-
Themistius
- The Catholic University of America Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
THEMISTIUS ROBERT B. TODD (University of British Columbia) Fortuna. Bibliography. Composite Editions. Genuine Works of Themistius. I. Analyticorum posteriorum paraphrasis. Translations. . Gerardus Cremonensis. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. . Paulus Orsatus. Commentary. a. Anonymus Venetus. II. In libros De anima paraphrasis. Translations. . Guillelmus de Moerbeka. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. . Ludovicus Nogarola (Book .–). . Federicus Bonaventura. Commentaries. a. Anonymus Venetus. b. Marcus Antonius Zimarra. c. Ludovicus Nogarola. d. Federicus Pendasius. e. Federicus Bonaventura. III. In libros De caelo paraphrasis. Translation. . Moyses Alatinus. IV. In Metaphysicorum librum duodecimum paraphrasis. Translation. . Moyses Finzius. V. In Physica paraphrasis. Translation. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. Commentaries. a. Anonymus Venetus. b. Marcus Antonius Zimarra. VI. Orationes. Translations. . Antonius Covarrubias (Or. , fragment). . Hieronymus Donzellinus (Or. –). . Anonymus Vaticanus (Or. ). Spurious Works. VII. In librum De insomniis paraphrasis. Translation. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. Commentary. a. Marcus Antonius Zimarra. VIII. In librum De divinatione per somnum paraphrasis. Translation. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. IX. In librum De memoria et reminiscentia paraphrasis. Translation. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. X. In librum De somno et vigilia paraphrasis. Translation. . Hermolaus Barbarus Junior. XI. Oratio ad Valentem imperatorem (Or. ). Imitation. . Andreas Duditius. F* Themistius (ca. –ca. ..) is a complex figure in the history of later Greek philosophy and the wider intellectual history of the later Roman Empire. His life fell into two distinct phases. The first, up to , involved the study, and later teaching, at Constantinople of the major works of Aristotle and Plato. The second saw Themistius hold high office in the Eastern capital under a succession of mainly Christian emperors, often addressing them in epideictic orations that displayed classical learning without any Christian commitment. Themistius thus actively continued the traditions of Greek philosophy and literature. His reputation as a philosopher is based on his paraphrases of Aristotelian treatises in the areas of logic, physics, and psychology. For pedagogical reasons he chose the paraphrastic method of exegesis in deference to his predecessors, notably Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. ca. ..).1 The extent of Themistius’ dependency on Alexander is unclear, mainly because of the loss of the Alexandrian commentaries that could have been sources for Themistius’ paraphrases.2 He did, however, criticize Alexander’s interpretation of Aristotle’s account of the intellect, and this gained for Themistius a special influence on Arabic, medieval, and Renaissance thought.3 Themistius also developed an original, though less well-known, reading of the associated theory of divine intellection in book (lambda) of Aristotle’s Metaphysics.4 Although his modest form of exegesis often makes him appear to be an orthodox Aristotelian, he also had a deep knowledge of the Platonic corpus , engaged in Platonic exegesis, and was familiar to some extent with the earlier Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Porphyry.5 Themistius’ surviving Aristotelian paraphrases in Greek are those of the Posterior Analytics, Physics, and De anima, while the paraphrases of the De caelo and Metaphysics are extant only in Hebrew translations. Other paraphrases of the Prior Analytics and of treatises from the Parva naturalia were mistakenly attributed to him in the Byzantine tradition (see below). Of Themistius ’ lost paraphrases, those of the Categories, Prior Analytics, and Topics were the most important. Arabic sources attribute further paraphrases to him, sometimes questionably (see below). Apart from some minor treatises, the rest of the Themistian corpus is represented by his thirty-three surviving orations. These are important documents for the cultural and political history of the fourth century and reveal much about Themistius ’ own life and education. They are replete with echoes of ancient literature, particularly the Platonic dialogues. The orations did not become significant in Themistius’ fortuna until the seventeenth century when they were widely read by historians, who have continued to study them with far closer attention than students of philosophy have given the paraphrases. * The paraphrases of Themistius and works by other Greek Aristotelian commentators are identified by the Latin title of the relevant Aristotelian work prefixed by In. The editions used in this article are those in the Commentaria in Aristotelem graeca series (= CAG) (Berlin, – ) and its Supplementum aristotelicum (= SA), cited by the numbers of the volumes and their parts. More abbreviated references will be given for the works of Themistius , which are fully cited below in Bibliography II.A. The text and traditional numbers of Themistius’ orations are cited according to the Teubner edition, Themistii Orationes , ed. H. Schenkl, G. Downey, and A. F. Norman, vols. (Leipzig, –). The letters of Ermolao Barbaro the Younger are cited from Ermolao Barbaro: Epistolae, orationes et carmina, ed.V. Branca, vols. (Florence, ). I acknowledge the support of research grants from the Social Sciences...
