Synesius of Cyrene: Concerning Dreams

Synesius of Cyrene · Constitution of Man Series · 29 pages

Synesius of Cyrene's treatise Concerning Dreams, in Augustine Fitzgerald's translation from the Oxford edition of his essays and hymns. Synesius states his method in the preface, and it is the same one the Philaletheians series repeatedly attributes to the ancients: that it is an old tradition, quite in the manner of Plato, to conceal the profound thoughts of philosophy behind the mask of some lighter treatment — so that what was acquired with difficulty shall not be lost again, nor contaminated by lying exposed to the approach of the profane.

The treatise itself begins from the obscurity of dreams and turns it into an argument. If dreams are prophets, and the visions seen in them riddles of future fortune to anxious men, then they are full of wisdom though certainly not clear — and, he adds, their lack of clearness is their wisdom, since the gods keep man's life concealed. To obtain the greatest things without labour is a divine prerogative; for men, what stands in front of virtue and of all fair things is effort. Divination by dreams is then defended as the most democratic of the arts, since it requires no equipment, no journey to an oracle and no priesthood — every man carries the apparatus with him. The file sits alongside Real dreams are actions of the true Self and Cicero's Dream of Scipio, the three together forming this section's treatment of dreaming.

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