Chapter VII: Appendix: To Introduction

I

GREEK LETTERS.--SYNESIUS (_c._ 375-430)

English readers may know something, from Kingsley's
_Hypatia_, of the excellent bishop of Ptolemais who, at the
meeting of the fourth and fifth centuries, combined the
functions of neo-Platonist philosopher, Christian prelate,
country gentleman, and most efficient yeomanry officer
against the ancestors, or at least forerunners, of the
present Senussi, who were constantly raiding his diocese and
its neighbourhood. These two letters--to Hypatia herself and
to his brother--show him in different, but in each case
favourable lights.