873 



SYNESIUS. 



SYNTIPAS. 



874 



edited by W. Dindorf, from two important manuscripts at Paris, in 

 1829. The ' Chronography ' of Synccllus was continued by Theophanes 

 from A.D. 285 to 813. Among the manuscripts of the Royal Library 

 at Paris are fragments of other historical works ascribed to Syncellus. 



(Fabricius, Ihblioth. Grcec., vii., p. 457, ed. Harles ; Scholl, Qeachichte 

 der Qriech. Lit., iii., p. 253.) 



SYNE'SIUS (Swftrios), a Christian philosopher of the school of the 

 New Platouista, was born at Gyrene in Africa, of a high family, in the 

 year 378. He studied mathematics and philosophy at Alexandria 

 under Hypatia, and at the same time gave attention to poetry anl 

 eloquence. When only in his nineteenth year he was sent by his 

 fellow-citizens at the head of an embassy to Constantinople, to present 

 a golden crown to tho Emperor Arcadius, to whom he addressed a 

 very suitable oration, which is still extant. At this period he was a 

 heathen, but he was soon after converted to Christianity and baptised 

 by Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria. He still however retained his 

 fondness for the new Platonic philosophy ; and partly for this reason, 

 partly from unwillingness to be separated from his wife, he long 

 resisted the desire of Theophilus to consecrate him to a bishopric. At 

 last he yielded, and became bishop of Ptolemais in the year 410. The 

 time of his death is not known, but it was probably before 431, since 

 in this year his brother Euoptius appeared at the council of Ephesus, 

 as his successor in the bishopric of Ptolemais. 



Synesius was one of the most remarkable men of his age, though 

 certainly more eminent as a philosopher than as a Christian. His 

 writings are in a pleasing style, sometimes rising to eloquence. With 

 a peculiarly clear statement of the most abstract philosophical opinions, 

 he miugled interesting illustrations from the early historians, fabulists, 

 and poets. 



The following are his chief works : 1, The Oration to Arcadiua, 

 mentioned above, Ilepl /SatriA-efas ('On Royalty '). 2, Aiov, ij irepl rrjs 

 Had' eavrbv $ia.ywyrjs (' Dion, or on Self-Discipline '). 3, 4?a\a.Kpas 

 tyK&ntov ('The Praise of Baldness'), a witty imitation of Dion Chry- 

 sostom's ' Praise of Hair.' 4-, A.lyvirrtos, $) irepl irpovoias (' An Egyptian 

 Fable, or, on Forethought '), an application of the fable of Osiris and 

 Typhon to the then state of the Roman empire. 5, Hepl evwirvluv 

 (' On Dreams '). 6, Tipbs H.cu6viov inrep rov S&pov \6yos (' A Discourse to 

 Paeonius concerning a Present '). The present was an astrolabe, and 

 the discourse recommended the study of astronomy. 7, One hundred 

 and fifty-five letters. Some of these letters are free and interesting 

 epistles to his friends ; and others, on matters of business, contain 

 much information of great value to the church historian. 8, Ten 

 hymns, formed of a most singular mixture of Christian truths, poetic 

 images, and New Platooic dreams. 9, Four epigrams in the ' Greek 

 Anthology ' are ascribed to Synesius. 



A complete edition of the works of Synesius, in Greek and Latin, 

 was published by Petau, folio, Paris, 1612, reprinted in 1631, 1*33, 

 and 1640. There are several later editions of portions of his works. 



(Fabricius, Bibl. Grcec., viii., p. 221, old edition; ix., p. 198, Harles ; 

 Scholl, Gcschichte der Griech. Lit,, iii., p. 365.) 



There was another philosopher of tho same name, of whom nothing 

 more is known than that he was the author of a commentary on 

 Democritus, which is printed in Fabricius, ' Bibliotheca Grseca/ vol. 

 viii., p. 233, old edition. (Scholl, iii., p. 445.) 



SYNE'SIUS (SweVio?), a Greek medical writer, of whom nothing is 

 known except that a treatise on fever goes under his name : his date 

 also is uncertain. Sprengel places him in the reign of the Emperor 

 Manuel (A.D. 1143-80), apparently because he supposed the 'Zfidu 

 '1-Mosdfer,' or ' Viaticum Peregrinautis,' of Abu Jafer Ahmed Ben 

 Ibrahim Ben Abu Chalid Ibnu '1-Jezzar to have been written at the 

 end of the llth century after Christ. As however Ibnu 1'Jezzar died 

 about A.D. 1004 (A.H. 395), (Wiistenfeld, ' Gesch. der Arab. Aerzte,' 

 Gotting., 1840), Synesius, who translated his work into Greek, under 

 the title 'E</>d5ia rov 'ATTOS^OWTOS-, may have lived much earlier than 

 Sprengel places him ; and this is the more probable if it be true that 

 his translation was of service to Constantinus Afer, who died about A.D. 

 1087 (Choulant, ' Handb. der Bucherk. fur die ^Eltere Medicin,' Leipzig, 

 1841), in composing his 'Viaticum Peregrinautium : ' if indeed, as from 

 the close resemblance of their works seems not improbable, Synesius 

 and Constantinus Afer are not the same person. The treatise ascribed 

 to Synesius is part of his translation of Ibnu '1-Jezzar's work, the whole 

 of which, in seven books, is said to be still in existence in manuscript 

 in the Royal Library at Paris. Reiske compared it with the origina? 

 Arabic, and found it a very exact translation, with some few excep- 

 tions, as,' for instance, in page 136, where Synesius has made some 

 additions to the Arabic text. In two passages we find the Arabic 

 word added to his translation in Greek characters, namely, in page 76, 

 fvrex e t 'an-nat'ho, sweat; ' and in page 120, eAyu,oi>0eAAe0, 'al-muthelleth, 

 a tertian fever.' Sprengel remarks (' Hist, de la He'd.') that his theory 

 of fever is taken entirely from Galen ; and that the symptoms of a fever 

 produced by continual grief are well described (p. 30) ; he approves 

 also of his moral treatment of febrile affections (p. 58). The means of 

 cure mentioned by Syuesius are in conformity with the habits and 

 natural productions of Arabia. He constantly recommends water, 

 sugar, and oil of roses ; his purgative medicines are prunes, myrobalans, 

 and cassia; he also exhibits camphor internally (p. 240). The most 

 curious part of the work is the description of the small-pox, which he 

 calls <f>\vKTalvovffa \ot/j.iirfi, and which he distinguishes from the measles, 



or trip* AeTTTv; Kal iTuici'ri \oi/j.tK-fi. Synesiua is the first Greek author 

 who notices these two diseases ; but all the details that he mentions 

 concerning them are taken from the treatise by Uhazes on the same 

 subject. [RIIAZES.] The work was edited by J. St. Bernard, Amabel, 

 and Ludg. Bat., 8vo, 1749, with the title, ' Synesius de Febribus, quern 

 mine primum ex Codice MS. Biblioth. Ludg. Batav. edidit, vertit, 

 notisque illustravib J. St. B. ; accodit Viatici, Constantino Africano 

 Interprete, libri vii. pars.' The first six chapters arc inserted in the 

 Venice collection of writers, 'De Febribus,' folio, 1576; the last two 

 are in the first volume of the ' Opera ' of Constantiuus Afer, folio, Basil, 

 1536. 



SY'NTIPAS, a Persian philosopher, to whom is attributed a col- 

 lection of stories, of which we possess only a Greek version, bearing 

 the name of Michael Andrepulus. It is hardly necessary to remark 

 that the Eastern collections of moral stories arc usually so told as to 

 grow one out of the other, in a manner, of which we have an instance 

 in the ' Arabian Nights ; ' but a much better example in a work not 

 so popularly known, the English translation of the fables commonly 

 known as those of Pilpay. [PILPAY.] Indeed many of our best 

 European fictions, as well single stories as whole collections, may be 

 traced from ; Europe to Arabia, and from Arabia to India, and the 

 Indian form of the story or collection almost invariably bears the marks 

 of an earlier origin than any other form, and appears to be, if not the 

 original form, at least the oldest surviving one. This fact, interesting 

 in itself, becomes doubly so when taken in connection with the philo- 

 logical discoveries of the latest period of etymological research ; dis- 

 coveries which have placed the language of India in much the same 

 relation^to the oldest known form of the German, as we have supposed 

 the fictitious literati re of India to hold to that of Europe. Many of 

 the stories of Syntipas are found almost verbatim in an Arabic 

 manuscript of the 'Arabian Nights,' in the British Museum, but the 

 whole style of the stories points evidently to an Indian origin. 



Syntipas is the name of a philosopher to whom is committed the 

 education of a certain Persian prince, the eon of a king Cyrus. By his 

 judicious management he teaches the boy more in six months than he 

 had learnt from his other masters in as many years; but at the time 

 when the king wishes in person to prove the acquirements of his son, 

 the preceptor discovers by his skill in astrology that a great danger 

 hangs over his pupil, which can only be averted by the silence of the 

 latter during seven days. The king and his courtiers are naturally 

 "much perplexed" by this unlooked-for event, and many ingenious 

 guesses are wasted as to the cause ; at last one of the king's women 

 undertakes to bring her step-son to speech. After trying many 

 blandishments, she confesses to him in plain words a passion which 

 she has conceived for him, proposing to him to poison his father, and 

 to take her to his arms and his throne. Horror at this treason extorts 

 from the young man that speech which it had been prophesied was to 

 be so dangerous, and the queen, following the example of every 

 heroine of a similar story, accuses the prince of attempted violence. 

 The king wishes to put his son to death, but is dissuaded by one of tho 

 instructors of the prince, who tells one of the most elegant stories in 

 the series, on the evil of hasty judgments. A certain king, says the 

 sage, attempted to seduce the wife of one of his attendants, but was 

 repulsed by her virtue, and desisted from his design, leaving however 

 his ring on a couch. The husband finding this token of his wife's 

 infidelity as he imagines, separates himself from her, but assigns no 

 reason for this till his wife's brothers complain of his conduct to the 

 king, making their accusation under the parable of a man to whom 

 they had let a field, and who had suffered it to lie waste. Following 

 up the metaphor, the husband assigns as the reason of his conduct, 

 that he has seen tho footprints of a lion in his ground. The king 

 acknowledging this ingenious reproof, confesses that the lion has indeed 

 been there, but that he has in nowise injured the field, and that he 

 will not return to it again. 



The same counsellor tells the story of the parrot set by its master to 

 watch his wife and report to him her conduct during his absence. 

 The bird informs his master that his wife receives the visits of a 

 lover; but on a subsequent evening the woman, by pouring water 

 over his cage, and counterfeiting the noise of thunder, induces him to 

 report to his master that a violent storm has hindered him from 

 noting what has passed ; and the master, knowing this story to be 

 incorrect, imagines that the more important one previously told him 

 was as little worthy of belief. This same tale is told with some 

 amplification in the Tooti Nameh. The queen then tells an unim- 

 portant story of a father attempting to save his son from drowning, 

 and being himself carried away by the current. The application she 

 makes of this story is, that the king had need beware, lest in his com- 

 passionate willingness to spare his treacherous son, he should be 

 himself betrayed to death. The second sage then tells a story, 

 which, like others of the series, is found in the Pancha Tantra (the 

 Indian original of the Fables of Pilpay), of a woman who, while in 

 company with her lover's page, perceives his master approaching. 

 The page is hidden, and, whilst she is entertaining her lover, the 

 husband comes in. Seeing him at a distance, she directs her lover to 

 take a stick in his hand, and go away as if in anger ; and she explains 

 to her husband, that this man, their neighbour, had come to look for 

 his page, who had taken refuge in her house, and had gone away angry, 

 being unable to find him. In counteraction of this, the lady relates 



