Synesius: On an Astrolabe

I heard you recently expressing indignation on behalf of philosophy, and asking whether there could be any limit to the impiety of men towards it, again lamenting that it had encountered evil and harsh fortune, for that those who falsely pretend knowledge of it, by their continual charlatanism enjoy a good reputation with the ruling class and the people alike. But the true philosophers are discredited, and are honored only with the Carian [i.e., despicably small] portion.

I admired your outburst, for it proceeded from a really noble nature. For all that, one need not be angry when what is only logical is taking place, and it is quite logical that every man should attain what he has busied himself with, and worked for, and again should not attain those things the which he never struggled for, nor took thought how they might be his. If therefore, one man has set his mind on becoming wise, and another upon only seeming so, each one will possess that which befits him, the one in being wise, the other in merely appearing to be wise. Now truly, they would suffer grievously - those who are in pursuit of a reputation for the false, not the real philosophy - and would indeed be quite justly angered, if those who desired the other kind should be found in possession of both, and they themselves in possession of neither! And this in spite of the fact that they have cultivated the easier thing with no less care than their rivals, in order to deceive those who know nothing of the very matters in which they are deceived. Let such men, accordingly, be shining lights, let them be crowned in the theaters if they so desire; for having been deserters from the cause of Truth, they are disputing over its name only.

Now as to us, who are of but slight importance, it is evident that you desire to include me amongst the elect, and it was largely on my account that you were so incensed at the present state of philosophy. Treated though we are, therefore, with disregard by other men, we should nevertheless be pleased at the rank into which we have been marshaled by ourselves. Let us not be envious of these half-instructed ones, nor esteem them happy when they are praised to the skies by those who have no education whatever, for they who are not purified may not see the beauty of the purified soul, and the heralding abroad of oneself and the doing of all things for display is the part not of wisdom but of sophistry. Wherefore it may be properly said by those who share not in such honor as the multitude can confer, “I need not this honor, but I seek to be honored by the destiny of Zeus”,[1] to rejoice and be of great joy that I have met with a man who possesses both sagacity and power, for thus only shall we not be counted with the unworthy, nor be esteemed utterly without honor.

How shall I fail to keep the most intimate spot in my heart for the admirable Paeonius, he who has found means of restoring and binding to each other philosophy and military science, so long walled away from each other by many ramparts, and has detected the affinity which aforetime existed between these pursuits!

For when Italy in bygone days possessed the same men as pupils of Pythagoras and governors of cities, it was called Magna Graecia, and rightly so. Of these men Charondas [of Catana] and Zaleucus [of Locri] gave laws, the Archytae [of Tarentum] and the Philolai [of Croton] were masters of the field. The greatest of astronomers ruled over a city, and was an ambassador, besides taking other parts in political life, Timaeus himself, on whose authority Plato discourses to us concerning the universe. Having been entrusted with these communities, as late as the ninth generation after Pythagoras they preserved Italy in prosperity, and as to the Eleatic School at Athens, letters and arms were pursued by it with equal honor for both.

In the case of Zeno you would find it difficult to enumerate how many tyrannies he destroyed, always reinstating in their place a healthy form of city government. Again, Xenophon taking command of those ten thousand, exhausted by sufferings and almost at the point of death, led them back from utmost confines of the Persian Empire, overcoming every obstacle in his way.

And what can one say of this? - the succession of Dion [2] to the monarchy of Dionysius, that kingdom which had enslaved the Greek cities in Sicily, those not the least in respect to power, and also the barbarians. Even the will of the Carthaginians it bent, and it gained ground even on the coast of Italy. Nay, it was against that kingdom that the lover and beloved of Plato collected a mercenary army and set sail for Sicily, embarking his whole fighting force on a single ship, and that a merchantman; and it was with such an equipment as this that Dionysius was driven out, and that Dion transformed the constitution, and restored the cities to the reign of law. Thus, in the past, philosophy and statecraft were united, and when they so went hand in hand, such were their achievements. But, as in the case of other fair and hallowed things, with all of which Time has worked havoc, this double type, too, forsook the succeeding age, and separation of the function was reserved for posterity. Surely it is not worth while to dwell on the destinies of man. Is it not for this very reason that other good things also have deserted us? For no greater misfortune could possibly befall cities than to have strength without intelligence, and intellect without power.

Note 1: Homer, Iliad, 9.608.

Note 2: The story is told here.

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Now you seem about to restore to us this duality of force, for you are entrusted with the management of public affairs, and at the same time you believe in the cultivation of philosophy. Strike then, as it is a fair struggle in which you are engaged, on behalf of us and the Muses, so that no one may expel them from the market-place or the camp as unpractical and unworkable, as of no use for actions to be fought under the open sky, but merely pretty things for children to play with and to babble about.

It is fitting that everyone of us should stretch out a hand to your assistance in so far as the power within him lies. Thus you would be fashioned a wise man indeed, not a half-fulfilled or mutilated sage, as must be the case whenever a man is upheld by his natural bent only. Well were it for a state to be governed by such men as this, and we should be the gainers thereby, courting honor for philosophy from men, while at the same time we should live a worthy moral life.

So a probability might come about quite contrary to that which was mentioned recently, when we were saying that the tribe of sophists laid their snares for the ignorance of the multitude, and that as a result of this the legitimate sons of philosophy came to have less repute than the superstitious and fraudulent. But when those who hold the reins of government, and have the affairs of the cities in their grasp, are not of the people, but possess intellectual culture, they will quickly make the distinction between the legitimate and illegitimate philosopher, and no longer will it be difficult for the common people to learn what sort of deception has been practiced upon them. There will be no need to address them on the matter; all that is necessary is to brand the charlatans with their own obscurity.

It is, moreover, a law of Nature that the class which leads should be admired, by reason of the subjection of the governed. Nay, even now, mostly for the very drollness of things the multitude follows the long-haired sages and all such brazen creatures, and esteems them something extraordinary, and the other more variegated sorts of sophists they all but worship and stand in awe of, particularly those who stride about with a mighty staff, and clear their throats before they speak.

So you will come to the rescue of philosophy in misfortune, but you will not be her accuser, for she is guilty in nothing. The right thing seems to have taken place, and you will further this in the direction of what is better and more fitting, as soon as the study of philosophy has gained a stronger hold upon you. Nay, even now you have nobly taken up the common fight, barking back at these dogs, and undertaking to fortify our Decelea.[1]

Note 1: During the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans fortified this town, and used it to attack Athens. Synesius wants a philosophically-minded Pylaemenes to destabilize the unphilosophical government.

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Now, having informed myself about you from those who have known you longer than I have, and having known you myself some little time, I am anxious to kindle the sparks of astronomical lore that are lying dormant in your soul, and to raise these aloft by means of your innate qualities. Astronomy itself is a venerable science, and might become a stepping stone to something more august, a science which I think is a convenient passage to mystic theology, for the happy body of heaven has matter underneath it, and its motion has seemed to the leaders in philosophy to be an imitation of mind. It proceeds to its demonstrations in no uncertain way, for it uses as its servants geometry and arithmetic, which it would not be improper to call a fixed standard of truth. I am therefore offering you a gift most befitting for me to give, and for you to receive. It is a work of my own devising, including all that she, my most reverend teacher [Hypatia], helped to contribute, and it was executed by the best hand to be found in our country in the art of the silversmiths.

Now, concerning this, by explaining it in advance, I should do something useful to the end in view, and the end I have in view is to call out the philosophic impulses in your nature. For if you should acquire an inclination to gaze with straining eyes upon the apparent, then I shall be holding out to you a greater gift, namely, the things which concern knowledge itself. So now turn your mind to what I say concerning what is demonstrated.

The representation of a spherical surface, maintaining identity of doctrine amidst difference of figures, Hipparchus of old vaguely shadowed, and he was the first to direct his energies to this question. But we, if it is not more than it befits us to say, have finished the weaving of this tissue even to the fringes, and have perfected it. The problem had been neglected in the long intervening time. The great Ptolemy and the divine band of his successors were content to have it as their one useful possession, for the sixteen stars made it sufficient for the night clock. Hipparchus merely transposed these stars and inserted them in the instrument.

Every allowance must be made for these men, inasmuch as the more important problems were still unsolved, and geometry was still at the nursing stage.[1] They were therefore obliged to work on hypotheses only. But we, in return for the splendid mass of knowledge that we owe to their achievements, without labor on our own part, should be grateful to these happy men who forestalled us.

At the same time we esteem it an ambition by no means unworthy of philosophy, to attempt to bring in now certain adornments, to make a work of art and to produce something new of the first order. For even as cities when first founded look only to the necessities of life, to wit how they may be preserved and how they may continue existence, but as they advance are no longer content with what is needful, and rather expend money on the beauty of the porticoes and gymnasia, and the splendor of the forum - so in the case of knowledge, the beginning is engaged with the necessary, only the development with the excellent.

Note 1: Apollonius of Perge and Archimedes of Syracuse lived after Hipparchus.

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Now the question of the projection we thought worthy of study for its own sake. We worked it out and elaborated a treatise and studded it thickly with the necessary abundance and variety of theorems. Then we made haste to translate our conclusions into a material form, and finally executed a most fair image of the cosmic advance.

This very manner of approaching the problem gives us the means of cutting a flat surface and the even cavity into identical divisions. And as we think that any sort of hollow is more nearly allied to the completely spherical, we have hollowed the breadth by pressing it in, and have turned it in, and have turned our attention to the rest in such wise that the image side of the instrument may remind the intelligent observer of the reality. For those stars which are distinguished by six dimensions, we have placed therein, preserving their relative shapes. And of the circles, some we drew round, and some so as to intersect the others. Then we divided them by degrees, making the division lines of each five degrees larger than the lines that divide each separate degree; we also enlarged the inscriptions indicating the numbers at these lines, and what is below is on silver, the black giving the appearance of a book.

But they were not all cut in the same line, either individually or with each other. Some are cut equal in size, others irregularly and unequally in appearance, but in calculation uniform and equal. This was a matter of necessity, so that the different figures should agree. On this account also the largest circles which are drawn through the poles and the signs of the tropics, although they remain circles in calculation, have become straight lines by the change in the method of view.[1] Thus the Antarctic circle has been inscribed greater than the greatest, and the relative distances of the stars have been lengthened to the plan of projection.

As to the epigrams, they are of solid gold, and we have carved them and inserted them under the Antarctic circle in such places as are free from stars.[2] The second of the two, the one in four lines, is ancient, and contains a general eulogy of astronomy:

Mortal I am, well I wot, and ephemeral; yet when I thread my
way through the crowded stars, hemming me this way and that,
no more do I touch with my feet the dark earth, but in union eternal
dwell I with Zeus the most high: mine is ambrosial food.[3]

But that which takes precedence of this, the stanza of eight lines, was written by the one who constructed the work itself, by me, and it contains a summary and general view of those things which are seen thereon. The description is forceful, composed with more science than nicety of expression, for it seeks to tell the astronomer alone what advantage he can get from the instrument.

It professes to show the places of the stars, not their positions in respect to the zodiac, but in respect to the equator. For it has been shown in my work that it is impossible to take the positions in reference to the former. And it says that the obliquities have been represented, I mean of the parts of the zodiac with respect to the parts of the equator, and for all of them the ascensions also. That is to say, that as many divisions as there are on the zodiac, there are so many in the equator, and the same equator is divided accordingly. And this is the poem - let it be down for such as may read it later, since for you it is enough that it lies on the tablet:

Wisdom has found a path to the heavens -O mighty marvel!-
and intelligence has come from these heavenly beings.
Behold! It has ordered the curved form of the globe
and it has cut the equal circles with unequal spacings.
See the constellations all the way to the rim whereon the Titan,[4]
holding his kingdom, metes out day and night.
Accept thou the slantings of the zodiac, nor let escape thee
those famous centers of the noontide assemblages.

Note 1: I.e., by the projection of the three-dimensional celestial sphere on a two-dimensional disk.

Note 2: The ancients had never seen the southern sky, so there was some space for epigrams.

Note 3: Ptolemy, Anthologia Palatina, 9.577.

Note 4: Saturn.