Olympiodorus: Commentary on Plato’s Gorgias

363 Pages·1998·25.36 MB·English

by  Robin Jackson

OLYMPIODORUS
COMMENTARY ON
PLATO'S GORGIAS
PHILOSOPHIA ANTIQUA
A SERIES OF STUDIES
ON ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
FOUNDED BY J.H. WASZINK AND W.J. VERDENIUS
EDITED BY
J. MANSFEW, D.T. RUNIA
J.C.M. VAN WINDEN
VOLUME LXXVIII
ROBIN JACKSON, KIMON LYCOS
AND HAROLD TARRANT (TRS., EDS.)
OLYMPIQDORUS
COMMENTARY ON
PLATO'S GORGIAS
OLY MPIODORUS
COMMENTARY ON
PLATO'S GORGIAS
TRANSLATED WITH FULL NOTES
BY
ROBIN JACKSON, KIMON LYCOS
AND
HAROLD TARRANT
INTRODUCTION BY
HAROLD TARRANT
BRILL
LEIDEN · BOSTON · KOLN
1998
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Olympiodorus, the Younger, of Alexandria, 6th cent.
Commentary on Plato's Gorgias I Olympiodorus ; translated with
full notes by Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, and Harold Tarrant ;
introduction by Harold Tarrant.
p. em.-(Philosophia antiqua, ISSN 0079-1687 ; v. 78)
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 9004109722 (hardcover : alk. paper)
I. Plato. Gorgias. 2. Ethics, Ancient. 3. Political science
-Philosophy. 4. Alexandrian school. I. Jackson, Robin.
IT. Lycos. Kimon. Ill. Tarrant, Harold. N. Tide. V. Series.
B37l.048 1998
l7Q--dc2l 98-16149
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufna.lune
Commentary on Plato's gorgias I Olympiodorus. Trans!. with full
notes by Robin Jackson ... lntrod. by Harrold Tarrant.-Leiden;
Boston ; Koln : Brill, 1998
(Philosophia antiqua ; Vol. 78)
ISBN 9(H)4-10972-2
ISSN 0079-1687
ISBN 90 04 10972 2
<0 Copyright 1998 by Koninldijlre Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
TO THE MEMORY OF KIM
KIMON LYCOS: 1933-1995
Kimon Lycos was born in Alexandria, E!fYpt. His family migrated to
Australia in 1951, and he studied philosophy at the University of Sydney
and at St. Catherine's College, Oxford. He taught at the University College of
Wales, Aberystwyth, and the University of New South Wales, Sydney,
before appointment in 1965 as Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the
Australian National University, Canberra. He resigned from the ANU in
1988 to move to Melbourne, where he taught at the University of Melbourne
until his death. He has held many short-term appointments at other
universities in Australia, the UK, France, and the USA. Besides his
numerous articles in philosophical journals, he was author of Plato on
Justice and Power, and editor (with Janet Anderson and Graham Cullum)
of Art and Reality: John Anderson on Literature and Aesthetics.

CONTENTS
Preface............................................................................................... xx
General Introduction...................................................................... 1
1. The Alexandrian School.................................................... 1
2. The Significance of Olympiodorus.................................. 4
3. Olympiodorus' Exegetical Approach............................... 6
4. Keeping ancient Greece alive within a Christian
World.................................................................................... 8
5. The Curriculum................................................................... 11
6. Olympiodorus and his World........................................... 15
7. Rhetoric................................................................................. 17
8. Pre-Neoplatonic Interpretation of the Gorgias................... 20
9. The Demiurgic Interpretation........................................... 23
10. Olympiodorus' Reading.................................................... 28
11. What was Olympiodorus' core Doctrine?....................... 31
12. Overview of the Content of the Commentary................ 33
AbPut the Translation, Notes, and Abbreviations................. 51
Commentary with the Grace of God On Plato's Gorgias,
taken from the Spoken Words of the Great Philosopher
Olympiodorus............................................................................. 53
Bibliography.................................................................................... 325
Indices............................................................................................... 331
Index Locorum.......................................................................... 331
Index to On the Gorgias ............................................................... 341
Index of Names......................................................................... 344
Index of Subjects........................................................................ 347