Synesius of Cyrene→Alethius, (brother of Florentius)|c. 396 AD|Synesius of Cyrene
education bookstravel mobility
Letter 54: Athens
[1] To his Brother
A great number of people, either private individuals or priests, by moulding dreams, which they call revelations, seem likely to do me harm when I am awake, if I do not happen with all speed to visit sacred Athens . Whenever, then, you happen to meet a skipper sailing for the Piraeus , write to me, as it is there I shall receive my letters. [2] I shall gain not only this by my voyage to Athens - an escape from my present evils, but also a relief from doing reverence to the learning of those who come back from Athens. They differ in no wise from us ordinary mortals. They do not understand Aristotle or Plato better than we, and nevertheless they go about among us as demi-gods among mules, because they have seen the Academy, the Lyceum, note [Aristotle's school was the Lyceum; Plato's school was called the Academy.] and the Poikilê where Zeno gave his lectures on philosophy. However, the Poikilê no longer deserves its name, for the proconsul has taken away all the pictures, and has thus humiliated these men's pretensions to learning.
Letter 54: Athens
[1] To his Brother
A great number of people, either private individuals or priests, by moulding dreams, which they call revelations, seem likely to do me harm when I am awake, if I do not happen with all speed to visit sacred Athens . Whenever, then, you happen to meet a skipper sailing for the Piraeus , write to me, as it is there I shall receive my letters. [2] I shall gain not only this by my voyage to Athens - an escape from my present evils, but also a relief from doing reverence to the learning of those who come back from Athens. They differ in no wise from us ordinary mortals. They do not understand Aristotle or Plato better than we, and nevertheless they go about among us as demi-gods among mules, because they have seen the Academy, the Lyceum, note [Aristotle's school was the Lyceum; Plato's school was called the Academy.] and the Poikilê where Zeno gave his lectures on philosophy. However, the Poikilê no longer deserves its name, for the proconsul has taken away all the pictures, and has thus humiliated these men's pretensions to learning.
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Letter 54: Athens
[1] To his Brother
A great number of people, either private individuals or priests, by moulding dreams, which they call revelations, seem likely to do me harm when I am awake, if I do not happen with all speed to visit sacred Athens . Whenever, then, you happen to meet a skipper sailing for the Piraeus , write to me, as it is there I shall receive my letters. [2] I shall gain not only this by my voyage to Athens - an escape from my present evils, but also a relief from doing reverence to the learning of those who come back from Athens. They differ in no wise from us ordinary mortals. They do not understand Aristotle or Plato better than we, and nevertheless they go about among us as demi-gods among mules, because they have seen the Academy, the Lyceum, note [Aristotle's school was the Lyceum; Plato's school was called the Academy.] and the Poikilê where Zeno gave his lectures on philosophy. However, the Poikilê no longer deserves its name, for the proconsul has taken away all the pictures, and has thus humiliated these men's pretensions to learning.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.