corded. The hard struggle for bare life engrossed near- ly all thoughts; and irregular, treacherous, and violent proceedings became familiar, while unrestrained license was common whenever opportunities of indulgence pre- sented themselves. The general demoralization and the social disintegration were aggravated by divisions in the Cliristian Church, which weakened the authority of the new religion, and by the great contention be- tween Clirisiianity, often sadly corrupted, and the ex- piring paganism, wiiich was cognizant of its disease, but not of its approaching dissolution. All the bonds of gov- ernment, law, morals, and religion were fearfully enfee- bled. Full and indisputable information in regard to these sorrowful generations is contained in the De Ciritate Dei of Augustine and the I>e Guhernatione I>ei of Salvian of jMarseilles. Yet, despite all interrup- tions and apprehensions, iihilosophy and literature con- tinued to be cultivated, riiilosophy lost itself in Neo- Platonic fantasies and Oriental mysticism. Literature was, in large part, made up of pedantic epistles and rhe- torical affectations. It was the a;ra of Libanius, The- mistius, and Symmachus. No severer censure of it need be sought than is contained in the productions of Syne- sius. It was, however, also the lera of the great Chris- tian orators and fathers, who contended earnestly against vice in high places, oppression and wrong wherever they were found, and the manifold distresses of the people. Ambrose, Basil, Augustine, .John Chrysostom, .Jerome, and the two Gregorles illustrated the Christian Church in that age, and attracted the admiration of pagans as well as of the followers of their own creed. To none of them does Synesius make any reference. These, then, were the varied, and in many respects alarming, aspects of the years which measured the career of Sy- nesius, and by them its anomalies are rendered intel- ligible.
II. Life. — Synesius was probably born about the year 370. Some authorities say in 375. His birthplace was Cyrene, the capital of Cyrenaica, the tract which stretch- es along the African coast westward from Egypt. Cy- rene was a Dorian colony of the mythical ages; and Synesius claimed for himself the most illustrious Laco- nian descent. In his denunciation of Andronicus, he contrasts the splen(k)r of his own lineage with the mean extraction of the imperial governor. "In default of other merit,"' says he, '• I descend from Eurysthenes — from ancestors whose names, from Eurysthenes, who led the Dorians into Laconia, down to my father, are in- scribed in the public registers" {Epist. Ivii ; comp. Cata- stasis, ii, 5). This deduces his line from the royal house of Sparta, though he has blundered in his statement of the ancient legend. His family was opulent {Epist. cxxxiii). He had a city house, and country estates in which he took unceasing delight. Nevertheless, he dil- igently sought exemption from civic and fiscal burdens. His love of letters and pliilosophy must have been man- ifested early, for his tastes were already decided and much accomplishment attained when he proceeded to Alexandria (394;) to attend the Neo-I'latonic and other courses in that tumultuous city. Here he became ac- quainted with the beautiful, brilliant, and unfortunate Hypatia. He enrolled himself among her disciples. He secured her esteem and regard, and always retained the warmest admiration for her. Seven of his letters are addressed to her. On returning from Egvpt, he went to Athens, to complete his education at that old centre of learning and refinement, whence had issued, in the preceding generation, the emperor Julian and many of his distinguished contemporaries, pagan and Christian. He was utterly disenchanted by his visit, and made no long stay {Epist. liv, cxxxv). After desert- ing Athens, he paid a second visit to Alexandria, as is shown by a graphic and humorous letter {ibid, iv), de- scribing the hazards of shipwreck to which he was ex- posed on his return. (Druon, p. 5H7-.589, discusses the calculations of Petavius and Tillemont. and assigns this voyage to 31)7.) Soon after his return, he was sent by
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his fellow-citizens to Constantinople, to present their petitions and a gokieii crown to the young emperor Arcadius {De Regno, c. ii). lie was a youthful ambas- sador. He appears to have discharged his mission with ability, acceptance, and some degree of success. The emperor was still under tutelage. Everything was in confusion. The court was distracted by bitter rivalries. Alaric bad recently ravaged (ireece and threatened Ath- ens. During his stay the insurrection of the (ioths in Phrygia occurred. It was no wonder that he experi- enced frequent inattention and disheartening procrasti- nations, and that he was at times reduced almost to des- titution and despair. He had the honor of delivering a public harangue before the emi)eror. He gained iiiHu- ential friends, established a rei)Utation for literary tal- ent, and acquired elegant correspondents, who would ■ display and eulogize his epistles at Constantinople, vvh'ile he would pay the same compliment to theirs at Gyrene. One thing he accomplished for himself — im- munity from public dues. An earthquake hastened and excused his departure from the capital of the East- ern Empire. On reaching home he found his country desolated by barbarian war, an affliction from wliich it had seldom been entirely free for five centuries. The nomads from the edges of the Libyan desert were mak- ing frightful irruptions, plundering, destroying, murder- ing, and meeting with little and only ineffectual resist- ance (Ejiist. civ, cxiii, cxxiv). The governor and offi- cials were more studious of pillaging than of repelling other pillagers. Synesius, calling to mind his Laconian descent and the example of Leonidas, and having ap- parently had some mihtary training himself in his youth, roused his neighbors to action, and led them against the spoilers. This war with the nomads, which was renewed from time to time, is mentioned in many of his letters, and forms the subject of a special tract. These productions exhibit the weakness and vretcheduess of the province — the neglect, imbecility, cowardice, and rapacity of the imperial authorities, and the disgust of Synesius at the conduct of both the peo- ple and the officials. After the war was over, or, rath- er, in the intervals of partial or local repose, he enjoy- ed an elegant and learned retreat in liis country resi- dences, finding occupation in study, literary production, and rural pursuits, and relaxation in hunting, manly sports, and an active correspondence. Two years and more after the close of his embassy he revisited Alexan- dria. It was during this visit that he married. He received his wife from the hands of the patriarch ; and to her and to his children he remained always tenderly at- tached. His marriage was his first visible contact with Christianity. It was, perhaps, decisive. It is no vio- lent presumption to suppose that his wife was Chris- tian, as he received her from the Christian bishop of Alexandria {Epist. cv). "The unbelieving husband may haw been sanctified by the believing wife;" or the wife may have been chosen with a prevenient disposi- tion to believe. There is no evidence, no intimation of this. The I}ion was written about this time. It is pagan. The treatise On Dreams was composed after ids marriage. It is mystical and Neo-Platonic, and ac- cords with Cliristianity as little as Cicero's dialogue I)e Difinatwne, After an abode at Alexandria of more than two years, and the birth of a son, he came back to Cyrene, which was shortly afterwards besieged by the barbarians. During tlie succeeding years lie must have inclined more and more to Christianity, but without re- nouncing his philosophical dogmas. The date of his conversion cannot be ascertained. He must have been reputed a Christian, or" almost a Christian," when elect- ed bishop of Ptolemais (403, 410), The episcopate was a very different function then from what it has been in serener and more settled periods. The bishop was the guide, the advocate, the protector, the sujiport, and often the judge of the Christian tlock. His civil attributes were of the utmost import mce to the daily life of his people. Character was of more immediate concern to