把她本人的著作搁置一边,我们对希帕提娅的了解有五个来源,其中只有一个为非基督教文献:她的学生辛奈西斯(Synesius),后来成了主教;索克拉蒂斯和费罗斯托吉乌斯(Philostorgius)的教会史,两人均是她的同时代人;6世纪早期,达马希乌斯(Damascius)写成的《伊西多鲁斯传》,作者也是雅典柏拉图学院的最后一任校长;还有公元7世纪晚期,科普特主教尼基乌的约翰(John of Nikiu)的编年史。其中,辛奈西斯的材料独一无二;作为曾经的学生,他仰慕并与老师保持通信,这些信件贯穿了他的一生。可惜的是,他比希帕提娅更早离世。
学界对“一对普鲁塔克式的学者”这一极其奇怪的表述关注不足。它的意思不太可能是“普鲁塔克和他的追随者”,因为这里的人数不能超过两人。答案也很简单,辛奈西斯指的就是这两位身处同时代,但在不同领域享有盛名的普鲁塔克【35】。当辛奈西斯贬低他们“雄辩”(λόγοι)不足时,这一批评对哲学家和智者都适用。在雅典时,辛奈西斯可能对两位普鲁塔克都没什么好印象(在399年,校长普鲁塔克可能还没有取得他后世的名声)。但是,因为他主要提到的是哲学和希帕提娅,这位校长可能是辛奈西斯的主要打击目标。如果达马希乌斯反过来嘲笑希帕提娅来报复这种侮辱,那也不足为奇。注释9. E. Watts, “Damascius’ Isidore: Collective Biography and a Perfectly Imperfect Philosophical Exemplar,” in M. Dielska and K. Twardowska (eds.), Divine Men and Women in the History of Late Hellenism (Cracow 2013), 166.10. Given similarities with both Socrates (Hist. eccl. 7.15.1) and Philostorgius (Hist. eccl. 8.9, p. 111 Bidez), the favorable but banal sentences αὕτη ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ καὶ ἐγεννήθη καὶ ἀνετράφη καὶ ἐπαιδεύθη. τὴν δὲ φύσιν γενναιοτέρα τοῦ πατρὸς οὖσα οὐκ ήρκέσθη τοῖς διὰ τῶν μαθημάτων παιδεύμασιν ὑπὸ τῷ πατρὶ, ἀλ λὰ καὶ φιλοσοφίας ἧψατο τῆς ἄλ λης οὐκ άγεννῶς (Suda, ed. A. Adler, 4.644.12–15) surely do not derive from Damascius. For the complex interweaving of sources in this entry, see R. Asmus, Byz. Zeitschr. 18 (1909), 440–41.11. J. M. Rist, “Hypatia,” Phoenix 19 (1965), 220–21; D. Shanzer, “Merely a Cynic Gesture,” Riv. Fil. 113 (1985), 61–66.12. From τρίβειν, to rub, pound, wear out (LSJ s.v.).13. So P. Chuvin, Chronique des derniers païens 3 (Paris 2009), 362–63; see too A. P. Urbano, “‘Dressing the Christian’: The Philosopher’s Mantle as Signifier of Pedagogical and Moral Authority,” Studia Patristica 62 (2013), 213–31.14. Lib. Ep. 557.3, 803.4, 386.1.15. ἐσθῆτι καὶ σχήματι σοβαρός, ἴνα καὶ θέαμα καλὸν ᾖ, Synesius, Dion. 14.4; in general, P. Zanker, The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity (Berkeley 1995), 243.16. Schol. on Gr. Naz. in Migne PG 36.906.17. While frequently discussing the beards and “mantles” of philosophers, Zanker 1995 never mentions any distinctive details. One thinks of modern clerical garb or the characteristic sleeves and pleating of modern academic gowns.18. ἀλ λὰ καὶ σύνεδρον πολ λάκις ἐποιήσατο ἐν τῷ τριβωνίῳ καὶ συντράπεζον καὶ συνοδοιπόρον, Or. 34.14; the clemency of Valens might seem to fit the tribonion rather than the imperial purple (τριβωνίῳ μὲν . . . ἁλουργίδι δὲ μή, Or. 7.95b4); for similar comparisons and contrasts, Them. Or. 8.166b4, 18.224c9, 23. 292d1.19. στολὴν . . . σεμνοτάτην, Agathias, Hist. 2.29.9.20. F 323Z = 122D Athanassiadi.21. τρίβωνα φιλοσοφίας περιβαλών, Dam. F 211Z = 86F Athanassiadi.22. F 59 Ath. = 135 Z (τριβωνοφορεῖν). Athanassiadi 1993, 1–29 at 10–11; Chuvin 2009, 62–63.23. R. Bracht Branham and M.-O. Goulte-Cazé, The Cynics: The Cynic Movement in Antiquity and Its Legacy (Berkeley 2000), 371; G. Giannantoni, Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae 4 (Naples 1990), 499.24. σεμνοὶ τὴν ὑπήνην καὶ τὸ τρίβωνιον (Or. 36. 12); τῷ τρίβωνι καὶ τῇ ὑπήνῃ τὸ σεμνὸν ὑποδύονται (Or. 25. 5).25. D. Shanzer, “Merely a Cynic Gesture?” Riv. Fil. 113 (1985), 61–66.26. Ammonius, In Isag. 13.25 (CAG 4.3); M. L. West, Ancient Greek Music (Oxford 1992), 246–53; R. Sorabji, Emotion and Peace of Mind: From Stoic Agitation to Christian Temptation (Oxford 2000), 84–92 (esp. 91n59). I am aware that αὐλός is better translated as oboe, but “female oboe player” does not have the erotic associations of αὐλητρίς (H. King, “Fear of Flute Girls, Fear of Falling,” in W. V. Harris (ed.), Mental Disorders in the Classical World (Leiden 2013), 265–82.27. John of Nikiu’s claim (Chron. p. 100 Charles) that she charmed people “with astro labes and instruments of music” might be read as evidence for Hypatia’s interest in music, but then it might also be no more than a distorted version of the story of her curing the lovesick student.28. ἡ ξυνωρὶς τῶν σοφῶν [v. l. σοφιστῶν] Πλουταρχείων, Synes. Ep. 136.29. E. Sironen, “Life and Administration of Late Roman Attica,” in P. Castrén (ed.), Post-Herulian Athens: Aspects of Life and Culture in Athens, AD 267–529 (Helsinki 1994), 46–52; Frantz 1988, 63–64; D. Roques in A. Garzya and D. Roques in the Budé Synésios de Cyrène 2 (2000), 397–98; “The Athenian Agora and the Progress of Christianity,” G. Fowden, JRA 3 (1990), 494–500 at 499n30; M. di Branco, La Città dei Filosofi: Storia di Atene da Marco Aurelio a Giustiniano (Florence 2006), 116–29; M. Raimondi, Imerio e il suo tempo (Rome 2012), 49, 144–47.30. G. W. Bowersock, Greek Sophists in the Roman Empire (Oxford 1969), 10–14; J. L. Moles, “The Career and Conversion of Dio Chrysostom,” JHS 98 (1978), 79–80.31. The objection that φιλόσοφος does not fit into dactylic meter applies only to verse dedications (not common for philosophers), where σόφος and σοφία are regular stand-ins.32. L. Robert, Épigrammes du Bas-Empire (Hellenica 4) 1948, 95–96; B. Puech, Orateurs et sophistes grecs dans les inscription d’époque impériale (Paris 2002), 390–95.33. Sources in PLRE 1.707–08, nos. 1, 3, and 4; Saffrey and Segonds, Proclus: Théologie Platonicienne 1 (Paris 1968), xxx.34. Simplicius, In De Anima 260. 1; Priscianus, Metaphr. in Theophr. 33. 35; Marinus, V. Procli 12.35. So, doubtfully, Roques 2000; confidently, Saffrey, Le néoplatonisme après Plotin (Paris 2000), 174.