Syrianus : on Aristotle metaphysics 13-14

249 Pages·2006·1.26 MB·English

by  Aristotle.

SYRIANUS
On Aristotle
Metaphysics 13-14
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SYRIANUS
On Aristotle
Metaphysics 13-14
Translated by
John Dillon and Dominic O’Meara
Duckworth
Ancient Commentators on Aristotle
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Acknowledgements
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(cid:3) The present translations h(cid:72)(cid:51)a(cid:39)ve(cid:41) (cid:29)(cid:3)b(cid:28)e(cid:26)e(cid:27)n(cid:16)(cid:20) (cid:16)m(cid:23)(cid:26)a(cid:21)d(cid:24)e(cid:16)(cid:19) (cid:20)p(cid:23)o(cid:24)s(cid:16)s(cid:24)ible by generous and
imaginative funding from the following sources: the National Endow-
ment for Ltihber arHyu omf Caonnigtrieesss, CDaitvaliosgioinng -oinf- PRuebsliecaarticohn DPartoagrams, an
indepAe ncadtealnotg rfeecdoerdr afol ra tghiesn bcoyo ko ifs tahvaei lUabSleA fr; otmh eth eL Leivberrahryu olmf Ceo nTgrreussst.; the
British Academy; the Jowett Copyright Trustees; the Royal Society
Acknowledgements
(UK); Centro Internazionale A. Beltrame di Storia dello Spazio e del
The present translations have been made possible by generous and
Tempo (Padua); Mario Mignucci; Liverpool University; the Leventis
imaginative funding from the following sources: the National Endowment
Foundation; the Arts and Humanities Research Council; Gresham
for the Humanities, Division of Research Programs, an
Collegei;n dtehpee nEdesnmt féeed erFaal iargbeanicryn o f Cthhea UriStAa;b tlhee LTervuesrht;u ltmhee T Hruestn; rtyh eBrown
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commenFotsu,n dMatiicohna; tehle GArrtisf fainnd fHoru mparneiptiaers iRnegs etahrceh vCooluunmcile; Gforers hparmess, and
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for every volume since the first.
Research (NWO/GW). The editor wishes to thank Edward Hussey,
Terrence Irwin, Ian Mueller, John Cleary, and Lloyd Gerson for their
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Deborah Blake at DucTkywpoertshe,t w bhyo Rhaasy b Deeanv tihees publisher responsible
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Contents
Conventions vi
Introduction 1
Textual Emendations 27
Translation 29
Notes 189
Bibliography 213
English-Greek Glossary 215
Greek-English Index 223
Index of Concordances with Ps.-Alexander 235
Index of Aristotelian and Platonic Passages 237
Subject Index 239
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Conventions
[(cid:125)] Square brackets enclose words or phrases that have been added to the
translation or the lemmata for purposes of clarity, as well as those
portions of the lemmata which are not quoted by Syrianus.
<(cid:125)> Angle brackets enclose conjectures relating to the Greek text, i.e.
additions to the transmitted text deriving from parallel sources and
editorial conjecture, and transposition of words or phrases. Accompanying
notes provide further details.
((cid:125)) Round brackets, besides being used for ordinary parentheses, contain
transliterated Greek words and Bekker pages references to the Aristote-
lian text.
{(cid:125)} Braces contain words which the editors regard as added later to the
text that Syrianus wrote.
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Introduction
1. Life and works
Of the life of Syrianus few details are preserved to us.1 We can deduce from
a surviving fragment of Damascius’ Philosophical History (§56 Athanas-
siadi) that he was from Alexandria,2 and since he died in or around 437 at
an advanced age, we may assume a birth-date of approximately 375 AD.
Son of a certain Philoxenus, he, no doubt after studies in rhetoric and the
other ‘preliminary sciences’ in Alexandria (of which he exhibits many
traces throughout his surviving works), made his way to Athens, and
became a pupil, and ultimately the designated successor, of the distin-
guished Neoplatonist philosopher Plutarchus, son of Nestorius, head of
the Athenian Academy in the early decades of the fifth century. We may
imagine him making this move at some time around the turn of the
century – even as his most famous pupil, Proclus, did some thirty years
later.
Damascius, in a possibly idealising vein, describes him (§47 Athanas-
siadi) as ‘tall and good-looking, and possessing a health and strength
which lacked no general or particular natural qualities’. We acquire a sort
of snap-shot of him (though very much at second-hand) in late middle age
from Marinus (VP 11-12), when Proclus arrives in Athens in 431. Proclus
finds his way to Syrianus’ house, which is also the seat of the school,
situated just to the south of the Acropolis, not far from the Theatre of
Dionysus. Syrianus is at home, in the company of his senior assistant
Lachares, and they receive the young Proclus, initially with some caution,
as one could not be certain, in those troublous times for Hellenes, where a
new visitor’s religious allegiances might lie. They were greatly reassured,
however, to observe Proclus, as he left them, saluting the Moon, and
agreed that he should be accepted into the school.
At this stage, Syrianus had already virtually assumed control of the
school, as Plutarchus was by now very old and doing very little teaching
(though he did take on the young Proclus, to read Aristotle’s De Anima,
and the Phaedo), but within a year or so Plutarchus died, and Syrianus
formally succeeded him. He himself, however, only lasted in the post
another five years or so, dying not long after 437 AD. At any rate, Proclus,
who is reported by Marinus (VP 13) to have produced his Timaeus Com-
mentary ‘in his twenty-eighth year’, that is to say, 438 or 440 (depending