Letter 60

To Auxentius [a childhood friend with whom Synesius was trying to mend a quarrel]. If I were to accuse you of betraying our friendship, I would win my case before the tribunal of God and all godly men. How did I get dragged into your quarrel with my brother? Without my approval, he took the side of Phaus, of blessed memory. And for that, you punished me — as though I were responsible for his choices. But I do not want to litigate old grievances. I want to forget them. Life is too short and too full of real enemies for us to waste it fighting with friends. Let us make peace, and let the dead bury the dead.

Letter 60: Trying to Forget a Quarrel [1] To Auxentius note [A childhood friend of Synesius, who sent two letters to end a quarrel ( 116 and 60 ).] If I were to accuse you of being false to friendship, I should win my case before the tribunal of God and of all godlike men, for how did I become involved in your quarrel with my brother? Without my approval he took the side of Phaus, of blessed memory, against Sabbatius. You failed to persuade him by what you said on that occasion; you then turned your wrath against me, and did me as much harm as you could. [2] I accepted your declaration of war, for at the moment it was permissible. Today it is not permissible, nor do I desire to continue it. The advance of years in its bounty stifles the spirit of contention in me, and holy laws, they say, forbid it. [3] Then again, I well remember how we were brought up and educated together, and how we consorted in Cyrene , things which we ought to hold stronger than these quarrels over Sabbatius. Make a cult, then, of friendship, that excellent thing, and receive my greetings. I account the time of my silence as my punishment. Do you not think I was wounded at the time I allude to? Yet I persisted in my silence. Such is the evil of lasting enmity.