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Charles Kingsley's semi-historical novel Hypatia, which describes scenes in and around Alexandria at the beginning of the 5th century, makes a number of indirect references to Synesius, though the Bishop of Cyrene figures only in one scene, remote from the activities of Hypatia and her circle. One paragraph, however, includes a brief description (chapter 21):
The Bishop of Cyrene, to judge from the charming private letters which he has left, was one of those many-sided, volatile, restless men, who taste joy and sorrow, if not deeply or permanently, yet abundantly and passionately. He lived, as Raphael had told Orestes,
in a whirlwind of good deeds, meddling and toiling for the mere pleasure of action; and as soon as there was nothing to be done, which, till lately, had happened seldom enough with him, paid the penalty for past excitement in fits of melancholy.
A man of magniloquent and flowery style, not without a vein of self-conceit; yet withal of overflowing kindliness, racy humour, and unflinching courage, both physical and moral; with a very clear practical faculty, and a very muddy speculative one -- though, of course, like the rest of the world, he was especially proud of his own weakest side, and professed the most passionate affection for philosphic meditation; while his detractors hinted, not without a show of reason, that he was far more adept in soldiering and dog-breaking than in the mysteries of the unseen world.
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(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 30/8/02)
(The Rejoice & Sing Enchiridion:edited by David Goodall; last amended 30/8/02)