὶ καθάπαξ, οἱ θηλυδρίαὲ,. τριχοπλάξαι, πάντες εἰσίν. ᾿Αλλ᾽ οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ τῶν οἰκημάτων ἄντικρυς οὗτοι" καὶ τοι νικᾷν νομίξδουσιν, ὧν ταύτῃ δμιάλιτα τὸ θῆλυ τοῦ γένους ἐκμιμησόμενοι. ᾿ Ὄρις δὲ λάθρα μὲν ἐστι πονηῃρὸ;, δημοσίᾳ δὲ κἂν ἐξομόσαιτο,. καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο παρέχεται γνώρισμα τοῦ θιασώτῃ; εἶναι τῇς. Ἐότυο; " ' ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μόνον ἔν τοῦτο φανείη, περὶ πλείζου τὰς τρίχας. ποιούμενος, ὦ; ἐναλείφειν τε αὐτάς καὶ διατιθέναι κατά. βοσρύχους, εὐθὺς ἅπασι͵ πρόχειρον λέγειν, ὅτι ἄνθρωπας. οὗτος τῇ Χίων θεῷ καὶ, τοῖς ᾿Ιθυφάλλοι;, ὠργίακεν., ᾽Ο μὲν γὰρ Φερεκύδῃ: θοιμάτιον. ἐπηλυγασάμενο;, χρῷ «δῆλον, ἔφῃ, καὶ δᾳκτύλῳ τὴν νόσον ἐδείκνυε 3}}" πασχητιῶν δὲ μειράκιον ταῖς θριξὶ σημαινόμεθα.

### English translation (Claude)

and if for nothing at all, then for a pleasure beyond all purification. In short, the effeminate are all hair-braiders. Those in the brothels are so openly, and they think they excel when they most imitate the female of the race in this. But one who is wicked in secret, and in public would deny it on oath, offers no other mark of being a devotee of Cotys; yet if this one thing appears — that he makes much of his hair, so as to anoint it and arrange it in curls — at once everyone is ready to say that this man has celebrated rites to the Chian goddess and the Ithyphalloi. Pherecydes, wrapping his cloak about him, said "It is plain from the skin," and showed his disease with his finger; but a youth given to passive vice we mark by his hair.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Pherecydes of Syros, Pherecydes Diog. Laert. 1.118 (Pherecydes of Syros (fragments)): allusion, low confidence

### Translation notes

- Cotys (Cotyto) was a Thracian goddess with orgiastic rites. Pherecydes' words: Diogenes Laertius 1.118.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 233 (Krabinger 1:233; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/233).

## Krabinger p. 234

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-234
- Source: Krabinger 1:234
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius cites an ancient proverb, "no long-haired man who is not …", leaving the obscene ending for the reader to supply.

### Greek text

ἐν Εἰ δὲ) καὶ ἡ παροιμία σοφόν" πῶςς δ' οὐχὶ "σοφὸν, περὶ ὧν ᾿Αριςοτέλῃς φησὶν Ὗ, ὅτι παλαιᾶς εἰσὶ 'φε- 'λοσσφίαν ἐν "ταῖς μεγίται; ἀνθρώπων φθοραὶς ἀπο- Ὦ 'λομένης ἐγκαταλείμματα, περισωθέντα διὰ συντομίαν ὃ) "καὶ δεξιότητα; Παροιμία δήπου καὶ τοῦτο, καὶ λόγοὶ ἔχων ἀξίωμα τῇς, ὅθεν κατηνέχθῃ, φιλοσοφίας τὴν ἀρχαιότητα, ὦττε βόειον ἐπιβλέπειν ἀὐεῇ, Πάμπολυ γάρ οἱ πάλαι τῶν νῦν. εἰς ἀλήθειαν εὐτοχώτεροι. “Τίς ὁὖν ποτ᾽ ἐεὶν ἥδε, καὶ τί βούλεται; ο Οὐδεὶς κομήτης, διτις οὐ. Τὸ δὲ ἀκροτελεύτιον αὐτὸς σὺ πρὸς τὴν ἠχὼ τοῦ τριμΐερα..} συνάρμοσον" οὐ γὰρ' ἔγωγε φθέγξομαι τὸ δεῖ

### English translation (Claude)

And if the proverb too is wise — and how is it not wise? Of proverbs Aristotle says that they are remnants of an ancient philosophy destroyed in the greatest catastrophes of mankind, preserved through their brevity and cleverness — this too is a proverb, a saying with the dignity of the antiquity of the philosophy from which it came down, so that one should look on it with a solemn face. For the ancients were far luckier than people now at hitting the truth. What, then, is it, and what does it mean? "There is no long-haired man who is not …" — you yourself fit the ending to the echo of the trimeter; for I will not utter the

### Extrabiblical texts

- Aristotle, fr. 13 Rose (Aristotle (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Aristotle on proverbs as remnants of ancient philosophy: fragment 13 (Rose), reported by Synesius. The proverb ended with a word for a passive homosexual, which Synesius will not write.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 234 (Krabinger 1:234; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/234).

## Krabinger p. 235

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-235
- Source: Krabinger 1:235
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: The proverb is an oracle of truth confirmed by long use; Dio's speech proves rhetoric a cosmetic art, as Plato said.

### Greek text

νὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ ᾽) πρᾶγμα καὶ ὄνομα: υΕὼγε, ν ὅκι συνήρμοσα;.. “Πῶ, οὖν, τί σοι φαίνεται», οΒαβαὶ, τῇ: αὶ ἀληθείας" χρησμὸς...) ἄντικρυ.. “19 λῃ.". μὲν υδὴ κιαὶ αὐτόθεν". ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσους. ἐφέλκεται μάρτυρα,» τούειγτε νῦν χρωμένους. αὐτῇ, καὶ τοὺς ὅσοι προλαβάνκελ λὶλ! ἐχρήσαντο!" τὸ, γὰρ ἀπαθανατίδον τὰς παροιμίας αὐτὸ τοῦτό. τιν, κἡὶ συνέχεια τῶν χρωμιένων; οὐροξφ᾽ ὁὰντῶν ὑπομιμνήσκει τὰ πράγματα" ὁρώμενα: )θιψαριἐπὶ τῶν ἑκάτοτε συμβαινόντων μαρτύρονται ταὶ μαρφυροῦσι τθτοῖς παραδείγμασιν. ἀν πόνο πῶ 0] : ντο... 28. ““ εχ οι ὦ εὖνα "ἀλλὰ καίπερ τούτων ἢ) οὕτως ἰχόντων, “ΤΠ ων θαυμαεὸν. οἷον ὑπὲρ κόμῃς λόγον ἐξήνεγκε. Τὶ οὖν ἔπι, δεῖ Πλάτωνος ἐξελέγχοντο; ἦ, ὁπηνίκα πομμῳκχικὴν. ἄνκιι κρυ; ὁ ῥήτωρ ἀπέφηνε τὴν ῥητορικήν; ἢ σὺ δοκας 1ὅ τοὺς τριχοβάπτα; ἱρασμιωτέρα; ἂν ἀποφῆναι τάς. δρίχρι, ἀνδρὸς Ἕλληνος τ᾿ν φωνὴν ἐπὶ θεάτρου τὸ κτῆμα ψργήἀαντοι; ᾿'Πολλὴν οἶμαι τοὺς ἐν τοῖς Κυηβελεῖοι ὁ ).

### English translation (Claude)

terrible thing, deed and name. Well done — you have fitted it. What, then, do you think? Bravo! An oracle of truth, plainly. It is … from itself; but consider also how many witnesses it draws: those who use it now and all who used it before. For what makes proverbs immortal is precisely the continuity of those who use them: things seen remind them, and in the events that happen time after time they call to witness and bear witness by examples. … But though this is so, what a wonderful speech Dio produced on behalf of hair! What need is there, then, for Plato to refute him, when the rhetor has plainly shown rhetoric to be a cosmetic art? Or do you think hair-dyers would make hair more lovely, when the voice of a Greek man in a theatre has worked up the possession? Great thanks, I think, the devotees in the Cybeleia

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Gorg. 465b-c (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- Plato, Gorgias 465b–c (rhetoric compared to cosmetics). Several words of this page are garbled in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 235 (Krabinger 1:235; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/235).

## Krabinger p. 236

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-236
- Source: Krabinger 1:236
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Dio's praise will encourage the dissolute; baldness instead supplies priests, teachers, generals and the wise.

### Greek text

υ. Ἰοὺ, κανῥαγόταρο ὑπὲρ 'τοῦ 'λόγσυ χάριν᾽ εἰδέναι, «αὶ ἐιδιτη, ἃδύϊοις ιὀφθαλμοῖς ὁρᾷ τὴν τοῦ γέϊτονος, ὧν ἐκά- Ἰξου ἀξδὴμ "κεβάλῃν ὥςπερ μύρῳ τῷ.. λόγῳ κατήντλησε. ᾿Ζηλούσθαιι γὰρ' ἀνάγκῃ τὸ δημοσίᾳ "τιμώμενον ὅ), ὅταν Ὁ πιἀίάλιτα. τύχη δόξαν ἔχων ὁ -τοὺς ἑπαίνους ᾿διατιθέμενο γ. «Θὐτορτἀἐνοούν κἂν αὐξήσειεν 'ἡμῖν. ἐν τῇ" πόλει τὸν -τῶν ἐξωλεεάτων κατάλογον. 'Φαλάλρα δὶ ἄρα Ἴ ποῖα ἄττα γένη) τούτοις ἀντιπαρέχεται; Τίνας ἡμεῖ! ἄνδρας ἀντὶ "μρεχῶν υὲἐπηνέσαμεν; ᾿Αφ᾽ ὧν εἰσὶν ἐν μὲν τοῖρ τεμένεσι τῶν θεῶν ἱερεῖς καὶ προφῆται καὶ δάκοροι" “ἐν' δὲ ᾿τοῖς διδασκαλείοι; διδάσκαλοι καὶ παιδαγωγοί" τερατιωτικῶν δὲ ταγμάτων ἐν ὑγιαίνουσι πράγμασιν οἱ ςρατηγοὶ ἐξ κὰν" οἵ “ταξίαρχοι ἁπανταχοῦ δὲ οἱ πλείω νοῦν Ὁ Φ ᾿ξζε εἰν ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν ἀξιούμενοι. Οἶμαι δὲ ἢ) ἐγὼ

### English translation (Claude)

owe him for the speech, and everyone looks with envious eyes at his neighbour's head, each of which he has drenched with his speech as with perfume. For what is publicly honoured must be imitated, especially when the one who bestows the praises happens to have a reputation. So he might even swell for us the register of the most abandoned in the city. And what kinds of men does baldness furnish against these? What men did we praise instead of hair? Those from whom come, in the precincts of the gods, the priests, prophets and temple-wardens; in the schools, the teachers and tutors; in the military ranks, when things are sound, the generals and the taxiarchs; and everywhere, those whom the many judge to have more mind. And I think

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 236 (Krabinger 1:236; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/236).

## Krabinger p. 237

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-237
- Source: Krabinger 1:237
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Painters portray the vicious with long hair and the wise as bald; Synesius dedicates his speech to philosophers and priests.

### Greek text

τηδεύματι. πρέπουσαν". τούτοις. γὰρ ιἂν μέρττιρι ἐκιδῷ μμοιαδῖ χὸν. Κ κίναιδον..}) ἐν πίνακι, γράψαι μεκόμιή ειλ: ἀπρνι λαβὼν. ἀπέχει τοὐπίταγμια " ἂν. δὲ. φιλόαοφοὐκἑπαγὼ γείλῃς 2. ἑάκορον, μέλλει τις ἑσᾶναι ᾽φαλατρὸν ὑκήη σελενος ἐν. τῷ 'πίνακι. Τουτὶ γάριἐτι κοὐπίσημόνι τοῦ ἡ νομείσματοι. Φιλοσόφοις οὖν καὶ ἱερεῦσι καὶ τοῖς σωφρονικοῖς ἅπασι γίνεσιν ἐχαρισάμην τὸν λόγον.), ᾧ τά τε πρὸς τὸ θεῖον εὐσέβηται, τά τε πρὸς ἀνθρώπους εὖ, συμβεβούλευται. κᾶν μὲν ἐξενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ κοινὸν" εὖὐδοκιλιήσῃ παρὰ τοῖς; πλήθεσιν, ὥρτ᾽ ἤδῃ τοὺς φιλοκόμου; Ὗ αἰσχυνθέντα;, αὐτοὺς μὲν ἐπιτηδεῦσαι μετριωτέραν κου-Β ρὰν καὶ σώφρονα" μακαρίσαι δὲ οἷς ὑπάρχει μηδὲ δεῖσθαι κουρέως, οὐκ ἐμοὶ χάριν ὑπὲρ τούτων ἱεέον" ἀλλ᾽ ἔσω καὶ τοῦτο τῇς ὑποθέσεως, δι᾽ ἣν ὁ φαυλό-

### English translation (Claude)

… fitting the pursuit. For if you commission a painter to paint a cinaedus in a picture, he will take a long-haired model and fulfil the commission; but if you order a philosopher or a temple-warden, he will set up a bald man in the picture. For this is the very stamp of the coin. To philosophers, then, and priests and all the sober kinds of men I have dedicated this speech, in which reverence has been shown toward the divine and good counsel given toward men. And if, published to the public, it wins favour with the many, so that the lovers of long hair, ashamed, adopt a more moderate and sober haircut themselves, and count blessed those who do not even need a barber, the thanks for this need not be given to me; let this too belong to the subject, thanks to which the most worthless

### Translation notes

- The first words of the page are lost in the OCR.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 237 (Krabinger 1:237; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/237).

## Krabinger p. 238

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/synesius-phalakras/208/#p-238
- Source: Krabinger 1:238
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Synesius ends: any credit belongs to his subject, any failure to his own plain speech; may the speech benefit many.

### Greek text

“τατος εἰπεῖν παρὰ τὸν ἄριτον. εἶναί τις ἔδοξεν". εἰ “δὲ μὴν πεϊθωὶλ λέγων, ἐνταῦθά τις ἂν τοὐμὸν αἰτιάσαιτο ς ὅτι μηδὲ. μετὰ τῶν. πραγμάτων ἀντέσχον ψιλῇ. τῇ χαάξ. ρὶτι Φέωνοί. ᾽ Ἐΐη: δὲ τὴς τῶν πολλὼν ὠφελείαϊ᾽ εἵνεκα ὅ καὶ τόμδεν τὸν. λόγον ἀνειλῆῦφθαι ταῖς χερσίν:...

### English translation (Claude)

of speakers seemed to be someone beside the best. But if I fail to persuade with my words, then one might blame my part in it, that I did not hold out, with the facts on my side, by the bare grace of speech. May this speech too be taken in hand for the benefit of the many.

### Translation notes

- The OCR of these closing lines is damaged; the translation is uncertain.

### Citation (SBL)

Synesius, Calv. 238 (Krabinger 1:238; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/synesius-phalakras/238).