To Pylaemenes.
Here at last is that Anastasius [one of my dearest friends and an important courtier in Constantinople, tutor to the children of Emperor Arcadius] about whom I have spoken so often. If I were introducing you to him, I would praise you exactly as I am now praising him. You are both neighbors in my heart and have been for a long time. Let your meeting, then, be an act of recognition. Embrace each other, and see in it a way of doing me some good.
Leisure is the greatest good — a good that, like fertile soil, brings all noble things to the philosopher's soul. I will enjoy such leisure when I succeed in freeing myself from entanglement in Roman political life — which means being released from these accursed civic duties.
As far as the Emperor is concerned, I am free of them. But I would rightly blame myself if I profited from my own lobbying. So I will make my case indirectly. For my pen serves as ambassador once more, and no follower of Pythagoras — who defined a friend as "a second self" — will contradict me.
Letter 100: An Introduction
[1] To Pylaemenes
Here at last is that Anastasius note [One of Synesius' dearest friends and an important courtier in Constantinople ; he was the tutor of the children of the emperor Arcadius . Adressee of letters 43 , 22 , 79 , and 46 .] about whom I have so often spoken. If I had been introducing you to him, I should have praised you as I am praising him at this moment. You are both of you neighbors in my heart, and have been so for a long time past. Let your meeting, therefore, be an act of recognition. Embrace each other, and see in this, both of you, a means of doing me a little good. [2] Now leisure is the greatest good, a good of which one might say that, like a country bearing in abundance, it brings all noble things to the soul of the philosopher. This leisure I shall enjoy when I succeed in freeing myself from entanglement in the political life of the Romans; and that will be when I am released from these accursed curial functions. [3] So far as the Emperor is concerned, I am free of them, but I should justly blame myself and feel ashamed, if I were to take any profit from my personal activity. I shall accordingly make my defense to myself. For I shall appear to be fulfilling the duty of ambassador again, since my tongue is again an ambassador; nor will any one who praises Pythagoras contradict me, since he defined a friend as a second self. note [In fact, Aristotle : Nicomachaean Ethics 9.4.]
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To Pylaemenes.
Here at last is that Anastasius [one of my dearest friends and an important courtier in Constantinople, tutor to the children of Emperor Arcadius] about whom I have spoken so often. If I were introducing you to him, I would praise you exactly as I am now praising him. You are both neighbors in my heart and have been for a long time. Let your meeting, then, be an act of recognition. Embrace each other, and see in it a way of doing me some good.
Leisure is the greatest good — a good that, like fertile soil, brings all noble things to the philosopher's soul. I will enjoy such leisure when I succeed in freeing myself from entanglement in Roman political life — which means being released from these accursed civic duties.
As far as the Emperor is concerned, I am free of them. But I would rightly blame myself if I profited from my own lobbying. So I will make my case indirectly. For my pen serves as ambassador once more, and no follower of Pythagoras — who defined a friend as "a second self" — will contradict me.
Human translation - Livius.org
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